#stefs game review

[deltastorm101]

tomb raider anniversary is a good game. really, it is. but it’s also frustrating, annoying as hell and tedious. the amount of times i need to play entire sections twice, three times, four times, sometimes even more times than that is infuriating. if the successful completion of a stage depends on ONE perfect jump or move and you keep messing that up, well screw you i guess. i keep thinking about what tomb raider legend did differently for it to not feel that way? maybe it’s just because it’s a shorter game overall?? mind you, it has its annoyances too and some of legend’s checkpoint placements are awful as well, but how did anniversary crank that up to 11 SO bad? was it like that in the original from 1996 and they wanted the nostalgia factor? is it because older games are just a lil wonky like that? am i merely looking at it from my spoiled 2022 gamer brat angle and should stop whining? i mean yeah probably but. i swear my playtime would be HALVED if i didn’t have to play through every goddamn level twice. even back then, this can’t have been what anniversary should have been about, right? ugh? also: i play on pc. how on earth is steam messing up the saves SO bad every time i start a new game that it just deletes the entire profile well into the first hour of playing to the point i have to manually create a save, quit the game, reboot it, start a “new game”, and then load my save directly from there?? lmao what

ok bye, back to trying to git gud in a 2007 game

[mysticscrystalrevelation]

Game 30 For Posterity Mon, August 26 10:00pm EDT Washington @ Seattle

Starting: WASH: Atkins, Austin, Dolson, Sykes, Vanloo (Samuelson knee injury) SEA: Diggins-Smith, Horston, Loyd, Magbegor, Ogwumike

1st Quarter Ok, we played great defense on the first play but Nneka nailed a 3 anyway. What can you do? You can answer back—Slim just did. We run the feed to Shakira that worked well against the Sparks. Slim goes 3 again, she is starting out on fire. Ezi hits a 3 now and it's looking like a fun game early. This time the hi-lo goes to Stef to keep them guessing. Where has this offensive variety and discipline been the rest of the season? Slim gets a friendly roll for her 8th point in the opening 5 minutes. She goes one-on-one with Ezi now, and lays it in. Look out. Gabby Williams gets a welcome back shot deflected courtesy of Shakira Austin. I swear I can see Sami talk talk as she guards Jade bringing the ball up. Seattle close the gap on a couple DC turns. Now Stef gets a block. Nneka is playing amazing as usual. JVL for 3. And again. She misses the 3rd one but hey, take it. 24-19. Eric gets a tech complaining about no review of a face shot.

2nd Quarter Shatori hits the 3. I think we were embarrassed about the 20% from range against the Sparks. Former Storm coach Dan Hughes has been commentating alongside Dick Fain and wow, he is streets ahead of any other male commentator I have ever heard in the W. Excellent, nuanced, informed takes. Loving attitude. Can he replace Dick please? Seattle keeps stealing the ball. JVL 3. Very nice dance move by Horston. Game of mini runs right now. JVL is flirting with the Seattle staff. Engstler checks in and is given too much space on the arc—3. They leave her alone again, same result. Horston is blocking shots left and right. Engstler tech. I didn't see it. What premium package do I have to buy to opt out of hearing Dick Fain shriek? 42-43.

3rd Quarter Immediately Shakira goes down with a rolled ankle, she's out :( hopefully just this game. Outstanding blind bounce pass and score from Stef to Aaliyah who came in for Austin. Dan Hughes is gassing Stef up <3. She ties up Ezi off a rebound now, Ezi wins the tip. Jewell gets space on the perimeter and drills it. JVL tries the answer—no go, but Stef gets one on the next possession. Great move by Sykes to get to the rack. Stef: "That's so soft" to the ref after an extremely soft call when she trapped Jewell. Jewell goes on to hit a 3. Storm force a shot clock violation. Jade comes in and goes straight to the cup against her former team. Now Jade and Ezi high five after they get in a tie-up. Five consecutive turns finally stemmed by a Jewell bucket and Eric calls time. 100 of Jewell's family members are in the stands cheering her on <3 <3. Jado goes again straight for the hoop and this time makes the and-1. JVL takes a turn driving. I think Shatori just blocked the much taller Ezi, but it may have been Aaliyah from behind. Quarter ends with a 1-point lead, 56-55.

4th Quarter Sami Whitcomb hits a 3 to open the 4th. Shatori with a jumper, but Sami gets one the other way. Dan Hughes calls her timeless, which I may have to steal for my next birthday. Now Shatori gets a touchdown pass. Engstler steals and feeds Shatori again. It's Sami v Tori. Dick spitting painful facts about our closeout ability—3-17 in clutch games. There have been too many throwaways by both teams all game. Slim and Earl check back in. Slim gets her own rebound and puts it down. A Slim hard cut pays off. Nneka's shots are being rejected by the rim tonight. Stef had multiple 3 opportunities but kept passing—why??? DC has a 4-point lead with 2 minutes left. We're playing great D. Engstler comes in with a key save after Slim takes a very ill-advised shot versus two defenders. Sky keeps it within 2. Slim takes another early-clock difficult shot and misses. Nneka ties it with 55 seconds left. DC makes nothing of their possession. Seattle resets with 36 seconds. Tori pressures Jewell and the shot is off. Slim waits infuriatingly long then flails into Sky and manages to get the call with 1 second remaining. She makes the first. And the second. Timeout. Engstler gets a few fingers on the inbound pass and the Mystics win! 74-72 final.

[laianely]

If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog!

(Hi Laia <3)

Hi Stef <3

Thank you for this cute message)

And let me think … 🤔

1. I’d never had bangs but I decided to have curtain bangs a month ago. Blame JMo and Emma Swan for this with her beautiful layers 😅 Love how it looks but hate to do the styling🥲

2. My first fanfic was about Pokémon. I wish I could erase it from my memory.

3. I tried to be an IG blogger and had a blog about video games with reviews and recommendations. But since Instagram was banned for us, I gave up.

[geekyogicheese]

I posted 513 times in 2022

16 posts created (3%)

497 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@togetherkru

@natassakar

@pendragaryen

@it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined

@igotbellarkeforthat

I tagged 503 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#bfsn - 72 posts

#sunflowerkru - 49 posts

#bob morley - 23 posts

#my bfsn - 23 posts

#bellarke fam - 20 posts

#lovely mutuals 💕 - 16 posts

#eliza taylor - 16 posts

#the 100 - 15 posts

#bellarke - 14 posts

#beliza - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#ah stef me too! both swamped and i really feel for the ukraine because so much time has passed and they're still fighting so hard 🙏

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

💌 Send this to the twelve nicest people you know or who seem to have a good heart and if you get five back you must be pretty awesome. 💌

Lots of love to you, my dear Nadia <3

Ahhhhhhh my Stef, much love to you ~ thank you for the good vibes and always positive energy 💕

2 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

#4

💗 Incoming love train! I appreciate you and recognize the amazing presence you have on this site, thank you for contributing to our community! 🌷 send this to all the blogs you love! don't forget to spread the love. 💌

@togetherkru Stef! You have made my day. I love your warmth, positivity and enthusiasm ~ for the things we ship but also the people you bring into your circle.

2 notes - Posted January 26, 2022

#3

Hi!!

list 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the inbox of the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. spread positivity. 🌈 💜 🍀

Thanks @theatresteph! Right now, this is what makes me happy:

1. Friends and family

2. My health

3. Music

4. Reading

5. The planet

3 notes - Posted August 30, 2022

#2

Getting to know you ask game

Thank you @ninappon for the tag 😍

Favourite colour: green

Currently reading? Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

Last song you listened to? Gimme That Boom by Skindred (obsessed!)

Last series you watched: I watched three in rotation ~ a rewatch of Arrow and for the first time ~ The Bear and Dopesick (both awesome!)

Last movie you watched: crikey I can't even remember 🤣

Sweet/savoury/spicy: savoury and spicy

Currently working on: jeez so much work ~ two freelance edits and some copywriting, and then my day job is completely nuts right now. If only I could sit in bed eating nachos 🤪

Tagging/saying hi: @carrieeve @hedoublehockeystix @togetherkru @natassakar @pendragaryen (Stef and Natassa and Anne I know we know one another well but I can't not 🤤)

10 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Happy new BFSN to the sunflowerkru! Thank you to @togetherkru and @natassakar for thinking of me always 💕 much love to you ladies.

I have high hopes for a change in what's been happening in Europe.

South Africa is finally coming to the end of its state of disaster ~ two years after it was implemented. Things feel quite normal right now. This is a recent pic of me and some friends at a St Patrick's Day gig at a local watering hole. It felt wonderfully normal.

Sending love/tagging: @pendragaryen, @immortalpramheda, @imaginetonprincecharmant, @igotbellarkeforthat, @jeanie205 and everyone else out there 🍂

14 notes - Posted March 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[metalmessage]

FRONT ROW WARRIORS Blissful celebration of catchiness 

Action: FRONT ROW WARRIORS • https://frontrowwarriors.com/ Title: Wheel Of Fortune Base: Stuttgart • Germany Style: Melodic Metal Genre: Heavy Metal, Melodic Metal, Melodic Hard Rock, AOR FFO: Heart, Warlock, Pretty Maids, Zed Yago Type: Full-length Format: CD + Vinyl Label: ROAR • Rock Of Angels Records Release: June 09, 2023 FRONT ROW WARRIORS are available for interviews via phone, Skype, Zoom & email

Bulletpoints: 🔘 Debut album of the highly gifted Germans 🔘 Fantastic songwriting, top playing culture 🔘 Highly catchy material, a true feast for many ears https://www.metalmessage.de/PR_FRONT_ROW_WARRIORS_en.php

FRONT ROW WARRIORS, the South German top artists, launched their third single „Chasing Shadows“ with a lyric video worth seeing on September 15, 2023 – top-notch AOR/Melodic Metal, as you can enjoy it rather rarely from today’s acts in this fine form. The catchy uptempo number, which is played in an equally brisk and rousing fluidity, is another excellent song from the enormously substantial debut album „Wheel Of Fortune“, which was released on June 09, 2023 as blue vinyl and CD digipak via ROAR Records – a work that is fantastic in many respects and which continues to receive excellent to completely enthusiastic reviews in the music press!

„Chasing Shadows“ tells the tragic love story of two young people who desperately try to escape their ecclesiastical conventions, but ultimately fall apart because of lies and slander, and ultimately both tragically lose their lives. The moving story is based on the Greek mythology „Hero and Leander“ by the poet Ovid. Jim Evgenidis of Iconfilmworx skillfully directed „Chasing Shadows“. https://www.youtube.com/embed/gjGHqZQ58G0?si=m_LoV3Tl3gf_Poz9 [ Official Video „Chasing Shadows“ ]

Formed in 2019 in Stuttgart by Jay-G, drums (Shining, Sharon), Elkie Gee, vocals (Ampyre, Antares) and Sorin Badin, a well-known Romanian guitarist (Cardinal, Samsara, Crystal Maze) under the name FRONT ROW WARRIORS, they completed the formation in 2020 with Richie Seibel, keyboards, (Lanfear, Ivanhoe, Them) and Timo Michels, bass, (5th Season, Pump). In the summer of 2022, guitarist Stef Binnig-Gollub (Septagon) joined the multiple capable MELODIC METAL band.

LINE-UP: Elkie Gee • Vocals Sorin Badin • Lead Guitar Stef Binnig-Gollub • Guitar Timo Michels • Bass Richie Seibel • Keyboard Jay-G • Drums

The band’s goal is to take the audience on a musical journey through the era of Hard Rock and Metal of the past 30 years, creating catchy hooks that immediately inspire you to sing along. The whole thing impresses with outstanding guitar and keyboard work as well as deeply exceptional, uplifting lead vocals. Each band member represents one of the many styles and influences that make up the music of FRONT ROW WARRIORS.

The results were impressive, and the band was voted Germany’s best Hard Rock band in 2021 by the German Rock and Pop Musicians Association.

The successful mixture of AOR and Hard Rock inspired by the 80s and 90s, up-tempo numbers – partly very close to classic Melodic Metal – and epic ballads can now be found on the highly anticipated debut album under the title „Wheel Of Fortune“, which was produced by Michael Bormann, co-produced and mixed by Achim Köhler. The mastering was done by Patrick W. Engel. The renowned book and cover illustrator Uwe Jarling crowned this absolutely fantastic release with an awesome cover artwork. All well known names, which did each a great job for a great formation!

TRACKS:

Intro 01:01

Chasing Shadows 03:24

Fantastic 04:13

Love Is Not A Game 05:15

Deadly Sins 03:54

Damnation 00:47

Hell Invaders 04:28

Wheel Of Fortune 05:03

Hell Awaits 04:15

Dystopian Time (feat. Todd Michael Hall) 05:27

The Hunter 03:49

Wasted Life 06:37

total 48:13

As a special guest, US singer Todd Michael Hall (Jack Starr ́s Burning Starr, Riot V) shines in a duet. Vocalist Elkie was voted best Hard Rock singer 2022 by the German Rock and Pop Musicians Association with the song „Dystopian Time“.

The band was signed by ROAR Records, the debut has been released in June 2023 as CD-Digipak and vinyl, also in download format. https://open.spotify.com/artist/0xsgg8Jtk3oJqOKzuGIG2d?si=QQWKCmxKTaei2Oz3r3sbMg

MEDIA FEEDBACK:

10 / 10 ➤ „Take six good musicians and awesome tunes … the result is FRONT ROW WARRIORS. For a debut album really strong. You have to be grateful when there is still good, horny music on the plate … the Swabians give everything. You shouldn’t just see them as newcomers … they will fight their way into the front row very soon.“ (Hellfire)

10 / 10 ➤ „… Heavy Metal as it can not sound more classic … I feel I’m transported back to the glory days of Warlock, because with Elkie we also have here a singer with a Rock throat, but for me because of her style still sounds much more interesting than the ‚Queen of Metal‘.“ (MetalZone – Support The Underground)

10 / 10 ➤ „… Heavy Metal as it can not sound more classic … I feel I’m transported back to the glory days of Warlock, because with Elkie we also have here a singer with a Rock throat, but for me because of her style still sounds much more interesting than the ‚Queen of Metal‘.“ (Metalheads DE)

10 / 10 ➤ „… dedicated to melodic, but harder Hard Rock, which occasionally flirts a bit with AOR, but above all rather seeks the proximity to Heavy Rock. The voice of Elkie Gee also not infrequently reminds of the singers of the great U.S. female (fronted) bands like Heart, Vixen, Phantom Blue and inspires with its power. And also the English pronunciation is impeccable. But also the musical realization belongs for me to some of the best I have heard from the German Hard Rock scene in the last years … the songwriting is first class.“ (Ivy Wolfisberg Blog)

95 / 100 ➤ „… Elkie elevates each track to a really high level … an impressive debut … twelve brilliant songs … power and melody conspire and every single one of them knows to convince … Front Row Warriors definitely knows how to play their way into the front ranks of the Hard Rock / Heavy Metal landscape already with this debut …“ (Musika BE)

9,5 / 10 ➤ „… function like a unit that has grown over many years … I failed to detect even one off-key note after repeated listens … one song features Riot vocalist Todd Michael Hall as backup …“ (Bleeding4Metal)

9,1 / 10 ➤ „Much of the power of this band lies in Elkie’s voice, one of the best female voices out there, and even the simplest song is made to shine … there really is no weak point on this album. They couldn’t have had a better debut … the quality of the songs here closes mouths … and opens others …“ (Metallerium)

9 / 10 ➤ „… a singer who, á la Heart, is effortlessly at home in all registers … hammer-strong debut … amazing hit density …“ (Hardline)

9 / 10 ➤ „… reveal an incredible amount of inspiration, creativity and great talent on their album debut … all of this, coupled with their years of experience and the savvy of the entire production team, makes ‚Wheel Of Fortune‘ one of the strongest debuts in recent years and a great hope for the future … phenomenal …“ (Undercover Rock And Metal)

9 / 10 ➤ „… the band really puts their foot down, the musicians play on a technically high level, the interplay works perfectly … kick-ass music … Elkie’s voice has an enormous power, determines the sound of the band significantly …“ (Rocknews CH)

8,5 / 10 ➤ „From the guitars you can hear different bands like the Scorpions, Jaded Heart and a few more … the keys are more restrained than Axel Rudi Pell, the drums remind me of Mike Terrana or Bobby Rondenelli in the way they were played with a lot of power … very catchy and harmoniously produced … convinced me completely.“ (Rock Garage DE)

8,5 / 10 ➤ „… high-class album in the intersection of catchy Hard/Heavy Rock … masterpiece of a German band that skillfully recommends itself with fat hooklines, slamming guitars, catchy melodies and magical vocals all along the line …“ (Saitenkult)

8 / 10 ➤ „… a great album, and all Metal fans should give this appealing work a listen …“ (Metal Factory)

8 / 10 ➤ „… powerful, crisp and at times traditional Hard Rock with a proper 80s broadside … with a wealth of great songs …“ (Rock It!)

8 / 10 ➤ „… crisp, partly atmospheric Melodic Heavy Metal, which can be pigeonholed quite well with bands like later Pretty Maids, Bonfire, Eclipse, Crystal Ball or Jaded Heart … singer Elkie Gee does her thing really well! Fans of classic, rocking Melodic Metal should definitely get this one!“ (Crossfire Webzine)

7 / 10 ➤ „… front woman with a strong voice … twelve tracks with a lot of feeling … successful debut …“ (Rock Hard DE)

➤ „… without exception experienced musicians, that succeeded in this excellently … powerfully produced and also exemplary mixed, the 10 songs and 2 intros bang out of the speakers and keep the promise. Because even if most of the songs start quite metallic, they almost always get the curve to Hard Rock and yet remain independent and modern enough to scare off neither the one nor the other faction. A great balancing act …“ (Metalglory)

➤ „… simply a great record, which convinces with music without a lot of fuss and should bring FRONT ROW WARRIORS into the focus of many Melodic Metal fans …“ (Metal Inside)

➤ „… sounds super professional for a debut album and thrills from front to back on the first listen. It’s been a while since a debut album blew me away right away … above all, the fantastic vocals with through the bank catchy hooks and strong choruses … a really skillful balancing act between catchy Hard Rock and sophisticated as well as Melodic Heavy Metal … there are almost too many highlights to list them all … inspires more and more from run to run …“ (Tracks Magazin)

➤ „… FRONT ROW WARRIORS have delivered a very strong album that can strike fear into other female-fronted bands, because singer Elkie puts the crown on the songs with her charismatic voice. But also the other musicians deliver a performance on the highest level. Listen to the songs and you will be as excited as I am!“ (Nightshade)

➤ „Characteristic of the band’s sound are the distinctive, raspy voice of Elkie Gee, whose clean vocals are somewhat reminiscent of the legendary Doro Pesh, and the keyboards, which feature a tasteful selection of synths that are deliberately typical of these years … an honest and genuine album …“ (Metalshock IT)

➤ „… interesting one … took me by surprise … you get a lot of diversity … quiet impressive … really, really great voice … solid songwriting … melodic, catchy tunes … great riffs … memorable album … I enjoyed it very much … there’s a lot to love here …“ (Power Metal Ranger)

➤ „In many ways I found it hard to believe at first that this is a debut album, because it seems very accomplished – good old melodic Heavy Metal – with a lot of life, nerve and not least melody … they have their own sound – not least because of the vocals of Elkie Gee – here the band has hit the nail on the head … 12 strong tracks – tracks that each deserve to be highlighted …“ (Rancor Metalzine)

➤ „… gripping choruses … good melody arcs … power ballads … fast riffs … epic … comes fat out of the boxes … knows how to inspire … who likes melodic metal, can access here without hesitation …“ (Breakout)

➤ „Excellent studio debut effort by the female-fronted Stuttgart sextet!“ (Unique High Fidelity) [ Pic: Front Row Warriors ] [ Artwork: Uwe Jarling ]

[gstdaisuki]

A Talk with Nathan McCree

(this is a followup to my video on Nathan’s work, which you should watch(!), and a mirror of the Patreon post)

Nathan McCree is well-known for his work on Tomb Raider. If you go digging, you’ll find he’s been interviewed about the series several times. However, he’s done quite a lot more. I’d like to fill in some of the gaps. Below are snippets from my chat with Nathan about music on the Megadrive, what it’s like to work within limitations, and music in the future. 

---

GST: Skeleton Krew's music is an oddity on the Megadrive. there's nothing else quite like it. I saw you mention that the soundscape was inspired by the graphics, which makes sense --they compliment each other beautifully. I want to ask what other influences you had in mind, if any. How much of the soundtrack was just created by just pushing strange sounds out of your tools? 

NM: It's very difficult to say exactly where inspiration comes from. Mostly I am inspired by the kit I am using and the sounds they make, so in this case it was the sounds I was creating on the Yamaha chip inside the Megadrive. But musically at the time I was listening to a lot of psychedelic electronic bands like Ozric Tentacles, The Orb and lots of dance/trance/house music of the era.  

GST: Now that you mention Ozric Tentacles, the arp sequences in Clockdrops have a similar feel to some of the tracks in Skeleton Krew. It's kind of striking, though I think the direction you went in is actually better realized because you seem to work so well within the FM on the Megadrive. (Hopefully the musical comparison isn't too offensive!) 

NM: No I'm not offended by the comparison at all. I did learn a lot about synth patterns and textures from Ozric Tentacles, but again, without copying, I took what I learned and went in my own direction with it. It's important to always have a picture or an emotion of the project you are working on as this helps construct the music in a way which fits the mood of the product and as a result should gel the visuals and the animations together. The music in effect, acts as a kind of glue for the project which holds it all together.

GST: On the opposite end of the oddity spectrum, Astérix and the Power of the Gods for the Megadrive features nothing but classical songs. I'm curious if this was a decision from the game designers, or an exercise for you, or something else. 

NM: It was a decision made by the game designer and programmer, Stefan Walker. Stef asked me if it were possible to convert 15 or so of the most famous classical pieces in history that were out of copyright protection (older than 90 years). Of course I said yes, and we set about listening and searching for pieces which fit that criteria and which would be suitable for the game. The conversion process from a full-orchestra down to a 6 note-polyphonic FM synthesizer was a challenge but a very enjoyable one, and the result earned the accolade "Best Megadrive Music Ever". I was rather chuffed with that.

GST: The soundtrack for BLAM! Machine Head is listed as released in 1995, which is before the game came out. Was this a promotional thing?

NM: Yes it was a promotional release of 300 vinyls. We sent a load to UK Clubs to try and get some club play time to promote the game. We succeeded a little but game soundtracks weren't really the thing back then so it gained little traction.

GST: That’s pretty amazing! That was late 1995, right on the precipice of game music leaking into the mainstream. (For reference, "Sega Tunes" came out in August 1996, "Club Saturn" in 1996, and Tommy Tallarico released his arrangement albums in mid-94 and mid-96) Did you get any feedback / reviews from the clubs?

NM: Yes we did. A few were kind enough to give us some feedback. One club I remember said about Nano-Seed, "a floor-filler!". That was good.

GST: Relatedly, what is your experience with club music? Some of the tracks on BLAM! sound perfect for the era. I wouldn't expect them to be written by someone who was previously unfamiliar with club music. Do you remember any particular songs or artists that you drew inspiration from?

NM: I was clubbing a lot in the 90s. I was going to Hot To Trot in Mansfield once a month, Renaissance in Derby in between and a few other local dance venues in Derby. In the end I was clubbing every weekend. Apart from the psychedelic bands I mentioned earlier I can't really pin-point a particular dance music artist. I was listening to so much and none of it was being repeated. I was constantly listening to new tracks. It was a very inspirational time musically and on top of all this I was writing my own dance music in my spare time outside of working at Core Design. So yeah, there was a whole lot of influence that went into the BLAM! Machinehead soundtrack. Having said that, with my writing, I always try to write something which I haven't heard before so I hope there is something unique and new about the music in BLAM! Machinehead.

GST: About Swagman: This seems like the most involved orchestral soundtrack that you had created since Soulstar. I'd like to compare the two a bit. How closely were you working with the rest of the team at this time? Swagman isn't a rail shooter so you can't match the soundtrack with the action in the levels... How much better was your gear at this point? I'd say "it doesn't sound like you struggled with your gear this time" but you actually disguised that struggle quite well in Soulstar, haha. 

NM: As you say, Swagman wasn't a rail-shooter, so scripting the music to fit the game wasn't possible. Instead I used the location of each level as my main source of inspiration, and created atmospheres to fit those - The Nursery, In the Garden, Down the Well, The Crypt for example. I had some new kit by the time I started writing Swagman. Mainly the addition of the Roland JV1080 which I had expanded with the Orchestral Boards 1 & 2 and the World Expansion Board. I also had a Roland JV90 which is the keyboard version of the JV1080. That too was expanded. So I had plenty of voice-polyphony at that point and lots of very useful orchestral patches to play with. So you're right, it was less of a struggle with Swagman, but both projects were still very enjoyable to create. With Soulstar, I ended up using quite a few saw-tooth, synth-lead patches to create the brass ensembles. They actually sounded pretty good once they were buried in amongst the rest of the orchestral sounds!

GST: Battle Engine Aquila marks a soundtrack where you were freelance AND in the distant future of 2003. How much of your gear did you leave behind when you left Core Design to go freelance? And how much of it was digital instruments on your computer at this point? I ask the latter because, to my ears, this game sounds about as good as you can get without hiring a real orchestra. 

NM: So obviously leaving Core Design meant saying goodbye to all the kit I had built up over the 6 years that I worked there, but of course I needed something to work with as a freelancer. So I spent a large chunk of my Tomb Raider money on a new studio for myself. Apart from the obvious stuff like a mixing desk, studio monitors and a PC, the decision needed to be made as to what instruments/synths I should buy. I had been really impressed with the Roland JV1080 so I bought one of those (and expanded it as before) and the synth geek in me also decided to by one of Roland's latest creations, the JP8000 - a fully record-able and controllable raw synth machine! With this machine it was possible to record the movement of every pot and fader straight to Cubase. A very useful tool for dance music, and to this day I still haven't used it to it's full potential. I also bought an Akai S9000 sampler which I used mainly for drums, so once again my orchestral setup was synth-based, rather than sample-based. So I started out freelance with this kit in 1998. When I got the opportunity to work on Battle Engine Aquila I decided I needed a bigger orchestra so I bought another Roland JV1080 (expanded again) and an E-MU Virtuoso 2000 orchestral synth which I quickly binned when the main controller knob became faulty and I wasn't impressed with the architecture of the signal path. I continued to use the Akai S9000 sampler for a few more years for electronic music but as soon as computers became fast enough for sample based editing inside the sequencing software, it too became a dust collector on my studio shelf along with other outboard gear which were replaced by VST instruments and Plugins. To this day I still use the 2 Roland JV1080s and my Roland JP8000, and that's about it. I'm not one of these musicians who needs to hide behind a million synths or new pieces of kit every month to convince people I can write music. I'm one of these guys who can make music from anything. A fork, knife, bottle, my kid's mini toy guitar, or glockenspiel. If it makes a note, I can use it, which I frequently have in my compositions over the years. I remember when I was working on a prehistoric game called BC, I used a metal electric fire which I scraped with a nail and hit some bricks with drum sticks to create the percussion sounds for the music. I don't need to buy new kit to be creative.

GST: I'm curious about what the limits are when it comes to crafting something unique. If you go too "far out," you'll have a unique song, but it might not resemble "music". Where's the balance between copying the songs you heard in the club and becoming autechre? Same question for non-electronic music: It's possible to get unique compositions if you go to the edge of music theory, but that can also become inaccessible. (You did seem to use odd time for the end theme of Waterlollies (11/8 by my count) though, which is always a fun technique.) 

NM: Finding something new isn't about moving further and further away from music, it's about persevering with textures, ensembles, sounds, patterns and harmony until you find or create something which you haven't heard before. You have to wade through a load of stuff you have already heard until you find new waters. Sometimes that can take hours, sometimes days. You have to keep going. Adding stuff, deleting stuff. Thinking outside the box. Sometimes forgetting what you have been taught. Turning things upside down, back to front. It also helps to enter altered states of the mind when creating. This can be done in a variety of ways. Working late into the night until you are close to falling asleep for example, puts your brain into an almost dream state which helps create new things which you wouldn't normally think of during the day. This is why many creatives, and not just musicians, do their best work in the early hours of the morning. Other things can help too, drinking alcohol, but this has a negative impact on your hearing, and then of course there's marijuana which I think most musicians that have ever lived swear by! Personally for me, it's about perseverance, working at the detail and striving for perfection. Music doesn't have to be complicated or removed from tonality and harmony to be different. There are billions of combinations, it's just about looking for the new ones.

GST: One more question about the early days: Does any of the original software or source code for your Megadrive music still exist? 

NM: There's a possibility that I have a copy of the programme somewhere on my hard drives but it needs a special custom built PCI card installed in your PC to work and that, I do not have anymore. You see in those days, getting access to certain elements of the games console just wasn't possible like it is today. Now you install some dev tools plugin and you have direct access to every feature of the console. Back in the early 90s we had to dismantle the machine with a screwdriver, rip out the circuit boards, making notes of the chip serial numbers and manufacturers, then calling the company and asking them for a full specification of the pin numbers and what each one did. After that, we would order the chips we wanted (or rip them out of the games console itself) and design our own circuit board which included the chips we wanted and have it all re-mounted onto a custom built PCI card which we would then install into a PC. After that, it was all about programming. We followed a similar process for the Megadrive sound chip. It was a Yamaha YM2612. So we ordered a couple of these directly from Yamaha and once we had the full spec it was pretty simple to work out how to wire it up on a circuit board. All we needed to do was to add left and right phono sockets to the output pins on the chip and send the 5v power supply to it and there you go, Megadrive synth on a PC! Of course there are the other pins (24 in total) which needed connecting up to the data bus, memory access pins, read/write request lines, interrupt request line, ground pins etc. but once we'd figured all this out it was simple enough to create a circuit diagram for the board. Once we had that we sent off the design and the 2 x Yamaha chips to a circuit board manufacturing plant in the UK. A week later our 2 x Megadrive synth PCI boards arrived. We plugged one into my PC and the other into Sean (programmer)'s PC, and we got to work coding up the sequencer. Sean took care of the machine-code level programming of the synth engine and I programmed the high-level language user interface. We had the whole sequencer up and running in 4 months. So I may have the source code and sequencer files but I don't have the hardware on which it runs. Of course I could have another circuit board made but it would take some time to get all that together again.

GST: What happened to Console Sounds / Industrial Ambiance? I can’t find it anywhere. 

NM: I took the album off-line. It was available as a library album for a while but the critiques viewed it as if it was an album release and began slating it for sounding like off-the-shelf music - which is exactly what it was. It was never an album release. It was just a bunch of tunes that had not been used for anything, and I was just trying to earn some money. But when the critiques got hold of it and slated it, I took it down.

GST: That's understandable, but unfortunate. Have you considered bringing the album (or any of the songs) back on a service like Bandcamp or Soundcloud? 

NM: Yes I do have ideas and avenues for a lot of my music. The first thing I want to do is to officially release all my game soundtracks. After that I'll see what's left and if there's any mileage releasing any of it. 

GST: Actually, how much of your music can you release on Bandcamp? I know that the rights can get tied up...

NM: Well after the Kickstarter campaign, I am now officially a record company and publisher so I can release any of my music whenever I like. I don't need a platform like Bandcamp or Soundcloud (where often the composer/performer ends up surrendering their rights for little compensation). I don't need to do that now. I can release my music myself and retain 100% of the rights, which is a better way to go. It's been a hell of a lot of work to get to the company to this point, but the infrastructure is there now, so I'm going to continue with that.

GST: Oh, that's exciting! Do you have any idea when we can expect to see some old soundtracks released? I'm also very interested in the dance music you wrote outside of Core Design. That would be a fun throwback thing. 

NM: I want to start rolling my old game soundtracks out over the next few years. I have earmarked about 10 albums which I think are worthy of release. They all require some work in terms of remastering and re-recording. Some would benefit from a live orchestral recording like Soulstar, Heimdall II, Swagman and Battle Engine Aquila to name a few, but those kinds of production are very expensive so we'll have to see how funding goes for that kind of thing. In the meantime though, I will be releasing new synthetic recordings of these soundtracks - all made using the original equipment which I wrote them on, so they will sound the same, only better! Yeah there's probably an album or two of dance type tracks kicking around which could be released. Other songs too which are still unfinished so i'll need to do a bit of work to finish those up into some releasable form. So plenty of work to keep me busy for the next 5 or so years I'd say.

GST: Where can we find news about these remastered albums? Where's a good place to find you? Is there anything else you'd like to plug? 

NM: The best places to keep informed as to what I'm doing career wise is on my official FB page: https://www.facebook.com/nathanmccreeofficial/ and also my Twitter page: https://twitter.com/nrpmccree  As far as plugs go, please just support my concerts. They cost a huge amount of money and time to organize and I can only keep doing them if we get a good attendance. It's really important, not just for The Tomb Raider Suite, but for games music in general, and if you do like the Tomb Raider Suite album which is free to play on Spotify, please consider buying a copy. This is how us musicians make a living and it really does help us to keep going and writing more stuff which hopefully you will enjoy. A big shout out to all the fans who have supported me so far and who continue to do so - you guys rock!

[oursuperadventure]

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago, and one of the first things that happened was the event pictured above. Luckily Stef isn't actually a vampire!

Hey! We're officially in brand new Our Super Adventure territory! All of the comics from this point on are shiny new ones after we've had a few weeks of Video Games and Pizza Parties strips!

Lastly - and there'll be another Our Super Adventure comic appearing before the official end of 2018 so this might be a bit early - Thank You!

This year has been a really hectic good one, and we're incredibly appreciative for every single person who likes or shares a comic, or buys a book or a pin badge, or comes out to a convention to see us, or writes a nice review online!

You're all the best, and me and Stef both wish you all a relaxing and good few days off for the holidays!🌲

[midnightmillie]

A Tag Game

I love you for tagging me (and not only) @reddie-trashetti

Favorite month: Dude, October. Literally, everyone is alive in October, I’ll start shooting something a m a z i n g in the upcoming October, just October.

Favorite number: I’m gonna be so original and say 11.

Favorite color: Orange, no doubt.

Nickname: Just Stef. My date calls me Mulan though.

Current outfit: Let the review begiiiiiiiiin, we’re rockin’ your typical black jeans and boots (because It’s still cold here yuh), black crop top and waaaaay oversized blue plaid shirt.

Current hairstyle: Space buns, space buns, we have space buns.

Contact or glasses: I love lenses because I can s e e without the super visible aid, but they start acting up after 6+ hours and then it’s like sduvuivhdfuihg.

Dream job: Dude I don’t know if I can dance and do management (IT management?) that would be the shit.

Lock/Homescreen: 

Favorite song at the moment: Kill This Love by Blackpink, BUT OH OH THIS NEW ROOKIE SONG CAME OUT LITERALLY TODAY and it’s so badass, DMT by 3YE. 

Left or right: I always stay on the left, I’m left-handed, idk, what is this question for

Winter or summer: tbh I hate freezing with passion, so I’ll go with summer and just say that lots of people dislike it because it ruins their everyday structure but like for me the people are the ones who matter so I just try to keep the same ones around and do cool stuff with them. 

Fall or spring: I really want the spring to go on for a tiny bit more right now.

Favorite pic: is a picture I took on my last date, which I’m defo not posting :D luv u

I taaaaag @demigodnamedathena @reddie-for-anything @nylaporp and whoever wants to do it!

[thesilentwriterreview]

Black Mirror Bandersnatch: A Film Review

Holy videogame trippyness batman! 

Hey Silent Writers, Stef here with my first official film review on tumblr. Todays review focuses on Netflix’s new baby: Black Mirror Bandersnatch.

This film centers on a young man named Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead) who works to make his favorite novel Bandersnatch into a videogame all the while coming to the realization that he is not in control.

This film is unique in that it is a choose your own adventure type of deal. It’s a perfect mix of film and videogames. You enjoy watching the story unfold but at the same time you stress over your decisions as they can lead to an unfortunate ending for the main character. 

The characters are diverse and so complex it’s refreshing when you think about it. One of the side characters is the hot shot game developer Colin Ritman (Will Poulter) who is the craziest conspiracy nut you will ever see. For the brief moments we see him he sure knew how to make them memorable: he was loud, he was fierce, and just this booming presence you simply can’t ignore. Of course Poulter’s natural British accent just adds to the characters energy. Stefan while a pretty simple being at first really fools the watcher into a false sense of security. Depending on ones choice Stefan can really throw you for a loop. Whiteheads calming demeanor, soft spoken English accent, and just all around innocent vibe just adds to that false sense of security.

The plot is like that of your average choose-your-own adventure videogame in that their are multiple endings and getting to each of them includes going through many interesting story lines; from goofy to serious the genre spans of these stories are as different as can be. It goes to the point to where you yourself start to feel this sense of paranoia. 

All in all for this blogger this movie is a 8/10 on the popcorn scale (0 being no popcorn needed for the love of god watch something else and 10 being repeat this film, make multiple buckets of popcorn, run to the theater, stream on Netflix ASAP, holy cinematic gold batman). 

That’s all for today Silent Writers. Until the next cinematic adventure. This has been...

Stef, The Silent Writer

[deltastorm101]

alright i have finished playing alan wake remastered, thought about it, slept on it, dreamt about it; here’s an incoherent post about it because brain has to go and leak somewhere am i right. “spoilers” ahead!

CUTSCENES. FACES. CUTSCENES!!! FACEEEEES. BEAUTIFUL. SHOWSTOPPING. I’M IN LOVE. alright, carrying on.

i turned the audio commentary on; in it, sam lake confirmed some things we have figured out and known already, but hearing it from the man himself felt so amazing. i’m beyond excited about the traffic that AWR generates right now and all the new players coming in because of it – and that things like the controls and collectibles and the overall experience stayed completely untouched, safe for sliiiight changes that even experienced players might have a hard time noticing.

some of those differences i did notice (and i beg you, tell me if you found more, i HAVE to know): - different music in some scenes; nothing major - the poster in the nightmare sequence, now showing tom the poet as “a film by thomas zane” - different QR codes, of course. LOVED those. - bugs. xD mostly flashing tree trunks and other lighting-related errors; sometimes the audio commentary track didn’t start playing, which i only noticed as the game audio kept getting quieter in various scenes, but mostly ignoring it until i reloaded a checkpoint by accident at some point and it finally started playing. might have missed some lines because of this but, oh well.

okay, let me dream here for a second... in a perfect world with a perfect alan wake 2... what would i like to see in it? - colour coded subtitles - a pausable manuscript page monologue - photo mode - the possibility to lock the camera over one shoulder (seriously that’s been annoying me ever since i first played; the camera always goes back over alan’s left shoulder but i prefer the view over the right lol) - the tiniest amount of stealth mechanics; i.e. the ability to crouch. not that it would be that important but i’m sure it would look nice. - one (1) melee attack. please. the taken is right there, just,,,, slap him or something,, please - some sort of invincibility mode, maybe similar to the excellent assist mode in control - rain. a scene in the rain. imagine how gloomy and depressing and atmospheric it could be, with more fog and soothing binaural rain sounds that also make it more tense because it’s harder to hear the taken coming in,,, ughhh sign me UP - emotions. heart wrenching. tension. stakes. fear. the good stuff,,, you know - mr. scratch.

ok i’m gonna leave this off with a quote from the audio commentary:

“I can’t really say [Alan] is alive and well because - he’s probably not well.” - Sam Lake, May 2021

cheers. I AM EXCITEMENT

[mysticscrystalrevelation]

Game 29 Review Fri, August 23 7:30pm EDT Los Angeles @ Washington

Starting: WASH: Atkins, Austin, Dolson, Sykes, Vanloo (Samuelson knee injury) LA: Dangerfield, Hamby, Jackson, Stevens, Talbot

1st Quarter Wow, I haven't seen Azurá play in so long. The Sparks have a ton of injuries. We know the feeling. They have Steph Talbot marking Ariel tonight after her hot streak last game. Julie Vanloo is getting the start over Shatori versus the smaller Dangerfield. Nice D by JVL but it's not enough to stop an excellent two-person game by Dangerfield and Hamby. Julie goes back the other way and throws up a silly off-balance shot that of course goes in. Rickea Jackson is responsible for most of the offense thus far for LA. I'm sad that we won't get to enjoy the JVL to MHA connection anymore. One of many things we'll miss about Myisha's trade. In a bizarre sequence, Aaliyah appears to toss the ball over her own back, lose it and fall down, but she chases down the block! Engstler subs in and drains a 3. Jackson answers right in Ariel's face, wow. Very impressive. "If you haven't seen her play you need to get with it," says Christy. Earl for 3. DC is playing better defense than LA, but missing a couple more shots. Sug Sutton debuts, coming in for Earl. I was wondering what position she might fill. Sug takes the ball down for DC instead of Jado or Shatori who are also on the floor. Things are getting a little chippy as the game stays tight. 22-21.

2nd Quarter Oof, several opportunities but we're not cashing in. Finally, Shatori makes it happen. I am seeing new offensive plays. At least three attempted bounce passes inside have gone straight to LA players. From the vantage point of my couch, there are a lot of other open options. There's so much space if we can plan on making the extra pass. Stef is quietly facilitating. This game is more loosely reffed than most and I am in favor so far. Ask me again the 4th quarter. The Julie Vanlooper goes up again and finds net. Slim is starting to feel herself against her former team with 14 already. The Eurostep has entered the chat. Another great play ending in an Aaliyah layup. JVL is fouled, doesn't get the whistle, yells FOUL and gets a tech. Eric calls timeout. Apparently JVL apologized to the ref? This is an interesting game. Lots of movement, good pace, close contest, not too many stoppages. 38-41.

3rd Quarter Dangerfield is taking advantage of little DC errors to create turnovers. Eric calls time to regroup. For our part, some good disruption hasn't brought results yet. I'm enjoying this number 7 matchup between Steph Talbot and Ariel. Both teams are pushing tempo to their detriment in my opinion. The 3-ball is picking up from the first half for the Stics. Shakira is playing amazing for apparently being sick. She just went to the bench and definitely looks under the weather. It really surprises me how few minutes Kia Nurse is playing for the Sparks. Especially with Layshia injured. Ariel is taking the scoring on her back. Yikes we switched to rugby for a minute there. It's been exciting in that the pace is high and the turnovers are mostly from lost balls/deflections/throw aways but that's not a good exciting. 54-55.

4th Quarter Sweet play for the Mystics' opening offensive stand—Slim to Shakira. Now Shatori gets a block and we run it again. $$$. Slim has been shooting very well tonight. LA, not so much. Hamby steals, Slim gets down and blocks the shot, Shakira saves it, Jado heaves it to Engstler for the layup. Whoo! Now Shakira and Jade joint takeaway and runout. It's a 10-point lead and the house is rocking. Momentum? Late in game? I don't know her. Quick 4 points for LA out of a timeout to cut the energy. Our hands have been everywhere knocking and grabbing the ball, especially (as always) Ariel Atkins. 8-point lead with 2 minutes left. Odyssey Sims is plug and play. It's crazy she didn't have a season contract. Shoutout also to Rae Burrell and Zia Cooke who have made their minutes count. Meanwhile, Sykes has a career high 27 points. Earl hits a 3 off a kickout from Slim. Shakira gets a tech. Now she blocks Yueru! Game over. Mystics win! We definitely had our moments, but both teams shot atrociously from 3. 80-74 final.

[solid5productions]

@stef-o thought this was worth postin’, so here I go! Swood comes from that JonTron review of California Games (good suggestion on that drop-shadow Stef). And THIS fly-ass motherfucker with the 3D glasses is half of the zombie-wasting team from Zombies Ate my Neighbors. Tough but fun game.

[khuxparty-blog]

Are you Interested in this Global Anguis Party? :)

Hello Hello! It’s April, anniversary month again, and that means reassessing our party’s overall group and activity. We have some spaces available! 

Party name: Thalassa Souls Leader name & ID #: Stef, 679757 Server: ENG Union: Anguis Where to contact you: Discord; Stef#1242 or here on Tumblr , Please contact us via our Player Interview Discord! https://discord.gg/55qvXYN Activity level: Core to Hardcore # of spots open: 4 Any minimum requirements to joining? Any rankings or plus points you want to add?

We want active and friendly, talkative players.

We strongly encourage having discord or at least often reading and responding to the in-game chat board.

To be there for us during 2pmPST or 8pmPST lux boost for Deluxe Weeks.

Must have a nice pet name, I turn down requests with Spirit pets that have no names.

We rank within top 10 by the end of the week.

We also share our level 10 bosses and event medals to help each other out.

Upon entering the Interview Discord please provide

-a screenshot of your player id, if none, then the player id number at least

-introduce yourself and ur boost time.

After we review your request amongst the admins, we’ll provide you with a link to our discord server to meet your fellow party members! :D 

Please consider us! ;) and thank you for reading.

[illusivegore]

Gore Reviews Mega Coin Squad

Release Date: October 27, 2015 Platforms: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Steam

What do you do when you’re down on your luck, can’t find a job, trying to return to your former glory, or need to pay off your outlandish medical bills for a surgery that turned you into a robot? Why, join the Mega Coin Squad of course. This is the premise that gets a group of money hungry characters onto an island and collecting thousands of coins in this fast-paced, action platformer.

When you begin Mega Coin Squad, you’ll get to choose one of five characters, each with their own set of attributes that change up their play styles a bit. Mikey is your average, well-balanced character. Stef is fast on her feet but on the weaker side. Chunk is slow but powerful, and Mouth and Data are more of a mixed bag. While the characters all have varied looks and personalities, their actual in-game differences are far more subtle with movement speed being the only real noticeable difference.

Once you decide on a character, you’ll get a short cutscene showing why they decided to join the squad, and then they are whisked away to a mysterious island. The island is presented as an overworld map similar to that of Super Mario World and is broken down into four different zones, each with its own aesthetic. Unfortunately, each zone only contains four levels and all of those levels end up feeling rather similar to one another. Each level is randomly generated from a handful of preset block/enemy layouts that change as you spend more time in the level. Even then, you’ll still see the same layouts multiple times in the same level. This takes some of the luck out of success as pattern recognition becomes a factor, but it doesn’t do the game any favors as far keeping things fresh.

While the levels end up feeling far too similar in each zone, the fast paced and sometimes chaotic nature of the gameplay help alleviate that. Each character has the ability to use five moves from the start. They’ll have a standard jump, a ground pound, an upper punch, a shoulder dash, and the ability to shoot a fireball. Utilizing all of these is essential to succeeding in Mega Coin Squad. Once I got used to and started embracing all of these powers, I began to see just how fun and fluid the gameplay could be. Stringing together all these abilities to pull off an insane platforming sequence is quite satisfying.

Your goal in a majority of the levels is to collect and bank a certain number of coins without being hit more than three times. You’ll also have subgoals in each level for beating it under par time, banking all coins at one time, and not being hit. This starts out rather easy, but Mega Coin Squad can get deceptively difficult, especially if you’re looking to perfect each level. There are numerous enemies and hazards that are all out to ruin your good time. If they damage you, you’ll lose nearly every coin you’ve collected (that wasn’t banked) and have to start from scratch. This becomes all the more difficult as the farther you advance, the more coins you’ll need to bank in each level.

As you complete the previously mentioned subgoals, you will receive a jewel. After each level, you’ll get to spend the jewels you earned (up to three per level) on new items and upgrades in a randomly generated block breaking game. Here you can unlock upgrades for your stock abilities (jump, ground pound, fireball, etc.), new items such as a coin magnet or invincibility star, weapons that you can find in stages, and even items that extend each level’s par time or reduce the amount of coins dropped when a character takes damage. These are all rather useful and gives you plenty of incentive to earn each jewel available.

If there’s one weak aspect of Mega Coin Squad, it’s the short length of its single-player campaign. If you’re skilled enough, you can get through it in under 30 minutes, and even if you’re not, it probably won’t take you more than a couple of hours to see it through to the end. You can play through with each of the five characters as they each have separate progression, and going for all the jewels in each level will extend that time as well. If you’re just going for a one and done run, you might feel a little let down with the amount of content.

There are also four different local multiplayer modes for up to four players, but I wasn’t able to test that feature out for this review so I can’t speak on their quality. If you have some friends that are willing to give it a go, I suppose that could add a little more bang for your buck.

Mega Coin Squad probably isn’t going to blow you away with its gameplay, but there’s still a good bit of fun to be had with it if you can get past some of its shortcomings. While levels within each zone never really differentiate from one another much, there are plenty of power-ups and a variety of upgrades that keep the platforming and coin collecting exciting. I’m not quite comfortable giving a full recommendation to everyone because there’s just not much content here, but if you’re a diehard fan of platformers I’d say Mega Coin Squad is worth checking out, especially if you can pick it up on the cheap.

Score: 2.5 out of 5

[thesilentwriterreview]

Undrafted: A Film Review

Amazon: Buy Here

Amazon Prime: Stream Here

The thing about the internet is you can find many things but this bloggers favorite finds are those that fall under the category called 'Rare Gems'.

Undrafted is a film within said category.

Oof! Get ready folks for this film is one roller coaster of emotions.

So the film centers around a baseball game involving a team who's star player John “Mazz” Mazzello (brother of actor, writer, producer, and director Joe Mazzello) is not picked during the draft for the MLB. In the aftermath of that rejection the game becomes even more crucial. That, however, does not mean the players didn't have few laughs throughout the game. It's heartwarming, funny, and a true cinematic gem more people need to know about.

Acting wise holy mother of baseball! Joe Mazzello really outdid himself in that the cast was hilariously perfect. It is clear throughout the film that each guy was in their element; no pressure, no nothing. Joe, himself surprises us in that rather than playing a goofball or sweet angelic presence like he usually did he played a loud, hyper, fireball of rage. To this bloggers great surprise...it actually worked. He was phenomenal as a constantly enraged man. He also successfully and seamlessly turned it around to give a very passionate speech about his brother. You can easily tell those were some pent up words he'd been holding within himself since finding out his brother didn't get drafted. In fact to say his whole performance might have been extremely cathartic for him would be a massive understatement. The man was letting out his rage and frustration and this viewer loved every minute of it.

Before this film I, like a lot of people out there probably (hopefully), wasn't into baseball and I appreciate the fact that the game is simplified in a way to not confuse the h-e-double baseball bats out of those who are ignorant in the way of the sport. Also the family dynamic among the players was something to be admired. Those guys were more than teammates...they were brothers. They loved one another and at the end of the day, win or lose, that's all that matters.

So in the case of Undrafted Joe Mazzello's masterpiece has earned 10/10 popcorns. Go watch it, there are links at the top of this post where you can stream it. Just go! It is so worth the time and frankly it deserves all the love in the world. Like seriously if there was an award for Best Brother in the World Joe Mazzello would definitely be a winner. Not that he isn't already a winner in the hearts of his fans, and in mine.

That's all for now my Silent Writers. Until the next cinematic adventure this has been...

Stef, the Silent Writer

[deltastorm101]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Revisited

It was a dark and stormy night, nothing stirred, not even a creature; except me, stirring my iced tea that night in September 2018 when I first played and finished Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Back then, it left me feeling deeply disappointed and unhappy; probably because I expected too much and let my imagination of what this game could have been get the better of me. So I thought. Alas, I decided to give it another chance. Maybe 2.5 years have the power to make me see reason? Roll intro... Time for game 👏 review 👏!

Sorry to break the bubble, I’m just gonna say it: my opinion hasn’t changed much. I’m still not vibing with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Allow me to elaborate.

In preparation for Shadow, I also replayed Rise of the Tomb Raider beforehand - the game I’d consider to be in my top 3 favourite games of all time, and certainly the most polished game among the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy. It just showed me exactly what to compare and how. Last time, I stated that I couldn’t bring myself to 100% the game because I felt that it wasn’t worth it; this time around, I actually did take the time to do so, and guess what... it didn’t feel worth it, just because it is so much. Too much. Still. Every time I entered a new area, the game seemed to scream at me just how huge it is and how it wants to suffocate me and force me to grind 20+ hours just for a few more percent game completion. Gaming should not feel like a damn chore. Now, arguably, this may be exactly what people are looking for in a triple A open world game - looking at you, Horizon Zero Dawn, which didn’t fully sit right with me for exactly the same reasons - but it’s something that makes me deeply uncomfortable and pisses puts me off. If I wanted to play a hostile game, I’d play Dark Souls. The only reason that made me continue to pursue 100% was because I was prepared for these feelings. I forget story details incredibly fast, but feelings I had while playing something are crystal clear in my mind at any given moment.

So, I continued... I continued playing a game that tries so hard to be this perfect game, all with buggy graphics, unresponsive, wonky controls, monotonous pacing and faulty tension-building, and a story that’s convoluted, disjointed, and simply too long. Again, it made an effort to explain the major story bits by unlocking convenient hints and pictures it showed you at the right time, but, once again, I did not know what exactly I was fighting for during the boss fight. And I swear, I paid a whole lot of attention.

Last time, I said I reached the point of no return without having valuable items like the lock pick, rope ascender and the reinforced knife. I knew I had this problem last time and thus this time, I followed my usual path of finishing every side mission in an area before proceeding to the next, which did help; however, I feel like this could kind of pressure the player. Only reason it doesn’t is because the player usually doesn’t even know there’s this super important thing behind a boring errand. Yes, boring, I said it.

Something that was definitely my fault last time was the fact that I perceived enemy stamina as way too high - when in reality, I just couldn’t be bothered to actually upgrade the damage of my weapons. Naturally, I fixed this mistake of mine during this playthrough and had lesser problems. That was entirely my fault and I’m sorry that I bashed the game for this in 2018.

However, the voice acting is still amazing, and again, I loved what the controller triggers did to my index fingers. And the run-away-to-flee-from-a-landslide scenes were pretty cool, gotta admit.

So, what’s the verdict, chief? Eye Candy. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is pretty, no doubt about it. But a game this rich in lore and environmental beauty needs to do a lot of things wrong to still feel as empty as it did. Looks are not everything. I hope the next Tomb Raider game will have finally learned that.

I still don’t hate the game. I just can’t hate it. But I heavily dislike what it stands for... if that makes sense. Ok, I’m done. I said what I said. You’re cordially invited to look at me weird and leave hate mail in the tags.