Solid's Opinion

The Value of Video Games

2016-01-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

Stories are valuable, they aren’t just entertainment, they are gateways to empathy, they connect us to the world and each other.

Video games are valuable because of the most obvious reason, they are interactive. They offer an experience no other medium can compete with. Full immersion, investment, and control. Nothing happens without your input, your decisions shape the way things unfold. Just think of the possibilities. It’s wonderful. It oftentimes feels like magic.

In recent years’ video games have started incorporating more serious subject matter, made characters and narrative the focus. But even more recently games have started to begun to push the previously established barriers of what a video game is. Some say it's because video games are still a nascent medium, they haven't been around as long as film or literature. It's also been suggested it's because the medium is gaining more mass appeal. I would argue it's the other way around, that because video games have become more diverse than ever, because they are reaching to such lofty storytelling heights and pushing the boundaries of whats previously been considered possible that they are gaining more wide spread appeal. Whatever the reason may be video games are more diverse than ever. They simulate what it's like to live with a mental disorder (Depression Quest). They limit interaction and focus on telling a deeper story (Gone Home, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture). They play out entirely outside of the game (Her Story). Some are based in reality, and serve as sort of diaries (Cibele, The Beginner’s Guide, and That Dragon, Cancer).

These games aren’t simply important because of their ability to pull at your heartstrings, or because their uniqueness and profoundness in the medium. That undervalues them. They have significance and value because they make us think, they plant the seeds that lead to introspection, to conversation, and ultimately empathy. They help us understand something we may have been struggling to come to grips with ourselves. It opens up the possibility for meaningful conversation with those around us. To better understand and think broadly and meaningfully about bigger questions, the kinds of questions without answers but that are worth thinking about regardless.

The Beginner’s Guide is a story about our connections with art.

Cibele is a story about modern, technology dependent, relationships.

That Dragon, Cancer is a story about life, death, and faith.

These are not entirely new topics for video games, but it’s certainly a first for games to explore these things in such depth, with such maturity and in the examples listed above, to be autobiographical. THAT is wholly new territory and it’s incredibly brave of the developers of these games to design games based even partially on their real lives, to expose themselves so nakedly to a large audience.

These mature and sometimes personal stories are a fantastic and heartening trend in video games that show the medium in a better light. It’s the early steps towards maturity and respectability for a medium so often chastised as being ‘for kids’, ‘violent’, and ‘a waste of time’.

Video games matter the same way all art matters, because experiencing it brings us closer together. It allows us to feel every emotion, understand the world and people around us, art is the world around us. And video games are art.

A Reflection on - That Dragon, Cancer

2016-01-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

That Dragon, Cancer is the most profound video game ever made. God that sounds pretentious and yet, you’d be hard pressed to call it anything else, anything less. That Dragon, Cancer is about Joel Green a 12-month old boy diagnosed with cancer and about a family’s struggle to deal with a terrible prognosis. What makes the game so powerful is that it’s real; the game was created by the Green family with help from friends and supporters. The game is roughly two hours long and its interactive elements are limited, this is less of a game than what people like to facetiously like to call “walking simulators” but That Dragon, Cancer isn’t concerned with moronic simplifications it’s telling a story about a specific time in the life of the Green family. More accurately it’s memorializing the life of a young boy whose life, tragically ended too soon.

The game begins simply enough, but it very quickly explores subject matter that is difficult to portray in any medium. Emotions tightly wound with contradiction, the thoughts and feelings two parents dealing with the imminent death of their child can only understand. The game doesn’t hold back. Joel’s parents use their actual recordings, letters, and memories of those years throughout the game, and it’s heartbreaking. Hearing their voices as they argue with each other, consul each other, and deal with the situation in their own way slowly becomes more and more difficult. What starts hopeful, gets grimly depressing and dark. Joel’s mother finds solace in writing everything she was feeling in a diary, which is read throughout one section of the game, her faith gave her the strength she needed to be there for Joel and for her family. Joel’s father on the other hand has a harder time depending on his faith. At one particularly gut wrenching point, the game puts you in the room when Joel’s parents are told Joel only has four months to live. You can jump into the minds of everyone in the room listening in on the depressing, angry, difficult to repeat thoughts that go through someone’s mind during a devastating moment like that. It was the toughest moment in the game for me to sit through and I had to take a small break to collect myself. And that’s only the beginning, the game doesn’t shy away from delving deep into the what the parents were going through and it makes for a remarkable and unforgettable experience.

That Dragon, Cancer devotes a large amount of its total runtime to the grieving process,and deeply personal thoughts of the parents. Which makes me think the game was possibly therapeutic for the Green family. It shows how the parents often argued, not just due to the high stress of the situation but because of their differing ways in which they decided to cope. Faith in God is a huge part of the game overall, the comfort it offers, the anger it instills, the hope it can impart. Faith has got to be one of the most difficult feelings to put into words, it’s incredibly complicated, oftentimes illogical, and deeply rooted, in one way or another, within us all. That Dragon, Cancer doesn’t have any answers to these sorts of feelings but it does portray faith in such a naturalistic and relatable way I thought it was worth pointing out. The Green family was dealing with something that is so difficult truly comprehend, and the way they go about handling it is in the same messy way any of us would. It’s a poignant depiction of faith.

All of this is very beautifully portrayed, by both the voice performances in the game (by the parents themselves) and the dream like visuals that try to depict what it felt like to experiences some of the moments in this depressing time in their lives. The game is paced as a series of vignettes that jump through time and perspective, I thought it actually serves the game really well in making it feel like someone reflecting on moments, in particular the strung together scenes and the often detail-less graphics evoke how we tend to recall memories but forget certain details, a sort of highlighted version of the past.

This is a very difficult game to talk about, it’s not like a traditional game where you can have this subjective opinion on what you thought worked or didn’t work. That Dragon, Cancer is more like being told a story by a loved one, it’s special because it’s personal, because it’s real.

I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to make this game, not only on the technical side but displaying the raw emotions, having to relive those moments, sharing your personal experiences with a large audience. At the end of the game it says simply, 'Thanks For Playing'. And I simply wanted to say, thank you to the Green family for sharing this with the world, for opening up, for allowing us to see how amazing Joel was, and how strong you were and still are.

I don’t know what the goal of the Green family was when they decided to make this game, but it serves as a raw, uncut, and beautiful diary, a eulogy even for young Joel Green. A beautiful reminder of his time on Earth. These memories may be accompanied by great heartache and pain but there were times of joy and great love, even hope.

Game of the Year 2015

2016-01-10T12:09:00.001-08:00

2015 ...

What a year, in more ways than I care to elaborate on this blog which is focused on my hobbies. Anyways, 2015 was an incredible year for video games, the current generation finally came into its own in a big way, indie games continued to increase in notoriety and break through to the mainstream. 2015 was one of the very best years in video game history. Video games have never been more diverse, innovative, exciting, and filled with potential as they were this year and looking forward, I'm looking at you VR, don't let me down. Having said all that this was an incredibly difficult list to make this year, tons of great games didn't make my completely arbitrary top ten, their were way more than ten fantastic games this year, incredibly personal experiences like The Beginners Guide and Cibele; exciting and breathtakingly gigantic blockbuster experiences like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Battlefront. If you like video games at all, there was inevitably something incredible out there for you this year. But unto the main attraction, my ordered list of top ten games of 2015, enjoy.

1. Bloodborne and all the Souls games for that matter, which this game is no doubt a part of in spite of not sharing the variable Souls nomenclature, awoke something inside my video game playing mind I hadn’t realized I was starving for. It felt like a return to the way video games made me feel when I first started playing them, like an epic journey riddled with seemingly insurmountable obstacles that offers a real test of player skill. It also made me think of video games on an infinitesimally small scale the way I never had before, with things such as level design, frames of animation, precise balance, enemy variety and so many more minute details. I’ve never been more terrified in a game than when I was wandering around a brand new area with very little health, I’ve never been more exhilarated in a game than when I defeated a supremely difficult boss, I’ve never thought about a game as much and in such details as I did with Bloodborne and for all those reasons and more it’s by far and away my favorite game of the year.

2. I’ve never laughed as hard playing a game than I had playing Tales from the Borderlands, far and away Telltales best episodic adventure game to date. It manages to turn a universe I could not care less about, filled with characters so obnoxious I played those games on low volume or while listening to something else, into a world brimming with heart and humor. It plays around with editing, pace, writing, camera shots the way an experienced filmmaker would, it’s astonishing the level of understanding this development team had on how to translate cinematic storytelling and specifically comedic storytelling to the medium of video games. Tales even features some shockingly difficult decisions even for a Telltale game, an ending that actually takes every decision you’ve made into account (a disappointingly new concept for decision based games) and some of the best humor and dialogue in any video game. Some of the best character facial expressions of any game, phenomenal musically intros to every episode, Tales from the Borderlands isn’t going to break new ground or cause ripples in the video game industry but it’ll make you smile and laugh till it hurts.

3. The Witcher 3 is the most impressive open world ever developed, full stop. The sheer size and detail alone are staggering but when coupled with the seemingly endless amount of creative quests, characters, enemies, and environments it becomes unrivaled. Witcher 3 is a fully realized world the likes of which most open world games can only look at in awe and hope to be even one quarter as impressive. The combat is challenging and fun to master, the character progression is needlessly complicated but does offer a great level of customization, and it’s filled with stories and characters I won’t soon forget. Witcher 3 is a game most people won’t come anywhere near close to finishing but that’s alright because just spending a few hours wandering around this games world is enough to leave a lasting impression.

4. Fallout has always been my preferred of the two Bethesda RPGs, and Fallout 4 is more of what I already loved before. A little better looking, a few more systems and mechanics, but fundamentally more of the same. That’s not a slight, unless we’re talking about the persistent and often times immersion breaking if not game breaking technical failures, it’s just what Bethesda does and in this particular case, because of this particular post-apocalyptic setting I don’t mind more of the same, even if it is still the same broken thing. Bethesda’s formula is unrivaled and Fallout 4 may be more of the same but it’s still somehow unique in the larger gaming landscape. In contrast to Witcher 3, Fallout 4 shines most in the random encounters and world exploring aspects, the more designed and written quests tend to fall flat but it’s the world you explore and the character you help define that allows Fallout 4 to stand tall against aging systems and increasingly unforgivable glitches and bugs. Fallout 4 is a the most fun you’ll have exploring a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

5. Her Story is one of the year’s best games for reasons outside of what it offers as a ‘game’. The interactive elements are slight, and yet it elicits an experience no game has ever achieved. A game that plays out almost entirely outside of the game itself, it’s certainly new ground for a video game. The player has full access to everything from the start and can choose when they are satisfied and walk away. No credits. No achievements. No final cutscene. Her Story also uses FMV to the greatest effect I’ve ever seen, it is 100% essential to the experience and also makes the experience that much more memorable, watching a real actress give it her all in one on one video interviews. Her Story was the most fun I had with a pen and paper all year, taking notes, cross referencing facts, over analyzing every detail in the videos. For its innovation and the obsessive lengths it drove me to, Her Story is one of the best games of the year.

6. Undertale was a huge surprise, from out of nowhere to the highest rated PC game of all time, that’s one hell of a journey. And oddly enough putting aside some of the internet’s unmitigated love for this game it’s actually warranted. Undertale is a fantastically innovative, fourth wall breaking, hyper referential, throwback RPG. It’s funny, which so few games are, it’s clever in its tear down of traditional gameplay systems and mechanics and it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. At about 5 hours Undertale serves up something new, constantly. It’s almost over too quick, but that’s another great thing about the game. You can play it again and again, and it remembers everything you do, every time you play. Want to do two different kinds of playthroughs, too bad, Undertale remembers and chastises you for changing your ways and not just once the entire game changes based on even the smallest choices you make on whichever playthrough. Undertale more than deserves the attention it got, if nothing else it serves as a good satire of video games and shows referential humor can work when done well.

7. Life is Strange takes a while to warm up to, it feels a little too forced in the ‘authentic’ teen dialogue department but those feelings quickly dissipate when you realize the games storytelling ambitions and how well it’s pulling them off. Life is Strange is grounded in a way most games are not, its interested in the minutia of teen life. The complicated and often contradictory relationships, aspirations, emotions, etc. and while it goes for the obvious clichés a few too many times it still manages to both traverse well-worn territory in compelling ways and boldly navigates new territory not often trekked in games. Life is Strange is nothing new from a gameplay perspective but it’s the story and characters that will make the best impression, oftentimes stereotypical characters will hide deeper nuances and trite story beats are given interesting spins. In a medium filled with science fiction, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic heroes and saviors, Life is Strange is an engrossing story about relatable every day characters that tackles heavy and complicated issues thoughtfully and deftly and that is something video games would be smart to embrace if the medium is ever to mature and earn more respectability.

8. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is everything Assassin’s Creed should have always been. It’s a perfect mix of strong setting, characters, and gameplay. Jacob and Evie Frye are a fantastic duo and make for a good story justification for two types of playstyles, Evie’s stealthier approach versus Jacob’s bombastic proclivities providing a nice balance to missions and even story beats. Syndicate brings back meaningful assassinations, with more than a couple of inspirations from the Hitman franchise, Syndicate has the series best assassination missions and even manages to improve on the stale side content most Ubisoft games have suffered from for too many years now. Most everything is fun to do, and boy is there stuff to do. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is the best AC game yet, it took a flailing franchise and made me excited to play the next one. Now lets hope it isn’t a mediocre entry that burns all the good will it just earned back.

9. Metal Gear is one of my favorite game franchises of all time. This my most disappointing game of the year. So why is it on my top ten list, well simple, because it’s so goddamn fun to play. Seriously, this is what Metal Gear has always wanted to be ever since it was released on the MSX it wanted to be a fully open, play how you want, style and substance hand in hand. It only took this many games to finally reach it, and it’s beautiful. The attention to detail to systems is incredible, the number of ways you can interact with the world is mind boggling. Even things most people won’t engage with very much have a striking amount of detail given to them. And yet the story is the weakest in the series, the game overall feels quite obviously unfinished and its mission design is quite repetitive. It feels incomplete, lacking, unsatisfying. It’s a shame really because the amount of time spent clearly went into one impressive open world with a staggering amount of toys to play with, it’s just not a very structured, cohesive experience and lacks director Hideo Kojimas trademark crazy ambitious story which is what I always came for Metal Gear for anyways.

10. Batman Arkham Knight is a fantastic conclusion to one of the best licensed video game series of all time. While I didn’t enjoy the games focus on the batmobile the rest of the game came together in such a gratifying full circle way that it made me okay with the fact that this may be the last one of these games from Rocksteady. This is also a series I believe got better with each subsequent entry and Arkham Knight sort of fulfilled a lot of the promise of the very first game. All of that is to say nothing of the games stunning graphical fidelity and fine-tuned combat, stealth and traversal. Arkham Knight ran into some bad press with a broken PC version that never got fully resolved and a horrendously overpriced and underplanned season pass, but don't let any of that cloud the fact that this is a fantastic game in its own right and a great send off to such a surprisingly strong series.

A Reflection on - The Beginner's Guide

2015-10-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

The Beginner’s Guide is the next game from Davey Wreden whose previous work, The Stanley Parable, took the internet by storm and swept critics off their feet. The games clever deconstruction of video game design in every form was both hilarious and insightful. An amazing game, of that there is no doubt. The Beginner’s Guide takes a similar approach in that it is a first-person narrative game with voice-of-god style narration but apart from that the two games could not be more dissimilar.

The nature of The Beginner's Guide is, purposefully I would imagine, ambiguous. As layers of it reveal itself your perspective is going to change, made all the more confusing when the game leans heavily on that very concept, of perspective I mean. But that confusion is not meant as derisive commentary, not in the slightest. I loved this game, I’m just not entirely sure how to feel about it, but I love that it made me think like no other game has.

The Beginner’s Guide offers a fascinating examination into artistry, more specifically into the mind of an artistic person. It delves into why art resonates with those who experience it, why is art so precious to humanity to our culture and to society. What do we glean from it and why do we keep coming back. Some people only appreciate it at its most basic, a song is catchy, a book is entertaining, and a game is fun to play. But others find something else. They find connection, either to the world or to the creators themselves, whom they've never meet but feel they know due to what they've taken away from the creation. This is something The Beginner’s Guide begins to examine, it makes no attempt to say it’s going to even approach a satisfactory answer because, quite frankly, it doesn’t. In fact the game switches gears just as it begins to dwell on these ideas though that’s all I’m comfortable revealing since it’s an experience best had unencumbered.

Playing the game was on its surface enjoyable but it was also unnerving, eerie even. As I stated above I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this game. I’m not sure how much is fictional or deeply personal and possibly even uncomfortably invasive. I’m bursting with questions, I’m dying to know the truth, and I likely never will. That doesn’t mean The Beginner’s Guide is anything but an amazing experience.

I reluctantly admit that this game made me very emotional. As the game goes on the developers audio commentary goes from insightful to meditative and I felt like the game was speaking truths so deeply rooted in every person it was like speaking to a therapist, it gets at a part of you only deep introspection and potentially professional help can reach.

The word auteur is liberally tossed around when, in most cases it’s never appropriate. For one, most artists working today have hordes of collaborators. Be it films, singers, even literary authors at some point receive input from an outside source. I’m not criticizing, it’s a point of fact. Video games are like one of the last bastions, at least in popular media, where an auteur can really shine. Not big budget games, they’re aimed at making money and have hundreds of incredibly talented people working on them. But the growing ease and accessibility of game development it is making it possible for would be artists to make something of their own. More and more single credit games are making it to consoles, getting heaps of praise and winning awards.

The Beginner’s Guide feels like a response to this fact. In every way that it can be a response. A response to the difficulty of creativity, the potential burden that comes with creating something and having people view it, judge it. It’s also a response to people’s experiences of playing something created by somebody else. The game speaks to so many points about those who create, those who choose to engage with those creations and even that very creation itself. The game makes no promises that it’s here to be enjoyed like its creators last game or even be fully understood. But regardless it’s saying something that could not be more appropriate right now in the video game landscape. Hell, it's relevant to our current social media obsessed society. A society that yearns for connection but is hindered through glass and ones and zeros. It's relevant to everyone who yearns for connection, possibly attention, or even validation, from others or internal.

The Beginner’s Guide marks another remarkable game this year to completely break the mold of what a video game is or can be.

Make no mistake video games are art.

What I've Been Playing

2015-09-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

I've always flirted with the Souls series, unfortunately for me the Souls series was not reciprocating my advances, joyfully laughing in my face as it's infamous difficulty left me reeling. But I'm nothing if not persistent. And by god I finally cracked the code. I've been enjoying the series more than I ever thought possible and have become a huge fan and advocate for newbies along the way. Scholar of the First Sin is an HD remaster of sorts except unsatisfied with a simple up-res and frame rate bump, Scholar of the First Sin rebalances the entire game changing around enemy placement, increasing the difficulty of various enemies and bosses and even mixing up item placements to make things more difficult, both for returning players who thought the game was too easy and as a fitting introduction for those new to the series and eager to experience the games notorious difficulty.

At the time of its release Dark Souls II got a lot of flak for being easier than it's predecessors and for generally poor level and boss design. A lot of this was attributed to the replacement of the series original director, who has since been reinstated as director for every game since. Scholar of the First Sin does its best to address a lot of peoples criticisms and for the most part succeeds. Unfortunately a lot of the games problems require a complete overhaul, but for what was changed it has drastically improved on the game, at least to my memories. Bosses are still the worst in the series, outside of a select few most bosses can be beaten with the exact same tactic, staying very close, strafing around to doge attacks, when you see an opening, strike two or three times, rinse and repeat. It's the most disappointing aspect of the game, made worse by the games legacy of ridiculously difficult and inventive bosses.

But in all other ways Scholar of the First Sin succeeds brilliantly, the rebalance makes things harder early on but it serves to train you for how quickly the game becomes even more difficult. The games runs perfectly smooth with zero slowdown or hitches of any kind, important in a series where timing and person can cost or win you a fight. Add in all the fantastic DLC, which improved on some of the criticism post launch, and you have another worthy entry into this grueling and surprisingly popular series.

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Holy crap, Undertale is why I love what has happened with video games these past few years. Here is one of the most unique, mind-blowingly innovative, hilariously written, games of the entire year and it came out of nowhere, no fanfare or announcement it just sorta popped up on Steam and took everyone by surprise. Undertale is an RPG modeled after classic NES games of the genre, more specifically Earthbound. Except Undertale is deceptively simple, brimming with minute details and depth it will take years for players to discover everything this game has hidden.

What makes Undertale unique and it's sort of a spoiler or at least I would suggest if you're at all interest in this game from my beaming introduction just go play it and discover the magic on your own. But what makes Undertale unique is that it's an RPG with random encounters, items, leveling, all the things you would expect, except you can complete the game without killing a single enemy, without leveling up once. It works like this, when you encounter and enemy you enter a battle mode, as you would expect, but there is one option on the battle screen labeled 'TALK', hit it and you'll be given a few options, and they are not what you'd expect. Maybe you'd like to 'Flirt' with the 'Curvaceous Beetle' or 'Bully' the 'Ghost with Low Self-Esteem', what results is not only funny but down right devious as you try to avoid enemy attacks all the while trying to talk an enemy down enough to 'Spare' them.

But it doesn't stop there, enemies will still attempt to attack you while you "Whisper Sweet Nothings' into their ear or 'Insult' their mother. And when they do Undertale reveals another innovation, instead of an unavoidable attack your heart is displayed on the screen and using the arrow keys you can control it's movement. Enemies will throw various things at your heart and it's your job to navigate the minefield of obstacles to avoid taking damage. It's almost like a small mini-game within the battle system.

And that's just the combat, or lack thereof. The game has adventure elements as you need to navigate dialogue options, find items, and diligently explore to progress. Again I don't want to delve too deep into what makes Undertale such an incredible game suffice to say it's a game that offers an experience unlike any other and it's well worth trying out yourself.

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SOMA is a survival horror game from the developers of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, one of the most notorious pants shittingly terrifying games of the past several years. SOMA sees the developers delves deeper into some of the less obviously horrifying aspects of typical games in the horror genre. Focusing a lot more on story SOMA relishes in quite a bit of psychological horror, it finds horror in philosophical queries many of which are quite commonly asked in today's world. Unlike Amensia the game is enjoyable to play and look at and the better pacing of the straight forward monster horror moments make for an overall more enjoyable experience.

First and foremost SOMA is a first person exploration and puzzle game with more in common with Gone Home and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture than say Slender: The Arrival or even the developers previous game. There are plenty of monster to run and hide from eager to scare you as traverse a seemingly abandoned science facility deep underwater but the game smartly focuses on the mystery of where you are and what happened and it's in that that SOMA elevates itself to a great game and not just a gimmicky horror experience.

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Jotun is a gorgeous trek through Norse mythology but it's overall lack of gameplay polish and precision leave a lot to be desired. The easiest comparison is top-down Dark Souls, with an emphasis on large and extremely powerful enemies Jotun is a simplified version of the aforementioned series. The art is the reason to check this game out, all hand drawn it's some of the best art in a game this year. Wandering around the varied environments and encountering wonderfully designed new enemies is where most of my enjoyment came from, cause once the game demanded any amount of skill the games sluggish pace and clumsy mechanics make it more frustrating than enjoyably challenging.

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Assault Android Cactus besides having an awesome name is a fantastically fluid and well made dual-joystick shooter. Geometry Wars is the latest comparison but games like these go all the way back to Robotron: 2084. It's a bit on the short side, but apart from that this game is flawless. Wonderfully fast, fluid, and fun. I don't have much to say about this game other than it's probably one of the best games in the genres since the seminal Geometry Wars and deserves more positive buzz, figured I'd do my part. This game is fun, check it out.

The Talos Principle Review

2015-08-19T18:24:00.001-07:00

The Talos Principle is a puzzle game similar to Portal wherein you have to solve rooms of increasingly challenging logic puzzles. What differentiates The Talos Principle is the layer of existential themes about the nature of reality and what it means to be human. Didn't expect that, did you?

Gameplay wise The Talos Principle is quite simple, small rooms are cordoned off each with a challenge to solve within. Your reward is a puzzle piece that when combined with other pieces allow you to access other areas of the game with even more puzzle rooms. The overall objective becomes clearer as you progress but it does start with being an agent of God. Where it goes from there is quite mind blowing and ultimately up to you to discover. Every once in a while as you progress through the game you'll hear the voice of God as he encourages you and seeks to commune with you once you've satisfied the specific number of puzzle piece requirements (don't ask). He only asks one thing, do not enter the mysterious tower in the center of the world. The only other piece of the narrative is relayed through computer terminals in each new area, each one has notes you can read and eventually an unknown entity begins to speak with you through these terminals allowing you to respond as you see fit.

The Talos Principle is a weird game. On the one hand it's a fairly straightforward and enjoyable enough puzzle platformer akin to Portal. On the other it's this interaction with a few different figures, all of whom have very different views on the world. It's these interactions, be it with God or the voice in the machine, that elevate this game beyond a simple puzzle game. They are genuinely brilliant interactions that force you to question things about your life, it psychoanalyzes you and argues with you on questions such as faith, purpose, humanity, human nature, etc. These are lofty and impossible questions and that's what makes those interactions so fun.

The Talos Principle is an exceedingly clever puzzle game that is plenty fun on it's own but the philosophical questions it poses push it over the edge. The way it forces you to meditate on some of the harder questions about the reality of our existence and human nature are very lofty for a video game. The two things don't meld well at all and really the puzzle aspects feel like something to do while the game poses these big questions. The Talos Principle never melds together it's to diametrically opposed pieces and feels like two distinct game, but it's still two very entertaining pieces regardless of whether they fit together or not.

(4 out of 5)

Cradle Review

2015-08-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Originality is difficult, it's easy to fall into cliched tropes because they're reliable. There's a reason they are cliched, they've been used time and time again, sometimes even to great effect. It's also difficult because seemingly everything has been done before, or at the very least you can trace anything back to a familiar idea.

That long introduction is necessary for a game like Cradle which on it's surface seems very familiar
but quickly reveals itself to be something quite special and has a story and a world that has stuck with me long after I completed it. Cradle starts with the biggest trope of all, amnesia. You have no idea who you are or where you are. I hate this trope. And yet Cradle uses it to great effect, it's a way to introduce the player to this bizarre world, a way to make everything seems alien, and to make discovery that much more rewarding.

I want to focus on the world of Cradle which I found to be one of the most intricately detailed and fully realized I've ever seen. Questions start spinning around your head as soon as the game starts and the most satisfying thing about the game is that everything is explained. That is, if you have the patience to sift through everything in the game world to learn everything. It helps that Cradle's world is fascinating and I was eager to learn more but if you don't have the patience to read every little thing in the environment a lot of the appeal of this game will be lost on you. The game boils down to an adventure game as you find items and solve small puzzles. But it's the intriguing world and the thousands of questions you'll find yourself having that keeps you engaged. Who is this robotic woman sitting on your workbench? What are these numbers displayed on certain things? What happened to the world? Where is everybody? Who am I?

If it wasn't for such a fascinating world the games questions would be less interesting to pursue but I'm happy to say the games mystery's are compelling and so are the answers. The games tone also helps create an atmosphere of increasing dread as the truths of this world are revealed. Finding the items you need to progress can be really unintuitive as you desperately search for a single small items in a large incredibly cluttered room. Even distinguishing between what is a texture on the ground and what is a legible item that will help flesh out the world can be difficult. Their is also an uninteresting puzzle mechanic that repeats a few times and feels like padding and also tonally disparate with the rest of the game. It's the one real criticism I have with the game are these odd challenge puzzle room sections.

Cradle is a game I want to envelop myself in, I want to read books set in this world, play sequels tot his game, just spend hours examining everything I can about this wonderfully realized world. It's a shame then that some of that lore is needlessly obscure and these out of place puzzle rooms spoil an otherwise fantastic exploratory adventure game.

(4 out of 5)

Her Story Review

2015-08-19T14:32:00.001-07:00

Her Story puts a spin on every aspect of itself. It's a video game were you don't play a central role in the story. It's crime fiction in which the events have long since taken place. Its interactivity is limited to navigating an old PC with ancient and half broken programs. It's a game that requires extensive note taking outside the game to follow along and solve the mystery. It's a game without an ending, you simply decide when your satisfied and walk away. And finally the entire story is told through live action video clips with a single actress. Her Story is wholly unique, that term gets used far too often when it's entirely untrue, it's entirely true in this case and it makes Her Story a fascinating and potentially frustrating experience that anyone who loves games should try.

You spend the entire game sifting through video clips and taking notes (in the real world) trying to piece together the story. The program you are using searches a database of these clips through keywords. Any word uttered by the woman in the clips can be searched, searching for the word 'was' is going to turn up tons of videos and be pretty useless. But the name of a month, a person she mentions, a particular item these sorts of clues may lead to clips that start putting the story together for you. The note taking you'll undoubtedly do is to keep track of characters, dates, and things that seem suspicious or contradict you'll want to search later. And that's it, that's all you do. You type in your searches and then you watch the video clips. But it's this sense of really putting this story together that is so engaging. With zero help or hints you have to put together the story and decide where to focus your interests, it feels like being an actual investigator. The game begins to elevate beyond the computer screen and a meta-game of sorts start playing out within yourself, are you following the right clues, are you being lied to, how can you factual prove any of the things that are being said. When you are three pages of notes in and your frantically flipping through them trying to link things together and replaying the same video clip trying to read the actress facial expressions and body language for any sort of clue that is when you realize you're playing something that likes of which has never been done before. And it's awesome!

But it's not entirely positive, since there's no help whatsoever you may hit a wall several times or simply end up going in circles missing some key piece of information that will help you reach some understanding or at least point you into a new line of thinking. The issue with criticizing this aspect of the game is that it's not the games fault, it's your own. You, the player, has not put the pieces together, you are the ineffective investigator. You feel like you've failed but you put the blame on the game when it's all your fault. In that way the game can be frustrating but I feel like it's part of the experience and unless you give up it's just a hurdle that once finally crossed is immensely rewarding.

Her Story is a difficult game to talk about, their isn't much to it and any enjoyment stems entirely from personal experience and the story so any real breakdown of the game results in spoilers of the story or just of the potential experience. Suffice to say I adored this game and I wish more experimental games like this existed. You can easily get lost in the experience of Her Story, the game is a catalyst for the experience you will have, how obsessive, frustrated, satisfied you'll be. Her Story feel impossible to review, it's the most subjective experience you'll have with a game since how much you get out of it is entirely based on you.

(Just Play It)

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Review

2015-08-19T12:57:00.002-07:00

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a profoundly sad game and that's not necessarily a bad thing in fact it's that aspect of the game that saves it. Because while the central mystery of why or even how everybody has disappeared in this sleepy little English village is the driving force of the story it quickly falls to the wayside when you catch glimpses or more accurately echoes of the lives people had in this town. The game is what has become known, facetiously, as a walking simulator. Basically it means that your interactions with the world are limited, in this games case it's limited simply to opening doors, turning on lights, and listening to radios and telephones with messages on them.

The games story is told through mysterious balls of light that wander around certain areas of the village leading you to points of interest. Once you get close enough silhouettes of light appear depicting moments in the lives of the people who lived in this town. These scenes and the stories they tell are the real strength of the game, phenomenally well voice acted and written, these people and their interactions feel real and relatable. Each area of the game, there are 6 in total, you follow a specific character; they may drift in and out of other characters stories but each area tends to focus on one character and their final days in the village.

The thing that ties all these little scenes and characters together is the focus on relationships. Not just of a romantic nature but familial, friendships, or even with god. I guarantee at least one of the characters or one of the relationships depicted will strike a chord with anybody who plays this game. And these are complicated stories, their isn't the happy one, or the tragic one, they are all messy. Everybody shares the same moments of sadness, regret, hope, fear, joy. This game was an amazing experience, one of great joy and at the same time, sad reflection because it forces you to think about similar moments in your life.

The truly wonderful thing about Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is that these are topics video games don't ever delve into and it's a game like this that reminds me why I love this medium so much. It's the only interactive storytelling medium and that is such a powerful device that it's astounding more games don't take advantage of it. But that's a topic for another post. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is not what I was expecting, it sets up a big mystery about a potential Rapture that; minor spoilers: is quite dissatisfying. But instead serves up this incredibly poignant interweaving story of people and their relationships. I loved every second of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture but not for any of the reasons I thought I might.

(5 out of 5)

Daredevil Season One Review

2015-04-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

After an embarrassing attempt to bring the character to the silver screen in 2003 Marvel, with the help of Netflix, have crafted the most comic accurate portrayal of one of their characters to date. Daredevil is the first in a series of Netflix shows meant to further expand the studio executive coined, Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus bringing the number of avenues for the MCU to three, the films, the ABC shows, and now Netflix. While the films clearly deal with the more important characters and world shattering doomsday plots, and the ABC programs handle the ramifications of those plots, the Netflix shows are an even smaller microcosm, the day to day lives of those ordinary people affected by those gods and monsters. The Netflix shows are tasked with exploring what are called the street-level heroes, those who choose to stand up and do something about corruption, injustice or just plain evil that plagues the streets Iron Man normally ignores and Hulk regularly smashes up.

Daredevil as brought to the screen by Netflix is a giant sigh of relief that these upcoming Marvel shows are in good hands. This series out Batman's every Batman film to date. Daredevil is an unflinching depiction of a crime infested neighborhood, Hell's Kitchen, and what one man is willing to do to save his city. This hero can't fly or shoot energy beams from his hands, in fact Daredevil or Matt Murdock is really only good at two things, taking a beating and always getting back up for more. Daredevil in the comics and thankfully as depicted here is a fascinating contradiction of a man. Lawyer by day, vigilante by night. A man who seemingly believes in the legal system yet when confronted with a verdict he disagrees with takes it upon himself to track down the acquitted suspect and beat them within an inch of their life. To make things more interesting Murdock is a devout Catholic who struggles with doing what he believes is right and just with those teachings of the church.

The show interestingly focuses on the lead villain almost as much as the titular hero. Wilson Fisk, later in his life known as Kingpin is one of Daredevils greatest villains but as portrayed here Fisk is a sympathetic man. Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal is vulnerable and terrifying, an unstable man with a dark past but genuinely big dreams for the city he calls home. Charlie Cox also does a wonderful job playing the subtle conflict always brewing beneath the surface of Murdock, it is a stereotypical hero role but there is sadness to him that runs deep and lends itself well to this gritty crime drama. All the other big key characters are serviceable but not noteworthy.

I've mentioned Daredevil is connected to the larger MCU but you wouldn't know it with the amount of brutal violence and focus on dark character drama. The show is incredibly stylistic, shot entirely with natural light the show is dark, literally, every scene is drenched is shadows and stark lighting, it sets a mood that fits perfectly with the character and distinguishes itself from the absolute cavalcade of super hero movies and TV shows. The fight scenes are another distinguishing mark, well choreographed and brutal, these fights are not pretty and punctuated with hero shots. Daredevil and the criminals he fights often miss, fumble and reel back in pain. These fights are visceral and exciting and a few are stunningly well shot, in single shots or inventively edited. Overall the style and tone of the series are a real standout and mark my words, will be recognized come award season.

Daredevil is a fantastic first showing from Marvel on Netflix, a lowly street hero, a crime lord and the city they fight over are given time to develop and define themselves. 13 hour-long episodes makes this the longest we've spent with any single Marvel hero and it pays off huge. There are more layers to peripheral characters here than some main characters in the Marvel movies. If their are any faults with the series is that the show, like every Netflix show, doesn't know when to cut. With no advertisers or executives demanding arbitrary changes and time allotments the show tends to let scenes simmer too long. In some cases it's brilliant, like when Murdock seeks a priest for confession. Other times it's awkward and leads to pacing issues, but once again this is a problem with every Netflix show so it's hard to lay too much of the criticism at Daredevil's feet.

At times it felt like Daredevil was spinning its wheels, slowing down to fill time and less for building tension, but in the end Daredevil distinguishes itself with strong writing and a shockingly dark tone. The show builds towards a climatic showdown between two relatable yet diametrically opposed men. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are the real draws here giving captivating performances and carrying the weight of the entire season alone, a task it should be mentioned they accomplish handily. Daredevil is filled with thrilling fight sequences, taut drama, and a whole new much darker corner of the MCU to explore.

(4 out of 5)

Board Game Briefs

2015-03-08T15:20:00.002-07:00

Elder Sign is a medium, co-operative game. Set in the Cthulhu Mythos you and your fellow players are investigators trying to thwart the evil gods from descending on a museum filled with ancient mystical artifacts. Players take turns investigating areas of the museum and rolling dice to fulfill the requirements of that area, slowly warding evil and preventing the gods from awakening. Unfortunately this games theme is very light, as there is no board or pieces to speak of. The game boils down to fulfilling the dice rolls on each area and praying for the favor of the dice gods. The game is incredibly random, the rooms are randomly drawn, the evil god for each session is randomly chosen, rewards for successfully clearing areas are randomly drawn. You get the picture.

Elder Sign is a game entirely devoted to its lucked based mechanics. You'll have sessions, as I have, where you'll be tempted to swipe all the components off the table in frustration or where you're pumping your fists as you successfully move from room to room. The only solace you'll find is in your friends as you are all working together, each randomly chosen investigator brings something new to the table allowing for some slight strategy when it comes to choosing which rooms to investigate, but in the end it all comes down to dice rolls. I would recommend Elder Sign for people who like a difficult game and aren't frustrated by pure randomness. It's relatively inexpensive and gives you a taste of what heavier games have to offer without the crazy level of complexities and time investment.
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King of Tokyo is a light, player elimination game. Each player chooses a giant monster inspired by classic films and B-movies and attempt to become the King of Tokyo. All of the monsters are the same and only differ aesthetically, an absolutely essential expansion changes this. The game boils down to a derivative of king of the hill. Players score points by occupying Tokyo but when in Tokyo they cannot heal and all monsters target them, on the same token when they attack they hit all monsters not in Tokyo. This brilliant risk/ reward is so beautifully balanced it propels the game into something really special. To do anything players must roll dice and take the results, be it health, attacks, points, or energy. First player to 20 points or last player standing wins.

Energy is accrued to purchase cards that reward you with special powers, an extra dice to roll, the ability to heal one point every turn, paralyze other monsters, etc. These are the final wrinkle in the game that add an enjoyable amount of crazy that prevent the game from feeling the same every time. The 100% essential expansion I mentioned earlier, dubbed Power Up!, adds even more variety by retroactively making each monster unique, evolving and acquiring new powers each time you play.

King of Tokyo is the perfect contrast to Elder Sign because like the aforementioned game King of Tokyo is entirely luck based, entirely dependent on the results of dice rolls. But the added press your luck element of choosing when to enter or leave Tokyo means the strategy, while simple, is key to winning. In stark comparison to Elder Sign where no amount of strategy can save you from continuously shitty dice rolls. I would recommend King of Tokyo to everyone, it's easy to pick up and play, and exudes a charm that makes the more aggressive player versus player actions you will do to each other less aggravating.

Board Game Briefs

2015-03-07T15:46:00.003-08:00

Small World is a light, area-control game. At the start of the game players choose a pair of randomly assorted races and powers, each slightly different for added variety and replay ability. The different abilities effect the way you may play, either going for large land grabs or holding key positions. For example the Giants require one less soldier to conquer spaces adjacent to mountains and the wealthy power rewards you with 7 at the end of your first turn. With 14 races and 20 powers their are hundreds of possibilities. Throughout the game you'll vie for control of the most strategically advantageous spots on the board based on your chosen race and power while reaping the monetary benefits for doing so. The person with the most money at the end wins.

When I introduced the game to my friends I was relieved at how quickly everybody picked it up. The game can seem daunting to casual players due to the numerous tokens and specific rules for each race and power but fundamentally the game is quite simple. I honestly thought, as is often the case, that the person with the most experience, i.e. me, would win. But in fact somebody else won, and won handily.

Small World is great for those who like a little more strategy in their lighthearted pursuit of world domination. There is enough complexity and variety among the different races and powers that it guarantees the games ability to stay fresh over multiple plays. You may figure out the general strategy of defending positions that net you great benefits but someone may have a race/ power combination that debunks that strategy forcing you to rethink your approach. With an average play time of around 60 Minutes, and easy to teach, simple rules that change only slightly depending on the race and power combinations you decide on, Small World is a great introductory area-control game and one I would highly recommend for just about anyone.

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Tsuro is a light, tile laying, route networking game. In Tsuro you lay down tiles, each with different routes, down on the board and follow the path with your dragon, represented by a token. The theme is pretty light and abstract as the game is supposed to be about dueling dragons but it's reduced to simple tile laying. Each player is a dragon charting a it's route through the sky, players routes can intersect forcing dragons to collide or fly off the board if either occurs those players are eliminated. Last dragon standing is the winner.

Tsuro is what's called an 'opener', pretty self explanatory, but it's the game you play while deciding what game you'll play next or while having a drink or snacks. Tsuro takes no longer than 20 minutes and the more players the faster it goes as players quickly fill up the board and eliminate each other. Tsuro is an odd game to recommend on the one hand, it's light, short, with gorgeous components. On the other hand it doesn't lend itself to many plays. It retails for about $20 and you can get a more robust game that won't get old as fast.

An Overview of Board Games

2015-03-02T18:22:00.003-08:00

Board Games are generally split into three major categories heavy, medium, and light 'weight' games with two minor categories medium-heavy and light-medium for more subtle categorization. These weight classes, which are oddly similar to boxing weight-classes, are determined by three major aspects, length, difficulty, and complexity. The longer, more difficult, or more complex a game is the higher along the weight track it settles. This is generally what you look at to determine, at a glance, if you and your gaming group will enjoy a game. Some groups like long games, others short and simple, and everything in-between.

After the general 'weight' of a game is determined then a games key mechanic, or game-play type, is defined to narrow down the game to a final pretty specific position. Some mechanics which I'll explain in more detail in future posts include, worker placement, area control, bluffing, etc. So for example a game like Ticket to Ride is firmly in the light weight category, taking roughly an hour to play, with very simple player actions and rules. It's three key mechanics include hand management due to objective cards, route networking represented by laying train carts along routes on the board and finally set collection as you try to collect certain numbers of specific colors of cards to lay those colored tracks. And that is how you classify a board game.

This brief overview will be useful as I talk about games and make references to some of the terms above while introducing and describing new ones. I'll end this post with a quick review of Ticket to Ride as template for how future posts will generally read.

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is one of the few things that could aptly be described as an instant classic, a term so overused it's a wonder anythings cultural impact is ever really determined, but Ticket to Ride earns the title as it firmly establishing an entirely new baseline for what games can and should be. For anyone whose experience with board games began and ended with games like Monopoly, Candy Land, Life, etc. Ticket to Ride is such an approachable, elegantly designed, and wonderfully enjoyable experience you'll curse the names of those so called 'classic' board games. Ticket to Ride is a perfect game to introduce to non-gamers and experienced gamers alike. Player Interactions are less confrontational and everyone's goals are slightly different so antagonism is kept to the minimum.

The game revolves around collecting different colored cards that allow you to lay tracks of the same color. You lay these tracks in conjunction with your destination cards that show you which cities on the map you need to connect. Connect all your destination cards and you can risk drawing more, a risk because if you do not complete them the score they would have afforded you will be deducted from your total. At the end you are scored for number tracks laid, longest continuous route, and most destination cards completed. And that's all there is to it, Ticket to Ride takes mere minutes to explain and is so quick to play and simple to understand I can't imagine someone having a bad experience as long as everyone is playing correctly.

Agent Carter Season Review

2015-02-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

Agent Carter follows the titular Peggy Carter after the seeming death of Captain America and the end of World War II. During the war Carter was a highly respected and high ranking member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve which was responsible for fighting HYRDA and developing the Super Soldier Serum which would transform the frail Steve Rogers into Captain America. But upon returning to the states Carter was relegated to the second-class citizen status the majority of women found themselves in during this period in time. Carter is forced to secretly undertake a mission for Howard Stark, an old friend from the war, to clear his name after several weapons he developed suddenly disappear and is framed for selling them to the enemy.

Let's get this out of the way now, Agent Carter is a fantastic show that I hope sees renewal simply because of how dishearteningly risky it is. I say disheartening because it shouldn't be a risk to have a female lead, or to have a period setting, or for a show to so willingly ignore a myriad of other conventions. Agent Carter is fresh, fun and a fantastic addition to the ever growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the things I love about the series is Peggy Carter herself, she isn't just the idealistic model of a 'strong female character' she is a real female character. Carter is strong yes, but she is also flawed and complex and that's what makes a good character, that and a great performance from Haley Atwell who continues to knock it out of the park in her continued appearance as this character.

One of things I love about the ever expanding MCU is that every character has the potential to be fleshed out. Peggy Carter began as the love interest in the first Captain America film, coincidentally the only romance in a Marvel film that actually works. But everyone was so enamored with her character that we all wanted to know more about her, so we got a short film continuing her story after the war as well as a small and highly emotional scene in the second Captain America film. We slowly learned more about her and her history but it wasn't enough, so a starring vehicle of her own was the next step. This first season was a great development of her character, both the struggle she has adjusting to post war life as well as dealing with the still recent loss of Captain Rogers. The entire season is a perfectly paces and self contained 8 episodes so if our time with Peggy during this period in her life is to end after this one season at least it ends neatly tied up.

But this isn't the last we'll see of Agent Carter even if this is the only season of this show, Peggy is set to appear in this years Avengers 2: Age of Ultron as well as Ant-Man. It's the power of the MCU that a popular character can continue to grow on screen across film and television. The first season of Agent Carter is great, the production is fantastic feeling more like the late 1940's than Mad Men ever has any of its eras. The characters while only having 8 episodes to develop manage to be fully fleshed out characters, and no one is a one note villain or hero. Even the men who continuously belittle Agent Carter are sympathetic as the season continues. The death of principal character surprisingly manages to elicit real emotion after only 7 episodes, that's the advantage of strong nuanced characters and great performances. But the real stars of the series are Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis, together both actors give steller performances and revel in their chemistry for some of the most memorable moments across the entire season.

I could go on for several more paragraphs about how much of a relief it is to see a broadcast network series without a romantic relationship in sight, or how well it ties into the existing MCU, or how amazing the effects are, or how the cameos are more than fan-service. But suffice to say I really enjoyed the show and it stands as a stark and refreshing contrast to everything else in the MCU right now. At the same time Agent Carter does take a few missteps; some things are resolved too conveniently, a consequence of the short episode order I'm sure, but it feels cliche regardless. And finally most of the moments played for laughs fall flat. But apart from those minor quibbles Agent Carter is a fine series with two phenomenal leads in Hayley Atwell and James D'Arcy that deserves to be further explored in future seasons. I for one will be praying to the television network gods for a renewal.

Overall Season Score

(4 out of 5)

Board Game Fever

2015-02-24T16:49:00.001-08:00

A couple of times a year I get this itch, I've never openly discussed it for obvious embarrassing reasons but suffice to say I've tried every cream and ointment and it never dissipates. One day a few years ago I was randomly scouring the internet for a cure when I came across a fervent community around board games. Alas the itch subsided as I explored this fascinating new rabbit hole I would soon find myself lost within, This was new to me, the only board games I had played were popular mainstream games like Monopoly, Trouble, Clue, etc. I was not aware that in the mid 90's European style board games, mostly from Germany, began making their way over to the U.S. and taking the table top community by storm. Settlers of Catan was probably the earliest one of these games to really take off and since then these 'Designer Board Games' have ushered in a more heavily thematic, mindbogglingly creative and intensely strategic era of board games that have reinvigorated enthusiasts and captured the attention of non-gamers alike.

It's been about two years since I've gotten into tabletop games, a more apt descriptor as many games don't even bother with a board, but I still consider myself new to the hobby. The very first set of games I bought I introduced to friends and they seemed to enjoy them quite a bit, since then I've expanded my collection while introducing different genres and slowly increasing the complexity of the games we play. We started off with incredibly simple games that I could explain in 5 minutes and included some strategy but light on complex mechanics, games like: Ticket to Ride, Munchkin, Tsuro and Zombie Dice. Ticket to Ride is a real highlight, correctly considered a modern day classic to rival the all time greats, in fact the game is better than any family game in existence and every home should have a copy, it's simple but doesn't lack complexity and can be easily explained to anyone, even the family dog. From there things escalated quickly.

The games I mentioned above are described as 'light' or 'family' games, they are incredibly simple and typically only have one mechanic, lying train carts along a track for instance. But tabletop games can get significantly more complex from there. Small World was the first game me and my friends tried that took awhile to explain and even while playing the rulebook wasn't far from reach. Categorized as an area control game, players choose unique races alongside randomly assigned unique abilities and vie for control of the map on the board game. A simple game in retrospect but a game with enough rules and nuances that beginners shouldn't hop right in without some prior experience with similar games.

Over the next few posts, as movies and video games are few and far between these days, I'll be diving deep into table top gaming; describing, explaining, reviewing, and reliving moments from my time at the table.

Video Games Should be Interactive NOT Cinematic

2015-02-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Video games have been becoming more cinematic with every passing year, they've always strived to emulate Hollywood and the success of the film industry. But video games are not films nor should they be.

Last week The Order: 1886 was released to a tidal wave of criticism, at first centered around it's shockingly short length, 5-6 hours, and later for it's more critical failures, bland game play, little variety, reused sections, and a general overly scripted feel. The games unskippable cutscenes reportedly add to the games already short length and the argument has been made that there isn't more than a handful of hours of actual game play in the entire game. It isn't my place to criticize the development team at Ready at Dawn for their creative choices, if this is the game they intended players to play than I will form a subjective opinion of the end result but it would simply be my opinion. My main problem stems from an odd trend I've seen developing in the video game industry that I think should be examined before too much money is wasted on a disinterested audience.

During development of The Order: 1886 the games creative director and executive producer, Ru Weerasuriya was interviewed by Play4Real where he expressed disdain for having to make the game and wished him and his team could have made a film instead. In the interview he goes on to call video games archaic and described how the team preferred to work on character animations rather than interesting game play mechanics. It's a fascinating interview I suggest everyone read: link. I can't reiterate this enough, I can not criticize Ready at Dawn for making the game they wanted to make, but I feel better criticizing that they shouldn't have made a game at all, if the feelings above represented how they felt during development. Video games by their very nature and definition are interactive, lately games like Gone Home and anything from Telltale have reduced interactivity to emphasize story and characters but those games alter themselves based on player choices. The Order has been derided for it's unflinching linearity and countless moments where all control is taken away from the player. The cinematic world is vastly different from the interactive one, I love both but they are inherently very different and invoke different feelings.

Another game developer, Remedy Entertainment, has also opted to focus on this cinematic experience in their next game, Quantum Break, a video game that is tied to a live action television series. How this will work has yet to be fully revealed but the game will somehow incorporate this show that Remedy themselves produced and inter-cut game play sections with the show they developed. Again I wonder why make a game at all, develop a television show if that's is what they want to do, in this day an age an entertainment company could be as diverse as they wanted. They can make games, television series, short films, feature films, comics, etc. But all of these mediums require a different skill set and offer wildly different experiences for the viewer/player/reader and they typically don't cross over.

Telltale, a favorite developer of mine recently announced a project they've dubbed a "Super Show" where through a partnership with Lionsgate Entertainment, a film and television company, will produce a series that is "one part interactive playable content with one part of scripted television style content". It's still very early for Telltale and whatever it has planned but as you can see there seems to be a trend developing in the video games industry to develop content that is less game and more video.

Again we are living in one of the most diverse and creatively charged eras of entertainment media, anything and everything is being developed and there are more avenues to distribute this vast array of content. But I fear game developers are developing projects that are half this and half that, which has the worrying chance of satisfying no one. Video games are interactive and the people who play them like them that way, just look at the response to The Order or the idiotic comments that Gone Home is a walking simulator. And films and television are very different beast and while these game companies are free to pursue different projects they should commit to one medium and not split their audience in half, by having one foot in the interactive space and one in the cinematic.

Quick & Dirty Reviews

2015-02-05T20:46:00.000-08:00

Top Five (4 out of 5)

Chris Rocks most honest and revealing film is a career highlight and one of the best comedies of the year. Top Five sees Chris Rock playing, Andre Allen, a nearly identical version of himself with some extra modern day entertainment star qualities to allow for a dissection of the current state of entertainers, and boy does Rock have things to say. It's important to note Rock, directed, wrote and stars in this film and from the second the film starts you can tell this is the most Chris Rock has ever enjoyed himself making a film, it feels honest, it's filled with his friends, it's brimming with heart and most importantly it's hilarious. Top Five at it's most basic can be described as a critique on celebrities and reality stars, with some not so subtle remarks towards the talentless hacks who flood our TV sets. But Chris Rock isn't shy to tear himself apart either, openly mocking his poor creative endeavors and current feelings about being a celebrity. Top Five soars when it acts as Rock's most authentic voice yet and falter when the cliched telegraphed plot rears its head.

Begin Again (3 out of 5)

Begin Again succeeds almost entirely on the performances and chemistry of its two leads. Mark Ruffalo plays a record label executive who hasn't landed a hit in years who finds a young singer/songwriter with tons of potential played by Keira Knightly. Begin Again can be sappy at times but there is a genuine love for music on display and the endearing performances of the two leads keep the film from crumbling under the weight of all of its cliches. Ruffalo isn't playing against type but this is a role he plays so well it's impossible to begrudge him and Knightly has come back in a big way in the past few years and continues to deliver great performances that are slightly out of her comfort zone. One aspect of the film I wanted to point out simply because of how refreshing it was to see, was the romantic relationships that form the basis of these two characters current predicaments are complicated and messy. And the obvious chemistry between Ruffalo and Knightly thankfully doesn't turn into, two wounded souls find each other in the aftermath of difficult relationships. The film isn't going to blow anyone away but it's a well performed film, both spoken and sung, that it's hard to resist.

More Soon ...

Life is Strange - Episode 1: Chrysalis Review

2015-01-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

Life is Strange is an episodic adventure game in the vein of Telltale's recent output, focusing on Max Caulfield, a high school senior at a prestigious school in rural Oregon as she navigates the often messy relationships and life searching that typically pervade this time in a young adults life. Life is Strange purports to tell a high school coming of age story with a sci-fi twist, as Max soon discovers after witnessing the terrifying accidental shooting of her former best friend, that she can rewind time. What's interesting is that the developers, Dontnod Entertainment, use this ability not simply as a gameplay mechanic and puzzle solving device but as a way for Max to become more introspective. The game exudes a shockingly accurate depiction of an indie film, between the characterizations, the music, and the general tone of the writing, which unfortunately feels out of touch at times, Life is Strange clearly takes inspiration from films such as Juno and The Perks of Being a Wallflower to name a couple.

Life is Strange follows the formula most, if not all, adventure games use these days, focused on choices and consequences over traditional puzzle solving. Every response and action you take will have repercussions, some within that same episode and others over the entire season. What makes Life is Strange unique in this regard is the ability to rewind and alter your choices or simply retry interactions for better results. The game smartly allows you to abuse this mechanic quite a bit, allowing for experimentation and exploration of both the games mechanics and the stories characters. It's fun to redo a conversation after learning a key piece of information and having that interaction go more smoothly and exactly the way you wanted. Which is another reason why this mechanic is more than just that; the setting and tone of the story allow for this very 'game-y' mechanic to integrate with the story. Max reacts the way anyone would upon discovering this unbelievably useful ability. Think about how amazing it would have been to have this ability when you were in high school, thankfully the writers thought the same thing and sufficiently explore both the advantages and consequences to being able to literally redo any moment.

This is the first episode of five so story wise there it's a lot of set up and only minor characterizations, there are a few characters who are clearly important but are severely underdeveloped as well as a darker underlying mystery that is just barely teased. The story and characters are, thus far, well crafted if slightly cliched but filled with potential, the darker themes and more serious aspects of the story can be jarring at first but as the full story slowly reveals itself it's clear this is a world grounded in reality and that our time with Max and her best friend Chloe is going to be far more serious than the initial introduction seems to imply. Overall Life is Strange seems like an exciting new adventure game from a fairly untested developer; Dontnod's only other game is the retrospectively ironically titled Remember Me. The wholly original setting and tone as well as the promise of a highly introspective character driven story is a highly appealing prospect to me and I can't wait for episode two.

(4 out of 5)

Quick & Dirty Reviews

2015-01-10T12:55:00.001-08:00

Big Hero 6 (4 out of 5)

For being yet another predictable super hero origin story, Big Hero 6 manages to pack enough heart and inventive action to make it one of the best animated films of the year. The film celebrates science like I've never seen in a children's movie, our heroes are self described nerds, and proud of that fact. They are inventors, engineers and chemists. The film also explores oft-ignored qualities like creativity and passion for learning. For these facts alone Big Hero 6 shoots way up my recommendations list. But thankfully the film is also unequivocally great; performances from the entire cast are fantastic and characters animate beautifully. Even the robot Baymax who never displays a single facial expression still manages to pull off the highly emotional finale, a credit to the fantastic performances and strong writing. This is a children's films that you can be happy to see and take children to go see, it treats it's audience with respect and never panders. No matter your age Big Hero 6 is an exciting super hero film that will inspire you and melt your heart.

Whiplash (5 out of 5)

For a movie based in the music world this film has little do with that particular artistic expression. Instead Whiplash is a phenomenal character study that delves deep into the psyche of two characters desperate to fill holes in their lives. A young aspiring jazz musician who wants nothing more than to be remembered and achieve recognition for his presumed talent. And a ruthless perennially unimpressed jazz teacher who despises anything less than utter perfection yearns to assist the birth of musical greatness. He pushes his students past the breaking point not dissimilar to the way the army breaks down recruits to build them back up as soldiers. An apt comparison as the first half of the film feels very much like Full Metal Jacket in music school. J,K. Simmons is an absolute animal in this film, and I mean that with all due respect, a quick glance from him with eyes filled with fury and it'll make you wince. His mere presence exudes intimidation, but his brutal treatment of his students earns every ounce of it. Miles Teller's performance starts off meek and slowly falls away to reveal a cutthroat ambition and drive that finds little happiness outside of achieving his teachers unreasonable expectations. The films gloriously intense climax is both blood soaked and triumphant, encapsulating both characters and their tragic psyches perfectly.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (3 out of 5)

A spy film that harkens back to the more campy era of Bond films, Kingsman: The Secret Service brings back the outlandish and fun spy genre. What's great about Kingsman is that it pokes fun of old school spy films while simultaneously crafting a fairly decent spy romp of it's own. Similar to Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy, Matthew Vaughn clearly loves the campier spy films of yesteryear and thus Kingsman's take on the genre feels more like a loving homage than cutting satire. The films plot is predictable and forgettable and you'll likely not add the film to your collection but it's a well executed action film. Colin Firth is enjoyably out of character as a badass gentleman spy mentoring a former colleagues wayward son. The action is kinetic, filled with inventive and infectiously paced scenes that'll have you tapping your foot along to the action and editing like a catchy song. Kingsman is an enjoyable two hours at the theater even if it isn't going to set the world on fire.

The Imitation Game (4 out of 5)

A wonderfully executed biopic of one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century and a criminally unthanked contributor to the Allies successful defeat of the Nazi's in World War II, Alan Turing. The Imitation Game is brilliantly acted, with Benedict Cumberbatch giving the most riveting performance of his career yet. Unfortunately this film feels very, Hollywoodized, the facts are true to life and the performances aren't melodramatic but everyone is a bit too clever, every scene a bit too important. I very much dislike films that come off as trying to hard to impress critics, to me it's distractingly obvious. But despite that fairly significant complaint this is still a great film, it's just trying too hard to be a prestigious one. I'm happy Alan Turing has finally received such a fine portrayal of his monumental contribution to the war efforts while also never diminishing what made the man other than his accomplishments. The Imitation Game is a great biopic led by a greater performance and it'll likely win big during award season, just as it was designed to do.

Selma (3 out of 5)

Selma marks the very first time the story of Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for civil rights has been told on film. Focusing around the intense three month period in Alabama, wherein peaceful protests were meet with viscous assaults which would later become known as Bloody Sunday as well as the eventual successful march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery. While an unbelievable fact that King's monumental impact have never been committed to celluloid it may be because it was destined to have David Oyelowo in the lead role. Oyelowo gives a rousing performance as the man behind the myth, as the depiction of MLK in this film is of a man both fed up and tired. His rousing speeches are punctuated by quite moments where doubt, fear, regret and exhaustion eat away at his conscience as he struggles with how to lead his devote followers who he is putting in potential harms way. Oyelowo makes this movie, the story is fairly one sided and too many character come across as villains in what purports itself to be a biopic comes across outlandish at points. Selma contains a great performance of an astounding man but is surrounded by amateur storytelling that falls prey to often to lazy cliches.

Foxcatcher (5 out of 5)

Foxcatcher stars two unrecognizable stars, Steve Carell and Channing Tatum who not only disappear via prosthetics but through unnerving portrayals of two very unstable men. The direction feels very detached, Bennett Miller is more interested in letting scenes go on a couple of seconds longer then they normally would, which allows emotions to set in and the messy awkwardness to simmer. There is a rule to writing, "show, don't tell" and this film exemplifies that technique, the films most memorable or tense moments are completely silent but the actors performances portray more than any dialogue ever could. This isn't a plot heavy film, the characters and their personal journeys are the focus here and it makes these true events all the more tragic. What transpired at the Foxcatcher estate is surreal, at least as it's depicted here, with the things that fueled these men; greed, vanity, jealousy, loneliness, earning for respect, overcoming inadequacies, it's not surprise things ended such as they did. Foxcatcher is immensely unnerving and not entertaining in the least, it crawled deep under my skin and I'm counting the days till it crawls back out. Supported by two career defining performances by Carell and Tatum and an unsettling detached direction that unnerves in every silent moment, Foxcatcher is one of the best films of the year.

Boyhood (2 out of 5)

Boyhood is a technical achievement to be sure but the timescale it was filmed on proved to unwieldy for this director as the aimless story and odd pacing drag the film to a crawl. Boyhood is a nearly three hour home movie, with no core story to speak of the film relies on periodic segments in the life of one family, covering 14 real world years the characters age and grow on screen in the one truly astounding aspect of this movie. Otherwise this is a film that has nothing new to say about the adolescent experience and haphazardly leaps through time causing an odd sense of reliving key moments instead of the forward passage of time. The performances from the adults in the film are believably grounded and the most compelling part of the movie by far, it's a shame then that they are not the focus. I don't have many good things to say about Boyhood as I found it immensely boring and lacking in any substance or true vision. The filmmaker seemed content on just rolling the cameras on whatever new dramatic family moment he could think of next with years passing by in the interim.

More soon ...

Nostalgia to the Test: The Wire

2015-01-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

I watched The Wire about 4 years ago when HBO GO first launched. I came to series after it had become television legend, many critics heralding it as the greatest television drama of all time. When I sat down to watch the series for the first time it seemingly surpassed those lofty expectations. A testament to the shows quality and groundbreaking innovations that to this day have not entirely been surpassed. So here we are, 12 years after the show first premiered and 4 years since my first viewing, I've decided to revisit the series, on the one hand because HBO has remastered the entire series with direction and approval from the original creators. The changes aren't limited to higher resolution, the series which was original broadcast in standard definition with a 4:3 ratio can now be seen in high definition widescreen (16:9). Many scenes have also been color corrected to fix shots or entire scenes that were previously too dark or simply hued in a displeasing way. In this feature I'll not only discuss the pros and cons of the HD remaster of this beloved series but I will also reassess my thoughts on a show that till this day I've considered a masterclass of television and nigh untouchable.

Lets start with the technical analysis. This HD remaster has altered the show significantly, not only is every shot in widescreen displaying things that were previously just out of frame but I would argue that the change to widescreen has also altered the shows storytelling capabilities. First off, the show was shot in widescreen but broadcast in standard definition 4:3, this means those behind this remaster don't have to zoom in to get rid of the black bars that would appear on the sides of the frame on a widescreen display. This is a huge benefit, plenty of people have forcefully implemented widescreen, as you can see on the right, and the zoomed in effect is terrible, actors are cropped out and the entire feel becomes very claustrophobic. The Wire was shot in widescreen so this is thankfully not a problem, the original negatives contain the entire shot, with a little touch up it looks great on a modern widescreen display. The one problem the show runs into is that anything that was just outside the original 4:3 framing is now in the shot, this can create a slew of odd shots that would never have made it past the eye of even a woefully incompetent cinematographer. Most of these are minor issues, a distracting door or a car's side view mirror now in the frame, those issues are easy to overlook. The problem comes when this new widescreen format interferes with the storytelling. Everything in film making is there to serve the story including framing, a shot that once saw bystanders extend past the frame felt like the scene was bustling now the widescreen shows their were less people than the viewer had imagined. This remastering is a marked improvement overall but there are some pretty significant issues that people may not notice upon passive inspection but subconsciously they are missing out on the original story telling intent of a scene. Check out some examples below.

The pole creates a false frame in widescreen

The original shot uses the pole as a frame

This confrontation is messy and close up

In the remaster the shot breaths removing tension

A typical over the shoulder shot

Distracting pink couch and empty space on the left

None of these issues ruin the show and overall the widescreen presentation improves on more scenes than it diminishes. The higher resolution and color correction are nothing but positive results of this remaster. Scenes that were too washed out are toned down, scenes that were too dark are lightened up and various odd hues, particularly yellows, are removed completely for a cleaner look that you could mistaken was shot on modern cameras only yesterday. But does the show hold up.

I'm happy to say, it does. The Wire is rightfully considered one of the greatest television shows in history. Every character is a fascinating and multilayered person that you'll like in one moment and despise the next. Major character are gay but they are not defined by their sexuality, a problem even modern shows have. The way seasons explore different aspects of crime in the city of Baltimore through the eyes of the law breakers and enforcers has still never been done before. Season 1 follows the drug trade, season 2 city port smuggling, season 3 politics and so forth. This allows the show to change up the focus and explore different types of crime following the same characters, this can sometimes be a problem though when an episode has 2 minutes of a character in jail just to remind you he is there. The show can feel bloated as we check in with characters from 2 seasons ago, it feels tangential and takes focus away from the main plot and character arcs of the current season. Having said that every character is interesting and the upside of seeing the heroin addict with a penchant for helping the cops, Bubbles or the merciless gangster with a strong moral code, Omar Little is greater than never seeing those characters again.

The Wire manages to shake up enough of the core conceit season to season that the show feels fresh each time. I'm happy to say The Wire holds up brilliantly, with the exception of some pacing issues due to overstuffed episodes, I still believe The Wire is one of the best television dramas in history and absolutely on of the most influential.

Thoughts On: The Marvel Cinematic Universe

2015-01-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

It's been 7 years since Iron Man came out and since then Marvel has grown a brand like no other company I've ever seen, besides Disney with whom, fittingly, they are now apart of. 7 years and we have had 10 films, 2 TV shows and many more of both still to come. They've also pioneered the idea of a shared universe where all the stories they tell exist and interweave, similar to the way the comics have operated for the better part of 50 years. It makes sense, Marvel began in the movie business the way any brand does, as licensed content. Deals were made, contracts were signed and we got the X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four films. But they were separate franchises, Spider-Man wasn't going to swing by Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and more than that these characters were being interrupted by movie studios more interested in producing a film that will make them millions than honoring the characters. Thus Marvel Studios was born, this wasn't a hired team of film studio executives, these were the same men and women who had been running the original company. The artists and writers who had been defining these characters and this universe in thousands of various comic books. Who better to bring the characters to the silver screen than those who know them better than anyone.

Marvel began this whole venture by setting up solo films, where major characters could have their origin and develop on their own, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and so forth. This all led to a culmination in Avengers where each of these heroes, who were already holding their own franchises joined forces to combat a powerful foe. Genius. Then each of the characters went back to their own solo franchises, but the universe felt bigger. Minor characters from the different films were showing up in other franchises, Coulson being a staple of a few of the films. Marvel then decided to add a new medium to this interconnected universe, television. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. followed a mysteriously resurrected Coulson leading a team around the periphery of the Marvel universe dealing with lower level threats. That shows started off as a me-too kind of thing, pathetically chasing after the success of the Marvel films throwing in an eye-rolling number of references in the hopes of proving their importance.

It wasn't until the last 6 episodes of the first season where Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. really came into its own. This marked improvement of the show was able to happen because of Marvels interconnected universe, the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier saw S.H.I.E.L.D. dismantled as the evil organization HYDRA was revealed to have deeply infiltrated the organization. So how did a show named after the organization react, perfectly. S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed HYDRA agents began slithering out from beneath their covers and things went bad for our heroes very quickly. The stakes were raised, characters stepped up and developed in interesting ways. Tying into the The Winter Soldier arguably saved the show, from mediocrity and possible cancellation. Season 2 while only in its first half has taken the momentum from the previous seasons finale and completely altered the dynamic on the show. And as of the last episode before the winter hiatus, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gone from chasing after its more successful older siblings to paving the way for future films and franchises. A revelation in the final moments of episode 10 has set-up drastic changes to the entire Marvel Universe. The exiting part is that the show will be paving the way, in this new exciting frontier.

The massive success Marvel has found in each new venture spurred them to take bigger risks on relatively unknown properties. Guardians of the Galaxy, which proved to be a runaway success has assured Marvel that people view them as a sort of seal of quality, and will go wherever they lead. And excitingly for this Marvel fan, and the millions of others out there, that means delving into some of the more popularly unknown corners of the Marvel comics. Soon to be seen in theaters are Ant-Man (who can shrink to the size of an ant, control said insects and increase in strength while small), Doctor Strange (who defends the world from demons and other mystical creatures from alternate dimensions using magical abilities), Black Panther (the prince of Wakanda, a highly advanced nation in Africa, who defends his city with powers gifted to him by the Wakandan Panther God), Captain Marvel (an Air-Force pilot who through a freak accident is physiologically fused with a member of the Kree alien race bestowing her with immense powers), and The Inhuamns (an entire society of people who were experimented on early in Earths history and isolated, all of whom are gifted with thousands of various abilities). If it wasn't clear through those, possibly insane sounding, descriptions Marvel is confident in themselves and if history is any indications movie goers will have nothing to fear. Marvel has a plan, they teased a character at the end of The Avengers named Thanos, he made a small reappearance in Guardians of the Galaxy and almost everything that has happened in the Marvel Universe can be traced back to him and what he is trying to achieve. When Avengers 3 rolls around the aforementioned films will have all come out, the existing franchises will have all had 3 films. And the sum total of 19 films and 6 TV series will conclude with a two part showdown with this unfathomably powerful foe.

But Marvel is also making headway on the newest content front, streaming distribution. Marvel has tapped Netflix to premier 4 brand new characters each with their own 13 episode season, culminating in a 5th show where the separate heroes team up. Sound familiar, Marvel is hoping what worked for their film ventures will work for them on Netflix. First up, premiering on April 10th of 2015 is Daredevil. After that Jessica Jones, followed by Luke Cage and Iron Fist; culminating in The Defenders. Marvel knows these heroes wouldn't be served well with a 2 hour film, these heroes are better explored in a 13 hour binge marathon. These heroes wouldn't compete with the Avengers these are street level heroes, none of them can fly or control lightning but they can help out the everyday people Iron Man and Thor regularly fly over. Jessica Jones in particular is interesting because she is a former super hero who has retired and opened a private detective agency. Like I mentioned these characters fight for the little guy, the old lady at the end of the street, the kids playing basketball at the park, the guy at the hot guy stand. All four of these series have the potential to explore the universe further and build what is quickly becoming the quintessential dream of every major company in the entertainment industry.

Warner Bros. who own DC have tied together their CW shows Arrow and The Flash. Soon they hope do the same in with the DC Universe in theaters with Man of Steel being the first but Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opening up that world very quickly, potentially too quickly. 20th Century Fox has retroactively created a shared universe with their X-Men films. Sony tried and failed miserably to turn a single character, Spider-Man, into an entire shared universe. Even Universal is creating a shared universe with their classic monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc. their is no reasonable reason for these films to exist in a shared universe but it shows how desperate studios are to capture the magic Marvel seems to be bursting with.

Another genius of Marvel is that each of their films explores a different genre, Captain America was a period war film, The Winter Soldier was a political thriller, Guardians of the Galaxy was a space opera, the upcoming Ant-Man is a heist film. This postpones, but does not eliminate, the potential for super hero movie fatigue and their are going to be a lot of super hero films in the coming years. Marvel themselves are ramping up production from 2 films a year to 3. That may not seem like a lot but with sequels to the X-Men films, a rebooted Fantastic Four, and DCs slate of 10 films in 5 years. The whole thing has the potential to snap under the weight of so much money stretched thin via saturation.

As it stands Marvel seems to making all the right moves, and they at least seemingly appear to genuinely care about the quality of their output and less about how much it can fatten their wallets. This means their is an emphasis on creativity and risky ventures. Billions of dollars later and Marvel Studios is still made up of the same people who were telling stories with these characters in comic books. They are still very much in love the each and every one of them and thankfully they seem to want to do right but them all. A few years ago a Doctor Strange film wouldn't have ever received the green light, even their latest ABC series Agent Carter is risky, depressingly, for being a female led period drama. But Marvels clout means no one questions their choices and everyone turns up to see what they've crafted. This is an enviable position which I showed others are salivating to achieve but the difference is that their competitors are cynically chasing the financial success and aren't as concerned with the care and craft that goes into bringing these characters to life. I tip my hat to Marvel, as a comic book fan, as fan of good television, and good film-making they are a continual beacon of hope that creative and quality works can still exist in an increasingly committee approved, fiscally motivated industry. Thanks Marvel. Keep it up, were counting on you.

Game of the Year

2014-12-25T16:49:00.001-08:00

It has been an interesting year for video games. It was the first full year either of the two new consoles had and it was also the first wave of next-gen only games. But the most interesting thing I noticed which directly involves this Game of the Year round up I’m doing is that it was a year of subverted expectations. Games people had high hopes for or were considered “big” games disappointed or failed to leave an impression; Destiny and Watch Dogs come to mind. While games people had little expectations for or forgot were even coming out blew everyone away; Wolfenstein and Shadow of Modor. It was a very weird and exciting year so let’s go over my favorites games of the year.

Top Ten

(1)Dragon Age: Inquisition – The odds were stacked high against BioWare, Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 were massive letdowns and hopes were not high on the studio ever recovering. Fans held their breath as Dragon Age Inquisition reared its head, would we get the ambitious developer of Mass Effect 2 or the lazy absent-minded one from Dragon Age 2. Lo and behold, Dragon Age Inquisition rode in on a white horse delivering the most engrossing, fully realized game world of the year. The characters in Inquisition are some of the best BioWare has ever created, multi-layered and complicated, you’ll want to spend hours hanging out with them. They even manage to hold together an otherwise forgettable, run of the mill, world-ending plot. With this game BioWare has managed to both rectify every complaint players had while still brilliantly executing on all of their strengths. Dragon Age Inquisition is by far the best game of the year, mind-bogglingly massive, painstakingly detailed, gorgeously rendered, filled with wonderfully realized characters and so lovingly crafted the game oozes an enrapturing confidence that you’ll wonder where the past 90 hours of your life went.

(2)Shadow of Mordor – I’m not usually attracted to game play mechanics in video games, I’m more interested in the mediums capacity for storytelling. But what’s interesting about Shadow of Mordor is that its focus on one particular system, the Nemesis system, allows for a form of storytelling that is wholly unique to the medium. Shamelessly borrowing mechanics from other games, namely the Arkham and Assassin’s Creed series, Shadow of Mordor polishes and blends those two formulas while adding in a never before seen AI system that makes such a profound impact on the player experience people will be begging for it to be implemented in nearly every game moving forward. Enemies are shaped by your actions, they remember and adapt. You'll even form deep seated rivalries with randomly generated AI, it's unprecedented and unbelievably impressive. Shadow of Mordor is impressive on so many levels, not only is it immensely fun to play but the fluid way in which the game reacts to your every action is endlessly entertaining.

(3)Far Cry 4 – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Far Cry 4 may be a lot more of the same, in fact it’s unapologetically identical to the previous entry in the franchise, but that doesn't stop it from being an infectiously enjoyable romp. As someone who advocates that video games should take more risks and step away from the relative safety of well-established franchises and game play mechanics, I find myself conflicted playing Far Cry 4. On the one hand it’s fun as all get-out but it feels so familiar, not just within its own franchise and genre, but the ubiquitous Ubisoft template layered over the game makes it feel like it’s treading a lot of well-worn ground. But damn it if I don’t still feel compelled to climb every bell tower to reveal the map, and hunt animals to upgrade my wallet. I enjoyed my 20 or so hours in this fictionalized Himalayan countryside a whole lot, but I don’t plan on being this eager to play another Far Cry experience in this style in the near future.

(4)Bayonetta 2 – It’s an incredible feat Bayonetta 2 accomplished. It manages to outdue everything its predecessor did and then somehow top itself with each subsequent chapter of it's 16 chapter story. The opening level sees the titular character fighting corrupted angels atop a fighter jet as it rockets through a city and it only gets crazier from there. But the zaniness is not the only draw, the mechanics have been embellished and honed, combos are easier to string together and a slow-mo dodge allows you to manage tough fights. Bayonetta is likely the sharpest character action game ever released, a bold claim I know, but you'll be hard pressed to disagree with once you experience it.
Bayonetta 2 not only plays wonderfully but its complete lack of respect towards comprehension is staggering and one of the great joys of playing through its bouts of insane action and random nudity.

(5)Sunset Overdrive – Early on Sunset Overdrive does little to distinguish itself outside of a shockingly vibrant setting. But Insomanic Games bring their seemingly patented innovative weapon design and exceedingly fun game play to create a roll-licking good time. The games humor oftentimes misses the mark, but it allows the game to take ever increasingly ridiculous set pieces in strides while poking fun at video games and breaking the fourth wall. Traversing the world is this games strong suit, I've never played a game that felt this polished, considering the amount of things you can bounce on, grind on, fly off, climb up and around it’s staggering the game never losses its momentum. Stringing together these traversal elements while laying waste to thousands of energy drink infected mutants (it’s a thing) with batshit crazy weapons is some of the most gleefully indulgent fun I've had in a video game all year.

(6)The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an immensely atmospheric game that tasks you with discovering the mystery of a quiet riverside town. The game rewards exploring every nook and cranny with excursions into reality bending side stories hidden in little side areas throughout the game. The game boils down to finding clues and then ordering the sequence of events correctly. But game play is not what Ethan Carter is all about, the game is at all times haunting; a nervous feeling of unease permeates the entire game as you wonder whether whatever mysterious force is at work in this small town will come out from the shadows and confront you. I loved every second of this game; it evoked a great sense of wonder and lured me in by my obsessive need to discover. I hypnotically made my way through the ominous mystery discovering every secret along the way without pausing once. I was completely enamored with the game and was only slightly disappointed with how it wrapped up.

(7)Shovel Knight – Shovel Knight perfectly recreates classic Nintendo platformers from the 8-bit era while not being a slave to them. A game layered with nostalgic callbacks that improves on those classic games it emulates with smart modern design sense. Shovel Knight is a true homage, it doesn't lean on the games that inspired it but it uses them as stepping stone to achieve something altogether new. The music is immensely memorable, the levels more so, the tight controls are pure bliss and it all comes together in one of the best retro indie games. I'm struggling not to call this game perfect because no game is ever perfect but Shovel Knight is so finely tuned and meticulously designed and crafted it comes damn close.

(8)Transistor – Transistor is only Supergiant Games second game but they already show a master class skill in game design. All the great things about Bastion are here but with it comes a more nuanced game play system. A mix between turn-based and real-time strategy, combat involves combining a variety of powers to fight the various enemies. Tactically approaching every enemy encounter is a necessity and the hundreds of power variants you can equip allow for literal thousands of game play styles. The cyberpunk world is well realized, the narrator this time around is your weapon who, as the story later reveals, is something much more. The art is gorgeous and the wonderfully dreary music will make its way onto your iPod within minutes of completing the game. Transistor is one of the rare games where both style and substance are well executed, the game looks and sounds beautiful but the combat system is also rewarding and deep. Supergiant Games third game can’t come soon enough.

(9)Wolfenstein: The New Order – I don’t think anyone was expecting anything from this game but it should come as no surprise that some of the minds that brought us the incomparable Escape from Butcher Bay managed to breathe life into a dormant, once mindless franchise. Wolfenstein manages to tell a surprisingly poignant, truthfully written and acted alternate future story wherein Nazi’s win WWII and go onto occupy the Moon. If this sounds ludicrous it’s because it is, and that allows the game to stand out amongst the now rote modern military shooters that have flooded the medium. Wolfenstein is impeccably designed. A myriad of gameplay options are laid at your feet and all are incredible fun to experiment with, whether it’s stealth, minor puzzles, character interactions or the traditional over the top mowing down of enemies. Once the initial surprise wore off, Wolfenstein still stood tall atop a heap of dead Nazi’s as an unapologetically fun and well-designed shooter with a compelling, if outrageous, story the likes of which hasn’t been seen in recent years.

(10)The Evil Within – This one will surprise most people I would think, and yet three months after completing the game I’m still thinking about it. The Evil Within feels like a logical extension of ideas and mechanics introduced in Resident Evil 4, the issue is that it is not 2005 and ten years is a long time in the world of video games. It is filled with a lot of frustrating anachronisms but I still found myself looking forward to each new level and ridiculous boss. The story is nonsensical but it does offer opportunities to do just about anything a horror game would like to explore. Creepy abandoned village, haunted mansion, insane asylum, name it you probably confront it at one point or another. The game illicit genuine moments of dread and fear; ammo is scarce, enemies are abundant, and dying is common. Unfortunately other times it’s a frustrating mess with unclear game play mechanics. It may strike you as a bit odd that a game I have repeatedly made concession about is on my TOP 10 list, but this game just evokes feelings of immense joy from me. Maybe it’s getting by on the laurels of my love for Resident Evil 4 but regardless I enjoyed the game immensely despite its shortcomings.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Wolf Among Us – Telltale has consistently crafted some of my favorite video game experiences for two years now. The Wolf Among is no different and though it fumbles in the execution of its densely intertwined mystery, the smoky noir world they establish and the seedy characters that inhabit it are so engrossing it’s a series I’m desperate to see return.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea – As Bioshock Infinite stood as my favorite game last year I would be remiss not to include the very excellent two part dlc, Burial at Sea. Taking place in Rapture before the events of the first game you play as the two leads from the last game, Booker and Elizabeth. With the mind-bending revelations of Infinite on the table, Irrational has a lot of fun with time travel, parallel universes and general craziness while never losing sight of the immensely grounded main characters plight to vanquish their metaphorical demons. This two part dlc wraps up the entire Bioshock universe in splendid fashion with some of the best moments in the entire series sprinkled throughout these two four hour stories.

The Last of Us: Left Behind – The folks at Naughty Dog crafted yet another resonate emotional journey, this time in only a few short hours with an outcome veteran players already knew. Despite those limitations they still managed to illicit tears from this feigned cold hearted fan. Turning established mechanics from the main game on their head to tell a story of indelible love, this bite sized apocalypse left me astounded and thoroughly moved. An absolutely unmissable experience.

The Banner Saga - The Banner Saga is a turn-based strategy game with a Tolkien level of world building. The world of Banner Saga is immensely detailed, and I mean immense the world map is filled with towns, landmarks even histories of the world all intricately explained. A staggering amount of work went into fleshing out this beautiful world, and good god is it beautiful. Artistically, you won't find a better looking game this year full-stop, this game is astoundingly gorgeous. The story is quite good as well and while unrelentingly bleak, the fascinating characters you meet and devastating decisions you make along the way deliver a surprisingly engrossing experience.

Holding Out For a Hayao

2014-10-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

With the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki and the uncertain future of Studio Ghibli I decided to check out some of the acclaimed work of other anime directors and writers. Not to fill the void Miyazaki will undoubtedly leave, filling that void is an insurmountable task, more aptly I was searching for someone or potentially several someones that were producing ambitious animation on the quality and scale of Miyazaki. A Sisyphean task I'm aware and yet I was ecstatic with my findings. What follows are some quick thoughts on some of the films in question as well as some assorted musings on the particular filmmakers.

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Wolf Children

Written & Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

First up, Wolf Children, probably the most critically acclaimed and commercially known of the films I watched. Wolf Children was also probably the closest to a Ghibli film I found, and one of the reasons I wanted to start with it. The film mirrors Miyazaki’s penchant for blending grounded real world issues with imaginative fantastical elements filled with believable and well written characters. Wolf Children's key emotional pillars are motherhood and coming of age. And it tackles both with flawless precision and a deft touch, a rarity in animation. The film pivots pretty hard after an uninspired romantic opening, turning into a real trial by fire motherhood story for the duration thereafter and that’s when everything really begins to click. The film is far more subtle than most anime allowing for plenty of silent moments that say a lot. It’s in these quieter moments where the film really distinguishes itself from Miyazaki, where he bombarded the viewer with not so subtle commentary, Hosoda leaves a lot untold and unsaid giving the audience more to contemplate which shows both artistic restraint and trust in the viewer. It helps that Wolf Children is a simple story with only three key characters but even still it’s very commendable. The film is beautiful with a stunning level of detail and it’s to Hosoda’s credit once again that he finds interesting ways to play with how the audiences sees this world, with simulated camera moves and shots that are uncharacteristic of other anime and make the film stand out all the more. Wolf Children has a moving emotional story at its core that highlights and explores themes with a quiet assured touch, it’s mature while never delving into melodrama, it celebrates life and all the hardships therein. It’s an exceedingly well made and beautifully drawn film that may just rival that of the once assumed incomparable Miyazaki. A bold statement to be sure but one that I hope gets you to check out, Wolf Children.

Garden of Words

Written & Directed by Makoto Shinkai

Garden of Words is a romantic short film, at only 48 minutes including credits, the film resembles something more akin to an experiment for director Makoto Shinkai. What starts off as a generic meet cute romance quickly changes after an out of left field twist that alters the tone of the film substantially for the remainder. That twist comes too late and isn't sufficiently explored to turn around what is otherwise a rather lifeless story. The films greatest strength lies in its art, oftentimes bursting through the reality of the medium and producing an incomprehensibly photo-realistic scene with rain effects that are particularly staggering. Unfortunately the story is rather weak and the characters are nothing more than untapped potential, and quite frankly the entire film reminded me of a Lifetime original movie. I will admit I was surprised at how invested I became in the romance by the end of the film but it wasn't enough to make me forget many of the films glaring faults. The potential is there for a compelling romance and maybe with a longer run time more nuances could have been explored but as it stands Garden of Words is gorgeous artwork that lacks dramatic energy. It's pretty to look at but there isn't much substance, it's not bad by any measure but it won't be an experience you remember long after it ends.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Written by: Satako Okudera

Directed by: Mamoru Hosoda

Well it had to happen, but The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the first bad film in this endeavor. It was particularly frustrating since so much of the film is quite strong, the writing and voice acting were top notch (I watched an English dub) the female protagonist is wonderfully realized and the school aged characters are all surprisingly well depicted in both animation and writing with plenty of subtle and believable interactions. Unto the mechanics. Time travel is a difficult subject to use in storytelling because instinctively the audience wants to understand how it works they want to know the possibilities and the limitations. And on top of establishing the boundaries of the ability it needs to be easy to follow as jumping through time can be quite confusing.Therein lies where the movie falls apart. The films final act, the climax, the reason the entire film is happening is so completely and utterly botched I'm amazing this film was ever released. There is a twist near the end of the film where a character from the future is revealed and the reason he traveled to the past was to see a painting. A painting. Once more in case you didn't yell out "WHAT!?!" in disbelief, a painting. It's never explained why. Nor is it explained what the final statement this future traveler says to our young protagonist means. "I'll wait for you in the future". Why not just stay in the past? Or go to the future and then come back immediately. What about the painting? There is a theory I have, because that's all I can do since the movie explains nothing. The main characters aunt is restoring the important for no reason painting and she explains she traveled through time in her youth as well. She also feel in love with a time traveling boy and has been waiting for his return. Is it the same boy? Still doesn't explain WHAT IS WITH THE PAINTING!!! The whole thing is just frustrating, there is a difference between a open-ended conclusion that encourages contemplation and a jumbled mess of incoherence that quite frankly isn't good enough in the rest of its parts to justify continuously thinking about. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time has a compelling lead character and humorous moments throughout and even inventively plays with the concept of time travel but quickly squanders all of its potential in one of the most staggeringly unthought third acts I've ever witnessed.

What I've Been Up To

2014-10-13T19:55:00.011-07:00

Ryse: Son of Rome (1 out of 5)

Ryse: Son of Rome is more concerned with crafting a visually impressive immensely cinematic experience rather than a video game. Ryse falls short in one pretty important department, fun. The game is staggeringly arduous and monotonous, which is actually impressive when you take into account the game is only 4 hours long. In that time you'll mindlessly hack apart thousands of the same four character models in a display of astounding audacity that only served to bring my initial boredom of the game to a boiling rage. The combat is entirely color coded prompt based, every action you need to take is loudly telegraphed. Add to that scripted sequences that are meant to add variety which are then in turn repeated ad nauseam and you have one of the most unnecessary games I can think of. It does nothing. I can't think of a way to devalue it any further. It serves no purpose and should not exist.

Alien Isolation (Did Not Complete)

Alien Isolation is one of the first in a sudden and exciting rise in big-budget horror games. It attempts to redeem the recent trend of piss poor adaptations of the Alien franchise, focusing on what made the original film so ground breaking. Alien Isolation is a horror game in the vein of Amnesia The Dark Descent. There is one major unbeatable threat that hunts you for the majority of the game while you attempt to make it through each environment alive. Isolation does throw in some other adversaries including terrifyingly helpful to a fault robots and human looters but it's the Alien that provides most of the game most memorable moments. Unfortunately the game is a little clunky and so much of the experience leans on AI systems functioning correctly, which it often struggles with. Alien Isolation's greatest accomplishment is perfectly, and I mean perfectly, recreating the look and feel of the Alien movies, particularly the first film. The game is stunning with pixel perfect environments made better with great lighting and ambient effects. The atmosphere is spine tingling right up until you run into a wall trying to survive, the game often times doesn't respond or allow you to respond the way you may want to and it quickly becomes frustrating. It was fun for a few hours but I quickly gave up and left after a few hours, the presentation makes a strong impression but that is a facade that hides a far more unimpressive mechanical mess.

Roundabout (4 out of 5)

Roundabout is one of the most random and absurd video games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Tasked the controlling an perennially spinning limousine as you take passengers, all of whom are introduced in magnificent FMV cut scenes, to their destinations. Reductively it's Crazy Taxi in a limo, but Roundabout has so much more heart and damn good game design it managed to spin right into my normally cast iron heart. It's easy to play but difficult to master, the game wonderfully ramps up the difficulty throughout the roughly 3-4 hour campaign while also introducing new mechanics at a steady pace that vary up your driving style till the surprisingly touching conclusion. Roundabout is indelibly sweet for what could have been a simply joke taken too far, the FMV cut scenes start off as one off gags but quickly start forming an arc for main character, Georgio Manos, and even introduces a romantic relationship which becomes the driving force in the final hour or so of the game. Roundabout is an absolute joy and way more thoughtful and engaging than I would have initially guessed. Do yourself a favor and spend an afternoon with Georgio and the increasingly hilarious denizens of Roundabout (yes, the city is named Roundabout) you'll have a mile long grin plastered across your face for the duration.

Shovel Knight (5 out of 5)

Shovel Knight perfectly recreates classic Nintendo platformers from the 8-bit era. It adheres to the same limitations as well with color restrictions and number elements on screen. The games tight controllers and careful balance are necessary as the game also evokes a level of difficultly often unseen in today's games. Every boss and their associated worlds all make a strong impression which is surprising considering how many there are. I kept waiting for the one level I wasn't going to like, but it never came. Shovel Knight isn't for everyone but it is for people who love games, even if you don't have any nostalgia for the era of games Shovel Knight emulates it manages to capture the immeasurable quality of classic games such as Super Mario, Mega Man, and DuckTales to such a degree it feels in the same league. I'm struggling not to call this game perfect because no game is ever perfect but Shovel Knight is so finely tuned and meticulously designed and crafted it comes damn close. A game layered with nostalgic tinges that improves on those it emulates with smart modern design senses. Shovel Knight is a true homage, it doesn't lean on the games that inspired it but it uses them as stepping stones to achieve something altogether new.

Dead Rising 3 (2 out of 5)

Upon first booting up Dead Rising 3 I was met with the warm and fuzzies, it was like returning to a familiar and comfortable bed, but those feelings quickly slipped away into the darkness and that same bed quickly chewed up and spit me out in a horrific nightmare of an experience. Dead Rising 3 has a lot of the things the franchise has always done well, or really the one thing the franchise has always done well, killing thousands of zombies with ridiculously random weapons. Each game has added a minor tweak to that core concept, the first sequel added combo weapons and now in this third entry combo vehicles. Both of these things are great additions but not with a formula that is in desperate need of resuscitation. Dead Rising 3 is filled with laborious missions that are all the same and task you with treading over the entirety of the map multiple times needlessly extending the already doldrum filled experience. The bosses are weak, the story is tissue thin and the entire experience outstays it's welcome after just a few short hours. It's a shame such an ingenious and wacky franchise has gone the way of populous trash. Dead Rising 3 is disappointingly dull and entirely forgettable.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (4 out of 5)

Emerging from a train tunnel into a beautiful forested area you breathlessly take in the gorgeous environment and wait for some clue as to what to do next. But it never comes. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter never explains what you are supposed to do at any point and rewards exploring every nook and cranny with excursions into reality bending side stories hidden in little side areas throughout the game. You play a classic hard boiled detective investigating a mysterious town and deducing the events that transpired before your arrival. The game boils down to finding clues and then ordering the sequence of events correctly. But game play is not what Ethan Carter is all about, the game is at all times haunting, a nervous feeling of unease permeates the entire game as you endlessly wonder whether whatever mysterious force is at work in this small town will come out from the shadows and confront you. I won't spoil exactly what awaits anyone who decides to give this game a look, but suffice to say it provides plenty of intoxicating atmosphere and a real sense of mystery which while disappointing in its final moments doesn't detract from the experience as a whole. I loved every second of this game, it evoked a great sense of wonder and lured me in by my obsessive need to discover. I hypnotically made my way through the ominous mystery discovering every secret along the way without pausing once. I was completely enamored with the game and was only slightly disappointed with how it wrapped up.

I'm Back

2014-09-09T17:56:00.003-07:00

Hehvjfabdk.... Gtluabbdj ..... 1984631864 ..... Hello!! Phew, thought I lost it there for a second. It's been awhile and I’m still working out the chinks. I figured what better time to restart this little side project then in my final semester of college amid the biggest workload I've ever had to deal with. Logic be damned. I wanted to kick off my overdramatized return by tackling a medium I regularly bash and actively despise, Anime, bet you didn't see that one coming. Let’s start off with a little groundwork I think anime is weird. It's immature, tone deaf, oftentimes obnoxious, it glorifies violence, lacks any subtlety and it's more than a little pervy. But I want to learn, and so …

I stand at the precipice of what I already perceive to be a terrible idea. Join me as I dive into the depths of anime. I don’t know what I’ll find, but I’m already excited to discover it. There will be laughs, tears, and a fair amount of introspection I imagine. A treacherous road lies ahead any number of things could bring this adventure to a halt; I expect it will be the astronomical number of tropes and clichés. I’ve got everything I need, a backpack full of sarcasm, two bottles of facetious comments, and a Nutri-Grain® bar. Here goes ….

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Ep 1-17)

First up is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The original 2003 series was actually the last anime I had seen before abandoning the genre completely. I remember the first episode very fondly, the scene where the Elric brothers try to resurrect their mother is one of the most mortifying yet memorable things I had ever seen and still percolates in my mind a decade later. But I fell out of love with anime and abandoned the series less than 10 episodes in. Upon returning to the genre for this feature I learn there is a new series based on the same story but this time sticking closer to the original source material.

Brotherhood was the first anime I watched when starting this feature and I couldn't have picked a better show to start with. The show encapsulates anime quite succinctly and is one of the best examples of the genre and a great introductory series. It eschews from the obnoxious elements found in most anime focusing more on relatable its characters. The action is over the top but the human drama stays grounded. The state of the world is grand and fantastical yet the stakes are believable and scary. Brotherhood also deftly balances wackiness with complex human darkness. It's almost surreal how quickly the show shifts its tone from scene to scene yet never once is the transition jarring, an impressive acrobatic feat I still struggle to fully understand how it's pulled off.

Hyper realism is where most anime lives, everything is very bold and obvious. Simple human emotions are overly exaggerated and expressly conveyed. Brotherhood is filled with moments like this but they are relegated to the comedic moments. The drama is portrayed with the utmost seriousness with protracted moments of silence allowing the audience to drink it in. Every character is surprisingly fleshed out, even character that come off as one dimensional initially are finely drawn in later episodes (I'm looking at you Armstrong, you beautiful brute you). Brotherhood directly addressees blatant problems with the anime genre but stil manages to appeal to stalwart fans and newcomers with strong characters mixed in with more typical anime tropes. I don't think I will find an abundance of shows like this along this journey but this is one I will assuredly revisit.

Kill la Kill (Ep 1-4)

While Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood represents an anime series learning from the criticisms leveled at the genre. Kill la Kill embraces those criticisms and runs with them at unsettlingly high speeds. The violence is exceedingly over the top, every character is defined by a single trait, titillation is at its breaking point, and everyone is screaming all the time for no apparent reason. And yet it’s done with such aplomb that it, even if unintentional, comes off as satirical.

Kill la Kill plot takes places in a not so typical school, of course, and centers around a fiery young girl fighting a series of older students for the other half of a magical sword with vaguely defined powers, because why not throw in every tired ass trope in one pot. It’s dumb. But it sort of works. I’m not sure where the series goes after the first handful of episodes, maybe the action gets tiresome, but it starts off strong if not entirely compelling. I would say Kill la Kill is fun in an ironic way, I refuse to believe anyone involved in its production or anyone who claims to like it takes anything that happens seriously.