TZA: Films & Games

Editor: IrishZomb1E TZA

Fallout 3 was officially released on October 28th, 2008. It was made by Bethesda games, and is about the post apocalyptic future. It is an RPG Game and follows the Vault Dweller as he leaves his home, Vault 101, and tries to find out why his father mysteriously left the vault.

The design of the game is supposed to be a little bit dark, which is somewhat depressing. It helps set the mood for the story of the game. The graphics are amazing though. The sun and sky is breathtaking, along with the amazing visuals that are seen during V.A.T.S use and the story. The explosion of Megaton is especially amazing.

The game play is a combination of both fast and slow paced. When you are in battle, everything is very fast, and lasts less than a minute. But when you are traveling somewhere, running from somebody, trying to hide, or just looking for something, the game play is very intricate and slow paced.

The game is presented in a way to make you feel almost gloomy. Everywhere you look there are dead corpses and after effects of nuclear warfare. The game is very gory, bloody, and is full of abusive language to give the game that "Bad-ass" type of feel to it.

Overall, Fallout 3 is a great game with tons of action, including gruesome head shots that every gamer loves. Fallout 3 gets a 5 mini nukes, out of 5.

Reviewer: GunGraveTZA

Watchmen is a 2009 film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley.

Throughout the film, the performances are excellent: Partick does a great job as the Night Owl and Jackie Earle Haley does a spectacular job as Rorshach, showing what a psycopath the character is revealed to be the more you delve into him. Carla Gugino as Silk Spectre and Mathew Goode as Adrian Veidt were the worst performances mainly because although Carla reads her lines well the character really never shows a particular personality, and Matthew had decided to show Adrian as someone pure evil: In the book he is a really warm and loveable character. jeffry Dean Morgen is also of noteable praise as the Comedian: He is only on for around 50 minutes, but when he's around his depth is shown even better than in the comic.

Considering that the animated comic for the original comic is 5 and a half hour in length, the script is just perfect in every way: The script is well-balanced so just when you are about to get bored with dialogue they throw a action scene in. The characters are all given some form of depth so nobody is just a simple 2D character (with the exception of the performance of Silk Spectre). Also the fans will be happy as well: I finished the original Watchmen comic and was very happy with the film version, and will be even happier when the Directors Cut is released (to me the addition of The Black Freighter is pointless in the film and the comic.

Finally, the presentation. In the comic, there were little symbols that were shown throughout that were a bit hard to spot if you are flicking through: The film brings out these images clearer and it is a nice little addition. The alternate 1985 is also very accurate, with all the buildings seeming like they really used to exist and showing a very down-to earth world. The video quality is great as well, if a little dark at times. Music is also well-chosen, even if at points it self-parodies the film.

Overall, Watchmen takes the best of the comic and copies it exactly: This is exactly what fans have been saying what script writers should be doing in the first place. The acting is top-class, themes are spewn throughout, and there is so much depth to be found in the world. I will be buying this the minute it is released as a Director's Cut. Overall, I give the film 5 stars out of 5.

As usual, a clip from the film can be seen in the video section.

Reviewer: GunGraveTZA

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Half Life 2 is a first person shooter made by Valve. It came out on the PC in 2004, the original Xbox in 2005, and the PS3 & Xbox 360 in 2007.

The gameplay for Half Life 2 is just great: Although the weapons are standard, every weapon has a unique feel and has totally different stats: For example, the pistol is weak but is very accurate, while the SMG is stronger and shoots much quicker, but is incredibly inaccurate. The sounds give all the guns a really nice punchy feel as well, so it feels like you are really shooting a gun. Also there is much variety: Some sections you are on a machine gun, some sections you are driving a boat, and many others.

The design is even better than the gameplay. The whole game has this feeling of being an entire world, the main reason because there are no levels, instead there being loads between sections of about 10 seconds long, with you being dropped immideately where you started in the last section. It feels like you are playing through 1 giant level that freezes for a bit once in a while. They also immerse you by placing all the cutscenes in first person, so you never leave your main perspective. The story is not amazing, but it keeps the action flowing well.

Finally, the presentation. The graphics are dated since the game came out in 2004. but there is a very real feel to the world. The character models still look top-class, evem if they are a bit blurry, with some really great lip synching. The game is also heavily scripted (that means when you get to a certain area, a certain action happens) and gives you some great kick-ass moments, like in one section early on where you are cornered by Combine (the main enemies in the game) and you are on the run through a canal in a hovercraft with no weapons on the craft to protect yourself.

Overall, I thought at first the game is overrated, but once you delve into it you can see what makes it so great: The gameplay isn't amazing, but it feels real; The world is not highly imaginative, but again it feels plausible; You are so incredibly immersed in the world you really want to push foward and find out what happens. I give this game 5 stars out of 5.

As usual, a video for it can be found in the Videos section.

Writer: GunGraveTZA

Hello, and welcome to the first game review by TZA. The game is Left 4 Dead, was produced by Valve, and was released on the 11 of November, 2008.

The gameplay mainly focuses on being accessable yet very enjoyable. It has you as one of 4 survivors (who can be controller via AI or actual people via Xbox Live) through 4 campaigns (each one lasting between 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the difficulty) as you try and fight off literally hundereds of zombies at once. It is very engaging and really makes you feel panicy at times, which just hightens the 'fear' factor of the game at times.

The design is just as good: Due to the high ammount of zombies, the game forces you to try and really work together, making sure nobody dies and saving anyone who does. The levels are also very easy to get through, as it is clear where you need to go next all the time, so it keeps the action moving. Once in a while a special zombie can take you by surprise, and almost all of them need teamwork to take down or to protect each other from it. The multiplayer mode Versus Mode can be unbalanced at times, but adds to the fun so much.

Finally the presentation. Although the graphics are dated, it gives it a strong, realistic feel, and the lighting is spectacular at times. The animations on the zombies espicially are good. The sound effects are very punchy and real, and there are also nice tidbits all around each level to give you an idea about how this zombie outbreak began.

Overall, the gameplay saves it from it's two major flaws. Sure, the game is easy once you figure out how to take down each Special zombie quickly and it is very short, but the replayability and that feeling of completing a campaign but being forced to leave someone behind will never be beaten by another game. Overall I give the game 4.5 stars out of 5.

Reviewer: GunGraveTZA

Hello, and welcome to the first film review by TZA. The film in question is Office Space, starring Ron Livingston and directed by Mike Judge. It was released early 1999. It tells the tale of 3 employees who find out that they will be fired soon, and devise a plan to extract revenge on the company (as well as one very very annoying piece of machinery).

If you look purely at the performances across the film, everyone does a great job. The main 2 actors who stuck out was the character Milton Waddams (played by Stephen Root), a very mumbly person who is pushed around all the time and does nothing about it, and Bill Lumbergh (played by Gary COLE, not Coleman), who is a boss who doesn't control his emplyeees, relying on consaultants to assist him. The acting fits great with the mood of the film in general.

Secondly, the script. Everything said in the script is very natural, and when one character in particular changes his personality completely, it's a good chuckle to see how much he has changed. It also has some excellent scenes (one of which can be found in the videos section) and very witty dream sequences. Another very good part of the film.

Finally, the presentation and direction. Considering the film came out 1998/1999, the film quality is excellent: Very little grain can be found and the colour palatte is well-balanced. Mike Judge hits all the right marks with the characters, and considering he wrote it, the results are a good chuckle.

Overall, as mentioned in two paragraphs of the review, that is the main problem of this film: It is a good chuckle, and has no moments that really had me falling out of my chair. Sure, there were moments, but none that really really really made you laugh. Everything else is great though, so I give the film 4 stars out of 5.