Demon's Souls - Review

Starting this review off I would like to mention that I'm someone who has never been a fan of Action-RPGs, repetition, and extremely difficult games. So when I finally bought Demon's Souls I thought it would only hold my interest for a short while before I'd give up and move on to my other gaming comfort zones. However I was wrong because the hype and the word of mouth for this game has been so wrong and misleading. Yes, it is an Action-RPG but it is unlike any other Action-RPG I have ever played, yes, it is trial and error but it is also a game that abides by it's own set of rules and rarely ever breaks them, and yes, it can be a challenging and difficult game but that is only before you learn how to play it or if you play it wrong without adapting your strategies to the different situations. It has been called a niche game but that to has been misleading because it is a game for anyone willing to put in the necessary hours to learn its deep gameplay.

I was wrong because the game is simply amazing and manages to transcend the nuisances I usually hate and it got a grip on me that I have not felt from a game since Baldur's Gate 2. The atmosphere that embodies the game world is incredible, this is a dark and bleak world that oppresses you until you basically get a panic attack. The Kingdom of Boletaria is minimalistic and shrouded in mystery and you will only ever get hints at the larger picture going on in the setting, but it is so well crafted that you will literally feel it more than anything else. It is also a game that does not compromise on it's difficulty and while the game can be unforgiving, in the end its challenge is there for a reason and a huge part of what makes the game so great is the sense of progress and reward that comes from actually becoming good at playing it. Not in recent memory has a game created such a sense of loss and accomplishment, and I can't remember the last game that has engrossed me in it's world and setting to this extent.

The Prisoner

Today I finally got around to watching the first two episode of AMC's recent miniseries titled The Prisoner. It's apparently a remake of a series dating back to the 1960s with the same name. This new series however goes the typical route of a remake in casting supposedly serious actors such as James Caviezel (The Passion, Thin Red Line) and Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings) which turn out to be a good thing since the acting so far has been really rad. The production value of this series seem to be very high and I really like the setting in the desert with the Village looking just a bit too pleasant and familiar to actually be pleasant.

The plot so far has been intentionally confusing in that 6 (James Caviezel) wakes up in the desert where he sees an old man, 93, being shot at and chased. 6 helps the wounded old man to a cave where the old man tells him to "Go to 554." before dying. 6 buries the old man and wanders into the Village where he finds himself grilled over the location of the old man he encountered by the mysterious leader of the Village 2 (Ian McKellen). The rest of the first double episode is spent mainly on 6 trying to escape the Village and find his way back to what he considers the real world while being opposed by 2 who is trying to convince him that his ideas of escape and freedom are delusions of an ill mind.

While I'm not really hooked into this series after merely two episodes I do feel that there is a lot of potential here. The main appeal to me comes from the fact that I'm a huge Kafka fan and I really love sci-fi mystery shows like Lost. The Prisoner really feels like a combination of these two with some 1984 thrown in there for good measure, which results in a cocktail that consists of three things that I appreciate. The most specific thing the show reminds me of is The Castle by Franz Kafka but reversed with the main character trying to get out. I'm not fully hooked yet but I do feel an incentive to continue watching and that's always a good sign.

JOKER by Brian Azzarello

This comic is number one on my wish list this coming Xmas, so a certain forest troll can start gathering their coins to buy it for me as a gift. *cough* Sarah! *cough* ♥

It was basically a tie between this and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller but this just ended up peaking my interest more when I found out that the author Brian Azzarello did my favourite short segment in the animated movie Batman: Gotham Knight. His segment titled Working Through Pain was not only the best animated one in my opinion but also had the darkest message about Batman; a theme about pain-management as well as how unhealthy Bruce Wayne's quest for revenge is and how it doesn't come from a healthy and good mental state. It also got a lot of plus points with me due to a wounded Batman, because there is nothing I love more than wounded, gritty and pissed off Batman. In either case I would suggest anyone even remotely interested in the awesomeness of Batman to check out Batman: Gotham Knight.

Still it's not the only appeal of this comic to me, it is also obviously the beautiful art direction by Lee Bermejo that you can observe above. I simply adore the gritty style and how uncomfortable it makes me feel about the Joker just by looking at it. When I was a kid I used to be terrified of the Joker and even recently I found Alan Moore's Joker in The Killing Joke to be scary but this new comic seems to take my unease with the character to a whole new level. I also love the obvious nod to Christopher Nolan's interpretation of the character since it is to date what I consider to be the finest Joker, largely due to the impressive performance by Heath Ledger last year. In short I want this in my Batman collection so I can learn more about my greatest adversary - The Joker.