Review: The Five Nights at Freddy's Series

I figured it would be better to do one review for the whole series, since these are comparatively short games, with a complicated, over-arching storyline and fairly similar controls/set-ups.

As I start with that though, don't think that I'm putting down any of the individual games. Every one is terrifying, intense, and horrific fun like we haven't had in a video game since the original Resident Evil.

Five Nights at Freddy's

The first game is our introduction to the world. The set-up and game-play is about as simple as it can get.

You play a night security guard for a Chuck-E-Cheese type establishment called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The place comes complete with security cameras and animatronics. You never actually move from the security office, you just watch the cameras as the robots mill about. You're given a power allowance for the shift though, so you have to keep an eye on its usage.

The thing is, the animatronics are somewhat faulty. As far as they know, there aren't supposed to be any people in the building after hours. So if they see you, they think you're a robot without a suit, so they take you and stuff you into one. Which results in a very wet, squishy death. Your only way to protect yourself is to keep an eye on where they are, and if they get too close, close the doors to your office. Just keep in mind keeping the doors closed uses power...

The game is very intense between checking the camera's, checking the doors, and listening for sounds which could let you know you're about to die. All this sets you up perfectly for the scenes where you fail and the animatronics lunge at the screen, prompting some genuine scares. As you might expect, the game proceeds over five nights, each night moving faster and increasingly intense.

Definitely an A+ start to the series.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

As in the first game, you're limited to your office, using security camera's to keep an eye on who moves where. Power is less of an issue overall, but there is still a flashlight that can run out if you overuse it.

The second game also adds a lot onto the formula for the first game. There are more animatronics, and more ways for them to reach you. There is also a music box that must be kept wound, or it releases another entity which kills you no matter what you do. 

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 also introduces mini-games occasionally after you die, which explains some of the backstory which, up until now has only been a collection of theories pieced together from things in the background of the first game. 

The second game continues to be intense and frightening, even for those who grew immune to the first game's tactics. Rarely will you see a sequel as good as the original in any series. This one is.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

While the third game holds onto the security guard in one spot formula, it continues to mix up everything else. 

In addition to watching the building's rooms, you have a whole second layer to keep an eye on in the AC vents. The issues with power are completely gone, replaced with an unstable system of ventilation, sound ques, and camera feeds that need to be rebooted periodically. 

While many of the old animatronics are back, they are just hallucinations, caused by the faulty AC in the building. There is really only one animatronic in this game which can kill you. 

The third game also continues the mini-games, showing you things that happened between games and imparting even more of the story of the history of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. 

The series continues to be good and intense, keeping the formula close to the original, but mixing things up with new and innovative ways. 

Five Nights at Freddy's 4

Now things have actually changed drastically. No longer are we a security guard at the pizzaria, but a young boy at home. Doors are also far enough apart now that you have to run back and forth between them, peeking out, and pulling them shut before some nightmare beast grabs you. The animatronics are now as terrifying as ever. (Minor spoiler: the nightmare animatronics are the young boy's imagination.) 

The gameplay is different as well, focusing much more heavily on sound to determine where the monsters are and when you need to shut doors, as opposed to security cameras. This actually leaves you even more vulnerable to the jumpscares when they burst through the door. 

The story of this game is actually the explanation of why one of the specific animatronics at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria is possessed. (Oh, yeah, that is the actual reason why the animatronics roam and kill night guards. All the animatronics are possessed by dead kids.) 

Still, even with the differences, this game has that distinct Five Nights at Freddy's feel to it, and it continues to scare people every bit as well as the other three. 

So there you have it, the Five Nights at Freddy's series. There's DLC scheduled for October, and then we'll see if any more games are added to the line-up. It's just a little sad that these games are only available on PC and not on any consoles (yet!). But if you can get the chance to play any of these fright-fests, definitely do so.

If you can't play it, I would definitely suggest you at least watch someone else do so. It's funny as hell watching them jump, and you can still try to piece the story together as they go. I would personally recommend Markiplier on Youtube. 

So check it out!

~ Shaun

Review: Arkham Knight

Batman: Arkham Knight is the finale of the Arkham Series. 

There's dropping the ball, and then there's DROPPING THE BALL, and then, there's this. So let's get started.

First, the good. 

Visually, this game is Batman. Just like it's predecessors, the atmosphere, the look of the city and the characters are all spot-on. Each game in the series has expanded into a larger and larger area, and this one is no exception, dropping you into a good chunk of Gotham City. 

For the first time in the series, to take advantage of the huge map you get to roam, you also get the Batmobile. Well, Bat-Tank is more like it, but it comes to the same thing. You get to drive around as Batman.

And, of course, you get to BE Batman. Just like in the other games, you're beating up thugs, solving Riddler's puzzles, and you're tracking down Penguin and Two-Face. 

And...that's really all I have to say about it that's good. Sad to say.

I'll start with the newest addition, the Batmobile. Yes, this game is the end of the Arkham series. Still, it would be better to leave us wanting more than it would be to ram something down our throats as full and hard as possible. I expected the Batmobile to be like the gadgets. If you wanted to drive around town, you can drive around town. There might be a few side quests that use it heavily, and a few missions in the main story that you have to use it for, but it's not going to be the focus of the game. I was wrong.

The Batmobile is as much the focus of this game as the story itself is. An enemy in a side quest is fleeing? You HAVE to use the Batmobile. Riddler's puzzles? Race tracks. EVERY. OTHER. TASK. In the main storyline, you're jumping in and speeding through the streets either chasing something, or blowing up remote-control tanks. If I wanted a racing game, I would have bought a racing game. Or Grand Theft Auto. 

Control-wise, the game feels rather sloppy compared to the previous versions. The Batmobile slides all over the place, combat is more difficult as you try to direct yourself to the next henchmen out of a group of 10 and find yourself punching air more often than not, and there really isn't much in the way of tips or instructions when you first start out about what buttons do what. Granted this is the fourth game of a series, but the controls are NOT exactly the same.

(MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW)

Then there's the story. 

Arkham Asylum, City, and even Origins had pretty original storylines to them. While Arkham Knight does take a few loose ends from the previous games, almost anybody familiar with the basics of the Batman mythos will recognize the Jason Todd/Red Hood storyline. So the mystery of who is the Arkham Knight is pretty obvious almost as soon as it's brought up. Once that reveal is done, we're back to chasing Scarecrow, who Batman just surrenders to, unmasks for, and then defeats. After four games, countless puzzles and battles, and gadgets up the yin-yang, Batman just shrugs and goes, "Okay, you got me, guess I have no choice but to give up my secret identity." Really? We're supposed to buy that Batman had no other way to win? I mean...THIS IS BATMAN! 

There is one thing that actually saves this game from being just plain bad. In one of the loose ends from Asylum and City, we find that Joker is actually a virus. (A prion, actually, but I really don't know how many people are going to know what that is. If you don't, go look it up, and then you will have learned something new today!) A virus for which there is no cure and that Batman was infected with. So from about a third of the game on, you are regularly greeted with hallucinations of the (deceased) Joker, chatting away like you're his best friend, and giving his twisted and hilarious input on just about every situation. 

There are other villains in the game as well. Providing fodder for side quests and little else. Two-Face is robbing banks. Penguin is smuggling guns. Ho-hum. And even though apparently every super-villain in Gotham was in on Scarecrow's plans, they have no bearing at all on the main storyline. 

Oh, unless you want to count the fact that the game requires you to complete a certain number of side missions before it actually lets you finish the game. 

I'm not even going to talk about the butchered PC version, that was so horribly done it was pulled from sale days after release and STILL isn't back up. 

The ball was dropped. Honestly, enough said. 

I'm only giving this 2-stars because it is still Batman, and the hard work the Joker put in to try and save it. 

Review: Jurassic World

For what it's worth, I'm now pretending Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Jurassic Park 3 never happened.

Seriously, if you haven't seen this yet, stop reading, turn off your computer, and go see it. I'll wait.

Nobody ever listens to me. Well, as usual, I'll do my best not to do any big spoilers, but you had your chance.

When the original Jurassic Park was released in 1993, it was a milestone. It was an incredible movie in terms of story, casting, and, of course, special effects. Dinosaurs in movies wasn't a new thing even in 1993. They reach back to Gertie the Dinosaur, one of the first cartoons way back in 1914. The first Jurassic Park though, showed us dinosaurs as lifelike as we've never seen them before, and there is no way to truly replicate that first sensation of wonder in a generation that has become accustomed to realistic monsters like in Godzilla and Pacific Rim.

Jurassic World comes pretty damn close though.

Granted, the sense of wonder isn't QUITE as strong as it was in the original, and a lot of it is reliant upon one either having kids or still being in touch with their inner child. But that sense of wonder that was so sorely missing in Lost World and 3 is there in spades. 

It starts with a pair of brothers, Zach and Gray, who head to the park for their shared Christmas present, and to visit their Aunt Claire, who is conveniently enough, running the place. 

The wonder is as you follow them through the park, seeing the attractions through the eyes of the kids. We're also treated to appearances by several new species for the series, including Ankylosaurs and Mosasaurs. In addition, there's even a petting zoo, and there is seriously few things more adorable than watching some 4-year-old little girl wrapping her arms around the neck of a baby Brachiosaur. 

Of course, what kind of story would this be if the entire length of it was a walk in the park? The scientist's newest creature breaks out and proceeds to cause all kinds of havoc, eventually drawing out Owen Grady and his pack of trained Velociraptors to try and hunt it down when the human attempts fail. 

References to the original movie abound, from the statue of John Hammond (a tribute to the late Richard Attenborough), to the multiple variations on the Jurassic Park theme, to the guy working in the control room actually wearing a Jurassic Park shirt. 

We also finally see the raptors for everything they can do, from how intelligent they are by being trainable, to watching them charge full-speed through the jungle, and a reminder of how deadly they can be. 

We also get a reminder of the dangers of genetic manipulation that the first movie hinged on. 

While I love Jeff Goldblum and his portrayal of Ian Malcom, Jurassic World is the sequel that should have been, as opposed to The Lost World and then Jurassic Park 3 (Though, I will never not laugh at the group of Japanese businessmen being chased down the street by the T-Rex). Jurassic World just leaves the others in the dust and is only a hair below the original. 

Not to say it doesn't have issues. The biggest of which being not taking advantage of previously introduced characters. The character of Claire could easily have been Lex from the original, with her nephews being Lex's brother Tim's kids. That would've made a handful of scenes much more powerful and we wouldn't have to meet new characters. Lex and Tim being the grandchildren of the park's originator, John Hammond, would also only make sense that one of them would eventually be chosen to continue his legacy. Why none of the script-writers seem to have had that brainstorm, I honestly don't know. 

Still, this is THE movie to see this summer. Even more than Avengers: Age of Ultron in my opinion.

So what are you waiting for? Go! Now!

~ Shaun

Review: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

You want a game with some longevity? From start to finish, this one took me 256 hours. And I missed a bunch of stuff too.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is, unsurprisingly, the third of a trilogy of games. The first was released in 2007 for PC, while the second was released in 2011 for PC and Xbox 360. The games revolve around Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher. As a boy, he was taken and given multiple tests, trials, and training, which results in a being that is more or less a superhuman. It is then their job to hunt monsters and other tasks for which regular people are poorly suited. 

In Wild Hunt, you are tasked with tracking down one of Geralt's former students, who has reappeared after years in a far away place and is being hunted by the group called The Wild Hunt, spectral horsemen and knights from another dimension. You have to search the land and find your ward before they do. Along the way you encounter monsters, sorceresses, kings, and all kinds of regular people. 

Complicating things further, is that the country is currently embroiled in a war with its neighbor, so the land is doted with bandits, deserters, and refugees. Some you will help, some you will hurt, and some you will have to face in self-defense. 

In addition to two previous games, the world is further expanded in books, giving the world a background every bit as rich as you might find in Game of Thrones or The Elder Scrolls.

The game itself is absolutely beautiful. The level of detail is absolutely incredible. From the backgrounds, to the enemies, to the fact that your character's appearance changes with every different piece of armor. The monsters are designed realistically, with none of the ones I found and killed seeming unreasonable. 

The story is intricate and involved, with decisions you made half a game ago affecting the outcome of current events and leading up to different endings depending on who you helped and how you treated people. 

The controls are well-worked and honed as well. It seems confusing at first, because there are so many different things you can do depending on the situation, but within a few hours of playing, everything lines up and makes sense, and nothing causes problems. 

Now, nothing is ever perfect, and there are a few things I had issues with. All of them are fairly minor though. After a while I found some of the music in the wilderness boring and repetitious. I also came across a handful of bugs while playing, which included the camera getting stuck and an invincible enemy. 

Minor Spoilers below the image

There is also one thing I have a personal issue with. I don't personally get full enjoyment out of "moral choice" games. I enjoy games like InFamous, Bioshock, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but games where you can be good or evil are a bit of a problem for me because I can't choose to be evil, even in video games, without feeling bad about it. (Odd that, really, considering I write Horror.)

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you commonly have the chance to accept or reject bribes, keep personal treasure for yourself, help people, or leave them to die. Many times, the lines between what's right and what's wrong is not clear.

For example, at one point, a smith's shop gets burned down and you have to find the culprit. Upon discovering his identity, you find he was actually a friend of the smith that started the fire in a random drunken rage and you have the option of walking away or turning him in to the smith. If you take him to the smith, despite their friendship, the smith turns him in to the authorities, who immediately hang him.

Anyway, that is how I play. I help people, be compassionate, and try to figure out the right thing to do at almost all times. For that...for that and 256 hours of play, I got the "Everybody dies" ending...

Still an awesome game. Get it. Play it.

~ Shaun

Review: Poltergeist (2015)

Remakes can be very hit or miss. I was actually very excited when I heard this was getting modernized. I looked forward to seeing what they did with it. 

If you're unfamiliar with the original Poltergeist, the story centers around a family in their typical suburban home. Strange things start happening, until, finally, their little girl, Carol Anne, is sucked into her bedroom closet and disappears. Paranormal experts are brought in to investigate and do battle with the forces, to save the little girl.

Seems like kind of a cliche` storyline at this point, but keep in mind, the original Poltergeist came out in 1982. A lot of the things that we're used to, that have lost the ability to scare us, were brand new, or even unheard of back then. Still, the special effects and plot twists for the time were incredible and it was exciting to see what they did with the advances in technology and in society. 

I was really looking forward to seeing how awesome this guy would look.

Now, it may just be that all the original Poltergeist's tricks have become stereotypes and cliches, things we've all seen hundreds or even thousands of times with varying levels of detail and special effects. It could be we've since been spoiled by movies like The Exorcist, The Haunting, House on Haunted Hill, and on into the trend of 'found footage' movies. 

Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the new movie. 

The story is almost exactly the same. As one might expect with a remake. The problem is, a lot of the scares and tension-creating moments are the same as well. In a setting where the spirits can literally do almost anything within the confines of the house, I really think they could have stretched their imaginations a bit more, move into a little new territory with their scares. (Oh, and the guy above doesn't even show up.) 

Not to say the new Poltergeist is bad. Far from it. I think it is probably equal to the original. It just suffers from the advancements that have been made since the original was actually scary. When doing a remake of a classic movie, there's a fine line between staying faithful to the original, and being able to capture the imaginations of a new generation. I think the makers of the new Poltergeist stayed much too far on the side of staying faithful. 

Yeah, except the clown looks about ten times more sinister to start with. (Original is on the left)

The 2015 version of Poltergeist is NOT a bad movie. It is well worth seeing, it just suffers from the moving of the bar in reference to what we expect in a good ghost/horror movie. When the original came out, it was edgy, new, and terrifying. Now, all of that is just standard fare and the remake offers very little beyond that. 

I would say skip the theaters, but definitely pick up the dvd when it comes out or catch it on Netflix. 

~ Shaun

Review: Daylight

Daylight is a first-person survival-horror game from 2014, currently available on Stream and PSN.

The story to start is pretty simple. A young woman wakes up in an abandoned hospital with nothing but her cell phone for light and to map her progress. Many doors are locked, so she has to make her way through, constantly seeking a way out. Eventually, she comes across a mystic seal, that can only be undone with a specific key back somewhere in the maze.

Of course, you're not exactly alone in there either. The spirits of several witches stalk the corridors behind you, waiting to catch you in a dead end or isolated room to kill you. There's supposed to be only one way to survive, run like hell, or burn them with a flare. I found plowing into and straight over them tended to work pretty well too.

While the story isn't really original, the game does feature several innovations that set it apart.

This was one of the first games I've seen, outside of the Diablo series to feature randomly generated levels, which makes every playthrough different from the last. Given that the point of the game is just wandering until you find the exit, then wandering back until you find the key, while collecting seemingly random clippings of background though, it doesn't add as much to the game as you might think.

SPOILERS BELOW THE PICTURE

Of course, you learn more about the story as you progress. Well, honestly, not really. I have to admit I didn't pick up all the background clippings, but I never read anything which actually led me logically to the twist at the end of the story. Just being used to horror, I figured out half of the eventual twist almost right away, but there was nothing to suspect the true ending. Which made almost no sense. 

The part I figured out, was that you were one of the patients of the hospital before it closed. The part I didn't figure out, and that I saw no trace of coming, was that you were a witch. Yeah. All the witches chasing you around and trying to kill you? You're one of them. You are the 13th witch to complete their coven. Which just makes them trying to kill you throughout the game confusing, as opposed to any kind of closure to the game. 

As I said though, I didn't pick up all the background info, so I may have missed something which explains it all. I have to doubt that though. All the clippings I found were either cursed photos (which I only know because there's a trophy for collecting all of them.), reports from staff of strange things happening, and news clippings of deaths on the property. 

Overall though, this is a decent little game, especially for one that came out so close to the release of the PS4. You can get it pretty cheap too, so it's certainly worth a few hours of frightening fun. Don't expect it to be one of your favorites though.

~ Shaun

Review: Alien: Isolation

So, I just finished streaming my first play-through of the incredible horror game Alien: Isolation. What follows is my review of the game, so I am giving my general fair warning, this review may contain spoilers for the game, as well as for the movies. So if you haven't seen either of them, you may want to skip this blog post. Or keep reading. You know, whichever.

This game fits in between Alien and Aliens. The Nostromo is gone, and Ellen Ripley has been missing for fifteen years at this point. Which is where you come in. You play Ellen's daughter, Amanda, who has spend the last several years looking for her mother. After years, the flight recorder of the Nostromo has been found and a helpful synthetic by the name of Samuels has decided to offer you a place on the crew going to pick it up. 

Of course, once you get there, you find all hell has already broken out, with people and androids alike acting out in their own best interests while the Alien stalks the corridors. As Amanda, you have to reunite with your cohorts, find allies among the other survivors, and make your way around the station without being horribly and brutally killed. Eventually, all hell breaks loose and you have to escape. 

Everything can kill you, from humans with guns, to androids strangling you.

This game is incredible. I don't know that any other game exists with as much real tension as this game has. Making your way through a level with the Alien stalking you through vents, rooms and corridors is as anxiety-riddled as you would honestly expect it to be. Even as frustrating as it can be, it still remains fun for the most part. 

The graphics are beautiful as well, with the ships from the movies re-created in amazing detail and for fans of the old movies, is worth playing just for the nostalgia you'll get. 

The music and sound are also expertly done, with very few unnecessary noises or music cues. 

There's really not too much good stuff for me to say about the game that hasn't already been said, or that I don't feel was already covered with "Incredible". 

That's not to say the game itself is perfect. Far from it. 

I have two main bones to pick with the game. 

The first is actually a minor control issue. The controls are pretty much standard for games these days, the only thing is the button to crouch is the right control stick which also controls where you're looking. So in particularly intense moments, where crouching means life or death, it can be relatively easy to accidentally push too hard on the stick, stand up from your hiding spot, and get a face-full of teeth. 

The other bone I have to pick is the last 30% or so of the game. It feels like two different groups were making the game at that point. The game could easily and perfectly have been ended at the 70% mark, but instead it was dragged out with little thought given to continuity or story. There is no suggestion at all that there was a queen aboard the station or that anybody went back to the planet for more eggs, so the appearance of eggs and facehuggers in the last few stages is really a bit of a headscratcher. (I considered inserting a picture of the facehugger death scene here, but, really, the game is considered M for Mature for a reason...) 

But yeah, despite those two little flaws, the game itself is solid and deserves every Game of the Year award that it compiled. I'm really looking forward to the DLC, to get even more of the story and spend more time on the edge of an anxiety attack. 

~ Shaun

Review: Outlast

Every fan of horror has said, at some point, "Hey, these people are stupid! They deserve to die! I would never do anything like that. I would survive with no problem." This game proves those people wrong.

Lots of games claim to be Survival Horror. Outlast is just about the only one that truly is. The reason that is? Simply because throughout the entire game, your only choices are to run and hide. At no point in the game do you even have the option of fighting back. You make it through the game based on timing and your choice of hiding spots. Otherwise you die. Horribly. Over and over.

The story isn't particularly original to be honest, not that it really needs to be as well-executed as it is. You are Miles Upsure, an investigative reporter looking into a tip that a huge corporation is conducting illegal human experiments on the patients of a local asylum. In order to investigate this tip, you go and break into a (as far as you know), still operating asylum. It seems that all hell broke loose just prior to your arrival though and your investigation quickly turns into a nightmare of simply trying to survive.

Along the way you encounter more than a few psycho's that want you dead, and a few that lead you along by the nose, trying to show you what was going on. Eventually you find out all about what horrific experiments were being conducted and the end result of them.

The controls are good, if somewhat specific. I died more than a few times as I tried to shut a door behind me in the face of an enemy and ended up shutting the door in front of me instead, but that's not really too big of an issue.

The environments are excellently done, with the use of your camera's night vision absolutely imperative to your survival and making everything even creepier with it's green tint. There's nothing really beautiful here though. Every setting is meant to creep you out, if not outright disturb and horrify you. They all succeed.

If there is one thing that brings the game down, it's the fact that it's so short. If you don't get stuck, this could easily be played in three hours or so from start to finish. I'm also a little disappointed in the plot twist at the end, even though the game does a very good job of making you think one thing through most of the game and then turning it into something else entirely. 

So if you enjoy games that are high tension and WILL scare and disturb the crap out of you, play Outlast if you can. If you can't you can watch a few others play it on YouTube. It's certainly worth watching if you can't play it. 

Markiplier plays Outlast

~ Shaun

Review: The Evil Within

I'm not going to warn you about possible spoilers in this review. That would imply the game actually tells you things as you play through it. But that's kind of the point. This game is one big mind-screw.

This game was made by Shinji Mikami, the mastermind behind the entire Resident Evil franchise and an attempt to get back to the roots of good survival horror. Despite that, it comes across as fairly generic.

You are Detective Sebastian Castellanos. A walking cliche` for the scruffy, hard-drinking police detective that's lost everything but his work, and complete with the 100% stand-up, by-the-book partner. Responding to an all-points bulletin, you arrive at a mental hospital, where right away, things go crazy. You're greeted by a guy who blips in and out of sight like a scrambled TV channel, and then you're being chased by a big maniac with a chainsaw before driving out of the city which is crumbling around you like there's a 9.9 earthquake going on. 

From there the game truly begins, bombarding you with drastically different levels, and zombies wrapped in barb-wire and adorned with piercings from Hell. Eventually, you meet up with massive monsters, some you run from, some you kill, until eventually you do battle with the twisted mind in control of this world you're trapped in. 

Mannequins abound, for no reason that's ever explained.

Cinematically, the game is great. Almost every level is a different creepy, but cliche` in horror, environment. From the small village, to the ruined church, to catacombs and secret floors in an asylum. Transitions between them are incredible as well, as a fall into a black abyss becomes a roll across the floor until you smack into the wall. Or climbing into an elevator, which then opens a thousand feet in the air before splashing down into a lake made from a broken water-main.

The controls are standard for over-the-shoulder viewpoints, though the menu is pretty nice to set up your most used weapons. 

You're not really going to be playing this for the story though, I'm rather sad to say. Throughout the game, you get bits and pieces of story about the main psychopath's reasons for doing what he does, as well as the backstory of Sebastian, and hints of more ominous things. 

Nothing is ever actually explained to any level of satisfaction. The machine that makes the game possible is only mentioned as an experiment in shared consciousness. The reason for it's creation and the organization behind it are completely veiled in secrecy. The mystery of what happened to Sebastian's family, the mannequins that are everywhere, the agony crossbow, none of it makes any sense. Even the ending to the game leaves you with a "What the hell?!? That's IT?" feeling. 

This remains a fun game to play though, with the variety and challenge keeping you coming back until the end of the game. At this point, where you can get it used in most places, it is well worth the price of admission. 

One last thing, and one of the neatest little things to set this game apart, you're granted an End of Game screen that includes a tally of your deaths. I actually did a lot better than I thought I did. 

Enjoy!

~ Shaun

Review: The Last of Us

So, I've finally joined the ranks of the gamers on the next generation of games. Of all the games I could start with, I picked The Last of Us to get through first.

In the near future, a pandemic hits and spreads across the world. In one of the most original takes on the zombie genre to come along in years, this is caused by a fungal infection, appropriating the brain of its host in order to spread and propagate itself. Many of you might know there is a real-world version of this, although it currently only affects insects. As you might expect, one of the nice things about such a version of zombies is that it inherently creates different enemies based on how long they've been infected. So you're not just seeing the same monsters all the time, but without some side story of mutation. 

Some people have argued this is a drama, not a horror game. Make no mistake, this is a horror game. There may not be a huge number of scares, jump or otherwise, but it contains several common horror elements. There's the zombies, of course, as well as approaches to cannibalism, and even child rape. So there is a lot here that makes this a horror game, although it's main goal isn't just to scare or creep you out.

Technically, this game is almost perfect. The visuals are stunning, with a very high attention to detail. The controls are flawless and the mechanics are well executed. Enemy AI is good and challenging, as well as different between enemies, with tutorials on how they behave and how to take advantage of it. 

Granted, it's not perfect. The fully physical companion can be a pain in the ass at times when she's standing right where you need to go and won't get out of the way, and the lack of any general kind of map feature makes it easy to get lost at times, even though the areas you have to explore are kept pretty tightly confined.

The real treat of this game though, is the story.

The game starts you out playing as Sara. The daughter of Joel, the older man on the package, just prior to the outbreak exploding out of control. While you switch back and forth between Sara and Joel in this introduction while they and Joel's brother Tommy try to drive out of town, there's not much to do other than run and witness what is probably the most intense and heart-breaking opening sequence in any video game. 

Returning to Joel, some twenty years later, we are treated to a grim future where the governments have collapsed and the country is basically under military occupation, complete with curfews, food rationing, and checkpoints between major parts of the cities. Less depressing is the way nature has been reclaiming the world in the meantime, offeringus beautiful views of streets with trees breaking through them. This is where you start, exploring this new world as Joel and his friend Tess go about their business of trying to survive under the heel of the military. 

We're also introduced to a group that goes by the name of Fireflies. Originally petitioning the return of the government, they've been hunted down by the military. It's through the Fireflies that we meet Ellie, a young girl who may be immune to the fungus. Joel and Tess end up being hired to deliver her to other groups of Fireflies (who are always dead by the time you get to them), and eventually, it becomes Joel's mission to transport Ellie across the country to the lab himself so that they can try to make a cure from her. 

The game is full of tense moments and some truly heartbreaking scenes, including the death of several people you get attached to through the game-play. You also pick up letters and notes written by and to other people that really gives you a good idea of what it must've been like during the evacuations and while people are just trying to live out their lives. 

Of course, there are some heart-warming moments too. The ending has also generated it's share of discussion, as far as what it means exactly, with people attributing it to bitterness and revenge as much as one person's healing and love. 

So it's definitely worth checking out if you haven't and you have a Playstation. It didn't win over 200 Game of the Year awards for nothing. 

~ Shaun

Review: Godzilla

Disclaimer #1: I have been a Godzilla fan all my life. I have Godzilla and Biollante action figures staring at me as I write this. Thus, this review may not be 100% unbiased.

Disclaimer #2: If you're any kind of Godzilla fan and you're reading this before seeing the movie. Stop reading. Get in your car. Go to the nearest theater where Godzilla is playing, and SEE THE FREAKIN MOVIE!

Thanks. Enjoy.

This is not Roland Emmerich's Godzilla. 

This is the real deal. Godzilla in all the glory and power that he was meant to be. I would honestly suggest this is probably the best Godzilla movie ever made.

Possible Spoilers After the Picture

The crux of the movie is focused on Ford Brody, a man who's mother was killed during a disaster at a nuclear power plant fifteen years prior. Ford just left everything in the past and joined the military, while his father became obsessed with finding out what really caused the disaster. 

The real trouble starts with the appearance of a M.U.T.O. (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). It breaks out of the site where it was being watched, and takes to the sky, heading off into the Pacific Ocean from Japan. It lands in Hawaii, where the Big Guy finally catches up. This fight is more of a teaser though, and only seen in short glimpses and on TV's in the background. It is impressive nonetheless. 

The MUTO escapes though, and continues East across the Pacific while another one rises up out of the Nevada desert. Everything culminates in San Francisco, where a battle between Godzilla, the two MUTO's, and the military takes place. 

I've only really heard of one big complaint about the movie, which is they don't spend enough time on Godzilla. 

Honestly, while a bit more on-screen time and footage of his fights would have been cool, I can't argue that it would have made the movie better. As it was, it gave the Big Guy multiple chances for badass entrances, which they almost all were. 

I've also heard a few people complain about Ford Brody's performance. He does seem a little unemotional at times, but if you stop and think about some of what he's been through, his training, and what's going on around him, his stoicism actually makes a lot of sense. 

Everything else about this movie is spot-on in my opinion. Even the music of the opening credits brings back reminders of the classic Toho Godzilla movies, and the music throughout harkens back to that era. The MUTO's are original, while being somewhat reminiscent of Kamacuras. 

Godzilla himself looks incredible. He's a bit bulkier than any of his previous incarnations, but it's built up properly, with large, rough scales and armor plating. He's also not just some mindless beast defending his territory. There are several scenes where he recognizes the humans scampering around him and while he doesn't go out of his way to preserve the cities around him in battle, he doesn't randomly knock over or smash buildings. In a few of his scenes, he even has facial expressions. Not quite thinking expressions, but you can definitely make out notable differences between anger, rage, and indifference. And yes, he has been re-powered, and there is a breath weapon. 

Seriously, if you are any kind of Godzilla fan, you will love this movie. Even if you're not a fan of Godzilla, it's an incredible action monster movie in the same vein as Pacific Rim. 

I'm not holding my breath, but here's hoping this fall and winter sees the Big Guy's first real film awards. 

A 5 star ride for Godzilla fans, easy a 3.5 to 4 for everyone else. 

And yes, another movie already has the green light. Here's hoping they keep the same director. 

~ Shaun

Review: Batman: Arkham Origins

The Batman: Arkham series has received praise of the highest order for it's portrayal of the dark knight and the enemies and plots he has to deal with. Currently, the line-up includes Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and the recently released Arkham Origins.

The interesting thing to note is that while the first two games are fairly linear, with City following not long after Asylum, Origins is a prequel. Set two years after Bruce Wayne first takes up the mantle of the bat. (I doubt it, but if the fact that Bruce Wayne is Batman is a spoiler for you, you may want to go ahead and close the window now.) Origins details Batman's first encounters with such enemies as The Joker, Killer Croc, and the Mad Hatter.

The story is fairly straight-forward to start with. The mob boss Black Mask has hired eight of the top assassins in the world to come to Gotham City and whoever kills the Batman wins 50 million dollars. Not only is this the perfect introduction to the characters of Killer Croc, and Bane, staples of the Batman universe, but it also introduces several other DC villians, including Copperhead, Shiva, and the popular Deathstroke. 

The story is original, and fairly impressive in its scope, spanning a much larger area than either of the two games before it. As you explore the city to follow the storyline, there are also several side quests which you can pursue, from stopping common muggings and solving random crimes, to tracking down the ever elusive Riddler. 

The Good

Throughout the whole series, you ARE Batman, and Origins is no exception. From the gadgets to the detective work, puzzle-solving, to combat, everything feels just right. Given that this is a prequel, and it's set early in Batman's career, the character himself is a little rough around the edges to start, but you get to see him grow throughout the story. Applaud to that, as properly showing growth in such an iconic character is very hard to do properly and very easy to screw up. 

The setting is beautiful. A large section of Gotham city on Christmas Eve, covered in snow. A big winter storm is expected to hit, which, as far as reasoning go, is a very good one for keeping civilians off the street. You have buildings, sewers, streets, and rooftops to run around and explore, providing plenty of opportunities to play the predator of evil, or just run up and beat the crap out of thugs. You even have the real batcave to go play around in, if you choose. 

This is without a doubt, a perfect prequel to the other two games.

The Bad

At some point, the game was taken from Rocksteady, the company which made Asylum and City and handed over to WB Montreal. That caused a few concerns when the information first came out, and it seems to have been for good reason. 

My biggest issue with Arkham Origins are the controls. They are mostly lifted from the previous games. I say mostly because it's nowhere near the same quality. Hit detection isn't as precise and moves are executed slower, creating more openings for your enemies in combat. In a game where combat is based on chaining beatdowns without getting hit yourself, that creates a very real problem, and one which was not present in the first two games to anywhere near this degree. As well, it would seem the previous games had some version of auto-targeting which the developers of Origins decided to leave out. In combat, you have the ability to use your gadgets and a fair bit of the time, they work alright. If your camera happens to be just a little at an angle though, you can easily find yourself hurling batarangs into the wall instead of into the thug who is currently unloading his clip into you.

The only other thing that bothers me, is that there's no mention of other characters or villains that I can find. The previous games had different things you could scan around the environment to create a more or less full list of Batman's rogues gallery. Outside of the characters you meet through the course of the game, there doesn't seem to be any such easter eggs in Origins. 

Those are fairly minor issues though, all things considered. They don't really impede enjoyment of the game, even if the controls do make things a bit more difficult than intended. If you enjoyed Asylum and City, or if you're any kind of Batman fan at all, you'll enjoy Origins, if nothing else, for the chance to see some of your favorite characters again.