8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 1, 2005 ARTS 4 I Tiny video game characters ... with spicy club sauce! God game improves upon predecessor I By Forest Casey Daily Arts Writer VIDEO GME REIE Courtesy of Universal Uma Thurman ... with club sauce! It has become a field of video game developer Peter Molyneux. He has been called overly ambitious, unrealistic and an outright liar for announcing tanta- lizing game con- tradition in the criticism to bash Black and White 2 PC EA Games MPRIME COMEDY RELATIONSHIP STUDY MASQUERADES AS SAPPY ROMANTIC COMEDY By Mary Kate Varnau Daily Arts Writer The casual moviegoer probably won't like "Prime." The film has propagated a case of false Prime advertising - in fact, out- right lying would be closer At the Showcase to the mark. "Prime" is not and Quality 16 the hackneyed romantic Universal comedy it appears to be in its trailer: It's funny, but not in the way the viewer will expect. The movie is full of sur- prises - the plot, the dialogue, the way the scenes are shot - all the way through to the credits. The premise sounds typical enough: Rafi Gardet (Uma Thurman, "Kill Bill 2") falls in love with David Bloomberg, the son of her therapist (Meryl Streep, "Adaptation"). But it's not as "adorable" as it sounds. The real meat of the film has little to do with the trail- er. The deliciously awkward tidbits in which Thurman divulges intimate details about her sex life to her boyfriend's mother are only the icing on the cake. The real conflict has more to do with the implications of a 14-year gap in the lovers' ages. "Prime" strives to be the unconventional romantic comedy. It's artfully crafted and doesn't follow the standard boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, happy-reunion formula of its genre. "Prime" is moody and raw; overall, it's well-written, except for a few eye-rollers here and there. The most egregious of these comes at the end, the emotional climax of the film - where every line of the scene reads like saccharine-steeped abstraction. It's a contrived, disappointing way of ending a film that did such a good job of walking the line between the poignant and the salty. Bryan Greenberg (TV's "One Tree Hill") plays Thurman's hunky, 23-year-old love interest. Though his performance is satisfy- ing in the eye-candy department, the actor is thin on charisma. Thurman does fine, but, of course, Streep's stereotypically quirky Jewish mom steals the show - but not in a good way. The film leans too heavily on the pull of her performance; it should be an afterthought, not the film's main attraction. "Prime" is rich in un-Hollywoodish moments. It accurately portrays the feverish falling-in-love stage. Then the honeymoon is over, and Rafi is pissed at her lover for leav- ing the cereal box on the counter. The sweet moments slide into the bitter ones honestly. This is an uncompromisingly honest film - even the climax scene can be justified by the unglamorous, this-is-the-way-people-actual- ly-talk approach. After all, real people aren't always witty and original. Partly because of that, "Prime" is not the kind of movie that caters to the viewer's need for a quick emotional fix. It's not that the film is unapproachably artsy - it will make the audience laugh and care for the characters. But it also might end up disappointing expec- tations. People will leave the theater feel- ing wholly unsatisfied because - and this becomes obvious in the first 20 minutes of the film - there is no possible ride-off-into- the-sunset ending. cepts and features, then abandoning them before the game's release. When the original "Black and White" came out, fanboys concentrated on what wasn't there when they opened the box, criticizing the game heavily. The game, centered around the trials of a young god who must choose between good and evil, was supposed to be able to name the play- er's followers after addresses in their Out- look Express mailbox. If players received a new message while in the game, it would be displayed to them by one of their min- ions who would carry the same name as the letter writer. While the sequel to "Black and White" still doesn't have this and other whiz-bang features, Molyneux and Lionhead Studios have done their part to refine a game that was, while conceptually mind-blowing, a little rough around the edges. Gone are the crab-shaped limbs of the original game's inhabitants; the sequel's graphics finally allow players to zoom seamlessly from the clouds down to the faces of their human flock. The player's main outlet for communication to follow- ers, the feature that distinguishes "Black and White" from other "god games," is a giant animal (cow, orangutan, lion or' hyena), trained by the young god to be either good or evil. It's now less of a Tama- gotchi-esque add-on and more like a real feature. Players now know what they're specifically teaching their pets - the pets have finally become intelligent. Besides graphics and an improved artificial intelligence, the major advance- ment brought about in "Black and White 2" is something not new to seasoned Real Time Strategy (RTS) veterans - warfare. In the original game, decisions between being either good and evil were more cut and dry, there was no incentive to be evil apart from the inherent thrill in crushing your followers. But with the inclusion of combat, play- ers who would normally take over a land the "good way" (by building a beauti- ful city and advanced enough to entice migration from other cities of other gods), now have a faster, more evil option. Sure, it is "evil" to train your creature for war and have it lead your troops into battle, but it saves time that players should prob- ably be spending studying for tests or writing papers. Molyneux and Lionhead deserve to be commended for making the temptation to be evil that much more attractive. Typical RTS fans might feel as if the, game is too simplistic for them. But that's not the point; gamers who would play "Black and White 2" and complain about the lack of specialized army men, or multi-branching upgrade trees don't understand what Molyneux is trying to do. It's groundbreaking game design and matchless in ambition and scope. His experiment in morality makes players feel realistically godlike. From its lush, ambient tribal music to the crisp, close- up in faces of your disciples, "Black and White 2" is a singular gaming experience from start to finish. 0 0 Maguire crafts worthy sequel to 'Wicked' By Bernie Nguyen Daily Books Editor Nearly 10 years after his break- out debut "Wicked," a fantasy-rich chronicle that retold the tale of the Wicked Witch of the West set in a politically tumultuous and imaginary Oz, Gregory Magu- ire returns to the land that has Son of a Witch By Gregory Maguire Harper Collins become explosively popular with the premiere of "Wicked: the Musi- cal." In "Son of a Witch," Maguire conjures all his old tricks - politi- cal intrigue, keen characters and persuasive fantasy - into a tale of violence, rebellion and the search for identity. The novel revolves around Liir, a young man whose present and past are cleverly entwined as he lays in a coma. Liir's heritage is much debated - is he the son of Elphaba, the late Wicked Witch of the West? The plot builds around Liir's search for his childhood friend Nor. Around this driving story device, Maguire constructs a much more complex framework, involving subtle backstory told in dream sequences and patient character development. Liir's unwilling involvement in Oz politics seems an inevitable result of his heritage - but is he really Elpha- ba's son? The question remains unanswered, but Liir's character is expertly devel- oped. By crafting him as a man without an identity, Maguire uses him to reflect both Oz's turmoil and the mounting tensions in the story: Violence escalates, relationships crumble and religion plays a signifi- cant role. In the process, the reader gets a glimpse at Liir's inner mind - his uncertainty and apparent lack of emotion progress into defining aspects of his character. The novel's creative fabric is tex- tured and realistic. Instead of strug- gling with an elaborate, imagined world, the author uses it to his advan- tage. Unlike many fantasy novels, the substance here is the story, not the landscape. Maguire does not lack details, though. By populating Oz with sen- tient animals, curiously cruel yet likable characters and strangely believable political chaos, he walks the fine line between sheer imagina- tion and plausible fiction with admi- rable success.. The novel's major drawback is a lack of sufficient explanation of char- acter relationships. In several areas, interaction between Liir and his friends and foes are confusing, and important events that should serve to define character and elucidate plot are abruptly introduced without sufficient information. Confusion and an unwelcome surprise abound where there should be recognition, or at least confirmation of suspicions. "Son of a Witch" reads at a quick pace, mixing elements of the past with shades of the future to elicit maximum suspense. Though some plot elements may seem bare on first reading, they are eventually fleshed out with the aid of the multidimen- sional characters. The author revives his questions about the true nature of evil as he delves into complicated issues of love, loyalty and religion. Here, Maguire undoubtedly sets the stage for his next novel, and fans of "Wicked" will follow him down the Yellow Brick Road once again. Deft rockers keep the vibes going By Caitlin Cowan Daily Arts Writer Music R VIEW Supergrass can do no wrong. Whether the band releases a slick punk-pop record or a moody, think- Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher after downing a fistful of tranquilizers. With lyrics like "Follow all the signs and they'll lead us away," it seems that Supergrass has an urge to travel. Whether this theme of movement is telling of the band's future or their emotional state, it lends a nomadic feel- ing to the album. A diverse yet unified record, Rouen r I