The "Aw Naw!" of The Week

I love video games. I play them a lot, I enjoy them a lot, and I buy a decent number of them. However, a video game is my first ever 'Aw Naw' of the week, and that game is Deus Ex-Human Revolution.

This game has been well reviewed (IGN) for its 'story', graphics, and 'gameplay options'. Lets talk about these point by point.

The story: corporations are evil blah blah ethics of human enhancement blah blah. Nothing original, nothing surprising, and certainly nothing to keep you hooked. Oh, you can get more story if you do sidequests and hack 50 billion computers and PDAs, but pressing the square button gets old after awhile. Let's think about this: you have a 'great story' that requires me to double my playing time through super-repetitive actions to get the whole shebang? No. You did that wrong. The only way I can agree with reviewers on the story point is if they have never seen tv, movies, or read a book. There's no way they could enjoy this and think it's great unless it's the only game they've ever played.

Graphics: The people look good, but that's pretty common now. The buildings look like ones in the first deus ex but with better lighting. Apparently the architecture of the future is bland stacked on bland with neon rope lighting. It's like hookers coming off a bad trip designed the things. This game is played in first person view and walking makes things look awful. Blur effects make it look like you don't want to render, not like I'm moving.

Gameplay Options: Choose the way you want to play! To quote the great Seanbaby, "I have fewer bullets than there are bad guys and I die in one hit. Deus Ex seems pretty sure I'll 'choose' stealth.". That's right. There are multiple ways to the play the game, it's just that it's do I sneak in the sewers, do I sneak in the air vents, or do i sneak from room to room. Top of the uber stealth of it all with terrible, terrible conversations and interrogations and this game just is not fun to play.

It looks bad, it reads bad, it plays bad. So I'm telling you this week: If someone wants you to get Deus Ex : Human Revolution just say "Aw Naw!"

Another Virgin Freefest, Another Good Show

I attended my fifth (I think) Virginfest last weekend and enjoyed myself once again. After a few years I can say that, without a doubt, Merriweather is a better venue than Pimlico could ever be. Free parking, better sound management, more shade (from trees instead of crowded tents too!), and generally a more fun crowd vs. the drunkfest that Pimlico seemed to be once they moved to 2 days.

6 years in and the crew finally got the lineup right. It seemed that people had plenty of time to see who they wanted and the stages were populated quite well. If you liked real rock music you were at the main stage most of the day, if you liked rap or what passes for indie these days you were at second stage. I was at main stage for Grace Potter, Patti Smith, TV on the Radio, and the Black Keys, and caught 2 Door Cinema Club and Deadmau5 at second stage. The Dance Forest just showed me a lot of dancing and weird tree-photo-fetish people.

Grace Potter started with a bang and then went from 60-0 in 5 seconds flat. I am not too familiar with her music but did enjoy her rock songs. I was not prepared for the slow, dragging attempts at country-rock jam band crooning though. Not a bad performance, but when she was done I had the feeling that others felt a little cheated as well. I mean, we watch you rock, and then you decide to bore us for 2/3 of your set? Shame.

Patti Smith was amazing. Once again, I know who she is but am not familiar with her music. That has changed following her awesome set. It came across very Lou Reed-ish, and I dig me some Lou Reed. It also suffered from the punk-rock anti-establishment cliche of ranting about useless political things in between awesome songs, but for what I heard musically I was more than willing to put up with it. The music was great, it rocked, and she was better than the Black Keys, but more on that later.

TV on the Radio. This was my 4th time seeing tvotr and it was the best. These guys have the coolest, calmest beats on their albums but when they play live they crank the volume and speed up to 11. The set was the best I've heard from them, even if they didn't play my favorite song. One or two slow ones that let me catch my breath before I was bouncing and shaking like only a man with no sense of rhythm can again. I've seen a good number of bands in a few different genres, and TVOTR is the best. No doubt in my mind, no argument to be had, best live band I know of right now. I can't imagine what their show would be like if they added visuals or if visuals would even help. There is so much energy in each of the band members that it powers through you as well. Can't say enough about how great they are.

This brings me to the Black Keys. I was disappointed. These guys pulled a Grace Potter on us. They played mostly new stuff, mostly slow, and lacking the bluesy vibe most people dig them for. Seeing the Black Keys was like going to a comedy and only being mildly amused the whole time. Add mumbling, super-brief interludes and you get the feeling that you'd be better off listening to albums at home. Nobody goes to a rock concert to be mellowed out, and I was mellow yellow after the Keys left the stage.

Last artist I saw was Deadmau5. Coolest stage setup I've seen, with jutting pieces over the stage and everything screened and lit up. The music, however, seemed typical techno and was not nearly as impressive as when I saw Deadmau5 at the 2nd (I think) Vfest.

And there you have it. I didn't review any other bands because I either didn't see them or didn't pay attention to them.