Daily Loaf

Can a game succeed solely because of pop-culture fandom? Thankfully, Ghostbusters manages to capture enough ghost-wranglin’ gameplay that we don’t have to answer that question. We love the plot, find some fault with the repetitive — occasionally brutal — gameplay, and appreciate the light hand with Ghostbusters 2 fan service.

So, does bustin’ make the GammaTesting.com guys feel good? Sure. Good, but not great.

Listen up! (Then check out all the other Gamma Testing episodes.)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep14: Ghostbusters

Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar
4 stars
2822 E. Bearss Ave., Tampa, 813-341-2900

It’s tough to maintain a passion for food when confronted with the daily grind of running a restaurant. But some people manage to maintain the joy that comes with working in something as artistic, useful and necessary as food, even amidst the nagging details of the business. Usually, that passion is reflected in what comes out of the kitchen.

You can taste it in every pie served at the new Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar in northeast Tampa. Owner and pizza-maker Peter Taylor has a stock phrase to sum up his goal in starting the small shop: “I’m monetizing my passion.” Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve expressed my disdain — if not actual dislike — for flavored drinks, and for vodka in general, so perhaps I’m not the ideal person to review this newish flavor from Finnish liquor company Finlandia. Or maybe my love for the hearty Fins and the frozen tundra they call home will counteract those ill feelings towards anything as silly and inappropriate as cramming aromatic nonsense into bland ethyl alcohol.

Oh, um, perhaps I betrayed my feelings there. It’s just difficult to have sympathy for any nation that can concoct a flavor as profoundly odd as the one that wafts from a glass of Finlandia Tangerine Fusion. The first whiff comes across as an orange scratch-and-sniff circa 1985, the kind of concentrated faux-citrus flavor that seems more appropriate, these days, for infomercial cleaning solutions or truck stop air fresheners.

But wait, Finlandia uses only natural flavors in its Tangerine Fusion. Of course, when they say natural flavors they’re likely talking about atoms stripped from plants and recombined by chemists in a lab, not a few pounds of tangerine run through a food processor.

With the first sip of the vodka, I immediately peg the flavor thanks to a long childhood of aches and pains: Read the rest of this entry »

We thought we had it all. We could use the Wii remote as a sword, fishing rod, tennis racket, baseball bat, lightsaber and an assortment of other weapons and sports paraphernalia. But alas, we didn’t have it all. At least not until Let’s Tap.

Now, gamers can set their Wiimotes down for a change and tap their way to single or multiplayer victory. Or just have fun with fish in a pond or fireworks in the sky.

Let’s Tap introduces a new way to play with the Wii remote, but is it more tech demo than full-fledged game? Hit the jump and find out!

Read the rest of this entry »

Dwayne (formerly “The Rock”) Johnson and director Andy Fickman are the talent behind Race To Witch Mountain, an action-packed family film based on the 1968 Alexander Key novel and its later Disney incarnations. Johnson and Fickman previously worked together on 2007’s The Game Plan. How does the pair do the second time around?

Read the rest of this entry »

This week, GammaTesting.com fails to forget to smash the state with Red Faction: Guerrilla. We love the entirely destructible environments, open world environment and varied gameplay. Almost as much as we love bashin’ stuff with our mining hammer. And, for the first time in a while, we actually felt like we were doing some good while playing a game. At least until Red Faction: Guerrilla 2 comes out, featuring us ruling Mars with an iron fist.

Listen up! (Then check out all the other Gamma Testing episodes.)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep13 – Red Faction: Guerrilla

Brian’s busy, so Rick and Matt run down inFAMOUS without the help of his dulcet tones. Still, their take on this open-world-third-person-super-dude-sim-with-lightning Playstation 3 exclusive barely suffers without him. Surprisingly.

The Hermanos Dakanos love the inFAMOUS gameplay so much, the dozens of minor annoyances are barely noticeable. Although they do wonder at main character Cole’s twin vulnerabilities: water and chain-link fences. Give it a listen, then check out all the other GammaTesting.com episodes.

Listen up!

Gamma Testing Ep12 – inFAMOUS

Tucked into a strip mall near USF’s main campus, along with a sports bar and tanning salon, you’ll find Peter Taylor’s passion project: Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar. From the rich orange and gold colors of the floor to the wood burning oven visible from every seat in the house, the entire place was assembled by Taylor’s own hands.

Sinatra music plays in the background and there is not a flatscreen TV to be found. Leather seats convince you to stay a while to enjoy your meal and conversation. Pizzas named Sophia and Raquel are an homage to silver screen icons.

Taylor mans the oven and, if you ask, he’ll tell you how the 16th century cannonball at the front of the store represents the birth of pizza, when Italians first thought to put the once-considered-poisonous tomato on yeast bread. He will convey the story of true Neapolitan pizza and how it became bastardized after arriving in America. That said, he does not claim to make true Neapolitan pies. Read the rest of this entry »

This week we take a look at the re-do of 1980s cult classic Bionic Commando. Turns out that fun gameplay trumps terrible story and unlikeable characters, yet again. Even if that gameplay has a steep learning curve. Still, once you get it down, swinging on your extendable bionic appendage is damn fun — especially if you turn the sound down and blast Matt’s music suggestion.

We also send a challenge out to Grin – Bionic Commando’s developer — to hire us to write their next game. If BC is any indication, they could use some fine content-generators like the GammaTesting.com crew. And, we work cheap!

Listen up! (And check out all the other Gamma Testing podcasts!)

Gamma Testing Podcast Ep11 – Bionic Commando

I wasn’t surprised when the flavored vodka market exploded in the 1990s. It seemed appropriate that a spirit desired primarily for its “clean” — or nonexistent — flavor would try to reposition itself as something a little more useful. Over a decade later vodka producers and neighborhood mixologists are still having a ball devising ways to use a line-up of infused spirits that seems more like a list of jelly bean flavors.

The problem is, manufacturers of other spirits are looking on with envy at the balance sheet of the vodka industry. That’s why we’ve been forced to confront atrocities like the defunct Dirty Olive Gin or Captain Morgan Parrot Bay Mango. Perhaps it’s inevitable that the most elegant and refined of America’s spirits would eventually get in the act.

That’s right, flavored bourbon. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a long time since I had a game experience more mixed than Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. There’s lots to like, some things to hate, a fair amount that’s on the border, and even something I hated and then came to like. Playing this game was like riding an emotional roller coaster as I went from mildly interested to mildly annoyed and back again. Okay, maybe not really a roller coaster so much as a see-saw in the kiddie playground, but you get my point. There are some thrills to be had, but also some jarring landings.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is the prequel to a game I never played, nor do you need to have played it. It’s a perfectly competent first-person shooter set in the Old West, full of two-fisted six-gun action and horse riding and even a lasso or two. You play alternately as Tom and Ray, defending your car repair business from angry public radio listeners who haven’t received their tote bags yet. Or rather, Thomas and Ray, two nasty Confederate soldiers who abandon their posts to try and save their farm from the evil Sherman as he marches through Georgia. That doesn’t work out too well, and the brothers end up fleeing to the wilds of the West, their preacher little brother William in tow. There they hear tell of lost Aztec gold, both fall in love with the same Mexican seductress, fight various tribes of Indians, and have their pasts come back to haunt them. There’s a lot of shooting. Read the rest of this entry »

Among people who are concerned about where their food comes from, and how that affects the daily lives of everyone in the world, there are some fundamental issues that are a given: the ills of factory-farming animals; the insidious prevalence of corn-based products in almost everything we eat; the consolidation of our food supply under just a few corporate entities; what happens when organic goes corporate; the looming specter of Monsanto; and the causes of the West’s diabetes epidemic. Everyone’s already up on all that, right?

Then again, considering the growing market-share of fast food dollar menus, maybe not. That’s where the newish movie Food, Inc. comes in handy with its glossy and shallow take on the usual suspects in America’s maimed relationship with food. Think of it as the Greatest Hits of our disfunctional food supply, complete with legends Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) back to reprise their roles as the last decade’s most influential food figures. Read the rest of this entry »

Buona Vita
3 stars
330 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg, 727-823-2100.

Buona Vita was born out of tragedy, albeit a tiny one. When Local Coffee + Tea owner Michael Duranko decided to pull out of St. Petersburg, three of the coffeeshop employees took over the place, almost ad hoc. They were on a week-to-week pay schedule with the landlord, with no formal lease. One day, after splurging on two weeks of supplies, the three found that the locks had been changed and they were done with their brief stint as business owners.

The main reason, according to building owner Andy Wallace, was that he wanted something in the space that would better serve the local worker bees in surrounding downtown buildings. There’re already a lot of coffee shops. He had been approached by Allan Galleano, one of the investors in the defunct Desanto restaurant down the street. Galleano was ready to replicate the success he’s had with Italian restaurants in other locations.

Well, there are already a lot of Italian restaurants, too, Read the rest of this entry »

Brian and Taylor chat with Gui Alinat — local chef and recent CL food contributor. We also run down Brian’s obsession with Domenica Macchia of Diner 437, the closing of Ybor’s The Nest, the re-opening of Wild Shrimp Company, and Taylor’s love for white wines from Bordeaux.

Download episode 21 here.

Diner 437
3.5 stars
437 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-822-4370

I freely admit that I’m a Domenica Macchia stalker. I first encountered this former Redwoods chef at MJ’s Martinis and Tapas last year, when she wowed me and the rest of the Bay area food scene with her interesting and precise take on small-plate fine dining. Then, soon after the place opened, Macchia was fired by the owners of MJ’s. And yes, I feel a little satisfaction that the jazz lounge/restaurant is now on a possibly permanent “hiatus” while it looks for a new location.

After a few months of looking, and some concern over her mortgage, Macchia hooked up with Dan Soronen — former owner of the Old Northeast Tavern — and concocted a gastropub menu for his soon-to-open Shackleton’s Folly in south St. Pete. “Soon” became months, and finally Macchia left to find another new opportunity. Fortuitously, Greg Pugh — owner of Ringside Cafe — was interested in opening a new place. Fast. Diner 437 started slinging hash within a couple of weeks.

I love Macchia for her food, sure, but also for how she lays everything on the table when you talk to her, whether it’s for a CL interview or just gabbing with strangers the counter at her new restaurant during a slow moment. She’s frets — about herself, about her food, about the past and the future — and she’s unabashedly candid about herself and her path to Diner 437. You can read all about it on CL’s food blog.

The problem with love — familial and otherwise — is that it comes with expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

We reminisce about the early days of the UFC, and how incredibly dull it was compared to this game. Think of UFC: Undisputed as a typical fighter and you’ll have some fun. Delve into the combat system — which is vastly deeper than any other out there — and the game is a long-term keeper.

Better yet (at least for the UFC) it does a hell of a lot for promoting the franchise outside the sport’s usual fan base.

(Check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or via the Gamma Testing podcast RSS feed.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep10 – UFC: Undisputed

Rawbar
3.5 Stars
777 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, 813-422-5220

It’s interesting to see Taps and Rawbar anchoring adjacent corners of downtown Tampa’s Skypoint building. Both are owned by the same man — James DeVito — and both are attempts to fill niches in downtown Tampa nightlife. The jury’s still out as to whether DeVito is meeting a need, or creating one in a “build it and they will come” moment, but the results are shockingly different at the two joints.

Taps always seemed unfocused, a beer bar with lounge aspirations. DeVito’s brand new Rawbar is entirely different, the concept distilled to the bare essentials, which are then taken to extremes. It’s a Miami scene bar built around an updated sushi menu, the decor almost self-consciously hip, the entire package almost veering into poseur territory. Almost. Read the rest of this entry »

Some reviewers gave up on Velvet Assassin before they even made it past the first half. We fought our way to the end, then gave up after our 45th attempt at completing the final level. It’s an unforgiving stealth game, and we would like to return the favor by not forgiving its stupid AI, boring gameplay, and general lack of fun. Then we opine about the responsibilities of game reviewers.

It’s a tough job, especially when you have to play games like Velvet Assassin.
(Check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or via the Gamma Testing podcast RSS feed.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep09 – Velvet Assassin

Did you like the most recent X-Men movie? Neither did we. But never fear, the video game based on that horrendous cinematic debacle is considerably better. Mostly, thanks to the lunge tactic.

Sadly, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is saddled with the movie’s fundamentally flawed plot — and a few stupid boss fights — but it’s easy to forgive the cut scenes after a few minutes of repeatedly shivving dudes with your adamantium-sheathed bone claws. And don’t forget this month’s theme: Wolverine apparently hates helicopters almost as much as 50 Cent, and a little more than ninjas.

And somehow, we three former (or current, in Matt’s case) comic industry professionals manage to keep the geek quotient to a minimum. Well, when it comes to comics, at least.
(And check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep08 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Unlike the largely derided Bulletproof (bullet-absorbent?), Mr. Cent’s first video game outing, Blood on the Sand is more fun than it has any right to be. Which seems to say a lot about the appeal bigger-than-life hip hop stars hold for middle class white boys interested in living out violent adolescent fantasies (like us). It also says a lot for taking a tried and true third-person shooter engine and wrapping it in an absurdly hilarious “plot” instead of spending a lot of time trying to innovate.

And unlike seemingly all the other video game reviewers out there, we don’t ever feel the need to apologize for liking Blood on the Sand. (Checkout all the Gamma Testing podcasts.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep07 – 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

That’s two weeks in a row where I’ve spent a significant portion of my free time exploring a city that has recently suffered from a massive explosion. Last week it was Bionic Commando, and I was just the guy to traverse the urban wasteland because I had a bionic arm. This week, it’s inFamous, and I’m just the guy to explore the city because I’m the one who set off the bomb. Plus, it gave me super powers.

InFamous is a super-hero game, or a super-villain  game, depending on your personal preference. You play as Cole, a bike messenger who sets off a bomb that screws up Empire City and gives you the power to control electricity. Why did you set off the bomb? You have no idea, but given the cadres of villains, FBI agents and shadowy figures who immediately start pulling your strings, maybe you were set up. The only way to find out for sure is to explore Empire City open world, Grand Theft Auto-style, do a bunch of missions and shoot lightning at anything that gets in your way. And when you’ve done all that then yes, inFamous delivers a satisfying conclusion to a solid story full of twists and turns, but really it’s all about the lightning powers that get you from here to there.

Well, lightning and parkour. Because Cole can scale buildings like a monkey, leap with ease from ledge to wire to light post, and generally navigate the city via sidewalk or rooftop with equal ease.

Read on for more info and video below the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

In this episode, the GammaTesting.com guys make their bones while you’re still going out with cheerleaders and see if this new Godfather game makes us an offer we can’t refuse.

Turns out, we could refuse it, but this GTA-knockoff/Mafia sim game is just fun enough to keep us taking over businesses and knockin’ off made men. And unlike this blog entry, we avoid overusing the massive pun potential of Godfather movie quotes.

Listen up!

Gamma Testing Ep06 – Godfather 2

Gamma Testing is a podcast that goes in-depth in a single game each week to let you get more fun out of the games you play. Check out out other episodes.

A little nostalgia can buy you a lot of leeway. The new version of Capcom’s Bionic Commando is the perfect example – it’s a sequel to a much beloved classic from 1988. But things have changed since that glorious 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System days, and characters with names like “Rad Spencer” and “Super Joe” don’t quite cut it anymore. Nor does the name “Bionic Commando,” for that matter. But this sequel is a completer update – from the 8-bit side scroller to full-on 3D, open-world (kinda) third-person shooter. It’s an update in every way, but it keeps that most important element of the original: You play a guy with a bionic arm that can shoot out Inspector Gadget style and let you swing from things like Spider-Man. As long as it gets that right, the game is more than halfway there.

Read the rest of the review, with video, after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

The GammaTesting.com guys slash their way through Ninja Blade, with mixed results.

Do you like absurd cinematic action? How about quick-time events? Repetitive actions during boss fights? Am I losing you? Kind of like how Ninja Blade lost us. Rick’s just lucky he didn’t hate the game enough to throw a controller through his big TV.

Listen up!

Gamma Testing Ep05 – Ninja Blade

Gamma Testing is a podcast that goes in-depth in a single game each week to let you get more fun out of the games you play. Check out out other episodes.

GammaTesting.com’s fourth episode is a classic romance: boy loses donkey, meets girl, fights demons, releases evil god. All for love. We also love – mostly — Prince of Persia’s seamless gameplay, capable writing and gorgeous Disney atmosphere. Almost enough to marry it. But is there enough going on to resurrect the game after the first play through? Hmmm.

Gamma Testing Ep04 – Prince of Persia

Gamma Testing is a podcast that goes in-depth in a single game each week to let you get more fun out of the games you play. Check out out other episodes.

You should never grocery shop when you’re hungry or review a game when you’ve just quit after dying at the same spot twenty times in a row.

I just ate a sandwich, but I’m not going shopping. I also just boiled away most of my affection for Velvet Assassin in a frustration-infused prolonged session of being shot again and again and again by Nazis while wearing a nightie. And for the first time in the game, there wasn’t any morphine to take the edge off.

OK, let’s back up. Velvet Assassin is a third-person stealth-based action game. Set during World War II, the game sets you up as a sexy British assassin named Violette who infiltrates German-occupied territory to kill Nazi jerks and blow people up. It’s actually based on a real British secret operative, Violette Szabo, which is pretty cool.

This is a hard-core stealth game, which means if you get spotted by the fascists, they’re probably going to kill you within seconds. Luckily for you, the world of Velvet Assassin is filled with shadows and dark corners, giving you plenty of places to creep along and get right up behind someone for that silent, bloody close-in dagger work. Drag the body into the shadows before the others notice, and you can keep your cover. You get guns too — mostly a silenced pistol, but later shotguns, sniper rifles, and a sub-machine gun at the end. These of course attract a lot of attention, and while it’s easy to gun down enemies, it’s easy for them to return the favor, so it’s vital to make good use of cover.

Read the rest of this entry »

Taylor went to China and all she brought back was this lousy podcast! We dissect her culinary travels, and discuss Brian’s review of Ocean Prime.

Download

Ocean Prime
3 and 3/4 Stars
2205 N. West Shore Blvd., Tampa, 813-490-5288

Several months ago, when I first heard that Ocean Prime was opening, I wondered if Tampa could handle another high-end steakhouse — a chain, in fact — during tough economic times. Hell, considering the massive representation steakhouses have in the Bay area, I’d ask the same question in good times. Considering the crowd on a Tuesday night in April, I guess I have my answer.

The place isn’t packed, but you wouldn’t know it from the loaded parking lot. The dining room is full, happy people are lounging around the exterior bar area and the restaurant feels like it’s hopping. As the night goes on, the long patio dining area overlooking a surprisingly pastoral retention pond on the border of the International Plaza parking lot starts to fill up. Maybe Tampa isn’t ready for more of the usual luxe steakhouse clones, but it certainly seems to have accepted Ocean Prime.

The tasty and capable food is part of that, but I doubt it’s the main draw. Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Ruhlman has made a career out of dissecting the relationship between chef and food. His three Chef books — Making of, Reach of, Soul of — are elegantly constructed stories about the life of a modern chef, from culinary school to semi-celebrity. His cookbooks range from the concise and unfussy Elements of Cooking to several glossy, pornographic tomes co-written with name-brand chefs.

He’s also the kind of guy who hangs out with Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali, glorifies cured meat, and writes with unapologetic candor. He and Bourdain lambasted the culture of the TV chef with their own alternative awards show at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival two years ago.

In Ratio, though, Ruhlman turns back to what he started in Elements of Cooking, namely injecting something of the professional chef into the home kitchen. The core concept is that ratios are the fundamental building blocks of all cooking, by defining and understanding those ratios the home cook will begin to understand food at it’s base and begin to think beyond recipes.

Ratio is not the kind of book most people will slap open on their kitchen counter to make a quick custard for dessert. It’s shaped like a traditional hardcover novel and the few pictures are in black and white. But, like a good hardcover novel, Ruhlman can be gripping. His opening chapter immediately convinces that with a mere basic understanding of his list of ratios, I’ll be able to innovate and experiment willy-nilly with great success. Read the rest of this entry »

The Floridian
3.5 Stars
4424 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 813-287-6662

On one level, reviewing the newly expanding Floridian – formerly a Treasure Island landmark in a single location – could be an exploration of what happens to the food and feel when a simple restaurant is turned into a chain. Does it devalue the historical impact of the original? How do the compromises that come with multi-unit distribution affect the product? Should hardcore, local-centric consumers start avoiding the new and old locations?

On the other hand, reviewing the new Floridian could easily be just about the sandwiches and sides. There’s plenty to talk about there without even bothering with the fundamental issues at stake. And, to be honest, what’s more fundamental than some kick-ass french fries and a gooey, crunchy Cuban?
Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a place for experiences like the one Ninja Blade has to offer. It’s the kind of thing you can really only do with a video game these days: surf a missile into a zombie helicopter, fight a giant lightning bolt spitting crab in a subway tunnel, run down the side of a skyscraper while chopping giant bats in half with a sward that’s as big as you are. Hit the X Button not to die. Ninja Blade gives you all that, and a lot more that’s pretty similar. But is it worth the price of entry? Maybe not, but it’s definitely worth watching the video trailer below. Read the rest of this entry »

The GammaTesting.com guys talk about how amazingly beautiful a war-torn African town filled with zombies can be when rendered by the Xbox 360. The zombies are kinda pretty, too, until you shoot them in the head with your pistol. But does shooting uncountable numbers of infected undead make you a racist, thanks to RE5’s japanese developers? Listen up and see:

I think everyone can agree that the best thing about being a mob boss is that you get to boss people around. It’s right there in the title, “mob boss.” Because you’re feared and/or respected, tough guys do what you say, even if that means blowing up some building, shaking down some store owner, or taking out some troublesome made man from a rival family. It’s good to be boss. Normally no fan of movie to game adaptations, I never looked at the first Godfather game from a couple years back. When this new one came around last week though, and I heard it was kind of like Sims Mafia Don, I thought that sounded like something for me. I like telling people what to do. I love the Godfather films. Perfect!

OK, so it’s not perfect, not by a long shot, but it is a solid, fun game. Read the rest of this entry »

The GammaTesting.com guys reminisce about the stacks of quarters they spent playing Street Fighter II at the arcade, then declare their undying love for this latest incarnation of the SF franchise. You see, it’s the same as Street Fighter II, but better looking, better playing (as long as you dump the Xbox controller) and the online system is like taking a trip back to 1999 to take challengers at the arcade. Except you’re in your underpants, on your couch. Better!

Much like opera, professional wrestling works for me in an abstract and nostalgic way more than up close and in person. I used to go to opera a lot actually. I used to watch wrestling every week, too. Now I mostly play video games it seems. And while I like an occasional aria, I love the fact that opera is out there and appreciate its rich cultural heritage. I don’t think I would actually like watching wrestling any more – Ultimate Fighting has stolen it’s place in my heart – and wrestling games have gotten more and more complex. It’s great in theory that men take steroids and shave their chests and slam each other around for a few hours a week, but I can’t be bothered to take it in. All of which explains why WWE Legends of Wrestlemania is the perfect wrestling game for me.

Legends is all about the nostalgia. It allows you to re-live key, dramatic match-ups from the first decade and a half of Wresltmanias, spanning the golden age of 80s and 90s wrestling. Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and scores of others – even Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream! – all make appearances in the game.

Read the rest of this entry »