Monday May 9, 2005 arts.michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaily.com 'Kri' sequel features stunning Pgraphics By Ryan Guerra DailyArts Writer VI DEOG A ME R EV IE W In 2002, "The Mark of Kri" garnered a cult following with minimal mainstream support. The game fea- tured an excellent story presented through eye- Rise of catching animation, solid the Kasai voice acting and innova- PS2 tive combat. But rather SCEA than building on the strengths of the original, the sequel just delivers more of the same. "Rise of the Kasai" continues the story of the warrior Rau, taking place during the 10 years before and after the events in "Kri."Once again, the story is told through voiceover and visually stunning scenes that are cut to resemble paintings in motion. The style makes players feel like they are bearing witness to a mystical legend. "Kasai" features three new playable Wharacters, including Rau's sister Tati, who is now 10 years older and ready to fight on her own. While Rau is the typical brute character, Tati is quick and agile. One can also play as Rau's mentor, Baumusu, or his fellow warrior, Griz. The levels consist of large spaces where players can work alone A RTS 9' or with a computer-controlled partner. But the computer becomes a nuisance because of its lack of intelligence. When confronted by large groups of enemies, the computer eliminates the threat; but in the face of stealth action, it always alerts the guards, causing unnecessary battles. That said, "Kasai" is still a solid game. It retains the same targeting system as "Kri," which assigns enemies different buttons to create a more strategic hack- and-slash experience. There are also sev- eral combo variants with each weapon. Still, the game feels rehashed - so much so that it plays like exactly like "The Mark of Kri" with new characters. Nevertheless, "Rise of the Kasai" does a decent job of standing on its own, but, like its predecessor, it will remain in the shadows of better-advertised titles like "God of War." And while "Kasai" may not beas good as "God of War," it is defi- nitely worth picking up for its amazing presentation, even if it just as a rental. Racism captured in 'Crash' By Jennie Adler Daily Arts Writer FILM REVIEW N N Paul Haggis's directorial debut, "Crash," teeters between the bludgeon- ing obvious and skillfully subtle racial themes and metaphors. Haggis made a big splash in Hollywood with his Oscar- nominated screenplay for "Million Dollar Baby," but, reminis- Crash cent of his earlier roots At Showcase in television, watch- and Quality 16 ing "Crash" is like Lons Gate cramming a season's worth of televised plot twists into a two-hour feature. But the film's thought-provoking take on contemporary Los Angeles fares far bet- ter than any episode of Haggis's earlier creation, "Walker, Texas Ranger." "Crash" is filled with seamless tran- sitions between characters that distin- guish themselves through actions and words but whose motivations tend to blur together in lieu of the dominant plot twists. Despite this, each complex char- acter, including Sandra Bullock ("Miss Congeniality 2") as a district attorney's neurotic wife and Don Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda") as an apathetic detective, fluc- tuates from loathsome to heroic, and tourhesy "It's okay, sweetheart, no one saw 'The Truth About Charlie.' Real they all eventually find their place in the multi-faceted narrative. The film ulti- mately emerges as a meditation on the interlocking experiences of the markedly diverse cast and the far-reaching effects of their racially driven interactions. Even among the stellar, all-star cast, some performers stand out from the rest. Bullock delivers her best turn in recent memory as the film's only unredeem- able character, while Cheadle naturally emotes pain and sarcasm so well that there's almost no need for dialogue. Rapper Ludacris is also surprisingly grounded and well cast as a street-savvy racial philosopher. 1 Even so, the racial prejudices that Ludacris so eloquently illuminates are exceedingly prevalent, and by the end of the film, they become repetitive. But when dealing with such controver- sial, loaded issues, taking the "loud and clear" approach is often necessary. And though the film mainly focuses on the effects of racism, Haggis emphasizes fear as a chief cause of it as well. Stylistically, 35mm has never looked so beautifully raw. The carefully con- trolled framing of every shot and the stark lighting juxtaposed with the dark, gritty production design provide the film with a unique visual aesthetic. This serves to house the film's gorgeously written dialogue, which bestows the movie with the remarkable ability to simultaneously build tension and fear in each of its climactic moments. Despite some heavy-handed meta- phors and overuse of the fate theme, "Crash" is a brutally honest film that leaves no one - white, Persian, black, Asian or otherwise - in its wake. The movie couldn't have been made at a better time, with racial stereotypes con- tinuously increasing. "Crash" sends the message that though no one wants to be defined by his race, sometimes such classifications are unavoidable. New Order's latest trumps dance-punk youngsters By Evan McGarvey Daily Arts Editor IMUSIC REIvEW * * Writing about New Order is exceed- ingly difficult. It's not just because their history is tied up in the ghostly, industrial legacy of Joy Divi- New Order sion and Ian Cur- tis. And it's not just Waiting For he cause pretty much very young "new" Watner Bros. band (the Killers, the Bravery, the Rapture) is basically a chord- for-chord, word-for-word rehash of the Manchester playbook. What makes New Order simultaneously enthralling and con- fusing is their ability to commit all of pop V usic's cardinal sins - commonplace lyr- s, boyish, overreaching emotions and an insistence on disco-ready percussion - all while skating away from the scene of the accident, Teflon-coated and dragging a sea of dancing, devoted fans along with them. Or maybe New Order works because they have the most relentless drummer in (neo?) post-punk history, Stephen Mor- ris; the tingling, warp-speed bass lines of Peter Hook; and the ageless Bernard Sum- ner cooing into the microphone. It's amaz- ing that 20 years after "Blue Monday," the band is still known as "that group made after Joy Division ended" instead of a col- lection of talented musicians. A warning: their latest, Waiting For The Sirens' Call has no "Blue Monday," no "Bizarre Love Triangle," no "Perfect Kiss" or any other four-minute pop gem. But there are still riffs aplenty. Lead single "Krafty" has high-altitude atmospher- ics and lines that only a self-convinced crooner like Sumner could pull off. Hook's lightning bass on "GuiltIs A Useless Emo- tion" helps listeners stomach couplets like "Real love can't be sold / It's another color than gold." With an album full of sentiments like that, one could argue that the band's song- writing died with Curtis. New Order is always unfairly slammed for dancefloor simplicity while older artists of similar lyrical "approachability" (read: shallow- ness) like U2 and R.E.M (neither of whom have made half the impact of New Order) are treated with kid gloves. The album doesn't distinguish itself from other recent New Order releases, but its adherence to the band's mant- festo - get people moving ("Turn"), get people kissing ("Dracula's Castle"), get in a few surprisingly down-beat lyrical barbs ("Jetstream Lover") - is a welcome show of workmanship in a sea of twenty- somethings pitifully trying to reinvent the dance-punk wheel. New Order created the Dill precious middle ground between punk and the disco ball; they don't need to go any- THEPI where else. This album would be a career BACHE maker for any other group. While Waiting For The Sirens' Call isn't an entirely new atmosphere for the band, it's a nice enough shot of oxygen for the rest of us.