Author: TheAleosha

Dusk

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 6, 2022

Quake visuals and mechanics, Blood style. Level design is quite unorthodox, though. Secrets within secrets, and some of those are hard to find to begin with. And I think some levels contain multiple keys of the same color.

Speaking of secrets, there are different styles of secrets in games. Destructible objects. Explosive walls. Secret walls. Fake walls. Hidden buttons. Shooting buttons. Unpaved paths. Jump secrets. Teleport secrets. Usually, games establish that they’re doing just a subset of those. Quake does maybe 3-4 of those. Duke Nukem 3D or more widely the Build Engine games, which are notorious for their secretes, do most of them. Dusk does all of them.

One one level, there’s a baseball hoop, which is quite an obvious cue. But the baseball itself is found in another secret. The only way I found about this is from a video guide.

Tags Dusk

*.AVI

Virunga

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 5, 2022

DRC was ruled between 71-97 by a dictator. Then from 2001-2019 there was a “President”. 2019 was the first time of peaceful transition of power.
Rwanda’s “President” rules since 2000, indefinitely.
In between those two countries, there’s the Virunga national park, protected by a bunch of dedicated rangers.
The most impressive part of this documentary is the undercover filming: Congo official trying to bribe the rangers, corporation mercenaries, sorry, contractors, discussing between themselves how Europe should recolonize Africa. What you get when you scratch the civility.

PC Gaming

Prodeus

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 4, 2022

Completed Prodeus.
I didn’t collect enough ore pieces, so didn’t even get to test one of the weapons, the Mammoth revolver. Doesn’t matter, though.
Was surprised that the final gun you get is a chem-gun from Unreal. Not Doom-like weapon at all.
Glad they did add at least one boss to the game. And it’s a rather good boss fight too, if a bit chaotic.

Tags Prodeus

*.AVI

Marcella S01

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 4, 2022

Marcella (spelled MarCHella) was certainly an interesting watch. An example of loose writing, where the author doesn’t even attempt to explain everything.
Why did Marcella move Grace? What did she say to the taxi driver brother to convince that she didn’t kill him? We don’t know. Also notice how her daughter’s death is never fully explained either.
We have another case of omnipotent serial killer. One that knows where his victims will be even though they don’t, can steal any car and shoot anyone silently.
Interesting that it’s not a story about a serial killer at all, in the end, though. Reminds in that aspect “Mare of Easttown“. Another story of a middleaged female cop with lots of family and some alcohol issues.

Tags Marcella

PC Gaming

Prodeus

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 3, 2022

The game managed to surprise me with the sniper level. Snipers telegraphing with laser sights aren’t new. But I certainly didn’t expect to dodge between covers in a Doom-like. You can’t kill them until you reach the end of the level, because they’re behind a force barrier too.
Just like the surrealists rejected photography, that game rejects modern physics engines. Instead we have platforms floating in radioactive waste animated manually, and even more impressively, ruins raising from the sand effects done all by hand.
A problem inherited from the original games, I think: all enemies are introduced quite early. There’s the ice throwing one that appears in the 3rd episode, but most of them are there with you from the 1st. There are reskins (think Hell Knight and Hell Baron from Doom 2) that have more health and some additional attacks, but that doesn’t help much.
Same problem with the arsenal: shotgun becomes obsolete after getting supershotgun, and SMGs are obsolete after you get the Minigun.

Tags Prodeus

Nintendo Switch

Front Mission 1st: Remake

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 3, 2022

Interestingly enough, they decided to remake Front Mission 1. Not just have a port from NDS, which was quite a direct port from SNES, but to actually remake it in 3D:

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/FRONT-MISSION-1st-Remake-2171006.html

I personally don’t see a reason to play it myself, as I completed the game some time ago on NDS. But it would be intersting if they release other Front Mission games for the Switch as well.

Tags Front Mission

*.AVI

Encanto

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date December 3, 2022

I’m really confused what story did they try to tell.
A bunch of families escape some kind of a pogrom. Young father of three kids sacrifices himself so others could escape. His widow is given a Miracle: a magic house, and also each of her descendants gets a magical talent.

Except one of her granddaughters, Mirabella, that is given none. Who decides to give the magical gift? It’s not the House, it doesn’t even have control over some portions of itself. It isn’t Grandmother. Is it the Candle, then?

So, it’s a story about a Magic Candle that decides to randomly give away superpowers to a single family: the Madrigals. They tell us their family name like 20 times, without any good reason. Could be called Smith’s, for all I care.

The magic house starts to crumble, though, and the family members little by little start loosing their magic powers. Mirabella gets a vision that tells her that she needs to make peace with one of her sisters. Why? Their relationship didn’t seem awful before that, and the only reason she hates her now is because the house started crumbling during her engagement dinner, and she blames Mirabella for that.

In any case, Mirabella learns that the sister doesn’t want to marry the guy she’s engaged to. And that’s how they make peace.
Then Grandmother comes and tells Mirabella that she’s responsible for the house crumbling. Mirabella in her turn says that the Grandma is responsible. Again, the only issue we see with this family is somewhat forced marriage, and Grandma despising Mirabella for not getting a magical gift. Do you see we’re going in circles there?
In any case, the house crumbles. But then Mirabella makes peace with her Grandma by saying that she now sees how much she suffered. Suffered how, by living in a magical mansion for 50 years, as a benevolent ruler of a village? I don’t see any suffering going on there.

And the villagers help rebuilt the house. Guess because the family helped with their magical gifts? And then all family members get their magic back. Not the villagers. Those are simple serfs, remember? Only the “royalty” get the gifts.
Does Mirabella get a gift for uniting her family? No. Because fuck her, it’s the Magic Candle that makes the decisions here, and you don’t fuck with the Magic Candle, understand?

Tags Encanto

*.AVI

Event Horizon (1997)

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 29, 2022

Very good character exposition. Notice how literally all of the characters are in the same scene, and each has a different pose that tells something about them.

The 3D elements are literally in the face.

There are some annoying screamers. But they got the atmosphere of Lovecraftian horror just right.

Moreover, the concept of a spaceship that traveled places and became a living organism is very W40K. Suprisingly, this is not even a coincidence, as the writer admitted he was inspired by W40K.

Second part of the movie does feel cramped. Guess that’s where they cut the 40 minutes out.

NDS Nintendo

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

NDS produced some very unique games. To play this one, you need to hold your console on its side, like a book. The backgrounds are 3D, but the characters are animated 2D black and white sketches. Very stylish.
We play Kyle, an ex cop, who now works as a traveling salesman. His boss sends him to Hotel Dusk, no less. Where he by chance gets room 215, that is rumored to grant wishes. There are also other rumors about the hotel: it’s haunted by a ghost of a girl who disappeared there 10 years ago. Her body was never found.
Kyle is haunted by memories of his partner, Bradley, who was undercover in an art smuggling ring known as “Nile”. For some reason three years ago he betrayed both Nile and the police. Kyle shot him in the process, but Bradley’s body was again never found.
Played the game for a few hours already, reached Chapter 3. And until now I still don’t know what kind of mystery it is. Getting some pretty strong Twin Peaks vibes, though.
The further, the worse gameplay becomes, unfortunately.
Pen and chalk puzzle was annoying. Nobody likes pixel hunting.
The main theme of the game is angels. Melissa has an angel doll her mother made her. Writer Summers has a bookmark with reproduction of “Angel Opening a Door”. The same painting Bradley tried to steal from Nile, apparently.

Tags Hotel Dusk

PC Gaming

Prodeus

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 26, 2022

Feels like downport of Doom 2016, which isn’t a bad thing. Imps are just a carbon copy, but other enemies are pretty similar as well: zombies, shotgun zombies, flying round demons that shoot fireballs, bulls-demons that run at you. Arsenal is pretty standard: pistol, double SMGs, minigun. The only slight surprise is that a shotgun can be charged, and that the plasma rifle can “latch” to a target once you land your first shot.

Each level contains multiple ore fragments. And as far as I can tell, some weapons can only be purchased with these. Also, each level contains multiple checkpoints, but if you quit it in the middle, you’ll have to replay it from the beginning. Luckily, those are pretty short: 15 minutes on average.

Although enemies are 2D, the authors did something very smart and rendered them from the top as well, in different perspectives. When you look at them from they top, their sprites aren’t distorted, like in Ion Maiden.

Tags Prodeus

*.DOC

Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 25, 2022

An earlier series from the author of Stormlight Archives.

Interesting that it was published same year as much weaker “Lies of Locke Lamora”, that has a very similar theme of thieving crews stealing from the rich.
The world is a mix of Industrial Britain and colonial America. There’s mist at night, and there’s ash falling from the sky during the day, and most of the population are slaves, working on plantations.
There are recognizable “Witcher” elements as well: as a good-hearted middle aged assassin trains a talented 16-years old girl. Also, they are constantly drinking potions to support their superhuman abilities.
Mistborn are superhumans that get their abilities from consuming (or “burning”) metals.
You can recognize Sanderson’s style – he’s very structural in his descriptions of different abilities: which metal gives which ability, and the different combinations of those. In Stormlight Archives this structure will turn into different types of “lashings” and “spren” and all that.
On one hand, the story seems to be quite a banal combination of “coming of age” from the 16-years old perspective (“Am I a kid, or am I already a woman?” and all that), and a “Count of Monte Cristo”-like story of long-lasting revenge over some powerful people on the other.
But Sanderson wouldn’t be Sanderson if there weren’t at least some interesting twists there. The entity the heroes seek their revenge on is called just Lord Ruler, and he has ruled the Empire for thousand years. Sanderson muses that a country that is controlled by the same person for too long becomes mismanaged, because the oversights of that single person have impacts on everyone. And there’s no way of replacing someone who’s immortal. Story of any dictator.

Tags Mistborn

*.JPG

Blacksad

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 25, 2022

Started reading the Blacksad comics again. Tried it maybe ten years ago. This time they go much smoother, though.
Now I got the joke from the game about hitting someone with a fire extinguisher. And also about climbing to the top of a skyscraper with a different purpose.

First tome, “Somewhere Within the Shadows” is very basic: Blacksad once dates an actress. They broke up. Now she’s dead. He looks for the guy that she used to date last. Turns out he’s dead too. So he looks for the guy she dated before him. Turns out he’s the richest person in town. So he goes up and shoots that guy in the head, because he’s so smug. And Blacksad’s friend, police officer, covers this up as a suicide. Beautifully drawn, beautifully written, but a tad too short and basic.

“Arctic nation” is about white supremacists (all white animals: arctic fox, polar bear, an owl) that terrorize a black suburb.

A black girl goes missing. Then her mother ends up dead. If the first story was over-simplistic, the second story is overcomplicated. Some 20 years ago the Polar Bear decided to become a KKK leader, and threw his pregnant black wife to literally die in the cold. She survived, though, and raised two daughters, one of which was white and another black (I guess it’s a joke about white and black bears?). The white daughter seduced her father (he didn’t know she’s his daughter, remember?) in order to get her revenge. She started to spread rumors that the Polar Bear is a pedophile, and arranged a false kidnapping of her black sister daughter.

When the black sister started acting, she got killed by the wife’s lover. I said that it’s overcomplicated, right?

There’s another nice play of words, when a magpie says he hid the girl “in his nest”. Turns out she’s hidden in a warplane wreck. Gunners nest. Magpie nest.

Tags Blacksad

PC Gaming

Blacksad

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 21, 2022

Completed Blacksad: Under the Skin.
That’s probably the best noir detective game I’ve played. Certainly better than Chicken Police, LA Noire or Backbone, and on-par with Wolf Among Us.

The story was surprisingly ruthless. I certainly didn’t expect the German doctor or how that episode turned out.

Monkey Craigg sacrificing himself was extremely well directed, when a lot of motives come together: his baseball glove that he uses to stop the fan, and him dying to a heart attack as he imagines that he plays his last game.

Tags Blacksad

PC Gaming

Blacksad

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 20, 2022

Didn’t expect to enjoy this game so much. Voice acting is absolutely brilliant, as well as the writing. And there are new mechanics added from time to time. At one point, you’re given a flashlight, to highlight objects in the dark. At another point, you need to try and remember what happened in the past to get the right answers for an interrogation. And the baseball question game, when only the person with the baseball can ask the question is interesting as well.

There’s an interesting episode, when you see a person about to be executed by a mob boss, and you can try and prevent this. But first, you discover that he threatened a widow. Then you learn that he did so by almost drowning her son in the toilet. So by the end of it, you may decide not to save him at all.

Tags Blacksad

PC Gaming

Blacksad

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 16, 2022

Blacksad, that is the original comics, is probably the reason there are so many noir games about furries. Backbone is just one example.
Taking place somewhen after World War 2, we play as a private detective from New York. A boxing champion went missing, and his manager apparently committed a very inconvenient suicide.

Of course there are racial jokes, about a wife of a rhino “tearing his horn off” for being unfaithful. And the fact that Blacksad is a black cat:

The problem with presented dilemmas is that you, as a player, don’t have a skin in the game. You’re offered a bribe, but you can’t spend that money. You’re threatened with beatings and death, but you know your character can’t die. So, you can be as honest and blunt as you’d like. It won’t change a thing.

The game is made beautifully. Not LA Noire, of course, but still very impressive camera work, well written and all voiced dialogs, all that stuff. I don’t like how cats look basically like humans with cat ears, but that’s the original style.

*.BAK

Within Temptation at O2

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 16, 2022

Went to Within Temptation and Evanescence Show at O2.
Getting there was easy. Just stick with middleaged people with purple hair.
Getting inside was also fast. Security scans are only if you have a bag.
There’s a strange fog inside. Not sure what it is. Probably some way to cool the air. It was rather cold inside. Maybe for those standing it wasn’t, though. Don’t envy them. I was sitting comfortably, with a seat to my left vacant.

Tags Within Temptation

PC Gaming

Minoria

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 15, 2022

Wow, it’s actually a metroidvania, and not yet another 2D-soulslike! With all-female cast, either nuns or witches.
There are some “souls” elements, like dodge and parry, and long telegraphs, and message after you beat a boss. But if you die – you just restart from the previous savepoint.
There’s experience, but it’s mostly just bumps stats a little. And there are coins, but you get them only when you find secrets, and you can only buy some spells with them.
Animations feel cheap. So the game look better on screenshots.

Tags Minoria

*.DOC

Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 15, 2022

Finished Eye of the World.
A rather weak Lord of the Rings fanfic.
Pathways is basically Moria, with Black wind acting as the Balrog. Moraine even says “I hope he couldn’t pass”
And Lan is basically Aragorn, with him being a great fighter and king in exile.
The entire episode with Green Man and finally is rather nonsensical. Forsaken are introduced, we’re told they are immensely powerful, then both are killed, one of them almost by an accident. And the all powerful Dark One is killed with his entire army in a matter of few passages.

Tags Wheel of Time

*.AVI

Marcella S01

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 15, 2022

It’s a joy to watch, because it’s all filmed in London. Some places are very recognizable. Elephant and Castle, for example, before it was demolished.
The narrative reminded me of Sharp Objects quite a bit. Women can be abusive and dangerous. Not just men. Marcella stalks and even hits her husband that decided to leave her. And the camgirl portrayed by Florence Pugh beats a guy and steals his stuff. But there are also a lot of men with different levels of abusiveness. It’s like every episode we have a new suspect.
The idea of protagonist having blackouts or fits of rage to the point they aren’t sure if they may be the killer without knowing it is for sure isn’t new. Taboo, also set in London, is just one example. But I think it’s the first time when it’s a female protagonist.
Also, some themes I don’t encounter much. Like dealing with your kids while separated.

*.AVI

Black Panther

Post author By TheAleosha
Post date November 13, 2022

Blacksplotation movies are back!
So, you have a very advanced civilization, and you put as the head of all the research a teenager, that also happens to be the princess? That’s not suspicious at all!

Then, you have all that technological advancement, but you still… train fighting rhinos? And you have street markets. Yeah.

Northern niggas confused me a lot. Although alright, technically Kilimanjaro is high enough to have an arctic climate.

I guess it’s considered a funny joke by some to call every white American “a colonizer”?

Why does your council looks like a bunch of clowns?

The first half of the movie is just setting the stage with a long chase in South Korea.

The second half is a strange combination of fighting and dancing. Neither is particularly enjoyable.

I was planning to write some more about how bad that movie is, but someone already did this job better than I ever could: