Bioshock 2, Caprica and a list of songs

Having returned to London after reading week in my spare time I have been perservering on with Bioshock 2 but my heart really isn't in it. It's still a good game, but I'm completely underwhelmed by the story and can't help the nagging feeling that this game has no reason to exist. It's not sufficiently different from the original in terms of gameplay mechanics to warrant its existence, and I really have no idea what is happening in the messy and clumsily explained story that seems to be about as complex as the first Rush Hour movie. The multiplayer is so laggy and shallow compared to Halo and MW2 that I really don't feel any compulsion to try that out further anyway. Certainly won't be replaying this game and can't see myself getting any of the DLC. After Mass Effect 2's massive improvements this sequel seems a bit of a damp squib. It's still good, I just don't care. It exists because it will make money. Oh well.

I have also started watching the prequel series to Battlestar Galactica, Caprica. It's pretty good, all the things that made BSG such a guilty pleasure are there, the tribal soundtrack, cheesy acting, badly intergrated special effects, basic storylines with bluntly moralising messages and hilarious scientific explanations for implausable scenarios. Somehow all these bad individual elements manage to add up to a pretty glossy and addictive TV show. Also, it has naked ladies sacrificing each other in a virtual nightclub. Hot.

here's that chart you don't care about:

1. A Nomad's Retreat by Pantha Du Prince from Black Noise
2. Lay In A Shimmer by Pantha Du Prince from Black Noise
3. Stick to My Side by Pantha Du Prince from Black Noise
4. Atman by Rodrigo y Gabriela from 11:11
5. Xtal by Aphex Twin from Selected Ambient Works 85-92
6. Are You Receiving? by Clint Mansell from Moon OST
7. Skeleton by Bloc Party from Little Thoughts EP
8. Pray for Rain ft. Tunde Adebimpe by Massive Attack from Heligoland
9. Pin by Yeah Yeah Yeahs from A Fever To Tell
10. Downstream by Shira Kammen from Music of Waters

reading week, system shock 2 and moon

So I'm on reading week, and have returned home to seemingly endless boredom. I did actually come back to see a couple of mates and family, but as they are at work all the time, to stop myself from doing anything remotely productive I have downloaded System Shock 2 and it's a fucking stunning game. I first heard of SS2 when Bioshock came out, being its "spiritual successor" but never had any inclination to download it as I rarely play games on my computer, Football Manager aside. Having spent an inordinate amount of time on the internet over the weekend which did nothing but make me fear for the future of the human race, I bit the bullet and thought I would get a game to distract me from the many angry ginger kids who inhabit youtube. Anyway I managed to download and install SS2, pretty easily, got a couple of graphics mods to tune up the textures and character models and hey presto, one of the best games I have played for a long time. Obviously, judging objectively Mass Effect 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 are a lot better but considering this was made 11 years ago you have to let some of the graphical and gameplay issues go. The story so far seems like it is play for play the one told in Bioshock, with elements of Bioshock 2 and a bit of Dead Space thrown in, with obvious differences allowing for the different settings. The voice-acting is incredible, and the soundtrack is really atmospheric and really helps immerse you in a brilliantly nuanced world. The incorporation of RPG elements is also interesting with player customisation being a real important element and is necessary to progress. The game is better in terms of balance than Bioshock, with the emphasis being on survival and ammo conservation, and you will often find yourself wielding the wrench because of a brutal weapon degredation mechanic which is a pretty ham-fisted way of making the player feel vulnerable. This is a nice difference from its "successor" in that by halfway through Bioshock you were up to your eyeballs in plasmids and became a ridiculously overpowered killing machine. SHODAN also has to be one of the greatest video game characters ever created. Anyway, great game, download it, play it, enjoy. Also, it's free!

In other news I finally got around to watching Moon. I enjoyed it but couldn't help feel slightly underwhelmed by a bizarrely corny ending in what otherwise was a well-executed and melancholy film. I could understand if it was a Hollywood studio picture but considering it was made on the preposterously small budget of $5 million by a first time director for a small independent film company the ending was a little jarring. Sam Rockwell was brilliant (but not as good as in The Assassination of Jesse James) and played his (several) roles with a certain genuine melancholy pathos. Also Kevin Spacey was great as GERTY. It is hard to create a science-fiction computer/AI without looking like you are shamelessly ripping off HAL from 2001 but this little machine managed to pull it off by subverting our expectations, appearing emotionless and menacing only to become a genuinely funny and touching character. Of which, I might add, there are none in Kubrick's films. Except maybe Full Metal Jacket... nah fuck it I didn't care when that Viatnamese she-bitch died at the end. Stan didn't like humans. On another note Clint Mansell's excellent score of this film is definitely worth a listen.

Bioshock 2

Bioshock 2 came a few days ago, and I'm a few hours into the story. First impression, unsurprisingly, is that it isn't as good as the first game. The story doesn't seem as original this time around and the ideological undertones of a meaningful story seem to have been submerged beneath a pool of guts eviscerated with your brand new drill arm. Hard to concentrate on politics when you're busy drilling through someone's torso. Still, the combat mechanics seem to have been improved and the dual wielding of plasmids and weapons feels perfect, and is necessary as no.2 is really, really hard (I'm playing on normal). The Big Sister and Rumbler in particular being horribly difficult to defeat, in addition to the gathering sequences when you are beset upon by 20+ splicers over a period of less than a minute. It really makes you think about the best way to take down your enemies with conservation of EVE and first-aid kits, and ammo for the better guns being rare and expensive. I have gotten to a really brutally hard point in the game and I'm considering whacking it down to easy for the rest of this playthrough before attempting hard on a second run. Anyway so far it seems to be a really good game, but not as good as the first. Hopefully it won't follow the first game's lead in having the climax two thirds of the way through and finishing on a shit mutant boss. I could see that happening though.

In other news I started a second ME2 playthrough on insanity difficulty. In mainly involved dying and reloading. I gave up and shall not be returning for a while.

I also finished watching series 3 of Mad Men... damn I want a cigarette....

More me too and charttime

So I finished Mass Effect 2 and having started a second play through this game really grew on me. Although not particularly groundbreaking in any aspect, it does its job very well, and the combat showed itself to be more resilient and intuitive in the hectic later levels than I had expected during the early parts of the game. The choices made at the end of the game really are quite hard to make and I am ashamed to say a couple of times I left the converstion hanging for 10 minutes while I quickly looked up any possible consequences of my terribly important choice on the internets. Also you can continue playing after the quest is over (if you survive) so I may jump into my old career and whore a few achievements before Bioshock 2 comes.

Also, Xbox Live managed to somehow delete my entire friends list (thanks Microsoft) resulting in much annoying controller-typing which took bloody ages to repopulate my barren friends list. I tried playing MW2 again the other day but having not played for several weeks (although the gamercard to the right will say otherwise, this is in fact my flatmate who has racked up a ridiculous 7 days of play time) I found that having sucked before, I now really suck and quickly returned to the non-competitive warmth of ME2.

In other news, Chart:

1. Biscuits by Method Man from Tical
2. Moth by Burial/Four Tet from Moth/Wolf Cub
3. Trans-Atlantic Drawl by Radiohead from Amnesiac: Deluxe Edition
4. Welcome to the Terrordome by Public Enemy from Fear of a Black Planet
5. American Mary by The National from The National
6. J&W Beat by Floating Points from J&W Beat - Single
7. Bridging the Gap ft. Olu Dara by NaS from Street's Disciple
8. Halftime by NaS from Illmatic
9. Cow Cud is a Twin by Aphex Twin from I Care Because You Do
10. Angel Echoes by Four Tet from There Is Love in You

Mass Effect 2 or someshit

So ME2 came last friday, and it's pretty good. First of all, I just want to mention the ridiculous extent Bioware and EA have gone to to try to stop people buying this game second hand, through the Cerberus network add on, which comes free with each new copy. If you buy the game preowned, however, and the key to join the network has been used, you have to shell out a preposterous 1200 microsoft points (roughly £10) to get access to the DLC already available through the Cerberus network. To penalise people for pirating games is one thing, but preowned games are perfectly legal and the majority of games that I buy are preowned, due to me being poor/tight. This game sets a dangerous precedent and I'm not entirely comfortable with supporting a company who feels it is necessary to manipulate consumers in this way. It's like Bioware and EA are becoming the Ryanair of video games.

Anyway the game itself is perfectly fine. Much was made of the combat beforehand but to be honest if it was just a 3rd person shooter you would say it was mediocre. It's still enjoyable but for me the interesting parts are still what made the first game so good - exploration, dialogue, art design, sound and story. A lot of bugs and inconsistencies evident in the first game have been ironed out and the game runs a lot more smoothly having been split onto 2 discs and gone are those terrible lift loading sequences. There are stairs everywhere! Hallelujah. I imported my character from ME1 and despite the announcement that your actions in the first game would make a difference in ME2 so far I am yet to see any direct influence except for the odd e-mail (yes e-mail) sent to me by randomers I apparently helped in the original. Anyway, 15 hours in, it's been an engaging and fun game. Not as good as ACII though, and I suspect it will drop out of my disc tray for a while when Bioshock 2 comes next week. Still, a good game, although it is just the same Bioware RPG in a different skin all over again. Not that is bad in any way. Just a bit hard to get excited about it. I think I've figured out the plot twists already. The most unexpected thing so far was finding out that character who looks and sounds suspiciously like Martin Sheen IS actually voiced by Martin Sheen. Yeah. Slim pickins.

In other news I finished watching the second series of Mad Men and I have officially decided that it is as good as the wire. I started watching the 3rd series on iPlayer but couldn't bear to continue watching it in low quality on NinjaVideo, so I am currently torrenting a ridiculous 15GB in 720p. Estimate is 3 more days. I can't watch TV shows once a week anymore, having become accustomed to the DVD binge over the last few years.

No, I didn't watch Skins. It's fucking terrible. Any show where a writer will even consider the preposterous idea of a teacher farting into a megaphone to quieten a rowdy school assembly CANNOT be good.

Four Tet's new album is really good, I am actually going to buy it next time I'm near a reputable music-selling establishment, and I recommend you give a try as well. This song is pretty awesome (not on the album by the way).