Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

I felt a need to write this post before I do any others, because, frankly, this was a good movie and the first that's left a good aftertaste on the mental tastebuds in some time. There's plenty of other films out there, plenty to write about, but, first, since this is my little blog, I'm going to indulge myself in something I enjoyed.

So, don your caps, light your pipes, and open your eyes, because the game, as they say, is afoot!

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Saints Row: The Third

There's something difficult about describing Saints Row: The Third. It's a game that lets you dress up in a pirate outfit and crash a jet-fighter into a skyscraper, then dive off said building to parachute onto a car, all the while blaring classical music. There really isn't a word for that level of surreality, nor is there one for the disappointment when you find that said surreality loses all meaning when there's nothing to play it straight against.

Fantastapressing? Deprediculous? Amazadening?

Saints Row: The Third. It is what it is.

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution

There are few games so worthy of attention as the original Deus Ex. This was not your run of the mill game; it was one of the first to not only give you choices, and give you consequences for them, it did so magnificently. While not as prone to the faffing-about style freedom as the open world games that would come later, it was a game with choices that mattered.

If nothing else, it warrants saying that this was a game you could beat without ever killing a single person or rush around like some vengeful angel of death, and never feel like you missed out for either option.

Sadly, the game's legacy didn't hold up. Its sequel, Invisible War, had an interesting story but never had the same level of complexity as its predecessor. It was an experiment, I appreciated it, and it was neat enough, but it doesn't compare even closely to its ancestor for story.

So, when another game in the line was announced, I was curious how it would be. Transhumanism, questions of humanity, variable gameplay and more were promised, so how could I resist? Then, when it finally came out, well...

Let's just say my vision is augmented.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Say what you will about Disney. They might be a company with a darker history than they like to let on, and perhaps a little too happy with their copyright lawyers, the fact of the matter is, they're a succesful company, and no-one gets as successful as them without being very, very good at what they do.

It's also a fact that no-one becomes as big as them without being utterly shameless when it comes to riding a wave of success for all it is worth. That's why Pirates of the Caribbean, a film that could have stood perfectly well on its own, got not one, not two, but three sequels. While the second and third films stood finely, I predicted doom for the fourth the moment it was announced. Why, you might wonder?

Because On Stranger Tides is a film about Jack Sparrow.

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Infamous 2

Sucker Punch Productions has to be one of my favourite gaming companies. I don't know what it is about them, the first game of theirs I ever tried I flat-out hated. Rocket: Robot on Wheels controlled like garbage and was hard to play. However, far be it from me to criticize such a magically concepted game either; it was classic fun. Then, they made the Sly Cooper series which readily won my heart.

And then they made Infamous. I bought it, I played it, I had a blast (Ha!), and I put it down. It had its ups and downs, but it definitely goes up there as one of the better games I've played. It took rewarding risks and chances, and it played like nothing else. As far as superhero games go, it's honestly the best I've ever played.

So, on a whim, I grabbed the sequel and decided to see how shocking (Ha!) it would be by comparison.

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