This is pretty much how it played out until one day I woke up with a copy of Borderlands in my hand, and a dead horse in my bed. I’m still trying to figure out where that copy of Borderlands came from.

Synopsis

The storyline to Borderlands is, at best, weak. Well, not weak, but straight-forward. You and your (potential) band of merry mercs are off to Pandora to find the legendary Vault. No one knows what’s in the Vault, but everyone wants whatever’s in it. You get to choose from one of 4 characters, all typical in nature:

Lilith the Siren

• Support class. Basically the ‘mage’.
• Bunch of self-preservation skills.
• A whole whack of alterations for her main ability.
• Uses the SMG mostly.

Mordechai the Hunter

• The sniper, or otherwise long-range character.
• Has a bird for his special ability that he can launch at enemies.
• Mildly psychotic sounding.
• Sniper rifles and pistols.

Roland the Soldier

• The all-rounder.
• Special ability is a deployable turret that can be upgraded to heal/replenish ammo.
• Decent balance between skills and health.
• Probably the best choice for solo play.
• Machine guns.

Brick the Berserker

• The wall of meat. Angry meat.
• Special ability turns him into a high-speed murder-machine, delivering justice and agony with his fists.
• Ability can be upgraded to replenish his health with every punch.
• Hilariously large in comparison to anyone else.
• Pistols and fists.

It doesn’t matter who you choose, the story remains the same. You basically have to go around fulfilling an unreasonable amount of quests for other people in order for you to reach your eventual goal: The Vault. I’m sure the different characters originally had more character behind them, but that ends up getting a bit lost throughout the game.

Gameplay

The gameplay is fairly standard fare for the shooter RPG series. You get guns, you point them at things and you riddle them with bullets. In reaction, the things you are trying to murder will then try and tear your face off. You have a health bar, a shield (which is like a health bar, but not nearly as resilient), up to 4 weapons, augmentable grenades, and your special skill. You run around the country side fulfilling quests and generally causing mayham.

Ironically a lot of the quests you complete are rather grey in nature, and not simply a good vs. bad. There’s no morality system in Borderlands, which is good because adding such a system would have ruined a lot of the fun that Borderlands brings to the table. There’s only so many midgets a game would let you get away with murdering before you’re character would either start to develop PTSD or at the very least an unhealthy gleam in their eye.  Thankfully Borderlands assumes you’re going to be murdering an unreasonable amount of people, so they just let you get on with it.

As you murder people, complete quests, and personal achievements (like shooting 100,000 bullets) you gain experience. This experience in turn levels your character up. When you level up, you get skill points. These points can be applied to a selection of trees that alter the way your character fights. Generally they are split into ‘special skill’, ‘combat’ and ‘support’. What actually resides in those trees changes completely from character to character. They allow you to augment your character to best suite your combat style.

Weapons are plentiful, and many of them feature a variety of alterations. Some have scopes, some have extended magazines, some are shotguns that shoot rockets, etc. etc. It isn’t uncommon in Borderlands to have what you thought was an amazing gun, only to toss it away 10 minutes later when a totally different but equally awesome one lands at your feet (fresh out of the hands of the bandit you just wrecked). You also have access to grenades that can be augmented to do a wide variety of entertaining and damaging things (MIRV is my personal favourite).

Oh and of course each of the playable character has their own special ability they can use to change the course of the fights.

Graphics

The graphics take on a sort-of-but-not-really-cell-shaded approach. People, guns, and cars seem to have a cell-shaded effect applied to them. You don’t really notice it unless you get right up into someone’s grill. At that point though, you are either taking advantage of the unintentionally funny dialogue that the NPCs spew out, or you’re too busy putting bullets into said persons grill.

The detail is surprisingly high, though in a weird surreal sort of way. Of course, the whole game is supposed to feel a bit other-worldy, so giant mushrooms and 100-story wind turbines only have to have so much thought put into their rendering.

The enemy and NPC designs are stylized, but it’s a style that works for the game. It really comes down to the little details that make the user designs. Badass psychopaths are beefed-up versions of their non baddass counterparts, but their one arm is shrivelled  up and tiny, making for a comical offset to the giant murder-ax that they’re swinging at your head. The different types of skags all have brilliant little details that separate one from another. As you go up the scale, they not only get bigger, but their armour changes, and they start to develop more ridges and their colours change.

The environmental effects that guns and certain enemies give off should be mentioned as well. With the slight set back of occasionally lagging out my Xbox when you have roughly a billion of these things going off around you, they make for far more interesting (and gratifying) combat situations. There’s nothing quite like watching an electrocuted enemy’s head explode to make you enjoy your work, or watching them turn to ash from the fire you turned them into.

Sounds

There isn’t much to say for the typical sounds. The music was an afterthought, not that you really notice it all that often. The guns sound like guns. The vehicles sound like vehicles, with revving engines and the like. Where the sounds really shine is in the actual voice acting. The scripts they got people to read from had to have raised some eyebrows. phrases like “You gonna squeal before we fuck ya?” are thrown around with nigh-reckless abandon.

The scripting for the main characters (that is, not your character, but the main ones you interact with) is quite good, and in many cases quite funny. Anything that comes out of Tannis’ mouth is always worth waiting around to listen to.

Your own characters are pared back to a couple of reactive statements. When you stand around for a while, find some loot (awesome or otherwise), spawn a vehicle, etc. These sorts of actions will reward you with a passing phrase. That’s it though. Borderlands takes what I call the ‘Legend of Legia‘ approach to conversations, wherein you never actually say anything, but your actions apparently handle all the gabbing for you.

Issues

Two things really got me about Borderlands. The first is that the vehicles all perform as if on ice. And the driver is severely impaired. And the developers that made the physics engines just gave up on life half way through the vehicle portion. Your control is spotty, and it’s surprisingly easy to wedge your car into invisible barriers or walls or other cars, which results in you having to get out and punch your car back onto the ground. It can get pretty annoying in a multiplayer game when your partners have cars and decide to be dicks and just drive into you which results in both cars getting stuck.

Fun times.

The other is a mild annoyance with your character and their general excitement whenever you open a chest. They say things like ‘This is amazing‘ or ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before!‘ But you know what? You fucking have seen things like this before. Like a million goddamned times. You see a lot of guns. statements like ‘This is amazing’ should be reserved for weaponry that is actually amazing. At the very least something on par with your current equipment.

It’d be so much better to be a high level player, open a box, and have your character spout something like ‘Well this is useless’ or ‘More junk for the shops’ or even ‘What the fuck is this? They actually put this in a chest? Assholes!’ I would love for my character to become more jaded the higher level they became.

Extra Goodies

If you invest your time into Borderlands, and enjoy the overall environment, might I suggest you invest some more money and pick up any or all of the expansions? They add an easy 10 hours of gameplay to the game per DLC, and the writing in them tends to be as good, if not better than the originals.

The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

Not Dr. Zed. Dr. Zed, his evil brother. Seriously. The moustache is totally convincing. This one is your typical Zombie expansion. You have to aim for the head, corrosive and electric weaponry don’t work very well, and you will get swarmed. Lots of fun, and probably one of the funniest DLCs in terms of writing.

Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot

This expansion features arena battles. Basically an endurance run regardless of how many players you have in the arena. The point of this one is to go rounds with the local folk and try not to die. This gets harder the longer you stay in the arenas. Basically get this one if you’ve done everything else and you hate yourself just a little bit.

The Secret Armory of Generall Knoxx

Remember how much fun fighting the Crimson Lance was in the original Borderlands? No? Annoying as shit you say? Well get ready to do that all over again, but more! This expansion brings in a bunch of new vehicles (oh boy.) and pits you against the Crimson Lance for most of it. It also comes with a secret extra boss that you have to be level 60 or so to even attempt.

Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution

Easily has the best writing of the DLCs. This one features Claptraps revolting against their masters, and your job revolves around stopping them. As an added bonus the local populace becomes assimilated by the Claptraps, which results in some weird-looking enemies that say things like ‘please just let me die‘ and ‘come with me if you want to die.‘ Oh, and you get to shoot Claptraps. A lot of them. And they drop panties that you can collect for achievements. Yup.

Overall

It took me a little while to fall in love with Borderlands, but in the end it’s been the one game in my collection that has utterly succeeded in its ROI. It’s legitimately entertaining, doesn’t really lull that much, and has a great selection of DLCs that all feature game mechanics that will appeal to everyone.

8/10

Yeah, I didn’t really stand a chance.

Synopsis

So the story of Professor Layon and the Diabolical Box starts off pretty much where we ended last time. I assume no more than a month has passed between stories. This isn’t important, I’m just giving context here.

Anyways, the Professor and Luke are sent a message from one of the Professors old friends. Said letter contains the friend’s ramblings about getting his hands on something called the Elysian Box. This box is said to kill any person who opens it. Of course the friend opened said box, and no one has heard from him since.

The Professor and Luke go to investigate, where the find their friend prone on the ground. After some additional investigation, the Professor and Luke make for an elaborate train that their old friend had a ticket to. The story gets decidedly more messed up from that point on.

Oh and of course you are solving puzzles pretty much from the get go.

Mechanics

Very little has changed, in terms of basic game mechanics. You still tap your way around the map looking for hidden Hint Coins (a currency used to buy hints to puzzles that have you flummoxed) and hidden puzzles. You have to solve puzzles to progress throughout the story, and there are points when you need to solve a certain amount of puzzles in order to progress.

There are three mini-games built in which I shall quickly go over:

• Broken Camera: Within the story you are given the task of repairing a camera. This involves finding the pieces, and then assembling them all so that everything fits within the frame of the camera. This isn’t as hard as you’d think so long as you look at it practically. The flash goes in the flash area, the plunger goes in the plunger area, and the lens goes in the lens area.Once you have built the camera, you can take photos of certain areas and have a most fun/infuriating time spotting the three differences between them. Succeeding in this usually results in being able to find yourself a hidden puzzle.
• Fat Hamster: You are given the task of getting a rather obnoxious and impressively obese hamster into shape. You are given a selection of hamster toys throughout the story which you can use to make the hamster run to. Getting him to run to enough things, lowers his weight. When you get him to a rank of 0 (in shape) he returns the favor by obnoxiously pointing out the location of hidden coins on the screens your traverse.
• Magic Tea Set: The magic tea set is given to you by an old woman after completing a set of puzzles from her. The idea of the tea set is to create 12 teas using a variety of ingredients that you pick up along your travels. But what is the point of making tea if not to share them with people?This comes to the second part of the game: helping others. Throughout the game, you will come across people who appear to be sweating. Approaching them at this point will give you a dialogue where you have to give them a tea that will meet their requirements. This can be a total pain in the ass if you screw up, because you’ll have to go back and forth to that screen until they’re sweating again so that you can have another shot.

Other than that, the game plays out pretty much identically as the previous installment. The puzzles will ask you to circle, draw lines, or input a number. Or slide things. Lets not forget the God-forsaken slider puzzles. There are enough of those to make you hate your life, I can assure you.

Oh, and yes, there are secret doors in the Bonus puzzle rooms. No I have not opened any because my girlfriend happened to save over my completed game from the first game. That means no code which means no secret doors for me. I know what’s behind them, but I’m not telling.

Words from the Wise

There isn’t really too much I can give in terms of advice. I’m not going to answer any riddles here, so if you’re looking for those, you’ll have to try somewhere else. Having said that, here are some things you can do to make your life a little easier.

• Tap everywhere. You never know where puzzles or hint coins are located. The hamster won’t show up every time, so be thorough. Beyond that, the hamster won’t point out puzzles, so you’ll have to scrounge for those yourself.
• Think hard before you answer. I can’t tell you how many times I lost points because I was impulsive with my answer. Just take a beat and think about your answer before you click that submit button.
• Don’t be afraid to use hint coins. They’re there for a reason. Sure you may want to man through it and not use any, but that doesn’t make your awesome, it wastes your time on stupid puzzles that could be solved much quicker if you just took a hint.
• Don’t feel bad about cheating. I did it, and I don’t feel bad. There are some puzzles that will blow your mind way open, and as such it will simply be beyond you to answer them. I cheated on most of the sliding puzzles, and one or two math ones. I don’t feel bad because after putting in 1000+ moves into each slider puzzle, I decided to bow out and let the Internet guide me. As for the math questions? Well when you have to make a Quadratic Equation just to figure something out? Go fuck yourself. I signed up for riddles, not math.

Overall

The writing, voice acting, and overall story was fantastically. The puzzles were, overall, enjoyable and gave my brain a workout. Having said that, slider puzzles and complex math questions can all go die in a fire. I’m aware that they’re concepts and cannot die in a physical fire. I can still wish for the concepts to die in a conceptual fire. Other than those, the rest of the puzzles were pretty solid.

The music was well done. Hell I’d go so far as to say that the music in this one was far better than the last game. The artwork was top notch, and it translated perfectly into the videos. Even the CG used in the videos was some of the best I’ve seen when blending CG and animation.

The story was odd, border-line cryptic, and had all the little details that really made the story come together. If you can take the extra time to talk to everyone in the game, you’ll get a much better understanding of what’s going on and gain a much better understanding of the depth to which the writers actually went.

All in all, it’s an enjoy able game and it’s a good way to kill 30 hours of time.

8/10

To start, I want to say that I’m going to avoid explaining  Evil Dead The Musical is so chalked full of tribute lines that it’s a little impressive that they got some of them in. I admit that one or two of them feel a little forced, overall they had excellent delivery and got great crowd reactions. The Dialogue was pretty solid throughout the entire play, and true to the movie there were so many bad puns and plays on words that it was killing my a little on the inside.

This killing was in the best way possible, of course.

Ryan Ward does an almost creepy job of emulating Bruce Campbell while at the same time giving the role his own touch. He delivers the 12 gauge S-Mart speech so well that everyone who knew it were saying it along with him. Truly fantastic. The rest of the cast do a great job of bringing the show to life, and without them the show probably wouldn’t have been nearly as good as it was. Special mention has to be given to Tenja Hagenberg and Mike Nahrgang for standing out and nearly stealing the show with such solid acting. Truly fantastic.

The songs were, quite frankly, rather rude. I’m not complaining about it as I tend to swear more than your average sailor. The singing was entertaining, on key, and far better than I was expecting. The sound in the Diesel Playhouse really helped make the experience that much better. When you have song titles like: “Stupid Bitch”, “What the Fuck was That?”, “All the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons”, and “Ode to an Accidental Stabbing” you know you’re in for a good show.

I have to give special mention to the props, or a lack therein. The sparcity of the props really made for an interesting performance, and really puts the pressure on the actors to deliver a strong show. The props played a subtle but important role by accenting everyones work. Especially the blood.

There was a lot of blood.

Let me take a moment to explain the ‘Splatter Zone.’ If you are sitting in the splatter zone, you will get soaked in faux-blood. They even hand out poncos to people who want them. The blood they use apparently washes out easily, but somehow still smells exactly like blood. It sorta freaked me out when I smelt it and I wasn’t even in the zone. The Splatter Zone was also completely sold out when I went to purchase tickets, though you do pay a premium to be there. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure it would have been totally worth it.

I was so entertained by the show, I and emplore everyone to go and see it. The show ends September 6th of this year, so get out and see it. For twenty bucks, you can’t go wrong.

8/10

It’s silly, I know, but I have a problem with brain teasers. I can’t put them down without getting really angry at myself for giving up. I will constantly think about the problem until I’ve answered it. It’s really quite unhealthy. So what do you think happens when I come across a game like Professor Layton and the Curious Village?

I lose sleep.

I will finish a puzzle, and then say to myself “just one more, it wont take long.” Next thing I know it’s 1 in the morning and I’m still feverishly solving mind-benders. I find my waking thoughts drifting back to the unsolved puzzles trying to work them out. I obsess over the words, searching for secret meanings and obtuse angles.

I love this game.

It’s one of the first games I’ve played for the DS that actually requires that you use the stylus instead of having it as a novelty. It’s direction, if a bit linear and predictable, is solid and well-written. The music and artistry throughout the game is top notch, and it even has voice acting that doesn’t suffer from Shatner syndrome or make me want to claw my ears off with rusty serving forks.

The story goes thusly: Professor Layton and his sidekick receive a letter in the mail from a duchess requesting his puzzle-solving abilities. When hey arrive, they are told that there is a golden apple hidden away somewhere in the city, along with a huge treasure store. If the Professor can find it, he’d be entitled to a cut, and thought of as a hero. Shortly after this knowledge is revealed, a murder takes place, and the Professor takes it upon himself to solve the mystery of the golden apple as well as the murder. In fact there are 10 mysteries overall that are solved by playing through the story.

Oh, did I mention that everyone in the village is obsessed with puzzles, and will prompt you to solve them with little care for whether you actually would like to or not? Yeah, that happens a lot.

My biggest problem with the game is that it’s so linear it hurts. In order for you to miss puzzles (which you can always access in the puzzle hut – don’t ask – later) all you have to do is go to every screen and talk to every person until they repeat themselves. You have to do this after every Chapter.

Actually now that I think about it, the most annoying part of the game is any of the “hidden” things, because they all require you to tap the screen like a retard, searching for that one magical pixel that will reveal unto you a coin or puzzle. It almost isn’t worth it in the end, except that you NEED coins for some puzzles simply because they are just so obtuse that logic just doesn’t really apply.

Other than that, this game is great. It’s solid from start to finish in its delivery, its novelty, its sound, and its visuals. The story is a little kiddish for me, but the exceptionally difficult puzzles (few and far between, but good God they’re there) help balance it all out. Seriously, if grade six kids can figure all these puzzles out (the script and average puzzle difficulty lands around there) they deserve a prize. I spent hours on a couple of those damned things.

I suggest picking it up and playing through it. You’ll kill time and increase brain activity by solving puzzles, you’ll be entertained, and you’ll even have some intrigue throughout the entire story. It also has a great scene involving a ferris wheel that made me laugh more than it probably should have.

8/10

1. We’re So Starving
2. Nine In The Afternoon **
3. She’s A Handsome Woman
4. Do you Know What I’m Seeing? **
5. The Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) **
6. I Have Friends In Holy Spaces **
7. Northern Downpour **
8. When The Day Met The Night **
9. Pas De Cheval **
10. The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know
11. Behind The Sea
12. Folkin’ Around **
13. She Had The World**
14. Form A Mountain In The Middle Of The Cabins
15. Mad As Rabbits

**Clear Favorites
The only thing that sounds the same between the albums is the singers voice. Everything else about “Pretty. Odd.” is totally different from its predecessor. It’s so different that I refuse to compare the two, simply because it is like comparing an Air Rifle to a Railgun. Sure they’re both guns, and they have triggers, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

To start, gone are the head-bopping hyper-beats of the first album. They’ve been replaced with a much more slowed and controlled flow. There is heavy use of acoustic guitars, harmonies, and random background noises such as birds and trains. There is even an introduction of brass in some of the songs, which I appreciated. All of the tracks show a stunning advancement in maturity for the band, and it shines through in how tight all of the musical areas are pulled together. The melodies are much stronger, and far more complex than before. The singing has been slowed down, and though the language is still as intelligent as it always was, it’s slow enough that you can actually tell what they’re saying this time.

Throughout the whole album is a very strong folk-feel. All of the songs sound like they could be sung around a campfire (if you had enough alcohol in you at least) and fill you – or at least myself – with a warm , fuzzy feeling. Where the first album was all about throwing unique music in your face, “Pretty. Odd.” does a good job of bringing you along for the ride instead of being subjected to itself. It’s much calmer, partially because of the use of ukulele, tambourine, and fiddles. This is not music you are going to hear played in clubs all that often, that’s for sure.

There is still a large influence from music long since past. Many of the songs feel reminiscent to early 90′s T.V. themes or movie themes from the 80′s. Pas De Cheval sounds like the band watched every episode of Bonanza before going to the studio.

One thing I noticed was the strong introduction and use of harmonies with the band. Other members are given ample chance to sing their own parts, varying the experience of the album greatly. ‘Behind The Sea’ is a perfect example of this. The lead singer only sings backup during the entire track, giving the others a chance to really shine as the singers that they are.

An issue I have with the album is the fact that there are 15 tracks. This is nice, since you now get more music for your money. It’s also a pain because now you have more music on the CD. There is a reason that artists tend to limit the number of tracks of their CDs. If you have too many tracks, people will start to get bored which results in their turning off, or tuning out the rest of your hard work. I can see that happening with “Pretty. Odd.” really easily. I don’t see this album getting as boring as “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” or at the very least, not as fast, but it’ still possible.

I’m shocked with how much I ended up liking “Pretty. Odd.”. With a complete departure from their first album, they’ve managed to re-invent their sound and probably earned some new fans (and lost some old ones). You need to listen to the album yourself to really come to a decision yourself, because this is an album that will divide people down the middle. I personally like this album far more than their first one, and I used to love their first album.

8/10

“This is the President of the Righteous Fist of Rassilon,” he barked. And then he gave the order that he had prayed he would never have to issue. “Break open the Slaughterhouse.”
Excerpt from The Quantum Archangel

I wish I could summarize this book properly, but it seems to be many stories unfolding in one. There are even stories within stories that are nothing less than vivid and unnerving. The Doctor goes to investigate temporal disturbances going on in modern-day Earth only to find The Master trying to exact revenge upon the Chronovores as well as become a God by taking control of the same power that sustains those same Chronovores. The plan goes to hell and a new creature is born: The Quantum Archangel. Que the epic end-of-everything multi-verse-cluster-fuck that is the second half of this book.

To be honest, I thought that the book was going to be over when there were still about 150 pages left. I honestly couldn’t see how they could drag it out any further then it had already been dragged. Mr. Hinton did a damned fine job of throwing me through a loop and creating a story so epic, that to render it on TV would require technology not currently in production, and a budget to match. The alternate realities provided throughout portions of the book really help to complete the mind-blowing that starts at that 150 page mark. It’s one of the few Doctor Who books that provide a view of the Doctor as totally at the mercy of something far greater than himself.

The writing is sold from start to finish, and Craig Hinton does a superb job of nailing the Doctors third and sixth incarnations, as well as The Masters. The supporting characters are strong, three-dimensional people who (in some cases) are good recreations of their former corporeal selves. There’s a strong sense of wit and direction in regards to the back and forth between the differing characters and I found myself smirking more than once

This book is the reason that I read and love Doctor Who. The ridiculous epicness that the Doctor generates is worth it all. The depth of character that is displayed in these books is what the new series lacks, and which is why time and time again I am brought back to the older series. To hell with the youth that they are trying to capture with the new series; give me the depth I crave!

Worth reading, especially if you like epic stories and even more so if you’ve seen The Time Monster and enjoyed it.

8/10

Track Listing:

1. Champions Of Nothing
2. A Single Explosion
3. Metal Airplanes**
4. 99% Of Us Is Failure**
5. Born Losers**
6. Odette**
7. Black Helicopter
8. The Boy Come Home
9. The Devil’s In Your Details
10. Moon Over Marin
11. Girl Wedged Under The Front Of A Firebird
12. I Am Not Safer Than A Bank
13. I’m A Window**
14. She’s In It For The Money**
15. True Love Will Find You In The End**

**Clear Favorites

This album has been somewhat of a detachment from his other works, and I was intrigued. As it turns out there’s quite a story to this one, which actually goes on to explain why the album is called what it is, and why the music sounds the way it does. I’ve got to say that it takes balls to make an entire album that does nothing but face your demons. Apparently, for Matt Good the result is a solid, if not depressing, album.

The tempo for the whole CD seems to be set to “slow” and never gets faster than “almost four-four.” The music is very minimalist, and it’s obvious every one of these tracks were originally written with the help of a guitar and nothing else. Other instruments have obviously been added, and added with a skill that only someone who’s been in the business for a while could do. I actually had the chance to watch a small live spot of Matt Good at the recent CASBY awards, and it was probably some of the best music I’ve heard live. Sadly he only played a couple songs, but god damn they were good. They were also all from this album so that’s a bonus.

As stated, this album has a bit of a depressed feeling about it, and it’s prevalent throughout the entire track listing. It’s not something you want to listen to when you’re in a good mood, but I have to say that it will fit in really well with an sort of sullen or relaxed mood. I find it’s great music when I want to feel creative. I don’t know why, but it seems to work for me. The vocals are for the most part as toned down as the music itself, though a couple tracks (“Born Losers” and “I’m A Window” come to mind) feature an exceptionally clear and strong vocal track.

I suggest picking this one up of you’re into Matthew Good, or if you just like a good solid album that happens to be someones soul on display. It’s not for everyone, but those who like it will truly like it a lot.

8/10

The downside to the game right off the bat is that there are only four cases, unlike the original version which had five. Other than that, this game features many subtle improvements that should not be overlooked. For starters the cases featured are much longer, and in my opinion have better overall stories in comparison to the first one. I didn’t find myself agonizing over useless conversations as much in this addition to the series, though that still continues to plague the series. On top of that, this one did feature more decision points where you are literally grasping at straws as to what the hell to present to what person to progress the story. As a result, you will end up saving and reloading. A lot.

The major feature added to this game are called Psych-locks. Basically, a Phych-lock (which are introduced fairly well, given the outlandishness of the game) allow you to know when someone is lying, and provides you with a sort of mini-game where you break people down. It’s like cross-examining, but ouside of the courtroom. Fun and painful all at the same time I can assure you. The flip side to the game is that every time you screw up, your health is injured and so it forces you to be very sure of what you’re saying first.

The other feature added into this game was an HP bar of sorts. This generally makes the game harder, because there are many ways to lose your HP, but very few ways in which to gain it back (successful Psych-lock breaks, and moving onto the next day). This does add a bit of an edge to the play, because there is more at stake then before and your health does not refresh between court sessions.

The stories get a bit more out there, and I’m personally wondering how many times they can personally include Mia in the cases. Thankfully these Turnabouts were far more engaging than the first installments’, and I look forward to playing the third to see where they go with the writing. Having said that, there are grammatical and spelling errors to be found in this translation but I didn’t really notice that many, and so I personally didn’t care. This really comes down to how much of a Nazi you are for it. The characters seem a bit more animated (and violent) which helped with the grueling task of having to interrogate everyone.

Totally worth playing, and doubly so if you’re a fan of the first one. My only problem is that there really isn’t much in the ways of replay value. As a result I would say rent it, but unless you plan to do nothing but play this game, chances are you wont have enough time to do so.

Buy it and keep it on your shelf like a good book. You can always replay it way down the road when you’ve forgotten everything!

8/10

Track Listing:

1. Lethal Killers
2. Rabble **
3. The Catalyst **
4. Tighter Noose **
5. Waiting to Panic **
6. Hunting (The Universe Breaks My Heart) **
7. Armed To The Teeth
8. Sooner Or Later **
9. Sailing Seas
10. Renegade
11. Maybe Then Someday
12. Goodbye Song **

**Clear Favorites

In any case, the music coming through my speakers from this album had a different-but-same feel as the first one. I’ve come to the conclusion that Tommy Walter has a personal beef with societies current bell-curve. I’m not here to say whether he is right or wrong but I will say that his music, and each song in themselves, contains strong emotion and focus on their message(s). In the end, the CD tends to have somewhat of a darker feel to it, and I’m sure it’s safe to say that none of the songs will really make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. In the end my favorite cut is “Goodbye Song” which is fantastic through its 6+ minutes of audible-deliciousnes, and makes finishes the album off on a strong, solid note.

The music comes through exceptionally layered, and gone are the 1950 public-service voices from the first album. A new (or at the very least more noticeable) usage if the cello is a welcome addition to the music, and used well. All the songs have powerful emotion that can be felt throughout the obvious care given to (almost) all of the songs, though some of them feel a little unfinished or at the very least unpolished. If I had to compare this album to its predecessor I would end up picking the former, though it’s a hard choice. There just seems to be more tracks on Humanistic that do it for me that Armed to the Teeth just doesn’t quite do.

It may be moody and it may be a little dark, but this is a solid album that you should listen to.

8/10

Track Listing:

1. The Great Escape **
2. Five Minutes to Midnight
3. Hero / Heroine **
4. On Top Of The World
5. Thunder **
6. Me, You And My Medication **
7. Up Against The Wall
8. Dance Hall Drug
9. Learning to Fall
10. Hells Over Head
11. Broken Man **
12. Holiday **

**Clear Favorites

The whole CD has a slightly surreal feel to it, but that’s probably because of the slight Emo (yes I’m aware that current Emo is not real Emo) feel and lyrics that are spread throughout the songs. I’m not saying that they’re depressing, but many of the tracks tend to put me into more of a reflective mood then say, a slap-happy moshing mood. What I noticed from the first song, and what permeates the entire track listing is a solid feel to it all. Every song seems very refined and well put together.

Another interesting tidbit I will point out is that each song seems to have a slightly different feel. I’m aware that I just stated how there is an overlaying Emo-esque to it all, but each song seems to go about it in a slightly different fashion. It’s refreshing because it allows for a very diverse album without jumping all over the board. The downside to it is that either you will like a lot of the songs, or get annoyed with them fairly quickly. I am the former, but I’m not going to make judgment calls for you.

I’m glad to have it a part of my library, and can honestly say that I’ll probably end up listening to this one for a long, long time. Overall, it’s totally worth owning.

8/10