Bock, Bock, Bock, Ba-CAW! And More God of War II

This arrived in the mail today and I am a giddy little geek. There’s just something deliciously evil about taking beloved toys and using stop-motion animation to make them do horrible things to each other. It kind of reminds me of summer days as a kid when instead of going out and playing in the streets like normal, well adjusted children, I’d be using our ancient VHS camcorder to make live-action movies, or primitive stop motion features using Justice League and He-Man action figures.

Except of course that what you find in Robot Chicken is hilariously brilliant. As opposed to my spare, Hemingway-esque, incredibly poignant dialog that went along the lines of “PAY IN SPADES, KALIBAK! WHA-POW!!”

If you don’t know, Robot Chicken is a series of stop-motion animated shorts by Seth Green (aka Oz of Buffy the Vampire Slayter fame and Scott Evil, Dr. Evil’s son in the Austin Power films) and Matthew Senreich, editor of Toyfare magazine. Basically the show is no-holds barred insanity that goes above and beyond the clay-mation hijinks of Celebrity Deathmatch to go into strange, perverse areas of pop and geek culture. Only in Robot Chicken will you find a parody of Final Fantasy VII where the characters are now working in a fast food restaurant, and only here will you find out exactly how deep Ted Turner’s psychosis and love for Captain Planet goes. But don’t take my word for it. Witness for yourself…

I’d seen various Robot Chicken shorts over the last couple of years, without knowing that’s what it was, until that particular Captain Planet sketch compelled me to find exactly who the hell these lunatics were. Now that I have it for my very own, I feel all giddy inside.

God of War II continues to be played and it is a marvel of a game. The further I get into it, the more and more impressed I am by the brilliance of the actual design. Too often these days, a game will make me go “Wow” for reasons other than the actual game itself, such as the graphics, or the quality of the story or cutscenes shown. While God of War II undoubtedly has the best graphics that the PS2 will ever see, what amazes me the most about this game is how much it feels like watching Raiders of the Lost Ark for the very first time. You’re left with your mouth hanging open at some of the setpiece action/game sequences, and when you see them, you think “That did NOT just happen! HOW COOL IS THAT?!” and you just can’t wait to see what happens in deeper in the game, which usually tops whatever it is you’ve just seen anyway. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun with an action game. It’s just BRILLIANT. It’s not done yet, since the Wife insists that not a minute of gaming goes by at which she’s not present, so I play it in chunks when she’s not working, and we’re both unbelievably impressed. After this, the upcoming Tomb Raider: Anniversary in June is going to be somewhat anti-climatic. Especially considering I’ll probably still be screaming “YEEEEEEEEE!” over Guitar Hero: 80′s Edition which will arrive a few days later.

Also things with IGN are moving, albeit slowly. A few more contractual formalities have been worked out (translation, they lost the signed contracts I sent and needed them again), and we’re now just about ready to start. Of course, I can’t actually talk about what I’m going to be doing. But I will say my first article involves dealing with someone I already know and have a lot of respect for, so this will be fun and easy.

And yes, Lost In Loveless continues to be written, but… really what can you say about that? “I wrote more book.” Whoo. How exciting….