JoyStiq: Dead Space 3 XBox 360 Review

I have a love/fear relationship with the Dead Space franchise. It took me three attempts to get through the first game, which, I guess, is a testament to how good the game is. The first attempt might have failed because I played the game on PC and the controls were horrendous! I was also just plain scared. I digress though, Dead Space 3 is here and Isaac is back with his plasma cutter and his awesome stomp to kill some Necromorphs and other enemy scum! This time the action and terror takes place on the frozen planet, Tau Volantis. The planet is believed to be the Marker home world, which means you can stop the Necromorph threat at its source and thus make the universe a better place for us all. Isaac has relationship issues again and the game's overall story is just as convoluted as his love life. Isaac is summoned from his cool pad on the moon by the powers that be and call themselves EarthGov. Isaac has to save his romantic interest, Ellie and her team. Visceral Games is doing a little too much with the story and it only serves to confuse the player. Fear not though (well fear a little because Dead Space 3 is a scary game) because the clever gameplay makes up for this. At many points you really don't care what everyone around you is on about and just want to kill some Necromorphs and whoever else needs to be disposed of.

The Dead Space franchise always tries to push boundaries a little and I appreciate how it does it in this iteration. Isaac can face the Necromorph plight alone, which is just fine and a whole lot creepy or you can play the game the way it's meant to be played, with a buddy. The game includes a co-op mode that allows a friend to drop in and help you out as John Carver. This opens up the environment for more exploration options that you would not have in the single player campaign. John Carver can drop out at anytime and you can carry on with your solo play. I am a big fan of this feature because it's nice to be able to share in the story and overall experience of a AAA title. Usually co-op means you're playing some add-on content or that you're playing some puzzle game with a friend. Dead Space 3 allows you to share the actual experience of the story with a friend. This is a huge plus for games becoming more social. In sunny South Africa we still suffer from crappy and expensive Internet service, which can mar the online co-op experience somewhat.

The weapon upgrade system gets a bit of an overhaul and is called the Weapons Bench. The bench allows players to construct new weapons to deadly effect. You can either build your own unique weapons or choose from default options. This is a fun and useful feature for the co-op play as players can come up with weapons that complement one another. This proves to be loads of fun and provides moments of pure glee. Isaac also gains the ability to roll in order to take cover from incoming attacks. It might seem like it’s only a little improvement but in practice it makes all the difference in a tough situation. The enemies, whether they are Necromorphs or human Unitolgist soldiers are smart enough to provide quite a challenge.

As I'd said earlier, I didn't like the control system of the original on the PC but on the XBox 360 the control system shines and feels natural. Dead Space 3 is at home on this console. But even with the brilliant control system the game has some inherently annoying issues. Many of the environmental puzzles are very frustrating and quite unnecessary. Visceral Games tries too hard to provide varied gameplay and it falls flat at such times. The minimalist interface makes a welcome come-back courtesy of your vitals being displayed on the Resource Integration Gear suit instead of the traditional HUD. You get an assortment of unique suits depending on the edition of the game you buy and you can upgrade them as you go along. The coolest is the N7 suit you get if you have Mass Effect 3 save files. It’s the sort of little touch that gives players a mini geek orgasm of pure delight.

Dead Space has always been about atmosphere: gorgeous, creepy visuals and sounds that constantly have you looking over your shoulder and up at the ceiling. This tradition is continued and the game looks amazing, especially the parts where you get to explore the frozen exterior conditions of Tau Volantis. The game is very creepy if you play the campaign solo and there are moments when I jumped out of my seat because I got scared. It’s really amazing how the Necromorphs never cease to scare the living daylights out of you even when you know when they’re likely to pop out by now. You still rely on Isaac’s stomp to ensure that enemies are dead. The fear factor is alleviated somewhat if you play co-op as you and your buddy will have a good laugh at some of the moments that would have scared you on your own.

When it's all said and done Dead Space 3 is a good game that just falls short of being great because of a few niggles. The story is somewhat garbled in how it’s told and the game mechanics are iffy at times. The great moments are extraordinary though! The atmosphere is classic Dead Space and serves to creep players out in many exciting ways. The co-op mode is a welcome addition and adds a beautiful social mechanic to the game. Two plasma cutters are definitely better than one. Gamers are tenacious folk though and can look past the game’s flaws to appreciate it for all it tries to accomplish. Our favourite engineer, Isaac Clarke is back for another outing and it's well worth your while. Get your grubby paws on it today.

The Gig Life: A Quiet Kind of Courage Book Launch 14/03/2013

Preamble:

Let's run through the checklist:

Nervous? Check

All-Stars and tie? Check

Curiosity? Check

Excitement to meet the author of such a beautifully titled book? Check

Off we go to meet my beautiful compadre, Varsha then.

Amble (whatever that means):

Varsha and I attended the launch of Anthony Schneider's first literary novel, A Quiet Kind of Courage. The event was held at the very charming Love Books in Melville on Thursday evening, 14 March. I commend Kate Rogan and the team at Love Books for putting together such a warm and intimate affair and for the delicious finger food and wine. A bigger crowd than expected turned out but that only made it all the better.

I got to meet some very interesting people who work in the literary field like the wonderful staff who work at Penguin Books SA and a fellow literature junkie and blogger, Amy Moonsamy. She is doing some cool things over at My Solo Book Club. Pop in and say hello. I even met an astronomer! Such a pleasure to run into you, Sarah Buchner. I also bumped into Nhlanhla Khumalo who runs a great initiative that addresses hunger and poverty in general, The Sparkle Foundation. Show them some love. Then there's Anthony Schneider, of course. The reason we were all gathered there.

Anthony Schneider is a gracious fellow -- he's laid back and has a witty humorous streak. He was born in South Africa but was educated in the U.S. Although A Quiet Kind of Courage is his first literary novel he has been published in two fiction anthologies, magazines and literary publications such as Bold Type, The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Details, McSweeneys and Conjunctions. When he's not writing Anthony is an email and online marketing guru.

Anthony discussed how his novel came to life an how inefficient the writing process of a first novel was. He even imparted some made-up writing tips for us aspiring writers.

It was a very enjoyable evening of meeting people and sharing stories.

Read Varsha's write up of the evening for Books Live.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who made this possible.

JoyStiq: Tomb Raider XBox 360 Review

The new Tomb Raider has landed and it’s made a big splash in the process. Lara Croft has been rebooted and given a new origins story but it’s always a hit or miss affair when you take a well-known and beloved character like Lara Croft and remake her. Fans are not too forgiving if you get a reboot wrong. The fact that the last Tomb Raider games have been rather lacking in luster adds more pressure to the expectation from a new game in the franchise. In this case it’s good that we’re in a period where fans will give a franchise another chance to reboot if it’s been mucking up a little – it’s a clean slate of sorts really. With Rhianna Pratchett having written the story and created the new Lara Croft’s personality things are already looking up. Developer, Crystal Dynamics also doesn’t go wrong with the game mechanics.

Gone is the plastic, large-breasted Lara Croft of yesteryear and in is an honest attempt at building a human being who evolves from someone young, appropriately attractive (and appropriately dressed), somewhat naive and very vulnerable into a hero. This is what this origins story is, a look at how Lara Croft becomes as tough as adamantium claws – what she has to live through to reach that point. Rhianna Pratchett points out that her Lara is a real woman and this rings true. Throughout the game the player learns what it takes to be a graduate, fresh out of university and to find yourself shipwrecked on an island occupied by cultists who aren’t very welcoming. Lara's journey from wide-eyed graduate to kick-ass survivor is a brutal one that would leave most people traumatised if they were to manage to survive at all. It's also a beautiful experience that speaks to the player about the resilience of the human spirit.

The visuals and game mechanics are powered by a modified Crystal Engine and they are stunning. Lara gets grimier and more bloodied as she makes her way through the breath-yanking island, surviving. The island is alive with vibrant fauna and flora and the weather conditions are wonderfully temperamental. The atmosphere is rich and heavy throughout. The island is a character in itself and exploring it is fun and scary all at once. The dangers are real but once in a while Lara makes it to the top of a ledge and the view is spectacular. Tomb Raider’s resounding theme is survival and Lara has to learn to do whatever it takes to survive and to save her comrades. She hunts and kills deer on the island and defends herself against wolves. This is somewhat reminiscent of Far Cry 3 and the bow she acquires is a low-tech version of Prophet’s bow in Crysis 3. This is actually one of the strong points of the game, the fact that it doesn’t try to recreate the action-adventure genre. It takes elements from Uncharted, Arkham Asylum and other games and blends them seamlessly to tell its unique story. The control scheme is a reiteration of what you’re familiar with and works comfortably well on the Xbox 360 controller whether you're shimmying across a ledge, sneaking up on a bad guy or find yourself in a gunfight.

The bow and its arrows is the stand-out weapon because of how versatile it is and purely how satisfying it is to make a kill with it. The grimy and rather violent takedowns prove to be a lot of fun once you get into the swing of things. Tomb Raider is not a celebration of violence just for the sake of violence but rather the player continuously embraces the independence and pride Lara feels at being able to defend her life in a very hostile environment. The bow also makes for great stealth kills and it can be upgraded as you progress through the game for better usage in all out fire fights. Other weapons are also upgradeable as you proceed through the island and salvage wreckage to add onto them. Fire fights get intense and it’s fun to try different ways of approaching enemies and other tough situations.The enemy AI is actually somewhat intelligent. Tomb Raider doesn’t do anything new in this regard but it does what it does well.

The island provides a great deal of exploring options in between shooting the bad guys. Lara Croft is an archaeology boffin and explorer after all and it’s very rewarding to look around, finding all sorts of nooks and crannies filled with cool items and information regarding the history of the island and the cultists occupying it. The island is steeped in history and just walking around it leaves the player with a sense of wonder at what stories broken statues and abandoned bunkers could tell. The very ground and air seem to be a memory of great and terrible things that happened there. Although Lara has to survive and progress through the storyline curiosity always results in some interesting non-linear play as the island begs to be explored in great detail. The island’s history is beautifully crafted and is hauntingly beautiful and ugly. This aspect of the game is what the Tomb Raider series is about and is the best aspect of Lara’s first outing as an archaeologist.

There’s a multiplayer option tagged onto the single-player experience but it doesn’t stand out as much as the main campaign, which proves to be very addictive. The multiplayer option does give you something to do when friends pop over or you’re looking for extra value for your money through some prolonged play. It's the sort of add-on that you wouldn't mind investing a few forgettable hours in purely because after the 12 or so hours it takes you to complete the main campaign you’ll want to stick around a little longer. I think Crystal Dynamics added it as an afterthought and only because people have come to expect some form of a multilayer mode with the release of AAA title.

At its heart Tomb Raider is a human story told particularly well using video gaming as a platform. The game mechanics and controls are solid but what really carries the game are the story (even when it fumbles), great voice acting and amazing setting. The folks at Crystal Dynamics have outdone themselves. I give it heartfelt thumbs up; it’s one of the best games to be released on the Xbox 360 in while.

The Big Blog Exchange

Hello furry friends,

Run by Hostelling International, The Big Blog Exchange is an exciting, unique and exclusive project that has never before been explored. Sixteen passionate bloggers will swap lives, blogs, cultures and places simultaneously in real life for ten days (7th June to 17th June).

I have entered my beloved goodbuddies inc. and beg you guys to please vote for me to go on a whirlwind adventure :).

That's all. Just a sweet little vote.

P.S. I'll buy you ice-cream.

Some Fluff and Padding

SouthWeb Blog Directory

Hi good buddies,

There's no actual reason for this post other than to list this blog in a blog directory and they need me to have the above link feature somewhere on the blog. It has something to do with reciprocal links. I don't know what that means to be sure.

But, hey, one must do some confusing things some days and this is one of those times. Here's a pretty picture for you to look at:

Lemons. I know you like lemons.

The Gig Life: The Book Launch That Got Away

I am a blogger and I am a writer of things wonderful and somewhat wibbly. I am damn good at these things and aim to be better everyday - except for Tuesdays, I have imaginary alcohol and drug addictions to develop on Tuesdays. I barely get paid to do this and yet I love it something fierce, even when I'm hating it. This is what I want to do with my life. I see myself in libraries, publishing houses (or even mansions) and interesting spaces in Media. It's rough breaking into these industries! One needs Bilbo Baggins' burglary skills.

My compadre, Varsha and I have been on our grind for a while now and have started out lining up gigs like book launches and other cool, bookish stuff to attend and cover using professional and only somewhat whimsy words. A picture of an author in a hat, smoking a pipe might accompany said words every now and then. One (or two in our case) can only plan so far ahead. Varsha is Team Books LIVE and I'm Team BizCommunity. We pool our collective ninja skills and write up a storm (a very professional one, I promise) about all the cool stuff we see, hear and sometimes lick at gigs.

Our first gig was to be the launch of Steven Boykey Sidley's second novel, Stepping Out. The shindig was to take place at Exclusive Books in Hyde Park, Sandton at 18:00 on Wednesday, 27 February 2013. I wrote it all down in a snazzy notebook and because I decided I like Mr Sidley I wrote down a bunch of questions I wanted to ask him and read reviews of both his books. Varsha and I had sent messages about cameras and her car giving her problems back and forth from Monday and we were ready to do this. She was going to write an article for Books LIVE and I was going to help with pictures (if Mr Sidley happened to be wearing a hat and was smoking a pipe) and generally work the room - get info for future gigs and maybe steal a purse or two, you know.

Wednesday arrived, on time, like it always does. I prepared myself and left well ahead of time to catch an early bus so as to avoid traffic. I went as far as wearing a nice collared shirt tucked into dressy jeans and All-Stars for comfort. I had my snazzy notepad and everything. All this only to find out an unfortunate mix-up of dates had occurred and the event took place the previous evening. I was so disheartened that I laughed. Varsha was on the phone with a very rude person from Exclusive Books who complained as if it were her fault the dates got mixed up.

Shit happens at the best of times and it makes for fertile ground for funny stories. We'll just have to hold out for the next gig to murder.