So Close. Maybe Next Time

A friend introduced me to Armor for sleep last year and I had mixed feelings. I really enjoyed some of their songs, while I felt others were over-simplistic and rehashes of other songs. I finally found some time to listen to their new-ish album Smile For Them and had similar, mixed reviews.

The CD opens with the generic Smile For the Camera. The song is loud and fast and indistinguishable from any other Armor For Sleep track. Track 2, the pre-released Williamsburg, sounds equally repetitive, though it seems the writer had a purpose in writing the track. Though the instrumentals be nigh identical to other AFS songs, the lyrics are half-decent and redeem the song in my opinion. Apparently the singer doesn't like Williamsburg and had a bad time there... or so I gather.

I can see how some people really like Armor for Sleep and I can accept that, but it is just not for me. As the third track (Somebody Else's Arms) embodies, the songs by AFS are all much too melodramatic and whiny. I know that some people enjoy listening to that sort of thing, but as stated above, I don't. The lyrics:

Well it's only love it's not real anyways.
You're gonna die in somebody else's arms
And I have to live with that.

Epitomize my point. They cover all of the bases for sensational, suburban, self-centered music. An apathetic veil is thrown up with the lines about love's pseudo-existence, Death, and the fact that the artist's life is terrible because of the first two tenants.


I don't think they could look any more cliched

Tracks 4 and 5 are equally forgettable and soft-core morbid. The next track has the whiny, soft intro I come to expect from AFS, but with a catchy and likable background. I kept waiting for the track to start and for me to like it, but I found that the intro never ended. Funny that the only song I really liked until then on the album was 1:49 long.

End of the World has a satisfactory instrumental (as the rest of their discography), but it is unique in that the lyrics are delivered in a tolerable pace with some nice effects. I liked this track despite the presence of the aforementioned tenants of AFS. The track reminded me of some Lostprophets when they weren't screamo and weren't straight pop-rock. I have very few complaints about the song and won't avoid it when listening to my library.

The na-na-na-ing of the next song, Stars In Your Eyes, seemed a little out of place and a little bit more Bullets and Octane for me, though I do like the Bullets and Octane. Songs like this give me faith that the band will find itself later in their career. It was so close to being a good song in my opinion, and almost great. Some of the lyrics sounded almost Modest Mouse-ish with an almost Bullets sound. If they can later find a way to synthesis the sounds into their own unique new sound, I will become an avid fan of Armor For Sleep.

The band is musically solid, but I just don't like listening to the type of music they sometimes make. I am torn because I want to like them, but I just don't enjoy listening to their music. The instrumentals on all of their CDs are catchy (though sometimes repetitive) and the lyrics are sometimes poetic and solid, but whiny and annoying at others. Maybe if the band showed some consistency I could like them more.

It is also hard to say bad things against a band who references such a fantastic author as Chuck Palahniuk. In the months before Smile For Them was released, a video on their site featured a quote from the Chuck P. book Survivor. Times when they make such references give me hope for the band that maybe when they mature a bit (in sound and age) they will find better lyrics to supplement their promising instrumentals and propitious themes.

~Mike

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Testing The Waters: Mass Effect

To say that this is an In Depth review would not due justice to Mass Effect because I have only played it for 8 hours. That seemingly large chunk of time played is not nearly sufficient enough to make any meaningful comments about the game. For this reason, every remark I make will have an assumed "so far" after it.

Playing through the opening cut-scene didn't instill me with that sense of awe that I expected. The somewhat cliched character backstory options that are chosen in character customization were limited and somewhat uninspired. Whether your character is a colonist, Terran, or "spacer"; the game plays out in pretty much the same way (so far... you see what I mean?). Mass Effect gives the player a little taste of the story with a trip through your ship, The Normandy, before viciously throwing into a combat situation.

As stated by the guys at Penny Arcade said, the game does not give much of any tutorial apart from the small text boxes with cryptic messages and unimportant information. By the time you figure out what the hell is going on in the duck-and-cover fighting, your are thrust out of the fires of combat into a political battle on the beautiful Citadel. Without giving away story elements I can't say much. Suffice it to say, the Citadel is stunning.

Given the size of other Bioware cities (from KOTOR and Jade Empire), it can't be considered massive, however it is dense. The Citadel has lots of people doing their own thing. My favourite part of the city was that it doesn't feel as though you, as the player, are the only person there. People talk to other NPCs and walk around without you triggering any events. In fact, my favourite situation was diffusing a conflict between a Hanar (pictured, right) evangelist and a Human C-Sec (short for Citadel Security) officer.

The free-roaming elements of Mass Effect can be seen as a strong point and a weak one. Though there is a huge galaxy to explore and you can go to literally any of it, however there is a very formulaic and repetitive manner in which you explore planets. One instance of this repetition arises immediately upon being able to roam freely. The player is given 3 places of interest to investigate on top of all of the hundreds of side missions available. I decided to go for the jugular and find an ally of the big bad guy of the game. The mission told me that the ally was in the Artemis Tau cluster..... but that isn't very descriptive. The Artemis Tau cluster has 4 systems in it, and each system has a number of planets (from 1 to 10ish).

To investigate these planets I was forced to pick a system at random to investigate first. I chose a system and began my search by selecting a planet. Once selected on the galactic map, a small window opened with some information on the planet. This planet could not be landed on so I came to the conclusion that it did not hold the ally that I was searching for. After this, I chose another planet. It COULD be landed on. Could this be the planet that I was searching for? The Normandy dropped off my party in an assault vehicle named the MAKO (pictured, left) and I traversed the red sands.

Upon finding some very nondescript landmarks and a crazy sand worm, I returned to the Normandy and continued my search for the correct planet. This process continued for hours until I finally found the correct planet and found the villainous character. Through the journey I completed many side-quests and enjoyed myself, but I wish it was easier to get what you wanted without the searching.

I will post more of my findings from the vast pool that is Mass Effect at a later date so stay tuned! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel (Please don't sue me Warner Brothers!).

~Mike

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(...or paramount)

First Impressions: Mass Effect

I have played Mass Effect for a couple hours now and feel I am qualified to make some preliminary opinions. Let me first say that I had unreasonably high expectations of this game (curbed only by the fantastic gentlemen at Penny Arcade), and this game has almost met them.

The blending of genres in Mass Effect is pretty solid. The tactical shooter combat fits well with the RPG elements of leveling up and acquiring new skills (similar to my opinions of Hellgate). I am surprised in that the combat is a real challenge. From watching videos, I expected the fighting to be easy and quick. My impression of the fighting is a tactical, pulse-pounding experience.

The gameplay is broken up between missions, which include fighting and the like, and time spent in cities. The city sections can drag a bit and become boring (especially due to the outrageously long elevator rides), though learning the back story of the galaxy and races is extremely intriguing. If you don't mind a break in the mindless fighting to learn a bit of sci-fi, then you shouldn't mind these sections. However if you are simply in it for the Shooter elements (and have no interest in the rich sci-fi story), the city portions of the game could be a deal breaker.

Another problem I have with the game is the terrible texture pop-in. It doesn't really detract from the game too much, but it is a glaring error in an otherwise-polished game. In almost all cut-scenes the models looks terribly textured for a second in which new textures cover it, and then a third layer covers the others to give the fantastic look of most environments. The one second problem makes me think that the revered Bioware rushed Mass Effect to shelves.

I will write a more in depth update later once I have some more game experience. From what I have seen so far, the game promises to be an exciting RPG with some fast-paced combat and an awesome story.

Until Next Time,
~Mike

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A State of Flux

I got Bloc Party's new single/small album the other day. The single is called Flux and was released on November 12th. The CD clocks in at 18 minutes which isn't bad for a single and contains some decent tracks.

Inevitably, my favourite track off of the single is Flux; which features a quick beat and some great electronic sounds. Initially listening to the song, I had mixed feelings. I later came to love it due to the campy music video and the meaningful lyrics.


The other tracks off of the album (The Once and Future King, Where Is Home?, and Emma Kate's Accident) are forgettable, but decent. The Once and Future King kind of reminded me of a Two More Years remix that I like, but the near instrumental Where Is Home? becomes annoying as does the depressingly slow and long Emma Kate's Accident.

The CD featured a great song and another wonderful addition to Bloc Party's repertoire for only £4.00. Check the album out if you like BP. I will write again later once I play Mass Effect!

Until Later,
~Mike

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The Gates of Hell Have Never Been So Inviting

I can't stop playing Hellgate. It is the most fun I have had playing a video game in a while. Though the character creation in the beginning of the game is kind of weak, you have hundreds of options to edit your character. Though the gameplay almost becomes repetitive, there are amazing climaxes in the story that are accompanied by epic levels with fantastic scenery and scary-as-hell bosses.

I love this game and wish more people I knew played it. It seems like playing alone is half of the fun, but getting a party of adventurers would triple the game's fun. The classes, though few in number, are varied enough to make the game repayable as each one.

The Hunter faction consists of the Marksman and the Engineer. The Marksman is a pretty generic sniper/rifleman. Playing as a marksman makes the game seem like a pretty solid FPS until a message comes up saying "Level up!" The skills expand on the gameplay and make it entertaining to no end. Being able to throw a grenade that increases in damage as you play the game may seem slightly uneventful until you add new combat stances and robot minion types as well.

Finding and customizing new weapons make the class infinitely more entertaining as you acquire new upgrades for your very own, tailor made BFG. Perhaps my personal favorite part of weapon customization is the visual change weapons go through as you upgrade them. You can SEE the new battary or scope or ammo type that you put onto your gun, making your character even MORE unique.

The wonderful folks at Massively.com wrote up a bit about the classes that I would be hard-pressed to outshine.

Until next time
~Mike

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