Welcome to Spring!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:08:31 GMT

You're probably wondering why I have a picture of a snowy garden when the title has "Spring" on it. Well let me tell you, that picture is a photo of my garden on Sunday 6th April 2008. Yes it's meant to be SPRING and yet THIS is the weather we get in England! I shouldn't be complaining really as it's now Thursday 24th April and the sun is starting to blaze through...but I just thought I'd share that with you!

Life Update

Andy came back home for a 3 week Easter holiday; since I was unable to take time off for him (since Mark, my boss, was on holiday and I’m the only one capable of covering for him) I only got to see him at the weekend. Despite seeing each other for 3 weekends we didn’t get up to much as one weekend I was ill; we mainly chilled at each others houses, took a work one day when the weather was lovely, played some games, just chilling really. I plan to hopefully visit him at uni one weekend in May or June as I haven’t seen his uni since October 2006. When he next comes home it’ll be a few days after my birthday (June 16^th) and a few days before I go on holiday! Yes despite not being fully recovered from my previous trip overseas I’m off to Greece for one week in June. I’m a little frightened actually, I’m still ‘on edge’ since my last holiday and since I know that even the WATER is lethal in Greece, I’m a little anxious. I’m sure once I’m out there lying by the pool side in the glorious sun I’ll be fine but when even your mother is concerned about you going (all parents are when their child goes on holiday abroad without for the first time), you can’t help but feel more so yourself.

I saw Landa during the back holiday Easter weekend; I picked her up from her house, drove to Bluewater for a meal and some shopping. Whilst I was at her home (that I hadn’t been to in ages) I got re-acquainted with her parents. I saw her mum just before Christmas 2006 (!) but her dad I haven’t since…I can’t remember! Their English has gotten far (they’re from Yucaslavia), they both seemed well and they looked happy to see me (always a bonus - pleasing parents). At Bluewater it was quite busy (expected as it was a bank holiday), so we decided against the cinema as the queue was so freaking long! We had a nice Chinese lunch at Amoy and browsed some shops. I didn’t buy anything but Landa bought some jewellery and other random crap. We also had a coffee before I dropped her home. It's always nice to see Landa, even if our catch ups tend to be short. I plan to take her out after her exams have finished in May - maybe after that we can see each other more.

I took both Tuesday 15^th and Wednesday 16^th off in April to celebrate my mum’s birthday! Her big day was Tuesday but I took the following day off as mum and Daniel were both on Easter holidays and I wanted to spend more time with them. The evening before, Monday after work, we went into London for dinner out. After a walk looking at all the restaurants in Leister square we settled on ‘Rock Garden’. It’s quite pretentious but the food was lovely! I had sea bass with Ratatouille (which I’ve never had before) and I ate every little bit of it! The fruit drinks they provide are nice too.

On mum’s actual birthday she had a cold so didn’t feel too great, but we took a nice drive on the lovely sunny day to Faringham. It's about a 10 minute drive from my old 6th for college (North West Kent, Dartford), we has lunch at the Lion Hotel (food was ok, didn't have what I originally wanted) and then took a gentle stroll around the area 'cos the weather was lovely.

Farningham looks like a 'country side' sort fo town; there's lots of greenery, small old houses, streams and very narrow roads! It looks lively in the sushine and a perfect place to settle down since it's so homely and quiet - but I knew as soon as the weather turned icy I would be cursing whoever built those roads!

We went back home to rest *cough play computer games cough* and then went out again for dinner at the Laughing Buddha (a Chinese restaurant near where I live). We always like this restaurant but we don’t go it very often, so it was nice to come back to it.

The next day was not as easy going as we had to take care of my littlest brothers; Robert and Oliver. First we did a bit of shopping (the boys were well behaved) and then we drove to Wilmington (again near my college) for a lunch out. The food was nice (gammon and home made chips) and although the weather wasn't as nice as yesturday and the outside play area was quite scruffy and falling apart - we had a laugh. I usually don't spend much time with them apart from when they pop round to say hi with Brian, Daniel usually sees them every weekend. But I really enjoyed that day as I was able to actually feel like their sister; I played football with Robbie as Daniel ordered the food, I taught Ollie how to swing himself (I had a go myself to feed my inner child), I had more energy that day that I've had in the past year! It made a nice change. Later on we came home, me and Daniel taught the boys how to play the wii. We played Mario Kart (with the wii wheel) and Wii sports, a few tears kicked off when Robbie lost and wanted a wii for his own when he had to leave. Overall it was a good day.

What’s the status on my on-going health problems you ask? Well…

I’ve started my new diet that I mentioned in my previous blog; I’ve cut out wheat, gluten and dairy. It’s been hard, I’ve had my ups and downs but the benefits do out weigh what I’ve given up. First of; my stomach has been a LOT better, I still had my bad days/moments but I have more energy, I can do more, I don’t have to lie down as much after eating whilst before I was always in pain after eating, plus I’ve lost some weight! The bad side is that I didn’t realise so much stuff had gluten and wheat in them! Dairy was not so bad as I was originally allergic to dairy when I was about 8 so I’m used to not eating dairy by now, but the gluten…its in bread, pasta, pastry…so I can’t eat Yorkshire puddings (love them with roasts), pizza, pita bread with kebabs, burgers beer-battered or bread crumbed fish (so its a nightmare when trying to order a take away), cakes, garlic bread…so some of my favourite things! And although I’ve bought some gluten-free stuff from Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s – most of them don’t substitute the real thing. I’ll just be glad when I’m fully recovered!

As for the ‘high liver function’ I mentioned in my previous entry; I had another blood test since then and although it’s still higher than the level it should be, it’s decreased since my last reading. The doctor said it might be because some people’s livers are fattier than others; it could also be raised if I’ve gained any weight lately (which I have). He wants to keep an eye on it just in case and have another test in 6 months. Several weeks later I got a letter stating that the last test result from my blood came through and apparently my copper levels are high…so now he wants ANOTHER blood test and a 24-hour urine sample…sigh…when will this ever end?

Now let’s move onto a NEW FEATURE on my blog!

Basically, I wanted to ‘punch’ up my blog a little more, at the moment it’s just my life, a brief introduction and reviews.

I often have random thoughts that I wish to share, typed “top 10” lists or comparison stuff that, eventually, get abandoned or get archived onto my personal crap. So I decided to include a new section to cover all of them; so let’s welcome my new section…’Feature of the Blog!’ Ok, as a title it’s as crappy as my other ones, but like I said before if you can think of something better be my guest! Let’s open my first feature with a TOP 5...(I've got something better for next time I promise!)

Feature of the Blog

TOP 5 GAMES I WANT FOR THE WII VIRTUAL CONSOLE

Title: Jewel Master

Platform: Sega Mega Drive

Genre: Action, Platform

Synopsis: In the fantasy land of Mythgard the people lived in peace until Jardine, the demon king, came to overthrow the world. There were twelve Jewel Masters who brought together their rings of power consisting of Fire, Water, Earth, and Soul, but their battle failed and only four masters survived. Knowing of their ultimate demise, they passed their souls into the twelve now-lost rings, hoping that one day a chosen one would find them and use their combined strength to take one final stand against Jardine.

Jewel Master was never immensely popular, but it was quite a unique concept, it required thought on which rings to use to battle enemies and since there are multiple combinations there’s no telling how many ways there are to defeat this game. It has many “platform” game qualities mixed with well-thought out combat. The graphics were not the best on the system yet had good production values.

I never actually defeated this game (from what I can remember), I think I kept getting to the last level then die from lack of health no many what I tired. The game is known for getting increasingly difficult as you progress. Mum eventually sold the game when she couldn’t finish it either, and despite our best efforts – we haven’t been unable to find this game again in any second hand shops.

It would be great if it was made available on the Wii Virtual Console, as it would save the trouble of me finding it and it would be a cool addition to the virtual console library.

Title: Gods

Platform: Sega Mega Drive, SNES, Atari ST

Genre: Platformer, Action

Synopsis: Who would have thought that a man would be so foolish or so daring as to accept a challenge set down by the Gods? And yet one came forward to claim the right to test his skills and strengths against a city so legendary its name alone struck fear in the hearts of all who heard it spoken.

Like Jewel Master above, Gods was not a ground breaking title, although it has a fan page (much more than what I could find on Jewel Master) it was not the first title that spring to people minds when they words “Sega Mega Drive/Genesis” were said. It was a dark game in nature, the colours in the game favoured black brown and grey, the cover was mainly black and the main character looked like a very muscular gladiator. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good game, it was, from what I can remember. It was a platform game by nature but the main character had to battle some very threatening looking enemies.

There are plenty of platform games currently on the Wii Virtual Console and many more to come from the Sega Mega Drive games library, but this is one title that shouldn’t be skipped.

Title: Soleil (a.k.a. Ragnacenty, Crusader of Centy)

Platform: Sega Mega Drive

Genre: Action RPG

Synopsis: The story centers on Corona, a boy who has just turned 14 years of age. It is time for him to inherit his father's sword and fight the "monsters" that threaten the human race's very existence, attaining animals to help his quest along the way.

First of, I still have the original copy of this title for the Sega Mega Drive, so the reason for wanting it on the virtual console is not that. I mainly want it for insurance (in case my original copy packs up one day) and for others to experience this great game.

Along side Phantasy Star 3, this was one of the first RPGs I played and loved. At the time I was unaware but nowadays this game is compared to the series “Legend of Zelda”, mainly for the control style and the fact that the lead has a sword, as far as I’m aware nothing else. The game play involves Corona sword fighting his enemies and having animals enchanted his sword with their own special abilities. The story is interesting, the game itself is short and easy but it’s a great game overall. I want this available to download so other can experience this title as well, if Wonderboy in Monster World is available why not this game?

Just to note; Soleil is the European title, Crusader of Centy is the American title and Ragnacenty is the Japanese title.

Title: Wiz ‘n’ Liz

Platform: Sega Mega Drive, Amiga

Genre: Platform, Side scrolling, puzzle

Synopsis: Wiz and Liz are two wizards who cast spells dumping various items into their gigantic cauldron. Watch them zip across the screen, gathering all the items they can and battle big bosses to save the wabbits (bunny rabbits).

This game is quite hard to describe as it has no set plot and it has many elements from various different game genres. Its side scrolling, it involves various puzzles, battling various large bosses, casting spells, entering various worlds, etc, etc. The game is full of life and colour, despite being hard to describe no one can deny that it’s not cute, I mean come on “wabbits”, all together now: “aaaawwwww”….

There’s plenty in this game to do in your first run, there are also many difficulty settings to keep you coming back for more. It’s a very unique put together title that belongs on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console, besides this game was made by the same team who produced “Lemmings”, how can you say no?

Title: Clock Tower (The First Fear)

Platform: SNES, PC, Playstation, WonderSwan

Genre: Survival Horror

Synopsis: When Jennifer and 3 of her friends are adopted by the Barrows family, they are taken to a strange mansion known as “Clock Tower”. When their adoptive mother, Mary, goes missing within the house, Jennifer sets out to look for her. She then encounters scissorman, a demonic child carrying a huge pair of scissors with every intention to kill her and her friends. Can Jennifer escape alive?

Clock Tower is known for being one of the pioneers for survival horror games; it’s also one of the first to incorporate multiple endings. Clock Tower was first released on the SNES back in 1995; it was later ported to the other consoles after it became very popular; however it was never released outside of Japan. Its sequels have been released worldwide since then, two on the Playstation and the newest one on the PS2. The original game has been fan translated and released as a downloadable ROM for others to experience but I don’t trust ROMs so I haven’t had a chance to experience this title myself.

I know Nintendo are known for being “family friendly” but there’s a big enough fan base for “Clock Tower” to be a big download hit on the virtual console if given the chance. It’s unlike anything that’s available on the virtual console channel at the moment and it’s also unlike any other survival horror game currently avaliable (except for Haunting Ground, which is now out of print).

The only difficulty is that the series was originally owned by Human Entertainment, the company folded in 1999, and although the 4^th Clock Tower game (Known as Clock Tower 3) was released by Capcom, I don’t know if they own the rights to the first game as well. I hope so, as I would love to play Clock Tower one day in the future.

The WahWah Views

This week we journey back into the Survival Horror catalogue and look into the sequel to 2004's title; Obscure. You can see my review for Obscure here. Remember you can also see more of my reviews on my amazon profile.

Title: Obscure 2 (a.k.a Obscure: The Aftermath)

Genre: Survival Horror

Platform: Playstation 2, PC, Wii

Certificate: 16+

Rating: 4/5

I haven’t been into survival horror for very long, 6 months at most, but from what I’ve seen so far I’ve highly enjoyed. Most of the survival horror titles I’ve played have been more psychological and centred on impacting fear through that, rather than gruesome monsters and heavy shooting. I bought a second hand copy of Obscure simply out of curiosity after reading a review highly recommending it, thought it was short and had its faults, I did still enjoy it somewhat and it was enough to make me pick up a copy of the sequel. Despite fearing it would be a copy of its predecessor I am glad to say that not only did I enjoy it more that Obscure 1 but am highly looking forward to another sequel (if they have plans to make one).

Obscure 2 takes place 2 years after the prequel, the 6 survivors of the awful events that happened at Leafmore High are now moving on and living their own lives, taking medication to suppress the mutation that affected them during the first game. Now at college, it seems as if history is about to repeat itself as strange purple flowers have started sprouting around the campus, sending students on a ‘high’ and eventually turn them into monsters! Accompanied by new allies, can the survivors of Leafmore High survive once more?

Obscure 2’s plot, like Obscure, is based upon teen horror/slasher movies, so there’s plenty of cheese and horror to go around. Obscure’s plot was quite predictable and lacking at the best of times but Obscure 2 is greatly improved. The beginning is very strong, although the middle part fades slightly it picks up with an unexpected twist towards the climax and the ending leaves a cliffhanger in hopes it’ll return for Obscure 3.

Obscure 2 makes references to drugs, sex, death and suicide – so it’s darker than its predecessor.

You have 8 characters to venture against the darkness with, 3 who are survivors from Obscure 1. The new characters include the Asian twins Mei and Jun who are computer game geeks, Amy who’s also know as ‘Miss Wet T-Shirt of the Month’ and Corey, who is a skater. All characters have their own unique abilities that are all put to use to progress in the game; such as Mei ability to hack into computers, Amy’s skill at decrypting and Sven’s ultra strength to move heavy objects. Most abilities are just used for puzzle solving, this sadly takes away some of the creative fun as some abilities in the previous instalment could be used for combat and other purposes, however they are well performed with the co-operative game play.

The characters have much more of a personality than the previous title; several times they’ll chat amongst themselves as you progress in the game, mostly it’s just chit-chat but other times they offer clues if you’re not sure where to go next. Some of the scripted lines are quite amusing and add to the joy this title gives.

Graphics are detailed enough to see the blood, monsters and gore!

Screenshot courtesy of Eurogamer

The graphics are quite luscious and detailed, the characters are nicely designed and all weapons are quite distinguishable. The characters movements are still quite stiff (especially noticeable when climbing or moving objects) and it’s not without its glitches, but it’s a definite improvement on the previous instalment.

Most character voices are performed well enough, cheesy, but considering the plot is cheesy in itself, the voices fit the game, although some of the returning characters sound quite different to their older counterparts. The music is slightly more prominent than Obscure 1 and it is more fitting to the surroundings, it’s still obvious that the composer was inspired by the likes of Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill Composer) but he adds his own spin to the horror genre.

The mainly selling point of this and the previous game is the 2 player co-operative mode. In any stage during the game, a second player can plug in a second remote and control the second character. Like the previous game most of the time it works very well, controls are easy to get used to and whenever one player goes into another room the other player automatically joins them.

If however you prefer to face the darkness alone, the second character is controlled by A.I. Luckily the computer controlled character handily sees and attacks enemies that you haven’t seen yet or whilst you’re solving a puzzle. But they like to stick very close to your character and in many situations when you have to backtrack they end up getting in the way a lot of the time.

In Obscure 2 acting together is even more vital as many situations and puzzles require you switch between characters such as one to pull the other up onto a high place to escape enemies, this helped built up many “tension” parts of the game and provided more for your friend playing rather than just “following the leader”.

The camera is, unfortunately, poor for both solo and 2 player game modes. The camera likes to stick right behind player one’s arse or pick the worse possible angle in certain rooms. You’re only given a small amount of control over it with the right analogue stick and whatever changes you do make, it doesn’t stick. Sad to say, you’ll the fighting more with the camera than with the enemies themselves!

A great addition to this title is the extensive use of puzzles, apart from shooting mutated monsters this title features some of the most exciting and varied puzzles, I haven’t seen so many since my old PC days when Sierra was at it’s high with titles such as Shivers and King’s Quest. They range from putting pieces of a jigsaw together (such as torn up maps), to word games (used in Mei’s computer hacking ability) and lock picking (Obscure just had you hold down a button, now you must actually work the pin through the lock!). Others include working the more acrobatic characters up onto high platforms and get them safely across to the other side of the room. There’s enough in the game to break up all the battles yet doesn’t overwhelm those who can’t stand to think with their heads neither. They were easily my favourite part of this title. If anything this should be built up more if there was an Obscure 3.

One of my favourite puzzles; Mei's hacking into computers

Screenshot courtesy of Eurogamer

Apart from the puzzles the only factor that makes this title slightly challenging is the lack of healing items and ammo. The previous game became increasingly difficult towards the end as healing items became rare and ammo was hard to find. This has been slightly altered in Obscure 2; healing items will appear in rooms if you happen to have a low supply – handy when you need it the most, not so much if you prefer to store some in your inventory for future boss battles. As for the ammo, it’s still scarce and hard to come by, but more weapons are available in this title, so if one gun is out of ammo you won’t be left to fight with your bare hands.

Like Obscure, the sequel incorporates melee and projectile combat in order to defeat the monsters that go bump in the night, you’ll be saying hello again to the bat and hockey stick, as well as enjoy the new additions such as crossbows and chainsaws. This somewhat takes away the ‘realism’ from the game, as Obscure mainly used items that could be found inside a school. Although Obscure 2 visits more areas, I highly doubt a hospital would keep a shot gun inside a broom closet!

An element that I miss from Obscure is the use of light; the enemy is highly photosensitive in both Obscure 1 & 2, in the prequel the students had to tape flash lights to their guns and aim the light at the enemy in order to kill the harmful creatures. Not only was this very unique and clever but it added some strategy to the combat that other gun based games lack. I was very sad to find that this game play element did not return for Obscure 2, the combat is now purely aim and attack. It’s good news for those who prefer just to get straight down to the killing but it’s such a shame that an element that made Obscure stand out was taken away in the next instalment.

Another element that was prominent in its prequel yet not in this title is replay value. Obscure had multiple difficulty levels, new weapons, costumes and even music videos to unlock. However Obscure 2 has nothing. Bugger all, zilch. No rewards for completing the game. So unless you have a friend to bring along to play every once in a while you won’t be returning to this title in a hurry once you’ve finished it.

Other faults include being able to hit your partner (a stupid feature to add as the computer controlled character is almost always in your way, although it’s funny when the character speaks of annoyance when being hit), the short life span (although longer than Obscure, still not enough for most gamers) and the irritating saving system; which involves observing flowers scattered throughout the game, however they disappear once you’ve use it once. This becomes a problem as the game has many levels that your characters will visit more than once, so after your first visit you’ll have to wait longer to save when you next drop by. It’s even more infuriating as in Obscure 2, if any of your two characters controlling dies you have to start from where you last saved it, quite different to Obscure 1 where you could continue on.

One last error is that no explanation is given to the characters from the first game that fail to appear in Obscure 2, although there is a hidden cut scene you can unlock towards the end of the game that features them – it raises more questions than answers any, the way to unlock it is not obvious and you can easily complete the game without knowing its there.

Overall this is a very worthy sequel, highly enjoyable and great for both single players and for those who wish to bring on a friend. If you’ve never played the first game I recommend getting a copy before purchasing this, if it’s just for the 2 player action then you can probably get away with just reading the character bios to get the jest of Obscure 1 plot. It’s a very good buy, especially when a brand new copy is only £20 – it’s worth every penny!

Song of the Blog

First of all let me apologise for last week as none of the links I used wanted to play the Utada song longer than 24 hours, so I gave up finding another link after a week. But the new album 'Heart Station' is out now and diffiently worth a listen! You can now purchase via CDJapan.co.jp or online from itunes!

This week I have something different. Its not a new track, nor a J-pop track, it's good ol Brit pop! It's from one of my favourite albums of all time and from a highly talented band.

Song Title: Parklife

Artist: Blur

Album: Parklife, The Best Of

Genre: Brit Pop, Rock

Year: 1994

Download: Here

Lyrics:

Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as (parklife)
And morning soup can be avoided if you take a route straight through what is known as
(parklife)
John's got brewers droop he gets intimidated by the dirty pigeons
They love a bit of it (parklife)
Who's that gut lord marching? You should cut down on your porklife mate get some exercise!

[Chorus]
ALL THE PEOPLE
SO MANY PEOPLE
THEY ALL GO HAND IN HAND
HAND IN HAND THROUGH THEIR PARKLIFE

Know what I mean?

I get up when I want except on Wednesdays when I get rudely awakened by the dustmen
(Parklife)
I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea and I think about leaving the house (parklife)
I feed the pigeons I sometimes feed the sparrows too it gives me a sense of enormous well being (parklife)
And then I'm happy for the rest of the day safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit
Of my heart devoted to it (parklife)

[Chorus]

Parklife (parklife)
Parklife (parklife)

It's got nothing to do with vorsprung durch technic you know

Parklife (parklife)
And it's not about you joggers who go round and round and round
Parklife (parklife)

[Chorus x 2]

Thank you for stopping by!

This is me, over and out, and off to enjoy the sushine (while it lasts)!!!

WELCOME: Entertainment

Welcome to Spring!