Bryce's Pipe Bomb Survival Guide*

Finally I managed to beat Bioshock. The first few times I played it, I was really smitten with the setting, and liked the idea of the variety of powers and weapons you get access to to, but I was always turned off by having to worry about whether I had enough money or ammo. But I kept going back, eventually I just turned it down to easy, and decided to enjoy it and beat the damn thing. Having the options of setting enemies on fire, electrocuting them, freezing them, sending swarms of angry insects at them, etc. was extremely gratifying, but the world is very sparse and lonely, sure there are plenty of people running around to kill, but there's so very little else that it still manages to feel empty. I'm sure that's kind of the point, but even Dead Space, which setting wise, was a more empty setting, managed to feel more full . So, the last bits of the game are definitely a slog, but once I got the ending, I found a surprisingly rewarding end scene, I don't want to rev

Today we've got Tetsujin 28, that name might sound familiar if you read my review of the GX-44s Tetsujin Vs Black OX . I didn't try and mask my disappointment with that set, and it's what prompted me to go out and buy this version. Whereas the other one I reviewed is a modern reimagining of the world's first giant robot, this is the original design. Really, there's not a whole lot to say about this figure, he's got a goodly amount of articulation, and some accessories. The real draw with this figure is the extreme retro design. Okay, so on the short list of accessories, we've got a rocket pack, with a removable housing. The arms are held on by a simple magnet system, which makes it easy to swap one out for the included broken limb. Tetsujin is one of the few SOC toys to have a battery powered gimmick. If you flip the switch on his back, his eyes light up yellow, it doesn't show up very well in the photographs, unless you have a more sophisticated techn

I watched Battle: LA over the weekend, and I gotta say, I don't see where all the hate for this movie comes from. Maybe hate's a strong word, but I don't recall seeing a single positive review for it. To summarize, it's the story of a Marine unit that's tasked with evacuating Los Angeles during an alien invasion. I don't want to get too spoilery in this, but I thought it was a pretty good movie. I can see how it might turn some people off though, because it doesn't really fit into any of the standard science fiction move genres, kind of like District 9. Not to say that the two movies are at all alike, other than neither of them really fits into the "blockbuster scifi explod-aganza". The entire time I watched the movie, I was saying to myself, "these feel like real marines" they aren't supermen, they're not geniuses, they aren't unkillable. One of my favorite parts of the movie is during the first up close confrontation with an

My relationship with PC gaming has always been pretty tenuous. Up until a year or so ago, I always maintained a desktop computer, and while I never invested in the latest and greatest video cards, I typically had one that was only a little behind the times. There is certainly a core group of PC gamers out there that constantly upgrade to maintain game devouring rigs that can play any game with maxed out settings, but that's never been me. Once the Xbox 360 came out, game makers had finally figured out how to make shooter controls work right on a console controller, and the graphical difference was never that much of a factor for me. So most of the time I would play a game on a console, rather than on the PC, it was just more comfortable, especially after my leg injury in 2009, sitting at a desk just wasn't much of an option, for a very long time. So, after awhile, I got rid of my desktop computer, or at least the desk (I now have three computer towers just sitting under a table

Time to take a break from the toy reviews. So, I preordered Dragon Age: Origins for two reasons, one, it was the same guys who made Mass Effect, so I was expecting a kind of more dialogue heavy role playing experience, with a more action-y combat system, and streamlined ability/stat progression. DA:O is not that game, and I really didn't like it at first. The other reason I preordered it was because it gave you a code to unlock exclusive armor in Mass Effect 2, and I was totally down with that. A year or so later, and Dead Space 2 is released with an unlock code for exclusive armor in Dragon Age 2, so I preordered DA2, because I'm a whore like that. I was determined to get back into DA:O at this point, and they just happened to have a huge sale on all of the DLC and expansions. I'm dragging this out more than I intended, but the bottom line is that I managed to find a game that I really liked in DA:O. I turned the combat difficulty down, and just worked from there. Enter Dr

I was originally going to review all of my Soul of Chogokin toys in the order in which I purchased them, but I got really behind, and I can't remember what order I purchased them in anymore. So instead I decided to review the remaining ones in the order that they were released. Which is interesting, because Bandai has been making Soul of Chogokin toys for a very long time, the first one came out in 1997, the oldest one I own is the GX-03 Combattler V which was originally released in 1999. The previous Eva figure I reviewed was part of the Spec sub line (a supposedly cheaper and more toy like line) and was released in 2008, this Eva figure is part of the SOC proper line and was released in 2004, so there's quite a bit of difference in construction. Amusingly, this is actually my most recent SOC purchase, I got it because I had a gift certificate to burn, and the figure was cheap and shiny. The story behind Eva 04 is it was one of the production models, as opposed to the pro

This is the second toy form the SOC Spec line that I've purchased, the first being Tekkaman Blade & Pegas . It feels much closer to the level of detail and engineering that you find in the straight Soul of Chogokin line. Once again the figure comes in a window box with a flap. The window box is used to great effect here by showing the naked figure in the box, with box art covering up half of the figure depicted in full armor. Now, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I've not watched Evangelion in it's entirety, so the only background you're getting here is the little I've gleamed from the few bits and pieces I've seen, and from my good friend that's seen the whole run. Neon Genesis Evangelion started back in 1995, which is pretty recent, compared to most of the sources that Bandai's pulled figures from for the SOC lines. Since then it's become one of the most iconic super robot animes. Evangelions, or Evas, are somewhat unusual in that the