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.
Category: Aleosha Blog
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.
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?
Categories
Event Horizon (1997)
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 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.
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.
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Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Categories
Within Temptation at O2
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.
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.
Categories
Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
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.
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Marcella S01
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.
Categories
Black Panther
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:
Although I dislike the theme of masked vigilantes, I must admit that the game is phenomenal.
We play as a teenager that tried to stop a rapist, but instead got sued by him and now on probation.
He’s bestowed with a magical app on his phone that allows him to visit Palaces: places that evil people build inside their minds. And if he’s able to steal their Treasure, it will cure them. Potentially also make them brain dead, but it’s one evil person less anyway.
The most annoying part is that they brought back the persona dialog system from Persona 2. To get a new persona you first need to crit it, then you need to persuade it to join by guessing a right answer to a very vague question.
Categories
TIE Fighter
There are at least three versions of TIE Fighter available: original DOS version from ’94, Windows version from ’95 and a remake from ’98. Yes, they were doing remakes back in ’98.
The remake is a DirectX 9 game, has better graphics, but also interface is slightly more confusing due to CG that was popular at the time. ’94 game is more “pixel art”.
Also, remake puts boxes around your target, while the original makes your target blink yellow.
Remake doesn’t work without a joystick or a gamepad. Surprisingly, gamepad controls work very well. Maybe because the game was optimised for joysticks, and those are a bit similar.
Everything is very “hardcore”. Your TIE Fighter doesn’t fire indefinitely, unless you boost your weapon recharge power. And it doesn’t have a shield, so a few hits, and you’re done. Luckily, your enemies aren’t much sturdier. But at least they have shields.
Didn’t manage to complete even the first mission yet, and I’m not sure I will.
Categories
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Plenty to unpack there, and I’m sure I’ve missed most of it.
“Social-democrats that sold out the country”. French unwilling to negotiate and forcing a humiliating treaty. I had to check to make sure that the original book wasn’t written well after World War 2. But no, 1929. Now we can say that “the writing was on the wall”.
A lot of symmetrical shots. And some still nature shots as well. We can kill each other, and life will go on, maybe?
A lot of closeups, especially of Kat and Paul, but also others.
Kat’s monologue on not rather not returning home and eating potatoes with his comrades sounds relevant to this day (see Hurt Locker and American Sniper, for example).
Note how much attention is dedicated to food: Kat sharing bread with Paul on the first day, the joy of stealing a geese, eating French food while their corpses are still warm.
The scene with tanks and flamethrowers looks so alien, that even “Dune” seems closer to us than this. Yet this is historically true.
Categories
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
Completed Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.
I like the fact that ships are different, and not every more expensive ship is necessarily better. I liked hauler more than the military fighter, since those turrets can rip enemies to shreds pretty well, while still being able to sell tons of cargo at every port.
There are two annoying issues with the interface of the game. First, there’s no good indication of missile lock. But there’s no visual cue for that, unless you’re looking at the missile, which is usually not the case. And second, count of your own missiles is displayed on the same screen as enemy lock, and the coms are on the same screen as well. So when you lock on enemy, you loose missile count, and when you get a comm, you also loose track of your enemy shields. There’s so much space in the cabin they put a second screen there, but it is just the duplicate of the first one. Instead, the comms could be an overlay, like in many other space sims. But no, a single screen is all you’ve got.
Turns out that Juno’s husband wasn’t killed, just went into hiding, on Juno’s mother orders, Tatiana. She’s a pirate lady, and wants to divert the traderoutes, so her daughter would inherit a legitimate trading empire. Very kind of her. There’s an option to betray her to the police or team up with her.
It all ends up with a whimper, though. At one point, everyone is freaked out by Tatiana being able to teleport ships without a jumpgate, something no one knows how to do. But this is never explained. “Final battle” is just routing a bunch of police vessels. And then Juno tells her husband to fuck off, something very inconsequntal, since we’ve seen this dude for two cutscenes at best. And there’s no credit roll, nothing.