zombie

Sometimes, the best video games are the simplest to play and the most addictive in their appeal. They may not have complex plots or high resolution graphics, but such things don't matter if the games keep you coming back for more ... and more ... and more. This was the plan of success for most early game consoles and popular coin-op arcade games during the '80s. It is also the popularity strategy for Smashy Road , an isometric retro racing game by Bearbit Studios . Read on for my complete review. The premise behind Smashy Road is straightforward: Players steer a vehicle through a seemingly endless landscape of buildings, roads and bridges in order to avoid capture by pursuing police cars. The longer players dodge the police, the higher their scores will be. As soon as the vehicle is caught, the game ends and players can start again. Seeing just how much over-the-top vehicular wreckage and property damage one can cause during a car chase is the source of Smashy Road 's a...

Even though I'm a tech-loving geek, I've been reluctant to accept cell phones and tablets as mediums with which to regularly play video games. I've used my cell phone in the past to play simple games to pass the time, but I couldn't imagine this kind of gaming to equal or surpass PCs and game consoles. Yet upon recent consideration, I've come to realize that what makes this form of gaming worthwhile is the kind of game that one chooses to play on a cell phone or a tablet. The kind of game that I'm talking about in this post is Monument Valley by Ustwo. Monument Valley is a touchscreen-based puzzle game that depicts the silent Princess Ida's exploration of a lost civilization's "sacred geometry" to discover its secrets. Players use the touchscreen to move Ida through each level and manipulate the many knobs and levers that are hidden within the isometric puzzles. Currently, the game consists of ten levels with an extra level called "Ida...

Watching horror and sci-fi films is easy, but collecting screen-accurate merchandise based on those films is hard. In this post, I'll be taking a look at the Alien Queen figure that was produced by McFarlane Toys in 2003 as part of its Movie Maniacs line. At the time of its release, this figure was one of the few Alien Queen replicas that could be bought for a reasonable price. The film collectibles market has changed considerably since then, and this figure represents are pivotal moment in how the market had changed from expensive statues, busts and model kits of the '80s and '90s to the much more affordable items that are available today. Read on ... Before McFarlane Toys' release of its version of the Alien Queen, screen-accurate versions of this creature were very hard to find. Most of them were difficult and expensive model kits, which ruled out fans who wouldn't--or couldn't--buy and assemble models. When Kenner had the toy license for Aliens in the '...

Fantasy, horror and sci-fi fans are known for the many, many things they use to show their appreciation of the franchises they love: cosplay, fan films, collectible collections, websites, and so on. Yet it's a rare situation when fans take the initiative to research and document the behind-the-scene details of the more obscure and less glamorous aspects of their favorite films and TV shows. Such is the case of Jaws 2: The Making of The Hollywood Sequel , which was written by Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith and published by BearManor Media. Read on for my complete review of this long overdue treat for Jaws franchise fans. It's no secret among Jaws fans that the production of Jaws 2 was a troubled one, that it went through two directors (first John Hancock, then Jeannot Szwarc), multiple screenwriters, cast changes and script rewrites before finally arriving on the silver screen in 1978. Pisano and Smith’s book lays out in detail exactly how tumultuous the production reall...

Oh, NECA ... you just keep getting cooler. Between its ongoing Predator action figure line and its expanding line of Alien action figures, I'm in nerd heaven. Yet it appears that someone at NECA thinks that figures aren't enough for fans and collectors, so it's releasing a series of six-inch, die-cast replicas of vehicles from sci-fi movies in its new Cinemachines line. The initial Cinemachines items will be four vehicles from Alien and four from Aliens (see above). In addition to the Colonial Marine vehicles from Aliens , the line will also include a Daihotai Tractor, a vehicle that only appeared in the director's cut of the sequel. (Fun trivia fact: Micro Machines also planned on releasing a Daihotai Tractor as part of its Aliens Action Fleet line back in the '90s, but only a prototype was made.) Upcoming releases will include an Aerial Hunter-Killer (HK) and HK Tank from The Terminator , as well as the space ship that was briefly seen in the first few minutes...

Because I'm a video gaming geek, I think I'm very fortunate to have been born at a time when I could witness video gaming during its earliest days (e.g., the early generations of home gaming consoles, early video game magazines, coin-op arcades in shopping malls everywhere, etc.) and its subsequent evolution into what it has become today. While so many more changes are waiting on the horizon, here is my list of five things that I hope remain consistent in future generations of video game systems and titles. Read on ... Before I get to the list, here's a little bit about my personal gaming background. My first game console was the Atari 2600, followed by the Atari 7800 and the Sega Master System. I mostly tuned out of gaming during the '90s, but got back into home consoles when I picked up Nintendo's GameCube back in 2003. This was followed by Nintendo's Wii and Wii U, which is my current console of choice. As you can see from my list, my opinions have been stron...

I'm very late to the party for this animated series, but better late than never: If you love unique titles in horror TV, then Death Note is an absolute must-watch. Death Note started as a manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata between 2003 and 2006. An anime adaptation of the manga series aired in Japan from 2006 to 2007, running for a total of 37 episodes; this review covers the anime series. I noticed that this series was finding a fan base in the U.S. years ago, but I didn't bother watching it until Netflix started carrying it. Now that I've finally watched the whole thing, I can say that its popularity is completely justified. Death Note tells the story of Light Yagami, and exceptionally intelligent teenager who stumbles upon a supernatural notebook called a "Death Note". According to the rules stated within the book, people who have their names written on its pages will die shortly afterwards. Convinced that the Death Note ca...