Gran Turismo 5 the worst in the series?

I don't even need to mention how long in the making this game has been but now Gran Turismo 5 is finally here, is it all we hoped it would be? I must admit I'm not the biggest fan of driving games but I've played a few in my time and felt GT5 could be the next big title to get me back into the genre. I am yet to have the chance to try the game but after scanning some of the reviews around the net it seems that GT5 has garnered mixed opinions. Many have applauded the core gameplay and believe it lives up its title of 'the real driving simulator' however there have been several negative comments about the game such as it having sloppy menus, inconsistent visuals and clunky online capabilities; perhaps most surprisingly CVG went as far as to say 'we reckon Forza III has the march on GT5 in overall aesthetics.' which is a huge surprise considering the hype surrounding how beautiful the game was going to be, largely due to the 'power of the PS3'.

You don't need to tell me that review scores shouldn't be the only thing to convince you to play a game but after 20 critic reviews GT5 has established a rather underwhelming average score of 86 on Metacritic. I thought I'd take a look at how this compared to past installments of the game and was surprised to find that the past four console GT games have all scored higher than Polyphony's latest effort and that GT5's main competitor Forza 3 has a score of 92 on Metacritic.

So does this mean GT5 is the worst in the series? We'll all have to play it to make up our own minds but I'm quite confident that it's a solid title worthy of the attention of any driving game fan.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=277364
http://www.metacritic.com/search/all/gran+turismo/results

Life Drawing 6

First Ever Walk Cycle

Robot Head Test

Arm Rig Animation

Robot Rock

Sorry if you were worried I'd recently switched to a fine art degree with all the naked drawings uploaded to my blog but I have been contiuning to work on my 3D designs. It has taken me a while but now I think I'm quite close to being fully happy with my final robot model. I will spend tomorrow rigging the whole thing which will likely lead to some design changes but for the most part I think it will be unchanged. I wanted to keep it quite simple and didn't want to have a super realistic look however the texture style may change but for now I have uploaded some images of where my robot is currently at. The images demonstrate how my rotate will have a rotating centre-piece that will enable its head to move around its body and also that my robot will have a missing eye which will be what it is searching for during the animated scene.

P.S I still need to add my robot's eyebrows which will be what conveys the majority of its emotion as the robot will not have a mouth.

Life Drawing 5

Life Drawing 4

Mary and Max

Mary and Max is a film about two very different people who communicate only through their letters to each other. Mary is an 8 year old girl living in Australia, whilst Max is a 44 year old man living in New York. Both have trouble fitting in and feel lost in the world. Their friendship is followed throughout the film and is an emotional journey to say the least.

I began watching this film with almost no prior knowledge of its narrative, only that it was a clay animation which followed the lives of two characters that wrote each other letters. This made the film even more surprising to me as I was totally caught off guide and found the film to be absolutely magnificent.

The audience is taken on roughly a 20 year journey of Mary and Max's relationship with each other that includes several serious themes such as; alcoholism, depression, religion, and obesity. Kids may find this film visually appealing due to its attractive art style however I really feel that it is aimed at a prodominately adult audience because of the overriding themes I have just mentioned.

This film is jut a sublime experience in every area; the animated art style is beautiful using colour scarcely in a way that to me made the look of the film even more memorable. The sound is also a delight using Penguin Cafe Orchestra's 'Perpetuum Mobile' as it's theme music which just added to the emotional power of the film. The quality of the characters was equally impressive, the voice work was brilliant and I don't think I've seen better; excluding Pixar's best work.

What I enjoyed most was the film's simplicity. The directors ability to make a simple interaction between two people so immersive and engaging was extremely pleasing and something that I wish was easier to find in contemporary cinema. Individuality and friendship are the qualities celebrated by the film, the real message I took was to not be ashamed of who you are and always try to put things in perspective; as well as trying to enjoy the little things in life.

Mary and Max is a diamond in a mountain of garbage that Hollywood is currently dumping onto the mainstream cinema-goer; you are missing an exceptional movie if you are to ignore it: See this film.

Life Drawing 3

Life Drawing 2

I just finished my second life drawing class and therefore have some more work to share. Again for these drawings we were given 20 minutes so they aren't fully complete however, I think they show a good understanding of proportions and also a high level of detail in certain areas.