Silent Hill 3

Hey all. So after the SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fouled Up) of the poll, I would like to apologize. While I simply forgot to check with the blog that I did Silent Hill 2, I feel I should make up for the goof. So we will look at another Survival Horror game and hopefully give you my best take on the source material. As this has been a long lasting franchise going back to Playstation 1 and we fans all have the love for it. This is Silent Hill 3.

My puffy jacket aids me.

Brought to us by Konami via Playstation 2 and developed by Team Silent, our game is a direct sequel to the first game as we follow the adventures or madness down the rabbit hole with Harry Mason's now teenage daughter Heather (formally Alessa and later reincarnated Cheryl). Yes made from a 10 year old girl and manifested back to an infant... I need to create context, right? Okay spoilers for the first game.

With the Cult headed by Dahlia Gillespie, her daughter Alessa was intended to be the vessel to said living god that manifested as an incubus and there was a need to have Aglaophotis (an concoction that dispels demons) and the Seals of Metatron to raise said beast, Harry Mason's daughter Cheryl was adopted by he and his wife Jodie. Harry makes his way through the dimensional shifted Silent Hill and faces mortal danger to save Cheryl.

17 years later, Cheryl, now known as Heather is running errands for her dad at the shopping center, she falls asleep at the fast food place having nightmares of Silent Hill, running through the amusement park and fending off monsters. She wakes and calls her dad to let him know she is on her way home with she runs into a P.I. Cartland. Hired by the Order to find her. He's all mysterious about her history of her birth and what she means to the Order. She makes her way home armed with a pistol to defend herself only to encounter a blond woman all in black calling herself Claudia Wolf. She tells Heather "Remember me, and your true self as well and that she will lead them to Paradise with bloodstained hands." Yeah normally a girl has to worry about potential pedophiles not prophecies.

I sense impending doom today.

Levels like the subway and Otherworld portals leaves Cartland actually is as baffled as Heather pointing out he was only supposed to find her but feels like this job is so much more than it was explained to him by Claudia.

Booking back home she finds Harry brutally murdered and slumped in his chair. Heather vows revenge and realizes it all goes back to Silent Hill. Cartland drives Heather to Silent Hill for her to find out more of her past, why her dad was gacked and in general is looking to mess some folk up.

Back with melee and firearms attacks, exploration and more puzzles, we have a standard third person view. We are also back with the pocket radio that blurts loud static when monsters are near. So we are treated to the map screen of streets of Silent Hill 1 and she makes her way to Vincent a priest of the Order and chief antiquarian (librarian) and he gives her vague passages, quotes, the creeper eye and just happens to have her late father's notebook and detailed accounts of 17 years prior. HUH??!!!

between that ulterior motives of Claudia, Vincent and other members of the Order, finding out which path for Heather is hit or miss. Like the first two games, your actions and words will dictate your outcome again. So yes the hospital is still creepy and faceless nurses are roaming about as Elessa was constantly hospitalized. That will happen when your soulless mother is siphoning the actual life force out of you. Hey readers? Your mom do that? No? Then go hug her and tell her what a good mom she is.  Can't be easily to walk around anywhere with three sets of memories rolling around your coconut like some psychotic game of Bingo.

Like the first game with have Lewis Carrol references, H.P. Lovecraft, Shakespeare quotes on the harder levels and a bizarre fairy tale spread on pages throughout the town and its many levels. The amusement park is so well done as the psychokinesis of Alessa is still haunting it almost with her memories tainting the whole area.

Now in my head, Harry actually preparing Heather for this would have meant a completely different story line. I grant you can't pop into causal conversation, "Sweetie, a dark prophecy, plus a previous incarnation of yourself doomed an entire town, warped the fabric of reality and did almost bring about Armageddon. Pass the salt, please." Yeah that would sound like Harry was mad as a box of cats. The phrase Tu Fui, Ego Eris (As you are, I was; as I am, so you shall also be) is found throughout Hilltop Center making one of the creatures only known as the Glutton monster to disappear. If this phrase has not been uttered by Heather, she cannot get pass the creature or even harm it.

Stevie Nicks??

So following loss, exploration, a past she was never made aware of; this would be conflicting for anyone but lumping this all at the feet of a teenage girl seems inherently cruel. This kid is in the midst of figuring out her identity, who she is as a person, only to find out that was she knew to be concrete and true is all sand and lies. Did her dad ever truly love her or was he attempting to keep the world safe from utter darkness? Is the Order right for her destiny?

Unlike the films, the story is pretty clear and unfolds in the usual odd fashion that Silent Hill fans have come to expect these games. With still the tank controls or D-pad, the map screen for your health and weapons. While we get some very strange exposition, the gamers know a fraction of what's going on but are still pleasantly surprised by all that is happening. It is a journey of discovery with all the trimmings of actions equal consequences. With a morbid past, a present of utter madness it makes you wonder Heather's future.

Don't worry Silent Hill movie viewers, no appearances of Pyramid Head (as that was only a direct link to James Sutherland of Silent Hill 2), no goofy witch burnings because of unwed mothers, pop tart jump scares and absolutely no unnecessary Sean Bean padding like the first film. Still could have made him Harry Mason, have him scour Silent Hill for his daughter and defeat the followers of the living god via Dahlia Gillespie but hey, the hell do I know? Just a critic...and a fan of these games and one who appreciate proper handing of source material.

Outfitted with as always, a right angle flashlight, a pocket AM/FM red radio from the 50s and 60s, maybe a knife and pistol, the devilish shenanigans are well on their way. Naturally melee weapons and firearms are strewn about the town. Still feel the lead pipe and the shotgun are the best weapons.

This continuation was eerie, clever and had its moments of breaking the fourth wall that really gave this dark content a lighter motif. I highly recommend this for fans of the first two games. 

Hmm disturbing corridor of flesh or a book? what to look at first.

Dead Rising Week: Dead Rising 2

Welcome back ladies and gents! Yesterday I was busy making a Halloween project. Here's hoping the juicy skeleton looks amazing. Back to the topic at hand, zombies on the rise! Grr. Yes this beloved subgenre of horror has gone through spurts since 1968 George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The 80s, 90s and the 2000s give a bit of zombie craze until 2004 it gets back up again to ravage the world. The Walking Dead is on its 6^th Season, Z Nation its second and Fear the Walking Dead to Season 2 as well. So let's get off our butt and get back into smiting the undead. This is Dead Rising 2.

Airball!!

Following after the exploits of Willamette Colorado, the zombie virus is a plague running rampant throughout the states. Five years after the first outbreak is the town of Fortune City, Nevada. A reality sport game Terror Is Reality. A game show where the contestants kill off zombies for money and glory. This time around our protagonist Chuck Greene (Peter Flemming of Replicant, Good Boy!, Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict, Becoming Redwood and Almost Human) a former Motocross champion that is in need of money. His daughter Katey was bitten by her zombified mom when she was 5 and the only thing to keep the virus at bay is Zombrex(daily injection to suppress the zombie viral strain). The show's gaggle of zombies prepped for the contest get loose and Chuck scoops up Katey head to an emergency shelter. The lone security Raymond Sullivan (Phillip Maurice Hayes of Unforgiven, Powder, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sabrina, the Animated Series, Gadget and the Gadgetinis, Dinosaur Train and Wolves) is hesitant to allow Katey to stay but Chuck assures him he can keep her stockpiled on Zombrex.

Nope, I'm no Frank West but I'm good.

It looks worse and worse for Chuck as it looks like he went backstage and let loose the zombies of war to lunch and munch the competition. Chuck now has to venture out into Fortune City via air duct (Come out to the coast, you'll have a great time. Have a few laughs.) and make his way to more Zombrex until the Army is due to arrive in three days. Yup another 72 hours in our open ended, survival horror game with some new mechanics.

A Co-Op and Multiplayer option giving four players to compete in Terror Is Reality. The story progresses to offer the achievements and trophies. The health bar is a large collection of squares rather than the two small ones. The AI of survivors are less dopey. Meaning they can nut up and fight, the zombies like to have man meat Chuck and makes the escort mission less painful and maddening. Chuck can get distracted in mini games via casinos to gamble for more money. The vehicle mechanics are so much better but mostly bikes to maybe fit Chuck's former lifestyle as a motocross champ. 

Our combo weapons have gotten a bit screwier with things like: Dynameat (A stick of dynamite crammed in a ham), the Paddlesaw (two chainsaws duct taped to a kayak paddle ) the Hail Mary (a grenade taped to a football) and finally the Spiked Bat (ballbat with nails hammered in it) and you will need it as your boss battles are just as loopy psychopaths have either gone crackers due to zombies or the panic in the air inciting fear giving them jollies. Love the additional weapon Boomstick (a pump action shotgun duct taped with a pitchfork) and the ridiculous activist Stacey (Robyn Ross of Mega Man, Juno, Dead Rising 2, Fairly Legal, Suck it Up Buttercup and Cedar Cove) who was at the show protesting for zombie rights and equality.

It is dark humor, warped mini-games, squashing a zombie with a motobike so yes this is gorefest of goofiness. 

Zombie combo platter!!!

Dead Rising Week: Dead Rising

Well folks we are back for the week and I apologize for the last week being too short due to sinus headaches. The zombie genre is so beloved by all for some reason. Morbid curiosity? Gore fans? Whatever the case may be, folks cannot seem to get enough of the undead. This time around I thought we would look at a series of games involving the shambling dead folk. This is Dead Rising.

Zombie munch party!!!

So we are speaking of the PS3 and PC games that originated from Capcom because... Resident Evil just didn't covet enough of this genre but we follow the story arc of Frank West, photographer/photojournalist (voiced by stuntman and voice actor Terence J. Rotolo of Masked Rider, Big Bad Beetleborgs, Power Rangers in Space, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, Dead Rising, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Devil May Cry 4) First off, this guy looks like he should be paparazzi getting latter age Disney girl up-skirt shots but I digress. Frank has covered world events, major wars and impressive scoops of that nature. Toodling around Colorado, he stumbles in on a town gone batshit. Military convoys blocking the roads and all forms of communications going in and out of Willamette Colorado have been jammed. The whole town seems overrun by zombies. He beelines for the local shopping mall because maybe Colorado has less gun restrictions so the possibility of boomsticks a plenty!

Zombies or Mallrats?  Only Kevin Smith knows for sure.

With a fistful of lettuce, Frank charters a helicopter to get some aerial shots of the place Frank wants more visceral close ups so he tells the pilot to drop him off on the roof of the mall and come back in three days for more scratch. Turns out the mall may have not been the wisest choice as the place is packed almost wall to wall zombie mob. Frank starts snapping pics left and right showing the utter pandemonium. Frank hooks up with some fellow survivor characters giving a story path and moving towards goals and side quests via sandbox game.

This is classified as a third person horror survival fending off zombie attacks, rescue survivors, fight with nutters and stay alive to get the full story. The funniest part of this is finding any available item as a melee or bludgeon weapon. A TV, kayak paddles with chainsaws duct taped to it, chucking soda cans, beating a zombie to death with a mannequin arm or maybe a neon sign plugged in.

72 hours to get the story, get out and not get bit. Without weapons, Frank has some decent hand-to-hand street fighting/wrassling moves from some gut punches, tossing people and using the environment. There are no combos to remember or any of that crap. You stab, clunk or shoot out your way to the next level. FYI, the friggin mall looks about the size of Mall of America.

Zombies are plentiful, the boss battles are off their nut and the story line is a bit odd but overall loads of replay ability. So if you want to hack and slash the undead without deep, profound matters of the heart, hearing people flip out or for the Resident Evil fans want to collect more than 6 or 8 items, this is your jam.

Escort missions will forever blow!!!

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Welcome back for the week! Well my fine collection of readers I decided we have not covered video games in far too long. TV and Movies come a tad bit more natural for me to go on and on about. Between loading screens, cut scenes of dialogue the modern day video game can drag on, make you loss interest and give off a story line that convoluted and boring. Many franchises have suffered thanks to rewriting and tinkering. The Resident Evil games were enjoyable up to the third one. Four and on has too many cooks in the kitchen spoiling the simple recipe. Thankfully that isn't always the case. British games developers Rocksteady Studios release of with a first-person shooter called Urban Chaos, a riot response squad dealing with an arsonist gang called the Burners, taking on paramedics, firefighters, civilians and the cops. This project brought them notoriety, some credibility and much needed revenue. Founded in 2004, Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker, the studio was scooped up by Time Warner to bring about a new look at the Dark Knight. This is Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Hiya kiddies.  Guess who's back??!!

Written by Paul Dini (Tiny Toons Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series. The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Batman Beyond and Duck Dodgers) brings us the constant struggle between Batman and the Joker. Reprising their characters since Batman: The Animated Series is Kevin Conroy for Batman, Mark Hamill for the Joker and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Our game operates as a third-person single-player action-adventure.

After the Joker attacks City Hall, Batman beats the crap out of him and drags him to Arkham Asylum, which is stocked with members of Joker's gang due to a fire at Blackgate Prison, Batman senses Joker's capture was far too easy and is not sure if there is something else going on decides to accompany Joker to lock up. Just before the ghost of Admiral Ackbar can warn anyone, the trap is sprung, Harley has taken over security and a bought guard kidnaps Commissioner Gordon. Joker points out there are bombs all over Gotham City ready to be detonated if anyone else tries to enter Gotham leaving Batman to handle this insanity all on his on.

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

With the captured Bane working alongside with doctor Penelope Young (Cree Summer of Inspector Gadget, A Different World, Tiny Toons Adventures, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Moonbeam City, Dawn of the Croods and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy) who has been working on Titan, a stronger formula of Venom to allow patients to recover quicker from strenuous therapies but unbeknownst to Young, the Joker has been secretly funding her with the idea f creating an army of super humans at his beck and call. With no sidekicks, Justice League or even help from the cops, Batman must face all his rogues gallery on his own.

A few words on gameplay. Now I was playing this on Xbox so bear with me. The game's graphics hails from NVIDIA's PhysX, a realtime physics engine allowing classic Newtonian physics.

A linear opening allows some tutorials of gadgets, fighting style and throwing weapons that can be programmed to attack from sonics and remote detonation. A Detective Vision- a visual that lets you pull up information, show objects like walls that can be destroyed, grates that can be removed, and a how many number of enemies in an area and their vitals. This mode is also used to find footprints, odors and even a puzzle solving capability. The combat designs allows Batman to anticipate criminal fighting given a control scheme to Batman's fighting style.

Aww Bats is rocking him to sleep.