Tuesday November 19, 2002 michigandaily.com/arts nae@michigandaily.com ARTS 5 'Curves' boasts great female performances By John Laughlin Daily Arts Writer The world we live in today bom- bards us with images of how to act, what to wear, say and what to look like. Various media point to an ideal who verbally abuses Ana with com- ments on her weight. Carmen loves her daughter, but constantly reminds her of her physical fullness. A look of pain is usually on Ana's face and eventually that look turns to action with a coup in the sweat- Courtesy o Konam' "Metal Gear Solid 2: Subtance" offers fans more of what By Luke Smith Daily Arts Editor they want, Solid Snake himself. ously unpl ty"). The S to the "Son "Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance" is less of a sequel tales not ne than Rocktar North's "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." Despite The graphics haven't been updated from the "Sons of Plant, Kon Liberty" vintage on last year's PS2 title. However, ing sequen "Substance" wasn't designed with the spirit of the bly 4nfortu sequel in mind. There will no doubt be a "Metal Gear 3," but the XBox's S "Substance" is not it. Keeping this in mind, this "Metal Gear" series redux is * * one of the finest games to hit shelves L GEAR this year. The game's storyline is identical to SOLID 2: "Sons of Liberty," with two chapters SUBSTANCE taking place on the Tanker and Plant. For XBox Like "Sons of Liberty," gamers will control series legend Solid Snake Konami through the Tanker, and play an entire- ly new character Raiden through the Plant chapter. sions using The character change was one of the biggest com- missions ( plaints from the series' die hard fans - "Sons of ends), elim Liberty" gamers were unpleasantly surprised to be eliminated playing a "Metal Gear" game without controlling ing third pe the star of the series. Also wit Executive producer and series creator Hideo Kojima are a serie attempts to lessen fans' disdain for the lack of a missions, i playable Solid Snake in "Sons of Liberty" by includ- trol Raider ing tons of Solid Snake in "Substance." In addition to the game's the regular Tanker-Plant scenario, there are now the ments - all-new "Snake Tales" where players control Solid Plant. Man Snake on five missions of varying difficulty - part of missions a these missions take place on the Tanker, where Snake to the star was previously unplayable. The "Snake Tales" are (with elimi designed with the advanced "Metal Gear" gamer in turebomb mind. In the first "Tale," Snake is armed with no an extensio weapon and just an RP Sensor, which vibrates the con- points in "S troller with enemy heart rhythms getting faster as they The coni get closer. His mission takes place on the Plant (previ- are very ayable with Solid Snake in "Sons of Liber- nake Tales take place in a parallel universe is of Liberty" plotline with the events of the ecessarily falling into the "Liberty" story. the ability to play as Solid Snake on the ami did not add any additional voice-act- nces with David Hayter - which is terri- nate, as Hayter is arguably as much a part of the "Metal Gear Solid" series as Kojima is. The playable Solid Snake stretches far further than the "Snake Tales" series, as deep as the extras in "Substance" allow. Konami has included scores of VR mis- sions, playable with Raiden and Solid Snake as well as secret characters that have their own extensive set of VR mis- sions. The VR missions are comprised of sections where gainers will learn each weapon of the game (Raiden has mis- the HF Blade, Snake does not), sneaking where if seen, the mission immediately nination mode (where all enemies must be without being seen) and the new, interest- erson mode. hin the VR missions es of "Alternative"' hi which players con- n or Snake in one of two central environ- the Tanker or the y of the A lternative ar t re similarly themed ndard VR missions ination) but also fea- disposal missions - n of one of the plot Sons of Liberty." trols for "Substance" responsive. "Sub- One of the many VR stance" has considerably more feel on the XBox than it did on PS2, with Snake and Raiden being even more responsive to the pressure sensitive XBox controller than the PS2 counterpart. The game's control setup is more conducive to game play than the PS2 version. Konami's "Substance" is not, however, without flaws. Because the game wasn't designed for the XBox specifically, and certainly wasn't retooled in any major way to utilize the more powerful Xbox engine and graphics system - "Substance" is simply a port. And from time to time, not even a great port at that. During the early sequences in the game, there is some slowdown. The pouring rain Solid Snake maneuvers through when outside slows that entire portion down. Similarly, when in the VR mode, the Stinger missile launcher and the explosions it causes, have displayed slowdown as well. This is not Microsoft's fault, instead, blame can be pointed in the general direction of Konami, who rushed the Xbox version to shelves and left these mis- takes. With "Substance" XBox users finally get to play "Metal Gear 2" in Kojima's own words, "the way it was intended to be played." The complete storyline from "Sons of Liberty" is intact, jarring and awkward as bits of it are, but the extra modes and fea- tures comprising the VR Mis- sions and Snake Tales make "Substance,"despite its occa- sionalslowdown, the definitive version of "Metal Gear 2." It remains to seen if there will be added extras and features on top of theXBoxversion, when the game hits shelves for PS2 in the first quarter of 2003, but until then, garners should enjoy one of Courtesy of Konami the finest titles of the year in all nissions. of its glory. body type which many young girls shop of m seek to attain, but for many may prove genet- ically impossible. "Real Women Have *** Curves" is not the sim- ple story of "the over- REAL WOMEN weight girl with inner HAVE CURVES beauty" that films such as "Shallow Hal" and At Madstone others have capitalized Newmarket Films on. "Real Women" is the story of a young Latina girl, growing up in a tradi- control o tional family, who does not wish to mother co remain isolated in the world she and curse grew up in. When Ana Ana (America Ferrara) has just and atten( graduated from High School in Bev- ship, she i erly Hills, but unlike other students independen she does not come from a wealthy she knows family. Her father is a gardener and While th the women in her family work in ty is at wo Ana's sister's dress shop - or rather, tor Patricia sweat shop. Literally the women make it th sweat at work since fans are not reason th allowed due to the dust that would work on r collect on the fabrics. Working long family an hours on dresses that are made for a growing u minute fraction of the sale price, notably by these women have a bond with one Ana is an another and are quite reluctant to let world of d Ana enter their "sewing circle" for victory thr summer work. inner stren Having visions of going to col- With its lege (more specifically, Columbia), plistic cam Ana protests at her sister's shop and its pacing does nothing but stir up trouble. The male. Cine trouble she causes is usually met acter deve with anger from her mother Carmen throughou (Lupe Ontineros, "Chuck & Buck"), gains anyi most comical, but telling proportions. There is a love inter- est in the film, but one that exists for Ana to be able to stand strong in her femininity and feel beautiful. She does not choose to remain tradi- tional and keep her vir- ginity. She has sex because she wants to and in doing so asserts ver her self-image. Her mes to suspect this action s her daughter violently. decides to defy her mother d Columbia on a scholar- s finally able to assert her rnce and become the woman she is. he play on inner/outer beau- rk in "Real Women," direc- a Cardoso has chosen not to e focal point. It is for this at the film is allowed to many levels ranging from id identity to a story of p. The performances, most the women, are laudable. element introduced into a defeated selves and brings ough her very presence and gth. low-budget feel and sim- nerawork the film falters in and representation of the ematically speaking, char- lopment is only dispersed at the film and one never real insight into the men of d. While the strength of the s feminist statement, its lies in the credibility of the mien. Ana's teacher, her grandfather,tor anyother nteracts with are simply too nd too easily manipulated. s is most likely directorial helps show the strength of acter, the male characters' mbivalence towards her and of development weakens bility and undermines the ntent of the film. Ana's worl film is its weakness i various im boyfriend, men she in fleeting an While this intent andl Ana's char, extreme am their lack their credi feminist in Courtesy of Newmarket Films Looks like a toothpaste ad. Rm VERIZON WIRELESS PRESENTS A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING lnl )iAs " NEW FINE CINEMA UN A ISION OICE CODE MIKE IITH Y "EN3 FJOHN Wi EONfl l DUN 3DC" NOCOD h N OBSEOBO C[IION TW EE.[[t IvIA MRAB C.S A hoDNANCY( [NREEN I, C..h, 911, DA0NA CAPOEt[ SBN"ISPRINGSOESm[BS JOHNNMIHFE°'ll 1SOlANINES "ll ~AY 0. ANNA o EI St EN N ~s i m NO 111 ISERD OBAM ~11AD[[IIO1! EMMEHICB MA1 WE EW 3[S OJI 151111 ICE CORE OfA1 11[YO im maTRiCTED __ BtILO1mIammown-8 ID 11001~lJ~NIPr o . nn Imo IkD hol i oAfl pntft fV~ . 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