Category Archives: Reviews

Fringe 2013: What Gives? review

If you ask any trained musician about the rests written on their score, they’ll tell you that the moments of silence are equality important to the notes meant to be heard.

This production What Gives? doesn’t feature any live musicians at all (the actors sing along with a quiet, prerecorded accompaniment) and while the basic foundations for an ok show are present, the cast’s performances – or more accurately, the lack there of during the quiet, and off-focus moments really drag the show down. Kind of like a musician who forgot to “play” their rests.

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Fringe 2013: Limbo review

There’s a healthy bit of confusion going on in Limbo, but If you’ve got an obsessive penchant for one-man monologues, it shouldn’t disappoint you too badly.

Andrew Bailey tells a story of his own coming of age while coping with various social anxiety issues often stemming from his religion, and at the same time he tries to deliver a humorous, yet serious explanation of the meaning of life. He purports to solve the philosophical question in the first minute of his monologue and then “unsolve” it for the next 59.

This premise is a fairly successful one, but depending on how you interpret his solution, you might feel that he either undersells the rest of the play, or too drastically diverges from his initial point.

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2013 Fringe Festival review schedule

Here’s a schedule of every show that I’ll be seeing at the Fringe this year. I intend to review each one within a day of viewing. I will be adding more shows as the festival progresses, so check back frequently and shoot me an email if you want me to review a specific show. I’ll link to each review from this page.

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Jisei, Kansei, and Yousei: an original mystery saga with room to grow

Jisei, Kansei and Yousei, are a series of fully-voiced visual novels in which the biggest mystery for you to solve is that of yourself: a teenage protagonist, who remains nameless throughout the entirety of the first game. You’ve returned to his home town to face his past, and while unearthing the deep, murky supernatural history that Sakevisual has crafted is mostly a good experience, design quirks, occasionally poor writing and continuity errors do detract from the series’ immersion.

First, I will that say that crazy things happen when a team of people dedicate themselves to a project for a prolonged period. Steady improvements are a given when you put in the time. And with each game in the Jisei visual novel series (JKY) developed and released roughly a year apart, experiencing the improvements upon the already competent narrative-foundation spawned in 2010, is enjoyable.

Though, I’m glad that these games are chapters instead of a conclusive trilogy, because three years later, there is still room for improvement.

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Outland Games: a pretty shallow, blood-sport take on the endless runner formula

Outland Games brings to iOS some of the charm that Uber Entertainment’s Super Monday Night Combat had going for it, but once you get past the initial chuckles, their first mobile foray does little to keep you hooked.

The idea of transplanting the gladiator ideals of ancient times into a futuristic atmosphere has been tossed around in video games for years, usually in the form of first-person shooters. Some titles re-imagine the feeling of competition well. The Unreal Tournament franchise is the first to jump to mind in this category, but many others like 2012’s Nexuiz have struggled to make the concept fun. And I’d put Outland Games in this second category as well.

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Dysfunctional Systems: Episode 1: an emotional start to a universe of potentials

When I take a look back at the quality of the products that Dischan Media has developed in the past, it blows my mind that Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos is the first visual novel they’ve decided to adorn with a price tag.

I don’t enjoy reading – rather, it’s not that I don’t enjoy the act, it’s more that I prefer to consume my information and entertainment through mediums other than pages and books. Why would I torture myself with solely the words of a few great writers when I could be engrossing myself with the work of a multi-disciplined team of talented creators?

DS1

Whether it’s the remarkably artistic menus that welcome you to the game when you first launch it, the persistently detailed, yet subtle, facial expressions that shift across the characters’ faces as they react to the situations around them, or the instantly enveloping soundtrack that nudges you along, Learning to Manage Chaos is “reading” done right. Continue reading →

Polara: an atmospheric, quick fingered brain twister that’s got plenty of longevity

In a swamped mobile games market, it can be difficult for games labelled as “just ok” to stand out. Hope This Works Games’ Polara raises the bar for mobile titles that require quick thinking and intense focus high enough to merit its recent price increase And it does so under the pretext of a mostly compelling narrative.

When the mechanics of an endless-runner and Ikaruga’s (or more recently Outland’s) colour-switching get thrown together in the same sentence, there are many who would ravenously start hunting around for the source of the rumouring, But while the allure of a game that combines the two elements is extremely tempting, the number of ways that the game design could go wrong is enough to make me avoid premature excitement.

Polara 1

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Locked-In: an engaging sprint to the truth behind an afflicted executive woman’s life

When it comes to visual novels, there are a few critical pieces beyond stellar writing that need to be in place if you want a player to remain invested in your story. And Lucky Special Games’ Locked-In does a fantastic job of gathering assets to do just that.

It shouldn’t feel like a chore to watch the words crawl across the screen while a static image representing a character delivers their lines. The game has to engage the player and give them a reason to invest their time; there are many who might typically prefer to just read a book.

But I would find it difficult to believe that a player could run through a couple of Locked-In’s eight endings and still think they could get the same experience elsewhere. The combination of its eerie silhouettes with a dash of colour on an accessory to represent each, surprisingly, well-developed character really goes a long way to quickly make you care about their motivations.

Locked-In 1

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Jetpack Joyride: the juggernaut of pick-up and play iOS games

When I first purchased my iPhone 4S in 2011, I did what any deprived mobile gamer would do after getting a shiny piece of hardware they’ve drooled over for years: I downloaded every free app and game that caught my eye.

Yet, out of the hundreds of free-to-play stinkers, and even the pay-to-play gems that I sunk hours into before completing their self contained experiences and removing them from my phone to free up space, Jetpack Joyride is the only 20 mb bundle of digital joy that has stood the test of time and remained on my iOS device.

Jetpack Joy Ride

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