Orca - Arthur Herzog

I don’t ever think it should take much to write a natural horror book. All you need is an interesting premise and enough subversions of tropes to keep the story from falling into an oblivion of stale reading, but somehow Herzog manages to screw even this up.

Published in 1977, two years after Jaws hit the silver screen, it was destined to not only get its own cinematic adaptation but also be touted as derivative before it had even hit the printing press. If that hadn’t offered enough incentive for a writer to put some kind of effort into the venture of novel-writing, if only to stick the fingers at society at large, then surely knowing that you have secured the top predator of the sea, one which are notoriously loved and not particularly feared, would at least pump up some kind of muse-sweat surely?

Instead, we are handed a typically routine offering of Jaws, but with less gore and even less character-building. What does Orca offer if none of that and certainly not a lot of it’s titular creature? Angry villagers. Yep, you heard it. You know of course, that in the 70′s angry villagers, or at least, weird and blood-thirsty villagers were somewhat in vogue, The Wicker Man, Straw Dogs, Deliverance, but dull and leverage-less Canadians really do take the pissy biscuit in this.

The main character, god knows his name, is a drunken womaniser that is convinced by his sister that staking their Florida marina on conjuring up a live Great White Shark for some reward money from a Japanese water park investor was a good idea. Spoilers! It’ not. Although you don’t need flashing red lettering to have figured that out, as it’s a ridiculous thing to do in any kind of circumstances. However, go he does, and reports of sharks lead them to Canada, somehow.

Inevitably, a shark appears only to be somewhat violently killed by an Orca and a larger than average one at that, so our face-less heroes switch their sights to the larger and less valuable Killer Whale, for god knows what reason.

After a magical Native-American warns the protagonists (well I hesitate to call the bloodthirsty troupe protagonists, but it’s a damn sight better than heroes) not to pursue the whale, they decide to go ahead anyway and steadily the novel devolves into a terrible slasher.

There’s very little drama to the cutting down of the cast, one might describe the emotions of characters after their deaths as ‘disinterested and mild guiltiness with a twinge of existential doubt’, the atmostphere feels like a cross between an accidental death and the death of an old relative that nobody cares about, except as another reminder of their own mortality. Not only do the deaths serve as expected plot devices in terms of attempting to drill a sense of dread in the reader and give the main characters a vague sense of agency, but they also become emotional devices for the angry villagers, who seemingly don’t care about the fates of their fellow citizens, but use their deaths as a scapegoat for yokel rage.

The novel picks off various characters until it builds to… well… it doesn’t really build to anything actually, the book just, sort of, ends.

If you give a crap at all about spoilers in this book, that, in all honesty you’re not even going to read, then stop here as I am about ruin the glorious ending of the book, which after reading, I went straight onto the internet to see if anyone else was as miffed as I was.

Okay, so at this point, the crew have been forced into fighting it by the angry villagers because they are all wimpy about it and are now conveniently listening to the magical Native American (whose character arc is literally just people wondering whether or not he was a Chief), the whale gets hurt and starts to head away from the bay, obviously, they could just wander off and go back to Florida at this point, but instead, they decide to chase the whale, in a very poorly executed Ahab moment.

After chasing the whale to somewhere near the Arctic circle, it starts to lure them into dangerous areas surrounded by icebergs and then resumes battering the ship. There are some throw-away reasons given about why the whale came this way but it’s hardly convincing, as the ice obviousl makes for a pretty nice set-up for a cinematic ‘final showdown’ and a good clincher on that movie deal, so nobody is being fooled here, but I digress, it starts hammering away at the ship and everyone except the bloke and the bird are dead, and then all of a sudden a helicopter appears that was previously summoned just as the Orca has slammed itself onto a large ice floe that the bloke is on, the floe starts to tip and he begins to slide down and the whale has its mouth open and everything and then suddenly it backs off, jumps in the air ‘Free Willy’ style and swims off. That’s the end, it’s jarringly surreal. I even re-read it about three of four times because I couldn’t believe how abrupt and nonsensical it all was.

What makes this ending so odd, is the difference between it and the film version’s ending, which goes through all the motions to deliver a thoroughly generic climax. It almost feels like the book didn’t want to end like Jaws, so decided that if they made it as vague as possible people might rally and fill in their own ideas, however the main difference between a culturally significant piece of work getting a lot of people reading into it and one that doesn’t, is whether the rest of the work gave any real promise for reward for reading into it, which Orca does not.

The whale is an allegory for the man’s problems in his life? Because we’ve not heard that a million times before. Anything else then Herzog?
I thought not.

Notice how the jaw part on the left has broken on this animatronic Orca?[/caption]

Orca - Arthur Herzog

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

After a short wait, the visual novel series returns with the gruesome sequel to last year’s Danganrona: Trigger Happy Havoc, both games have been in Japan a few years now and are equally well-received, the former arrived in the west to great reviews allowing the genre and series some good exposure.

I too, enjoyed it and have been looking to the sequel with equal trepidation as others after the first game’s closure and the lack of many points to develop upon further doesn’t lead itself to make good sequel material.

I wish I could say that I was pleasantly surprised, but Danganronpa 2 is the disappointing sequel that I expected but hoped wouldn’t be.

This time, new student Hajime Hinata enters Hope’s Peak Academy and like the last game, wakes up to find himself trapped, although this time on a pictaresque island. A pink and supposedly cute rabbit named Usami turns up extolling happiness and love on the island in order to leave, when Monokuma rears his ugly head and enacts the same dooming kill game as seen in Danganronpa. Kill each other off and leave the island, but make sure that nobody finds out, or you won’t pass the court session alive. This is a sequel that initially appears to need no knowledge of the first game to play, however as a recognisable face appears it soon is clearly not the case.

Monomi is as annoying as she looks.[/caption]

It’s never long before a murder happens in Danganronpa, when this happens the text-based adventure turns point and click for the investigation phase, where the player must collect and find evidence about the murder before the class trial. When all evidence is collected, the player is whisked to the class trial where you duke it out amongst one another in word-based mini-games to get to the bottom of the murder.

As in the last game, most of these mechanics are visual-novel based in nature and any small additions, such as the level up system serve seemingly no purpose at all, lest it’s to give a reason why the world map suddenly became two-dimensional and cheap looking. Who ever thought that walking would be a good way to level the character up?

On the outset, the presentation is much worse, the art quality has dropped and on top of the missing world map exploration, the islands are mostly only a couple of screens. The characters are less diverse and mostly seem to be fan-bait on the girls front, emphasis on the ‘front’ part. While a bit of fan service doesn’t exactly rub me up the right way, Danganronpa 2 is downright obnoxious about it. Intrusive cutscenes and an entire mystery were spun out of awkward and what one would hope were unnecessary provocative moments in the game, with little regard to any variety in preferences that even the most sordid hentai experiences will offer.

Looks like seafood tonight lads – Just one of numerous fan services moments in Danganronpa 2. I don’t understand how this is meant to be sexy.[/caption]

As well as mediocre characters, the game boasts and equally dull story, with the only limited point of interest in the plot being needlessly dragged out throughout the game and flogged at the end to the point where any mental stragglers would even get bored. The only aspects of the game that weren’t a mystery were fine examples of poor writing often found in long-running TV series and not videogames that outstay their welcome at 25 hours. If you thought that the first game brazenly ignored any plot holes, than be prepared for the Swiss cheese of them with this title, I am not sure if even a chapter went by where it didn’t feel like another person completely hadn’t taken over writing duties.

The game only finally bothers with anything by the very end, where I felt so psychologically strung out it was too hard to care. I have no idea why everyone is giving this game good reviews at all, especially in comparison to the first game, but it would be a real injustice to the many cells that expired in my person through the duration of playing this game if I didn’t call this game out to be the most overwrought, sickening and sadly diminshed game that I played this year and probably the most undeserved sequel ever.

Oh, and the music is shit too.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Rebelstar: Tactical Command

From the creator of XCom is this quaint little strategy game on the Gameboy Advance, it’s simpler, easier and damn, if it ain’t a little bit cuter too!

The first thing you’ll notice when you see this game is how different its overall presentation is in comparison to UFO: Enemy Unknown game on the PC as well as its modern rendition XCOM both of which use a typically western stylised visual aesthetic, but Rebelstar looks like it’s come straight out of Japan. With art done by Gez Fry, the anime-style characters are expressive and a lot more youthful than previous games.

The protagonist of Rebelstar is Jorel, a young man who has joined the rebel army in the midst of a struggle between the enslaved humans and the captor Arelians. Jorel and a handful of others have been able to reject the slave implants that subjected to all humans and are now on a mission to retake their planet and for Jorel, to avenge his parents’ deaths at the hands of the Zorn henchmen.

The game is a strategy game much like the original, but with the Gameboy Advance style visuals, it ends up looking and playing a lot closer to a Fire Emblem game than anything else. The game is purely action-oriented, there is no research or base-building features.The map is sorted into squares and is isometric in view, the characters start each mission with an objective such as to eliminate all hostiles or to reach a certain area. Anywhere outside of the characters’ line of sight is still visible but enemies there are not.

Gameplay involves taking turns with the whole set of characters each side, with limiting actions per character based on which class they are and what actions are taken. After this its pretty much manoeuvring around the map and exchanging fire.

At the start of a turn you can choose to use Overwatch instead of attacking, this feature allows that character to fire upon an enemy when they move into their line of sight, this is particularly handy for creating a variety of possibilities within a scenario, making it a fun, strategic dynamic core of the game.

The characters’ classes are in-built, such as heavy gunner and medic, but the weapons you give them are pretty flexible, although something like a medic can’t use a heavy gun. Guns have different accuracy depending on the conditions of firing and the positions of targets and all that jazz. After quite a way into the game the player can start using Psionics, a psychic power that can help in different ways, such as revealing enemy locations.

Levels are gained based on using the skills of the character, healing, damaging enemies and using the Psionic powers, once the character levels up, you can choose where to put the skill point gained, allocating it to things like melée or heavy machine guns.

Although the mechanics of the game are pretty solid, the engine is not. For a Gameboy game to have load screens it is pretty rare, but exceptionally still it actually takes a while for things to load, also visual hiccups occur frequently, with character portraits often looking glitchy and strange tears happening during movement. Despite the bugs, the game still soldiers on and didn’t shut down, delete saves or do anything else game-breaking.

Although rather difficult, the many features of the game can easily sway the tide of battle. Getting to grips with how to effectively utilise these methods and your arsenal is the real challenge behind this game, that’s not to say that it’s not easy to pick up, just punishing to master.

At times there were real frustrations when playing, it might feel like some of the missions hinged too much on luck and others played out too long with objectives that require more patience than skill. However, the engaging gameplay, colourful art and decent story are thoroughly enjoyable.

Despite its relative obscurity, Rebelstar manages to capture exactly all the aspects of strategy that I love in a Japanese game with some of the better pacing and interesting mechanics that come from the west.
A genuine but flawed game, Rebelstar makes an ideal gateway game for people who are interested in XCOM or strategy games in general.

Rebelstar: Tactical Command

The Fever - Megan Abbott

It’s been a long time since I was so obsessively reading a book, the feeling of wanting to just go one page further has long since disappeared along with most of my more exciting teenage years, so it was with no large expectation that I began The Fever shortly after reading an article by another who was in the same predicament.

The suspense is stretched taut over a small community centred around the local high school, at least that’s how Deenie sees the hub of her life. The perspective of the Nash family, a teenage girl called Deenie, her older brother Eli and father Tom who teaches Chemistry at the school.

When one of Deenie’s best friends has a violent seizure during class, the doctors, press, students and parents all become fixated on the mysterious surge of seizures following it.

While it’s as addictive as everyone says it is, the thrilling nature of the book mostly comes from over-dramatising events and dropping off sentences. The use of phrases such as ‘and then something unexpected happened’ makes most events seem revelatory.

Abbott writes for the teen audience, with the melodrama being aimed at them as well as serving as a depiction of the teenage generation as a whole, the novel dishes up some characters that suit the thriller genre well, as it complements the general dramatic attitude of teenagers, making it a good read for adults viewing the youth culture of today. The shocks can seem kind of cheap, but still adds to the excitement of the novel.

Abbott writes in the style of Stephen King, the brevity of Bret Easton Ellis and the outlook of Ira Levin, there are lots of themes that are tackled which have previously been addressed in the aforementioned authors’ works, adolescence, feminism, health. There are also some great concepts and the book throws ever more layers to the veneer of mystery, using language as a powerful tool, to discomfort and prey on the reader, the bats, lake and creepy crawly allusions make for some illustrated writing.

UK Edition[/caption]

Every character and piece of dialogue is brimming with identity, each suspicious and suspecting, always full of intrigue. As the narrative unwinds the tension begins to heat up until the final arc, but the ending just isn’t quite as fulfilling by the time you put down the book, you are hungry for more, more of The Fever but also more Megan Abbott.

The novel ends up being revolved around hype and doesn’t quite live up to its own promise, hinged on a self-aware joke, that in the end, didn’t have enough velocity to escape the gravitational pull of its unsatisfying ending. Sadly, almost anyone could say that the entire focus of a narrative was to highlight a fine point as a means to explain away a disappointing flaw.

Despite the issue I had with it, I enjoyed the book immensely, it is a great achievement, at least on my part as a reader, as well as being a good book for a variety of different people, adults can immerse themselves in the canny situations involving modern youths, with the added informative pleasure of witnessing the events unfurl with the catalyst of web-based technology and I can also imagine that it could grip male readers, its paranoiac precision evokes Levin greatly.

Energetic, inspiring, thought-provoking and compelling. However mildly disappointing it is, to put it down in words seems an injustice to a book which was highly enjoyable 95% of the time.

The Fever - Megan Abbott

Northern Lights - Philip Pullman

Before Harry Potter there was Northern Lights.

First released in 1995, Northern Lights is a fantasy novel that took on a darker tone than conventional children’s fantasy books, it is closest to a YA novel in its themes and has been steeped in controversy since its publication as religious groups condemn the anti-religion sentiment in the novel.

Northern Lights is the first of the trilogy, His Dark Materials, which I first read when the concluding novel, Amber Spyglass was released in the UK in 2000, having caught my attention with its comparisons to Harry Potter, I read the trilogy in a few weeks, which soon cemented Northern Lights as one of my favourite books of all time. I recently obtained a beautiful Folio Society edition of the trilogy for my birthday and so decided to revisit it and see how my adult perspective differs.

Lyra Belacqua is a 12 year old girl who lives at the University in an alternate Oxford, which features steam-punk technology and somewhat Victorian society, after hearing a conversation between her Uncle, Lord Asriel and some colleagues in a secret room within the University, it sets in motion an adventure which takes her to the Arctic in search of lost friends.

Thanks to a panned film release a few years ago, there has been little interest in the series as a book trilogy or as potential newer adaptations, although it wasn’t the first time that it had courted the press, the issue of its handling of religion may have had a part in it, particularly for its exposure in America.

Modelling the title of the trilogy, ‘His Dark Materials’ after a sentence in Paradise Lost by John Milton, it would be remiss not to mention all of the numerous religious references in this novel, drawing parallels to the Catholic Church and portraying it in negative light. As a youngster, I always felt that the series wasn’t derogative about religion, as it portrayed some of the ideas in a way that can be more easily understood, after all, what is a religion but its doctrines? Overall, I don’t believe merely showing rules and beliefs that are not the current church’s, to be offensive.

The nature of Northern Lights is inherently darker than other fantasy novels of its calibre, with child kidnappings and gory violence, it is instantly recognisable as a breed of its own. After reading the trilogy, Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire was merely tame in comparison. The themes are much more mature, dealing with the hardships of adulthood and not just responsibility like most coming-of-age portrays.

The characters of Lyra & Pantalaimon are well-crafted, mischievous and wholly believable, the way they are handled means that children can almost look up to her, and adults can understand her, being that she is more mature than the average hero. Other characters include,

Due to its dark concepts and controversial undertones, this book isn’t for everyone, the sequels narratives venture vastly in comparison, which a lot of people didn’t appreciate, although if you are looking for a subversive and interesting fantasy novel, this one really is it.

Northern Lights - Philip Pullman

Parasite - Mira Grant

Another nominee for the Hugo awards this year is Grant’s ‘Parasite’, this isn’t her first foray into sci-fi horror as her previous trilogy ‘Newsflesh’ similarly feature’s a medical-based calamity.

Parasite is set in a world where humanity’s immune systems have been compromised by the ever-evolving bacteria and viruses and our own cleanliness has made us weak. With people beginning to die, the Symbo-gen Corporation genetically manufactured a cure, a tapeworm that resides in a patient and monitors and destroys all manner of infections and management of bodily functions. Already it’s oppressively ominous, what with worms being put in people by a company that clearly hasn’t got a brand marketing department.

Sally Mitchell passes out at the wheel and becomes brain-dead, just as the doctor is explaining to the family that their daughter is never coming back, Sally opens her eyes. After 6 years of re-teaching everything from scratch, including speech and walking, Sal has re-named herself, got a boyfriend and has a job. Everything is going just peachy, except that Symbo-gen has an unhealthy obsession with her and people are basically turning zombies all over the place. Oh didn’t I mention that? People are randomly stopping in their tracks, going dead-eyed and then wandering clumsily.

Mira Grant makes no attempt at providing any sort of cover story for these events, making it pretty obvious that these 3 things; Tapeworms, Sally’s accident and Zombie people are clearly related. Somehow though, none of the characters seem to realize, with the inevitable reveal being quite an unguessable shock to them.

With the onset of violent symptoms and increasing drama, it becomes subject to a crazily perspective-defying element of human idiocy, when all of a sudden, despite the possibly world-ending scenario which is unfolding around these people, they still have time to worry about things like ‘respect’ and info-gathering, despite the main character not actually being equipped with any power (or agency) to help in any way at all.

I recently read Parasite Eve, which although far from handling such a ridiculous situation in too convincing a manner, at least managed to offer some scientific background and changed the perspectives enough that no one person could bring the novel down, however in Sally Mitchell is the naive and questioning child in all of us that is unrealistically not being shut down at the first instance of intrepid curiosity.

The novel plays out mostly like the instigating events of something like I am Legend, but lacking all of the tone and atmosphere, opting instead to play it like a Sci-Fi channel TV movie, one that has enough budget to make some form of special effects and genre actors that don’t think that they are making complete rubbish, but lacking a decent screenplay or director, coming out with a moderate essence of cheesiness hanging off it. It soon devolves into a bit of zombie horror but all of the boring administrative lead-up and none of the powerful political or media struggle or emotional resonance of human drama.

There are some interesting themes throughout the book, the question of mental health and state healthcare for one, the ideas surrounding how scientific breakthroughs are handled and whether the public is kept informed or seeks information is something that I found though-provoking. I enjoyed a few of the male characters as they were humourous and made a good antidote for the dullness of the main character, whose own shining moments were being picked upon for lapses in social conformity.

It’s a rather enjoyable book, with too little story dragged out over 500 pages, puzzlingly leaving itself open for a sequel. Somewhat immersive, it leaves us wanting to be in the world, even if that means being inside of anyone else but insipid Sally Mitchell.

Parasite - Mira Grant

Beneath a Steel Sky

From the makers of Broken Sword is Beneath a Steel Sky, a point n’ click adventure released in 1994 on the PC. With similar design and gameplay to Broken Sword, it’s a classic example of a point n’ click, large pre-rendered backgrounds and puzzle-solving.

Set in the future, a young man is kidnapped by city police and taken away from The Gap, a wild plain outside of the city where he grew up after being found in a helicopter wreckage as a baby. He manages to escape the police who take him and the adventure starts, as you try to find a way to escape.

The opening scene features iconic art by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) and background designs were also designed by him, the opening is much higher quality than in-game graphics, however they are well detailed and look pleasant.

The tone of the game wavers from serious to amusing, the story features graphic content and themes, while the characters are strange and jokey, creating an interesting and not unwanted dissonance which sets it apart from other adventure games. The voice acting features some fantastic accents ranging from Welsh and Yorkshire to American and Australian, the language and humour is also distinctly British, forming like-able characters.

Unfortunately at about 3 hours the game is unusually short, there isn’t too much backtracking, but lots of cryptic puzzles mean that the most difficult parts often feel rather arbitrary than genuinely challenging.

For a freeware game, it’s lots of fun and features nice Sci-Fi aesthetic, if it were longer it would probably be my favourite Point n’ Click, hopefully the ‘sequel’ will be able to address the length issue.

Beneath a Steel Sky

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

With the surge of Cyberpunk novels in the late 80′s and early 90′s came Snow Crash, a hugely influential novel published in 1992 and written by Neal Stephenson. The novel is known for popularising (not starting) the use of the sanskrit term ‘avatar’ in technological context.

The novel is rather absurdist, particularly at the beginning, however tones down by the middle to become relatively normal, for a cy-fi. As well as covering widespread internet usage there are also themes of mythology, linguistics, memetics and socio-politics, all of which is pretty fancy sounding in direct contrast with and perhaps more accurately compared to the truest most basic nature of the story, which is the adventures of a Pizza delivery guy called Hiro Protagonist.

After wrecking a state-of-the-art pizza delivery car following a high speed run around the city, Hiro befriends a young girl who works as a street courier after she saves his pizza delivery. In an anarcho-capitalist world of mafias which control big corporate identities, Hiro is a nobody, but in the meta-verse, a 3D virtual environment in which there is even real estate, he is the c0-owner of the Black Sun, a trendy exclusive night club and part-time creator of all sorts of world-building codes.

Hiro is the self-professed  “Last of the freelance hackers and Greatest swordfighter in the world.”, somehow this seems to for the most have escaped notice in the real world unless he directly points them to it on his business card, at which point people seem to take the claim at face-value, not even once asking where the proof of such a one is.

After discovering Snow Crash, a drug that has the ability to take down a user in real life while they are activating the Meta-verse, Hiro and Y.T. attempt to get to the bottom of it. Sort of. I say this because in actuality, despite the overwhelming agency and wealth of environment to draw from, the first half of the novel is really just fluffing around aimlessly, waiting for things to heat up enough to actually force the characters into action.

It’s all rather paceless and doesn’t make for very engaging reading. The biggest problem with Snow Crash are the info-dumps. There are ways of inserting background, story or just details without relieving the reader of their will to live, unfortunately Stephenson’s brazen disregard means he just waffles for pages about things until his world is bereft of life.

Some of the plot points are questionable, with lots of it being a little obvious despite the immediate weirdness of the premise. Uninspiring, bafflingly pretentious, as if he was the first to clock onto linguistic nature of computing, utilising an abstract and threadbare mythological element as the single dull backbone of the story, which is only tangentially linked to the agency of its characters.

It’s understood that some people view it as a satire, however it would do the novel more harm with this outlook, knowing that it neither excels at nor sheds any light on the cyberpunk genre, merely using it as the most relevant and fast-moving genre which would illuminate his work.

The highlights of the novel come from its fun and interesting tech, often in novels tech is used as a plot device or merely just some background flavour for a world, in Snow Crash we get to see the practical and exciting ways that it can be used to make an action scene which keeps you on your toes.

One or two characters make less obvious choices and are taken to unusual conclusions throughout the novel, it’s hard to tell whether this was intentional or not, but it nevertheless adds some depth, albeit a little too late, to some fairly one-dimensional characters.

A messy blend of the futuristic and the mythological, trashy and pulpy, there’s not much underneath the hood, but enough sparks to keep the infrequent reader mollified and the regular, ticking over.

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Deus Ex

The last of the new wave of PC games in the late 90’s, Deus Ex was created by the same team that made Daikatana, which hardly inspires much confidence, nevertheless, having already played Deus Ex: Human Revolution and resultantly enjoying it, I was less skeptical of playing the predecessor.

The cyberpunk world of Deus Ex is set in the near future and the events take place in New York, where JC Denton is starting out as an agent at UNATCO, a highly-specialised government agency which deals with internal affairs and terrorism. Denton is a cybernetically augmented human whose superior agent brother’s feats earns him high anticipation of his abilities on his first day after he is asked to quell a terrorist attack on Liberty Island. He soon learns that the government has a limited supply of Ambrosia, a drug which cures people of the Gray Death, a fatal illness which ravages the lower classes as it is left unchecked, with the Ambrosia being delivered in favour of the rich and powerful - I don’t think the game leaves you with any doubt at all that UNATCO are baddies.

Much in the same vein as Thief or System Shock 2, which shared some creators, Deus Ex features 1st person adventure mechanics and seems to blend the two inspirational games together, with elements of RPG and stealth. There are numerous plot and gameplay paths in the game, exemplifying choice, various unusual ones can be made with regard to the story and objectives and you could decide progression style to get past guards by lockpicking a door, killing or sneaking.

Skill points can be gained through completing missions and exploration and allow Denton to level up one of his passive abilities, such as small guns, swimming or lockpicking for example and there are various permanent augmentations you can add on different parts of his body which can be found throughout the game, these often require activation for use and use up Bio-Electric energy (basically MP).

I was warned that due to the over-powered skills and abilities later on, the beginning of the game is rather hard, as there aren’t any decent skills to help. However, I found that it was relatively easy to go through if you don’t mind doing an aggressive play-through, however I was initially attempting a no-kill one and was having some difficulty progressing, such is my aptitude.

Despite large environments, the game is simple to navigate as there aren’t windy corridors or maze-like caverns that can be found in the likes of Thief, this is one of the downsides as I like to get a bit lost in games, as I seriously doubt if you plonked me in a building I would be able to find the right room and person without at least a hundred laps. There are several objectives to each mission which are usually beneficial and give great rewards both within the context of the game and as part of plotline.

The gameplay is incredibly immersive, with no load times and everything is rendered in-game, the guards have commendable AI and are vastly improved from the likes of Goldeneye, which is the closest videogame comparison you can come up with for Deus Ex. Obviously it’s a lot better though, Christ those guards were dense in Goldeneye, sometimes they would just run right up to you and you could chop them in the face.

The narrative and characters are fantastic, there is more depth than initially perceived, however the story is very predictable, with some of its finer moments being locked in less obvious corners. Although not as atmospheric in the same sense as System Shock 2, there is a complete world behind Deus Ex, although you won’t be living in the moment like in the former, there is a great sense of accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, it feels like the entire city is living and thriving when you turn off the game, not just a few NPC’s mooching around.

With the multiple endings and choices in the game it is probably good for replay value, it gets a little bit too formulaic by the very end, with some of the different pathways feeling rather rushed and could have used the build up to make the last level more option-specific as well as slowly dripping some of the philosophy rather than just slathering it on as if they had lost confidence in the rest of the game.

It’s probably not for everyone, it’s definitely a distinctive game from its era, with wonderful and charming game design and colourful characters that just wouldn’t work in a modern game, but the mechanics are still very solid and is probably the most refined of the lot. Also this guy is in it. What more could you ever want?

Deus Ex

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

I read this book like a creature possessed.

In between the time when I read fantasy as a child and then started my pursuit of a wider range of books these past few years, I read quite a lot of true crime, stories about serial killers mostly but it ranged to mass killings also. I enjoyed what I was reading, but guilitly so, akin to how one feels when watching porn in that I do very much love it, but I am not too fond about going onto buses or talking about it for fear of ill or the more feared, accurate judgement of my character.

Cor, am I glad Capote relates.

It is known the writing of this True Crime novel was feverish, as Capote became more and more obsessed with the events of a family massacre in a small town in Kansas during the 50′s. But who sodding cares that he almost went mad, when he came up with this seminal masterpiece?

In a prose style which largely resembles fiction, but the attentive and detailed descriptions of the grisly murders come as only True Crime does, hard-hitting and addictive, so that the writer and reader scarcely resemble the grace of flowing language which lies in such stark and sordid contrast. Tantalising words that tease, knowing they have you by the throat as they parade in such unendurably enjoyable slow pace.

This book is like crack, the best crack.

It’s the gift that keeps giving, even after you have finished your sordid affair with it, you can then swank it around and justify your own intolerable addiction like it’s something everyone else should be doing, that being dementedly consumed by such filth is an intrepid virtue.

Cheers Capote! Oh, and the money’s on the dresser.

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

Should you play Persona 4 Golden?

TL;DR – Yes

One of the most loved games (and latest released) on the PS2, Persona 4 was lauded for its intelligent story and fantastic gameplay, but hell, if you like Shin Megami Tensei games you know you’re going to love this, but what about people who haven’t the foggiest what I am on about?

I haven’t played many of this series myself, but after falling for Persona 3 I went and played Digital Devil Saga 1 and went on to play Persona 4 Golden. I won’t lie, these games aren’t for everyone, but hark! Don’t assume that because it’s a marmite kind of deal, if you don’t like the sound of it, you won’t like it, because this game can really catch you out.

So, Shin Megami Tensei, known as SMT or ‘Megaten’ is a series of dark RPGs set in the modern world where the core battle system revolves around enticing demons to be your friends. And saving the world. The Persona series is an off-shoot of this that is usually set in a high school and is about maintaining social friendships in a sim-style and dungeon-crawling at night earning new demons/personas through finding cards.

So, I can already feel that it’s losing appeal and usually I might follow up here with some brilliant defence or insight, but I won’t. There isn’t any. This game is that good even with that poor overview.

Managing social links in the daytime levels up the connections of your demons at night, through fusing demons together you get more powerful demons and exploring more dungeons gets access to better stuff, etc, etc.

There are lots of friendships to be made and if you like you can choose to completely ignore most of them, even with the clear-cut buddies that you’re obviously meant to be hanging around with. Consequently that could mean you will have some pretty crappy demons to use in the dungeon, but the choice is there.

Girlfriends, oh yes, there are those. The game is a 15 or something, so there’s no nudity or anything really exciting, however the game does waive this kind of prudish-ness with some of the Personas, such as – Succubus, Lamia, Incubus for the ladies (Oh yeah, I couldn’t sleep dry for weeks) and my favourite, Mara, the Penis Chariot.

Hanging around with a lady enough levels up the relationship and when it gets to level 8 then things get serious and they say all sorts of saucy stuff like… “I want to protect you”, “My head’s all messed up” and my favourite, “Why are you always with me?”. Oh, the jollies…

The story of Persona 4 is a murder-mystery, people are getting sucked into TVs and dying like some kind of reverse-Ringu minus the lanky lady and it’s up to you! Nameless Protagonist! To save them!

Naturally, there is a killer out there so I won’t be going into too many details because of these new-fangled spoiler thingamajiggies, although Atlus doesnae seem to give a toss, as it continually shares loads of spoilerific stuff thanks to the super, duper crumpet version of the Persona 4 fighting game they’re releasing, so don’t check that out.

The battles are turn-based RPG fare, the series is notably known as being more difficult than other RPGs but it’s manageable with use of elemental weaknesses and creating stronger persona as well as levelling. The dungeons are long and the map is randomised having come from dungeon-crawling a la Wizardry roots, enemies appear on-screen and can be attacked for an advantage in battle.

There are some pretty big downfalls in the series, music for one. I personally like it, but I can also agree it’s because it’s only because it’s so utterly repugnant as to become hilariously synonymous with the game, often jarringly so. It’s very poppy and has lots of trumpets in, which is rather weird.

Something to take into consideration when playing any Shin Megami Tensei title, they’re horrendously long for an RPG and I finished this one clocking about 80 hours. When I played Persona 3 it took 140 but I think at least 50 of those hours were due to me sucking and getting confused.

If you can overcome all of this, you will find a deep and dramatic story and characters which explore lots of dark, taboo themes without the pretension that other games have. The game pokes fun at other games at times including RPGs and has a rather odd sense of humour which is pervasive throughout. It’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s certainly worth pouring at least 10 or so hours in just to make sure, because if you do like Persona 4, you will agree it is one of the most rewarding games you could ever play.

Should you play Persona 4 Golden?

Perdido Street Station - China Miéville

One of the last times I wrote about steampunk I couldn’t help but mention its YA leanings and that I consider it an unsung genre, mostly because everyone involved in it is tone-deaf. That’s not to mean however that there isn’t a somewhat prevalent and talented author that seems to have inexplicably escaped my notice until recently, who also manages to subvert the issues surrounding the genre, without losing any of aesthetic and wonder that steampunk has to offer.

To be perfectly honest, I am not even sure if China Miéville is meant to be considered part of the genre or not, being that steampunk fans are notoriously nuts and fairly shielded from the rest of society, but I’m saying he is; lots of low-tech gadgets – check, pointlessly convoluted explanations – check, mechanic turned arse-kicker – you bloody well know it. I really don’t think I need much more evidence than the fact the book is named after a railway station in the story.

The novel’s plot decides its not entirely happy being  a fantasy and shifts about half way through the story, starting off following almost exclusively two of the main characters, a freelance scientist called Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, who is hired by the bird-like Garuda, Yagharek, to devise a way for him to return to flying capability, and Lin, a khepri who is hired by a gangster boss to create a sculpture of him using her specialised spit which the insect-headed Khepri lay unique claim. So, the plot is basically the premise for most of the novel when about half way in, it turns into something out of a monster-movie.

To give too much away would spoil the effective build-up that is present in the first half, but I can aknowledge that all of the pieces of the novel come together in a satisfying way, with lots of action and drama ensuing. It’s due to a lot of these themes and different atmospheres that the novel is almost like a game or film, most notably Bioshock, the hop from Lovecraftian horror to swirling mechanical fantasy can be enjoyable, although perhaps I wonder if this is merely a personal pleasure to see lots of my favourite things in one place, like a library of nerdy paraphernalia that I’m allowed to organise and alphabetise to my heart’s content.

Miéville has truly grasped the art of descriptive writing, his style is truly captivating, almost as if the whole place has been painted for you yet leaving just enough out for the reader to allow their own imagination to roam where it will. I suppose the real talent here is knowing when to leave parts out and when it’s okay to dump paragraphs of detail interspersed with the character doing their thing.

Probably my favourite aspect of the novel is its complex array of cultures and races which inform the city that is New Crobuzon, sometimes that simple act of having a map and knowing that there is so much more in the city that you didn’t get to see within the book’s narrative gives the world a lot more depth than if you were to keep it all insulated and neat. It’s a messy city with lots going on, as if action could happen around each corner which might warrant a tale to themselves.

It’s not as if it doesn’t come with its own issues either, such length the first two acts were that the final feels a little stunted in comparison, it’s always a let down to read yet another derivately bow-tied ending, but to go the more philosophical route requires a little more preparation than the author thought it deserves, arising with a rushed finale.

Immersive and engaging, Perdido Street Station is an example of accessible steampunk fantasy with just enough grimness for horror fans. It seems the author likes to experiment so it might be a one off piece of luck, whatever his other work is, at least we can expect it to be interesting.
This would probably make for a half-decent TV show, eh HBO?

Perdido Street Station - China Miéville

Steins; Gate Visual Novel

I sometimes wonder why it is that western games don’t have any real input in the visual novel genre of games.

Sure, the west created and pioneered the point-and-click adventure game as well as being home to the interactive movie genre, spawning such games as Night Trap on the Mega CD, but there aren’t any purely narrative driven experiences such as the visual novel over here.

Perhaps having been created in Japan, and the resultant overwhelming animé stigma attached to it, in these parts, simply mentioning the term ‘visual novel’ and there will be raised eyebrows all round. Most gamers have no clue what you are on about.

Better known for its animé counterpart, Steins; Gate started life as one of these visual novels back in 20XX and was finally released in the west earlier this year. The plot revolves around Rintarō Okabe an unemployed young man and self proclaimed ‘Mad Scientist’ (a phrase made more amusing when interspersed in broken English throughout Japanese dialogue, with emphasis on the syllables) who effects semi-delusional rantings and refers to himself as Hououin Kyouma. Most of Okabe’s exploits are half-jest, talking about the Organisation which he believes is following him, pretend conversations with allies, whispering ridiculous passwords at people ‘El Psy Congroo’.

Along with Itaru, a ‘Super-Hacka’ and Mayuri who makes the costumes and makes shopping trips, the 3 are the self-styled lab members of a cramped flat upstairs from a CRT TV store in gadget and tech-centric Akihabara in Tokyo.

When starting the game you almost forget there is a story supposedly about to happen, and are quite content with the meandering conversations of the lab members and the whimsical back and forths when Okabe resentingly gets called Okarin by the affectionate Mayuri. I was initially exposed to the game through the series so I knew what to expect ultimately, but for a new person experiencing Steins; Gate for the first time, the game was much better, the characters are instantly engaging and memorable and the long wait until something happens isn’t dull and paceless like the animé series.

Well it really begins as Okabe and Mayuri attend a small conference by a well known young scientist, it sets into motion a series of events which introduce the basic concept of the story, Time Travel. So as to give a rough idea of where the game is headed while being spoiler-free, I’ll be vague and say that there are conspiracies, friendships formed and lost and split timelines.

What I love about Steins; Gate is that unlike other narrative heavy games of this genre, the main character is very much his own character, not in anyway presented as if you are to play the role, choices play a part in the pathway but not much on his character.

The gameplay element is rather small but is all managed on a phone in game, people will call and text and you can decide whether or not to answer, but mostly the game just rolls out and most calls serve only for light-hearted humour.

There are two major pathways altering vastly the end of the game, however all others are just branches and can be achieved in a single playthrough, albeit with small use of multiple save datas.

Being an extremely linear game, it isn’t for everyone and the overwhelming nature of the characters can get on people’s nerves after such a long time, the game clocks in at nearly 30 hours, but it is significantly better than its animé and so fans of that will probably really enjoy it.

Less gameplay than other Visual Novels of this type, overt animé tropes and characters and the colour filter can be blindingly migraine inducing, but its clever plot and pervading humour manage to win over this cynical git so it could stand to do a whole lot worse. El Psy Congroo.

Steins; Gate Visual Novel

I like experiments

“Sure, I don’t mind needles…”

It’s how every story of a downward spiral starts,and it is also how the story of Vince began one day 2 years ago.

“Don’t talk or we’ll feed you to the Karkians…” Yuen Kong said, leader of the Red Arrow triad, controlling family of Hong Kong and shrewd owner of the Lucky Money club in the downtown Market.

Somehow a rather average, leather-clad punk had wound his way into the underworld, standing like a stiffened mannequin in the presence of the most powerful man in Hong Kong, but unlike any other sad, destitute junkie, the discovery of a malignant tumour forced his hand. But Vince was different, he had a deal with Kong. Become his guinea pig and be set for life and he was, for a little while.

“Tumor shmoomer” – Vince

Multiple Nano augmented transcriptions tore into his body, yet somehow he looked completely fine, creating an artificial respite to the impending death – but with a cost. With each treatment the drugs and genetic imprints rewrote his brain, leaving him a husk, a worn-out shadow of a man found drinking or scrounging at the Lucky Money bar. He was even there that fateful day in Hong Kong Market.

Vince in happier times at the Lucky Money bar.[/caption]

Isaac was tending the bar as usual when a guy he’d never seen before walked up to him, later Isaac recalled that throughout his time there he didn’t ask for a drink at the bar, “He started talking to a few of the regulars, but it was kinda late, they were all pretty pissed by then, he didn’t even ask for a drink at the bar”. After disturbing some of the patrons and rearranging some of the furniture he approached the bar, “I’m not sure what he wanted but he was talking about how UNATCO runs the joint over in New York City, started dissing Hong Kong, I asked him if he would like anything, he just went right around back and took off without even asking for a drink at the bar”.

“Experiments… I like experiments.” – Vince

Eyewitness accounts described what happened next as “somewhat shocking” and “the most scared I have been awake” or even “I didn’t even notice”, not long after the unusual man entered the staff area a number of mechanised cyborgs burst in and began to open fire without discrimination at the patrons. The chaos consumed the club and gave way to what has become known as the greatest disaster since the 2044 Olympic massacre, dozens injured and many more left traumatised from the sound of weak stomached people screaming at the sight of blood.

In the ensuing bedlam no-one had time to see Vince as he finished up the dregs of his beer, perhaps it was because he always kept to himself or maybe because they were running for their very lives, he was entirely unaware of the mania metres away and never thought that in mere seconds his life would be snuffed out.

He wasn’t found until the violence and dust had come to a stop, a bullet embedded in his torso, no longer able to fight the disease festering inside. Dead.

He was a gift to science, a gift to us all. And now he is gone. No longer will we be graced with his insightful observations of the cruel world that he inhabited, or sudden inimitable declarations of love for the simpler things in life.

God rest your soul buddy, I hope “that’ll do the trick” for you in heaven.

I like experiments

American Gods

Usually when a graphic novel or comic book writer takes to the pen with the aim of writing a novel, the result is usually an action-packed sweepf of comic style narrative, with the only difference being the addition of a few adjectives, but when Gaiman does it, he can’t help but beguile you into reading a ornately woven and multi-layered story that seems to unreal to believe came from such humble foundations.

America has always been a country that has struggled with its identity, whether its trying to find out what the Great American Novel is or what the American Dream ought to be, there’s never a moment when America isn’t trying to forge its own path on a world wrought with disillusioned historical sentiment.

To try to write a novel that tackles the American outlook on these themes is not so unusual, but to represent an entire world’s worth of culture that America has collected and represent it in an effectively ‘American’ way, well…

For a British novelist to even attempt the feat is nothing short of ballsy, if not, entirely arrogant, but as a plot must march forth so must a writer and their muse. American Gods is a work of more than just observation, it’s a repetoire of the lore and theology that has contributed to the nation, it is a fly-on-the-wall of their society and a fly-in-your-face of American culture.

Neil Gaiman is revealed as more than fit for the immense task as he writes without a trace of Anglicism. There isn’t a sardonic viewpoint, atypical of the English writer, the writing is self-reflective to the point of being downright deceptively American.

From the moment that the novel begins, “Shadow had done three years in prison.”, you can tell this isn’t like any other fantasy book you have ever read, high or urban. You are told little about why he was incarcerated and lots about how he managed to get through it, as he is released he discovers his wife has just died and is soon approached by a mysterious man who offers him a job.

Alongside the main narrative are shorter tales about various deities and folklore creatures which have made their way to America, offering insight into the background and setting of American Gods. Old gods are brought to the continent by immigrants and colonists, creating a different version of the god for America, where in the modern day, they are struggling to be recognised and subsequently, survive with such dwindling beliefs.

The tone is rather melancholic, the characters and the environment are bleak and manage to sport a black comedy which is more at home in a less fantastical book. Some of the elements of the plot are rather twisted, enjoyably so, and others are almost romantic in content, although neither would be enough to sell the novel to someone on.

The wealth of knowledge and lore that is in the book is really what makes it stand out, where others make some half-arsed attempt at mythological elements, none are as successful or convincingly expressed as can be found in American Gods, whose own adventures make for a fitting addition to the current respective canons.

Slow-paced, there are times when the story decelerates to a crawl, allowing a little bit too much time to pore over niggling details, despite the novel wrapping up well, this pacing can still be a little dull at times.

American Gods is a beautifully presented fantasy novel which surpasses the ordinary expectations of its genre to become a modern fantasy epic for a more mature and discerning readership. The depth and scope are immense and has a gritty finish that leaves the patient reader wanting to see a little more of the astounding world of gods new and old in the land of the free.

American Gods

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

This long awaited crossover game, pits Level 5′s deferential archaeologist, Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke, against Capcom’s graceless attorney-at-law, Phoenix Wright and his assistant in a story that sees them attempting to solve the mysterious case of Labyrinthia. This game  has been out in Japan for well over a year, where it received some good reviews but lacklustre sales. After dipping their toe in the water, Capcom made the brave and best choice to dive in and release this in the west with a full retail release, unlike the previous Ace Attorney game which suffered ‘download-only’ status.

Contrary to Japan, Professor Layton is the more popular series in the west, enjoying high sales amongst gamers both casual and core and from a variety of backgrounds, making this title ideal for getting the west in the lesser known Ace Attorney series.

When a strange young girl arrives at Professor Layton’s office, claiming she is being chased by someone, Layton and Luke are soon wandering around London looking for clues, going straight into the action the mechanics are briefly and simply explained giving even the most clueless players no room for confusion or error.

Striding the line between a traditional point and click, with Ace Attorney style courtroom battles goes hand in hand, much like the Ace Attorney series does conventionally, the chapters are divided between the characters and the time spent on each case or section of the game is paced well, all being directly involved with the main plot of the game. The visuals are beautiful, both series look faithful, with Ace Attorney being a more old-school looking in its 3D incarnation than in Ace Attorney 5. The soundtrack contains some mixed up versions of both games backlog, with the most standout pieces being part of the original score, which feels grand and memorable.

The experience is great until the approach of the third act, where it turns into a bit of a slog. Gameplay goes out of the window and turns into a visual novel, complete with huge, lengthy dialogues which attempt to tie up plotpoints in order for the convoluted twist to make a little more sense; which in trying to be both Ace Attorney and Prof Layton-esque ends up as a semblance of neither, resulting in dull confusion.

Most of the time, I enjoyed what I was playing, simply seeing better attention to the plot (which was also handled by Shu Takumi who created Ace Attorney) was important after having played a somewhat lacklustre one in the Phoenix Wright series not too long ago,  but the attempt at making the story too epic seems to have undermined the core enjoyment one usually gets out of these games. It’s almost as though trying too hard to make the game good was its own condemnation, the story reaches a standstill, going on too long and too oddly for the bell to really chime at the end.

Unlike other tie-in style games, this is one which feels almost more lavish than main series entries for both franchises, and fans of either series will enjoy seeing the respective protagonists showing down in this fantastical setting,  but as a game by itself, it’s a bit of a mess, we’re unlikely to see more, which is a shame.

This is a game series which with more installments, had a high chance of getting the formula down, but as it is, I guess we can just marvel at young Phoenix and Layton having their spotlights nicked by one another.

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

All You Need is Kill

After announcing a film was being made with Tom Cruise as the main character, I became interested in finding out a little more about this ‘Light Novel’ which apparently was able to interest the doe-eyed folk in Hollywood, but not the pouncing directors of the animé world, for you see, All You Need is Kill is a Japanese novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, making the moving fairly unprecedented.

Concerning a future where starfish-type aliens are invading the planet, Keiji Kiriya is forced to relive the same day, the day of attack, again and again, each time with the slaughter of soldiers around him. In the same base camp, American soldier Rita is famed for her legendary prowess on the battlefield, dubbed the ‘Full metal Bitch’, she is a frequent in the relived days as a power-suit wearing hunter taking out swathes of enemy, or a discerning soldier back on base.

The novel mostly follows the main character as he tries to make sense of the re-occurences and endeavours to get better at fighting using the deaths as a way to learn. I suppose the best example without giving away lots of plot would be to liken it to Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers, with a bit of Source Code thrown in.

There was also a manga made, they made the starfish aliens look like this.[/caption]

There is little to speak of in terms of language, Japanese is a pretty butchered language once translated and holds little literary value afterwards, unlike Russian. There aren’t many themes in the book, unless you include the most obvious, loss, discovery, love even. The biggest and most laudable part is Rita, who doesn’t suck and isn’t a complete counter-stereotype.

Rita is terrific at fighting, she hasn’t got a ‘Fuck-You’ attitude, nor is she meant to be some kind of astounding beauty, that’s pretty cool right? Well on top of that she’s all broken and stuff just like a battle hardened soldier ought to be, she even follows the Mako Mori test, meaning she has her own story arc. The film comes out today in the United Kingdom which I will be watching soon, I highly doubt that in a film with Cruise, any exec is going to be willing to shaft him for an awesome female character like Rita.

As the novel progresses, the parameter of expectations for the novel widens, eventually turning into a full-fledged Sci-Fi novel instead of a themed action novel, the characters are stylistically 2 dimensional, almost pulpily so and the main character is interesting, even if he lacks depth. At times it can be difficult to distinguish character’s aims, but the writing style; procedural, opinionated, id-driven, is addictive and enjoyable.

Straight after reading, I had my doubts, I was a little put-off by a few facets of the book. In one sense I like how animal the book is, in another, it confirmed awkward  suspicions about the books motives in having such a prominent female character. I read this a couple of months ago, opportunism inspiring me to write this review, but since then, it has become more fondly remembered.

The plot, characters and writing style of the book surpass all expectations, transcending traditional Japanese animé roots and cementing itself as its own thing, overall, it is a good book, even if it plays out like lengthy Philip K. Dick short story. 

I hope it’s good?[/caption]

All You Need is Kill

Child of Light

It seems like this past year, developers are beginning to branch out and make different kinds of games, starting with the release of Demon’s Souls a few years ago, the western-inspired Dark Souls 2 and the Final Fantasy-esque South Park came out last month are signalling a change in the industry.

It is these changes that allowed the existence of Child of Light, a turn-based RPG from the creators of Farcry 3, inspired by Japanese RPGs and Studio Ghibli animation. A digital-only title, the game was released this month on all current consoles at a lower retail price of £15.00 and is only about 13 hours long offering an authentic gaming experience unlike most digital-only games which are over-priced in comparison.

In 19th C Austria, a duke’s young daughter dies from an illness, but is immediately reborn in the magical world of Lemuria, where she meets a small glowing light, a sprite named Igniculus who aids her, and discovers that in order to return home, she must defeat an evil witch who has been plaguing the land.

During the game, all dialogue is spoken in verse: mostly in the form of closed rhyming couplets, with slight deviations to the formula.

The battles are active time-based (ATB) and attacks are selected after the waiting time and executed during the charge time. If a character is attacked after they have selected their move, but before they have executed it, they are interrupted – the move is cancelled and they are pushed further back on the waiting bar, this can be done to both the enemies and your characters, so it makes for very dynamic gameplay.

Igniculus can also be used during battle, when hovering over a player character he heals their health or over an enemy he slows their ATB bar.

The level-up system shares characteristics with Ubisoft Montreal’s Farcry 3, a branching set of attributes and stat upgrades which are un-lockable using points gained through levelling. There are a number of paths so that there is some choice in what skills to pursue.

There are 3 equippable slots; Head, Armour & Accessory, crystals are used as the equipment and are gained as loot from battles. There is a crafting system with 3 slots which you can insert crystals and make higher ranking crystals from, either by mixing colours or by putting 3 of the same colour together. Depending on the colour and the slot that you equip it in, they have a range of effects including chance hits of paralysis on the enemy or a percentage reduction in elemental damage.

The presentation is of high quality and belies its presumed budgetary costs, the sprites are hand-drawn looking with smooth animations, and are styled in 2D, similar to paper cut-outs, except for some elements like Aurora’s hair, which swishes around 3-dimensionally.

The backgrounds are layered and moves when the camera pans and both inside and out of battle are side-scrolling screens, so that the battle system initially looks like an old Final Fantasy game.

The music is beautiful, with thematic melodies that echo in essence throughout and some orchestral sounds that give it a rich and solid sound. Choral sequences enter during boss battles making them feel grand and heroic, with quieter, violin pieces accompanying the world adventuring.

Although simplistic and easy to learn, the game offers a hidden depth when it comes to the battle system, the interferences one inflicts can allow lots of different tactics and methods for taking down an opponent. The range of spells and characters changes the pace of battles and suit all kinds of players. Enemies mix it up with counterattacks, activating on certain conditions, magic attacks, physical attacks, or even retaliating only when interrupted, these combinations of move-sets mean the player is often required to change techniques in order to defeat opponents.

I have heard the battle system is similar to Grandia, but a bit simpler, an indication of its JRPG roots.

Boss battles are fun and challenging, however sometimes spring up at unforeseen intervals meaning that lack of preparation can often be a cause for demise. Sporadic quests offer new characters, however I found the first addition to be the most effective. At times I found that I had gotten myself lost in the game, not knowing where to go or simply not being able to map segments in my head, however, continual exploration got me to grip with it, especially when doing a couple of the sidequests, which have you backtracking and fast-travelling in order to find oddities.The difficulty of the game ranges, at the beginning through to the middle, it is really easy and then gets to a more normal difficulty onwards, I turned up the difficulty throughout this time until around the middle, where I changed it to normal on the fly, which is a great choice to allow the player.

I never found that I had to try to level or round up loot, with tactics being the major factors in winning battles against bosses and enemies.

Although not  evoking that quintessential Japanese RPG experience that the game was hyped to, Child of Light breeds its own kind of adventure which is visually stunning and emotionally satisfying outside of the entertaining battle system.

The characters are charming, the poetic style of text and is fitting and untiring (despite the few comments I have seen mentioning otherwise) and the atmosphere is visionary and nostalgic in a way that isn’t replicating 8 or 16 bit art.

If there were any issues with this game, then it’d would be the sad knowledge that we’ll unlikely see anything else quite like this, from anyone else like this, any time soon. 

 

 

Child of Light

Waiting for Godalming

I’ve never spent so much time wondering if a writer is mad or not. Nor for that matter, the protagonist.

The fact that Psychological thrillers are one of my favourite genres of book, film, TV and videogames is what makes the former statement so frighteningly ironic. That a comedy fantasy novel could aspire to create such an enduring and perplexing doubt for the duration of it is somewhat of a mystery, when so many Fight Clubs fail to hit the desired mark.

Waiting for Godalming is a comedy fantasy novel about a seemingly bumbling, yet apparently the world’s best detective, Lazlo Woodbine, who, after God’s disappearance is tasked with finding him, by God’s wife, also active, is Icarus Smith, a lowly thief who justifies his activities in the belief that he is only ‘replacing’ items as according to a divine purpose which only he knows. After a rather unfortunate theft, Smith is hounded by an organisation known as the ‘Ministry of Serendipity’.

Written by Robert Rankin, Waiting for Godalming was published in 2000, and presumably due to his being British and having a sense of humour, appears to have been mostly marketed as appealing to Terry Pratchett fans, despite Rankin having been in the authoring business since before even the Discworld series was begun.

Unlike Pratchett however, Rankin’s humour is much more absurdist, surreal and metafictional, Lazlo Woodbine is depicted as a very unreliable narrator and often partakes in ridiculous rituals in order to adhere to being a ‘traditional 1950′s detective’, such as: only being present in 4 locations, (his detective office taking cases, in a bar talking toot, in an alleyway having a shootout or being on a rooftop showdown) using a Smith & Wesson and drinking only a certain brand of scotch.

The plot exists mostly as a means to deliver the humour as there are a lot of moments where the prose diverts attention quite wildly away from the situation or moving the story forward, in order to digress and speak of some witty whimsy. A novel such as this uses irony as a kind of badge of honour, where satire looks in and silliness looks back in a never-ending mirror of reflection, so you’re never quite sure if an event was meant to be taken seriously or not, yet the plot moves on.

I enjoyed the humour in the book, looking at other reviews, I have noticed that different readers, have not, after all the humour is rather unusual, so it might be said that the comedy is of a particular taste, not perhaps a refined or Wilde-ian, nor are laughs created of the belly-aching sort but instead induce a warm chuckley kind that one might outwardly describe as ‘hearty’.

There’s always a difficulty I find in reviewing books like this, to approach it in a serious tone sounds mocking and prudish, and to attempt to be humourous or light-hearted often results in catastrophic failure and one worries that any readers might confuse my poor sense of humour with the novel that I am banging on about. Please don’t.

Outside of comical elements, Waiting does a good show of de-constructing the detective fiction genre as well as other archetypes and cinematic tropes used in adventure/mystery films. There are some brilliant and attentive literary techniques used also, such as the end of a chapter or section following a character using a similar action or word as the beginning of the next chapter.

I have read a few fantasy comedy novels now, and I can easily say this is one of my favourites so far, gloriously told and a pleasure to read, I look forward to reading more by Rankin, or so my guardian Sprout, Barry, tells me.

PS – The banner image is from Alice on Mars, which has an Indiegogo going on for a film at the moment.

Waiting for Godalming

Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day

Outside of Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo is known for helping produce and direct compilation animé films, such as; Neo Tokyo, Robot Carnival and Memories, his most recent endeavour being ‘Short Peace’, a collection of animé shorts featuring other directors as well as himself.

In the UK, this has been released as part of a package along with Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day by Suda 51, a side-scrolling, action game by the same company that brought us that wonderful gem Killer is Dead, which I loved so much.

The animé has 4 stories, the first of which, ‘Possessions’, was nominated for the Best Animated Short at the Oscars this year, concerns everyday Japanese objects which have become possessed with spirits after years of neglect and a lost seamstress who happens upon them. The art style is bold and defined, with lots of Japanese folklore effused in the story and animation. Probably the oddest and most unique, the surreal depictions and sound design are the obvious indicators for its acclaim.

Also inspired heavily by Japanese culture is ‘Combustible’, a tale of a geisha whose sweetheart leaves to become a fireman, the art style is reminiscent of Ancient Japanese art, with cream, black hues and an isometric angle in most scenes. This is probably the most beautiful of the shorts and also the shortest, the abruptness and lack of immersion, not having enough time for the story to become attached, make it somewhat frustrating.

The PEGI-16 rating this collection carries is clearly certified in mind of ‘Gambo’, the third feature about a disheveled ronin who enters a village that is plagued with an amourous oni who visits and nicks the women, meanwhile, Polar Bear. The most ludicrous and unexplained of the lot, Gambo ‘bears’ all, literally, the gore, tits and more are quite shocking, a bit like the voice acting which is sketchy in parts, the ending also a let down by introducing stupid and unnecessary shovel ideas into an already brilliantly realised animation, however the fluid animation and action are more than enough to make up for it.

The final part, ‘A Farewell to Weapons’ is my favourite with more traditional animation and utilises the style of Otomo, the short presents a futuristic world where soldiers don Power Armour (the real kind) and destroy unmanned robotic vehicles. The scenes offer more dialogue than previously and the action scenes are extremely well animated, as befits the expectation following his signature art, being the longest, it would seem they really blew all the budget here too. The armour depicted are the best I have ever seen on-screen, they look realistic and seem to function the way they ought. The plot is Philip K. Dick-esque which suits me fine, but the tone shifts somewhat uncomfortably to a shaky ending, losing traction after a pretty good impact.

Overall the animé was fun and thought -provoking, the new ideas and settings in older Japan are welcome, the high quality of animation is astounding, still though, I think that the two especial favourite shorts of mine in Memories are still much more enjoyable and mind-bending than anything Short Peace has to offer.

Aaaand now for the fifth additional piece, well… the less said the better really.

The gameplay of Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day is very monotonous, it only has a couple of buttons and aims, go right, jump and hit shit, occasionally the game will do something dickish and loop which you won’t notice until the fifth or so run-through because both the artistic and level design are so generic, you also have to do something arbitrary before you are allowed to escape, nice. There are a few boss battles, which the gameplay changes for each, from awkward platforming to slow shmups and some really aggravating ‘faux’ wrestling. The best thing about this game is the cut-scenes, at the start you will be counting down the seconds for him to decide he has tired of the facade of storylines and jumps abruptly to the action or simply something weird or random happens, but as the short, 50 minute game continues, these scenes descend into hilarious self-parody, which is actually enjoyable.

The game isn’t worth it, but if you want to own the animé it is the only way to go, the only saving grace after purchase being the elaborate ridiculousness of the game’s ever-changing cut-scenes. I paid £37.99 for this game, even including the storyboard artbook that came with it, it is still horrendous value for money, with the animé totalling 68 minutes and the game only 50, you only get 2 hours for a full-priced release. Perhaps it should have been renamed ‘Short Piece’.

Holding right a lot.[/caption]

Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day

Magic Realism - Then and Now

One Hundred Years of Solitude – 1967

At the peak of the Latin American Boom in the late 60′s and 70′s, One Hundred Years of Solitude was published by Columbian author, Gabriel García Márquez, and is known today as the seminal novel of Magic Realism, incorporating themes of love, loss and as eponymously suggested, solitude.

The novel follows several generations of the Buendía family who founded a town called Macondo in Columbia, which forms the setpiece to the story as the time passes. There is no particular focus on any of the characters for the duration of the novel, as such, there is no protagonist, however certain key members do subvert the paradigm, which in turn reinforces many key themes throughout.

Set in the late 1800′s stretching through seven generations and a hundred years, there’s an enormous sense of time and its passing in the shift of history, which is outlined with the backdrop of the Thousand Days’ War, a civil conflict between the ruling conservatives and the liberal revolt, sparked by the conservative government rigging elections. The town of Macondo exudes Latin American culture, while also maintaining the unique magic which gave birth to an entire genre of writing. Each time the allusions come across as handed down, conceivably mad and somewhat sardonic, yet it’s more a case of representing the people of Macondo, than the atmosphere.

A smart novel that treads softly between modernist Magic Realism, and folklorish whispers, that allow the novel the freedom to explore the fantastic in a serious tone, and the melancholy with fortitude.

Cloud Atlas – 2004

Amidst all the blandness of the noughties, books other than Harry Potter were published, read and well-received, such as David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. It was nominated for several big name awards such as the Booker prize as well as Sci-fi gaff, like Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula awards – a rare occurrence that, for me, necessitated reading, fortunately the release of the film by the Wachowskis rendered this book cheaper for me to obtain and so I finally managed to read it after 10 years.

Featuring 6 inter-woven stories, the novel is a vignette spanning hundreds of years, from the colonisation of Australia to years in the future, after humanity has forsaken itself. Likewise, the writing style is changeable, from sweeping and existential (in the pop philosophy sense) to subjective and momentary.

Although not in a modernist style like Marquez’s work, Cloud Atlas enjoys sci-fi elements as well as philosophical musings that inform the plot rather than the feel of the novel, each character feels like an outsider rather than a part of a whole, and the many genres allow freedoms to express the characters better, such as the conspiracy plot and the young journalist.

Unlike many newer novels that attempt to emulate older style writings, Mitchell is able to pull it off, with correct use of archaic language and ideas, the novel works as well as a piece of historical fiction as it does anything else. There is less obvious Magic Realism at work, with the cloud hanging over it mostly, rather than being steeped in it like One Hundred Years, it would little affect the composition if taken out, but adds as it is.

There is no real comparison to the two, despite being the same genre Cloud Atlas and The One Hundred Years of Solitude are very different pieces, whose only real similarity is the allowance of realistic freedoms in order to engage their readers and form worlds more exciting and realistic than even our own.

Whilst writing this Gabriel García Márquez passed away on 17th April 2014, aged 87, as such I have decided not to edit my piece on the novel, for fear of revisionism, despite my favourable opinions. However, what one can say is that, he not only created the seminal novel of Magic Realism, he also defined a country’s literary perception the world over, with his tales of fantasy that transcends eras and cultures.

Magic Realism - Then and Now

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

What’s better than a little sit down with a game about a killer bear, trapping students in a house and making them kill each other? Well, probably a lot of things, but few could be weirder.

In the Japanese visual novel style, (watered-down adventure game; or games for lazy people) Danganronpa follows a typical adventure game format, with sections being devoted to talking to people, story sections and wandering around, while the other part is detective work and court-style simulations in order to figure out who the killer is for that chapter. An atypical Battle Royale-style, the plot involves an elitist school whose students are the best of their respective fields, when the doors are all bolted up, they are asked to kill one another and get away with it, or be locked up forever, this means that there, for the most part, is no immediate agency allowing the rest of the game to play out as character-building exercise.

The story is linear, there is little you can do to affect anything, there is only one proper ending and little need for replayability, unlike in 999, where branching paths make different endings, with two playthroughs forming the bulk of the storyline.

Plenty of people to kill off.[/caption]

Also unlike other visual novels, there is a huge emphasis on character levelling, each time you choose to spend your free time with someone you can level your relationship up and gain extra skills for use during the courtroom battle segments, this is pretty ironic as it means you are essentially hanging around with people so you can get skills from them, in order to beat them later. So not a very ‘pro’ tagonist then.

The different relationships with the characters can give new insight into the story, and also means that if you wanted to replay the game, you can use the fore-knowledge to optimise your time spent with them.

Much like other visual novels, the characters do carry animé tropes, which can be rather annoying and unnecessary, fortunately there are also a few interesting developments which make the situation a lot more bearable, despite being a game which intends to kill off most of its characters, it still has lots of surprises in store.

Clocking in about 20-25 hours, the game is longer than most visual novels/adventures localised to the west, and is about as long as a normal visual novel in Japan, however, with most of your time spent wandering corridors, exploring and talking to people, there is a lot more interesting gameplay than the usual fare.

Although not as compelling as 999 or as charming as Ace Attorney, the game forms its own niche with its unique gameplay elements, art-style and animé style storyline and characters and with a sequel on the way this looks to be a rather promising franchise.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Ulysses by James Joyce

Wow, this placed has turned into a ghost town, eh? I guess reading Ulysses leaves little else on your social plate, what with it being over 900 pages, I suppose re-reading it after getting half way through didn’t help matters either.

Now I am neither clever enough nor patient enough to give this a proper review or essay on it, besides, one can find them anywhere, so instead I am just going to give some thoughts that I have on this, and perhaps when I am a little older and wiser, I can laugh at this fool here. God, I hope I get older and wiser instead of just dead or stupid and perhaps even worse, married.

The plot follows the ups and downs of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, drawing many parallels between them and Odysseus and Telemachus, but goes on to evolve into further, more complex themes, with allusions to theology, technology and war.

I’ve read hardly any Irish literature, at least not many that aren’t fantasy, and fewer still ones that grasp Irish culture. I was asked whilst reading, what Ulysses is about, and having some more time to think about an answer, I would describe it as ‘a quintessential day in the life of two men in Dublin’, which is a whole lot better than ‘a man who goes about to a funeral’, which was all I afforded at the time.

The book is known as one of the best of all time, so you can expect some pretty pukka writing, which incorporates many different forms during one of the chapters and all kinds of wonderful and amazing literary techniques which have been analysed to death by now, but as general reading goes, I enjoyed the fast-paced descriptive writing,  and the dialogue is surprisingly witty. However, this book is a slog and no mistake. The overwhelming length of sentences and the almost surreal edge to the chapters, give this book a really heavy pacing, (after all it is only one day that passes in the book) which on journeys, simply put me to sleep.

The result being that, it ultimately belongs to the crop of books like “In Search of Lost Time” that deserve to be read when one is fully capable of understanding it, I am probably not going to drag myself through another novel like this, at least not merely for a false sense of prestige, as, if you don’t fully understand or appreciate it, that makes the whole venture pointless.

 

Ulysses by James Joyce