GAME REVIEW: Antichamber

A short review/overview of the psychological puzzle game, Antichamber!

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A word on comments.

I should mention that I need to approve all comments before they are posted here, so if you send me something that I find hateful or just rude, I will not post it. I will only respond to people who chose to act with respect even if they don’t agree with me. This blog is largely opinion, and so I do not expect that everyone will see eye to eye with me. That said, I expect a certain degree of respect when conversing with me, or you shouldn’t expect me to allow you the privilege of approving your comment for the world to see.

I haven’t received any hate mail by the way, I just thought I’d make things clear as I do not want my blog to end up the way of some other areas of the internet. Science fiction and fantasy should bring imaginative people together, we should not spend it bickering over small disagreements. Unfortunately this has become commonplace on the internet, and has given everyone a chance to spout their opinion. In essence, this is brilliant, but not everyone has something worth saying. Or, at least, they do not say it in a way that deserves attention.

I strive to instigate thoughtful and respectful debate wherever I go, whoever I may be talking with, regardless of how I feel about their opinion. Sometimes it is hard, but if you want people to take you seriously then you must also do the same yourself.

Now with all that being said, I do want to hear people’s opinions on matters, so back to our usual programming!

The Walking Dead Season 3 Finale Review

To start, I’m a huge fan of the Walking Dead. I’m not one of those people that criticises an episode if it doesn’t have many zombie kills in it. The show is as much about the human drama as it is the infected. If you want to see nothing but senseless gore and killing, there are hundreds of other zombie films that do just that.

I had heard that this finale was disappointing and anti-climatic, but I reserved judgement. I don’t let other people’s opinions affect my own. With that being said, what I had heard ended up being validated and last night’s show was the worst of the finales this far.

First I’ll start with Daryl. I, like many, love Daryl. Norman Reedus perfected the ‘strong and silent’ character with this role, and he has quickly become a fan favourite. The episode before the finale showed Daryl’s brother, Merle (Michael Rooker) being killed by the Governor and turning into a zombie, forcing Daryl to ‘re-kill’ his own brother. It was a rare moment of emotion for Daryl, and the episode ended with him in tears before Merle’s corpse.

This left viewers with many questions. How would the group react? Would they be glad that Merle was gone, and just sad for Daryl? Or would they be genuinely sorry to see Merle gone? He had just began to redeem himself by releasing Michonne and going after the Governor himself, it could have been a turning point for him.

But instead of developing on all this the writers simply skipped it all, summarising Daryl’s feelings with a couple of brief lines and a troubled look at Andrea when she asks if everyone is okay. What should’ve been the most important moment for Daryl in the entire show this far was limited to about five minutes of screentime. That was a huge waste of an opportunity to develop such a beloved character, and all the build up of the relationship between him and Merle seemed to be for nothing. Daryl seems to shrug his death off as if Merle had been any other member of the group. Despite their difficulties, they were still brothers and loved each other. This wasn’t reflected in Daryl’s attitude after Merle’s death. There definitely should have been another episode before the finale that focused on Daryl dealing with his loss.

Another trouble with the finale was Andrea. She has been a surce of frustration throughout the series (though well acted by Laurie Holden) due to her illogical actions and refusing to kill the Governor multiple times (which would have saved a lot of time and trouble). Her mistakes caught up with her when she was captured by the Governor and locked up with the slowly dying Milton, soon to reanimate and tear Andrea apart should she not escape in time. Luckily for her, Milton had kindly left a pair of pliers by her feet, which she spent most of the episode trying to pick up.

Now fair enough, that would probably be a stressful and difficult situation to be in, but instead of working quickly to escape as any logical person would do, Andrea spent most of her time staring at Milton every time he twitched. If I were locked in a room with a man slowly turning into a zombie, I wouldn’t wait around very long. However Andrea repeatedly stopped and watched Milton, wasting valuable time she could have used to escape. In the end, it comes back and bites her (literally) when Milton tears into her neck just as she breaks free from her restraints. Rick’s group find her too late, and she commits suicide to avoid reanimating.

It’s hard to sympathise for a character when their death is a result of their own foolishness. Though Andrea had some great scenes throughout the series, she was also a bit of a pain at times and so it was no surprise that it ended up being her downfall. Watching the finale I imagined many people watching the show, like myself, shouting “hurry up you plonker” every time she paused to see whether Milton had died. The frustration could have been minimised if perhaps less footage of her struggling to free herself had been shown. This would have left more time to develop the bigger storyline going on outside. So while I am somewhat sad to see Andrea go, she’d probably have only ended up getting more people killed.

My last issue with this episode is that it pretty much undermines all the development of the conflict between the town and prison groups. The whole series built up this, and there was much talk of ‘war’. The tension grew and grew, and you waited for the big final showdown between the two groups. But it never happened. There was a brief fire-fight and the Governor’s group retreated. Unhappy with his ‘solders’, the Governor executes them in a climax of his psychosis, and leaves with his last two men, not to be seen again through the rest of the episode. Hardly the war we expected. I personally expected to see an end to the Governor in the finale, but it seems the powers behind The Walking Dead have more plans for the character.

While it is certainly good to know that David Morrissey will be returning to our screens as the Governor, you can’t help but feel cheated a bit. Seeing the Governor torn to shreds and Rick take his place would have been a great end to the series, but the choice the writers went for wasn’t as bold as it could have been. Instead, the last episode felt more like a mid-season finale. It certainly didn’t live up to the end of season two.

Set to return to our screens in October, it will be interesting where the Walking Dead goes from here. They will certainly have to hit the ground running in season four to make up for this underwhelming ending.

Justice League Movie – Superheroes For A Different Generation?

Superhero films dominate the box office, and it seems nowadays that there is seldom a time when the cinema isn’t showing some sort of comic-book adaptation. Last year was no different, and we saw some of the most popular superhero films of recent times. Christopher Nolan’s final instalment in his Batman trilogy was a commercial success, and it had to be after The Dark Knight. We also saw a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, featuring The Social Network actor Andrew Garfield as lead.

But the real success of the year was Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, the culmination of several standalone films leading up to bringing together some of the most iconic characters in comic book history, played by an A-list cast. Raking in over $1.5 billion worldwide and becoming the third-highest grossing film of all time, the picture was as big a success as Marvel could have hoped for.

So it is no surprise then that long time rival company DC Comics is looking to push its own characters to the big screen. Nolan’s Batman series was highly successful, but a big departure from the Dark Knight’s typical representation in comic books. The only other big adaptation DC has put out in recent years was Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. While the film was a success, it did not fare nearly as well as Nolan’s Batman trilogy or the more recent The Amazing Spider-Man. And so the Superman franchise is getting yet another reboot soon with Man of Steel. But DC has its eyes set higher than just a standalone Superman film. Rumour has it that the company is gearing up for a Justice League film.

The success of Avengers Assemble is proof that more is better in terms of superheroes, and certainly being able to have many franchises represented in a single film is a brilliant idea- if it works. Having so many big characters in one film is a lot to handle, and fans of the comics do not take kindly to their favourite characters being poorly represented. That is why Marvel took many films to build up to the Avengers, and it paid off. Could DC do the same?

With only one DC film on the horizon, this looks unlikely. Were Batman to be featured, Nolan’s version would probably be too realistic to be rubbing shoulders with Superman, so yet another reboot would be needed to introduce a Batman that might compliment the rest of Justice League better. NBC recently decided not to go forward with a Wonder Woman television series after seeing the pilot, though the recent show ‘Arrow’, based on the character Green Arrow, has been well received. There was a Green Lantern film featuring Ryan Reynolds, however this was poorly received and barely scraped a profit.

So overall, the DC Universe of heroes hasn’t fared as well on screen in recent years as Marvel characters. But why is this? Both companies have been around for a very long time, and have built loyal bases with their iconic characters. But perhaps this is the issue? Comic book writer Mark Millar spoke to the website SciFiNow about the problem with a Justice League film:

“I actually think that the big problem for them is the characters are just too out of date. (They) were created 75 years ago; even the newest major character was created 68 years ago, so they’re in a really weird time.”

Certainly, scanning over the line-up of Justice League you see remnants of the Golden Age of superheroes: tights, bright colours and underpants on the inside; are these really qualities that translate into the modern age? In comparison, the Avengers are a lot more varied, comprised of a man in a robotic suit, a god, a scientist turned monster, two top-secret agents and of course the super soldier, Captain America. The Captain himself is a throwback to this Golden Age of superheroes, which is brought up in the film when he raises his concern that his costume is a little ‘old-fashioned’. Perhaps this acknowledgement of changing times gives us an explanation: maybe Marvel characters have just aged better than DC’s?

It’s certainly something that I have been curious about. I decided a good way to get an idea of this topic would be to conduct a poll on which Justice League hero/heroine people liked the most, and as you can see from the results, there was a clear and relatively unsurprising winner.

Despite being DC’s flagship character, Superman lost out tremendously to the Dark Knight, Batman. This was to be expected; the Nolan films are still relatively fresh in people’s memories. But, Nolan also demonstrated that at least Batman could be modernised. Christian Bale’s version is certainly more grounded than the camp 60’s Adam West Batman. Could Superman or Wonder Woman receive the same treatment?

Man of Steel will either be the salvation or nail in the coffin of a Justice League film. If it proves that the superheroes of the Golden Age can still be relevant in modern media, then there may be hope. The trailer certainly looks promising, and with Zack Synder, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer at the helm it couldn’t be in better hands. This may be DC’s last chance to make an impact on the superhero blockbuster scene that Marvel currently dominates. What better superhero to lead the charge than Superman?

Magic and Machine Guns Podcast #1

The first podcast!

Top 5 Spider-Man Villains That Should Hit The Big Screen

The Spider-Man comics have run since the 1960s, and in that time the webhead has faced up against many great (and not so great) villains. With the recent reboot to the film franchise, there is the possibility to add in some of Spidey’s greatest but perhaps less appreciated foes.

5. Carnage

Carnage is perhaps Spider-Man’s most psychotic enemy, and was dangerous long before becoming host to the alien symbiote (and spawn of Venom) that gave him his powers. Before even becoming Carnage, Cletus Kasady had killed his own family and others, racking up a significant body count which resulted in his imprisonment. In prison he met Eddie Brock, otherwise known as Venom, and this resulted in Cletus getting a symbiote of his own. This just enabled him to perfect the art of killing, and Carnage has lived up to his name since.

His ‘father’, Venom, appeared in Spider-Man 3 and was played by Topher Grace, but the reboot of the franchise would mean that a new Venom would need to be created before Carnage could be a possibility. With rumours that Venom may at least be mentioned in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, seeing Carnage in a film may not be far off.

Who could play him?: Robert Knepper

4. Shocker

Preferring extortion and theft to world domination, Herman Schultz AKA Shocker, is not one of Spider-Man’s ‘classiest’ villains. So it’s no surprise he normally ends up being quickly defeated by Spider-Man, unsurprisingly making him very frustrated with the wall crawler.

Shocker would work well in a film as he requires very little explanation. He is a fairly generic villain; an unlikely genius who invented a pair of shockwave-blasting gloves that he used to crack safes. While perhaps not meaty enough to work as a main villain, as a supporting character he could work, especially in a potential Sinister Six story.

Who could play him?: Kevin Durand

3. Kraven the Hunter

Kraven the Hunter has forever had his eyes on the greatest prize: Spider-Man. And yet his quarry has always been out of reach, even after increasing his strength using secret jungle potions.

Spider-Man is often seen as a villain in the media of New York, pushed in part by Daily Bugle editor James Jonah Jameson and his militant hatred of the hero. The addition of Kraven and his public hunt for Spider-Man could set the theme of the hero’s relationship with the people of New York.

It also reflects the very real relationship with reality television that people have these days, and the fascination with the macabre. With Kraven trying to hunt and kill Spider-Man on live television, the film could be about the wall-crawlers fight to save New York from themselves, and to show them the error of their ways.

Kraven is also related to another villain, Chameleon, as well as Calypso, so there is the potential to weave more villains into the same film.

Who could play him?: Mads Mikkelsen

2. Scorpion 

Scorpion represents what Spider-Man could be if he embraced the villainous side of superpowers. Mac Gargan was engineered under J.J Jameson’s orders to ultimately kill Spider-Man. Scorpion aimed to do just that, but also wanted revenge against Jameson for making him a monster. This forced Spider-Man to protect the editor despite being one of his enemies. It was yet another test of Spider-Man’s conscience, and his constant refusal to give in to revenge is what makes him a hero.

A film involving Scorpion could highlight the relationship between Jameson and Spider-Man, and show the extremity of Jameson’s hatred for him. Spider-Man saving Jameson from his own creation would cause the editor to reflect on his feelings towards the hero.

Mac Gargan also later becomes the third Venom, so there is a potential to tie him into that storyline too.

Who could play him?: Gerard Butler

1. Mysterio

Of all the villains on this list, Mysterio is the one that would be most difficult to get right, but also has the most potential. The villain uses a range of equipment to create illusions and hallucinations that make him more of a mental adversary rather than a physical one. This makes him particularly interesting, as it would force Spider-Man to fight very differently, showing his resourcefulness and intelligence.

Mysterio’s costume however, might not translate very well to the Amazing Spider-Man film universe without being changed. Marc Webb’s first film set a somewhat dark tone for the series, and Mysterio’s somewhat camp appearance would clash with that. However, the Ultimate comics version depicted a more modern version of the character that might work better.

Who could play him?: John Malkovich

Dead Space 3 DLC: EA Releases 11 On Launch

The ever controversial Electronic Arts has stirred up yet more anger in the gaming community with its latest release, Dead Space 3. Day 1 DLC is often frowned upon by gamers as many feel they are being sold incomplete games so the publishers can keep back content to sell as DLC later. This is something that EA is widely known and disliked for, and launching Dead Space 3 with 11 pieces of DLC hasn’t helped that.

Most of the content is weapon and armour skins, however some of it gives the player better stats or resource gathering capabilities- essentially making the game easier. For many, this defeats the purpose of a horror-survival game. What point is there in being scared when you can just buy better guns and armour that will make things easier?

While Dead Space 2 had similar DLC upon release, it wasn’t as numerous, and free DLC was offered later. This latest move however is somewhat foreboding to fans of the series as to some it marks EA trying to milk what they can out of the franchise, possibly at the expense of quality.

This wouldn’t be the first time EA has done this; the company is known for buying out developers purely for their intellectual properties so it can create sequels from the franchises, which often receive more negative criticism compared to the original titles. This was the case with the Mass Effect franchise. Developer Bioware was bought by EA during the release of the first Mass Effect game, and developed two more titles for EA, the third of which received mixed reviews and lead to the ending being amended to appease angry fans. EA has also closed studios down after releasing games that did not fare so well commercially.

These business practices have given EA some negative reputation both among gamers and people in the gaming industry, and many worry that Dead Space could be another franchise that EA drives into the ground. Only time will tell whether the publisher has learnt from their mistakes.