Sorry chap, missed this earlier in amongst a flurry of notifications. I too despise double-standards like that.
My son's school tried to ban him from wearing his hair in cane-rows (corn-rows to Left-Pondians) because of supposed 'gang connotations'. Ignoring that fact that he's a friendly, geeky little dude and just focusing on the fact that he's mixed-race.
Meanwhile, the white lads at school swaggering round like ersatz gangters (affecting limps, co-opting West Indian patois and threatening to stab people) largely passed without mention.
Needless to say, the management team at the school got short shrift from me and the missus on that score.
I haven't heard any not very nice things about Ninja. Disappointed if such things are out there and true as he's always seemed like such a dude. Well, he's always come across as a bit of a ***** too, but he kind of owns that and I've a certain respect for people who are ***** but only direct their ****** at people who deserve it.
*Looks like this one escaped the swear-filter which should help decode the words that didn't.
And yes, there was the whole thing at the start of whether they were a joke band or not, but they are entirely (mostly) serious and, regardless of anything in his past that I'll no doubt now go looking into and subsequently have to add to the list of "Damn, not you too.", I think he's a good MC with a love of proper old-school hip-hip and a disdain for pretension.
They used to say you should never meet your heroes. I think the modern version is to never even Google your heroes. Except that doing so would be to choose ignorance, and that is a sin I resolved to never, ever commit.
EDIT: Damn. Even the Wikipedia article contains enough horrific accusations. And yes, we can all agree that accusations don't == guilt. But he and Yolandi Visser have always had enough of a flirtation with messed-up stuff that some of the nastier stuff is somehow not entirely surprising. That is; if, like me, you're sickened enough by the world and the way some people twist the whole nature of transgressive outsider art into being a license to be vile and a cover for outright villainy.
The worst part is that it ju-. No, the worst part is what happens to the victims. But another Very Bad Thing is that it gives people who despise outsiders and outsider art another piece of ammunition to hurl at those of us who are firmly outsiders but also just as firmly not monsters.
I've never understood the dislike of girls with tattoos. I've known many inked ladies and it's often quite beautiful work. I took the missus down to Brighton for her birthday a few weeks ago and we walked past a girl with her throat covered in gorgeous geometric designs. I can't imagine any other response than "Wow, that looks bloody awesome!".
While I may not always like somebody else's work, it's their body and as far as I'm concerned they can do what the want with it.
There's a South African techno/hip-hop duo called Die Antwoord (you've probably heard of them, they were in the film Chappie). Ninja has got a collection of deliberately 'bad' tattoos that look like low-rent prison ink, including the words 'PRETTY WISE' scrawled across his throat in free-hand. I absolutely love his dedication to the space that he occupies, and I also like the fact that his tatts are the antithesis of the whole 'ink = art' movement.
I know that there are people who will write me off at first glance simply because of my ink and I'm actually totally OK with that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if someone is going to dismiss me because of my tattoos it's unlikely we were ever going to be friends anyway.
@5th313ment
Only bell ends use woke as a pejorative.
On another note I really like the idea of the looter shooter and I thought the first game was ok. But the weapons in the second game put me off. Instead of being interesting in different ways they were all a bit crap in one way. I really like the look of the bandit guns because they remind me of Geoff Darrow's artwork but in practice they're useless which makes me question why they'd include them.
@samuelvictor Yes, the general perception of tattoos has changed a lot over the last couple of decades. I got my first piece done about 25 years ago and got told by my boss at the time (crappy office job) that I'd get fired if I displayed it openly. Funnily enough he took a different view of the older guy in the department who had an old regimental design inked on his forearm and didn't appreciate it when I pointed that out. With regards to film I get what you're saying but surely you could just use cover-up cream if required? I'm pretty sure Nicholas Cage has some stuff done that magically doesn't appear on film when it's not germane to the character he's playing. Then again, he also had a CGI team to give him more defined abs for that one scene in Ghost Rider. 😆
@ItsATM In this instance it goes back to what I mentioned earlier, that the look of the game reminds me somewhat of PSO and in that case I'd rather be able to customise my character. It's not a deal breaker in all cases and I'm usually happy to play as a pre built character, particular for a character-driven game. This looks like it's more about the situation and setup of the world than the individual characters though, so building your own would be pretty cool. Different strokes for different folks though.
@samuelvictor It's interesting you say that as I like to think (and flatter myself once again) that I straddle that line between macho nonsense and introverted philosophising about the world I perceive. My ink is all blackwork and from a distance (with the solid black tatts, shaved head and mutton-chops) I'm not surprised when people make negative assumptions about me. The fact that my right shoulder is covered in a blackwork/negative space depiction of a black woman with a massive afro (my missus, in actual fact) belies those assumptions, but I don't begrudge people for it, I know what I look like. Likewise, I value plain-speaking and probably come across as a weird mix of vulgar and cultured. But I'm not bothered about the assumptions others make. I'm only interested in people that get to know me and like me for who I am. It's taken a long time for me to be able to look myself in the mirror and not despise myself. So I hold fast to people who accept me for who I am and like me without pretensions. I'm not trying to look like a hard man or pretend to be one. I am who I am, and I've treated my body like a canvas to express who I am to the outside world. If they don't get it, that's their problem, not mine.
P.S. I shave my head because I look like one of The Beatles if I don't. And I wear the chops because at one point I had stress-induced alopecia and all the hair on my chin fell out. I decided I liked the look and stuck with it. My kids probably wouldn't recognise me without the chops.
I totally get what you're saying and where you're coming from. When I write my own stuff my missus says she likes the writing but hates how brutal and harsh it is. But my point is that keeping hold of the childlike wonder in the face of the world is incredibly important. While most people may meet me and assume I'm an extra from a Guy Ritchie film (covered in what I like to call 'sci-fi gang tatts' I'm a bit of a thinker and I think you have you have to face up to the reality of the world with eyes pinned wide flipping open, but that doesn't meant you have to compromise who you are. And you must always, always, take the piss. Even (especially) out of yourself. I flatter myself by thinking I'm English to the core, in that I root for the underdog, hate pomposity, and truly love gallows humour. Because when the Grim Reaper comes for you, the best response is to have a pop at him for turning up late, then point out that he's wearing a dress and try to goad him into giving you a quick flash before he swings the scythe. The saucy tart.
Let's not start welling up here, but damn. I so much love the idea of the handwritten letter that I am absolutely going to steal that idea (unlikely as it is that I'll meet many/any of my own personal legends). It's so utterly perfect that 'perfect' cannot encompass it.
And briefly, because you sort of asked (or at least gave me an opening, which was a tactical mistake ) my view is that Edward Norton is Tyler Durden. That's his name and everything. He's little Calvin having grown up into the $h!tsh0w that our world is and he's forgotten everything about the wonder and magic and joy he felt with his imaginary friend as a child. Brad Pitt is Hobbes (he even wears a tiger-print shirt when he first appears). He's finally come back to rescue his best friend from a life of drudgery. But Hobbes has also witnessed the world through Calvin's eyes and Hobbes was always a little bit quicker on the uptake, a little bit more cynical and a little bit more subversive. And so he steps in to save his best friend and what happens, happens. Interestingly, the original novel has a different take, and is all about destroying history because Men (with a capital 'M') can't live up to the men that went before us. But that's another conversation.
And yes, I think we could have a lot of fun chatting nonsense that means stuff to us, sitting and sipping and toking (If you partake; It's Friday night here, I've got a big bottle of rum and Clinton's On His Way).
Christ, you've just confirmed that I absolutely cannot let you and my son occupy the same physical space. It would undoubtedly generate the levels of pure fan-love that the laws of our physical universe cannot handle. I'm thinking either an outgassing of power that make the CERN dudes feel like you've just told them their cock doesn't work, or the final scene from Altered State.
And I love you both for it.
I also get the total fanboy thing. Don't get me started on how much I love John Carpenter*. Or Frank Herbert. Or Keanu Reeves. I just find it quietly amusing how Sonic fans love it despite the flaws. And for me, when it doesn't descend into ridiculous angry rants against anyone who doesn't share that love, I think it's a totally awesome thing. I can bore the pants off anyone with my theories about how Fight Club == Calvin & Hobbes all grown up, how and why post-apoc films only work on a low budget, or how Childs is The Thing (and don't get me started on how much I love Keith David). I think that for me, I tend to spread my love across so many different things that people find it hard to keep up when I, as you say 'let the mask slip' and go full-on neuro-divergent about the things I love because I hop and skip from thing to thing in some bewildering manner that makes total sense to me but to an outsider must sound like I'm pulling a Hans Zarkov and just repeating everything I've ever learned to stop Klytus pulling it out of my brain.
And I'm not too proud to admit that there is some sort of envy for those like yourself and my son who can stay that focused. Myself, I'm a total flipping mess. A combination of all the stuff I've ever read/learned/enjoyed (I've got about a thousand books here and I'm quite happy to spend a couple of hours expounding on each one).
Also, your mum is a solid gold legend. Give her a kiss on the cheek and a warm hug from me next time you see her. People like us very much need people like her in our lives.
*I was once lucky enough to meet Mr Carpenter himself at a gig of his in Tower Hamlets. I got a limited edition signed They Live poster, and also got him to sign my copy of a crappy miniature combat game I wrote and got printed and bound called Escape From Milton Keynes. I gave him a copy as well. The only two copies in existence. He probably binned his but fair play, he's my legend, I'm not his.
Thanks for the head's up, chap. I suspected that was the case. I can see the armament customisation looks pretty cool, and the character designs strongly remind me of PSO, but I'd love to be able to have a similar level of customisation options as that had. It looks like all 3 playable characters are girls, and I have precisely zero problems with that, but I'd like to be able to change outfit/hairstyle/body size/colour scheme to suit my own preferences.
And aside from my own preferences, I think it suits the setup for the game more. Let me pick a background story for the human consciousness reborn into the robot body (that gives you some minor perk or some different customisation options) and let me go at it.
When I played PSO (and this is a massive digression so feel free to stop reading right now) my favourite character was a robot ranger (RaCaSt?). I picked a chunky looking set of features that reminded me of the big Autobot that could turn into a base, painted him in bright primary colours and then made him as small as possible. That was Sniper, and the backstory I came up with for him (because yes, I'm that sad of an individual) was that he was kid's toy with an AI brain whose old owner had died on Ragol so he'd grabbed a gun and gone off to war.
I think what I'm saying is that for this type of game, I really think it would be improved by letting you write your own character history and make them look how you want. But they've given us a demo so at least I can give it a go and see if it's what I'm looking for. I appreciate that if nothing else.
Dude! You just made me spit rum all over my keyboard. 😂
Also, I love your username and avatar. A few years ago I was dropping some old furniture off at the local tip, had a nose around their 'stuff people chucked out but we've decided to sell' area and found a Burning Spear vinyl. Grabbed it for a couple of quid and gave it to my girlfriend's dad (a proper old-school reggae head) and he was over the moon. I'm reminded of that and smile every time I see you comment on an article.
A Sonic fan with a sense of self-awareness! Your comment on it being a 9 for Sonic fans mirrors what I wrote earlier. You and my son would get on like a house on fire. Or a couple of hostages handcuffed to the same radiator.
I'm glad you're enjoying it though. My one thought when it was announced matched yours regarding the multiplayer side of things. It just seems like a total car-crash in that it's either split-screen to make it playable (at which point you'd have to have reflexes like a 12-year old Jackie Chan on speed to deal with obstacles due to the shortage of forward visibility) or it would be single-screen and the best player would just drag the others through the course.
I don't doubt my son will love it when he gets it and I'll have to listen to hours of pedagogic lectures on all the finer points of Sonic lore they've referenced. I suppose it's payback for me boring my own dad senseless while trying to expound on all the things I loved and why he should too. He must have had the patience of a saint to restrain himself from reaching over and snapping my neck like a dry twig just to get some peace and quiet.
Quick edit: I've just re-read your comment and realised you haven't actually played it yet. Which also makes your comment deliciously Sonic fan-like. In the best possible way, and with all due respect, obviously.
This looks enough like Phantasy Star Offline 1&2 on Gamecube for me to be very interested. Although if you can't create a custom character I suspect I'll rapidly lose interest. PSO was a tedious grind in many ways but I sunk a ridiculous number of hours into it and I'd love to find something that scratches that itch.
I got Sunshine on release day. Loved every minute of it (except maybe the bloody sandbird level). Still love it now. My favourite mainline Mario game.
As to your suggestion that I be fair to my son; I mean I suppose I could try that. But it sounds like it would be much less fun than the whole relentless mocking thing.
My comment was fairly tongue-in-cheek but my son is a massive Sonic fan and I do enjoy mocking him relentlessly about the Stockholm Syndrome nature of being a Sonic fanboy and having to love every game regardless of actual quality.
I'm pretty sure all the Sonic fans will rate it 11/10 just because it features the hedgehog so the review will only provide a way for them to rage at the reviewer for giving it a lower score.
Even if it's an unplayable mess that crashes on start-up they'd maybe knock a couple of points off.
Microsoft are definitely playing the long game here. 10 years is nothing to them, but the idea is that as soon as possible they lock the titles down to MS platforms. Just like they did with Bethesda. Made a lot of friendly talk pre-acquisition about games still being released cross-platform and once the deal was done it became clear that the only cross-platform games would be those that already had deals agreed. And it probably would have cost more than it was worth totry and rewrite those deals anyway. Microsoft have a long history of doing this sort of thing. Anyone who doubts that should go and read the Halloween E-Mails.
It's only Sensi if you can run straight down the field to the corner of the box, cross it in past the CPU keeper on the diagonal and score. Every. Single. Time.
My money was on a custom AI trained on Chris Pratt's lines from the movie. I was sure PrattGPT was going to be credited for the voiceover in SMB Wonder.
@Ogbert I sort of see what you're saying, but I still disagree about the screen. If I don't need it on all the controllers for a multiplayer game, then why do I need it on one? And I thought there were games that required all users to have their own separate screen, although I didn't pay that much attention. And I still think any time the game asks you to look at a separate screen, it may as well just have an overlay on the TV. For example, it could be cool in Mario Kart to use the controller screen as your rear view mirror, but if I can touch a button and achieve the same thing without moving my eyeballs (i.e. I can see one screen but not the other) then why have an expensive extra unit that is less comfortable to hold, more likely to fail (simply because of more working parts) and more expensive to replace? I can see how it might be quite cool for some games, but not 80 quid per controller's worth of cool. As I said, it's quite a niche gimmick and I think that's why it failed. No amount of marketing could have convinced me that it was a good idea or something that I wanted to use myself. I do agree that the Wii U was a stepping stone to the Switch, I just don't think it was a very good one.
@Korgon For me the revolutionary part is the whole 'standee' thing and being able to drop your own checkpoint wherever you want. It may have been done before but I've not seen it in a platformer and it sounds like the perfect antidote to any sections you find frustrating. I think everyone by this point has played at least 1 game where the checkpoints felt like they were in the wrong place.
@AstroTheGamosian I think the Wii U was more hampered by the fact that it had an expensive unweildy controller that didn't really offer much to players. When you think about it, when you're looking at the screen you're holding in your hands, you're not looking at the big TV that the rest of the game is displayed on, so why not just use the big TV to display the menu or map or whatever? There are very few cases where having a separate screen that far from the main screen makes sense, and I think most developers didn't want to try to add in that gimmick to their games. And from the point of view of a Wii owner looking to upgrade, the cost of getting additional controllers would put them off. It certainly worked to put me off.
The vast majority of my switch games are bought from the eshop simply because the discounts are rarely replicated on physical games and most of them don't even have a physical release. I've also got zero interest in paying a boutique retailer 40 quid for a game that costs a quarter of that even at full eshop price. That being said, if this rumour is true (which on sceptical about because the component costs pennies, doesn't take up much space in the device and would break backwards compatibility to an extent) I'd still probably pay the extra for a cartridge slot just so that I've got the option there. Also means that my son and I can easily lend games to each other. And the price difference between units isn't really much over the life of the console.
I really, really, really want this to be good. I loved the original (and Another World). But I'm worried it'll be all mouth and no trousers. As ever, I'll wait for some reviews to come in but hopefully this is going to be as good as the trailers and screenshots make out.
The whole 'eat a shroom' and the level goes super trippy makes this seem like a Mario and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers cross over. Which would be sweeeeeeet. The rest of it sounds pretty cool too (apart from the online stuff which does nothing for me). Badges sound like a great way to let you play levels differently, and the absolutely standout idea is the whole standee thing. The idea that you can drop a checkpoint wherever you want is just brilliant. So frustrating when a game's standard checkpoint makes you replay some tedious sections because you keep failing the hard bit at the end, and this just completely circumvents that. My son has already told me he's getting this on physical so I may have to nab it off him at some point and give it a go.
@samuelvictor
That's genuinely sodding awesome, sir!
I can't imagine how cool it is to hang out with people with like that, and it's always nice to be able to meet your heroes and not have it being an awkward nightmare.
I don't know the line you're referring to because I stopped watching Star Wars after sitting through The Force Awakens (is that the first of the new trilogy) and hating basically every single second of it. But my personal opinion is that JJ Abrahms is a total hack and the entire film was him lifting scenes from the first two Star Wars films then adding the simplest most imbecilic 'twist' to them while simultaneously doing the cinematic equivalent of going 'ta dah!' and expecting accolades. Which, admittedly, he received. Undeservedly so, in my opinion.
I haven't watched Rogue One, I probably should but I was a little disappointed that Rian Johnson went from making excellent low-budget films to signing on for a big paycheque to direct a film that he could never make his own. For reference, I think the best film he ever made is Brick (and I'm a huge fan of Looper and Knives Out).
The closest cinematic claim to fame I can make is that I own a foam-rubber cast of the idol from the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Simply because I met a guy who built film props at a LARP event about 25 years ago and we got on like a house on fire. He owns the original (along with the jacket, whip and machete from Temple of Doom) and had made the cast as a prop. He gave it to me on the last day of the event. I later visited him at his place in Watford and went into squealing fanboy mode when he showed me the Aliens Colonial Marine armour (and Pulse Rifles) in his garage, as well as the original katana* from Highlander mounted on his wall as you went up the stairs. He'd worked on all those films and it was simply a joy to watch him casually pull various things out of boxes that were like fudging talismans of my childhood and then tell me the stories behind them.
/* It wasn't quite the original katana. As he explained it the film version had a cheap crap blank steel blade attached to the beautifully carved hilt so he'd taken the hilt and attached a proper blade to it.
@Ristar24
Glad to be of service, chap. And I'll sing the praises of Undernauts till the cows come home. It's just brilliant. The atmosphere is so unlike most dungeon crawlers and yet fits so well that it's made me seriously consider how well various different stories and genres would fit the grid-based dungeon crawler. If I had the time and talent I'd love to try building one myself. Also, I've noticed that Undernauts keeps going on sale so I'd keep an eye on DekuDeals and snap it up when you get a chance. Even the opening sequence alone, just told through static images, a few lines of text and some grisly sound effects, made me feel quite uncomfortable, and I'm not exactly the squeamish type.
I think the full list is pretty heavily weighted towards recent releases but that's always the way. Nice to see Deus Ex in there though. I had so much fun with that when I played it, absolutely feel in love with his it just set up the world, gave you various different tools to exploit it and then let you unleash your creativity. My favourite thing was sticking a proximity mine next to an alarm panel then spooking a guard so he ran for the alarm. Smarter enemies would spot the mine and find another alarm to use. I was delighted when I discovered that if you dropped a potted plant in front of the mine they wouldn't see it. With hilarious results. I am a little disappointed that none of the first three Splinter Cell games made the list though. Those are stone cold classics and deserve to be remembered.
@samuelvictor
It's amazing you got to work with Rik Mayall,I absolutely adore pretty much everything he ever did. Just so genuinely hilarious and good at turning his (comedic) hand to anything. The difference between Ritchie from Bottom and Lord Flash heart is night and day and yet he inhabited both characters so well.
I do remember that episode if comic strip as well, and yeah, could make a cracking full length film. As to the question of whether or not people know about spaghetti westerns, if they don't then that's a source of shame they'll have to endure.
I recently rewatched the dollars trilogy and they still hold up beautifully today. I won't bore you with my pet theory that Tuco is actually the main character of Good/Bad/Ugly but he's one of my favourite cinematic characters ever. The original Django is also fantastic of sorely overlooked. As is a more one with a fantastic Morricone score called The Big Silence all about a mute bounty hunter (reputedly he was mute because Jean Louis Trigntinent didn't want to be dubbed badly in worldwide releases) which features one of the most unexpected and depressing endings to any film I've ever seen. Worth hunting down if you get the chance.
@Purgatorium New series?! I had no idea they were still going. I haven't really watched TV for about 20 years now but I'll make an exception for that. I'll see if I can track it down later. Me and the missus will still sometimes crush each other's heads which gets us some weird looks in public. Thanks for the tip!
@Purgatorium It's most likely an age thing. As I mentioned earlier I was born in '79 so I'm effectively ancient, although not a boomer. They were very funny though. They did a film called Strange Brew which is worth checking out if you want to see how your ancestors lived. 😆 I also used to love Kids in the Hall, although I'm probably dating myself again by mentioning them.
@AstroTheGamosian I'm similar in that I try and keep an eye on the political situation across the globe. It's a lot bigger than the little patch I inhabit. You're bang on the money about the Tories cribbing from the republicans as well. Specifically that waste of skin Desantis. They'll almost certainly cock it up though, frankly they couldn't organise a bumming in an arsehole factory. The left really needs someone with some fire and passion, not just being bland and not monstrous in contrast to the opposition. I think that's true on both sides of the pond.
@RadioHedgeFund It sounds like you had a lot more fun with Witcher than I did. I binned it off when I got to the next city after plodding through the plot with the baron. I remember opening the map, seeing it festooned with markers and just shutting it off and deleting it from my switch. I usually quite like western RPGs. Japanese ones I tend to find overly long and laden down with too many systems that are very gamey. Like forgetting how to use a skill because you changed your hat. I was quite enjoying dragons dogma playing as a thief but then I got to 10th level and the game basically told me to pick a new class which I find particularly annoying. If I'd wanted to be a fighter I would have chosen that at the start. That being said, I played through Undernauts and thought it was absolutely fantastic in all areas. I highly recommend it if you like old school turn based dungeon crawlers like Eye of the Beholder.
@AstroTheGamosian Dude, you know more about English politics than most of our politicians do! Agree, the Tories have basically run out of things to steal and sell to their mates so they're now inventing culture wars just to keep people distracted while they hoover up the lint from our pockets. The idea of the incumbents trying to reframe themselves as the change candidates is completely insane but they have absolutely no shame whatsoever. I hope Labour win, just because they'll be less bad than the Tories but I have little to no faith in Starmer. He's just another lawyer and Blair demonstrated how badly that can turn out. Frankly I'm just gearing up for the apocalypse by welding a lawnmower to the front of an old Volvo and ordering a pair of arseless leather chaps.
@samuelvictor @ristar24 So many memories come flooding back. Byker Grove was good but the lack of the now legendary Danny Kendall (and Mr Bronson, when he wasn't being forced choked on the bridge of a Star Destroyer) swings my love towards Grange Hill. The Young Ones too, (and later Bottom). Alexie Sayle ('Hello John, Got A New Motor?', Suggs and Madness. Plus the Comic Strip Presents on Channel 4. Blimey. This is like some weird reunion show. Thanks for bringing it all back, chaps.
@samuelvictor I always thought (from an outsiders point of view, and having only known a couple of Canadians in my time) that the Mackenzies were very much Canadians poking fun at Canadian culture and foibles, but in a good-natured way. In the same way that the English love to take the piss out of ourselves.
And yes, I remember Grotbags. I was born in '79 and I suspect we grew up watching (and enjoying) a lot of the same things.
Out of interest, do you recall 'Round the Bend'? Weirdly subversive cartoon/puppet/live-action mix that was set up like an underground comic edited by a toilet-dwelling puppet called Doc Croc. Looking back on it, I'm surprised they got away with as much as they did, considering it had a prime kid's TV slot on ITV. I absolutely loved it and it very much appealed to my sense of humour. Which I apparently haven't grown out of.
So many things I disliked about that game. About the only thing I enjoyed was melee combat against bandits. I'm genuinely surprised about all the accolades it received.
Since you asked, here are some of my problems with it:
Gerald Riveria (who sounds like he should be a compère in a Northern working men's club from the 70's) has all the character of a block of wood wrapped in sandpaper.
I did an early mission for some dirtpoor peasant to save a girl from some illness. At the end of the quest I refused his reward because they'd worked so hard to telegraph how poor the villagers are and I figured I could just go an take an extended loan from the bandits outside town if I was hard up. He then insisted I take something for my troubles and promptly handed over a jewel worth more than his entire village an everyone in it.
The sheer disconnect between the way the world was framed and what actually happened during gameplay did my head in. I'd spend my time tracking across the wilderness and happily butchering any monster I came across but the moment a monster was causing problems for these poor downtrodden peasants Gerald Riviera (possibly a gigolo working Marseilles in the early 80's) would insist on extracting payment from them. It made him seem like such a nasty mercenary ***** and was probably the exact opposite of the way he was intended to be.
Fighting big monsters was boring and tedious and the game engine obviously wasn't built with that in mind.
The Witcher sense stuff and investigating monsters felt like pure padding. Just follow the red dots and wait for sandpaper man to do his Christian Bale Batman voice thing until he'd come to the same conclusion I'd drawn about 20 minutes previously.
The UI was also an exercise in frustration and the alchemy stuff felt very 'gamey'. Why can't I just make as many bombs as I need without having to bloody meditate on it?
Applying oils to weapons was stupidly handled. I get that you have a wolf poison and a ghost poison and whatever and that's cool. But each application was limited to 20 uses which would make sense except that I could re-oil my blade in the middle of a fight. So why not just have it last until I changed it? Poor game design in my opinion.
Oh, and the fact that I'd find a blueprint for a new weapon or piece of armour but it was 20 levels higher than I was, and by the time I could craft it I'd already found something much better.
There are loads more things too but I think that's enough for one sitting.
What was it you didn't like about the game? I'd be interested to know because apparently everyone else on the planet thought it had descended from heaven to grace our pitiful existences.
I usually love regional UK accents in a game so that wasn't a problem for me. The only time I've disliked it, in fact, was Witcher 3. Among my (many) issues with that game was the fact that it being based on some Polish fantasy novels, and thoroughly grounded in Slavic folklore, I was hoping to hear some proper Slavic accents. Not a bunch of bloody scousers and brummies whining on about the local villagers being turned into pigs.
@samuelvictor
That reminds me of my best mate growing up. His mum new he was a big Star Wars fan and took him along to big toy store where they'd organised a special appearance from Darth Vadar (I can't recall if it was actually Dave Prowse, but I don't live far from his old stomping grounds). Anyway, she'd kept it a secret from him, so when he walked in and saw Darth Vadar stalking round the shop he absolutely bricked it, ran back to the car and refused to set foot inside the store. In his defence he would have been about 6 at the time.
@Ristar24
Eyyyyyyyy, rat fans!
I had rat rapping on C90 cassette, along with an official Roland Rat 'Rat Bag'. Which was a crappy red satchel with the lad himself on it. I played that tape to death when I was a kid.
Star Fox was originally supposed to be a vehicle for Roland Rat with Kevin the Gerbil and Reggie as his wingmen but Nintendo decided rats weren't family friendly enough.
This looks sweeeeeet! The visuals look like a cross between a Don Bluth cartoon and a Heavy Metal comic (Metal Hurlant for you Francophones). I always wait for reviews but I'll keep an eye out for it in future.
@PikaPhantom My one concern is how the controls will work in practice. I can see it being difficult to strike the right balance between it being fun and feeling like you're actually riding a bike, as opposed to it controlling ntow like a standard 2D platformer and the bike just being graphics and sound effects.
@dew12333
I'm the first to admit unions aren't perfect, after all they're made up of humans so imperfection is guaranteed. But not being perfect isn't the same as being completely useless.
There's a massive imbalance between the power of an individual worker and that of their employer and the purpose of the union is to address that.
@dew12333 No one in the UK is proposing communism, and certainly not any of the unions. Elements of socialism yes, but that's a very different thing to communism. I'm a union member and I've directly witnessed the good they've done for myself and others. I hope you never find yourself in a situation where you need union support. Nobody calls their union rep because everything is going great.
@AstroTheGamosian Agreed. It's a sad state of affairs. It's not as hard to unionise in the UK, but the Tories are doing their best to cut the unions off at the knees by incrementally making it harder for them. Very different situation to the US though.
Comments 262
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@LikelySatan
Sorry chap, missed this earlier in amongst a flurry of notifications. I too despise double-standards like that.
My son's school tried to ban him from wearing his hair in cane-rows (corn-rows to Left-Pondians) because of supposed 'gang connotations'. Ignoring that fact that he's a friendly, geeky little dude and just focusing on the fact that he's mixed-race.
Meanwhile, the white lads at school swaggering round like ersatz gangters (affecting limps, co-opting West Indian patois and threatening to stab people) largely passed without mention.
Needless to say, the management team at the school got short shrift from me and the missus on that score.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
I haven't heard any not very nice things about Ninja. Disappointed if such things are out there and true as he's always seemed like such a dude. Well, he's always come across as a bit of a ***** too, but he kind of owns that and I've a certain respect for people who are ***** but only direct their ****** at people who deserve it.
*Looks like this one escaped the swear-filter which should help decode the words that didn't.
And yes, there was the whole thing at the start of whether they were a joke band or not, but they are entirely (mostly) serious and, regardless of anything in his past that I'll no doubt now go looking into and subsequently have to add to the list of "Damn, not you too.", I think he's a good MC with a love of proper old-school hip-hip and a disdain for pretension.
They used to say you should never meet your heroes. I think the modern version is to never even Google your heroes. Except that doing so would be to choose ignorance, and that is a sin I resolved to never, ever commit.
EDIT: Damn. Even the Wikipedia article contains enough horrific accusations. And yes, we can all agree that accusations don't == guilt. But he and Yolandi Visser have always had enough of a flirtation with messed-up stuff that some of the nastier stuff is somehow not entirely surprising. That is; if, like me, you're sickened enough by the world and the way some people twist the whole nature of transgressive outsider art into being a license to be vile and a cover for outright villainy.
The worst part is that it ju-. No, the worst part is what happens to the victims. But another Very Bad Thing is that it gives people who despise outsiders and outsider art another piece of ammunition to hurl at those of us who are firmly outsiders but also just as firmly not monsters.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
I've never understood the dislike of girls with tattoos. I've known many inked ladies and it's often quite beautiful work. I took the missus down to Brighton for her birthday a few weeks ago and we walked past a girl with her throat covered in gorgeous geometric designs. I can't imagine any other response than "Wow, that looks bloody awesome!".
While I may not always like somebody else's work, it's their body and as far as I'm concerned they can do what the want with it.
There's a South African techno/hip-hop duo called Die Antwoord (you've probably heard of them, they were in the film Chappie). Ninja has got a collection of deliberately 'bad' tattoos that look like low-rent prison ink, including the words 'PRETTY WISE' scrawled across his throat in free-hand. I absolutely love his dedication to the space that he occupies, and I also like the fact that his tatts are the antithesis of the whole 'ink = art' movement.
I know that there are people who will write me off at first glance simply because of my ink and I'm actually totally OK with that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if someone is going to dismiss me because of my tattoos it's unlikely we were ever going to be friends anyway.
Re: Review: Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition - Makes The Jump To Switch Almost Entirely Intact
@5th313ment
Only bell ends use woke as a pejorative.
On another note I really like the idea of the looter shooter and I thought the first game was ok. But the weapons in the second game put me off. Instead of being interesting in different ways they were all a bit crap in one way. I really like the look of the bandit guns because they remind me of Geoff Darrow's artwork but in practice they're useless which makes me question why they'd include them.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
Yes, the general perception of tattoos has changed a lot over the last couple of decades. I got my first piece done about 25 years ago and got told by my boss at the time (crappy office job) that I'd get fired if I displayed it openly. Funnily enough he took a different view of the older guy in the department who had an old regimental design inked on his forearm and didn't appreciate it when I pointed that out.
With regards to film I get what you're saying but surely you could just use cover-up cream if required? I'm pretty sure Nicholas Cage has some stuff done that magically doesn't appear on film when it's not germane to the character he's playing.
Then again, he also had a CGI team to give him more defined abs for that one scene in Ghost Rider. 😆
Re: Sci-Fi RPG CRYMACHINA Lands Action-Packed Demo On Switch eShop Today
@ItsATM
In this instance it goes back to what I mentioned earlier, that the look of the game reminds me somewhat of PSO and in that case I'd rather be able to customise my character. It's not a deal breaker in all cases and I'm usually happy to play as a pre built character, particular for a character-driven game. This looks like it's more about the situation and setup of the world than the individual characters though, so building your own would be pretty cool.
Different strokes for different folks though.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
It's interesting you say that as I like to think (and flatter myself once again) that I straddle that line between macho nonsense and introverted philosophising about the world I perceive. My ink is all blackwork and from a distance (with the solid black tatts, shaved head and mutton-chops) I'm not surprised when people make negative assumptions about me. The fact that my right shoulder is covered in a blackwork/negative space depiction of a black woman with a massive afro (my missus, in actual fact) belies those assumptions, but I don't begrudge people for it, I know what I look like.
Likewise, I value plain-speaking and probably come across as a weird mix of vulgar and cultured. But I'm not bothered about the assumptions others make. I'm only interested in people that get to know me and like me for who I am. It's taken a long time for me to be able to look myself in the mirror and not despise myself. So I hold fast to people who accept me for who I am and like me without pretensions.
I'm not trying to look like a hard man or pretend to be one. I am who I am, and I've treated my body like a canvas to express who I am to the outside world. If they don't get it, that's their problem, not mine.
P.S. I shave my head because I look like one of The Beatles if I don't. And I wear the chops because at one point I had stress-induced alopecia and all the hair on my chin fell out. I decided I liked the look and stuck with it. My kids probably wouldn't recognise me without the chops.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
I totally get what you're saying and where you're coming from. When I write my own stuff my missus says she likes the writing but hates how brutal and harsh it is. But my point is that keeping hold of the childlike wonder in the face of the world is incredibly important. While most people may meet me and assume I'm an extra from a Guy Ritchie film (covered in what I like to call 'sci-fi gang tatts' I'm a bit of a thinker and I think you have you have to face up to the reality of the world with eyes pinned wide flipping open, but that doesn't meant you have to compromise who you are. And you must always, always, take the piss. Even (especially) out of yourself.
I flatter myself by thinking I'm English to the core, in that I root for the underdog, hate pomposity, and truly love gallows humour. Because when the Grim Reaper comes for you, the best response is to have a pop at him for turning up late, then point out that he's wearing a dress and try to goad him into giving you a quick flash before he swings the scythe. The saucy tart.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
Let's not start welling up here, but damn. I so much love the idea of the handwritten letter that I am absolutely going to steal that idea (unlikely as it is that I'll meet many/any of my own personal legends). It's so utterly perfect that 'perfect' cannot encompass it.
And briefly, because you sort of asked (or at least gave me an opening, which was a tactical mistake ) my view is that Edward Norton is Tyler Durden. That's his name and everything. He's little Calvin having grown up into the $h!tsh0w that our world is and he's forgotten everything about the wonder and magic and joy he felt with his imaginary friend as a child. Brad Pitt is Hobbes (he even wears a tiger-print shirt when he first appears). He's finally come back to rescue his best friend from a life of drudgery. But Hobbes has also witnessed the world through Calvin's eyes and Hobbes was always a little bit quicker on the uptake, a little bit more cynical and a little bit more subversive. And so he steps in to save his best friend and what happens, happens. Interestingly, the original novel has a different take, and is all about destroying history because Men (with a capital 'M') can't live up to the men that went before us. But that's another conversation.
And yes, I think we could have a lot of fun chatting nonsense that means stuff to us, sitting and sipping and toking (If you partake; It's Friday night here, I've got a big bottle of rum and Clinton's On His Way).
Re: Mario & Luigi's New Voice Actor Has Been Revealed
@shonenjump86
Let's hear it for all the Kevins!
And that's not to mention Kostner, Kline, Hart, Smith, Bacon and Pollack.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
Christ, you've just confirmed that I absolutely cannot let you and my son occupy the same physical space. It would undoubtedly generate the levels of pure fan-love that the laws of our physical universe cannot handle. I'm thinking either an outgassing of power that make the CERN dudes feel like you've just told them their cock doesn't work, or the final scene from Altered State.
And I love you both for it.
I also get the total fanboy thing. Don't get me started on how much I love John Carpenter*. Or Frank Herbert. Or Keanu Reeves. I just find it quietly amusing how Sonic fans love it despite the flaws. And for me, when it doesn't descend into ridiculous angry rants against anyone who doesn't share that love, I think it's a totally awesome thing. I can bore the pants off anyone with my theories about how Fight Club == Calvin & Hobbes all grown up, how and why post-apoc films only work on a low budget, or how Childs is The Thing (and don't get me started on how much I love Keith David). I think that for me, I tend to spread my love across so many different things that people find it hard to keep up when I, as you say 'let the mask slip' and go full-on neuro-divergent about the things I love because I hop and skip from thing to thing in some bewildering manner that makes total sense to me but to an outsider must sound like I'm pulling a Hans Zarkov and just repeating everything I've ever learned to stop Klytus pulling it out of my brain.
And I'm not too proud to admit that there is some sort of envy for those like yourself and my son who can stay that focused. Myself, I'm a total flipping mess. A combination of all the stuff I've ever read/learned/enjoyed (I've got about a thousand books here and I'm quite happy to spend a couple of hours expounding on each one).
Also, your mum is a solid gold legend. Give her a kiss on the cheek and a warm hug from me next time you see her. People like us very much need people like her in our lives.
*I was once lucky enough to meet Mr Carpenter himself at a gig of his in Tower Hamlets. I got a limited edition signed They Live poster, and also got him to sign my copy of a crappy miniature combat game I wrote and got printed and bound called Escape From Milton Keynes. I gave him a copy as well. The only two copies in existence. He probably binned his but fair play, he's my legend, I'm not his.
Re: Sci-Fi RPG CRYMACHINA Lands Action-Packed Demo On Switch eShop Today
@Moffo
Thanks for the head's up, chap. I suspected that was the case. I can see the armament customisation looks pretty cool, and the character designs strongly remind me of PSO, but I'd love to be able to have a similar level of customisation options as that had. It looks like all 3 playable characters are girls, and I have precisely zero problems with that, but I'd like to be able to change outfit/hairstyle/body size/colour scheme to suit my own preferences.
And aside from my own preferences, I think it suits the setup for the game more. Let me pick a background story for the human consciousness reborn into the robot body (that gives you some minor perk or some different customisation options) and let me go at it.
When I played PSO (and this is a massive digression so feel free to stop reading right now) my favourite character was a robot ranger (RaCaSt?). I picked a chunky looking set of features that reminded me of the big Autobot that could turn into a base, painted him in bright primary colours and then made him as small as possible. That was Sniper, and the backstory I came up with for him (because yes, I'm that sad of an individual) was that he was kid's toy with an AI brain whose old owner had died on Ragol so he'd grabbed a gun and gone off to war.
I think what I'm saying is that for this type of game, I really think it would be improved by letting you write your own character history and make them look how you want. But they've given us a demo so at least I can give it a go and see if it's what I'm looking for. I appreciate that if nothing else.
Re: Mario & Luigi's New Voice Actor Has Been Revealed
@Burning_Spear
Dude! You just made me spit rum all over my keyboard. 😂
Also, I love your username and avatar. A few years ago I was dropping some old furniture off at the local tip, had a nose around their 'stuff people chucked out but we've decided to sell' area and found a Burning Spear vinyl. Grabbed it for a couple of quid and gave it to my girlfriend's dad (a proper old-school reggae head) and he was over the moon. I'm reminded of that and smile every time I see you comment on an article.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@samuelvictor
A Sonic fan with a sense of self-awareness! Your comment on it being a 9 for Sonic fans mirrors what I wrote earlier. You and my son would get on like a house on fire. Or a couple of hostages handcuffed to the same radiator.
I'm glad you're enjoying it though. My one thought when it was announced matched yours regarding the multiplayer side of things. It just seems like a total car-crash in that it's either split-screen to make it playable (at which point you'd have to have reflexes like a 12-year old Jackie Chan on speed to deal with obstacles due to the shortage of forward visibility) or it would be single-screen and the best player would just drag the others through the course.
I don't doubt my son will love it when he gets it and I'll have to listen to hours of pedagogic lectures on all the finer points of Sonic lore they've referenced. I suppose it's payback for me boring my own dad senseless while trying to expound on all the things I loved and why he should too. He must have had the patience of a saint to restrain himself from reaching over and snapping my neck like a dry twig just to get some peace and quiet.
Quick edit: I've just re-read your comment and realised you haven't actually played it yet. Which also makes your comment deliciously Sonic fan-like. In the best possible way, and with all due respect, obviously.
Re: Sci-Fi RPG CRYMACHINA Lands Action-Packed Demo On Switch eShop Today
This looks enough like Phantasy Star Offline 1&2 on Gamecube for me to be very interested. Although if you can't create a custom character I suspect I'll rapidly lose interest.
PSO was a tedious grind in many ways but I sunk a ridiculous number of hours into it and I'd love to find something that scratches that itch.
Re: Rumour: Mario's New Voice Actor May Have Been Discovered
@LuznoLindo
Wow. A passive-aggressive bell end. You must be fun at parties.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@HaileySheridon
I got Sunshine on release day. Loved every minute of it (except maybe the bloody sandbird level). Still love it now. My favourite mainline Mario game.
As to your suggestion that I be fair to my son; I mean I suppose I could try that. But it sounds like it would be much less fun than the whole relentless mocking thing.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
@UltraZelda64
My comment was fairly tongue-in-cheek but my son is a massive Sonic fan and I do enjoy mocking him relentlessly about the Stockholm Syndrome nature of being a Sonic fanboy and having to love every game regardless of actual quality.
Re: It's Over, Microsoft Has Officially Acquired Activision Blizzard
@sanderev
Just because other companies may do it doesn't make it any better.
Re: Site News: So, Where's Our Sonic Superstars Review?
I'm pretty sure all the Sonic fans will rate it 11/10 just because it features the hedgehog so the review will only provide a way for them to rage at the reviewer for giving it a lower score.
Even if it's an unplayable mess that crashes on start-up they'd maybe knock a couple of points off.
Re: It's Over, Microsoft Has Officially Acquired Activision Blizzard
Microsoft are definitely playing the long game here. 10 years is nothing to them, but the idea is that as soon as possible they lock the titles down to MS platforms. Just like they did with Bethesda. Made a lot of friendly talk pre-acquisition about games still being released cross-platform and once the deal was done it became clear that the only cross-platform games would be those that already had deals agreed. And it probably would have cost more than it was worth totry and rewrite those deals anyway.
Microsoft have a long history of doing this sort of thing. Anyone who doubts that should go and read the Halloween E-Mails.
Re: Sensible Soccer's Spiritual Successor Kicks Off Next Month On Switch
It's only Sensi if you can run straight down the field to the corner of the box, cross it in past the CPU keeper on the diagonal and score. Every. Single. Time.
Re: Rumour: Mario's New Voice Actor May Have Been Discovered
My money was on a custom AI trained on Chris Pratt's lines from the movie. I was sure PrattGPT was going to be credited for the voiceover in SMB Wonder.
Re: Unity's CEO And President Retires After Policy Debacle
@Ogbert
I sort of see what you're saying, but I still disagree about the screen. If I don't need it on all the controllers for a multiplayer game, then why do I need it on one? And I thought there were games that required all users to have their own separate screen, although I didn't pay that much attention.
And I still think any time the game asks you to look at a separate screen, it may as well just have an overlay on the TV. For example, it could be cool in Mario Kart to use the controller screen as your rear view mirror, but if I can touch a button and achieve the same thing without moving my eyeballs (i.e. I can see one screen but not the other) then why have an expensive extra unit that is less comfortable to hold, more likely to fail (simply because of more working parts) and more expensive to replace?
I can see how it might be quite cool for some games, but not 80 quid per controller's worth of cool. As I said, it's quite a niche gimmick and I think that's why it failed. No amount of marketing could have convinced me that it was a good idea or something that I wanted to use myself.
I do agree that the Wii U was a stepping stone to the Switch, I just don't think it was a very good one.
Re: Round Up: The Final Previews Are In For Super Mario Bros. Wonder
@Korgon
For me the revolutionary part is the whole 'standee' thing and being able to drop your own checkpoint wherever you want.
It may have been done before but I've not seen it in a platformer and it sounds like the perfect antidote to any sections you find frustrating.
I think everyone by this point has played at least 1 game where the checkpoints felt like they were in the wrong place.
Re: Unity's CEO And President Retires After Policy Debacle
@AstroTheGamosian
I think the Wii U was more hampered by the fact that it had an expensive unweildy controller that didn't really offer much to players.
When you think about it, when you're looking at the screen you're holding in your hands, you're not looking at the big TV that the rest of the game is displayed on, so why not just use the big TV to display the menu or map or whatever?
There are very few cases where having a separate screen that far from the main screen makes sense, and I think most developers didn't want to try to add in that gimmick to their games.
And from the point of view of a Wii owner looking to upgrade, the cost of getting additional controllers would put them off. It certainly worked to put me off.
Re: Amazon Big Deal Days: Best Deals On Nintendo Switch Consoles, Games, eShop Credit, SD Cards And More
The standard set of deals that aren't deals then. I could save less than a quid on Lego City Undercover if I hurry.
Or just wait for it to go about 50% off in a couple of weeks.
Re: Little Goody Two Shoes Combines Cute And Creepy This Halloween On Switch
"You don't drink, you don't smoke. What do you do?"
Will she met her Prince Charming? Or maybe get accosted by a dandy highwayman?
I'm pretty adamant this game isn't for me.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Buy A Digital-Only 'Switch 2'?
The vast majority of my switch games are bought from the eshop simply because the discounts are rarely replicated on physical games and most of them don't even have a physical release. I've also got zero interest in paying a boutique retailer 40 quid for a game that costs a quarter of that even at full eshop price.
That being said, if this rumour is true (which on sceptical about because the component costs pennies, doesn't take up much space in the device and would break backwards compatibility to an extent) I'd still probably pay the extra for a cartridge slot just so that I've got the option there. Also means that my son and I can easily lend games to each other. And the price difference between units isn't really much over the life of the console.
Re: Flashback 2 Looks Ahead To November Release With New Story Trailer
I really, really, really want this to be good. I loved the original (and Another World). But I'm worried it'll be all mouth and no trousers. As ever, I'll wait for some reviews to come in but hopefully this is going to be as good as the trailers and screenshots make out.
Re: Hands On: Super Mario Bros. Wonder's Brilliant Badges And Dark Souls-Style Online Functionality
The whole 'eat a shroom' and the level goes super trippy makes this seem like a Mario and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers cross over. Which would be sweeeeeeet.
The rest of it sounds pretty cool too (apart from the online stuff which does nothing for me). Badges sound like a great way to let you play levels differently, and the absolutely standout idea is the whole standee thing. The idea that you can drop a checkpoint wherever you want is just brilliant. So frustrating when a game's standard checkpoint makes you replay some tedious sections because you keep failing the hard bit at the end, and this just completely circumvents that.
My son has already told me he's getting this on physical so I may have to nab it off him at some point and give it a go.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@samuelvictor
That's genuinely sodding awesome, sir!
I can't imagine how cool it is to hang out with people with like that, and it's always nice to be able to meet your heroes and not have it being an awkward nightmare.
I don't know the line you're referring to because I stopped watching Star Wars after sitting through The Force Awakens (is that the first of the new trilogy) and hating basically every single second of it. But my personal opinion is that JJ Abrahms is a total hack and the entire film was him lifting scenes from the first two Star Wars films then adding the simplest most imbecilic 'twist' to them while simultaneously doing the cinematic equivalent of going 'ta dah!' and expecting accolades. Which, admittedly, he received. Undeservedly so, in my opinion.
I haven't watched Rogue One, I probably should but I was a little disappointed that Rian Johnson went from making excellent low-budget films to signing on for a big paycheque to direct a film that he could never make his own. For reference, I think the best film he ever made is Brick (and I'm a huge fan of Looper and Knives Out).
The closest cinematic claim to fame I can make is that I own a foam-rubber cast of the idol from the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Simply because I met a guy who built film props at a LARP event about 25 years ago and we got on like a house on fire. He owns the original (along with the jacket, whip and machete from Temple of Doom) and had made the cast as a prop. He gave it to me on the last day of the event. I later visited him at his place in Watford and went into squealing fanboy mode when he showed me the Aliens Colonial Marine armour (and Pulse Rifles) in his garage, as well as the original katana* from Highlander mounted on his wall as you went up the stairs. He'd worked on all those films and it was simply a joy to watch him casually pull various things out of boxes that were like fudging talismans of my childhood and then tell me the stories behind them.
/* It wasn't quite the original katana. As he explained it the film version had a cheap crap blank steel blade attached to the beautifully carved hilt so he'd taken the hilt and attached a proper blade to it.
@Ristar24
Glad to be of service, chap. And I'll sing the praises of Undernauts till the cows come home. It's just brilliant. The atmosphere is so unlike most dungeon crawlers and yet fits so well that it's made me seriously consider how well various different stories and genres would fit the grid-based dungeon crawler. If I had the time and talent I'd love to try building one myself. Also, I've noticed that Undernauts keeps going on sale so I'd keep an eye on DekuDeals and snap it up when you get a chance. Even the opening sequence alone, just told through static images, a few lines of text and some grisly sound effects, made me feel quite uncomfortable, and I'm not exactly the squeamish type.
Re: Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Tops Another 'Greatest Games' List
I think the full list is pretty heavily weighted towards recent releases but that's always the way. Nice to see Deus Ex in there though. I had so much fun with that when I played it, absolutely feel in love with his it just set up the world, gave you various different tools to exploit it and then let you unleash your creativity. My favourite thing was sticking a proximity mine next to an alarm panel then spooking a guard so he ran for the alarm. Smarter enemies would spot the mine and find another alarm to use. I was delighted when I discovered that if you dropped a potted plant in front of the mine they wouldn't see it. With hilarious results.
I am a little disappointed that none of the first three Splinter Cell games made the list though. Those are stone cold classics and deserve to be remembered.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@samuelvictor
It's amazing you got to work with Rik Mayall,I absolutely adore pretty much everything he ever did. Just so genuinely hilarious and good at turning his (comedic) hand to anything. The difference between Ritchie from Bottom and Lord Flash heart is night and day and yet he inhabited both characters so well.
I do remember that episode if comic strip as well, and yeah, could make a cracking full length film. As to the question of whether or not people know about spaghetti westerns, if they don't then that's a source of shame they'll have to endure.
I recently rewatched the dollars trilogy and they still hold up beautifully today. I won't bore you with my pet theory that Tuco is actually the main character of Good/Bad/Ugly but he's one of my favourite cinematic characters ever. The original Django is also fantastic of sorely overlooked. As is a more one with a fantastic Morricone score called The Big Silence all about a mute bounty hunter (reputedly he was mute because Jean Louis Trigntinent didn't want to be dubbed badly in worldwide releases) which features one of the most unexpected and depressing endings to any film I've ever seen. Worth hunting down if you get the chance.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@Purgatorium
New series?! I had no idea they were still going. I haven't really watched TV for about 20 years now but I'll make an exception for that. I'll see if I can track it down later.
Me and the missus will still sometimes crush each other's heads which gets us some weird looks in public.
Thanks for the tip!
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@Purgatorium
It's most likely an age thing. As I mentioned earlier I was born in '79 so I'm effectively ancient, although not a boomer.
They were very funny though. They did a film called Strange Brew which is worth checking out if you want to see how your ancestors lived. 😆
I also used to love Kids in the Hall, although I'm probably dating myself again by mentioning them.
Re: Telltale Games Confirms Layoffs, With 'Most Of' The Studio Reportedly Gone
@AstroTheGamosian
I'm similar in that I try and keep an eye on the political situation across the globe. It's a lot bigger than the little patch I inhabit.
You're bang on the money about the Tories cribbing from the republicans as well. Specifically that waste of skin Desantis. They'll almost certainly cock it up though, frankly they couldn't organise a bumming in an arsehole factory.
The left really needs someone with some fire and passion, not just being bland and not monstrous in contrast to the opposition. I think that's true on both sides of the pond.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@RadioHedgeFund
It sounds like you had a lot more fun with Witcher than I did. I binned it off when I got to the next city after plodding through the plot with the baron. I remember opening the map, seeing it festooned with markers and just shutting it off and deleting it from my switch.
I usually quite like western RPGs. Japanese ones I tend to find overly long and laden down with too many systems that are very gamey. Like forgetting how to use a skill because you changed your hat. I was quite enjoying dragons dogma playing as a thief but then I got to 10th level and the game basically told me to pick a new class which I find particularly annoying. If I'd wanted to be a fighter I would have chosen that at the start.
That being said, I played through Undernauts and thought it was absolutely fantastic in all areas. I highly recommend it if you like old school turn based dungeon crawlers like Eye of the Beholder.
Re: Telltale Games Confirms Layoffs, With 'Most Of' The Studio Reportedly Gone
@AstroTheGamosian
Dude, you know more about English politics than most of our politicians do!
Agree, the Tories have basically run out of things to steal and sell to their mates so they're now inventing culture wars just to keep people distracted while they hoover up the lint from our pockets.
The idea of the incumbents trying to reframe themselves as the change candidates is completely insane but they have absolutely no shame whatsoever.
I hope Labour win, just because they'll be less bad than the Tories but I have little to no faith in Starmer. He's just another lawyer and Blair demonstrated how badly that can turn out.
Frankly I'm just gearing up for the apocalypse by welding a lawnmower to the front of an old Volvo and ordering a pair of arseless leather chaps.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@samuelvictor @ristar24
So many memories come flooding back. Byker Grove was good but the lack of the now legendary Danny Kendall (and Mr Bronson, when he wasn't being forced choked on the bridge of a Star Destroyer) swings my love towards Grange Hill.
The Young Ones too, (and later Bottom). Alexie Sayle ('Hello John, Got A New Motor?', Suggs and Madness. Plus the Comic Strip Presents on Channel 4.
Blimey. This is like some weird reunion show. Thanks for bringing it all back, chaps.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@samuelvictor
I always thought (from an outsiders point of view, and having only known a couple of Canadians in my time) that the Mackenzies were very much Canadians poking fun at Canadian culture and foibles, but in a good-natured way. In the same way that the English love to take the piss out of ourselves.
And yes, I remember Grotbags. I was born in '79 and I suspect we grew up watching (and enjoying) a lot of the same things.
Out of interest, do you recall 'Round the Bend'? Weirdly subversive cartoon/puppet/live-action mix that was set up like an underground comic edited by a toilet-dwelling puppet called Doc Croc. Looking back on it, I'm surprised they got away with as much as they did, considering it had a prime kid's TV slot on ITV. I absolutely loved it and it very much appealed to my sense of humour. Which I apparently haven't grown out of.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@RadioHedgeFund
So many things I disliked about that game. About the only thing I enjoyed was melee combat against bandits. I'm genuinely surprised about all the accolades it received.
Since you asked, here are some of my problems with it:
Gerald Riveria (who sounds like he should be a compère in a Northern working men's club from the 70's) has all the character of a block of wood wrapped in sandpaper.
I did an early mission for some dirtpoor peasant to save a girl from some illness. At the end of the quest I refused his reward because they'd worked so hard to telegraph how poor the villagers are and I figured I could just go an take an extended loan from the bandits outside town if I was hard up. He then insisted I take something for my troubles and promptly handed over a jewel worth more than his entire village an everyone in it.
The sheer disconnect between the way the world was framed and what actually happened during gameplay did my head in. I'd spend my time tracking across the wilderness and happily butchering any monster I came across but the moment a monster was causing problems for these poor downtrodden peasants Gerald Riviera (possibly a gigolo working Marseilles in the early 80's) would insist on extracting payment from them. It made him seem like such a nasty mercenary ***** and was probably the exact opposite of the way he was intended to be.
Fighting big monsters was boring and tedious and the game engine obviously wasn't built with that in mind.
The Witcher sense stuff and investigating monsters felt like pure padding. Just follow the red dots and wait for sandpaper man to do his Christian Bale Batman voice thing until he'd come to the same conclusion I'd drawn about 20 minutes previously.
The UI was also an exercise in frustration and the alchemy stuff felt very 'gamey'. Why can't I just make as many bombs as I need without having to bloody meditate on it?
Applying oils to weapons was stupidly handled. I get that you have a wolf poison and a ghost poison and whatever and that's cool. But each application was limited to 20 uses which would make sense except that I could re-oil my blade in the middle of a fight. So why not just have it last until I changed it? Poor game design in my opinion.
Oh, and the fact that I'd find a blueprint for a new weapon or piece of armour but it was 20 levels higher than I was, and by the time I could craft it I'd already found something much better.
There are loads more things too but I think that's enough for one sitting.
What was it you didn't like about the game? I'd be interested to know because apparently everyone else on the planet thought it had descended from heaven to grace our pitiful existences.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@samuelvictor @Purgatorium
Are you two gonna discuss Canadianism without even mentioning Bob and Doug Mackenzie?
I'd assumed they were on banknotes over there by now.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@RadioHedgeFund
I usually love regional UK accents in a game so that wasn't a problem for me. The only time I've disliked it, in fact, was Witcher 3. Among my (many) issues with that game was the fact that it being based on some Polish fantasy novels, and thoroughly grounded in Slavic folklore, I was hoping to hear some proper Slavic accents. Not a bunch of bloody scousers and brummies whining on about the local villagers being turned into pigs.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
@samuelvictor
That reminds me of my best mate growing up. His mum new he was a big Star Wars fan and took him along to big toy store where they'd organised a special appearance from Darth Vadar (I can't recall if it was actually Dave Prowse, but I don't live far from his old stomping grounds). Anyway, she'd kept it a secret from him, so when he walked in and saw Darth Vadar stalking round the shop he absolutely bricked it, ran back to the car and refused to set foot inside the store. In his defence he would have been about 6 at the time.
@Ristar24
Eyyyyyyyy, rat fans!
I had rat rapping on C90 cassette, along with an official Roland Rat 'Rat Bag'. Which was a crappy red satchel with the lad himself on it. I played that tape to death when I was a kid.
Re: Random: Star Fox Dev Thinks Star Fox Adventures "Was Too British"
Star Fox was originally supposed to be a vehicle for Roland Rat with Kevin the Gerbil and Reggie as his wingmen but Nintendo decided rats weren't family friendly enough.
Re: Laika: Aged Through Blood Is A Brutal Blend Of Metroidvania, Mad Max, And Excitebike
This looks sweeeeeet!
The visuals look like a cross between a Don Bluth cartoon and a Heavy Metal comic (Metal Hurlant for you Francophones).
I always wait for reviews but I'll keep an eye out for it in future.
@PikaPhantom
My one concern is how the controls will work in practice. I can see it being difficult to strike the right balance between it being fun and feeling like you're actually riding a bike, as opposed to it controlling ntow like a standard 2D platformer and the bike just being graphics and sound effects.
Re: Telltale Games Confirms Layoffs, With 'Most Of' The Studio Reportedly Gone
@dew12333
I'm the first to admit unions aren't perfect, after all they're made up of humans so imperfection is guaranteed. But not being perfect isn't the same as being completely useless.
There's a massive imbalance between the power of an individual worker and that of their employer and the purpose of the union is to address that.
Re: Telltale Games Confirms Layoffs, With 'Most Of' The Studio Reportedly Gone
@dew12333
No one in the UK is proposing communism, and certainly not any of the unions. Elements of socialism yes, but that's a very different thing to communism.
I'm a union member and I've directly witnessed the good they've done for myself and others.
I hope you never find yourself in a situation where you need union support. Nobody calls their union rep because everything is going great.
Re: Telltale Games Confirms Layoffs, With 'Most Of' The Studio Reportedly Gone
@AstroTheGamosian
Agreed. It's a sad state of affairs. It's not as hard to unionise in the UK, but the Tories are doing their best to cut the unions off at the knees by incrementally making it harder for them.
Very different situation to the US though.