Michael Jackson's Xscape: An Album Jackson Would Have Been Proud Of

Deluxe Edition cover.

Keeping true to Michael Jackson's prior albums, this one was given the title Xscape; by taking one of the songs enlisted within that gives it an edgy quality. Jackson used this rule to name his past albums, such as Thriller, Dangerous and Bad.

Comprising of eight songs written between 1983 - 2001 these eight songs were recreated and produced by people other producers.

The album comes in different editions. Regular edition which has the eight songs recently reproduced to have a more modern feel to it. Deluxe edition has the eight redone songs as well, but on top of that they also have the same songs but they are the original versions with Micheal's visions of them.

Tracklist

_____________________________________

1. Love Never Felt So Good
2. Chicago

3. Loving You 

4. A Place With No Name
5. Slave To The Rhythm
6. Do You Know Where Your Children Are 

7. Blue Gangsta

8. Xscape

_____________________________________

 

From the first few seconds it become obvious that the reworked songs have been carefully composed to sound like Michael himself would have produced them, and to sound like it came from his past albums such as 80s and 90s. 

 

Relying heavily on synthesizers accompanied with a variety of a clapping beats, finger snapping and percussion, each song would have made Jackson proud, they truly outdid themselves at envisioning his style in a bid to recapture the 80s-90s classics while still sounding modern.

The album itself starts off with throwback nostalgia, giving off a strong 80s disco vibe. It sounds like a typical MJ song straight from the days of such hits as Thriller and Bad. Songs with funky beats provide a familiar -but not overdone- atmosphere taking you back a couple of decades. 

 

It then begins a descent into songs that while they are simplistic in nature, they're still brilliant, pianos and a simple beat accompanied with soft, soothing vocals produces a relaxed ambiance that could be a great complement to his early 90s 'Remember The Time'. However nostalgia doesn't stop there as 'A Place With No Name' bears a significant resemblance to 'A Horse With No Name' (a 1972 song by the band America).

 

Verdict

The produces did an amazing job recreating the music styles of Jackson taking note of instruments, way they are played, melodies incorporated and bring it all together to make one of the best posthumous albums to date.

4.5/5

Silent Hill Breakdown: Introduction

 
It goes without saying that Silent Hill 2 has a lot of symbolism, deep meanings, ambiguous scenarios and hidden agenda's often obscured or masked. 

Silent Hill 2 is one of my most beloved games, and I'm starting with a series that will deconstruct it in it's entirety. These series of articles will combine, facts, theories and various interpretations from both my point of view and the developers.

The parts will consist as follow:


Part 1 - Characters
                                     James Sunderland
                                     Maria
                                     Mary Shepherd-Sunderland
                                     Angela Orosco
                                     Eddie Dombrowski
                                     Laura 
                                     Other characters

Part 2 - Monsters
                                     Pyramid Head
                                     Other monsters


Part 3 - Plot
                                      Part 1 - Entering Silent Hill
                                      Part 2 - Apartment Buildings
                                      Part 3 - Hospitals
                                      Part 4 - Historical Society and Labyrinth
                                      Part 5 - Hotels
                                      Endings


Part 4 - Locations
                                       Fog versions
                                       Otherworld versions
                                       Non-existent
                                                                       
Part 5 - Miscellaneous
                                        Memos, Symbolic items and random 

Part 6 - Conclusions
                                        Conclusion

Hitman: Absolution - Review

Hitman: Absolution has been out for quite some time now, so what's my view on it?

Originally the Hitman series came from IO Interactive, however this one comes straight from Square Enix -creators of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, World Ends With You-, don't get me wrong I love Square Enix but making a game of this nature I'll admit it I was a bit skeptical at first, but those soon vanished as I began.

Rewarding players with patience and strategic thinking, Hitman is very satisfying as waiting for the perfect opportunity never felt so good when it finally comes up. Rewarding you for experimenting with your surroundings and good old trial and error this game gives you plenty of chances to take out your targets, some involve making it seem like a freak accident, natural death to just plain assassinate them, then hide from assailants, get disguises and so on.

Exploring the vast levels will give you plenty of insights into what method you think would be most appropriate as a befitting death for your target. This game takes alot of time, so if you want fast paced games with quick kills you'd best keep looking. 

Certain aspects have also improved one thing I noticed right away was the fibre wire killing felt much more natural, in Blood Money it was difficult and usual resulted in the person turning round and me being caught, in Absolution that frustration is thankfully gone, it's much easier to do meaning I don't need to keep restarting to get a clean kill, although I prefer to kill only those who need to die.

You no longer chose your weapons for each level, you start the level with the given weapons, if you want others you will have to scout the area for them. 

A cover system is also introduced, in the originals if caught you would have to run left to right, dodging the bullets, now though we can cover, wait for the moment and go for the shot, shooting too has made a change it can now include point shooting where it slows time as you pin point where you want to shoot then carry it out automatically, you don't need to do this however you can manually shoot if you prefer but it's nice to have the option there. The cover system can also work to be stealth like also, stay hidden, wait for a target to pass by then go after them. Instinct mode is added, this will tell you where people are, and where they are going, useful if your in an area where enemies patrol and need to know if one is coming.

That is just a few of the changes but I will not point them all out. 

So what did I think?

Compared to the other Hitman games, this is the best I think, I love the large levels that rewards exploration and concise plans, the various methods of killing are very creative and enjoyable to suss out all of them, for example attaching a live wire to a wire fence is rewarding as a build up of adrenaline surges through you as you sit back and watch your target come ever so closer to their demise, possibility of being caught is another adrenaline fueled experience as sneaking by enemies will have your heart pounding and palms sweating as you pray for them not to turn around and notice you.


Rating
+ Immense replay value
+ Huge levels
+ Powerful emotions through playing
+ Can create your own missions
- May get stressful if you are a perfectionist

9/10

My Mad Fat Diary Review

With much advertisement and hype "My Mad Fat Diary" is here.

We go back to the nineties to follow sixteen year old Rachael (Rae), who having been released from a psychiatric hospital, -due to mental health issues- attempts to fit back into society despite having to deal with an eccentric mother and having self-image issues, now free she sets off into the world and tries to be socially accepted through the use of drinking, sex, music, giving in to peer pressure and other normal teenager rituals.

So what was the opening episode like?

In a nutshell.
It starts with Rae talking with her counseller about her life since she left the institute and then follows what was done in the past few days since, she describes and introduces points with her inner voice that she dares not to voice out into the open but has expressed those thoughts detailed in her diary, it starts rough as her mom is late to pick her up, has gotten an illegal-immigrant boyfriend while she was being medicated, not being able to sleep due to their loud sex, hanging out with her friends and going to their pool party afraid to be wearing a bikini but realizing she is not see as monstrous as she perceives herself to be, it then ends with the aftermath between her and her counseller as he tries to make her see that there is a wide spectrum of what is considered normal by societies standards if you find the right people.

Rae seems like a normal person, in front of her former and new friends the dialogue is very realistic and befitting for Rae as it paints a very vivid picture of her traits, personality and so on, her dialogue is pitched both outspoken and inner monologues to provide a voice over, it is through these voice overs that she provides and when she is alone that we see her as a troubled teenager. One other thing that is usually parallel with the voice overs is that it has moments where the video is paused, and using the voice over child-like images are drawn to illustrate her point more clearly, if you have seen the likes of "Moone Boy" then you will know exactly what I mean.

This show is a good gateway for troubled teenagers who suffer mild mental health issues as it is possible for some viewers to associate themselves with Rae and through the use of serious issues being complemented by humor, this honest drama is very touching and was an enjoyable viewing experience.

Little Big Planet Karting Review

Modnation Racers ... of sorry Little Big Planet Karting is the new addition to the LPB franchise but does it live up to it's predecessors ?

First off lets start off with the bad points in this game that you can complete in an afternoon. When playing racing games such as this the races start off with everyone close together with about 0.5 seconds between each player then a bit after players will be widely spread with an average of 5-10 seconds between them, however this game is not the case, throughout the entire race every player will be close to each other constantly leaving the winning position down to luck and less about skill, this is problematic and frustrating, if you're in last place you're okay but if you're anywhere between 7th and 1st you'll get hit quite often, let's say you're in 1st place and you get hit in most games like these you'd go from 1st place to 3rd usually, but in this game because everyone's so close get hit and it's way back to 5th place then usually you'll get hit again right after and go to 8th place which is really irritating, not only that if you're a few places ahead you'll find that you get hit constantly, you won't get hit by one person and that's that, usually it's a case of you get hit, gain control of your vehicle, then you get hit again.

The game has presents in the tracks, these presents are used to make you own levels, if you miss a present and wish to collect it you obviously need to reverse, uh-oh what have they done if you reverse for too long (about two seconds) you'll end up dying and re-spawning a bit ahead, so to reverse without that happening you need to reverse, stop, reverse, stop and keep going which is really terrible.

Some of the weapons can also cause problems for example, there is one that allows you to fast forward yourself, this can sometimes cause problems because you'll fast forward, then it'll stop and let you gain control again but it'll do this sometimes right before a turn making you gain control and crash into the wall, then wasting time reversing and stopping to then race on again.

In the Little Big Planet series each game has a bold theme, the first game is set on different continents, in the second game it's set in different periods of time, in this game however rather than being new themes they borrowed the ideas from the two games and making it slightly less characteristic.

When a new installment of a game comes out it's meant to move forwards but this game seems to have went backwards for some features. The game's aim is creativity in the first game when giving your level music you had to chose from those songs that the game had, however in the second game they made it better by giving players the ability to make their own songs with a variety of instruments, tempo's and so on, now making a race track and giving it your own music would be great and would help to set the mood but oh no wait a minute, for some reason they have removed this feature making it less creative, why did they do that ?

Fancy making your own track ?, well be prepared to look up tutorial videos on Youtube for it because making you own levels to the game's standards is near impossible, the tools are tricky to understand how to use and using them is even harder if you do manage to grasp an expert knowledge of it you may find it fun and enjoyable to create your tracks and try them out.

It's not all bad though the weapons in this game provide three uses, throwing/shooting it in front of you, behind you and to defend you, if someone fires a rocket at you a rocket symbol will appear beneath you, when it turns into a blue shield use the weapon whichever one you have and it will destroy the rocket, this feature is actually pretty neat as it eliminates the bubble like protectors you pick up in games like these.

While I did say that the level themes have been used before it doesn't mean to say it's terrible, it would have been better to go with new themes but these previously used themes are actually still pretty good and very cleverly put together.

It's not all racing too there are battle levels one of which takes place in the sky on two planes, there's also solo races that challenges players to get from point A to B within a certain amount of time, challenges that range from being a dinosaur to destroy cars, get the eggs to the goal, hit as many people as you can within a time limit and so on.

This game should be played if you are a LBP fan despite it's hiccups and flaws it's still a niffty little game so enjoy.

Rating

+ Creative level design

+ Bold graphics

+ Great for creative needs

- Can get frustrating

- gone a bit backwards with some level design tools

- Glitchy weapons

 

 

6/10

Blast From The Past: Crash Bandicoot

It goes without saying that everyone with some form of gaming history has played at least one of the original "Crash Bandicoot" games, just like it's rival "Spyro", these were the best of the best of PlayStation gaming and have proven to be a series that have given us a lifetime of memories, for this entry i will only be writing about the first three games and exclude "Crash Team Racing" and "Crash Bash".

Alot of people adored the first Crash Bandicoot game and so did I, however after playing it fully a few months back I've realized how naive I was, everyone probably remembers using the super cheat code in order to play any level you wanted but did any of you remember how you saved the game for the first Crash game?, well basically you had to find the three boxes labeled "?" that had a token inside it which would take you to in the bonus round, from there you had to complete the bonus round and once completing it you were allowed to save, if you failed the bonus round by dying you wouldn't get another shot at it and have to keep playing through to the end of the level and into the next level to try out that bonus round and cross your fingers hoping you'd be capable of doing it otherwise, yup you wouldn't be able to save and have to play on to the next bonus round hoping you'd do that one.

Apart from the dodgy saving mechanic some of the levels were just poorly designed, for instance those levels set in the native's village there were sections in that where you had to spin at a wooden device to create a ledge, climb on top of it, jump on that one to spin at the device above the one you were on, jump onto that one and repeat all before the devices change, another "fine" example of this was the bridge levels such as "The Road To Nowhere" in these levels you would progress only by moving forward however most of the bridge was missing and required you to jump with extreme precision from the narrow plank of wood you were standing on to another single piece of wood, trust me guys if you remember this you'll now how difficult it was.

Even though I have pointed out this game's major flaws it doesn't mean that it's a terrible game, nay it is actually still very enjoyable -just not as great as I once perceived it to be- with several interesting settings and obstacles this game is still highly enjoyable and challenging (even though some parts are a little too challenging).

Crash Bandicoot 2 may not seem like it now but for it's time it pushed the ps1 to it's hardware limits and capabilities. Out of the three this one is the most unique game with interesting recurring themes such as city ruins, sewers, back-lands and so on that didn't seem like a random mess like the themes for Crash 1, this was also the first game to introduce the crystal concept as the first one only had gems (but it never told you which levels had gems which resulted in you wasting time collecting all the boxes and not being rewarded for your efforts), had an improved save file system and allowed players to repeat bonus levels until they were satisfied. This game was perfectly balanced for all players, in order to complete the game you'd just have to collect crystals and defeat the bosses this is a challenge for kids but easy for experienced players however the challenge for experienced is collecting the gems.

Furthermore this game featured easter eggs for example in one of the sewer based levels there was a split path, if you decided to take one path in particular you would find yourself in a room full of nitrogen boxes (instant death if touched), seems a bit odd doesn't it, however if you go right to the back of the room and avoid all the boxes the wall that is there is like a hologram as you can jump right through it into a secret area. This game had numerous hidden areas that even teleported you to another part of a different level making every level blend into each other as the majority of them linked up nicely.

For many of you out there Crash 3 was your favorite however the themes for this game, Egypt, Medieval times, Persia and so on have all been a little overplayed in games to the point it can be considered a cliche however the layouts of these levels and the obstructions they present are far from cliche, the idea's and problems the game presents to us in the form of a challenge is highly creative and very enjoyable as it has the right balance, it is not too hard that it is frustrating but not too easy that it is considered boring, it is challenging and like Crash 2 it can be played by any level of experience a player possesses, crystals for children, gems for experienced players and a new collectable which is the relic, a time attack mode that is aimed at children for the first few levels and slowly gets harder as it is aimed at the experienced players.

Catherine Review

Catherine is a 2011 video game developed by Atlus Persona Team. This psychological horror yet romantic video game is comprised of both puzzles and dating like format it is this unique combination that helps give this game it's uniqueness and is guaranteed to be a game like no other.


Story

Catherine begins with a framing device. It starts off with a woman named Trisha introducing us to a TV show called the "Golden Playhouse" in which we follow our character Vincent Brooks, once introduced we then follow him through the TV screen and take control of him.

Vincent is surrounded in a neighborhood where residents die in their sleep due to some sort of curse, this curse only targets young men, this then spreads as rumors, as people say that those who died fell in their dreams and did not wake up before they landed, and as a result they died both in their dreams and in reality.

Vincent meets up with his girlfriend of five years Katherine McBride who drops hints that they should get married but he tries to put it off, it then fast forwards to him at the bar when a new comer named Catherine comes in and starts talking to Vincent, Catherine turns out to be his type of girl, after the gap we see that Catherine somehow got together with Vincent as she lies in bed with him.

After these incidences Vincent begins to experience rather strange nightmares that he cannot remember in the morning, it is these nightmares that he believes are the same ones all those who have died have also had, however he is not alone in this world as people from the real world have also gotten into this dimension but they all appear as sheep and think they are the only human ones present.

This is all I can really say about the story without ruining it, but even the first half an hour that I have explained is very unique and is enticing you to know more, the story for Catherine does not lose it's grasp on you, once the plot has became interesting to you it will stay like that until you have completed the game.

Gameplay

There are two main parts of this game, the nightmare stages and the bar. When Vincent is in the nightmare it consists of various floors, each floor requires Vincent to reach the top, whereas the final floor for that night will consist of a boss, but it will still involve climbing.

To climb in this part of the game players will have to push, pull and slide blocks to create a stairway to reach higher parts of the tower, however players cannot take all the time they want as the floor breaks and falls away one block layer at a time, the speed of which they fall varies on what stage you're at, some stages will have the floor fall fast while others move much more slowly, the boss is pretty much the same but you will have to out climb them, the bosses will be a lot bigger than you and will attack you doing various things, some bosses require you to stand under shelter, while others may only change blocks to make some unmovable. In between each floor in each night, you will be at a sanctuary where you can talk to the other humans/sheep there, by doing this you can learn new techniques and save some of the people's life's, after this you will go into a confessional room where you will be asked a question and you will have to answer, such questions are:

you're naked what do you do: quick hide/ i have nothing to hide 
you're partner is into baby play how do you feel: I'll try anything once/that's a deal breaker
what's more cheating: an emotional tryst/one night stand

you're answer to these questions will have an effect on the bar that appears at the bottom of the screen, this bar will determine what ending you get.

The second area in this game is the bar named "The Stray Sheep", from here you can get drunk, talk to the other customers and have a choice in how you'd respond to them, play an arcade game which is like the nightmare stages only alot harder and the stage doesn't fall so you can take as long as you need, and also reply to texts, every now and then you'll get a text from both Katherine and Catherine, you can reply to these by simply pressing the action button to get a line of text, if you like it press the action button again to get another line, if not then press back and press action again for a different line, usually you'll have three different options which will chose where the needle moves to on the bar, once you're done at the bar simple leave and move onto the nightmare stages again. 

The game also comes with two other modes, Babel and Colosseum, Babel is consisted of four stages, each stage requires you to climb to a certain level however it will always be randomly laid out so you could keep on playing this and it'll be different each time, this can be played solo, or co-op, Colosseum is a mode for two players, it is every stage in the game and is a race to see which player gets to the top first. 

Presentation

The cutscenes for Catherine vary in length some only a few minutes while others can be twenty minutes, either way you will hang onto every word that is being said. The game has two styles for cutscenes, the cinematic cutscenes have gone for an anime style of animation and will seem more like an actual anime than a video game (not that that's a bad thing), this style is very rarely used in video games and is really bold to go with it, as for the in game cutscene it uses the same style as the one gameplay uses with 3d characters and environments.

  

Rating

+ great story

+ innovative combination of gameplay

+ brilliant soundtrack

+ can play babel again and it will be different

- lacks a creation kit to make your own towers

 

 

9/10