Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

Blog Notes Photos Links Archives About

All entries tagged Review.

You can subscribe to an RSS feed of this list.

Jan 2020

Dec 2019

Nov 2019

Mar 2019

  • Watching Lately: March 2019
    The big one this month was Captain Marvel. I posted the usual spoiler-free review over on Tumblr, but I have some more spoiler-y thoughts over here: (Spoilers) While I thought the movie was ok, I was underwhelmed by the third act and specifically the lack of any serious threat for Carol to defeat towards the end of the movie. As this tumblr post explains more clearly than I ever could, perhaps the issue is that the narrative is not something targetted towards me as a man, who has not experienced the emotional gaslighting IRL that many women are exposed to.

    read more (419 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #tv #watching lately #Pop Culture
    Also on: twitter / 0 / 419 words

Feb 2019

  • Watching Lately: February 2019
    Some things I’ve been watching lately, aside from the usual TV shows I follow: I watched Alita: Battle Angel, with the friend who introduced me to the series in the first place. The movie looked fantastic and the fight scenes were great. Plot was supercondensed, several books’ worth of story combined into one. Ended in a weird place, kinda? Easily the best western live action anime adaptation by far. On 7 Feb 2019 2:06pm I wrote: Watched Alita: Battle Angel earlier today.

    read more (500 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #tv #watching lately #Pop Culture
    Also on: twitter / 0 / 500 words

Jan 2019

Dec 2018

Nov 2018

  • Watching Lately: November 2018
    Some things I’ve been watching lately, aside from the usual TV shows I follow: For some reason, I watched two biopics this month. The first one is Hidden Figures, about three black women who were instrumental during the early days of NASA leading up to the Friendship 7 mission piloted by John Glenn. The movie is fairly interesting if you are even remotely interested in either the challenges faced in black history or math and science or the early days of the space program competition between the USA and Russia.

    read more (475 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #tv #watching lately #Pop Culture
    Also on: twitter / 0 / 475 words

  • Review: Eternal or "Eternal primer for MTG players"
    I said in my previous Duelyst review that Eternal didn’t really hook me. That was in Feb 2017. I stopped playing Duelyst after around six months. I started playing Eternal regularly July of that year, and have been playing regularly ever since. What changed my mind? I’m not sure, but once I got around to playing Eternal regularly, I found myself enjoying it. I think one of the main factors is that out of all the online ccgs I’ve tried, Eternal is the one that’s closest to Magic the Gathering.

    read more (2016 words)

    Posted by under post at #Review #ccgs #Gaming #games
    Also on: twitter / 0 / 2016 words

  • Game Review: Marvel's Spider-Man for PS4
    Finally had the time to play Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4. Took just a little under two weeks from start to Platinum. Maybe mild, unmarked spoilers somewhere in this review, be warned! Overall: the game was amazing and spectacular and fun, especially for a big comic book fan like me, well worth the buy. Mechanics: Combat felt a bit weird to me at first, mainly because I was expecting it to be closer to Arkham-style combat, and I kept trying to use Spider-Man’s Circle Dodge the same way I use Batman’s Triangle counter, and that got me clocked by the first boss of the game (Kingpin) a few times.

    read more (1268 words)

    Posted by under post at #comics #review #Gaming #games
    Also on: twitter / 0 / 1268 words

  • Late Game Review: The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
    (“Late Game Review” because I’m trying to play through games on my ridiculously old backlog, so these games are pretty old) (Click to view full-size) 11 Nov 2018 5:07amClose The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim came out on 11/11/2011. I remember I bought the game for Steam on launch day. I finally “finished” it after 350 hours of gameplay and seven years real-time. “Finished” in this case means “achievement complete”, not just “main quest complete”, because as any Bethesda gamer knows, that’s not how their RPGs roll.

    read more (1585 words)

    Posted by under post at #late-game-review #review #Gaming #skyrim #games gaming
    Also on: twitter / 0 / 1585 words

Oct 2018

Jun 2017

May 2017

  • Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
    First, the spoiler-free summary (spoilers after this part): overall a very entertaining movie to sit down and watch popcorn and to enjoy the jokes and the space battles and the different colored lights and the tiny adorable tree creature GOTG’s humor was one of its strong points and for the 2nd movie, they push the comedy up a notch, perhaps a little too much in some places. Lots of funny gags and one-liners I felt like some of the character/background development stuff was pushed a bit too hard as well the movie’s plot also felt a bit thin and straightforward.

    read more (439 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #Pop Culture
    Also on: tumblr twitter facebook / 2 / 439 words

Mar 2017

  • Review: Final Fantasy XV
    With The FFXIII trilogy not being particularly well-received and FFXIV being an MMO, Final Fantasy XV has been a long awaited as the next mainline single-player game in the much-acclaimed series. This review will have minor spoilers. (Click to view full-size) 18 Mar 2017 1:30amClose Story FFXV follows the story of Noctis, prince of Lucis and his band of brothers (okay they’re not really brothers, but they might as well be).

    read more (1580 words)

    Posted by under post at #Review #Gaming #games gaming
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 1580 words

  • Sony 4K HDR Bravia X8000D
    4k XLocal tech blog YugaTech is doing a giveaway of a Sony X8000D Bravia 4K TV. To be honest I wasn’t sure about using this blog to participate in a promo, but I was already in the market for a new TV since our living room TV is already starting to have some problems. I checked out the product features of the Sony X8000D Bravia on their website. Some of the features stood out for me specifically:

    read more (455 words)

    Posted by under post at #Hardware #Review #Tech Life
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 455 words

Feb 2017

  • Review: Duelyst
    After Hearthstone, I tried out a couple of other digital CCGs: Spellweaver and Eternal, but neither one hooked me. The one I enjoyed the most and did pick up to play regularly was Duelyst. So this review is written from the perspective of someone who has played both Magic the Gathering (MTG) and Hearthstone (HS). Hearthstone, Spellweaver and Eternal played like digital MTG with some advantages, as I outlined in the HS post linked above.

    read more (1453 words)

    Posted by under post at #Review #ccgs #Gaming #games
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 1453 words

Dec 2016

  • Review: Xenoblade Chronicles X
    Just in time for the end of the year, I finally finished Xenoblade Chronicles X, which I started playing around the first week of August (5 months!), with 120+ hours of game time. The game doesn’t have the best graphics (WiiU, etc), but I really like how it looks and how the world is built and all the different environments and the weird and sometimes absurdly large beasts. (Click to view full-size)

    read more (228 words)

    Posted by under post at #Review #Gaming #games
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 228 words

Aug 2016

  • Review: Stranger Things
    So, Stranger Things It’s true, it’s great. I thought it might be overhyped, but it’s not. And I can see why people find it hard to explain without spoiling things. It’s about strange things happening in a small town. Creepy things. It’s a mystery. It’s suspense. It’s not a jump-scare sort of thing if you’re not into that. Well, there’s maybe a little bit of jump scares. The best description I’d say it’s about as scary as an X-Files or Doctor Who episode.

    read more (354 words)

    Posted by under post at #Review #Opinions #tv
    Also on: tumblr twitter / 0 / 354 words

Jun 2011

Mar 2009

  • Watchmen
    I had actually read the much-acclaimed graphic novel only last year. And while I found the story decent enough, I wasn’t sure whether to like it or hate it. Undoubtedly it was an important point in the history of “superhero” comics, but I was never entirely sure about it’s point. So of course I saw the movie, and it had remained roughly 85-90% loyal to the source material, which made it a bit boring for me since I generally knew what was going to happen most of the time (except for you know, that thing about the bad guy’s master plan… ).

    read more (208 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #Pop Culture
    / 0 / 208 words

Feb 2009

  • Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
    I had time to kill before going to see my brother’s art exhibit at megamall, so I went and watched Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. It was so bad. I could’ve been able to forgive the fact that they roughly 80% of the story shied away from Street Fighter canon, had the movie’s storyline actually been good. As it is, you can expect short, unsatisfying fight scenes, ridiculous background stories, disjointed plot/scenes (reminds me of Smallville and/or Heroes writing =/), terrible wigs and the ridiculous sight of Michael Clark Duncan getting beaned by a pineapple.

    read more (336 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #Pop Culture
    / 0 / 336 words

Oct 2008

  • Eagle Eye
    On a whim, my brother and I went to Trinoma to see Eagle Eye, barely catching the last full show (including the trailers of course, we love watching trailers). Our mom had said we’d like the movie and she still owed us one since it was her fault we watched Big Stan. So we’re giving her a chance to redeem herself. The spoilerless review: Since Eagle Eye trailers seem to be everywhere, you probably have some idea of at least the start of the story.

    read more (291 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #Pop Culture
    / 0 / 291 words

Jun 2008

Mar 2007

  • 300
    Mostly due to my antisocial nature and my laziness, I haven’t actually seen a movie in a theater since… forever. I broke that fast mostly because of the hype surround 300, the movie based on Frank Miller’s comic book retelling of the Battle at Thermopylae. Everyone who’s seen the movie has the same thing to say: it’s really good. So I went to see it with a brother of mine. And it was good.

    read more (186 words)

    Posted by under post at #Movies #Review #Pop Culture
    / 1 / 186 words

Feb 2006

  • God's Debris by Scott Adams
    This was Scott Adams’ first non-Dilbert book. If you’re used to reading Adams go on about Induhviduals and stupid managers, or if you’ve never read Adams trying / pretending to sound philosophical in one of his books, then this isn’t what you’d expect. Adams describes it as a “thought experiment” of sorts, one where he tries to provide some sort of explanation for basically life, the universe and everything. Although it’s a work of fiction, it sounds like Adams is trying to see how people will react to his form of philosophy — it seems to be one of his favorite things to do something just to provoke reactions.

    read more (248 words)

    Posted by under post at #Books #Review #Pop Culture
    / 0 / 248 words

Dec 2005

  • Music - Ultraelectromagnetic Jam
    I’m no music critic; often I can’t even carry my own tune. But I do know what I like, and I know I like the Eraserheads’ music. If you don’t know who the ‘heads are, they’re basically the Beatles of the Philippines, galvanizing the local music industry and serving as an example and inspiration to numerous other bands that followed after them. It’s only fitting then that many of the current crop of Filipino performers pay tribute to them in the form of Ultraelectromagnetic Jam.

    read more (377 words)

    Posted by under post at #Music #Review #Pop Culture #Philippines
    Also on: blogger / 1 / 377 words

May 2005

Mar 2005

  • Books: Dark Tower series
    “I do not aim with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my Eye. I do not shoot with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my Mind. I do not kill with my gun. He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.

    read more (346 words)

    Posted by under post at #Books #Review #Pop Culture #dark tower
    Also on: blogger / 0 / 346 words

  • Books: More Bob Ong
    A while back I blogged about Bob Ong’s first book. A short while after, I also picked up his next two books, Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro Ang Mga Pilipino? (Why Do Filipinos Read Backwards?) and Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas (Judas’ Favorite Book). “Bakit Baligtad” focuses on the Philippines, its people, its quirks and its problems. “Paboritong Libro” is a lot harder to classify, as it jumps across several topics, with the unifying theme being the chapters named after anagrams of the seven deadly sins.

    read more (359 words)

    Posted by under post at #Books #Review #Pop Culture
    Also on: blogger / 5 / 359 words

Dec 2003

On This Site
Things I Write About
Elsewhere
Subscribe