Saying goes that a proper story starts at the beginning. This one ain’t any different. Not all video games roll out to store shelves full of glitz and glamor, backed by big studios with lots of cash. Some are quiet affairs. Some are carefully assembled by a small, tight-knit group of fine people with a… Continue reading Game Review: Bastion
Category: Reviews
Movie Review: The Avengers
It all comes down to this. Four years and five movies ago, if you’d told me that Marvel Studios would craft a connected universe between film franchises building to a coherent capstone piece, I would have laughed at the notion. But here we are. The Avengers has arrived, and with it a lot of questions… Continue reading Movie Review: The Avengers
Game Review: Tribes: Ascend
You may recall that precisely 104 days ago, I talked a bit about a first-person shooter called Section 8: Prejudice. While I still stand by what I said in that first impressions piece, especially when it comes to those who say the genre is ‘stagnating’ due to FPS games, I must also say I’ve stopped… Continue reading Game Review: Tribes: Ascend
Game Review: Mass Effect 3
Endings are tricky things. It can be difficult to tie up loose ends, wrap up character arcs, and bring the lines of the plot to a satisfying conclusion. It’s as true for romantic comedies as it is for war stories, though the latter tends to be more harrowing and bittersweet in the end result. And… Continue reading Game Review: Mass Effect 3
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Aliens
I may have said this before, but it bears repeating: there was a time when sequels were not foregone conclusions. People like a good serial, to be sure, but not every entry into a genre is going to become a bestselling franchise. These days sequel hooks are practically a requirement as part of the conclusion… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Aliens
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Alien
[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/alien.mp3] Our fear of the dark is something primal, something elemental. It hearkens back to the days when we were scraping out our existences in caves and under large trees hoping bigger predators covered in fur and claws weren’t about to leap out of the underbrush and use our intestines as a meaty spaghetti dinner.… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Alien
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Akira
{no audio this week – sorry for the inconvenience!} Many authors have speculated that we as a species are walking a knife’s edge between transcending our previous limitations in terms of body, mind, and spirit, and falling into an inevitable downward spiral of self-destruction we’re simply too lazy to avert. It’s a resonant message and… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Akira
Book Review: Shotgun Gravy
Courtesy Terribleminds Kids these days. That’s pretty much what Chuck Wendig’s Shotgun Gravy is all about. Kids these days can be crude, mean, unforgiving and downright sadistic. Bullying is every bit as bad as it’s ever been, and there comes a time when a kid needs to do more than watch videos of people saying… Continue reading Book Review: Shotgun Gravy
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Antichrist
[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/antichrist.mp3] We as a culture tend to abuse certain turns of phrase. For example, too many people interpret negative opinions as “hate” when “hate” is a visceral and descriptive word for the way a lot of middle American teenagers raised by conservative parents look at their gay classmates. “Awesome” is used to describe gaming and… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Antichrist
Game Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
A few months ago I finally got around to reviewing Deus Ex, a RPG-shooter that empowered a player to make choices while being unfortunately hindered by its technology. After a sequel that didn’t go over as well for many reasons, it would be a while before a third installment would come along. With a decade’s… Continue reading Game Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution