Video Game Deja Vu: Reusing The Basest Mechanics

Deja vu isn't just a ridiculous movie starring time travel cameras and Denzel Washington's terrible driving, it's part of the standard operating procedure of the video game industry. Once a mechanic, no matter how good or bad, is introduced into a game, you can guarantee some new developer will twist it into their new property. Even if you are unaware of Diablo II, one of the grandfathers of the modern action RPG, it is extremely likely you have played a game with randomized loot, increasing numbers, and increasingly obnoxious mobs of monsters to kill with your increasing numbers and randomized loot. Dead Island is such a game. Worse, it is such a game that did not require such an overused system for marking progression.

The Archive: The Matrix (1999)

I can't name a movie more 'nineteen-nineties' than The Matrix, so quintessentially ingrained in the culture, both the inspiration and the malaise, of the last years of that millennium. Few movies have been so inspirational to the action movie genre, with camera techniques, special effects, and aesthetics to push the boundaries of what the movie-consuming public expects of its Big Summer Blockbusters. Few movies have had as many philosophy majors writing books upon essays upon dissertations on the philosophical constructs within a movie about people with leather, vinyl, explosion and gun fetishes. Few movies can be summed up by the single word, "Whoa."

Though I doubt very highly by now that anyone's missed out on The Matrix, it's still a part of my Archive, and deserves every square millimeter of space on my shelf. If you didn't see it when it was new, or in the decade-plus since its release, you may either have been too young to remember its release, or you simply do not watch sci-fi action movies. This post will not be a review beyond a brief plot summary, since it is such an old and widely loved movie. This post will instead be about how well The Matrix stands up after more than a decade of over-analysis, of reference, of parody, and of inspiring newer movies to do better.

The Archive: Salt (2010)

Normally I don't buy movies before I've seen them, but on the strength of numerous recommendations, I picked up Salt some time ago on sale. I finally got around to seeing it for the first time, and felt it held up to my expectations enough to earn a spot in The Archive.

For those who have not seen this movie yet, I will not be spoiling anything not given away on the box. Though I normally have no problem giving away plot details, I do think Salt is worth seeing, and half of the impact of the movie is the double twist (not a tweest, since M. Night Shyamalan is not involved here) at the end. There's plenty to talk about without revealing the ending, and plenty to recommend this movie. For one, it's a rare example of Angelina Jolie being picked for her acting and not (purely) her looks - in fact, I daresay this is one of the few Angie Jolie movies where seeing her mostly naked will turn you off.

The Archive: Dark City (1998)

The Archive is going to be a regular feature here on Stacking The Deck, wherein I go through the numerous movies in my collection. These aren't new movies, so they're not listed under regular Reviews, but they're still all worth buying for a variety of different reasons. Some you may have heard of, some you may have not, but every movie I talk about in The Archive is worth buying, or at least watching repeatedly. 

Dark City is a loving, twisted homage to every noir trope in history, moody and bleak and oppressively creepy. Everything from the perpetual night to the ominous music, the familiar yet corrupt architecture, the tortured characters. Though not a horror movie, it certainly lays on the paranoia and the horrific imagery and concepts - hardly any gore, though, since as established, this is no low-brainpower slasher flick. You will need a brain to appreciate this movie, even though the opening narration holds massive spoilers thanks to some doofus at New Line; I strongly suggest you mute the narration or get the Director's Cut to fully appreciate the narrative that unfolds. I will avoid as many spoilers as possible in this review.

Video Game Review: League of Legends - Part 2: The Community of LoL

In my last piece on League of Legends, I talked about the game, its features and purpose and why I'm done playing it. However, it is impossible to talk about LoL without addressing the issues surrounding the community. Infamous for its generalized hatred towards non-straight-white-males, nor anyone who dares treat the game as anything less than Serious Business, LoL's community is a two-headed dragon when it comes to internet jerkery. Having an extremely low barrier of entry (the game client is free and requires only a low to middle end computer) opens the game to a terrible case of GIFT. Having actual money on the line in the highest levels of play inspires the same kind of madness suffered by the participants and fans of what we must now refer to as 'physical sports' as opposed to 'e-sports'. Combine the two, and it is easy to see how LoL's atrocious reputation emerged.

There are enough (too many, frankly) horror stories I can direct you towards that I will not be spending a thousand words on explaining how playing LoL turns you into a racist woman-hating homophobe with the grammar of the average meth-addicted cave man. I will instead tell you of my actual experiences, where I met some fun folk, some obnoxious folk, and a whole lot more who just want to play a game about wizards and warriors and everything in between.

Video Game Review: League of Legends - Part 1: The Game Itself

I recently quit League of Legends due to a combination of circumstances. Before I leave it entirely behind, though, I want to take a little time to write about my experiences with the game. It's a fun little game, as are its brethren, but I got what I wanted out of them and am free to go onto other things.

Gaming Rant: I'm Not In This For Your Revolution

As stated in my Mass Effect 2 rant (and sparked by a conversation with my good friend David), there are many things about role-playing games that annoy me. I’m sick of the petty victories of “dinging” a level, of gaining a skill point, of getting a weapon with a purple name. I’m sick of statistical optimization. I’m sick of saving the world. And most of all, I’m sick of not caring about the characters, especially the non-character they give you as your central protagonist. Normally I would attribute this last part to never-ending disappointment with humanity, but when all I have to work with are the same archetypes over and over again, I’m inclined to think I’m not the only part of the problem.