Zivy Reviews

I purchased the highly anticipated Street Fighter 4 yesterday and I can now say that this game lived up to the hype - for me, anyway. As a kid who grew up in the late eighties and into the nineties, I spent a lot of time with Street Fighter 2. It consumed a good two years of my life. For me, that game has always been what I compare other 2-D fighters to because it was so good. I think what I like most about SF4 is that it does a great job of capturing that same feel as the second one, while adding many new elements to the series.

The main difference besides the very nice artistic graphical overhaul, is the addition of EX moves. While not completely new to the series, it adds a new and welcome dimension to the gameplay. For instance, if you press two buttons while performing a special attack, you'll add a little extra damage to the move.

Pressing the two heavy buttons simultaneously executes a taunt, while the two medium buttons deliver a stun attack. The two light buttons are used for your throw move. Otherwise, the gameplay stays very close to the other installments.

I love the simplicity of this game. Unlike Tekken and Mortal Kombat, you don't have to memorize five pages of ridiculous button-mashing combos to be an effective fighter. The single player mode should keep most gamers busy for awhile trying to unlock nine hidden fighters and costume colors. There's also a challenge mode for those who like to test their skills.

I've been itching for a good unique puzzler so when Cuboid came out recently, it raised my eyebrows a bit. After watching the demo video on the PSN, I figured I needed to give this one a shot, so I plopped down my 10 bucks and downloaded the full version.

At only 100 megs, the download went quick so it wasn't long before I was playing. It was long before I put it down however, because this game rocks! Basically you maneuver a 2 x 1 cube high above the ground on tiles. The object is to reach your goal in the least amount of moves and without falling off the edge. In the later levels this becomes challenging, but fun none the less.

Cuboid is cleverly innovative, and if you like puzzle games, you'll have a hard time finding a better one on the PS3 right now. There is a welcome simplicity to the game as well. The D-pad moves the cuboid and the X button is used to switch between cubes in later level when you can separate the two blocks. Very easy to pick up and learn.

Before you pay for an expensive PC repair, know your options. You can't surf the internet these days without coming across some viruses and registry issues. Eventually, your registry will get filled with invalid links and result in a computer that's so slow it's useless. There are free programs out there, that for the most part, will fix your problem, but not always.

If you're finding that the freeware - such as ccleaner - just isn't cutting it, you may want to try Registry Fix. Whenever I have a PC problem the first thing I try is running an ad-removal tool. I will say that Registry Fix found 168 errors that my other programs couldn't detect, but it came at a $30 price. The nice thing however, is that my web pages I was having trouble opening before, now open in a mater of a couple seconds.

The best piece of software I've personally used for backing up DVDs is DVDFab. I'll just say that I haven't had a movie I couldn't copy yet with that program. The nice thing about it is you can choose to copy the entire DVD with all the extra features or just the main move (my preference because it takes less space). It allows you to compress an entire 9gb DVD onto a 4.7gb disk.

Another great thing about DVDFab is that it's constantly being updated. At the time of this writing, they're on version 5. Your software will update automatically when one is available. Because of the excellent support, however, this program is not free. You can download the free trial version with all the bells and whistles, but it only lasts for 30 days. If you don't want to pay out, you can use their free version, but it's seriously gimped. The free version doesn't support copying onto 4.7 gb disks so you'll have to buy the more expensive double layered ones.

The Resident Evil 5 demo was release today over Xbox Live with the PS3 version being released next week. Naturally, I had to download it, being a huge Resident Evil fan. I'll say, it looks amazing!

This time the game is set in Africa which is a welcome change. The settings are wonderfully detailed and the music does a good job of creating a feel of suspense. I was happy to be greeted with the same frantic zombie action as in previous installments as well.

The gameplay is very similar to Resident Evil 4 with some nice changes. For one, you can assign weapons to buttons on the D-pad for quick one-button access. The game doesn't pause when you open your brief case either.

The co-op is a welcome feature too. At first, I wasn't sure about having it included in the game, but it seems to add a nice element to the gameplay.

Conclusion - there isn't too much here for me to complain about other than I wish you could move while shooting, but that's not a big deal. I wish it had been a bit longer too, but we only have to wait another two months to get our hands on the full version!

It may be hard for some to believe, but I just recently watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High for the first time. I'd seen bits and pieces of it here and there, but never all the way through. That being said, it was interesting to see many familiar faces when they were much younger at the time (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Rienhold, and Forest Whitaker to name a few).

The story is simple. It was one of the first typical teen movies of the 80's, and basically was about life as a teen growing up in California.

The author of the book which the movie was based on actually posed as a high school student while he was writing his story. For that reason, this movie isn't as exaggerated as one might expect. It puts a humorous spin on the common occurrences that a teen would have, such as working lowly jobs, dating, sex, and trying to graduate.

Conclusion - I found this movie to be entertaining. Although a bit dated, I would still recommend watching this one if you haven't had the pleasure yet.