Monday 21 August 2017

App Review No. 107 Monument Valley 2

Strong points:
Mind-bending puzzles
Full of character
Great art style
Interesting story
Set pieces have been upped in extravagance since the last game
Atmospheric music

Weak points:
Incredibly short
Some puzzles are frustrating, especially the last one


Friday 18 August 2017

Rant No. 11 RPG Text Choices Not Actually Saying The Choice

I'm playing The Witcher 2 at the moment. It's a great game, with superior visuals and combat to The Witcher 1 along with a great story and lore. Like the first game, it also has plenty of choices you can make, both in terms of who you side with and how you talk to people. The problem is, however, unlike The Witcher 1 where you see the entire text response you will give before making the decision on how best to sarcastically berate those lesser than you, The Witcher 2 only gives you approximations on the responses Geralt will pick. While the developer is usually pretty good at guessing your most likely responses and making text choices to do with them, sometimes they can think that a different emotion is being used when responding with this answer - honesty instead of keeping your options open, begging instead of sarcasm or accusation instead of questioning. It's this last one which prompted me to write this rant, and if you don't want any spoilers for The Witcher 2 then I give you three options: 'Remark: How Dare You Write Spoilers!', 'Remark: OK, if you say so', 'Remark: OK (actually meaning you're going to anyway).

Sunday 13 August 2017

Film Review No. 27 Gravity (12+)

Strong Points:
Constant tension
Mind-blowing visuals
A likeable cast
Extremely clever photography
No filler
Only seeing the perspective of the astronauts increased the isolation
Plenty of Chekov's Gun

Weak Points:
Relies on star-power instead of characters
Started to get humorous instead of tense by the end
A bit gruesome
Some character points are almost just thrown in there
Felt real time except for the use of the watch

Some spoilers ahead:

Wednesday 2 August 2017

Film Review No. 26 Arrival (12+)

Strong Points:
Tense atmosphere
Film focussed on sounds instead of camera shots
Great acting
Interesting aliens
Great CGI
Use of wide shots (not focussing on people talking) was unnerving
The alien's language
A talking point

Weak Points:
Difficult to hear some characters
Confusing
Debatable to say something was achieved by the end
Thrown in at the deep end
A jump between first connection and learning all about the aliens

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Video Game Character of the Month - August 2017 - GLaDOS - Portal

Video Game Character of the Month
August 2017
GLaDOS
Portal

Overview:
Well, here comes the test results. You're a great villain. That's what it says. We weren't even testing for that but yes, it turns out you really are just a great villain GLaDOS. It would be a real shame if you weren't rewarded for that. Truly. What if you complete this test? I swear, we have a surprise for you right in the next room... The Video Game Character of the Month Award!
And now for some information on GLaDOS (including spoilers for both Portal and Portal 2: