Gamer Review of “The Walking Dead: A New Day”
I have been reading “The Walking Dead” comics since the first few issues. It’s an ongoing story about people living in a world after a zombie apocalypse, focusing on their lives instead of only the killing of the undead the movies tend to focus on. When I heard it was going to be a TV series, I was excited, because it’s a character driven series that fits perfectly on TV. The results for the TV show have been hit or miss when it comes to certain episodes, but overall something I enjoy. Then I heard they were coming out with a game and I was just confused.
When you think “zombie game,” usually you think of your role being one man against a horde of the undead, and you arm yourself to the teeth to kill as many of them as possible. “The Walking Dead” did not fit this genre, and to make it even more confusing, it was being made by TellTale Games, the company responsible for bringing the adventure game genre back into the public eye with their recent series such as “Tales of Monkey Island,” and “Back to the Future,” (both of which I reviewed favorably). “The Walking Dead,” seemed like an odd choice for them, but having faith in the company and the source material, it was still a highly anticipated title for me.
The first episode has come out now, with four more coming out over the next few months. The results were not what I was expecting, but this is in no way a bad thing. Rather than call this a game, I’d say it’s more like interactive storytelling, along the lines of the PS3 game “Heavy Rain.” You progress along the story and have to make some tough decisions along the way, and once in a while you have to fight off a zombie by mashing a button. There are a few small puzzles, but nothing that is overly complicated, and they fit in with the story. Read more »
Cabin in the Woods: A Loving Hate Letter
Over the past few years, horror movies have fallen out of favor with the general public. Slasher movies have become laughing stocks. The invention of cell phones makes fleeing in terror seem even more unrealistic and the sub-genre known as “torture porn” has made many people avoid horror movies over the past decade.
So Joss Whedon, nerd god and creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and many other things, wrote a movie which he called a “loving hate letter” to the whole horror genre. It is now playing in theaters and does not disappoint.
I won’t speak about the plot at all, because this is a movie best seen going in not knowing anything. I went in without even watching a trailer, only relying on the word of my friend and was not disappointed.
Looking at them now, even the trailers give a bit too much away about the story. I will say that while the story may start off enough like your typical horror movie, it quickly changes things up in unexpected ways. The movie isn’t perfect, but it’s a fun ride and I would say it’s one of the few movies that have come out in recent years that is worth the rising ticket prices.
Also, if you are a horror fan at all, you must see this movie. The whole thing is filled with references to other horror movies, the most obvious being “The Evil Dead,” which also takes place in a cabin in the woods. Many lines, visual cues and even small background jokes make references to many horror movies.
If you feel like horror has gone downhill in the past few years, as movies like “Saw” focus on gore rather than storytelling and actual scares became prominent, you will like “Cabin in the Woods.” It’s a return to horror which doesn’t just focus on how many buckets of fake blood they can fit into a movie (although it does use a lot of blood), but a coherent story with some unexpected twists. It is one of the few times I have walked out of a theater completely satisfied.
Silence! The Musical
I’ve never really been interested in musicals. Once in a while though, some shows come along that get my interest. Usually, because the premise is not something you’d base a musical on. It happened before with “Evil Dead the Musical,” and it has happened again with “Silence! The Musical,” which is a musical based on “The Silence of the Lambs,” that is currently playing in NYC.
The full title of the show is actually, “Silence! The Musical: The unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs,” and that’s probably best, I couldn’t take a show about a singing killer seriously. The show itself handles the parody quite well, without ever becoming too wacky. Small changes add to the atmosphere, such as Clarice speaking throughout the show with a heavy southern accent and a slight lisp on her S’s, while major things like the FBI being portrayed as completely incompetent add to the overall atmosphere. Read more »
Naked Heat: Compelling Murder Mystery or Cheap Tie In?
ABC has an excellent show called “Castle,” that is worth watching (and that is not just my love for Nathan Fillion giving that endorsement). It’s about a fictional writer, Richard Castle, who tags along with a female cop in order to do research for a series of books he writes, based on her. However, I’m not here to write about the show itself. ABC, in a rather brilliant form of marketing, has published two books under the Richard Castle name to tie in with the show. The first book, which was entitled, “Heat Wave,” was a short, fun read, keeping on par with the show. So with high hopes, and without hesitation, I picked up the second book.
This is published as a legitimate book, including the fake author biography in the back. We’re supposed to take Richard Castle seriously as an author, but if that is the case, he’s a bit of a Mary Sue. The whole book is played out like an episode of the show, with the characters’ names changed. For those of you that don’t know, a Mary Sue is a fan fiction trope where the author of the story inserts him or herself into what they’re writing about, usually as the main character. Everyone loves him or her and they solve all the problems that occur.
This is exactly what’s done here with the Richard Castle character inserting himself as Jameson Rook, the popular writer that everyone loves. It comes off as lazy writing to me, by both the ghost author and the fake author. We’re supposed to believe this is a New York Times bestselling author, and it just takes me out of the experience. I’m probably thinking about it too much, as this is just supposed to be a tie in book, but I need to explain this to get into the main problem I had with the plot. Read more »
Piranha 3D: The 3D Invasion
3D movies are a gimmick, usually used to drive up ticket prices. Most of the films it’s used in lately do not need it all, and generally pull it off poorly. 3D was originally used in the 70’s and 80’s as a way to make bad horror movies look a little better and get people in the theater. Piranha 3D brings things back to basics, following this tradition, and embracing it.
Horror movies as of late try and take themselves way too seriously, which is not always necessary. When your premise is thin, it usually just makes the characters unlikable and the drama seem forced. Or, even worse, they just strictly rely on gore, shock value and jump scares (I’m looking at you, Eli Roth). Piranha 3D does not fall into this trap. The writers of the movie realized how ridiculous their plot was and they ran with it, but the actors still take their role seriously, making for a very enjoyable movie.
Piranha 3D is a killer fish movie, if you couldn’t figure it out from the title. The plot is simple: Prehistoric man-eating piranhas are released from an underground cave during spring break. If you need a better synopsis than that, then this movie is not for you. It’s a basic premise that is nothing more than excuse for nudity, gore, death, and suspense, as god intended in horror movies. The movie delivers fantastically in all these areas. It’s made clear the fish are a threat to anyone in the water, and when they attack, it’s brutal. Read more »
Bite Me: A Love Story — A review
Vampires have somehow become a very popular trend in the last few years, with everyone seemingly wanting to cash in on them. From “Twilight” to “The Vampire Diaries,” the undead have spread through the media and there is seemingly no escape from them. Christopher Moore’s latest book, “Bite Me: A Love Story,” also tells a story about vampires, but not in the traditional sense. No one in this book sparkles.
Finishing up the trilogy started fifteen years ago, which previously included “Bloodsucking Fiends,” and “You Suck: A Love Story,” Moore released “Bite me” at a great time, with everyone wanting to read about vampires (more than pirates, or even ninjas). However, these are not your typical vampires. Yes, they will still die if exposed to sunlight, but they are not the old, romantic brooding types that everyone obsesses over. They are not hundreds of years old and trying to hide among the humans in their secluded castles. These are regular people who got turned and are living with it, one day at a time.
The story is mainly told through the eyes of Abby Normal, an underage goth girl that is, like all goth girls, obsessed with vampires. She serves as a daytime minion to Tommy Flood, a young writer from Illinois, and Jody, his girlfriend who happen to be vampires. The book mainly focuses on their group trying to figure out how to stop a group of vampire cats from killing all the homeless people in San Francisco. The plot, while ridiculous, serves as a vehicle for the character interaction, which is where Moore’s clever writing really shines. He writes dialogue which produces laugh out loud funny lines one after the next, without making it seemed forced. Read more »
The Protomen–Act II: The Father of Death
In an age where CD’s and records have become obsolete in order to make way for the sale of individual songs, it is rare to see a band release a full album that tells an overarching story, rather just being a collection of songs about numerous unrelated subjects. The Protomen’s recent release entitled “Act II: The Father of Death,” does just this, creating a compelling story over twelve songs.
The Protomen are a band that took the plot of the original Mega Man games for the NES, changed it into a 1984-esque world and turned the whole thing into a rock opera. Some details are changed from the original source material, the biggest being that Wily is actually successful in his attempts to take control of the world, and he oversees everything from a tower while his robots create a dystopia where Big Brother is always watching. Read more »
Tales of Monkey Island: A Pirate Tale in Five Chapters
Whenever an old game franchise is revived it is met with fan skepticism and nervousness. This is especially true with games which have large fan bases. Over the years, I have personally seen a lot of old games updated to varying degrees of success. The most recent of those is a revival of one of my favorite series: Monkey Island. Telltale Games took the license from Lucasarts and released five episodes over the past 6 months. The story of Guybrush Threepwood is continuing on and is still filled with plenty of puzzles and humor along the way.
The plot starts off with Guybrush once again trying to take down his nemesis, the demon pirate LeChuck. In the process, Guybrush messes up a spell, and sucks all the voodoo energy out of LeChuck, making him human again. Unfortunately, all that voodoo is spread throughout the Caribbean, infecting all the pirates, making them all sick and prone to fits of demonic anger. Those possessed include his wife Elaine, and like in Evil Dead 2, his own hand. So it’s up to Guybrush to find a cure for this demon pox by traveling all over the Caribbean in search of… a voodoo sponge to suck up the energy, obviously.
You can see where this might be a problem
Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ
I am a simple man, the littlest things amuse me. So when I see a game called “Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ,” for the Nintendo DS, I am going to pick it up because it has an awesome title. All I expect from the game is two things: Zombies, and a way to kill them. The game does not disappoint in this department.
- Don’t know why Little Red Riding Hood has a huge rack
A look back on: Monkey Island
Lucasarts used to do more than just release multiple Star Wars games year after year. That was twenty years ago. They had a game division which made a lot of classic adventure games that had nothing to do with Star Wars. I always thought the term “adventure” wasn’t all that fitting, that brings to mind more platforming elements, but I guess it sounds better than “plot-driven puzzle games.” They produced many classic titles, such as “Maniac Mansion”, ‘Grim Fandango” and “Sam & Max Hit the Road”, all of which had memorable characters, hilarious dialogue and brain-scratching puzzles. The genre died out in the mid to late nineties, but fans have always wanted more.
In the past few years, they’ve had something of a revival, especially by the company Telltale Games who have been releasing adventure games in an episodic format. They started getting major attention when they released two new seasons of Sam and Max two years ago and continued on with other games like “Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People” based on the characters on Homestarrunner.com and “Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventure” based on the famous duo of the same name. Recently, it was announced they would be releasing episodes for one of my favorite series next month: “Monkey Island”. Read more »
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