MINORU'S BLOG

Every once in a while, when I’m watching a movie, I’ll randomly find myself thinking, “Hmm, this scene or plotline sure feels video gamey…” Sometimes, it happens the other way around. I play a really great video game and start wondering if there are any movies with a similar feel, whether it’s the setting, the plot, the theme, or just the overall vibe.

So here I am, listing some of my favorite movies in no particular order and trying to find their video game counterparts.

Enjoy the list!

Children of Men (2006)

Counterpart: Half Life 2

I actually just recently watched this movie during my commute time, and it's already making its way to my top list. As a fan of dystopian decay aesthetics, it's absolutely beautiful, in a depressing way. It's about a chaotic, oppressive police-state world where no babies are born in a long time. It's pretty much how I imagine City 17 from Half Life 2 if it sets in Britain instead of Eastern Europe. There's this despair feeling from the very first minute of the movie but also hope during its act 3, just like Gordon Freeman's quest to end the Combine occupation.

Se7en (1995)

Counterpart: Still Life

Murder mystery is always fun for me to watch (unless it's happening in real life, of course), and this film is my all-time favorite regarding whodunnits. The haunting crime scenes, the seven deadly sins motif, and the hardboiled noir vibe; there's nothing to complain about if you like detective works and utilizing the old little grey cells.

The most similar video game I played is not any Sherlock Holmes games; instead it's a less known point-and-click adventure game from 2004 called Still Life. It was an era where pre-rendered backgrounds were the shit. I still remember I played the demo CD of the game I got as a bonus from a gaming magazine back when I was still a kid, and the very first scene of murder haunted me for weeks. Too bad the sequel wasn't as good.

Scarface (1983)

Counterpart: GTA Vice City

Well, if it isn't the most obvious influence. Rockstar Games is known for their homage to crime movies in all their works. When watching Scarface, you can't avoid comparing the rise-to-power criminal journey of Tony Montana to Tommy Vercetti. The 80s Miami setting, the "deal gone wrong" setup, and of course, the famous mansion shootout. Thank God we don't get to see Al Pacino also ragequit when operating an RC helicopter to blow up a building.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Counterpart: Spec Ops: The Line

Another obvious influence here, as the game narrative is lifted loosely from the movie's original source of idea: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Despite the difference in the setting (Vietnam jungle versus Dubai desert), both the movie and game succeeded in showing the brutality and insanity of wartime and its effect on people's minds. I was upset the first time I watched the movie because I expected it to be a normal Vietnam War movie, only for it to get more and more surreal as it goes. Which is exactly what happened in Spec Ops. Nobody expected The Horror™ that comes after you.

Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

Counterpart: Mad Max

This is now plain cheating, but who cares about rules. Every cool person I know who watched Fury Road agrees that it's awesome, that's including me. It's got one of the most interesting post-apocalyptic world in the history of fiction (Kenshiro's stamp of approval). It is beautifully adapted by the 2015 Mad Max video game. Sure, it's not a direct adaptation as it doesn't have a flamethrowing blind guitarist riding on top of a truck. Heck, I'm not sure it's even the same Max as the movie. What it's got are high-octane adrenaline chases and sick upgradable car complete with your own crazy mechanic sidekick. Oh, and a huge Australian wasteland to explore to your heart's content.

--To be continued in part 2--

Everyday I'm taffering

In the early 2000s, we got some nice stealth game series to play hide-and-seek on. From Hideo Kojima's blockbuster movie Metal Gear Solid series; the social dress-em-up Hitman series; and of course, my starting point in the genre: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. There's also the now-forgotten Tenchu and the not-so-stealth-anymore Assassin's Creed.

All those games usually follow the same formula. Players need to emphasize on hiding from the enemies instead of just simply killing them and moving on. If you're detected, either it's game over or you need to fight difficult battles to survive. Stealth is about hiding in the dark, waiting for your chance to slip away undetected to reach the goal.

I love the stealth genre. Some of my favorite games of all time (note to self: need to make a list one day) are either stealth games or have stealth elements in them. In fact if any games give me a choice to build my own character, I usually make myself a stealth one. Like the infamously overpowered Skyrim stealth archer build. I also spent my childhood sneaking from my parents to play games during nightime

Got some rare things on sale, stranger!

That's why I owed it to myself to play one of the classics, the grandfather of sneaking video games: Thief (1998) by Looking Glass Studios. And play I did. I took my time on this, with me finishing the final level only last February even though I started it after completing System Shock 2. It's not too hard, like I said, I just took my sweet time.

Thief placed you in the control of Garrett (a.k.a. Mr. Taffer), a master thief / archaeologist who steals from the rich people to give it to the poor (himself). The game is played in first-person view, so you rarely see his face, but he does speak from time to time, giving him a bit of character. He's quite a cool character IMO, definitely right there with Geralt of Rivia ("Wind's howling") and JC Denton ("I’m not big into books") in terms of the best one-liners.

The world in Thief is kind of a mix of steampunk and medieval era, which at times looks pretty depressing. Like you don't want to live in that kind of setting. Oh, and there are also fantasy elements such as zombies and sentient, floating fireballs. However, I must admit the world is indeed very immersive. It feels alive thanks to the fantastic sound design of the game. The footsteps, the constant droning backsound, the guards' conversations, all helped to immerse me into the game's world.

A religious man he ain't

The gameplay itself is honestly pretty obvious from the game's name. In each level you need to steal certain items from a certain place. You can up the difficulty to add more objectives, like stealing more loot or not killing any guards. Garrett has many tools to aid him in his thieving quest, like water arrows to douse the torchlights, noisemaker arrows to attract enemies out of your way, and rope arrows to climb otherwise unreachable points.

To be fair, once you get the controls set up to your liking (the default is really really bad), the game feels familiar like any modern first person game that isn't a shooter. The first level set in a rich man's mansion serves as a great tutorial about the game. You can enter via backdoor after stealing the key from a guard, you learn how the guards have patrolling routes, you learn how sound and light work in the game, you earsdrop the guards about important stuff. It's a great introductory level by any means.

The story is simple at first but getting a bit cryptic near the end. You can learn the story via cutscenes before the levels, also via guard conversations and in-game notes and books. There is this grand backstory about The City and its factions such as the Hammerites, The Keepers and The Pagans but none of those are really needed to know to enjoy the game.

This is how my wife read Google Maps

Thief is not a perfect game nor it's aging well. The graphic is quite dated even by 1998 standards. Heck, we got MGS and Ocarina of Time that year. Still, after finishing it for the first time in the year of 2026, I can say with confidence that its core ideas and concepts are way ahead of its time. The sound and light systems are still used in today's games. Thief's legacy is foundational to modern stealth and immersive sim genres. Maybe it is not for everyone especially for today's kids, but if you do play it you'll know why it's an important piece of gaming history. I will also play Thief 2 soon and hopefully Deadly Shadows follows. No, there is no Thief 4.

Shik Shak Shock

If we're doing a vote and compiling a list of the best PC games since its inception, I'm sure sooner or later people will be calling System Shock 2 name into the conversation. Released on the eve of the '00s by the now-legendary Looking Glass Studios, System Shock 2 is often mentioned as one of the most influential video games ever. But in actuality, how many of those people actually played the game until the end?

The first time I heard about the game was from a gaming magazine article back in my childhood. I think the article wrote "Top Ten Scariest Games" or something along those lines. It named many horror games, but the one that caught my attention was System Shock 2. The article mentioned "screaming monkeys" and "cyborg midwives" as one of the reasons why. Of course I had to play it.

But during those days, almost nobody else talked about that game. It's like the game was some sort of fever dream of mine. I tried to find the game on the internet to no avail. Even when I found the link and downloaded it, the game refused to run on modern systems. Until finally in 2013, GOG released a non-hassle version of System Shock 2 to play.

I tried it. It was suck. Or I was suck. Regardless, I couldn't get past the first hour of the game. It was ugly as sin; the controls were janky, and there was too much stuff to learn in the beginning that I got overwhelmed. I gave up shortly after. Thus, I put the game back into my endless backlog.

Meanwhile, I played a lot of games known as immersive sim (I kinda dislike the term) such as Deus Ex series, Dishonored, Prey, and Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Basically those games play like a first-person shooter, but there are different options on how to solve the level instead of just shooting your ways out. You can have techs or magics to help you deal with the enemies. You can go gunblazing or tippy-toe stealthing. Some also have multiple routes and dialogue choices. Games that give you freedom. 

There is also this series called Bioshock, you can guess from the name, that is a spiritual successor of System Shock series. All of these games were my favorites, and lo, they all took inspiration from System Shock 2, which many named as the grandfather of the immersive sims genre. So one day I decided to swallow the pill and jumped onto the decks of the Von Braun, the spaceship that became the setting of System Shock 2.

The first few hours were still painful. Until at one point it finally clicked on me, and then I understood all its praises and reputation. I can find the System Shock 2 DNA in all of my personal favorite games. The freedom play of Deus Ex and Dishonored, the audio logs and environmental storytelling of Bioshock, the body horror of Dead Space, the manipulative AI villain of Portal, and many more. It was a game ahead of its time in terms of gameplay.

The story itself isn't too special nowadays, but it's still fascinating. I won't tell much about the detail of the plot; basically you're a dude who is one of the few survivors of an FTL spaceship expedition that went very, very wrong. You were contacted by another survivor that gave you a mission to try to survive and rendezvous with her. You explored the Von Braun decks which were filled with enemies such as zombies/mutants (of other crew members), suicide bombing androids, the aforementioned monkeys and cyborg midwives. Oh, I did also mention a rogue AI before. Enter SHODAN.

Many have heard of her name and her famous line: "Look at you, hacker: a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?" that was delivered with such a chilling robotic voice. But being actually stalked and taunted by SHODAN throughout the Von Braun corridors while being chased by killer mutant with a shotgun made GLaDOS from Portal look like a tsundere roleplaying ChatGPT.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my playthrough of this game and its unmatched atmosphere. My only gripes with this game are the inconsistent background music and the unbalanced builds. My advice if you play the game is to take your time to read, whether it's the game's manual or the in-game guides.

I played the original 1999 release with mods, but recently they released a remastered version of the game on Steam called System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster which has multiplayer and other trinkets like achievements and QoL fixes. There are many more to said about this game but I'll save those for later. Next, I'll discuss about the grandfather of stealth game.

Alright I'm going to keep this short. Bioshock Infinite has one of the most interesting world in video games that comes to my mind recently. In this day and age where "realistic" setting in video games is considered as the most popular choice, the imaginative city of Columbia is such a treat for me. Yeah, the intro for Rapture in Bioshock was cool and all but there's nothing like breathing the fresh air and seeing that beautiful sky filled with floating monuments.

But that's not all. The gameplay is almost pretty much the same as the first game, you got weapons and this special powers. Then you proceed to shoot everythings that moves. Simple. And the story. Oooh. The main theme is 'infinite universe' but there are many things beyond that but I don't want to spoil the fun. Also the ending left me shocked, both in awe and confuse.

Bioshock Infinite is the game that I hyped for a long time since Bioshock is one of my favorite modern game. Finally playing it gave me this sense of unrealism. It's like I'm playing that game from my dream. Well, turned out it wasn't as brilliant as I expected but nevertheless it's pretty exciting to play. I can't wait for Bioshock whatever that's gonna be released next. I hope it will bring another interesting setting to explore.

Top 10 (alphabetically):
30 Flights of Loving
Black Mesa
Botanicula
Dear Esther
FTL
Hotline Miami
Ib
The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb
The Witch's House
To The Moon

Special mentions:
Katawa Shoujo
La-Mulana
Legend of Grimrock
Lone Survivor
Mark of the Ninja
Thomas Was Alone
Torchlight II

Flash
Frog Fractions

P.S. I wish Journey was released on PC

Oh please don't mind me or this post. Just want to write down a few things that has been happening in this past few days.

(Okay, okay, I admit it. The post title is not very original indeed)

Bought a new external HDD
Finally! After few years of suffering and suffocating, I finally got myself a new space for all these pr0nz. It's a 2 TB WD that I bought, certainly not long until it'll be stuffed enough bytes to fill it. Nevertheless, at least my PC and laptop can breathe now thanks to it. No more deleting all those precious files!

Hotline Miami
This game is cool, yo. Go play it if you haven't. Beware of the dogs though.

Molester Man
Another 2ch tale turned into a manga. This time involves a guy who's mistaken as a molester. That's the start of the unexpected turn of events of his life.

It's pretty awesome if you ask me.

The world hasn't ending (yet)
Those fucking Mayans and their stupid pranks prophecy. Here I was ready to get turned into tang while Komm Susser Todd playing with max volume. Such a let down.

The Mirror Lied and Clock of Atonement
Two short games made with RPG Maker. Man, I'm such a sucker for good RPG Maker games.

The Mirror Lied is about... hell if I know what's the story is supposed to mean. It has pretty good music though. It was made by those same guy who did To The Moon.

And Clock of Atonement has a more accessible story. It was about a stalker guy who killed the girl he stalked and found a watch that can turn back time so he turned back the time so he can prevent the murder in a Ghost Trick way.

Beneath a Steel Sky
A rather old (1994) point n click adventure game with cyberpunk and sci-fi theme. It's free on GOG so I figured why the hell not try it. The graphics is well, old, but for 1994 I'd say it's pretty. The dialogues are funny and charming with all the british accent. The puzzle is well-done, too. It's recommended if you're into the genre.

Punpun new volume, SOON
According to Hox, he'll start translating the new volume on Christmas Eve. Way to go to ruin everyone Christmas, Hox!

Aku no Hana
Boy this manga sure is fucked up. I finally catch up with it and I can say it's one of top ten most crazy manga in my list. I can only imagine what sort of reaction we get when the anime airs next year.

Finished Kaiji S2
Never too late for zawa zawa. That damn pachinko machine, man. (Also, Mikako doujin where?)

Gonna do those end of the year posts (again)
Yeah, just like past years. Or did I really do it? wakarimasenlol.
I'll start tomorrow if I don't lazy.


Goodbye cruel world.
xoxo  minoru

I want to write about The Walking Dead which is recently become one of my favorite series and because it's fun to talk about. My first encounter with the franchise was when I stumbled upon the game titled "The Walking Dead Episode 1" around five months ago. The title made me interested but I still wasn't sure what to expect. I found out it was developed by Telltale, which is one of the few developers that still actively developing games with adventure genre.

"So what?" I thought, "Probably it's just a boring point 'n click adventure just like those thousand adventure games created using AGS but with prettier graphics and maybe a bit zombies to spice it up". Little did I know that 'boring' was the most wrong word to describe The Walking Dead.


I tried the game. My first impression was it kinda feels like those RPG that featured choices in the conversation, except without the RPG elements. But then it turns out to be more like an interactive movie. Interactive movie with a good story. Once I got to the story without wasting time I got absorbed to its world and I unconciously put myself into the main character's shoes. Every choices you make will determine the course of the story. Sometimes it made me feel like a shit when I had to choose to save only one person and the other died horribly.

Oh yeah the story. So the story is like any other game with zombies, there's suddenly a zombie outbreak in the city and you as the main character has to make your way to the safety zone. The difference is you are not a government agent with powerful arsenal shoved in your ass. You are not a guy who is trained to fight zombies. You don't have any clue how to stop the infection. You're just a run-of-the-mile guy who has to fight in order to avoid zombies eating your brain.


Basically in this the-end-of-the-world scenario, your objective is to survive for another day. You must find a place to sleep, scavenge for food, and defend yourself against zombies or maybe other human. Also, you have a little girl to take care of. Some people in a certain image board jokingly called this game A Dad Simulator. That's not pretty far off.

The game is divided into 5 parts each called an "episode". The choices you made during an episode will carry the effect to the next and so on. For myself, my favorite episodes are 2 and 3. The tension and emotional feeling in those episode are the best.

Just recently I finished the last episode and got to the ending. It was yesterday, I found myself watching the credit roll with nearly watery eyes. Yes, it is one of those tearjerker ending. It also ended with a possibly sequel hook.

I recommend this game to those who want a game with good 10-hour storyline. Do not expect complex gameplay because you won't get it from this game. The graphics style is nice and works with the game overall, since it was based on comic books. It's probably one of my favorite game in this year.

(Oh yeah, I also follow the TV series. I already watched season 1 and 2, and still waiting for S3 to finish before starting it. I don't like cliffhanger)

art by ターヤ

The Witch's House (Majo no Ie) is a horror adventure game made with RPG Maker. It's pretty much similar to another horror adventure game Ib, might as well call it Ib's spiritual successor. Play it in the night with lights off.

The story follows Viola, a 13 year old girl who got lost in a forest on her way to her friend's house. She found a house which is belong to a witch, hence the game's title. I won't spoil the plot but one thing:  there is a twist at the true ending (there are two endings).

The game involves much more jump scare than Ib. I admit I was terrified several times, not only because the jump scare but also because of the atmosphere. The atmosphere in The Witch's House is nicely done with the music and sound effects. Also, there's much much more deaths in this game than Ib, which some of them are pretty gruesome.

art by sorako

Anyone who likes Ib must try The Witch's House. I'm not saying the latter is better than the former, they're just similarly good and has similar experience too. I hope there will be many more games like this in the future. I can use a good scare once in a while.

The game is a freeware, made by Fummy in RPG Maker XV. The english translation was done by vgperson (she is also the one who translated Ib) and can be downloaded here. She also has a very cool tumblr.

They're waiting for you Gordon. In the test chamber.

I am a scientist on my way to the office in the morning. I'm boarding the tram which will transport me to my research facility. I am quite late, but the tram won't go faster even if I try. I hear the announcer tells something familiar from the speaker in the tram. The tram speeds up and I'm seeing some sceneries of the facility before me. A few minutes passed and I finally arrived. The security guard helps me outta the tram and guides me to the office. Then the scenery from the picture above welcomes me.

Playing Black Mesa: Source revokes some of good old memories of mine. It was a nostalgic trip in the beginning of the game. There were still the same charming scientists I remembered. The announcer voice even almost brought me to tears. And I am still the motherfucking Gordon Freman. Nothing is more satisfying than that.

I like it when these two showed up as a cameo.

Half Life and Half Life 2 are by far still my favorite PC games ever. You couldn't imagine how happy I was when somebody said they want to remake the first Half Life in Source engine. After a few teaser screenshots and even a trailer with the release date at the end of it (it was 2010 I believe), the project soon was never heard again. Every fans and I came to despair for years. Then in 2012 the project seems alive again and finally it was released on September. Holy shit, I thought, I never imagine it would be released before Half Life 3!

I played it for hours last weekend and it was indeed as great as I expected. They tweaked a few things that made it a bit (just a bit) different from the original but I am generally okay with that. The dev team still did one hell of a good job overall. So far I am really satisfied with Black Mesa Source.

Meet our old and trusty friend, the crowbar.

I'm now still on my way to finish this game and I'm gonna savor this experience while it last. Everything is still the same as I remember. The combat and music are amazing. I'm sure this is one of the best Source mod ever if not one of the best mod overall. Once again, prop to the dev team. I hope they can finish Xen level soon. (spoiler: they didn't include it yet. Yep it's technically still "unfinished")

Well, that's it for this impression/review thingy. Regarding of the new season anime I hope I can write about them soon. Also, I feel guilty for posting very rarely nowadays. I guess I'm hitting the writer's block or I'm just lazy in general. Kay, see ya in the next post, if there ever any of it.

(WARNING: HEAVY FANBOY RANT AHEAD)

Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney trailer: FUCK. YEAH. I'M JIZZING IN MY PANTS.

This morning I discovered from my Twitter feeds that Tokyo Game Show 2012 started today. Next thing in the feed was a trailer for the most anticipated game in TGS 2012 for me: Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. I immediately stopped everything I did at that time and started watching it. Words cannot describe how excited I am after watching the trailer.

That animation from BONES. That animated 3D sprites. Those exciting puzzles. That Objection theme. That courtroom. That familiar looking judge. That exaggerated gesture. That trademark pose. I fucking love every bit of that trailer. I need to change my pants.

From the trailer its expected release date is November 29, 2012 and the price tag will be 5,980 Yen. Now all I need is Level 5 and Capcom to confirm western release of this game and I'll buy 3DS right away. Pretty please with cherry on the top.

I'll sell my soul to them just in case.

Next trailer is Ace Attorney 5. Our good 'ol defense attorney in blue suit will make a comeback in this game:
HE'S BACK! HE'S BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

And he's certainly not a hobo.

From the trailer there are two things I wanna ask: since this game chronologically set after Apollo Justice, what happened after the end of AJ? Why is Phoenix returning to the court scene? Will characters from AJ make appearances? Fuck it those are three questions but I do not care.

In his comeback, Nick will be accompanied by new assistant (well sort of) and she certainly doesn't seem like an amateur to me. I hope she will be as entertaining as all the assistants before her (Maya, Ema and Kay) inb4 Trucy is a boring sidekick.

This logo screams "JUSTICE". Don't you feel it?

There's no confirmation of the release date so I guess it's another year of waiting. And again, I hope Capcom doesn't pull another scumbag stunt like they did with Ace Attorney Investigations 2. Please Capcom, don't ruin anymore franchise. I'm still upset about the new Devil May Cry.

So I'm in holiday and I thought that these are good times to start working through my countless backlogs. These include anime, manga and video games backlog. These are several of them that I already completed.

Anime
Black Lagoon (and sequels)
Honestly I've never watch the anime before. It doesn't really matter since I've already read the manga hundred times. Still, seeing those run 'n gun sequences are one of the thing you cannot miss if you are a fan of action genre. My favorite arc is the one that involving the twins.
Rating:
Black Lagoon: 9/10
The Second Barrage: 9/10
Roberta's Blood Trail: 8/10

Texhnolyze
Bloody hell. This must be one of the most depressing anime I've ever watched. Literally everyone dies in the end. Whoops, sorry to spoil you. I like the atmosphere of this show. The dark town of Lux, the sewer, the "Outside World", those places really feels alive to me. This anime is definitely need to be rewatched someday.
Rating: 9/10

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
It's one of those anime that you can't really find its weakness. Everything feels perfectly fine. Intense action, smart conversation, amazing characters, you name it. However I gave it a 9 out of 10, just because I'm an ass. Sure, it is a perfect anime but not my favorite so I can't give it a full score.
Rating: 9/10

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Bide your time... And hold out hope! Another one that close to being perfect. Once I start watching it I'm always on the edge of my seat. The Count is a fascinating character. He's so manipulative that I always feel he's going to be a great villain in other anime. I haven't read the original story ye but I'm planning to do so (after I'm done with Les Miserables).
Rating: 9/10

Kaiji
ざわ‥ ざわ‥
Rating: 8/10 (for losing his ear and fingers)

Moyashimon
You can call it some kind of preparation before watching the second season. But honestly I can't really say that it's that great. Sure it's a nice comedy and there are cute microbes here and there (I mean, microbes! Cute!) but that's all it can offer.
Rating: 8/10 (I was going to give it a 7 but a plus for the cute tranny.

Diebuster
Not really much to say here since I'm still on episode 2.

Crest of the Stars
Idem with above. I already fall in love with the setting of this one though.

Manga
Akame ga Kill
It's pretty fun to read. Typical shonen stuff except it comes with some violent twist. The characters are OK. Still ongoing currently at chapter 26.

Cute girl killing each other: The Manga

Dowman Sayman
He's a great mangaka that I've yet to known until recently. One of his famous work is Voynich Hotel. Currently reading that. Also, finished his other work called Nickelodeon Red. It's weird stuff but I love it. His style reminds me of Kumeta (of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei fame).

Inio Asano
I'm also re-reading some of Inio Asano's stuff like Solanin and Hikari no Machi. Still great as always. Especially Nijigahara Holograph. I cannot bring myself to re-read Punpun though, that's too hard for my mind and soul ;_;

Video Games
Hitman Blood Money
Man, this game kicks so much ass. That final mission in funeral was really awesome. Too bad some of the missions were too easy (the one in house with pool also the wedding) while the other were just plain great. My favorite way to kill? Pushing some old guy off the balcony.
Score: 9/10

Merry Christmas to you too, 47

Bioshock
Would you kindly stop praising Bioschock so much? Hell, I wouldn't. Because it deserves the praise. Definitely one of the most immersive FPS to date since Half Life 2. Also, the final boss fight was one of my most memorable moment in video game. Where else you can find a game that let little girls help you fight the boss?
Score: 9/10

The Walking Dead Episode 2
RIP Mark (and his leg). I won't miss you since I don't even know you well.
Score: 8/10

Crysis
Currently playing this shit. It's fun (obviously), great looking (even for today standard), and the most important you can explore anywhere on the map. The only downside is the boring mission. "Player, go to the place I marked with X on the map!" "Player, infiltrate the enemy base but don't make too much noise!" No fuck you, I won't listen to you. I'm gonna bomb the hell outta the place, I hope you fine with that.
Score: 8/10

Visual Novel
Not much to write here, I'm only planning to read Muvluv but still can't find the right time to do it.

Here's another indie goodie I found recently. An adventure game about dream and love: To The Moon. This game is one of those games that likely can make you cry if you somehow feel related with the story. Because I'm somewhat not in the mood to write a long-ass paragraph that in the end noone can understand, have this summary from the official site:

This particular story follows Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts’ attempt to fulfill the dream of the dying elderly man, Johnny. In their mission to do so, they traverse backwards through the man’s memories, unfolding his curious life story before their eyes.

In short, I feel like the story is a combination of Up, Millenium Actress and Space Brothers. No, don't ask me why. I just have this thought after finishing the game. Anyway, I can guarantee that this game is worth your time. Go play it if you have time.

Another Ib related post. A few days ago I discovered this beautiful MAD video. The song used in this video is Little Cry of The Abyss by sasakure.UK and sung by Asako Toki. It was included in sasakure.UK's latest album The Fantastic Reality of Aesop. It is really a beautiful song and I like it very much. If you haven't finished the game, do not watch this video because it's heavy spoiler-ish.


Damn, that was really beautiful ;_; . Now excuse me while I continue browsing pixiv for more Ib fanart (my current folder now already has 182 Ib-related pics... don't look at me with those eyes)

art by エコー

These recent weeks I have seen the sudden explosion of Ib (pronounced as 'Eve')fanart in Pixiv. Getting curious as usual, I did a little Google browsing and found out that Ib is a horror doujin game made with RPG Maker by a person called kouri. The popularity of this game has finally caught my attention since I get the feeling that this will be another good Yume Nikki clone like .flow or LcdDem (I like these two). Then I played Ib last night and ended up loving it so much.

The story starts when a 9-year old girl named Ib visits an art gallery with her parent. As she wanders around the gallery, she stumbles upon a strange painting when suddenly the light goes out. It only happens in a few second and the light backs. That's when she realizes everyone in the gallery disappears and she is alone. She goes checking out some other paintings and she stops at this certain painting. For some unknown reason she accidentally can enter the painting and trapped in another world, the world of painting.

Well, that's the synopsis for you, I hope you're interested. The gameplay consists of exploring the area and solving puzzles. I can say that Ib is different from Yume Nikki, since it has dialogues and story. The story itself is really nice too. There are some scary stuff here and there that can make you creeped out (well at least for me). As for the puzzles, well, they are hardly confusing at all. I didn't get stuck more than 5 minutes when sloving a puzzle. So I can assume that this game is pretty much can be played even by casual players.

art by ワユカコ

The Japanese indie gaming fandom is really unique. They are very dedicated, you see. For example Yume Nikki or Touhou. You can hardly see any plot or even official character design in Yume Nikki, but there are countless Yume Nikki fanart out there and I've read several fanfiction as well. They are mostly good, especially the fanart. And don't even get me started with Touhou fanbase. That's why I am not really surprised when I browse Pixiv and find out some amazing Ib artwork there. This kind of thing that made me love the game even more. The same reason applied to why I regard Yume Nikki so highly. Before I know it my Ib fanart folder is already reaching around 50 items and still counting as we speak.

Here's some closing words. Ib is an exceptional game. There are moments when I genuinely muttered words "Boy, what a game". I love the characters and the story, even before I finished it. In fact I haven't finished all the endings yet. Yes, there are multiple endings in this game. Pretty amazing when you think that this game is made only by one person using RPG Maker. Once again this is one of the reason why I love indie games in general. Oh right, here you can find download link for Ib. Go play it. I can't recommend it highly enough.

P.S. Garry is not a lolicon

Every once in a while, we may want to play a video game just for fun, rather than doing the usual stuff like blasting away the endless waves of bad dude with Big Gun™ or stratching our heads after that intricated plot thread which resulted in a mindfuck ending. We want a game where we can genuinely enjoy its charm while relaxing on our seats. Well guess what, I have this little indie game that just perfectly fitted  for you to play!

Botanicula is a point-and-click adventure game from Amanita Design, which some of you probably recognized by their previous work Machinarium. Just like Machinarium, Botanicula is a point-and-click game which you played by clicking stuff on the screen and solving puzzle to proceed to the next area. Point-and-click genre has been long known as one of the most popular genre on PC. Some older PC gamers can easily remember titles such as Monkey Island series or Maniac Mansion which were really popular back in the days.

Back to the topic. I enjoyed all of Amanita Design previous works. From Samorost to Samorost 2 to Machinarium, and also their several flash adventure games on browser. That's why I was really looking forward to Botanicula. After watching the trailer, I was rather surprised after noticing its design was more like Samorost's art style instead of Machinarium's. Not that it's bad or anything though but I always fond of Machinarium beautiful hand drawn art style.

While in Machinarium you are a small robot in a depressing steampunk world, the world in Botanicula is more colorful. In this game you control a group of five botanical creatures which are trying save the last seed of the tree of their home tree from this black evil thingy creature that look like that big ass spider from Limbo. And then you began your journey through different area to avoid that thing (actually those things because there were more) and met different unique creatures along the way. Like any other Amanita Design games, Botanicula has no dialogue (either written and spoken).

The puzzles themselves weren't too hard since they have less to do with the thought process of solving puzzles and more to do with figuring out what exactly needs to be done with those strange creatures which moves when you clicked on them (and of course, some pixel hunting too). In fact, they were easier than the puzzles in Machinarium and Machinarium's puzzles were already this easy. Well, that's why I said in the first paragraph that this game can be enjoyed when you relax in your free time without having to think too much. I finished it in two days with total play time around 4 hours. Yeah, it was short but totally worth it.

The soundtrack is one of the strong points in Botanicula. It was done by Czech alternative band called DVA and these guys knew how to make perfect tunes for this game. The music in Botanicula can't help but made you feel relaxed during the playthrough. It was the kind of music that made my body feels lighter when I listen to the tune:



Botanicula is such an unique experience, at least for me, because how it tried to suck the player into its own beautiful world that filled with charm and successful in doing it. I commend those guys at Amanita Design for its imaginative visuals and sounds. It might be true that Botanicula won't be easily called as an example of 'modern classic' in point-and-click adventure genre like Machinarium did but at least it earned a special place in my heart forever as one of the most charming video game I've ever experienced.

*insert Mario Bros theme here*

Penampilan visual dan audio Braid benar-benar indah. Kita disuguhkan oleh tampilan ala lukisan cat minyak yang begitu menawan ditemani oleh alunan soundtrack yang dreamy. Tiap level memiliki tema visual yang berbeda-beda sehingga selalu menarik serta unik untuk dilihat. Singkat kata, presentasi visual dan audio dari Braid menambah panjang daftar kelebihan yang dimiliki game ini.