I thought I didn’t really like isometric RPGs. It turns out what I really didn’t like was how most isometric RPGs played. An endless slog of grids and turn based combat getting in the way of enjoying the roleplaying. Disco Elysium is an Isometric RPG. I love Disco Elysium.
Violence in an alley, a city on the brink and a vigilante to bring fear to those in power. For a film that was supposed to be a fresh spin on the superhero mythos, Joker is certainly wrapped up in aping Batman’s. (Spoilers Beyond)
There are certain games that just immediately sell the core concept. They tap into an ideal or truth that is universally known and make a fun game from it. House House have managed to accomplish this in Untitled Goose Game. Known Truth: Geese are Horrible. Known Truth: Being a Horrible Goose for a few hours is a hilarious exercise.
Control might not represent the most average day for Jesse Faden. Finding the secretive government organisation that took your brother all those years ago could be cause for celebration. Finding a dead man, picking up his weird gun and finding that you’re now the paranormally appointed Director of that same organisation could be a point of concern. And that’s before you find out about all of those horrifying mind warping horrors they’ve been studying for decades now. So a rough day then.
You’re never more than ten feet away from a rat. This is a well known aphorism about city life. God I wish the rats in A Plague Tale Innocence were ten feet away. Instead they’re clustering around, seemingly mere inches from my character. I can hear their chittering and squeaking as they wait for my meagre torch to go out. I could move out of the shadows to the safety of a brazier, but then I’d be seen by the guard. Instead I time my movement wrong, step too close to the and as the music swells, I am devoured by clambering rats in a verminous maelstrom of teeth and claws. A Plague Tale Innocence is wonderfully unpleasant and exhilaratingly tense.
The best games in the city building genre are time machines. A player should be able to run the game, begin building their metropolis and suddenly realise that they’ve lost an evening and gained an urban sprawl. Islanders manages to do this in a way most city builders don’t. It turns the whole process of building your city into a puzzle in and of itself.
Anthology series like Love Death and Robots always hold such fantastic promise. Love, Death and Robots as a title suggests this show could contain anything around those three ideas. Using the medium of animation, it can dive deep, with the sheer variety of content hopefully allowing for something every audience can enjoy. While the quality of each episode varies, the series as a whole is worth the minor time investment for the animation quality alone. Love Death and Robots is a new anthology series from Netflix. It’s a collection of 18 short animated episodes, each of varying lengths. These have been produced by a variety of studios. Which themselves have been adapted from a series of stories from sci fi writers. The series has been produced by David Fincher (Yes that one) and series creator Tim Miller with the scripts being adapted by Philip Gelat. Almost all of the episodes are science fiction based, with the subgenres varying between variations of Cyber, Steam and Diesel punk, Space Travel, Horror and more. . Since each episode is so short, and the effort required to buy in is so little, it’d be difficult to talk about each episode without spoiling them, but I did think there were a few standout episodes. Three Robots Adapted from a short story by John Scalzi, the second episode of the series is one of the strongest. Three Robots, on vacation in the ruins of a human city long after the apocalypse. There’s nothing particularly original here Read More
Venom is not a good movie. Venom is not a well made movie. It fails to understand plot structure, basic theme escapes it and the characters are somehow awful, uncompelling and forgettable all at once. Venom is a fascinating trainwreck in slow motion that I watched with my mouth agape and my hands clawing at my face.
Life is Strange 2 had a tough act to follow. The first season was an adventure game based around time travel and decision making with “intensely” loved female teen characters. This is a road trip story starring two Hispanic brothers where the main draw is that the younger of the two must be looked after and taught by the older of the two. For the most part in Episode 1, it’s impressive how well the transition goes.
Spider-Man is the best superhero game that exists right now. It earns this title for so many reasons. Not just the superbly realised world of New York. Not just the simple yet challenging character action combat. Not even the intuitive webswinging that anchors the whole game. Spider-Man is the best superhero game because it understands the genre better than any so far. It is a game about being a hero, and doing good.
