Author: Simon

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Tomb Raider’s “I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU”

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Tomb Raider! How did that even happen? A burnt out franchise starring a bygone star of  a gaming age where breasts (and size thereof) were equal to guns (and size thereof). The next in a long line of adventure games that were quickly paling under the harsh cinematic light of *Uncharted*. The ubiquitous *reboot* of a *beloved icon* that was going to be *darker* and *grittier*. Yaaaaaaawn. Time to roll over and stay down, Lara.

But developer Crystal Dynamics had a twin-prong plan; make Lara real, and tell a *bloody good story*. Continue reading “Great Moments Of The Generation: Tomb Raider’s “I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU””

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Almost Getting Fired Because Of Geometry Wars Waves

GWW2How important is employment? From very early on in our childhood, we’re funnelled down the process of refining some skills and repressing others to prepare for our mythical lifetime job. Nothing holds a higher priority than forcing children into shapes that might one day yield the all-important salary, an approach that is seemingly justified by the existence of endless bills as adulthood takes hold.

So, after years of education and hardship and crappy interim jobs selling your soul a chunk at a time in the form of car insurance policies, it must take something pretty special to tempt you into actually risking your hold on a stable, career-based job.

Unfortunately, *Geometry Wars Waves* is *exactly* that kind of special.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Wii Bowling Takes Over

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The Nintendo Wii holds an unique honour in my gaming lifetime. It’s the only console I’ve ever sold – *twice* – while its been in the middle of its life. There’s has been no other console that has left me feeling so totally angry and ambivalent about its core mission and design. The lack of HD, the foggy motion controls, the dry spells between Mario and Zelda games filled with tumbleweeds; it was something that I just new I wouldn’t able to connect with. I bought two Wiis and sold them both, head shaking harder the second time for believing that there might have been some redeeming long-term feature I’d missed.

There wasn’t.

However, the Wii may not have had the longevity I required but it did have one thing that was unbeatable. So good, in fact, that it was the prime reason for my purchase each time I threw money at it. Because, as it turned out, there really ain’t  no party like a *Wii Bowling* party.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Leaving No-one Behind In Left 4 Dead

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The first time I heard of *Left 4 Dead* was from a forum member at [Eurogamer](www.eurogamer.net). Because of his involvement in the games industry, he’d managed to snag a preview build of Valve’s new zombie killing game, touted as a pure co-op survival test against screaming hordes and an intelligent adaptive AI. When asked of his opinion, he said that he thought it might be the best online co-op game ever.

I still think he might be right.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Pressing Split/Second’s Button

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The fatness of *Split/Second*’s cars perfectly captures the spirit of the game. Bright, colourful and ridiculously wide, they are quick to slam into anything that dares to get in their way,  growling all the time like caffeinated angry tigers. At the risk of actually creating a genre, this is a determinedly *Michael Bay* racing game full of sparks and popcorn, a plump hog that has eaten the extra American fat and wants to drag you along screaming behind it.

So what does a Michael Bay game absolutely need?

*Explosions*.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Staying Together Through Journey’s Journey

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Team Ico has been noticeably absent for the PS3’s life so far. A force to be reckoned with on the PS2, *Ico* and *Shadow Of The Colossus* frequently feature in many all-time-greatest-games lists. Team Ico’s PS3 title, *The Last Guardian*, was announced during Sony’s E3 2009 conference but then disappeared into development hell amid reports of technical problems, lack of direction, and lead designer Fumito Ueda quitting in the middle of the process. So, with the primary developers of outstanding emotive interactive experiences dragging their heels, who could fill the void?

Enter thatgamecompany.

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Review: The Day Of The Doctor – The 50th Anniversary Special

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The *Third Conditional* in English is the impossible *”what if?”*. All the other conditional forms deal either with present truths or future ideas, plans and dreams of what may come. They are the ones that are still soft and malleable, ready to change on a dime as the present hurtles into the future. But the *Third*,  it stands alone and stony in the past, a constant reminder of all the stupid decisions you’ve made, every ripple of the butterfly effect shaping the puzzlebox hotch-potch that you are today. The *Third* is impossible in that, no matter the reason or motivation, you can never change what has gone before; all you can do is dream of what you would have done instead. *If + Past Perfect + would have + Past Participle* is the very structure of regret.

But base emotions like regret are just for mere humans. Impossible is nothing for a Time Lord. What might he possibly have to regret?

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Introducing…Great Moments Of The Generation

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Well, that’s it.

As of 12:01am this morning, as Microsoft released the Xbox One to counter Sony’s one-week PS4 lead in the new generation, our shiny home consoles that have been the source of much gaming pleasure over the last eight years officially became last-generation technology. It’s hard to predict just where the new consoles will take us (and probably we won’t really know for another year or so), but it’s a great time to reflect and take a look at what the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii added to our gaming lexicon.

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Review: Gravity

 

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The problem with converting books into movies (or into stage shows or comics or, less frequently, games) is that the medium has certain elements that cannot be recreated. The level of depth and flow of language can only ever be from a certain perspective when flipped into the flesh of a different storytelling vehicle. Ask any *Harry Potter* fan for their favourite entry in the series and they’ll soon light their eyes with elements of the book that the film didn’t capture. The wonderful thing about books is that often they tell a story in a way that could not be expressed as fully in any other medium. These are the ones that capture us and leave us breathless at the end, mourning for the closure of the final page.

What’s so special about *Gravity*, then, is that it is a film equivalent. This story, these characters, this situation – none could be told with the same level of effectiveness in any other form (books included). Not only an easy contender for film of the year, *Gravity* is one of the finest pieces of filmmaking you’ll ever see, and God help you, see it on the big screen. It is the true definition of a “cinema movie”, the white-eyed airless immersion a vital tool in director Alfonso Cuarón’s approach.

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