Klavan On The Culture

THE FINAL HOUR

The Homelanders series of suspense novels for young adults comes to an action-packed conclusion in The Final Hour! Teenager Charlie West went to sleep in his own bed one night only to wake up in a torture chamber where Islamo-fascist terrorists were planning to kill him. Ever since, he’s been on the run from both the terrorists and the police. Now he’s trapped in a hellishly brutal prison—and time is ticking away toward an unimaginable disaster only he can prevent.

The Final Hour. Available now!

By Andrew Klavan

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Gears of War 3

December 19, 2011 - 7:05 am - by Andrew Klavan

Gears of War: Where Even The Girls are Men!

This is one of my favorite series of video games. More than anything, it was the amazingly intuitive controls that made the first one such a leap forward. Once you mastered the buttons, you could run, duck, cover, fire and reload seamlessly, creating what video game reviewers are always calling an “immersive experience.” No doubt.

As for the story…  well, as I began this final piece of the trilogy, I played the video that reminded you of what happened in the first two games. To paraphrase only slightly, the narrator essentially said, “The aliens invaded and we killed them; then they invaded again and we killed some more of them. Now they’re back!” Fair enough. Let’s do it.

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While I had a great time playing this, I’d probably rank it the least of the three, the first being the best. The makers, I thought, were resting on their laurels. The first one had those great new controls. The second one had some creative new combat situations. This one was essentially a reiteration of the others—still great fun, but nothing new.

Still, there were all the usual GOW pleasures. Ugly monsters that blow up good when you kill them, beautiful scenery, and relationships so macho that even the girls had deeper voices than I do.

Sorry to see this story end, but hoping Santa brings the new Batman and Uncharted games for Christmas. Love Santa.

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4 Comments, 3 Threads

  1. 1. John J

    “It is good that war is so horrible, lest we learn to love it too much.”
    …Gen. George S. Patton

    December 19, 2011 - 4:34 pm   Link to this Comment
  2. 2. Cameron Halling

    Is this…a video game review!? I had no idea that you did review on games! I was rather surprised by this game; it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. The campaign is fun and the new horde mode brings a lot of new perks/features that make it fun…but the online multiplayer is full of holes (try playing a game online and see if you can get through one without coming across a jerk who just runs around with the sawed-off shotgun).

    The best part of the game is that you did a review of it; Andrew Klavan doing video games makes me so happy!

    Thanks and enjoy the holidays

    December 19, 2011 - 6:23 pm   Link to this Comment
  3. 3. Aaron Miller

    It sounds like you’re not a fan of Horde 2.0. The novelty of any story wears off by the third outing, so the first always seems like (is) the best. But Epic’s refinement of Horde mode in Gears of War 3 is a wonderful blend of action and tower defense gameplay. Beast mode is fun, too, when played with friends.

    …as opposed to Versus mode, which is basically just making soup with shotguns.

    If you want to give Horde mode a run with a fellow Ricochetian, my XBL gamertag is hallower1980. It will have to wait until after Christmas, though.

    Arkham City is great, but more complicated than Arkham Asylum. I hope you enjoy it.

    Any interest in Skyrim?

    December 22, 2011 - 6:34 am   Link to this Comment