Spec Ops 'The Line'

Now, I don't really want to get into the habit of reviewing games, there are already too many blogs and websites that do that, but there is a reason I wanted to indulge myself just this once, and for the most part, this isn't really a review as much as a mourning, and an indication of what the gaming world is kinda coming to. Let me explain.

The Line starts off like pretty much any third person shooter. You play the token white guy with a shaven head in army scrubs, with the token smart ass in a cap, and the token black guy. Everything is token, including the token enemies with token scarves and token AK47's, and a brief jump to a token helicopter scene.

So far, so token, and it would be easy to dismiss this game because of that, the controls aren't perfect and are so vanilla in flair that it's actually detrimental to the experience, but something different happens as you progress, and a story develops.

Now, anyone that has either read Jospeh Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness", or watched "Apocalypse Now" will recognize the story, and so you should, because the writers have pretty much categorically stated that this is 'heavily inspired' by the book. You get called in because a platoon of soldiers has pretty much vanished with no contact and when you get there you slowly find out that they have gone feral, and the leader of the platoon is now some sort of kingpin after having gone insane. There are war atrocities everywhere and he needs to be taken out so you can rescue the residents of Dubai.

Oh, the game is set in Dubai after a catastrophic sandstorm. I should have mentioned that.

Your character is actually a character in this game, not a vessel for you to project yourself onto, and this is a great thing.

Too many games these days have the silent guy, which is generally a trait in MMORPGs, in order to let you feel like you're involved, but as a story telling device it's bloody awful.

I don't have to make the decisions between good and bad when I play the game, I don't have to care that I accidentally killed a load of civilians, because it's part of the story, it's not like I'm doing it, or my character, it's all part of the narrative.

And the thing is, The Line does a really great job of making you realize you aren't a hero, and the characters actually become compelling and believable, I became really interested in where it was all going.

The self-loathing dragged on a little too much, if I had to complain, a little like Max Payne 3, Max constantly bitching about how rubbish he was after slowing down time to shoot 5 people in the head in under a second.

The real issue came at the end, so you can consider this a spoiler warning, but honestly, I'll be doing you a favor.

At the end of "Apocalypse Now", you face off against the rebel leader, who gives a long, dark twisted speech, and then you stab him. In "The Line", it is revealed that the leader was all in your head, and scenes you saw with living people were really with corpses and so forth.

You see, drawing inspiration, or doing an idea that has been done before is fine if you do it well, and from decent material, which this game did. It took an existing story and brought it to a modern audience, which it should be applauded for, however, THE SECOND that the writers deviate for the plot, they ruin it with some non-sensical twist bullshit.

It's like making a perfect cup of tea, two sugars, milk, and then stirring it with a week old white dog shit. They spent so much time building up around this old story and making it great, and then they add their touch and ruin the whole thing.

We didn't need a twist, we didn't need it at all, the game would have ended fine, better than fine if we just faced off the captain, even without a proper fight, it would have made a truly great story.

Instead, and sadly, it's such a terrible twist that it ruined the entire experience for me.

But, that being said, I really hope they make another one, this time with less pseudo-twist M. Night. Shyamalan bullshit.

The Bullshit behind Sexism in Computer Games.

So recently, feminists collectively shat a brick of anger over a segment within the new Tomb Raider trailer, with a comment from one of the executives from the team (Crystal Dynamics) that made the game, surrounding a scene where a guy tries to rape Lara, resulting in her blowing his head off.

This caused somewhat of an uproar about the fact that a leading female character has to fend of someone trying to sexually assault her, but no-one is really sure of the reason why that is offensive.

Where you offended by this? Why? What exactly is offensive about the idea that a male attempts to rape a female?

There are cries of sexism and inequality, but nobody can really pinpoint the issue, which seems to be for a simple fact - people like to kick up a stink.

Gaming used to be a male-dominated thing, and  to a certain extent, it still is. Console and PC gaming is still a predominantly male past-time, and although the percentage of females in this area is rising, it still has the lingering issues of objectifying people.

And I do mean people, not just women. People. It seems that for every big-titted heroine that people protest, everyone seems to forget about the objectification of men in computer games.

My girlfriend brought up fighting games, saying that the women in them are usually all skimpy. I made a point that the men in the game are muscle-bound monsters, also, in some cases, skimpy.

Phowar

Now I'm not offended, I'm well aware that this is supposed to be taken with a pinch of salt, the same way that Batman, Superman, Ryu, Ken, Marcus Fenix, Space Marine Dude and so on are all massive, ripped and an image of masculinity that is, frankly, unattainable for the majority of people who engage in these games.

So Batman has Catwoman, in her catsuit, but she isn't naked, rubbing her fanny in Batman's face, and in games with hyper-stylized characters, it's true the woman are big titted and fat arsed.

But in Gears of War, the women are all fully clad in the same armor, in Space Marine, the lead female wears a standard army uniform and leads the last surviving platoon on the planet to victory (I assume, I'm like an hour into it).

Bayonetta takes the other extreme, the lead female has long legs and goes down to her underoos fairly often, but she kicks ass, kills demons, and not to mention the lead male character in the game is a spineless, whimpering reporter who is in love with her, who is frequently belittled and emasculated by the lead female.

Need I also paint out that for Lara to be assaulted, they used a man, a portrayal of a stereotype that men are sexually aggressive. Where are all the female rapists in computer games? I have never had the desire to rape or sexually assault anyone, but I realize that it isn't supposed to be representative of EVERY male or even human being in the world, it's one character, existing within the (rather bleak) realms of possibility.

It goes both ways.

That isn't to say ridiculously misogynistic games DON'T exist, of course they do, you just have to look at Tera or Lollipop Chainsaw, but both of those were met with such criticism for the objectification of women that it really shines a light on the issue.

Stupid, childish games are made for children who have never touched a woman in their life, and the minute they mature, they laugh at how pathetic it all is, and therein lies the point, we're not annoyed at the games themselves, we're annoyed at the imbecilic, sexist men that play these games and make comments to women that are ignorant and pathetic in equal measure.

So instead of getting angry at games, which have done, and are (for the most part) doing nothing wrong, how about you instead, as a collective group, publicly chastise every person you see actively being ignorant and discriminative.

Men, sick of being seen as the bad guy? Then stand up and show everyone that you don't agree with people who act like pathetic little virgins, and girls? Chill the fuck out already.

It's really not a big deal, and I'm fairly confident that games will continue to mature and allow us to engage in adult, rational thought, without the objectification of women.

Oh for fuck sake...

The meaning of life and lack thereof

So I understand that most of the time I talk about fairly heavy subjects, and honestly, that's probably not going to end here.

I have often considered the thought of me going onto stage, almost a kind of stand-up comedy act. The thought is less daunting and more being bothered to actually go through the due process of getting everything to set up to do so.

Anyway, I doubt it would have jokes so much as just simple observation, and one topic that I have always felt I could describe in a clear way is the meaning of life, and all that bunkum, so this is the closest example of what you'd get to me on a stage would be like, and I guess therein lies that projection of whether you think I should go on stage or not. I digress.

The meaning of life centers very much upon one's perception of "life". The way you look upon the reasons for your being greatly affects your ability to grasp such answers. And that's why I think life should always be equated to a party.

And I don't mean a party specifically tailored to one thing like drugs and underage sex, but lord of the dungeons of dragons faggotry as well, just what you perceive to be a bog standard, normal party for you.

Except this one has 7 billion people, give or take.

Now, you're at this party, you're there, you don't know why, but everything is familiar to you, and you're perfectly decked out to engage with this party.

Do you ask "Why am I here?" or do you just get right fucking on partying hard, you have guys to party with, girls to party with, guys and guys, girls and sexy fucking girls, everywhere for you to party with.

You only ever ask "Why am I here?" at a party when you feel like you aren't enjoying it, you're uncomfortable and you're worried about choking on roofies, and you know what? If you don't enjoy it, you can always leave this party, and that my friends, is called suicide.

But no, instead, at this party, you grab your guy, your girl, that for some reason, in a seemingly impossible correlation of chances and logistics, you can tolerate and she or he can deal with your shit scared lonely mind, and you go upstairs, and you fuck.

You fuck for hours with this one person who gets you in this giant, confusing, fucking epic party, over and over, you stop, you argue, you talk, you fuck more and more until you stop.

And the party's over.

And it was awesome.

Maybe, just maybe, our whole point of existence is based on a premise, that one premise that we are not here to do anything, we are not here to be anything, our life is an invitation to a party celebrating all fucking existence and it's majesty to be attended by each and all, every last fucking human being, equal.

And God?

Well God is Ferris Bueler, creating this chaos just for everyone else to just let go and enjoy themselves.

At the end of it all, you go home, you enter the earth, and I don't see this as a slow rot, that's far too bleak a view. When we die we don't end, join the earth again, it's scientific fact. I see it as a person simply falling backwards into the ground as if it was liquid, and to me that's beautiful.

And then you're part of this planet, that is part of this entire universe, just how you started, rising from the ground, you were formed with parts of dying stars and dinosaurs, all this matter to build you, and now you've returned, one day you will be part of another being for all eternity as all reality warps before your eyes.

And so you're now sailing past the stars, existing in a small raindrop of a moment, at this party and you ask my "Why am I here?"

I would reply "Why would you want to ask?"

Growing up isn't something to be scared of, in fact, I've never been enjoying life so much.

Look, as a kid, in school, I was always scared of growing up, getting a job, responsibility, kids, getting fat, not having as much sex, not having enough time to play the computer games I love, and to be fair, I couldn't be blamed for this outlook, and neither can you, if you are in that situation.

You often see comedians joking about their tragic jail sentence of a life, wife and kids, how much of an effort it all is and how they long to be young again, but honestly, in comparison, being young really, and truly, sucks.

I stress the phrase 'in comparison', because on it's own, being a kid can be pretty awesome, but it all depends on perspective. I remember school through rose tinted glasses, but the fact I realize that I am only witnessing the 'Best Of' reel in my mind allows me to look beyond that, and what I see is BOREDOM. If you think about all the fun you had in school, also think about the fact that six hours of your day were spent in a classroom learning things that, for the most part, will be entirely useless as you grow up.

All the while you're living under someone else's roof and under their rules. It's tough, but computer games, internet and occasional going out to embrace sunlight on your pale and sickly skin makes it seem awesome. Everyone has a summer that they remember fondly, if not more, but do you know why you remember it so fondly? Because it's a relief knowing you have no school, nothing weighing on your mind except from living your life and learning how to be a person.

I have a theory for this that should help you picture what I mean. If you get a rubber band and pull it as far as it can go, it will fly miles away, but if you barely pull it, it'll barely move.

Essentially, you only enjoy the free time as a kid so much because the rest of the time you're forced into doing and learning things you have no comprehension or control over, but just as the rubber band will slow and eventually fall, so will your free time seem normal and less special.

As an adult, however, people sometimes have a tendency to never have that 'release' and as such, the rubber band will snap. You can burn yourself out as an adult, but there is more to that.

When you leave school, and this is true for most people I know, you will stop playing computer games, or at least you will spend significantly less time doing so, and this is doubly true for RPG's and the like, because in an RPG, you can be who you want to be, you are in control of that character and you can shape your virtual self free of the constraints of your parents or school.

Let me blow your mind with a rather obvious statement. Once you leave school, you are your own person. You don't need to play these games, the world is now open to you, you can do whatever you want.

This is daunting, but exciting, and awesome. Some things won't change, but some things will, and it's not 100% great, as I said, but it gives you so much more freedom.

It's all about perspective, and this is probably the most important lesson I can ever teach anyone because I can guarantee it will make life a lot easier and seem much less harsh.

We look at bankers and the rich with detest, all of their money, living their life in fast cars and easy women. We say it's not fair and that we should all have those opportunities. Now look at the poor areas of the world, say Iraq or North Korea. How do you think they look at YOU, not our bankers, but you specifically. They have nothing, and you have a computer, internet connection, healthcare, money for food and entertainment, everything they could dream of, yet you're complaining?

There's always going to be someone above you and someone below you, but it doesn't matter, you will find troubles in your world no matter what situation you are in, rich, poor, old or even, yes, young.

Life is what you make of it. Pick causes to fight for that you stand a chance of influencing, but never let those causes stop you from enjoying the world. If you can't influence something, don't get involved, you're no good to anyone dead or used up.

And I will leave you with something to think of. If you're genuinely scared of a lifetime with the person you are with, then you are not with the right person, it is that simple. Regardless of if it works out, if you are willing and ready to try without fear, then that's all you need.

Glass half empty, glass half full, just remember that some people have neither the glass or the water to fill it.

Cat friend.

Seems life has gotten a little too busy to make this a weekly thing. Shows how I treat my aspirations, unable to spare like ten minutes to type a blog. Rubbish. Still, here I am.

So it's been about four months since my cat, Dennis died. I was always worried beforehand that when he went I wouldn't think about him or I wouldn't be that affected. I was pretty convinced I was going to be neutral to it.

This terrified, and more, upset me, that something so close to me could disappear and I wouldn't care.

Well, as it turns out, I do care. Just under a week ago I had a dream about him. My parents asked me to look after him when they went on holiday, and so I took him back to my new flat and I was well excited, but then, of course, I woke up and there was no cat for me.

Now, this is sad I admit, and it had me down, but it also made me feel better about myself, because four months on I'm still thinking about him regularly, and I know he was a pet but he was my first pet that was around me since I was like 3 years old. He followed me everywhere and sat with me all the time, Mum and Dad would joke that he was my shadow.

When I went out for my morning coffee, though, I was greeted by Landmine, which is my nickname for the older of the two cats that live next door, a big fluffy gentleman. After a moment of caution, he let me pet him and he was purring and all that. Eventually I decided to let him come into my room by leaving the back door open (my bedroom is also the only way to the garden). He milled around my room for a bit and came to see me, checking out my bed and sofa, and then he left.

This was all I needed to know I want another cat in my life, because I guess now I feel that Dennis (my cat) was his own personality, and no other cat will ever replace him, but I shouldn't look for a replacement, because what I had was amazing and I was too focused on losing it, but when you're focused on the loss, you throw away all those years that you had a real best friend. What I should look for is a new friend, a different one, because I'll never forget Dennis, and knowing that he'll always be in my heart gives me the faith to move forward.

GET OFF MY CASE!

So I said this would be a weekly blog, well that wasn't strictly a lie, just a lot of stuff has been going on in my little world the past few weeks.

I moved out and in with my parents, then out from my parents to a new place, then I fractured my toe by dropping a wardrobe on it (and then finished building it from an office chair, foot still pissing blood), and then I went to Gibraltar.

So, with all that in mind, it's been difficult for me to make any music or have any tangiable thoughts other than "ARGHSOMUCHNOISEINMYBRAINWHYWONTTHEVOICESSHUTUP?!" but the last few days I have been lovely and chilled.

And as such, the last couple of days, I made two new tracks, both of which I'm quite happy with. The first one was made by taking samples from the Batman Arkham City main theme, which is AWESOME, so I really didn't do it much justice to be honest, but some b-boys have taken interest in writing stuff to go over it, which is cool. It really feels good when other people get excited about my work.

Anyway, here's the link to that badger - http://soundcloud.com/woodsalt-soldier/tamban

The second track is actually one I've been meaning to try for quite some time. I wanted to make a similar kind of remix to Tamban (the Batman one), and so I set to thinking about orchestral scores I liked, and then I remembered I had the main theme from Gataca kicking around on my computer, which again, is a BEAUT.

I think the key with remixing stuff like this is to go completely the other direction with them, which I like to think I did by making a liquid drum and bass track out of it. It wasn't too hard, technically at least, I ran into a few problems and published a rubbish first draft, but now I've pretty much finished it and I much prefer it.

Here it is - http://soundcloud.com/woodsalt-soldier/garaticate

I think I've found a new style that I'd like to play with, so I'm going to think of some more soundtracks I enjoy and see what wizardry I can pull out of them. I was considering doing Pogo style vocals, that is to say, taking voice clips from the source material and chopping them up with pitch changes, but it's complex and honestly I think I'd rather develop my own sound.

Anyway, I must fly, I'm off to have a lovely day in the sun! HUZZAH!

Take it easy, readership of one. I love you x

This is now a music blog.

I discussed this a little while ago with my lovely lady partner, about actually putting this blog to some use, rather than for me to angrily masturbate my thoughts over a keyboard for no-body to view (then again, with sentences like that it may be best for people not to see this).

Regardless, as I've mentioned I tend to have a lot of free time and as such I have plenty of time to do musical stuff, but I tend to go a long time between making anything, and recently I've had a serious lull.

This is unfortunate, and it could be attributed to the fact I'm growing up, but with free time and waning interest in my one and only hobby (smoking doesn't count as a hobby), I need to really focus.

So, at least once a week I will update this blog with something new. It might be shitty, it might be unfinished, but it's something.

Hopefully this will help me practice and bring something new every time I attempt a track.

Now, you can't see behind the scenes but I have a handful of draft blogs yet to be finished. This is the same with my music. I have around five or six tracks I'm yet to do anything with, which is sirry, so I'm going to work on them and upload the results.

This week, however, I'm uploading something that I'm stuck on (as is the result of most of my musical endeavors). I set out to do a Pogo style remix of Donnie Darko, which is hands down my favorite film of all time.

What came out the other end, however, lacked the ethereal charm of Pogo and developed a dark quality of it's own.

This track (or more snippet) was made from a track called "Liquid Spear Waltz", composed for Donnie Darko, and is available on the (frankly stunning) soundtrack.

Anyway, enough babbling, I call this one "Dogo". It's far from complete, but honestly I think I backed myself into a wall here so I'm willing to let it sit as an example of how not to remix a track.

*IMPORTANT EDIT*

Turn your speakers WELL down, for some reason there is massive feedback for the first few seconds and it WILL rape your ears. You are warned.

http://www1.zippyshare.com/v/25660960/file.html

The feedback seemed to ruin the E.Q. of the whole track but I'm so passed the point of caring right now. I'm off to cry.

BYE BYE!