October 31, 2016
hughjodonnell
Review
Castlevania, Dracula Season, Halloween, HLV, Hugh Likes Video Games, review
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
Published by Konami
Nintendo DS, 2005
The sequel to 2003’s “Aria of Sorrow,” Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow” was the first installment of the series for the Nintendo DS. A savvy reader might point out that ‘Dawn’ isn’t the best name for a sequel, but since it appeared in the first year of the system, it was one of many games that glommed on to the ‘DS’ suffix.
The game once again follows teen reincarnation of the Lord of Darkness Soma Cruz to a maze-like castle in which he will again come to terms with and try to overcome his destiny. When he is confronted by a cult leader searching for the Lord of Darkness, Soma’s power of Dominance unexpectedly returns, forcing him to confront his past life once again.
On the whole, “Dawn of Sorrow” doesn’t bring much new from its GBA predecessors. The main game puts you back in the shoes of Soma, with the ability to Dominate and use the powers of various monsters to fight and to solve puzzles. You can also collect extra souls to power up your abilities and weapons, which is nice, but mostly this game is more Aria of Sorrow with prettier graphics. The game does have a ‘seal’ system, in which bosses have to be sealed away to be beaten. This involves drawing a symbol on the touch screen after the fight. It is a bit annoying, forcing players to keep a stylus tucked in their hand during the fight, but hardly the most egregious tacked on touch-screen gimmick of its day.
The game also features a return of the standard Castlevania extras such as unlockable characters and Boss Rush modes. The extra mode is a real treat in this version, as it allows the player to switch between characters in a fan-service nod to Castlevania III.
The game still holds up relatively well, with well-designed, highly detailed sprites. The castle feels nice and big, and it isn’t too hard to navigate with plenty of warp and save areas. The game had a little trouble running in my New 3DS, however. It would occasionally freeze or glitch, and the system wouldn’t be able to read the game card. This wasn’t enough of an issue to prevent normal play, however.
“Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow” is an incremental but worthy installment in the Castlevania franchise, and is well worth your time if you’re looking to explore Dracula’s castle this Halloween. It doesn’t break a lot of ground, but it is a fun and challenging adventure. You should be able to find a used copy at your local game store.
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October 28, 2016
hughjodonnell
Podcast
Commentary Track, Devo, hugh, JRD, Opopinax, Podcast, Star Trek
Hugh, Opopinax and Jurd are back in the Chronotheater watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Enterprise becomes a B-horror movie, and it’s all Barclay’s fault.
Click HERE to listen along.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix Streaming in the US and Canada. This podcast was originally posted on October 26, 2016 at Skinner.FM.
Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you enjoyed it please share it, or leave a review on iTunes. You can also support Hugh on Patreon for more podcasts and writing.
October 24, 2016
hughjodonnell
Hugh Likes Podcasts, Uncategorized
Blythe Haynes, Canada, Folklore, HLP, Hugh Likes Podcasts, K T Bryski, Metafiction, review, Storytelling
Six Stories Told At Night
Produced by K. T. Bryski
Performed by Blythe Haynes
KTBryski.com
“Six Stories Told at Night” is masterfully written and produced Canadian meta-fiction. It is the story of Sam and Joelle, two college-age friends in Toronto. Joelle is an artist and folklorist who suddenly disappears. Concerned, Sam goes to her apartment and finds a note. Joelle claims to have left for Fairyland, the place all stories come from. Sam struggles to find her, using Joelle’s notes and their own personal history as a map. But getting to Fairyland isn’t the same as getting in, and Joelle has already told her all the stories she knows.
The product of a grant from the Ontario Arts Council, the podcast examines some famous Canadian folktales and the nature of storytelling. Each episode tells a different Canadian folktale, and also follows Sam as she searches for Joelle and recounts a little bit of their history. It is effectively and subtly done, always connecting the historical tale to modern characters in a way that doesn’t feel moralistic.
The audio is well-mastered, with editing by Bryski and original music by composer Alex White. Blythe Hayne’s performances are both fantastical and evocative as she switches between anxious, clipped Ontarian Sam and the languid, artistic Joelle, and between the present, and the past. Haynes’ voice is as subtle and varied as the story, and the two are an excellent match. “Six Stories” is a creation perfectly tailored for audio podcast, and it shows in the way that Haynes’ and Bryski’s work mesh so seamlessly.
The tales themselves are a collection of chilling ghost stories and supernatural encounters. They are a perfect treat for a chilly autumn night. You can subscribe or listen online to “Six Stories Told at Night” at KTBryski.com. I highly recommend it.
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October 22, 2016
hughjodonnell
Podcast
Awkward Seduction, CCR, Commentary Track, hugh, JRD, Opopinax, Podcast, Star Trek, The Devil
Join Hugh, Opopinax and JRD for a viewing of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Devils Due.” Because sometimes you have to sue the space devil.
Click HERE to listen.
Star Trek TNG is available in Netflix Streaming in both the US and Canada.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it, or leave a review in iTunes. You can also support Hugh on Patreon for more audio and writing. This podcast originally appeared at Skinner.FM on October 17, 2016.
October 12, 2016
hughjodonnell
Hugh Likes Comics
HLC, Hugh Likes Comics, Image, Matt Smith, nathan Fairbairn
Lake of Fire #1
Written by Nathan Fairbairn
Drawn by Matt Smith
Published by Image Comics
“Lake of Fire” is Aliens with Crusaders instead off Space Marines, and it’s perfect. Set in a remote village in the French Pyrenees in the 13th Century, a crashed space ship releases monstrous aliens that the people of the time can only conceptualize as demons. When a team of errant crusaders come to the village to root out heresy, they come face to face with the terrifying creatures.
What I find most interesting about this concept is how asymmetrical the understanding of the characters is. Fairbairn and Smith do an excellent job making clear the nature of the ‘demonic’ threat in the opening sequence, with a huge panel of the massive ship passing overhead before crashing in the mountains. Conflict between highly advanced and pre-enlightenment societies isn’t a new concept. ‘Star Trek’ made a lot of hay out of it over the years. But this is an intriguing perspective. The reader perspective follows the superstitious humans rather than the Xenomorph-like aliens, which really increases the tension. They have absolutely no idea what they’re up against.
Fairbairn’s story is well researched and detailed without getting too bogged down in historical minutia. The action is well paced and the characters are well developed. The interplay between the greenhorn knight and his friend and the more seasoned knights and noblemen was interesting, and it kept the story moving.
Smith’s art is less realistic than I would have expected, but he has a great mastery of expressions. The page layouts are a bit cramped, with lots of small panels. This also helps keep the story compressed and tense. Colors by Fairbairn are vibrant and atmospheric.
Lake of Fire is a heck of a good read to tide you over if you’re still waiting for the next George R. R. Martin book. You can find it on Comixology, or on the shelves of your local comics shop.
Thanks for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, please share it! You can also support me on Patreon for more content.
October 10, 2016
hughjodonnell
Uncategorized
CCR, hugh, JRD, Opopinax, Rich The T T, Roger Corman
The full crew of Chrononauts gathers to tackle an apocalypse so cheap, only Roger Corman could’ve caused it.
Take a deep breath and click HERE to download the podcast.
Click HERE to watch the movie on Youtube!
Chrononaut Cinema Reviews is presented by http://skinner.fm and Way of the Buffalo, and is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.
This podcast was originally posted at Skinner.FM on October 8, 2016.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please review it! Also, you can support me on Patreon for more exclusive content!
October 7, 2016
hughjodonnell
Hugh Likes Video Games
Castlevania, HLV, Hugh Likes Video Games, Nintendo DS, review
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Konami
Nintendo DS, 2006
Welcome to Dracula Season, my annual celebration of my favorite defunct game franchise, Castlevania! This is the second installment of the franchise on the Nintendo DS, Portrait of Ruin. Like the other handheld titles of the era, this is a 2D side-scrolling exploration game. The twist in this one is that the player controls two characters that share the screen, Johnathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin.
A sequel to the somewhat obscure Sega Genesis title “Castlevania Bloodlines,” Johnathan is the son of one of that game’s protagonists, John Morris, and the grandson of ‘Dracula’ character Quincy Morris. He’s a more physical character, while Charlotte is a magician. Players can switch between the two, and choose to go solo, or have the other character onscreen as an AI partner. Two players can also team up over a wireless connection. Both collect equipment, sub-weapons, and spells as they explore Dracula’s Castle.
But the count is not at home. Rather, the castle is being manipulated by Brauner, a vampiric artist whose daughters were killed in World War I. He’s taken control of the castle with the aim to destroy the world. Players have to enter Brauner’s paintings in order to disrupt his hold on it.
Portrait of Ruin is visually stunning, and puts the DS’s graphics processor through its paces. The concept of entering the paintings is cool, and adds some visual flair and variety to the maps. The unusual maps and layouts challenge players in ways that call back to “Symphony of the Night.” The story is interesting but easy to follow, even for someone like myself who hasn’t played the Genesis prequel.
It would have been nice to have more paintings later in the game rather than reusing the first four, but this is a small nitpick. Portrait of Ruin is a worthy successor to the Castlevania line, and while it is no longer in print, you can probably pick up a used copy at your local games shop for a steal.
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October 3, 2016
hughjodonnell
Podcast
Fiction, Podcast, Scott Roche, Tara Campbell, The Way of the Buffalo
The Way of the Buffalo podcast is proud to present “The Real Stuff” by Tara Campbell!
Today’s story is read by Scott Roche.
Click HERE to listen!
Today’s promo is for The Voice of Free Planet X.
Music is today’s podcast was provided by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com.
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please share it, or leave a review on iTunes. You can also support Hugh on Patreon for early content and other cool bonuses!
Thanks for listening!
This podcast originally appeared at The Way of the Buffalo on Saturday, October 1, 2016.
September 29, 2016
hughjodonnell
Podcast
CCR, Commentary Track, Gatactica 1980, hugh, Rich The T T
Hugh, Rich the Time Traveler, and JRD comment on “The Return of Starbuck,” an episode of Galactica 1980. It’s like Robinson Crusoe, only in space, and dumb.
Click HERE to listen to the Commentary,
And click HERE to watch the episode on Youtube!
Chrononaut Cinema Reviews is presented by http://skinner.fm and Way of the Buffalo, and is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.
This podcast originally appeared at Skinner.FM on September 27, 2016.
Thank you for listening. If you liked this podcast, please share it, or leave a review on the podcatcher of your choice. You can also support me on Patreon for more writing and podcasting.
September 28, 2016
hughjodonnell
Hugh Likes Fiction, Review
Emma Thompson, Henry James, HLF, Horror, Hugh Likes Fiction, review, The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
By Henry James
Read by Emma Thompson with Richard Armitage
The Turn of the Screw is a classic suspense novel and ghost story, but perhaps it suffers from being too firmly rooted in the time of its creation. The short novel is the story of a young governess sent to care for the orphaned niece and nephew of a rich London gentleman. Her employer wants nothing to do with the two small children, but that is only the start of their troubles. The governess is soon convinced that they are haunted by a pair of ghosts.
James’s short novel is preserved as a primary example of Victorian suspense, but the style would be way too wordy and anticlimactic to best-seller readers today. But the nouvelle is both steady and deliberate in the application of suspense as the main character attempts to unwind the layers of mystery surrounding her two charges. The opening section, in which the James claims to have heard this story from a friend one Christmas holiday serves as a statement of purpose to this effect, and also as a sort of carnival barker, stoking the nerves of the reader and daring them to turn the page.
But “The Turn of the Screw” is perhaps a bit too steeped in the cultural and social mores of Victorian England to be relevant to modern readers. Class and gender relationships, with a clear hierarchy, are taken for granted throughout the work. The narrator asserts that young Miles is either her equal or superior on the basis of his sex. Also, class consciousness is central to the scandalous behavior of the two ghosts. The novel asserts either a tryst between a common manservant and the well-born governess. It also implies that their contact with the two children was inappropriate, and that their return from beyond the grave is to snatch the children. James doesn’t seem to see any difference between breaking class taboos and pedophilia , which was troubling to my twenty-first century American morals.
I listened to this book on Audible. Emma Thompson’s reading is quite good, and she manages to cut the dense verbiage of James’s style down to a manageable path. Her performance keeps the modern listener invested and upholds the air of gothic suspense that may be lost on a reader unaccustomed to the style. The Turn of the Screw is also available in print and digitally from a number of public domain sources.
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Podcast: CCRC13: Star Trek TNG S7E19
October 28, 2016
hughjodonnell Podcast Commentary Track, Devo, hugh, JRD, Opopinax, Podcast, Star Trek Leave a comment
Hugh, Opopinax and Jurd are back in the Chronotheater watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Enterprise becomes a B-horror movie, and it’s all Barclay’s fault.
Click HERE to listen along.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix Streaming in the US and Canada. This podcast was originally posted on October 26, 2016 at Skinner.FM.
Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you enjoyed it please share it, or leave a review on iTunes. You can also support Hugh on Patreon for more podcasts and writing.