"You afraid of your own shadow, Renly?"
Monday, 18 June 2012
Black and Yellow: House Baratheon edition
Quite funny, especially the peach and lobster references (NSFW lyrics):
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Game of Prometheus
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE PROMETHEUS
Sharp-eyed viewers will have spotted a few familiar faces shared by Ridley Scott's movie Prometheus and the HBO series Game of Thrones. This should not be a surprise as both projects shared a casting director, Nina Gold.
Present and correct in both projects is actor Emun Elliott, who played the role of troubadour Marillion in Season 1 of Thrones. He was last seen in the Season 1 finale being punished by Joffrey for singing a rude song about his parents. In Prometheus he plays the role of Chance, the starship's pilot.
More immediately recognisable (Chance only having a major appearance very close to the end of the movie) should be Scottish actress Kate Dickie. Dickie appeared as Lady Lysa Arryn in the first season of Thrones, where for her first scene she memorably needed to sport a prosthetic breast for breast-feeding purposes. In Prometheus she plays the role of the ship's medic, Ford, whose medical decisions are frankly a bit head-scratching. Or indeed, head-exploding.
Both actors had the honour of being killed (indirectly and directly, respectively) by Ian Whyte, who in Prometheus plays the Last Engineer (aka that big white guy they really shouldn't have woken up). In Thrones Whyte has two different roles. In the pilot and one episode of Season 2 he played a White Walker but, presumably after complaining of being typecast as really tall, pale dudes who kill humans for no discernible reason, he then pulled double duty as Gregor Clegane Mk. II, replacing Conan Stevens.
As well as actors, both projects filmed in Iceland. Prometheus filmed in the area around the Hekla volcano for the 'birth of life' prologue sequence, whilst exterior plates for LV-233 were also filmed in the area. The Dettifoss waterfell in the north-east of Iceland was also used as a filming location. All-told, Prometheus filmed in Iceland for two weeks in July 2011. Thrones filmed on the huge Vatnajökull glacier for the sequences set beyond the Wall, most notably at the Fist of the First Men and for Jon Snow's meeting with Ygritte. HBO filmed there for four weeks in October-November 2011.
BEYOND THE WALL now on sale
Beyond the Wall, the Song of Ice and Fire essay anthology I have contributed to, is now on sale in some bookshops (though the official release date is not until next week, I believe). Forbidden Planet in London had several copies on sale yesterday, so I imagine that other copies will be out there in the wild.
Chuck: Season 4
Chuck Bartowski embarks on a personal mission to track down his missing mother, aided by John Casey and Sarah Walker. However, they soon discover that Chuck's mother may have ties to Volkoff Industries, an international arms-dealing organisation based in Moscow and now their their #1 target. Complications ensue as Chuck and Sarah get engaged, Ellie and Devon have a baby and an old computer resurfaces which may hold the key to an old mystery...
Chuck's fourth and penultimate season is a bit of a mixed bag. It's as reliably watchable as ever but a feeling of staleness is never too far away. Chuck's search for his mum feels a little derivative of his earlier search for his father. The producers try to make the two storylines more individual by painting the characters very differently and approaching the plots in different ways (we meet Chuck's mother very early on and see how she reacts to Chuck's attempts to find her), but there is the feeling that we have been here before. Linda Hamilton's casting as Chuck's mother may also be a geek-friendly nod to the audience (and an excuse for a few Terminator gags), but unfortunately Hamilton gives a stiff and somewhat unconvincing performance that doesn't help the problem.
Much more successful is Timothy Dalton, channelling pure scenery-chewing villainy in his role as Volkoff, an evil arms-dealer with a surprisingly sentimental side (a sequence where he plays charades is particularly demented). His appearances are highlights of the season.
Where the story goes awry is in the show's descent into predictable cliche. Sarah and Chuck have been together for more than five minutes, so clearly they now have to talk about getting married, with all the attendant, predictable storylines that brings along with it. The actors do their best with the material, but it feels like Chuck-the-espionage-comedy-drama is losing ground to Chuck-the-soap-opera, which is a fundamentally less interesting show. This isn't helped by the emphasis moving more away from the Buy More, with less screen time for Jeff and Lester's crazy antics or Big Mike's curiously entertaining Subway obsession. Isaiah Mustafa (aka 'the Old Spice advert guy') appears a recurring employee at the Buy More which sets up an amusing storyline, but again it fails to fulfil its potential and he soon disappears.
Still, the show remains enjoyable on an episode-by-episode basis. At 24 episodes, it's the longest season of the entire series and this would risk the storyline becoming overstretched, but the writers break it into two half-seasons to better handle things. The first half revolves around the battle against Volkoff and the search for Chuck's mum, whilst the second sees a return to more stand-alone storylines before a new story arc involving Volkoff's daughter (an under-written Lauren Cohan) kicks off. This arc, in which Chuck inadvertently turns Volkoff's daughter from an ally into an enemy, is potentially fascinating but falls apart due to some clunky writing and contrived events.
The fourth season of Chuck (***½) has many individually entertaining episodes and moments, and the regular cast remains as watchable as ever, but there is a feeling of tiredness creeping into affairs. However, the show is rejuvenated by a shake-up in the final episode that could make the fifth and final season more interesting. The season is available in the UK (DVD) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray) now.
Chuck's fourth and penultimate season is a bit of a mixed bag. It's as reliably watchable as ever but a feeling of staleness is never too far away. Chuck's search for his mum feels a little derivative of his earlier search for his father. The producers try to make the two storylines more individual by painting the characters very differently and approaching the plots in different ways (we meet Chuck's mother very early on and see how she reacts to Chuck's attempts to find her), but there is the feeling that we have been here before. Linda Hamilton's casting as Chuck's mother may also be a geek-friendly nod to the audience (and an excuse for a few Terminator gags), but unfortunately Hamilton gives a stiff and somewhat unconvincing performance that doesn't help the problem.
Much more successful is Timothy Dalton, channelling pure scenery-chewing villainy in his role as Volkoff, an evil arms-dealer with a surprisingly sentimental side (a sequence where he plays charades is particularly demented). His appearances are highlights of the season.
Where the story goes awry is in the show's descent into predictable cliche. Sarah and Chuck have been together for more than five minutes, so clearly they now have to talk about getting married, with all the attendant, predictable storylines that brings along with it. The actors do their best with the material, but it feels like Chuck-the-espionage-comedy-drama is losing ground to Chuck-the-soap-opera, which is a fundamentally less interesting show. This isn't helped by the emphasis moving more away from the Buy More, with less screen time for Jeff and Lester's crazy antics or Big Mike's curiously entertaining Subway obsession. Isaiah Mustafa (aka 'the Old Spice advert guy') appears a recurring employee at the Buy More which sets up an amusing storyline, but again it fails to fulfil its potential and he soon disappears.
Still, the show remains enjoyable on an episode-by-episode basis. At 24 episodes, it's the longest season of the entire series and this would risk the storyline becoming overstretched, but the writers break it into two half-seasons to better handle things. The first half revolves around the battle against Volkoff and the search for Chuck's mum, whilst the second sees a return to more stand-alone storylines before a new story arc involving Volkoff's daughter (an under-written Lauren Cohan) kicks off. This arc, in which Chuck inadvertently turns Volkoff's daughter from an ally into an enemy, is potentially fascinating but falls apart due to some clunky writing and contrived events.
The fourth season of Chuck (***½) has many individually entertaining episodes and moments, and the regular cast remains as watchable as ever, but there is a feeling of tiredness creeping into affairs. However, the show is rejuvenated by a shake-up in the final episode that could make the fifth and final season more interesting. The season is available in the UK (DVD) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray) now.
Rothfuss, Martin, Valente and Mieville win awards
Patrick Rothfuss won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Novel this week for his second book, The Wise Man's Fear. The other winners at the award were Helen Lowe's Heir of the Night for the Morningstar Award for Best Debut, and Raymond Swanland for the Ravenheart Award for Best Cover Art for Blood of Aenarion.
Meanwhile, the Locus Awards were also announced this week. George R.R. Martin won the Best Fantasy Novel award for A Dance with Dragons, whilst China Mieville won the Best SF Novel Award for Embassytown. Catherynne M. Valente won a triple prize of Best YA Book (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making), Best Novella (Silently and Very Fast) and Best Novelette (White Lines on a Green Field). Shaun Tan won Best Artist and Ellen Datlow Best Editor.
Meanwhile, the Locus Awards were also announced this week. George R.R. Martin won the Best Fantasy Novel award for A Dance with Dragons, whilst China Mieville won the Best SF Novel Award for Embassytown. Catherynne M. Valente won a triple prize of Best YA Book (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making), Best Novella (Silently and Very Fast) and Best Novelette (White Lines on a Green Field). Shaun Tan won Best Artist and Ellen Datlow Best Editor.
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck)
An alien protomolocule has taken root on Venus. Earth and Mars are in a shooting match over an incident on Ganymede. The Solar system is moving towards all-out anarchy and war, and it falls to a well-meaning meddler, a canny politician, a Martian marine and a grief-stricken botanist to try to stop the descent into madness.
Caliban's War is the second novel in The Expanse series, following on from last year's well-received Leviathan Wakes. This is old-school space opera, featuring the crew of a spacecraft as they attempt to save the Solar system from an alien menace. The series features some nods towards serious science - the ships work strictly by Newtonian physics and there is no FTL travel, with the scope of events being limited (so far) to the Solar system alone - but it's certainly not hard SF. The emphasis is being on an entertaining, fast-paced read, and the book pulls this off with aplomb.
The cast of characters has been expanded in this volume, with only Holden returning as a POV character from the first volume. Unlike the first novel, which had a grand total of two POVs, this second volume features four: Holden, UN politician Avasarala, botanist Prax and marine Bonnie. This means that the authors have three major new characters to introduce us to, as well as continuing the storyline from the first novel and evolving the returning cast of characters (Holden and his crew). This results in the pace being marginally slower than in Leviathan Wakes, although certainly not fatally so. Indeed, Abraham and Franck imbue the new characters with interesting backstories, motivations and quirks. It's also quite amusing that the most enjoyable character in an action-packed space opera is a 70-year-old politician with a potty mouth.
There's some major shoot-outs, a few big space battles, a close encounter with a rampaging monster in a zero-gravity cargo hold and other action set pieces that are handled well, but the book falters a little in its handling of politics (which are fairly lightweight) and the characterisation of the bad guys, who never rise above the obvious.
Caliban's War (***½) is not as accomplished as its forebear but is still a page-turning, solidly enjoyable read. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.
Caliban's War is the second novel in The Expanse series, following on from last year's well-received Leviathan Wakes. This is old-school space opera, featuring the crew of a spacecraft as they attempt to save the Solar system from an alien menace. The series features some nods towards serious science - the ships work strictly by Newtonian physics and there is no FTL travel, with the scope of events being limited (so far) to the Solar system alone - but it's certainly not hard SF. The emphasis is being on an entertaining, fast-paced read, and the book pulls this off with aplomb.
The cast of characters has been expanded in this volume, with only Holden returning as a POV character from the first volume. Unlike the first novel, which had a grand total of two POVs, this second volume features four: Holden, UN politician Avasarala, botanist Prax and marine Bonnie. This means that the authors have three major new characters to introduce us to, as well as continuing the storyline from the first novel and evolving the returning cast of characters (Holden and his crew). This results in the pace being marginally slower than in Leviathan Wakes, although certainly not fatally so. Indeed, Abraham and Franck imbue the new characters with interesting backstories, motivations and quirks. It's also quite amusing that the most enjoyable character in an action-packed space opera is a 70-year-old politician with a potty mouth.
There's some major shoot-outs, a few big space battles, a close encounter with a rampaging monster in a zero-gravity cargo hold and other action set pieces that are handled well, but the book falters a little in its handling of politics (which are fairly lightweight) and the characterisation of the bad guys, who never rise above the obvious.
Caliban's War (***½) is not as accomplished as its forebear but is still a page-turning, solidly enjoyable read. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.
Friday, 15 June 2012
Max Payne 3
Several years have passed since Max Payne's last adventure. He has left the NYPD and now spends his nights drinking in seedy bars. He is recruited by a former colleague to work security for the rich Branco family in São Paulo, Brazil, in what appears to be an easy job. When Max's charge, his employer's wife, is kidnapped by a gang, he finds himself drawn into a conspiracy which will lead him into some very dark places as he tries to redeem himself and find out what's going on in this city.
Max Payne 3 sees the return of the titular hero after a break of nine years. Remedy Entertainment, who made the first two games in the series, have moved on with their Alan Wake series of games, leaving Rockstar (best-known for the Grand Theft Auto series) to carry on their work. Whilst fans of the earlier games were dubious of this move, it was actually reasonably logical. Rockstar games often feature damaged protagonists trying to live better lives but being drawn back into a life of violence by circumstances, which is a perfect fit for Payne.
The game acts as a reboot of the series. References to the events of the first two games are minimal and, aside from a couple of flashback missions set in New York, the game is set in a different city in a different country with a very different culture (not to mention a different and un-translated language). The only constants are Max himself and, of course, his ability to slow down time to engage in combat.
Max Payne 3 is overwhelmingly impressive from a production values standpoint. The graphics are fantastic, with the game employing a vivid visual style. Keywords from conversations flash onto the screen and sometimes the action dissolves into line breaks and the colour desaturates, almost like you're watching the action on an old 1980s TV that is about to expire. The game's colour palette tends towards the bright and colourful, but there is a dark hue to everything. Sections set in crumbling warehouses or an abandoned hotel contrast the light and dark elements of the game's style. Animation is astonishing, with Max storing his weapons on his person and moving them around naturally to swap guns or take painkillers. The game feels like it's had a million dollars spent on every single minute of it (in sharp contrast to the low-budget feel of the first game, with its amateur cut scene actors).
The game's centerpiece is action and gunfights, and the title impresses in these areas. Combat is hard, fast and furious, with effective use of bullet time necessary to proceed. The game also employs a cover system, one of the more tiresome elements of modern action gaming, but the use of bullet time and headshots makes it mostly an optional feature with only a few moments where its use is necessary to proceed. More satisfyingly, the ludicrous modern gaming concept of 'regenerating health' has been thrown out of the window and replaced by Max's more familiar use of painkillers, adding a great deal of tension to the action sequences and requiring the player to plan attacks more intelligently than just charging in, knowing you can hide behind a box to get your health back. Unfortunately, bullet time has been gimped since the second game. There's only one level of bullet time (you don't get additional slowdowns when you shoot more people) and, ridiculously, it doesn't regenerate when you make kills. Given it is fairly slow to regenerate, a fair amount of combat has to take place without the use of the game's central mechanic and main selling-point, which seems strange.
The writing is okay, though Dan Houser's script is notably less funny, knowing or introspective than Sam Lake's work on the first two games. But it's reasonable and House deserves some props for moving Max on in his life, continuing his character arc and trajectory from the first two games. The other characters in the game are somewhat less successful, with no memorable equivalent to say Vladimir Lem or Mona Sax, but they do their job well enough. The change of setting is far more successful, with São Paulo (or, rather, the criminal underworld that is the main setting) presented as a dark, threatening city which is a perfect match for the semi-noir stylings of the series. This is backed up by the soundtrack (by American band Health), which is excellent.
So the game is well-made, with amazing production values, a decent story, some good characterisation and great action (if not quite as well-executed as the first two games). But there is a major problem. You see, the game doesn't actually like you playing it very much. For every minute you spend actually playing the game, it demands that you spend at least another watching it play itself, through intrusive use of lengthy, unskippable (as they hide loading sequences) and non-interactive cut scenes. Cut scenes are not just present at the start and end of each level with maybe a few reserved for major moments mid-level (the sort of structure the first two games employed), but they take place near-continuously. Frequently. opening a door will trigger a cut scene showing Max going through the door and taking cover before letting you resume control. This even happens if you've already flown through the door in shootdodge mode, resulting in frustrating (and continuity-breaking) moments where you could have wiped out a dozen bad guys in five seconds in bullet time but the game demands that you hide behind a counter instead and fire from cover. Cut scenes often kick in after you've dispatched the last bad guy in an area, taking you to a new area with no opportunity to loot the enemies for ammo (which is in fairly short supply throughout most of the game). There are also too many moments when the game has Max doing some really cool things (like diving between moving trains or jumping from an exploding rooftop onto a helicopter) when you don't have control.
Max Payne 3 is, of course, a linear action game and railroading is to be expected. Certainly the first two games had a lot of cut scenes and moments where player choice was taken away, but generally it was in areas where it made sense. They were also infrequent compared to the amount of time the player had control. Max Payne 3 actually seems to resent you doing anything other than what it wants you to, and punishes you if you try. During a shoot-out near a plane taking off, any attempt to jump onto the plane will result in a cut scene where a bad guy kills Max with a grenade, with Max standing there and unable to do anything. During a battle on a river dock, falling in the water will result in Max's instantaneous death, despite him being able to swim in a cut scene a minute later. Despite Max's ability to slow down time in gameplay, in a cut scene he runs into a room where a friend is being held hostage and is powerless to stop them being executed, despite the fact that if you had control you could wipe out everyone there in moments. The game also employs a checkpoint system rather than allowing quicksaves, resulting in the player sometimes having to repeat 10-15-minute long sequences if they are killed, which is simply unacceptable.
When it actually lets you play it, Max Payne 3 (***) features some intense and engrossing action sequences. However, the game makes the classic mistake of placing itself and its story (which is decent but nothing special) ahead of the enjoyment of the player. As a visual experience, Max Payne 3 is impressive and intermittently even brilliant, but as a game it's a let-down compared to the first two titles in the series. It is available now in the UK (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3) and in the USA (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3).
Max Payne 3 sees the return of the titular hero after a break of nine years. Remedy Entertainment, who made the first two games in the series, have moved on with their Alan Wake series of games, leaving Rockstar (best-known for the Grand Theft Auto series) to carry on their work. Whilst fans of the earlier games were dubious of this move, it was actually reasonably logical. Rockstar games often feature damaged protagonists trying to live better lives but being drawn back into a life of violence by circumstances, which is a perfect fit for Payne.
The game acts as a reboot of the series. References to the events of the first two games are minimal and, aside from a couple of flashback missions set in New York, the game is set in a different city in a different country with a very different culture (not to mention a different and un-translated language). The only constants are Max himself and, of course, his ability to slow down time to engage in combat.
Max Payne 3 is overwhelmingly impressive from a production values standpoint. The graphics are fantastic, with the game employing a vivid visual style. Keywords from conversations flash onto the screen and sometimes the action dissolves into line breaks and the colour desaturates, almost like you're watching the action on an old 1980s TV that is about to expire. The game's colour palette tends towards the bright and colourful, but there is a dark hue to everything. Sections set in crumbling warehouses or an abandoned hotel contrast the light and dark elements of the game's style. Animation is astonishing, with Max storing his weapons on his person and moving them around naturally to swap guns or take painkillers. The game feels like it's had a million dollars spent on every single minute of it (in sharp contrast to the low-budget feel of the first game, with its amateur cut scene actors).
The game's centerpiece is action and gunfights, and the title impresses in these areas. Combat is hard, fast and furious, with effective use of bullet time necessary to proceed. The game also employs a cover system, one of the more tiresome elements of modern action gaming, but the use of bullet time and headshots makes it mostly an optional feature with only a few moments where its use is necessary to proceed. More satisfyingly, the ludicrous modern gaming concept of 'regenerating health' has been thrown out of the window and replaced by Max's more familiar use of painkillers, adding a great deal of tension to the action sequences and requiring the player to plan attacks more intelligently than just charging in, knowing you can hide behind a box to get your health back. Unfortunately, bullet time has been gimped since the second game. There's only one level of bullet time (you don't get additional slowdowns when you shoot more people) and, ridiculously, it doesn't regenerate when you make kills. Given it is fairly slow to regenerate, a fair amount of combat has to take place without the use of the game's central mechanic and main selling-point, which seems strange.
The writing is okay, though Dan Houser's script is notably less funny, knowing or introspective than Sam Lake's work on the first two games. But it's reasonable and House deserves some props for moving Max on in his life, continuing his character arc and trajectory from the first two games. The other characters in the game are somewhat less successful, with no memorable equivalent to say Vladimir Lem or Mona Sax, but they do their job well enough. The change of setting is far more successful, with São Paulo (or, rather, the criminal underworld that is the main setting) presented as a dark, threatening city which is a perfect match for the semi-noir stylings of the series. This is backed up by the soundtrack (by American band Health), which is excellent.
So the game is well-made, with amazing production values, a decent story, some good characterisation and great action (if not quite as well-executed as the first two games). But there is a major problem. You see, the game doesn't actually like you playing it very much. For every minute you spend actually playing the game, it demands that you spend at least another watching it play itself, through intrusive use of lengthy, unskippable (as they hide loading sequences) and non-interactive cut scenes. Cut scenes are not just present at the start and end of each level with maybe a few reserved for major moments mid-level (the sort of structure the first two games employed), but they take place near-continuously. Frequently. opening a door will trigger a cut scene showing Max going through the door and taking cover before letting you resume control. This even happens if you've already flown through the door in shootdodge mode, resulting in frustrating (and continuity-breaking) moments where you could have wiped out a dozen bad guys in five seconds in bullet time but the game demands that you hide behind a counter instead and fire from cover. Cut scenes often kick in after you've dispatched the last bad guy in an area, taking you to a new area with no opportunity to loot the enemies for ammo (which is in fairly short supply throughout most of the game). There are also too many moments when the game has Max doing some really cool things (like diving between moving trains or jumping from an exploding rooftop onto a helicopter) when you don't have control.
Max Payne 3 is, of course, a linear action game and railroading is to be expected. Certainly the first two games had a lot of cut scenes and moments where player choice was taken away, but generally it was in areas where it made sense. They were also infrequent compared to the amount of time the player had control. Max Payne 3 actually seems to resent you doing anything other than what it wants you to, and punishes you if you try. During a shoot-out near a plane taking off, any attempt to jump onto the plane will result in a cut scene where a bad guy kills Max with a grenade, with Max standing there and unable to do anything. During a battle on a river dock, falling in the water will result in Max's instantaneous death, despite him being able to swim in a cut scene a minute later. Despite Max's ability to slow down time in gameplay, in a cut scene he runs into a room where a friend is being held hostage and is powerless to stop them being executed, despite the fact that if you had control you could wipe out everyone there in moments. The game also employs a checkpoint system rather than allowing quicksaves, resulting in the player sometimes having to repeat 10-15-minute long sequences if they are killed, which is simply unacceptable.
When it actually lets you play it, Max Payne 3 (***) features some intense and engrossing action sequences. However, the game makes the classic mistake of placing itself and its story (which is decent but nothing special) ahead of the enjoyment of the player. As a visual experience, Max Payne 3 is impressive and intermittently even brilliant, but as a game it's a let-down compared to the first two titles in the series. It is available now in the UK (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3) and in the USA (PC, X-Box 360, PlayStation 3).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)