My Heart Belongs to Blue

For those who know me in person, this is old news. But I wanted to share a bit more of myself with the cyberspace readers who are only learning about me through my very few widely-spaced blog entries. I love blue chicks. No, not the marshmallow Peeps that only every appear on Earth once a year during Easter and Passover. Nor do I mean some yet to be discovered country group of Miley Cyrus wannabes. I'm talking about blue women; and yes, they do come in that color.

By now you might have already skimmed over my article about the Real Women of Color found in science fiction episodes and--my personal favorite--a certain spectacular video game called Mass Effect. Once I discovered that the Asari were as enticing of an alien race as they were androgynous, my heart was stolen. Granted, my only completed run-through of Mass Effect does not find my female Sheppard character interacting intimately with any of the possible Asari vixens, but the love was there nonetheless.

Since beating Mass Effect I have thought much about the love-lost Liara and her bisexual race of cerulean sisters. My friends joke that I could never truly love another woman unless she indeed was blue (preferably with tentacle cornrows or some other exotic hair/head-style). My infatuation seemed futile, but I was willing to suffer. Only months until Mass Effect 2 would open new doors of inter-species relationship possibilities for Commander Sheppard, and perhaps a second (or third or forth) chance to bask in azure affection.

But then I saw them: goddesses floating in a whirl of ice and metal. Every metallic fiber of their bodies was impossible and (to quote one of my favorite Yoko Kanno songs) incredible math. They worked perfectly together to achieve their highest purpose which was..to both get ridden by a guy named Snow???


Let's shift into reverse for a moment. I'm talking about the Shiva summon from the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII coming out in March. There are actually two sisters, Styria and Nix, who make up this summon in the new Square-Enix project, and boy are they intense! Not only do they support giant headpieces of gold, silver, and steel, but they do an awkward little yoga move and transform into a freaking motorcycle! And once they become said motorcycle, the main protagonist gets to hop aboard and take out enemies on his sweet new ride. Crazy, but I love it.



Final Fantasy Shivas of the past have all rocked the icy skin and elaborate locks, but none so Tron/RoboCop as this new duo. And if there is anything I love more than blue chicks, it's anything remotely related to motorcycles or, of course, robots. After a couple of days of learning as much as I can about the Shiva sisters, I was hooked. I had found love again, mainly in the older sister, Styria, who is darker, trimmed in gold, and forms the front of the blue babe bike. Her extraordinary attire (no pun intended) and unnatural poise gave me a new ambition in life: I wanted to DO Styria.

GUTTER MIND! Not like that! I want to DO her costume. I want to become Styria. At first, the thought was overwhelming and as fantastic as Square-Enix's namesake games. I studied her legs (exhaust pipes), her sharp gold accessories, and, for the love of the goddess, her headpiece! Maybe I'm disillusioned or overestimating my novice cosplay abilities, but one thing is for certain: I am crazy in love with her complete design. So crazy that I have already begun to purchase the basic materials needed to attempt such an outrageous costume feat--gold rings, foam sheets. If the annual designers of Brazil can dress their carnival queens up 10-foot high costumes, I can at least try my semi-experienced hand at one of Enix's most exquisite and whimsical creations.

It's going to be hard sharing the love when Mass Effect 2 comes out in January. I'm just one girl in the universe surrounded by beautiful blue distractions.

Borderlands Blurb

I'm pretty good with RPGs, but I suck at FPS. And with the abundance SMGs, RPMs, PvP, and all other outrageous acronyms this game offers, I won't ever get bored! The graphics are stunning, the enemies are eccentric and engaging, and the guns are...well...EVERYWHERE! I can almost venture to say there might be too many guns for my limited firearms experience and knowledge, but at least the options are there in abundance.

What's so great is that you don't always have to take on those corrosive alpha skags and crazy axe-wielding midgets on your own. Unlike all other RPGs where you can only call on the assistance of your AI party, Borderlands allows you to link up with your ACTUAL friends (hopefully you have some) and take missions in co-op mode.

So makes some new friends happy treasure hunting!

L4D2: Super Engine, Super Human, Super Ego

After marveling at the fact that it only took my party and me 45 minutes to complete a Left 4 Dead 2 campaign that alone took me twice as long, we breathed a sigh of relief into our mics and pontificated the major differences between this game and its much loved, and apparently much preferred, big brother, Left 4 Dead. I personally am very much delighted by the new game, regardless of its release barely a year after the first. There was no new gameplay to learn, save for maybe a couple of zombie commands in Versus mode, nor was I attacked with an unnecessarily profound plot twist that might have spun the game into Kingdom Hearts mode until the creators unanimously decided on an ending that could finally rest. We have 4 new survivors in a completely different part of the country fighting off an infected population that sadly spread its way further than the metropolitan streets we explored in L4D. We have better guns, some new and nasty melee weapons, gruesome Specials, and some even more unnerving settings, both rural and urban.

"But," DJZ (as Coach) confessed, "they make these zombies way too hard."
"Yeah," replied Havokk (as Nick), "the Director is definitely out to take over everything!"

Let it be noted that Havokk takes credit for inventing (or at least coining the phrase) the "Death Run," during which each player sprints for their life to the safe room, ignoring as many zombies as possible, in hopes that at least one Survivor will make it to the end alive. Where that proved successful maybe 40% of the time in L4D where the levels and AI became predictable to the seasoned player, L4D2 has recognized players like my good friend Havokk and have literally placed a big sturdy wall in their way. It really isn't a problem for players like me who like to think that every run through a campaign might reveal a little surprise or two. It does, however, make the game about twice as difficult and usually requires a few more tried before finding the right path between the strategically placed Witch/Tank/Smoker/Spitter.

Isn't that what a new game is about, though? For a title that is so similar to its predecessor, shouldn't there be more challenges than sly maneuvers through knee-high swamp waters and roller-coaster tracks? If anything, just to make it to the final stand of each campaign itself should build up genuine excitement each time. L4D2 traded out a bland old boat house finale for a grand ol' plantation mansion middle surrounded by acres of backwater swamps and spooky shanty towns. And you can't tell me that running impatiently around a hospital rooftop waiting for a helicopter rescue still gets your heart racing faster than the sprint for your life across a busted bridge, where any false step or chance Charger could instantly bring you face to face with the Mississippi River. If any part of this game were to give in, especially to the fans who weren't too proud to remove the original from their Xbox trays and replace it with the sequel, Valve would have failed to deliver the adventure we all were hoping for.

"Well, maybe," retorted Havokk, "but what about the characters? What do we know about them? How can we even be certain these people even make the cut as Survivors?"
"That's right!" DJZ states. "There's no extra dialogue, save Ellis' rantings at the beginning of each level and the others shutting him up. It gets old, and no one else ever says anything."

Now this I can agree with. We all remember Zoey's hospital elevator rant about "calling zombie bullshit." And who doesn't chuckle whenever Francis mentions how much he hates, well, everything? These were moments where in the calm of a post-horde storm we were enlightened by the reminder that our Survivors did have personalities and were, in fact, human. It was proof of life before the infection.

All the life we have to go by in L4D2 is a few Valve renders of each character in his or her natural habitat before the outbreak--Coach, all smiles, witnessing his star player hit a home-run out of the park; Rochelle, clipboard in hand outside of a channel 10 news truck, desperate to make her big break in broadcast. Anything else outside of the obvious visual stimuli of each character is pretty much left to our own imagination. In fact, the only character who gets the most introduction and exalted storyline IS Ellis. The game makes sure to feed you a nice anecdote of his life at the beginning of almost every campaign. You can almost count more on being enlightened by a new Ellis-Keith adventure than you can that second pistol or Molotov being in the safe room when you respawn after an unsuccessful run-through. And who is this crazy man Keith? Obviously he is quite the daredevil/idiot/fortune-hunter; so why isn't HE "still alive?" For someone to take so much damage, as Ellis accounts, a mere zombie infection should not have been enough to take this superman out. As for the rest of the surviving team, we're pretty much left in the dark. Rochelle worked on a news team. One could only imagine the fascinating horror stories she encountered, especially during the last days before the outbreak when full-blown. And what about Nick? A man with that suave of a haircut and three-piece suit has got to have some tales of casino debauchery or maybe some run-in with the Russian mob. We don't know, because Valve won't let them talk! Instead, we get to know the meaning behind Ellis' "hard-ass zombie-killing machine" tattoo...and yet another epic tale of the legend Keith.

Overall I would still say that the game is a must for the Xbox360. If you have Live, you won't want to miss out on one of the sickest zombie-slaughter fests of the decade. For all the haters who swore against Valve's "premature" sequel, I can maybe understand you fear of such an involved game. Timing your chainsaw attack just right to grind a Hunter midair might be a bit too advanced for you. Also, you might not be up for the challenge of 2 Chargers, 4 walking Witches, and a torrent of good-ol' summer rain. Hey, it's not called the Dirty South for nothing.