A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

When I first watched Dune, I turned it off after 20 minutes.

I had heard that it was rubbish from the internet, but it didn’t put me off reading the novel, I had watched the series when it came off and passed off my reaction to the film as a result of Lynch hitting a bad one. But after reading the novel, I went back to the film and decided it was actually amazing. It’s a faithful adaptation for the most part so why wasn’t it well received? For someone who has read the book, the film is a pretty recap of the book, but for most people it’s a slurryfest of confusion and banality.

Now, over 20 years later, John Carter hits our screens and I can say that basically the same thing is repeating itself.

On first glance, Princess of Mars is a simple pulpy book that shouldn’t warrant little more than passing attention, however upon reading it, I found it more like the seminal books of old from the likes of H.G. Wells and Verne.

The film, once again, portrays an accurate and representative version of the Barloom (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ in-verse name for Mars) we love, but without the context and more importantly the time to sink into the characters and world we’re introduced to, this goes horribly wrong. John Carter came out as a bit of a mess, a perfectly watchable mess, but one nonetheless. People aren’t willing to sit through something which takes too long to get into, nor do they want to be introduced to any cheesy style of sci-fi unless it has a tag of the independent about it. Disney is too mass market to get the demographic that matters when it comes to this old-style sci-fi.

Following John Carter, what can be considered a Confederate dream, he fought on their side during the war and later became a gold prospector, he appears to be naturally heroic and often imposes his worldview on others, similar to most other fiction of the era, albeit with a distinctly American voice. The adventures that follow Carter’s appearance on the planet Barsoom, are based on his interference with the planet’s ongoing war between the Red and Green Martians, the Reds of which resemble humans.

John Carter ends up spending time with both races, during which time he becomes more related with the Red Martians, particularly Dejah Thoris, whom he saves from the Green Martians, he soon finds out that, quite prophetically, she is a princess and has significant political import to both races. I like to think that a random alien has a high chance of meeting the Queen when she is out for a midnight adventure in London, because god knows how dull and short a story about meeting most Londoners would be.

Politics is something welcomed but little expected in a book of this age, the understanding of the culture not only plays a part in Carter’s acceptance by both races, but the dominance of the leaders rely upon having him in their midst.

The inevitable quest to save the princess from being forcefully married to an evil leader of an opposing faction of the Red Martian creates the invigorating climax to the novel, Carter uses his knowledge of the people to win and the novel ends with his return to earth under as dubious means as when he reached Mars.

Although not quite as timeless as its predecessors in science-fiction like The War of the Worlds, it has been more influential in the realm of television and cinema than any other sci-fi out there, building a framework for action adventure and also being the main book in most of the golden age writers libraries. Perhaps better enjoyed as a child (oviparous humans is rather disconcerting as an adult female), the novel was uncommonly enjoyable, intriguing and exceeded expectations, although I am not terribly eager to read the sequels any time soon.

A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Early 2015 book thoughts

Some people are great at blogs, their brains seem to link straight to the fingers and they end up producing copious amounts of jealousy-inducing text, while others (i.e. me) tend to talk instead.

I have been dancing between a number of different posts from general creative writing to more reviews and discussions about various media, most notably of which was some thoughts on Atlas Shrugged, however in the end there wasn’t really much to say about it, except that it’s really long and a bit like listening to that person that everyone has in their lives, who missed some kind of big opportunity in the past that through some bizarre happening is not their fault at all, that constantly talk about it bitterly.

I could have also talked about Ready Player One and joined the dizzying number of bloggers and Youtubers, redditors and internet stars who read it and felt like it really spoke to them in a way no book has before and sums up all of their experience of the 80′s and geek culture despite the audience age range varying by about 40 years.

Or I could have mentioned The Once & Future King, the most inspiring fantasy book from this century (when you cut out a big LOTR hole in the century) and how despite it’s gorgeous language and humourous dialogue, had an entire book on Lancelot and Guenever which is about as interesting as hearing about it for the umpteenth time would be expected.

It wasn’t all bittersweet though, I read The Wasp Factory which is written by the late Iain Banks, most well known (in my spheres anyhow) as a Sci-Fi writer, but who has written a number of novels for ordinary and not-so-weird folk, except that… the book’s really weird. If you read The Catcher in the Rye and wanted Caulfield to act like more of a sociopath, then you’re in luck!

I also had a manga/comic week, where I basically run through a host of aforementioned media that has built up over the time I’ve read novels and crack on it.  Tintin was pretty uncomfortable, Monster by Naoki Urasawa was every ounce as good as the hype and Nausicaa was like the film except this time I understood what was happening.

I have recently read a bunch of books about Mars which seems like an interesting idea for a short series of features on the red planet in fiction, but for now I am just worrying about finishing up Majora’s Mask which I have been playing for about 3 weeks and have only finished the third dungeon, so yeah, that’s how it is.

Early 2015 book thoughts

Top 10 Films of 2014

As the fight for good films to screen here in gloomy Southend raged on, there was a variety of big and small budget films that made it all worthwhile. The abundance of subversive and well-directed material also leaves little but the less obvious for the Oscars to go for this year, lets hope they warm up to the wild side…

10. The Lego Movie

Unexpectedly fresh, The Lego Movie offers all the laughs and action for the kids and witty commentary and heartwarming nostalgia for adults, it’s visually impressive and has a great ‘take it or leave it’ feel, which is exactly what we need in this sequel-infested climate.

9. Whiplash

A secret film showing offered this jewel of a movie which isn’t technically out in the UK until later on this month, but I saw it last year, so on the list it goes. Whiplash follows a young Jazz drummer under guidance of a ruthless teacher, and is the best kind of subversive film, one that utilises its genre material, which in this case is competition/underdog films and uses it to jump off to create new and exciting concepts that elevate it beyond its means. Some great performances in this film, with JK Simmons leaving out the syrupy conventions in favour of a gripping and sharp presence that has you both loving and hating his character.

8. Under the Skin

Scarlet Johansen plays an alien stalking men in Glasgow, Under the Skin is among those few films, such as 2001 and Irreversible whose astonishing sound design and patient scenes end up suffocating viewers with the tension. Wonderful cinematography and a haunting performance by Scarlet Johansen make this a wonder to watch; there’s certainly no question about how great this film looks and feels, but the sorry fact is, that ‘under the skin’ of it, there’s not a whole lot there, putting it at the lower end of the list.

7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

It’s always a bit embarrassing to put superhero movies, and a sequel no less, on a list above Oscar-tipped films like Whiplash, but when it’s one that manages to step out from underneath an umbrella the size of The Avengers and the other superhero movies that have made awesome returns, while also putting something thought-provoking material on the table, then I am proud to put Cap 2 on this list.

6. Interstellar

I really wanted this to be my number one, but when I am in the middle of a cinema, laughing my arse off at a film for even considering that ‘love is a empirical science’, it’s a wonder it’s here at all. Interstellar is a film that wanted the heart to pull off something as bold as the above but neither has the wits nor the time to do so, not when there’s a space opera, hero flick and introspective on American ideals going on around it. For the same reason that I love Prometheus, Interstellar is here, not because of what it does or doesn’t do, but because it tried.

5. The Babadook

From Australia, The Babadook is a horror film about essentially the boogie-man, but far from the cookie-cutter thrillers we’ve seen before, it offers a great insight into motherhood, grief and solitude, that is unlike any other of its genre. There’s comical aspect to this film too, not quite Evil Dead, but an essence of satire and somewhat childish humour, that sometimes can pervade into the chilling segments. Strangely, it neither adds or subtracts from the film, but remains an oddity which is a part of the experience.

4. Gone Girl

David Fincher’s adaptation of the 2012 novel manages to capture all of the essence without dragging the negative weighty social issues that Flynn infected the novel with, allusive and weighty, Gone Girl was the film that had people leaving the cinema talking and it weighed heavily on minds long afterwards.

Without appearing tawdry, the film rounds out all of the important moments, especially the final sequence and allows the actors to breathe a little more nuance into the characters than the book could afford, fortunately, we are viewers in the affair and not lingering in their head space like in the novel.

3. Nightcrawler

A surprise winner for me was Nightcrawler, a film I was initially drawn to by the cool 80′s aesthetic reminiscent of Drive, but stayed for the American Psycho-esque character piece. Set in Los Angeles, a go-getting thief who seizes an opportunity to become a ‘nightcrawler’, someone who finds accidents and crimes and shoots footage to sell to the big television channels.

Featuring lurid visuals as well as sharp direction, the most captivating part of the film was Jake Gyllenhaal’s standout performance, having lost weight for the role, he creates a character that is at both empathetic and despicable, the film rolls on to a perfect climax.

Rene Russo also played her role as a TV exec to perfection, a refined yet emotionally unstable woman outside of Hollywood’s heyday, it will be great if the Oscars gives some recognition particularly to this film.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

I had never seen a Wes Anderson film before I saw this, but this film made me rush out and watch most of his films afterward. The Grand Budapest Hotel is what I would call his best film, visually arresting and full of vibrant characters and humour, the classic Anderson formula is applied and mixes well in this tale of a hotel owner framed for murder and on the run with his bellboy.

The set design and cinematography is stunning, set in a fictional European country, there’s nothing that looks quite like it, a hodgepodge of German, Russian and aristocratic French architecture and interior design, with warm colours to complement it.

Grand Budapest evokes British humour, casting Ralph Fiennes in the title role, amongst other famous actors in cameo or side roles, but unlike most grabbing films of this ilk, it uses its cast wisely and not too sparingly. There’s some brilliant performances from some unlikely actors, especially in funny roles, such as Adrian Brody as the antagonist, while the child actors were probably some of the most talented and charming that I’ve ever seen.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

Of course this was my favourite film of 2014. It has 80′s inspired sci-fi and comedy superheroes and features a talking raccoon!

Guardians managed to surpasses the fairly high expectations I had for it, being a Marvel Disney film we could all expect something worthy of our time, but the non-stop action of Guardians of the Galaxy I didn’t quite expect. Somehow the film manages to identify, subvert and exemplify common tropes found in superhero movies, amongst other things, and never gets old.

The characters are all fairly brilliant and even the obligatory female love interest had her moments, one of my favourite things I like to ask people who have watched the film, is who their favourite character is, because (apart from Gamora) everyone has a different favourite character, with Groot being the majority’s favourite.

People of all ages and backgrounds can find something to love in Guardians, I can only hope they manage to keep the momentum going after this.

Top 10 Films of 2014

Top Ten Videogames of 2014

As a whole, 2014 wasn’t a spectacular year for gamers; the majority of releases weren’t too amazing and the many controversies both regarding games and its culture has left us with little positivity towards gaming in the future. Despite this, there were a few key games that reminded us that not everything about 2014 was complete bollocks and so I present this year’s top 10 games with the usual caveat that, if it’s not on here, it’s either because I didn’t play it, or it is shit.

10. Toukiden

Released on the Vita as Koei-Tecmo’s response to the platform’s lack of Monster Hunter, the game offered a more action-oriented experience and a more engaging story. Toukiden is a great entry-level hunter game, the difficulty is low and the gameplay is fun, but it’s not anything groundbreaking.

9. Hyrule Warriors

Dynasty Warriors meets Legend of Zelda, this was an obvious addition to the list, when else do you get to play as Ganondorf beating up dozens of Hyrulians? The story mode is good to play about in and there are lots of characters to suit different play-styles, Hyrule Warriors is probably a lot of people’s first experience of a Warriors-style game, so it was nice to see it looking a little more polished than previous entries.

8. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

The murderous visual novel sets itself apart from others, it has a compelling plot, fun and comical characters and even good replay value, but the drawn out length and droopy third act prevent it from travelling higher in the list. Nevertheless, Danganronpa is a must for lovers of point & clicks, puzzle games and visual novels.

7. Super Smash Bros. for Wii-U

Returning with more characters, but more importantly, better movelists and tweaks, forget Brawl, Super Smash for Wii-U throws out Brawl in favour of Melée inspired gameplay and with better stages. The game now has lots of features for entry-level gamers as well as veterans making this the most definitive version of Super Smash Bros.

6. Bayonetta 2

Bayonetta is not just about new hair in this instalment, with smoother gameplay and a more useful Witch-Time, Bayonetta is better than ever, the story is more comprehensible if not so good and the pacing is much better, making Bayonetta 2 the best action hack & slash game by a mile.

5. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

By all rights not a shining point in Ace Attorney’s history, it’s still better than most Prof. Layton games and other visual novels by a wide margin. The mixed vision from both of the games dilutes the narrative, especially towards the end, but the new gameplay mechanics and the pleasure of seeing these two together is all it needs.

4. Steins; Gate

The visual novel reaches western shores at long last and is the delight we all expected, if it’s more of what the animé gave you then you’re in for a treat, first timers to Steins; Gate can easily start on this as it’s as hard to get into as the animé with similar rewards. A narrative-driven sci-fi with some good comedy, Steins; Gate is a riot all the way through.

3. Alien: Isolation

After the mess that was Colonial Marines, I think we were all a bit skeptical of Alien: Isolation despite the promising footage we were being shown, but our fears were allayed when it came out and was the Alien game we have been wanting since the closing credits of Scott’s original Alien film. The aesthetic and sound design are perfect at creating the suffocating atmosphere of Alien, the gameplay is stealth-based and the terror of the Alien is maintained throughout the experience. The only down side to Alien: Isolation is the failure to focus on central characters as well as the station Ripley is on board, but in all other areas it excels like no other Alien or even horror title, this year.

2. Wolfenstein: The New Order

It’s not often that a title such as Wolfenstein can get a look in on a top 10 list, let alone appear so high, but this year’s The New Order offered all the fun of a typical Wolfy game, with more bang for your buck on the story department. Set in 1960 after we all lost the war to the Nazis, Cap. Blazkowicz is fighting the unwinnable fight against alternate history technology which includes cyborg dogs and titanium super soldiers.

The gameplay is tight enough to compete with modern-shooters and guns dynamic enough to have a bit of gun-toting fun with. The main character was not the muscular idiot he looked like, but a sensitive and realistic war vet whose many motivations weren’t necessary but greatly appreciated when the enemies are Nazis.

Wolfenstein: The New Order leaves little room for improvement, I wonder if Id Software might have set themselves a precedent they’ll be unable to follow with Doom 4.

1. Transistor

There was never any doubt what this year’s top game was for me, I never played Bastion, but Transistor’s blurry cyberpunk aesthetic caught my eye and I gave it a go, I was initially pretty disappointed that the main character was a woman, because I thought it was a dude from what I saw in the trailers, but the soulful vocal performances by Ashley Lynn Barrett as Red soon won me over.

The art style is colourful with good use of dull tones and wonderful architectural design to make Cloudbank come vividly to life and the sorrowful music echoes the sense of loss that is seen at the beginning of the game, Red’s loss of her voice and the young man’s lost body.

If Transistor was only a beautiful game with astounding music it probably would have place fairly high on the list, but it’s the complex and engaging game mechanics that can be changed and played with on the fly that makes it the standout game it is. Use of limiters is a creative gamble, making the game more difficult in various ways with different payoffs, the freezing feature that allows you to pause and plan a move set lend the game a strategic edge to the action fuelled mechanics.

Transistor is a game that rewards creativity greatly and for a gamer like myself, who refuses to change tactics until I have been royally bruised, it’s important to feel like my micromanagement and playstyle changes are worth it and with Transistor, every battle is a new experience and every piece of plot which is tantalisingly teased out is savoured, in the end, you’ll finish the game wanting to start over again.

Top Ten Videogames of 2014

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