So, apaprently I had access to the Medal of Honor beta. Given some playtime,I can safely say several things.
The first of these things is that the UI is FRIGGIN ATTROCIOUS. I know there is a orange/blue color thing that generally is one of those.. things, that has been shown to draw the human mind in like it a strobe light, but it's goddamn horribles. It's overstated tosay the least, eye raping to say the most. Worst of all it jsut doesn't work.
The menus need serious work, ranging from being vaguely non-functional through to just plain bizzarre.
Oh sure, I've seen WORSE designed interfaces, but this is probably up there as one of the less impressive out of a AAA title. It looks bad, it functions.. oddly, it's an allround dissappointment.
Gameplay has me confused though. It's clear that DICE was brought in on the project to make some sort of fusion BFBC slash COD game, and that's pretty much exactly where the game sits, from what you can play of it in the beta. Push mode from Bad Company, Closer combat from Modern Warfare. Here's my problem-
Why does this game exist? The Teamplay-ness is pretty alright, but it's detracted by that MW2-like fast pace, so it's nowhere near as coherent as BC2 for that aspect. Then there's the fast-pace shooter elements and levelling, which are very much like MW2 (all be it disfigured by ODD kit customising menus), but because of the teamplay elements , it's somewhat slower than it's inspiration, so it's not as coherent as MW2. You're left with a multiplayer game that tries to do two things, but pulls neither of them well enough to impress upon me.
I will say that the graphics, even on low are MUCH nicer than either of the other two games. So I guess that's a plus, even if at this point all the aniamtions are recycled from Bad company 2.
To be honest, I'm more interested in the Singleplayer. They've been saying a lot of big things about the SP in this game, and I REALLY hope they deliver on it... but the MP, as far as I care right now, give it a miss.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Can't sleep, housemates will eat me. (when it rains it pours)
So here I am writing vertically in my room, completely bottomed out. REally, I haven't felt so low since high school, and believe me if you knew me through year 8,9,10 you should know that that was indeed a dark fucking hole in my life.
Yeah I'm back there, back in the hole.
It's the night I confirms my monthlong paranoid fear that my housemates were indeed out to get me because I am, in my own words, a high maintenance fuckup with nothing but trouble for them. The worst thing is, the monster of my mind that I thought I had tamed years ago, all the barbs,stings and verbal punches they haveused on me all point to that monster being at large.
For those who don't know, I'm a dyspraxic, I have both motor and Developmental Dyspraxia (which for a quick blurb, see US NINDS For a better description, see Wikipedia ). It permeates it's way through my life like some invisible python, striking when I've got my back turned. Think you've got fine motor skills down? OH NO! THERE GOES A PLATE WITH FOOD. Think you've remembered something, something that you only needed to remember maybe for half a day? OH NO, WHERE DID THAT MEMORY GO? OOPSIES. Irregular routines? YOU MISSED A STEP.Quick what did you have for breakfast? YOU CAN'T. Time management and logical processing? HA. Social Abilities? NOT TODAY SON. Sometimes it ain't a problem ,you know? You can get through a day, a week a month, fine, nothing goes wrong, then BAM. Right in the face, a week where everything that makes dyspraxia such a nightmare to live with comes haunting from high. You'll forget a bus, drop a plate, spill a cup, forget to lock a door, not manage a social interaction, find an exam you won't be able to write more than 5 minutes of without suffering debilitating hand pain, Trip and fuck up your nice smart business pants, misjudge someone's intentions and then to top it all off find out that all your friends now hate you because of it, and they want you out.
Like they say, when it rains, it pours. Goddamn is it pouring today. Could really do with an umbrella, or some understanding, Either or.
Yeah I'm back there, back in the hole.
It's the night I confirms my monthlong paranoid fear that my housemates were indeed out to get me because I am, in my own words, a high maintenance fuckup with nothing but trouble for them. The worst thing is, the monster of my mind that I thought I had tamed years ago, all the barbs,stings and verbal punches they haveused on me all point to that monster being at large.
For those who don't know, I'm a dyspraxic, I have both motor and Developmental Dyspraxia (which for a quick blurb, see US NINDS For a better description, see Wikipedia ). It permeates it's way through my life like some invisible python, striking when I've got my back turned. Think you've got fine motor skills down? OH NO! THERE GOES A PLATE WITH FOOD. Think you've remembered something, something that you only needed to remember maybe for half a day? OH NO, WHERE DID THAT MEMORY GO? OOPSIES. Irregular routines? YOU MISSED A STEP.Quick what did you have for breakfast? YOU CAN'T. Time management and logical processing? HA. Social Abilities? NOT TODAY SON. Sometimes it ain't a problem ,you know? You can get through a day, a week a month, fine, nothing goes wrong, then BAM. Right in the face, a week where everything that makes dyspraxia such a nightmare to live with comes haunting from high. You'll forget a bus, drop a plate, spill a cup, forget to lock a door, not manage a social interaction, find an exam you won't be able to write more than 5 minutes of without suffering debilitating hand pain, Trip and fuck up your nice smart business pants, misjudge someone's intentions and then to top it all off find out that all your friends now hate you because of it, and they want you out.
Like they say, when it rains, it pours. Goddamn is it pouring today. Could really do with an umbrella, or some understanding, Either or.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Review- WORKING!!
Can I preface this by saying WHERE THE HELL IS THE GODDAMN MANGA OR THE VN?! I know Working is indeed an adaption of a combo manga VN series, however I can find neither hide nor hair of them on the internet, other than spurious claims that they exist. Goddamn I want MORE.
Now onto the review.
Slice of life, Comedy, Workplace (what's that? NOT A SCHOOL AND IT'S A SLICE OF LIFE?! SHAKU HORA)
Moe - 2.5/5 - Can get a bit moe, but not enough to make you hate yourself for liking it.
Violence - 3/5 Lots of animated punching, mainly one character. No gore, not intended to be srs violence... think slapstick on steroids.
Cheesecake - Nil
Pandering - Nil
Cheese - Some. It can get cheesy.
A Family restaurant in Hokkaido one day during the middle of winter finds itself short a service attendant. Send out Popura Taneshima to go find anyone interested. Souta Takanashi, after mistaking her for a someone much younger than he (as it turns out, she is his senior), he agrees to work at Wagnaria, restaurant full of lively characters. These range from the seemingly innocous Popura Taneshima who has a height complex (hey it least it isn't BREASTS again, also, see what they did there?), to the katana-weilding chief Yoshiyo Todoroki. 13 episodes of intrigue, character development and comedy ensues. I'd give away more, but I'm not too sure how much more can be given away without ruining it. Like a parfait.
As probably eluded to by peicing the puzzle so far, you may have already figured, this a character-driven show. There is no big dramatic moment that any one of the characters is driving towards from the beginning ( or at least not traditional storytelling sense of the word, there is a conflict resolution and such and I don't want to give too much more than that away). It is of itself simplistic, but for a Slice of Life series, simple is fine, especially when it's pulled off well.
Anybody who's worked in a restaurant or fast food joint should feel pangs of familiarity about the place watching this, regardless of how bad it was where you were. You were always surrounded by a cast of crazies, each with their own bunch of odd and interesting things about them. Working brings THAT feeling straight to animation, and brings it well. With a bunch of colourful characters, that bittersweet mix of work and happenstance ,and of course the relieved walk away at the end of the day, it knows it's strength lies in the workforce. Popura the midget, Souta the worshipper of all things cute, Mahiru the androphobe (yes it's real, and so is gynophobia), Jun the gossipmonger kitchenhand, Yachiyo the Chief, the list goes on, eachof them created specifically to be an ingredient for HYJINX. The characters all play off each other without becoming grating, and it all feels natural which is indeed a credit with a series with this many ODDITIES.
The show also manages to weave in a few undercurrent narratives into the overall structure. These range from ones that subtly make their way into the main happenings, like the unrequited love of Jun toward Yachiyo. Others are mostly implied, like Kyouko's previous life as what can be safely assumed as a gang thug. I can't say these aren't unwelcome, it certainly gives extra depth to what could be a very flat piece.
In short, story is well played out and written, characters feel natural yet odd and unique. For laughs, there's one "normal" character in the show and she loses it when she is observed to be quite un-normal by virtue of not being as quirky as the rest of the crew. It's quite bizarre.
To go with the crazy characters that Working has, Working brings some decently executed character designs. Most of the time, you see characters in work uniforms, which I suppose are somewhat less interesting school uniforms by needs of utility trumping individuality, but it's rarely an issue, Working gives each character it's own readily attributable uniform tweaks. On top of that, there seems to be none of that uniform character height issue in here (please tell me I'm not the only one who notices this when it's prevailent). All the characters are readily identifiable and have just the right balance of authenticism and creativity to not come off either as "too cartoony/stereotypical-anime-y" or as too bland ina real world sort of way.
Animation in Working isn't like Haruhi Suzumiya (where a large percentage of the animation team of the entire company were spent dedicating their time to animating everything that could possibly move in every frame ever), it falls very much into the traditional anime framework, which is in essence animation on a budget. Don't get me wrong, the animation that's there is really great quality stuff (despite a couple of rough hiccups during the second ep), but it's not as expansive for keyframes or percentages of screen real estate moving as the former. On the bright side it is a lot cleaner than K-on Season 1 was, and there's enough animation there to get the point across with just the right amount of conviction. A cautionary note for people who don't like chibification- there is some in this, you may rage. Don't worry, because it's for solidifying punchlines, not for it's own sake.
VA for Working is rather excellently cast and performed. From Kana Asumi as Poplar to Eri Kitmura as Yachiyo, every casting choice was well thought out here. Oh and Daisuke Ono. Yeah, each character was well cast here, expertly performed too. Never once did I actually suspect that Daisuke Ono was in fact Daisuke Ono.
Background art is well done, enoguh that it never really glaringly looked out of place or badly drawn. To it's credit then, I suppose.
I gotta say, I really do love the soundtrack to this thing. It's brilliant. For a change, all the catches, stringers, and background music, all done with live instruments, and it's an eclectic mix of mostly Light Music, Rockabilly, 4-bar rock and Third-wave Ska. Actually, the opening, Someone Else, is now on permenant loop in my head with it very notable Goldfinger-cross-RBF style to the Horns and 'tar . I really have to give Okabe Keiichi a mound of credit for beng elcectic in his music styles but staying right the hell away from the synthesiser.
(ed note:Except for two tracks. goddamn it, almost flawlesss victory)
Overall,
Working!!, a show about working, and everything that doesn't involve actually working. Well executed hilarity with JUST enough oddball for it to be endeering. Major props for clean music and non-school setting, can be a bit static, but easily overlooked most of the time. Summary- a great watch, isn't going to win awards (thoguh I suspect it wasn't intending to). Good for all company.
RATING-
3 Poprawrs out of 5.
A rating of 3 means that it's overally entetaining. It's bad points outweight it's good.
Now onto the review.
Slice of life, Comedy, Workplace (what's that? NOT A SCHOOL AND IT'S A SLICE OF LIFE?! SHAKU HORA)
Moe - 2.5/5 - Can get a bit moe, but not enough to make you hate yourself for liking it.
Violence - 3/5 Lots of animated punching, mainly one character. No gore, not intended to be srs violence... think slapstick on steroids.
Cheesecake - Nil
Pandering - Nil
Cheese - Some. It can get cheesy.
A Family restaurant in Hokkaido one day during the middle of winter finds itself short a service attendant. Send out Popura Taneshima to go find anyone interested. Souta Takanashi, after mistaking her for a someone much younger than he (as it turns out, she is his senior), he agrees to work at Wagnaria, restaurant full of lively characters. These range from the seemingly innocous Popura Taneshima who has a height complex (hey it least it isn't BREASTS again, also, see what they did there?), to the katana-weilding chief Yoshiyo Todoroki. 13 episodes of intrigue, character development and comedy ensues. I'd give away more, but I'm not too sure how much more can be given away without ruining it. Like a parfait.
As probably eluded to by peicing the puzzle so far, you may have already figured, this a character-driven show. There is no big dramatic moment that any one of the characters is driving towards from the beginning ( or at least not traditional storytelling sense of the word, there is a conflict resolution and such and I don't want to give too much more than that away). It is of itself simplistic, but for a Slice of Life series, simple is fine, especially when it's pulled off well.
Anybody who's worked in a restaurant or fast food joint should feel pangs of familiarity about the place watching this, regardless of how bad it was where you were. You were always surrounded by a cast of crazies, each with their own bunch of odd and interesting things about them. Working brings THAT feeling straight to animation, and brings it well. With a bunch of colourful characters, that bittersweet mix of work and happenstance ,and of course the relieved walk away at the end of the day, it knows it's strength lies in the workforce. Popura the midget, Souta the worshipper of all things cute, Mahiru the androphobe (yes it's real, and so is gynophobia), Jun the gossipmonger kitchenhand, Yachiyo the Chief, the list goes on, eachof them created specifically to be an ingredient for HYJINX. The characters all play off each other without becoming grating, and it all feels natural which is indeed a credit with a series with this many ODDITIES.
The show also manages to weave in a few undercurrent narratives into the overall structure. These range from ones that subtly make their way into the main happenings, like the unrequited love of Jun toward Yachiyo. Others are mostly implied, like Kyouko's previous life as what can be safely assumed as a gang thug. I can't say these aren't unwelcome, it certainly gives extra depth to what could be a very flat piece.
In short, story is well played out and written, characters feel natural yet odd and unique. For laughs, there's one "normal" character in the show and she loses it when she is observed to be quite un-normal by virtue of not being as quirky as the rest of the crew. It's quite bizarre.
To go with the crazy characters that Working has, Working brings some decently executed character designs. Most of the time, you see characters in work uniforms, which I suppose are somewhat less interesting school uniforms by needs of utility trumping individuality, but it's rarely an issue, Working gives each character it's own readily attributable uniform tweaks. On top of that, there seems to be none of that uniform character height issue in here (please tell me I'm not the only one who notices this when it's prevailent). All the characters are readily identifiable and have just the right balance of authenticism and creativity to not come off either as "too cartoony/stereotypical-anime-y" or as too bland ina real world sort of way.
Animation in Working isn't like Haruhi Suzumiya (where a large percentage of the animation team of the entire company were spent dedicating their time to animating everything that could possibly move in every frame ever), it falls very much into the traditional anime framework, which is in essence animation on a budget. Don't get me wrong, the animation that's there is really great quality stuff (despite a couple of rough hiccups during the second ep), but it's not as expansive for keyframes or percentages of screen real estate moving as the former. On the bright side it is a lot cleaner than K-on Season 1 was, and there's enough animation there to get the point across with just the right amount of conviction. A cautionary note for people who don't like chibification- there is some in this, you may rage. Don't worry, because it's for solidifying punchlines, not for it's own sake.
VA for Working is rather excellently cast and performed. From Kana Asumi as Poplar to Eri Kitmura as Yachiyo, every casting choice was well thought out here. Oh and Daisuke Ono. Yeah, each character was well cast here, expertly performed too. Never once did I actually suspect that Daisuke Ono was in fact Daisuke Ono.
Background art is well done, enoguh that it never really glaringly looked out of place or badly drawn. To it's credit then, I suppose.
I gotta say, I really do love the soundtrack to this thing. It's brilliant. For a change, all the catches, stringers, and background music, all done with live instruments, and it's an eclectic mix of mostly Light Music, Rockabilly, 4-bar rock and Third-wave Ska. Actually, the opening, Someone Else, is now on permenant loop in my head with it very notable Goldfinger-cross-RBF style to the Horns and 'tar . I really have to give Okabe Keiichi a mound of credit for beng elcectic in his music styles but staying right the hell away from the synthesiser.
(ed note:Except for two tracks. goddamn it, almost flawlesss victory)
Overall,
Working!!, a show about working, and everything that doesn't involve actually working. Well executed hilarity with JUST enough oddball for it to be endeering. Major props for clean music and non-school setting, can be a bit static, but easily overlooked most of the time. Summary- a great watch, isn't going to win awards (thoguh I suspect it wasn't intending to). Good for all company.
RATING-
3 Poprawrs out of 5.
A rating of 3 means that it's overally entetaining. It's bad points outweight it's good.
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