Tal Day's Blog

So far, the game reviews on this blog have been of what you would call art games. Dear Esther is a good example of this. Bioshock Infinite is not an art game, it’s a masterpiece.

So Let’s get started with this review shall we?

Visuals: Bioshock Infinite is, hands down, the most beautiful video game I have ever seen. The game takes place in the floating city of Columbia. Its sun-baked streets shine with detail and genius use of colors and textures. Even the darker, dreary-er parts of the city are stunning to look at. The use of lens flares is fantastic and even the unimportant side characters feel alive and real. This makes the fight scenes extra dark. You actually feel bad for murdering these wonderful people, even if they were bad people. They’re still wonderful.

There were a few muddy textures here and there but they were sparse and hard to come by.

9.8 – 10

Gameplay: At its heart, Bioshock Infinite is just a first person shooter. But it has many unique game dynamics that set its gameplay apart from the others. By far my favorite thing about the game’s action is the fact that it actually makes sense. You’re only killing people because you have no choice. The main character (Booker Dewitt) is a war vet, (telling which war would be a huge spoiler) Which explains why the violence doesn’t slow him down.

But apart from that, there are some other fun combat features.

Skylines let you soar around the battlefield and drop down onto your enemy’s heads with satisfying ease, and your companion (Elizabeth) has some fun combat options too. She can summon just about anything by literally ripping holes in the the world and pulling stuff out. Med kits, turrets, guns, cover, just useful stuff in general, it’s great. She can also help you find loot. And point out sneaky enemies before they get the drop on you.

The truth is, the combat is just so fricken’ fun because it just fits. Without the games FANTASTIC story in would probably fall flat. Hard to say though

The games world is also wonderfully interactive. It gives you the opportunity to do just sort of… well, interact.

 8.0 – 10

Sound:

Bioshock Infinite has one of the most interesting use’s of music I’ve ever encountered. The game takes place in America 1912. Which is around when the radio was invented.

(MILD SPOILERS) Due to a rather interesting side story, several tunes from the 80′s have made their way into the world of Bioshock. Altered versions of songs like, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, God Only Knows, and Everybody Wants To Rule The World.

Songs like these playing from radios throughout the city give the game a super surreal Quentin Tarantino feel. There are also some fantastic orchestral pieces that chime in at just the perfect time to make everything seem just that much more beautiful.

9.7 – 10

Story:

The game opens with a black screen and the words “Booker, are you afraid of God?” “No, I’m afraid of you”. Dear god. You remember when I said this game is a masterpiece? This is where that part comes in

“Hey! Is someone meeting me here?” shouts Booker Dewitt. “I certainly hope so, it does seem like a dreadful place to be stranded” Are the last words you hear as the odd couple on in a row boat drops you off at small island in the middle of the ocean.

The island is home to an ominous looking lighthouse. All that you have with you is a box containing a Broadsider Pistol, a photo of a young woman in a blue dress, some notes, a piece of paper that reads “bring us the girl, and wipe away the dept” and several silver coins.

As you make your way through the lighthouse you find you find some rather… uncanny things.

Yep.

Once you reach the top you discover a small room where the light should be, after using one of the notes to pass a sort of combination lock with bells instead of buttons. A door opens revealing a small velvet chair. You instinctively sit down in the chair, which quickly locks your arms down with braces.

The floor around folds away revealing gears and machinery. Several plates of metal raise and lock into position to form a sort of pod. You hear a recorded voice saying “Ascension, ascension in the count of 5… count of 4… 3… 2… 1. ”

The sudden sound of rocket engines starts as the storm clouds fly past you revealing bright blue sky and…

“Hallelujah”

Then you meet Elizabeth.

By the end of the game. My heart was pounding, after being ripped apart and put back together. And after some truly surreal moments, this game will leave a soft mark on your heart and your soul. Here’s the first five minutes of gameplay to give you an idea of how god-dang awesome the writing and acting truly is

10 – 10

Adult Content?: This is the first game I’ve ever played that actually made me flinch during the combat.

Gore blood and more gore. But even with the blood gore removed this is truly a mature game. America was not a very pleasant place to be in 1912, especially if you weren’t white. Racial discrimination is a common theme in Bioshock Infinite. Along with some truly heavy religious symbolism. This game requires a player that understands that separating right and wrong is not something you can just do.

8 – 10

Final Verdict:

Please for the sake of yourself play this game… I’m waiting, oh too pricy? Then rent it. Oh still too pricy? Then borrow it. No one you know has it? Hmm… ok then, steal it

9.9 – 10 Outstanding

Hahhh watchmen. The book that many would call the greatest graphic novel ever written. Why review it? Because writing a review of something you don’t like isn’t fun. This book, is something I like.

Art

The art of Dave Gibbons is an exceptionally pretty thing to look at. Simple pen and ink art with cartoony bright colors, giving the comic a vary 70′s feel (and yes it was written in the 70′s shut up).

The amount of information packed on to each page is mind boggling. The simple art keeps you from getting confused, yet still shines with detail. All of the environments are recreated perfectly frame by frame,

the view changing angles simply reveals more awesome details. Giving everything a surprisingly three dimensional feel

8.5-10

Writing

Oh my god. This book has some of the most genius use’s of words since lord of the rings. Alan Moore really does know how to send chills down your spine. Every character has life. No one’s good, no ones bad. The character development is so good, that by the end of the book it feels like you know them. Which makes it even more shocking when someone dies.

10-10

Explicit content?

The book is filled with blood and violence. They don’t use it in a stupid way, its just there because its a vary violent story.

There a several “sassy moments” throughout the book. As well as quit a bit of strip clubs and that sort of crap

This blogs age rating

7.5-10

Verdict

Watchmen is one of the greatest peaces of literature ever created.

If you havent read it already. Go to the library or book store, and Get This Book.

9.9-10

Helloooo everyone! Just a quick post to tell you that THIS BLOG IS NOT DEAD! There a several more posts coming in the near future, such as…

Watchmen Book Review

Year Walk Game Review

Just reviews in General

Storys

Poems

ART

And any random stuff I write for fun!

Its quite a bit of a hefty promise, we shall see how I keep it!

Hey! Heres a poem I wrote while at writers group! (A poem I wrote while the meeting was taking place)

Bonus points if you guess what this is about. And if you ever watch a movie in the hopefully near future that reminds you of this. Then you are probably right.

Anyway, enjoy!

As I Wander through this forbidden land.

Yep heres more 16/16!

Portal series

Bob

Demon baby

1. I crack my fingers one by one if I’m nerveus.
2. Its vary hard for me to smile when I’m not happy (but sometimes I’m happy and just can’t smile).
3. I am vary often sleep deprived.
4. If I look at the ground with a calm expression and I don’t respond to something its because I’m thinking about my problems.
5. I will not hold grudges for over ten days (except for people who mess with my friends).
6. One of my favorite feelings is the one you get when you make your friends laugh.
7. I become depressed if I do not have contact with any friends for over three days.
8. Gore in video games and animations does not bother me in the slightest. Gore in live action disturbs me greatly.
9. I agree with all religions.
10. I have never done drugs. And have no interest in them.

Proteus is an art game. What is an art game? I’m actually really not sure but from my view its any game that really does’t have a goal. Good examples are Journey, by That Game Company. Or Dear Esther by The Chinese Room. Usually for an art game, players will say things like “what is this crap? Theres no point! I just walk around for two hours and listen to some guy speak senseless gibberish.” (Dear Esther) Or “What? Well was pretty ‘n’ all but all I did was walk around in the dessert and look at sunsets. I don’t get it.” (Journy) Or… “OH MY GOD SO BEAUTIFUL MY EMOTIONS CAN’T TAKE ALL THIS!!!” So I guess art games have a lot of walking huh /:

Now back to Proteus. Proteus is in my opinion the artsyist of art games so far. You may have noticed it says “vary mild spoilers” in the title of this post. That is because everything I say about Proteus is a spoiler. All I can say is that Proteus is a game that is best played with no knowledge of what is to come. But if you wan’t to know more before you drop ten dolors on something you don’t even know about read on…

Proteus is a pixelated dreamwalk through nature. If I had three words to describe it I’d say its wonderful, strange and beautiful.

In Proteus you explore a remote island. Thats pretty much it. The game randomly generates your island so by the end of the game you have an emotional bond with your island. It really is your island. This also gives the game some replay value. I’ve seen two other people play through and each of them had vary deferent experiences

Okay lets get into the reviewing part of the review.

Graphics-

The games simplistic art style is truly unique. It blends simple pixel art with genius use of lighting and color.

White lines apear on the surface of the water to give a beautiful shimmering affect. The trees ripple as a gust of wind blows by, insects fluter through the air in groups. Its stunning

9.8 out of 10

Story-

The thing is there really isn’t a story. You progress your island through all four seasons intill its winter and then you leave. No spoilers there. The games story is really what you make of it. for example when I played I witnessed two small spirits fly in from the sea. I followed them intill they flew into the heart of a large tree. When sumer had passed and it was fall, I spotted those same two spirits fly back to sea. When I saw this a I was sad, life was leaving the island. The best part is, it would have been completely possible for me to miss the whole thing. Now when this happend I thought “wow I’m gonna watch other people play this and it’ll be boring after that”(of coarse way awesomer stuff happend to me later but thats for you to discover). But I did watch other people play it and they tried things I didn’t and found even cooler stuff that I completely missed. I’ll be playing the game again to try and catch all the cool things I missed the first time.

9.8 out of 10

Sound- Everything in Proteus makes some kind of wonderful sound. Trees, animals, flowers, clouds. The whole world is alive with music. Just watch the trailer

9.7 out of 10.

Gameplay-

The game is played from the first person perspective. You interact with things simply by being around them. Returning to previously uneventful locations during deferent seasons or times of day will always be rewarding. It takes about 50 minutes to finish  (Depending how you play). There is’t much replay value but its still fun to try and find things you did’t find before.

In truth, this game really isn’t about “gameplay” So is it a game? Thats for you to decide.

7.9 out of 10

Verdict-

If you like games like Journey or Dear Esther. Go buy this game now. If you prefer longer more skill based games like CoD POKeMON, or Portal. Then you probably won’t enjoy this (but still give it a try?). All in all I love this game, and think you should play it

9.8 out of 10

Truly Breathtaking

You can buy Proteus on steam for $10. Its also available at they’r website for the same price

You may have noticed a change in this blog. That is in fact because it was hit by an alien mutation ray. And now has a SUBSCRIBE button. The blog is beginning to suffer from all these sudden changes. Aww poor blog ): The only way to stop the pain and agony is to subscribe! so it can email you whenever it has something to say!

Ever found out something and then wished you could forget, but at the same time your glad you finally know? Well a few days ago I was at my outdoor class when the subject of the Hayao Miyazaki character “No Face” came up.

Ya that guy. Anyway one of my friend/classmate started explaining the “secret meanings” behind spirited away. While I was listening  I kept starting to ask a question and then saying, “oh… Oh god that makes way to much sense”

Ok maybe I should just cut to the chase and explain things but first SPOILERS! If you havent seen spirited away or Totoro. Or maybe you want to keep your happy opinions about there morals I highly sugest you stop reading this NOW! They’re both epic movie that I would not want to spoil for you!

Anyway SECRETS! So first of all you probably just logically assumed that all the stuff that didn’t make sense was just there because its a fantasy right? WRONG! Thanks to the internet and what I gathered from the briefish conversation in witch I learned about this secret I have   gathered THIS…

OK THE BATH HOUSE IS A BROTHEL. Or at least it symbolizes one.

Now I know this is starting to sound a bit crazy but I have some pretty strong evidence here. For one, this movie is japanese therefore reflecting japanese culture. Not so recently bath houses were the main way of selling prostitution in japan. Not proof enough? Well how about this. The women working at these bathhouse/brothels were called “Yuna” witch pretty much means “water woman” in english. But wait theres MORE! The woman who ran the place (the Madame) was called “hot water old woman” or… “Yubaba.” Sound familier? Yep the lady who owns the bathhouse in spirited away, her name is Yubaba.

Also the way Chihiro is forced to sign of her name to yubaba. Yubaba is pretty much forcing her to “work” for her. And remember how right after that No Face starts following Chihiro around? Then he starts offering her gold nuggets (money). Why?

He wants her. :0

In a way this secret message should have ruined the movie for me. But in reality it makes it so much more interesting!(Not it a creepy way) From what I’ve read Spirited Aways is about tackling the issue of the sex industry rapidly growing in Japan, and that children being exposed to it at such early ages is a problem. (Quoting another blog there- http://cering.tumblr.com/post/560013869/interesting-fact-about)

AND NOW I RUIN MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO FOR YOU!

Now this one is more of a theorie but its interesting none the less. My Neighbor Totoro was one of hayao miyazaki’s first movies. also one of his greatest ones. And what do you fricken’ know, it might have a secret meaning. Now well this one is far less “messed up” Then spirited away. It honestly urks me to a level thats just creepy. Mainly because when I was like 4 all I knew the TV did was play Totoro. This is my childhood we’re talking about.

So in the month of may 1963. A 16 year old girl was kidnaped for ransom, raped and murdered in the forest (Ok I take back the “not as messed up” thing). Anyway when her older sister found her body in the woods she was traumatized. when asked what she had seen, she merely said “I met a large Tanuki (looks like a racoon)” and “I saw a cat monster.” Sound familiar? Anyway, the older sister later commited suicide. This is now referred to as the Sayama Incident

Now this all took place in Sayama. They never specify where they’re house is exactly. but at a certain point in the movie you can spot the words “Sayama tea” in japanese on the side of a box of tea. Also the murder took place in may. The main characters name is mei, This could be a coincidence, but the older sister is named Satsuki, which is also another way to say May in japanese. This is probably just because the movie is about nature though. Y’know cus may is the first month of spring

Also according to japanese mythology, seeing the susuwatari, (The little black lint balls) means that death is drawing near.

So you guessed it, when they get picked up by the cat bus is supposedly when they die.

The Nekobus (the cat bus) is the cariage that takes one to the next world. The after life. WHERE YOU GO WHEN YOUR DEAD. There’s even proper proof of this from the fact that the destination sign on the catbuss briefly says “Grave road” in japanese.

So in the story, the idea is that Mei is murdered after she goes missing. Satsuki, feeling greif decides to join her.

So how does totoro tie into all this? Well totoro is actually a Shinigami (god of death). He’s pretty much your guide to the afterlife

.

Say hello to the grim reaper! OH RIGHT IN FRICKIN’ THE CHILDHOOD!

As messed up as it is I’m glad I know now, and I hope you are to (I also hope I haven’t ruined it for you ). Hayao Miyazaki has done something truly mind blowing. He made a movies for kids, that are GREAT for kids… That are NOT for kids.

So I’m kinda frustrated with the zombie story. So I started another story about a certain internet legend! Its coming out a lot better I think so heres the first page! If you spot any problems please comment and tell me!

Also quick warning to those who might be reading this who are easily creeped out. Don’t read this before bed

                                                 Dir Ritter

“Can you tell me what you saw?” John was concerned, but still skeptical. This guy was crazy… But john listened anyway. It was his job to listen to crack heads all day. He was used to it by now. The guy was frantic when he came into the sheriff’s station. He said his name was jacob. This weirdo claimed some kind of monster had come at them in the woods and taken his son

“It was huge! It looked like the forest had come alive and was standing there holding my son! I couldn’t move… It was like it was holding me in place! my legs still worked, it was just… It was as if I didn’t want to move! It kept on looking at me, Like it was savoring my helpless screaming. Oh god its face! It looked like skin had been stretched over a skull. OH GOD IT HAS MY SON! I WANT MY SON BACK”

“Calm down jacob. When was the last time you saw your son?”

“IT HAS MY SON GOD DAMN IT! AND I WANT HIM BACK!”

“Jacob please calm down. Would you like some water? Coffee maybe?”

“No… just some paper please”

“Paper? Okay well feel free to use the paper on the desk”

Jacob got up from his chair and sat down at the desk. He quickly grabbed the pen and started drawing as he sat back down. “What’s that you’re drawing jacob?”

“Nothing nothing… It just helps me calm down thats all”