Webseries Review: The Machine of Death

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Blogger's note: Sincerest apologies to Orpheos Productions for missing their initial review request. It's a good reminder to check my spam box more often! Also, minor spoilers for the webseries. 

When it comes to reviewing anything visual, I tend to do so in two different ways. One is the ‘Hollywood’ way, which is judging a film with movies with Brad Pitt and thousands of dollars behind it. The second is for films that might not have that kind of financial backing or A-list stars available. This is especially true for production companies just starting up or something a fan created. And both review methods boil down to two questions: Can this entertain me and would I recommend it?

Orpheos Productions is a new production company, and recently released a series titled ‘The Machine of Death’, currently in three parts with more to follow. None of these parts are numbered on youtube, but they are all stand-alone so it doesn't matter. The basic premise is this: The world has created some kind of machine which will tell a person how they die, but not when. The three parts explore three different people’s reactions behind this, some ending up with good results and others with not. This sort of puts me in the mind of Minority Report, where one human received a predetermined destiny and did everything he could to prove the system wrong. I'm just saying, if I got a prediction of being burned to death (for example), I would immediately take up skydiving and try to land in a nest full of hungry crocodiles. The machine said I was pretty much immortal to anything else, right?

Anyway, this kind of scenario does raise all sorts of interesting questions, some of which the Machine of Death series does tackle. Fair warning though-most of these episodes do consist of one actor or actress explaining what happened in front of the camera. However, so far all the actors do between a decent-to-great job and your eyes shouldn’t stray from the screen too much.

In short, would I recommend this? Yes. Does it entertain? Yes. Go check it out.
Episode 1 - The Perfect Place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK2auzqYw4Y

Machine of Death homepage: http://orpheos.co.uk/machineofdeath/


Sunday, May 29, 2011
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Game Review: L.A Noire

Posted by Natasha Bennett



Blogger's note: minor spoilers for the game.

 L.A Noire is one of the few games that I was genuinely excited about, enough to pre-order and get on opening day. I have a certain fondness for 1920’s style gameplay, and with Rockstar behind it this game has to be awesome, right?

Well, despite my enthusiasm L.A Noire tried very hard to make sure I didn’t like it, at least for the first half. Ex-war hero Cole Phelps joins the LAPD and moves fast up the ranks with a perfect moral compass. And, as we all know perfect characters are boring characters. I wouldn’t call this game actually boring, (not at all), but the word ‘tedious’ springs to mind rather quickly. Each murder involves a similar formula 1) Investigate the scene for clues 2) interrogate a suspect 3) go into a thrilling chase scene or firefight. For me personally the most annoying part is the homicide division. If these cases were different things might be interesting. Instead a serial killer is on the loose, and repeats the same crime no less than five times, and it gets repetitive fast. Fortunately this can be broken up by ‘street crimes’ which are very short crimes, but I do seriously recommend your partner drives you to, as it can take forever to drive from one area of the city to another.

Luckily Cole is not perfect, and without giving too much away makes an illegal choice half-way. Unfortunately, this kind of bugs me, because we aren’t given too many cutscenes to establish Cole’s reasoning behind this (unless I accidently skipped a whole bunch), or any character development afterwards. Instead, we pretty much give up on Cole and focus on another character, Jack, for the last quarter of the game. Thankfully the crimes are also different as the game progresses.




Gameplay-wise, I would advise against having the mentality of Grand Theft Auto for this game. In other words, you try to run over every single thing in the game, it will: A) affect your final score in the case and B) will be really annoying because your partner will scream at you every few seconds for doing so. 



The biggest selling point of L.A Noire is the facial graphics during interrogations, and it’s up to the player to tell if a person is telling the truth or lying. Which, believe it or not, is far harder than it seems. This is mostly due to the fact that there are three options: A) Truth B) Doubt C) Lie. And sometimes doubt and lie can be really difficult to tell apart. Still, I did find it enjoyable, but I seriously doubt anyone will get it right the first time around.

Overall there isn’t much to do in the city itself, but there is a detailed environment to explore. And the voice acting is actually perfect for every character. I’ve heard complaints that the ending well, frankly sucks. I wasn’t bothered by it, although for the life of me I have no idea why the damsel in distress was kidnapped when she was.

FINAL GRADE: 3 ½ out of 5. I like L.A Noire, and there are other reviewers out there who do rave about it. However, I think L.A Noire has the potential to be better and more exciting. There is talk of a sequel, so this is a good enough starting off point. The casual player might find it fun but repetitive at times.

Am I the only one who had to get a dictionary to figure out what 'Noire' meant?

Thursday, May 26, 2011
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Let's be serious for a moment...

Posted by Natasha Bennett



Hi guys,

First of all, the good news I mentioned earlier is one of my novellas, 'The Red Zone', has been accepted and is currently in a contest. It's a free read for anyone who is interested in a good zombie apocalypse story.

http://www.talesofworldwarz.com/stories/2011/05/13/the-red-zone-by-natasha-bennett/

And (ahem) speaking of the Apocalypse....

By now most people know that some fanatical Christian predicted that the world would end today at 6 p.m, and of course that didn't happen. Naturally I made a whole bunch of smart remarks on facebook about it, and it does amuse me, but to me it's also just sad. It's sad that a whole bunch of people donated their life savings to this guy so their souls would be saved, and of course nothing actually happened so now they have nothing. Just to be clear, the majority of the world didn't actually do this and are way smarter than that. I'm not judging this even as a 'Christian' thing, since most Christian people I know are normal. I judge this as a select few who are too afraid of death, and what happens thereafter.



Religiously I'm a Wiccan, so I don't have to deal with this whole doomsday concept, or even a heaven/hell concept. For those that are interested, here is what I believe: We could die at any day, any moment, from any number of factors-a passing comet, a flood, or even something mundane like getting run over by a bus. I don't need a doomsday clock on top of everything else. Is this a depressing mentality? Honestly not, because I can view each day of living as a wonderful gift, and I try not to waste it. I don't need to give all my money to some crazy guy for something better after I die. I could give some more thoughts about what I really think will happen after we die, but that kind of opens a huge debate and that's not what this blog post is about.

This is the point of my blog: Nobody should pay attention to a doomsday clock. Ever. We have enough to worry about.

Although just for the record, if the Apocalypse does happen, I will survive it. Why? Because I have a zombie plan.

Agree? Disagree? Should I be holding a doomsday sign outside? Feel free to comment!

Saturday, May 21, 2011
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Cover and synopsis for Autumn's Spirit!

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Hi guys,

Check out my cover for Autumn's Spirit! Isn't it pretty??



Official write up:

After working for years as a paranormal investigator, Amy Belkins wants to quit. But her friend, Terry, convinces her to go on one last investigation. Lured by the promise of strange whispers in empty bedrooms, cold spots, and silenced screams, Amy reluctantly agrees to one last hurrah, for old time's sake. However, Amy and Terry are frustrated when their search of the supposedly haunted Lanson house turns up empty.

Later that night, Amy returns alone to retrieve some forgotten equipment and is sucked into a shocking nightmare. The next morning she wakes up five hundred miles away, covered in blood beside an old woman’s dead body. As people continue to die around her, Amy realizes that she is possessed by the spirit of a vengeful child on a mission to right wrongs. On the way, Amy learns a deadly lesson about violence.

As Terry races against time to save her, Amy faces a terrible choice: avenge the child’s murder and save another child's life, or surrender to the police before more people suffer a ghastly fate at the hands of Autumn’s Spirit.

More details will be available at Lillibridge Press: http://www.lillibridgepress.com/book/Autumn_s_Spirit

I also have more good news, which will be posted later (hint-check out the new/upcoming projects box to the right).

Friday, May 13, 2011
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Game Review: Portal 2

Posted by Natasha Bennett


Blogger's note: Minor spoilers for the game.

Following the events of Portal 1, Chell ends up in stasis again, until she is awoken by Wheatley, a robot in charge of the other thousands of human test subjects trapped in stasis. Unfortunately, since Wheatley is an idiot, he manages to kill all of the other test subjects and, while helping Chell to escape, also awakens GLADOS, the main antagonist from the last game.

This game is much larger than the first game, since the original was a tacked-on expansion pack. So does bigger equal better? Eh, yes and no. Much of this review (and the player’s enjoyment) will depend on what the gamer is looking for. If the gamer is going into Portal 2 looking for a first-person shooter, they are going to be unpleasantly surprised. If they are going into this looking for challenging puzzles...they might be a little disappointed as well, since the casual gamer can pretty much solve almost every single puzzle without having to run to the nearest on-line walkthrough (yes, you know who you are!).That being said, there are a couple of new elements to make the tests more interesting, such as glowing bridges and vortex tunnels.

Even the storyline is pretty subjective. While the dialogue is fresh and humorous, much of it depends on the player itself. For example, Wheatley has some great lines, but he may be annoying to some people since he never stops talking for a nanosecond. GLADOS might appeal to the long-time fan, but her quest to discover who Caroline is might serve as an annoying distraction from her usual nail-biting sarcasm. Even new addition Cave Johnson might serve as another distraction from the puzzles themselves.
 
So who does it appeal to? Definitely the casual gamer, one who isn’t looking for perfection and able to let a few things slide. I personally found the puzzles fun, both in single player and multiplayer. The story is strong and the dialogue is original and made me burst out laughing several times. What I didn’t like about Portal 2, however, was the level design, especially in open areas. Most of it feels repetitive and kind of bland. There also a tone of hopelessness which I couldn’t help but experience. Ultimately, all of the characters are doing this to progress science...but why? Everyone has long since abandoned Aperture Science. Even if Glados manages to invent a device to change the world, no one is going to be there to pick it up.

However, there is an intentional note of sadness, especially towards the end. This came with very strong storytelling and characters we can enjoy.  So overall did I like the game? Yes. Is it a game everyone will like? Maybe not, particularly the hard-core fans who were expecting something more amazing than Portal 1. The problem was, Portal 1 only became amazing because no one saw it coming, and we were eagerly awaiting the sequel for some time.

FINAL GRADE: 3 ½ out of 5. A little repetitive, but strong voice actors, strong storytelling, and mostly decent puzzles.

So one group test gets to fight an army of half-men, half-mantis, and I get stuck firing portals into walls?

Sunday, May 8, 2011
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Writing News-Interview time!

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Hi guys,

For anyone who's interested, I now have an interview up at BookWenches. I always hate it during interviews when I have to answer the same questions over and over again, so I'm really happy to say that this one is different and a lot of fun to do!

http://www.bookwenches.com/iviewnatashabennett.htm

I also have another one coming up next Tuesday! Will post up the link when I get it.

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