Lisa Tiffany - Time Out On Blogger

My Occult Library [Updated January 2016]

2015-02-28T20:15:00.000+00:00

The following is a list of books I have managed to collect on the Occult & Paranormal Phenomena of all kinds. I have always been very open minded when it comes to my own spirituality so naturally my reading material matches my interests in this field. From white magic to black magic, Angels to Demons I have spent a very long time putting my collection together but still its very much incomplete because I’m still collecting & most likely will be for years to come.

Astral Projection & OBE’s
A Course In Lucid Dreaming – stephen la berge
A Guide To Lucid Dreaming - erin j. wamsley
Adventures Beyond The Body – william buhlman
A Shaman's Tale: Path to Spirit Consciousness - richard l. alaniz
Astral Dreamscape Manipulation – james bartley
Astral Dynamics A New Approach to Out of Body Experiences – robert bruce
Astral Plane its Scenery Inhabitants and Phenomena - charles webster leadbeater
Astral Planes and Other Worlds of Spirits - marc macy
Astral Projection A Complete Guide
Astral Projection – brad steiger
Astral Projection 101 - edgar van oostrum
Astral Projection Amazing Journeys Outside Your Body - abhishek agarwal
Astral Projection - kristian kaikkonen
Astral Projection Guidebook – erin palvina
Astral Signposts The Stages Of Out of Body Experiences - charles c. goodin
Astral Travel for Beginners - richard webster
Astral Worship - j. h. hill
Awakening The Energy Body – kenneth smith
Ayahuasca Vision The Shaman's Bible – pablo amaringo
Beginners Guide To Lucid Dreaming Techniques
Believe Not Every Spirit – moshe sluhovsky
Black Book of Forbidden Knowledge Lucid Dreaming
Book Of Spirit Communications – raymond buckland
Collected On-line Works – robert bruce
Death And The After Life - andrew jackson davis
DMT: The Spirit Molecule – rick strassman md
Doctrine Of The Subtle Body - g. r. s. mead
Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light - namkhai norbu
Dreaming About The Divine – bonnelle lewis strickling
Dreams And Astral Travel - rosemary ellen guiley
Easy Journey To Other Planets - a. c. bhakrivedanta swami prabhupada
Etheric Vision And What It Reveals
Experiences In The Etheric & Astral Body – bob lepak
Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming – stephen la berge
Far Journeys - robert a. monroe
Flying Without a Broom – d.j. conway
Gateway Voyage - joseph m. felser
Journeys: My Out-Of-Body Explorations With Robert A. Monroe - rosalind a. mc knight
Journeys Out Of The Body - robert a. monroe
Keys To Successful OBE – letitia m. kimball
Loose But Lucid A Dreamers Paradise – bucky mc mahon
Lucid Dreaming And Meditation – b. alan wallace
Lucid Dreaming - vh frater justificatus
Lucid Dreaming in Seven Days – bradley thompson
Lucid Dreaming Use Your Psychic Powers to Explore The World of Your Dreams - tony crisp
Lucid Dreams In 30 Days - keith harary & pamela weintraub
Lucid Dreaming Manual – edgar cayce
Manipulation Through Astral Correspondences - frater ahyhhgyg
Mastering Astral Projection – robert bruce & brian mercer
My Adventures In Lucid Dreaming - jerimiah molfese
My Experiences While Out Of My Body – cora l.v. richmond
Obe Vs Lucid Dreams – robert peterson
OBE's How to Have Them & What to Expect – robert peterson
Occult Database Astral Projection - heave-n-hell
Out of Body and Near Death Experiences - michael n. marsh
Out of Body Experiences – don de rracia
Out of Body Experiences – robert peterson
Penetration – ingo swann
Projection of the Astral Body – muldoon & carrington
Robert Kirk Walker Between Worlds - r.j. stewart
Psychic Dreamwalking: Explorations at the Edge of Self - michelle belanger
School of Out of Body Travel a Practical Guidebook - michael raduga
Sleep Dreams and Spiritual Reflections – pandit shriram sharma
Soul Flight – donald tyson
SpiritQuest Journeys out of the Body – synergy
Spiritual Journeys - michael connolly
Techniques Of Astral Combat - g. travels
Techniques of Astral Projection – douglas m. baker
Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted - gustavus hindman miller
The Art Of Lucid Dreaming A Manual - carolus m. den blanken
The Astral Plane - c.w. leadbeater
The Astral World – swami pachadasi
The Controlled Remote Viewing Manual – paul h. smith
The Daemon – anthony peake
The Holotropic Mind – stanislav grof
The Journey of Robert Monroe: From OBE Explorer to Consciousness Pioneer - ronald russell
The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Astral Projection – denning & philips
The Mind At Night The New Science Of How And Why We Dream - andrea rock
The Out of Body Experience – anthony peake
The Psion Handbook – sean connelly
The Secret of the Soul: Using Out of Body Experiences to Understand Our True Nature -william l. buhlman
The Teachings of Don Juan – carlos castaneda
The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep - tenzin wangyal rinpoche
Tibetan Dream Yoga - zhine
Tibetan Dream Yoga Study Guide – lama surya das
Travel in Spiritual Worlds
Treatise on Astral Projection – robert bruce
Ultimate Journey – robert monroe
Ultra Meditation Guide – dane spotts
Unleash Your Telekinetic Ability - kaltem gibson
Walker Between Worlds
What Is Astral Projection – donald j. degracia

Life After Death & NDE’s
7 Reasons to Believe in the Afterlife: A Doctor Reviews the Case for Consciousness After Death - jean jacques charbonier m. d.
90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life - don piper
Adventures of the Soul: Journeys Through the Physical and Spiritual Dimensions - james van praagh
Ascension Through Orbs - diana cooper
Afterlife: Uncovering the Secrets of Life After Death - barry eaton
A Measure of Heaven: Near Death Experience Data Analysis -
vince migliore
Angels - stuart a. kallen
Animals and the Afterlife - kim sheridan
Between the Gates - mark stavish
Beyond Death: The Gates of Consciousness – stanislav grof
Beyond Past Lives: What Parallel Realities Can Teach Us - mira kelley
Consciousness Beyond Life - pim van lommel
Contacting The Spirit World – linda williamson
Conversations with History – susan lander
Dearly Departed: Everything You Want to Know About the Afterlife - georgina walker
Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions - Hiroshi Obayashi
Death and the Afterlife – andrew jackson davis
Death and the Life After - billy graham
Death The Final Mystery - lionel & patricia fan thorpe
Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives – dr michael newton
Do dead people watch you in the shower: questions for a medium - conccetta bertoldi
Embraced By The Light - betty eadie
Evidence of the Afterlife – jeffrey long
Farther Shores: Exploring How Near-Death, Kundalini & Mystical Experiences Can Transform Ordinary Lives - yvonne kason
Glimpses of Eternity - raymond moody
God Soul Mind Brain: A Neuroscientist's Reflections on the Spirit World - michael s. a. graziano
Heaven & Earth - james van praagh
Heaven is Beyond Your Wildest Expectations - sid roth
Heaven is For Real – todd burpo
Heaven Is Real but So Is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What Is to Come - vassula ryden
Imagine Heaven - john burke
In Heaven As on Earth: A Vision of the Afterlife - m. scott peck
Into the Light: Real Life Stories About Angelic Visits, Visions of the Afterlife, and Other Pre-Death Experiences - john lerma m. d.
Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives - dr michael newton
Life After Death: The Evidence - dinesh d'souza
Life After Life - raymond a. jr. moody
Life on the Other Side – sylvia browne
Living with Angels – beverly litcfield
Luminous Emptiness: Understanding The Tibetan Book of the
Memories of the Afterlife - dr michael newton
Dead - francesca fremantle
My Journey to Heaven - marvin j. besteman
NDE's as Evidence for the Existence of God & Heaven - j. steve miller
Near-Death Experiences: Heavenly Insight or Human Illusion - birk engmann
On the Edge of the Etheric, or Survival After Death Scientifically Explained - j. arthur findlay
On the Other Side of Life, Exploring the Phenomenon of the Near Death Experience - evelyn elsaesser valarino
Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times - carol zaleski
Paranormal My Life in Pursuit of the Afterlife - raymond moody
Proof of Heaven: a Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife – dr. eben alexander
Saved by the Light – dannion brinkley
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife - mary roach
The Afterlife – john updike
The Afterlife Experiments - gary e. schwartz ph.d
The Afterlife of Billy Fingers – annie kagan
The Afterlife Healing Circle: How Anyone Can Contact the Other Side - candace talmadge & jana simons
The Beginner's Guide For The Recently Deceased - david staume
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven - kevin malarkey
The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition – g. r. s. mead
The Human Encounter with Death – grov stanislav
The Light Beyond – raymond moody
The Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences: How Understanding NDEs Can Help Us Live More Fully - penny sartori
There Is Life After Death: Compelling Reports From Those Who Have Glimpsed the Afterlife - roy abraham varghese
There Is No Death - florence marryatt
There’s More to Life Than This – lisa caputo
The Survival of the Soul – lisa williams
Waking Up in Heaven: A True Story of Brokenness, Heaven, & Life Again - crystal mcvea

Spirit Communication & Clairvoyance
After Life: Answers from the Other Side - john edward
After the Angel – marcus katz
Angel Inspiration - diana cooper
Another Door Opens – jeffrey a. wands
A Magician Among the Spirits Paperback - harry houdini
Archangels 101: How to Connect Closely with Archangels for Healing Protection & Guidance - doreen virtue
A Shaman's Tale: Path to Spirit Consciousness - richard l. alaniz
Ask Your Guides – sonia choquette
Becoming Clairvoyant – cassandra eason
Between Death & Life: Conversations with a Spirit - dolores cannon
Buckland’s Book of Spirit Communication – raymond buckland
Channelling: What it is and how to do it – lita de alberdi
Clairvoyance - c. w. leadbeater (1918)
Clairvoyance & Occult Powers – swami panchadasi
Communicating With The Dead – jeff belanger
Communicating with the Spirits (Demons, Spirits & witches vol 1) - gabor klaniczay
Communing with the Spirits: The Magical Practice of Necromancy Simply & Lucidly Explained - martin coleman
Crystal Gazing & Spiritual Clairvoyance – l.d. de laurence
Developing Mediumship – gordon smith
Drawing Down the Spirits: The Traditions and Techniques of Spirit Possession - kenaz filan & raven kaldera
Ghosts Among Us – james van praagh
Ghost & Diving Rod – t. c. lethbridge
Heaven & Earth: Making the Psychic Connection – james van praagh
How to be a True Channel – j. donald walters
How to Talk to The Other Side – dr. gary fearn
How to Talk With The Dead - alan valiant
How to Use a Ouija Board - keith morgan
Infinite Quest – john edwards
Light from Beyond as Taken Over the Ouija Board - katherine mardon davis (1919)
Mediumship to go – debra glass
Meet & Work with Spirit Guides – ted andrews
Mystifying Oracle Ouija Instructions for Operating - william a. fuld (1936)
Opening to Channel – sanaya roman
Ouija – stoker hunt
Pheneas Speaks – arthur conan doyle
Solitary Seance How You Can Talk with Spirits on Your Own – raymond buckland
Spirit Guide Wisdom – kerrie wearing
Staying Connected – rudlof steiner
Raymond Buckland
So You Want to Be a Medium - rose vanden eynden
Speaking to the Dead With Radios - michael edwards
Spirit Guide Contact Through Hypnosis – dr. bruce goldberg
Summoning Spirits – konstantinos
Table Rapping & Automatic Writing – alexr verner
Talking to Heaven: A Medium's Message of Life After Death - james van praagh
Talk to Me – alison dubois
The Angelic Wisdom Trilogy – richard holmes
The Idiots Guide to Communicating with Spirits – rita s. berkowitz
The Other Side and Back – sylvia browne
The Mediums Book - allan kardec
The Medium Next Door - maureen hancock
The New Black Magic and The Truth About the Ouija Board - j. godfrey raupert (1920)
The Night Side of Nature or Ghosts and Ghost Seers Vol 1 - catherine crowe (1848)
The Night Side of Nature or Ghosts and Ghost Seers Vol 2 - catherine crowe (1848)
The Scole Experiment – grant & jane solomon
The Secret of the Successful Use of the Ouija Board - nellie irene walters (1919)
The Spirit Book: Clairvoyance, Channeling, & Spirit Communication - raymond buckland
The Spirit’s Book – allan kardec
Spiritualism & Clairvoyance for Beginners – elizabeth owens
The Unbelievable Truth – gordon smith
Unfinished Business – james van praagh

Demonolgy
A Brief History of Angels and Demons - sarah bartlett
A Field Guide to Demons – carol k. mack & dinah mack
Angels & Demons: From Creation to Armageddon - joseph b. lumpkin
Art of the Devil - arturo graf
Beware The Night - ralph sarchie
Darkness Walks: The Shadow People Among Us - jason ofutt
Demonology and Devil Lore: Volume 1 - daniel conway (1879)
Demonology and Devil Lore: Volume 2 - daniel conway (1879)
Demons and The Making of The Monk Spiritual Combat in Early
Christianity - david brakke
Demonology: Possession Exorcism & the Kingdom of Darkness – dr carson michael
Devils Bible - lianna satanas diabolique
Dictionary of Deities & Demons in the Bible - karel van der toorn
Dictionary of Demons - fred gettings
Dictionary of Demons & Angels
Encyclopedia of Angels - rosemary ellen guiley
England's First Demonologist – reginald scot
Gods Demigods & Demons: An Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology - bernard evslin
Gypsy Demons & Divinities – elwood b. trigg
How To Deal With Demons, Curses, Hexes, Spells & Spiritual Oppression - marlow martin
Irish Witchcraft and Demonology - john d. seymour
Letters on Demonolgy and Witchcraft - sir walter scott
Origin of Evil Spirits - archie t. wright
Pedigree of The Devil - frederic t. hall
Satanism, Magic & Mysticism in Fin-De-Siècle France - robert ziegler
Shadows of the Dark - john zaffis & brian mcintyre
The Black Arts: History of Witchcraft, Demonology - richard cavendish
The Book of Fallen Angels - michael howard
The Devil A New Biography – phillip almond
The Demonic Bible 2nd Edition - tsirk susej
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren - gerald daniel brittle
The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia - r. campbell thompson
The Encyclopaedia Demons & Demonolgy – rosemary ellen guiley
The Encyclopaedia of Hell - martin olson
The little book of Satanic healing - angelica fanshawe
The Origin of Satan - elaine pagels
The Satanist's Guide to Bible Contradictions - stephanie cholensky
The Vintage Book of The Devil – francis spufford

Exorcism & Expelling Demons
A Celebration of Demons Exorcism – bruce kapferer
A Manual on Exorcism – h. a. maxwell whyte
American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty – michael w. cuneo
An Exorcist Tells His Story - fr. gabriele amorth vatican exorcist
An Exorcist: More Stories - fr. gabriele amorth vatican exorcist
Begone Satan - celestine kapsner o.s.b.
Christ Triumphant: Exorcism Then & Now – graham h. twelftree
Demon Camp: A Soldiers Exorcism – jennifer percy
Demon Possession Handbook – j.f. cogan
Demon Possession In Elizabethan England - kathleen r. sands
Exorcism & Enlightenment – h. c. erik midelfort
Hostage to the Devil - malachi martin
Interview With an Exorcist (autographed) - fr. jose antonio fortea
Papal Magic: occult practices within the catholic church – simon
Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism – thomas allen
Prayers that Rout the demons - john eckhardt
Rites of Exorcism: official rite for the expelling of demons - catholic church
Spirit Possession & Exorcism: History, Psychology, & Neurobiology (volume 1 & 2) - patrick mc namara ph.d
Tehom-at Demonic History & the Rites of Exorcism - david p. aguilar jr.
Rite The Making of a Modern Exorcist – matt baglio
The Dark Sacrament: Exorcism in Modern Ireland – david m. kielly & mc kenna
The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West - brian levack
The Exorcist's Handbook - josephine mc carthy
The Invisible Influences: Freedom from the Effects of Bodiless Entities - zivorad mihajlović slavinski
The Rituale Romanum (1964)
The Roman Rite of Exorcism - catholic church (1959)
The Science of Spirit Possession: A 21st Century Approach to Mental Health - terence james palmer phd
The Vatican’s Exorcists – tracy wilkinson

Witchcraft & Wicca
A Wiccan Bible: Exploring the Mysteries of the Craft from Birth to Summerland - a.j. drew
A Witch's Guide to Ghosts and the Supernatural - gerina dunwich
A Witch's Halloween: A Complete Guide - gerina dunwich
A Witch Alone: a practical handbook - marian green
A Witches Bible: the complete witches handbook - janet and stewart farrar
Alexandrian Book of Shadows - athena gardner
Between Good & Evil: polarities of power - william gray
Book of Shadows - roebuck
Earth Air Fire Water - scott cunningham
Living Wicca A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - scott cunningham
Old Witchcraft Secrets - bob
Practising the Witch's Craft: Real Magic Under a Southern Sky - douglas ezzy
The Meaning of Witchcraft - g.b. gardner
The Well-Read Witch - carl mccolman
The Witches' Book of the Dead - christian day
The Witch's Familiar: spiritual partnerships for successful magic - raven grimassi
The Idiots guide to Wicca and Witchcraft - denise zimmermann and katherine a. gleason
Warlocks Handbook - matthew w. ikonen
The Wiccan Mysteries: Ancient Origins & Teachings By Raven Grimassi
Witchcraft from the Ground Up - empress norton
Witches Potions & Spells - kathryn paulsen (1971)
Witches Workshop Handbook - tim hartridge

Spells & Spellbook’s
Book of Spells by arthur edward waite
Candle Burning Magic SpellBook of Rituals for Good & Evil - anna riva
Candle Magic by Pagan Magic
Candle Magick Workbook – kala & ketz pajeon
Charm Spells & Formulas – ray malbrough
Good Cat Spell Book - gillian kemp
Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling - charles leland (1891)
How to Make and Use Magic Mirrors - nigel r clough
Little Book of Useful Spells – mariano kalfors
Pocket Spell Creator - kerri connor
The Cyber Spellbook: Magick in the Virtual World - sirona knight and patricia telesco
The Gypsy Wisdom Spell book - denise alvarado
Ultimate Book of Spells - pamela ball
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Spells - michael johnstone
White Spells: magic for love, money, & happiness - ilena abrev

Magick
Active Dreaming – robert balthazar
Advanced Magical Arts – r.j. stewart
Advanced Magick for Beginners – alan chapman
African Magick Rituals – kam ottoyo
Amazing Secrets of Occult Power by carl nagel
A Monada Hieroglifica – dr. john dee
An Advanced Guide to Enochian Magick – gerald schueler
Art and Meaning of Magic - israel regardie (1969)
Aspects of Evocation – phil hine
Babylonian Sacred Words of Power – carl nagel
Bare Bones Magick for Beginners – j.r. sherrard
Book of Shadows - migene gonzalez wippler
Celebrating the Male Mysteries – r.j. stewart
City Magick: Spells Rituals & Symbols for the Urban Witch - christopher penczak
Defences Against the Witches Craft – john canard
Dictionary/Glossary of Occult Terminology - ghfr pneuma asteros
Earth Light – r.j. stewart
Enochian Angel’s Ritual Book – kuriakos
Great Book of Magical Art - l.w. de laurence
Fortune Telling by Dice – david & julia line
How to Attain through Visualization – cliff r. stevens
How to Study Enochian Magick – mark stavish
Inner Magic – ann marie gallagher
John Dee – charlotte fell smith
Magic and Fetishism - alfred c. haddon (1906)
Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth Century Syria - silke trzcionka
Magic from Mexico - mary devine, ph.d.
Magic in ancient Egypt - geraldine pinch
Magic in Theory & Practice - alesiter crowley
Manuscripts of Learned Magic - bendek lang
Mysteriorum – dr. john dee
Nine Proven Magickal Rites – marcus t. b.
Pendulum Magic – gregor a. gregorius
Power Within the Land - r.j. stewart
Practical Magickal Evocation – m. mc grath
Psychic Self Defense: spiritual prescriptions for inner peace - samantha stevens
Romany Magic – charles bowness
Secret Magic Spells of the Romany Gypsies – m. mc grath
Sex Majic, Tantra & Tarot - christopher s. hyatt, ph.d and lon milo duquette
The Angelic Alphabet – edward kelley
The Book of Magick Power – j.a. newcomb
The Book of Merlin - r.j. stewart
The Book of The Old Ones – scorpio
The Complete Enochian Dictionary – donald laycock
The Dark Side of The Moon – basil crouch
The Enochian Magick of Dr. John Dee – geoffrey james
The Invincible Magick Spells – m. ali
The Language of Demons & Angels - christopher lehrich
The Metamorphosis of Magic - jan m. breemer
The Mfumu: Secrets of The African Medicine Man – william van
The Queen’s Conjurer – benjamin woolley
The Spirit Cord - r.j. stewart
The Vision and the Voice – aleister crowley
The Well of Light – r.j. stewart
Treatise of Magic Incantations - edmund goldsmith (1886)
Viking Magick Chants – patricia nelson
Visual Magick - jan fries

Dion Fortune
An Introduction to Ritual Magic - dion fortune
Applied Magic - dion fortune
Aspects of Occultism - dion fortune
Esoteric Orders and Their Work - dion fortune
Mystical Qabalah - dion fotune
Sane Occultism - dion fortune
The Cosmic Doctrine - dion fortune
The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage - dion fortune
The Machinery of the Mind - dion fortune
The Magical Battle of Britain - dion fortune
The Training & Work of an Initiate - dion fortune
Through the Gates of Death - dion fortune

Black Magick
Book of Black Magic - edward waite (1910)
Calling Upon Hell - koetting e. a.
Demonic & Sexual Magic - carl nagel
Doll Magic – basil la croix
Embracing the Dark - kennet granholm
How to use the Powers of Darkness: a book of shadows - gary brodsky
Invocation of the Adversary - akhtya seker arimanius
Jack Ripper and Black Magic – spiro dimolianis
Mandaen Book of Black Magic - e.s. drower
Spiritual and Demonic Magic - ficino campanella
Taking Control Through Occult Manipulation – nathan elkana
The Book of Forbidden Knowledge – basil la croix
The Dark Embrace - kennet granholm
The Hallowed Genie - basil crouch
The Lucifer Experience & Other Works of Black Magic - bowes & nagel
The Making of a God & Other Works of Black Art – basil crouch
The Master Grimoire of Magickal Rites & Ceremonies – nathan elkana
The Powerful & Deadly Spells of the Javenese – lau soon wah
The Secrets of a Lifetime – basil crouch

Voodoo & Hoodoo
African Folklore An Encyclopaedia – philip peek
African Witchcraft and Otherness - elias kifon bongmba
Black And White Magic – marie laveau
Black Magic – yvonne p. chireau
Brujo Negro Voodoo Sorcery Grimoire
Cord of Blood Possession And The Making of Voodoo – nadia lovell
Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags & Sachets – jude bradley
Exu, Divine Trickster & Master Magician – denise alvarado
Famous Voodoo Rituals & Spells - h.u. lampe
Hoodoo - mary fleener
Hoodoo Spells and Magick - m. vlaovich
Hoodoo Voodoo and Conjure - e. anderson
How to Voodoo With Voodoo Dolls – denise alvarado
Invisible Powers Vodou In Haitian Life and Culture - claudine michel
Papa Jims Herbal Magic Book
Praxis Der Voodoo Magie – papa shanga
Santeria A Practical Guide to Afro Caribbean Magic – luis manuel nunez
Santeria The Religion Faith Rites Magic - migene gonzález wippler
Secrets Of A Voodoo Queen – de prince
Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring With Herbs - stephanie rose bird
The Book Of Palo – baba raul canizares
The Book of Vodou – leah gordon
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Voodoo – shannon r. turlington
The Inside Powerful Secrets of A Master Voodoo Priest – de prince
The New Orleans Voodoo Handbook - kenaz filan
The Osha - julio garcia cortez
The Sacred Void – david parkin
The Secrets of Afro Cuban Divination How to Cast the Diloggun – lele ocha n
The Secrets of The Nganga - carlos galdiano montenegro
The Super Voodoo Course
The Way of The Orisa – philip john neimark
Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook – denise alvarado
Voodoo Practises in New Orleans
Voodoo Tales As Told Among The Negroes of The South West - mary alicia owen
Voodoos and Obeahs Phases of West India Witchcraft - joseph williams

Egyptology
Ancient Egyptian Demonology - p. kousoulis
Ancient Egyptian Magic - bon brier
Egyptian Hieratic Texts - alan h. gardiner
Egyptian Love Spells & Rituals - claudia dillaire
Epic Mythology - e. washburn hopkins
Egyptian Myth & Legend - donald mackenzie
Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian - gabor takacs
Osiris: Death & Afterlife of a God - bojana mojsov
Priests Tongues & Rites The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts & Translation in Egyptian Ritual - jacco dieleman
Pyramid Power - patrick flanagan
The Complete Gods & Goddesses of Ancient Egypt - thames & hudson
The Egyptian Book of the Dead – e.a. wallis budge
The Little Book of Egyptian Hieroglyphs - lesley & roy adkins
The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice - robert kriech ritner
The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egpyt - rosemary clark
The Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt - rosemary clark

Ghosts & Hauntings
101 Ways to Find a Ghost - ellis melissa martin
A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting: How to Investigate Paranormal Activity - dr leo ruickbie
A Deadly Haunting: Based on a True Story - joie albrecht
Ask the Bones: Scary Stories From Around the World - howard schwartz
The Amityville Horror – jay anson
Chinese Ghost Stories: Curious Tales of the Supernatural – lafcadio hearn
Dark Force: The Terrifying and Tragic Story - william j. bean
Dark World: Into the Shadows with the Lead Investigator of The Ghost Adventures Crew - zak bagans
Delivered – william j. bean
Encyclopaedia Of Haunted Places ghostly locales from around the world - jeff belanger
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Ghosts: But Were Afraid to Ask - jaime licauco
Ghosts Caught on Film - dr. melvyn willin
Ghosts Caught on Film 2 – jim eaton
Ghost Hunters – deborah blum
Ghost Stories of Newfoundland & Labrador – edward butts
Ghosts and Earthbound Spirits: Recognise & Release the Spirits Trapped in this World - linda williamson
Ghosts of the Tower of London - geoff abbott
Ghosthunting North Carolina - kala ambrose
Ghostly Encounters: True Stories of America's Haunted Inns and Hotels - frances kermeen
How to Hunt Ghosts – joshua p. warren
Haunted Etowah County Alabama - mike goodson
Haunted Houses of New York City - reginald noire
Haunted Legends - ellen datlow & nick mamatas
Haunted London – peter underwood
Haunted North Alabama - jessica penot
Haunted Objects - christopher balzano
Haunted Savannah: America's Most Spectral City - james caskey
Haunted Travels of Michigan, Volume 2 - kathleen tedsen
Hauntings – time life mysteries of the unknown
Helping Ghosts: A Guide to Understanding Lost Spirits - louis charles
Historic Ghost hunters and Ghosts - h. addington bruce (1908)
House of Darkness House of Light (1 & 2) – andrea perron
How to Clear Your Home of Ghosts & Spirits – debi chestnut
How to Photograph the Paranormal - lenore sweet
I Am Haunted: Living Life Through the Dead - zak bagans & kelly crigger
Ireland’s Haunted Women – christina mc kenna
Kwaidan Ghost Stories and Strange Tales of Old Japan - lafcadio hearn
Paranormal Ireland: An Investigation Into the Other Side of Irish Life - dara de faoíte
Picture Yourself Ghost Hunting – christopher belzano
Poltergeist A Classic Study in Destructive Hauntings - colin wilson
Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places - brad steiger
Servants of the Supernatural – antonio melechi
Shadows in the Steam: The Haunted Railways of Britain - David Brandon & Alan Brooke
Stalking Shadows: Experiences of a Paranormal Investigator- debi chestnut
Supernatural: Your Guide through The Unexplained, The Unearthly and The Unknown - colin wilson
The Beginners Guide to Paranormal Investigation – mark rosney
The Ghost Chronicles: A Medium and a Paranormal Scientist
The Idiot's Guide to Ghosts and Hauntings - tom ogden
Investigate 17 True Hauntings Paperback – ron kolek
The Most Amazing Haunted Places in Britain – readers digest
The Paranormal Caught on Film – dr. melvyn willin
The World's Most Haunted Hospitals: True-Life Paranormal Encounters in Asylums, Hospitals, and Institutions - richard estep
The Worlds Most Haunted Places – jeff belanger
True Ghost Stories 2 – jim harold
Vineyard Supernatural: True Ghost Stories from America's Most Haunted Island - holly nadler
When the Ghost Screams: True Stories of Victims Who Haunt - leslie rule
When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits - mary ann winkowski
Who Is In My House?: Haunted Houses 3 AM - janie mc gee & ramon mc gee

Psychic Development & Phenomena
Ajna Chakra - rishi nityabhodananda
Anyone Can Dowse for Better Health – arthur bailey
A Still, Small Voice – echo bodine
Basic Psychic Development – john friedlander
Becoming Psychic – stephen kieruff & stanley krippner
Beyond the Five Senses – bazett l.m.
Discover Your Psychic Powers – tara ward
Discover Your Psychic Type – sherrie dillard
Extraordinary Psychic – debra lynne katz
Finding the Third Eye – vera stanley adler
Helping Yourself with E.S.P. – al g. manning
How to Develop Psychic Abilities – mark stavish
Igniting the Sixth Sense - eric pepin
Natural Intuition – lauren thibodeau
On Healing – edgar cayce
Pendulum Magic for Beginners – richard webster
Pineal Gland & Your Third Eye – dr. jill ammon wexler
Psychic Blues – mark edward
Psychic Children – sylvia browne
Psychic Development for Beginners - william hewitt
Psychic Living – stacey wolf
Psychic Navigator – john holland
Psychic Potential – david lawson
Psychic Psychology – john friedlander
Psychic Self Defense – samantha stevens
Seership – paschal beverly randolph
So you want to be Psychic – billy roberts
The Development of Psychic Powers – Denning & Phillips
The Gift – echo bodine
The Inner Guide Meditation - edwin c. steinbrecher
The Language of Miracles – amelia kinkade
The Law of Psychic Phenomena - thomson j. hudson
The Mentalist’s Handbook – clint marsh
The Miracle of Universal Psychic Power – al g. manning
Mirror of Light - rodney collin
The Pendulum Kit – sig lonegren
The Power of the Pendulum – t.c. lethbridge
The Theory & Practice of Using the Pendulum – malcolm strutt
You Are Psychic – debra lynne katz
You Are Psychic – pete a. sanders
Your Psychic Potential – richard ireland
Your Psychic Powers & How To Develop Them – stanford university
Practical Psychic Self Defense Handbook, The: A Survival Guide - robert bruce

Parapsychology & Metaphysics
A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult – gary lachman
An Introduction to Medical Radiesthesia & Radionics -
vernon wethered
Amazing Secrets of Psychic Healing - joseph j. weed
Art of the Pendulum – cassandra eason
Autobiography of a Yogi - paramhansa yogananda
Best Evidence – michael schmicker
Beyond the Occult: Twenty Years' Research Into the Paranormal - colin wilson
Body Mind Spirit – charles t. tart
Books of the Dead: Manuals For Living & Dying – stanislav grof
Coming Science – hereward carrington
Cosmic Memory – rudolf stiner
Curiosities of Olden Times – sabine baring
Cyclomancy – frank young
Dreams & Premonitions - vikas khatri
Dream Psychology - sigmund frued
Dreams & Visions – edgar cayce
Dreams of a Spirit Seer – immanuel kant
Edgar Cayce the Sleeping Prophet – jess stearn
Encyclopedia of Consciousness – william p. banks
Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology Vol 1 – j. gordon m
ESP, Psychokinesis, & Psychics – joanne p. austin
Exploring Past Lives – edgar cayce
Extraordinary Powers in Humans – pane andov
Future Science: Life Energies & The Physics of Paranormal
Ghost-Seers, Detectives, & Spiritualists: Theories of Vision in Victorian Literature & Science - srdjan smajić
How to know Higher Worlds – rudolf steiner
It Must Be Mind Reading - george anderson
Personal Magnetism – dr. doreal
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human
Messages from the Hollow Earth – diane robbin
Mind – Sandra blakeslee & vilayanur s. ramachandran
Interpretation of Dreams – sigmund freud
Introduction to Parapsychology – william flexner
Jose Silva's Everyday ESP – jose silva jr.
Learning to use Extra Sensory Perception – charles t. tart
Legacy from the Stars – dolores cannon
Life Eternal & How it Works – rebecka c. berg
Mans Greatest Discovery - henry harrison brown
Matter in the Making – langston day & george de la warr
Mental Magic – thomas welton
Miami Psychic: Confessions of a Confidante - william morrow
Mind at Large – charles t. tart
Mind Science: meditation training for practical people – charles t. tart
Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, & Space Through
Miracles of Mind – r. targ & j. katra
Remote Viewing – joseph mc moneagle
Our Ultimate Reality – adrian p. cooper
Phenomena – john white
Psychic Phenomena – edward t. bennet
Paranormality: Why We See what Isn't There - richard wiseman
Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience – ron roberts
Phantom World Volume 1 & 2 – a. calmet
Power vs. Force - david r. hawkins m. d. ph.d.
Proofs of The Spirit World – leon chevreuil
Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of The Paranormal - jonathan c. smith
Science & Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics - chris carter
Shift of the Ages – david wilcock
Skeptics Guide to the Paranormal – lynne kelly
Sleep Paralysis: Night-Mares Nocebos & the Mind-Body Connection - shelley r. adler
Spiritual Power Magnetic Healing – dr. doreal
Photography & Spirit - john harvey
Pineal Gland – dr. doreal
Psychical Research and Survival – james hyslop
Psychic Science – emile boirac
Psychology & the Occult – carl jung
Psycho-cybernetics – maxwell maltz m.d.
Psycho-practices in Mystical Traditions from the Antiquity to the Present – safronov a.g.
So You Think You’re Psychic – william a. briggs
Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts & Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750-1920 - shane mc corristine
States of Conciousness Models for Psychology & Psycotherapy -
andrzjev kokoszka
Telepathy & Mind Cure – c.w. leadbeater
Telepathy & the Subliminal Self – mason & r. osgood
The Beauties of Occult Science Investigated – thomas white
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts & Gods to Politics & Conspiracies, How We Construct Beliefs & Reinforce Them as Truths - michael shermer
The Complete Idiots Guide to Numerology – kay lagerquist phd
The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena - dean radin phd
The Demon Haunted World – carl sagan
The Divine Cosmos – david wilcock
The Divining Rod, Virgula Divina – charles latimer
The Ego Tunnel – thomas metzinger
The Element Encyclopaedia of the Psychic World - cheung theresa
The Essential – t.c. lethbridge
The ESP Enigma – diane hennacy powell
The Inner Guide Meditation: A Spiritual Technology for the 21st Century - edwin steinbrecher
The Invention of Telepathy – roger luckhurst
The Invisible Landscape – terence mc kenna
The Journal of Borderland Research Volume LVII
The Language of Mediums & Psychics: The Social Organization of Everyday Miracles - robin wooffitt
The Lost Teachings of Atlantis – jon peniel
The Magic of Psychotronic Power – robert stone
The Mind Possessed – emma cohen
The Mystic Mind – crystal love
The Nature of the Psyche Its Human Expression – jane roberts
The Occult a History – colin wilson
The Occult Sciences – edward smedley
The Oil that Heals – edgar cayce
The Paranormal Equation - james d. stein
The Philosphy of Spiritual Activity – rudolf steiner
The Present & Future of Psychical Research – ernest bennet
The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead – joe nickell
The Science of Miracles – joe nickell
The Science of Oneness – david wilcock
The Science of Thought Control – kathleen taylor
The Secret of the Soul - william buhlman
The Secret Science of Numerology – shirley blackwell
The Supernatural: Explaining the Unexplained - hans holzer
The Waves that Heal – mark clement
The Yoga of Time Travel – fred alan wolf
Transpersonal Hypnosis: Gateway to Body, Mind & Spirit – eric d. leskowitz
Ultra Psychonics – walter delaney
Unbelievable: Investigations from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory - stacy horn
Way Towards Health – jane roberts

The Supernatural & Folklore
A Book of Folklore – sabine baring gould
A Dictionary of Superstitions & Mythology - biren bonnerjea
Ancient Pagan & Christian Symbolism – thomas inman
America Bewitched: Witchcraft After Salem - owen davies
Arguing with Angels: Enochian Magic & Modern Occulture - egil asprem
Chinese Myths & Legends - joanne o'brien
Creatures in the Mist - gary r. varner
Dictionary of The Occult – andre nataf
Dictionary of The Occult - geddies & grosset
Elves in Anglo Saxon England – alaric hall
Encyclopaedia of African Religion - molefi kete asante
Encyclopaedia of American Folklore - jan harold brunvand
Encyclopaedia of American Indian Religion – suzanne j. crwford
Encyclopaedia of Ancient & Forbidden Secrets – nye
Encyclopaedia of Celtic Mythology & Folklore - patricia monaghan
Encyclopaedia of Death & Dying - robert kastenbaum
Encyclopaedia of Folktales & Fairy Tales 1-3 - donald haase
Encyclopaedia of Norse Classical Celtic Mythology - Arthur Cotterell
Encyclopaedia of Religious Phenomena - j. gordon melton
Encyclopaedia of Saints - rosemary ellen guiley
Encyclopaedia of Spirits - judika illes
Encyclopaedia of the Undead - dr. bob curran
Encyclopaedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol 1
Encyclopaedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol 2
Encyclopaedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol 3
Fairy Gold – basil crouch
Fairy Mythology - thomas keightley
Fabulous Creatures Mythical Monsters & Animal Power Symbols - cassandra eason
Fire & Blood: Rubies in Myth Magic & History - diane morgan
Folklore: An Encyclopaedia of Beliefs Customs Tales Music & Art - charlie t. mc cormick
Golem: Jewish Magical & Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid - moshe idel
Gothic Realities – l. andrew cooper
Gypsy Folktales – francis hindes groome
Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies – donald kendrick
Inuit Mythology - evelyn wolfson
Irish Fairy & Folk Tales - william butler yeats
It Happened to Me 1-3 - fortean times
Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn & Genies from Arabia to Zanziba - robert lebling
Legends Of The Gods - e.a. wallis budge
Maya Calendar Origins - prudence m. rice
Maya Creator Gods - karen bassie
Mayan Aztec Mythology - michael a. schuman
Menhirs Dolmen & Circles Of Stone - gary r. varner
More Real-life X-Files - joe nickell
Mystical Britain & Ireland: Over 100 Important Places of Ancient
Myth & Geology - l. piccardi
Myths & Legends Explained - neil philip
Myths To Live By - joseph campbell
New Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology - richard aldington
Nostradamus: The Next 50 Years - peter lemesurier
Out of the Ordinary Folklore & the Supernatural - barbara walker
Worship & Legend - richard jones
Real Encounters, Different Dimensions and Otherworldy Beings - brad steiger
Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal - joe nickell
Sacred Places Europe - brad olsen
Scottish Folklore - isobel e. williams
Sinister Yogis - david gordon white
Sorcery & Religion in Ancient Scandinavia – vrag vikernes
Supernatural Agents: Why We Believe in Souls, Gods, and Buddhas - iikka pyysiainen
Supernatural America: A Cultural History - lawrence r samuel
The 500 Best Urban Legends - yorick brown
The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved – lawrence david kusche
The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore - michael dylan foster
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings – john a. keel
The Concept of the Goddess - sandra billington
The Faces of the Goddess - lotte motz
The Friendly Guide to Mythology - nancy hathaway
The God of the Witches - margaret alice murray
The Greenwood Library of World Folktales - thomas a. green
The Horror Reader – ken gelder
The Man Who Invented the Supernatural - charles fort
The Nightmare Encyclopaedia – jeff belanger
The Paranormal Sourcebook: A Complete Guide to All Things Otherworldly - charles sellier
The Philosophy of The X-Files - dean a. kowalski
Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, & Other Curiosities in Religion & Culture – christopher b.
The Power of Myth - joseph campbell
The Probert Encyclopaedia of Mythology
The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena - john michell
The Routledge Dictionary of Gods Goddesses Devils & Demons - manfred lurker
The Supernatural Murders - jonathan goodman
The Supernatural Worldview - cris putnam
The Sutton Companion to the Folklore, Myths & Customs of Britain - marc alexander
Un-Natural History: Myths of Ancient Science - edmund goldsmid
The Unexplained: Great Mysteries of the 20th Century - jenny randles
Unexplained Strange Sightings & Incredible Occurrences - jerome clark
The Vengeful Djinn – rosemary ellen guiley
The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal - judith joyce
Unexplained Phenomena From Other Realms
The White Goddess - robert graves
Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween - lisa morton
UXL Encyclopaedia of World Mythology 1-5
Witches Werewolves & Fairies: Shapeshifters & Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages - claude lecouteux
World of Archangels - sufian chaudhary
Zombies Vampires & Philosophy: New Life for the Undead - william s. larkin

Zoological & Cryptozoology
Monsters & the Monstrous Myths & Metaphors of Enduring Evil - nial scott
Monster Theory – jeffrey jerome cohen
Mysterious Creatures a Guide to Cryptozoology - george m. eberhart
Mythical Monsters - charles gould
Scary Monsters & Super Creeps: In Search of the World's Most Hideous Beasts - dom joly
The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth Legend & Literature - boria sax
Zoological Mythology - angelo de. gubernatis

Vampyres & Lycanthropy
A Field Guide To Vampires - dr. bob curran
A History of Vampires in New England - thomas d'agostino
Blood Thirst: 100 Years of Vampire Fiction – leonard wolf
Bram Stoker's Dracula: Sucking Through the Century- carol m.d.
Celluloid Vampires: Life After Death in the Modern World – stacey abbot
Draculas Vampires & Other Undead Forms: Essays on Gender Race & Culture - john edgar browning
Encyclopaedia of Vampire Mythology - theresa bane
Encyclopaedia of Vampires Werewolves & Other Monsters - rosemary ellen guiley
Reading the Vampire – ken gelder
Real Vampires Night Stalkers & Creatures from the Darkside – brad steiger
Speaking with Vampires: Rumour & History in Colonial Africa – luise white
The Book of Werewolves - sabine baring gould
The Dark Side of Cupid: Love Affairs the Supernatural & Energy Vampirism - eve lorgen
The Lunenburg Werewolf: And Other Stories of the Supernatural - steve vernon
The Science of Vampires - katherine ramsland
The Story of Vampires – thomas g. aylesworth
Twilight & Philosophy: Vampires Vegetarians & the Pursuit of Immortality - rebecca housel
The Vampire Bible - temple of the vampire
The Vampire Encyclopaedia - matthew bunson
The Vampire in Europe: True Tales of the Undead – montague summers
The Vampire: His Kith & Kin - montague summers
The Vampire Ritual Book - michelle belanger
The Vampire Viaticum - zakary
The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopaedia of Shape-Shifting Beings - brad steiger
Vampires Burial & Death: Folklore & Reality – paul barber
Vampire Films – collin odell & michelle le blanc
Vampire God: The Allure of the Undead in Western Culture - mary y. hallab
Vampires Myths & Metaphors of Enduring Evil - carla t. kungl
Vampires of the Slavs - jan perkowsky
Vampires: Under the Hammer - charles e. butler
Werewolves - linda s. godfrey
Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - rhonda v. wilcox

Witchcraft Throughout History

America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem - owen davies
Concerning Witches & WitchCraft
Encyclopaedia of Witches Witchcraft & Wicca - rosemary ellen guiley
Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft – richard m. golden
Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 - richard godbeer Hours with the Ghosts or 19th Century Witchcraft - henry evans Irish Witchcraft and Demonology - john d. seymour (1913)
Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 – bernard rosenthal
The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus Malefic arum - christopher s. mackay
The World of Witches – julio caro baroja
The Making of Salem: The Witch Trials in History Fiction & Tourism - robin derosa
The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in 19th Century America - gretchen a. adams
Witchcraft & Ghosts in the Greek & Roman Worlds – daniel ogden
Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem – rosalyn schanzer
Witch Beliefs & Witch Trials in the Middle Ages: Documents & Readings - p. g. maxwell stuart
Witch Hunts in the Western World – brian a. pavlac

The Necronomicon
Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred - donald tyson
Necronomicon: progression through walking of the seven gates - simon
Necronomicon: the complete simon version
Necronomicon Crowley One Hundred Anniversary Edition
Necronomicon translation - john dee (1586)

Palmistry & Dowsing
Amazing Palmistry Secrets – per hogseth
Adventures in Dowsing – dave cowan
Dowsing: A Hidden Xpose of Occult Forces – ben g. hester
Palm Reading for Beginners: Find Your Future in the Palm of Your Hand - richard webster
Practical Palmistry - dr. narayan dutt shrimali
Science of Palmistry BY devacharya

The Tarot
21 Ways to Read the Tarot - mary k. greer
78 Degrees of Wisdom: a book of tarot - rachel pollack
A collection of Tarot meanings - biddytarot
An Introduction to the study of the Tarot - paul foster case
An Introduction to Tarot – cassandra bee
Best Tarot Practices – marcia masino
Colins Gem Tarot – rowenna stuart
Complete Book of Tarot Reversals - mary k. greer
Everyday Tarot: using the cards to make better life decisions - gail fairfield
Fortune Telling - douglas hill
How to Read The Tarot – sylvia abraham
How To Perform a Psychic Reading: a Beginner's Guide to Reading
How to Use Tarot Spreads – abraham
Tarot Card - james gregory
Karmic Tarot 3rd edition - william c. lammey
Keystone of the Tarot - science of man
Learning the Tarot in 19 lessons
Le Taot des Dedutants – josepha
Oracle of the Tarot: a course on tarot divination - paul foster case
Past-Life & Karmic Tarot - edain mccoy
Pictorial Key to the Tarot - arthur edward waite
Professional Tarot: the business of reading, consulting & teaching - christine jette
Qabalistic Tarot: a textbook of mystical philosophy - robert wang
Start reading the Tarot in 30 minutes - chris lloyd
Tarot & Magic: images for rituals & path working - gareth knight
Tarot A Contemporary Course Of The Quintessence Of Hermetic Occultism - mouni sadhu
Tarot A New Handbook for the Apprentice - eileen Connolly (1979)
The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot – rachel pollack
Tarot Constellations: patterns of personal destiny - mary k. greer
Tarot Decoder: Interpret the Symbols of the Tarot - kathleen mc cormack
Tarot for Beginners: A Practical Guide to Reading the Cards - barbara moore
Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation – mary k. greer
Tarot Get The Whole Story: use create & interpret tarot spreads & increase your understanding of the cards- james ricklef
Tarot Journaling: Using the Celtic Cross to Unveil Your Hidden Story - corrine kenner
Tarot Masterclass - paul fenton-smith
Tarot Plain and Simple – anthony louis
Tarot Shadow Work: using the dark symbols to heal - christine jette
Tarot Spells - janina renee
Tarot Tales - rachel pollack
Tarot Talismans: invoke the angels of tarot - chic cicero
Tarot Tips - ruth ann amberstone & wald amberstone
Tarot for yourself: A workbook for personal transformation - mary k. greer
Tarot outside the box - valerie sim
The Big Book of Angel Tarot: The Essential Guide to Symbols, Spreads, & Accurate Readings - doreen virtue & radleigh valentine
The Complete Guide to the Tarot – eden gray
The Book of Destinies: A Practical Guide to Predicting the Future - jane struthers
The Devils Picture Book - paul hisson (1971)
The Game of Tarots - gebelin translated by donald tyson (1781)
The Golden Book Of Wisdom 4th book - franz bardon
The Gothic Tarot Compendium - joseph vargo
The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot: keys to rituals & divination - chic cicero
The Pictorial Guide to the Tarot – arthur edward waite
The Symbolism of the Tarot: philosophy of occultism in pictures - p.d. ouspensky
The Tarot - alfred douglas (1972)
The Tarot: a key to the wisdom of the ages - paul foster case
The Tarot Bible – sarah bartlett
The Tarot Readers Notebook - ron martin
The Truth About The Tarot - gerald suster
The Wisdom of the Tarot - elisabeth haich
The book of tokens - paul foster case

Extra-terrestrials & Ufology
A Wanderers Handbook - carla rueckert
A.D. After Disclosure – richard dolan
Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens - john mack
Above Top Secret - timothy good
Above Top Secret - jim marrs
Admiral Byrds Secret Journey - tim r. swartz
Advanced Aerial Devices - richard haines
Alien Contact: The First Fifty Years - jenny randles
Alien Encounters - chuck missler
Alien Initiations - harald kleemann
Alien Interview – matilda o'donnell mac elroy
Alien Mind – george lo buono
Alien Revelation - tony ruggiero
Alien Within - richard allen
Aliens Adored – susan j. palmer
Aliens in America – jodi dean
Aliens in the Bible - john w. milor
Aliens - jonathan gray
Anatomy of a Phenomenon - jacques vallee
Ancient Alien Question – philip coppens
Andromeda – robert shapiro
Angels in Starships - Giorgio Dibitonto
Angels, Women, Sex and the Occult - william f. dankenbring
Area 51 - annie jacobson
Area 51- robert doherty
Atlantis, Alien Visitation and Genetic Manipulation - michael tsarion
Barbara The Story of a UFO Investigator – barbara batholic
Behind the Flying Saucers – frank scully
Behold a Pale Horse - milton cooper
Beyond UFOs – jeffrey bennett
Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind – c.d.b. bryan
Captured: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience – stanton friedman
Chariots Of The Gods - erich von daniken
Chasing Phantoms - carissa conti
Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind – c.d.b. bryan
Communion – whitley strieber
Concepts For Detection of Extraterrestrial Life – nasa
Contact With Alien Civilizations - michael a.g. michaud
Cosmic Explorers – courtney brown
Cosmic Memory – rudolf steiner
Cosmic Trigger - robert anton wilson
Cosmic Voyage – courtney brown
Cosmos – carl sagan
Crash at Corona – stanton friedman
Crop Circles A Beginner's Guide - hugh manistre
Crop Circles Signs of Contact - colin andrews
Curse Of The Men In Black – timothy beckley
Dark Mission: The Secret History Of NASA - richard c. hoagland
Dark Object – don ledger & chris styles
Dealing with UFO, Aliens & Abductions from Higher Dimensions - laura knight jadczyk
Defending Sacred Ground - alex collier
Discerning Alien Disinformation - montalk
Disclosure Endgame – david wilcock
Disclosure Military & Government – steven m. greer m.d.
Disneyland of The Gods - john keel
Divine Encounters – zecharia sitchin
E.T. Talk - fernando j. ballesteros
Encounter in the Pleiades – preston b. nichols
ESP Witches & UFOs - hans holzer
E.T. Contact – gina lake
Eternal Pilgrim - ripley webb
Evidence – david sereda
Exopolitics A Comprehensive Briefing - ed komarek
Extraordinary Encounters - jerome clark
Extraterrestrials Where Are They – ben zuckerman
Fingerprints of the Gods - graham hancock
Fire From the Sky - contact journal
Fire in the Sky - travis walton
Flying Saucers Are Real – donald keyhoe usmc major retd
Flying Saucers Fact or Fiction - max miller
Flying Saucers Have Landed - george adamski
Flying Saucers, The Startling Evidence of the Invasion From Outer Space – coral lorenzen
Forbidden History 1957-1969 - jacques vallee
Fringe Knowledge For Beginners - montalk
From Atlantis to the Sphinx - colin wilson
Genesis for the New Space Age – john b. leith
Genesis Revisited – zecharia sitchin
The Story of a UFO Contactee – george adamski
God Drives a Flying Saucer – dione r.l.
Gods of Air and Darkness - richard mooney
Gods of the New Millenium - allen f. alford
Handbook of the Navigator – eric j. pepin
Harmonic Conquest of Space – bruce cathie
Hidden Realms Lost Civilizations & Beings From Other Worlds - jerome clark
High Strangeness of Dimensions – laura knight jadczyk
Hitlers Flying Saucers – henry stevens
Hunt For The Skinwalker - george knapp & colm helleher
I Forgot What I Wasn't Supposed to Remember – k. wilson
In Days To Come - ashtar
Inside Saucer Post 3 – leonard stringfield
Inside the Spaceships - george adamski
Into the Bermuda Triangle - gian j. quasar
Into the Fringe - karla turner
Is Another World Watching - gerald heard
Is Anyone Out There – jack stoneley
Lemurian Scrolls – satguru sivaya subramuniyaswami
Lights in the Sky - michael maunder
Lonely Minds in the Universe - giancarlo genta
Lost Book of Enki – zecharia sitchin
Lyra Earth Connection – brad johnson
Masquerade of Angels - karla turner
Messages from the Stars - ian ridpath
Messengers of Deception - jacques vallee
Mind Monsters Invaders From Inner Space - jenny randles
Miracles Of The Gods - erich von daniken
Missing Time – budd hopkins
Mothman Prophecies - john keel
Nasa Mooned America - ralph rene
New Lands - charles fort
Occult Science Dictatorship – william lyne
Operation Trojan Horse - john keel
Origins: The Quest for Our Cosmic Roots - tom yulsman
Other Tongues Other Flesh - george hunt williamson
Otherness - tim watts
Our Haunted Planet - john keel
Passport to Magonia - jacques vallee
Pentagon Aliens – william lyne
Physics of a Flying Saucer - ted roach
Point Omega - harald kleeman
Project Beta – greg bishop
Project Cyclops – dr. john billingham
Project Saucer Book 1 to 3 - w. a. harbinson
RattleSnake Fire - jean eisenhower
The Andreasson Affair, Phase Two - raymond fowler
Regional Encounters - the fc files
Return of the Star Gods - richard vizzutti
Return to the Stars – erich von-daniken
Revelations: Alien Contact & Human Deception - jacques vallee
Saucers of the Illuminati - jim keith
Searching For Extraterrestrial Intelligence - h. paul shuch
Secret Black Projects – tim swartz
Secret Cipher of the Ufonauts - allen greenfield
Secret Nazi Conspiracy – branton
Secret of the Ages UFOs Inside the Earth – brinsley le poer trench
Secret Projects Flying Saucer Aircraft – bill rose & tony buttler
Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion – paul laviolette
Secrets of the UFO – don elkins with carla rueckert
Secret Societies Their Mysteries Revealed - john reynolds
Sedona UFO Connection – richard dannelley
Selected Papers of Charles Hinton About the Forth Dimension
Shift of the Ages – david wilcock
Son of the Sun – orfeo angelucci
Souls of Distortion Awakening - jan wicherink
Stairway to Heaven - Zecharia Sitchin
Star Gods of the Maya – susan milbrath
Star Kids - richard j. boylan
Starsee Transmissions - ken carey
Strangers From The Skies – brad steiger
Taken - karla turner
Tbird vs The Flying Saucers - michael topper
Technology of the Gods The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients – david hatcher childress
The 12th Planet – zecharia sitchin
The Alien Interviews – l. a. marzulli
The Bible and Flying Saucers – barry h. downing
The Big Book Of The Unexeplained – doug moench
The Book of Enoch
The Book of the Damned - charles fort
The Case for the UFO - varo jessup edition
The Coming of the Gods – jean sendy
The Cosmic Code – zecharia sitchin
The Cosmic Conspiracy – deyo
The Cosmic Question - john a. keel
The Cover-Up Exposed 1973-1991 – richard dolan
The Day After Roswell – philip corso
The Dulce Book – branton
The End of Days – zecharia sitchin
The Eye of Ra Book Two -truman cash
The Fire Came By – john baxter & thomas atkins
The Gods of Eden – william bramley
The Gold Of The Gods - erich von daniken
The Great Beyond – paul halpern
The Great Flying Saucer Wave - michael hall
The Greatest Thing Ever Known - ralph waldo trine
The High Strangeness – laura knight jadczyk
The Humanoids – charles bowen
The Hynek UFO Report - allen hynek
The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a Flying Saucer - john fuller
The Invisible Landscape – terence & Dennis mc kenna
The Janos People - frank johnson
The Lost Realms – zecharia sitchin
The Mothman Prophecies – john a. keel
The Mothman's Photographer II - andrew colvin
The Official Alien Abductees Handbook - joe tripician
The Official Guide to UFOs – science & mechanics
The Pleiadian Mission - Randolph Winters
The Politics of Extraterrestrials - Patrick Sullivan
The Programming of a Planet Book One - truman cash
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects – edward ruppelt
The Science of Extraterrestrials - eric julien
The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence – david lamb
The Search For Extraterrestrials - monte ross
The Secret of the Saucers – orpheo angelucci
The Secret Rituals of the Men in Black - allen greenfield
The Secrets of the Mojave – branton
The Silver Bridge - gray barker
The Sirius Mystery - robert temple
The Threat – david jacobs
The Trojan Horse – john a. keel
The True Origin of the Flying Saucers – dr. raymond bernard
The Truth Behind Men In Black - jenny randles
The UFO Controversy In America – david jacobs
The UFO Diaries: Travels In the Weird World of High Strangeness – martin plowman
The UFO Enigma – the other side
The UFO Experience: - A Scientific Inquiry - j. allen hynek
The UFO Report - timothy good
The Uninvited – liz jensen
The Uninvited – nick pope
The White Sands Incident – daniel fry
They Rode in Spaceships - gavin gibbons
Thiaoouba Profecy – michel desmarquet
Those Gods Who Made Heaven and Earth – jean sendy
Mysteries of the Unknown: UFO Phenomenon – time life
Transformation – whitley strieber
Twilight of the Gods: The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials – erich von daniken
UFO Contact From the Pleiadies - w. stevens
UFO Contacts 1961 - rob renaud
UFO Crash Secrets at Wright Patterson Air Force Base - james w. moseley
UFO Highway - anthony f. sanchez
UFO Religion Inside Flying Saucer Cults - gregory reese
UFO Technology Hackers Manual - michael mc donnough
UFOs - Generals, Pilots And Governmant Officials Go On Record – leslie kean
UFOs a Scientific Enigma – d.a.j. seargent
UFOs an Air Force Dilemma - hector quintanilla
UFOs and Aliens – preston dennett
UFOs and Popular Culture – james lewis
UFOs and the Bible – ray brubaker
UFOs and the National Security - richard m. dolan
UFOs and Water - carl w. feindt
UFOs Anti Gravity Piece for a Jigsaw – l. g. cramp
UFOs Are Real – clifford stone
UFOs Down Under – barry taylor
UFOs Myths Conspiracies and Realities - john alexander
UFOs The Psychic Solution - jacques vallee
UFOs Viewpoints – william dudley
Walton Abduction Case - jerome clark
Warning Alien Agenda Revealed - art greenfield
Wars of Gods and Men – zecharia sitchin
Watch the Skies – curtic peebles
We Met the Space People – helen & betty mitchell
What NASA Isn't Telling You About Mars - ted twietmeyer
What We Really Know About Flying Saucers – otto binder
When Stars Look Down - george w. van tassel
When Time Began – zecharia sitchin
Where is Everybody – stephen webb
Why UFOs - john a. keel
Wild Talents - charles fort
Witness to Roswell – donald schmitt & thomas carey
Wonders in the Sky - jacques vallee & chris aubeck
World Atlas of UFOs – john spencer
World's Best True UFO Stories - jenny randles & peter hough

Playstation Home | Fun For a Price

2014-02-17T02:14:00.000+00:00

Playstation Home is one of those applications that if you are a PS3 owner you have to try at least once, the premise is simple enough in that it’s a lot like the widely known SecondLife. Players are given the use of their very own avatar where they can choose the look they want, included is a standard apartment which can also be customized and decorated. While Playstation Home does indeed offer actual games to play the majority of them are mini-games that are good for a few minutes of killing time but not much else. On your travels you will discover locations that tie into movies like the Men in Black franchise along with the various games companies plugging popular titles like LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, Uncharted and even Bomber Man.

The busiest locations are parks and town squares where users can mingle and show off their wide variety of strange and wonderful costumes, avatars whiz past on all manner of vehicles ranging from bikes and cars to fantastic flying inventions that are sure to make you look twice. Animals also feature with dogs and big cats like tigers and lions taking the spot light, but they aren’t just kept as pets since players themselves can transform into the animal of their choice - which sounds like a brilliant feature except as with many other items on Playstation Home they have to be purchased by using real money through the PSN Store.

Once you realize how much money everything costs you can’t help but feel ripped off by Sony and it’s affiliates. A vast majority of the outfits and items you will see in the store and dotted around the world are licensed officially through everyone from Wrangler to Lucas Arts and while that sounds like and endless possibility of styles and looks at the end of the day it still reeks of a cash-grab. It’s true most online games require payment for their DLC but I think Playstation Home goes above and beyond anything I’ve seen before. I kept noticing items and outfits from some of my favourite games showing up in Home’s many stores and it occurred to me that there should be a system in place that would reward Home users game related items if the server said they played that title. While it’s true I was awarded a Resident Evil ornament for having the game on my system it was a small drop in the ocean of games I’ve played since then and none of them figured into Home’s free available content.

I’ll admit it wasn’t all a big scam, users were genuinely friendly and there was a strong sense of community in many of the main areas. Groups of people gathered and chatted about this and that while others joined in activities with each other and the remainder busied themselves flying model air planes, exploring on foot or riding bikes. I can see the need and positive effects of having a strong social community based platform like Home available for Playstation users but the price of the extra frills and thrills leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It’s worth giving Home a try if you haven’t - whether you want to kill a few hours or just socialize it really is fun while it lasts.

Back From The Dead?

2014-02-17T00:34:00.000+00:00

It’s been about two years since I’ve posted on here, the main reason being I’ve been so busy working on photo-shoots and covering live concerts for some of my favourite bands. Most of my previous postings on here have been about games and gaming, since then gaming has skipped ahead another generation in the form of Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s XBox One consoles. Both boast amazing leaps in terms of graphical and technical features but at the moment we are still in that awkward time-frame where launch games are still taking up most of the consoles current catalogue and for now at least ..it’s not that impressive.

Since my last post I’ve played well over 100 more PS3 titles from the usual yearly Call of Duties to the latest Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto instalments. So with all of that I’m going to fire back up my blog and get down some more PS3 reviews followed by some future PS4 reviews. There will probably be yet even more randomness but then I never really intended for my blog to be all that serious.

Time out on tumblr

2012-11-10T18:09:00.001+00:00

Funnily enough though I’ve been blogging and using social networking for longer than I can remember with tens of thousands of contacts to boot I never joined tumblr until just recently. My main reason for not joining was not liking the idea of having too much of my photography out there, surely flickr is enough.

Instead what I’ve done is created a tumblr profile which I’ll mostly be using to post pictures or links I like, I’ll have some of my own work on there now and then but its really just for a visual time out, expect anime/cars/paranormal & the occult.. pretty much anything from the daily mundane to the overly insane. Feel free to follow my tumblr if you like, or if you have one yourself drop me a link and I’ll have a look. – LisaTiffany

www.lisatiffanygellar.tumblr.com

Grand Theft Auto 5 - Details Released

2012-11-09T03:27:00.001+00:00

The web is a flutter tonight as Game Informer disclose what gamers everywhere were waiting for.. insider details on Rockstars latest instalment of the ever popular highly successful Grand Theft Auto Series ..GTAV.

The announcement of GTAV back in October of last year started the rumour mill off, but while loose details started to leak that same rumour mill went right into overdrive. Mostly the loose details could not be traced back to developers and instead were wishlists and wantings by GTA fans. Now with a number of high resolution images on the table, a sneaky trailer and Game Informers fantastic coverage its clear the GTAV will be one of the best selling games of all time. Game Informer went into great detail over its 18 page feature so I naturally devoured every page so I could cut down on the bulk of the article and instead post some of the top need to knows that will make GTAV one of the most memorable games you will ever play.

Who ya gonna be?

The early pictures of the game were dissected by gamers to try and find out who was the protagonist of GTAV. The answer is not as simple as you would think, you don’t just play as 1 main protagonist, you play as 3!. Trevor, Franklin and Michael. Trevor is a drug addict, Franklin is a hustler, and Michael is a bank robber who left the life but gets drawn back into the action.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Each of the three protagonists live miles apart from each other, come from different backgrounds but either of them can be accessed at anytime, some missions can incorporate all three.

No place for old men

In the past GTA have employed the voice acting talents of many actors and celebrities including, Dennis Hopper, Ray Liotta and Sam the man Jackson. Rockstar have decided to ditch this approach and have instead have gone with regular no-name voice actors that won’t appear familiar to gamers.

It’s a Big Big World Out There

Word has it that GTAV will be far bigger than any other game Rockstar have made, they are saying it will be bigger than GTA4, Red Dead Redemption and San Andreas combined ..how is it even possible? well they promise there will be the usual urban setting but included will be the following: a lush and vast wilderness, vibrant beach fronts, military bases, the triumphant return of Mount Chiliad and deep a ocean floor that can also be explored..

The ocean floor will feature the following: coral beds, rocky canyons and caverns, and even deep ravines.

Only The Lonely

Each of the three characters you control have their own mini games unique to only them, no real information has been given on what games will feature but word has it a fully functional golf course will feature and be available for actual golfing.

All three have their own personal assortment of friends and contacts, skill sets, and while you are playing with one the others will go off and busy themselves with other activities.

Unbreak My Heart

While previous games allowed you date, and wine and dine a number of ladies from all walks of life Rockstar have decided to shelve relationships insisting that it only slows the game down and can be too distracting from the main game, will gamers miss it? I know I won’t, it felt more Sims than GTA.

Dude You Just F#d Up Your Ferrari ..It Wasn’t Mine

One of the best features of GTA have always been the ability to jump into any car you see and take it for a ride, even if there may have been someone previously in the drivers seat who is now laying in a pile on the side of the road. Boosting cars has always been fun but in GTA4 no one will argue with me when I say the vehicle physics were appalling at best. Cars felt like they were unrealistically weighted and being behind the wheel just wasn’t a joy. Rockstar have rebuilt and enhanced the driving in the game making cars handle more realistically, even high speed racing has been given a serious overhaul and promises to be a blast.

And the Rest:

Flying can be done early in the game if you are playing as Trevor, he is after all a veteran of Vietnam so its one of his skills.

Some of the many vehicles available include, cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, dirt bikes, bmx’s, atv’s and even jet skis.

Ammu-nation is making a welcome return, gun lovers everywhere won’t have to go far to beef up their cache.

Cellphones that were very popular in GTA4 are back.

Instead of splitting up the city into sections linked by tunnels and bridges it is now one major expansive area.

The inclusion of a TV to watch random shows and adverts on is back, they have even expanded on the running time and content.

Multiplayer is back though specific details on how they will evolve or effect the main game are murky at the moment.

You won’t be able to purchase property (damn!) but Rockstar promises that cash earned can be used on other pursuits, a huge problem with GTA4 was having so much cash but nothing to spend it on, I can only assume cars/clothes and jewellery?.

With GTAV officially announced for Spring 2013 there is still plenty of time for Rockstar to make improvements and put a final polish on their most wanted title yet. Perhaps one of the most exciting updates to soon follow is the addition of a new trailer which is to be released on the 14th of November.

Fallout 4: New Vegas [DLC] [PS3 & 360]

2012-09-05T05:30:00.001+01:00

Dead Money

This was without a doubt my favourite of the Fallout New Vegas DLC releases. Unlock all the other releases and indeed the main game Dead Money really makes you fight to stay alive. The DLC is set with the Sierra Madre Casino being the main backdrop of the proceedings, however you have to make your way through the streets of a nearby town before you can gain entry. The town is unlock anything you have seen before in the Fallout universe. Bathed in a strange red glow the town is covered in all kinds of dangerous traps, hazardous gas and is populated by a very creepy new enemy known as “Ghost People”.

When you first encounter the area you can be forgiven to think it looks like something from a Lovecraft novel, I’d be surprised if that’s not what the developers were aiming for. The story is a lot more engaging than I expected and if I was to sum it up I’d call it a mix between SAW and Oceans 11. most of your time will be spent in the streets cautiously navigating your way through traps and past the Ghost People, but that’s not all. At the start of the game you are knocked unconscious and when you recover you find that an explosive bomb collar has been attached to your neck, (think The Running Man) the collar is triggered when you come within range of certain speakers, this too makes the difficulty increase and really keeps you on your toes. As I already stated this was by far the best DLC in the pack, it was extremely hard and tests you right to the brink of sanity.

There are a number of characters in Dead Money that play key roles in you completely the game, the dialogue is rich and really well drawn out. What Dead Money does differently is an overhaul of pace and tension, it makes you carefully watch each step and think about your next move rather than carelessly wander through the game. I’d recommend the DLC for players who are at least at level 30, it will try and test you to the very end and once you start Dead Money you cannot go back to the Mojave until you completed your business in the Sierra Madre Casino. [9 out of 10] By far the best DLC going, a solid storyline with interesting characters and a whole new approach and pace to the game.

Honest Hearts

Before you set out to play Honest Hearts you need to remember to carry only what you need because the game caps our weight allowance at about 70 or 80, why? well because to get to the area where the game takes place you have to squeeze through narrow corridors and caverns. When you arrive you find yourself in the middle of Zion National Park, Utah of all places. This is where you quickly learn that Honest Hearts plays out a lot like a western complete with tribes and the kind of landscape you see in a typical Cowboys and Indians movie.

At first missions are kind of interesting and hold your attention for a while, but after that its easy to just forget about what you are doing and who sent you, you still get the job done but caring about why you were doing it really goes out the window. So the storyline is nothing special but the map and lush terrain makes up for it. Zion is a very beautiful place, helped of course by the fact that its waters and rivers have not been polluted by radiation and chemicals.

Another thing that instantly became apparent was the addition of changing weather patterns, Zion not only gets showered in rain storms it also has a star filled sky at night that will make you stop and stare the first time the sun goes down. Included with the natural beauty is all manner of tribal art and murals, you see them scrawled and painted onto walls and cliff faces and while its only a small item of detail its the kind of thing that makes the game all the more special. It’s not all wine and roses though, what Zion has that I don’t like is roaming swarms of Cazadors that seem to spawn in the most random locations, and except for a few other varieties of beasts that’s really all you will find. It’s a shame they didn’t put in some new animals or mutants because if anywhere on the map would benefit from such things it would be Zion. All in all its an okay DLC pack, it has its faults but you do receive an even higher level cap and Zion is the perfect place to visit when you just want to get away from the dry dustiness of Mojave. [6 out of 10]

Old World Blues

This was one of the oddest DLC’s Fallout has ever received, even in terms of the alien encounters in Mothership Zeta this still wins in terms of weirdness. Old World Blues plays a lot like an old cheesy science fiction movie that probably cost the price of the game to make. It’s all very strange yet kind of exciting at the same time. You wake up after what seems like a serious operation to find your brain along with other body parts have been removed, but by who or what? Well as crazy as it sounds by a bunch of robots. These plucky piles of scrap metal are inform you that you can get your organs back by doing specific tasks for them, there are all kinds of mini missions that thankfully take up a lot of time so you do actually feel like you get your moneys worth from the missions and story alone. The game is set in huge crater that’s been sealed off from the outside world, its called Big Mountain and as you explore it you start to see that it’s where much of the technology featured in the game was developed.

It’s full of secret test labs and facilities to pillage and plunder, once you can get past their occupants of course. Old World Blues features a great mix of enemies that challenge even the most accomplished players. Robot scorpions and robot dogs are some of the foes you will find roaming through Big Mountain, along with yourself there are also test subjects armed with guns and melee weapons and as you may have guessed they are bent on annihilating you. The DLC’s strong points are its heavy on new items and weapons, the humour and wackiness is seriously off the scale, Big Mountain is fantastic to explore. All that aside there is always one DLC pack that seems to suffer the most from bugs and freezes and this time around it’s Old World Blues. I lost count how many times the game slowed down to a snails pace, most of the time it was a specific area of the map and reloading a previous save fixed it right up. Even with the dire freezes which drove me crazy countless times Old World Blues is fantastic, the dialogue is beyond hilarious and its all very challenging. [8 out of 10]

Lonesome Road

This DLC ties in a lot more than the others in terms of the games main story. In a nutshell you are offered a quest by one of the original couriers who didn’t take the job that you did, this courier calls for you to traverse the dangerous terrain of an area known as The Divide in order to learn secrets about your past. And so coaxed with such an offer you set out into The Divide and as usual cannot bring a companion with you. The story is not that great and you can tell that they tried to do something gigantic but it really didn’t pan out, I found myself losing interest and my concentration diminishing as the game went on. It’s in no way a safe location, The Divide is home to many death claws who's razor sharp claws will tear even the highest level characters into shreds in a matter of seconds. Along with “the wildlife” there is a new enemy that resembles the ghouls and carries serious heavy firepower.

They aren’t too hard to defeat and raiding their remains nets some nice hardware and items which can be sold once you leave the area, thankfully unlike all the other DLC packs you can leave The Divide whenever you chose. This works great because you can sell off all the spoils you find and top up on health or ammo whenever you are lacking in it. Just like Honest Hearts I wouldn’t buy it for the story, I’d only buy it for the extra level cap and the challenge of making it through this new volatile area of the Mojave. [5 out of 10] Uninspiring landscape, flat story and dialogue, only worth it for the extra level cap small change of scenery.

Gun Runners Arsenal

When you first see this DLC it’s easy to get excited for the wrong reasons, it promises a lot of extra weapons and never before seen items. However many of the weapons ion the pack are already in the game, the difference is they are tagged with GRA and come with mods that their counterparts don’t have. The problem here is you can only use GRA mods on GRA guns, while one gun might be the exact type unless it’s from the DLC pack you can’t use the mod on it. Luckily not every single weapon falls into this category and some are new previously unseen weapons. While most come premade a few come in the form as weapons you craft at workbenches and the like. While it’s a decent enough pack if it hadn’t have come with the Ultimate Edition I wouldn’t go of my way to buy it separately because the game already has so many items and weapons that these don’t make too much of a difference.

Fallout 4: New Vegas [PS3 & 360]

2012-09-05T04:58:00.001+01:00

Fallout New Vegas was one of those games I wanted to review when it was first released but for different reasons it slipped through the cracks. After so long the developers have finally put together the ultimate New Vegas collection that includes not just the award winning game but also a number of DLC packs that contain an almost endless supply of new items to collect and areas to explore. While that’s all good and well New Vegas originally suffered from countless bugs and glitches that made a lot of people rage quit and never go back to it, thankfully the game has had a number of fixes and patches, the updated Ultimate Edition includes all of these. And so with my back to the vault and my eyes open wide I started out into the vast wastelands once more to experience what could only be one of the biggest RPG’s ever made.

The story of New Vegas is simple enough but it changes depending on how you want it all to play out, this is done primarily through your dialogue and actions with other characters. Like most RPGs its up to you to determine how a conversation or action effects the game as a whole. New Vegas itself is no different here giving you the freedom to not only be who you want to be, but to also mould the world as you see fit. At the start of the game you are just a regular vault dweller living a normal enough existence with a number of other survivor's who found sanctuary in huge underground compounds while the world world outside was struck with nuclear war bringing the earth itself to its knees.

Growing up in the vault you learn to fear the outside world and never venture out into the bleak empty wastelands beyond the walls of the vault. Things in the vault don’t go to plan and you soon find yourself having no choice but to leave the sanctuary of the vault for an uncertain future in the wastelands. Unfortunately unlike Fallout 3 the story is not as memorable, while its a lot of fun to change the outcome of events it feels like it’s always trying to play catch up yet never quite gets there.

The game does its best to gently coax you into the right direction at the start so you can learn the basics of weapons handling and wasteland survival, being an RPG you can choose to avoid the help and go wherever you chose, though while this might not be the smartest plan it really is entirely up to you. On your epic journey through the game you will encounter different people from different factions, some will like you straight away and trade with you or even offer side quests, while others will be hostile to you straight away for something as simple as being in their area of the map. While human enemies can be reasoned with through dialogue the mutants and animals subjected to years of radiation cannot be reasoned with and will attack you on sight.

Everything from wild dogs to large mutated scorpions and rats all roam the road ahead of you and while some might look easy to defeat that’s not always the case, keeping your distance and taking them out at range is one of the ways to do it but you are not limited to the type of weapons or fighting styles you want to cultivate so up close and personal can equally get the job done.

Fallout New Vegas borrows a lot from the previous game Fallout 3, if you have any experience with 3 then NV becomes a very easy game to get to grips with. Getting around the gaming world is all done on foot, after all you are in the middle of a wasteland destroyed by post nuclear war and nothing with wheels moves anymore. The great thing about moving from location to location is once you find an area on the map that has been designated by the developers as a point of interest then as long as there are no enemies nearby you can fast travel back and forth with ease. If you want to get items in the game such as weapons or health packs its as simple as trading with someone or finding them among the thousands of other items scattered everywhere, some are hidden in lockers or drawers while others can be found on the bodies of fallen enemies or characters. Like Fallout 3 I rarely found myself having to trade with people or caravans because I always found everything I needed in random locations.

Getting your characters stats and level up are a core part of the gameplay, you earn points by defeating enemies and by completing all kinds of missions be they huge story driven affairs or simple little side quests like finding certain items for someone. Levelling up grants your character different kinds of perks that are essential in making it to the end of the game. Some perks give you better lockpicking skills while others give you more of a chance to do critical damage in your attacks. There are tons of perks to earn and each one helps make not just the game a lot more fun but your character a more serious force to be reckoned with.

New Vegas uses a system called VATs which is used in combat situations, you go into VATs by a simple button press and while in there you have a number of hit points to assign on different parts of the body, when used you attack those points often leading to a messy end for the person or monster on the receiving end. Their is a karma system built into the game so acting like a saint will naturally mean people will like you more, while acting like a sinner and terrorizing the Mojave's inhabitants will mean a more hostile welcoming from people.

Visually the game is not the best looking you will see, if anything its very similar to Fallout 3 and there have been no giant leaps or bounds in the graphics, but that’s fine because the visuals were never really broken in the first place. What is broken however is the number of freezes the game sometimes suffers in various areas of the map. The developers have released a number of patches to address these freezes but it seems like a few are still there lurking. One particular freeze kept happening to me on one of the final missions of the game, it took a number of reloads until the game finally got past it and I could get on with the fun. As annoying and cumbersome as some of the freezes and glitches can be it should still not put you off playing because for those who are willing to enter the wastelands a virtual treasure trove of adventure and danger awaits.

Just like Fallout 3 I really enjoyed the game, there was so much to do that it took me months and months to finally finish everything and even then there is a chance I missed some things here and there. New Vegas does have its faults and when it comes to the overall story it can be quite weak, but even still in terms of gameplay and lifespan it earns top marks. I’m giving Fallout New Vegas an 8 out of 10, if the story was a little more compelling and bug/glitch free it would definitely earn a 10.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Revisited) [PS3 & 360]

2012-09-03T04:58:00.001+01:00

I first played MGS4 in 2008, back then it had just been released and having played all of the previous titles in the series I was very anxious to get into the game. Now in 2012 Konami have decided to make a few changes. When MGS4 was originally released it came with Metal Gear Online which was and in my eyes one of the best multiplayer games ever made. Times have changed and Konami have closed the servers for the game making it a relic of the past.

A new update on MGS4 completely removes all traces of the online, which basically means no menus leading the player to a dead server. It’s not all just cuts though, Konami have added a feature where you can install the whole game in one segment making for a smooth playthrough.

While that’s a handy thing to have the real difference now is that the game finally has trophy support! for years gamers called for trophy support on MGS4 but time and time again were told it would never happen. So spurred on by the trophies to hunt I decided to go back to MGS4 to find out what trophies they added and if trophy support really can breath life into an old game, but not just that I wanted to see if years later it was still as powerful as it had been all those years ago.

The story of MGS4 is one of the most complex and sometimes confusing stories I’ve ever tried to follow in a game, whereas I do know the history of the MGS universe and the pieces fell into place every now and then, that wasn’t the case for my boyfriend who watched a lot of the cut scenes and found it all very confusing. It is a good story, don’t get me wrong there but if you don’t have previous knowledge of the other games you can be easily swept up in a wave of confusion. The dialogue still sounds really well done and it rarely seems to get tiring listening to the story unfold, helped of course by the hugely cinematic visuals and over the top action and combat sequences.

Visually the game still stands up to the more recent games on the market, things like running water and smoke look fantastic and grass moving in the wind makes you stop and take a look. Without giving too much away of the story when Snake encounters chilled weather conditions the snow blowing through the wind caking his sneaking suit and camouflage still looks as realistic as always. For it’s time MGS4 was one of the best looking games on the Playstation 3 and even now you can be forgiven to think it was only released a week ago. It’s Konami’s highly stylized attention to detail that really makes the game shine both in terms of visuals and in audio. Of course it has its moments of quirky strangeness and oddness, Konami like many Japanese games developers have always been a little quirky when it came to their representations of western culture and character development.

Controlling Snake can be a task at first but the game does everything in its power to teach the player how to manoeuvre efficiently enough to survive on even the most brutal of battle fields. It’s no secret that Snake is a little worse for wear, he resembles an old man on the box and that’s exactly who you play. I remember when I first saw Snake like that and immediately thought he looked ridiculous, I’m still not a fan of the look but as you progress through the game you unlock facial camouflage that mimic characters from the game one of them being snake in his younger years. It’s the little tricks like that which make the game memorable, obviously the developers knew the hardcore Metal Gear fans wanted to see the Snake they knew and loved so with the camo equipped that’s the look they get. Another strange little addition is an iPod which can be used while you play to hear podcast segments and music tracks from previous MGS and Konami games. I’ve always said a portable music player like that would be more at home in a Grand Theft Auto game but so far Rockstar haven’t implemented such a gadget.

For playability it scores top marks because you really do feel like not only are you a part of something big but that you yourself are the one determining how it all plays out in the grand scale of things. It is a very in depth story and at times the video cut scenes can be a little overwhelming but there is never any rush in a mission so you can take it all at your own pace. The emphasis on all MGS games is stealth, Snake as the name suggests is a sneaky slippery character who uses his terrain and equipment to infiltrate enemy areas and strongholds.

To aid Snake in his slipperiness he is decked out in the latest sneaking suit which not only masks the sounds of heavy footsteps but can adapt to the environment by mimicking textures such as grass and concrete. Another new feature is the solid eye, a state of the art eye patch that gives the wearer night vision capabilities/radar and an enhanced view of Snakes surroundings. Along the way he encounters enemy troops and all manner of super soldiers or bosses, sometimes cunning is not always the only way to do it, but when heavy firepower is needed there is no shortage.

One of the main characters in the game is an arms dealer named Drebin, he and his creepy monkey (he has a monkey that wears silver pants, smokes and drinks soda) are tied in with you as you go through the game. Guns and ammunition can all be bought off of Drebin at any time by simply going to the pause screen and navigating through the generous list of hardware. Depending on your play style you may only ever use a standard pistol and combat knife but should you chose to there are a number of rifles/sub machine guns/rocket launchers and much much more, all of which can be modified with things like silencers/grips and scopes.

I always go for Snakes standard gear which basically means a silenced pistol and combat knife, sometimes just using a tranquilizer gun seems to do the trick better but then like I said it all depends on your intended playing style. You could just buy the biggest and baddest guns and blast your way through the game but you would be missing out on the games intended pace and style, jumping out of the shadows to grab an enemy soldier by the throat never gets old. Whether of course you knock them out of go for the jugular, its still all up to the player.

I enjoyed my time going back through the game and I was surprised how much of the story and gameplay I’d forgotten. In a way its a good thing because it helped see the game all over again just like it was the first time around. There is a lot of incentive to go back and replay the game again as you can stack save data which means items and weapons you unlock carry over to a new game. I came away from the game with eight trophies in total but at the end of the day the real prize was experiencing the action and excitement again. The only bad thing I can say about the game is some of the cut scenes can be heavy going to the point where you forget you are playing a game. I like my games to be 90% real time playability and the rest to be taken up by video, MGS4 doesn’t just blur the line it completely decimates it.

If you enjoy long cut scenes or just prefer to press “skip” then all of that shouldn’t be too much a problem, though at times during a cut scene you have a limited amount of seconds to press a button to glimpse a flashback from one of the older games. I found out afterwards there is a trophy for missing none of them which goes back to why I don’t like it being heavy on cut scenes. Other than that its absolutely perfect and offers countless hours of fun and excitement. I’m giving Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots a 9 out of 10, I revisited the game because of trophy support but in the end got something a whole lot better.

Saints Row The Third [PS3 & 360]

2012-08-31T23:53:00.001+01:00

Steel Port for the taking! welcome back to Steel Port the home and city wide stronghold of the Saints. In Saints Row 2 the gang successfully annihilated their enemies that came in the form of gangs and police, with all of their rivals out of the way they have become superstars to the people of the city. Think sponsored energy drinks, clothing and jewellery lines and you have the picture. Right from the get go you find yourself in the middle of a bank robbery that goes wrong and you have to regain your image and power from an international crime gang known as the Syndicate. Much like GTA and Scarface the story concentrates on your characters rise to power while of course all the chips are stacked against them.

Saints Row and Saints Row 2 offered huge expansive maps that gave the gamer a virtual playground to explore and a city full of inhabitants to terrorize, this latest chapter of the series follows the same formula except right away I noticed some changes. Terrorizing the public is actually encouraged and there are a number of stunts and tricks involving unsuspecting members of the public that will boost your experience points and respect on the street. It' starts off small like streaking through crowds of people but then elevates into various types of assault and hooliganism. That’s not to say its not fun! it’s all there for a reason and it can be a lot of fun driving the AI crazy.

Saints Row The Third is about a lot more than just mere pranks, after all the city needs to be reclaimed and its up to you to do it. As the leader of the Saints you are given a jaw dropping arsenal of weaponry and tools to get the job done. Strangely enough the developers decided to give players a lot of the high end gear early into the game instead of making you really work for it. In most games that would affect the games lifespan but not here, even when you do get a ridiculously powerful assault rifle or machine gun you can always upgrade it later when you have enough cash on hand. If you don’t want to use the obvious firearms stash you can go for something a bit more unique like a dildo, a chainsaw or if you don’t care about collateral damage a fully functional reaper drone unit – this rains down explosive damage on anyone or anything unlucky enough to be within range.

As with most sandbox games vehicles and cars play a big part in the game, obviously because without them getting around such a huge open world would take too long and kill the pace of the game. There are all manner of vehicles all over the gaming world and jacking them has never been as much fun, see a police car you want and with a few button pushes you will be kicking your way through the windscreen and sitting in the drivers seat in no time at all. The vehicles control better than they ever have in any SR game before, each car or truck etc moves and reacts as you would image it would, weight and speed are all carefully taken into consideration. If you don’t feel like using a set of wheels you can always go for air travel, there are plenty of planes and helicopters around just waiting to be stolen and as the game progresses all manner of futuristic jets and bikes start to show up.

The city itself is not as impressive as I’d hoped for, it looks good and a lot of the buildings are interactive serving as safe houses and stores but its a very flat location that really needed something other than skyscrapers and rows of houses, I get that Steel Port is that kind of town but something more bumpy or out of the way really would have enhanced the game. Instead you are seeing a stream of endless buildings and stores. The stores are there for a reason though, you can fully customize your character in all manner of outfits and trinkets available to the player, don’t have the cash for it? rob the store next door then speed off ..lose the pursuing cops and return to make your purchase. The shops were always one of the strong points of the game for me, what girl doesn’t love trying on an endless amount of clothes and jewellery even if its virtual? from suits and dresses to furry cat suits and dominatrix outfits SR3 has it all. It doesn’t just end there, you can ink your character up with tattoos and go for a little cosmetic surgery should the mood take you.

It’s easy to take a step back from a game like this and not play it on the grounds that it might be a little too crazy but if anything the game plays to suit your style, you don’t have to run around the streets beating someone to a bloody pulp with a dildo, you don’t have to surf a cop car naked ..but its fun if you decide to do it!. And that’s what SR3 delivers in the bucket loads, its ball outs unadulterated over the top fun that never really gets old. There may not be a lot to see in Steel Port as like I mentioned its kind of bland but there is a lot to do, pretty much every aspect of your character can be upgraded or modified. You can have plastic surgery at any time to change the look of your character, if you connect to the online community you can then download premade characters from other players. You can mod your cars with the obvious enhancements like rims/tinted glass and then there is the less obvious like armour and nitros. As you gain experience in the game you can spend your points on unlocking physical abilities like better strength/running/fighting styles and so on making it easier to dominate the streets.

If you don’t want to go it alone SR3 offers one of the best and most fun co-op modes I’ve ever seen in a game. You can jump into a friends game and carry out random acts of insanity or violence like the good lord intended or you can help each other out in missions and mini games as maybe the developers intended?. Whatever your choice of action the co-op really stretches the lifespan and adds hours of playability to the game. I used the co-op quite a lot and never ran into any issues or glitches on either side of the connection.

SR3 is also one of the best games for DLC with extra content seemingly flowing from the developers on what feels like a monthly basis. I’ve bought most of the first wave and it really did add lot to a game that in my eyes already had everything. The DLC scenarios are just as wacky and zany as the main game, in the main game its all about your rise to power while the DLC is all about having a blast.

Visually the game looks quite lush, its not the most stunning game out there but it does have a nice modern look and feel to it, compared to the first two SR games its a huge improvement. The sound isn’t bad, everything sounds like it should from engine revs to clips of various handguns and rifles being unloaded. The music in the game is solid and features bands like The Deftones/Amon Amarth/Otep/Mastadon/Job for a Cowboy ..but who are they? Metal. If you want something a little less brutal there is always Feeder/Motley Crue/run DMC and Bush to name a few, whatever your taste its got a great selection.

I find it very hard to say anything negative about SR3 because there is just so much in the game and everything seems to go together perfectly, it provided me hours of non stop fun and it seemed to go from strength to strength as the story progressed. The missions didn’t feel too repetitive but maybe could have done with being a little more challenging. There are gang members from the various factions you’ll face on most street corners and even something as simple as fighting to take back turf is enjoyable and doesn’t get old when you consider the different ways to dispose of them.

You don’t have to be looking for a filler before Grand Theft Auto 5 to buy Saints Row The Third, its one of the best sandbox titles available to date and for the price offers almost twice as much gaming content than anything else in the same category. I’d highly recommend the various DLC packs too, they aren’t too expensive and add some fun extras to the experience. It’s easy to peg SR3 as just another GTA clone laced with immaturity and pranks but its a lot more than that, underneath all the craziness its a solidly built game with more than enough missions/collectibles and mini games to meet the demands of any gamer. I’m giving Saints Row the Third a well deserved 9 out of 10 – its losing marks for the rather flat landscape, but other than that its perfect.

SAW II: Flesh and Blood (PS3 & 360)

2012-08-30T18:41:00.001+01:00

I know what you are already thinking, after the ordeal of the first game why on earth would anyone play another one of them? well to put it simply I had to see what it was like. SAW suffered from sloppy controls and utterly ridiculous fighting abilities, by the time you hit a button a random psychopath has caved your head in with a baseball bat ..lovely. So is SAW II as bad as the first? and has it got any redeeming features? – keep reading to find out!

As per usual with SAW once the game begins you are already given an awkward choice, you either stay there and get crushed or willingly put yourself through hell as you try to survive a set amount of tests and endless traps by the infamous Jigsaw killer. So on with the show, SAW II picks up right after the first game so you can actually play one and then go straight into the next one. Again the player is given a speedy introduction to the character, I don’t want to spoil any of the story or character evolution. From the get go the game did feel almost identical to the first one, it was after all a rushed title with not too much time put into the development, all that aside it still stands on its own two feet quite well. You play a SAW game to experience a complete and utter barrage of hair pulling and mind melting scenarios that will have you swearing like a sailor in the first hour alone.

The character controls a lot better, thank god for that. The overall controls are a lot more responsive now so instead of frantically bashing buttons to get him to do anything you just have to be good with your timing. The broken mechanics of the first game was one of the main reasons so many people avoided it, it’s clear there has been a huge overhaul and its certainly for the better. That doesn’t mean the game is a walk in the park, apart from the various traps there are victims of Jigsaws games lining up to take you down in the hopes it will earn them their freedom, so head on a swivel seems to be the best option. The tools and weapons are pretty much the same and are all used for causing serious hurt and death to whoever is unlucky enough to cross your path. To top up your health you have to find and use syringes, they are dotted around different rooms on the map and are essential in making it to the finishing credits.

As for the traps and puzzles, they seem to be a lot harder than the first game, you can’t just start randomly press buttons and hope it works. The logic that goes into some of the more intelligent traps is mind numbing, and of course when you mess it up the person on the other end of the trap meets a very ghastly end. Save points can be found scattered around the map and even if you think you don’t need to save its always worthwhile, I found myself wishing I’d saved so many times. Another thing I found with the puzzles is that though they might appear to be easily solved that’s not always the case, many of the puzzles seemed to have more than one stage so just as I was pausing to have a breather more terror ensued.

As with the first game I really enjoyed SAW II, I bring to my gaming experience my love of the films so I’m already happy that the games even exist. That’s not to say I didn’t find any problems with the game, constant circuit board puzzles to open door after door got old quick, one or two puzzles seemed almost identical to past traps in the previous game, the floor puzzle with the flickering pictures must have showed up 5 or 6 times.

In the end you really won’t play the game unless you are a fan of the movies or the previous game, no one wanted to be in the same room as me when I played because they could feel the frustration I was going through. It was a real test of temper and patience, there weren’t as many broken elements this time around and visually there was a bit of improvement in graphics and sound. To make the game last longer there are collectables such as tape recorders and billy puppets hidden off the beaten track. Instead of the usual constant same same corridors there are wider open rooms and areas full of traps that just look so much better than the first game.

Thrown in for good measure are shoot outs with various characters, arsonists bent on turning you into a fireball, psychopaths with long spikes protruding from their explosive vests and a lot more. If you are a fan of the films or liked the original game I’d say go ahead and give it a try, but only if you are ready for skull shattering traps and patience testing puzzles that would drive even the most level headed gamer completely insane. I’m giving SAW II Flesh and Blood 6 out of 10, its a lot better than the first one but there is still room for some serious improvement.

What I’m Listening To: August 2012

2012-08-29T14:14:00.001+01:00

Music plays a big part in my life and over the last few months I have been listening to a lot of new and old material from some of my favourite bands, mostly Metal.

“Human Remains” – HELL

The debut album by NWOBHM band HELL is quite simply perfect. The vocals and presentation are all top notch delivering thrills and chills in a way that no other band ever could. HELL are a band I’d seriously recommend for Metal lovers everywhere, you will be kicking yourself wondering why you waited so long to discover such a brilliant band.

My favourite track off the CD would be “plague & fyre” a powerful song about England’s darker days, “the oppressors” and “let battle commence” are worth a notable mention too. For their time HELL were years ahead of everyone else in terms of music creativity and genius, on first listen to Human Remains it’s clear that even now they are still way ahead of the competition. [10/10]

HELL recently played Dublin [©LisaTiffanyPhotography-HELL]

“Relapse” – Ministry

This is Ministry’s newest album since The Last Sucker back in 2007, Al seems to have lost none of the spark which made Ministry such a powerhouse to begin with. His views certainly haven’t changed, the distain for the political wrongness in the world has always fuelled their work. This time around he seems to be addressing more recent events like the occupy movement, that’s not to say the drugs and addiction aren’t part of the mix, as the title suggests it’s still a big part of the lethal concoction that Ministry deal so well to its legions of fans and willing listeners.

Tracks like “99 percenters”, “ghouldiggers” and of course “relapse” all have an instant click quality about them however the remaining tracks take a few listens to sink in, I’ve always found Ministry's previous material to work the same way but to me that’s always been a bonus because it’s always kept me coming back for one more fix time and time again. [9/10]

“Antennas To Hell” – Slipknot

Unfortunately this release wasn’t a studio album full of new material, rather it’s a carefully selected compilation of Slipknots greatest tracks and fan favourites. For good measure they included a second CD which features their entire set from 2009’s Download Festival in the UK. Since I already had the previous CD releases from the band I listened to the 2nd Disc a lot more.

Slipknot themselves are adamant in the idea that its a showcase of where they came from, their struggles and victories since they originally joined in the mid nineties. While I do wish they would release a new album I have to say there is a lot of value to be had in Antennas to Hell, the tracks that were selected are some of their best work hands down and its a great addition to any fans collection. To be honest I’d buy it for the bonus CD alone. [8/10]

“Born Villain” – Marilyn Manson

I was wary when Manson’s newest album was released, he pretty much owned the 90’s with albums like Antichrist Superstar and Holy Wood. His more recent releases have seen a drop in quality, the usual mix of violence, sex drugs and rock n roll were there but were hidden under layers of personal pain and suffering that many just wanted to avoid. Born Villain is more than a revisit to the older days its a perfect comeback from a band that still has more than enough in them to keep making great music. It’s a lot heavier and more aggressive than the likes of The High End of Low, tracks like “hey, cruel world” and the excellent cover of “your’e so vain” really stand out and call for repetitive listening.

Manson has always been an artist that most people have gotten the wrong idea about yet he has always possessed a unique way of providing social commentary in his work, in this comeback album he seems to be returning to that complex way of making music. It may not be another Antichrist Superstar but it will provide Manson fans the closure they needed after The High End of Low and Eat Me Drink Me made so many doubt that they still had what it takes. Legal battles and personal relationship nightmares behind him Manson is back on track, the only downer is the artwork, considering his older albums its rather lacking in personal artistic originality. [9/10]

“Avengers Assemble” – Various Artists

I used to be a real sucker for soundtracks that were as the label states “inspired by the film”. I haven’t actually seen The Avengers movie so I don’t know how much of the music features in the finished picture. I didn’t have high expectations for the soundtrack and to a lot of people it seems overly mediocre, however its the gems like “live to rise” by Soundgarden and “I’m alive” by Shinedown that really made it stand out to me. Even Bush makes an appearance with the fantastic sounding “into the blue”.

I think with this kind of line up you either love or hate it. It’s easily accessible to most listeners and definitely radio friendly, as with most soundtracks that’s exactly what the record company looks for so its no surprise that so many people are at odds with the soundtrack. [8/10]

And the rest:

“Dead End Kings” – Katatonia [9th album from doom kings Katatonia, some great tracks on there but I always find with doom Metal it can be a little heavy going with constant listening.]

“Harakira” – Serj Tankian [Serj’s 3rd album seems a lot more loose than his previous work, its catchy but I still prefer his days with System of a Down.]

“Band Of Brothers” – Hellyeah [The songs don’t have a lot of meaning to them but that doesn’t hold it back from being a hard rocking album. The title track Band of Brothers is the ultimate stomp your feet and put your fist in the air kind of song.]

“Fight Like A Girl” – Emilie Autumn [She’s always had a unique approach to both making and performing music, this album is no different and perhaps one of her best to date.]

“L’Enfant Sauvage” – Gojira [5th album by French Metal band Gojira, its a pretty much flawless CD with great vocals and killer guitar work.]

“Holiday At Lake Bodom” – Children Of Bodom [More of a compilation than a new album, the new cover of “shipping up to boston” is one of my favourite tracks on there.]

“Opus Eponymous” – Ghost [The debut album by Swedish Metal band Ghost is quite simple brilliant, its a hauntingly beautiful album for someone looking for something a little different than mainstream Metal.]

“Blood Of The Saints” – Engel [Another Swedish band this time with a 3rd album, not as catchy as their previous 2 albums but great all the same.]

“Dark Adrenaline” – Lacuna Coil [Like most Coil albums this one instantly jumped out at me, it’s not as heavy as some of their other albums but songs like “give me something more” and the fantastic REM cover “losing my religion” put it up there with some of my favourite albums of the year.]

“Bye Bye Lullaby” – The Murder Of My Sweet [Sweden again with yet another female fronted band, there are some guest appearances from members of bands like InFlames/Soilwork and Opeth. While there are a lot of similar styled bands out there TMOMS seem to have a fresher approach to gothic and melodic music.]

Photography 2012–Highlights

2012-08-28T19:24:00.001+01:00

I’ve been shooting a lot of events and gigs this year so I thought I would arrange some of them in an easy to read and accessible list, to view one of them just click on the link, it’s that simple. I’ll add to the list as I shoot more shows/etc.

Music Photography

HELL / Elm Street / Twisted Wrath / RBOTN / Bakken

Trash Talk / Wounds / Loose Nut

Sepultura / Pagan Riot

Iced Earth / Absolva

Dead Aeon / Shattered Skies / Aeternum Vale / Taibshe / Eazy Tyger / Aesect / Hostile Ground

Belt Buckle Overdrive / Wolf Regime / Pagan Riot

Snowblind / Kerouac / Taibshe / Faith In The Autumn / The Forbidden Itch

Venus DeVilo / Beau Peekaboo / CJ Skyes / Sinestro

Xeronun / The Lizzy Experience / Venus DeVilo

Music Promo & Portraits

Events

Dublin Zombie Walk

Dublin Zombie Walk (promo work)

Bray Air Spectacular

Bavaria Dublin City Races

Dublin Offline Conference

American Pie: Reunion

Air Corps 90th Anniversary

Easter Rising Commemoration

Irish Model Convention

Acta / Sopa Ireland

Playing Catch Up: Gaming [ps3]

2012-08-28T18:09:00.001+01:00

I have been ridiculously busy over the last few months (year?) and haven’t posted since February. I’ve been working on countless shows and gigs shooting all kinds of bands and events all over Dublin and elsewhere. As for gaming the summer has made it take a serious backseat but with the coming winter months down the line I’ll be getting back into gaming soon. And because as everybody knows the games companies always try to flaunt and flog their biggest titles for Christmas I’ll be adding a bunch more titles to my collection.

I’m looking at the list of games I’ve reviewed versus those that I’ve actually played and so far the ones that have been played and lack a review would be the following:

Batman Arkham City
Assassins Creed Revelations
The Sims 3 Pets
Battlefield 3
Modern Warfare 3
Skyrim
SAW 2
SSX
Saints Row The Third
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues / Honest Hearts / Lonesome Road

Along with those I should be buying the following when they are released and reviews should hopefully follow:

Grand Theft Auto 5
Borderlands 2
Hitman Absolution
Aliens Colonial Marines
Assassins Creed 3
Far Cry 3
Metro: Last Light
Sniper 2: Ghost Warrior

ACTA In Ireland

2012-02-17T14:09:00.002+00:00

For the past month I have been shying away from my usual vices such as videogames and movies to cover something a lot more important and a lot more urgent. We all know the affects SOPA was going to have on the internet and the basic privacies of millions of people. The online community responded swiftly by blacking out as much of the web as possible, sites like wikipedia went dark in protest to the bill and even photo giant flickr offered users the ability to block out their chosen images. Millions of people all over the web joined the many online protests and soon enough their voices were heard.

The same cannot be said about ACTA, the European counterpart of SOPA. This is due partially to the fact that governments have been deliberately keeping people and the media in the dark, in Ireland especially they don’t want you to know ACTA even exists because if the public know then they might try to also have their voices heard.

Protesters take to the street targeting ACTA

Over the last three weeks Dublin has seen many protests and debates on the dangers of ACTA, but still most people on the street don’t know what it is or what affect it could have on business and privacy. I made sure to attend and photographically cover as many of the protests as possible so feel free to head on over to flickr and check out my collection of photos. We all have to do our own part to educate others on what’s going on behind their backs, I hope in some small way I did mine.

Skyrim: Don’t install on the Xbox 360

2011-11-14T14:38:00.001+00:00

What once was a rumour has now been confirmed by many 360 users. It seems that Xbox 360 users have been having major issues with Bethesda’s latest addition to the Elder Scrolls series. While most games consoles benefit greatly from a game install (Fallout3, Rage) Skyrim on the 360 has been having nothing but graphical issues. When the game data is installed on the console it should be a more pleasant experience with less loading times and a smoother resolution, instead what is happening is a severe lack of proper visual quality such as loss of frame-rate and poor textures. Since I only play Skyrim on the Ps3 I have not noticed this personally, how ever a large number of people are reporting the issue so for the mean time it’s probably best to play the larger than life Skyrim directly off of the game disc – as of writing this there has been no notice on the release of a patch to fix the problem. Skyrim is out now on the Ps3 / 360 and the PC, and I’ll be reviewing it very soon.

Modern Warfare 3: first day impression

2011-11-09T04:17:00.001+00:00

Another big game gets released and as a first day buy I thought I’d write yet another first impression, again this is not a review as that will come later. Most people seem to gravitate to either BF3 or MW3, it usually ends up in you either love one and hate the other. After playing both all the way through the campaign and through the multiplayer I have to say I do recommend both games but for different reasons – in a nutshell BF3 has the better multiplayer and MW3 has the better single player campaign. Popping on MW3 today I wasn’t at all surprised to see an almost identical start and menu screen to the previous modern warfare title, giving it the benefit of the doubt I went right in and started the campaign.

The game continues right after where MW2 left off, and to be honest I didn’t really like the first few missions because they were trying too hard to shock and awe me with all kinds of over the top scripted events. It’s fine to have one or two in there but having so many in one mission just makes it too unbelievable to think you really could do what was being done on screen, the rest of the campaign does have similar events but they are a bit more believable and for a Call of Duty game that’s saying a lot. The controls handled very well and I saw no real differences between them and what was used in the previous games, even if you aren’t familiar with the game the controls are easy to pick up. The weapons handled pretty well and looked realistic but firing an RPG didn’t feel right, my character barely flinched as it rocketed away.

In past Call of Duty games I never felt too engrossed in the story or in the characters but this time I found I was paying a lot more attention to the characters and really liked how they dealt with the story. While the first few missions are based in the States the next remaining batch are dotted around locations such as London, Somalia, Germany, Paris and Prague, maybe I found it easier to relate to the game because I felt closer to the European cites portrayed in the game than in the States. As for the maps themselves and the overall design I was very impressed, familiar cities of the world looked brilliant and I noticed it was less closed than I expected. Instead of just having to run through a street in a straight line it gave me the choice to cut through buildings or shops, I liked that they put all of that in and it helped keep the game more interesting and certainly less linear.

The multiplayer is the main reason a lot of people will buy MW3 and given its popularity between both casual and hardcore gamers I can see why. I’ll admit that having played the multiplayer online for a few hours I do enjoy BF3’s multiplayer more, it’s simple really MW3’s is more of an arcade shooter laden with perks and bonuses while BF3’s is more gritty and has a more urgent sense of realism to it. There is no shortage of guns and equipment in MW3 online, I started off with a fairly standard pistol and submachine gun and had no problems gunning down players unlucky enough to cross my patch. The perks are all back as are the missile strikes and attack helicopters, I didn’t much care for these in MW2 but it didn’t spoil my most recent experience.

There was a lack of campers and that definitely helped keep me playing, even random running and gunning seemed to be few and far between. The maps were ok but I only played 5 or 6 of them and I’m sure there are still a lot more to see. All in all the online multiplayer hasn’t really changed that much but it’s changed enough to keep fans of the series busy and happy. Spec Ops mode was the main reason I bought the game because I enjoy having the option to play offline in split screen, again this didn’t disappoint. The missions in Spec Ops are fun and there is a new survival more that I enjoyed, it’s early days yet but I’m sure I’ll like the rest of the content Spec Ops have to offer. So the main question would be is Modern Warfare 3 worth the price tag? As a first day buy and as a first impression I’d have to say yes, fans of the series will love it and I’m really looking forward to reviewing it soon.

Rage: game review (ps3/360/pc)

2011-11-07T06:32:00.001+00:00

When the makers of the iconic Doom and Quake series set their sights on a modern day shooter they may have set them a little too high because while Rage has its good elements the main problem is it looks too good ..or at least it’s supposed to, the truth is a little more colourful. It’s extremely rare a game will slant my opinion on it in such a short time and I never in million years thought Rage would be the one to do it but my initial response to the game was that of surprise and not in a good way. Rage starts like many shooters in a post-apocalyptic world where you as a survivor must do what you can to make the world a better place, by that I mean shoot and blast your way through the hordes of scavengers and bandits that rule the wastelands with mad max like brutality.

The reason this time for the earth being such a mess is an asteroid has impacted and changed life as we know it, the remaining people who are left over are either organized gangs of bandits and mutants or regular people trying to make a life for themselves, you on the other hand have been secretly stashed away in an underground bunker as a sort of failsafe or last chance for the earth but the life support system has malfunctioned and the rest of your comrades have all died. The world of Rage is brutal and just as you emerge from the bunker you are immediately set upon by wastelander bandits, saved by a stranger you then have to repay him by doing little odd jobs around the area and that to me is the whole game a series of odd jobs that don’t really pertain to the furthering of any cause or even story because while Rage doesn’t lack much on the shooter side it seriously lacks a proper story or sense of progression.

Before Rage was released I keenly followed many stories and articles about how it would play and above all how it would look, many sites and magazines talked about the super textures it would feature making it one of the most advanced and realistic looking games on the market. I’d heard a lot about the textures and did expect a very lush looking and vibrant game, while the character animations do look fantastic and very life like the game itself suffers from the worst popin I have ever seen and probably ever will. The popin I’m referring to is a constant shift of focus and clarity when your character moves or looks from one direction to the next, while most games have a certain amount of popin Rage goes above and beyond the call of duty. The first thing I saw in the game and it looks stunning was the sky ..it would since it unlike the textures is just painted in but once I looked from one corner of the screen to the next it took about five seconds for the graphics to load up properly so all I saw was a blurry patch of ground or wall. While you would expect it’s a temporary thing it really isn’t and lasts the whole way through the game never even letting up for a second, the reason is simple current game consoles can’t handle super textures because the internal readers are not fast enough so naturally Rage suffers – I’d not call it a game breaker but at the same time the popin was so bad I felt the need to quit many times. Soldiering on through the game it took about three hours of playing until I felt immersed enough to making a difference. Given the game had such a huge install file with mind numbingly bad popin it did have some redeeming features so I do think it deserves a review and if like me you do give it a chance you might just like what you find.

So what makes Rage different than other similarly styled shooters, it’s a mixed bag really while it does have the usual fire and forget simplicity there are some interesting things that Rage does better than its rivals. Rage plays like a mix of Borderlands and Fallout, the gaming map is not huge and sadly even if you do find something to explore you really won’t find anything off of the beaten track which is a shame because the game comes across as an open world shooter when really it’s not. You can jump into vehicles made from beat up scrap metal and that will get you around faster but if anything it hammers home the fact that the world is restricted in its size, there are of course some plus sides to being able to use vehicles. Available in the game are a series of races which can be done once you have the appropriate vehicles and mods, that’s right you can modify your vehicles to make them more resistant to damage/faster/and even kit them out with guns and missiles and while all that sounds like fun it can be until you realize the actual races are a piece of cake to complete.

Perhaps the developers were trying to make the racing segments accessible to everyone but what they did was make it much too simple to pose an actual challenge and I would have completed them all if not for the game doing something really annoying which I’m about to address. I can name a few games which close certain aspects or mini games once you reach a certain part of the story but the scale Rage does it is unacceptable. Near the end of the game and without warning games like racing get closed down so you can’t compete in them anymore and if you were after 100% game completion you will have no choice but to replay the whole game again, while that might not sound like a big deal I found plenty of trophies/achievements were unattainable for that very reason. The mini games when playable can actually be a lot of fun, featured is Tombstone (a sort of digital chess with lashings of violence) 5 finger filet (think bishop in Aliens with the knife on the table and you got it) Strum (a miniature version of Guitar Hero) and one of my favourites a card game which relies not only on skill but on you to find and collect the many game cards hidden all over the game. While these mini games can serve as a distraction from the main game the missions themselves are so repetitive and uninspiring that there really isn’t a lot to be distracted from in the first place.

From start to finish the only mission that really stood out for me involved being a contestant in a game show where your very life was at stake, you win cash by staying alive and getting kills but with hordes of mutants trying to stop you it’s not easy. There are of course other missions that show a glimmer of hope but I found the more I tried to enjoy the action the more something else would crop up making me feel like I was accomplishing nothing and if I was no one cared. While there are some interesting characters expertly voiced the story seems to go nowhere and when I did feel a change of pace it turned out the game was over with one of the shortest and most abrupt endings I have ever seen. Even with the extra missions offered from random characters and from notice boards the lifespan of the game is far too short to make a serious ripple compared to other games that offer a similar campaign but more diverse multiplayer, Rage does have a multiplayer but again it’s limited because its mainly all about driving around shooting the competition so don’t expect the usual run and gun deathmatch fiasco because it’s not there.

Like many shooters you will find to progress you need better guns and ammunition and Rage doesn’t let you down here because not only can you acquire all manner of guns you can also build and modify gadgets that can be used to exploit the enemies weakness or simply kill them. By doing jobs you earn money but you also find money on downed enemies or hidden across the game map, the money can then be used to purchase guns/etc but better than guns were some of the various gadgets you can build such as explosive radio controlled cars/gun turrets and little robots that follow you around blasting everything in your way. It’s these little gadgets that make the game different than other shooters but for the traditional shooter fan there are plenty of rifles and machine guns to keep even the most frag happy busy throughout the game – budding robin hoods will also find the crossbow very useful. The bandits and thugs you face do make up a big part of the game and there has been a lot of thought and work put into keeping them rather unique and interesting, the ones that stood out for me were a group of Russians who were obsessed with technology so they had all kinds of traps and weapons at the ready. Something Rage implements well is the reaction of an enemy when wounded or shot, some are very fast and will dodge or jump out of the way when you attack but when you do hit them they stumble or grasp the wound in the way you would expect if it were real life.

Other than the human element you also come across mutants throughout various areas of the map and while most of them only take a few shots there are some that merit the extra special attention that only a whole bag of ammo and a rocket launcher can deliver. I expected the game would have a nice healthy amount of bosses and super enemies that would really bring the game into its own but I counted a very small few and even the ones I did meet were easily defeated in no time at all, I could have sworn I’d seen clips of bosses that were never put into the finished game and given how bad the popin was I’m not surprised. Rage at its core tries to be an excellent game offering a unique experience but the closer I looked the more I saw that held it back from greatness, there is a certain degree of unfinished product that radiates from Rage that probably wouldn’t have been so obvious if the game hadn’t been so hyped up in the first place.

Painfully numbing popin aside Rage does look visually near perfect to anything else on the market, the physics engine works brilliantly and given how demanding the visuals actually are it’s the little things like water and dust that really make your jaw drop. Racing along through the wasteland in a beat up wreak of a car with dust and debris flying is an enjoyable experience, the terrain when properly visible does look astounding and even the cut scenes are beautifully rendered to the point where you forget you are playing a game until of course you step out of the car and start going through the game on foot again and notice the sharpness and clarity popping in and out. The world of Rage is less laid back than it feels, the people who you think you are helping or are helping you have a real knack of lulling you into a false sense of security but once you leave the safe zones you are back in bandit country and they will make your stay there very short if they spot you. The game environments both inside and out are highly detailed and give you a lot to look at, there is a real sense of thoughtful construction in many of the buildings and complexes I just wish I could have viewed them without graphical errors. The main things I liked about the game were the complex character movements/model animation and the ability to upgrade all of your weapons and gadgets. As a traditional shooter Rage works perfectly but it’s not and the developers made no secret of trying to embed a story with added desperation so once you did get into it you expect a lot more especially from the ending, it’s a lot of fun shooting down whatever tries to kill you but garnishing it all with a story that goes nowhere ruins the flow and leaves the player feeling cheated.

I tried very hard to like Rage and as a shooter alone it did satisfy, my biggest advice would be to play the game and ignore what little story is there that way when nothing gets resolved you will feel less cheated. I did however like how the weapons handled and loved how powerful and solid they felt, every impact is reacted to and you can sense the carnage you are dishing out. There is a nice escalation of difficulty between the different enemies and you will find you have to adapt and become creative with combat manoeuvres in order to not get overwhelmed by the attacking forces ahead and around you. Having gadgets and creating gadgets is something that I felt made a big part of the game especially when I got to the last few missions, deploying sentry turrets and bots definitely saved my skin more than once. The rate at which enemies will adapt and avoid your bullets is truly frightening, not only will they duck or leap out of the way they will dart up and across the ceiling scaling their way either to safety or right up next to you ready to pounce with the deadly precision of a king cobra. Car mode in the multiplayer can have its fun moments but I really would have preferred some maps on foot with the possibility of death match or capture the flag, given the developers history with games like Doom and Quake you would not expect that to be too much of a tall order. What they did do however was include a co-op mode which although doesn’t pertain to the actual campaign mode itself it does let two players stand together in a battle to get the most kills, it’s a diversion but not much of one because it gets old quick.

Rage tells me a lot about the developers of the game, they avoid a strong story element and instead opt for a heavy handed shooting experience that while a lot of fun is too brief. The game controls well and the mechanics are solid and feel like they do what you want them to do but I seriously doubt they tested the game and if they did its unacceptable to ship it knowing the popin was so bad , some people suggested it would work if the popin was patched but as part of the games core it can’t be patched without gutting the engine and rebuilding it from scratch. The characters and people you meet along the way are realistic and help give the game a heightened sense of reality but at the end of the day none of them do or say anything too memorable meaning you will forget it all very quickly. It may have won a whole host of awards at shows like E3 but I feel it was unfinished and lacking depth in the story department, you may argue that shooters don’t need stories but you can tell they were trying to implement one at the start and when they reached the middle they just gave up leaving the player unsatisfied and wanting. Rage could have been one of my favourite games of the year but it has too many problems that can’t be fixed with a simple patch so I’m giving Rage a 6 out of 10. I’d not recommend it for retail but it’s definitely worth a rental, think Mad Max mixed with Borderlands ..a side helping of Fallout all served up on a bed of Doomsday and you have Rage.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (ps3/360)

2011-11-01T05:01:00.001+00:00

Ace Combat has always had a history of being the crème de la crème of flight fighter sims on the playstation and playstation 2, unfortunately years later the same cannot be said about the latest release in the series. First off Ace Combat Assault Horizon is not a bad game it is actually a lot of fun the only problem is Namco have gone to the trouble of fixing something that really wasn’t broken and what you are left with is a level of unrealistic yet highly accessible fighting and flying. If like me you played many of the older games in the series and thought the newest one would follow much in the same manner then I’m sorry to say that’s not the case, but all is not lost because there is a lot about the game that really makes it stand out among other recent flight sims. It’s easy to assume Namco made all the new changes in order to breathe new life into their highly popular franchise but you can’t help but wonder are the helicopter door gunner and C-130 segments a sign that it’s been influenced too much by games like Modern Warfare and Medal of Honour – both games are good but it’s a dangerous trend to follow that can often result in unimaginative gameplay that screams déjà vu. Though Ace Combat is in some ways guilty of the same influence it does have a trick or two up its sleeves.

The game does have a story and for the most part it’s not too bad but at best it’s predictable, given the aerial action is the centre point the story really isn’t something you will be paying attention to in the first place. In the past Ace Combat games have been exclusive to fighter jets and that worked, while reimagining the game it seems that Namco thought planes alone wasn’t enough. While jets do feature 80% of the time and work very well the added helicopter missions are a lot of fun and it keeps the game interesting when you have to adapt to a new style of flight but it’s nothing that’s not be done before. Anyone who played Apache Air Assault will be very familiar with what Ace Combat has done, the only helicopters available are an Apache and a Russian Hind – they do pack a punch and add a little extra to the game but you can only use them on helicopter specific missions. Also included is a mission where you are a gunner on a chopper and must hit ground targets and soldiers, again its interesting and fun but it’s been done to death by similar games – even the token C130 bombing run is included. It’s a shame the developers thought they had to add all the extra razzle and dazzle to sell it to today’s audience and I can’t help but think if they concentrated only on the jets and planes the game would have been more of a success especially with the fans.

My biggest complaint was that the game didn’t stand up to the realism and expectations that it built up, many past Ace Combat fans are use to a certain learning curve and even with the advanced controls activated it’s still too easy. To really hammer home how easy the flying can be one of the modes known as DFM (dog fighting mode) thrusts the player into a close up battle of break neck speed with explosive results, sounds good right? – Unfortunately no this is another example of fixing something that isn’t broken and here is why. To activate DFM you have to fly up behind the enemy at close enough range, once active your plane gains a sort of phantom autopilot that perfectly guides you through danger leaving you to blanket the enemy aircraft in gun and missile fire. While that may sound like fun the auto pilot is too linear and often sets you off on a scripted flythrough that feels more like a ride at universal studios than an actual dog fight.

Dog fighting mode is probably one of my biggest gripes with the game, you can successfully shoot down aircraft by not getting too close but it seems like it’s geared towards having you dog fight as much as possible. My assumption is they included this new mode to bring the player closer to the action but being that it can become so linear and the auto pilot takes over you never really feel like you are the one in control of the game – it might have looked good on paper but the end result is not pretty. Controlling the planes in the game is easy enough and the learning curve is short enough that in under an hour you can become an ace pilot in both manoeuvres and in combat. I love that the developers have made the game more open to newcomers but at the same time they have dumbed down too much of the controls and even the action, while engaging aircraft in dog fighting mode even if you try to crash into buildings or in my case the ground you just can’t do it and I personally think this kind of scripted event has no place in a flight sim.

It’s not all doom and gloom as Ace Combat is a beautiful looking game with painstakingly brilliant visuals both in the air and on the ground. Each plane in the game is perfectly rendered and the work done truly is exceptional, especially when it comes to the explosions and near perfect bleeding of metal. When firing upon the enemy you will see chunks being ripped from its body until its completely gutted and either bursts into flames or simply breaks apart in a hail of sparks and shrapnel. It’s very satisfying seeing your rounds rip apart the enemy reducing them to pieces but often too many times that means jumping right back into the pre-scripted DFM mode so you often end up back at square one on your round trip of repetitiveness. The game scores very high in the sound department, the planes and weaponry all sound exceptional but the real beauty is in the soundtrack. Ace Combat games have a history of featuring very well made music and Assault Horizon is no exception, it’s certainly a driving point of the action and a huge bonus point that the soundtrack CD came with my version of the game. Being that most of the game is set in Africa a lot of the maps are made up of deserts, there are also snowy mountainsides and very impressive renderings of Dubai and Moscow that definitely merits a mention. Most of the missions are straight forward enough and will either involve you taking down enemy aircraft in the area or targets on the ground such as troops and tanks.

To help you dominate the skies all manner of missiles and bombs can be unlocked for your various aircraft, unfortunately though the upgraded hardware will help it only serves to drain even more of the challenge away from your experience. Since Ace Combat is all about the planes you would expect they put the work in and recreated some real gems. In previous games you had to buy new planes but here you are awarded them after missions, thankfully there are enough to give the game a little more spice and variety. Notable mentions include the F-22A Raptor, Typhoon, F-16C Fighting Falcon, JAS-39C Gripen, Rafale M, AH-64D Apache, Mi-24 hind and my usual favourite the Russian Su-47 Berku. They all look sound and perform brilliantly unfortunately some of the aircraft in the game is mission specific so you can only use them for particular missions that require aircraft of that type and roll. Eventually you unlock a few different paint schemes for your aircraft but the majority of paintworks seem to require buying them as DLC which is a shame because once you finish the game there is not too much incentive to go back and do it all again. When you do complete a mission you are given the option to go back and play it through online co-op with a friend, and if that’s still not sociable enough there is always the multiplayer with its addictive domination and death match modes.

Assault Horizon is really a bag of mixed tricks, on the one hand the game is very accessible to casual gamers and newcomers but to the hardcore fans it’s slightly insulting to the point that you will forget you are even playing an Ace Combat game. Games like Gran Turismo have successfully revamped what they stand for and what they do but it seems that somewhere along the way Ace Combat got not only lost but confused. The comparisons to missions in Modern Warfare and similar shooters are too in your face to just brush them under the rug and forget about them. The game mechanics work when you are in-flight but once autopilot kicks in and steals the action the realism grinds to a halt. I really wanted to like this game and in some ways I still do but after playing through it and completing everything the game had to offer I’d have to recommend it for rental only.

It seems many developers are setting a dangerous new precedence which involves revamping a series to what they think is a near perfect representation of their chosen field, realistically what they end up doing is gutting it then dressing the remains in fancy ribbons that fall off once you give it a serious test run. To add insult to injury the rinse and repeat element to Ace Combat is such that for the entire game just relying on lock on missiles will get you through mostly in one piece. There are too many things wrong with the game to make it a top class combat flight sim, I’d liked to have given it a higher score but it proves too much how a perfectly good franchise can be ruined by reinventing its ins and outs. I’m giving Ace Combat: Assault Horizon a 6 out of 10 – this is one ride that’s not worth the purchase price but as a rental it will definitely pass the time.

Battlefield 3: day one on the frontline

2011-10-29T06:40:00.001+01:00

This is not a review for Bf3 so don’t expect my usual high polished professionalism and attention to detail (really don’t), there will of course be a review soon enough – this is simply a brief description of what I experienced on my first day playing one of the most anticipated games of all time. Firstly I heard a lot of negative remarks about the single player campaign so I honestly didn’t expect a lot right there ..wrong. the campaign is actually very good and does tend to draw you in very quickly. The first few missions were kind of mediocre but after about an hour into the campaign it got very fast paced and very involved. The visuals in the campaign were absolutely stunning, the lighting and smoke effects were jaw dropping.

A perfect example was one of the levels set at night where I could see enemy flashlights ahead piercing through the smoke and darkness, it was hard to snap to action when the visuals demanded so much attention. The friendly AI is for the most part pretty good and they don’t seem to hog the spotlight too much leaving you with nothing to shoot. the enemy AI can be quite brutal at times but I find many shooters to be brutal until you learn the basics. The missions did seem a little linear with a lot of scripted events but it was never enough to make me complain. In short the single player campaign is not half as bad as some reviewers have previously stated, linear or not its a whole lot of fun packed full of heart pounding moments and fire fights.

Ok onto the multiplayer, the reason why many people will get the game in the first place. Guns and lots of guns! there is no shortage of weaponry in BF3, anything I used from rifles to handguns all looked and sounded very authentic with a lot of upgrades to unlock. The first time I tried the online I got blown to bits after about one minute, I quickly respawned and jumped back in to see what would happen next. Looking around the main staging area I was treated to having the option of jumping into a jet / tank and even a little jeep, naturally my curiosity got the best of me so I climbed right into the pilot seat of the first thing I saw with wings. Staying in the air was not an easy task, I stayed airborne for a minute or two but inevitably lost control and crashed into the ground. The controls for aircraft are straightforward enough but keeping them in the air is a whole other story, this was to be expected and I’m glad they didn’t simplify it for the sake of reaching a bigger audience – if you do screw up you can always parachute to safety.

Anything on wheels was easy to drive and I found tanks especially were fast and strong enough to push forward without too much flack. The maps for the game were absolutely brilliant with so many buildings and areas that the possibilities for strategic combat were pretty much limitless. I found the first few times I played with random people it was much harder to gain any ground or get kills, when I joined a match with some friends that all changed. Given the maps are so large you can of course go and do your own thing lone wolf style but if you want to last longer sticking to your squad and working as a team is the way to go. Like I said this is just a brief summary of my first play and though brief I’d already recommend it as the best shooter I have ever played – full review coming soon.

Dark Souls: game review (ps3/360)

2011-10-24T06:27:00.001+01:00

Demon’s Souls was on its arrival quickly tagged as an insanely difficult game, for that reason it both drew players to it but also kept many away. Now a few years later comes the following title in the series, but this time regardless of the high difficulty level gamers are finding it nearly impossible to stay away. Dark Souls is not just more of the same unforgivably hard dungeon crawling it’s a refreshing breath of innovative strategy and brutally punishing death that will satisfy even the most hardcore Demon’s Souls fan for a long time to come. For those of us who stuck with Demon’s Souls to the bitter end there was a tremendous sense of achievement that no other game could replicate. Dark Souls is no exception, it’s equally rewarding and equally hard. If you are up to the challenge and ready for the fight of your life then read ahead.. and prepare to die.

You start the game by building your own custom character, much like Demon’s Souls you are given a choice of classes such as knight / cleric / wanderer / thief / bandit and pyromancer. Each class determines your ability and overall power at using particular weapons and magic spells, as well as your various strengths and weaknesses. It’s a good idea to read through the stats first and judge the character you want but even if it doesn’t go right the first time there is always the opportunity to customize your abilities by levelling up. Oddly enough there is a new class in Dark Souls known only as deprived, you start off without armour and proper weapons instead you have a plank and must build yourself up with any equipment you happen to find – it’s a perfect example of the games unique styling when it comes to putting together a real challenge.

As for the story itself initially it’s rather bare, all you know is you have awoken in an old decrypted asylum and things are about to get a hell of a lot worse. Though you won’t be following a story as such there are tips scrawled into the floor and a very short but to the point tutorial that teaches you the basics of combat and survival. If you take the time to read the tips and master everything from blocking to parrying you will survive a lot longer in your quest, longer but not forever. Dark Souls is all about learning from past mistakes to conquer the next pitfall, that pitfall could be anything from a squad of heavily armed undead knights to a gargantuan demon hell-bent on pummelling you into the ground. Thankfully the combat in the game works exceptionally well so each player is given a fighting chance, constantly pressing the attack button won’t get you far ..if anything it will get you killed even faster. Combat in the game whether it be with mindless foot soldiers of hulking bosses depends on you knowing how to fight, learning to block effectively and with the right shield is paramount to defeating your foe. If you fail to learn an enemies attack patterns or they are strong enough to break through your defences while your stamina is low the result will most definitely be messy. The good thing is most of the enemies are easy to read so getting fatal blows in can easily be dished out in an even flow, not only that but the enemies always respawn in the same locations making it even easier to plan and execute your attacks more precisely.

To help you dispatch the many legions of demons there are all manner of weapons and magic spells available, if that’s not enough armour too can be found all over the game world making it that little bit harder for the forces of darkness to annihilate you. Wandering through Dark Souls you won’t just find swords spears and bows, you will find many magically enhanced weapons that when coupled with the right skills and stats will provide you with invaluable killing tools. Demon’s Souls had so many weapons and sets of armour that in order to use them all you would have to play through the game numerous times, many people did and again in Dark Souls the tradition continues. Since dying is common place and you will die over and over again many people start the game all over again with a different class, I originally started as the thief class then switched to the knight it’s all part of the learning process.

Dark Souls never lets up or apologizes for its unrelenting abuse of the senses, but there are ways to even the odds. When you kill an enemy in the game you are rewarded souls, it can start off low and you have to take out area bosses to gain enough to make a substantial amount but by farming locations you will soon be on your way to going up a level. The catch of course is if you die while carrying your unused souls you will lose them all, they can be gained back if you find the place where you died and touch your bloodstain ..die on the way and they are lost forever. You can also find the slightly more rewarding souls of knights/heroes and warriors on some bodies but its rare so you have to keep your eyes peeled when you are exploring a new area or you could miss them. Souls can also be used as currency to buy weapons/upgrades/spells/armour and so on, just like the weapons and other items in the game there is no shortage of vendors willing to trade their wares for your precious souls. Vendors can be found all across the gaming world and there does seem to be a lot more of them than in the previous game, depending on your current status the items and materials they sell can come in very useful. You could always decide to just concentrate on getting all of your weapons and items off corpses on the battlefield but it’s always worth checking a vendors wares because you never know what they might be selling. Weapons and armour can be upgraded by visiting one of the many blacksmiths you will find, initially they will only make light improvements but once you start finding the right stones and materials more powerful weapons with magic properties can be made.

This time around instead of visiting the nexus and finding herbs to regenerate health you visit bonfires that when lit serve as resting points, while rested you can fill up your health flask and upgrade your skills by spending souls. Be warned that once you rest at a bonfire all of the non boss enemies in the game will automatically respawn, this might sound unfair but it’s a plus because you can keep killing the same enemies over and over again to collect up even more souls. Eventually by progressing through the game and buying certain items from blacksmiths you will be able to do all manner of things from bonfires such as upgrade your weapons and store everything in a bottomless box, given that you pick up so many weapons and armour sets while playing the box soon becomes invaluable.

It’s not always a lonely road in Dark Souls, just like before there is a complex co-op mode that allows players to drop in and out of your game. In most games co-op comprises of a friend helping you out in those tricky moments where the odds really are stacked up against you and though that’s true about Dark Souls it also allows for more sinister opportunities. Playing the game online means you can and will interact with others playing the game, some will leave messages on the ground offering strategy on what’s around the next corner / some will leave summoning signs for you to activate thus drawing them into your world to help you slay the next demon / and some more deviant will use the opportunity to invade your world and kill you so they can steal your souls. The same system was paramount to Demon’s Souls online experience only this time the emphasis is on helping others rather than terrorizing them, by implementing a system where you can report the invading player the game actually punishes wrong doers and makes for a more interesting gaming experience.

Making your way through the gaming world is much more fluid than I expected, from the very start you are given the option to just start exploring not only at your own pace but also in the direction you choose. One thing I really liked was opening connecting areas by unlocking sealed doors or gates that I previously hadn’t got the keys for, the world of Dark Souls can be vast and dangerous so opening doors and activating elevators is something that really shouldn’t be avoided. As for the levels themselves quite a few do remind me of their counterparts in Demon’s Souls, Blighttown for instance is a lot like The Valley of Defilement but its different enough to feel fresh and unseen. The levels are expertly constructed and contain lots of secret rooms and pitfalls that will test you at every turn. Each part of the world has its own specific look and feel, Blighttown is dark and toxic, Undead Burg is a lot like the first area in Demon’s Souls surrounded by high castle walls and crumbling battlements, the Darkrook Gardens are lush and green but contain deadly secrets all of their own, there really are so many painstakingly detailed areas to explore that I can’t possibly talk about them all.

The detail and graphics really are highlighted in every step of the way, each area has a certain glimmer of authenticity that integrates itself seamlessly into the vast environments you can and will explore. There is a seriously accurate atmosphere to Dark Souls, the threat of defeat and pulverizing death around each corner really radiates from your surroundings and makes you feel that little bit more on edge. The sound effects are nicely done and really don’t seem too different than they were in Demon’s Souls, but then why fix something if it’s not broken. The music does play a bigger part this time and the score is exceptionally well written fitting the game perfectly, though at times it will seem as if there is no score present it manages to sneak up on you right as your combat situation escalates.

The enemies in the game are the second star of the show and command a serious presence around every corner. At first you will tackle mindless undead who are for the most part a pushover, as the game progresses the legions of demons and undead escalate in difficulty to the point where you are up against a serious challenge. Just as the first game had a whole host of infernal demon’s guarding the passages to the next area so too does Dark Souls, and they won’t let you pass without a fight. For the most part it did feel like the bosses were a little easier than those of Demon’s Souls, because not only could I summon up help online I could also summon up the help of offline characters I met by joining special covenants. That said even with the extra help some bosses can be quite the handful and can do more than their fair share or damage to your character. There is a catch in summoning help, since your character is undead you must find and use humanity sprites to restore your human self and interact with other players willing to help you slay an undefeated boss or minor demon.

Humanity is an interesting enough concept that seems to work, it also restores your health so it can be used as an alternative method to staying alive a little bit longer when your flask has run empty. The undead and demons in the game don’t just do physical damage with slashes of swords and spears, some have the ability to curse you which can be devastating if you don’t have the proper tools to reverse it. When cursed you lose a substantial amount of your health and stamina bar and you won’t get them back until you find and take the cure, the first time this happened to me I felt cheated but it helped harden my skills for survival and there was a tremendous sense of accomplishment when I finally had the curse lifted. It’s these little moments of fear and progression that really propel Dark Souls above and beyond the realms of all other games, they are all victories in their own right as everything you work towards is for a reason and it all serves to toughen you up for even more hell raising encounters.

To really grasp the Dark Souls experience you have to play the game with the proper skill and respect it deserves, if you come to it expecting a simple hack and slash romp then the chances are you won’t last very long. Each enemy requires you to learn an attack pattern so you can dispatch them with enough skill that they can’t in turn drain your health or kill you, this takes time effort and above all else strategy. If you go about playing the game properly you will find progression comes much quicker and death comes more sparingly, you can’t escape death because it’s a core element of the learning process and needs to be experienced to toughen you up. The controls for the game are solid and extremely responsive, fans of the previous game will be happy to know what your character has a few new moves such as jumping and plunge attacks that give the combat a more balanced approach.

All that aside there were a few times where I felt the game was tipping the scales too high against me, one particular time involved two armoured archers on either side who had direct line of sight and were able to hit me every time making me plummet to the ground below. It didn’t matter what my skill level was nor what my characters class was the only way across was to not get hit and then take out one of the archers, there was no room to really navigate and the ledge was about a foot wide – it took over 10 tries to finally roll forward across the ledge dodging incoming fire and then dealing with an archer. I knew to expect a serious fight when I started the game because I had played Demon’s Souls long before Dark Souls was announced, but the archer section was a case of the game using a cheap trick to push the difficulty level up another notch and though examples like that are few and far between a lot of players will find those moments unacceptable.

In certain areas of the game you may find the camera can get you killed as you manoeuvre your way through the darkness only to find you are now on your way either off a cliff or into an enemies ambush, though it’s rare that this will happen when it does it can be very frustrating especially if you were carrying a lot of unused souls. Ironically enough the same area where the camera can be tricky is the only area I ever noticed any substantial drop in frame rate and it all was over so quickly it didn’t impact my fun. Those are the only negative points I ever noticed about the game and they are minor in comparison to the epic scale of what Dark Souls has to offer, every little detail is perfectly suited and expertly executed. This is not the kind of game that overloads you in story and lore, instead it distances you from other characters keeping you on a constant battle of survival and strategy.

The difficulty level is continuously adjusting itself so as soon as you beat one enemy you start to encounter more that force you to fight even harder and with more skill, to make things even harder if you die in an area the enemies fight even harder and are more brutal than ever – unfair? That’s just how the game plays out. Its clear Dark Souls aims itself at a specific type of gamer and if you don’t fit the bill you might not last very long, it’s immersive and deeply overpowering with enough lifespan to satisfy even the most hardcore gamer. Demon’s Souls was and still is only available as an exclusive to the ps3 so many 360 gamers could only rely on their expectations and not have the raw power of the original to compare it to, having played both I can say that all of my expectations were more than met in every possible way. It’s not rocket science what the game does but it manages to effortlessly exhaust and drain your senses without skipping a beat, in short it’s a serious dose of psychological warfare that is more than worth the ticket price. I loved every minute of Dark Souls, it rarely frustrated yet managed to keep me motivated enough every time to keep pressing on even when I was getting annihilated by creatures three times taller than me.

It’s rare I give a game serious top marks because realistically they all have some flaws here and there, Dark Souls is quite the opposite it doesn’t apologize for the extreme difficulty but it does reward you for persisting even when the odds are stacked against you. I’m giving the game a well deserved 10 out of 10, the minor issues that I experienced were minimal enough to not result in any hampering of game play. If you liked Demon’s Souls then you will lose your mind when you play its brutal predecessor, if on the other hand you haven’t and are up for a serious challenge then Dark Souls just might be the game for you.

Prepared to Die: a first play of Dark Souls

2011-10-10T04:18:00.001+01:00

Though I review lots of games there are very few I blog about before actually reviewing them, Demon’s Souls was the exception and now Dark Souls follows in those footsteps. I will be writing up a full detailed review of Dark Souls in the near future, until then here is a brief rundown on my first few days of gameplay.

Bonfires serve as checkpoints and a place to rest.

Having had to wait a few extra days for the European release I was really excited to play, and it sure did meet all my expectations and more. After waking up in an old gothic asylum I quickly got to my feet and started exploring, with a broken sword in hand (that’s all they gave me) I carefully ventured through the place but soon met some demons. As you would imagine they were low level demons that were easy to slay, going further still I soon encountered my first boss.

Earlier bosses can put up one hell of a fight

Compared to the first boss in Demon’s Souls it was rather easy to kill and soon I found myself being carried off by a giant bird to an even more expansive world. Straight away the game started to really show that there were many different routes to take so I took the opportunity to explore as many places as possible, naturally the different areas have different enemies with low to high health power so attacking some early on was suicide.

The undead army are worthy foe

The key to really staying alive and pushing through to the next area is to scavenge the best weapons and armour you can find but in Dark Souls that was easier said than done so I spent a lot of time just farming until I’d reach a good enough level to take on the next big task or foe. Unlike Demon’s Souls there was no nexus instead I had to find and light bonfire, when lit they save your progress and give you flasks of health. The online worked well and when I got stuck I easily summoned up another player to help me vanquish a really tough demon, thankfully I wasn’t invaded by a black phantom.

Building an efficient character through upgrades is essential

So almost 3 days in and I have to say I love the game, it’s VERY unforgiving and it makes no excuses about its insistence to punish you for not being strong enough to survive. So far I have defeated quite a few demon bosses and put together a good strong knight character equipped with some very damaging weapons but I still have a ways to go so a full review won’t be posted for another while.

FROM SOFTWARE in join development with SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT JAPAN STUDIO (SCE Japan Studio).
directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FROM SOFTWARE and Produced by Takeshi Kaji from SCE Japan Studio. Music composed by Shunsuke Kida.

The Dark Sacrament: book review

2011-10-07T05:11:00.001+01:00

As an avid reader and collector of occult and paranormal books I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read this powerful book that is based very close to home. Demonic possession is something that shot to light when the movie The Exorcist stunned and shocked audiences all over the world, what followed was a spate of reported cases involving people supposedly possessed or influenced by invisible forces and demons. Regardless of what your view may be when it comes to the existence of these powerful forces and entities The Dark Sacrament will both educate and terrify. Essentially many of the cases in the book lead back to the oppression and possessions coming into being because of the intervention of stronger spiritual forces, the Ouija board in particular is no stranger to the spotlight.

While many of the accounts painstakingly presented in the book can be quite similar the real similarity they feature is the ability to shake your very foundations as to the existence of evil. Each account is expertly researched and transfers to paper perfectly in a way that will keep you coming back for more. While I read vast collections of similar styled books this is the first and only book that has ever actually made me question my own beliefs, the authors really did their homework and it shows at every turn of the page. Truly this is a book aimed at adults only because it deals with some very deep and important issues, while other books have attempted to do the same none have come this close.

The stories themselves are all recounts of the actual individuals who went through their trials and tribulations in the island of Ireland, it’s indeed a unique look into an otherwise unseen world. Though Ireland in the past was known to be in the firm grip of the Catholic Church The Dark Sacrament points to the cases where ordinary everyday people regardless of their belief systems were instead gripped by demonic power. Perhaps one of the most frightening factors detailed was that children too can be just as susceptible to the forces of darkness, and that they don’t always welcome the idea of ridding their demonic oppressors. One of the most memorable stories involved a young boy finding an Ouija board on his way home from school, treated to a magic trick like no other the boys life is soon turned upside down. The demon whom he contacts influences the boys life to the point where he becomes possessed under complete control of the entity, at a loose end his parents contact the local parish priest who in turn recommends an exorcist.

This is where the book really shines, not only are the stories recounted by the individuals themselves but also by the priests and exorcists who had to deal with the darkness they faced. I was very impressed by unravelling process of information held between the pages, though I’m very educated in the ritual of exorcism and the history behind it the authors offer up notes in the final pages that really shine light on everything you ever wanted to know about the subject. While the individuals themselves have had their details changed in order to hide their identities I was amazed to see that one particular person did not, Canon Wm. Lendrum. It was a testament to the man himself that he did not mind being publically identified as one of the main figures people turn to when they are faced with a demonic force. It’s the people like Wm. Lendrum that really make the book special, while you would expect the book to be preachy it does not put any emphasis on what you the reader should believe instead it gives you the facts and lets you make your own mind up. What I really liked was how the authors don’t just tell the stories they actually explain the possibly reasons behind the occurrences and in doing that help others prevent such happenings tainting their own lives.

After studying the occult and paranormal for many years I have come to the conclusion that many people don’t see the dangers in such things as Ouija boards and other means of spirit communication, while it can be done safely it can take a lot of time do it right. What many of the cases in The Dark Sacrament had in common was the obvious lack of education when it comes to such devices, though alcohol abuse and other forms of self abuse can open doors for demonic forces and negative energy the book itself may indeed serve as a way to prevent further escalation of cases.

Exorcism has always been a touchy subject in many countries but none such so as in modern Ireland, thankfully The Dark Sacrament tackles the subject perfectly without ever offending or pushing your own beliefs aside and every page turn is an edge of your seat experience. I recommend the book as a must read, whether you do or don’t believe in the existence of evil you will absolutely love the book – the only problem I found was it was nigh on impossible to put down! – The Dark Sacrament is available from all good bookstores such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Author David M. Keily was interviewed by Jim Harold on the Paranormal Podcast some time back, for fans of the book it to is not to be missed and offers a rather insightful and personal look into the both the creation and research that went into The Dark Sacrament.

Review Score: 10-10

Naughty Bear: game review (ps3/360)

2011-10-07T03:10:00.001+01:00

If you go down to the woods today, prepare to be disappointed. What could have been a great game has unfortunately turned out to be rather poor and lacking real fun. Meet naughty bear, he really isn’t happy with his fellow bears and so decides to go on a kill crazy rampage. He has his reasons though, unlike all the other bears he does not receive an invite to daddle’s birthday party. Poor naughty bear even goes to the trouble of crafting a special gift for daddle’s, however on the way over two other bears mock naughty bear and his gift.. naughty bear then skulks off back home to plot revenge on the inhabitants of the island. And that’s really how it goes, what follows is a lot of carnage ..stuffing will fly but sadly that’s about all.

The first thing that I noticed about the game was the overly dated look, though I was playing it on the playstation 3 it looked like a playstation 2 game. Games in general don’t have to look good for me to enjoy them but a more polished look does inspire me to play longer, Naughty Bear made me do the opposite. The main character of the bear does have a certain charm, he doesn’t talk instead an unseen narrator spins the yarn in the style of a slightly morbid children’s television show. Another issue I found to really hamper the pace of the game was the camera, normally a slightly turbulent camera is not a deal breaker in a game but the camera here will hang behind walls and doors causing you to have to keep centring it again and if you are lucky an enemy bear won’t attack.

The cartoon violence was for the most part quite funny at times but once I got about an hour into the game it really started to feel really repetitive to the point of me putting the controller down and turning the game off. The naughty points system is quite good and it lets you upgrade your bear to use different looks and weapons but again it’s something that only adds a little more lifespan to the game that in the end makes very little difference. Each level in the game world plays the same, find the bears and dispatch them ..maybe scare them first but inevitably the bears must die. Like I said the weapons do add a little spice and naughty bear has many weapons at his disposal including knives and guns.

Unfortunately the cartoon look just hasn’t been met to the standard you would expect from a nextgen console, I expected the developers would easily put together some great lush environments that were both clever and humorous instead they are drab and flat. The controls like the camera are at times very clunky and really drag the flow of the game down to a snail’s pace. For such a game with a lack of gloss to it the frame rate has issues especially when switching between areas of the map. Some are so bad it can result in an actual game freeze and since there is no real checkpoint system in place you will get very frustrated from having to start over again and that in itself might well be enough to make you either turn the game off or toss your controller at the television.

It may seem like all I’m pointing at are the negative aspects of the game but there really are very few redeeming features I can mention. At times there can be what feels like a burst of creativity but it’s so short lived that it will quickly be forgotten. When I have to point out the main menu screen as a positive part of the games design then it’s clear that said game has serious issues. The initial story of Naughty Bear is quite clever and promises a whole lot of laughs and adventure coated in a twisted little murder romp, but none of those promises are met ..apart for the murder of course. Originally I was very excited about the game but upon playing I have to do something I have never done before, and that’s to seriously recommend people not to buy Naughty Bear. As a rental the game might work, its short lived and it’s different but that’s really all.

Like any game there is always someone out there who will enjoy it no matter how bad others think it is and normally I always see something positive in an otherwise mediocre game so maybe it will appeal to someone. In a nutshell Naughty Bear is built in the style of games like Manhunt and Hitman but with bears and cartoon violence, if you like the idea of running around scaring and knocking the stuffing out of your fellow bears then this “might” be the game for you. Otherwise Naughty Bear really doesn’t deliver as a retail released console game, the graphics and sloppy game mechanics are the main choking point but there are too many other problems that stop it from ever becoming a game I would recommend. And so for my final score, I tried to enjoy Naughty Bear and I gave it a few chances to impress but any time I felt like I was having fun something else cropped up to ultimately frustrate and annoy until I eventually quit – Naughty Bear is getting a 4 out of 10. I did enjoy the narration and it was funny at times but even with the added DLC it’s just not enough to keep you going back for more.

The Paranormal Podcast

2011-10-02T03:46:00.001+01:00

It’s no secret that I'm a big fan of almost everything paranormal, from practising tarot and other means of divination to actually studying parapsychology and the occult. And so I'm absolutely delighted to say I finally found a podcast that addresses all these subjects and much more. So what’s it called? Quite simply it’s called “The Paranormal Podcast“ and it’s as the name suggests a podcast that deals with the paranormal and all things spooky. In the past I have listened to a few podcasts and radio shows of a paranormal nature which attempted to explain and educate but they always fell short. There were a few reasons such as hosts not letting their guests get a word in edge ways/poor equipment set-ups which resulted in badly transmitted audio from both the guests and the hosts.. the list goes on and on.

Again The Paranormal Podcast soars above the rest, not only is the audio quality exceptional the host Jim Harold is both sincere and inquisitive, he is not afraid to admit he doesn’t have all the answers and gives his guests ample time to provide a deeper insight into what those answers might be. After listening to my first show I like many listeners was hooked and quickly went about downloading every single episode available, but didn’t that cost a lot? Not at all. Subscribing to The Paranormal Podcast is 100% free which is mind-blowing when you see the wealth of entertainment and education that show delivers over and over again. Jim Harold tackles so many paranormal subjects with an open mind and a professional manner that both draws you in and sends chills through your spine, what subjects exactly?

After listening to every episode i could find I have seen the show feature ghosts and spirits/tarot/ufo’s & aliens/cryptozoology/near death experiences & after death communication/ghosthunting & psychic's/magik & astrology ..and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! The Paranormal Podcast has something for everyone. Other shows too featured guests but for the most part they were unknown and not very professional, instead here we have popular figures such as the legendary author Brad Steiger, Annette Martin, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Dr Bruce Goldberg and even my favourite Irish author David M. Kiely all make an appearance over the vast archive of shows. If you are obsessed or just curious about the paranormal and the unexplained then make The Paranormal Podcast your first stop for all your spooky needs, and if that’s not enough Jim Harold graciously offers yet even more podcasts.

We all love sitting around campfires sharing ghost stories but its not really something we can do on a regular basis, however through the magic of the internet now it’s possible. Jim Harold’s Campfire is a virtual feast of great stories that come from the actual listeners themselves. The stories range from downright scary to humorous and heart-warming, its a rare unseen yet interesting look into the paranormal events that occur around ordinary people every day. Just like the previously mentioned podcast this exciting mix of storytelling and real life happenings is truly not to be missed. If you are a believer or a sceptic or simply just not sure these campfire stories will give you hours of listening for absolutely no cost at all. I as a general rule don’t mention other sites or even podcasts but i genuinely recommend you check out what’s going on over at JimHarold.com and give his podcasts a listen, I know many of you who read my blog on MySpace (over 50,000 subscribers thanks guys!) are into the paranormal too. So give it a try you won’t be disappointed, with Halloween right around the corner it’s the perfect time to tune in.

Driver: San Francisco (ps3/360/pc)

2011-09-23T05:13:00.001+01:00

The Driver series has always been a love or hate it affair with some nice wheel action thrown in ..or at least it used to be, Detective Tanner is back only this time everyone will enjoy the ride.

The story this time is even more far fetched than you could possibly imagine, but if anything it heightens the fun and kicks it into overdrive. When the infamous crime boss Jericho manages to break out of police custody during a prison transfer Tanner is as always quick on his heels. During the pursuit to apprehend the felon Tanner gets involved in an accident, the result is a coma but unlike any other. From his hospital bed he soon realizes he has the ability to interact with the world he left behind in a way he never thought possible, this is where the bold new approach comes into play. Driver games work when it comes to the driving action but once Tanner leaves the car it often results in something completely different altogether, so how did they get around this problem? Tanner uses an ability called “shift”, put simply he can shift into the body of any driver on the road, so there is never a need to actually leave the car physically – at first I thought that was a bit of a cop-out but it works.

Shift is certainly a unique yet fresh idea that really brings the game into its own, it’s not just a gimmick that’s used to cheat you of a controllable character it completely changes the way the game can be played. Freedom is something past Driver games have tried to do offering vast expansive maps of well known cities but this time it’s taken a step further, your feet are literally not touching the ground. Shift lets Tanner inhabit the body of any driver on the road, it’s all at the touch of a button and works brilliantly. At first glance it can appear a bit silly but its such a great tool you will wonder how you played games without it, hovering over the city and shifting into the car of your choice is something you will come to love. So how is shift useful? Picture the scene.. you are racing down the freeway in a police car but the guy ahead is in a Lamborghini and almost impossible to catch, not if you shift into a truck up ahead and ram him head on. Shift is not just there to jump into the nearest car, when used properly it can be the difference between losing or succeeding in a level. It’s something you will use on both sides of the law, Tanner may be a cop but that doesn’t stop him from shifting into the body of a getaway driver complete with a barrage of chasing police cars.

The main game focuses on Tanner trying to play catch up with Jericho, this is done by a slow but deliberate attempt to infiltrate his gang. Along the way Tanner must prove himself as one of the gang by getting involved in get away driving and the like. The story is really not the best and for what it’s worth it doesn’t have to be ..but that’s not to say it’s terrible, a lot of work has been put into making shift mesh well with Tanners surroundings and the people he encounters as he tries to take down Jericho. Interestingly Tanners new reality sometimes blends with the real world, one of the missions involves speeding after an ambulance in a desperate attempt to keep his heart going. It’s these clever little ideas that really pay off in the end but the main story is not all the game has to offer.

Scattered across the map are a very generous amount of challenges/side missions and goals to meet. It’s the side missions where I had a lot of fun, one in particular had me driving under the trailers of semi-trucks to disarm bombs ..while the trucks are thundering down the freeway. Others can involve having to get to a location in a certain amount of time while losing the chasing cops along the way. Many of the challenges are races but not always as straight forward as just come in first, one particular part of the racing challenges you to control a team of two cars, so you shift back and forth to ensure you take both 1^st and 2^nd place rankings, it may sound complicated but like most elements of the game the learning curve is not that steep it’s more like a speed bump. As you would expect when he shifts into the body of another driver he is not always alone in the car so a lot of the conversations from Tanners unassuming passengers can be downright hilarious especially during side missions. Some characters will pop up more than once, a perfect example being a young Japanese student who is trying to pay for his college tuition and so he takes up street racing. Another sees you speeding through the streets in as you try to keep your passengers heart from stopping, and how does that work? Racing through oncoming traffic/drifting/and performing jumps will keep their heart from giving out.

The fun doesn’t end there, hidden across the city are over 50 film tokens, collect enough up and you unlock drivable side missions that are based on famous or iconic movie scenes, feel like speeding away from the cops in the bluesmobile (ford Monaco) it’s in there, or how about Steve McQueens pursuit in Bullitt ..there too. To unlock cars in the game Tanner earns willpower credit (WP), WP is gained by performing crazy stunts and generally driving like a lunatic. Very few games are rewarding in such a way so you are constantly building up credit even if you are not deliberately trying, credit is then used to buy garages across the map and each garage unlocks cars for sale and upgrades to your driving abilities. Abilities like a better boost bar, an improved game radar for finding movie tokens and much more. In short the map is so populated with side missions and challenges that you will never be short of anything to do, they vary in difficulty so no matter how good a driver you are there are always a few left that require tremendous skill.

Being that the game is heavily influenced by cars and motors you would expect a decent amount of vehicles roaming the streets of San Francisco and there is certainly no lack of them but I didn’t expect fully licensed cars and trucks, it’s not just normal cars either. Some of my favourite cars like the Bentley Arnage T/Lamborghini Murcielago/Aston Martin V12 Vantage/Mercedes McLaren SLR/Maserati GranTurismo S and even the Audi S5 Coupe all make an appearance and can be purchased in your garage, unlike many games they don’t cost an arm or a leg either so you will eventually be cruising the beautiful streets of San Francisco in style. Oddly enough the cars handle really well, early reports of the game insisted the handling was dreadful and the cars felt heavy but to me they felt fantastic, the cars move and sound as close to their real counterparts as possible with little or no drawbacks. It’s not all modern cars either, for fans of older motors there is the Shelby GT500/Aston Martin DB5/Jaguar E-Type and a whole lot more, the list of available cars will satisfy even the most hard to please petrol heads.

The single player on its own is fun enough without the need for multiplayer and in true Driver style there is not just online play but a very fun and addicting offline multiplayer done through the magic of split screen gaming. As for the online that too is very addictive! There are nine game modes available that range from races to tag, capture the flag and a lot more. Each mode makes the best of Tanners new abilities so shifting while you are playing a cop in order to catch the getaway driver is unlike anything you ever experienced before, it reminds me a lot of The Matrix where the agents can shift to whichever vehicle will cause the most damage. Just like the main game rewards the player for the effort so too does multiplayer, rewards such as player icons and cars are unlocked as you make your way up in levels. It’s rare I find a multiplayer experience I’ll stick with but Driver implemented shift so well that the multiplayer is insanely addictive in every way possible.

It’s a good looking game too with cars glistening in the sun and sidewalks packed with people who inevitably dive out of the way when you either accidently or purposefully come speeding towards them. The gaming map is huge but not too big that you have to spend forever getting across the city, in short it’s just right. While most of the map is concentrated on the main city blocks you can cruise out across the golden gate bridge and take your ride off-road, San Francisco has never looked so good. While the city can at times look a little flat and not super detailed you really don’t notice as you speed past leaving a trail of smoke and wreckage in your wake. The games frame-rate is nigh on perfect, even when going full speed with boost firing away its hard if not impossible to notice a lack of smoothness. You would assume for such a high powered speedster of a game there would be sporadic loss of picture or frame quality but it’s just not the case, it looks and plays superbly even when pushed to the limit. Sound in the game is everything you would want and more, the actual in game music is controlled by the player and is a funky mix of 70’s rock and the occasional modern day tune to really help you put the pedal to the floor. Traffic and pedestrian sounds are crisp and come across real well even when drowned out with the roar and rev’s of a high powered engine, it all adds to the mood and Driver San Francisco is not lacking in that department either.

So is the game worth getting? Absolutely and it’s a must have for fans of the older Driver games. When it comes to negative marks I’m kind of at a loss, sure the story could be a bit longer and sure the map could be a little more detailed but that’s really my only complaints and even then the game plays so well and looks so well that all they are is minor strikes. If you like racing games especially the Burnout series you will be in for a treat with Driver, the learning curve is miniscule and the controls are so easy to learn you will be shifting and burning rubber like a pro in no time at all. To me the stars of the show are the cars, there are over 100 different motors and they all look the part, given that I didn’t expect such real attention to detail especially licensing it’s been a treat.

While the main missions can be done relatively quick a lot of the side missions and challenges will give the added lifespan of a few days at least, once you complete a challenge you can do it again any time you want, a save+ means once you finish the story you can either remain in free-play mode exploring or finishing challenges, or just play the story again with the skills and cars you already earned. If you want even more value for money then taking a spin in the online multiplayer will give you weeks if not months of high octane goodness. For a game I didn’t expect to be a hit it has certainly proven itself even with the likes of Deus Ex and Dead Island taking most people’s attention, I really loved the game and it’s everything and more you could possibly want from a Driver game. I’m giving this high octane thrill ride a 9 out of 10, if the story had been longer and the map a little more detailed it would have scored higher but as it stands its more than capable of standing up to some of the more recent game releases. Driver San Francisco is out now however PS3 owners should avoid buying it on the PSN as it retails much cheaper in stores.