Linkin Park Concert Review

            Dark clothing, bad haircuts, face piercings… It could only be a rock concert.

            On January 23, world-famous rock band Linkin Park held a concert at the Philips Arena in Atlanta to celebrate the release of their most recent album, A Thousand Suns.

            Atlanta was but one of the many stops along their nationwide tour, rightfully titled the A Thousand Suns World Tour 2011.

            Linkin Park consists of lead vocalist Chester Bennington, supporting vocalist/rapper Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, drummer Rob Bourdon, bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, and DJ Joe Hahn. They are a “nu metal” band who has been a massive success since the release of their debut album, Hybrid Theory, in 2000. With huge hits such as “One Step Closer” and “Bleed it Out,” chances are good that you have experienced Linkin Park in one way or another.

            The concert started like any other: people filing into their seats, arms full of ridiculously overpriced food and drink, talking in excited voices about how much they love Linkin Park and debating who is a bigger fan.

            I was lucky enough to obtain floor tickets, standing mere feet from the stage. Linkin Park has been my favorite band for almost ten years; there was no other viewing option.

            The show was scheduled to begin at 7 PM, and it promptly began at 7 without missing a beat. The first band to take the stage was a small British band called Does it Offend You, Yeah? Why this band was even allowed to share the same breathing room as Linkin Park is a mystery that will never be explained. Their performance was as awful as their name. Every single one of their songs was identical, which is a crippling disability when all of the songs are terrible.

At one point during the performance, the lead singer accidentally knocked his keyboard off of its stand, breaking it. The audience, otherwise known as the “poor victims,” passed the time by texting their friends, laughing at the band and shouting vulgar (though completely warranted) remarks at the band. The obligatory clapping as they exited the stage was laughably fake.

            The second band to precede Linkin Park was another British rock band called Pendulum that was significantly better than its predecessor. Their performance was met with a good amount of positive feedback from the audience, with cheers and “devil horns” displayed throughout. Their songs (which I had never heard before) were typical hard rock; nothing new, but still enjoyable.

The major complaint about Pendulum is (what I can only assume was meant to be) their lead singer. I say this because the lead guitarist was doing the majority of the center-stage singing, while the man who played no other instrument and only sang a few lyrics danced and jumped around the stage like a child. This was amusing at first, but it quickly grew old; by the time their performance was over, I was praying that one of his jumps would result in bodily harm.

And then, the moment the entire audience had been waiting for: Linkin Park took the stage. The torment of the previous two bands was instantly made up for by Linkin Park’s unbelievable performance. Comprised of a very pleasing mixture of some of their biggest hits and their newest material, the entire show appealed equally to both new and old LP fans.

While the entire show was nothing less than fantastic, there were several very memorable performances. The acoustic song “The Messenger,” the only acoustic song on any of Linkin Park’s studio albums, was performed beautifully, and was a serious departure in tone from the rest of the show.

“Faint,” known to LP fans as one of their most fun, intense songs, was met with elated screams and cheers from the audience, followed by almost everyone on the floor (myself included) bouncing with the beat of the song.

One of Linkin Park’s most recent hits, “Bleed it Out,” has been a frequent show-ender for the band since its creation. They often perform an extended version of the song to close their live shows, much to the delight of the audience. This show was no different; intermingled with the rest of the song were verses from two of their other songs, “Burning in the Skies” and “A Place for My Head.” Not only was this concept very original, it was unexpected and highly enjoyable.

Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns World Tour 2011 was a definite high note for the band, further reinforcing them as one of rock music’s current heavy hitters. After 11 years of success, the rock community can only hope that they keep releasing hit albums and performing shows as amazing as this tour.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Video Game Review

            Gamers and comic book enthusiasts have been waiting eleven years to hear these words: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has arrived.

            Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is a fighting game developed by Capcom and released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the third installment in the critically acclaimed Marvel vs. Capcom series of fighting games. The games follow the premise of a theoretical crossover of the Marvel comic book universe and the Capcom video game universe, and what would happen if this occurred.

In this iteration in the series, when Albert Wesker of the Capcom universe and Doctor Doom of the Marvel universe conspire to bring about the end of the Earth, the greatest heroes from both universes must join forces to put a stop to their plans.

For those who have never played a Marvel vs. Capcom game before, the object of the game is simple. From the given list of characters, you and your opponent both pick three characters, and then engage in a fast-paced fight to deplete the life of your opponent’s characters.

            Nerds, let’s get one thing straight: this is not the Marvel vs. Capcom you remember. Many aspects of the series have been either slightly changed or completely retooled, whether this is for better or worse.

            One of the first things one will notice when playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is the visual style. The game discards the 2D style of the first two games in the series in favor of a significantly smoother 3D look. The characters are now fully animated in a way that makes the game not only more fun to look at, but much easier to play. All of the characters and backgrounds are extremely vivid and colorful as well, making the whole package very pleasing to the eye.

            When it comes to video games, the most important aspect is, of course, the gameplay. Marvel vs. Capcom 3’s control scheme has been changed completely from Marvel vs. Capcom 2, converting the once popular combination of kick and punch buttons into light, medium, and heavy attack buttons.

This new system is not only easier to get used to than the old method, but it also makes the game significantly easier to play once it is mastered. As a fighting game aficionado, even I had difficulty mastering the button set up of the old games, but the revamped control scheme of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 makes the game ridiculously fun and easy to beat your opponents to a pulp.

            Every character in the game possesses several extremely powerful special attacks, called Hyper Combos, which are performed with a certain combination of button presses. All of these moves do a significant amount of damage to the opponent if they hit, but they cannot be performed constantly. A bar at the bottom of the screen, called the Hyper Gauge, fills up when you hit the opponent or are hit by the opponent. Using special attacks depletes this gauge, so they must be used with discretion and careful timing.

            The special moves have always been one of the coolest aspects of the series, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is no different. Not only are the attacks gorgeously animated with the game’s visual style, but the feeling of satisfaction when using one of these moves at just the right time is nothing short of ecstasy.

            Every character possesses both English and Japanese language voiceovers, and the player can toggle which one they would like in the game’s options. Along with the characters’ voices, a myriad of character art, movies, and character biographies can also be unlocked. This is a nice touch, and adds a significant amount of depth to Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

            Another new addition to the series is the “X Factor.” Able to be activated at any time during a fight, once activated, it has a variety of different effects based on several factors, such as which character uses it, how many characters are left in the fight, and how much health the characters have left. The X Factor can only be activated once per match, and this can change the outcome of a fight on a dime.

            Unfortunately, not everything is good in the Marvel vs. Capcom universe. No game is perfect, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has its fair share of problems.

            One of the largest complaints about the game is the glaring omission of different game modes. Other than a very short Arcade mode, a simple Mission mode, an Online mode, and a Versus mode, there is not much to choose from. Things such as a Survival mode have come to be expected in almost all modern fighting games, and its absence hurts the game’s fun factor and credibility as a legitimate fighting game.

            Another major complaint about Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is its character roster. Not only does it possess 20 fewer characters than the previous game in the series, many of the characters that are in the game are very unbalanced.

            The most annoying example of this is one character in particular: Sentinel. Sentinel is a large, purple robot from the Marvel universe, and his inclusion in the game makes it completely broken. No matter their skill level, if a player picks Sentinel, they can win the fight with almost no effort, due to his ability to stand on the opposite side of the screen and continuously fire off projectile attacks that do not allow the opponent to approach him. This is exactly as unfair as it sounds, and how this issue was not addressed before the game’s release is beyond my level of comprehension.

            Capcom’s approach to playing online is another less-than-stellar showing of the game’s capabilities. More often than not, when trying to connect to an online match, the connection fails and sends the player back to the game’s main menu. This is incredibly frustrating, and on the rare occasions when a successful connection is made, the players you will fight have either picked Sentinel or are simply too good to enjoy playing the game.

            Fortunately, Capcom has promised future downloadable content for Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the first of which have already been released at the time of this writing. Two more characters were added, as well as another game mode and alternate costumes for six of the game’s characters. None of these are particularly necessary, though the added characters are certainly a welcome addition.

            Small gripes aside, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is an excellent fighting game that should not be missed by anyone who enjoys video games or comic books. Boasting a beautiful visual style and simple, incredibly entertaining gameplay that is hindered only by its lack of diversity in its characters and game modes, the game will have even the calmest player frantically smashing the buttons on their game controller and shouting “Avengers Assemble!” upon their victory.

Get the Torches and Pitchforks

I'm a monster, I know. I only update this every few months, even though I consistently promise to update several times a month. I'm sorry, I'm a liar. I'm a bad person. It's true. The sad truth is, I've just been too busy to think about the blog. What with AP classes, college applications, scholarships, and enjoying the little free time I have, the blog isn't really something I think a lot about... So yes, grab your torches and pitchforks, folks: I am a monster. Do what you will. In my defense, however, because of my schedule, I haven't actually reviewed a movie since the previous post. I have done several articles since then, but none of them have been movie reviews. That sounds very bad for a movie critic, but the truth it is. If it makes up for my bad behavior, I'm going to change the blog from here on out to be any kind of reviews, from movies to video games to TV to music albums. I'll review everything under the sun, and to make up for my absence, I'm posting two reviews I've written in my absence: a video game and a concert. Enjoy, mis amigos.