How "Man of Steel" Made Being Alive Painful (And Other Observations)

Man of Steel made my being alive painful. While watching Man of Steel, the visual and aural bombardment - the speed, the jerkiness, the brightness and the screeching - made existence a chore. I refer explicitly, mind, to the last fifty or so minutes of the movie, the so-called "climax," in which the "characters" engaged in "fights". These scenes (if one is willing to afford them such a status) made me motionsick, and gave me a pounding headache. But it is the insult to my intelligence that truly made me wretch.

Review: "Deadpool"

It was around the time Deadpool went up for pre-order that things started to seem… off. High Moon was hit with layoffs, the team working on Deadpool hit hardest. The release date of June 25th seemed too early for a game with such a high-profile company’s license attached to it, and the fact that Activision didn’t send out early review copies made it all the more clear that they were kicking this one out the door as quickly and quietly as possible. For $30.

I was all good and ready to either love Deadpool like one would love an ugly, braindead puppy, or hate it with an unbridled vengeance. It was either going to be a diamond in the rough, a fantastic game struggling to find its time behind a low budget and a butchered development team, or it was going to be a throwaway piece of cash-grabbing garbage. A masterpiece, or a failure. A hit, or a flop. I didn’t consider it could be a third thing.

Because what I got was much worse.

Review: "Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe"

It’s only recently that I’ve been able to confidently say that Adult Swim’s logo is an assurance of quality when it comes to games. I still haven’t gotten over how weird that is, either. “Adult Swim makes good games.” Dear lord, I remember the days of Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s PlayStation 2 game – Zombie Ninja Pro-Am! A kart racing, fighting, and golf game hybrid. And about 100% less fun than that sounds, let me assure you. …hold on.

Déjà vu? Déjà vu. Why, I was doing this song and dance not long ago with Super House of Dead Ninjas. I was genuinely surprised by Super House of Dead Ninjas – having written off Adult Swim as capable of nothing but producing mildly funny animated shows for very very drunk people, picking up a for-money game from them seemed like it could go either way. But it went the best way. The good way! Super House of Dead Ninjas was, despite its wacky, hilarious name, a more or less perfect little on-the-cheap faux-arcade game. It was genuinely, properly, and impressively entertaining – and I wasn’t even drunk.

Review: "Afterfall Insanity - Dirty Arena Edition"

The practice of cutting off a section of a game and selling it wholesale has become surprisingly common in recent years. While in some situations it results in an egregious ”paid demo” sort of deal, other times it can be rather delightful. At a discounted price, you can buy a smaller, shorter version of a title. For people gaming on a budget, this can be an extremely useful way to explore an unfamiliar game without investing too much money – or time.

Such is the case with Afterfall Insanity – Dirty Arena Edition. The “Dirty Arena” is the survival mode from the full game, Afterfall Insanity, a horror-action game landed on Steam in the first Greenlight wave. Dirty Arena Edition has two very purpose, express goals: provide a compelling, short-hand Afterfall Insanity experience, and in doing so, sell budget gamers on the full title. A bit of pressure then rides on this edition – much like a demo, if it fails to sell me on the full game, it has failed.

With that established, Afterfall Insanity – Dirty Arena Edition has failed.

Review: "Thomas Was Alone"

Cubist Colony

Review for Thomas Was Alone (PC)

1-player puzzle/platformer, Developed by Mike Bithell

When a game called Thomas Was Alone opens its blurb with "and then he wasn't," you know you're in for a treat. Before you're even playing it, Thomas Was Alone provides both a dry wit and a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware charm. What it doesn't hint at, however, is that there's a deep, emotional core buried in Thomas Was Alone. I think.

Y'see, Thomas Was Alone is one of those minimalist platformers that has you (well, me, at any rate) digging for a deeper meaning. Digging for something that you're convinced the game provides. So minimalist and open to interpretation is Thomas Was Alone, that it definitely convinces me there is, at least, something to interpret. It's one of those art games - and it is an art game, make no mistake - that provides hints at meaning without being overtly pretentious in presenting it to you. So, fair warning - Thomas Was Alone, for how delightfully presented it is, may actually not be as deep as I think it is. That's exactly what I like about art, though - not everyone sees the same thing in any particular work. With that in mind - let's see what Thomas Was Alone provides for those who will only look for what's there, and then maybe later I'll get into why I love it so much, not just as a videogame, but as art.

...won't that be thrilling, boys 'n girls?