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Clackamas Prim ________ ■
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John Carter travels through theaters universe-wide
By Isaac Soper
Í A rts & C u ltu re E d ito r
packed film about a soldier trying to fin d his way to Earth.
A lone C onfederate A rm y
captain o f the C^ivil W ar is on
th e ru n from the tribes o f the
A pache an d the .U nion w hen
he .enters' a m ysterious cave
and is suddenly .transported
to M ars; though he claims to
fight for no m an, through the
course„of evehts, he will defend,
the freedom o f the planet th at
the natives Call “Barsoom .’X
“Jo h n C a rte r” was w rit
ten and directed by A ndrew
Stanton, w ho w rote the “Toy
Story” films, and w rote and
directed a num ber o f other
D isney anim ated films, includ
ing “W ALL-ji,” and “Finding
N em o.”. T h e .film was his first
live-action picture to date. T h e
titular character, John Carter,
is played by ‘ Taylor Kitsch,
know n for his roles on the
television series “Friday N ight
Lights,” and his portrayal o f
G am bit/R em y LeBeau in 2009s
“X -M en O rigins: W olverine.”
T h e film also features the act
ing talents o f W illem Dafoe,
Lynn C ollins, M a rk S trong
and C iarán H inds.
A fter seeing “John Carter,”,,
m any people will say th at it is
a rip-off of. Jam es Ciuneron’s
film “Avatar,” w hich it is m ost
definitely not.
•• “Jo h n C arter” was' released
in 3 t) an d 2 D theaters n ation
w ide last Frjday, after being
form erly w ritte n 100, years
prior. T h e original story o f the
character Jo h n Carter,- “U nder
the M oons o f M ars” was pub-
lished'in 1 9 l 2 i n the form o f a
serial? It was w ritten by Edgar
Rice B urroughs, the creator
o f Tarzan, w ho c o ntinued the
story o f John .C arter o f M ars
u n tiL l9 4 1 . ' '
; A
’»
“Jo h n C a rte r” is d irectly
based o ff o f' B urroughs, first
novelization o f the John C arter
series, know n as “T h e Princes?
o f M a rs” .
T h e film, th o u g h presented
in “Disney. 3D ,” was in fact a
very entertaining and captivat
ing film . T h o u g h the three-
d im ensional effects w eren’t
particularly noticeable during
m o st o f the film, th e special
effects a n d story were very
engaging, one in p articular
being th e sequences o f C arter
learning to walks on the M ars
surface.
In a recent conference call
w ith E>ishey, S tanton explained
w hy he was interested in tak
ing o n the “Jo h n C arter* story.
“I’m a huge fan,” h e said. “I ’ve
read the books m y w hole life.
A nd [I] w anted to see them ,
and I ’m probably one o f the
m oje rabid fans. So I didn’t
w ant it screwed up.”
s As w ith theslaying o f orcs in
the “Lord o f the Rings” films,
i f th e blue-blooded creatures
from B arsoom w o u ld have
been hu m an , “Jo h n C arter”
w ould definitely have an “R ”
rating, opposed to J‘PG -13,”
due to the a m o u n t o f violence
presented in the film.
T h e only draw back to “John
C a rte r” iS th a t it' seems to
be converted in to 3D,S w hich
depending on ohe’s preference,
m ay or m ay n o t be w orth the
few extra dollars.To define the
fifth in a genre, it 'would have
to be classified as gl w estern
sci-fi, one th a t is m uch m ore
e n tertain in g th a n last year’s
“Cowboys Si Aliens,” and defi
nitely w orth seeing m ultiple
times.
!> > > O ©
Mass Effect 3 gives new experiences to all sci-fi gamers
civilians, are being butchered and
harvested and yet you are rarely
reminded o f how baa tire'situa-
■ "MOT ô f Eâi*ffr îëSHy' IS'.' AU yd'iF^T;
ni mi ymy
CriedW olf?’. a boy yglls out to is “Its going well. H it and run
villagers that he saw a wolf. They tactics.”'-You are given military
don’t believe, him because he has statistics But know nothing o f
done this before. H e calls-out what is happening to the pop
again and yet they still don’t' ulation. You would think that
believe his story. N ow im agine Bioware would Utilize the hum an
that the ending was different and factor more, especially after they
that the wolf comes to eat the vil ■ had your character witness ;the
lagers in their sleep while the boy - death o f a child right in front o f
is forced to watch whiìé dragged them.
T he writers did show that the
to safety. That, is essentially the
first ten minutes o f “Mass Effect last few years are finally erod
ing Shepard’s m ental health. Your
Released March 6, Bioware character avoids sleep, has con
hopes that “M E3” will provide stant nightmares that flash back
closure and success to the story of to jthe invasion o f Earth and
Com mander Shepard, and finally 1 always sees the face'of the child
bring multiplayer to fens - that they failed to save. You would
have been asking for it since the think that Shepard would have
beginning. “M E 3” ,is yery enjoy already had a mental breakdown
able and it seems that Bioware after assimilating .ancient tech
has listened to and embraced nology, hunting down a power
many fan complaints, tweaking ful secret agent, killing a.Reàper?
features such as planetary scan-, killing off thé remnants o f an
n in g a n d bringing back weap ancient race, charging into doz-
on modifications, and grenades.; *’ens. o f suicide missions and, oh
Difficulty has been tweaked as yeah, dying.
'Your smaller choices also have
well, ranging" from “pip-squeak”
to “why did you throw your con a lot more impact if you are a
careful observer. Ih one instance
troller through the TV?”
At the start o f the game the I came across when I reconnect
Reapers, the game’s m ain antago- ed with a former- crew member.
nisr, start fending on Earth to Traumatized ;by her experiences
obliterate everything i n . their at the end o f “M E2,” she is help
path. You are forced to aban ing refugees deal with the stresses
don Earth to fend for itself and they have. You have the. choice of
rally other faces in th e, galaxy ; complimenting Mie work, she is
to defend the planet, which is . doing-*or suggest that she change,
the site o f the Jargest invasion. hèr name. I chose to. com plim ent
Depending on how many allies her and after a critical event on'
you gain throughout the game the station she was at, I-overhead
background conversation that
and the- “gafexy readiness” you
gain through multiplayer match-’ metitioned she had been singled
es you will stand a better chance- out and executed by the enemy.
at beating the Reapers, or become
Bioware changed some, o f the
interactive features that fans had
a smoldering corpse.
However, the first half o f the Issues with. In ' “M E 2” you had
story o f Mass Effect fails at tug to go, across, the entire .galaxy
ging at the heartstrings ò f ,the and scan for minerals to upgrade
player. Earth -has been invaded, your weapons, armor and ship.
By Brian Baldwin
Editor-in-Chief
It was rediftus, consumed hours„
and the scanning had no concept ,
o f pfenet
Instead scanning'’
Jyas©e'en'repurposed for finding“
and collecting war assets.-that are'
scattered across star systems. -
' T he new “galaxy at, war” sys- .
tem in “M E3” finally allows play
ers to experience what they-have
been asking for since the launch
o f th e first game. Based around
the popular form oft “defend
against X num ber o f waves,” fans
can choose j o play a combination I
o f their favorite class and race
that is provided. Each victory,
o r defeat, changes the ■ “galaxy
readiness” that wfll benefit the
endgame result- o f th e storyline.
However this style o f game pfey is
repetitive and gets old fast.
“M E3” is worth the money
only if you are the type o f per
son that loves immense game
, universes that have a -lot o f back
story. T he side, missions, trying
to explore every nook and cranny
and all o f the crew.dlalogue will
easily surpass more than 2 0 hours
o f game play. If you are new to
“Mass Effect” I would, strongly
recommend starting with a t least
the second game, as the story o f
“M E3” is not friendly to new
players. "
T his series grabbed m y
heart at the'.first game. “Blade
Runner in space meets ‘H eart
o f Darkness’” I JjelJeve, were
m y words. However, the end
ing failed to give m e a satisfac
tory end to the iconic story o f
Com m ander Shepard and didn’t
involve the Reapers in the final
showdown as m uch as it did in
the previous two games. It lives
up to the hype that fens expect
ed, except for the plot needed to
tug on our heartstrings concern
ing Earth,-W ith the promise o f
upcoming downloadable content
it will be interesting to see how
Bioware will salvage the ending.
Female Shepard holds her weapons in. front ofthe special effectsbackground. In this game you fiatile
all types o f science-fiction characters to achieve the goal o f beating the Reapers.