Transformers 2 thoughts: A Masterpiece of Suckage

No doubt about it, this is Michael Bay's masterpiece. If you love everything that is signature Michael Bay, you will enjoy this movie. This is Michael Bay without any restraint. And I'm also convinced, that this is a terribly made film. Full of terrible jokes that failed to make me crack a smile more than a couple of times, a really really really boring second act that's even worse than the first one's second act, and the resolution to the film is done within 3-4 minutes and it just suddenly ends.

The plot is terrible and that's absolutely no surprise, but when Michael Bay decides to shove it in our face for an hour during the middle with absolutely no action, how do you not become complacent? And then you begin to start wondering, this movie is already 2 and a 1/2 hours as it already is, why didn't they just shave off a ton of the first and second act? Because there's so many pointless scenes. A ton. Half of them don't really matter in the end anyway, but they throw it in for the hell of it.

The action is good. Well, most of it. The ending had me frustrated by how long it took to build up. Optimus is no longer a bitch, kind of. So I was happy with that. A lot of characters were a waste. No doubt about it. Ratchet is in the film, yay! Well, if you didn't remember how exactly he looked like from the first film, then you wouldn't know. Ironhide gets a few mentions. Arcee gets ONE mention. None of the Autobots got much of a focus besides the two most annoying robots in the film, Optimus, and Bumblebee. The Fallen seemed like a waste in my opinion, he doesn't do anything until the very end, and well....he doesn't do all that much.


Shia Labeouf likes to yell Bumblebee and Optimus Prime's name a lot. It made me laugh more than the actual jokes in the film. Megan Fox looked hot, pretty much expected. Can't really act. Nothing too shocking so I'm not going to criticize to heavily there. The mom is so fucking annoying. I wanted to kill her. She gets high in this movie...literally. If you find that comedy, then this movie is for you. I don't mind if you do enjoy that, but it certainly didn't do it for me. John Turturro was also very annoying. I like him, but this movie makes me hate him. That and the first.

All in all, I didn't like this movie. I didn't come in wanting to despise the movie but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the negative buzz surrounding this movie didn't have some sort of effect. But it couldn't prepare me for this movie. It's an overwhelming film. In terms of bad jokes, robot action, dangling balls, and annoying people. That said, kids love this film. My audience had a standing ovation. I squirmed in my chair and wanted to facepencil myself.

I keep hearing that I shouldn't expect a great story from a movie about robots based off a toy line. Well, first of all, at least Terminator 2, also a movie about robots, was awesome and had a pretty good story (full of plotholes, but that's time travel for you). I enjoyed that movie an infinite amount more. People act like that the source material is an excuse for it to be all robot action and nothing else. Well, it doesn't. When the other elements are truly that horrific, it absolutely knocks this movie down a serious notch. The action is great. Everything else isn't.

4/10. I think I have to say the first one was more enjoyable. At least it showed more restraint. I mean, if you like robot action, that's great, but think of it as the main dish, and the side dish is awful comedy and no plot.

A quick rundown of the May movie releases

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (5/10): Mediocre CGI, cliche plot, cliche directing that's only saved by decent performances from Jackman and Schreiber. If the movie wasn't so laughably entertaining, I would have given it a 3/10. But it was funny.

Star Trek (8.5/10): Not much of a Trekkie but I really enjoyed the movie. Great special effects, a very likable cast (especially Pine and Quinto) and a story that should appeal to old and non fans alike. It's one fun adventure.

Angels and Demons (7/10): It's a lot better than the Da Vinci Code, that's for sure. Sure, the way the film unfolds is very....plain but it manages to entertain regardless. At least it isn't bogged down by 15 minute conversations, instead they have been shortened to 5 minutes or less!

Terminator Salvation (5 or 6/10): Unlike X-Men, this isn't laughably bad...well only in a few moments, but it isn't good. It's got some nice action sequences but a poor script ridden with terrible dialogue really prevents it from being anything more than mediocre.

Up (10/10): My favorite animated film since the Incredibles, I kid you not. This movie has emotion, laughs, and adventure all filled into one, despite having an old guy as the main character. It's that good.

Quantum of Solace (2008) Review

Back in 2006, Casino Royale came out as a reboot to the James Bond franchise and revitalized interest in the series completely. I was one of those people. After Die Another Day back in 2002, I thought the Bond series was done for. But I never should have doubted, especially considering how Die Another Day brought about the biggest box office gross for the Bond series yet. Fast forward to 2008, when Quantum of Solace comes out. To be quite frank, when I was walking out of the theater, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

That's not to say the movie was bad. People were proclaiming this as the worst Bond movie yet. People called Daniel Craig a "Bourne knockoff." Well, I thought comments like these were a bit extreme. Quantum of Solace features Daniel Craig returning as James Bond in what is essentially a sequel to Casino Royale. Joining him is Olga Kurylenko as Camille, and Mathieu Amalric as Dominic Greene. The plot involves James Bond attempting to further discover the roots of the organization that was involved with Vesper Lynd, which leads him to Dominic Greene, CEO of Greene Planet. What he discovers, is a possible coup happening in Bolivia and an unknown resource that is being sought by Dominic Greene, all the while running rogue from MI6 to console himself, and discover answers.

The cast isn't anything particularly special, although Daniel Craig continues to shine as James Bond. But the only problem is that he's uber pissed off in the movie, and as a result, loses a lot of the suave personality that we've come to expect from Bond. Olga Kurylenko plays a solid, yet unremarkable Bond girl who is strong willed but lacks a distinction between herself and past women. Mathieu Amalric is surprisingly the weakest part of the entire film. He never feels menacing throughout the entire movie, and plays essentially a CEO who aspires to do illegal activities. Again, he lacks any kind of distinction from past villains, and plays no better than a villain from another spy thriller. He is simply....there.

The plot feels very hollow for a Bond film. We go from the longest Bond film ever (Casino Royale) to the shortest (Quantum of Solace), and it really shows how Casino Royale was a superior film. All the characters feel underdeveloped, and all the sequences move so briskly and quick that the film just breezes by. Bond goes to some five locations, in a span of an hour and forty minutes and as a result, the plot feels paper thin. Some characters feel woefully underused such as Mr. White and Felix Leiter. However, if there is one thing to commend from this movie, it's the ability for Bond to feel a little less fantastical and more realistic with its plot. A lot of the evil scheme feels realistic, and it deals with a lot of issues today in world politics. It's a double edged sword, since that's what makes it feel unremarkable, yet refreshing at the same time. The Organization is the most interesting part of the entire film, despite not everything being answered, however, the resolution to Bond's emotional ties to Vesper is resolved quite nicely, and it made for a good ending I thought.

When you tie the whole package together, this movie has solid acting with a mediocre plot, that features some occasionally exciting action sequences. However, the action sequences seem to happen for no reason sometimes, and the editing is so frenetic that it can be difficult to follow. It was worse in the theater, but here, it's more tolerable, however, it does play to the Bourne knockoff comments. However, the sequences improve considerably in direction as each one goes by. Bond is certainly lethal in all of the sequences, as he really engages in some brutal fights, however, it seems like there's too much action towards the beginning, and less so in the middle and the end. Both Quantum and Casino Royale seem to have the right amount of pacing when it comes to action sequences.

Overall, this is one of the better Bond films, but considering the previous installment being one of the best, you feel that the movie is a bit hollow. Craig remains the center of attention as he still pulls off the role of James Bond quite well, and the plot doesn't get quite as facepalm worthy as Tomorrow Never Dies or Moonraker. It never gets too campy, and it never gets too unrealistic (save for the airplane scene). These are normally my biggest gripes with Bond movies generally, and they are absent from this movie. It's a fun ride, and in the end, that's what matters the most.

7/10

Again, I'm not a technical spec reviewer, but the Blu Ray certainly looks nice, and while it doesn't come close to the best looking films out there, it's certainly worth it over the DVD. I hear the audio is fantastic (don't have an HD surround sound system), and personally I think the video quality is about as good as Casino Royale's, if not a bit better, which is certainly good. The extras are lacking, meaning a double dip is inevitable in the future, but if you enjoyed the movie, I think it's worth a purchase

Easter week means....more time for me!

Got lots of time to play more Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 this weekend. Hopefully, I can achieve platinum on Resident Evil 5, and get more trophies on Killzone 2. This week, I'm gonna have a Quantum of Solace (Blu Ray) review up for you guys, and just a few thoughts on the box office......

If I have time, I may review Goldfinger on Blu as well!

The Killzone 2 Review

By popular demand, I am going to introduce my Killzone 2 review. Now, I beat the game a while ago, so I may have forgotten a few crucial details. You're gonna have to forgive me, but you forced my hand. Anyways, back in 2004, Killzone was released to hype and disappointed many. In 2005, the Killzone 2 E3 trailer blew everyone away and we all thought it could not be surpassed or even matched from a graphical standpoint. Well, it's been a month, and I think it's safe to say that it's in the general ball park. But how does the rest of the game hold up?

The story is quite simple, following Helghan's invasion of Vekta, the ISA have fought back and are now planning on taking the battle to their home turf on the planet of Helghan. You play as Thomas 'Sev' Sevchenko, a young but battle hardened soldier who has climbed quickly to the rank of Sergeant through the years. Joining you is Rico Velasquez, from the original Killzone, Garza (a friend of Sev's), and Natko. Together, your mission is to capture Scolar Visari, the Emperor of Helghan.

To me, it seemed like the story took quite a bit of time to progress, with the first half really being the moments of the beginning invasion, and how they're trying to get to Visari Palace little by little. Only after Colonel Radec unleashes his secret weapon do things start to progress. It's a fairly bland story, with a more interesting than usual premise compared to most first person shooters. By premise, I mean that the Killzone mythos is actually quite interesting, with humans being exiled, and then inhabiting Helghan, and then taking their revenge as look-a-like Nazi's. So it's pretty bland, and progresses little. Some of the choices made by Rico in particular made me punch a wall, because he's an idiot. All the drama happens mostly because of him, and if he weren't so stupid, maybe the events would be more dramatic to me, but all I wanted to do was punch a wall.

The gameplay is pretty standard fare as well but Killzone 2 shines by bringing large intense battles onto your TV screen. I don't think any FPS can match the gritty warzone like Killzone 2 can in terms of atmosphere yet. The single player set pieces are all very well designed which make use of small corridors and large open stages that both provide equally intense battles. The controls do play a role to it. It's all very controversial, because some people feel that it's too weighty, and upon initial play, it does. It's certainly not like popular FPS' such as Halo or Call of Duty. However, I grew into it, and didn't mind it. In an intense battle, I felt that it really is going to be difficult to sharp shoot from afar and just take down scores of enemies with ease.

Combine that with the cover system, which you can use to stop and then pop, I felt like the tactics felt more realistic than that of Call of Duty. But does that make it any more fun? I thought it was for the most part, just as satisfying as any other renowned first person shooter. However, you're put in a difficult situation. I don't have any doubt that either Standard 1 or Alternate 2 is the best option for controls. With Alternate 2, you can use L1 to aim, but that means using the cover system is difficult because you have to press both that and L2 in order to take cover and shoot. And with Standard 1, then you have to use R3 to shoot. It's all pretty frustrating in that sense. However, in multiplayer, this is not a problem because there is no cover system, and Alternate 2 is definitely the way to go there if you're used to other shooter controls.

The largest gripe here for the single player is truly, the lack of co-op. You're with a squad member for 95% of the game, yet they do not give you this option. I wouldn't have minded if it didn't have local co-op as I understand this game is visually demanding, but why not online co-op? Guerilla, please patch this in, it demands it. Other major gripes include the crappy team AI. Ok, for the most part, they do their job, but when you get to Visari Palace, that's when the flaws of the AI really start showing. Rico/Garza/Natko seem to have the inability to cover you, and do very little to help in areas where the Helghast swarm. At best, they provide nice distractions

For multiplayer, there is Warzone. There are five competitive modes, such as Body Count which represents Team Deathmatch, and then there is Search and Destroy, where you plant explosives on a target. There is also Assasination, which is essentially VIP mode in Halo 3, where the objective is either to defend or kill a specific target. There's also a capture the flag mode, but the flag is a propaganda speaker that you have to take back to your stronghold. The final mode is just like Domination from Call of Duty, where you capture strongholds and hold them.

Warzone itself is pretty fun, as the transitions to each game mode make it feel like...well...a warzone. I mean, there's always gotta be more than just one objective in battle, right? Battles are generally intense due to the 32 players and the maps are generally well designed and large enough to accomodate 32 players. However, your experience is going to depend on whether your players choose to be more tactical or not. To determine tactics, then you'll need to use the Squad feature, which allows you to invite people into your squad and then be able to talk to them directly whereever you are. Otherwise, you're restricted to proximity chat, where you can only hear people within your area through the Mic. The most important reason to use the squad feature, is the ability to spawn where your squad leader is, assuming of course, you're not the squad leader.

The class system seems to have more variance than other first person shooters IMO. Medic is for reviving people and throwing health packs, and Engineer is for setting bots and well...dominating at close quarter combat. For the small maps, Engineer is King! Tactician IMO, is probably the most important class for big maps, because you can set up spawn areas, which are very important so you don't get cornered, and can try and corner the other team. There's also Saboteur, which disguises you as the enemy so you can sneak around, and then the Sniper class, which allows you to become invisible temporarily! All in all, I thought the classes were very unique, and each one is generally fun to use.

However, I gotta gripe here. The party system or lack thereof, is a problem. It's so hard to get on the same team with your friends, and to make matters worse, the servers don't indicate which ones don't have auto-balancing and which ones do. I really like the fact you can join a friend really easily, and that you can pick servers, but the lack of party system makes things a huge pain in the ass. Also, some features that shouldn't have to be locked, are locked. Such as the squad feature. Sure, it doesn't take a long time to unlock, but for newcomers, it's pretty annoying.

The interface beyond that though, is pretty impressive. All sorts of stats are show here, and it's really nice to be able to compare with your friends real easily. Killzone.com, when not being slow can also display all these stats and previous matches that map out what was going on through X's and O's. Cool stuff. There are plenty of badges to get for each class for those who love completing everything, and experimenting with different classes is very fun because each have a pretty useful purpose. Multiplayer itself is very fun, but the interface issues are what hurts it.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but Killzone 2 is a damn good looking game. The best ever? Maybe, it's certainly up in the top five. The lighting is incredibly impressive, and the particle effects are incredible, especially in maps such as Visari Hammer. The muzzle flashes from a gun is so incredibly cool that it really immerses you into the experience. The game is intense, and explosions are happenining everywhere and that's why it is so impressive that the game manages to stay at a mostly smooth framerate, even with debris and such flying everywhere.

The game is very nicely detailed and the character models look great. The character models aren't the best I've seen for sure, but they certainly do the job, and look better than any other FPS character models I've ever seen. Like I said, the framerate stays smooth most if not all the time (I can only vaguely remember). If there's one problem I had with the technical aspects of the game, the loading screens were kinda bothersome because it freezes for one or two seconds before you progress.

The sound of course is great. It sounds excellent on a surround sound system and the sound effects of explosions and guns will further immerse you into the experience. The acting is well....par for the course. The voice actor for Sev does an ok job, along with Garza, but Natko comes off as slightly annoying while Rico comes off as REALLY annoying. The dialog is pretty bad too, specifically for Rico since he has the inability to not cuss every sentence. Which gets really annoying. It just seems inappropriately used in several places.

If there's anybody who does a good job with the voice acting, it's Brian Cox. As Scolar Visari, he truly has a menacing voice as the Emperor of Helghan. His propaganda speeches are nothing short of mesmerizing! The music I thought was also very good for a first person shooter game. The menu music is very powerful I thought, which starts off as menacing, and then goes to heroic in a way. Listening to the music in the credits was pretty good too. Overall, the sound is pretty good, but Rico and the dialog really hurts it

The game itself only takes about 6-8 hours to beat, so it's not very long, however, that's about average for a first person shooter these days. The multiplayer is engrossing and gets much better as you go along I think. However, it's pretty easy to unlock the rank of General, which took me about 12 hours. With no prestige mode, I can certainly see that being bothersome for some. I don't mind all that much, but it does leave you with little to do in the way of unlocking stuff. However, there also plenty of badges and medals to get.

In addition to that, there are trophies in the game, that for the most part, seem fairly placed. The difficult one to keep an eye on here is beating the game on Elite mode which I have heard is nothing short of ridiculously hard, especially when it comes to Visari Palace. I haven't played it for myself, but I can assure you I will, and I dread that day. The game is sure to take days of your time if you enjoy it, but it's hard to say whether we'll be playing this a year from now, but I'm very certain that you'll get your money's worth from the game.

So all in all, Killzone 2 is a very strong game. If there are three things that detract from the game, then it's the lack of co-op, the lack of a party system, and no joke...Rico. But in spite of all that, the game proves itself to be a very intense experience that manages to overcome these potential game-changing flaws. The game grabs you immediately and never lets go, and offers the most visually striking game quite possibly this generation and defines the word "immersive." I strongly recommend that fans of first person shooters try this one out.

Presentation: 8.0/10
Gameplay: 9.0/10
Graphics: 10.0/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Replay Value: 9.0/10

Overall: 9.0/10 (Man I give these scores out a lot, eh?)

*Sigh*

Have you ever had one of those days that you're just about to snap and lash out at someone? I'm at that point. I'm walking that thin fine line.

"There is an idea of an Onslaught X; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there."

Resident Evil 5: A Review

Ever since 2005, I've been looking forward to this game. I dropped the controller after playing Resident Evil 4, and I thought, "Wow.......I need more." Thankfully, the PS2 version did help to alleviate some of that but that is never enough for me. I needed a full game. So here we are, over four years later, and now Resident Evil 5 is out. And thankfully, it really doesn't disappoint.

This time, instead of playing Leon Kennedy, we play Chris Redfield and his new partner, Sheva Alomar. Chris comes to a place called Kijuju to investigate a possible bioterrorism incident under the BSAA, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. To assist him, is Sheva, who works under the African Branch. Well, things get worse as they discover the "Uroboros Project," which results in the villagers going into a zombie-like state like Resident Evil 4. As the story goes on though, Chris finds a much more personal reason to continue trudging on.

The plot itself really isn't anything special. It felt like the events of the situation itself was hardly anything memorable, but the game was doing its absolute best to tie up the story itself. It feels difficult to explain. I felt more invested with saving the President's daughter in Resident Evil 4, which felt like the main priority. But in Resident Evil 5, the original plan deviates greatly into a revenge sort of mission, and not until Chapter 5 does it really start to kick in. Do I have a problem with that? No, Resident Evil is B movie plot here, but it's fun. I wouldn't say this is any worse than any of the other Resident Evil stories. And the ending is pure awesome. The whole last chapter really is excellent, although I felt a few things were convenient (SATELLITE LASERS?!)

The gameplay itself is very similar to what it was in Resident Evil 4. It's an over the shoulder camera view and you can run and all, but once you see a zombie, you MUST stop and then aim carefully and shoot. The controls do seem outdated at this day and age, but the developers here do a good job of making it go away. It never seems too rigid for some reason. You get used to it after an hour and it looks fairly natural once you're good at it. It seems like the developers are playing with the nostalgia you had from both RE4 in terms of gameplay and the past RE games in terms of story. I had no problem with that. Capcom did amp up the amount of enemies on screen it seems though, but with Sheva helping you out, it provides a good balance.

Sheva/Chris, depending on who you play is pretty good for an AI partner I think. She doesn't make a good enough substitute though for a competent human player. She takes up quite a bit of handgun ammo, and you can't force her to switch her weapon given the situation. Really, she serves as a good backup/distraction when you need to reload or heal yourself but it's hard to think of her as an equal (I do not mean this in a sexist way). The inventory system has been changed, which feels like RE1 mixed with RE4. You can still upgrade your weapons and sell treasures, but in the process, you can only carry nine items at a time, instead of the ridiculously big attache case. This means there is a real time weapon change system, so you can get hit in the process! At the end of each section, you can store items, or add items to your actual inventory. Also, Sheva makes a great solution to storing stuff!

The difficulty seems to be a bit more difficult in this game. At least for the first run. None of the bosses save for the last few ever get that tough, but ammo is more scarce this time around since you have to share with Sheva. I guess, it's easier to get into danger territory, but since Sheva can resuscitate you with her spare herbs, it's difficult to die. However, those quick time events re-appear in this game and while they seemed really cool back when RE4 came out, they seem a bit bothersome these days. Especially when you die due to a split second decision when you're not paying attention. However, the QTE events in the final stages of the game, are nothing short of LOL-worthy and awesome.

Upgrading weapons appears to be more of a challenge as well. There's more weapons, and it takes upgrading one to the max in order to unlock others. But weapons like the Handcannon are so much easier to get now, since you don't have to fulfill it in Mercenaries. To me, it felt like gold was a bit more scarce than it was in Resident Evil 4, and I think part of this has to do with treasures being less frequent, so it was difficult to get a lot of money and then upgrading your weapons. It also kinda stunk that there are no yellow herbs. Had me confused for quite a bit of the game, since you couldn't increase your health. For newcomers though, this is not a problem.

On to the graphics. Let me be blunt here....they look incredible. The lighting is great, and the character models look very good. Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil (remake) were some of the pinnacles of graphics technology back when they came out and this one is no exception. I wouldn't say it's the undisuputed best, but it's certainly in the top tier. As I said, the lighting is excellent. It really feels like you're in Africa in the beginning stages. The character models are all very well detailed, when it comes to the main ones, and the backgrounds look excellent.

However, I do have to gripe on the fact that things such as vehicles and some of the villagers seem significantly less detailed. The water seems rather poor compared to other games, and this is an odd one....Albert Wesker's mouth moves funny when he's talking into the microphone, haha. Nothing big of course. I did notice a couple framerate dips for the PS3 version as things got intense, and it felt like a lot of animations were re-used from Resident Evil 4, which is kind of annoying. I can't remember too well, but there was some infrequent screen tearing.

The acting is par for the course. Chris plays the stoic hero, and Sheva is the somewhat inexperienced but committed African partner. All the accents are adequate for most of the natives/villagers, etc. Albert Wesker returns with a new voice actor but he filled the void very well, and despite the fact I'm still wondering why he sort of has a British accent, I love every moment of it. The dialogue is still pretty bad, as Sheva seems to play Captain Obvious, and one of the villains has those cheesy lines you come to expect from Resident Evil.

Music is just there as well, but there are some moments it really does shine. The end for example has some powerful epic music that really sets the tone for the grand finale. Of course, you always do get a chill down your spine when the music starts to pick up, and you realize that zombies are coming your way. Sound effects all seem implemented back from previous RE games, so that should please any fan. When you hear, "RESIDENT EVIL.......FIVE," you're either going to think it's awesome, or it's cheesy, depending on whether you're a fan or a newcomer. It all depends.

The game overall has very strong replay value. It's impossible to accomplish everything on the first run, such as upgrading your weapons, and once you beat the game, you can play as Sheva to experience some different quick time events. Also, when you beat the game, you unlock Mercenaries mode, which essentially pits you against hordes of Zombies and you gotta do it in the alotted time. It's all fun stuff. But if there's absolutely one thing you must do, you gotta beat this whole game with a friend on co-op. It makes the experience so much more fun!!! This was probably the most prominent and ultimately the best addition to the game, as taking out zombies has never been so fun, nor easier. Seriously, two handcannons with infinite ammo = doom.

Also, there are some unlockable costumes for you to try, such as Chris' STARS outfit, which should provide a nice blast to the past. In addition, there are rankings for completion time that every person should strive and achieve to do their best! Each chapter will rank your performance, so it's always fun for the completionist to get an S ranking. Also, this game does have trophies/achievements, and I think they're all pretty modest and fair to do, although Professional might be a bitch. I have not tried it yet, but it appears to be much more difficult than Resident Evil 4, which I felt, was not all that bad save for Krauser.

All in all, I think Resident Evil 5 is a very good game. It doesn't quite reach the levels of awesomeness that Resident Evil 4 did, but I thought it was a very worthy addition to the series. It ties the story up very well, it features the same great (although now outdated) gameplay from 2005, and makes minor tweaks that really perfect what Resident Evil 4 tried to do years ago. The graphics are absolutely stunning and the game is full of replay value that should have you playing for weeks, maybe even months! If you're a fan, this is a must buy, and for those who've never played Resident Evil, I still encourage you to try it out!

Gameplay: 9.0/10
Story/Presentation: 8.0/10
Graphics: 9.25/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Replay Value: 9.5/10

Overall: 9.0/10 (NOT AN AVERAGE)