Many Short Game Reviews

Resident Evil 5

This game is way better than people say. Aside from Borderlands 2, and possibly Halo, it is the most fun you and a buddy can have in a couch-co-op game. Upgradable weapons, limited ammo and inventory spots, and pretty difficult enemies will provide a plethora of awesome and tense situations where the two of you will be screaming at one another and barely surviving, all the while becoming a lethal killing duo. Take away 1 point if playing alone: It's still quite good and Sheva is not as annoying as people say. Ditto for RE6.

The Last of Us

 The Last of Us represents something similar to Shadow of the Colossus: A game released late in its respective console's life that displays such prestige, confidence and creativity that it captures the imaginations of gamers worldwide, truly becoming a classic and a signature gamers game. TLoU is stunning in every way imaginable from it's heart wrenching story to its fully realized world to its brilliant mechanics as an actual game. Tonally, the adventure reminds me of Half Life 2; expertly paced, open to experimentation, and convincingly urgent in it's protagonists' struggle to survive. And yet it surpasses even that milestone by being unafraid to paint its main character as an actual person and not a blank avatar.

Deadly Premonition

 This game is so difficult to evaluate, It raises an entire argument about the validity of criticism. From a technical standpoint, it's an abomination. Clearly designed for the previous gen, from a design standpoint, it's baffling. And yet, I found myself enjoying this little game more than I had any right to because it's the weird little game that could. Whether or not the developers actually intended this game to be a serious affair of not, what they ended up with is something along the lines of Sharknado; a beautiful trainwreck so self assured and confident in its own stupidity that you actually end up buying it. The town of Greenvale is one of the most memorable places I've been in a game and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Borderlands 2

This game is like crack. Once you, and preferably a friend, delve into the number crunching meat and bones of this game, you will find it terrifyingly difficult to find the quit option. What this game is about is finding that elusive perfect gun. The one with the power, firing rate, clip capacity and elemental damage to make your foes melt before you and your friend green with envy. And the cruel reality is that it never quite happens. Every time you find it, the enemies just get stronger and your friend finds something even better. But it's the thrill of the chase that makes this experience so compelling and addictive. It doesn't hurt that the art style is beautiful, the overall sense of humor is endearing, and the gun-play is tight.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

So I'm gonna go ahead and make a lot of people mad by saying that this is not the best Zelda game. Coming from a completely unbiased perspective, and having played Ocarina of Time for the first time in 2013, I can honestly say that both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess have more sophisticated art styles, less infuriating gameplay and more memorable dungeons. I fear that nostalgia has severely tainted people's perception of this game. Yes, it is the blueprint for all of the 3D Zelda games that would follow but the series evolved for the better. So many things in this game are vague with nonsensical solutions, that they had to put in a feature that tells you exactly how to do almost every task in the game. Not exactly intuitive design. Sorry.

Bioshock Infinite

From the awe inspiring long-form intro to the mind bending ending, Bioshock Infinite is one of the most cinematic compelling games ever made. It's got one of the best settings ever and features a plot so twisty, you will probably want to read up afterwards to tie up all the loose ends. In fact, this story may be a bit too ambitious for its own good. What begins as straight up steam-punk and philosophy gets somewhat muddled with sci-fi hobnobbery that feels a bit out of place. And although the characters here are fully wrought, none of them are particularly relatable. Booker pops off the generic video game character lines like he's played them all his life. But the people who created him clearly have, and thankfully, they've made a great one.

Resident Evil 6

This game is a lot of fun, make no mistake. The action feels tight and responsive, there are good mechanics in place and the set piece moments can be awe-inducing. That being said, it lacks a certain crunch that RE 4 and 5 had, and it's hard to nail down exactly why. The lack of the weapon upgrade and inventory management systems that made co-op such a blast are inexplicably absent. The game moves much faster than before, which makes everything less Dawn of the Dead and more Resident Evil The Movie. In fact, that is exactly what has happened. RE somehow has become more akin to the terrible movie franchise it spawned than its actual original identity. RE6 wasn't a huge step towards this but it marks the point where a U-turn became necessary

 Portal 2

Valve games remind me of Pixar movies. They are immensely clever, have wide appeal, feature great writing, and always come of with purpose and clarity of vision. This one is even family friendly, for god sakes, and it isn't terrible for it. Portal 2 features some of the best writing in any video game ever and is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on your face. The small cast of disembodied voices that accompany you through your journey into puzzle-solving madness balance the brain scratching with a good chuckle in a sort of reward system that keeps you compelled to figure the next room out. I'll admit I got pretty stumped a few times but the game introduces new elements and ramps up the difficulty so smoothly, I was never truly lost.

Killzone 3

First person shooters like Killzone 3 are the mindless popcorn blockbusters to the world of video games. This game is fun enough to play but ultimately hollow and unmemorable. There a sense of the chaos of war happening around you and some pretty cool action set pieces, but any momentum and gravitas that the game picks up, it squanders with its cliche plot and characters. It's the gung-hoiest of gung-ho army tales, the type of bro-out session that will turn your stomach. Such a shame considering the quality facial animations and all-around good presentation (save for some technical issues in cut-scenes.) Anyway, it's what you would expect. No surprises here. Just a competent military shooter set on a different planet. Shooting space Nazis.

Alone In The Dark

You can't fault this game for lack of ambition- it tries to do so many things that it ends up feeling unfocused and sloppy, reaching a bit to far into other genres. You have your floaty driving sections, platforming with and camera angles, first person immersion exercises that border on the absurd. The inventory system is the most obvious example of the game's bizarre fixation with first person viewpoint. Essentially a spin off of the Resident-Evil-of-old style limited inventory slots, your weapons, tools and healing supplies are stored in your jacket pockets which you actually navigate through in first person. Crazy right? The combat is an amalgamation of combining materials to make bombs, clunky shooting, and even clunkier melee combat.

Dead Island

Dead Island is a culmination of things that need to go away in the video game industry: mindless shooting, overuse of zombies as a plot device, pointless fetch quests, total lack of any meaningful story, cliche characters, length that seems wildly disproportional to the amount of time you would actually want to play it, a disregard for presentation that is honestly insulting to the completionist gamer, extremely graphic violence with a lazy context? the list goes on. And yet, it still doesn't descend into the absolute pits of gaming hell. As hypocritical as it sounds, I guess I had a bit of fun. If this was a movie it would be Sci-Fi Channel Original.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker

An excellent addition to the series, adding an interesting co-op multiplayer option, a bevy of RPG elements to weigh as you amass a personal army, and a compelling story that illustrates a crucial moment in the series overall lore. The biggest problems here are a direct result of the fact that this is a PSP port. There's no getting around the fact that this is a stripped down Metal Gear experience from a technical standpoint. The environments lack the level of detail found in the main series and even the gameplay is somewhat simplified. The decision to do comic book cut-scenes actually pans out nicely, and helps the game carve out an identity. Overall, this is a more accessible, less cinematic Metal Gear that comes up just shy of essential

Limbo

Much like Journey, this is a gorgeous little game that can be completed in a couple hours. It has a haunting, sinister character to it that is part Silent Hill, part classic Expressionist film, and part nightmarish fairy tale. Without a doubt, it is one of the most visually interesting games to be released in a very long time. The gameplay unfortunately can't compete with the presentation. That being said, it is a perfectly good puzzle platformer and I was fully engaged the entire time. I just ended up wishing there was more of this eerie world do explore. Hopefully we see the influence of this game down the road. A sequel with a broadened scope would be amazing.

Batman Arkham City

I like the new Batman movies. They bring a level or real human drama to the frequently cartoonish super hero mythology. Unfortunately, this game swerves hard from that realistic and modern tone toward the classic Batman convention. Not that it is any real basis for criticism since the tried-and-true Batman has been around since the 30's, but I can't help but feel that the developers of Arkham City had an opportunity to define the dark knight on their own terms and just defaulted to bland fan-fiction story telling. They clumsily try to include EVERY Batman character under the sun, but none of them say anything but their generic threats. That being said, this is a great stealth game, a passable brawler and a gorgeous open word collectathon.

Crysis 2

I guess when I picked this up I was looking for a mindless shooter and nothing else, but I'm always up for being pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. Crysis 2 is a competent and pretty shooter that doesn't do anything in particular to separate itself from the herd. The super-suit idea has been done to death at this point and although this is a pretty impressive one, the game never actually does much to make you feel all that powerful. There is also a certain drama and tension missing from the equation and the gun-play only occasionally got my heart rate up. I did enjoy the somewhat accurate representation of a destroyed Manhattan though- possibly the best game to do this yet!

Dark Souls

Brutal, beautiful and utterly consuming, this is a Video Game in the truest sense. It demands that the player be repeatedly broken in order to overcome and progress. It explains almost nothing about the mechanics of the game and gives the player the privilege of learning on their own instead of the hand-holding that most modern games seem to find so necessary. There is a wealth of mystery to uncover and a world to explore that is among the most stunningly magnificent ever created in the medium. Part survival horror part high fantasy RPG, this is the best game of the HD console generation and one of the best of all time. The question is can you handle it?

Journey

Destined to be the shining example of elegance in this console generation. If you need a breath of fresh air from modern gaming, as I did, seek this gem out.

Silent Hill Downpour

The thing is, even though Silent Hill Downpour might not be amazing, there are practically no other games that try do do what this game does. It places you in a hostile, atmospheric setting, gives you an intriguing mystery to unravel and hands over the reigns to you. It has good pacing, entertaining game-play and is hyper-detailed. It is also, notably home to a unique and intruiging version of Silent Hill's Otherworld. Where it falters is on monster design, graphical issues (it's now been almost a decade since SH3, the series' best looking game) and once again, that certain element of disturbing bizarreness that the first 4 games had in spades, is unfortunately missing.

Review- Asura's Wrath

Well, I'm the most ardent fan of quality storytelling in video games. The approach that Asura's Wrath takes in the storytelling department is certainly… interesting. Practical, no. But interesting, sure. The game is structured like an 18 episode anime, complete with title cards for commercial breaks, opening credits on every episode, even sneak peaks at the next episode. All of this is perfectly fine and good  if you play through one episode peed day, but if you are posing through, it absolutely murders the pacing. Speaking of which, do you like watching games more than you like playing them? Yeah? Well, then this will be right up your alley. I would say the overall experience is about 40% gameplay and 60% cutscenes with frequent moments of QTE just to keep you engaged. Failing at said QTEs will not affect anything other your score at the end of the episode, so it really doesn't even feel like it matters unless you are a perfect score junkie. The gameplay itself is half beat-em-up ala God of War and half rail shooter ala Star Fox. Both of them feel inferior to their influences by a solid margin. They just aren't very polished or deep. Also, the fact that the game is so easy takes away much of the edge that these games need. I think I only failed once on my entire play through, both times on one particularly annoying boss. The pattern of the game is essentially sit through a long winded cutscene, fight for a couple minutes, watch another long cut scene, press a button when prompted to, fight again. Rinse and repeat.
So that's the negative. The positive is the production values, all around. This game really should have been a launch title for this generation of consoles, where the graphics and presentation are more likely to woo people over actual gameplay. The anime style characters are very expressive in their faces and body language. Music is powerful and varied, while retaining a traditional Asian aura. The art of the world, inspired by Hindu and Buddhist religious iconography is lush and ornate. The concept art stage of this project was literally flawless. It's too bad it got undermined by being transformed into a mediocre game. In the end, Asura's Wrath is a letdown. It ends with little ceremony, employing you to buy the DLC that apparently contains the "real" ending. This is probably the most infuriating attempt to wrangle more cash out of gamers that I have ever seen. It's fine to deny me the fancy gun or the multiplayer map pack, but give me the damn end of the game. Especially when the one you provide with the game is such garbage. Asura's Wrath is already a title where 60 dollars feels way overpriced. Now you want another 10 bucks? Forget it. And shame on you for putting me in the awkward situation of wanting to see the real ending since I already put 8 or so hours into a game, yet not wanting to have to spend more money on a game that wasn't really worth what I paid for it in the first place.
I like where you are trying to do, Cyber Connect 2. I really do. Anime is cool, this game's art and style are awesome. I genuinely wanted to love this. But your execution is all messed up. You are a video game studio, correct? If you want to make anime, then go do that. Just don't neglect gameplay as blatantly and lazily as you have here ever again. And never, ever, give your game a hack ending with the intention of releasing another one for MORE MONEY. Crimes such as these are unforgivable.

6 / 10

Review- House of The Dead: Overkill

 

My friend Paul and I have been hitting the Wii hard lately. Specifically, the wealth of arcade shooters that are available on the system. It's been a costly addiction but honestly, some of the most good, wholesome fun I've had playing video games in quite some time. Screw online multiplayer. A couple friends on the couch is a where it's at. There's a certain magic in the simple act of pointing at things to make them die as you scarf pizza and guzzle beer, all the while performing the delicate balancing act of co-operation, rationing ammunition, health and upgrades.
Of the games that we have played so far, House of The Dead Overkill is the clear winner. While it might be an entirely different experience solo (and I wouldn't recommend that you play any shooter solo, really), It's a gory, funny, kitschy, rollicking good time when you are playing with friends. You will scream at the TV and at each other and love every minute of it.
This game is essentially the closest any game has come to being an all-out homage to the film Grindhouse, even going so far as to copy and paste it's opening stripper cinematic. Throughout the game, there are the same gag tactics deployed as it the Tarantino/Rodriguez masterpiece, including over abundance if film grain, blatant over the top profanity and violence, missing reels, cheesy title cards, off the wall music selection and characters that seem ripped out of some lame 80's cop movie. All of this created an aesthetic that is engrossing, singular, and very entertaining. Unlike the previous House of the Dead games, where the presentation seemed like it was trying to be serious and failing miserably, Overkill know exactly what it is and plays to its strengths.
It's easy to make it through the entire game in one sitting, as with all House of the Dead games although this one is considerably longer than the arcade iterations. It's constructed in a more paced and thoughtful way than the others because It wasn't built with the intention of swindling quarters out of people, rather giving them an entertaining movie-length ride. And on that level, it succeeds marvelously. The only gripe is that it doesn't seem as tight, responsive or demanding as say, House of the Dead 2, a game that is tough as nails and not bashful about taking you for all your'e worth. Overkill is a hell of a ride though, and should not be missed by anyone who likes to play games on the couch with friends, perhaps the best way to digest any form of entertainment.

7.5 / 10

Review- Lollipop Chainsaw

 

Lollipop Chainsaw is the most recent release from Grasshopper Manufacture, aka Suda 51, aka "The Quentin Tarantino of Games". I'll say right now that I love Suda and all he does for gaming. His team brings a certain self-reflexive, ironic charm to every one of their games that in unmistakable. Like the films Grindhouse and Kill Bill, these games draw heavily from the well of pop-culture and come up with something that straddles the line between parody and post-modern brilliance. And while Tarantino's films' primary inspiration is other films and music, Suda adds video game references to the pile, to glorious effect. His surreal Killer 7, a nearly incomprehensible mashup of every influence the man has ever had wrapped in a utterly confounding game design, is one of the strangest shooters ever made, and a true classic. No More Heroes and Shadows of The Damned were slightly more accessible but not certainly lacking the outsider style and obscure design choices that made Suda famous.
Lollipop Chainsaw was released a mere year after Shadows of The Damned. If the new business model for Grasshopper is to drop a new title this frequently, I have to say, while I like that plan to a certain extent, I have my worries. Like Shadows, Lollipop is short and feels a little undercooked. You can breeze through this in a mere 5-10 hours. Releasing these games for 60 dollars is steep. As much of a fan as I am, I held off until the game was 30 because I KNEW what it was going to be. To an average consumer, I could see some cause for distress. That being said, take away the price factor and Lollipop Chainsaw is some of the most valuable time you can spend with a game. As a hack-n-slash, it's rewarding, addictive and propulsive. It's totally goofy, actually quite funny, and just a joy to play. Like Shadows, it's shlock. It's the kind of setup you would find in a made for TV movie or in a grindhouse theater, meaning inconsequential yet immensely entertaining junk food for the brain. Zombie, high school drama, demon slayer, Rock-n-roll and comic book tropes all mix together in a big goulash of crazy where you are genuinely interested to see what will be thrown at you next.
I talk a lot about art and aesthetic in my reviews. Probably even more than gameplay, in some cases. That's because art is what draws us to a game, and is with us the entire time. I hate spending my time in drab, uninspired digital worlds. Even if the gameplay is fantastic, if the style doesn't fetch me, I'm bored or frustrated at what could have been. Suda 51 games always shine in the presentation department despite not ever being technically impressive. Good presentation is about more than good graphics. It's about character design, level design, menu layout, music… Damn, does this game have an incredible soundtrack. Master video game musician Akira Yamaoka is present, shredding guitar along with Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence. And if that wasn't enough, a slew of iconic cheerleader, surf, and 80's pop is peppered throughout. Hearing Toni Basil's "Hey Ricky" as the power up theme is one of the best musical moments in gaming I have ever experienced, as the song was seemingly written as a musical accompaniment to the gleeful slaughter of zombies via chainsaw, as rainbows and golden coins abound.
Other moments of glee include references to old school arcade games, mushroom trips, cheerleading minigames, excellent boss battles and cutscenes that, although shlocky, manage to elicit constant smiles and an occasional big laugh. And yet, Lollipop Chainsaw is a minor victory. It still remains to be seen whether Suda 51's masterpiece is ahead but as of now, it's still Killer 7. For all of it's wonderful quirks, Lollipop is an inconsequential piece of pop-fluff. It's the sort of thing that you enjoy the hell out of while you are in it but scarcely return to. It's a fun little game held back by less than perfect mechanics, limited scope, and the fact that it just won't be a lot of people's cup of tea. An extra bit of time in the cooker could have done this game well but really, I'm not complaining. The guys who make these games clearly have enough ideas in their heads to keep this stuff coming fast and hard. I await the next undercooked nugget of brilliance eagerly.

8 / 10

Review: Final Fantasy XIII

 

The plot of Final Fantasy makes no sense. I was trying to figure it out the whole way through, watching every cutscene, skimming through the in-game encyclopedia, reading additional material online. I'm still lost. Final Fantasy games are always a hard nut to crack, their worlds existing unto only themselves. In every iteration you are expected to digest an entire new universe of mythos, history, geography, etc. Final Fantasy XIII might just take the cake though. By using similar non-words like Fal'cie and L'cie as names for it's central ideas, it is just inviting confusion. Not necessarily bad, but pair this with the fact that the main characters are a bunch of non-comunicative anime stereotypes and, well, what you end up with is one of the most annoying and nonsensical plots ever to grace a JRPG. And that's saying something for the genre of games that is perhaps best know for it's overwrought, melodramatic, and honestly, loony teenage-angst-meets-the-sci-fi-apocalypse yarns. (Xenosaga anyone?) I don't want to let this be the only sticking point of this review though because it's not all bad.

The battle system in particular, is extremely engaging and well done. It at once, simpler and more complex than any Final Fantasy battle system to come before, and is fast, frenetic and usually satisfying. But the thing is, it had better be good because in this game, it's literally all you do. Gone are the mini-games, sidequests, optional dialogues, villages to explore, etc of previous games. In XIII, its all about battles. You travel down a series of lovely corridors, occasionally picking up loot out of a treasure chest, you run into an enemy and then you battle. Then you sit through a cutscene where these emotionally dysfunctional kids try to figure out whats going on while spouting out a dense jargon peppered with agonizing catchphrases. (Let's create our own destinies you guys!)

I do have to say that this game took me over a year to complete. I played it off and on and that may have made the plot seem even more incoherent than it actually was. I'm saying that for the sake of fairness, but honestly, theres really not anything that made me hungry to keep playing. And it really is a shame, because I was ready to love this game. I really was. I would say up until the half-way point, I was pretty into it. Many RPGs start out restrictive and branch out later into the game. This one, as an intentional design choice, keeps the player exactly where they are supposed to be at all times. Had this game been a cinematic marvel, I wouldn't have even minded. But if you are going to feed us a lousy anime story, don't make that the main course.

6.5 / 10

Review: Alone in the Dark: Inferno

Jeez. I need to stop picking up these crappy old survival horror games in the hopes of finding hidden gems. It so rarely happens. I'll tell you, it sure didn't happen with Alone in the Dark: Inferno. The Inferno edition of the game is the PS3 remake of an Xbox 360 title which was deemed unplayable upon release. I'll need to look up what exactly was changed because the game still seems pretty damn unplayable to me. Of all of the games I've played the whole way through, this one might be the only one that is not technically beatable. Due to glitches that prevent you from progressing, the game is essentially broken. Seemingly aware of this fact, the developers included a feature that allows you to skip to any park of the game like a DVD scene select menu. What. The. Fuck.
So they knew that the game didn't work and just decided to ship it anyway? On the second time it was released? It literally makes no sense. And there are soooo many glitches. Almost every step of the way through this game, I was battling a game engine that worked against me completing what the game was asking me to do. Objectives were unclear and sometimes the necessary elements to complete them did not load correctly or whatever, leading to situations where you have absolutely no idea what to do and no means to do it. The game can be stupidly difficult in this way- it will send you to the last checkpoint because of the game's poor design caused you to die. Get ready to complete the same sequences again and again until you do it the exact way the game wants you to.
What's really upsetting is that believe it or not, there was some real potential here for an awesome survival horror experience and some things work out quite nicely. You can't fault this game for lack of ambition- it tries to do so many things that it ends up feeling unfocused and sloppy, reaching a bit to far into other genres. You have your floaty driving sections, platforming with and camera angles, first person immersion exercises that border on the absurd. The inventory system is the most obvious example of the game's bizarre fixation with first person viewpoint. Essentially a spin off of the Resident-Evil-of-old style limited inventory slots, your weapons, tools and healing supplies are stored in your jacket pockets which you actually navigate through in first person. Crazy right? The combat is an amalgamation of combining materials to make bombs, clunky shooting, and even clunkier melee combat. Wait till you get a load of the melee in this game. It's bananas. While holding down a trigger, you must twirl the thumbstick in the direction you want to swing, taking into account the fact that you need a full swing radius to do any damage. Oh and you will have to solve puzzles in this way too. Good luck! There's quite a few puzzles in this game actually, almost none of which make any logical sense.
It's incredible how good one sequence will play just to be followed up by some momentum killing design errors that bring the whole experience crashing to the ground. The presentation isn't awful per se, for a game it's age (one of the first next gene titles), but when a game seems like it wasn't even tested for bugs before it ships, its hard to appreciate the good qualities. And the story certainly doesn't earn the game any addition points. It's the sort of B-Movie fare you would expect, laughably bad for the most part yet enjoyable enough to keep you sticking with until the end. With some more time in the cooker, this could have been a decent game, but as it stands, it's barely worth the 5(5!) dollars it cost at Gamestop.  4/10

Review: Dead Island

Ghaaaaa… That was miserable. This is the first time in a while I have been so fucking over a video game before completing it… and yet oddly compelled to see it through to the finish. Even though it ended totally predictably and without any twists or new gameplay elements added past the very first couple missions. This game is just idiocy. It's mindlessly running from point A to point B gunning down every thing in your way, watching an absolutely atrocious cut-scene and the rinsing and repeating. Yet, for some reason this mindlessness is palpable to a certain degree. I found this game to be a nice accompaniment to watching tv and listening to podcasts, as it is so mindless and inconsequential that you really only need to uses about 10% of your brain power to make it through. And I seriously wonder how many people actually made it through this one. The presentation quality seems to take a pretty hard dip around the halfway point, and the mission structures become even more banal and annoying than they were before. You will run back and forth between the same locations hundreds of times looking for the next item or switch that will further the absolutely asinine plot. I don't want to give anything away… actually there is nothing to give away. I don't know what happened and could not care less. There's an island, zombie outbreak, you are immune, etc. It's the same tired Zombie conventions you've seen in every movie, game or whatever since the beginning of the zombie craze, a fixation that I am personally bored shitless of. Seriously, no more zombie games for a while guys.
Theres really not much more to say about this time waster of a game. I could pick it apart piece by piece but it would be needlessly dissecting a turd. It's pretty much all turd- all the way through. Certain questions continue to bother me though: why was the premier trailer for the game so damn good? It was emotional, terrifying and seemed to signal something that would take the genre in a new direction that was laced with heartbreaking ethos. Instead the actual cast of the game is a swath of gansta rap cliches- even going so far as to have an awful zombie-themed rap over the ending credits? Why did the cutscenes, which featured atrocious texture pop-in, expressionless faces, and seemingly nonexistent lip-syncing, look worse than pretty much anything I have seen on the precious generation of consoles?! Why does the game impose any real penalty for dying, meaning that you can just go in guns blazing, die on purpose, re-spawn and just do it again until all of the enemies are dead? It totally ruined any sense of fear or dread i might have had. Why did this game last for 25 hours, padded out with a hundred pointless busy-work missions? Why do they set up the ending for a sequel? God no!
    I realize that this game is intended to be played co-operatively. And for stretches of it, I did. It made it a bit more fun, but seemed to increase the occurrence of glitches, frame-rate issues, the game freezing outright, etc. Also, if you join someone else's game, you are simply gaining experience and not progressing your own plot. For someone like me, who was simply trying to power through this mess, that did not work. So, my only option was to just wait and see if people wanted to join in on my game, which only happened 4-5 times.
    Dead Island is a culmination of things that need to go away in the video game industry: mindless shooting, overuse of zombies as a plot device, pointless fetch quests, total lack of any meaningful story, cliche characters, length that seems wildly disproportional to the amount of time you would actually want to play it, a disregard for presentation that is honestly insulting to the completionist gamer,  extremely graphic violence with a lazy context… the list goes on. And yet, it still doesn't descend into the absolute pits of gaming hell. As hypocritical as it sounds, I guess I had a bit of fun. If this was a movie it would be Sci-Fi Channel Original.  4/10

The Lavender Shadowfish- Funny Games

The long awaited 4th song from The Lavender Shadowfish!

The Lavender Shadowfish- Hotdogz 4/2

The Lavender Shadowfish- Taxi Cab

The long awaited second track off of Traveling Companion is revealed!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aJUxoJXG1E

An Ass Load of Short Video Game Reviews

Jet Set Radio (aka Jet Grind Radio)
Smilebit (2000)

Score: 10
The irreplaceable first moment I realized that games were art. The music, visual style and gameplay all come together perfectly in this delicious enchilada of awesome. An amazingly creative, subversive, offbeat experience that can be found nowhere else... except maybe the sequel.

Jet Set Radio Future
Sega (2002)
This sequel took everything awesome about Jet Set Radio to the next logical step, by making it even more insane. You could move around more freely, grind into infinity, do more elaborate tricks, tag in half the time and kill airplanes with spray-paint. The soundtrack is once again amazing. It's a bigger game but feels ever-so-slightly less focused than it's predecessor.

Skies of Arcadia
Sega (2000)
Score: 10
This top notch JRPG is a thing of wonder. The vast airborne world is more interesting and beautiful than anything seen in a Final Fantasy game, the characters and storyline are heartwarming and memorable, and the gameplay is strategic and deep. This game is a grand, lush adventure that you will find yourself longing to return to again and again.

Halo: Combat Evolved
Bungie Studios (2001)
Score: 10
If you're speaking in terms of good, plain fun, Halo is an unparallelled experience. A thrill ride from start to finish, this sci-fi first person shooter single-handedly upped the ante for all shooters to come. It's cinematic, epic, and just gigantic feeling. This Xbox launch title was kick in the pants that the game industry needed at the time.

GoldenEye 007
Rare (1997)
Score: 10
The first great console shooter may not hold up so well today, but for its time it was an superbly crafted experience the was completely unparalleled. Always good for a fun-filled nostalgia trip.

Silent Hill 2
Konami (2001)
Score: 10
The best story ever written for a video game and indeed one of the best stories ever written period. Poetically understated and tinged with sadness and despair, this twisted story is the type of thing that may haunt you for the rest of your life. One of the very finest video game experiences of all time.

Silent Hill 3
Konami (2003)
Score: 10
The last truly great Silent Hill game gives us the most vivid look into the hellish Otherworld. This is actually one of the very best looking games ever made. With darkness, blood and rust covering most of the game world, the things that do pop into focus are beautifully rendered. The story gives some closure to the thread started in the first Silent Hill, wrapping up one of the greatest trilogies of games ever made.

Silent Hill 4: The Room
Konami (2004)
Score: 7.5
Team Silent's red headed stepchild is still measurably better than most survival-horror games. Ditching the familiar gameplay of the first three Silent Hills for a more "experimental" approach proved to be a mixed bag, but when the game is at its best, it contains some of the most frighteningly bizarre imagery of the series and one of the most engrossing plots.

Silent Hill: Origins
Climax Group (2007)
Score: 7.0
This compact Silent Hill adventure feels the most like the original Silent Hill out of any other game in the series. As a result, it feels like a bit of a rehash. If you like the other games in the series, you will probably like this one too, just be warned that it is probably the least compelling entry because it's the least ambitious.

Silent Hill Homecoming
Konami (2008)
Score: 8.0
The sixth Silent Hill game is the strongest since the original trilogy. A very welcome change was made to the combat, and even made sense in the context of the story, which is full of great moments that longtime Silent Hill fans with either greatly appreciate or relentlessly bash. There are some pretty glaring flaws, (slider-box and wire puzzles, I'm looking at you) but overall, this is a scary yet entertaining journey even if it does lack a certain element of Japanese insanity.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Climax Group (2009)
Score: 7.0
This strange entry into the Silent Hill saga masquerades as a remake of the original, although in reality they look, feel and play nothing alike. There's nothing wrong with that though, as this game ends up feeling like the most unique, far removed experience of any of the games in the series. There are some brilliant mechanics at work here, like psychologically profiling the player- I just wished it was pulled off a bit more smoothly. The biggest problem with this game is that it isn't very scary and focuses entirely on puzzle solving, as opposed to combat. In the end, It's still a recommendable game because of its sheer uniqueness.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Tecmo (2003)
Score: 8.5
Possibly the most frightening video game ever made. The game is designed to mercilessly torment the player, who is constantly forced to confront horrific apparitions up close and personal, thanks to the ingenious implementation of a camera-lens view. The story is also very intriguing, concerning extremely disturbing Japanese sacrifice rituals.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Ninja Theory (2010)
Score: 6.5
Enslaved feels like a genuine effort on the part of its designers, and in some ways it comes together magnificently. However, an extra layer of polish would have been greatly appreciated. On the positive side, the dialogue and mo-cap acting is really superb. The characters have a very human quality to them and you end up caring quite a bit about the plot. The world and atmosphere is great. The problem with this game is that it feels unfinished- there are some janky glitches, frustrating restrictions on movement and a pretty atrocious frame rate when things heat up. This is definitely a case of a game that looks more visually impressive when it's not moving. That being said, it is still a relatively fun, if simple and short experience.

Beyond Good & Evil
Ubisoft (2003)
Score: 6.5
I remember being turned off by this game's art style back when it was released, but after eight years of hearing about what I was missing out on, I took the plunge. I still feel the same way about the art. The cool green color palette does not work for me and the character design are downright laughable in many cases. Anyway, I digress. The game itself is fun, if short and kind of generic feeling. Button mashing, puzzle solving, sneaking, photography and driving all play a part in the experience, some more interestingly than others. There are certainly moments when you realize that you are having a great time, but by the time you are really getting into it, it just ends. Glad I haven't been waiting for the sequel these past eight years.

Vanquish
Platinum Games (2010)
Score: 9.0
Platinum Games strikes again! In similar fashion to Bayonetta being a perfected revision of the Devil May Cry formula, Vanquish is a perfection of the Gears of War formula. This game is one pulse pounding encounter after another, taking on waves of increasingly insane amounts of enemies. Pay no attention to the retarded story, and just enjoy it for the thrill ride that it is. It's very rare that you feel quite this powerful in a game, given the ability to slow down time and rocket boost all over the battle field, and the game encourages you really take risks and go balls to the wall. The game is stunningly produced, with graphics and frame-rate never taking a hit, even when there is pure mayhem occurring on-screen in this amazing shooter.

Alien Front Online
Sega (2001)
Score: 6.0
One of the very first online console games and a fun, if simplistic, one at that. That microphone attachment for the Dreamcast controller was hilariously dumb looking.

inFAMOUS
Sucker Punch (2009)
Score: 7.5
By far the most violent T rated game I can think of, this game lets you unleash a torrent of destruction on helpless citizens. Of course, this all factors into whether you are good or evil but trust me when I say that it is far more fun to be evil. Anyway, Infamous gives you an impressive amount of freedom. I have not seen any other sandbox game that lets you feel like a legitimate superhero (or villain) like this one does. It's a fun romp not to be taken too seriously, as the plot and characters are nothing noteworthy.

Resistance: Fall of Man
Insomniac Games (2006)
Score: 6.0
When I think about how I rate games, I divide the quality into two categories: how well the programmers did their job and how well the artists did theirs. In other words, one part is how the game plays and the other is how the game looks, sounds and tells a story. From a gameplay perspective, there is nothing really wrong with Resistance. It's your standard sci-fi first person shooter. Artistically, this game is about as interesting as the crumpled up piece of tin foil so many of its environments look like. And this coming from the minds who created the lush and colorful worlds of Ratchet and Clank seems like a huge misfire. The only part of the Insomniac flavor that remains is some creative guns, but even they are tame in comparison to R&C.

New Super Mario Bros.
Nintendo (2006)
Score: 7.5
Damn. I guess I didn't realize how difficult the 2D Mario games are compared to the 3D ones. This tight platformer requires nearly scientific timing and precision to complete 100%. It's a fun and addictive game that utilizes many of the more recent additions to Mario's skills with the original Mario gameplay. It may not do anything particularly awe-inspiring, but it has solid, time tested mechanics and character to boot.

Demon's Souls
From Software (2009)
Score: 9.5
The sense of accomplishment one receives from progressing through this game is unparalleled. The journey is dauntingly perilous and not for those who have little patience, but the asymmetrical multiplayer component adds a unique twist that elevates this game into the stuff of legend. When the book is closed on the PS3, this will without a doubt be remembered as one of its finest games.

Shadows of the Damned
Grasshopper Manufacture (2011)
Score: 8.0
It's a bit rough around the edges, but what Shadows of the Damned lacks in finesse, it more than makes up for in creativity. Lake Suda51's previous games, this one will be polarizing, but if you are a fan of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Killer 7, and No More Heroes, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It's like a smoothie of all of those things. Steering away from full-on horror into grindhouse territory, it is every bit as fun and stupid as the movies it tries to emulate. Add that to some of the most bizarre imagery and great music found in any game these days, and you have something that feels unique and full of character. So here's to Suda51 and his gang of freaks. May they continue being the wild card in gaming for a very long time.

Dead Space 2
Visceral Games (2011)
Score: 8.5
Dead Space 2 is an extremely polished, intense sequel to a game that was already those things. Dead Space 2's main weakness would have to be its lack of innovation from the original. It literally felt like a continuation of the first game. That okay though, since Dead Space was an extremely enjoyable modern survival horror experience. While I might bemoan the death of the classic survival horror genre, the fact of the matter is that I have a lot of respect for the Dead Space series carrying the torch for survival horror in the modern age. Sure, it's not as scary as the old Silent Hills, Resident Evils or Fatal Frames, it's a bit to easy, and many areas look identical. However, It's a thrill ride that's full of great (and gory) moments.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Nintendo (2007)
Score: 7.5
Although I'm not a Zelda completest, this is without a doubt the blandest the series has gotten for me. Basically a side story to Wind Waker, this game takes place in a similar ocean-like world. Even the art style, while greatly simplified is very similar Wind Waker's. Obviously if you hated that game, don't even bother with this one. It's not like you are missing a fundamental piece of the Zelda saga. There are clever uses of the DS hardware like having your map present and editable at all times, weird quirks like having to blow into the system to put out flames, and a bit of variety to classic Zelda gameplay. What bothers me most is the childishly simple dialogue and the devilishly difficult and repetitive Ocean King Temple. Still, Zelda!

Catherine
Atlus (2011)
Score: 9.5
Yeah, at its core it's a relatively simple puzzle game, but there is so much love put into every inch of Catherine, it feels like so much more. Like the Persona games, this gem is full of great characters, witty dialogue, and a story that gets progressively weirder and more entertaining. The anime inspired Persona visuals really come into their own here too, a stunning mix of bold graphic colors, creative and disturbing monsters, expressive characters and atmospheric environments. What's really amazing about Catherine though, is that what would appear to be a repetitive rinse and repeat cycle of puzzle solving and character interaction never, for a single second, gets old, a testament to the clever pacing of both the story and gameplay.

Resident Evil (GC)
 Capcom (2002)
Score: 9.5
Along with Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2, the Resident Evil Remake on the Gamecube deserves the very highest honors bestowed upon a survival horror videogame. As a remake and overall improvement of the game that single-handedly invented the genre itself, this should be considered absolutely essential to anyone interested in survival horror. It is the one Resident Evil game that can honestly be considered terrifying and features the tightest version of the "old school" Resident Evil game mechanics. Before Resident Evil became a phenomenon, spawning a plethora of dubious and campy diversions, it was a story about about one extremely creepy mansion and the struggle to escape.

The Lavender Shadowfish- Ticonderoga

It is my honor to present the very first single from The Lavender Shadowfish, Ticonderoga, off our upcoming album, Traveling Companion. This song is inspired by the battle of Ticonderoga, in the American Revolution. Every American owes it to their country to listen to this song. It's like 4th of July fireworks inside your brain. But less gory. maybe.

Anime Review- Darker Than Black

 

Score: 8/10

Darker Than Black is one tight package. It's a highly enjoyable series with an intriguing premise, a plethora of send-ups to the rich history of anime, spot-on art direction and a set of story arcs that are vast in scope yet end before overstaying their welcome.
The premise of the story, where in select humans are given super powers in a catastrophic accident, is not particularly unique. However, the show manages to tackle the same topic that many have before without feeling stale at all. Although the idea is not new, Darker Than Black manages to stay fresh by examining the dilemmas of its rich cast of characters in believable and interesting ways. Nearly all of the the characters have fleshed out back-stories, many of which are very compelling. Even characters who initially seem 2-dimensional and unlikable, like the syndicate affiliated Huang, come into their own and become extremely sympathetic.
The story even has a sense of irony and poetic justice, as the "contractors" (as these super humans are called) must make payments for their powers. This may consist of smoking a cigarette, aligning objects into obscure patterns, composing a poem, or a whole plethora of bizarre and sometimes fitting punishments. The reason for these payments, like many other aspects of the plot (including the catastrophe that gave these individuals their powers) is kept fairly vague. It's a decision for the better undoubtedly, as it creates an air of mystery and confusion throughout the series. It's best to not dwell on the things that are unexplained and simply enjoy the narrative as it unfolds with the scarce explanation that is provided. Really, I still don't know exactly what the story was about, and I'm completely fine with that. All I know is that it was a pretty damn good ride- one that I won't soon forget.
The other piece that makes Darker Than Black so enjoyable is the quality of art, music and voices. Bones studio, most famous for their Fullmetal Alchemist adaptations, are behind this series and bring their accomplished and highly professional look to it. Character models are consistent and expressive, backgrounds are atmospheric and convincing, and there is nary a moments of weak animation to take you out of the experience. The overall visual tone is extremely even too, avoiding the pitfalls of low-budget middle sections that many series find themselves in. Opting out of cartoonish anime "shorthand", the series is a decidedly serious looking one, if not necessarily always as serious feeling show, as moments of levity are strategically placed throughout the narrative.
Darker Than Black, for all of its strengths, does leave i bit to be desired. I haven't watched the second series yet, but honestly a series should stand on its own without using the possibility of a second as a crutch. Without revealing anything, I will say that it doesn't end on its strongest foot, leaving you a bit high and dry. Also, I kind of with things had gotten a bit more bizarre and surreal. There were certainly signs pointing in that direction, and even plot elements that would make contextual sense for things to get more psychological. This isn't the mindfuck that it could have been, but I suppose not all things can be. One can dream.

Anime Review- Full Metal Panic!

Score: 3/10

There is literally nothing about Full Metal Panic! that adds up to being anything more than derivative. It's filled with cliched characters and scenarios, the animation looks horrendous by today's (2011) standards, the voice acting is extremely hollow with only a couple exceptions, the writing is unintentionally laughable frequently, plot threads are started but never resolved, there's pointless filler episodes, etc, etc.
Never has the urge been so strong to stop watching an anime half way through, that exact point being a confoundedly stupid episode in which men in giant robots compete at table tennis and tug of war. Don't get me wrong, this show is actually best at its most lighthearted. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the goofiness and seriousness are so awkwardly juxtaposed, that it ends up feeling like idiocy that takes itself very seriously.
Maybe there's something I'm missing here, but I can't find anything redeeming about this series. If it were older, I might be able to see as an influence to the giant robot genre, but 2002 really wasn't that long ago. It really kind of feels like a relic that would have been more at home in the early days of the genre, with the likes of Gundam, and Gunbuster.
I realize that maybe I'm being overly critical of something that is just meant to be casually enjoyed and not dissected and analyzed like the best anime can hold up to, but if every step of the way, you are wondering why you are bothering to watch, it's not worth it.

The Lavender Shadowfish Traveling Companion

about. The Lavender Shadowfish project is on the verge of realization. Be prepared for an experience unrivaled and unprecedented. For all of the fans of Homie S's musical indulgences and Dirty Midnighter's artworks and writings, get psyched for for your mind and soul to get blown, courtesy of The Lavender Shadowfish Traveling Companion. Stay tuned...

Anime Review- Lucky Star

Score: 6/10
Coming off the heels of the heartstring tugging K-On!! and the absurdly funny Azumanga Daioh, I found Lucky Star a bit flat. Of the three shows, Lucky Star is by far the most self-aware. It knows exactly what it is and who it is trying to appeal to, and upon achieving that, seeks to do no more. While all of these moe-centric shows are murderously slow and ultimately go practically nowhere as far as plot is concerned, they are redeemed by their breezily entertaining demeanor once you settle into them. Moments of true comedic brilliance shine through every once in a while and even moments of genuine depth are displayed. Lucky Star just doesn't have as many of these moments as its competition. Konata, the main character, is the one unique aspect of the show, essentially a female personification of the otaku lifestyle that many viewers will identify with. Her insights and quips about the obsessive and bizarre nature of otaku culture are by far, the show's best moments- and the most absurd. A certain re-occurring plot theme involving Konata and a group of impassioned manga shop clerks, who idealize her as the otaku's dream girl, are particularly funny because they seem to be in on the show's joke. The gleefully bizarre, Vocaloid referencing OVA conclusion is also a highlight.
    The big problem is that the rest of the time, when the show is in typical schoolgirl moe-show mode, it's just kinda boring. The banter between the four main girls is less nuanced than K-On!!'s and far less abstract than Azumanga Daioh's weirder moments. It's just cookie cutter characters exchanging mundane dialogue about nothing in particular. Look no further than the first episode's 15 minute pastry conversation for an example of the general pacing of the show.
    Lucky Star takes it's look from the 4-panel manga by the same name. The characters are ultra-chibi to the point of being a bit on the overly-simplified side. Their faces don't really emote much. Where as K-On!!'s characters displayed a surprising amount of depth in their subtle facial animations, the same care wasn't taken by KyoAni on this series. I suppose it falls in line with the fact that these characters just don't have the same degree of believability or human attraction.
     Lucky Star may have waned in popularity since K-On!! seemingly took it's place as the epitome of moe anime. Despite a decreased distance between the viewer, the main character essentially serving as a bridge, Lucky Star ultimately shies away from ever taking itself seriously enough to be little more the most derivative thing that moe can be- a sly parody of the schoolgirl tropes aware of it's exploitative nature.

Video Game Review- Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented

Score: 5/10

Despair. Exhaustion. Agony. Not exactly words you would typically want to hear associated with a video game. All the same, the survival horror genre has made it's mark on the history of video games by forcing its players to experience these very emotions. It's an essential part of what makes the games what they are and if you take it away, they become nothing more than extremely clunky action adventure games. By the same token, the survival horror genre is granted a good deal of leniency to mess with gamers, whether it be in the form of incoherent plot, unfair difficulty, shoddy controls and camera, or just plain bad gameplay because, you know, it's designed that way to screw with you. The high water mark of the survival horror genre happened when this concept was still novel and intriguing, the emphasis was put into the art, story and music, and before games, in general, became so damn streamlined. To narrow it down to a single game, this high water mark would be 2001's Silent Hill 2, a game that was equally terrifying, enigmatic, heartbreaking, and somehow beautiful. Although it was painful to play and not what you would call a "fun" video game, it was a towering achievement in the argument for video games as art because it sought to elicit the emotions that the main protagonist would feel in the given scenario, and it achieved this perhaps more so than any other video game… ever. 
The Fatal Frame series is famed for being the third wheel of the survival horror golden age. While Resident Evil was more fun and Silent Hill had the best stories, Fatal Frame had the distinction of being the scariest. Its novel idea of having you enter a first-person camera mode to combat ghosts set it apart and gave the series it's greatest strength- the sheer terror of having a ghastly apparition rush towards your face, emitting a horrid shriek. It's fucking scary- as scary in the third entry into the series as it was before. So why is it that Fatal Frame 3 isn't another stellar addition to the survival horror pantheon?
    Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented might be one of the most aptly named games ever made. Tormented is exactly how I would describe my experience in this game. Imagine, if you will, a nightmare where you continually roam a creepy haunted manor being constantly scared shitless and having no idea where to go or what to do. That is both the concept AND the story of this game and the game. You taken the role of three kids as they take turns wandering (very slowly) through the same dilapidated Japanese manor unlocking doors and battling ghosts… in their dreams! Because the game sticks to this concept or a reoccurring nightmare so faithfully, it can be hard to fault the game for being so exhaustingly repetitive. The extreme difficulty and ghosts that refuse to die seem to reinforce the idea that the game is, in fact, fucking with you and you are supposed to be miserable. This is survival horror, after all.
    Then you come to realize that the game is just plain evil. It literally never gives you any decent hints as to where you are supposed to go, making every stage of the game an entire manor-wide search for something slightly different, running from the same ghosts who you already killed, who take away half of your health the second they touch you. Said manor is where the entire game takes place. It's definitely big, but it's not enormous either. Every step of the game, you keep thinking "I've got to be able to leave soon right?" Wrong. Just to put things into perspective, it's about the size of the Spencer mansion in Resident Evil. Just the actual mansion part. That's the entire game. Oh, and the real kicker is that the game took me 20 hours to beat! If you've ever played a survival horror game, you know that there is something seriously wrong here. These type of games never last for more than ten hours. Honestly, you wouldn't want them to last any longer. Hell, Silent Hill 3 only clocks in at about 5 hours! By the end you are fried and just want to see the thing to its bloody resolution. Fatal Frame 3 could have been easily chopped in half and it would have been a much slicker, easily digestible experience. Instead, it chooses to be this long, arduous, gradual descent into utter despair.
    There is a metric ton of backtracking in this game. That's what the game essentially it. You have this manor to wander around, and you have to find a bunch of things, unlock a bunch of doors, kill a bunch of ghosts in the same rooms over and over and over again. Sound miserable? Yeah it is. Pair this antagonistic level design with the fact that the game is just downright pants-shiningly scary and you have a surefire game that you will always dread playing.
    I mean, if you look at the game purely in terms of its ability to make you scream like a girl, its at the top of its class. The sound design is very high quality and the voices, singing, and droning sounds you hear around the mansion will put you on edge so that when a ghost pops out, often times you just lose it. Certain scenarios are set up just to make you freak out too. Here's an example: A doll randomly falls off a dresser in an eerily still room. When you bring the viewfinder of your camera up to get a better look, there is a bloody eyed ghost an inch away from your face who promptly releases a ear shattering scream and contorts her face to a demented scowl as she lunges at you. As a side note, I find it extremely odd that the faces of the ghosts are so able to convey a wide range of convincing and horrific expressions, yet the protagonists are the among most emotionless, expressionless wind-up-dolls you will find in any game.
    In the end, the story is decent. More importantly, actually, is the wealth of expansions made to the overarching mythology of the series. The games all concern various fictional-yet-believable sacrificial rituals that supposedly took place in traditional Japan. Each one of this is delightfully twisted, poetic and heartbreaking. They are what the games are really about, not the adventures of slow-moving Japanese kids with magic cameras. Fatal Frame 3 is a decidedly weaker outing than Fatal Frame 2 because it seems like the developers half assed a lot of aspects of the game. The area of the game is significantly smaller. Not enough time was spent on distinguishing the progression of the game. It's lopsided to the point where you can access all but a couple rooms only a third of the way into the game. There are a few new half baked mechanics, like a home base, that never pay off. Hell, there's even less variety of ghosts than before. It's obvious that the game was a downgrade from it's predecessor in almost every regard. So, while you could say that in some regards, Fatal Frame 3 is an agonizing experience by design (and I would agree), it does not make up for the fact that it is essentially a borderline broken game. Very few games have been this difficult for me to finish, based mainly on the fact that every time I looked at the box, I got a deep sinking feeling in my gut. This game should be commended however, for being on of the most hardcore survival horror experience anywhere. I thoroughly believe that if you can make it through this, you can make it through anything.

Anime Review: Gankutsuo- The Count of Monte Cristo

 Score: 5/10

While I will admit that I have not read of the classic revenge novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Gankutsuo certainly appears to be a more interesting entry into the ever-growing heap of remakes of this tale. However, it failed to make a real impression. It certainly has some commendable qualities, but in the end, its jumbled and inconsistent visuals, stilted dialogue and murderously slow pace ruin any chance of redemption.
    The most immediately striking thing about this series in the visual style. Let me make this clear- there is a difference between visual style and animation. The show's visual style is rather stunning. It's main trick is that it employs complex textures and patterns in the coloring of any and everything. This looks pretty cool as long as things are still. The animation, however, suffers greatly because when all of these detailed textures begin moving, all depth and illusion of real texture is lost. Instead of the designs moving with the items that they are transposed on top of, they just stay still. Thing look like jarring kaleidoscopic acid trips more often than not and its just way to much to take in. Interestingly, this visual style is actually extremely reminiscent of the way that thing seem to form complex patterns when under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. Perhaps the first anime conceived on acid? Somehow I highly doubt it, actually.
    Gankustsuo, overall, just ends up being a case of the good being slightly edged out by the bad. There is a good foundation plot from the original source material… but the they end up adding mechs, immortal demons, space travel and a plethora of needless non-sequitors. The story actually ends up in a very different place than the original tale, actually. While there is some genuine moments of emotion near the end of this overly-long series, the majority of the plot points are played out with the stilted melodrama of a high school play. The english voice actors, aside from the titular character, are awful. The main protagonist, Albert, is possibly the most whiny, insipid character I have witnessed in an anime, ever. The dialogue between him and best friend Franz is particularly uninspiring. It really is an example of just how bad anime translation can get, both actors doing what they can to make sense of a conversation that has more holes and ridiculous lines than the Matrix movies.
    The setting of the show is a rather baffling juxtaposition of 19th century aristocratic France and science-fiction space-opera. The characters travel in space freely and battle in giant mechs, yet they still write letters on parchment and travel in horse drawn carriages. It's like the artists couldn't decide on a consistent motif so they just threw all of their influences into the tub and saw what came together. All of these sporadic technologies and settings create a lack of believable space and time. If you have no relatable setting and no relatable characters, what is there? Just a somewhat-interesting story which takes entirely too long to reach its climax. This series could have easily been a 13 episode series instead of a 26. My mind literally goes blank when trying to recall important plot points from the middle of the series. The big question of the series, whether or not the Count is really evil, just ends up being answered 3/4 of the way through when we find out his backstory. The 15 episodes after the beginning but before that are often mind-numbingly boring. I honestly struggled to finish this series along-side Lucky Star. Lucky Star, dammit!
    Gankutsuo is actually pretty critical acclaimed and I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it's story is a subtle one, revealing itself slowly through repeated viewing ala Neon Genesis Evangelion. Maybe the dub is just garbage and left a bitter taste in my mouth. However, I really don't feel like this should weigh so heavily on the overall experience. Plenty of great pieces of entertainment has cheesy, stilted dialogue. Quentin Tarantino, anyone? Maybe it's the visuals, filled with ambition and moments of beauty but ending up looking like a few too many ideas thrown together. Gankutsuo wants to be a series that is sophisticated in the classic sense of French materialistic excess. However, as we see here, all that glitters in not gold.

Super College

I made this animation out of my own blood and tears. Please don't let them go to waste!

Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption

There is a lot that can be said for picking a theme and devoting all the time and effort available toward fleshing out and perfecting that simple concept. This is  precisely what Rockstar San Diego did for Red Dead Redemption. It is a relatively simple, single faceted experience that is rendered with such care and attention to detail that it is one of the most immersive and beautiful games ever created. Yet, because it is such a simple, easy, and sometimes repetitive experience, it lacks a certain amount of depth.
Best played in short bursts, Red Dead's campaign mode can come to be quite a grind to the finish. This is not a new problem for Rockstar, masters of the sandbox game format. I've played nearly all of their games since Grand Theft Auto 3, but actually finished only a few of them. I believe that this exposes an apparent flaw in the sandbox genre itself, or at least the way in which it has been presented in the past. So yeah, the appeal of the sandbox game is freedom. Freedom to go where you want and do what you want. To experiment in a living, breathing digital world. The campaign just kind of works around this already present world to give you things to do in it. This means that right off the bat, the world and all the fundamental mechanics of the game are there for you to explore. This creates a sense of wonder and exhilaration in the very beginning of the experience, which wears off long, long before the conclusion, 40 hours in. You just start to get bored when you fell like you have gone everywhere and seen everything, and at that point, if you are feeling like that, you probably have. Rockstar has tried to remedy this problem in the past by locking off certain areas of the map and gradually opening them up. Red Dead Redemption does this too. And while there is a certain amount of joy derived from seeing the new scenery of each area, there are no real new, unique experiences to be found in these new areas. Just more of the same gameplay set in a different setting.
Essentially, this is what Red Dead Redemption is. It is GTA set in the old west. Comparing GTA 4 and Red Dead just on on appearances could be like comparing apples and oranges. The vast open expanses of the old west certainly seem to be at odds with the cramped urban sprawl of Liberty City. However, when you boil it down, these games are extremely similar in terms of gameplay, tone, story, and mechanics. I would say Red Dead is the better game in the end though for several key reasons. Unlike GTA, which had an extremely annoying policy of making you restart a mission from the beginning if you failed, Red Dead has a checkpoint system, which relieves enormous amounts of stress. Red Dead also has a greater array of activities that the player can do on the side of the campaign. Some are just pointless and boring- picking herbs, horseshoes, cards. Some are quite a bit more fun- bounties, random roadside encounters, hunting, going to movies. While they are very hit or miss, at least they are there to mix things up a bit. Hunting, in particular is a blast and the wild animals found all over the world of Red Dead is one of it's very best features and something new to the Rockstar formula. Some of the very best experiences i had with the game came from being stranded in the wilderness with no horse and having to fend for my life against a pack of wolves of an extremely lethal cougar. These moments where I was truly struggling to stay alive were particularly notable because of the fact that they were mostly absent from the campaign mode. This game is pretty damn easy. Once you have the dead eye and a couple decent guns, you are essentially unstoppable. Unlike GTA 4, where if you broke the law, it could be pretty difficult to get away from the cops alive, in Red Dead they essentially have no chance of catching you. This is due in a big way to the fact that you a riding a fast, extremely maneuverable horse through open fields instead of trying to maneuver a difficult-to-control-car through busy streets.
    Red Dead's greatest strength is it's tone and atmosphere, which never breaks for a single second over its entire run time. Essentially, the game is an extremely beautiful Western, in which can control the main protagonist. The writing and acting is sharp and clever, if a bit repetitive, just how you would expect from Rockstar. The plot is a decent yarn filed with many of the conventions of the genre. It is at times very heartfelt and touching and contains some really great scenes that would be right at home in a classic Western. There is a certain underlying cynicism to be found in the story, something also present in the GTA games. Red Dead smartly goes for a more serious approach to homage though, as opposed to the borderline genre parodies of Vice City and San Andreas. You might not laugh as much as you did at older Rockstar games, but you will probably take the story a lot more seriously, as it tones down the outlandish comedy quite a bit.
    So yeah, Red Dead Redemption is essentially Grand Theft Auto set in the old west with a few minor changes. But then again, this same thing can be said about almost every sandbox game. Since GTA 3 simultaneously invented and perfected the formula back in 2001, not much has changed, Sure the games have allowed you to do more things than you could before, and the attention to detail and production values have improved drastically, but it's still the same basic idea. That being said, red Dead Redemption is perhaps the best sandbox game yet because it has the most beautifully crafted world, the most memorable story, the best (original) soundtrack and the most consistent tone of any of the similar games to come before it. It's a highly immersive experience that only the collective efforts of a large and highly talented studio can afford. A true next-gen experience.