Eye Critic

Aghora (not the god or sect)

2011-07-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what happens to human mind on acid? Put on headphones, put Aghora on, play it, close your eyes, and imagine the music. Acidic visions certain! Welcome to the world of Aghora.

Aghora is a band that consists of people who had played different genres of metal music. In addition, the vocalist is after music school, so yes, her voice is crystal clear. Each of their song is a mixture of guitars, percussion, keyboard, and strange sounds, melodic and hypnotizing vocals which progressive metal is known for. The subject of my review is their debut album Aghora released in 2000.

Immortal Bliss opens the Aghora album with music similar to the Arabic kind and then goes to heavy riffs from guitars. Sometimes Rivero’s vocal part is unintelligible. Soon a guitar solo rises from the chaos still accompanied by the same riffs and percussion following with solo from a keyboard. Song ends with existential questions.

Satya starts with keyboard and throws us into Danishta Rivero loud voice. Heavy music + her vocals! I ask for more because I am not satisfied. Moreover, from time to time you can hear chorus which adds to the psychedelic character not only of the song but of the whole album. I liked the experimentation, crazy solo, great drumming here!

Transfiguration has once again Arabic instruments at the beginning. Then bass guitar enters accompanied by vocalist singing higher and higher beyond our plane of existence. This song like others in the album has slow and fast parts. I have enjoyed bass guitar, the speed at which it delivered sounds to my ears.

Frames is for me flagship of this album. It certainly deserves the title of “masterpiece”. The drums at the beginning for a long time functioned as my alarm clock melody. It really wakes people up, even the dead ones. I like the echoes during her “perplexed” line of the lyrics. Also the heavy parts make this song magical, giving away great powers of acid without the acid involved! In your face drug dealers! About halfway through the song we can hear soothing vocals very different from the first part of it. Furthermore, guitars and weird sounds add to this calm atmosphere. It’s like having two songs in one but it would be sad to separate them.

Mind’s Reality once more we have a song combing clear vocals with heavy riffs. I really don’t know what draws me near this music piece. It’s just good, with all the solos, drums, guitars and singing.

Kali Yuga has the best opening sequence in the whole album. It is a mixture of keyboard, guitars, and drums that should be taught in music schools. In one part of the song I’m pretty sure that you can hear band’s members uttering the same lyrics. More psychedelic feelings are flowing out of the endless entropy.

Jivatma starts with another Arabic rhythms and some spoken fragment from (). This song is mysterious; it hypnotizes us with the constant and same sounds. Those unintelligible words, ominous chorus in the background makes this music piece another good psychedelic song. Of course the drums and guitars are present but almost non-audible apart from the solo. Jivatma is the longest reordered song on this album (running time: 11:17) with its second half devoted to crazy guitar solos and ending with “All is bliss”.

Existence sounds like it is sad, longing for something. Hypnotizing vocals are once more present with the addition of fast and hard drumming combined with guitars. And please if someone out there knows, what makes these sounds (beyond the keyboard of course) from 4:08 to 4:20, please write it down in the comments. I want to know! This part of the song is great. And then comes the ending with constant drumming being the main part of that section.

Anngraha is the last song from the Aghora album by Aghora. It opens with a zither. I am guessing. I really can’t different instruments and know only the basic ones. The “la, la, la” parts are great but only thanks to the whole gamma of instruments playing alongside. And I hear not only percussion but maybe bongos? This song ends the album in a good way. Just like it started it ends leaving my baffled by the way they combined everything to make audible.

Listen and fly away

Aghora certainly is a band which makes me wonder what kind of drugs they had to take to obtain such exotic and powerful combos of psychedelic music. I honestly didn’t listen to other album but it doesn’t mean I prefer only the first one. I hope their music is as great as it was on the debut long play. Even though their music is great, sometimes it tends to be repetitive, high-pitched vocals in particular songs seem not to be fitted. I hope their potential for making alternative music hasn’t vanished in the subsequent long play.

Final Score: 7/10

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai - Way too looooong...

2011-07-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day) or for short AnoHana (That flower over there) is anime which saved this year’s spring season of anime not only on noitaminA but on all Japan’s TVs anime blocks. It gave me the hope that there are people who can still make great new and original animations. It was produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai.

The gang (lower right corner photo): Tsuruko, Yukiatsu, Menma, Jintan, Anaru, Poppo.

No comment...

The plot introduces Yadomi “Jintan” Jinta and his childhood friends (Honma “Menma” Meiko, Anjō “Anaru” Naruko, Matsuyuki “Yukiatsu” Atsumu, Tsurumi “Tsuruko” Chiriko, and Hisakawa “Poppo” Tetsudō) now attending different high schools who try to fulfil Menma’s wish. Of course as always there are some complications. First, Menma is a ghost and only Jintan is able to see her. Second, she really doesn’t remember what her wish was. Third, who would believe you that you see ghost of a deceased friend? Fourth and last, Jintan became a hikikomori (a person who has withdrawn from society) due to Menma dying during one of their plays, Anaru (boy I love her nickname) joined the same high school as Jintan, Yukiatsu and Tsuruko are attending an elite high school and Poppo is nowhere to be found. Their group known as “Super Peace Busters” fell apart just like it can be observed in real-life how people sever their contacts after graduating from school. Although the plot is not very complex it is not shallow and stupid. Characters are full-blooded, different from one another and are devoid of unnaturalness. I enjoyed watching interactions between them. Each of the friends carry heavy burden of which we eventually learn. I won’t spoil you the show but there are some great scenes in it which I re-watched many times and I’m planning to watch the whole show once more in a marathon.

Spy vision ON!

Voice actors have done their jobs magnificently. In long time I haven’t heard so much emotion in speech. Each of them played role allowing the portrayal of characters to be full-blooded. Many of them are very young but some already made great appearance in other animations like Jintan’s VA Irino Miyu who played Haku in Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, or Haraku Tomatsu (Anaru) as Ringo in Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori. I think powerful drama shows like AnoHana allow voice actors to improve their skills or if they already have the experience to display those to the audition delight. Animation is of top quality and by that I mean it is comparable to that of movies. Some scenes have even better animation e.g. launching the rocket. But there are examples of using cheap still frames. There are two music pieces. Aoi Shiori (Blue Bookmark) by Galileo Galilei for the opening sequence and Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ (10 years after Ver.) (The Thing you Gave Me) for the ending sequence. In addition, the ending was performed by the three voice actress playing the role of Menma, Anaru and Tsuruko and it is a cover of Zone song. The opening song is nice and cheerful. The ending fits perfectly for each episode ending and can’t imagine any other music piece but this.

This show as I mentioned before saved the spring season of new anime. AnoHana is only eleven episodes long. But for being a short anime it achieved success that some other shows aren’t able to. AnoHana is a great drama and tearjerker; it almost made me cry which is very hard to do. It sometimes contains more sadness than the whole Wolf’s Rain series (but it is not concentrated in the last few episodes). Of course there are some comedic scenes to balance out the drama ones. AnoHana demonstrates the idea of friendship and love in a way that’s somehow original not pompous and not too dramatic and sad. Even watching the finale I wasn’t sure how it will end. Will it be a happy ending or not? One word: bittersweet. This word describes not only the ending but the whole show as such. I can gladly recommend AnoHana for watching.

These are not the flowers you're looking for

Final Score: 8.5/10

White borscht - brilliant army ration

2011-07-14T03:21:00.000-07:00

Before

Once more I review my family’s delicacy, namely my grandmother’s white borscht. Among my family members it gained almost legendary status.

Even though the recipe is widely available and my grandma uses it, her borscht tastes differently. Sometimes it is so thick I can set a spoon upright and it won’t fall. Alright I’m exaggerating but it would be cool, wouldn’t it? But it’s a fact that is much thicker than the average soup. I would like to state here that I don’t eat meat (No I don’t belong to people who think we should not eat carrion or harm the poor animals for food – I just don’t like it). So yes, my borscht is deprived of sausage. Of course it is still made on one. Without the sausage in stock it would taste awfully. When the borscht is poured into the soup plate it is good to wait a minute or two for the skin. I personally add three slices of bread; two hard-boiled eggs cut into pieces, pepper, salt, butter, horseradish and mix them. One plate of it is enough to fill me for a whole day, and the day after. Moreover I drink tea with the white borscht to make it easier for me to ingest it.

After

What’s more I think the army should take the recipe from my grandmother and use it as new full ration. It is so good. One plate - two days without eating. Think of the possibilities! I must hurry and write down how my grandma makes the white borscht and sell it to the best restaurants! It is really that good.

Final Score: 10/10

Scrapland

2011-07-11T04:42:00.000-07:00

D-Tritus and fat bishops

Scrapland released in 2004 was designed by the father of the crazy American McGee’s Alice American McGee. His games are almost always weird, interesting, sometimes shocking and gamers usually divide into fans and anti fans of his work. American McGee’s name does not always mean that the game will be worthwhile. But I think Scrapland is a game you should play at least once.

Let's have some fun, shall we?

Scrapland is an action/adventure game set in the futuristic land of Scrapland, a planet built from scrap. We are D-Tritus a robot who himself assembled from parts and then put together a spaceship in which he has journeyed to the planet Scrapland. It’s worth mentioning that Scrapland consists only of robots that thanks to the Great Database are immortal. D-Tritus is quickly examined if he is not a viscous; copy of him is stored in an indestructible matrix later put in the Great Database. A functionary assigns him to the least good job in the whole Scrapland – a reporter. Soon the archbishop of Chimera (city in which you live) is killed by a viscous and everybody is in uproar because his matrix has been stolen and he cannot be revived. Before we know it D-Tritus is ensnared in a web of intrigue and lies. His only allies are Rusty a retired mercenary and now mechanic, and Deep Throat a mysterious character who looks like he knows more than anyone. I liked the story presented in Scrapland mainly because I was quite surprised with the real identity of Deep Throat, why Crazy Gambler is crazy. Wide range of characters, and newer and bigger spaceships were the contributing factors responsible for an engrossing and interesting plot.

Doom, doom, doom, doom

Scrapland divides into two different gameplays. In the first we as the D-Tritus fly in a spaceship designed in Rusty’s scrap yard. Assembling new vehicle is easy and intuitive. We can choose from different hulls and engines, additionally there are seven weapons of which six you can buy. There’s a considerable diversity of ships you use during the game but at the end there is only one and its name is Doom. There are four big areas in which you can fly, fight others, race them, wreak havoc, runaway from the police or simply take a stroll and observe what’s going on. Furthermore there are special areas in which crazy bets take place. Fly model isn’t bad although steering doesn’t work so well compared to the AIs. Their flying skills are so great that it makes me wonder how they are capable of doing it. Our arsenal as mentioned above consists of seven weapons. Laser is the basic which every ship has. During missions you unlock other six – Vulcan, Devastator, Tesla, ATPC, SWARM, and Inferno. Those sets of twos share the same ammunition – bullets, energy and rockets. These ammo packs hover in space just waiting for you or AIs to take. Moreover destroying other ships gives you money or ammunition. Your arsenal can also deploy disrupters, smoke screens and energetic bombs to help you escape. What’s more each of your weapon has two upgrades (which you must first win in a crazy bet) making them even more diversified. Furthermore, this gameplay is great for multiplayer action. Of course Scrapland has multiplayer. You can battle your friends in several modes: DeathMatch, Team DeathMatch, Capture the Flag, Team Capture the Flag, lalala, and Team lalala. This game allows you play over the Internet and LAN (sic!). A feature almost non-existent in modern games.

The second gameplay would have been a typical TPP action game if it wasn’t for the possibility of changing into other robots. D-Tritus gained this ability after an old camera named Sebastian downloaded the needed software into him. Each type of robot has a different power. Functionaries can bend time, bankers steal money, cops can extort money, bishops fire energetic beams and so on. Some of the missions take place on foot and then you visit one of the areas: Bank, Press Building, Police Station, Town Hall, Temple, and Gambling Joint. These sections are repeatable to some extent, e.g. almost each of them has your office and I really don’t know why they put it there. In addition, in some levels (especially in Bank) you can easily get lost because radar only shows the part in which you are and there is no map of the location available. I like the way robots are designed. The developers were inspired by some stereotypes functioning in real-life. Bankers look like phantom leechers, bishops are fat and wear golden trinkets, operatives take the form of a sphere constantly searching for law offenders.

Let’s hear now what makes this game sometimes boring. For starters, many of the quest you are given are repeatable, e.g. drive here, destroy this, collect that, return, talk on communicator etc. Moreover, quests given to you by Crazy Gambler are banal. Only the crazy bets are challenging. What’s more on foot missions are tiring, some are too hard compared to other. Most of the time I used messenger robot to transport myself through the levels due to him being fast and flying. I rarely used D-Tritus’ body. And other characters usually don’t have anything against you speaking to them in other’s robot suit; some of them even recognize you (those mischievous bankers!). Soundtrack consists of similar electronic music pieces, “FinalFight”, “HumanGD”, and “Outdoor9” are the only worth mentioning.

Hello there

After these six years Scrapland still looks good and playable, especially if you want to play with your friends and destroy their ships! From time to time I return to it, to rediscover how great it is to fly in a futuristic city. It reminds me of The Fifth Element, G-Police, and Crime Cities. If you are bored and have free time play it. It’s worth it!

Final Score: 6.5/10

Fable III - or how to make a bad game

2011-07-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

Just to make it clear. I didn’t play Fable II due to Molyneux dissing PC gamers worldwide. So when comparing Fable III to a prequel I will use Fable: The Lost Chapters.

Fable III is the ~~third~~ second game set in the fictional world of Albion. Peter “genius” Molyneux invites us to become once more the Hero of Albion™. The Guild is no more and the technology advanced from medieval times to industrial revolution. Together with magic, steam exists (reminds me of Arcanum but in childish version), we’ve got powder and in consequence pistols and rifles replaced good old bows and crossbows. Thankfully cold steel is still present. We start as the younger brother/sister of king of Albion. And at the very start I want to thank whoever done the intro to this game. It’s marvellous, funny at times and sad at the very end (Though I’m starting to think that Molyneux has a chicken fixation). The intro was so good that I thought the whole game will be the same. I was wrong.

Let’s start with the good sides (though there won’t be many). Development of our character’s skills is shown in the road to rule. There we, after having accumulated a number of guild seals can open chests containing upgrades for our melee, ranged and magic weapons, new spells, expressions, dyes (no I’m not joking), and the ability to buy houses, business etc. Every time I gathered a sufficient number of points I would instantly teleport to the road to rule to buy new melee or ranged weapon upgrade because they usually change the looks of a weapon. So the right side of the road is for fighting. The left side is only useful when you want to unlock estate manager. Expressions and dyes? Hell no. Fable III is certainly an RPG. You can kill and fuck almost anyone. A quality for which, RPGs have been known. Moreover, you can buy houses, live in them, rent them, sell, repair, and change the rent. It is almost the same for various businesses (ranging from tattoos parlours to pawnbrokers, you can even buy a fort!) with the difference that you cannot live in them but you are allowed to change prices. Basically you can buy most of the kingdom while leading a rebellious life of a renegade chased by your own brother. And no one will ever take your estates from you! Talk about convenience. Another quality of RPGs is the great number of interaction you can possibly have with other characters. In the first Fable expressions were used but did not wear of so quickly. In Fable III some expression are absurd and stupid. Farting in front of someone’s face, burping and obscene gestures. This game could have worked without them very well. Another thing I would like to praise is the combat. If some of you watched a teaser in which the hero shots left and right without turning around it is true. You can do it all in this game. Changing from melee, to ranged and magic attacks is very quick and intuitive. Thanks to that fights look more epic and dynamic compared to the first game. To top that you have six spells (fireball, shock, ice storm, vortex, force push and blades) which you can throw at one enemy or use their area of effect version. Furthermore, after one special upgrade you can combine their power (I personally used vortex + blades), creating even more fabulous spells. Using swords, hammers, pistols and rifles is also great. Although, finishers aren’t as showy as spells they’re interesting to see. Hammers for example work great on hobbes. Those creatures work well as baseball balls for your bat (hammer). There are many finishers but I think it is better to watch them on youtube:

We are moving on to the weapons section. Each and every one of them you can upgrade three times by doing tasks similar to achievements system. With every change the weapons changes its look and becomes more powerful. I at the end of the game used the mentioned spell combination, “Scythe’s Warhammer” and two pistols for different enemies, “The Bonesmasher” for skeletons and “Chickenbane” for everything else. Voice actors were well-chosen and I enjoyed listening to them and guessing who is who. The music is almost unnoticeable but it plays well in the background. What’s more, I enjoyed the side quests. But not the ones given to you by people who want to be with you on better terms, but the ones listed in your list. Fighting against ghosts, unravelling the truth behind the Sunset Villa, giving birth to a dark cult. Side quests won’t allow you to be bored. I think that those were the good sides of Fable III. Also the locations are beautiful. Sometimes it is good to stop fighting and go sightseeing. Now we will move on to the bad sides of Fable III.

Firstly, Microsoft, Lionhead and Molyneux lied to us about planning to publish the game on the PC as soon as the console version has been published. One year later... I was so happy because I could finally play the awaited game (minimal system requirements met my laptop’s hardware so hurrah). I don’t remember when I played a game so badly optimalized. Textures disappearing, “Alt + Tab” crashes from time to time, game looking worse than many games with the same system requirements (e.g. The Witcher 2), low rate of fps. I played it on 800x600 resolution! Another feature getting on my nerves quite frequently was the interactive and 3D map. But calling it a map would be offensive to mapmakers. It shows landmarks with paths between them though you better buy an official guide where maps are actually precise compared to those badly made imitations. Weapon upgrading system is stupid. Some of the tasks require digging out 30 items. What if you have already done it before acquiring and carrying a weapon with you? Sorry, you must find and dig another thirty. While I don’t care about it before you find a weapon, achievements should be counted if weapons are in your sanctuary. In addition, developers of Fable III decide to make the hero invincible. You cannot die, never. But certainly there must some kind of punishment? Gaining another guild seal is zeroed. A gruesome punishment I’d say. Another ridiculous thing is the almost non-visible interface. You see it when choosing a weapon, gathering guild seals, using potions. But your health is not visible! They’ve probably abandoned the idea to make the game more realistic. Guess what Peter, our vision when dying doesn’t turn red. I preferred the old system of health indicator by numbers or life’s gauge. I’m pretty disappointed with the length of the game. It is too short. When you become the king, your times of reign fly by very fast. And here we have two more stupid solutions served to us by the developers. The morality choices don’t really have any significant after-effects. Even if you don’t keep promise and become the big bad you will still get endgame powerup – angelic or devilish wings when holding attack button. When you become the king of Albion, you have exactly one year before the game ends and during this time you have to rule. It all goes to four to five decisions in every couple of days. I don’t like them because there is simply too few of them for me to be fully satisfied with ruling. In addition, people don’t respect you in a way a king should be respected. They still give you stupid tasks of bringing something for them. I mentioned earlier in the review that you can kill almost anyone. And what is the punishment? Pay a fine good sir and we will release you. I also want to write about expressions in this part. Farting, threatening, insulting etc., don’t have any visible repercussions apart from the ones that people don’t like you. When playing a pen-and-paper RPG doing any of the aforementioned gestures to anyone would normally end with a fight or worse with you being thrown into prison. Another great future of Fable III is your dog. If it wasn’t for the digging and warning me of enemies I could have managed without him. What the beta testers (were there any?) missed are the problems of pathfinding by the dog. He gets lost easily, sometimes isn’t able to overcome little obstacles. Man that’s irritating! What’s more this game doesn’t allow you to open one of the demon doors! I thought it was a single campaign. Once again I was wrong. You must invite somebody to your game and go with him there, perform cuddling and voila! the passage is open. I mentioned it earlier in the Portal 2 review that I hate co-op games. I’m afraid that Fable IV will be all about co-op. You and your friend will have to buy a copy of the game, or else no game for you, you stupid buyer. Let’s talk about the complex plot of Fable III. Got you there! I’m joking of course! You can say many things about the plot but you cannot say it is complex, original, interesting, and long. Two brothers, one is evil, the other is good. Older is the king, younger starts a rebellion, gathers allies. With their help wins the revolution, becomes the king and after a year fights the real enemy. And let me tell you. The final battle is disappointing. Short, not emotional and boring. It looks like the developers didn’t have an idea how to end the story. It is advisable for them to watch how some old games’ outros are long, explanatory and satisfying. The last thing that shows how much PC gamers aren’t respected by Molyneux and etc. is the one year difference in publishing between X360 and PC version but no difference between bugs! They haven’t done anything to make this game better. Arrghhh!!! I’m done.

Lionhead Studios advertising themselves in-game.

Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios have made a harmful game. It’s very frustrating and stressful. I advise anyone out there to not buy this game as it is simply not worth your money. I hope that Molyneux will stop his whining about how he had only two years to make it. I always considered him a great game maker but I’m talking about Populous, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White, and Fable: The Lost Chapters. Fable III should be put into garbage can.

Final Score: 5/10

Portal 2 - the next part of "Portals, portals everywhere."

2011-07-04T04:44:00.000-07:00

The sole reason why I bought The Orange Box was Portal. A type of game I like. A game where enemies don’t chase after me trying to eat my brain. A game where I can calmly think over what should I do next. Portal is a game which takes the advantage of your mind. It was a great game; short but still entertaining (especially GLaDOS monologues). And then, around March, 2010 Portal was patched giving to the users hints of the coming sequel which is the subject of my review.

Portal 2 starts couple of years or centuries after the events of the first Portal (I guess there won’t be any cross-overs between Portal and Half-Life). Once again we assume role of the test subject Chell who must pass another set of deadly puzzles only having a portal gun (Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device). Gameplay is similar to the one from the first game. We are able to make two interconnected portals and by passing them finish levels. The main culprit did not change and apparently survived. GLaDOS prepared even more deadly test areas than before.

We meet Chell in a life-support room and already we are thrown into action trying to get out of it. Chell encounters one of the funniest characters of this year – Wheatley, a core with English accent. With his constant complaints and remarks you don’t feel alone compared to the first instalment in which only GLaDOS talked to you. The whole complex of Aperture Science changed past these years. Roots and plants are now the main inhabitants of the underground facility. From time to time you can even hear birds’ chirp. So the place is not the same. Once it was sterile now it is old and defunct. The way GLaDOS prepares test chambers to function normally is also great to watch. Furthermore, we visit the first test areas located in an abandoned mine and learn more about the history of Aperture Science. I won’t spoil how the game ends but I saw opinions that the ending is “disappointing” etc. I don’t think so. I laughed when watching it. What is strong about this game is the plot, or rather the twists of it, the background story and the brilliant dialogues/monologues (e.g. the scene in which Wheatley tries to hack the password using brute-force method).

Developers of course added some features to the sequel and gave up on others. We have bombs instead of rocket launchers. Turrets are still present. They have abandoned energetic balls in favour of high-temperature lasers. But we don’t use normal crates to deflect them. New ones were added which reflect those lasers into designed holes. Another feature added was “astral” footpaths. They act as catwalks or barriers. But I think that they are nothing compared to gels. I had so much fun with them, and they come in three colours! Blue one allows you to bounce of it pinball style! Red/Orange speeds up your movement. These two combined create possibilities for very looooong jumps. The last is white/grey gel, which makes any surface good for putting portals on it. I remember flooding one place in a certain level just for the fun of teleporting myself through great distances.

Even though the game is great and I was overjoyed with any news about it before the premiere, there are few things that weren’t well used. Gels being the most innovative feature of the game were introduced too late and I get the feeling their potential was not used to its fullest. I was hoping for an epic battle using them (yes I know how ridiculous it sounds). I don’t if it is just me but I think some levels are too easy. Maybe it is due to me being accustomed to the use of portals. But what was the biggest and most irritating thing were the loading screens! There are too many of them. Few steps here, few steps there, loading screen – repeat! It is a serious flaw and I hope that valve with deal with it by patching the game.

Overall Portal 2 is a game worth playing, a good exercise for our brains and hands. We can play it once more to pay more attention to the surroundings or dialogues, to see some details overlooked during the first play through. Although the game is linear I don’t think that should be changed. My review is devoid of the multiplayer in which you play one of two robots Atlas or P-body with your friend over the steam and together solve puzzles. I hate co-op games. I really do. Why? (Because I’m hard-boiled guy) In this case they are ripping me off. There was a time, long ago, where you could play using one game on a split screen. Those times are over. The one and only game I enjoyed in co-op was Diablo II because it’s fun to slash your enemies with friends. It’s no fun to see if I or my friend fails in one part of a puzzle. The game’s music is a mix of electronic music just like it was in the first one. Nothing great or worth buying (you can download it legally for free from here: http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php) but it goes well in the background. “Still Alive” from the ending of first Portal was a hit; “Want You Gone” from the sequel is good but not so great.

Final Score: 8/10

Return

2011-07-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

So I'm back. I've defended my thesis and graduated. I've become Bachelor of Arts! ^^
Btw Google AdSense blocked my account justifying with some stupid talk. I don't care.
I will be releasing new reviews in a matter of days and today I will put Portal 2 review, so stay tunned!

Easter

2011-04-22T03:33:00.001-07:00

I'm having holidays. So no new post until next week or so.
Peace!

The Deadly Sting of The Deadly Sting!

2011-04-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

Scorpions are heavy metal/hard rock band from Germany. I wrote about them because I like them and also because I promised it to my friend (who occasionally thinks is a robot ;) – sorry had to put it here =D )

The original cover

As you probably know some country who promotes freedom of speech etc. censored almost all of their cover. The question now is. What country censors most of the things? (Hint – the country is located in the North America). Also later on I will post review of a one song and that will be it for now because I’ll be in great trouble If I fail to write the diploma paper ;)

Dude, Where's My Chick?

And now down to the review of Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years by the Scorpions:

CD1

Loving You Sunday Morning – Is not only the first song on this compilation but also the first track on Lovedrive (1979) making it the first piece of music which characterized their new style now known as the “classic style.” For me LYSM resembles song from the 80s. I don’t know why I have this feeling.

Lovedrive – Good, fast song (damn myself still thinking about the 80s), I wonder if Britney Spears was inspired by the “You drive me crazy” line. Hope not. Also liked the solo.

Holiday – There is some unexplainable magic behind this song which I fail to grasp. It is a ballad with calming music, but then for a brief moment it gets stronger and stronger with vocals adding to the atmosphere just for the last part of the lyrics. And then soothing guitar riffs take us to the end.

Make It Real – There is some weird rhyming involved in the stanzas here. Klaus sings totally different in the refrains (they kind of suck in music terms not lyrics). Mixture of soft and heavy sounds.

The Zoo – This song is strange. Peaceful and melodic on one hand and on the other hand bursting with energy. The Zoo draws me to itself. Like a black hole of sounds sucking you into their spider notes.

Blackout – During this song my thought was that I also will really have a blackout. Song is simple, but nonetheless good for the more energetic people.

Can’t Live Without You – The repeated guitar riffs accompanied by the vocals made this song worthwhile. As always Scorpions perform good memorable solos. This song is no exception.

No One Like You – It is one of my personal favourite song by the Scorpions. It is a mixture of ballad and hard rock parts skillfully put together throwing at the listener chunks of emotions and energy. There is no way you will stand still when it’s played, you must move.

China White – It starts sharply with percussion playing along heavy sounds from the guitars. But I didn’t like it. The same thing repeating over and over made me tired of listening to it.

Dynamite – Ah I’m a sucker for good ‘ol fast song with guitar playing solo in the background and after that vocals + drums. This is the music that gives us the power to jump all over our house when no one’s home.

Bad Boys Running Wild – The beginning maybe confusing cause rest of the song is different. Unfortunately when I think Bad Boys I instantly get the picture of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in my head. An average song.

Rock You Like A Hurricane – Another personal favourite. You get as much energy as in No One Like You. After listening to it once I hummed for about hour. It is really memorable. And the solo is great.

Coming Home – This song surprised me. Just when I was thinking it will be no more than a depressing ballad it jumped into fast-paced hard rock track. And I’ll tell the change was for the best.

Big City Nights – BCN begins well with instruments gathering to give the vocals a great entrance. Yes the vocals here are one of the best on this CD. But I think this song shares some traits with others by the Scorpions – the refrain too simple.

Still Loving You – Ah yes. One of those song which sends shivers down your spine when you hear the solo. There is nothing wrong I could possibly write about this song. Sometimes the vocals resemble this of Freddy Mercury or maybe I’m imagining things. Lyrics have more than one layer of interpretation. One of the greatest song by the Scorpions.

Coast To Coast (live) – Live instrumental version of CTC is remarkably good. I like live versions because they always change something – pace, notes, vocals you name it. Powerful song.

CD2

Don’t Stop At The Top – Solid hard rock song giving power to the listeners.

Rhythm Of Love – The rhythm of this song etched into my mind. Damn you Scorpions!!!! Another mixture of soft and heavy sounds.

Passion Rules The Game – this one of the song in which they experimented with other genres. It has a little bit of progressive rock in its composition. There is something strong about it. Maybe the vocals affect me =D And I’m the only one who thinks that he mispronounces “passion”? Whatev.

Walking On The Edge – The opening vocals are great. Klaus Meine once again showed what he is capable of. Like PRTG it is experimentation and one with excellent results.

Believe In Love – Guitar riffs at the beginning gives emotions which will stay with us for the rest of the song. This track gathers in us the power to Believe In Love (ok at least in my case).

I Can’t Explain – Nice song with some crazy solo work in-between vocal parts.

Tease Me Please Me – Yet another typical hard rock song. As a side note it is the first song on Crazy World studio album (yes the one with Wind Of Change on it). It keeps its style with many others mainstream songs played at the end of the 80s and start of the 90s.

Don’t Believe Her – This piece of music made me move. It certainly got some powerful guitar riffs and solos.

Wind Of Change – The landmark in Scorpions’ discography. Song recognized for its whistling by many a man. One of the evidence that music can reunite people (even though it became popular two years later after the great change in Europe), power ballad so strong that the artist’s emotions are pouring out on us. I hope it will never be forgotten.

Hit Between The Eyes – When Klaus sings a cappella it truly sounds amazing. And in between the percussion rocks!

Send Me An Angel – Just like WOC it is a power ballad. The refrain is the strongest part of the song. Track is melodic magnificently combining vocals with instruments.

Alien Nation – This is a political song about Germany (well, what do you know). You’ll know when you hear it. Guitars as always play hard.

Under The Same Sun – It’s a sad ballad. Not depressing or turning you into a melancholic, but sad in some way, even if there are happy moments in it 'cause we all live under the same sun.

Woman – Some sampling, some guitars playing, a slow ballad about woman. Even the solo brings back memories of some run-down saloon.

In Trance (live) – Yay another live! I love it! The solo especially. And his wailing.

Over The Top – I remember this song from somewhere. The refrain is very characteristic. This osng is nothing special and fits what the Scorpions played throughout years.

Life Goes Around – Starts with nice guitar riffs. And then it all goes around, around, around, around – spinning to say the least. They chose good song to end this compilation.

Deadly Sting: Mercury Years is one of the best compilations of songs by the Scorpions and it is my duty to recommend to all of you never heard of the Scorpions to buy and then listen to it all day long.

Final Score: 7.5/10

I’ll be the next King of Thorn!

2011-04-13T04:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! As always my laziness kills me =) But here I am with a new review. This time it will be about a manga (type of comic originating in Japan If you didn’t know) called King of Thorn (Ibara no Ō). It was created by Iwahara Yūji and published in Monthly Comic Beam between 2002 and 2005. Later on chapters were collected into six bound volumes. King of Thorn is a seinen (adult comic book) filled with action science-fiction survivor drama featuring two protagonists – Kasumi a Japanese teenager and Marco Owen an American badass.

The premise is simple. Sometime in the near future a mysterious virus called Medusa ravages throughout the world turning infected people into stone figures. But then some rich guy establishes laboratories in his castle to find a cure. In addition 160 were chosen to be put into capsules in suspended animation to wait for the cure. The main plot starts when Kasumi and a couple of other survivors woke up only to see their entire capsule room covered in strange thorny vines and a jungle of trees. Soon enough they discover another scary thing. Dinosaur-like monsters try to feast on them. Seven survivors are now fighting and trying to find a way out of the complex and discover what really happened during their dream.

For a very short series it has many characters. Story is not only focused on the two main protagonists Kasumi and Marco but also on other survivors – Tim, Katherine, the Senator, Peter and Ron. All of the characters developed as chapters passed by. They are not shallow always having reasons behind their actions. Story almost always is in big suspension mode trying to surprise the readers with unexpected plot twists and scary moments. What is more the story is situated only in castle turned into a medical lab and I really liked it. I didn’t know what really was going until I read the last chapters. This manga provided many WTF!? and Hell No! moments for me. The drawings were are also fine, but the main character face slightly did not fit the overall art of King of Thorn. Even though it is a little bit too complicated but fortunately the ending didn’t turn out into technologic gibberish explaining what happened.

Final Score: 7/10

(There is an anime adaption of King of Thorn, but don’t watch it. It’s horrible and changed plot a lot…)

Today apple pie, tomorrow the world!

2011-04-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

Today you’ll be reading review of my mom’s apple pie =D

It is based on the standard recipe popular in my country so don’t expect the same as in American Pie. The two main visible ingredients are two layers of shortcrust pastry and between them one layer of apple jam. There isn’t anything that I can say wrong about this pie. Its taste is one of the best mainly because my mom with grandma and aunts spent years perfecting making of an apple pie. In addition apple layer is not that sweet. The jam is made out of apples from my grandma’s orchard so the taste is sweet and sour (but don’t try imagining this taste using the same quality of taste as in sweet and sour sauce it’s completely different). Below is a pic of how the apple pie looks in my country. Hope you liked it J

(And yes my reviews are becoming shorter. This is because I need to write my first draft of diploma paper)

Final Score: 8/10

To sum up it is 88

2011-04-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

I know Sum 41 only from this one song called 88 (whatever meaning they wanted or didn’t wanted convey by this?). It comes from the 2004 studio album Chuck.

To be honest I stumbled upon this song watching an AMV (Anime Music Video) presented to me by my cousin. And I must say I’m really impressed with the share power of guitars and percussion during the first 20 seconds of song. Then it becomes calm but just for a short time. Vocals are good for this part. After that the song literally explodes into awesomeness. Once again guitars and percussion hit hard our ears with hard rock music and now vocals are taking part in it delivering loads and loads of energy and emotion. However I didn’t like the ending. It seems as if Sum 41 didn’t know how to end this song. As for the lyrics I try to not to interpret them because to me it is idiotic. There are as many interpretations as the listeners. We should listen, think, and keep it for ourselves. Maybe this is why I fail to approve the ending of song? Nevertheless it is a great song. Below is the aforementioned AMV – as a bonus it contains edited 88 which ends with a refrain.

Final Score: 6.5/10

TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life

2011-03-31T08:37:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: Do not enter this site unless you have about an eternity of free time. In other cases it will ruin your life.

TV Tropes started in the year 2004 focusing on extracting and listing tropes from TV series (most notably Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and films and throughout 7 years it emerged to being one of the biggest encyclopaedia on media.

What is great about it?

It is an enormous almost unlimited source of information on tropes, motifs etc. Ranging from western animation, anime, comic books, fan fics, films, literature to music and sound effect, new media, print media, radio, sequential art, tabletop games, television, theatre, videogames, webcomics (this is just categorized under “media”). Of course it is not formal like some other wiki which name I won’t tell ;) TV Tropes takes what is best from collective knowledge of Net surfers. In addition not only does it function as an encyclopaedia but also as a forum for loads of fans, who are discussing whether trope should be put on the page and listed in some of the works there. Even though TV Tropes unfortunately cannot be perceived as an academic source it can still help you when writing your degree paper etc. E.g. I couldn’t find a book which would list any kind of Death representation in English literature. But when I entered TV Tropes, typed “Grim Reaper” in the search box soon I was browsing through literature subcategory on the Grim Reaper. With no doubt it is helpful. However there is one observed downside of using TV Tropes. When I started reading it I stopped after 3 hours! Time passes by so fast when you browsing through it. Moreover sometimes fans of one or another creative work think too highly of things they praise so better be on a lookout for them. It sometimes lacks the eye of the critic :D

Nevertheless TV Tropes is a great site containing much more useful information than any other online or printed encyclopaedia ever.

Final score 8/10

This Will Destroy You

2011-03-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

This Will Destroy You was introduced to me by a friend of mine. The band originates from Texas, USA. They play instrumental rock music pieces. Chris King, Jeremy Galindo, Donovan Jones and Alex Bhore are the current members of This Will Destroy You. Their music is specific for being overlong atmospheric and instrumental. This Will Destroy You was formed around 2005 by guitarists Chris King and Jeremy Galindo, now former bassist and keyboardist Raymond Brown and drummer Andrew Miller in San Marcos, Texas. In the beginning the ban tried tracks with vocals but stopped experimenting claiming that it was “awful”. They focused on instrumental pieces and to this date they released two studios albums This Will Destroy You (2008) and Tunnel Blanket (2011); two EPs Young Mountain (2006) and Moving On The Edges of Things (2010); one split with Lymbyc Systym - Field Studies (2009) and one single Communal Blood (2010).

What I found interesting about this band that made me write a review of them? I’m sucker for long pieces of music which are melodic. Sounds they produce come out of the speakers in a soothing way slowly encompassing my room. What the band achieved is conveying very strong emotion without singing them out in lyrics and tone. Just instruments. Certainly This Will Destroy You could be played all day long in my home and I wouldn’t even notice it. So perfectly fit to my mind. Bellow are two fanmade clips of the same song but with different interpretation. Enjoy! J

This Will Destroy You
Years active: 2005 - present
Genre:

Instrumental Rock
Post-rock
Drone

Current members:

Chris King
Donovan Jones
Jeremy Galindo
Alex Bhore

Final Score: 8/10

Indolence

2011-03-27T01:28:00.000-07:00

Because of my laziness I didn't write anything but in the coming week I will post two reviews (I hope) :D
Stay tuned for more ;)

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped!

2011-03-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sony Computer Entertainment America present, a Universal Interactive Studios production, created and developed by Naughty Dog!

These words opened one of the best platform game I’ve ever played on PSX. My adventure with Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped! started before I had a PlayStation. Once upon a time when I was at my grandma’s house my cousin brought a PlayStation over from a friend and on one demo CD there was it. Crash, which we mistakenly named it a fox (sorry did not know English at that time) because of his red fur and everything. But let us not waste space for an introduction.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped! is a sequel to Crash 2: Cortex Strikes Back! It is an action packed platform game featuring Crash and Coco siblings helping Aku Aku defeat evil Neo Cortex and even more evil twin brother mask Uka Uka by travelling through time and grabbing crystals before them. Well the plot isn’t complicated but hell, what do you expect from this game? Developers put their heart into creating interesting and engaging levels rather than to the depth of story. And it is good they did. Crash has great graphics even though it is now almost 13 years old. Stages have a number of themes: there are medieval, swimming, riding, prehistoric, pirates, arabian town, motorbike ancient Egypt, flying, the future and boss stages. Each of them apart from boss stages has a crystal and gem to collect. Although crystals are easy to get, to have a gem you need to crash all of the crates and sometimes it is not that easy. In addition some levels contain coloured gems that are even harder to get than the silver ones. There are about 32 levels to be played + 5 boss stages. And even when you finished all of this there is still more to play. Now to access levels from 26 to 30 you must collect relics – basically it means going trough levels 1-25 and beating time in time trials. It certainly elongates the time we spent playing Crash. What is more there are three types of relics. Green when you beat the normal time, gold when you beat even harder time and unlisted platinum when you speed through the level like Road Runner. With new installment Crash gains new moves – each with boss defeat. So now Crash not only spins, jumps, crawls or slides but super belly flops, double jumps, spins even longer, has a fruit bazooka and runs like aforementioned Road Runner. Music once more was composed by Mutato Muzika. It fits level because it is also themed according to stages. So we have medieval, oriental, arabian and many others pieces of music which I personally don’t remember because they went so well along with the levels. But all of this I’ve seen somewhere else. Perhaps the two first games? Riding on animals, escaping from animals, boat levels. But even though Naughty Dogs repeated their own ideas they did it in a good way. One thing I certainly didn’t like was the difficulty level. This game was so easy that only gold and platinum time trials proved to be challenge. My final score for Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped! is 9/10. If you have PS3 it is available from PlayStation Network. So what are you waiting for? Buy it! :D

Hello everyone!

2011-03-18T05:24:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog outside social network blogs.
My aim is to review everything I've watched, read, played, listened to, visited and eaten (You name it!).
I hope people will like my reviews =D