This War of Mine - Eating raw rats

Alright, when I first heard of this game I automatically assumed it would be another one of those war games where you play as the hero and go around shooting everything and glorifying war. Then I found out it was some kind of survival game where you actually play as the civilians during war time. I completely overlooked this game until now and wow was I wrong about how much fun it was. This is a survival game where you need to build a shelter, find food/materials/weapons, barter, help others, rob others, murder others, and a whole lot more to do. I went into the game blind and this is pretty much how my first game went.

I installed the game, then the DLC, the little ones, which included children. Clicking play put me into the shoes of the father Christo and his daughter Iskra. The first day Christo and Iskra found an abandoned house and Christo went around digging through rubble with his hands and looting through everything he could find. Iskra being the child that she is, was unable to help and spent the entire day playing hopscotch. Occasionally she'll try and get the attention of Christo but he was too busy digging. Using the materials he found he started building a workshop, then a metal workshop then eventually from those ended up making a crowbar and shovel. This helped break through the rest of the rubble and locked doors of the house. They found food and had enough materials for beds. At night Christo had the option to scavenge and leave poor little Iskra all alone. They were low on food, if he didn't scavenge then they would surely starve. He picked the abandoned shopping mall where he ended up seeing a group of looters. They were open to share what they find but being nervous around armed men Christo looted whatever he could find and bolted home only to find that raiders had come and ransacked the shelter stealing all their food.

Iskra ran over crying when Christo came home in the morning asking why he wasn't there to help her. He had no choice was what he wanted to say but he could do nothing but apologize. They needed more protection. Christo spent the morning sleeping only to be awoken by a friendly neighbor. He wanted to give the two wood since he saw them move in recently and we should all help and rely on each other. Christo accepted it and spent the wood on boarding up the open walls of the house. Surely raiders wouldn't attack right? Even though they were out of food, Christo spent the night standing guard but no raiders showed up. They were desperate, Iskra has been complaining about being hungry. Just then two neighbors showed up bringing a batch of vegetables. They were a gift and Christo graciously accepted it. The two of them will dine like kings tonight. However, Christo still needed to scavenge but he can't possibly leave Iskra alone. That night Christo went scavenging again, this time at an abandoned house. He managed to loot everything from the fridge which contained many cans of food. Great, they can survive for a few days with these. He quickly headed home to find the night was quiet and Iskra was safe.

That next morning a knock came at the door and a girl calling herself Arica begged to join the group. She was a girl from the hood, a cat burglar at the age of 14 and her abusive alcoholic father died during the war and she survived up to now all alone. Christo gladly invited her in. They needed someone to scavenge the night and Arica would be perfect. Iskra ran up and introduced herself. She asked if Arica would stay forever and she only replied with a generic response. She doesn't know how long she would stay. Each night could be her last and if the group was out of food, then she had no reason to stay with a sinking ship. That night Arica went scavenging and came back with the most food they had. She proudly proclaimed her loot as she walked in the door only to find a sad Iskra. That night raiders had attacked again, they stole the food and injured Christo who was guarding the house, as well as Iskra who was sleeping in the bed. This calls for war. Christo spent the rest of the day making knives. The next few days would be the same routine with Arica scavenging and Christo guarding the house. Only problem now is Arica scavenged most of the abandoned areas and they are out of food again. Raiders have attacked again, stealing the rest of their food and injuring Christo again. This leaves them only one reasonable choice. They would have to steal from others. Arica armed with a knife went to the home of an old couple as soon as she entered the two ran in fear. Arica walked calmly up to them and pluged her knife deep into the old man. His wife ran and screamed begging for mercy but there would have to be no witnesses. With a second plunge of the knife, Arica killed the old woman too. She looted everything in the house and returned home broken.

Arica was depressed, Christo came to comfort her saying she had no choice, she did what had to be done and he wasn't going to judge her. Iskra sensed something wrong but no one would tell her what happened that night. She ended up becoming sad. Luckily for them, that morning a sick man calling himself Marin showed up. He was a handyman and needed a place to stay. The party agreed to help him and let him inside. The group gave him some of his medicine and he spent the rest of the day sleeping. The next few days would have neighbors come over and beg for medicine for their sick mother. They had extra so they gave them some. However there was an outbreak of violence, raids became a nightly occurrence and they were losing their food. Arica decided to steal again, but this time a group of thugs. She had quiet sneaking so she could make it in and out without much trouble. But when she fell down from a open floor making a loud thud, she knew she was done for. The thugs ganged up on her and shot her twice killing her instantly. She was gunned down like a dog. Marin was sad but it was up to him to do what Arica couldn't. They crafted some guns for defense and Marin went back for revenge. He gunned them down but his mood was awful. The raids didn't stop and winter was coming. They were out of food, out heating, and Marin needed to go out again. He didn't come back that night as he was gunned down at the next house. The two remaining survivors didn't live through the winter. The End.

This was how I died? Really? I fucked up pretty hard there. I went to start a new game and I realized, It randomly picked one for me since I had the little ones DLC. Kids were useless, they can't defend, they can't scavenge, they can't use tools to help around the house. All they did was eat your food and get sick. I could start another story with other premade group of characters, or start my own custom story with custom characters. But what about Iskra? She was depending on us, she needed us to protect her and we failed as adults. Not wanting to give up I picked the same story but this time I have a better understanding on what to do. Obviously I would board up the house early this time with weapons. Raids caused a snowball effect and I couldn't get myself back on track after the first couple of raids. Next I built a rain catcher and a rat catcher. These two will give me food. This time woman called Zlata joined the group and I had her scavenge. I chose not to rob, not to kill but early on found a soldier coming onto a girl a little too hard. I hid behind a door and watched as he beat her and started dragging her away to rape her. Well I'm not going to stand here and do nothing. Snuck up killed him and stole his assault rifle. This will stop anyone from attacking our shelter. Soon a man named Roman showed up, he was an ex gang member and would gladly go on missions to murder thugs and rescue others. The group applauded for what he was doing. He was saving lives and psychopathic killer thugs brought nothing but harm for the war torn neighborhood. Eventually winter came and I had to set up two heaters just to keep warm and was nowhere close to dying. My food storage was always full, no one managed to raid us with our guns and Roman would dispatch all the thugs and have Zlata come in to scavenge with her bigger inventory. Arica ended up joning us 3 days before the war was over and the war ended with the good ending and everyone going their merry ways.

Iskra ended up going to school again and being normal, Christo was reunited with his wife, Zlata went back to Canada and continued music school, Roman ended up becoming good, and a leader of his community, Arica decided to give her father a funeral and ended up starting her own family. The End. That ended much nicer than the first try but it almost felt too easy once I knew what to do the second time around. People, events, locations are all randomized each run but I don't know how much replayability there is for something like this. If survival or stealth is your thing I would at least check this out.

The Walking Dead - Haircut Simulator

I was skeptical when I first heard about this game. I'm not a fan of the extremely popular zombie genre. I don't like going around massacring zombies, I don't like how cliche zombie games, movies, anything are. But it was telltale games, and they did some great adventure games. With a lot of people recommending and multiple positive reviews I decided I'll give it a try. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I think it is. Oh was I wrong. This is the best zombie game I have ever played. Instead of focusing on bashing zombie heads and running around collecting bullets or whatever, this game is more of a interactive movie where it focuses more on character development than actual zombie bashing.

You start off as Lee Everett, a criminal wanted for murder of a senator on his way to prison. The cop who is driving you starts chatting to you and you can answer however you like. At this time you notice that anything you say will affect how the story is played out. If you're going to lie, you better keep up the lie because its going to bite you in the ass if its found out. Your responses are also timed. Some are shorter some are longer. If you take too long to decide on a response your character will automatically stay silent. If two people are arguing you can butt in earlier, take longer to decide, or some are actually shorter like you see someone standing in the middle of the road while in the backseat of the cop car and you have to yell to stop the car. There is only a split second to pick the option. You'll quickly meet the first few survivors which will join you in your little group. People don't get along all the time, there is arguing, there are tough choices, and there will be times where you have to pick a side. Its not like other games where you and your party is immune to disease and catastrophe. People die, people turn on each other, and people leave.

One thing that is lacking is puzzle solving is at a minimum.While I like adventure games with a little bit of puzzle solving I think it just wouldn't make sense for a super serious game for the main character to hold 50 objects in his pants and create some kind of door opening machine with a spoon, a bottle of shampoo, and a tire iron. Shit like that just doesn't happen in the real world. There are also times where you have a time limit while solving things. Stuff doesn't wait for you in the real world. You don't get to walk around while the evil ghostly being is charging up his super attack and try to mix items. You take your time then zombies will eat your brains.

The story is very dark ,and very human. People will do anything to survive. Sometimes the hardest choices are the best choices. Some characters you will hate at first and then grow on you, others seem normal and then snap. Sometimes you have to step back and stop. Who are you to judge someone for murder when you are a murderer too. They accepted you into their group knowing you are a convicted criminal. Do you get to kick someone out too because of something he or she committed? You are not the leader, you get to vote but how you have treated people and what things you have said will affect who will be on your side as shit starts hitting the fan. Do you side with the man who abandoned a man to die to zombies to save his own son and will do anything even sacrificing the safety of the group to save his own family first, or would you side with the woman who puts the safety of the group first but wants absolute control of the group and sends people away to die when they come for help. Remember, your decisions must be made on the spot. You don't get time to think things over. You don't get that luxury in a zombie apocalypse when people have guns pointed at each other.

If you like character development, if you like survival stories, and if you just plain like zombie stuff then give this game a try. Even if you're not a zombie fan and just want a good story this game is also for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhL776xz9YU

Rule of Rose - If virtual scavenger hunt was a game, this would be it

You've probably not heard of Rule of Rose but you know it was banned. Why was it banned? Well I wasn't really sure until I did some research for the sake of this post. It was banned in the UK along with some other countries. I was thinking "This must be the scariest game in the world!" But I was wrong. It was banned for Psychological torture. You're thinking what the hell is that supposed to mean? Violence and torture by kids towards other kids. Also underage lesbianism as well. The psychological torture isn't the game characters, its on you for playing this game. Its torturing you with its boring running around.

Rule of Rose is a very short horror game by Atlus, yes another Atlus game. I'm not bashing on Atlus games or anything it just happen to be Atlus that made these games. For example, I thought Disgaea to be fairly fun even though the story was crazy and the council system stupid and the whole thing was annoying as hell. You know what, that game sucked. How about Rhapsody: A musical adventure then? Your a girl rescuing the prince with an army of stuffed animals. Cutest game in the world. Not something you'd want to admit to playing though. Anyways enough about Atlus games.

Its one of those horror games where you are a helpless girl instead of someone with a gun shooting hordes of zombies. Only exception is that those games you're actually scared. The difference between those games is that there is something chasing you. You're actually running away. You're in a panic. In rule of rose it has none of that. If its a horror game without horror then what exactly is it? It can't be something and not something at the same time. If I had to describe it as something else then I'll say its like a virtual scavenger hunt and a fairy tale. Doesn't' sound very scary does it. Its not meant to be scary.

The game is set in the 1930's somewhere in Europe. It's made for people with European fetishes. I don't blame them because Europeans are hot, but since this is Japan most of them are 12. You start off the game as Jennifer, a 19 year old young woman on a bus and some boy asks you to read him a story. Then he runs off and you chase him for some odd reason and end up at a orphanage. Off the start you can see some kids with paper bags on their head bashing an animal tied in a bag to death with sticks. Sets the mood of the game because that's you in the bag and those sticks are the game play and those kids are the developers. After you get past the bloody mess you open the door and its mysteriously locked. I was thinking "Ohh typical haunted house game?" No you just wander around and start digging at a grave and some girls come and pour water all over you and push you inside the coffin. Now you wake up on an airship and the kids ask you to join the "Aristocrats club" Every month you need to give them a gift or they kill you.

I just want to point out how much I hate Jennifer. She's absolutely frightened of everything. She'll faint randomly or get scared and start shaking and scream all the time and break down crying. Everything makes her yelp and everything scares her to the point of going insane. She's probably already insane.

The story is divided into chapters and each chapter is a different month. The chapters are not always chronological either. Now you're untied you get to walk around the airship that is like four times the size of Russia. You go to the Aristocrat Club door and the poster says "This month's gift is a butterfly." Now you have to find a butterfly. You walk around the huge airship looking for a butterfly but half the doors are locked or unopenable. Eventually though as you talk to people or see scenes more of these doors will be open. But you have no indication of what will be opened and what will be locked next. So you'll have to keep looking around. If you have a bad sense of direction you'll probably be stuck lost running around in circles. The good thing is 90% of the game you are in the airship. Its just different sections are open and closed during different months and people move around. Eventually even if you suck at directions you'll memorize it since you'll be bashing the walls with your fist if you can't find a door or room.

Near the start you'll find your pet dog "Brown" and the game gets much easier. You are able to let him search for items by looking at your inventory. If the item says "Find ??????" Then you can let brown smell it and he'll go looking for the ?????? item. Nothing is in plain sight. If you know where it is, you can't find it unless brown smells it and barks. But at least you have a dog now right? Well sometimes it wants to go into locked rooms so you're stuck finding things out yourselves. Unfortunately Brown isn't of much use in combat. In fact he just stands there blocking your way.

Combat in this game sucks. I know they are trying to make the game a little realistic with you being a helpless girl. I thought something like Clock Tower series made it right where when you run your panic meter rises and you start running more and more wildly. In here you pretty much just "run" around and when you attack its slow and awkward. Jennifer closes her eyes and turns the other way while waving whatever weapon she finds in front of her. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be closing my eyes while waving whatever I have in front of me hoping it'll fall dead. Because chances are they'll miss if I'm not looking and I'm dead. Well that's exactly what happens. You're accuracy is terrible. If you miss it takes a long time for you to stop the attack and "run" away. And by running I mean walking. You don't exactly run even though the animation shows you running. Its like someone trying to run as slow as they can. Your weapons can be anything you find. For example the first combat you see is a weird child and you're armed with a fork. You stab the thing to death with your fork.

Another thing is that items have no indicator on how powerful it might be. You would have to guess the lethality on the weapon and then actually test it out. Combat is awkward as your goal is to walk behind them and stab them then run away. This pretty much is the only way to fight as getting hit about 2-4 times means you are dead and you'll need to hit them around 6-8 times to kill something. Most things come in packs and when you get hit you're stuck which means if you get ganged up on you're dead by just one hit. Bosses are different. It's much easier because they are alone but they are an endurance fight. It'll take you five minutes just to kill something repeating the same thing over and over again. Most combat can be avoided though, until you get to ones where its like a pack of mobs inside a small room. The room is locked until you clear the enemies. That's the hardest part of the game. The game itself is confusing as there is not a lot of combat and there is no scare at all. You're just mindlessly running around talking to people finding items. At the end of every chapter though you'll get tortured.

The game itself is about you remembering a lost memory. Everything is something that happened in the past and all the people are ones you knew. It starts to build up slowly and slowly until you get to the ending. Its like a suspense movie that stopped halfway and said "hey movie is over! Haha suck it up we're not telling you the rest go home and bitch." It never really explained what happened. The enemies are things from your past that comes back to haunt you. The whole game has a fairy tale vibe from the very beginning with the chapter Once upon a time... to the enemies and even the narration. If you're looking for horror this is not it. If you are looking for combat this is not it. If you're looking for a story this is not it. What is it then? What exactly is it?

The story might be the main point of the game but the combat and the searching is so frustrating it really grates on your sanity. Not only that its a slap in the face as it ends without telling you anything at all. You're still lost in the end as everything is just a messed up fairy tale like Alice in Wonderland. I love fairy tales. But this story is like a hole in your head being filled with vomit. Also if you happen to finish the game you get a special key that lets you go into a room where you can change your costume. You can switch to things such as, nurse costume, tennis costume, gothic lolita costume, octopus costume, and even a chair. Yes a chair. Your dog brown also changes too and you get matching weapons that are super powerful. For example as a Octopus your dog becomes a crab and you get to wield a frozen tuna. Check it out on youtube if you don't believe me. It's completely stupid though. Who'd want to play it a second time?

A good thing about the game is the graphics, the music, and the feel. The graphics you can set to have a grainy effect. I especially like this effect. It feels like you're in a old movie. The music is amazing. I can sit there and listen to it all day. Its mostly string instruments and piano. The feel of the game with the music and the graphics makes it really feel like the 1930's. Unfortunately, this is all that is good about the game. If you like to be tortured by playing a boring game then go ahead.