Monday, March 28, 2011

Food Review (Arby's Angus Three Cheese & Bacon)

I don't necessarily review EVERYTHING I eat... but this one was necessary. The Angus Three Cheese & Bacon from Arby's is one of the best things on the menu - but it comes at a cost - the sandwich alone is $5. Now, I know fast food looks nothing like it does in pictures or in commercials, but my eyes almost shot out of my sockets when I saw this sandwich - it's absolutely PUNY. There isn't much roast beef, and the bread is squished down. I would say, compared to the pictures/commercials, that the height of the actual sandwich is 1/3 of what's shown.

How does it taste? ... Did you read the first couple sentences? You actually taste each bit of this sandwich - the roast beef, the bacon, the cheese, AND the sauce, which I must say, is very good. Only problem I had was that there was a bit too much of it.

That about sums up all I had to say.

How's it taste? Ridiculously good.
How's the value? Pretty effing bad.

It tastes good enough though that I may get it again, even though I know I'm paying way too much for what I'm being handed.

4/5

Monday, March 14, 2011

Food Review (Wendy's Premium Fish Fillet)

I've eaten more seafood in this past month than I have in the past 19 years of my life - I never used to like it. Anyway. The Wendy's Fish Fillet is back just in time for lent. Here are the nutrition facts for this sammich:

500 Calories (210 from Fat)
24 Grams of Fat (4 Saturated)
1010mg Sodium
52g Carbs
18g Protein

Not much else worth listing.

First of all, I don't know much about seafood, but I've been told that the freshest seafood has hardly any flavor and smell - and I'll say this sandwich delivered that. I personally don't understand why you'd want to eat something you can't taste, but I guess in seafood-speak, this is a surprisingly fresh piece of fish, considering I hardly got any taste or smell of fish off of this thing.

It's of a decent size - quite larger than the McDonald's Filet 'o Fish - and has a little bit of lettuce and tartar sauce. The tartar sauce is alright, but I prefer what's on the Filet 'o Fish at McDonalds.

My Premium Fish Fillet was actually so hot when I got it, it nearly burnt my tongue - and when I bit in initially, fish juice actually squirt out... or maybe it was grease. Whatever it was, I don't normally get a sandwich from a fast food place that tastes as fresh as this one did.

Would I recommend this? Sure, if you like your seafood nearly flavorless like it's... supposed to be..? It doesn't taste bad, but doesn't taste great either beCAUSE it has such a subtle flavor - I'll stick to the Spicy Chicken Sandwich for the most part, but if this were a mainstay on the menu, I'd probably get it time to time.

Is it better than McDonald's Filet 'o Fish? To me, no, because I actually like the fish-taste you get from the Filet 'o Fish, even if that means it's not quite as fresh as this one. Both of them are pretty good, but in very different ways. It's really personal preference - either way, you can't lose. They both taste good.

4/5

MLB 2K11 Soundtrack and Ratings

It's been nearly a week since the release, and there are still no 'professional' reviews out there, and the soundtrack isn't listed ANYWHERE, so I'll present it to you:

"Rearview Mirror" by Pearl Jam: 4.75/5
"Please Please Please" Shout Out Louds: 4.5/5
"Bad Reputation" Joan Jett: 3.5/5
"Repitition" The Willowz: 3.5/5
"Bought and Sold" Tab the Band: 4.75/5
"Pourin' Rain" Trenchtown: 4.5/5
"Unpaid Holiday" Trenchtown: 5/5
"Come On In" Corroded: 4/5
"Hard to See" Five Finger Death Punch: 4.25/5
"Better Days" The Wolfmen: 4.25/5
"The Hi Hi's" Double0Zero: 4.5/5
"You Should Learn" We Are Scientists: 5/5
"Anti-Venom" USS: 4.5/5

Overall, MLB 2K11 has a damn good soundtrack. I personally don't care much for Bad Reputation or Repitition, but then again, I don't care for female singers for the most part anyway. I think you're guaranteed to like at least one track in this game. Me? I like almost the whole thing.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Food Review ("Pacific" Shrimp Burrito from Taco Bell)

Just in time for lent, the "Pacific" Shrimp Taco is back at Taco Bell, with a new Taco Bell concoction, the "Pacific" Shrimp Burrito. Here we go!

Straight out of a fish farm in a random third-world country, there are 6 pieces of "Pacific" shrimp found in each the taco and burrito - that's correct, 6. And the pieces aren't large at all. How much does the taco cost? The burrito? 2.79 and 3.69 respectively. Ridiculous, right? The burrito costs nearly a dollar more, and you get the same amount of shrimp.

Anyways, the flavor... I absolutely HATED seafood up until a few weeks ago when I randomly had a craving for fish. Today, I decided to give shrimp a try, which I always hated. For 3.69, I was expecting some kind of wonderful - welp, I got let down. The burrito is a decent size, so 6 measly shrimp were hidden in little areas. It seemed like every second or third bite had a bit of shrimp, while the bites in-between just consisted of the bread, lettuce, crunchy red strips, and the sauce. Mmm, DELICIOUS! (Not really.)

How's the shrimp? Well, I'm not necessarily a seafood aficionado, and haven't eaten a LOT of it in my day, but it tasted DECENT. Reasonable flavor, fair marinade... Worth-paying-3.69 decent? Hell no. This is one of those things you try just to say you had it, and then move on.

Pass.

2.5/5

Friday, March 11, 2011

Game Review (Major League Baseball 2K11 - 360)

Finally - Major League Baseball 2K11 has been released, and to me, this is when the road to Opening Day seems less torturous. Is MLB 2K11 better than 2K Sports's past iterations? Read on to find out, or skip to the end for the TL;DR version.

[I should note that I have not played many 2K games the past few years. The last MLB 2K game I played frequently was 2K7. I played 2K8, 9, and 10, for very short periods of time.]

Graphics: 3.75/5 Initially, I found MLB 2K11 to be extremely underwhelming graphically. After playing about 5 games in different stadiums and getting a chance to immerse myself in the game, I'm actually fairly impressed. Regardless of that, I'll talk about the low-points first - I'm disappointed that 2K Sports has still not fixed the robotic/glitchy/snap-motion movements. I'm not SURPRISED none of that has really been patched up, but it's a shame - it really takes away from the experience, and just gives you constant reminders you're just playing a game. Another downfall for me would have to be the shadows on the players - they seem jagged and extremely unrealistic. On the field though, the shadows look pretty good, and the fact that the sun moves during games is a fantastic feature, as it affects the game quite a bit when the shadow creeps between home plate and the pitcher's mound. With all the criticism, you're probably wondering how I could score the graphics a 3.75. I'll tell you why, though - there are a couple big reasons. First of all, although the shadows on the characters are a HUGE bummer, the uniforms look really nice, and some of the character models are spot on. While lesser known players, like say, Brennan Boesch or Alex Avila of the Detroit Tigers, look nothing like their real-life counterparts, (understandable, as they can't very well face scan all the MLB players.) the likes of marquee players like Derek Jeter, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, among many, many others, look very well done. The second reason I score this as I did is that I REALLY like the menus in this game, whether it's the in-game pause menu, or at the main menu - not too busy, pretty clean, and just very well laid out. 2K11's got nothing on The Show as far as in-game graphics, but it's nothing to sneeze at.

Sound: 4/5 Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips, and John Kruk offer commentary in MLB 2K11, and do it quite well. In my opinion, Gary Thorne has one of the best voices for a baseball game, so for him to do MLB 2K11 was really great. While this isn't necessarily a comparison review between MLB 2K11 and MLB 11 The Show, the commentary in this game blows The Show out of the water. It's more interesting, and just seems more real and enthusiastic. The soundtrack in this game, as well as in many sports games I've played, is actually quite good, featuring some really nice songs from bands I hadn't really listened to - like We Are Scientists - and ones I had never even heard of, like Trenchtown, whose "Unpaid Holiday" is probably my favorite of them all. Other artists that offer their tracks include Pearl Jam, Pat Benetar, among others. There aren't very many songs on the track list, but the vast majority are nice choices.

Fun: 3.75/5 It's quite hard for me to score MLB 2K11 - it's really somewhere between a 3.75 and 4 rating (7.5 and 8). Seeing as how there is such a lack of polish and the game costs $60 and lacks any real new features causes me to give it the 3.75. Sure, they added the Dynamic Player Rating system, which makes the real-life players' performance effect the in-game players', is pretty cool, but that's not going to happen until the season starts, and that's about the only significant new feature added to 2K11. It's not at all a bad game, but it could really be a lot better. Whatever happened to setting concession prices in sports games? Sure, maybe many people thought it was lame and gimmicky or whatever, but I actually enjoyed things like that. Why do the players have to be so jerky and glitchy and botch plays that should quite easily be made? 2K Sports got a lot right with MLB 2K11, but they also could have done a lot more. For $60 every year, you expect something really new, and there isn't much here. My Player - keep in mind, haven't played much in the past - is fun and all, but the fielding (at least in the outfield, haven't tried anywhere else) is just awkward due to the camera angle, and the base running is an absolute chore. Basically, MLB 2K11 is nothing that will blow your mind. Is it better than recent MLB 2K games? In my opinion, yes, but not much better, so don't expect MLB 2K11 to be the greatest baseball game you have ever played.

3.75/5

+: Commentary, soundtrack, graphics grow on you - somehow, Dynamic Player Rating System, pretty solid baseball game.
-: Nothing special, STILL glitchy and buggy in many areas, injuries seem way too frequent.