Retro Rewind: Sonic Adventure 2

By James Earl

Since 1991, one of gaming’s most prolific icons, Sonic the Hedgehog, has been dashing across our screens as one of the earliest examples of modern video games. People were drawn to the sense of speed and simple platforming mixed with complex level designs in Sonic’s early games that made you want to play the same level over and over. When Sonic made the crossover to three dimensions in the short-lived days of the Sega Dreamcast, the games translated surprisingly well with the added dimension. Sadly, the Sonic games of this current generation have been somewhat lacking (cough cough Sonic Unleashed), mostly due to the fact that Sega tried to change up the formula and forgot what made a Sonic game fun; however, recent attempts like the great Sonic Colors, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and Sonic Generations games have started bringing Sonic back to the glory he once held and deserves. With the recent rerelease of older Sonic games on Xbox Live and PSN as well as the current rumblings that the next Sonic game may be Sonic Adventure 3 (a prospect which highly excites this writer), its time to take a look back at probably the best Sonic game of the modern era, Sonic Adventure 2.

And lets just forget this ever happened

After the success of Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast (one of the very few success for the doomed console), Sonic Adventure 2 was quickly green-lit and was released in June 2001. Sadly, while receiving both commercial and critical success, Sonic Adventure 2 was not enough to change the fate of the Dreamcast, which was quickly losing its market to the Gamecube, PlayStation 2, and original Xbox. Very soon after, Sega announced that it was giving up on hardware development and abandoned support of the Dreamcast. Luckily, however, Sonic Adventure 2 was given a second chance at life with a released version of the Gamecube title Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. The new version featured multiplayer elements as well as improvements to graphics and small changes to gameplay. While slightly less well-received critically then on the Dreamcast, Battle would go on to be the tenth best selling Gamecube game of all time, and deservedly so.

Sonic Adventure 2’s main gameplay splits into two storylines: the Dark and the Light. Both tell the same story, one from the point of view of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and the other from series villain Eggman (or Dr. Robotnick for purists) and series newcomers Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat. For each story, there were three different types of levels, one for each character. Sonic and Shadow levels were traditional Sonic gameplay: fast movement and platforming trying to get to the end of the level as fast as possible. Tails and Eggman’s missions were slower mech-based missions that relied on cunning targeting of enemies. Finally, Knuckles and Rouge’s missions were fun hide and seek-type missions as the characters searched for three pieces of the Master Emerald per level. Mixed in between some levels were interesting boss fights; while some of the boss fights were repeated over the two campaigns, they were usually done from the perspective of the other character in the fight, adding some variety. If you beat the two campaigns, there was a final ending campaign where all six characters were playable in one gigantic level and two fun boss fights that wrapped up the game’s story.

Unlike some future Sonic games, the new gameplay types outside the Sonic/Shadow levels were actually fun. They didn’t feel clunky or out of place and didn’t really slow down the sense of speed. While Tails and Eggman levels were slower, they still had a sense of speed and forward momentum that were lacking from games like Sonic Unleashed. These levels asked players to try and rack up points by targeting as many enemies as possible with the mech while still trying to get through the level quickly. Knuckles and Rouge levels asked players to walk around until they heard the telltale beeping of a nearby piece of the emerald. While this could have quickly gotten tedious, the developers made them engaging by adding clue monitors that gave tricky hints to where the pieces might be found and forced players to think about where to look. Meanwhile, the Sonic and Shadow levels were some of the best in Sonic history. They were extremely fast and yet very fun, and benefited from some of the best level design in the series.

Each level felt unique and different; there were Halloween, Egyptian, City, and even Outer Space levels that each added different elements and enemies that made them feel unique and special. They even had cool elements and art design, like Sonic snowboarding through the streets of a city, Shadow messing with gravity in outer space or Knuckles having to explore a creepy mountain. Even better, each level had multiple possible paths and secret places to find. This made each level infinitely replayable with each time giving you something new. The game rewarded you with grades from E to A at the end of the level, so you could see that you were slowly but surely getting better with each playthrough. Even years after playing it originally, you can still get a thrill from almost any level in the game. There are very few duds in the bunch, which is saying a lot considering the game boasts two different campaigns. Some levels also had very catchy background music such as “Escape from the City”, “Live and Learn”, and even “A Ghost’s Pumpkin Soup” (a song which is admittedly a guilty pleasure). Even the boss fights were fun and interesting, especially the second to last boss in the secret campaign unlocked by beating both of the first two (no spoilers!).

Just try and not have this get caught in your head

Speaking of replayability, the game had a TON to do, especially with the additions from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. The game asked you to obtain 180 emblems; some of these were given easily, like simply beating a level or a boss, while others were very difficult to get. Each level had five different missions, ranging from beating a hard mode to finding a hidden Chao (blue Pokemon-like creatures) to beating the level in a specific time, each with their own grading rank system like the normal levels. While these missions were very difficult if you were trying to go for the A rank, they were all relatively easy to just beat, adding a great difficulty curve for those that wanted the extra challenge. The game also boasted a mediocre kart racing game as well as a Pokemon-type area where power-ups found in the main game could be given to your own Chaos that you raised to compete in Karate or Racing mini-games. While nothing to write home about, these elements of Battle provided a fun distraction that was a different type of multiplayer from the usual run and shoot layouts of other games. Personally, despite having bought the game years ago and playing it all the time, I still have yet to unlock every emblem and still have fun trying to earn each one.

One thing of note that was very surprising was Sonic Adventure 2’s story. While Sonic games have certainly never been revered for their stories, Sonic Adventure 2’s was actually somewhat deep, especially with the character of Shadow the Hedgehog, a series newcomer who provided to be so popular he earned his own spinoff title “Shadow the Hedgehog” which still holds up as a cult classic. Shadow seems to start off as a simple evil version of Sonic himself. However, as you continue to play the game, you learn of Shadow’s past and the anger and hatred he has for himself and humanity due to the death of his human love Maria at the hands of the military. As the game progresses, Shadow slowly learns that Maria never wanted him to hurt anybody and, in the ending of the secret campaign, Shadow sacrifices himself in order to save the Earth. It’s a touching finale to a game that no one expected to have a deep story. While the rest of the game’s story is the usual “Dr. Eggman wants to destroy the Earth” scenario, Shadow’s character as well as the story of Eggman’s grandfather (who felt the pain of Maria’s death and vowed revenge even after he had died) told in the secret campaign remains probably the most touching and complicated a Sonic game’s story will ever get.

Shadow ends up being more then just an evil mirror of Sonic

 While everything from the story to the gameplay was excellent, the game wasn’t 100 percent perfect. The final boss fight with Super Sonic and Super Shadow was sometimes unnecessarily frustrating and difficult. Also, several of Sonic/Shadow’s abilities were mapped to a single button and, while working most of the time, sometimes would cause the character to do the wrong move at the wrong time, screwing up your timing, which can be extremely annoying in a game which is based on fast movement and precision. Also, even with the new Live and PSN rereleases, the game still has a few bugs here and there which, again, can ruin an almost perfect run-through of a level. None of these issues are major, however, and can easily be forgiven in such an otherwise perfect platformer.

While the numerous badly-done 3D Sonic games have somewhat destroyed the blue blur’s legacy, with games like Sonic Adventure 2 it’s hard not to see why the Hedgehog was once constantly giving Mario a “run” for his money. It’s a shame that today it’s sometimes so easy to forget Sonic’s place in the gaming ethos. Yet with such near-perfect games like Sonic Adventure 2 and the recent Sonic game successes, the future looks bright for the “Fastest Thing Alive”. Let’s hope he keeps on running for a long time to come.

Wheel of Time: The Complexities of Time in Video Games

By James Earl
Spoilers for the games Limbo, Journey, and Braid ahead. You have been warned!

While not all video games have a narrative, or even decide to focus on the narrative, storytelling has become more and more important as the industry has matured. For the most part, video game narratives have been pretty straight-forward.  Go to the castle and save the princess. Stop the evil scientist and rescue animals. Kill the aliens trying to destroy Earth. Stop the city from breaking down into anarchy. While all of these stories have been interesting and are complex, they aren’t really experimenting with what it means to be a storyteller.

As games have continued to progress, however, there has been an even deeper focus on the psychology of the characters; either you or the character you are playing. Games like Halo 4, God of War III, Bioshock, and Far Cry 3 are all games that take a deep look in the minds of the people we choose to have as video game protagonists. Games like The Walking Dead: The Game and Heavy Rain take this one step further and ask yourself to look at your own psychology. However, even in these games, the storytelling telling methods still follow a straightforward narrative path that can be equated with similar Hollywood-movie style narratives.

However, in recent years, a new set of narrative games have cropped up with a new idea of storytelling; the circular, never-ending story. Indie games like Braid, Journey, and Limbo and even a few mainstream games like Shadow of the Colossus (though calling SotC mainstream might be stretching a bit) have started to explore the idea of a circular narrative, where time and “cause-and-effect” are not as linear as we thought. It’s an interesting new territory that is ripe for video games to explore.

Games like Limbo explore new narrative styles for video games

What are circular-narratives? Religions like Buddhism and even music like the famous Carmina Burana speak of time and fate as if it were a wheel. That life and time are not just one long line that constantly move forward with a clearly defined past, present, and future. Instead, time folds back in on itself and certain events repeat themselves over and over again, but each time maybe a little different; maybe a little better or maybe a little worse. In Buddhism, the hope is each time one improves oneself to achieve Nirvana. Yet it is in the realizing that we are in a circle of time/fate that helps us reach this Nirvana, that we are constantly moving through this circle as one organism and that we are all connected together. While this is an oversimplification of the idea, and it certainly isn’t limited or confined to Buddhism, it is important to acknowledge time as cyclical. As the excellent TV series Battlestar Galactica puts it, “All this has happened before, all this will happen again.” Even western philosophies acknowledge this idea to a minor extent with phrases like "history repeats itself."

So a circular narrative is something that looks at and explores the idea of time being fluid and circular. For an excellent example of the idea of a circular narrative in literature, listen to this wonderful short story by Neil Gaiman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-K5p3VrrjQ). The games Limbo and Journey do this most obviously. Both Limbo and Journey put you on a simple quest to achieve a simple goal. In Limbo, you are journeying through Limbo to find your sister while in Journey you are trying to reach the top of a mountain. Both goals set you on a straight path that forces you to constantly walk towards a goal. While Journey may be filled with different ideas, both games end similarly. Once you achieve your goal, both games put you back at the exact same spot you started. From there, you can continue to do the exact same quest again, just constantly stuck in a loop. However, both games put a different spin on the idea. Limbo has a much sadder tone that has this young boy constantly stuck in a cycle looking for his sister, while Journey has a more positive tone in the themes of perseverance and apotheosis. Both games experiment with the idea of a fluid time and space.

The simple goal of Journey helps to underscore its constant cycle

Games like Braid experiment with this idea in a slightly different way. In Braid, your protagonist is able to manipulate time. As you continue, you learn that your character, Tim, is searching for his love that was attacked by an evil monster. One of the books that tells this narrative stays that “He [Tim] felt on his trip that every place stirs up an emotion, and every emotion invokes a memory: a time and a location. So couldn’t he find the Princess now, tonight, just by wandering from place to place and noticing how he feels? A trail of feelings, of awe and inspiration, should lead him to that castle: in the future: her arms enclosing him, her scent fills him with excitement, creates a moment so strong he can remember it in the past.” In the end, the game forces you to rewind time and discover that it was your protagonist who was the monster taking away the Princess from Tim. Here, the manipulation of time is more complicated. Time is malleable and reverberates through all moments. Each moment doesn’t stand in isolation but is touched and influenced by the next. Yet, in the end, it is this very malleability that forces us to never have the thing we want, and we are forced to repeat a cycle which we never knew was happening.

"Time keeps on slippin'...slippin'...slippin'"

The manipulation of time is not a novel concept to games. One need only look at games like Prince of Persia to know that. However, through games like Journey, Braid, and Limbo, video games have started to go deeper then just straightforward narratives and instead begin to explore a much more complicated, more fluid movement through time. The point of these games, in terms of the theme of time, isn’t to have a grand message or overarching theme. Instead, its about realizing that the way we view the world, especially in western philosophies, is open to interpretation and that even the basic notion of time may not be as simple as we think. And it is through video games that we are able to explore these ideas in new and more engaging ways.

Listless: Best 5 Films by Quentin Tarantino

This past Sunday we finally saw the winners of the 2013 Oscars. While most of the Oscars were predictable, one of the biggest surprises was Christoph Waltz’s win for Best Supporting Actor in Django Unchained. While no one doubted Waltz’s acting ability and prowess, the fact that Waltz had won an Oscar only a few years earlier with the same director seemed to upend the usual Oscar trend of not giving awards to actors consecutively.

This win, along with Django’s win for Best Writing, is a credit to the skill and power of Quentin Tarantino, probably one of the last few artists left from the era of filming that also holds the works of Steven Speilberg, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick. Tarantino considers each one of his films to be an important piece of work; he recently went on record stating that he believes every bad film is equivalent to three good ones in terms of how much people remember. So when one looks back at Tarantino’s filmography, it’s no surprise that almost every single one is a great piece of cinema.

Today, Pixel Splatter takes a look at the best of the best of Quentin Tarantino, the top 5 of his films.

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#5: Django Unchained

The D is silent

While this may be Tarantino’s most recent film, it certainly will have a lasting legacy. While Tarantino’s films have always been controversial, to say that Django was abnormally so even for Tarantino might be an understatement. Everyone from Spike Lee to The New Yorker criticized the movie for its portrayal of African-Americans to its use of violence.

To say that Django Unchained is not a brilliantly unique piece of work, however, would also be a mistake. As with all Taratino’s films, the characters, dialogue, and acting all work in conjunction. While Jamie Foxx was nothing to write home about, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson all stole the show. Waltz’s turn as a German bounty hunter managed to show a morally complex character, one who opposed slavery and racism but who was able to kill someone without mercy. More surprising was DiCaprio’s inspired portrayal of the eccentric plantation owner Calvin Candie; he was hilarious, yet incredibly disturbing and dark. It was even more surprising when you realize this was DiCaprio’s first time not being in the lead role and being a villain. Jackson’s portrayal of a slave who liked things the way they were, the Uncle Tom character, seemed one dimensional at first, but became much more complicated and interesting as the film went on.

This is not even mentioning the controversial look at the antebellum South. While Tarantino’s film did have some historical inaccuracies, it certainly provided an interesting look at the darkness, pain, and attitudes of the South. The use of the N-word (a recurring theme in Taratino’s work), while also controversial, seemed to show to the audience that after a while, the word can, and should, lose its power, especially when Django starts using it himself. However great this movie is, its overly long third act sadly drags it down to #5 on this list.

#4: Kill Bill Part 1 and 2

I'd hate to be Bill. Wait, maybe...

Here is a film that is just sheer fun. This was Tarantino’s time to explore two new territories for him: Kung Fu and Western films. As with both genres, a common theme running throughout is revenge, and Tarantino took that theme and ran with it. Spread out through two films, Tarantino explored a very interesting mix of both genres that maintained his normal episodic style.

The Kill Bill films have some of the best-choreographed fight scenes that are a feast for the eyes. While the storyline is relatively simple for most of the film, it’s really about one woman trying to take back her dignity and get back at the man she once truly loved. As the film goes on, Uma Thurman’s character, The Bride, transforms from a simple outline of a person trying to get revenge into a woman who was betrayed and hurt by the man she loved most. When the Bride finally meets up with Bill, it’s a deep and emotional moment that Tarantino lets us revel in. Kill Bill stands as one of his most engaging and evolving movies and able to be a hybrid of two different genres.

# 3: Pulp Fiction

Watching Uma Thurman is like a stab to the heart (See what I did there?)

The placement of this film at number 3 on this list might be surprising. That isn’t to say that Pulp Fiction isn’t a great work. What makes Pulp Fiction work seems to be the opposite of what a great movie should have; chaos instead of order. From its non-chronological structure to its seemingly random plot developments (such as Bruce Willis finding himself in a sex dungeon), this is a piece that really tries to mirror real life. In real life, storytelling can’t work; things happen that don’t fit the narrative, people don’t always follow a single path. Like real life, Pulp Fiction is chaotic and doesn’t have a clear beginning, middle or end. It has no set plot and it makes no real sense. It’s a way to show us that trying to impose a story on real life can’t and won’t work.

Tarantino also blurs the line of whom you are supposed to like and whom you are supposed to hate. Initially Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta’s characters are supposed to be hated, yet Tarantino forces you to start identifying with them. They are mob hit men, but they talk about cheeseburgers, read magazines, and even go to the bathroom. All the characters in the film, from the mob boss to Bruce Willis’s boxer all seem to initially fit in the mold of hero or villain, but by the end are shown to be much more complex then what the normal movie character mold would have us believe. Pulp Fiction might be the most accurate depiction of real life and real people that movies are likely to give us. 

#2: Reservoir Dogs

This movie confused me about tipping

Tarantino’s first film might also be his strangest. Reservoir Dogs is a true character study. The film follows a group of robbers after they fail to rob a diamond store. We are never given their real names, but are only given names like Mr. White or Mr. Green. Yet, despite not knowing their names, we know who they really are. The movie’s first extended scene at the family restaurant where events like Steve Bucemmi’s character talking about his disagreement with the idea of tipping a waitress show us that these characters are real people. Like all of us, they have strong opinions even about the most minor of details. This idea continues throughout the film. Put in an extremely stressful situation, some of these robbers are shown to be torturers, cowards, or brave men. Tarantino found a way to push these characters to show us who they really are.

Also, like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs tries to say something about real life. When Mr. Blonde deicides to torture and cut off the ear of another robber, he dances to the song “Stuck in the Middle With You.” It’s a completely ludicrous juxtaposition: a horrible act committed to one of the most jumpy, upbeat songs of the age. Real life is rarely poetic and contradictions can exist together. Reservoir Dogs has easily the most complex, contradictory, and compelling characters of any movie.

#1: Inglorious Basterds 

The movie that taught a generation how to spell swear words

What can’t you say about Inglorious Basterds? There is so much to love about this film; from the plot to the acting and the dialogue, everything about this film is clever and unique. While this film initially seems to be a straight up historical fiction, you quickly learn that that is not the case. While using WWII as a backdrop, this film totally makes history its own and never apologizes. It revels in its own world, from “killin’ Natzis” to the “Bear Jew.” Taratino literally rewrote WWII to give it the ending that everyone wanted, and to give back the ultimate revenge to Hitler for his terrible atrocities.

Yet there is much more going on here then sheer fun and historical revisionism. First, the acting is fantastic. We are wowed by Michael Fassbender’s first major acting role where he owns the scenes. Brad Pitt’s wonderfully simple Lieutenant Aldo Raine, with his brilliance and stupidity, surprises us. Like Django Unchained, Christoph Waltz makes this movie work. Who would have thought that someone could write a Nazi character that we would both love and hate at the same time? Hans Landa is so amazingly compelling, every scene he is in feels electrifying, and Tarantino knows it. Instead of zipping from scene to scene or set piece to set piece, Tarantino lets us sit in every single scene. Each scene is long, so very long, yet it never overstays its welcome. The acting and dialogue becomes so compelling that you never want it to end.

Even the film’s themes are complicated. While the film shows Tarantino’s trademark ultra-violence, there is something more interesting at play. The climax of the film takes place in a crowded theatre, with dozens of people including Hitler sitting to watch a movie that is essentially historical revisionism showing the Nazi’s doing better than they were. A fire breaks out and we get to see Hitler’s face blown off. Yet it seems oddly creepy because at the same time this happens, you yourself are sitting in a (hopefully) crowded theatre, sitting with dozens of people to watch a movie that is essentially historical revisionism. The people in the movie are doing the same thing that you are, yet we are supposed to be horrified by their enjoyment of the violence they watch. How are you to think that when you yourself are enjoying Tarantino’s own violence? It’s hard to come to terms with once you start to look at the complicated way Tarantino sets out to provoke his audiences.

While I know that many will agree with the films that ARE on this list, they may disagree with my placements on the list. Do you agree or disagree with this list? What are your favorite Tarantino films? Discuss below!

Gatecrash Review:Gruul

By James Earl

James Earl continues Pixel Splatter's look at the newly released Magic: The Gathering card set, Gatecrash, by taking a look at the Gruul guild.  

Take the burn of red with the large creatures of Green

At first I was very reticent to all of the Gatecrash guilds. While each of them seemed to be interesting, none of the new guilds seemed to suit my super quick, super aggressive play-style that I had honed with decks like Rakdos in the Return to Ravnica set. I first tried my hand at Orzhov, believing that that might be the only one that interested me, but after losing terribly with my first Orzhov deck, I found myself thinking that Gatecrash might be a total bust for me.

That was until I played my first draft with Gatecrash, and discovered the Gruul guild. Although it contained a color I rarely, if ever, played (green), the Gruul guild perhaps best suits my style of fast, aggressive play (shown in its red mana) while also combining it with the sheer power of green mana.

According to Magic: The Gathering lore, the Gruul guild was meant to help keep the wild animals and beasts of Ravnica alive. Their job was to preserve nature at all costs and to keep Ravnica connected to its natural roots. As Ravnica became more and more industrialized, however, the other guilds, especially Azorius and Orzhov, began to see Gruul as less and less relevant. The Gruul began to shrink and eventually fractured into many different clans, but these clans all still consider themselves Gruul at heart. They realized that they need to fight to stay alive, and quickly. Using the natural world around them, the Gruul did fight back, and with ferocious, wild power.

Looked down upon, the Gruul fought back!

The Gruul’s orignal mechanic, called “bloodthirst”, was meant to demonstrate the savage nature of the guild by having creatures with the keyword come into play stronger if you managed to damage another player that turn. Bloodthirst was a decent enough keyword and proved popular with the player base, so much so that the mechanic has recently re-appeared on several Core Set cards, although designers decided to move its affiliation to black/red instead of green/red to better match mechanical flavor. That being said, bloodthirst often just doesn’t provide enough bang for your buck, especially since against certain opponents getting any kind of damage in at all is a tricky proposition.

On the other hand, the new mechanic, “bloodrush”, for the Gatecrash version of Gruul perfectly matches the desperation and raw power of the Gruul. “Bloodrush” allows you, for a mana cost lower then the actual creature cost, to discard a creature with bloodrush from your hand in order to boost an already attacking creature you control. This can range from giving creatures simple power and toughness boosts to granting deadly abilities like trample and deathtouch. As a result of the low mana cost required to play a bloodrush effect, the keyword works well as a fast acting mechanic, allowing you to do tons of damage with one low cost creature early on in the game. In my personal play-throughs, when all goes well you can get rid of almost half or more of your opponent’s life with just a single early attack. 

The element of surprise is one of bloodrush's best features

The mechanic is helped by the fact that there are great cards to back it up. Ghor-Clan Rampager, for only 1 red and 1 green mana, allows you to boost a creature by +4/+4 and give it trample, making you almost certain to damage to a player regardless of whether they block or not. Wasteland Viper’s bloodrush allows you to give a creature +1/+2 and deathtouch, letting you to save your creature from a block and ensure the death of anything that gets in your way. If you just want to hit hard, Slaughterhorn, for only 1 mana, gives you a +3/+2 boost that can hit your opponent where it hurts. The nice thing about bloodrush is that it is put on creatures that, if you are running out of board presence, are good on or off the field. Bloodrush also doesn’t count as a spell, so good luck to blue control players who can’t counter it.

The thing that holds the Gruul guild back is that its non-bloodrush cards seem to be a bit limited. While other options can certainly help with trying to give your (most often) one attacking creature an open field, they don’t leave you many options for dealing with creative opponents who build decks with a lot of removal. Things like Ground Assault (which does damage equal to the amount of lands you have to only creatures) and Serene Remembrance (which gives you three cards plus Serene Remebrance itself back from the graveyard to your library, allowing you to re-use bloodrushed cards) seem to have very limited utility and might not give you a ton of help. Gruul also has absolutely no flying creatures, so while cards like Clan Defiance and Gruul Charm try to stop the flyers, if your opponent has a lot of them you’re probably in trouble. Another drawback is that you need to be very careful with using bloodrush, as a smart opponent will hold back and wait for you to power up your attacker and then blow it away with instant-speed removal, making you waste your resources for nothing. In this way a simple Unsummon, Doom Blade or similar card can be a devastating blow.

This does nothing for Bloodrush.

Gruul is great at what it does, but if you are put in a stressful situation for the guild you may find it hard to adapt, which perhaps also fits the storyline and character of the slowly dwindling guild. Also, the fact that you have to discard creatures from your hand to activate bloodrush means that the longer your opponent lives, the weaker you become.

Overall, Gruul is one of the fastest guilds in Gatecrash, second only to Boros. But don’t let its speed fool you; Gruul isn’t about quickly nicking away at your health like Rakdos, for example. For Gruul, it’s all about quickly taking you down with a big, early punch to the gut. The Gruul say that, “The only law that matters in the world is the law of nature.” For the Gruul, packing a large punch is only natural.

The Walking Excellence: How The Walking Dead Manages to Stay on Top.

By James Earl

This past weekend, the AMC TV series The Walking Dead returned to for its second half of Season 3, once again breaking all kinds of cable viewership records. All this despite having to compete with the Grammy awards also on that night. With the show continually growing more popular, it’s surprising (or perhaps not so surprising), that the television has still managed to push boundaries and retain a stellar and consistent quality. The Walking Dead series has been translated into numerous mediums and yet in each medium it has still maintained an excellent standard of quality. What is it about The Walking Dead series that has allowed it to earn both critical acclaim and commercial success in not just one, but five different artistic forms?

AMC's The Walking Dead keeps breaking cable viewership records

For those that don’t know, The Walking Dead series originally started as a comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Tony Moore way back in 2003. While the comic is still on-going, the series has grown into a full blown franchise, with the TV series starting in 2010, a series of webisodes in 2010, a series of books based on the comic starting in 2011, a multiple award-winning video game based on the comics in 2012 (which is also a favorite of the Pixel Splatter writers), not to mention an upcoming video game based on the TV series continuity and a sequel to the original comic-based game. For the especially nerdy, there are even well-reviewed Walking Dead board games. However, within each of these different mediums, from comic book to TV to internet to video games to literature, The Walking Dead never seem to dip in quality, and, even more surprising, has become leading examples in each medium.

So what is it about The Walking Dead formula that allows it to have (such) unqualified success and quality? Perhaps it goes back to its original mission statement. In the first issue of The Walking Dead comic book, writer Robert Kirkmen wrote “How these characters get there is much more important than them getting there. I hope to show you reflections of your friends, your neighbors, your families and yourselves, and what their reactions are to the extreme situations on this book.” Perhaps this is what gives the Walking Dead its power. The Walking Dead is supposed to a reflection of ourselves. While zombies certainly create the impetus and stress for the characters, it’s not the zombies that are important. Like all good zombie or horror fiction, the horrific force is just the impetus for an exploration of character. One only has to look at the recent slew of bad horror movies to realize that when one focuses on the concept too hard instead of characters, the whole thing falls apart.

The popular comic series focused on the characters, not the zombies

This focus on character has certainly helped out the franchise in all its forms. The TV show’s characters have always felt engaging. The ideological battle between the optimistic Rick and the survivalist Shane led to one of the most engaging character studies on television in recent years. In the video game, the relationship between protagonist Lee and the young girl Clementine, and Lee’s (and the player’s) willingness to do anything to protect her echoes every parent or family members love and caring for their loved ones. The Walking Dead only provides an impetus (zombies) for these characters to be put to extremes and show who they really are when society crumbles. It allows us to see what ourselves and our neighbors are really like.

However, it might also be the flexibility of the premise that has helped the Walking Dead. The original comic series certainly left a great blueprint to look at, but it’s how the other mediums were able to make the ideas their own that really helped make them unique. Instead of being a paint-by-the-numbers interpretation of the comic book, the TV series forged its own way. While still following the basic plot and characters of the comics, the TV series took great diversions from the source material. The diversion to the CDC, Shane’s survival past Atlanta, Andrea meeting the Governor, and even the creation of fan favorite character Daryl were all ideas created specifically by the TV show’s writing team, and are nowhere to be found in the comic series. This allowed the TV series to not be bound by preexisting continuity, and allows them to surprise comic readers and new fans alike. This flexibility can also be found in the video game which, despite being set in the same fictional universe of the comics, follows a completely different group of survivors. Despite all the differences between the mediums, it’s the themes that ties them together and still makes them The Walking Dead.

The video game may follow a different group of survivors, but its themes echo those in the other mediums

However, perhaps it is Robert Kirkmen’s other statement in his original issues that really shows the power of the Walking Dead. “I want The Walking Dead to be a chronicle of years of Rick’s life. We will NEVER wonder what happens to Rick next, we will see it. The Walking Dead will be the zombie movie that never ends.” From the very start, Kirkmen wanted The Walking Dead to be something different. Instead of a movie that starts and ends in two hours, The Walking Dead will, hopefully, never have a true finish. Instead, it will keep going on like real life. The story of the survivors of the zombie apocalypse should not be condensed or shorted for, like real life, the dangers and struggles that they encounter are faced on a daily basis. From the very start, The Walking Dead has dreamed to be something that never really ends. If the quality and the sheer beauty of the storytelling keeps improving and pushing new methods of storytelling, here’s to hoping that it never does end.

Why Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the Best and Worst Trek

By James Earl

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself to be more and more excited for JJ Abrams upcoming sequel to his 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Into Darkness. As I prepare for another adventure with the newly recast original Trek crew, I began to go over why I fell in love with Star Trek and why it became my gateway into my love of Scifi, from Battlestar Galactica to Mass Effect to Blade Runner.

Star Trek Into Darkness looks to be an exciting followup to 2009's Star Trek

However, as I searched I once again stumbled upon Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The middle child of the Star Trek franchise’s hight of popularity (Deep Space Nine’s run coincided with the runs of Next Generation, Voyager, and the Next Generation films), DS9 easily the most different of the Star Trek shows. However, was different actually better? As I dived back into the world of DS9 and its crew, I found that DS9 is at the same time both the best and worst of Star Trek.

DS9 was something wholly new in the Star Trek world. Instead of being set on a starship, this series was set on a Space Station. Not only that, but this space station was not even part of Starfleet, but the abandoned mining station left behind by the brutal occupation of highly religious planet of Bajor by the Cardassian Empire. As the Cardassian’s moved out, the newly freed Bajorians called on Starfleet for aid and help. However, as soon as Starfleet comes in, a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy is discovered and Commander Sisko, the Starfleet officer who watched his wife die in the Borg Invasion led by Captain Picard as Locutus of Borg, suddenly finds himself to be a accidental spiritual leader to the people of Bajor.

As the basic premise of the series shows, the setting of a space station allowed for extremely complex storylines, as the characters no longer had the ability to zip around in a starship and leave any lasting issues behind them. DS9 was the first Trek show to have real lasting consequences, and was perhaps, along with similar show Babylon 5, one of the first successful semi-serialized shows. It was also the only Trek show to have long-lasting, slow-building storylines (unless you count Voyagers series long quest to get home or Enterprise’s season-long Xindi storyline). As the show progressed, the series’ numerous mysteries and storylines merged, bounced, and split off each other. The religious fever of Bajor, the discovery of Odo’s ancestry, the war with the Dominion, and many other storylines all interwove with each other to create fascinating tales.

However, it was the series’ ability to mix complex storytelling with complex character development that sets it above. While the series always had an eye on the larger picture, it never forgot to show how things like war, loss, and grief can have a personal impact. In the episode “In the Pale Moonlight,” we see Commander Sisko surprised to learn that he was willing to lie, manipulate, and even kill to help ensure an alliance with the Romulans in order to save the lives of millions of Federation citizens fighting in the Dominion War, and that he wouldn’t change what he had to do if he could. In the episode “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” we watch as Nog, who we have watched from Season 1 grow from a teenager kid talking to girls on the station, has to deal with the pain and fear of shell shock and losing a limb in war as he locks himself in the fantasy world of the holosuite. These moments are not only important to the overall story, but show the powerful personal effects that galactic politics and events can have, something that many science fiction shows miss. Even side characters like the former-spy Garak and the Ferengi-turned Starfleet recruit Nog and unlikely characters like greedy bartender Quark are given interesting and complex moments.

However, it was the shows depiction of its villains that set it apart. While Star Trek always had a history of great villains (see Khan or the Borg), DS9 was the first series to try to understand its villains. Series-long villains like Gul Dukat, Kai Winn, and the Dominion were unique because we could understand that these villains did not see themselves as evil or cruel, but as the heros of their own story, trying to find their own way to fix the galaxy. Kai Winn was a spiritual leader of Bajor who believed that Sisko’s place as a religious figure on Bajor was dangerous and wrong. Gul Dukat was the Cardassian commander of Deep Space Nine and saw himself as Oskar Schindler-esque type who did his best to give Bajorans a fair shake during the Cardassian occupation of the planet. The Dominion and the shapeshifters who ran it believed the universe was full of constant chaos and death and believed that the best way to protect it was to rule and control it (similar to the Templars of today’s Assassin’s Creed games). Unlike any other Star Trek show, it was these regular villains (and anti-heros like Garak and Quark) that made Deep Space Nine so interesting to watch.

Complex "villains" like Gul Dukat help set DS9 apart from its fellow Treks

However, Deep Space Nine might also be the worst Star Trek. From its very inception, Star Trek motto was to “seek out new life and new civilizations.” Yet here was a Star Trek where we weren’t finding a new planet every week, meeting a new race of people. On Deep Space Nine, we were stuck in one place, with the same characters. It didn’t have the luxury of escaping to a new place once the episode ended.

Also, Gene Roddenbery, the creator of Star Trek, wanted to create a show where the future was bright, and we could see that humanity had a future. It was why he made the original bridge so colorful, in terms of actual color palette and in terms of the races and types of people who filled that bridge. It was also why he created the idea of the Federation, an inter-planetary group that welcomed diversity, freedom, curiosity, and discovery. It showed humanity that it could have a bright and positive future. Yet on Deep Space Nine, we were shown a darker future, a place where the Federation could be threatened and its very ideals attacked from not only without, but from within (see the excellent Section 31 storyline for a perfect example of this).

The original Star Trek was diverse, colorful, and positive

In the end, Deep Space Nine is a masterwork of science fiction that took the Star Trek franchise to new hights in terms of character development, storylines, and atmosphere. However, in the process, it lost some of the very ideals that Star Trek stood for since the beginning.

In my opinion, Deep Space Nine is the very best of the Star Trek shows. It is the one that I most recommend to anyone who wants to see some great science fiction. I have watched this series over and over again and still marvel at how complex it truly is. It helped spawn some great science fiction writers, like Battlestar Galactica reimaginer Ron Moore. However, if someone was to ask me to show them was Star Trek was really about, and what it means in the ethos of science fiction and cultural history, Deep Space Nine might be the last place I look.

As I bring this admittedly long article to a close, I look forward to JJ Abrams new movie. However, while I have little doubt that the new film will be a great work of scifi, with a title like Into Darkness, I wonder if these new Trek will be a good representation of the original meaning of Star Trek, or if it will find itself exploring the same uncharted, even darker frontier of Deep Space Nine.

Picture of the Day: Captain USAlison Brie

Alison Brie! Community Season 4 Premieres on February 7th! Suddenly I'm feeling very patriotic.

List-Less: My Most Anticipated Games of 2013

By James Earl

Well here we are, at the start of new year. As I prepare to start going to the gym to follow through with my New Years Resolution of losing some weight, I think its time to start looking at the games that I'm looking forward to playing this year as soon as I give up on the gym and realize my place is in front of the couch with a controller in hand. So here are the games that I'm most looking forward to in 2013.
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Injustice: Gods Among Us (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U)

This game has been a long time coming. While we got a taste for a superhero fighter in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, that taste was a bit sour. However, with the same creative team behind Injustice that created the amazing Mortal Kombat reboot two years ago (which was the first fighting game outside of Super Smash Bros. that I really got into), call me excited. With a promise of an interesting story, unique characters, and interactive environments, this game seems to have everything going for it. I have no idea how Green Arrow will be able to beat up Superman, but I don’t think I’ll care.

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South Park: The Stick of Truth (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Basically, this game looks like an interactive episode of South Park, which in and of itself is exciting. While I’ve enjoyed games like Scott Tenorman’s Revenge, they were nothing particularly special or South Park-ish. This game however, which has direct involvement from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, seems to something more. The fact that it seems to be based on one of my favorite South Park episodes, “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers,” certainly doesn’t hurt. If it all works out, The Stick of Truth will contain some of South Parks trademark satire and inappropriate humor, all while being fun. Hopefully, the game will survive publisher THQ’s recent bankruptcy.
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The Last of Us (PS3)

The Last of Us looks to be an interesting take on the post-apocalyptic shooter game. Like The Walking Dead: The Game before it, The Last of Us seems like it really wants to make you question what it means to survive in a world where society has broken down. What does it mean to have to kill other human beings in order to survive. And this interesting story is going to be contained in a third person shooter created by the makers of the wonderful Uncharted series? Count me in. Its also nice to see a big-name developer taking a risk on a new IP, especially as this current console cycle starts to come to an end.
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Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)

This is easily my most anticipated game of 2013, if not ever. The spiritual successor to Heavy Rain, which can probably be accurately called my favorite video game ever, Beyond: Two Souls looks to be on track to be another video game masterpiece. For those of you who read my “Are Video Games Art?” article, you know Heavy Rain is one of the few games I consider to be true video game art. Hopefully, David Cage’s newest work can live up to that legacy. However, having heard that this story was written on a very personal level by Cage, I think that Beyond will be a masterpiece in its own right. Also, it stars Ellen Page. Nuff said.
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Bioshock: Infinite (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Bioshock was one of the first video games that truly could be called art. It was smart, meticulously developed, and wonderfully craft. Bioshock 2 however, while not a bad game in its own right, seemed to be trying too hard to live up to the brilliance of its predecessor. So it seems like a set in the right direction to take the franchise out of water so it can fly to new heights, literally. The setting, the story, the gameplay, and with Ken Levine behind it all seem to point towards this game becoming another video game classic.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U)

I’m a huge fan of the first two Alien movies, and even enjoyed Aliens: Resurrection, the AvP series, and Prometheus (lets just forget about Aliens 3). So with the same developer as the Borderlands series, Gearbox, behind this game, I’m really looking forward to it. This game may have had a long and troubled development history, but from what we’ve seen of this game, it looks to be a tension filled experience, with great story. Hopefully it won’t end up like Gearbox’s other long in-development game, Duke Nukem Forever.
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Star Trek (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

At first, I was wary of this new Star Trek game. I’m a huge Trekkie and love the J.J. Abrams reboot, but I’ve been burned before by tie-in games, especially from the Star Trek franchise. I still remember the awful Tactical Assault and Legacy video games of the Bethesda era. However, Star Trek video game history hasn’t been all bad with great games like Elite Force II, Armada, and Shattered Universe. However, what has me most excited about this game is that it seems to be doing its own thing. While obviously tied in terms of release date to the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness, this game has been in the works before that film had even started. With an original story, great voice actors from the movies, and an interesting focus on coop (which is a feature sorely missed in many games today), this game had my interest, but now it has my attention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Honorable Mentions