Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Review Update

Well, well, well...just when I thought I was finished with a certain game by the acclaimed game developing team that brought you Dark Souls and Bloodborne (i.e. From Software) I've decided to give it another go. And yep the game in question is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Now, I've already done two posts on this game alone and in both of them, I expressed my disappointment over the game and how I felt it didn't live up to expectations as I even gave Sekiro a second chance and again I just didn't enjoy playing it. However...I decided to give Sekiro one more chance to see if I could get into it but only this time I bought it on the PC instead of the PS4 and I will say more about why in a bit.

So has my opinion changed??? Well, let's find out! 

So as this is essentially a review update, I will still mention a bit about the story, so here is the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY (By the way this was taken from the Sekiro Wikipedia page)

"In a re-imagined late 16th century Sengoku period Japan, warlord Isshin Ashina staged a bloody coup and seized control of the land of Ashina from the Interior Ministry. During this time, a nameless orphan is adopted by the wandering shinobi named Ukonzaemon Usui, known to many as Owl, who named the boy Wolf and trained him in the ways of the shinobi. Two decades later, the Ashina clan is on the brink of collapse due to a combination of the now elderly Isshin having fallen ill and the clan's enemies steadily closing in from all sides. Desperate to save his clan, Isshin's grandson Genichiro sought the Divine Heir Kuro so he can use the boy's "Dragon Heritage" to create an immortal army. Wolf, now a full fledged shinobi and Kuro's personal bodyguard, loses his left arm while failing to stop Genichiro. As he received the dragon’s blood from Kuro three years prior, Wolf survives his wounds and awakes in an abandoned temple. In the temple, he meets the Sculptor, a former shinobi named Sekijo who now carves Buddha statues, and Wolf finds that his missing arm has been replaced with the Shinobi Prosthetic, a sophisticated artificial arm that can wield a variety of gadgets and weaponry...".

And its from here where Wolf (or Sekiro as he is later known) must start his dangerous journey to try and rescue his kidnapped lord and get revenge over Genichiro...

THOUGHTS

Well...so after my initial disappointment with Sekiro on playing the game I just found it too difficult and punishing to warrant playing by the time I had reached the Genichiro boss I had felt pretty frustrated and deflated by the game. The second time round I tried the game (bought it again on the PS4) but perhaps rather foolishly I decided to start playing it where I left off as I kept my PS4 save files and I ended up feeling the same way as I failed to make a dent on Genichiro and on trying to tackle a mini boss (a human centipede one) to get some extra prayer beads.

However...this time round I purchased the game for the PC and the reason why is because I decided to try out a game mod that would make Sekiro an easier experience. Now, I didn't try this mod straight away and played the game up to a point where I felt frustration creeping as I failed to get by that pesky Blazing Bull mini-boss. So after some trouble I finally managed to load in one of the easy mods (perhaps the first one was a bit too easy!) and not before long it transformed my opinion of the game as it suddenly became a far more enjoyable and accessible experience.

Now I must admit I am cheating a bit here by playing an easier mod of the game but to be fair I have loaded in a mod that has eased the difficulty level but not to the point where the game is no longer challenging as I am still dying quite a bit in this version and have had my struggles with some bosses. However I think what is more important is that thanks to this mod, it has changed my opinion of the game and I am happy to say I now think that Sekiro is a very good game with plenty going for it. In fact this mod might even encourage to go back and have a go at the game in future at its standard difficulty (although I might regret it!).

So with that said, I am now enjoying the game mechanics more, the combat, the story lore (well to an extent!) aswell as the number of unique items that can be found and used in the game also. And it just shows you that just maybe Hidetaka Miyazaki (the director of the game and the Soulsborne games) should have incorporated an easier mode to ensure that players can it enjoy the game more rather than rely on using PC mods to achieve this.

GAMEPLAY (This section will be split into sub-sections just so you know!)

Before I start just to explain as the playable character in the game is referred to as both Wolf and Sekiro, he is later referred to as Sekiro, so for the purpose of this post, I will refer to the character as Sekiro and try and use the game's full title or an abbreviaton to avoid confusion!

Well, as for the gameplay, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice while it has its differences to the Soulsborne games, it stills shares the same non-linear structure where you can explore different areas rather than having to fight each area in succession. The game also shares similarities to the SB games such as healing and check points, as here in Sekro SDT and I will go into more detail on them below.

COMBAT 

However that aside, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice does largely depart from the Soulsbourne formats in most other respects and this is especially the case regarding the combat because here instead, Sekiro will use his katana to attack an enemy's posture (or their poise) and continue until its broken and then Sekiro can perform a deathblow attack to finish them off. However this will vary when it comes to the boss fights because Sekiro will be required to perform at least a couple of deathblows to finish them off as they have larger health pools. Sekiro can also deflect attacks from enemies but this does of course come with a penalty as they can also break Sekiro's posture to land an attack of their own. Sekiro can also perform stealth attacks and sneak through areas to takedown enemies from behind or from above.

SKILLS 
 
Sekiro will also throughout the game earn XP points for taking down enemies and based on these points, he can upgrade his skills and these tend be a mixture of defensive and offensive skills and the number of points he can gain will increase as he progresses and kill stronger foes. Also as Sekiro progresses in the game, he can earn more points and enhance his skills and he will access them from the idols he travels by. These skills are a mixture of combat arts, which you can swap out as you gain more of them (but you can only use one at a time) and other techniques known as latent arts that affect different abilities such as Sekiro's stealth abilities. Also from the skill tree, Sekiro can even increase the amount of spirit emblems he can hold as well as boost the amount of health his healing gourd can restore. 

TOOLS AND ITEMS

Sekiro similar to the Soulbourne games, has its own share of tools and items to be found throughout the world. Starting with the tools, well you may notice of course Sekiro only has one primary weapon which is his katana but once he obtains his prosthetic arm, he can pick up a number of accessory weapons that can be attached to the arm to help him take down his enemies. As an example there are Shurikens, which are ninja stars that Sekiro can throw at enemies, flame-vents, which are used to set enemies on fire, loaded-spears, which Sekiro can stab foes with them and loaded-axes, which again Wolf can use to stagger enemies to help him land a deathblow. He also can access other tools such as umbrella shields that can deflect enemy attacks or absorb elemental damage such as lightning or fire.

There are also plenty of other items in the game that are of much use such as different sugars that when Sekiro consumes them, he will gain different boosts such as reduction in physical/posture damage or an increase in his attack power. Other items include balloons, which when Sekiro crushes them will again provide different abilities such as receiving more gold from fallen enemies, or increased chances of getting discoverable items held by enemies also. 

ENEMIES, MINI BOSSES & BOSSES

As for the game's enemies, they are mainly comprised of a mix of humans, beasts, ogres, apes, lizards, dogs and many, many more. The human enemies tend to be members of opposing Samurai clans and tend to attack you with katanas, spears, torches, bows, guns and even canons. The mini bosses however tend to be a bit more unique in that there are so many to be found in the game and they tend to have either one or two health bars, which involves Sekiro landing successful deathblows to finish them off. These mini bosses can vary in difficulty with some being very easy whereas others can be very tough to beat.

As for the main game bosses however they have larger health bars and can have up to three at the most and pose a greater threat to the player. And this game has its fair share of challenging bosses and despite even the game mod I used, I still struggled BIG TIME on the final boss, Isshin, the Sword Saint, who was absolutely brutal to fight and it took me 74 attempts over 3 days to finally beat him! So, I think its safe to say that FromSoftware finally came up with a truly challenging final game boss after their previous final bosses had lacked such a high level of difficulty. 

PERILOUS ATTACKS 
 
Bosses and standard enemies can also perform perilous attacks that deal out a lot of damage, which Wolf cannot block however he can counter them with a skill move (Mikiri counter) either that or he will have to jump back to avoid them. Perilous attacks are identified by a red kanji symbol just as the enemy performs the attack and its recommend that Sekiro dodge the attack just as the symbol fades to stand the best chance of evading it. 

IDOLS, VITALITY AND POSTURE

Moving onto the game's travel system, which are the idols that are very similar to the bonfires and lamps that were used in Souls and Bloodborne as Sekiro will find these idols throughout the game's world. The idols similar to the bonfire and lamps in SB games, act as checkpoints for the player and will restore Sekiro's health fully aswell as his health items. At the idols, Sekiro can also upgrade his skills, his vitality and his posture (same as poise in Dark Souls) aswell as purchase Spirit Emblems that are used to utilise his prosthetic arm's tools and determines how many uses he can have of each tool.

As for Sekiro's vitality and posture, these can be upgraded gradually throughout the game but in order to do so, Sekiro will have to fight a number of mini bosses to do so as he will obtain items called prayer beads that will let him increase both these stats. Wolf will also need to obtain four beads that form a prayer necklace to upgrade his vitality and posture by one level and there are 40 beads to be found throughout the game. Sekiro's vitality bar can be found on the bottom left of the screen whereas his posture bar is on the bottom centre area of the screen, which will fill up as he is attacked and reduce as it recovers. The boss health and posture bars by contrast are found at the top of the screen.

RESSURECTION AND DRAGONROT (Warning: this next section is kind of a spoiler!) 

Another aspect of the gameplay is of course connected to the title where Sekiro can actually die...twice which means if he is killed once in combat, he can be ressurected once more before finally dying and the ressurection stat can be fully replenished whenever Sekiro rests at an idol. His ressurection status is shown down below his health bar and is indicated by two circular nodes that are cancelled out after Sekiro has died once but they can be refilled after he kills so many enemies or a boss.

However there is a big penalty that can be incurred if Sekiro keeps dying and that is dragonrot, which is an illness that certain NPCs in the game will contract as a result of Sekiro's repeated deaths. Wolf however can cure the dragonrot via the use of blood droplets and he must do this to ensure that the NPCs recover and he cannot proceed with their quest lines until he does.  

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the graphics, well this is easily From Software's best looking game to date as Sekiro is stunning game visually speaking and the environments are both rich in detail and varied as Sekiro traverses many different areas such as temples, sewers, dungeons, open fields and of course fortresses. The character models are also pretty good although they are primarily better for the main characters but not quite so good for some of the enemies in the game as they can tend to look a bit goofy! But overall this game is very easy on the eyes in terms of its visuals.

Moving onto the music, the game is scored by Yuka Kitamura, who worked on the Soulsborne games aswell and overall its a pretty good score, which to its credit sounds very different to the scores we are familar with in the SB series. The score however doesn't quite scale the heights of the very best soundtracks in the Soulsbourne universe but it is still a fine one all the same and its mini-boss theme alone is well worth listening to even if it is overused in the game! That aside there are also some pretty good boss themes such as the ones for the Guardian Ape, Lady Butterfly and Isshin the Sword Saint. 

FLAWS

As for flaws...well despite having changed my opinion on the game from last time, Sekiro it has to be said still has some worth mentioning.

For starters I would have to say that the game's main issue for me is its fairly steep learning curve in terms of difficulty as it is a pretty punishing game overall (hence why I downloaded the easier mod lol!). Also because its strictly a solo game with no means for any other players to join you in the fight, you are forced to beat the game alone and given the stern challenge presented by the game's bosses, mini bosses and standard enemies, its a daunting task to undertake and one I had found initially very off putting.   

Another issue is maybe to do with the whole setup of the game as you are very limited in terms of building your character's stats as all there is available is your vitality and posture as well as your resurrective powers (based on how many enemies you kill or when you reset the world at an idol). Now to be fair, Fromsoft here did decide to go with a skill tree system where you can unlock many different attacks and defensive maneuvers and that does offer some variety to the combat in the game.

Then we get to the consumable items as there are simply too many of them to be found in the game and similar to some of the Soulsbourne ones that can be pretty useless! As an example one of the most common pickups from fallen enemies are ceramic shards, which you can use to attract the attention of individual enemies (similar to pebbles in Bloodborne) but here they aren't that effective at drawing your opponent over to you.

Further to this point, I found that there are some items that would have been better if you had more supply of and as an example I wish you could have access to more pellets in the game at one time rather just three, which I think is not enough. And the funny thing is there are some items such as antidotes, dousing powders for example that you can use five times at once but you can't with the pellets, which is a bit annoying.

Another issue is to do with the lack of availability of certain items in the game early on and only later in the game do you end up getting them more regularly such as divine confetti, which is essentially for taking on certain bosses in the game. However, divine confetti is only available in limited quantities until you fight one of the main bosses later on and by then you really wish you had those supplies by then! To be fair divine confetti is farmable from certain enemies in the game, so its not too bad in that regard. 

Another big problem I had with the game was to do with the mini-bosses as there are simply too many of them and some of them are pretty challenging, which I admit is to be expected in a From Software game. Now quite a few of these bosses are optional but they are also fairly essential to getting prayer beads to upgrade your vitality, which means you need to keep fighting them over and over until you have defeated them in order to get just one bead! So, if you want to farm up to get the beads you could be in for a frustrating time if you want to do so.

However sometimes the mini bosses can be a complete joke and barely even deserve having a boss HP bar to begin with, especially one boss called the Mist Noble, who you can defeat in a matter of seconds! So the challenge pendulum does swing both ways I guess from extreme difficulty to extreme ease.

I also had an issue with quite a few of the NPCs in the game as majority them really don't have much in the way of personality or character with the exception of maybe the odd merchant and the Sculptor but there are no real standouts in this game like there are in Soulsborne games. Here there is no equivalent of Solaire, Patches, Siegward or Eileen the Crow and that's a pity. Further to this, while I do think its good that From Software finally gave a playable character a voice and more than one expression (well.. maybe not!) I felt that Sekiro has barely any personality either and gives nothing but gruff, concise responses. Its like Fromsoft tried to have a go at a playable character with a voice but decided to keep it along in line with their idea of creating a blank one that does little more than fight. 

Another niggle I had with the game was to do with when Sekiro dies the first time during a boss battle or standard enemy combat you get the choice of letting him die or resurrect. Now I appreciate the "die" option is there if you have had enough but I still think that is an option that shouldn't be included and I will tell why. So, the reason why I think the "die" option isn't a good idea is because during a couple of boss fights I accidentally pressed the "die" option button (L1 on the PS4) and it simply ended the fight when I didn't want it to! So, I just think it would have been a better idea to have simply give you only the one option to "resurrect" and keep on fighting as you will be pretty annoyed if you accidentally hit the die button and were in the middle of a decent attempt at a boss.

Then there is a problem to do with how when you fight mini bosses and if you run out of the area you fight them in, their health bars with automatically reset! Now, this happened to me in the Chained Ogre mini-boss fight as I had removed one of his health bars with a deathblow but tried to distance myself from him a bit and when I came back into the area, his health had fully reset itself again! And it also even happened again later in the game when I fought the Sichimen Warrior boss (and more on him in a bit!). So, while I do appreciate it the game will reset the boss's health if you run far away from the fight, its still a bit of a cheat if you give a little distance and have already taken away one of their health bars!

And last but not least another big complaint I have with the game is to do with one of the damage stats you suffer from in Sekiro and that is terror. Yep, terror is this game's answer to what curse was in Dark Souls and frenzy was in Bloodborne except its way more annoying! And the way terror works is very similar in that enemies that deal out terror damage, it causes your terror meter to build up and when it does, Sekiro instantly dies. Now I can appreciate that From Software wanted to include an insta-kill mechanic like curse and frenzy to Sekiro but I think they really abused it here, especially with the annoying Sichimen warrior bosses who dish out elemental terror attacks non-stop and it makes fighting them a real pain in the ass! So, for me terror is a game mechanic that Sekiro could easily have done without.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up this updated review, I have to say that I have now changed my opinion on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and I no longer see it as a disappointing game but instead a really entertaining, intense and gripping one that is well worth checking out. And I think simply by trying out the game on the PC using a slightly easier mod got me right into the game and it pitched the difficulty level just at the right place for me, which made me appreciate the game much more.

And yeah OK it might sound like I'm cheating myself of the original punishing experience of the game's standard difficulty but believe me the mod version I am currently using is still pretty challenging and the only real difference being that enemy damage you take isn't quite as severe as you would in the standard game. So, for me the game now feels a lot more balanced and I still wouldn't say no to going back to try it at its standard difficulty in future. 

Sekiro of course also has its own bonuses such as its beautiful visuals, intriguing Japanese setting, I also like the idea of the combat simplified down to using just one primary weapon rather than having almost too many weapons to choose from like you have in the Souls games. The game's combat is also pretty intense and very challenging and the prosthetic Shinobi tools are also a pretty neat touch. I also even like that the game gives you the choice to start new game plus rather than force you to start it after you having defeated the final boss in the game (which you are forced to in the original Dark Souls and Bloodborne).

Another thing I quite liked is that From Software FINALLY gave players an option to PAUSE THE GAME while you were in the middle of fighting or at any point while playing for that matter! So, this alone is another plus for Sekiro.  

So, I am happy to conclude this review by saying that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is now a game that I really enjoy and would gladly go back to replay it in the future. Is it as good as the Soulsborne games? In my opinion the answer to that would still be no as Sekiro still has its work cut in trying to better those incredible titles that came before it. It certainly has gone up in my estimation though and while its not a masterpiece it is a pretty damn good game and that's enough for me.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.

Till then its bye fer now!

Top 10 Annoying Bloodborne Enemies Part 2 - No.5-1

Right, so now I'll move onto Part 2 of my list of the most annoying Bloodborne enemies. 

So, with the said let's resume the hunt and take a look at these pesky enemies from Yarnham...

5. Winter lanterns

So, at No.5. are the Winter Lanterns, or as I like to call them the singing frenzy ladies! Yep they are annoying and quite often top many a player's hate list for sure. Yep these weird looking creatures with multiple eyes on their head are no joke.

So, why are the Winter Lanterns so annoying? Well aside from their out of tune singing (God knows why From Software decided to have them sing!) quite simply put they can induce frenzy on you and as anyone who has played Bloodborne knows that frenzy does MAJOR damage to your health bar and is basically what curse was in Dark Souls (except not quite as fatal as curse outright killed you).

The Winter Lanterns also have a pretty nasty grab attack as well, which allows them to consume you more with frenzy and believe it or not you can survive the attack in the main game but the DLC ones...forget it because if they grab you its one-shot material and you haven't got a chance!

As for dealing with the Winter Lanterns, they are certainly one of the tougher standard enemies to take on in the game due to the high damage they can do to you with frenzy, so I often found it was better to keep my distance and kill them with a ranged weapon (e.g. hunter axe or church pick). You can also even poison them too if you keep your distance that will prove effective also but you need to be sure you are out of sight or else you will need to chug down all your blood vials to counter their frenzy damage or use sedatives to stop the frenzy build up.

So, the Winter Lanterns sure deserve their spot on this list in the top 5 as they are sure as hell one of the most annoying enemies in the game.

4. NPC Enemy Hunters

At No.4 we have of course the NPC enemy hunters, which can prove to be a mixed bag of difficulty with some being pushovers to others being unforgivingly brutal to take down but whatever way you look at it there is no doubt these guys are pretty damn annoying to deal with.

And for me the main factor of their difficulty and annoyance comes from them generally having HUGE health bars and unlimited ammo! Yep because typically you only have 20 blood vials and bullets in the game at one time (unless you pick more vials up and you can make 5 extra bullets from your own blood) but THESE guys have all the ammo they want and can spam you to death with it! Not only that of course as I mentioned they have a ton of health, which makes them difficulty to kill quickly.

Now I have to say the early game enemy hunters aren't too bad such as the one at cathedral ward who attacks you with a bolt infused mace called the Tonitrus but he has a buddy who is a fair bit tougher that can totally spam you with a rifle to stagger you so he can perform a visceral attack. And its this kind of BS that can become pretty infuriating to deal with although this guy can be taken down a bit easier later on once you are levelled up.

However the enemy hunters later found in the game are way less forgiving and in particular the toughest of the lot of them is the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst, who is hands down the HARDEST enemy in the main game and taking this guy on in one to one combat is absolutely brutal! This guy has a crap tonne of health and also has a katana (the Chikage) that does pretty nasty bleed damage and a repeater pistol that can essentially two-shot you to death. Not only that, this guy's visceral attacks are lethal and he can literally one-shot you with them! I mean not even Gerhman's visceral attack do this amount of damage! Oh yeah and he has infinite ammo as well of course!

And I could NEVER defeat this guy in a one on one fight, so in the end I had to resort to killing him with poison knives but you can also get him to two hand his Chikage, which causes him to slowly lose his health to bleed damage. Yep he is a total nightmare. 

So, yep the the NPC enemy hunters are hands down one of the most annoying enemies in the game mainly due to their large health pools and infinite ammo, which makes them essentially a bunch of cheaters and they are definitely deserve their spot here at No.4.

3. Eye Collectors

At No.3 we have Eye Collectors...yep...bloody Eye Collectors! THESE guys (or are they women?!) are a huge pain in the ass and they are essentially very similar looking to the Witch of Hemwick boss except they have no magical powers as such but their name speaks for themselves in what they do.

As for why are the Eye Collectors SO annoying? Well put simply it comes down to the deeply annoying attack they do as they often hide in the shadows to perform a sneak grab attack and use a scoop to pry out your eyes! So, basically its a grab and scoop and it can do quite a bit of damage to you (although I don't think you actually lose your eyes when it happens). The Witch of Hemwick also perform the same attack during the boss fight but it is accompanied by a bunch of BS magic spells, so at least these guys don't have that added frustration.

So, with the Eye Collectors to deal with them you really have to watch your step and try and anticipate their locations, which can only really be done through repeated playthroughs or just watching Youtube videos to work it out.  They are fairly easy to kill thankfully because they don't have much health and they are also pretty vulnerable to visceral attacks and can be back stabbed to perform the visceral in quite a few instances.

So, for me these guys are definitely one of the most annoying enemes in the entire game and more than deserve a spot on the list here. 

2.  Enlarged head patients

So, at No.2 have what is undoubtedly the MOST annoying enemy to be found in the game's DLC, which are the enlarged head patients...yep...f*** these guys! Put simply, I absolutely hate them!

So, why are the enlarged patients in the runner-up spot? Well it comes down to the fact there are ALOT of them to be found in the Research Hall area of the Old Hunters DLC and they are also pretty fast and deal out alot of damage with their wild, frenzied attacks (they don't induce frenzy thankfully!) as they flail their arms around wildly and can also perform headbutts.

There are also different varieties of them to be found in the game as well that have different attacks such as throw jars of acid, leap attacks, frenzied hand attacks and headbutts and there even headless ones but they are suprisingly passive and don't attack (unless you attack them first). Also there is one individual patient that is pretty lethal, who wanders around carrying a blood drip stand and he violently thwacks over and over again out of rage and you DO NOT want to get caught out by him as he does a tonne of damage with that thing!

And the patients can be quite difficult to deal with due to the variety of them and also their large numbers although one strategy to bypass them is to use Blue Elixir, which makes you briefly invisible. Other than this though you can parry them and perform a visceral, which tends to be pretty effective also.

So, for me the enlarged head patients are without a doubt one of the THE most annoying enemies in Bloodborn and as such definitely deserve to take the runner-up spot.

And so this means the most annoying enemy in Bloodborn is...

1. Brainsuckers 

Yep at No.1 are these guys...Brainsucks...lovely chaps! Yes these guys are so utterly annoying that I felt there was no other enemy in the game to match their annoyance and they deserved to take the top spot here.

So, just why are these guys so annoying? Well to put it simply its because they SUCK! Yep these guys can perform a grab attack where they use a large tentacle on their heads to literally suck out your brain! This attack isn't necessarily lethal but it does deal alot of damage and it also drains your insight in the game (2 insight per suck lol).

The brainsuckers also possess a pretty annoying spell that can paralyze you to keep you rooted to the spot to allow them to perform their brain sucking attack aswell and that is something you need to try and dodge at all costs. In addition to this, the brainsuckers can do some pretty hefty damage with physical attacks as they can perform pretty brutal combos that can easily wipe you out. In fact there are two versions of the brainsucker in that one just performs the standard brainsuck attacks and combos whereas the other can also perform this paralysis spell.

And due to their annoying nature and attacks, they can be tricky to deal with but the brainsuckers are pretty weak to bolt damage, so if you have a bolt infused weapon you can kill them with ease. Also if they have their back to you then you can perform a visceral to which they are also pretty weak to and that can make your life a whole lot easier. These attacks can prove to be more difficult to pull off however in the upper cathedral ward part of the game because there is a section where you have three brainsuckers patrolling the area making it tricky to perform a backstab visceral and in this case you need to kite them away one by one.

So with that said, the brainsuckers are without a single doubt the MOST annoying enemy in Bloodborne due to the fact that they suck your brains out, drain your insight, paralyse you to do so and can even perform a flail combo to also dish out alot of damage. In short these guys SUCK (ahem!) and as such deserve to take the top spot as I hate them more than anything else in Bloodborne.

OK, so that's it for my list and I will be back sometime pretty soon either in December or maybe just before.

So, till then its bye for now! 

Top 10 Annoying Bloodborne Enemies Part 1 - No.10-6

Well this post is a landmark of sorts because it is the 600th post on my blog!

So to celebrate it (kind of!) I figured its time for another top 10 list post, which I will split into a two-parter and I thought I would look at my pick for the most annoying enemies in the action role play game, Bloodborne.

Bloodborne is a great game for sure but like the Souls games it has its own share of annoying enemies, so I figured like I did with the original Dark Souls look at these pesky enemies and what makes them so irritating.

So with that said, let's gear up and re-join the hunt and take a look at these annoying pain in the ass enemies...

10. Hemwick Grave Women 

So, to start the list are these pretty annoying women that appear at Hemwick Charnel Lane and later they appear in the Yar Har Gul village (or is it Yar har har??). They are pretty annoying simply because they can attack in groups and they also make a lot of screeching noises as they do it. They also have a bizarre way of dancing around in a circle like some sort of weird pagans waving their torches. Its like they belong more in the cast of the Wicker Man than here in Bloodborne!

Difficulty wise they aren't too bad to deal with unless you really get overwhelmed by them because they are fairly weak but you still have to watch out for their fire damage as they try to burn you wish firebombs, torches and of course some weird flaming tipped plow as well as big hammers! I actually think I have more issues with the noise they make and that stupid dancing they do than anything else!

So, yep the Hemwick grave women definitely deserve their place here on the list at No.10 as they are pretty irritating for sure in Bloodborne.

9. Hunting dogs

Next up is the dogs...yep those pesky, bloody dogs in Bloodborne are a HUGE pain in the ass, in fact I should probably think about putting them even higher up in the list if I struggle to find anyone worthy of being on the list later on (but I won't!).


As for why the dogs are so annoying??? Well, its simply because they are so fast and aggressive and early on they aren't quite so annoying but its when you get to Y'ar har gul village that's when the pain in the ass that they are becomes pretty overwhelming pretty quickly as you try and run away from them and they keep jumping at you! In fact From Software for some reason decided to make the dogs even more annoying Dark Souls III based on these ones as they suddenly had almost a teleporting ability to jump on you too! However its Bloodborne that started this pain in the assery by making the dogs more aggressive than they were before in the previous Souls games.

So, for that reason alone dogs definitely deserve their place on the list at No.9.

8. Loran Silverbeast

At No.8 is this irritating beastly beggar that can be found in Nightmare Frontier and Nightmare of Mensis areas of the game and its a pretty big aggressive and above all really creepy looking beast that can prove to be a real nuisance.

And what makes the Loran Silverbeasts so annoying is that they have a variety of attacks such as using a torch to breath out a big wave of flames at you as well as a bolt charged attack that they generate from their bodies and both of these attacks do a lot of damage. However they are equally annoying when they try and attack you as they crawl on all fours and slash at you with their extended sharp claws and they are pretty quick so they are difficult to get away from. So, in short if you are cornered by more than one of these guys, you are in for a bad time.

The best way however to deal with these guys is of course to use visceral attacks and they are usually found sitting down with their backs to you, which can allow you to perform a backstab parry followed by a visceral, which the silverbeasts are pretty vulnerable to.

So, the Loran Silverbeasts definitely deserve their place on the list with their fast claw attacks and their fire and bolt attacks that deal out a lot of damage it makes them a big pain in the you know what.

7. Garden of Eyes 

So, at No.7 are these guys...the Garden of Eyes, who are pretty unpleasant looking it has to be said and not surprisingly also unpleasant in nature too as they are essentially large insectoid human creatures with multiple eyes.

The Garden of Eyes I felt were worth adding to the list simply because they are creepy and annoying all at once and this is because they move pretty fast and can perform a fast combo attack on you that does a fair bit of damage but what's more annoying is that they can also perform a grab attack which does very little physical damage but does build up frenzy, which can lead to you getting killed if you're health is low. The best way to deal with them I found is to kill them with bolt as they seem pretty weak to it but they aren't the strongest enemies either so if you just combo them then they should go down.

Also its worth noting that even though these guys are pretty annoying they are at least only found in one area of the game and that is Byrgenwerth, so at least they don't pop up everywhere.

So, the Garden of Eyes for sure deserves a spot on here on the list as they are both creepy and annoying and their fast attacks and VERY annoying frenzy BS makes them more than worth being on here.

6. Giant Lost Child 

So to round off the first part of the list are these guys...Giant Lost Childs...and boy they can f*** right off cos THESE guys are a REAL pain in the ass for sure!  So, what are these guys??? Basically they are big yeti like creatures that inhabit primarily the Nightmare Fronter and Nightmare of Mensis areas of the main game.

So, why are they so annoying? Put simply because they throw GIANT boulders at you that can one-shot you from a distance and that is enough for them alone to be put on the list! This is especially annoying in the Nightmare Frontier area because the place it littered with little rocks that you keep blocking your way, so its dead easy to get stuck on them and before you know...bang you will be killed by a giant boulder if you do look out for it! They have their own combo attacks, which are also pretty damaging but for me its all about those bloody annoying boulder attacks and how they can wipe you out with ease and you can also even get hit by the debris of the boulders as well, which is probably even more annoying!

So, to deal with these guys you really need to watch your terrain and all around to make sure they are chucking a giant boulder at you from a distance and basically also use visceral backstab attacks where ever possible too. Up close they are less of a problem but you also have to remember in the Nightmare Frontier for sure you can still get hit by other giants from the other side!

And with that all said, there is no doubt that the Giant Lost Childs aka yetis without a doubt deserve a place on the list because their boulder attacks are deeply annoying enough on their own and they merit their place on the list at No.6.

OK, so that's it for Part 1 and I will be back soon with Part 2.

Till then its bye for now!

Detroit Become Human Review

Well, its time for a new review on the blog and this one is a NEW one (honest!) and it is on a video game I have just completed, which is Detroit Become Human, which I played on the PS4.

The game was well received on its release but what did I think of it myself? Well, let's do the usual and find out!

So before I move on, here is the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD BUT NOT TOO MANY!

STORY 

So, I won't say too much about the story but I will give a brief summary and it is set in the future in the year 2038 in the city of Detroit, where humans now have created androids to carry out general labour tasks as well for even personal pleasure (yep that too!). However there are reports of androids becoming unstable and have developed their emotions, which has them branded as "deviants" by the law enforcement and the technological industry Cyberlife, who created them, which has lead to many crimes throughout the city.

So, as a countermeasure, Cyberlife has one of the design models, Connor (Bryan Dechart) programmed as a deviant hunter to take them down and along the way, Connor works with a cynical veteran Detroit police officer, Lt Hank Anderson (Clancy Brown). And together they try and get to the bottom of where the deviants are coming from and how to stop them.


The story also has two other story lines include one about an android named Markus (Jesse Williams) who cares for a wealthy, elderly artist named Carl (Lance Henriksen) who is disabled. However, one night they have an intruder, which turns out to be Carl's bitter son and after a confrontation, Markus is shot by the police when they arrive on scene (after Markus called them no less!).  Markus sometime after awakens in the middle of a junkyard filled with the remains of androids and he scavenges the remains of their bodies to replace the parts his body needs to function. Markus soon after this sets himself on a trail to find a ship named "Jericho" which is said to be a safe haven for deviant androids and meets with others like him that include a beautiful but cynical female android called North (Minkah Kelly) and two other androids Josh and Simon. Together from here, Markus announces himself as their leader and makes their plans towards the freedom of androids.

And the third storyline covers a female android housekeeper named Kara (Valorie Curry, who's character Kara is pictured above) who serves Todd and his daughter Alice. Todd however is an abusive alcoholic and on attacking Alice, Kara turns into a deviant and protects Alice and together they escape Todd and travel across Detroit to try and find a way into Canada where androids laws are less strict. Along they met up with another android, Luther as they make their dangerous journey towards their destination. 

THOUGHTS

Detroit Become Human as far as story driven video games go is a pretty good and entertaining one, which packs quite an emotional punch in delivering its ambitious story line involving the liberation of androids in a fear driven society of cruel, unforgiving humans who fail to understand that androids are sentient beings. And the narrative of the story works pretty well as it is split between the three different androids and eventually their fates ultimately will intertwine with one another and the three main lead characters of Markus, Kara and Connor are all likeable in different ways although you do of course have the choice to have them make good and evil decisions throughout. 

GAMEPLAY

And this brings me onto the gameplay, which is largely decision based as the storylines are affected by what decisions you make for the characters as you can choose good and bad options that will ultimately lead toward different endings, which can be good, bad or worse. These decisions are also time based, so you need to choose before the timer runs out and the same goes for aspects of the game's combat as you will have to press and mash buttons in the right sequence to avoid your character getting killed or making the wrong choices.

You can also scan for clues and things throughout the game as well as the androids can look for ways to resolve problems and even calculate strategies for fighting enemies or reaching certain areas or taking down objects such as drones. This is a very similar game mechanic to the one that featured in the Batman Arkham series video games where he uses his detective mode to simulate a crime scene and look for clues.   

The game also adopts a folder system where it categorises your progress as the game is split into chapters and you get awarded so many points for completing each one whether it be 100% or not. You can also revisit previous chapters, which is a good thing as it allows you to revisit one if you want to make a different choice. 

I also should mention that the game's menu even has its on android (and a hot one too!) that later features in the actual game but asks you to fill in a survey at times (for the game) but also gives moments of self commentary on the actions of how you played the game.   

GRAPHICS

As for the game's graphics, well they are frankly superb as the game environments look great and there is plenty of detail and texture in the surroundings as well as variety in the visuals. But where the visuals really score are the character models, which at times look virtually lifelike and the models are indeed based on the real life actors who are doing the voice acting. And there were indeed some moments in the game where I had to stop myself and check if I was watching real people or not?! So, yep the game's graphics are definitely a highlight. 

VOICE ACTING

As for the voice actors the cast is excellent and the three leads in particular all give really good performances.

Starting with Bryan Dechart as Connor, who does a great job as the android deviant hunter, who works with Lt Hank Anderson to uncover what is going on with the deviants but again the choices you make in the game can greatly affect the outcome of things. Dechart himself does a great job at finding the fine line between playing Connor as an unfeeling machine and potentially becoming a deviant himself.

Jesse Williams is also excellent in his role as Markus, an android who was once a caretaker but on becoming deviant and discovering Jericho and other androids like him, he wants to fight for androids rights to be free. Again its remarkable just how good the graphics are for Williams in the game as it can be hard to tell apart his CGI counterpart from himself!

Valorie Curry is also great in her role as Kara, an android housekeeper (and a rather lovely one at that!) who turns deviant as she helps a young girl, Alice, escape her abusive dad, Todd an out of work drug addict, who's wife walked out on him. And Curry maybe provides the most emotional performance of the game as Kara really is a prime example of the concept of an android having an innate goodness and the desire to want to protect someone as well as be a mother figure to Alice.

Clancy Brown is also great in his role as Lt Hank Anderson, a cynical Detroit cop, who holds a grudge against androids and has an uneasy relationship with Connor, whom he was assigned to help him with the deviant investigation. Clancy also provides much comic relief in the story and for me his storyline of Hank and Connor working together was the main highlight of the game.

Minka Kelly does very well in her role as North, a beautiful albeit cynical female android, who is a deviant but has a lot of contempt for humans and is even in favour of destroying them if necessary but she also develops a close bond with Markus.

David Coburn is also very good in his role as the loathsome FBI agent, Richard Perkins, who is without a doubt one of THE most hateful bad guys in the history of video gaming. And if you were ever looking for a modern day candidate to replace Hitler, then this guy would be it as he has the same attitude to androids as did the Nazis to the Jews. In short this guy is a real scumbag. 

And last of all is Lance Henriksen as Carl, who is also very good in his role as the elderly disabled artist, Carl, who Markus takes care of at the start of the game and is sympathetic towards Markus and his plight. 

MUSIC 

As for the music score its for the most part pretty good as three composers worked on the three different storylines Philip Sheppard, Nima Fakhara and John Paesano individually. The scores all have their moments of danger, excitement and sadness and they are perfectly suit the grim tone of the game and the characters.  The score itself isn't a world beater by any means but it certainly complements the game well enough and it still has plenty of emotional weight to it. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws... yeah OK the game does have some worth mentioning.


For starters one of the things that bugged me about the game is the control scheme, which is a bit of a pain in the ass as the controls feel really awkward as you there are many moments where you control your character from a distant perspective that can be pretty distracting at first. You do get used to it after a while but it is annoying and there are even times where you struggle to actually move the character in a direction you want them to. Its certainly one of the limitations the game inflicts on the player as it wants you to walk the pre-determined path its set for you at times rather than let you freely roam about.

Another few issues are to do with plot inconsistencies here and there such as one scene where Kara is reluctant help save Luther at one point in the game where he is under threat of being executed by human soldiers but at this point are they not a family?! I mean by now Kara shouldn't need to feel the need to be hesitant and just find a way to save Luther rather than express any doubt about it and leave him to his fate.

Then there is the whole concept of Markus's ability to convert androids automatically at will and it all begs the question: how the hell does he manage it?! I mean its never really explained in the game at any given moment that I have seen as this guy just seems to have the God like being to convert any android he wants at any time! And at the start of his ability to do it he needs to use physical contact but near the end of the game all he needs to do is point his finger at androids from afar and he can convert them! I mean what the hell?!! How did he suddenly get this ridiculous power??! If there is a moment hidden in the game somewhere that explains Markus's godly powers then that might be something but from what I have seen there isn't one, so this did bug me quite a bit.  

SPOILER WARNING IN NEXT PARAGRAPH!

I also thought the story leaves some things unexplained such as when in the moment where Markus chooses to sacrifice himself for his cause and he is shot in the chest by SWAT police he is rescued at the cost of another android. Now that's OK I guess but what they did leave out is just how did Markus manage to get himself repaired so that he was able to function again?! So, for me that was another plothole that was left unexplained and the next scene involving him we see his back on his feet again! So, yep there are definitely some sizeable holes in the game's plot going on.

Another issue I had with the story also was with the character of Alice, as she comes across as being an annoying, whiny kid at times (well for me anyway!) as Kara is determined to protect her at all costs. Now, I don't have a problem with that in itself and its not that Alice isn't sympathetic, its just at times she does come across as being pretty whiny with Kara in the story. Such an example is when Kara at one point is about to tell Alice a bedtime story and one about a princess but she interrupts and says "Not one like that! I want you want to make up one". And as Kara is trying to be positive and reassuring here and even later on to Alice, you feel Alice just isn't taken in by Kara's attempts to do so. To be fair the kid has had a tough life up to this point having had an abusive father, but at times you also feel like Kara must be thinking "Acch shut up, kid! I'm trying my best here, so stop your whinging!".

I also think its safe to say that Markus's characters is a bit one dimensional who barely has more than one expression throughout the entire game! Connor on the other hand despite arguably being the least human does have a more engaging relationship with Hank (depending on how you play of course!) and Kara fairs much better in this department because at least she does show a range of emotions (and does actually smile!) and Alice is her source of happiness. Markus however is basically limited to an intense scowl all the time as he remains resolute in his quest to free his people and he doesn't really show much more emotion than a constant look of determination.

WARNING: SPOILERS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

In fact I think it would be safe to say that Markus's storyline is the weakest even if it is the most pivotal to the overall game and there are some pretty tedious moments in his playthrough. These include the scene where Markus awakens in an android scrapyard and he tries to find the vital components he needs to put himself back together and then he has to climb out of the yard, which is a struggle in itself! Another tedious moment from Markus is when he is trying to find the android safe haven called Jericho and he follows a sequence of symbols around the city to locate it and its a pretty boring drawn-out sequence overall that the game could have done without.  

WARNING: ANOTHER SPOILER IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS!

Then there is of course the character of Kamski, the creator of the androids, who was formerly the director at Cyberlife (the organisation that created the androids) and what a dick this guy is! I mean his one scene in the game really kind of annoyed me as Hank and Connor decide to pay him a visit (well more Hank than Connor) to see if he knows anything that could help their case.

So, when they finally meet him, Hank politely asks if he knows anything of help but Kamski basically just ignores Hank and turns his attentions to Connor instead! Not only that but he forces Connor to choose between shooting one of his androids and sparing it (or her) which would constitute murder of sorts but if you shoot the android nothing is really done about it! Of course this backs up that the humans just see the androids as a machine and nothing more, so if you shoot one, it hardly constitutes a crime. However, Kamski here appoints himself as a sort of judge, jury and executioner without any penalty, which again kind of bugged me, well that and he's an egotistical a-hole!  

I also felt that the social commentary in the game was far from subtle as the writer/director, David Cage is insistent in showing the androids civil rights war to be on a similar basis as say apartheid in South Africa. And there are plenty of sequences of news reels on TV showing the reporters all yak on about the significance of the android uprising etc and its pretty much thrown right in your face with little in the way of subtlety. Its a criticism that plenty of reviewers and even Youtube gamers have raised with the game, so I figured its worth raising here.  

And lastly I felt at times the game sets you back quite a bit when you reload in a checkpoint again in the story line, especially if you make a mistake in your choices and you want to go over your steps again to put things right. So, this means you will find yourself having to go through the tedium of watching certain cut scenes again just when you'd rather spin through them instead.  I guess its good the game let's you replay chapters and make different choices but its just a pain in the ass that you have to at times sit through a lot to do it.

And that's it for the flaws. 

SUM UP

So, to sum up Detroit Become Human is an enjoyable, engrossing story driven game that tells a story that has plenty of emotional weight attached to it and features an excellent cast who all give fine performances especially the three leads and Clancy Brown too, who provides some much needed moments of comic relief here and there. The game also does a pretty good job at racking up the tension and suspense as it forces to make some pretty big, dramatic decisions that can drastically affect the outcome of the story.

And yeah OK there are some issues with the game of course such as some annoying control movement and plenty of plot inconsistencies and yes the grim tone of the game can make it a pretty heavy going experience at times. However if you can overlook that then there is still a pretty good game here that is worth checking out.

Right, that's it for now and I'll be back fairly soon with hopefully another couple of posts before the end of the month.

So, till the next un, its bye for now. 

The Shining Revisited (Part 2) "I "corrected" them, sir!"

So, I must apologise again for yet another post revisit but this one is somewhat timely however as there is a sequel just out to this very post in question and the post will be on Stanley Kubrick's horror classic, The Shining. The sequel of course however is called Doctor Sleep starring Ewan MacGregor although I'm not sure if I will get around to seeing it or not but I may well do further down the line.

Anyway so with that said, I will do the usual and expand on a few sections and tidy up one or two parts here and there in this revamped review.

So without further ado, let's take another look at this classic horror flick....

And yep the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the story begins with Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), who has an interview for the position of the caretaker of the Overlook hotel, over the winter months when the hotel staff are away for the season.  The hotel manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) who is impressed with Jack at the interview, feels obligated to warn Jack that there was an incident in the past involving a previous caretaker, Delbert Grady (Philip Stone) who after time at the hotel, went insane and killed his family and himself.  Jack however is not deterred and insists that he would love the job and the soltitude so that he can get on with his writing project.

Once Jack arrives with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and his son Danny (Danny Lloyd) they are shown around the hotel by Ullman, who also tells them that the hotel was built on an ancident Indian burial ground and that hotel can be heavily snowed in during the winters (as it is based up in Denver).  During the tour of the hotel, Danny meets the head chef, Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) who actually shares something in common with Danny, a gift he calls "shining" which basically means they are both telepathic, as they talk, Danny asks if something bad happened at the hotel, and he reads Hallorann's mind, and asks about a hotel room "237", which Hallorann responds angrily to stay out of the room.

As the days pass, Jack and his family grow accustomed to staying in the massive hotel, but its not long before the effects of isolation to start set in on Jack, as he becomes more restless and his writing project goes nowhere.  Jack soon becomes more angry, distant and slowly but surely starts to lose grip of his own insanity, while in the meantime Danny is haunted by visions of the unpleasant events that happened at the hotel, with images of a river of blood flooding the corridors, and Grady's two dead daughters who ask Danny to play with them.  Danny also one day becomes eager to find out what is in room 237 and he finds the door ajar and enters.

Meanwhile Jack awakens from a terrifying nightmare in which he killed Wendy and Danny and he sobbingly confesses this to Wendy.  Danny enters the room in a state of shock, with a wound on his neck, and sucking his thumb, Wendy accuses Jack of hurting him, who denies it.  Later Jack goes into the main ballroom and sits at the bar and is welcomed by the ghost of a bartender, Lloyd (Joe Turkel) who pours him a drink, and Jack confesses while he never touched Danny, he did once hurt him a while ago, and that he is also a former alcoholic.  Wendy enters in a panic urgently asking Jack to check out Room 237, in which she claims Danny saw a woman in the bathtub, who tried to strangle him.  Jack goes to check out the room and finds a beautiful young naked woman in the bathtub, they embrace, but then the woman turns into an old hag with rotting skin, Jack terrified backs out of the room and locks it.

On returning to Wendy he says that he didn't see anything and the two of them argue about taking Danny back home, which leads Jack back to the gold ballroom, where he meets Lloyd again.  This time Jack also bumps into a waiter, who spills drinks over him, on going to the bathroom, the waiter reveals himself to be Delbert Grady.  Jack challenges Grady on what happened to his family, but Grady denies any knowledge, but insists that he deal with his son and his wife, as he tells him Danny is trying to contact Hallorann telepahtically, to come to the hotel.  By now Jack's madness has overtaken him and he gives into Grady's advice, as he confronts Wendy and threatens to bash her brains in, but Wendy knocks Jack unconscious with a baseball bat.

Wendy locks Jack up in the kitchen store room, who pleads with Wendy to let him go, but then says that he has got a surprise for her as he has sabotaged the radio and the snowcat, so they cannot escape.  By now Wendy is alone with Danny, who is still in a catatonic state, and his imaginary friend, Tony, has taken over his personality, as he uses lipstick to write the word "REDRUM" on the door in lipstick, which he repeats.  Danny yells the word until Wendy wakes up, who looks in the mirror and reads the word "MURDER", at this point Jack has managed to escape the store room, and starts to chop down the door with a fire axe.

And its from here that Wendy and Danny must try and find a way to escape from the Overlook hotel and from the crazed and psychotic Jack.......  

THOUGHTS 

The Shining must easily rank as one of the best horror films in recent years, based on the Stephen King novel, Stanely Kubrick brilliantly adapted the film for the screen here.  Although apparently King himself wasn't too happy with Kubrick's interpretation of his book and he himself preferred the TV mini series version remade about 15 years later although the mini series pales in comparison imho.

King's main criticism was in the depiction of Jack as he felt that Kubrick had strayed from the original character in the book, and potrayed him in a less sympathetic light.  As in the mini TV series, Jack is depicted as a more well meaning man who was troubled by his alcoholic past, but only started to go mad once the supernatural forces of the hotel overcame him, and in Kubrick's film, Jack is instantly far more cynical and weary of his family.  Also a key difference is that Jack in the book helps his family escape as he sets the hotel on fire and stays behind, whereas in the film Jack instead tries to kill them.

However I think Kubrick's take on Jack makes for him being more sinister and effective than in the TV mini series version, and he and Diane Johnson, who co-wrote the screenplay did a great job here.  The film's narrative is also very clever as Kubrick uses captions to show the days go by such as "MONDAY" and "WEDNESDAY" in that they are showing the passage of time itself and how it time passes it slowly works on diminishing Jack's sanity and also the safety of Wendy and Danny.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES 

Performance wise, The Shining is top notch and its cast all give fine performances.

Starting with Jack Nicholson, he gives a wonderfully over the top performance and he begins the film as a cool composed guy, but as things progress he loses his mind, and before we know it he is dementedly limping around with that axe, with wide rolling eyes.

Jack has several highlights in the film such as the scene where he has his interview with Mr Ullman for the caretaker position at the hotel and Ullman tells Jack the story about Grady killing his family.  And Jack reassure Ullman that he is not put off by the story and says "Well you can rest assured, Mr. Ullman, that's not going to happen with me.  And as for my wife she will be fascinated when I tell her about it as she's a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict!".
  
Then there is the scene where Jack begins to grow frustrated with Wendy as she interrupts while he is typing.

So, in the scene Wendy enters the room as Jack is typing away and she pecks him on the check and asks "Hi, hon. Did you get alot written today?" and Jack looks at warily and says "Yes". Wendy then tells Jack "Hey, it said on the forecast its going to to snow tonight" and Jack sharply asks her "What do you want me to do about it?". Wendy then says "Oh come on, hon. Don't be so grouchy" and Jack irritated says "I'm not being grouchy, I just want to finish my work!". Wendy then says to Jack "OK, I understand, maybe I'll come back later with a sandwich and you'll let me read something then".  Jack however clearly annoyed with Wendy tells her "Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me!" and he proceeds to tear up the page he was working on and shouts "And it will then take me time to get back to where I was!  You understand?!" and Wendy taken aback by Jack's behaviour quietly says "Yeah". 

So, Jack then composes himself a little and tells Wendy "Now, we're going to make a new rule. When you come in here and you hear me typing....(clacks a few keys on the typewriter) or whether you DON'T hear me typing, or whatever the FUCK you hear me doing; when I'm IN here, it means that I am working, that means DON'T come in!  Now, do you think you can handle that?!".  And Wendy again stunned say "Yes" and Jack coldly says "Good. Now why don't you start right now and get the fuck out of here? Hm?!" and Wendy quietly says "OK" and leaves.

Then there is the chilling scene where Jack sits on his bed in a catatonic state, as Danny slowly creeps into the room to get one of his toys, and Jack asks his son to come over and sit on his knee, which he does, and drowsily asks him if he is enjoying the hotel.  Its easily the most unsettling scene in the whole film, because we see in that moment Jack's madness slowly set in, and there is already the impending threat that he will hurt his family.

However Jack nicely offsets the threat when Danny asks him if he would ever hurt him or Wendy and Jack suspicously says "Is that what your mother said?  That I would hurt you?" and Danny says "No, dad".  And Jack looks at Danny for a moment then smiles and says "I love you, Danny.  I love you more than anything else in the whole world and I would never do anything to hurt you.  Never!  You know that, don't you?  Hmmm?" and Danny says "Yes, dad" and Jack warmly jiggles Danny on his lap and says "Good".      

Another good scene is when Jack checks out Room 237 and he finds a beautiful young naked woman in the bathroom and he embraces her but then she turns into the rotten old hag, terrified he thens backs out the room and locks the door but when he returns to Wendy he says he saw nothing.

So, in the scene after Jack tells Wendy he saw nothing, Wendy asks regarding Danny's bruises "What about those bruises on his neck?" and Jack takes a moment and tells her "I think he did it to himself". Wendy however is shocked at the suggestion and says "That's not possible" but Jack says "Once you rule his version, its the only explanation". And the camera then cuts to Danny lying awake in his bed with a scared look on his face as we hear Wendy's voice say "Well, whatever explanation, I think we need to get Danny out of here". Then back to Jack who asks Wendy "Get him out of here? You mean leave the hotel?" and Wendy says "Yes".  

However, this angers Jack and he shouts at Wendy "This is so FUCKING typical of you to create a problem like this when I finally have a chance to accomplish something!  When I'm really into my work!  I could really write my ticket back to Bolder now couldn't I?!  Washing cars and washing out driveways.  Any of that appeal to you?!".  And then Jack get's up and angrily points his finger at her saying "Wendy, I have let you fuck up my life so far but I'm NOT gonna let you fuck this up!" and he storms out.

Then there is the classic scene where Wendy finds his pages and pages of typing with the words "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" written on them and Jack quietly walks into the room unaware to Wendy and he says "How do you like it?" making Wendy scream and jump.  And as the two of them discuss what should be done with Danny, Jack angrily says to Wendy "Have you ever had a single moment's THOUGHT about my responsibilities?!!  Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers?!  Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the Overlook Hotel until May the first!  Do you have the slightest idea what a "moral and ethical principal" is?!!  Do you?!!  Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future, if I were to fail to live up to my responsibilities? Has it ever occurred to you?!  HAS IT?!!".

And as Wendy grows more terrified of Jack she tells him to stay away from him and she needs a chance to think things over, prompting Jack to spit back at her "You've had your whole FUCKING LIFE to think things over!  What good is a few more minutes gonna do you now?!".  And Jack tells Wendy to stop swinging the bat at him as she backs her way up the stairs and Jack says to her "Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in!  I'm gonna bash them right the fuck in!!".    

And last of all we have the most memorable scene from Nicholson in the film when Jack breaks down the door of Wendy's bedroom with the fireaxe and he breaks a hole through the bedroom door and he says through the door "Wendy, I'm home!" and he unlocks the door in goes in.  And as Jack approaches the bathroom door, where Wendy and Danny locked inside, Jack delivers his immortal lines "Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in. Not by the hair of your chiny-chin-chin? Well then I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in!".  And as Jack smashes a hole big enough in the door to get his hand he sticks his face up to the door and grins madly at his terrified wife and says "Here's Johnny!!".

Moving onto Shelley Duvall although her performance is often rated as one of the most annoying in top 10 film lists, she is nonetheless excellent as Jack's long suffering wife, and she proves to be quite a strong resilient character, despite her going into an almost full traumatic meltdown as the film goes on.  Duvall's performance isn't quite as over the top or as flamboyant of course as Nicholson's but she still has some good moments in the film.

And as a few examples there is the scene which features in the US theatrical release where Wendy brings a doctor around to look at Danny after he has visions of the Overlook hotel that cause him to faint.  And Wendy explains to the Doctor about their family life and how Jack is a recovering alcoholic and she says to him how Jack one night accidentally hurt Danny when he came home drinking.  And in the scene Wendy says to the Doctor "Anyway, something good did come out of it all, because he said "Wendy, I'm never gonna touch another drop. And if I do, you can leave me." And he didn't, and he hasn't had any alcohol in five months".  

Then there is the scene where finds Jack on the floor just waking up from his nightmare and as she helps him up, Danny walks into the room with a bruise on his neck and he is sucking his thumb.  And as Wendy asks "Danny what happened to your neck?!" she sees he is in shock and she hugs him and then look toward Jack and accuses him of hurting Danny "You did this to him, didn't you?!  You son of a bitch!  YOU did this to him!  How could you?!  How could you?!" and she leaves the room carrying Danny and leaving Jack in a confused state.  

Another good scene for Duvall comes during Jack's confrontation with Wendy after she finds his typing of pages that say nothing but "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".  And in the scene as Wendy backs away from Jack, carrying a baseball bat she starts swinging at him as he becomes more angry and deranged and she says to him "Stay away from me!".  And as Jack asks why, Wendy sobs "I just want to go back to my room" and Jack asks why and she says "Well I'm very confused.  I just need a chance to think things over!".  And as Jack tries to take the bat off Wendy she hits him in the head and falls back down the stairs and later Wendy drags Jack into a food storage room and locks him in.  And as Jack makes an attempt to reason with Wendy, she backs away from the door sobbing she says "I'm gonna try and get Danny down to Sidewinder in the Snow Cat. I'll send back a doctor...".  But Jack then tells her that he has sabotaged the radio and the snow cat and she goes off to check it out to find he has done just that.  

And lastly there is the classic scene where Jack breaks down the bathroom door using a fire axe and as he does it Shelley provides probably her most effective moment in the whole film as Wendy screams her head off in a state of pure terror.  It works really well and no doubt it stands as one of Duvall's most memorable, if not the most memorable moments of her career.  

Danny Lloyd is also excellent as Danny (funny how Kubrick chose actors who share the first name of their character!) Jack and Wendy's son who has the special telepathic power known as "shining" which he shares with Mr O'Hallorann and causes him to see the horrible things that happened at the hotel.  

Lloyd also has some good scenes such as the one where Danny sits with O'Hallorann having some ice cream, O'Hallorann shares his talent of "shining" with Danny.  And as O'Hallorrann asks why he doesn't talked about it, Danny says "I'm not supposed to" and O'Hallorann asks "What ain't you supposed" and Danny says "Tony" and O'Hallorann asks "Who's Tony?" and Danny says "He's the little boy that lives in his mouth".  And O'Hallorann asks Danny is Tony the one who tells him things and asks how he does it and Danny says "Its like I go to sleep and he shows me things but when I wake up I can't remember everything".  

Then there is the scene where Danny rides his toy pedal bike round the hotel and he stops when he sees the image of Grady's two daughters in front of him and they say to him "Come and play with us, Danny forever and ever and ever" and we cut to an image of their dead bloody bodies and Danny terrified puts his hands over his eyes.  And when Danny takes his hands away the image has gone and he holds his finger (he uses to talk to Tony) and says to him "Tony, I'm scared" and in his Tony voice says "Remember what Mr. Hallorann said. It's just like pictures in a book, Danny. It isn't real".  

And lastly there are the scenes of course where Danny who after his encounter in Room 237 has gone into shock and Tony has taken over his personality (which was left out of the UK cut of the film!) and Wendy asks to speak to Danny who says in his Tony voice " Danny isn't here, Mrs. Torrance".  And later we see Danny wander around the bedroom carrying a knife and in Tony's voice saying "Redrum" over and over again and he writes the word in lipstick on the door.  And Danny says the word louder and louder as Tony but then he snaps out of it and starts to shout it in his own voice and as Wendy tells him to stop she looks in the mirror and sees that Danny has written "MURDER" backwards just before Jack starts to break down the bedroom door with the axe!  

Scatman Crothers (who was brought into the film by Jack Nicholson as they were good friends and also worked on One flew over the cuckoo's nest together) is also very good as Mr O'Hallorrann, the genial head chef at the hotel who shares the gift of "shining" with Danny.

Crothers also has some good scenes in the film such as the one where Mr O'Hallorann shows Wendy and Danny around the kitchens and he takes them into the food storage room.  And while he lists off the food stored in the room he turns to Danny and telepathically talks with him and asks him "How'd you like some ice cream, Doc?" which Danny looks surprised at.  And after he finishes his spiel to Wendy he asks Danny "You like lamb, Doc?" and Danny says "No" and O'Hallorann asks "What do you like?" and Danny says "French fries and ketchup" and O'Hallorann laughs saying "Well I think we could manage that aswell, Doc!".  And Wendy asks how O'Hallorann knew that they called him "Doc" as a nickname and she says she was sure they didn't mention it before and O'Hallorann says "Well he looks like a Doc to me" and he does a Bugs Bunny impression "Eh... what's up Doc?!".

And the next scene is Crother's main one where O'Hallorann asks Danny "Do you know how I knew your name was Doc?" and Danny stays quiet and O'Hallorann says "You know what I'm talking about don't you?" and Danny shrugs.  And O'Hallorran tells Danny "You know I can remember when I was a little boy my grandmother and I could have entire conversations without ever opening our mouths.  She called it "shining".  And as Danny tells O'Hallorann about Tony, Danny asks "Is there something bad here?" and O'Hallorann suddenly looks and tells him that something bad can leave a trace of itself behind that only "people that shine can see!".  And Danny suddenly asks "What about room 237?" and O'Hallorrann looks anxious saying "Room 237?" and Danny "You're scared of Room 237 ain't you?" and O'Hallorann says "No, I ain't".  And as Danny asks "Mr O'Hallorann, what is in Room 237?" O'Hallorann snapy back saying "Nothin!  There ain't nothing in room 237 so stay out, you understand?!  Stay OUT!".

Philip Stone is also excellent as Delbert Grady, the ghost of the man who was the former caretaker of the Overlook hotel who talks to Jack.

And Stone's best scene comes when Grady accidentally bumps into Jack, spilling a drink over him he tells him to go to the bathroom and he dries off the stain from Jack's jacket and Jack questions Grady of his past and that he was once the caretaker here and how he killed his family.  And this leaves Grady looking puzzled and he says "That's strange, sir. I don't have any recollection of that at all".  And as Jack says to Grady "Mr Grady, you WERE the caretaker here" Grady says to him "I'm sorry to differ with you sir, but you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know sir. I've always been here" which leaves Jack puzzled.

And Grady then asks Jack "Did you know, Mr. Torrance, that your son is attempting to bring an outside party into this situation? Did you know that?".  This leaves Jack stunned and he simply says "no" and Grady says "He is, Mr Torrance" and Jack asks "Who?" and Grady says "A nigger.  A nigger cook!".  And Jack asks "How?" and Grady says "Your son has a very great talent. I don't think you are aware how great it is. That he is attempting to use that very talent against your will".  And as Jack smiles and says "He is a very wilful boy" Grady says "Indeed he is, Mr. Torrance. A very willful boy. A rather naughty boy, if I may be so bold, sir".  And Grady goes on to explain about his own family that he took drastic measures to "correct" them "My girls, sir, they didn't care for the Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches, and tried to burn it down. But I "corrected" them sir. And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I "corrected" her".

Last of all is the scene where Jack has been locked in the food locker room and Grady knocks the door from outside and he tells Jack that he must deal with the situation in the "harshest" way.

So, in the scene we hear only hear Grady's voice as he talks to Jack, he says to him "Mr Torrance, I can see you've hardly taken care of the business we discussed" and Jack says "No need to rub it in, Mr Grady. I'll deal with that situation once I get out of here!". Grady however sounds doubtful "Will you really, Mr Torrance? I and others fear that you're heart is not in this, that you don't have the belly for it!". Jack then says "Just give me one more chance to prove, Mr Grady, that's all I ask". Grady then goes on and says "I fear you will have to deal with this matter in the harshest possible way, Mr Torrance. I fear, it is the only thing to do". Jack then coldly says "There is nothing I look forward to more with the greater plesaure, Mr Grady" and Grady firmly asks him "You give your word on that do you, Mr Torrance?!" and Jack firmly says "I give you my word" and then we hear the sound of the lock being opened. 

Joe Turkel is also excellent as the ghost of the bartender, Lloyd, who has some good moments in the film aswell.  And this includes his first scene where Jack goes into the ballroom and sits at the bar and rubs his face and then looks up and sees Lloyd and says "Hi, Lloyd.  Bit slow tonight isn't it?" and he laughs maniacally and we see Lloyd smartly dressed as the bartender who says "Yes it is, Mr Torrance.  What will it be?".  And then Jack goes on to moan about Wendy and Lloyd says "Women, can't live with them, can't live without em" and Jack smiles and says "Words of wisdom, Lloyd, my man, words of wisdom!".

Then later on is the scene when Jack comes back to the ballroom and finds it filled with people as a party is underway (ghosts again) and he walks up to the bar and greets Lloyd again saying Hi, Lloyd.  I've been away but now I'm back!".  And as Lloyd pours him a drink, Jack get's his money out his wallet, Lloyd says "No charge here, Mr Torrance" and Jack puzzled says "No charge?" and Lloyd says "Your money is no good here.  Orders from the house".  And Jack looks a bit irked and says "I'm the kind of man who likes to know who's buyin his drinks, Lloyd" and Lloyd smoothly says "Its not a matter that concerns you, Mr Torrance.  At least not at this point" leaving Jack a little puzzled but then he smiles and says "Anything you say, Lloyd!  Anything you say".    

And last of all is Barry Nelson who is also excellent as Mr Ullman, the manager of the Overlook hotel who interviews Jack for the job.  And Nelson's most noteworthy scene is when Ullman tells Jack about Grady's breakdown and subsequent murder of his family.  And Ullman tells Jack about Grady "And he had a good employment record, good references, and from what I've been told he seemed like a completely normal individual. But at some point during the winter, he must have suffered some kind of a complete mental breakdown. He ran amuck and.....killed his family with an axe. Stacked them neatly in one of the rooms in the West wing and then he, he put both barrels of a shot gun in his mouth.  The police thought that it was what the old-timers used to call cabin fever. A kind of claustrophobic reaction which can occur when people are shut in together over long periods of time".

And this leaves Jack a bit stunned and he says "That is quite a story" and Ullman laughs saying "Yeah it is. It's still hard for me to believe it happened here. It did, and I think you can appreciate why I wanted to tell you about it".  But Jack reassures Ullman that won't happen with him and...well we all know how that one turns out!  

DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION AND MUSIC 

Moving onto the director, Stanley Kubrick does a superb job here and he utilises all his skills to create a cinematic masterclass in how to make a horror film, and his signature shots and visual sense as evident here as they ever are.  And here we get his usual brilliant use of symmetrical shots (which he usually uses in scenes involving walking in long corridors), long slow pan outs, and also worthy of note is the steadycam shots of young Danny pedalling on his pedal bike through the halls of the hotel, which were filmed by the steadicam creator, Garrett Brown, who deserves alot of credit for his great work here.

And technically speaking, Kubrick pretty much does everything to perfection here and there is precious little to fault in his stunning visual presentation of the film.  The sets are also truly remarkable, designed by Roy Walker, the Overlook Hotel at that time was the largest set ever built, and they look stunning on film.  There was also a fire on one of the sets during the film's production which actually took place on a set while The Empire Strikes Back was being filmed also at Elstree studios.  

And it is also worth noting the cinemaphotography by the late John Alcott which is also outstanding as he produces some amazing rich images in the film, particularly the opening vista shots.  These were aerial shots taken at Saint Mary lake in Montana and if you look closely you can even see the reflection of the helicopter blades in one shot (the footage was later re-used in the "happy ending" theatrical version of Blade Runner). 

As for the film's music, Kubrick expertly chose his music tracks very carefully, and they do nothing but add to the intense dread and atmosphere of the film.  Some of the tracks Kubrick chose included works by the composer's Gyorgy Ligeti, Bela Bartok and Kyrzsztov Penderecki, and they are terrific and quite often they will send shivers down your spine, they certainly had the hairs standing up on my neck for sure.

Some of my favourites are used in the scenes where Danny looks in Room 237, and where Jack goes mad and chops down the door with an axe (followed by the mad montage of the river of blood, and Wendy seeing the bizarre image of someone in a teddy bear costume giving a party guest a blow job!).

Wendy Carlos also created one or two original pieces of electronic music for the film and they also add well to the atmosphere of the film, although more in a spatially atmospheric way (to do with the vista shots I mean).  Wendy's most notable piece of music is of course in the opening shot where she does a cover of Berlioz's "Dies Irae".

So overall the score for The Shining is superb and makes for a real chilling and spine tingling experience you most likely won't forget in a hurry!  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers)

As for the film's flaws.....well there isn't a great deal here to complain about as it is largely a film that has no real flaws but yeah there are still one or two here and there.

And to start off I think a fair criticism leveled at the film was in its unsympathetic depiction of Jack's character as in the book he is portrayed as a flawed but essentially decent man who has a troubled past and is taken over by the supernatural forces of the hotel.  But in the film, Jack is a far more cynical character and even early on he is seen being somewhat wary and tired of his family as early as the scene where Jack drives Wendy and Danny up to the hotel and he is quite sarcastic to his son after he tells him about the Donner party who resorted to cannibalism.  And as Wendy shows her concern for talking about such a thing, Danny says "Don't worry I know all about it.  I saw it on the television" and Jack says "See there you go!  He saw it on the television!".  And this is later compounded when Jack starts to being really unruly and somewhat verablly abusive to Wendy when he tells her she is breaking his concentration.  However I still think the depiction of Jack works better for the film regardless of his cynicism.


Then there are one or two silly shock inclusions in the film such as the image of the party guest being given a blow job by someone dressed in a bear costume.  It makes for a rather silly and perverted moment in the film that just feels like it doesn't quite belong and its more like Kubrick's obssession to put in peverse details after he made A Clockwork Orange.  Not to mention in the extended version of the film there is the moment where Wendy enters the ballroom and sees an image of skeletons sitting at the tables covered in cobwebs.  At that point it feels like a cheap shock that Kubrick has thrown in and doesn't really quite work as well and that he is going for every horror cliche he could find at that point.

You could also argue that the film itself isn't necessarily all that scary even though it does succeed in being very creepy but it doesn't have much in the way of actual jump scares or making you feel really frightened.  And this perhaps comes down to Kubrick's calculated way of film making in that everything feels measured and any scary scenes that are supposed to be here don't feel incidental they feel very much like they are planned and as such the film lacks a natural feel of a horror movie.  But that's not to take away from the film in any way as its still an effective film horror wise.   

Another issue I had with the film is not so much plot or narrative but its more to do with the different versions of the film as there is a US and European cut.  And the US version runs at 146 minutes, but for the European version, Kubrick reduced the running time by 24 minutes, cutting out various scenes.

Now you could argue that either version of the film works well, but my preference is the original US release as it features several interesting scenes, which also reveal a bit more about the characters, especially the scene where Wendy explains to the doctor that comes to their house after Danny takes a funny turn, about her son and a bit about Jack's background and his alcoholism.  And with the extra scenes put in, one or two other scenes make more sense, especially when Wendy asks Danny to stop speaking in Tony's voice, and Danny explains in Tony's voice that "Danny has gone away, Mrs Torrance", which helps explain why he mumbles "REDRUM" in the scene when Jack takes the axe to the door.  And without these scenes I feel the European version of the film makes a bit less sense especially the scene where we suddenly see Danny speaking as Tony and saying "Redrum" but the scenes left out explain why he talks in Tony's voice in the first place.  So the edited version certainly has its problems in regards to continuity.

I also found the film had an uncomfortable element of racism in it regarding Grady's character who describes Hallorann as a "nigger cook" when he tells Jack how his son, Danny, is attempting to bring Hallorann back to the Overlook hotel. Maybe for the times it was to be expected and Grady's character was perhaps supposed to be bigoted anyway in King's novel (never read though myself) but I felt it was a bit unecessary to include this racial slur in the film. 

Further to this scene involving Mr Grady, I found also a bit unusual who he tells Jack one minute that Jack has "always" been the caretaker here but then goes on to tell him how he "corrected" his daughters and his wife when they tried to burn down the hotel, which suggests that he was at one time the caretaker. So, this essentially negates everything he said earlier about Jack being the permanent caretaker of the hotel.  

And lastly on a plot point, I felt there was a inconsistency relating to the amount of time since Jack has stopped drinking and the time of his incident where he injured Danny after coming home one night drunk. This is due to the scene where Wendy tells the doctor that comes to see Danny that Jack hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in 5 months but Jack later says the incident with Danny was over three years ago. Now, this really does leave you scratching your head as the film has left out a good two and a half years between Jack's incident and the start of his sobriety, either that or it took him that length of time to stop drinking with a few lapses along the way, which is possible. However, I always felt this was a bizarre plot point that seemed pretty inconsistent in terms of the dates given for Jack's incident.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, The Shining still remains a great horror classic and Stanley Kubrick does an expert job at creating a film filled with tension and atmosphere as well as the cast all providing excellent performances. And yeah sure there are some plot inconsistencies here and there and the US and British cuts of the film make certain scenes make no sense in the shorter British version but thankfully you can now get the extended version on Blu-ray to watch this film as originally intended.

So, in short, The Shining remains a great film and well worth watching almost 40 years on!

So, that's it for now and I will be back again sometime soon.

Till then bye fer now!

Batman Arkham Knight Review (Revisited)

Well, its yet again revisitation time for one of my previous posts and the post in question is my original review of the action video game, Batman: Arkham Knight and I decided to revisit because I currently replaying it again.

So, I figured I would update my review with additional stuff and thoughts on the game some 4 years after its initial release and it also just happens to be Halloween today, so I figured reviewing a Batman game is not a bad choice!

So, with that said, let's suit up and take another look at Arkham Knight....

STORY

So the story begins with Gotham city being evacuated after the game main's villain, Scarecrow (voiced by John Noble) intends to launch his new fear toxin on Gotham.  Batman in an effort to stop Scarecrow rescues Poison Ivy from a secret Scarecrow hideout as she refused to join in on the villain's plan.  Batman also recruits the help of his technical aide, the wheelchair bound Oracle (Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon) who identifies Ace chemicals as the source of Scarecrow's toxin, which Batman infiltrates and he confronts Scarecrow.  However Scarecrow reveals that he has captured Oracle and he then turns the whole building into a toxin bomb which overwhelms Batman with the toxin.  As a result of exposure to the toxin, Batman sees a projection of the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) which taunts Batman throughout the game.

Batman then meets with Gordon and tells him that Barbara has been captured and she had been working with Batman, which leaves Gordon outraged and he storms off to try and find Scarecrow.  Batman then soon learns that Scarecrow had recruited businessman, Simon Stagg to build a massive dispersal device called the cloudburst, which Scarecrow intends to use to spread the toxin throughout the city.  Batman interrogates Stagg and then confronts Scarecrow onboard Stagg's airship but Scarecrow again escapes by temporarily using the toxin to take control of the Joker's persona over Batman.  Batman soon recovers and then locates Scarecrow's hideout where Oracle is being held trapped inside an enclosed room, he disperses toxin into the room which torments Oracle and forces her to commit suicide, leaving Batman devastated.  Batman then vows to find and stop Scarecrow once and for all in carrying out his evil plan......

THOUGHTS

As a continuation of the series, Batman Arkham Knight is a very enjoyable and solid game which has plenty going for it and it makes up for the somewhat uneven Arkham Origins, which was more to do with Batman in his early days when he was known morely as a vigilante wanted by the police.  But here we get back to the essentials of the series where Batman is established as the Dark Knight and it features a good mix of its familiar foes and plenty of good action aswell as a intriguing plot, which features one or two twists.

GAMEPLAY 

As for the gameplay itself, well it follows pretty much the same formula as the previous games with Batman being able to travel freely throughout the vast environments of Gotham city.

And this time around however there is a new inclusion in Batman's method of travel as you know get to ride in the Batmobile, which is pretty cool in itself and it appears a pretty armoured tank-esque car, which kind also transform itself into a battle mode where Batman can fire canon guns and missiles at its targets as you will frequently up again remotely controlled enemy tank drones.  The Batmobile also can be used to fire a line launcher to grapple with hooks of structures to creates ramps or open doors.  The Batmobile also has an overdrive feature which gives the mobile a speed boost to jump over bigger distances and is handy in certain moments.    

The gameplay also features many of the previous elements that appeared in the former games that include the grapnel gun, line launcher, remote hacking device, explosive gel, batarangs, aswell the disruptor.  Batman also has his usual detective vision which he uses to scan areas for clues or to detect how many enemies maybe in an area and their condition and whether they are armed or not.  A new device however is the voice synthesizer which Batman can use to imitate the voice of other characters and is used in the game's story when Batman uses it to imitate Harley Quinn's voice.  And regarding some new moves, Batman can also in addition to his ability to dive bomb while flying through the air he can when equipped with his lighter batsuit fire his grapnel grun and use a speedboost so he can travel fast through the air and quicker over larger distances, which is pretty handy in itself. 

As for the combat system the game again is pretty much similar as before but there are also some new enhanced features that include the FEAR takedown in which Batman can take down multiple enemies at once by targetting them one after another but is only effective if he remains undetected.  Batman can also perform the usual combo moves and critical strikes aswell perform silent takedowns on single enemies or even inverted takedowns where Batman can take out an enemy by hanging from above.  Also as usual as Batman fights he gains more experience points (XP) which gains him access to various upgrades that could for be weapons, combat or even the Batmobile.   

The game also features not just the story mode it also incorporates a series of side missions aswell as Batman is fed news by Alfred or other sources of other crimes happening in Gotham that are known as "Most wanted" and feature a variety of Batman's most notable enemies particularly the Riddler and Two-Face. 

GRAPHICS, MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING

As for the game's graphics they are excellent and on the PS4 where you see just how rich and detailed the game's environments are.  The character models however by today's standards do look a bit dated but they are still pretty good.  But Gotham city is what stands out most and it looks superb and its expansive environment remains one of the game's most impressive aspects especially as Batman travels through the skies over the rooftops.

There were however of course technical issues with the PC version of the game on its initial release, so I would probably suggest getting it on console for PS4 or Xbox one would be a better move, although I'd imagine that the issues with the PC version are hopefully ironed out by now.

As for the game's music it features another fine score by Nick Arundel, who had previously worked on Arkham Asylum and Arkham City and this time he is aided by Ron Fish and David Buckley.  The score however does not stand out as well as Arundel's score for Arkham city, which for me remains one of the very best video game scores out there but its still worth a listen although I wouldn't really want to listen to it as a stand alone soundtrack it works better within the game itself.

And lastly regarding the voice acting well its excellent as you would expect and it sees the welcome return of Kevin Conroy in the role of Batman and for me vocally he is the best man for the job as Troy Baker who did the voice in Arkahm Origins didn't quite fit the bill.  It also sees the return of Mark Hamill in his role as the Joker and the two of them could almost be said to be inseparable as Conroy he was not so keen to return to the voice role but he got onboard when he heard Hamill was cast and together these two are the standouts in the cast.

But the voice acting cast features some other fine performances particularly Jonathan Banks (most well known as Mike from Breaking Bad) as Comissioner Gordon and John Noble who provides a chilling vocal performance as Scarecrow.  Troy Baker also provides some good voice work in various roles such as The Riddler, Two-Face and the Arkham Knight and Ashley Greene (who is pretty hot in real life!) as Oracle/Barbara Gordon.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may refer to spoilers!)

As for the Arkham Knight's flaws.....well yeah OK it has some and for starters I think one of the game's biggest problems is to do with the Batmobile and its not so much the Batmobile itself but the near endless tank drone battles Batman get's drawn into throughout the game.  And to be fair to start I didn't really mind them but its not long before they start to become really tedious particularly when the Arkham knight unleashes the Cobra tanks which can destroy the Batmobile easily with a few hits and you have to target them from behind to destroy them.

In fact further to that point it seems pretty daft that such big powerful tanks would still have one major weakness such as a vulnerable port in its rear side, which sort of reminds me of a very popular sci-fi movie from the 70's! And to top that off its funny how Batman can destroy them with one clean hit from the Batmobile's canon which makes it quite convenient in that respect although its a pain in the ass trying to target them accurately as they turn corners it can be easy to lose track of the target.  So basically I think tanks and Batman are not a good mix and I don't really see the point of these tank drones being in the game other than giving target fodder for the armoured Batmobile. 

Another issue I have with the game is that while the main story campaign is very good it also feels just a bit too long and drawn out as Batman really is sent one big wild goose chase after another to try and locate and finally take down Scarecrow.  And the game does that usual thing of setting things up like you can take out the game's main villain quite early on when in fact its all just a deception and you have to go through a whole series of missions, side-missions, fights, battles and traps before you get to finally end it all!  And this is definitely true of the game's ending, which takes AGES to complete! So personally I think the game could have benefited from having trimmed the length of the campaign a little to keep it tighter but at the end of the day the game from that point of view still does offer good value for money.

I also think that perhaps the game also overwhelms the player with such a vast variety of different moves, new features and upgrades that you are most likely not to going to use most of them especially as I usually find myself tapping the usual buttons for combat and takedowns! ;-)  These new features are bound to be of some use but in the end the game seems to bombard you with so many options you are surely never going to use them all!  In the end its a game that packs in so much and in fact maybe just a bit too much.

There are also some very frustrating moments in the game, such as the one where near the end (SPOILER!) where Batman takes down Scarecrow's thugs, who are trying to hack into the GCPD's systems and there are LOADS of them yet Batman is expected to take them down on his own! The guy has Nightwing as one of his sidekicks, who could have easily helped him out here but nope, Batman always insists on doing things solo! So, yeah there are times where the odds are really stacked overwhelmingly against Batman but the game still insists (as does Bats) that it all has to be done on his own!

Another issue was to do with some of the game's dialogue as it get's a bit tiring and repetitive, especially regarding the Arkham Knight as he keeps taunting and berating Batman at every turn and shouting the same lines over and over such as "Face me, you coward!" and "Come out and fight me!!". Not only that but the Arkham Knight towards the end even get's the Scarecrow's goat up a bit as he keeps telling the Arkham Knight to back off Batman as he will be dealt with in good time but AK ignores him and keeps persisting with his attempts to kill Bats.

I felt also that the ending of the game really marginalises its secondary protagonist, who the game is named after, the Arkham Knight as he doesn't really bother reappearing till the very end and when he does its a fleeting moment! So, I really felt that they didn't handle the Arkham Knight's character arc all that well in the end as there is no sense of closure or finality to it.

There are also some very frustrating moments in the game that leave the player second guessing where they are to go next as quite often you can wander around places forever trying to follow the directional HUD arrows and metre gauge showing the distance to your next objective but they aren't always clear as to where they lead! And this happened several times throughout the game for me, especially in one sequence where I was trying to locate one of the key characters (Stagg) onboard one of the airships only to eventually find out I was on the wrong ship as there are two! Further to this, you sometimes get some audio cues from Batman telling what he must do next but they are at times they are all too vague and not helpful and its not long before you have to look at a Youtube walkthrough video to suss it out!

WARNING: SPOILER OF SORTS COMING UP!

And last of all, I had a big issue with the ending of the game (well one of them as there are three possible endings if you go for 100% completion) which could be the standard one if you haven't completed the game 100% by doing all the side missions. And the problem I have with it is that on the ending I got, Batman tells Alfred to initiate a protocol called "Nightfall" in order to protect his family and friends but it is never explained what this protocol actually is! So, I'm guessing you would need to go through the massive and probably rather tedious task of completing the game 100% to fully understand what this "Nightfall" protocol actually is! So, again the game's vagueness here is another frustrating flaw of the game for me.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up Batman Arkham Knight is very enjoyable and solid entry in the Batman video game franchise, it features plenty of good combat action and getting to use the Batmobile at last is pretty cool it has to be said.  The graphics are also excellent and its features a fine score aswell as some excellent voice acting from its cast particularly Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker respectively.

The game does have some faults that are mainly to do with its tedious tank drone battles and also that the game's main campaign is just a bit too long winded and it begins to wear out its welcome near the end. However if you are willing to forgive all that then this is still one game that is certainly worth checking out.

So, that's it for now folks and I will be back soon with another post.

Till then have a happy Halloween!