Mass Effect 3 – Throwback 10

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Mass Effect series is one of the greatest video game series of all time; an achievement in game-play, design, and storytelling. I’m sorry if that sounds biased at all, but those are just facts. And as the culmination of the original trilogy story, Mass Effect 3 is the best of the trio.

Following on from the events of the hugely popular Mass Effect 2, the third game returns players to the role of Commander Shepard (Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer) who have returned to Earth to face the consequences of their actions after going rogue to save the galaxy in the previous game. Having worked to warn the galaxy about the oncoming invasion of ancient machines designed to destroy all life in the galaxy, Shepard’s time is finally up, as within the first minutes of the game the Reapers arrive at Earth, destroying everything in their path.

From here players have to battle their way off the doomed planet, heading out into space to bring their team back together, setting out on a mission to build alliances, complete daring missions, and preparing the galaxy for the biggest war in history with the fate of all sentient life hanging in the balance. Along the way you’ll be able to rekindle old romances, decide whether or not to undo a genocide, and bring centuries long conflicts to an end all in the hope of strengthening your alliance.

Having been building towards this moment for the previous two games, Mass Effect 3 is very much the culmination of the entire series. In the first game players learn the truth about the Reapers; in the second you stop their advance vanguard; and here you face their entire might. The stakes have never been higher, and the game reflects this. With stirring music, huge battle scenes, and moments that are designed to bring you to tears, it feels like playing through an epic blockbuster movie with scores of lore and world building to back it up.

As with previous entries in the series, Mass Effect 3 is built upon player choice. Whilst the overall story will very much stay the same, the details will be different for every player thanks to the things they decided to do across the previous games, and the way they’ve shaped relationships. If a squad-mate didn’t survive the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2 they won’t be here now; if you ended up romancing a certain person you get the chance to rekindle that relationship; and if you let the wrong people die or chose the wrong solutions way back in the first game you’ll find fewer allies available to you here.

Story is important in Mass Effect 3, and the player is given multiple opportunities to shape dialogue and make their own choices, but this game also had a bigger emphasis on action over the first two, and several game-play tweaks were made to reflect this. More focus is given to cover and needing to think through the various routes to take in a level, and using squad powers feels a lot more important as certain enemy types are designed to be harder to take down without things like tech or biotic powers. Thanks to the streamlining across several of the combat elements, the game played much more fluidly, and became much more dynamic, especially in comparison to the combat from the first.

Upon its release in 2012, Mass Effect 3 received universal acclaim across many major publications, quickly racking up scores of 9/10 and above. A lot of critics praised the game’s new mechanical updates, but also for providing a definitive conclusion to the story, rather than leaving it open ended for future possible sequels. That being said, some fans complained about the final moments, claiming that it was unsatisfying and ill thought out (a complaint I did not share myself). An update for the ending, expanding upon certain elements and adding new cut-scenes was released for free soon after, along with several pieces of DLC that added new story elements and side quests that further expanded the game.

Almost ten years after its release, Mass Effect 3 was re-released onto the next generation of consoles along with the first two games as part of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which was given updated and improved graphics.

The Mass Effect series is my favourite video game series of all time, and the third game is my favourite of them. It’s a story that I love, with characters that I genuinely adore and enjoy spending time with whenever I replay the game. The story is incredibly well written, filled with hundreds of hours of details and lore, and moments that bring absolute joy. Even a decade on, having played it multiple times, the game can reduce me to tears multiple times. It fills me with awe, wonder, and joy in ways that a simple video game shouldn’t be able to. It’s a genuine joy to have had this game in my life for the last decade, and if you’ve never played it before you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.

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The Incarnation – DVD Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Sometimes it seems like horror can be one of the easier film genres to create. We’ve all seen horror movies where you have a handful of actors in one location, with the bare minimum of effects needed, where simple tension and the mounting unknown create a story that keeps you hooked. You often hear of films like this being made for a pretty small budget, and in only a few weeks. When it’s done right you get films like Paranormal Activity; horror movies that spawn sequels and intense discussions over how good it was. When it’s done wrong, however, you get films like The Incarnation.

The Incarnation, directed by Isaac Walsh, follows Bard (Taye Diggs) and Jess (Jessica Uberuaga), a young couple who have just moved into a new home in Los Angeles. Not only were they able to get the home fully furnished for a great price, but they got a pretty unique looking home. The house in The Incarnation is possibly the most interesting part of the film. The house is like an odd cross between a regular building and a icosahedron, with strange angles and a roof that looks more akin to some kind of dome-like tent. The interior is pretty unique too, with most of the rooms being open and connected, with only the kitchen and bedrooms upstairs being built away into their own private nooks.

The young couple have rented their new home from Peter (Michael Madsen), an odd but seemingly nice gentleman whose father originally built the home. Things are going well for the couple, but as soon as they have their first night in the building they notice strange sounds, have their bedroom door open on its own, and find that they cannot enter the spare bedroom. When they are eventually able to access the room Jess finds a box filled with strange artefacts, gold coins, and a book filled with bizarre rituals and talk about demons. They at first dismiss this as strange, but when the two of them hit money problems Brad begins to consider using the book to summon the thing in their house, to make a deal with it to help get them out of their debts. Unfortunately, demons rarely play by the rules.

The set-up for The Incarnation sounds interesting enough; a young couple getting tormented in their own home is a staple of the horror genre, and one that can work to great effect. Unfortunately, it seems like every choice made for The Incarnation leads the film down a road of banality.

One of the first things that really stands out about this film is that other than a few minutes of flashbacks that are scattered throughout the movie there are only three characters in it. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing, there are plenty of great movies with tiny casts, but the issue here is that the cast for The Incarnation just doesn’t feel right. I don’t know if it’s lack of chemistry between the two leads, the notes from the director, or if the actors were just not on top of their game, but the movie constantly feels flat and boring. In most scenes the actors feel like they’re just saying their lines without much conviction behind them, simply trying to get through the script; as such, when there are moments that require them to put more emotion into it they feel over-the-top and hammy in comparison.

The film also never seems to want to stay still. One of the things that horror needs is tension. You sometimes need long, lingering shots so that the audience ends up waiting for something to happen, checking the dark corners of rooms for the creature. The Incarnation doesn’t let you do this. Every scene is filled with cuts, the camera is shaking and zooming in and out, or we’re getting angles where we’re watching from another room through a doorway with things in the foreground vying for focus. I was never able to feel like I was anticipating something happening, because the film never let me sit still for a second. The directing feels like it’s either trying to do something that doesn’t quite work for the film, or that Walsh perhaps doesn’t trust in the film enough to not have to keep cutting away and changing angles so as to not let the audience linger too long.

Horror films can be made for next to nothing and look pretty good, but there are times where The Incarnation feels kind of cheap. The box of occult items that Brad and Jess find feels really new, and the stuff in them looks like you’d be able to pick them up off Amazon or in a costume shop. The props don’t feel old or weathered at all, and it ruins the immersion. And the less said about the CGI used on the ‘scary’ shadow creature the better.

People hoping for any kind of extras or additional features on the DVD to help justify the purchase are going to be left disappointed. There are no commentaries, making ofs, or even a lone trailer on offer here; you simply have two options when you insert the disc, whether you want to watch the movie, or watch the movie with subtitles.

The Incarnation feels like it was made on a shoestring budget, with a script that needed more polish and attention given to it. The movie might have some well known names in it, but that’s about all it has going for it. If you’re a huge horror fan with literally nothing else to watch you might want to give this a look just to say you’ve seen it, but I can’t imagine it being hugely beneficial to do so.

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Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror - Book Review

 

'Dark Stars, edited by John F.D. Taff, is a tribute to horror’s longstanding short fiction legacy, featuring 12 terrifying original stories from today's most noteworthy authors, with an introduction by bestselling author Josh Malerman and an afterword by Ramsey Campbell.

'Created as an homage to the 1980 classic horror anthology, Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, this collection contains 12 original novelettes showcasing today’s top horror talent. Dark Stars features all-new stories from award-winning authors and up-and-coming voices like Stephen Graham Jones, Priya Sharma, Usman T. Malik, Caroline Kepnes, and Alma Katsu, with seasoned author John F.D. Taff at the helm. An afterword from original Dark Forces contributor Ramsey Campbell is a poignant finale to this bone-chilling collection.

'Within these pages you’ll find tales of dead men walking, an insidious secret summer fling, an island harboring unspeakable power, and a dark hallway that beckons. You’ll encounter terrible monsters—both human and supernatural—and be forever changed. The stories in Dark Stars run the gamut from traditional to modern, from dark fantasy to neo-noir, from explorations of beloved horror tropes to the unknown—possibly unknowable—threats.'

Anthology books can sometimes be a bit of a mixed bag, especially if they're bringing together different authors with various styles. They can present you with stories and writing that's different to what you'd normally pick up, giving you the chance to try new things. Dark Stars was one of these types of books for me, with only a few of the twelve authors being ones whose work I'd read before.

The first story in the collection is 'The Attentionist' by Caroline Kepes, which tells the story of a young teenage girl and her sister. The story begins by introducing us to these two young teens, their relationship with each other, and their growing focus on boys. The two girls are in the throws of puberty, and have become seemingly obsessed with guys; or at least the narrators sister Reg, who is definitely hyper fixated. One day Maeve gets a phone call from someone claiming to be a boy she met at work, but it soon turns out to be something much more sinister. This story is horror in the most real sense, in that it doesn't deal with ghosts or monsters or dark forces, but the horror of other people. Kepes crafts a tense story that manages to draw you in and keep you feeling on edge because it's something real, something that could happen to you; which makes it genuinely scary.

'A Life in Nightmares' by Ramsey Campbell is almost an exact opposite to the first. If the first story is something that could easily happen this is one that you never want to happen to you. Its disjointed narrative unfolds across a series of scenes that take place across the life of Maurice, who we watch from childhood, through to adolescence, and into adulthood. The scenes skip to key moments in his life, from his first day at school to his wedding day, and with each of these something bizarre and nightmarish seems to be following him through his life like a nightmare. The end revelation for this story is a pretty interesting one, and one that I'd love to see more of as it's super interesting. Campbell manages to craft a narrative that feels like a fever dream, with reality and the nightmarish flowing together and mixing, with events shifting and jumping across the years. It's a unique feeling story, and one that might not be for everyone; but if you like things a bit more cosmic horror you'll enjoy this one.

Priya Sharma's 'Papa Eye' felt like one of the least horror of these stories. The story didn't frighten or scare me, and its connections to the past and history made it feel more like a folk story; which I suppose does often make it feel more akin to horror than most other genres. The story takes place on a remote island, where a new doctor begins to make strange discoveries about the inhabitants, and starts to discover that there are strange and supernatural things taking place, and that people aren't quite what they appear to be. Whilst not a story that scared me, it's an interesting one for sure, and I'd happily read more about this strange community and the lives they lead.

I have to admit, I did have some difficulty with 'Volcano' by Livia Llewellyn. The story centres on Calliope, a student at a small college campus who's struggling to find work over the summer period. When she manages to find a job replacing fabric on chairs in the college, as well as creating new curtains for the various function rooms, she seems to have the perfect job. However, the basement room she has to work in has a strange, open door leading into a series of dark underground tunnels, and it has an odd effect upon her. I have to admit, I struggled to really understand everything that was happening in this story, and perhaps that's part of the horror of it, not knowing why the strange things are happening. Unfortunately, this became one of my least favourite stories in the collection as I was left scratching my head by the end.

'All The Things He Called Memories' by Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favourites of the collection. Set during the Covid lock-down, the story follows couple as they're forced to live and work together around the clock in their home. Bo is a simple kind of guy, an upholsterer who likes a quiet life, whilst his wife Marcy is a research scientist. When the two of the share their deepest, irrational fears as part of Marcy's latest research project Bo begins to experience odd things throughout the house. As the strange events begin to build Bo is let questioning if things are even happening or if perhaps being trapped at home has gotten to him. I've seen some authors online saying that setting any work during the Covid pandemic is a bad idea, that it will date your story, that it will put people off because it will remind them of an awful time; but this story works perfectly because of it. It feels a lot more relatable as we've all had bad times during Covid, all felt isolated and alone, and it just makes the horror here hit home all the more.

Chesya Burke's 'Trinity River Blues' feels like it could be part of an urban fantasy series, and whilst it does have horror elements to it the more urban fantasy parts of the story definitely help it to stand out in this collection. In this story we meet Trini, a young woman who can see ghosts and interact with the spirit world. Raised by her grandmother after her mother died giving birth to her, Trini funds joy in her powers, even having a best friend who's a ghost. However, when a dark spirit comes calling one day it puts Trini's life in danger. This story was a lot of fun, had a flavour to it that was different from other stories on offer in the book, and ended up being another character that I could see myself reading more about.

'The Familiar's Assistant' by Alma Katsu is, surprisingly, the only vampire story in this collection. Vampire stories are incredibly popular, and there's normally one or two popping up in horror anthologies; and this time it's the turn of Alma Katsu to give us her twist on the genre. This story doesn't follow a vampire, however, but a young man who has spent weeks seeking one out. After working up the courage to finally approach the home the vampire is living in he's allowed in, and eventually is allowed to stay and help the vampire's familiar. This story feels less a tale about vampires, and more about obsession, about this one person's desires and the lengths that they're willing to go to to achieve them. It's an interesting and dark story for sure.

'Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream' by John F.D. Taff (the book's editor) is a pretty chilling and unique kind of ghost story, one that feels like the perfect definition of a scary short story. The story centres on a recently widowed father and his son, Gus, as they travel across the country to their new home; trying to make a fresh start of things after their tragic events. When the two of them stop at a small rest stop along their route things begin to spin out of control when a bizarre blizzard sweeps in out of nowhere, trapping them inside. Not only that, but a ghostly presence with a focus on Gus begins to make its presence known. In a lot of ways this story made me think of episodes of shows like The Twilight Zone, where you'd get a creepy, unexplained story with a clear arc and a satisfying resolution by the time the credits roll. The story doesn't rely on leaving half revealed truths or vague hints in order to disturb the reader, and it doesn't really leave you questioning what would happen next. Instead, it give you this wonderful, self contained tale that just feels incredibly satisfying to read.

'The Sanguintalist' by Gemma Files is another that falls quite neatly into the urban fantasy genre, following Lala Mirwani, a forensic necromancer for hire. Lala uses her abilities to experience memories through blood to help the police with murder investigations, and is called in to help when the brutalised remains of a trans woman is found. Lala's magic reveals a series of events that sends Lala into a world of dangerous magicians and spell-casters, where she gets tested to her limits. I really enjoyed this story, and not just because it gave an Indian trans woman a starring role, but because this felt like a perfect pitch for a urban fantasy series filled with great characters, and an interesting world. I really hope that this is a character and setting that Files comes back to in the future, as we need more heroes like Lala.

Josh Malerman's 'Mrs Addison's Nest' is a story that I think is definitely worth more than one read. Telling the story of a group of four friends who've come together to track down and fight a woman from their past, a woman they're convinced is a powerful, evil witch, the story messes with the mind and chronology as the titular monster tries to mess with the characters. The story was honestly a challenge to begin with, thanks to the shifting, almost dreamlike narrative, but Malerman manages to really make it work, and once you know a bit more about what's going on you can re-read the story with more information and get a lot out of it. In some ways it reminds me of IT with the group of adults coming together to fight a childhood monster; yet it doesn't copy the King story in any real way, and feels completely its own.

'Challawa' by Usman T. Malik was a story that I really enjoyed. Set in Ganeshpur in India, this felt like a wonderful folk horror that drew on the history of the region to deliver a chilling story. It follows Karima, a woman who's travelled home to India with her husband Ed after spending a number of years in the US. Whilst Ed doesn't really want to be there, Karima finds herself getting lost in the local history and culture, as she learns about the Challawa, a type of spirit said to haunt the area. This story is packed full of history and culture, and we get to find out a lot about both Karmina and Ganeshpur over the course of the story. You spend so long getting to know the characters and exploring their lives that I almost forgot it was supposed to be a horror story, until the sudden dark turn the ending takes in the most chillingly delightful way.

The final story for the book is 'Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate' by John Langan, and it takes readers to a remote iced over lake where a woman has travelled to confront a man who she believes to be responsible for the death of her brother. The woman, Michelle, has travelled into the remote wilderness to talk with Walter, a man that she not only believes killed her brother and his girlfriend, but to also be a monster. Over the course of the conversation that begins between the two of them we learn  lot about Walter's life, his failed marriage, and the reason why he committed his crimes. Unfortunately, there's something dark and unnatural inside of Walter, and the story of his transformation into a creature of myth is one that will terrify. I really enjoyed this story, and loved how much time was given over getting to know the characters, their lives, and how then ended up at this point. The horror of the story didn't really come into play until the end of things, but by the time it did I was totally invested in the tale, and loved the way it ended. 

Dark Stars  has a big mixture of different types of horror, from a range of authors from different backgrounds and experiences, and this really shows in their work. no two stories feel the same, and even if they're tackling similar themes and ideas they're all so different. The ghost stories have little in common, the urban fantasy stories are both unique, and the folk horror tales feel like complete opposites. Dark Stars seems to showcase how varied and how different horror can be, and what different people bring to the genre. Whether you've come to this collection to check out an author you already like, or to try something new, the sheer variety on offer here means that you're guaranteed to find something to like.

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Recruited: A Tom Clancy's The Division Novel by Thomas Parrott - Book Review

 

'Maira Kanhai has had enough: since the Green Poison epidemic hit DC, her Cybersecurity degree is worthless, she can’t rejoin the US Navy, and her early efforts to secure Maryland led to a costly mistake: the death of her brother. Every day new factions emerge, trying to burn her city to the ground – until the Division emerges, inspiring hope. When a grenade kills one of their agents, Maira suddenly has a chance to make a real difference as a raw new Division recruit … if she can pass the tests, and overcome the enemies plotting to permanently eliminate the Division once and for all.'

I have no experience with Tom Clancy's The Division, I have the first game loaded on my Xbox thanks to GamePass, but have yet to actually find any time to play it. I know the basic premise of the game, that a virus has caused untold chaos in the US, killing many and bringing the rest of society to its knees, resulting in those left behind having to rebuild their lives as best they can. But outside of that, I was unaware of any particular characters, groups, or important events that take place within this universe. As such, Recruited became my introduction to this franchise; and thanks to the quality of the book it's a game series I definitely want to play now.

The story of Recruited takes place after the initial events of the plague, when the Dollar Flu has done the most damage and the people left behind are trying their best to recover. It's in the remains of Washington DC that we meet Maira Kanhai, a former Navy computer specialist who's living in an apartment block with a group of around fifty other survivors. The group has come together in order to survive, trying to make life comfortable and manageable with things like solar panels to generate power, and scavenger missions to gather supplies and important equipment from the surrounding area. The only person there with military training, Maira has become the head of security for the community, arranging the defences of the building and being in charge of those that have been trained up to defend the place.

Despite seeming to have things running well Maira isn't viewed as well by everyone, and there are some in the community who dislike her, and blame her for a supply run that went wrong that cost the lives of several members of the group, including Maira's own brother. However, when the community comes under attack from a roving band of infected anarchist it's Maira's defences that hold them back long enough for help to arrive. That help comes in the form of three Division agents, who end up driving the attackers back, and wiping them out.

When the agents inform the survivors that they've been passing through as part of an important mission that could help save millions of people Maira volunteers to join them. They lost one of their number stopping the attack, and Maira feels even more unwelcome in the community now. The Division leader agrees to take her on in a trial capacity, giving her the chance to prove that she has what it takes to be a member of the Division as they head out into what's left of the world, hoping to do some good.

The world that Thomas Parrott crafts for Recruited is an interesting one. Thanks to the popularity of post-apocalypse stories we've all seen a fair amount of stories that follow survivors as they attempt to rebuild the world, struggling to get by whilst those left fight over resources. This book does have some of that, especially to begin with, and whilst Parrott does hit on some similar notes to other stories, with worries about supplies and so forth, it never feels boring, or like it's repeating what's come before. There's enough different here in the early parts of the book that you don't end up feeling jaded by it; and by the time the Division agents head out into the world we get to see this post apocalypse in a completely different way too.

What I really enjoyed about it was that we get to see a lot of different types of survivors and communities over the course of the novel. There's the regular people having to come together to survive, there's the loners out in the woods going self sufficient, there are folks who just want to see the world burn and will sow chaos wherever they go, there are groups of soldiers who've tried to maintain order, and there's even a fleet of truckers who have formed their own society. There's a big mix of different types of folks in this book, showing different viewpoints to this new world, different methods of survival and adaptation; yet it never feels bloated or that Parrott is giving the reader too much. He's able to integrate so many elements in a way that it feels natural as we learn more about it. It's impressive.

One of the biggest factors to the success of the book has to be the characters though, particularly Maira. Maira is our point of view character, we experience everything that happens through her eyes. We learn about the Division and the other groups of survivors as she does, and her relatively sheltered experience of staying with one group of survivors makes her a great gateway into this world. She has enough experience and ability to be able to keep up with the other agents, yet still feels like she's learning and growing as a character.

Speaking of the other Division agents, I really enjoyed these two too. The leader of this little trio is a woman named Brenda, who from the very first time we meet her gives the sense that she's an open, caring person. She's a professional soldier, but she takes the time to talk to people around her, to reassure them, and probably gives out a little bit more information that you'd expect, but does so because she knows its the decent thing to do. She seems to understand that she's there to help others, that her job is to ultimately benefit the people, and as such makes sure to do good and be kind wherever she goes. I also liked the relationship that formed between her and Maira, where she seemed to fall into some kind of big sister type role, helping the other woman out and encouraging her whenever it was needed. 

The other Division agent is Leo, a big, silent type of guy who I actually took a while to figure out if I liked or not. To begin with he seemed a bit of a dick, refusing to really open up, not wanting Maira to join them, and being cold towards her. But over time he began to open up, to show more of his personality, and by the end of the book I'd come to like his gruffness and his stoic nature. He felt like the kind of guy that once you got through his tough outer shell would be the kind of person who'd always be there for you, and would be great fun to be around.

Recruited: A Tom Clancy's The Division Novel is a book where I wasn't sure what to expect from it. I didn't know if this was going to be a survival story, a post apocalypse story, or an action story. And in the end it was all of them, but it was also a story about people. It was a story about the people who stand up and help others, who put their lives on the line to do the right thing even when it puts you in danger and others are refusing to act in a good way. And that's not just the Division agents either. The book shows normal people doing the right thing even when it's the hard thing to do. Despite being about the what's left of the world after awful events it's a book that shows the good in humanity, and has a surprising amount of hope in its message. 

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Recoil: Book 1, Flood by Spire Eaton - Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'After causing a terrible accident, Kalo is kidnapped into superpower therapy. He is told it's for his own safety, but something doesn't feel right about the ███ Centre for the █████. He's struggling with his guilt, losing time, and soon a dark secret comes to light...

'The urban sci-fi webcomic Recoil, written and drawn by Spire Eaton, has been running since 2014 and is now being brought to print for the very first time by indie publisher Quindrie Press. This bombastic first volume features a telekinetic basketball game, a kaleidoscopic nightmare, mysterious disappearances, and █████!'

Web comics have been growing in popularity ever since they first started appearing online. With it being harder than ever to break into the publishing world, some bold creators have taken to the internet to share their art, uploading one page of their stories at a time, building up their fanbase as they go. One of these such titles is Recoil, which began in 2014, by writer and artist Spire Eaton, and is now coming to print form in a new graphic novel.

Recoil: Book 1, Flood takes the first five chapters of the web comic and combines them together to tell the story of Kalo, a teenage boy whose life is forever changed one day. When we first meet Kalo he’s your average teen, playing music in a band with friends, spending time with his girlfriend, and doing his best to get by in school. When Kalo finds his girlfriend Becca having an overdose, however, his life begins to spin out of control. Barely managing to get out a call for help, things go from bad to worse when the house collapses on top of them.

When Kalo wakes up in hospital he gets some terrible news: Becca didn’t survive the incident. Barely holding it together, Kalo drifts through life for several days before deciding that he can’t go on, and sets out to take his own life. However, he’s stopped by a mysterious man named Sebray, and shortly after blacks out. When he comes to Kalo learns that he’s been kidnapped and placed inside a special facility, the Croft Centre for the Attributed. The people running the Croft Centre tell him that he caused the building to fall down thanks to the powers that unlocked within him, and that they can’t let him go until he can learn to use his powers safely. Now Kalo’s locked up with other teens with strange powers, and he’s determined to find a way back to his family.

Recoil feels a lot like the sort of story you’d expect to see from an X-Men comic: a young teen goes through something terrible that unlocks their special power, and gets taken away to a secret school to learn about it; but more if Professor Xavier was really probably evil and just kidnapping kids. As soon as Kalo arrives in the Croft Centre you know that this is not a nice place. Yes, it might not be some dark and dingy prison, but the fact that the kids are given numbers instead of names, and are fitted with collars designed to track them isn’t something that sits right.

Whilst Kalo seems unsure of the place when he first gets there, due largely to still getting over the trauma of losing Becca and learning that he has super powers, he doesn’t quite see these warning signs, and as such much of this first volume sees him building friendships with the other teens in the Centre. This isn’t a bad thing, as it gives the reader a good chance to start to get to know some of the other characters and figure out the kinds of powers and abilities they have. There are some interesting scenes that help us do this, including super-powered basketball, and some group therapy sessions.

We also get to know some of the staff at the facility, and thanks to some good writing by Eaton I’m still not sure if all of them are actually bad, or if some might just be unaware of what’s going on. Characters like Dr Bhatti, who work with the teens to help them figure out and manage their abilities, and seem to genuinely care about their emotional well-being feel like they could end up in either camp, and I love that ambiguity.

Alongside having written the story, Eaton provides that art, and has a pretty distinct style. I’m not sure of the best way to describe Eaton’s art other than it looking like a comic and graffiti crashed together and this is what came out the other side. The art has big, bold lines with exaggerated proportions. Characters have distinct features that make them instantly recognisable, and the colours are vibrant and pop off the page. There’s not a single page in the book that feels flat or boring, and that’s a hard thing for any graphic novel to say.

One other thing that I really liked about the book, yet is a really subtle thing, is the amount of representation that there is. Many of the characters are people of colour, and there are scenes where the rooms have different pride flags hanging up. So far none of the representation is really a focus, there aren’t really moments where race, gender, or sexuality really comes up, but the sheer fact that the book at least feels diverse and well populated with different types of people is a big plus.

Recoil: Book 1, Flood doesn’t feel like a web comic. It feels like a slickly produced work that you’d expect to see coming out of a major publisher, so to learn that it was created by a single person isn’t just impressive, it’s astonishing. The level of commitment that Eaton has shown to have spent so long on this story, releasing it page by page, and going back and improving on those early releases now with improved art and new lettering is incredibly impressive. I’m sure that this book will be well received, and if this is your first time discovering Recoil it’s the perfect opportunity to do so.

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Cream Maid by Mark Dickson – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Cream Maid sees the world as theirs for the taking. Cream Maid wants to be the individual in the room that everyone adores. Cream Maid still has a long way to go.

'Honey and Darling—an affluent couple living in the English countryside—take on the infuriating feline on a whim, soon discovering that Cream Maid is something altogether unique, blurring the lines between employee, child and trickster god.

'Well-meaning but ill-fated, Cream Maid’s destructive wake serves as the beacon that this newfound family starts to steer towards.'

Would you like to have a Cream Maid in your life? What do you mean ‘What’s a Cream Maid?’ – what a silly question. You see, a Cream Maid is a cat, but not really a cat; they’re big, like a human, and they live in your house as a maid, but they don’t really work, and they cause chaos and destruction, but they make your life better. What’s so confusing about that concept?

Cream Maid is the latest graphic novel offering from writer Mark Dickson and artist Rebecca Burgess that tells the story of Honey and Darling, a couple with a tough marriage who live together in a large house that needs some extra help to keep clean and tidy. To assist them with this they’ve hired Cream Maid, a four foot tall anthropomorphic cat-like creature who can’t speak, and barely seems able to understand basic instructions.

When the book begins Honey and Darling seem to be having marriage issues, and Cream Maid is a big part of it. Unsure exactly why they hired the strange cat creature, other than the fact that they came with an adorable maid outfit so they must have been qualified, things take a bad turn when they banish Cream Maid from the house after they cause a bit too much chaos. What’s worse, Honey tells darling that she’s not sure she loves him anymore, and perhaps the marriage cannot last. Thankfully, this is only the first section of the book, and it means that there’s plenty of time for them to work through their issues; and a big part of getting the relationship to work seems to be getting Cream Maid to come home, and forming a new bond with them.

The plot of Cream Maid is split up across four distinct chapters, each of which has its own story and its own isolated challenges and issues to resolve; yet these four stories form one broader narrative that shows the evolving life of Honey, Darling, and the titular Cream Maid. Ultimately, it’s a story about learning to communicate with the people in your life, opening up about your issues, and being brave enough to take risks with new things, to build towards making a better life.

Now, one of the big things that will need talking about with this book is Cream Maid themself. What is Cream Maid? Honestly, I don’t know. When the book begins they’re already employed with the family, and the reader isn’t ever really given an explanation about what they are. Over the course of the book the character evolves and becomes a kind of child to Honey and Darling, even being enrolled in school and helping work on the family business. Yet they’re not the child of Honey and Darling. There are points in the book where they acknowledge that they’re a cat, but not a cat, but no one ever seems to question this, despite their being no evidence there’s anyone else like Cream Maid in the world. One of the descriptions for them makes reference to them being like a trickster god, and I can see the comparison, as they are like a chaotic fey creature.

Ultimately, I don’t think it really matters what Cream Maid is, as what they are isn’t as important as who they are. And who they are is part of the family. Over the course of the book Cream Maid goes from a problematic employee that they throw out of the house to being a part of their family, to being someone that they love and care about. And the journey to this is a big focus of the narrative. During the story Honey and Darling have to confront their own personal issues, their fears, their flaws, and their worries about their future, and Cream Maid helps them to do this. By accepting this strange creature into their lives they learn to be better people. And I think that this is a wonderful message that Dickson is able to convey in delightfully funny ways.

The art on the book, provided by Rebecca Burgess, is really lovely. Having read some of Burgess’ previous work on How To Be Ace, I was familiar with their style, and knew that they were good at making the ordinary world look bright and eye-catching. However, it was the work on Cream Maid themself that was a definite standout here. From the first panel where they appear the character looks wonderfully weird and out of place, and the more weird things they do the more I loved it. Burgess is able to create art that is able to appeal to readers of any age, although this art will appeal a lot to younger readers.

Cream Maid is the kind of book where you never know what to expect next, where the world of the ordinary and that of the fantastic crash into each other in unexpected and delightful ways. It takes a look at some very real issues, such as unhappy relationships, work troubles, and interpersonal relationships, yet manages to make it feel fresh and interesting all the time.

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Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #13 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

It feels like Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures has been building to something big for a while now. At first I thought it was going to be the confrontation between the Jedi and Nihil, more specifically the confrontation with Krix Kamerat, but it looks like that wasn’t the end goal. Instead, this issue showcases how things have been more about the matters of the heart than intergalactic war.

This issue sees our heroic Jedi bringing Krix into custody, and what happens after they’ve completed their mission. For some, like Farzala and Qort, this means spending time with some new younglings and making friends, but for Lula it means a ton of introspection. I’d mentioned in a previous review that it felt like perhaps something romantic was brewing between Lula and Zeen, that it seemed like these two young women were more than just friends. Well, this issue does away with subtlety and makes this very much the focus.

So yes, Lula and Zeen love each other; and honestly, I absolutely love this. Love stories have always been a part of Star Wars, and whether that was Han and Leia in the original trilogy, Anakin and Padme in the prequels, or Kanan and Hera in Star Wars Rebels, love has been a big part of this franchise. And in a lot of cases, love involving a Jedi. Jedi aren’t celibate, they’re allowed to have sexual relationships, and in some cases like Ki-Adi-Mundi are encouraged to. It’s love that’s the big no-no. Obi-Wan had to give up Satine, Anakin refused to give up Padme, and now Lula comes to the realisation that she loves Zeen. The question is, will she let that love go or not?

Lula’s questions are the focus of the issue, and it really does feel like someone in the early stages of love, questioning if their feelings are real, if they should say anything to the other person, and if their love could alter their life forever. Now, that last one might not be a feeling that everyone who’s been in love will relate to, but there is one group of people who will understand that: the queer community.

The love story between Zeen and Lula is very much leaning into the fact that they’re both women, but not in a way that’s incredibly obvious. None of the characters seem to care that it’s two girls in love, as you’d expect from a society made up of hundreds of different species. Instead, Daniel Jose Older uses the Force to make it relatable for queer readers. Zeen has a conversation with Krix where they talk about her connection to the Force and how she was told if she would “stop using the Force and it would go away. And we could be normal again”. If this isn’t a ‘Have you tried not being gay?’ stand in I’ll eat my hat.

We get more of this from Lula, who feels that her love for Zeen could ruin her life, because she’s expected not to have that kind of connection, because her life has been planned out for her, because people have put the expectation on her that she’ll become a Jedi. This immediately made me think about how families expect that their children are going to be heterosexual, so when you’re dealing with the knowledge that you’re not, you worry about whether or not they’ll accept that, because they’ve already mapped out in their heads that you’ll get married to someone of the opposite gender and have a family. The two of them are having a queer experience thanks to the Force and Jedi expectations.

This is honestly something that I’d never thought I’d see from Star Wars. The sequel trilogy did everyone a disservice by not letting Finn and Poe be a couple, and the ‘queer rep’ they praised themselves for in the final film was a blink and you miss it same-sex kiss in the background. Star Wars needs a queer relationship. Queer Star Wars fans need it to happen. Whilst the seeds for this have very much been laid here I truly hope that this isn’t going to be the end, that these two characters end up together, and that they actually get to kiss and have a happy ending. Because if Star Wars is dangling this in front of me and it gets taken away I’m going to lose it; especially if one of them dies. But hopefully this is the beginning of the first big queer relationship in Star Wars.

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The Deadly Grimoire: An Arkham Horror Novel by Rosemary Jones - Book Review

 

'A daring actress and a barnstorming pilot team up to save the world from supernatural disaster in this uncanny pulp adventure set in the world of Arkham Horror

'Betsy Baxter is the plucky stunt-actor star of the 1920s serial adventure, The Flapper Detective. While researching a wing-walking scene, she meets the fearless Winifred Habbamock and discovers a shared background of eerie encounters and eldritch phenomena. For years, Betsy has been investigating the disappearance of an old friend during the horror-struck filming of The Mask of Silver, when she learns of his reappearance in Arkham, she and Winifred hit the road to investigate. But Arkham is full of mysteries and danger. Betsy will need all her skills, and new allies, to prevent an otherworldly cataclysm from consuming her and all of Arkham.'

The Deadly Grimoire is the latest entry in the Arkham Horror series from Aconyte Books, and follows up from last years Mask of Silver. 

The story begins by introducing us to Betsy Baxter, the Hollywood star of the popular Flapper Detective series of films, as a shrewd businesswoman who owns the studios that make her movies. Her career has never been better, she's popular, the business is booming, she's recently bought herself a lavish mansion, and she's getting to perform amazing stunts. Things are going great, except for the fact that she's still haunted by the events that happened in Arkham years ago.

During her previous trip to Arkham (during the events of Mask of Silver) Betsy was witness to a strange event, and lost some of her friends during a fire on a film shoot. Her friends didn't die though, they disappeared into a mirror, never to be seen again; including her boyfriend. But when Betsy receives news that one of the missing has reappeared in Arkham, and is being taken care of in an institute, she decides that she needs to return to the city to find answers.

Needing to get to Arkham as soon as she can Betsy asks the pilot who helped her film her latest stunt, Winifred Habbamock, to take her across the country.  Shortly after arriving in Arkham the two of them meet Tom, a bookseller who's in trouble with some local bootleggers because they're after a book that he's ailed to deliver. This book, the Deadly Grimoire, is said to be cursed to bring trouble to however has it, yet thanks to the promise of being able to open special pathways the local criminals want it badly. Now Betsy and Winifred find themselves caught up in Tom's plight, and have to help to find the missing book before it's too late.

I'm sorry to say that Mask of Silver is the only book in the Arkham Horror series that I've yet to read, as such, when it came to reading The Deadly Grimoire I was worried that I was going to start at something of a disadvantage; that I might get lost as to who everyone is and what's going on. Luckily, Rosemary Jones makes the book really accessible to new readers, and whilst it is a sequel for sure it feels a lot like its own adventure where knowledge of the last book isn't needed to enjoy things.

Having been used to seeing Arkham Horror stories following hardened detectives, academics, and reporters Betsy felt like a big change to the kind of person that these stories normally centre on. She's brash, opinionated, has an in-your-face attitude. She's a woman who's used to being the boss, calling the shots, and getting what she wants. She has an energy that we don't normally get to see from people living in Arkham, a kind of life to her that is normally ground down and worn out by long-time exposure to the grimness of the city.

Winifred is very similar in a lot of ways. She's a woman who's had to fight every single day in order to become the person she is. She's not only working in a male dominated field, but thriving in it. She's in a position of power and respect that a lot of people would love to see her stripped from, so she has a fierceness to her that she's needed in order to survive. She's also a woman of colour, and has had to live with being looked down upon by white people, and these experiences have definitely shaped her too. In contrast to the two women Tom is kind of what you normally expect from an Arkham book. He's a bit dour, he's not very outgoing, and he's a very insular man who's more than happy to spend his time around books instead of people (I feel you there Tom).

However, despite these differences in outlooks, these varying personalities, the three of them make for a pretty decent team. Each of them brings something different to the table, and they definitely help to support each other's weaknesses. There are times where they end up getting in trouble, not really thinking things through and get into bad situations, but they're always able to get through it by working together as a team.

Whilst the central three characters are great, they're really the only people in the book that we get any chance to get to know other than the two primary antagonists. These two, a strange doctor who runs a private clinic and seems obsessed with strange seaweed, and a bootlegger who runs a speakeasy and seems to support her local community of Innsmouth, don't really go beyond first impressions. Whilst the two of them are definitely interesting, I always found myself wanting to learn more about them. I know that they weren't the focus of the book, and that Jones had the rest of the story to tell, but I was left wishing we'd had more time with them. Perhaps if Jones ends up writing a third Arkham Horror novel these will be characters that get to make a return appearance.

The Deadly Grimoire is an interesting addition to the Arkham Horror line, one that brings a very different kind of energy to things. It has more of a focus on the glory days of Hollywood, features silent movie stars, stung pilots, and dangerous bootleggers over the more otherworldly horror aspects. Whilst this may leave some people wanting more cosmic horror than is in the book, those wanting to spend some time with some interesting characters and getting to know a bit more about Arkham will come away satisfied.

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Destiny 2: The Witch Queen – Game Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I remember picking up the original Destiny when it first launched, and being instantly interested in this new world that Bungie had created. It had some cool designs, tons of lore, and the promise of more of both to come, as the game would continue to expand with additional DLCs.

I stuck with the game through to Destiny 2 being launched, but soon fell by the wayside as I just couldn’t keep up with the game. However, I did keep up to date with the story as it came out, and found each new DLC to be a fascinating new chapter. With The Witch Queen coming out, and promising to bring big changes and revelations to the game, I decided to see if this would be a good point at which to jump back in. It absolutely was.

The story of The Witch Queen begins big, with Mars returning to the solar system after being stolen away in a previous story DLC. Travelling to the red planet, your Guardian learns that there are strange time rifts scattered across Mars, showing events from the planet’s past. Not only that, but the Cabal have arrived and are setting up fortifications to combat Savathun, one of the powerful gods of the villainous Hive. Using the Cabal’s tech, your Guardian is able to infiltrate Savathun’s huge ship in a moment that is pretty ridiculous but loads of fun.

Once on board the massive Hive ship, your Guardian discovers something absolutely horrific: the Hive have found a way to access the light of the Traveller, producing their own Ghosts, and giving their strongest warriors the ability to resurrect after death the same way you can. This news changes everything, and sets your Guardian out on a mission to learn how Savathun was able to acquire this ability, and to stop her if possible. This quest will take you to Savathun’s Throne World, exploring her memories, and travelling across the solar system in an attempt to stop one of your greatest enemies before it’s too late.

The story of The Witch Queen is one of the better ones that Destiny 2 has brought out. Whilst they’ve always given players interesting narratives to explore, this is possibly the most intriguing one to date. There’s the central mystery of Savathun having the power of the Traveller that you have to deal with, and this represents the main focus, but over the course of your missions you begin to learn more about the history of the character, the Hive as a whole, and get some pretty big revelations that are guaranteed to ripple out into future stories for the franchise.

As someone who’s not been playing the game for a few years, but keeping vaguely up to date with the story and the lore, the new expansion managed to be accessible enough to the point where I never felt lost. The story was complex, and relied on the player having some kind of working knowledge of the universe, but it was pretty clear that it was also accessible to people without that. It explained things as it went, and even if you didn’t know who Savathun was, you very quickly got a sense of what she was, and why her having this power was bad. So if you’re worried that you’d not be able to pick this up and play because you’d missed out on the last several DLCs, don’t worry, the story will still make sense.

But, what’s the game like outside of the story? The new expansion introduces some big new areas to explore and play in. We get introduced to Savathun’s Throne World pretty early on in the story, a place where she rules supreme and has used the Light to create a huge castle-like fortress. This new area has a big swampland, a huge cave network, a burnt forest, and the fortress itself to play through. None of these areas are small either, and thanks to having patrol objectives scattered around, you’ll never find yourself wandering without having something to do for very long.

In addition to the new areas there are some new enemies to contend with, members of the Hive who have access to the Light. These enemies are bigger, stronger, and tougher because of this. They take a lot more damage to take down, but can also dish out a lot too. These enemies are able to access some of the same abilities that players have been using, and will throw powerful attacks across the battlefield at you. Even worse, if you do manage to take them down, you’ve got to rush in and destroy their Ghost by hand, otherwise the enemy gets back up at full health. These enemies aren’t around too much, thankfully, and are instead used as mini-bosses to great effect. The fights against Light infused Hive make for some great moments, and do prove a pretty decent challenge even on standard difficulty.

The new additions to the enemies make a group of villains that have been in the game for years feel new and interesting. You can’t just fall back on old tactics that have worked forever, and will have to try new things on the fly in order to get through the challenges. The game manages to walk this fine line where it always feels like you’re having to push yourself, like you’re just strong enough to get through but never able to just breeze through everything. You may have to re-spawn in a few times to try a boss fight more than once, but I never felt completely stuck or under-powered.

As someone who has enjoyed Destiny, but has been away from it for a number of years, The Witch Queen was the perfect expansion to get me back into the game. It felt like playing a new game itself thanks to the size and scope of it all. The story was well written and well acted, and felt like it was doing big things for this universe. Whether you’re a long time player, a lapsed player, or coming to Destiny 2 completely fresh The Witch Queen expansion makes for a great experience.

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Caveat – DVD Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Caveat is the latest movie from streaming service Shudder to make the leap over to DVD, allowing those who don’t have the horror themed network a chance to catch this strange movie.

The film follows Isaac (Jonathan French), a man who’s recently had an accident and seems to be struggling to get his life back together. When his friend, Moe (Ben Caplan) offers him a few days work for a decent amount of cash, Isaac jumps at the offer; especially as all it entails is looking after Moe’s niece Olga (Leila Sykes). Whilst Moe does explain that that house is remote, and that Olga is going through some mental health issues due to the death of her father and her mother going missing, he doesn’t mention that the house is on an isolated island, and that Isaac will have to wear a special vest with a chain attached that will limit where he can go in the house.

Despite these caveats to the deal Isaac agrees to stay with Olga. Due to Olga’s mental health issues, however, she spends a great deal of time uncommunicative, leaving Isaac to try and fill his time as best he can, searching through the old, rundown house. When strange things begin to happen, however, Isaac starts to question whether or not he might be safe here, and how he might be able to escape.

Even without the strange set-up, Caveat is a bit of an odd film, and there were times towards the beginning of the movie where I wasn’t sure what kind of film this was going to be. The idea of being taken out to a remote location that you can’t escape from and literally chained in place to stop you leaving sounds like a set-up for a film where Isaac is going to be chased through the halls by a frightening Saw-like killer. But when you start hearing strange whispers in the walls, and things begin to move on their own you start to wonder if perhaps there’s something a bit more supernatural going on here too.

Caveat seems to like to stay in this confusing middle-space, and it keeps you guessing for much of the movie. The characters make mention of some kind of accident that Isaac has suffered recently, and uses this sense of mystery to keep a lot of drama happening on screen, and the slow reveal of backstory makes for some of the better parts of the film.

This is the first feature length film from writer/director Damian Mc Carthy, and I would have struggled to have known that. I’ve seen a lot of first time movies over the years, and there’s often a level of quality to them that the films fail to meet. They’re not as creative with the camerawork, they don’t take many risks, and they look pretty average at best. Caveat, by comparison, is really nicely put together in places, and some of the long, creepy shots of the old, rundown house where the main action takes place really help to set the scene.

Whilst the location feels as much a character in the film thanks to the aforementioned work from the director, the core cast is quite small, with only three principal players involved in the drama. Jonathan French does a great job as Isaac, and really sells the idea that he’s kind of lost, drifting through the days. He manages to come across as pretty likeable, despite us knowing nothing about him, and you do start to root for him as things get more and more bizarre around him. Leila Sykes does a pretty good job in the role of Olga, and she manages to walk a fine line between being just a little strange and being quite disturbingly creepy, and you never really know how she’s going to go from scene to scene.

As well as the film, the new DVD release comes with some storyboards, and two full length commentary tracks. These two commentaries, one with the director and one with the producer, are definitely worth a listen to. there are no real behind the scenes extras or ‘making-of” features, so the commentaries are where viewers can learn more about the film. They’re pretty entertaining, and offer insight into how the film was made, and what it was like making a first feature film for many of the people involved in the production.

Caveat is a strange film, one that seems to blend together elements from a few different horror genres and tries to do something interesting with it. Whilst it’s not perfect by any means, it does do really well with what it has, and you can see the passion and skill of those involved coming to the fore.

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