Deadworld: War of the Dead Issue 1 (2012) - Zombie Horror Comic Review

Deadworld is set to return this August in a new miniseries titled Deadworld: War of the Dead.  The comic (created by Gary Reed) is set in a world destroyed by a supernatural holocaust. For a while I read it in the past, I remember it was quite a twisted bleak comic that involved a bunch of teens trying to avoid the zombie masses. What made this different was that the zombies were led by intelligent ones, in particular King Zombie - the Harley riding sadistic leader. Intelligence gave the zombies a much more dangerous slant.

What is exciting about this new miniseries is that for the first time Deadworld is going to be in colour, since it's inception in the late 1980's it has always been black and white which does fit the grim vibe the comic goes for. I have gotten a preview copy of Issue 1 of this 5 part miniseries (one issue per week for August), so on with the review.

Deadworld: War of the Dead is a continuation of the main Deadworld story but thankfully does enough to introduce new readers without losing them in assumed knowledge. There is a lot to catch up on but the story does that well.  There are 'lepers' who are basically humans trapped in decaying zombified bodies, and other human survivors, then there are the main characters who are given flash backs to bring you up to speed on them.

Issue 1 takes place in and around a community college called Safe Haven, in the past it had been created as a way for a insane doctor to trap humans to experiment on, but due to it's defences it has been made into an actual safe haven. Despite this it still comes under constant attack by the hordes of undead.

Sometimes with colour comes a lack of horror, but with Deadworld,s look this is not the case, the colour adds to the atmosphere in a way far better than black and white. The colours are all washed out, saturated browns, reds and greys that create a sense of suffocation onto the world of Deadworld. The artwork is fantastic, the sharp strokes of the pen giving detail to the bleak place. It reminded me a lot of the Silent Hill comics in the way it looked, though thankfully the artwork is more constant than it was there.

A great comic with literally hundreds of zombies, and an interesting premise (more so than the snooze fest The Walking Dead turned into), Deadworld: War of the Dead is one to I'm looking forward to.

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Football Crazy - Surreal Murder Mystery Graphic Novel by Craig Daley

I was pointed to a site recently which deals in as they term it 'Surreal Murder Mystery Graphic Novels'. These are online comics that have a thriller edge to them. So far there have been three different tales. The first one is called 'Meadowhell: The True Horror of Shopping' about security guards being murdered at a shopping centre. The second one is based on Jack the Ripper titled 'Spring-heeled Jack: From the Tunnels of Hell', while the third one 'Football Crazy: The Theatre of Nightmares on the Road to Insanity' is about a serial killer picking off players from a winning team.

I was lucky enough to read part one of Football Crazy. It is not so much horror as crime based with it's content. It follows some detectives as they investigate the murders and try to piece together who could have done it and why.  It has the feel of a Detective program such as Inspector Morse, or A Touch of Frost. There is not any horror in them. I dislike football and have long said football fans are crazy, so is a fitting subject. The art style is quite strange but works, kind of basic but at the same time it catches the eye and is very striking. The story is well paced.

All three of the comics have clues throughout to lead you to who the murderer is, the issue I read certainly made me want to read more (just to find out what the murder weapon was). If you're interested in these then pop on over to Drive-Thru Comics where they can be picked up for under £1 each. Also for news on these and upcoming comics in the series check out the writer and artists website here. Not bad, just not horror either.

AN UPDATE: I have just read part two of Football Crazy, and it was really quite funny, much more humour than part one had. There were twists that were surprising, and the vein of funny running through the whole thing really hit the spot! Full of hidden Easter Eggs as well it really hits the description of a 'surreal murder mystery'.

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Horror Videogames of E3 2012

So E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) has been and gone for another year, I noticed there were quite a lot of horror games announced and shown so I have compiled a little list of them all.

Aliens: Colonial Marines - This has to be better than the Aliens Vs Predator game early on in the current gen cycle. The gameplay trailers make it look better at least. Lots of new xenomorph types are being created for the game, kinda looking forward to this.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 - I loved the first Lords of Shadow game despite it not feeling like a traditional Castlevania. The CGI trailer was darn exciting seeing a vamped up Belmont laying waste to an entire army. In this sequel Belmont is now a vampire it seems. Also there is a 3DS Castlevania game in the works; (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate), looks like it takes place in Castlevania but I don't know any other details.

Crysis 3 - Once again set in New York, but this time the city has been covered by a giant dome and has jungle melding with the buildings. Not too excited as it just seems more of the same Crysis 2.

Darksiders 2 - The first game saw you play as War, for this one you play as Death, another cool CGI trailer was shown. If it carries on the Darksiders homage to Zelda then it should be another solid game.

Deadlight - A downloadable zombie puzzle game with a unique look. Could be interesting.

Dead Space 3 - I am hearing some bad things about this game. Early reports say it has gone too far into action, that coupled with the awful news that it is going to be co-op only (going the way of the Resident Evils') means I do not have high hopes for this being remotely survival horror like at all.

DMC: Devil May Cry - I have never been keen on the Devil May Cry series of games, they have all been too tough for me to get any enjoyment out of. Hopefully this reboot will make things easier for us normals.

Doom 3 BFG Edition - I love, and I mean love Doom 3, so this HD version had already gotten my interest but with the addition of a new seven level story has made this one I must get!

God of War: Ascension - A prequel to the God of War games, it just seems to be more of the same. I liked God of War but have yet to play the others in the series yet so now seems like the perfect time.

Halo 4 - Not fussed about this, no doubt when it goes cheap enough I will get it. More covenant as well as a new cyborg looking enemy, woo.

Metro: Last Light - Metro 2033 was fantastic so hopefully this one will be too, more Russian post apocalypse goings on. I saw a short live action film detailing a nuke strike on Moscow made for this game, was not half bad.

Resident Evil 6 - Yet again co-op but promising to go back to its horror roots. It certainly looks good but the plot seems as jumbled a mess as always. Not going to lie though, I do want it.

Silent Hill: Books of Memories - For the Playstation Vita, this Silent Hill game seems to be a Gauntlet style overhead game. It is playable for up to four people and seems to be very action orientated. Don't know what to think about this one.

And there you have it, I am sure I have missed some but it is still quite a list of upcoming horror games. So many games, so little time...

Vanquish - Sci-fi Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

Vanquish is a third person action shooter from the makers of Bayonetta. The game combines the action of Gears of War with added mobility.

Vanquish is set in the future where over population on Earth has become a huge issue. It starts with an attack on San Francisco from a space station death ray that results in the City being destroyed. The Space Station has been seized by a rogue group of Russians who have declared war on America, if there demands are not met they are going to destroy a key American City every 24 hours. A fleet is dispatched to take back control of the Station and stop the Russian threat. You play as Sam Gideon; a member of Darpa that is accompanying the American Space Army. Armed with an experimental suit you have amazing defencive abilities such as the ability to boost out of danger, and also a special tool that can morph itself into any weapon type.

The enemies you fight in the game are for the most part not human, instead you battle an Army of robots, this is never really explained. If the Russians have an Army of robots then why does America send in humans who spend the majority of the game being blown to smithereens? There are a wide variety of enemies to face. The grunts are very weak but plentiful, elsewhere you get spider bots, giant humanoid robots and the gigantic bosses. The bosses are not that varied but show up enough times to be fun to fight. They range from tank like vehicles to absolutely gigantic robots who launch thousands of missiles at you.

To fight these you have access to a variety of weapons; the usual stuff for the most part. Each weapon can be levelled up over the course of the game in a clever way. If you have full ammo for a weapon but still pick up ammo for it you instead get the weapon levelled up. So it gives you the option to save ammo in case it is needed, or sacrifice the ammo to make the weapon slightly better. My favourite weapon was the rocket launcher as it had an ace lock on ability, the heavy machine gun was also a mainstay. You have access to a boost that lets you zoom around the levels for a limited time, also you are able to slow down time for a limited time.

The games plot is basic but still handled confusingly, not surprising for a Japanese made game, there are lots of cut scenes, multiple ones per level. The game is split into 5 acts, each made up of 5 or 6 different levels. At the end of each level you are given score based on a variety of factors. Levels are quite varied but still end up feeling quite similar though they do look awesome. As well as generic sci-fi locations you fight though a shopping centre, a park, lots of monorail scenes, and factories. The best levels are one which sees you assault a large steep concrete hill for the duration with robots chucking huge chunks of masonry and vehicles at you. Another cool level saw you fight your way to a giant war ship, ending with you battling though it, slowly ascending the outside of it and picking off its guns.

 Vanquish is a nice looking game, with a load of set pieces and cool cinematics though has some generic characters. The Commander of the Army (name) is generic as they come, all gruff and manly as he shouts and shoots with his arm mounted gun. The game is short enough that it never outstays its welcome, it is a perfect length as the stirrings of fatigue were just starting to set in when it ended. When ever it seemed there would be a on rails section it was snatched away to propel you back into the action which is not that bad a thing. Some QTE’s appear but are not numerous so don’t ruin the game.

I enjoyed Vanquish, it is simple, arcady shooty fun, and has some good looking set pieces to it.

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Ozombie - Zombie Horror Film Review

When I first heard there was a Bin Laden zombie film I was gob smacked, really did not expect that! Of course I had to buy it, and having watched it I can say that it actually isn’t that bad despite what you would expect.

The film starts during the raid on Bin Laden's complex in Pakistan, the Special forces team discover a zombie farm there, and after a brief chase they kill Osama, but not before he has injected himself with a zombie virus. As the helicopter heads out to sea he reanimates and causes the vehicle to crash with Laden washing up on the beach. Some months later and Afghanistan is in the midst of a secret zombie outbreak, a small American Army team are in the area to find a way to stop the outbreak, the main force having withdrawn for fear of infection. Also there is a young woman; Dusty who has travelled there to look for her conspiracy nut brother Derek. Derek is convinced Bin Laden is alive and so has gone to the country to kill him once and for all. Teaming up with the soldiers they look for the secret Taliban compound where it seems the zombie plague is coming from.

What surprised me about this film is how seriously it treats the subject matter. I fully expected this to be a schlocky, low budget comedy fest but it is the opposite, that doesn’t mean the plot is sensible, just that it is treated like a drama. The film has a feel of quality about it, and really tries to flesh out its characters to seem like real people. Derek for instance is definitely the films comedy character, but he has reason for wanting Laden dead after his team of Firemen where killed at ground zero. Yeah it is ridiculous, such as a nightmare he has in which a zombified Bin Laden chases down him and his sister (in the dream as children) at a playground. The film goes to lengths to portray the civilians of Afghanistan as normal people, not monsters. One scene centres around a lost boy finding his family, while the characters remark about how it is only insurgent zombies they are killing.

The effects are mostly computer generated and so don’t look amazing, lots of blood that vanishes mid spurt for instance. The zombie make up is good enough, and there are plenty of explosions, and fire fights. Acting is patchy, one soldier (who thankfully is killed early on) could not act to save his life. The soldiers are all stereotypes but still manage to come across as likable, and not the total usual meat heads. Is funny that the muscly actor who plays one of the soldiers manages to find a way to have his top off in nearly every scene. As the characters are killed off one by one each death is in its own way affecting, surprised me to care about them.

Ozombie seems strange in that they are trying to approach the subject of Osama Bin Laden and his atrocities with tact rather than milk the shock factor of making a film about a zombie real life bad guy. His character really doesn’t feature into the film much, he is more like the Bogey man providing motivation for Derek. The backdrops reminded me of The Dead, but this is far more of an action film than that with characters frequently making jokes and acting like they are in an action film rather than reality. Still, not bad, an interesting concept.

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Indie videogames Roundup (Bloody Mary, Castle Miner Z, City Zombified, Claustrophobia, Distortion King) - Horror Videogame Reviews (X-Box Indie)

There are a lot of horror based videogames on the X-Box Indie channel, too many by far to review, especially the more bad ones that I don't even last the demo before quitting.  Here are some of the Horror games on offer that will not be getting their own reviews...

Bloody Mary

A Silver Dollar game (notoriously bad game makers) in which you must discover the Bloody Mary evidence on a mirror in which a bad actress faces.  You do this by randomly clicking in the hope a hidden blood stain will appear. Terrible.

Castle Miner Z

A Minecraft clone that has now been made redundant due to the appearance of Minecraft on the X-Box 360.  The Z in the title refers to zombies who appear frequently, as well as skeletons.  More action than Minecraft (you even start with a pistol) but frequent freezing render this game a chore to play even if it doesn't look too bad.

City Zombified

You control your avatar in this third person arena shooter. The (bland featureless) City of Serene has come under attack by zombies. Each level sees you shooting at odd acting zombies who home in on you and the survivor in each level. If you or the civilian die it's game over. Many of the zombies hide inside snowmen. Looks terrible, sounds terrible, been done to un-death a million times before.

Claustrophobia

Another over head twin stick shooter.  It looks good, and has an arcady vibe to it, but an awful slow rock soundtrack. You shoot bloody skeletons and zombies with a variety of weapons such as plasma rifles, missile launchers and rifles.  The game has some comedy in it's perk descriptions but even that can't save it from the fact that there are just too many games of this type cluttering up the Indie channel.

Distortion King

A music game, I was kinda pleased to discover that.  It has a handful of original rock tunes and plays ok. It is annoying that if you miss a note the whole song goes silent for a second or two, kinda off putting.  The background has a picture of zombies rocking out. Dusted off my guitar for this one!

So there you have it, a bunch more horror Indie games discussed, the games really are as bad as I make them sound.

Dark Inside (2011) by Jeyn Roberts - Horror Book Review

Dark Inside is the debut novel of Jeyn Roberts written for young adults. Despite being aimed at younger people it is still a book that deserves to be read by all.

A series of catastrophic earthquakes occur world wide devastating much of the Earth. With the earthquakes millions die, yet millions more become changed, now possessed by a great evil they exist only to cause chaos and butcher any survivors unaffected by the madness covering the globe.  Dark Inside follows four separate teens as they try to survive in the ruins of America.  Michael who teams up with a fellow group of survivors, Clementine who survives the massacre of her entire town, Mason who battles the evil threatening to over take him, and Aries who is set on her way by a mysterious young man who seems to know too much about the events that have happened.

Each chapter written in first person focuses on one of the four teens, with a fifth mysterious perspective from someone called 'Nothing'.  Each of the four (well five) has their own story going on in the world, so it is like reading totally different stories. This was a really well done method of telling the story, chapters that ended on cliff hangers were made all the more suspenseful due to it being several chapters before the hangers got resolved. The stories all feel like road trips, each of the four heading through destroyed towns, fighting and evading the 'Baggers' (what the crazed monstrous humans are called in the fiction) and just trying to find food and shelter to survive.

For a book aimed at young adults this is plenty grim with lots of violence.  The Baggers are insane to various degrees, some are totally crazy (one character says how he saw a Bagger snap his own neck after getting his head stuck between two posts) while others have degrees of intelligence able to work together, such as the groups who go house to house dragging out survivors and murdering them.  Other times Baggers even are able to hold conversations and pretend to be survivors, waiting for their time to strike which leads to some cool plot twists.  Roberts really doesn't shy away from describing the acts of the Baggers, such as school bombings, carers killing infants with poisoned juice, while descriptions of the crazies roaming the streets armed with crowbars, and baseball bats just brings images of violence to mind.

The main characters themselves are not perfect either, many with deep flaws, bad decisions are made along the way which leads to pain and suffering for other survivors. One such scene was straight out of 28 Weeks Later with someone abandoning his group to the mercy of the Baggers, while other characters argue, get drunk, and don't make any attempt to help people in need for fear of getting caught themselves. It is interesting that some characters who appear seem like they are going to be key people only to get killed a few chapters later, is a nice touch that anyone seems up for being killed off at any point.

I seriously could not put this book down, I read it in two sittings, only stopped the first time as it had gotten to 2AM, I even read it on the bus; I get travel sick really easily so just shows how much I was into it that I even chanced getting ill to read it. Nearly all the chapters end on cliffhangers, all four of the stories are exciting with some awesome scenes such as a chase through a blizzard, getting caught in the middle of earthquakes, and the suspense of being stalked through buildings leading to a spectacular finale which arrives perfectly paced. I can't remember the last time I was so engrossed in a book like this.

This book has everything a horror fan could want, no matter what your age. A thrilling road trip with a unique take on zombies, though with similarities to Brian Keene's The Rising (similar though his did have a talking zombie lion!). Interesting though I am not sure how this could be made into a series and still feel as fresh as it did here, but Roberts is definitely an author to keep your eyes on.

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X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse - Action Videogame Review (Gameboy Advance)

X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse is a single player side scrolling brawler for the Gameboy Advance.  It features a load of characters from X-Men, unfortunately many of these are not seen.

Basically the X-Men are transported to an alternate dimension where bad guy Apocalypse rules the Earth.  Playing as either Rogue, Wolverine, Storm, or Cyclops you must battle though 11 boring levels to find a way to get back home.

This game is terrible! Each level sees you walking left to right (occasionally with a lift level) fighting various enemies such as sentinels, Hellfire club members, and other X-Men.  The problem stems from the fact that about 70% of the enemies you face don't even make it on screen.  Most the time I was the only thing on screen as I beat up invisible enemies off to the left or right.  To make things even worse this counted for bosses as well, without a lie every single boss bar 2 never even got to make it on screen, so I had no idea what character I was fighting! To ramp this insanity to the next level the end of game boss; as in the FINAL BOSS never made it onto the screen before being killed! I assume it was Apocalypse but do not know for sure.

This is a joke of a game, it is easy as heck, has terrible background art, repetitive music (only about 3 different tunes for the games 11 levels) and is dull as dishwater. Pathetic.

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The Shadows in the Underworld - Horror Videogame Review (X-Box Indie)

The Shadows in the Underworld is heavily based on the works of H.P Lovecraft, the premise and everything about it is straight out of his terrifying tales of madness, of strange cults and ancient horrors.

It starts with you in Antarctica in a submarine, strange ruins have been discovered under the water so you head off to investigate.  Upon getting to the ruins an ancient door slams shut leaving you trapped in the madness of the almighty ancient City.  Coming under attack from deep sea horrors you must navigate the nightmare and find a way to escape before you are driven insane...

Each level has you exploring a maze looking for the exit and its key.  The key you usually stumble across literally right away.  There is a progress bar at the bottom of the screen to see if your heading the right way.  Each screen you go onto will usually lead to a sustained attack from the monsters of the deep. Your submarine has torpedoes, as well as a giant chainsaw, I virtually never used the missiles, chainsaw was king.  Items can be collected using your beam which level up your armour, chainsaw and missiles.

The game has a cartoony look which does detract from the premise a bit, samey backgrounds, and architecture are used with not much variation between levels.  Between levels you get the submarine captains diary entries, these are very Lovecraftian in their writings as the captain is slowly driven insane by the unending gigantic City he is trapped in.  The music is great as well despite a lack of variety, I guess being an indie game is the reason for this. I was really hooked on this, excitedly waiting for the next diary entry, it had a bit of a weak finish which was a shame, not quite the doom and gloom ending I expected but still again quite in vein with Lovecraft (by far the writer of the most scary stories ever told).

Had quite a bit of fun with this one, for 80 Microsoft points this is well worth picking up.

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The Haunted World of El Superbeasto - Horror Film Review

I have said before that Rob Zombie is my favourite director. Seeing an animated film based on his comic book series I quickly snapped it up.  Written and directed by Rob Zombie I expected another masterpiece.

The film takes place in a weird world in which monsters co exist with humans.  Beasto (a famous masked wrestler super hero) witnesses a stripper Velvet Von Black being kidnapped by a henchman (henchgorrila) of bad guy Dr Satan who will get demonic powers if he marries Black.  Beasto and his sister Suzi X (voiced by Sheri Moon Zombie) head off to foil Dr Satan's plan.

This is one terrible film! The jokes all fall flat, as in all of them, there are many references to horror films (Jack from the Shining, Michael Myers from Halloween, and the main trio from The Devil Rejects (the highlights) all make appearances as do many other horror villains.  Further nods can be seen on some scenes which are homages to classics, such as a recreation of the famous party scene from Carrie. The humour is really terrible, It is almost embarrassing how funny the film thinks it is being.

A sub plot involves a horde of biker Nazi Zombies who show up many times throughout the film, there are thousands of zombies but even these cannot save the film.  Plenty of violence, and lots of nudity (especially breasts which nearly all the female characters get out at one point or another).  Musical numbers break up the monotony which would be good if not for the fact that every single song in the film is utterly terrible.

I suffered watching this rubbish, and I was so glad when it finally ended.  The film is a waste of space really, one to avoid.  A sad day for Rob Zombie, his awesome record is broken with this giant miss.

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Bloodforge and Dragon's Dogma - Fantasy Videogame Previews (X-Box 360)

Bloodforge is a grim and violent fantasy slash em up that takes place in a Conan the Barbarian style world.  Here are my thoughts on the demo.

An unskippable story tells of how the main character (a barbarian) has nightmares of his fighting days.  He awakes to find the world on fire. Then he is attacked by monsters. That's it really. The action took place in an arena which saw waves of enemies jumping down from the cliffs to fight you. You have light and heavy attacks and when enemies are stunned they can be finished off (usually by slicing them in half). The game has a 300 style look to it with sepia colours giving everyone a bronzed look.

The demo was quite short, I hope the whole game is not just fighting enemies in arenas as that would get tiring quickly. Still it is bloody, and apart from the camera controlled well. Bloodforge is an X-Box Live Arcade game that is available for 1200 Microsoft points, kinda steep.

Dragon's Dogma is a Japanese made fantasy RPG. You fight through a fantasy land battling mythical creatures. The demo has two levels to try. The first is set in a castle, you play as a Knight. Plenty of goblins are around to fight, and it ends with a fight against a chimera (half goat/half lion/half snake).  You have three A.I controlled people with you who seem kinda competent. A nice bit happened when one of my colleagues held a goblin so I could finish it off.

The second level takes place in an open field. A griffin attacks you and your team. Fire spells set the feathers of the giant bird on fire which was a cool touch. The game doesn't look fantastic but was fun enough, is on my wish list for when it goes cheap enough.

Crysis 2 (2011) - Sci-fi Videogame Review (X-Box 360)

The first Crysis game was only released on the X-Box 360 as a downloadable game. I would have liked it but stuck at £15 it is a bit too expensive for my unemployed state. The first game as far as I can tell was set on a tropical island and had you playing as a man in a special suit battling tentacle alien creatures.

Crysis 2 takes place several years later, New York has come under alien attack, an attempt to evacuate the city has gone very wrong.  You play as Alcatraz; an elite soldier sent in by submarine to rescue a scientist who might have a way to defeat the Ceph (the name of the alien force). Your team are ambushed and you are rescued by Prophet (the super soldier from Crysis) who gives you his suit before dying. The Ceph are out to stop you, as well as a private soldier company 'CELL' stationed to New York to keep the peace, but who seem to have gone rogue.

The plot is all over the place and quite confusing, needless to say you are a super soldier on a mission to hunt down blue objective markers all over the big apple.  Your suit lets you jump long distance, become heavily armoured, and also to turn invisible.  You start off quite weak but by buying upgrades you can get to the point where by the end of the game you can pretty much just walk from objective to objective unimpeded.

This is perhaps one of the best looking games on the 360, up there with Rage certainly.  The game looks fantastic and you are never a few steps away from the next set piece with earthquakes causing the ground to up heave, and buildings to collapse as you traverse them.  The game has a real sense of place, you start off on the outskirts where you travel through evacuation posts, and quarantine tents. Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and other iconic landmarks of New York all appear, heavily changed due to the place being one big graveyard of body bags and destruction.

Crysis 2 is action all the way, story plays into the action a lot when at least a billion times in cutscenes your suit gets terminally damaged resulting in you laying or crawling helplessly. Falling out a window, being swept away by a flood all look great in first person. Some vehicle sections break up the action but are not particularly special.

It is quite a long game, around seven to eight hours I would guess, and has a pulse quickening soundtrack but it is not all perfect.  Cutscenes feature a giant green 'A' button obscuring them, there are many weapons but they mostly feel the same to use, and the plot is one big mess. More variety would have been nice as well, and it is kinda funny that if you upgrade your stealth you can pretty much just walk past every single enemy without the need to engage. A lame excuse is made at the start of the game for why your character doesn't speak - he is hungover apparently...um ok.

Crysis 2 looks great, sounds great but maybe a little too much style over substance. Crysis 3 has recently been announced, I will keep my eyes peeled.

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