For a number of years now I have used Spec Ops: The Line (by Yager Development, published by 2K Games) as an example in my lectures on interactive narrative of a game that fuses together its narrative and play. Framed as a classic power fantasy FPS shooter, it subverted all expectations when it was released […]
Category: Criticism
Life is Strange: One Choice vs. No Choice
DONTИOD’s Life is Strange, released in 2015, was a surprise indie hit, marrying Telltale style episodic interactive narrative, environmental storytelling, and narrative puzzles, with a nostalgic coming of age tale. It also happened to be a fantastic exploration of teenage relationships, told through the lens of Max and Chloe and their search to find out what […]
The Sound of Disturbed
You may have unwittingly heard it in the background of the latest Gears of War trailer, but its worth drawing your attention to this fine version of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence as performed by Disturbed. It’s not without its critics, who point out its all a bit Dad Rock, and not as […]
With Thomas Tallis on my iPod
I met Terry Pratchett. It was a fleeting encounter at a book signing in Southampton; the lines were long, and I blurted as much to him when I reached the end. “To Dave,” he wrote, “who was born in the queue.” It’s not a bad two second appraisal. I am always late to the party, […]
Chuck Vs The Boxsets
I just watched Chuck. All 91 episodes of it. There is something about this five season spy spoof that really worked for me. Without a doubt it’s my favorite TV show since I watched Buffy some fifteen years ago. You can like a TV show for all sorts of reasons, but loving a TV show […]
Pacific Rim: Suspension of Disbelief Suspended
I am getting old, and I am worried about my suspension of disbelief. When I was younger my suspension of disbelief was in fine form – I remember watching the original Star Wars as a boy and barely wondering why massive super-tech star ships bothered with dogfighting (later Iain M. Banks showed me otherwise), later […]
The Sublime Iain M. Banks
Iain Banks died yesterday. He was 59. He announced in April that he was suffering from terminal cancer and expected to live less than a year. The announcement was made with all the grace and black humour that you may have expected from the author of The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road. And less […]
The Batman #Wins!
This Summer three collosal superhero franchises came to do battle in our cinemas. The Amazing Spiderman, The Avengers and the Dark Knight Rises. Looking back at the three films it’s interesting that they all took different approaches at making the ludicrous entertaining. Spiderman took the low road, rehashing old action tropes and spouting 3D webgasm […]
Prometheus – Splatter Fun of the Farcical Kind
** Warning – if for some reason you didn’t think that this film featured a strong female lead, a treacherous android and lots of crew members that all get horribly killed, then this review contains spoilers. ** Ridley Scott has once again returned to the world of Alien in his latest film, Prometheus. The first […]