The Wolfman (2010) - Horror Film Review

First of all, the cinema I saw this in was the hottest cinema ever, the heating was on full blast, and it was packed with people, there were literally people bursting into flames. As a result I could not wait for the film to end, so that might be reflected in my thoughts of it.

The Wolfman is a Werewolf film *shock*. It stars Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot. He has returned to his family home after many many years after hearing via his brother Ben's fiancee (played by the beautiful Emily Blunt) that his brother has gone missing. Upon arriving he discovers from his weird distant father (Antony Hopkins) that Ben was found dead, seemingly due to a wild animal attack. Lawrence decides to stay and discover just what really happened. Before long he has been attacked by the animal, and discovers to his horror that he is now a Werewolf.

The film is quite average to be honest. It is set in oldie style England, and looks the part, but the plot is very obvious with no real surprises. Del Toro brings nothing to his character, neither likeable, or dislikeable, which makes it hard to understand why a love story develops between him and his brothers fiancée. Hopkins is ok as the distant Dad, the rest of the cast are quite bland also. Hugo Weaving is the exception though, he is great as Inspector Abberline, and brings a cool factor to the character, remaining calm when everything goes to Hell, and also being flawed in his narrow views.

There is lots of cool violence. Heads are severed, limbs are torn off people, intestines spilt. Despite this though there is a lack of blood which reduces any sense of realism. Corpses look fantastic, but not so much fresh violence. Some inventive ways of killing people.

The Werewolf is great until you actually see it. It reminded me of Teenwolf, the Werewolf still being mostly clothed, the transformation effects are impressive though. I know it's based on the look of the Werewolf in the classic Universal original, but meh anyway; Cool teeth though! The Werewolf action scenes are the highlight of the film though, especially the exciting running battle between the Werewolf, Abberline and his Officers in London.

An ok film, but nothing special, I will admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the Werewolf as a monster.

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Bioshock 2 (2010) - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

Have not done a post in quite a bit, so apologies I guess. As I have said in my last post, I love Bioshock. Bioshock 2 is the sequel that no one asked for. The first game was such a complete experience that it was generally accepted that any further games would dilute the fresh feel and even potentially destroy the feeling of Rapture.

The game is set ten years after the events of Bioshock. You play as a recently awakened prototype Big Daddy (huge lumbering monsters in giant armoured diving suits), named Delta. A decade earlier you had seemingly died at the hands of Bioshock 2's main antagonist; a British psychologist called Lamb, whose daughter (turned into a Little Sister; another monstrous being) was under your protection. Now you are awake for reasons unknown and on a mission to get to Lamb and rescue 'your' Little Sister.

The story is not as good as that of the first game. Lamb is a compelling character with her dreams of unity, the Splicers are under her control and with them she is trying to establish a basically communist family where everyone is equal. The reasons she wasn't around in the first game are fine, but being such a big rival of Andrew Ryan's she does feel a bit shoehorned in as she was not mentioned at all by him in that one, and it just seemed it was him VS Fontaine.

There are many more audio diaries this time around, around one hundred and fifteen of the things. They are interesting though, and do give insight into the world of Rapture, but are mostly centered around Rapture after its fall. Characters from the first game turn up in the audio diaries, Andrew Ryan being the best return.

Quite a few references to the first game make an appearance. As well as audio diaries there are also posters and such that reference characters, as well as locations. The best being (light spoiler) a religion a priest has created that revolves around the hero of Bioshock.

The locations are not as good this time around. The levels revolve around Raptures older areas, and poorer areas accessed by a train. The locations are very decrepit, and rough. The worst location for me in Bioshock was the housing area due to the darkened ruins, and Bioshock 2 has nothing but these locations. There is nothing that comes close to rivalling Fort Frolic. It does make sense as it is over ten years since the Rapture civilisation collapsed, but disappointing nonetheless.

A lot of the old weapons make comebacks, and are as good as they ever were, some new as well (such as the fantastic harpoon gun, and drill arm). The plasmids are mostly the same, though have been altered to balance them out a bit (for instance frozen enemies now drop items). The new plasmids are cool, but do nothing really exciting.

There are more variety of enemies now. Along with the Splicers there are now bulky Splicers who are immensely powerful. There are more Big Daddies around now, as well as their lithe female equivalent Big Sisters. As you yourself are a Big Daddy they are no longer the scary threat they once were, and can be taken down quite easily. They have lost the fear factor, but are still fantastic enemies.

The morality of whether to harvest or save Little Sisters returns with an added mini game of protecting them while they harvest Adam from bodies. Also more interesting morality choices turn up that are not as black and white. These choices result in one of four endings which gives replay value.

Bioshock 2 features multiplayer. The multiplayer is the usual deathmatch things, and is ok, but nothing special. What is interesting is that there is story around it. Getting your characters levelled up opens up audio diaries, so if I do play the multiplayer it will be for that reason only.

Bioshock 2 is technically a better game than Bioshock, but it is a worse experience, as the wonderful world of Rapture fades away a bit in place of more combat and gameplay. Still a great game when compared to others of its genre.

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Update 09/01/22: I never did play any multiplayer!

Bioshock (2007) - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

Someone I work with who is more into games than the average person, but still quite casual was recently faced with the prospect of getting either Bioshock or Fracture. He chose Fracture, I was astounded. Speaking to him about his decision he said it was because he thought Bioshock was a kids game based on the fact that the 'Little Sisters' are children. Needless to say I executed him for crimes against reason. 

I have recently been playing back through Bioshock in readiness for Bioshock 2. It is still a fantastic game, just as good as it always was. What still amazes me is what a real location Rapture feels like. The places you visit are jammed with small details, and the voice recordings really create a sense of what pre madness life was like. With water everywhere it is impossible to forget that Rapture is an underwater City, wondrous.

In the game you play as a survivor of a plane that has crashed into the sea. You head towards a mysterious Tower you spot. Inside you discover a Bathysphere. Climbing inside it starts to descend, an automatic message from a man called Andrew Ryan plays informing you that you are heading to Rapture; a secret underwater city where he and others headed to escape the confines of world society. Arriving in Rapture you see that the whole place has gone to ruins, roving 'Splicers' (people turned psychotically violent due to messing with their genetic code) lurk everywhere. A man called Atlas contacts you by radio and tells you if you help him and his family escape Rapture then you can also go with him. The ruler of Rapture - Andrew Ryan on the other hand is convinced you are a CIA or Russian agent sent to infiltrate the city and take its secrets, and so unleashes his Splicer army after you.

The game of course is a first person shooter (FPS) with RPG elements. Your weapons are split into two types - conventional guns, and plasmids. Conventional guns such as shotguns and machine guns can hold many different ammo types (such as anti-personnel and armour piercing). Plasmids are the games 'magic' these are genetic changing perks that give you a variety of abilities, everything from firing fire, electricity and ice out of your hand to gaining telekinesis and controlling enemies. The plasmids in particular give you a variety of ways to defeat the mutant enemies. For instance you can set an enemy on fire causing him to leap into the nearest pool of water to extinguish the flames, then electrocute the water frying him, or turn an enemy into a block of ice, and then smash him to pieces with your wrench.

The enemies are well realised, they are the former citizens of Rapture, now insane, they constantly speak babble, revealing hints of who they used to be and what they have lost as they do so. The best enemies and the most iconic are the 'Big Daddy's'. These are huge monster type giants in bulky diving suits, armed with a giant drill, or grenade launcher. They protect the 'Little Sisters' (possessed girls who harvest ADAM from corpses; ADAM being the highly addictive drug used for splicing). Until you actually bother them they are neutral, but as soon as you disturb them they go insane. Incredibly powerful and damage resistant each one is a real challenge to defeat.

The game looks fantastic, there is a 1950's steam punk look to the whole game, and the music fits the period well also with lots of orchestral ambiance. The plot is amazing, so much all comes together to make Rapture seem like such a realistic place, a fantastic achievement. Twists galore, mostly known now, but I won't ruin them here. If you have not played Bioshock you need to, it is an essential purchase!

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Hitman - Action Film Review

I will start off by saying that this is one of the most faithful game to film movies I have seen, and also one of the best (admittedly that is not a hard thing). The director was obviously someone who had actually at least seen some game footage of Hitman.

Agent 47; a Hitman for a secret world wide organisation is tasked with assassinating a Russian running for presidency. The hit is successful, but soon afterwards the organisation he works for tells him that not only did he fail the hit, but that there was also a witness to his crime. Realising he has been betrayed Hitman goes to ground, hunted by both the Russian police, and his former organisation.

The film has many familiar elements from the game. The Hitman (played by Timothy Olyphant) really looks the part. The iconic suit with white shirt, red tie, and leather gloves. The iconic look - bald with a bar code tattooed on the back of his head. The iconic weapons - duel silver pistols, the long range sniper rifle, and his equipment holding steel suitcase. Many shots are filmed as if you were playing the game - slightly elevated from behind shots of Hitman walking down corridors. The crossed arms holding the gun, the gun hidden behind Hitmans back, and the red tie blowing in the wind all feature in the film, as well as Ava Maria; the Hitman theme.

There is plenty of action in the film, and Olyphant looks really cool as he coldly and calmly deals with any situation. The police, and criminals are really just cannon fodder designed to make 47 look cool. More intense battles come when other Operatives from his ex organisation appear. Trained the same way as 47 this leads to more close combat focused longer brawling.

The plot is kinda muddled, and is just really an excuse for scenes of action. Olyphant really looks the part, but unfortunately whenever he speaks the illusion is ruined as his voice just doesn't fit the part. Thankfully he doesn't talk much which is a blessing. Dougray Scott is excellent as the Interpol agent who has been tracking 47 for 3 years, and has a deep respect for 47.

The extras on the DVD are quite cool, as well as a making of, there is also a featurette on how they adapted the game to film, and also a cool section where they demonstrate real life versions of the guns used in the film. The film only cost me £2.99 so was a cool purchase.

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Zombie Mania - Review of the X-Box Live Indie Game

There has been 3 zombie games released so far this week on the Indie game channel. This is not a review of one of them...

Zombie Mania is basically a Pac Man clone. You are a woodcutter, in a medieval town. The aim of the game is to collect body parts while avoiding the zombies. Dotted around the levels are also Axe's (power pills) these give you the temporary ability to chop up zombies. Rather than the single screen of Pac Man the view is much more zoomed in, so that the level cannot be seen all at once. Each level is larger than the one before, the zombies become faster, and the body parts more numourous.

The game looks ok, it is nothing special, but is medieval style with dusty ground and European style house comprising the walls of the maze. A meloncoly piano track plays during the game, it is simple but effective. The groans of the zombies are constant, and sound cool.

It would have been useful to have a mini map so that you can see where body parts of still waiting to be picked up. Also, the isometric houses that make up the maze sometimes obscure the body parts making it annoying when you are randomly walking round the maze hoping to find one last body part hidden by a building. The game is quite hard, and unvaried, but is worth playing if your into zombies.

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 - Zombie Videogame Review (X-Box Indie)

There has been another glut of zombie indie games released recently, this week alone there has been Samurai vs. Zombies, and Yet Another Zombie Defence Game. I thought a review of the most famous X-Box Live Indie Game was due.


IMAGWZ is a twin stick shooter, the game is of fixed length (around 6-8 minutes?) and lasts as long as the fabulous song does. The song is the most talked about factor of this game. It is a comedy song mostly describing the game and about how the game was made. It is linked heavily to the action on screen, e.g.: fast bits of the song result in heavier action on screen. Lyrics from the song flash on the floor. The game is played from an overhead perspective, your character is a man armed with many weapons.

Zombies are the main enemy type. They come in 3 different variants - Normal Zombies, Shirted Zombies, and Fat Zombies and just swarm towards you as they come onto screen. There are quite a few other enemy types as well. Green balls of slime split into smaller ones when shot, pixelated faces move round the screen, and abstract diamonds and clouds also figure heavily. To combat these are many different weapon types to collect. These include Rocket Launchers, Flame Throwers, and Laser Rifles among others.


The game is fun, and addictive, and for 80 MS you really have no excuse not to buy this.


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The Road (2009) - Horror Film Review

So I saw The Road last night. Yet another post apocalyptic film (strange that two have been released at the same time; this and The Book of Eli). I had no idea what this film was about, or even what age rating it was, I saw it based on the fact it was post apocalyptic.

A man and his 10 year old son are travelling south in the USA. They are travelling south as the world is getting colder, and it is warmer south. That is the basic story of the film. Along their journey they encounter roving bands of cannibals and thugs, as well as other innocents. The apocalypse in this film seems to be one of a new ice age, rather than the War of The Book of Eli. The world is getting colder, is plagued with constant earthquakes, everything is destroyed with most animals, plants and trees all dead. The version of the post apocalyptic world is far more in line with Fallout 3.

Water is a constant. It is constantly raining, houses are flooded, water is everywhere. I'm sure this is symbolism for something though I'm too stupid to figure it out. The film for the most part concentrates totally on the relationship between the father and son. The father sees his child as God and will do absolutly anything to protect him, even kill him. Coming from pre apocalypse the man has no hope, his son is the only reason he is alive. Through flash backs it is shown his wife commited suicide due to losing all hope, and that it was only due to the man that she didn't take her son with her. The film is very downbeat, the father is suspicious of everyone, even benign innocents he angrily confronts, always with the paranoid cry of "why are you following us?". His faith in everything is long gone, and he is powerless for the most part. Encountering a basement full of emaciated prisoners kept alive as a food source for cannibals he makes no attempt to save them, he and his son hide as a gang of bandits chase a woman and her child across a field, not even wincing when she's caught and her screams begin. The boy on the other hand has never known any other world than the Hell they are in, he still has hope, and faith in people.

There is a beautiful part in the film which nearly brought me to tears, can't remember who says it, but it's basically that the person who dreams horrid dreams has nothing to worry about, it is the person who dreams only of beautiful things that is in danger, as it shows they have lost all interest in their life (or some such thing). Many times during the film brightly lit, joyous flashbacks of the man and his wife back before the world ended are shown, and then abruptly ended when the man wakes up and it is revealed it was him dreaming. The contrast between heaven and hell is such a difference.

If I had one thing negative to say about the film it is that the ending is stupid, an unrealistic deus ex machina of an ending which felt out of place in contrast to the relative realism of the rest of the film. The film is quite uneventful, but this is purposeful, the man aims to avoid danger, and it is only by accident that he ever finds himself involved in events.

This and The Book of Eli could be set in the same universe as far as I can tell, apart from the obvious polar opposites of what the post apocalyptic world is. This even has a character called Eli in it (this time an old man, rather than Denzel Washington). Many references to God also litter this, though not so much as in The Book of Eli. The general theme being in this film that if there is a God he is either dead, or just no longer cares about humanity.
A film that makes you question the point of life, downbeat, depressing, with little hope, little action, and the insignificance of life on Earth.

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House of 1000 Corpses - Horror Film Review

Last Saturday my Halloween 2 Remake DVD turned up, woop de la do, love it! The extras are sparse, include Bloopers, some cool alternate and deleted scenes, and not much else. But Rob Zombie is my fave director, love his stuff! Talking of him, I re watched his first feature film 'House of 1000 Corpses' the other day. The sequel 'The Devils Rejects' is loved by all, an absolute classic.

House of 1000 corpses is a horror based on the crazy family formula of films such as The Hills Have Eyes, and The people under the Stairs. A group of young tourists travelling in the wilds of America learn from a creepy clown who runs a tourist attraction, and petrol station (played fantastically by Sid Haig) that a notorious serial killer called Dr Satan was hung from a tree nearby. The intrigued couples (two horror fans and their girlfriends) decide to have a look for themselves. In the darkness they find a hitch hiker; a young attractive blond girl by the name of Baby. She tells them she can show them the tree, but soon after their car breaks down. Baby gets her brother Wolf to tow them to her house so he can fix their car. Her house is home to a bizarre family, along with Baby and Wolf there is their Mum 'Mother Firefly', a brother Otis, and a giant called Tiny. Needless to say their decision to leave the weird house doesn't go directly to plan, chaos and violence happens. It also appears the supposedly dead Dr Satan is in fact still operating in the area.

God I'm writing drivel tonight. The main characters of the film are actually the crazy family, when I first saw this I had assumed the victims were the mains, but they actually are annoying and are bland compared to the varied and ghoulish family.

The effects are quite cruddy in places, and the films plot is quite dreadful really, what Zombie wanted to achieve resulted in some tacky, and cheap looking sets (such as the underground cave of skulls), but it is still entertaining.

The film is well shot, and has some really unique and fantastic moments, my favourite being the scene with cops investigating the house (end up getting killed with no sound effects or noise at all, a completely inappropriate sweet song playing as the action plays out in complete silence).

My writing skills have completely left me, so I will finish up here. Rob Zombie is a brilliant director, this is definitely worth picking up.  Special note should be given to the wonderfully designed DVD menus that feature the characters of the film in fourth wall breaking brilliance!

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Brain Dead (1990) - Horror Film Review

I really don't know where to begin with my thoughts on Brain Dead. It is one of the most confusing films I have seen in a long time, not a lot makes sense at all. I'm not convinced that the script writer had any idea either. 

A brain expert called Rex Martin is asked by a shady research agent working for a company called Eunice, to go and visit an alleged insane man suffering paranoia at a mental home to see if he is faking it or not. Before this man went loco and killed several people he had created an essential mathematical formula, in his madness he had destroyed half the equation. Eunice want either his sanity returned so that he can provide the formula, or for him to be stopped from ever being able to tell anyone else the formula.

From this straight forward intro the plot wildly collapses into many different tangents. Seemingly simultaneously Rex Martin is in a coma, a brain in a jar and a paranoid schizophrenic in a madhouse. He is married, he is single, he has kids, has no kids, has many different names, nothing really makes sense. As an example at one point in the film he wakes up in a bed by a man, who then goes and hides in a cupboard, looking for the man he finds him dead with his eyes removed. Then he wakes up in a bed by a man who then goes and hides in a cupboard, looking for the man he finds out that he himself has somehow turned into a ghost as he is also still laying in bed. Opening the cupboard he falls into it landing in a vast ocean. No sense at all!

The film stars Bill Pullman (Independence Day) who does a superb job of portraying someone totally confused and with no idea what is happening, though I guess not much acting is needed for that! The films screenplay was co-written by someone who used to write stories for The Twilight Zone. I did enjoy the film, it just made no sense, but it's cool applying your own thoughts on what the film was trying to achieve.

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The House of the Dead 2 - Horror Videogame Review (Dreamcast)

House of the Dead 2 is my favourite zombie slaying game, and would probably say it would be on my Top 10 games of all time. It is an excellent on rails light gun game with multiple routes through its 6 or so levels.


The plot involves two AMS Agents who return to their HQ in an unnamed European Town to find zombies everywhere, and the place in utter chaos. Through lots of nonsensical ridiculous story the Agents discover a man called Goldman is responsible for the outbreak and head to his Skyscraper to defeat him.

I never had the pleasure of playing House of the Dead much. Once or twice I played it in arcades. The main character from that (Agent G) appears in a bit part here, as does the end of game boss from that game. Enemies mostly comprise of various types of zombies. As well as the token zombies you get ones armed with weapons such as chainsaws and clawed gloves, animal zombies such as Owls and Crocodiles, and insect ones such as giant leeches. The levels are littered with civilians, and many differing routes depend on you saving them or not. Later levels the zombies turn more technology based, and loose their ickiness which is a shame. The bosses are a highlight of the game. Each boss is fun to fight, and looks fantastic.


The levels are cool, and varied featuring streets, offices, sewers, and ruins, but as the game progresses the multiple routes reduce so that by the last level there are no multiple routes at all. As mentioned the voice acting is amazingly bad, and really funny as a result 'Suffer like G did?' 'My God' 'I don't want to die!' ' My friends went inside...but their not back yet!' all really memorable, heh.

I first played this in a sit down booth, it had curtains at the sides to make the cabinet dark, and had a magnified screen, it looked amazing. This game was one of the reasons I got a Dreamcast, I still play the game regularly. The Dreamcast additions include the option to have red blood rather than the default green, and adds bonus missions, as well as a RPG style mode where you can get exclusive little areas to collect different ammo types, and other bonuses that can be used for subsequent play throughs.


Lots of zombie violence, are able to shoot limbs and holes into the zombies, and blast chunks out of them, most fun. Well worth tracking down (Is now on the Wii along with the inferior House of the Dead 3, and also is a hidden game on the X-Box House of the Dead 3). A note of trivia - the scrolling 3D beat em up Zombie Revenge is a sister title to this, and features a level set in the Curian Mansion from the original House of the Dead.


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Persona 4 Review

My memory is not what it once was, so I am running out of things to review! With that thought in mind here is my review of the excellent PS2 RPG (Role Playing Game) Persona 4 which I am currently 24 hours into.


In Persona 4 you play as a student recently transferred from a school in the City to a Town in the countryside. You are staying with your Uncle (the Towns chief Detective) and his young Daughter. Soon after arriving a woman who had been in the news regarding an affair with a rich business man is found hanging from a Telegraph pole, her cause of death not apparent. A High School girl discovers the body. A week later her body is found in equally bizarre circumstances. Through a series of coincidences you discover you have the ability to enter TV's where you travel to a weird alternate reality. You along with your friends discover that someone is kidnapping people and throwing them into TV's where their true self manifests and kills them. You and your friends successfully face the personifications of your secret thoughts and unlock Personas (Basically Humanoid Pokemon)

The game is split up into days. Each day usually involves you going to school, and then having free time in the evening to investigate, and rescue people from the TV, as well as other stat building activities such as after school clubs, reading, studying, and spending time with family and friends. Usually once a month someone is kidnapped and placed in the TV world. You have until the weather turns misty (usually a few in game weeks) to fight through a dungeon and defeat the personification of the latest victim.


The game has kind of adult themes in places, like the relationship between a single Dad and his child, and suicide. This is reflected in the games dungeons. Such as a Steamy Sauna, and a Strip Club. The victims personifications are also more mature themed. One personification is of a characters hidden homosexual desires, another personification is of a timid shy characters secret desire to be basically a slut.

The game is very text heavy in places, it can sometimes get up to an hour without any fighting actually being done. The characters are all well done though, all are interesting, and have great voice actors. The music is J-Pop mostly (the game actually came with a separate Soundtrack CD) but good, and fits the Japanese feel of the game well. The plot is quite a cool mystery, I'm 25 hours in, and really intrigued to discover who is behind the murders. The graphics are not fantastic, the dungeons in particular are very basic looking, being randomised this is not a surprise, but even for a PS2 game the graphics are average.


Combat is turn based, you can attack with weapons, or use your Persona to attack with elemental magic. Each and every enemy has a particular elemental weakness, and a elemental strength, as do the characters which leads to slight tactics needing to be used. The enemies are interesting, and relevant to their dungeon (Hulk Hogan day-glo wrestlers in the camp Sauna, couples in evening wear with hearts floating above them in the Strip Club). The main bosses are excellent, and unique looking, also providing lines of dialogue taunting you at different points in the battles. The secret optional bosses however are poor and just stronger versions of existing enemies.

The game can get a bit repetitive, but it is nice to have some calm after the panic of the few weeks when you have to rescue a victim (the games days progress regardless, if you fail to rescue a victim before the next misty day it will be real Game Over so it's always stressful to rescue someone in time). The game does require a bit of grinding, but the fetch quest sub missions give you a reason to grind) Recommended if you enjoy RPG's with a difference!


An update for this....


I carried on playing, and playing, and playing and finally after 91 hours it was complete! A heck of a long game, and a very very good one at that.  The plot had brilliant twists and the music stayed fantastic and the gameplay and story ace.  Well recommended!


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Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2009) - Horror Videogame Review (Nintendo DS)

I love the Metroidvania style of games, the GBA Castlevania trilogy were awesome, fantastic games. The DS ones have never really bottled that same magic, though are still good games. I think it's just the manga style artwork which puts me off, I much prefer the Gothic artwork style of the older games, it just suits it better. 

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia starts with you (a female magician called Shanoa) about to participate in a rite that will seal Dracula away forever. However a jealous rival (Albus) interrupts the ceremony stealing the magical runes necessary for the banishment, and causing you to lose your memory in the process. It is your job to hunt down your rival and take back the runes he has stolen so that the rite can be completed.

Like Portrait of Ruin before it Order of Ecclesia is split into levels rather than just the one big castle. It's not till over halfway through the game that you actually get access to Castlevania itself. Portrait of Ruin levels were cool, featuring pyramids, circuses and towns. Unfortunately Ecclesia shows far less originality, locations being more mundane and realistic. You get mountains, forests, mansions, and caves. Some of which are cool (enjoyed the Skull Crypt) but others like the billion forest and mountain levels get boring and bland.

Rather than physical attacks you use magical runes which can be found in the levels, as well as taken from defeated enemies. These magical attacks can manifest themselves as weapons, as well as more traditional magic such as fireballs. Also some helpful runes give you powers such as flight, the ability to breath underwater and speed that help you to reach at first inaccessible places.

The enemies are nearly all the same as ones from previous games. This is not a bad thing though, as the continuity works really well in the Castlevania series. The bosses are mostly all new featuring such memorable terrors as a 'Giant Enemy Crab (TM)' you fight in a lighthouse, a gigantic screen filling armoured fire breathing bull type monstrosity, and a funny man who you defeat by stealing his rune that allows him to pass through walls whilst he is passing through a wall, funny.

The music is good, not great, later on some classic tunes make a comeback when you get to Castlevania. I would argue that the only really good levels are those in Castlevania, all that come before just a bit plain.

Rather than the traditional merchant (soldier, priest etc) who sells you items you now have a whole village full of shops where you can get everything you desire, as well as complete a number of side quests. The side quests are not as numerous or as interesting as Winds side quests in Portrait of Ruin though.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is another good Castlevania game, may be a bit hard for Castlevania virgins (I had to do some mass grinding to be able to 100% the game) but recommended if your looking for a fun DS game.

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Twin Blades (2009) - Zombie Horror Videogame Review (X-Box Indie)

By all accounts there seems nothing special with this indie game. The title 'Twin Blades' conjours up images of fighting, and the ultra cartoony artwork shows nothing. But this is a Zombie fighting game! It has lots and lots and lots of Zombies in it!

The game is a 2d side scrolling beat em up. You play as a Nun in a medieval fantasy world armed with a giant Scythe and various hand guns. Each level (called Day) is set in 3 areas - a Marketplace, a Church, and Town outskirts. As the Nun you must fight your way through hordes of the living dead from left ot right. Each level the number, and toughness of the zombies increases, and after each level you are able to upgrade the nuns weapons, health, and buy additional weapons (such as Uzi's and Flame Throwers). You need to survive 30 days of the living dead to beat the game.

The zombies come in several different types. As well as normal zombies you get zombies armed with knives, zombies wearing armour, and Skeletons, all in a wild assortment of various colours. The cartoony graphics look great, with massive characters (with slightly South-Park-esque animation to them), the enemies split apart in showers of blood, decapitations, and slicings in half. It is really quite addictive. Also the game is able to play custom music from your hard drive while you slay if you so wish which is cool.

I really need to start reviewing the zombie based indie games, as there are a ever increasing number of them. I would definitely recommend this, I think it was only 80 Microsoft points also.

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