Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright – Ace Attorney entwines two franchises around a single narrative. It is an odd coupling and the elements never fully mesh, but it’s as good a blend as could be expected, given the ingredients. Phoenix Wright games are about gathering and examining evidence and pointing out contradictions in testimony during elaborate murder cases.… Read the rest
A lot was riding on The Wolf Among Us for developer Telltale Games. Telltale was already known for point-and-click adventures and interactive storytelling, but it only recently hit the critical and commercial motherload with The Walking Dead – Season 1. … Read the rest
The eighties were not a good time to be gay. A generation of gay men was decimated because of a deadly virus, first called GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency), then AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Still high off the sexual revolution, gay men were living it up and celebrating, when it became apparent that an unwanted guest had snuck in and was starting to spoil the party.… Read the rest
Crysis 2 is a convoluted Jerry Bruckheimer action movie poured into a video game, starring a dead-man-walking protagonist, who was almost literally poured into a power suit as he lay dying. It allows him to withstand a great amount of damage or to turn invisible, but not simultaneously, and only for a short amount of time.… Read the rest
Looking follows a trio of friends in San Francisco as they deal with various dating conundrums and relationship drama. The first season consists of just eight, 30-minute episodes – which sucks, because this series is great and addictive.
Some people have called Looking the gay(er) version of Sex and the City, although that doesn’t do the newcomer justice.… Read the rest
Snowpiercer posits an intriguing near-future scenario. It’s the year 2031. To fight global warming, a chemical component was released into the air and things went horribly wrong. The world froze over and mankind is all but wiped out. Around 1000 survivors circle the globe on a giant railway track, in a self-sustaining microcosm aboard a train.… Read the rest
Does Godzilla need a motivation? Don’t we just want to see him mindlessly wreck cities, preferably while fighting other monsters? In this new movie, if I understood things correctly, he is trying to ‘restore balance’ according to a scientist. Get this – Godzilla goes New Age!… Read the rest
I try to separate people’s private lives from the creative work they put out. Only in rare cases is someone so dislikeable that I actively avoid anything associated with them. For instance, Orson Scott Card is a massive homophobe, and because of this, I will not spend any time reading his books.… Read the rest
Virtue’s Last Reward is the sequel to 999, and is a visual novel which features ‘escape the room’ puzzles. Again, nine people awaken to find themselves trapped and forced to take part in an experiment called ‘the nonary game’. This time, things seem to take place in the future and the ringleader is a psychotic A.I.… Read the rest
With X-Men – Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer makes a welcome return to the mutant universe. He had helmed the first two films but jumped ship on the third one, directing the morose Superman Returns instead. Brett Ratner took the helm for X-Men: Last Stand and almost sank the franchise with a rambling mess of a movie, which badly flubbed the classic Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics. … Read the rest
