Splendor | Principal Platforms: iOS, Android, Steam (version tested) | Developer: Days of Wonder | Publisher: Days of Wonder | Genre: Strategy | Year: 2015 Splendor is a name that I heard quite often in board gaming circles and after playing this digital adaptation on Steam recently, I can see where the buzz was coming from. This fairly recent mobile port by developer Days of Wonder is a direct translation of the competitive multiplayer strategy card game from designer Marc André and publisher Space Cowboys . Players assume the role of Renaissance era merchants as they seek to secure cards that represent the various mines, cargo ships and bazaars responsible for the acquisition and distribution of their valuable gem stones. The first thing that strikes you about Splendor - other than its rather fantastic artwork - is just how simple it is for a novice to jump into the game. On your turn you are presented with a selection of simple actions that allow you to either take gem tokens from the available stock, reserve a card in the central area, or alternatively purchase a card outright with the gem tokens and gem bonuses that you currently have available. The cards in the central zone each sport a different coloured gem stone from a selection of five, namely: ruby, sapphire, emerald, diamond or onyx. When you purchase one of these cards it is added to your tableau, thus granting a discount bonus (depending on the card's printed gem stone) and 0-7 victory points that will determine endgame scoring. If you choose to reserve a card you won't actually get to grab any gem tokens that turn, but the action does still reward you with a single gold piece that acts a 'wild' gem of any colour that you might need in the future. [caption id="attachment_4785" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Each card features multiple coloured circles that denote how many specific gem bonuses or tokens are needed in order to purchase it.[/caption] Alongside the table you'll also find several randomly dealt noble cards that will grant additional victory points to the players who acquire sufficient gem bonuses of a particular colour group, so striking a good balance in the hue of cards that you collect can be fairly crucial as the game goes on. Once any player has managed to earn 15 victory points, the current game round finishes and the final scoring is totaled to decide a winner. Focusing on the game design itself, Splendor is fast to learn and the equally swift pace of play gives it an addictive 'one more go' sensation that's hard to resist. Despite its inherent simplicity, there are some interesting layers of strategy bubbling beneath the surface and although it might take you 5 minutes to pick up the basics, it will likely take another 5 hours before you'll really begin appreciating the most efficient paths towards victory. Like most "Euro" style board games, Splendor features very rigidly defined mechanics at the expense of theme, but what helps it succeed is the variety of strategies that you employ from session to session. Specializing in a specific type of gem, or "buying all the greens" for example, could be a legitimate approach should the initial setup feature several high-scoring cards with a suitably steep emerald cost. Alternatively you might decide to downplay the importance of the expensive tier 3 cards entirely and balance out your purchases as equally as possible in order to attract the lucrative noble cards into your tableau. It's even possible to play an opportunist role; collecting as many gem and gold tokens as the limit allows whilst waiting for the other players to reveal the cheaper bonus cards that will allow you to maximize your profit margin. You won't ever get into the feeling of being an actual gem dealer, as Splendor is more a game of numbers than anything else, but the wonderful artwork from artist Pascal Quidault certainly does a good job of making each card evocative of its period setting. [caption id="attachment_4787" align="alignright" width="300"] The challenge packs are a solid if inconsistent addition to the Splendor experience.[/caption] Reputedly inspired by Anglo-saxon artists, Quidault effortlessly breathes life into what could easily have been a very sterile game with his various illustrations of appraisers, expeditions and Renaissance settlements giving the production a certain level of authenticity and class. Much of what I've said above translates into the Steam version very well. The high definition UI and card graphics successfully remain true to the original game and there's some added value in the form of crafty AI opponents, achievements and a handful of single player challenge packs. Similar to chess puzzles, the themed challenges in this digital version are an interesting addition that task a player with striving towards a particular goal such as earning a set amount of points in a limited number of turns or collecting a combination of cards without the assistance of added gem tokens. Whilst the difficult challenges in this sense do provide a satisfyingly "thinky" experience, it has to be said that there's really not enough of them. The easy challenges by comparison - which sadly represent the bulk of the pack - are too often dull and repetitive affairs that sometimes don't even present you with a failure condition; usually meaning that you simply need to collect points aimlessly until reaching a preset amount. The idea is for you to try and beat your best times, but it doesn't work as a substitute to the better thought-out puzzles and instead they just come off as boring. Some of the nuance in Splendor's flow of play is also lost when playing against AI opponents. I haven't played the original board game itself, but I can easily see the potential that exists for blocking competing players. Are your neighbors targeting a lot of red cards? Then reserve those cards away from their grasp or stockpile the tokens they need to make certain purchases; always trying to nudge them into altering their tactics on the fly. Splendor is not a game of direct interaction, but the competition over resources is sorely missed in the digital version as AI players mostly seem to ignore your efforts in favour of building their own point-accumulating engine. There's no online mutliplayer included in the digital rendition either, although there is a hotseat multiplayer mode for up to four players as well as leaderboards for those players who are willing to register an account at the publisher's website. [caption id="attachment_4789" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Days of Wonder website details the unique behavior patterns for the AI-controlled players, but such crucial information really needed to be available in the game itself.[/caption] Perhaps the most jarring facets of the Steam version though are the rough edges brought about by its port over from mobile devices. Some of these gripes are minor, like the multiplayer section which is still named "pass and play" (instead of the more traditional "hotseat") and the menu dialog which asks you if you wish to "exit the app" instead of "exit the game". Other problems are more severe however, like the fuzzy or sometimes missing text on the challenge menus, the overly repetitive music and the lack of difficulty settings for the AI players. The Splendor store page on Steam is also inundated with customers reporting crash-to-desktop errors and I can attest to experiencing a dreaded CTD once myself when trying to start a new game from the main menu. These problems certainly make the Steam version a disappointment at times, but I don't feel that they're serious enough to deter from the strength of the original game's design as it's that strong on the basis of its own merits. Translating a former Spiel des Jahres nominee was always going to be a dicey proposition and as such, this version of Splendor is a visually faithful, if sometimes flawed rendition that still delivers a heady fix of strategic card-collecting from the comfort of your PC.

WARNING: This is a review intended for those who have already watched SPECTRE and are now looking for a more detailed opinion on the film's plot and its characters. As such, everything you read below comes with a heavy warning for spoilers! Daniel Craig's tenure as the grizzled assassin 007 got off to a rip-roaringly good start with Casino Royale , but the luster seemed to wear off almost immediately with the creators behind this latest release SPECTRE now stripping the last vestige of nuance away with another outrageously dull sequel chock-full of cringeworthy throwbacks and forgettable action sequences. The plot chronicles Bond's run-in with the shadowy organization - literally, they sit around in pitch-black darkness for most of the film - known as SPECTRE ; a league of unfathomably evil Illuminati rejects whose leader seems to have a link to 007's equally dark past. Assisted or otherwise cockblocked by his bumbling colleagues at MI6, Bond travels the globe seeking to uncover a pseudo-sinister plot to overthrow the world's imminent new surveillance network known as Nine Eyes. The film starts with a scene so heavy-handed and gratuitous it's akin to experiencing sudden blunt force trauma to the head. [caption id="attachment_4668" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Judging by the rather derelict locales later in the film, the entire extras budget must have been consumed by this one opening scene.[/caption] We catch up with 007 strolling through the streets of Mexico City in full on cosplay mode for the country's Día de Muertos holiday. Clearly a ham-fisted attempt at forcing some colour and death-related imagery/subtext into the film, this opening scene has been given a lot more praise than it really deserves. This is likely because of the fact that it's presented in one sustained five-minute tracking shot - something that professional critics have gone absolutely potty over - which might have looked more impressive if such a technique didn't feel so blatantly overused and ultimately pointless. Once he discards his idiotic disguise, Daniel Craig tries his best not to look too old as he potters about the legitimately precarious Mexican rooftops before accidentally blowing up an entire street block in a botched attempt at assassinating a terrorist known as Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona). After having his arse saved by a conveniently-placed sofa (I wish I was making this up) Bond then makes a token attempt at shadowing Sciarra through the streets before chasing him to his nearby helicopter for a painfully drawn-out action sequence where Bond murders not only him, but also the vehicle's pilot and my family's pet dog. There's no reason given for why Bond is doing all of this until later on (and even then it's paper-thin) which is a big problem considering you're given the entire title sequence to contemplate why Bond just murdered several people for no apparent reason. Sure, the "bad guys" may have been nasty bomb-makers, but why kill these particular bomb-makers? What makes them so darn interesting? Context is everything, so please provide some next time. After retrieving an ominous Octopus ring from Sciarra's finger, Bond is grounded (yes; this is the exact terminology used) by his boss Garreth Mallory AKA "M" (Ralph Fiennes) for endangering the 00 program with his reckless antics and for generally being a bit of a dick. [caption id="attachment_4664" align="alignleft" width="300"] Whilst his performance is fine, Andrew Scott's appearance might as well come with a giant sign that reads "HE'S EVIL."[/caption] An awkward side plot is quickly inserted involving a new character called Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott); a high-ranking government bigwig who uses Bond's rampage in Mexico as leverage for a proposal to scrap the 00 program altogether in favour of a global surveillance program that would make even George Orwell sqeemish by comparison. When we discover the reason behind Bond's unofficial Mexico mission - told to us in a perplexing found footage cameo from the previous M (Judi Dench) - it's hard not to at least partially sympathize with Denbigh's proposal; something that makes his subsequent on-screen clashes with Mallory difficult to invest in. Soon after Bond does what he always does and goes rogue, crossing paths with the walking bit part/sex object Lucia (Monica Belluchi) before infiltrating the headquarters of the titular SPECTRE group. SPECTRE isn't your run-of-the-mill cult of Cthulhu worshipers though, but a network of unspeakably evil people bent on subverting the world's governments to their own ends. What follows is an agonizingly long scene where we're introduced to a few new players including a quick peak at head honcho Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) and the mute brute Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista); a hulking mass of muscle with grotesque metal finger nails that are forgotten about as quickly as they're introduced. After what feels like an eternity of dead air, where all the group members just seem to stare at each other in complete silence, Bond is spotted and all hell breaks loose. Following a dreary car chase through the streets of Rome, Bond escapes his now totalled vehicle via parachute before landing comfortably near a civilian street sweeper for that old "bemused onlooker" trope that falls completely flat because the hired extra just ends up looking bored instead of surprised. After all that palava, 007 travels to Austria where he eventually meets up with chief "Bond girl" Dr. Madeline Swann (Léa Seydoux); one of SPECTRE's high value targets who James promised to protect in an earlier throwaway scene starring the elusive Mr. White (Jesper Christensen). [caption id="attachment_4670" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The use of action scenes is all well and good, but when the reasoning behind them is so shallow, they become tough to appreciate.[/caption] Dr. Swann formally reveals the name of SPECTRE, but quickly gets captured by the apparently psychic Mr. Hinx and it's at this point that you realize there's going to be no nuance to Dave Bautista's character whatsoever. In yet another move to make SPECTRE feel more like the Bond films of yore, Hinx is portrayed as a silent slab of humanity; a one-dimensional killing machine from the Jaws mold with no motivation other than to see 007 dead. You can argue that it hardly makes a difference considering the character's contribution to making the film at least do something/anything, but it's a missed opportunity when you consider the actor's rather charismatic turn in last year's Guardians of the Galaxy . Eventually Bond and Swann evade capture and shack up in a mysterious hotel room in Tangier that supposedly has connections to SPECTRE. As night falls, Bond has an ill-advised stab at levity by threatening a mouse with his pistol whereupon you can easily predict the impending "rodent leads hero to secret entrance" trope that's about to clumsily force its ways onto the screen. Thus Bond discovers Mr. White's hidden safe haven from SPECTRE, but all it reveals is a set of coordinates; a pointless little mystery in a seemingly endless number of signposts that do little except lead Bond from one set piece to another. Following this, Bond and Swann are again attacked by Mr. Hinx who tries to intercept them on a train bound for the Moroccan desert. Owing to the rather barren cinematography seen throughout SPECTRE, the train is all but devoid of human life for this could-have-been-good fight sequence and it misses out on a lot of potential threat as a result. Indeed, when Hinx is dispatched and Bond has sex with Swann in a nearby carriage; there's no-one around to question the devastation wrought by their fisticuffs; as if the whole scene had taken place in a vacuum in space and time. Soon Bond is dropped off in the middle of the desert and in a moment of profound stupidity, accepts Oberhauser's equally stupid invitation for 007 to tour the villain's nearby evil lair which is built within the bowels of a giant meteorite crater. Uh-huh. Actor Christopher Waltz finally takes centre stage for his big reveal as the film's arch villain, but his resulting performance just adds to the already bitter air of disappointment. Indeed, when he first strides into frame it's hard not to feel underwhelmed. Of course I don't think that every Bond villain needs to have a hideous scar or crippling deformity in order to be interesting, but after more than an hour of build-up here, I wanted to see something sinister about Oberhauser that wasn't just his rather gruesome pair of sockless loafers. [caption id="attachment_4667" align="alignleft" width="300"] "It was me James. The author of all your pain." Whilst I missed a lot of the film's marketing, it was easy to tell which bits were obvious trailer fodder.[/caption] Waltz's uncharacteristically bland delivery doesn't help matters either and the cherry on the cake comes when he reveals - almost as a throwaway line - his newly adopted name of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. And thus the final veneer of good taste comes peeling away as the scriptwriters step into full on throwback territory. Forgetting the fact that this new moniker is completely aimless (the name "Blofeld" has zero relevance within the film's narrative) and is probably only intended to wake up your dad who fell asleep whilst watching, we're then treated to a stupefying retcon that suggests this villain was chiefly responsible for the events of the last three films! Le Chiffre's bankrolling of terrorist cells and the murder of Bond's former lover Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale . Now the work of Blofeld. Raoul Silva's deeply personal crusade to assassinate M in Skyfall . Now the work of Blofeld. That evil guy's plan to do whatever it was he wanted to do in that other Daniel Craig Bond film. Now the work of Blofeld. Disrespectful, lazy and completely nonsensical. There's no other way to describe this feeble, not to mention damaging, attempt at establishing a James Bond 'cinematic universe'. Just like the tepid reveals of Khan ( Star Trek: Into Darkness ) and Robin ( The Dark Knight Rises ), this nostalgic naming gimmick smacks of pure desperation on the part of the writers who clearly yearn for their work to have a deeper identity. What makes matters worse is the tenuous link they try to establish between Blofeld and Bond; suggesting the two were childhood comrades before Blofeld jealousy murdered his own father because of the attention he bestowed upon James as a child. Thus the underlying motive for an entire set of four films boils down to a case of one man's daddy resentment . Astonishing. The tedium continues then as Blofeld reveals his cunning plan to gain control of the world's intelligence data and do something with it, maybe. It's not really made clear, but I can guess the answer is something along the lines of "take over the world" or perhaps even "carry on being evil, business as usual, standard procedure and all that". So Blofeld detains Bond (who has no-one to blame but himself for getting captured) and tortures him with an unusual medical device that bores into its victim's neck with a sharp drill bit. Aside from looking quite unpleasant for a film rated 12A, this device doesn't actually seem to accomplish much as Bond uses the power of love to escape seemingly unharmed (seriously) whereupon he quickly destroys Blofeld's entire desert outpost by shooting at several conveniently-placed gas canisters outside the complex. [caption id="attachment_4665" align="alignright" width="300"] Despite clocking in at a bloated 2.5 hours, the film still doesn't have enough time to properly resolve its 'Big Brother' sub plot.[/caption] Bond returns to London, M ousts Max Denbigh as a villain (real shocker there) and the whole "MI6 posse" including Q and Moneypenny set out to save the world from The League of Extraordinary Voyeurs. Madeline Swann tries to do the smart thing and just abandon the film altogether, but she gets captured again and Bond has to rescue her from another overrunning scene featuring Blofeld's 'little shop of vaguely horrible horrors' that he's somehow set up at the condemned MI6 building that was obliterated during the events of Skyfall . The wearisome name-dropping and referencing continues throughout all of this and eventually Bond just has enough, shoots down Blofeld's escaping helicopter and leaves him - alive - in the hands of M, walking off into the sunset with Dr. Swann as he does so. Daniel Craig has stated, quite vehemently, that he has no interest in playing the James Bond character ever again and I wonder how much of that sentiment is due to the quality of this latest outing. Even the very worst Bond films had something I myself could latch onto; a singular idea or interesting premise that perhaps hinted at a deeper potential, but SPECTRE has nothing; there's nothing I can say I enjoyed about this film and that's in spite of viewing it free of charge! I'm actually glad that it turned out this way though, because perhaps now there exists the very best mainstream example of just how badly nostalgia creep can spoil a franchise. If James Bond truly is to return, then perhaps it would be best as part of another reboot because this colossal misfire has already made the Craig era feel remarkably stale.

There's a scene in Futurama where the main character is asked why his work locker contains a cap full of yogurt, to which his response is: "I can explain that. Uh, see it used to be milk, and well, time makes fools of us all." So yeah, the 32-bit era, if you will, does not contain my favourite gaming memories, but I can still recall several remarkable moments from those experimental years. It may have just been one giant marketing angle, but the referencing to "bits" as a mark of a home console's graphical power was actually quite useful and I can vividly recall my first exposure to anything "32-bit" being a magazine picture depicting a Tyrannosaurus rex seemingly ready to tear its way off of the page and into reality itself. I assume that this was a screenshot for the mediocre Lost World: Jurassic Park tie-in, but at the time I had not seen anything as fantastic as this claiming to be in a video game before. One of my personal problems with the introduction of the 32-bit gaming systems was in the timing. Quite simply; I wasn't yet ready to leave the previous round of home consoles behind. The 16-bit market, if you want to call it that, was still really strong at this time and I've always thought that many companies ( Sega especially) were far too hasty in leaving it behind. Whilst I didn't adopt a 32-bit system during their respective release dates, my inauguration to this new brotherhood would inevitably still come about after seeing my friend's Sony PlayStation in action. Titles such as Soul Blade and Mortal Kombat Trilogy quickly won me over as did an odd little offering called Time Commando ; a basic 3D action game where the main character would exclaim: "Shit!" when lifting a heavy club. I remember thinking that was funny! Surprisingly though, the PlayStation games that left the biggest impression on me were Twisted Metal: World Tour and Resident Evil . As I said back in my article on video game surprises: the Twisted Metal series is notable as the progenitor of the 3D car-combat subgenre. It features an array of over-the-top levels and drivers, and combines high-octane thrills, mindless violence and fast cars. Twisted Metal: World Tour is a 32-bit game with a very noticeable milk-yogurt factor; your typical player today would be horrified by its lo-res visuals and triangular polygons that make up the graphics, but back in 1996 this game looked amazing and I found it to be fiendishly good fun too. What really awed me about it was the level of interactivity the player has over the environment. World Tour has all sorts of features packed into its expansive stages including a working subway system, ramps, power ups, icebergs and my personal favourite; a destructible Eiffel Tower! I can remember requesting to play this game all the time just so I could see the Tower explode and fall on its side; it was definitely one the most spectacular moments I had witnessed in gaming up to that point. Resident Evil is another notable game from the period, but I saw decidedly little of it due to the fear factor involved with playing the damn thing. I’m not ashamed to admit that this game absolutely terrified me when I first saw it in motion. Horror titles rarely have such effect on me today of course - such is the curse of one who has been jaded to the point of absolute numbness - but as a ten-year-old kid the action was genuinely frightening. The famous scene where you first witness a zombie eating its victim's flesh and then it slowly turns around to face you... It might look hilarious by today's standards of zombie-obsessed media, but what a moment it was. I don't think console games had ever truly nailed that cinematic feeling before the 32-bit era and this scene in particular is a good example of how it could be accomplished. As terrifying as Resident Evil was to simply watch however, playing it for yourself proved to be almost unbearable. I'd previously watched my friend walk up to a prone zombie dozens of times and casually kick its head clean off, but I just couldn't bear the thought of one of those things ever getting near to my character. "Just bash the buttons when it grabs your ankle" was the instruction, but I just couldn't stomach it. I'd end up wasting half of Jill's pistol ammunition trying to shoot a crawling zombie thus leaving no bullets for the harder sections to come. It didn't help that my friend - who I should mention was much older, crueler and less gullible than I was at the time - played up the game's horror factor for all it was worth when demoing it to his friends. "Do not go through that door..." he might say, or "Trust me, this next bit is shit-scary!" ; anything just to screw with people even more. These were fun times I suppose, but something was definitely missing. I was amazed by some of the sights I was seeing on PlayStation , but for some reason it still didn't prompt me to request one for Christmas. Much like Nintendo would end up doing, I remained content to simply ride out much of the 32-bit period with my existing 16-bit library. Another reason for this stems from Sega's ineffectual job of advertising its own wave of 32-bit hardware. As a dedicated Mega Drive user, I could easily have been persuaded to upgrade to their new Sega Saturn console if the accompanying marketing campaign had been in anyway decent, but alas it was not. The European launch was especially lacking and it's easy to tell because by the time the console released in the middle of 1995, I myself knew next to nothing about it despite being an avid fan of Sega's previous works. When I finally did acquire a Sega Saturn one Christmas it was already long into its terminable days on the market and the writing was well and truly on the wall at that point. For instance, on one of GamesMaster Magazine's yearly 'top games of all time' lists, I can remember there being virtually no Sega Saturn titles featured whatsoever except for Sega Rally which somehow managed to secure the coveted number 3 spot due to it being an office favourite at lunchtimes. Sega just didn't have the look of a professional outfit anymore and their manhandling of the Saturn only got worse as time went on. I did manage to eek some enjoyment out of the console, but its weak 3D graphics capability and anemic line up of games could be felt in every way that mattered. The official Sega Saturn magazine did its best to hype things up with its teen-orientated writing style and unrealistically high review scores, but even they grew dissatisfied with the console's performance, especially when it was revealed that the Japanese exclusive mega-hit Grandia wouldn't be getting translated for a wider release. Today, the Saturn's infamously complex architecture makes it resistant to emulation and so a few essential exclusives such as Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers and Dragon Force necessitate having the native hardware at your disposal. It is also often cited by retro collectors as an "import darling" and whilst I agree the NTSC-J game library is more accessible for English speakers than the Sega Mega-CD ever was, you really need a modified console to get the most out of it because region-swapping cartridges and 60hz concerns can become a real headache for Western users. Many of the best titles for the Saturn happen to be the victims of short print runs too and so you can expect many of them to fetch an extremely high price on the secondhand market. I'm slowly starting to move away from retro game collecting as I feel like I've reached a point of diminishing returns with the titles I keep around. Sometimes this eventuality is for the better - as a maligned 50hz-locked copy of Alien Soldier will clearly illustrate - and sometimes it isn't, but running antiquated video game hardware on a modern television is another challenge that I seldom enjoy dealing with. The single best piece of advice I can give to potential collectors is this: Always have a target in mind and know your limits. In terms of video game collecting, unless you are possessed with a very deep and natural passion for the activity, it's simply not realistic to assume that you'll be able to find every title ever made for a particular format, so try to set a goal. Do you want to collect games that you can still play or boxes and discs that you'll hoard in a giant closet? Maybe you want to own all the RPGs for a particular format, all the titles that support more than 2 players or perhaps everything released for a console's PAL or NTSC markets. Nowadays I try to keep my personal collection down to a few quality titles that I can't see myself without; usually these are games that I still enjoy playing, but wouldn't be able to replicate on more advanced hardware due to the lack of a good re-release or emulation option. In terms of the 32-bit era specifically, if I had to name one game in my collection that prompts the fondest memories of that time then it would have to be Tomb Raider . Still a marvelous game after all this time, Tomb Raider holds the distinction of being the first game I ever played for Sega Saturn and as I said previously on CelJaded : it's a game that perhaps single-handedly brought the 32-bit era to the attention of the masses with its raw quality and the broad appeal of the Lara Croft character. Although I must attest this success is really due to the superior PlayStation and PC versions that I didn't actually play! I talk about the topic of nostalgia quite regularly on this blog; how I've distanced myself from it in recent years, but let's be clear: I can still be susceptible to it. Unlike the modern interpretation though; where feeling nostalgic is seen as a good thing, I ascribe to the more classical definition where nostalgia is a painful emotion. I respect the past and try my best to learn from it, but I don't remain a slave to such memories. Like most things, the 32-bit era and even retro games in general aren't always the fresh glass of milk that we remember, but rather the sort of stale yogurty mess that's never as good as it used to be. That's why you always leave a note.

CONTENT WARNING: D2 is a mature-rated game with a narrative-heavy design. As such, everything you read below comes with a heavy warning for both adult themes and plot spoilers . Before his untimely death in 2013, designer and musician Kenji Eno had established a reputation as a true auteur video game developer. Whether you enjoy his work or not, it should be easy to respect Eno as an individual who was once possessed of extraordinary creativity and I'm sure that fans will remember the handful of titles that he produced alongside his team at WARP as fondly as the man himself. As to be expected with most progressive works though, professional reviews of WARP's games were divisive to say the least and popular opinion on their mainstream releases D and Enemy Zero in particular, referred to them as everything from 'inspired' to 'borderline unplayable'. But whereas these two titles received at least some residual praise from more forgiving publications, WARP's final game D2 did not fare well critically or commercially. Released exclusively for the Sega Dreamcast in late December 1999 (Japan) and then again in August 2000 (North America), D2 is considered to be a masterpiece to some and a exercise in tedium to others and for fifteen long years had I myself looked on curiously and wondered which side of the divide I would fall eventually fall on. D2 - which was originally developed in a somewhat different form for the cancelled Panasonic M2 console - has remained a Dreamcast rarity to this day; a niche exclusive that never saw a wider release in Europe despite the considerable hype being generated by certain national magazines of the time. At first blush you might expect this game to be a sequel to the original D , but that's not exactly the case. Although the two games share a title, they're entirely separate stories with similar character names and the odd visual reference providing, at best, a tenuous link between the two. D2 begins with a lengthy opening movie that introduces the leading heroine and protagonist Laura Parton who is seen aboard a passenger flight currently crossing over the snow-covered wilderness of Northern Canada. Following a rather shocking pre-9/11 hijacking scene, a glowing meteorite inexplicably collides with the plane and plunges it and its passengers into the deep snow amid the isolated mountains. [caption id="attachment_4222" align="alignleft" width="300"] D2 made for many tantalizing magazine screenshots back in the day.[/caption] After being saved by a dying stranger, Laura survives the crash and after banding together with a mysterious woman named Kimberly, she discovers that the dead bodies of the passengers have come back to life as mutated monsters who have now overrun the area and begun preying on all human life that they can lay their misshapen feelers on. With only a few frail alliances and her own martial skills to rely upon, Laura braves the harsh environment in search of answers not only to the cause of the crash, but also her fading memory and an awakened force that now threatens the fate of the entire world. When read in this way, D2 may first appear to be another generic adventure title or Resident Evil clone, but stating as such could not be more inaccurate. This is a story with more symbolism and a greater number of explored themes than perhaps any game I've personally played since and its explicit cutscenes that showcase action of a disturbingly violent and sexual nature have arguably not been outdone either. As a video game, D2 does indeed possess the hallmarks of a typical survival horror title, but it actually plays like something a bit more sui generis than that and stands alone from the similar games of its period. One part 3D adventure RPG and one part horror-infused interactive movie, this game knits together several different genres that result in an end product that feels indisputably original, vibrantly realized, and at times rather gripping. But then true to its roots, D2 is also a profoundly flawed experience plagued by frustratingly short-sighted design and narrative decisions that ultimately prove to be its undoing. D2 is beautifully presented and features graphics that looked incredibly realistic for 1999. From the expressive character models, detailed texturing, and some rather wonderful outdoor scenery, this is a visually arresting game even now and looks very sharp when viewed through the Dreamcast's crisp VGA display mode. The realism factor is quite high throughout D2 in fact and although the bizarre plot naturally requires you to suspend your disbelief on an almost permanent basis - as Laura is seen traipsing through deep snow in nothing but her miniskirt and high heels - there are many little flourishes that you can't help but appreciate on a stylistic level. Character models sport detailed facial features like moving eyeballs, Laura's cold breath can be seen whenever she steps outdoors, and a background system is in place to determine the game's dynamic weather cycle. A couple of scenes present NPCs who take drugs and you can see them putting pills into their mouth which have each been individually modelled. If you have an appreciation for the historic nature of computer graphics, then the attention to detail in scenes like this will surely impress you. In terms of gameplay, D2 features three primary modes of interaction. When indoors players are presented with a first-person view for light puzzle solving, NPC conversations, and exploration where your character can manipulate objects and collect bonus items that may be hidden in the immediate area. The use of FMV cutscenes in these areas are almost ubiquitous and you'll find a recorded sequence can play for almost any action that Laura takes, whether it's opening a door, picking up an item or pressing numbers on a keypad. Whilst some of the more humdrum actions in this sense can be freely skipped, it's important to note that the vast majority of FMV material in this game is strictly unskippable. Worthy of mention however is the fact that the story cutscenes can be paused ; a feature that's sadly uncommon by the usual video game standards and extremely welcome considering the very long running time of D2's FMV in general. Every now and then however, what you first thought to be an ordinary cutscene may throw something truly surprising at you - like the one sequence where a typical 'open door' animation suddenly leads you to an exposed cliff face and one potentially deadly fall! Although such moments are few and far between, they are effective in occasionally upsetting a player's sense of security and overall the first-person mode in D2 is quite accomplished and sometimes tense as a result. When the gameplay moves to the more scenic outdoors, a player is treated to a third-person viewpoint and control scheme reminiscent of Resident Evil albeit with full 3D environments as opposed to pre-rendered scenes. Various wild animals including hares, caribou, and snow grouse live in this picturesque wilderness and Laura has the opportunity to hunt them with the rifle that she carries in her inventory. Equipping the hunting rifle switches the view to that of a first-person crosshair and as the player increases their zoom on the target, the camera becomes visibly shaky and harder to control. Imagine the very worst sniper rifles from video game history that you can - I'll choose the ones from TimeSplitters and Outrigger myself - but you still won't be close to grasping how infuriatingly difficult it is to aim this thing. If you do somehow manage to tag an animal with the hunting rifle though, you'll be instantly rewarded with cooked slices of meat that each restore more health than a standard first aid spray, so the reward is at least a useful one for those who persist. The game even records your successful kills and issues you with a special medal for each animal that you bag at least 10 times; it's an odd feature to be sure, but not necessarily an unwelcome one... for masochists at least. The outdoor areas themselves are incredibly large so you're given the impression that the hunting and photo-taking portions of the game were intended not just as a thematic element, but also to provide breaks in the arduous walks that you'll be doing between the various key locations. Combat is a feature with much the same intent, as players are subject to random encounters with enemy monsters as they travel about outside. During these fights the viewpoint will again switch to a first-person view where a stationary Laura must defend herself with whatever firearm she currently has equipped. A nice element to the combat is - once again - found in the presentation as the exact area you're standing in is where the fight will take place when it begins. Aside from the tension-killing sound of the Dreamcast GD-ROM loudly spinning up before each battle, this seamless integration that forgoes loading screens and generic scenery as a backdrop is just another one of those little touches that adds to the overall experience. [caption id="attachment_4265" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The tone of D2 is quiet somber throughout with the sharp exception of several "WTF" moments.[/caption] At its heart though, D2 is very much a story-driven game and the plot here is about as wonderfully twisted as you could imagine coming from the WARPed mind of Kenji Eno. I touched on this briefly at the beginning, but it has to be stressed how truly varied and bizarre the overall storyline to D2 really is. Along with the aforementioned themes of drug abuse, there are plot elements concerning everything from environmentalism and genetic engineering to time travel and that old WARP favourite: cannibalism. You can expect D2 to be an unpredictably screwy, but as interesting as it can be at times, it has to be said that the story woefully overreaches and this is where we'll start moving away from what makes the game so unique and impressive and start discussing why it ultimately fails to be enjoyable. Isolated from humanity in an icy wasteland, Laura learns early on that the infected humans are trying to pass themselves off as human and can only be identified by their green blood. Fear and suspicion of other survivors is teased, which is fine if you happen to like tributes to The Thing , but the relevance of this setup sort of disappears the further into the story you go. Other narrative elements are better developed, but others just seem to trail off entirely. The best example of this is the subplot involving the stupidly-named drug called “Linda”. A great deal of our time is wasted on discussions about the drug and the cannibalistic rampages it sends its users on, but it also has very little bearing on anything by the end. When you're eventually tasked with destroying the pharmaceutical plant that manufactures the drug, it feels like more of a side quest than it does an integrated part of the plot. The translation that the game has undergone from its native Japanese language has also led to some odd dialogue that is made even worse by the game's generally poor lip-synching. The majority of scenes feel fairly natural all things considered, but matters are not helped much by the decision to make Laura a (mostly) mute protagonist. As the Silent Bob of the video game world, Laura is a character of very few words and she only speaks in extremely rare and dramatic circumstances. Whilst I've seen at least one source attempt to explain this decision as her simply being traumatized in the wake of the plane crash, the actual reason doesn't even matter; the effect on gameplay is that you never get any insight into her character and nor will you hear any interesting exchanges with the people she meets. Silent protagonists are common in video games of course, but here it feels like a missed opportunity to add depth. Laura still ends up being a strong and likeable heroine overall, but hearing her exclaim nothing except for the odd gasp or inquisitive squeak gets old pretty quickly. Of course no comment about D2's story would complete without talking about its adult-oriented content that even fifteen years on still possesses the potential to be grotesque. Standard enemies sport plenty of pulsating veins and tentacles, so the phallic connotations will not be hard to miss; especially when an infamous cutscene involving direct tentacle fellatio is run from the beginning of the story. The most graphic of depictions, however, usually come in the form of depraved boss monsters that are artistically weird and often exploitative in equal measure. [caption id="attachment_6533" align="alignleft" width="300"] "Meat or fish?"[/caption] An otherwise superbly creepy battle against a reanimated flight attendant complete with funny quotes and a brief glimpse of undead cleavage sets the tone for what is to come. Subsequently you'll witness a fully nude humanoid doppelgänger, an unmistakable 'weak point' reminiscent of a female vulva, and a peculiar infected old man with a gigantic pelvic tentacle that spews a semen-like substance at you. The paedophilic undertones present in that latter encounter are in particularly poor taste too, but as is the case with many of the more controversial elements of the story, such risqué visuals and themes are arguably not as in-your-face as to be too schlocky. Getting back to the gameplay, D2's biggest problem should hardly come as a surprise to those who are familiar with the genre and that is: knowing where you have to go and what you need to do next in this game is a colossal pain. The very first objective that you're given is to find a young girl who recently went missing from Kimberly's cabin. You'll venture out into the wilderness learning the controls and fighting off enemies for the first time whilst constantly looking for the trigger or clue that leads you to the little tyke's whereabouts. In my particular playthrough Laura travelled from the mysterious stone hut and plane crash site all the way to an abandoned mining facility and back again, but there was no wee lass to be found anywhere. This being 2015, out came an FAQ guide on my mobile phone almost immediately and what did I discover? The little girl cannot actually be found during this segment and you instead need to return to your starting location and trigger a new cutscene that issues you a totally separate objective. Yes, after being told to "find the missing girl", the answer was to instantly forget about the objective and go back indoors! Amid other emotions - one of them naturally being intense and visceral vexation - I felt confused. Did the developers really expect me to have a short look at the obviously empty surrounding area for a few minutes before giving up? Did they really expect me not to open my map and thus not consider visiting the numerous points of interest clearly labelled on it? Sadly this disappointing lack of short term direction and general good sense persists throughout the game and going up against it without the aid of an abridged spoiler free guide - like I did - would be hopelessly ill-advised. Other problems begin to manifest with regards to the story's pacing which can be politely described as " deliberate ". The plot develops at a languorous pace during the early going with a lot of seemingly unnecessary character monologues and establishing of plot threads that ultimately don't go anywhere. Although players have the useful ability to save their progress whenever they like (an uncommon feature for older console games), you can't actually do this until you can bring up the appropriate menu screen. The problem is that cutscenes in D2 often precede and bookend every major encounter you come across and it can sometimes run upwards of 30 minutes before control and saving capability is given back to the player. Apart from being long-winded, this means that it's very easy to forget to save your data altogether. I suffered at least one instance where I was forced to backtrack through a partial disc's worth of content because the game didn't prompt me to save in between the break where the changeover in media previously occurred. And if you're unfortunate enough to have your game crash during one of these miniature films, the chances are that you'll need to replay through a significant amount of content in much the same way before you can get back to the point where you left off. There's no autosave feature or even so much as reminder issued by the game itself and whilst the freedom offered here is nice, the frustration it inevitably causes is not. [caption id="attachment_4268" align="alignright" width="300"] WARP's fictional protagonist called Laura stars in other games made by the studio.[/caption] Later on in the game you'll get access to a snowmobile vehicle which sharply cuts down on the amount of travelling you need to do across each area, but the controls on this thing are twitchy and it won't be long before you're crashing it into every snow drift, wooden post, and defenceless shrub between you and your destination. The amount of backtracking you'll do between Laura's current safe haven and various mission objectives wouldn't be quite so tedious though if it wasn't for the rather disengaging combat she's forced to take part in along the way. Although I expected much worse, the combat in D2 still feels a bit drab and despite WARP's best efforts, it fails to inject the sort of thrills that the game so desperately needs. From her first-person perspective, Laura can encounter up to three foes at one time, but none of her standard weapons are designed to suppress so many enemies at once. An erratic and generally unhelpful targeting box attempts to highlight enemy weak points during such battles, but it's usually a safer strategy to just 'spray and pray' whilst occasionally quaffing restorative items so that all of those unavoidable hits you'll be taking don't end up killing you. Clearly the designers were aware of this foible which is why they chose to include the consumable grenades that essentially act as a localized smart bomb to bring most regular fights to an abrupt end. Boss enemies have specific attack patterns and more obvious vulnerabilities which is good, but the straightforward tactics needed to defeat them still won't challenge or excite players much. Winning a battle awards experience points that ultimately lead to level-ups and a higher maximum health score, but all it really does is help Laura sustain more punishment when going toe to toe with the various late game 'bullet sponge' baddies. It's a real shame because overall D2 provides a tantalizing glimpse of what could have been a much more enticing adventure. Even though the horror factor falls disappointingly flat, the art direction and animation here is cutting edge for its time and even though the repressed soundtrack isn't particularly memorable, there are still plenty of ominous tunes to help give the game a suitably creepy vibe. Indeed, another unsettling twist occurs just after the end credits where a foreboding real time clock (tied to the console's internal settings) appears to display the time left till December 31, 1999 with the intention of revealing a secret message that reads: "Welcome to the 21st Century!" as midnight passes on the following New Year's Day. Of course if the game is completed after this date then the clock seems to make little sense as it simply shows the console's present time and date against a uniformly black background. I may be in a minority here, but having the real life time and date shown to me at the end for no adequately-explored reason somehow freaked me out more than anything that took place during the actual game itself! Well, except maybe for that giant robotic vulva, but we don't talk about that... Ultimately D2 is simply too long and too indulgent to be worth playing through to the end. The gameplay is too lite and too much play time is reserved for reams of FMV content and backtracking that quickly outstays its welcome. Those who appreciate the overly realistic hunting, slow pace, and easy difficulty will find a fairly well put together game in D2 though; one with a genuine movie-like quality that will keep them curious as to how the story all fits together. Director Kenji Eno clearly had grand visions of making video games that were more video than they were games though and here it is felt in a big way. D2 is a unique experience, but then it's not necessarily a very fun one to play through either. WARP put commendable effort into crafting this bizarre and progressive piece of work, it's just a shame that the anaemic gameplay couldn't match its creators' lofty cinematic ambitions.

Listen to samples » Don't adjust your monitors! CelJaded hasn't suddenly become an outlet dedicated to music reviews, but it so happens that there is one more digital album I'd like to talk about this month. One of my readers, a composer called Reid Turner , was kind enough to get in touch recently whereupon he invited me to check out his brand new release titled Audiocade: A Collection of Video Game Inspired Musings . According to Turner, recording soundtracks for independently produced video games can be a real challenge. An artist can regularly wind up composing music for projects that go on hiatus, get cancelled or ultimately never see a full release; surely a frustrating scenario for any musician looking for a bit of closure on their work. Luckily, the growing popularity of such music means that the avenues for self-publishing are also growing and it's just recently that Turner (under his full recording name of Reidwell ) has collected some of these previously wayward tunes of his into the collection that you see here . In the artist's own words: "Each track is inspired by different games combined with different musical styles. Whether it be the Daft Punk/K.K. Slider hybrid that is 'Crunchy Clouds', the mallet percussion and Sitar in Spirit Meridian, or the influence from Disasterpeaces evocative soundtrack "Fez" I want each track to take the listener to a unique place." As you can probably tell from the marvelous animated cover art alone, Audiocade is very proud of where its inspirations lie and the presentation in that sense is very effective at setting the right mood going into the first track. Crunchy Clouds is the first and easily most distinct track on the album as it presents a winning combination of different synths and quirky pseudo-vocals that make for an upbeat listening experience. It's a catchy number to be sure and sets the tone for the rest of the album well as - much like the previously stated inspiration of Fez - Audiocade is very much an album that seeks to take you on a musical journey. The track names themselves (that were suggested by the composer's friends and family no less) do a good job of supporting this theme with numbers such as The Airship and The Desert presenting us with the sort of environmental electronic sound that makes older video game music especially so pleasantly identifiable. Pixelate this Dance is another good production (probably my favourite on the album) and the turbulent Halfblown Panic had me thinking of the quirky soundtrack to Treasure's popular platformer Dynamite Headdy more than once. Quit Staring is also a very good retro-style tune and is definitely one that will delight the purist crowd who prefer a less embellished and more "accurate" sound to their video game music. On the whole I feel that the comparison to Fez is a rather good one. Although I haven't listened to the Fez soundtrack in quite a while, I must admit to recognizing the similarities in Audiocade before I even read Turner's liner notes - it's just a very unique sort of sound I think; quite loud and rumbustious in comparison to Fez perhaps, but unmistakably thematic in both style and presentation nonetheless. It's important to know that Audiocade is a chaotic and upbeat style of music. The whole production is very evocative of its source material in this sense with plenty of diverse sounds and a tremendous (almost exhausting!) energy to it at times. But in listening to this album, I can easily recognize the enthusiasm and appreciation Reidwell has for so many of the classic and cult video games that clearly inspire and expand into his music making. CONCLUSION Whilst you almost certainly need to have an interest in video game music to get the most out of Audiocade , fans of the genre should definitely consider listening to this album. From the wonderful cover art, to the song titles, to the creative "video gamey" sounds that adorn each and every track, Reidwell has recorded an impressive debut work of retro-themed goodness here and I look forward to hearing more in the future.

[caption id="attachment_5891" align="alignleft" width="300"] Fragments[/caption] Listen to samples » Just when you thought it was safe to put down your headphones, here comes Ben Prunty with another album! With the brooding industrial sounds of Dark Window still fresh in my ears, this latest work titled Fragments (coincidentally the second album released in August I've seen with this name) presents a compilation of electronic music recorded over an impressive eight year period. In premise this release shares a lot in common with an earlier Prunty album called Chromatic T-Rex ; an anthology that collects together material from everything including the artist's own personal projects, cancelled video game soundtracks and previously unfinished material now remastered for your listening pleasure. This is not to suggest that the music here sounds unoriginal however, as right from the off, Fragments shows us that it means business. As was the case with my previous review , I feel that the opening track on Fragments is its star attraction. Indeed, Night Zen is quite a diverse number that features a delightful shift between its artist's trademark mellow synths and some surprisingly more aggressive beats that result in quite the trip over the four minutes and fifty seconds of running time. If you read my review on Dark Window then you might recognize this padded track length as the sort of bonus that I felt was missing from that album's opener called Teeth ; just a little bit of extra time to fully appreciate the journey that was being so well developed in the early stages. Night Zen generates a lot of momentum from beginning to end and it's definitely my favourite track on the album because of it. It's a great listen and I'm looking forward to the possibility of Prunty exploring relatively heavier and more aggressive styles like it in the future. We quickly follow up this effort with another interesting track called Little Steps which is actually a rearrangement of Giant Step from Chromatic T-Rex ; an album I once described as a "jumbo pick n' mix bag of pure ear candy." It's statements like these that will eventually force me to change the name of this website... The impressive size of Fragments stems from a fun array of shorter tracks that the album commentary (a PDF supplement that was sadly skipped for Dark Window ) occasionally reveals to be theme songs or anthems for various media sources. Tracks such as Glitch Bros. and Earth in a Jar are similarly not much longer than a minute and a half with change, but they still form a nice sojourn in their own right and it's hard to imagine anyone having a problem with their inclusion. On the opposite side of that coin you have tracks like Rolling Hills, Falling Gracefully and Crispy Static. These are longer and more involved pieces of music where it's easy to see the stylistic similarity between this album and Color Sky ; another of Prunty's more "chilled out" electronic releases that gives you the impression of going on a very dream-like journey. Half way through Fragments however you come across The Shadow - a track that very much sounds like it was accidentally left off of Dark Window ! The sinister ambient pulse in this one stands in stark contrast to the rest of the album, but it does add a nice pinch of unpredictability to the compilation as a whole and will certainly delight the fans of such moodier numbers too. Aside from that you also have the well-titled Waiting in Line at the Bank (QY70) which is a fun retro tune composed on archaic Yamaha hardware and certainly something a bit different. Topping all this off is The Western Apocalypse which marks the welcome return of the banjo - which I'm pretty sure appeared in Chromatic T-Rex , but don't quote me - and forms a 'ride off into the sunset' style of outro that caps things off very nicely. This is a really good effort then. It didn't take me long to get into this one and by the simple virtue of releasing two great albums with mere weeks between them, it simply shows how much quality, creativity and energy Ben Prunty possesses as an artist. Pretty much every track on Fragments is telling of the growing legacy of his style, but the overall theme of these little shards of music coming together to form a united sound (whether that message was ever intended or not) really suits this album perfectly and hints at a little bit more depth than I first expected. CONCLUSION Another album, another masterpiece. Prunty himself describes this as "20 tracks of smooth synths and fun grooves, mastered to sonic perfection" and I agree wholeheartedly. Fragments is perfect for the musical explorer in all of us and comes very easy to recommend at that.

[caption id="attachment_5890" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dark Window[/caption] Listen to samples » Three years on from the critical success of FTL: Faster Than Light , musician Ben Prunty has been hard at work on not only new video game soundtracks, but a lot of his own personal material too. In fact, I reviewed a few of these self-published albums last year and struggled to find anything negative to really say; it seemed that each one carried with it not only a unique-sounding flavour, but a central theme or identity that made it feel distinct and likeable. Released just this month, Ben Prunty's eighth release titled Dark Window continues in very much the same fashion as it promises a departure from his previous work by offering, as the description tells it: "...atmospheric, horror-themed ambient and industrial music... inspired by my love of horror fiction, creepypasta, urban legends, and the fine tradition of unsettling ambient music made for its own sake." The FTL Original Soundtrack featured popular tracks of a similar design and I wonder if Dark Window is partly intended to be a bit of fan service on Prunty's part; delivering a whole dedicated album of those "unsettling" ambient tunes that we've since come to know and enjoy. Either way, you really can't fault the man for knowing where the money is! Dark Window opens up, as it were, with Teeth ; a track that's easily the most energetic offering on the whole album. It's in this song that Prunty's trademark sound is most easily recognized with its nice riffy bassline and infectious beat. Although it's perhaps furthest from the album's overall concept, I find Teeth to be the strongest track on the album and that's in spite of its overall short length. In general I feel I should add that the tracks presented here are the perfect length, but Teeth is such a solid tune that I could have quite happily enjoyed another 60 seconds of such quality. From there the album begins it's steady introduction of more methodical ambient music, starting with the foreboding sounds of Basement (that makes wonderful use of sampled sound) and ending with the mist-covered undead graveyard tour that is The Sky is Dead . Along the way you'll hear the more epic sounds of The Faceless as well as the creepily repressed numbers (wonderfully) titled Cold Universe and Hallway . A slight departure arrives in the track White-Haired Shadow , which plays out to the accompaniment of not only a digitized narrator, but also a record box playing a classical tune that's highly reminiscent of BioShock's more creepy milieus. Indeed, the short uptempo track Quadruped also bears a similarity to Halo of all things, specifically the sections in that opus where you encounter the parasitic zombie-like enemies called The Flood; threatening video game moments in their own right. Whether these ties are simply me reading into things too much or just plain coincidence, they do give the impression of where Prunty's influences are coming from and the effect works very well for an album of this style. Musically Dark Window is very different from the rest of its artist's work, but that doesn't mean it hasn't played to his strengths. The palettes and tool sets tapped for the album sound very fresh and the emphasis on theme here is also very well implied throughout. A great use of horror-themed ambient music is as an accompaniment for similarly-themed tabletop role-playing games and it's something that Prunty is quick to point out in the album's description . Having personally hosted a few horror RPG campaigns in the past (namely under the World of Darkness rule set), I can tell you that Dark Window would make an excellent addition to any such session in need of some heady "mood music". It should be noted that the album is a tad short to perform this specific job on its own however and whilst I don't think its overall 'horror factor' reaches full on "this is freaking me out" territory, the tracks themselves are still of excellent quality and they won't fail to set the scene for a few spooky stories. Despite not being much of an audiophile in general, I have to say that I've enjoyed exploring more alternative music over the years with the electronic/darkwave and industrial genres being a rapidly growing favourite of mine in particular. As an ardent follower of his music, the merest suggestion of ' Prunty does industrial' was to me a real "you had me at hello" sort of deal and I have to say that I'm very pleased with the results. Overall Dark Window is another solid hit in Prunty's expanding discography. At this point it's clear that he doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone: if he continues to record albums as strong as this, I'm sure it won't matter what themes or styles he chooses to explore as their quality will speak for them. CONCLUSION If the foreboding sound of industrial ambient music appeals to you then Dark Window will not disappoint. It may not attack the horror-inspired theme in a myriad of different ways, but when it's all done with the same kind of nuance and flair that Prunty typically brings to his material, who cares?

2015 » CelJaded

Wii U & I: Episode #0 – The Beginning of the End

Announcing a brand new blog series for 2016.

Alex Hajdasz2020-02-16T20:39:06+00:00December 29th, 2015|Categories: Series, Video Games, Wii U & I|

Review: Monument Valley

Uncannily good valley?

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:00:45+00:00December 21st, 2015|Categories: Reviews, Video Games|Tags: Monument Valley|

On the Subject of Bloodborne

Tonight... CelJaded joins the hunt...

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:00:49+00:00December 11th, 2015|Categories: Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: Bloodborne, Dark Souls|

Review: Splendor

Diamonds and gems, we 'ka battle to the end.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:00:51+00:00December 2nd, 2015|Categories: Board & Card Games, Reviews, Video Games|Tags: Splendor|

Retrospective: Heroes of Might and Magic IV

An outsider's look at the most divisive entry in a celebrated series of turn-based strategic role-playing games.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:36+00:00November 21st, 2015|Categories: Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: Heroes of Might & Magic IV|

CelJaded Top 20: Sonic the Hedgehog Music (Part 2)

Part 2 of the new countdown featuring my top 20 favourite music tracks from Sonic the Hedgehog games. Way cool!

Alex Hajdasz2018-05-10T14:00:18+00:00November 9th, 2015|Categories: CelJaded Top 20, Music, Video Games|Tags: Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic CD, Sonic Rush, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic Unleashed|

Review: Spectre

And now we know what 'C' stands for. Crap.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:39+00:00November 6th, 2015|Categories: Movies, Reviews|Tags: Spectre|

CelJaded Top 20: Sonic the Hedgehog Music (Part 1)

Join me for the 1st part of a new countdown featuring my top 20 favourite tracks from the blue blur's exemplary library of sound both past and present.

Alex Hajdasz2019-09-06T15:52:08+00:00October 31st, 2015|Categories: CelJaded Top 20, Music, Video Games|Tags: Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Advance, Sonic Colors, Sonic Heroes, Sonic R, Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic Spinball, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2|

The 32-bit Era

Another casual article discussing the retro video games hobby, PlayStation vs. Saturn, and the not-so-subtle art of collecting.

Alex Hajdasz2018-03-02T17:16:16+00:00October 23rd, 2015|Categories: Personal, Video Games|Tags: Resident Evil, Sega Saturn, Tomb Raider, Twisted Metal: World Tour|

Review: Civilization: Beyond Earth – Rising Tide

A place in space more awesome than anywhere on Earth.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:46+00:00October 14th, 2015|Categories: Reviews, Video Games|Tags: Civilization: Beyond Earth|

Retrospective: Banjo-Tooie

Would you like to bounce with the bear that's plat-in-um?

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:47+00:00October 7th, 2015|Categories: Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: Banjo-Tooie|

Retrospective: D2

The final video game from the late genius/madman Kenji Eno is a cult favourite to be sure, but is this forgotten gem one without flaws?

Alex Hajdasz2018-08-20T10:53:55+00:00September 28th, 2015|Categories: Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: D2|

Review: The Gamechangers

A story worth telling? Or just random, made-up bullshit? CelJaded looks at a new BBC drama that tackles the controversy behind Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:50+00:00September 16th, 2015|Categories: Reviews, Video Games|Tags: Grand Theft Auto|

Review: Audiocade

A musically inclined review of Reid Turner's Audiocade: A Collection of Video Game Inspired Musings.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:52+00:00September 13th, 2015|Categories: Music, Reviews|Tags: Audiocade|

Review: Fragments

The pieces are coming together for Ben Prunty's second August release titled Fragments; a compilation of smooth electronic synths and fun grooves.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:54+00:00September 4th, 2015|Categories: Music, Reviews|Tags: Fragments|

The Final Judgment of Turok 2

Before there was Evolution there were but Seeds.

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:14:56+00:00August 27th, 2015|Categories: Personal, Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil|

Review: Dark Window

A review of Ben Prunty's newest project; an industrial album of creepy horror-themed music and malevolent vibes.

Alex Hajdasz2018-07-30T09:25:43+00:00August 16th, 2015|Categories: Music, Reviews|Tags: Dark Window|

Retrospective: Mortal Kombat

There is no knowledge that is not power.

Alex Hajdasz2019-04-01T19:58:11+00:00August 5th, 2015|Categories: Personal, Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: Mortal Kombat|

What I Know About Starship Troopers

I happen to like Starship Troopers a lot. Click this link and I will happily tell you why.

Alex Hajdasz2017-11-08T18:30:36+00:00July 23rd, 2015|Categories: Books, Movies, Retrospectives, Video Games|Tags: Starship Troopers|

Super Quarries! – An Opening Strategy for Civilization V

One of my personally refined opening strategies for Civilization V that helps you boost your early production, gold and faith by enhancing those 'little tile improvements that could' - quarries!

Alex Hajdasz2017-03-17T14:15:09+00:00July 9th, 2015|Categories: Guides, Video Games|Tags: Civilization V|

Yearly Archives: 2015