Lamplight City - Videogame Review

I'm a big fan of point and click adventures and regular readers may recall my review of The Art of Point and Click Adventure Games. However, it wasn't until Lamplight City was covered in Konstantinos Dimopoulos' seminal title Virtual Cities that I got round to picking up a copy from the Apple App store. 

Set in an alternate reality 1844, Lamplight City (developed using the Adventure Game Studio engine) takes place in the city of New Bretagne in North America, where the colonies remained part of the British Empire and were renamed Vespuccia. You play the part of Miles Fordham whose partner, Bill Leger is killed in the prologue. Five cases follow where you investigate clues, question characters and (maybe) solve the crimes perpetrated. You see, there are usually a couple of solid culprits to the first four cases and, if you wish, you can also decide that there isn't enough evidence either way and the case can remain unsolved. The fifth case ties in with Bill's death and there are links between that and the previous ones that may be important in solving the mystery of who killed your partner.

Not that you investigate these crimes on your own: the late Bill Leger is now a voice in your head who provides many of the best lines and jokes in the game. His presence is also a major driver in Fordham's ongoing mental health - Bill never shuts up and Fordham tried soporifics and drinking to quieten the voice down. This, naturally, effects both his professional life (he left the Police force) and his personal life, where his concerned wife, Addie, tries to understand what ails him.

As part of the setting, this 1844 has advanced much further into the Industrial Revolution and there are many steampunk elements to the story and the background. This creates a level of depth and sense of place that raises this title over many other adventure games. There are discussions about workers rights, spiritualism and politics that interweave themselves with the crime-fighting duo's attempts to solve the varied felonies in the game, and this depth is carried into a newspaper you can read in each case that not only covers the current murder, but also reports on the previous cases and ongoing events in the world of Lamplight City. I can certainly see why this game was selected for Virtual Cities.

Graphically, Lamplight City strikes all the right notes with its pixel perfect 2D artwork. Locations are varied and detailed, colour and tone are used to add character to the scenes and, overall, if you like the old-school 2D pixel art of point and click adventures, you'll love the way the art style brings Lamplight City to life. That extends to the character portraits, which have only limited animation but more than define the individuality of the cast. 

Sound wise, this game is a cracker. The music changes to perfectly match each location and the main theme is memorable ear worm, and that's a good thing. Praise must also be given to the voice cast: Ben Britton as Fordham and Al Pagano as Bill riff off each other well, and Pagano's comedic timing brings the game's humour to life. Miranda Gauvin as Constance Upton, Fordham's police contact, is also stellar. That should not take away from the fact that all of the voicework is great.

The game itself is quite linear and there are no real points of frustration that long-time point and click fans will be familiar with. This is more of an easy going title that wants to tell you a story and immerse you in the city of New Bretagne without allowing you to get stuck. My first run though took about ten hours, and then I played it again to see if I could get a different ending. I must admit, it can be a depressing tale if you fail to make the right choices or close off avenues of questioning. Fortunately, those choices are quite straightforward so the choice to succeed and find Bill's killer or fail and end up with the negative ending are clearly defined ones. 

I really do recommend this fun and engaging title. The world building, the characters and the story all combine to provide several hours of entertainment that even the most jaded point and click fan will enjoy. For those new to the genre, it's a very easy going introduction and yes, you should definitely try it out.

Lamplight City is available on Steam and GOG.com for Windows, macOS and Linux. It's also available via the macOS store and on iOS devices. You can check out the game's developer here, where you'll find news of their previous titles, as well as links to buy their games directly, from the above mentioned stores or the Humble Store. You can follow the game's author on Twitter via a link on their website, where you'll also learn about his next title, Rosewater, a Western adventure which is set in the same alternate 19th Century as Lamplight City. It's already on my steam wish list.

Was That Film Really That Bad??? Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Have you ever looked at something and wondered why? Not in the sense of nature, but something created by humans that appears pointless. Things like those over-priced kitchen utensils in Lakeland shops, designated smoking areas outside of pubs and shopping centres, and indicators on Audi/BMW/Mercedes cars (delete as applicable). In each case, you never see them being used, but people have put the effort in there. For this blog post, I present to you another entry in that category - Resident Evil: Apocalypse. But was that film really that bad???

The movie kicks off with a handy re-cap of the first film. So far, so good. Then we get to the first bit of stupidity that defines this entry in the franchise. We follow the camera under Racoon City to the entrance of the Hive, where a bunch of white "bunny" suited types are going to investigate the locked down facility. They get massacred by the still extant zombies from the first movie and the outbreak hits the city. I say this is silly as they sent a combat team in the first time so a bunch of techs ain't gonna do much better. 

I hope they have good life insurance...

There is an evacuation of the Umbrella Corp's great and the good; the daughter of one goes missing, STARS (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad - a highly trained Police unit) get involved in the chaos, the city is locked down, Alice rocks up, Umbrella test their new Nemesis project and all in all, fun and shenanigans ensue.

Except it's not fun and the shenanigans are less shenaniganny than you'd expect.

He bought the RE Blu-ray collection. I feel his pain.

As with the first film, Apocalypse borrows liberally from various Res Evil games, with Jill Valentine from RE1 and 3, Carlos Oliveira (called Olivera in the film) and Nemesis from RE3, and a host of nods here and there. As before, there is fan service but it never gets in the way of making a shite film. 

Paul W S Anderson (Wor Paul) returns to the writer and producer roles for this film, handing over directorial duties to Alexander Witt. This was his directorial debut and he's not done much else in that role. As second unit director though, he's worked on Speed, Gladiator, several Bond films and many more. There is pedigree there. Sadly, he's working off a script by Wor Paul and this is where the problems really begin. Basically, this film is a giant teen boys wank fest.

Everything that happens in this film happens because it looks good. Not because it makes sense, nor because there is an internal logic that has been defined before events occur. No, they happen because the inner 15 year old of Wor Paul was let loose with a $45m budget. It worked somehow because this grossed back $129m and justified more entries to come. But how stupid, I hear you ask.

Example one: the tech guys rocking up at the Hive. Stupid. You've lost one team already, you've seen what's already come out (proto-Nemesis included) yet you send a half dozen red (actually white) shirts to kick off a city-wide infection. Stupid.

Example two: The lorry collision that leads to daughter of VIP going missing. This collision happens for no reason. It looks deliberate story-wise in the way it has been filmed, and you get the same feeling as you do with the tech dudes above. It occurs to make things happen rather than being a natural part of the story.

Example three: Olivera jumping from a helicopter using guns in both hands whilst diving to a roof top. No! Just fucking no! Yeah, he looks badass, but he'd have hit jack shit whilst hanging from that rope.

Example four: The cathedral rescue - Alice rocks up to save some of the main characters from "lickers" in the cathedral. She does this by riding a motorcycle through the main window of the cathedral, landing on one of the beasts and then blowing up the motorcycle in a slow-mo explosion. How she knew they were there? No idea. Same with the riding through the window. Just plain stupid. But it looks badass-ish.

Example five: STARS. The surviving members of STARS are holed up in a diner. They have a sniper, taking zombie pot shots at a range of no more than 50-60m (real skill there dude, not!) when Nemesis rocks up after being ordered to kill all surviving STARS members. This is watched by the bad Umbrella people via Nemesis, one of whom states that STARS are "the best of the best". This, gentle reader, is shit story telling. They've told us, not shown us. What they actually show us is a bunch of out of shape cops displaying zero tactics or fire discipline and achieving fuck all apart from dying. Best of the best, my ring piece. 

Can you see the issue here with that rifle barrel and where the target is?

Example six: The dead are rising and our cast of intrepid dumbwits walk through a graveyard. (sigh).

Why? Just fucking why would you do this???

There are many more such examples but you get the picture. 

What also doesn't help are the sub-plots: Dr Ashford (the VIP and the creator of the T-Virus) and his missing daughter, Jill Valentine and Olivera teaming up to get out of the city with Alice, Umbrella releasing Nemesis like a training program and making matters far far worse, and then Umbrella finally shutting the city off and nuking it when it goes wrong(!). It's a story-telling mess that isn't helped by the fixation on looking badass and moving from "cool scene" to "cool scene". It's also blatantly obvious that just a handful of head-shots would have turned this 93 minute movie into a ten minute short. After watching it, you wish someone had thought of that at the time. 

Casting then, and they haven't done too badly here despite the mess of a film they're appearing in. Jovovich returns as Alice, displaying all of the subtle character and emotion she did in the first film (i.e none). Oh, she puts the effort in to the fighting and looking cool, just that once again there is zero character for her to work with. Oded Fehr does a good job as Olivera, looking all stern and professional as the Umbrella merc left behind. Sienna Guillory has a harder time as Jill Valentine, a rebellious STARS officer. She looks the part and can hold a gun, but once again, her character is a caricature, barely fleshed out from the videogames. Games fans, those still watching anyway, will appreciate the accurate outfit though. 

This is Jill. Even the background gets more screen space than Jill.

There are good turns by Thomas Kretschmann as the evil Major Cain, Razaaq Adoti and Zack Ward as Valentine's and Olivera's respective doomed colleagues Wells and Ginovaef (oh shit, spoilers!) and Sandrine Holt as TV reporter Terri Morales, who is ultimately given little to do. Mike Epps does what he can to provide comedy sidekick value as "L J" Wade, whilst Sophie Vavasseur isn't overly annoying as Dr Ashford's daughter.

That just leaves Harris and Glen. Jared Harris (as Dr Charles Ashford) and Iain Glen (as Dr Alexander Isaacs, replacing the cameo of Jason Isaacs from the first film but changing his name as a nod to the previous actor) have appeared in some brilliant TV and movie roles. From The Terror, The Expanse, Chernobyl and the second Downey Jr Holmes film, to Game of Thrones, Kingdom of Heaven and Jack Taylor, each actor has delivered some cracking performances. True, they have worked for the money as well (Lost in Space and Tomb Raider respectively - and that's not a criticism - you go where the money takes you), but you know that when they are on-screen, they are doing the best they can. The same is true here, with Harris visibly trying to be better than what the script offers him, whilst Glen desperately attempts to twirl an invisible moustache in order to make his character even minutely more interesting. Sadly, the script and direction let them both down. They deserve much better than this.

Iain's found the corpse that is this movie.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse also suffers from being the sequel to the first film. Remember those CG maps that handily told you where people were in the Hive? They're back in the form of city maps as Ashford searches for his daughter. Yep, it's just as bad as the first film but it's also a cheap way of telling people what's going on. Similarly crap is the CGI used for the various creatures, and the dogs are back as well because, you know, it's a Res Evil movie.

A "Licker"... insert innuendo of your choice here...

You can also tell they are aiming at the teen fan market because of the themes that pop up. You have Valentine's outfit (game accurate but, in the real world, totally inappropriate for any kind of police work - but the look is the main thing), zombie prostitutes that (I think, and I hope I am wrong) are there to provide a bit more titillation, and the prevalence of smoking, cos, you know, smoking looks cool and all that jazz (top tip, readers, smoking is not cool). They even use a cigarette to blow shit up in a slow motion way but even then, it's so mind-numbingly stupid, it loses all sense of drama.

That's its tongue, apparently.

So, the film is acting like a rebellious teenager. Can it get any worse? Oh yes. The sound editing. Every time Jovovich swings a punch or a kick at something, they've added a whip-crack sound. At first, you don't notice this but, with some of the choreography and fight choices, the action is so slow that the whip-crack sounds like it was added as a piss take. It's terrible, and I felt as if the next thing would be for badly dubbed voices. Luckily, it didn't go that far. They could, however, have done with some lights. I know this takes place at night but there are times you literally can't seen what's going on.

This is a proper "fuck off" moment in a film full of "fuck off" moments!

Where it did go was a place that I hate to see films and TV shows go. Yes, it's the return of the re-purposed motorcycle helmet. The Umbrella special forces that appear towards the end of the film use them and once you see it, it destroys any immersion you may have with the story - and that is one hell of an achievement given what you've watched so far! When your best troops are kitted out by the nearest branch of Halfords, you know there's something not quite right here.

Literally the only bright point of this film.

If you were a massive fan of the first film, you may have looked forward to this one in the belief that it would be bigger and better. It is bigger, the sense of scale is there in the crowd scenes but the film often switches back to smaller scale locations once action is due to happen. It is not, however, better in any way whatsoever. The choices made with the story telling and the discarding of all internal logic make this film a stupidity filled mess that, if it weren't a sequel, would never have been made. Who is to blame here? The cast turn up and do their jobs, and whilst the director has a lot to take responsibility for, he's also working from a script and that script is the work of Wor Paul (who also co-produced it) so at the end of the day, it's He who is responsible for this steaming pile of bool sheet. There are others who should also take the blame here, and that's the people who saw this film in the theatres. The consequences of that was the third film in the franchise, Resident Evil: Extinction, which followed three years later. But that, gentle reader, is for another time. For now, just accept that yes, this particular film really was that bad. 

[lock-on] Journal 001 - Review

The [lock-on] project was a dream given form. It's goal, to provide long form content and bespoke artwork, to prove that videogames are more than just an entertainment medium, to demonstrate that videogames are art. One hundred and fifty-four pages, featuring work from dozens of writers and artists, wrapped up in a high quality hardback cover. This is a review of a new videogames journal. The year is 2021, the name of the tome: [lock-on].

Volume one with custom obi strip.

I apologise. To J.M. Straczynski for ripping off his Babylon 5 opening monologue and to you, gentle reader, for really reaching with that intro. I'm sorry.

Anyhoo, here is [lock-on], a videogaming periodical from Lost in Cult, a new indie publishing company that aims to provide premium content for fans of videogames. Launched via a Kickstarter campaign that raised £16,567 from a requested £13,000 in April, the publishers have certainly achieved their original goal in getting the first volume of their new journal out to backers, and gone further by setting up a new funding stream to support the journal and grow the readership. More on that later.

As a backer of the physical hardback edition, I was interested to see what would arrive. When it did (two days early compared to the expected date, which was a pleasant surprise), it was wrapped in bubble wrap, along with an A3 poster, four artwork postcards, a little sticker and a review booklet. Everything was supported by a piece of card and the black, padded envelope topped off the package. 

The extras are of high quality and the poster, along with the artwork cards, beg to be framed and put on the wall. As for the journal itself, the cover is nice and sturdy, and shows off the artwork brilliantly. The pages are of good stock but not glossy, and I think that suits the journal very well. 

The existential reason for this journal are the articles, and after a good intro from Digital Foundry's John Linneman, there are 32 commissioned articles plus four pieces from backers of the campaign, all linked to the core topic of this volume, Sony's PlayStation. I'm not going to list all of the articles or authors, you see those in the picture below, but what I will say is that there is a lovely variety of topics: from retrospectives on specific titles, to the approach to accessibility in videogames; from a personal reflection of growing up with Sony's consoles from day one, to how the PlayStation 2 rocked the Indian videogames market; from a run through of Housemarque's best games, to an interview with Limited Run Games - there is a breadth of topics that make this volume a joy to read. 

Contents page.

What really lifts [lock-on] is the presentation. Each piece has a different art style and layout - some make good use of blank space to reinforce the text, others are side on, so you have to turn the book 90 degrees. Fonts, layout and tone are individual to each author and artist, highlighting how unique each piece is. You get a good feel for each author's style and there is a definite love of all things PlayStation here. I especially liked the Kickstarter backer's entries, and I hope they will be a feature in future volumes, but having said that, there isn't a wasted word in here from any contributor. However...

The review booklet.

Now don't hate me... yet. Finish the paragraph before collecting your assigned pitchforks and flaming torches and joining the queue for the Megabus (other methods of mass transport are available) to Durham. [lock-on] is not 100 percent perfect - the article on Silent Hill will be a troublesome read unless you are in good reading light (red text on a black background is a design choice but my tired and aged eyes didn't like it), and it rams "Bills, Bills, Bills" in to your head with all of the subtlety of a pneumatic drill, but that's the only, teensy minor issue I can raise. If I scored my reviews out of one hundred, [lock-on] would lose a couple of marks for the text decision and a good thirty or forty for the half hour it took to get that bloody song out of my head... Oh, fudge, it's back again! Curse you, Dickinson!

That minor quibble aside, I can find no further fault. Lost in Cult have delivered gloriously on their promise and have a second volume planned for a Kickstarter campaign launching 17th August. This could be an expensive month, what with this, Ninty Fresh and E1M1 starting to hint at another batch of issues, but I am not complaining. Indeed, it's exciting and reassuring that such varied videogames-centric publications are continuing to thrive. 

As for Lost in Cult, well, they have another source of funding as well. There is a membership drive via Steady, where from £2.50 to £10 per month (if billed annually), £3 to £12 (if billed monthly), you can support the team and gain access to podcasts, Discord, exclusive articles and even a digital copy of the journal, subscription amount dependent. The intention is to widen the community around [lock-on] as well as ensure content creators get paid for their work. You can check out the various tiers and options here.

Back to the journal itself and if this is something that appeals to you, you can buy a digital copy for £18 or a softback copy for £20 -  the hardback is now sold out. Any purchases of these in August will also result in a 15% donation from the price you pay going to safeinourworld.org, a charity aimed at supporting mental health in the videogames world. A worthy cause that will cost you nothing extra to support.

Will I be buying the second volume? Yes. [lock-on] fills a niche and it does so gloriously with style and verve. This is a premium journal and one that, based on the first volume, is worthy of support. 

You can find out more about [lock-on] via their website here, where you can check out snippets of volume one, preview info for volume two and see details of their Steady membership.

Ninty Fresh - Magazine Review

Another bespoke videogames magazine? Yes, this time focusing on all things Nintendo. Should this be a surprise? Not really. The UK mainstream magazine market for videogames has declined massively over the last few years, as format specific titles gave way to multi-format publications which themselves then went the way of the Dodo, with just Edge and Wireframe holding on. There is still Retrogamer keeping the nostalgia buffs happy and Play magazine that survives its rebranding from Official PlayStation Magazine, but that's about it. However, the homebrew (for want of a better term) market is thriving, as witnessed by the number of magazine reviews I have posted on this blog in 2021 alone. Today, another small scale publication steps up: Ninty Fresh.

Ninty Fresh began life as a Kickstarter campaign last summer where over 1,400 people pledged a total of £15,657 off a requested amount of £2,000 to fund issue one. That was followed up in November with a second issue (£15,352 against a requested amount of £2,500 from over 1,100 people) and a third issue in March 2021 (£17,217 against £2,500 from over 1,100 people). Issue four took a slightly different path, with crowd funding via Indiegogo due to a Kickstarter rule that states you have to deliver one project before you can request funding for another. Fair enough, and the Indiegogo campaign raised £15,538 against a total of £3,000 from 920 people. I missed these funding drives (nope, no idea how either) and, having seen Ninty Fresh commented upon on Twitter, I took the plunge and ordered the most recent issue. 

For £5.99 (not an excessive amount for a magazine these days, even in the mainstream world) plus £3.00 delivery, I received a 100 page (including covers) bound A4 publication with zero adverts. Yep, it's 100% advert free and from an independent publishing company. That's impressive. The quality of the stock and print are beyond criticism. I know, it's a familiar line when it comes to my reviews of boutique magazines such as Ninty Fresh but it has to be said, time and time again, that these publications easily match, and sometimes surpass, the quality of mainstream titles. This is important as in most cases, your per-issue price is often equal to or slightly higher than those found on the shelves of your local WH Smiths. 

The main theme for this issue of Ninty Fresh is Zelda, seeing as it is 35 years since the release of the first title in the evergreen series. This takes up some 30 pages, with retrospectives, interviews and opinion pieces combined with some brilliant artwork. Whether you are familiar with the Zelda series or not, you'll find plenty to interest you here and I like how they have arranged the features. 

Preceding Zelda is a two page editorial, a news section and a feedback page. The layout for these is clean and simple, with little white space left but not appearing overly congested either. Reviews take up a further 23 pages. These are well written and score out of ten, with half points being available. There are plenty of screenshots of each title and a wide variety of releases are covered. Indie titles get a couple of pages all on their own. As with all reviews, you may agree or disagree with the reviewer. In Ninty Fresh, the reviewers do their job with aplomb and fairness. That's always a good sign.

The Fresh Takes section is well-named and covers the topics of justification of full price vs game length, the exclusivity of Amibo functionality in games and whether there is more innovation to be found in Indie titles compared to major studio releases. Noteworthy points are made in each subject and are thought provoking.

The (relative) disaster that was the Nintendo Virtual Boy gets a four page piece, with every North American release getting a screenshot and a brief overview, whilst the little known Famicom Disk System title Nazo No Murasame Jo (The Mysterious Murasame Castle) gets four enlightening pages that really did catch my interest. Four pages a piece are also given over to Super Probotector: Alien Rebels on the SNES, Professor Layton (my good lady has every DS/3DS title) and Wii-U horror title ZombiU. Never played it on that platform but did give it a few weeks when it came to the Xbox One and found it to be a fun take on the genre. 

Closing off the magazine are four pages of fun quizzes and challenges, and a list of two specific Indiegogo backer tiers, thanking supporters for their help in getting the magazine out. The back cover finishes off the issue with cheeky, Zelda-themed prompt for the next Kickstarter.

I have to admit, I really enjoyed Ninty Fresh. The writing is great, the artwork is excellent and the overall quality is very high, more than enough to equal a mainstream publication. How much did I like it? Well, I'm not as rich as Victor Kiam (remember him?) so didn't buy the company but I did buy the first three issues which I am looking forward to receiving.

Whilst it seems there is no longer a "viable market" for a Nintendo-specific commercial magazine, Ninty Fresh has demonstrated that there is still a market nonetheless for fans of Nintendo's consoles. Ninty Media also publish a smaller Nintendo Switch focused magazine (Switch Player, now up to issue 54) that costs £3.49, so I may give that a go at a future date. In the mean time, when they announce their next Kickstarter for Ninty Fresh (in August, hoping to fund the next four issues, so a subscription service in effect), I will definitely be supporting them. Ninty Fresh joins the growing ranks of small scale, high quality niche magazines that I will continue to support and that demonstrate that you don't have to have a newsstand presence to create a professional and worthy publication. It looks and feels like a mag you'd pick up at Smiths and I can think of no higher praise for the team behind it. It really is that good. 

You can check out their website here where you'll find the current and back issues to Ninty Fresh and Switch Player available to purchase.