Creativity With an Affinity for Darkness
The Dark Opera
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I See You Playing "Year Walk" in the Near Future... and Loving it!

2/21/2013

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Year Walk is a much-anticipated supernatural/horror entry by Simogo. They’re responsible for the charming and innovative “Beat Sneak Bandit.”

In Year Walk, you partake in the Swedish phenomena of year walking, that is, in this case, a walk in a dark snowy wood, which is home to many strange creatures and events. A glimpse of the future is the hoped for prize for following the year walk ritual. Maybe you’ll “Discover if your loved one will love you back.”

It’s definitely got the horror flavor. One look at the companion and you’ll get a feel for the grisly affairs that await you. BUT, you may not want to look at that companion just yet. I didn’t see it until I was finished my first run through and it was still a great adventure without it. 
Here’s something of a downer: I found the “first person adventure that blurs the line between two and three dimensions…” bit to be lackluster at first. While with a lot more flow, it reminded me of running around Crystal Lake in the old Friday the 13th game for Nes. Admittedly though, Year Walk’s faux first person experience gets better as you play. The facing forward/walking backwards mechanism took me out of the game initially but helps in navigating the area later on (unlike the hard to navigate Nes game mentioned earlier). Don’t worry about not having a map, I found my play through (puzzles included) to be very intuitive. It was comfortably challenging. You’ll need a pen and paper to write down clues though.
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The narrative here is very thin but gives the feel of being well grounded and with backstory. You’ll find some of that foundation in the companion app (Free), and that backstory, delivered expertly, in an unlockable portion upon completing your adventure. It is a MUST to follow up on that companion app for the full experience. 

The music is average to great in complimenting some genuinely unsettling moments (Like when you first come across the forest guardian, and when you find some of the babies you're looking for). Which reminds me, there’s some excellent use of the ipod’s touch mechanism! I won’t say much more than that. 

The end sequence to the main game is intriguing and fun on the level of puzzle solving, but likely more abstract than many would like (Though is made better by that complimentary app). Some will fault the game for being too short. I finished the experience (game plus companion) in under 3 hours. Is that worth the 3.99$ price tag? There certainly has been more bang for your buck in terms of quantity, but I can vouch that the quality in this “experience” is worth the money.

Year Walk gets 7.8/10

- Josh
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Machinarium Looks Great But Isn't Accessible For All

1/7/2013

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Machinarium, now there’s an attractive Point and Click adventure that’s been showcased on the Apple App store a while. Unfortunately, it isn’t for everyone. While the quaint and charming art style will attract many, its difficulty level will put off more than a few (Even when offset by the games hints and answers mechanism (which should be applauded but falls short in making the game as accessible as possible). 

Your adventure begins on a scrapheap on the outskirts of the city. Your mission is to save your robot girlfriend while disarming a big bomb and doing away with some baddies to boot. It’s a fun one, but the thin narrative loses steam easily with every puzzle roadblock and especially around the point where the world opens up about halfway through. By the time you race against the bomb’s count down timer, you’ll wonder where all the urgency had been hiding. To say the least, the adventure’s about the charming world, the music and the puzzles – not the flow of the story or building emotional attachment (though there’s a semi effective play on the latter via some thought bubble flashbacks).
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Those puzzles! They’re very well thought out and intricate as hell. Learning to manipulate some can be difficult however. That’s because 'in game' hints can be cruelly subtle. There’s a hint option that will help you through but I’m thinking many will have to refer to the 'in game' answer book that can be accessed via a mini game. It’s a great way to do it, but more overt directions to solving puzzles could have improved success rates and players wouldn’t risk being taken out of the game as much trying to access the answer book to move forward.

Machinarium gets 4/5 stars if you like your Point and Click adventures but loses an extra star in accessibility for other gamers, myself included.  


- Josh
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Silent Hill Downpour is Like The Silent Hill 1 of The New Generation

4/4/2012

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If you're like me and have read the mixed reviews out there on Silent Hill’s latest series entry, “Downpour”, then you might be hesitant about picking it up. Most fans remember the good old days of SH 1-3, with some love for “The Room” but in general disappointment with origins and Homecoming. Shattered memories was an creative reach for something new, especially as played on the Wii but it just didn’t seem to take. 

Silent Hill as we knew it is dead. Plain as that. Good news is that what we have in SH Downpour is a new take that’s pretty damn good but is still only just coming of age. You’ll be pleased to know that it doesn’t settle into it’s new groove without a nod to it’s past with in game music from previous SH soundtrack and even a sly reference to that “Special place”.It’s got the creepy down too, but only at parts. It does play up the psychological angle, especially as seen in SH2, but it doesn’t quite make as deep an impact. To be sure, it does revert to the action oriented feel and cheap pop out scares as seen in homecoming but there does seem to be an attempt at balance.

There’s a whole lot of “it’s good... but” in this game. With it’s horrible combat system... I mean HORRIBLE (I have dropped a weapon so many times trying to ready it to hit something), and somewhat uninspired beginning at the Devil’s pit, It would be easy to see the scales tipped in the favor of this being another disappointing Silent Hill game... BUT, keep playing. I promise it gets better.
The puzzles are mostly great. The voice acting and dialogue is good. The story is O.K, The music is decent, but all of this is made so much better by the side quests. They are impressive to say the least. If you’re playing through this game and are thinking about abandoning it, make sure to try out some side quests first, they are the eerie charm of this game. Don’t worry, there’s more great to Downpour than just the side quests. As for the main story line, the radio station and monastery are excellent though the game does suffer from a lackluster prison as the last area (but by that time you’ll want to see this thing through to it’s twist and turn ending). 

All in all. If you’re a SH fan and haven’t picked this up yet. do. It’s pretty damn good and gets me hoping that maybe the next installment will be this new generations Silent Hill 2.

- Josh


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