Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) - Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

I discovered purely by chance today that the new Batman film is out at cinemas, while I don't know if I will see it or not that reminded me of a half completed review of Batman: Arkham Asylum I had written so thought I would finish it off...

I recently played Batman: Arkham City and while pondering whether to review it on my horror blog or not realised that the first game had not received a review. Batman has always been a dark superhero (well not always, tights are hardly scary) but the style of the game deserves a place in these pages.

After capturing super villain, the Joker, Batman returns him to Arkham Asylum (where all the crazies are kept in Gotham City). A series of events leads to the Joker escaping and taking control of the island; releasing all the prisoners. With guards being murdered left right and centre Batman must find a way to apprehend the Joker and restore order to the Asylum. In addition to this a dangerous chemical named 'Titan' has appeared which turns people into hulking crazed brutes. Trapped in an insane asylum with some of Gotham's must dangerous villains it is going to be a long night for the Dark Knight...

Arkham Asylum is a third person game set in the Metroidvania style (having one big level with new items opening up new areas). The Asylum has a real sense of place, alarms blaring, recorded messages calmly giving out emergency instructions, dead bodies littering the ground, scenes of destruction telling tales only implied. The opening of the long journey to the centre of Arkham Asylum with Joker in custody creates a sense of just how well protected the place is. When all Hell breaks loose you get a real sense of the trouble Batman and the guards are in. You got to feel for the guards, by the end of the game the majority have been killed by the crazies. It doesn't help that prior to the game all the criminals from Blackgate Prison were transferred to the Asylum after a fire broke out there.

Arkham Asylum shows Batman at his darkest, this is a Batman who is not afraid to break bones which is perfectly displayed in the fights you can get into. Usually swamped by enemies you can easily counter their attacks, and leap from enemy to enemy, the end of a fight sequence results in a brutal looking slow motion finisher. Not based on the films this game reinvents the look of the villains but keeps their stories the same. Main villain is the iconic Joker (expertly voiced by Mark Hamill who also did the voice of Joker in the cartoons) he taunts you throughout the game via the loud speakers set up around the island. With everyone being freed you come up across a host of the rogues gallery. Scarecrow is really quite creepy in his guise here, after a does of his fear gas sees you hallucinating that a fifty foot tall monster scarecrow is trying to kill you. A thrilling chase by Killer Croc in the sewers is a later highlight, while Bane, Poison Ivy and serial killer Zasz also make key appearances.

Gameplay revolves you heading around the island always onto your next mission target. Combat comes in the close up and personal style and is mixed up with stealth sections. These usually involve you entering a room that has a lot of armed guards in. Being human it does not take long for the guns to kill you so you must swoop up onto handily placed Gargoyles and take out the thugs one by one via your many gadgets (remote controlled batarangs, explosives, and swooping down and surprise tackling them. As Batman you have your cape and can use this to glide which helps you avoid the enemies. Bosses appear quite a bit but unfortunately they are all pretty much fought the same way, and all behave identical (except for one boss) even the end of game baddie is just a variation on the hulking Titan enemies.

The fiction for the game is rich though, and the world feels like a real place. As you progress you unlock bios of all the major characters and plenty of fan service is provided, usually in the form of the Riddler puzzles (which form the game's side quest) that point out the fan service (such as a museum that has Catwoman's whip, Penguin's umbrellas, and the Ventriloquist's puppet in display cases). Even the enemies who are not in the game are mentioned. Locations are more varied than just the prison as well and include a mansion, giant greenhouse, the prison grounds, and the caves around the island. As you progress Batman's suit gets more and more battered, it gives the feeling that this is all happening over the one night and the perils Batman is suffering to restore order.

Batman: Arkham Asylum succeeds in making a very solid believable game world that makes you feel like a super hero, you are the Batman, and enemies react in fear to you as a result. Fantastic dialogue, incidental details with a solid adventure back bone make this not only the best Batman game ever made (with the exception of the best video game ever made; Batman Returns on the SNES), but the best super hero game out there.

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Liebster Blog Award

This is mostly a blog post about myself, so forgive me for talking toot. Thanks to the people over at Horror Shock Lollipop I am the proud owner of a Liebster Blog Award. What this actually means is that I need to go and spread the award, and give it to 11 other blogs I think are worth a look at. Well while I go and pin this kinda meaningless badge to my site here are the rules for receiving the award...

The Rules:
A. Each person must post 11 things about themselves
B. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you
C. Create 11 questions for the people you have tagged to answer
D. Choose 11 people and link them in your post Go to their page and tell them
E. No tag backs

So first off here are 11 things about me:

1. I own a giant African land snail named Gary
2. I often suffer from insomnia
3. I love zombies, as in really love them.
4. I spend far too much time playing videogames.
5. I have close to 1000 unread books, unplayed games, and unwatched films waiting for their day in the sun
6. I have a some would say useless yet extensive knowledge of videogames.
7. I love reading about the two World Wars.
8. My interest in horror I think I would attribute to my Father whose library of books about the supernatural and U.F.O's captivated, and terrified me as a child.
9. An article about Resident Evil 2 got me into zombie films.
10. Like everyone I have extensive zombie outbreak preparation plans
11. I don't think I know of 11 blogs I can give an award to

Here are the questions the tagger set for me to answer:

1. What's the best horror-themed or spooky attraction you've been to?

l went on some walk through horror attraction at Morecombe once when I was younger, it was just darkness and random noises but it really terrified me, white as a sheet when I escaped.

2. If you had to come up with a new type of monster, what would it be and what would you call it?

A giant Demonic supernatural snail, created  to battle a giant cyborg spider. It would be called...Gary.

3. What's the worst film you've ever seen (any genre)?

I will stick to the genre of zombie films and say the amazingly bad Ghoul School

4. Best book you've read (any genre)?

At the moment I would probably say Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

5. If you could create a theme park ride, what would it be?

It would be a long tunnel you would have to run through while being chased by actors dressed up as zombies. If they caught you they would be allowed to eat your brain as punishment.

6. Would you rather have a zombie attack or an alien attack?

Zombie attack obviously!

7. What's the food that scares you the most?

The dreaded Ghost Chili, spooky!

8. What music do you love / hate?

Going through an old school late 90's Nu Metal phase at the mo, music I hate would have to be Drum and Bass thanks to my neighbour who insists on playing it constantly.

9. Would you rather live underground, in the sea, or in space?

Underground, in a cool zombie proof bunker

10. Spiders: Creepy or cute?

Cute, they always look so lost when you encounter them in the house.

11. If you could have any "super power" you wanted, what would it be?

The power to rewind time and undo past mistakes.

11 Questions for the tagged chosen to answer:


1. What is your favourite zombie film?
2. Place to go in case of zombie apocalypse?
3. Apocalypse weapon of choice?
4. Song to slay the undead to?
5. Where would you go if you could time travel?
6. Has anyone actually ever been to the Moon?
7. Just what is the meaning of the mysterious radio signal known as UVB76?
8. What do you think is the very worst way to die?
9. Where in time is Carmen Sandiago?
10. Film most excited about seeing in the future?
11. Chicken or the Egg?

The chosen 11:

Czr's Dungeon of Horror
The Monkey Rodeo
Doctor Carnage's World of Horror
The Devil Made me Watch
Head in a Vice
The Cyn and the Horror Movies
The Year of Halloween
Horror on Hayling
Devouring the Zombie Films of the Living
Surviving the Pre-Pocalypse
The Zed Word

So there you have it, I can now display my hard won (and random) blogging medal with pride.

Inside the Whore - Horror Film News

Back at the start of June the poster for horror film 'Inside the Whore' was revealed (pictured above). The film is a sequel to 2010's 'The Whore' and stars, and is directed by Norwegian director Reinert Kiil. It stars a host of horror actors such as Jorgen Langhelle (from The Thing remake), Vegar Hoel (from Dead Snow), and Viktoria Winge (from Cold Prey 1 and 2). Also starring is a reality 'star' Anette Young of Norwegian Big Brother fame so should be some quality acting.

Though a sequel the film seems quite interesting in that in the film the sequel to the first film is being created. This film focuses on the film crew making the sequel who start to notice bad things going on when people start dying on and around the set in various brutal ways, so Scream 3 set in Norway then? Hopefully this would be better than that too polished work.

I have not heard of this film or the The Whore but an interesting sounding premise means I may well give this a look. Inside the Whore is released in Autumn later this year.

Torchlight - Fantasy RPG Videogame Review (X-Box Live Arcade)

I really need to get back into doing my blog updates, has been hard as of late. Torchlight is a dungeon crawler much like Diablo.  Proving popular on the PC this budget title was ported to the 360.

Choosing from 1 of 3 characters: Alchemist, Destroyer, and Vanquisher (or as they actually are; Mage, Barbarian, and Ranger). You start in the Village of Torchlight. The nearby mines were a rich source of Ember (a valuable mineral) lately the Ember has become corrupted leading to an infestation of monsters into the mine making it inhabitable. You are tasked with going down to the very bottom of the complex (all 35 floors) to find out the cause for the corruption.

Starting off in the mines you then travel to dank caves, mystic ruins, a prison complex surrounded by lava and more. Around every 5 levels you get a new location, and this helps to relieve the tedium. Most areas end with a boss battle against some type of big meanie. This is quite a simple hack and slash, enemies swarm you and you fight them with a variety of weapons types. There are hundreds of different weapons in the game ranging from axes and swords to staffs, guns and bows. My character was a Destroyer and I concentrated on 2 handed fighting. Each of the 3 classes has a variety of moves and skills they can learn as they level up, even at the games end there were still a lot of abilities I had not yet unlocked.

Joining you, and the most novel thing is your pet. Your pet follows you around, attacking enemies, but can also be sent off on its own to head back to Town and sell any items you have given it.  With the amount of loot dropped in the game this is a handy time saving diverse which means you don't really need to warp back to Torchlight unless you have finished a quest. Unfortunately the quests are very basic and boring with about 3 different side quests repeated repeatedly. You must find a rare item, or kill a rare enemy, and that is it for side quests. The main plot is really just an excuse for you to fight and was not interesting in the slightest.

As you fight downwards you encounter a rich variety of monsters to face. You come across zombies, lizard men, skeletons, dragons, goblins, bats and many other fantasy tropes. My favourite enemies were the pygmy warriors with their spears, they would often turn tail and run which was amusing. On the other hand the Cat people sorceresses were very annoying with their high level magic. Even towards the end there are constantly new enemies types appearing ensuring things are spiced up a bit.

The game is not particularly hard, I usually died as a result of not keeping an eye on my health, and the punishment for dying is really quite minimal. Can be a bit frustrating in later levels when you are constantly swamped by lots of enemies which sometimes resulted in some slow down.

As the first dungeon crawler I have ever played I had quite a fun time, the soundtrack is mournful, but also dramatic and fits the game well even if slightly at odds with the cartoony graphics. I did find myself getting quite bored at times with the repetitive action meaning I could only play it in short chunks. After the game is completed you unlock an infinite levelled dungeon so there is a heck of a lot to do. Not a bad game, will look at Torchlight 2 with interest when it is released later this year.

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Resident Evil 4 - Figures

A look here at the Resident Evil 4 Figure Line.

Garrador:

Chainsaw Ganado (Dr Salvador):

Los Illuminados Monks (Zealots):

Iron Maiden:

U3:

Jack Krauser:

Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong:

Quite a cool line of figures, except for Leon Kennedy who looks terrible, a variant has him wearing a coat which looks much better.

Silent Hill: Dying Inside - Horror Comic Book Review

Many times I have said Silent Hill is one of my favourite game series, back in 2004 I was over joyed to hear there was a Silent Hill comic book coming out. What I read that fateful day made me go away and never again read it, now 8 years later I have returned to give it another try.

The premise sounds ace for a Silent Hill book. Psychologist Dr Troy Abernathy's latest patient is a woman suffering  apparent delusions about the Town of Silent Hill.  Before turning comatose she had raved about how the Town was evil and full of monsters and demons. Unable to cure the girl Troy decides the way to get through to her is to take her back to Silent Hill so that she can see for herself her beliefs are unfounded. This being Silent Hill is a bad mistake as Dr Troy's darkest secrets soon come to haunt him. Later on in a different story goth girl Lauren and her boyfriends gang head to the Town. Rather than stumble into the horror Lauren seems to know exactly what the Town is capable of and has come prepared.

Different to the games the evil in this tale is mostly down to a creepy little girl called Christabella who seems able to control the monsters, feeding off the bloodshed they cause. Originally released as 5 comics Dying Inside brings them all under one book.  The first 2 issues concerning the Dr is separate to the 3 issues that follow, even the art style is different and that's half the problem.  The art is dark, and screwed up but this gets in the way of the story being told. Due to the murkiness it is often hard to tell which character is which as they all look the same in the dark. It is often really hard to tell what is going on in the many action sequences and I found myself having to rely on the dialogue to work out what was happening. On the flip side the art is very horror inspired fitting the mature tone of the tale.  The first 2 issues fare better with a simpler, more defined style, and also a lot more colour.

In keeping with the mythos of the games the Town does seem to prey on the fears and secrets of the people who visit, certainly true for the Dr's tale while the monsters are personalised to Lauren when her and her friends arrive.  A lot of the creatures are ones from the games, in particular Silent Hill 3, though the flying bats of Silent Hill also appear. A lot of the creatures here have writhing tentacles.  Being a stand alone story there are no references to the actual characters of the games, this is fine by me as the Resident Evil: Code Veronica manga's proved that comics based on purely on the stories of games are quite bad.

This is a good comic with a decent, and mature plot but is let down by muddy artwork that detracts in places more than it adds, if you are a fan of the Silent Hill universe though it is recommended as it runs with the downbeat tones of those games.

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Zombies of Mass Destruction - Zombie Horror Film Review

As the title suggests Zombies of Mass Destruction is a comedy horror. From the look of it I was expecting 'hilarity' on the level of Zombie Town, but it was better than that, I really wasn't in the right frame of mind to be watching a comedy though so I may be a bit biased against this.

Set in 2003 a zombie washes up on the shore of small island Town Port Gambol, before long the whole Town is being over run with flesh eating zombies. There are two main stories going on, in one Iranian/American Frida has returned after dropping out of College, while the other focuses on gay couple Tom (played by Doug Fahl) and Lance who have came to the very bigoted Town for Tom to 'come out' to his Mother. They both get caught up in the disaster that is supposedly a terrorist attack by a foreign enemy.

The film has more in common with Peter Jackson's Brain Dead than anything else, while a comedy the gore effects are very over the top, zombies and victims losing pints and pints of runny blood when attacked, soon everyone is coated in the stuff. Zombies literally seem to fall apart, heads and limbs being pulled off with ease. An early zombie even has her eye ball just fall right out her head for no reason. This would be fine if it was restricted to the creatures but humans also seem to suffer weak bodies, a man gets his arm ripped off (and then amusingly beaten with it) very easily by a zombie. It doesn't try to be real though, and least the effects are good, such as a cool scene when a zombie gets a pair of scissors stuck upwards though its face.

The dialogue is also quite funny in places, less than 5 minutes in I was surprised when I laughed out loud at a short conversation between a man and his son, I never expected to laugh and wasn't prepared to so came as a shock. People frequently treat Frida as a foreigner based on her looks, despite her constantly saying she was born and raised in America which was a reoccurring joke. Characters in general are ok, stereotypes but least they have personality. Personal favourite was the crazed preacher convinced the zombie apocalypse was the end of the world (tells his congregation something like 'Don't worry, we have the most famous zombie of all time on our side; our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ!'). Much like the game Dead Rising there are psychos mixed in with the survivors; conspiracy nut job Joe Miller convinced Frida is an Al Qaeda terrorist, and the Preacher with his fiercely loyal congregation. These mix up the story a bit.

The film is let down by a lack of plot though.  The two different stories are kept totally separate until 5 minutes before the end of the film, and neither of the sets of characters seem to have any direction other than to run around killing zombies aimlessly for the films 90 minutes. Another irritating factor of the film is the high pitched screaming that all the female characters do, it seemed at times they were hired for their ear splitting screams. It does play with expectations at times though, early in the film Frida comes across a lost little girl who she promises she will protect and get her through the disaster, seconds later a car has hit the little girl leaving Frida holding a severed arm.

The film tries to be topical by having themes of racism, and homophobia but is not dealt with in a serious manner to have any impact, more done for comedy factor (After being attacked by his unknown to him zombie Mum after coming out as gay Tom's partner Lance says 'Wow, that's just how my Dad reacted'). The usual factor of characters just not behaving realistically to the deaths of their loved ones also rears its head.

In better times I could have seen myself really enjoying this, as it is it was ok, just a bit lost in its dead plot.

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Shaun of the Dead - Zombie Horror Film Review

I can't believe I have not reviewed this previously, while I had been into zombie films long, long before this it certainly helped to usher in the resurgence in love for all things zombie. The stars Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost previously were in the hilarious sitcom 'Spaced' from which this film was influenced by the zombie episode (directed by Edgar Wright who also directed this).

Everyone has seen Shaun of the Dead, it concerns a 30 year old loser whose idea of a good night is going to the local pub with his best friend, his girlfriend, and her friends. On the eve of zombie apocalypse Liz his girlfriend dumps him. He vows to sort his life out and win her back which accidentally turns into leading his friends to safety from the zombie threat. Where better place to wait out the invasion than the local pub; The Winchester?

When I first saw this film at the Cinema I really did not think much of it, but it is one of those rare films that just gets better and better with repeated views, much like Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim VS the World. The jokes are hilarious, repeated catchphrases such as people constantly saying to Shaun (whose red pen leaked) 'You've got red on you' somehow the funniest lines ever. The visual gags are also well done, a late highlight being a fight with a heavily built zombie set to Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' song. The dialogue is constantly witty.

It is a bit slow to get going, but that works in that the comparisons between peoples daily lives, and the zombies themselves that is apparent, Shaun is first seen stumbling into his front room groaning like a zombie (in fact he has just woken up and is yawning) and many comparisons are made to the dreary lives people lead and the brain dead zombies. The characters realisation of what is going on is really funny as well, at first thinking zombies are just drunk people.

The film gets surprisingly tense and more horror like as it continues. There are a few genuinely affecting moments such as when Shaun is forced to kill his Mum who has turned, and the whole final scene is just pure horror as the survivors are swarmed with impossible odds.

Not a great review, but then everyone has seen this film, if not then you are doing yourself a life disservice and must fix it immediately!

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Zombie Virus on Mulberry Street - Zombie Horror Film Review

First off a few niggles. The title is terrible, in America it was just called 'Mulberry Street' which is better as for one thing the film doesn't have zombies in it, they are rat people. Secondly another terrible cover, is it law that all low budget zombie films have to have the exact same picture on them? (a horde of zombies in the foreground, with an apocalyptic City in the background). A friend kind of recommended it to me, saying it was terrible and so I would probably like it!

Zombie Virus on Mulberry Street takes place in New York over a 24 hour period. What starts off as random attacks by rats in the subways leads to an epidemic that sweeps Manhattan as the victims of the bites become hungry for human flesh, and also start to turn into rat people. The film centres around the inhabitants of an apartment block on Mulberry Street who must work together to hold out against the flesh hungry hordes assaulting their neighbourhood.

While a low budget film it does look quite good, much higher quality than I expected. The special effects are good even though the concept of rat people is frankly ridiculous. The whole film is played uber seriously, no attempt is made to lighten the mood. The characters are an unlikeable bunch, not bad people, just all moody, serious, and dull. The teenage boy character is really strange acting (and the actor looks like he is in his mid 20's), main character Clutch is dull as dishwater, while his love interest Kay is lifeless. A whole host of characters are introduced, and randomly picked off as the film progresses but the film fails to make you care about them at all.

There is good direction with a lot of scenes played out in slow mo, and silent save for a usually downbeat song playing over it.  These sequences are well done, and give atmosphere to the film. The plot is basic as Hell but works, it is good that there is no explanation for the outbreak. It does seem stupid that in less than 24 hours the whole of New York has been evacuated and left to rot (at least for a time), you would assume the Army would have been called in or something. This is brought up in the film though I think only to try and cover up the obvious plot hole.

I have talked badly about the film but it was enjoyable. It looks quite grainy throughout, has a great soundtrack and is a bleak affair. There are some good scenes, such as a bouncer going crazy on the rat people with a frying pan, and a nice sub plot that involves Clutch's scarred soldier daughter returning from war and trying to make her way across the rat people infested New York to find him.

Not a bad film, just does not do anything particularly special, I could see myself watching this again at some point though.

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Evil Quest - Fantasy Videogame Review (X-Box Live Indie)

Evil Quest is a low budget RPG from Chaosoft Games, I found it in the murky depths of the Xbox Live Indie Channel for the cheap cheap price of 80 Microsoft points (around £1). In a refreshing change you play as the games bad guy, with your goal to destroy the world rather than save it.

Galvis is the dark ruler of an evil army who has conquered nearly all the lands. During a key battle with the King's forces his lieutenant betrays him leading to him being captured. With his army destroyed and his armour and weapons taken away from him he is chucked into a cell to wait out the rest of his days. A young soldier looking to get revenge for his family's death at Galvis's hand results in him escaping from his cell. Fuelled by the legend of a God killing weapon known as the Chaos Axe Galvis sets out to find it so that he can destroy the world that he is so bitter and hateful at.

Evil Quest is a retro adventure game that takes place in a fantasy land full of monsters. As Galvis you can visit villages to buy items and learn about the locations of dungeons, typical stuff apart from the fact everyone knows you are evil. Frequently amusing dialogue will lead to Galvis just straight up murdering people. There is quite a bit of funny dialogue with his hatred of everyone.  As you progress you get better weapons and armour and level up by defeating enemies. It really is not a hard game but it is fun, and the twist of you being the bad guy is kinda cool.

There are a lot of boss battles against usually giant foes, such as a Salamander posing as a Volcano God, an ice giant, even an automaton appears as the Lightning Shrine boss. Levels are maze like, off route paths giving you chests full of items, money and better equipment. Evil Quest lasted around two and a half hours (around the same length as my Silent Hill: Downpour third go took) and was fun all throughout with only one frustrating moment (a particularly hard boss). Evil Quest is cheap enough that if your in to retro style RPGs there is no excuse not to get this!

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Silent Hill: Downpour - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

Silent Hill is one of my favourite series of games (up there with Castlevania) but after the disappointment of Silent Hill: Homecoming I did not know what to expect with this one.  I played through the game three times in a row, and enjoyed each playthrough.

Silent Hill: Downpour follows the exploits of Murphy Pendleton a convicted criminal.  While on a bus being transferred to a maximum security prison an accident occurs, the bus crashes and Pendleton escapes. Unfortunately he decides to head towards the nearby Town of Silent Hill not knowing that it is a place of nightmares and terror. There as is the way with the cursed Town all his dark secrets, memories, and crimes manifest themselves physically to make him confront his real self. Chasing him is the transfer officer; Anne Cunningham who has a personal vendetta against Murphy for an unknown reason.  Looking for an escape from Silent Hill is Murphy's only goal, but one that could be very hard in a place that does not want him to leave...

First off when I heard that long term Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka would not be doing the soundtrack I was worried, his music is part of what makes Silent Hill such a special feeling and unique game with his, luckily Daniel Licht the new composer does an utterly fantastic job of following in Yamaoka's footsteps. Sound is integral to the series, and is no different here. Radio's are dotted around the world that play songs specific to Pendleton, many of them being dedicated to him from an unknown D.J.  The song 'Born Free' in particular turns up a lot and become a song I just could not stop huming all the way through.

After Homecomings increased action it is nice to see that it has been toned down quite considerably for this instalment.  There is an increased focus on melee weapons (that can break after extended use) with only two fire arms appearing, and having very limited ammo for them.  The combat is very basic and not too great, you have a block button, but the dodge has been removed. Combat is not the point of the thing though, there is even an achievement for completing the game without killing anything. Puzzles are more in abundance but for the most part of boring safe cracking ones and virtually no riddle based ones like the series was known for in the past.

So the game looks and sounds fantastic, but what about the plot?  Much less convoluted than previous games the story is stripped back to basics and works well for it.  Murphy is a likable character who has legitimate reasons for the evils he has done in the past, he feels like a man being punished unfairly rather than a deserving victim for the Town.  There are quite a few other characters who show up at various times but they are not key to the plot really.  The Town this time looks like one that is sinking into the ground, giant craters and barriers split up the linear (but open world) setting of the Town.  There are 13 optional side quests in the game that involve you doing a variety of tasks such as laying a vengeful ghost to rest, or locating a missing autistic girl, all have the Silent Hill style twist to the quests and are kind of fun to do once but probably would not do them again. Locations are interesting, an early highlight is a trek through some mines, while a later level set in a Monastery ripped in half by an earthquake is very memorable

I would love to stop there and say the game is amazing but unfortunately there are a few things which drag it down.  Firstly the enemy design is lazy and uninspired.  The female enemies (known as Screamers) look just like the ones from Deadly Premonition (a game you really do not want to take inspiration from), while the male enemies all look like the guys with metal in their faces from the Condemned games.  The frame rate is shockingly bad, especially out in the streets with screen tearing, freezing, and drastic frame rate affecting gameplay. A gameplay mechanic that when it starts to rain enemies get more plentiful and stronger results in Downpour becoming almost unplayable due to the terrible frame drop.

The side quests while fun have zero point to them, the rewards you get for doing them are all pointless (such as ammo and health packs), a better prize for doing them would have been preferable.  One quest gives you access to the subways under the Town that is supposedly a way to warp around locations but a well documented glitch meant that even with these unlocked they were still unusable so kinda pointless.

On a better note though the Silent Hill 'Otherworld' appears with a vengeance leading to some truly messed up situations with corridors that keep on extending, gravity reversing and a host of cool effects. Each Otherworld section mostly involves you being chased by a deadly red light down narrow corridor's that twist and change in a thrilling and exciting way. The influence from Shattered Memories can be really seen here, you are even able to look over your shoulder just like Harry in that game.

With a lot of fan service (references are made to all 6 of the previous Silent Hill games), a great story, and a true survival horror feeling (this game is definitely unsettling, creepy and scary in places) Downpour does so much right, it is just a shame that some bad programming get in the way of what would otherwise be an essential game.

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Last Hope by Drew Brown - Zombie Horror Book Review

Zombie books can be really good, really exciting thrill rides, or they can be tense slow paced affairs. Last Hope manages to be both, and succeeds at both.

Last Hope follows mid 40's Budd Ashby; an American pilot who is spending a night in a posh London Hotel after flying over a top Scientist for the company he works for. To make things better Budd ends up hooking up with a young French pop star; Juliette. It turns out things could not get better for him.  Waking up the next morning he sees that London has gone silent. Nearly everyone in the Hotel is lying dead on the ground. Budd and Juliette meet up with some fellow survivors just in time for a very thick fog to settle over London, and pretty soon all the prone bodies start to at first twitch and then to return to life, predictably as flesh hungry zombies, but this is just the start of the troubles...

This is one great zombie book, I don't think since Autumn (by David Moody) have I enjoyed one as much. Budd is a fantastic character as he is so flawed, but in a human way. Frequent internal thoughts are provided for him, showing his thought process which are quite funny. His motivations that he explains to other survivors are usually vastly different to what he is really thinking (such as when he says he is going to go look for a first aid kit when in reality he just wants to get away from fighting zombies) and he is not afraid to turn tail and run, even abandoning others which is a fresh breath of air into stories where the main character is usually some 2 dimensional hero type wanting to help everyone.

At over two thirds of the way through I realised that not much at all had happened, all the characters where still hanging around the giant Hotel but this was an awesome realisation as it had all gone so quickly that it didn't matter at all at how slow paced it had been, each short chapter led onto the next one beautifully making it a book you just couldn't put down.  The full title of Last Hope is actually 'Last Hope Book One: Onslaught' Naming a book 'Book One' I at first thought as arrogant, as if your book would be so good that a sequel was already assured but this is one book that needs a sequel essentially.  It is such a roller coaster ride and ends on such a cliff hanger that it would be criminal if there was not a further book, or five, ten, twenty. This was like crack, I could read infinite numbers of sequels and never be bored by it.

Needless to say it was not long after realising how much of the book had passed before things spiralled into craziness with a genre shift (still zombies, but a different style). Brown has the enviable gift of creating locations and situations that you cant but help see in your mind as you read, I felt like I was there with the characters. To be fair some of the side characters were not fantastic; some I got confused with who they were, while others such as Sam (supposedly the 4th best poker player in the world) were just no interest to me. The key characters of Budd and Juliette were fantastic.  Budd's desire to protect his new love interest gives his character real motivation, at times she does seem no more than a prop for him to focus on but attraction is such a powerful emotion.

There are a lot of unanswered questions in the book; nothing is explained which works really well in the context, there is also the often commented half joking theory that it is all a dream, this is one situation where if it did all turn out to be a dream would be the perfect ending, as such sub plots hinting at time travel, and Budd having a mysterious uniqueness to him that people are willing to die to protect him give plenty of places for the next (already announced) book to go (Last Hope Book Two: Revelations).

At just one year older than me Drew Brown is a great author, I look forward to his next work. Typical zombie horror, but very well done, and don't be put off by the terrible cover.

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Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection - the Wii duo come to PS3

So it turns out the two Wii Resident Evil light gun games have been made into HD and released on the Playstation 3 using Move controls (the consoles version of the Wii-mote).  Kinda cool for the 4 or 5 people who own Move, still the trailer is kinda amusing...



The games are actually quite good so if you have not gotten the Wii versions and fancy some Resident Evil gunplay then might be worth a look.