Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
Author: Smehur
Tomb Raider (2013)
When I started playing this game, I went into it with practically no expectations. Perhaps that is why I finished it with practically no objections. In its twenty-something hours, I had nothing but fun taking twenty-something Lara Croft through her first adventure. The visuals are stunning, the environments detailed and evocative, the difficulty of various challenges seemingly tailored to my taste. And then there’s the addition of skills to develop and tools to find, craft or improve, and for the first time, a sense of character to accompany Lara’s fancy moves. What’s not to like?
Aristotle
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Dear Esther vs Gone Home
In the past few weeks, I played two short, experimental games: Dear Esther by The Chinese Room, and Gone Home by The Fullbright Company. The mysterious vibe, the focus on storytelling, the surprisingly fine audio and visuals and the undeniably unorthodox character of both games make it impossible to not draw comparisons, so that’s exactly what I’ll do.
Charlotte Bronte
But when one does not complain, one pays for outward calm with an almost unbearable inner struggle.
Frozen
It’s been years, or so it seems, since I last watched a Disney cartoon. It’s still weird to see the 3D models and connect the computer-generated imagery and modern-like impressions to what I remember adoring as a kid. The last one I really got into was The Lion King, I believe, and that was back in the 90s. Things have changed, and I don’t mean only the visuals. The themes, the references to Real Life, the humor – it’s all new, and, to borrow my own words from Fruit from Palaven, it makes me feel old.