revisiting the old world

A SKEPTIC’S TALE

Phill J Adams — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:55:34 +0000

I’m going to preface this with a simple note: I don’t like open world “do what you want” games. I didn’t like Oblivion, I never cared for Fallout and I wasn’t particularly crazy when Skyrim was announced. But after riding the buzz for a bit I decided why not? Why not get out of my comfort zone and give this title a go? It appears to be the best incarnation of what they’ve wanted to do with the series at least so I went and ahead and gave it a crack. Here’s what I gained in my very brief (before I had to catch the train) play through.

0:00 – Load the game; oh the menu crashed – wtf?

0:02 – Skyrim forums – turn my sound quality down? Why the F would that help?

0:03 – Ok, the game’s working now.

0:08 – Alright, so I’m on this carriage with someone who sounds relatively important to the plot and some other guy who is filler. I suspect someone’s going to die.

0:10 – We’re riding through a town now. To our deaths or a prison…

0:11 – Definitely our deaths. Oh; that filler guy got an arrow through him. Saw that coming. How did he fall with his hands free when he ran off whilst his arms were tied? Questions I will never know the answer to.

0:13 – I’m now given the ability to decide what I look like – just before I die? Seriously?

0:20 – OMFG – I spent WAY too long deciding on how I’d look – but god damn, I’m one sexy Nord chick.

0:22 – My head is about to roll but something is making noises in the countryside. Save me please!

0:23 – Yay! I’m saved time to run my arse off cause it’ll kill me otherwise.

0:26 – After navigating around the place to avoid this hungry hungry dragon I’ve run off with another guy who was on the Cart of Death with me earlier.

0:27 – Uh oh! Real life calls! Better go catch the train!

This may seem really short and like an unimportant collection of what was happening but it was actually very eye-opening for me. I don’t really like these types of games but I felt very involved from the get go. I’m looking forward to playing more. Creating my characterwas great and I felt like I had a lot that I could do and even if I made a mistake it wouldn’t phase me too much. The start of the game is great and I definitely can’t wait to get back in to it (in fact I’m rushing this through as I type because I wanna get right back to it) but if you’re on the fence I can recommend this game for sure. Especially if you’re willing to order from overseas websites such as ozgameshop.com or play-asia.com – their prices are fantastic and with a game of this quality you don’t need to worry because it’s definitely money well spent.

Skyrim is looking to be promising for those of you who didn’t like Oblivion, or other open world games.

REVIEW: A Lot Like Birds – Conversation Piece

Phill J Adams — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:20:00 +0000

A Lot Like Birds may have a name that doesn’t exactly scream about the calibre of their tunes but once you hit play on this bad-boy things really shoot off, screaming towards the inevitable acceptance that you will love this band if you love post-hardcore. As far as post-hardcore goes you get what you’d expect within the first couple of tracks. Intense, genre jumping, with moods that swing faster than a pendulum trapped between two elastic bricks. It’s right up there with what you’d expect DGD to be pushing out if they’d just pull their head out of themselves and focus on writing music instead of re-writing their first album again and again since regaining Jonny.

Drummer Joe Arrington is just spectacular with drum beats that can sometimes subtly trick you in to believing two completely different beats are playing at the same time; and then can bring the furious intensity when necessary. But what is really amazing is the dynamic between Cory Lockwood and Kurt Travis. Travis is expected to pull off soaring notes and angelic melodies but because of Lockwood’s contrasting style they build off of each other. This is matched by Lockwood’s boy-wonder like vocal ability. This guy pulls off spoken word stuff like he is fronting La Dispute at times and then confidently roars his way with wreck less abandon through his screaming parts. It really is amazing stuff to see (well, to hear I guess) both these vocalists contending with each other creatively. Most notably in Think Dirty Out Loud Travis really catches your attention during his melodic “chorus” if you would; and is followed up by an equally enchanting screaming section by Lockwood again followed after by a mesmerizing spoken word section by Lockwood chanting “I’ve got a pocket full of dark black pick up lines, that I want to spill down the well of your throat” – I mean these are very imaginitive and picturesque lyrics that are so unique and fresh you’d wish these guys wrote a novel – or at least bundled one with the album.

It would be irresponsible for me to leave out any mention of the guitar work provided by Michael Franzino and Ben Wiacek. Even during the more intense songs such as Orange Time Machines Care there is a respect given to not slamming down a ridiculous amount of notes and hoping for the best. This applies with bassist Michael Littlefield as well, who often supports the tracks with basslines that both drive, and show of a technicality and soul not usually revealed by a bassist within the genre. The verse parts of Tantrum quietly shows the creative ability of Littlefield as he lays down a wandering bassline that doesn’t steal the spotlight from vocalists Travis and Lockwood. Axe-wise everything is well thought out and compelling. Half way through the album things begin to slow down and challenge the post-hardcore genre. The expectations of purely aggressive stampedes periodically quelled by softer tones are put to rest by lush soundscapes carved from vocals or guitars. The Blowtorch is Applied to the Sugar is an example of this done well with Kurt’s vocals shaping the mood of the track; with the rest of the band supporting him throughout.

There is little to fault with this album unless you have no understanding of the genre and why it twists and turns at any given chance. If anything I would’ve personally liked a little bit more energy midway through the album; but that was quickly dealt with by the inclusion of Sesame Street is No Place for Me. A Lot Like Birds have only been around as their current line-up for a while but this album really makes you believe these guys are seasoned veterans. This is post-hardcore doing what post-hardcore does best – challenge expectations of the hardcore genre. Innovate and Self-destruct. This is a fantastic album; within a few listens especially the tracks will begin to become a journey as you learn the twists and turns and join them on their voyage. A Lot Like Birds are on their way to becoming the kings of Post-Hardcore – and I will gleefully bow at their feet when they do.

4.5 / 5

Artist: A Lot Like Birds
Album: Conversation Piece
Released: 11/10/2011
Tracklisting:

01 - Orange Time Machines Care
02 – Think Dirty Out Loud
03 – Vanity’s Fair
04 – Properties Of Friction
05 – Truly Random Code
06 – Abbr.
07 – The Blowtorch Is Applied To The Sugar
08 – A Satire Of A Satire Of A Satire Is Tiring
09 – Sesame Street Is No Place For Me
10 – Tantrum (Far From The Tree, The Apple Grew Rotten)
11 – What Didn’t Kill Me Just Got Stronger

PREVIEW: RAGE

Phill J Adams — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 06:45:07 +0000

Recently Kotaku.com held a competition for 12 lucky Australians to go play a certain video game due for release in the coming week. Needless to say I was one of these 12 (I wouldn’t be writing this otherwise) and thought I’d share a few details of the experience.

RAGE is id’s newest piece of software. For those of you in the know you’ll remember id for their classic games series’ Quake and Doom along with a slew of other titles. I’m not gonna beat around the bush with the premise; you can find that anywhere on the internets so I’ll just rush on ahead to the meat of this post – should you honestly give a damn?

I don’t play a lot of FPS on console. I often find the controls not-so-nice, but tolerable at least, and for what it’s worth I didn’t feel comfortable with the controls of RAGE. This being said I was also unlucky enough to be playing the 360 copy and not on a PS3 (my preferred platform, it seems) So the controls felt like I was aiming a particularly fast targeting tank. That’s just me though; you may be used to this kind of thing.

The game looks delicious. Environments are expansive, lush and finely detailed. Even the skybox was entrancing – I looked up at one point and thought Da Vinci had just finished painting it. This joy is in part due to the mega textures/8GB install/3 discs – Whether you find this a hinderance or worth it’s while is dependant on whether or not you go absolutely gaga for graphics. I don’t rate a game purely on it’s glitter, with no gold though.

The story begins in a similar fashion we’d all be used to by now. Player reacts to the environment around them and you are taught the basics to escape this situation; you then get plopped somewhere and must find somewhere to begin the story. What’s awesome about RAGE was it spent all of at least 2 or 3 minutes doing this. Then you’re just thrown right in there – plot. I like plot. I like it very much. I find I need a bit of reason to play so it’s pretty refreshing to be given the 411 straight up. Soon you’ll be quad-biking and shooting up Bandits in their bungalow in no time.

I really liked the Defibulating system in the game where you can bring yourself back to life. It seems like “Nanobots” have become the new magic answer to why anything can work; which explains why you can Defibulate yourself when you’re already unconscious… but I won’t dwell on that. Does it feel like another title similar to this one though? Did you just think Borderlands? Ha. Does look a bit the same doesn’t it? It doesn’t feel like Borderlands too much to be honest. The combat is more FPS orientated so you’ll feel like you’re playing a shooter more than an FPS RPG like Borderlands. In fact the action in this game is great. The AI is relatively impressive not because of it’s smarts but due to the style of which they come running at you. Thing’s flipping off great heights then running along a wall, side stepping as you take your shot at them. They don’t go down easily; they don’t want too.

I managed to get a few missions in and the easter eggs were plentiful, Jon Goodman’s voice was welcoming, the action was engrossing and I felt like I wanted to play a bit more. But did I, a lousy student with a crappy income, think I had to own this game on it’s release? Only if I could get a sweet deal on it. As an Australian gamer we’re made to pay almost double the price of our American counterparts. I don’t think I could justify purchasing this at $90AUD. However, I could stomach $60AUD from websites like Ozgameshop.com. The truth is though, that there are too many AAA titles coming out within this time frame that I cannot afford to put it in to my list of games to purchase along with games I have already purchased but not finished. Uncharted 3, BF3, Dark Souls, the list could go on. It is a shame that I will not be able to buy this at release but will probably pick it up closer to Christmas when the price presumably drops.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is if you’ve got the spare dosh and the extra time on top of the other games to knuckle this one out then I suggest picking it up. It’s a well polished game with a lot going for it – except it’s release timing.

// phill