Assassin's Creed (2016)

Assassin's Creed (2016)

Dir. Justin Kurzel

Besides the goal of making lorryloads of cash for its producers, game developer Ubisoft was probably hoping that the live action Ass Creed film would entice lorryloads more people to check out their long-running game series, which in turn would increase profits there, too. Anything is possible, I suppose, even when the movie they hoped would sway people is a 125 million dollar turd.

Given that it might be someone's introduction to the world, I'll mention how it presents itself, rather than how it translates its source to the screen. But in that respect, it's dire.

It begins in Spain, 1492. We meet Aguilar de Nerha (Michael Fassbender), a member of the Assassins Brotherhood, a secretive group who are collectively at war with the Templars. The Assassins fight for individual freedoms and expression, whereas the Templars seek to control society through imposed order.

Tomb Raider: Movies (2001-18)

Tomb Raider: Movies (2001-18)

Dirs. Simon West (I) / Jan de Bont (II) / Roar Uthaug (III)

01. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) is a typical summer actioner, but unlike some other video game adaptations it at least makes an effort to reference its origins: the Manor, exotic locations, impossible jumps that require crucial timing, puzzle solving, and dual-wielding gun-play are all reminiscent of the games that inspired it.

Unfortunately, it also carries over some of its parent genre's failings, including a feeling that the person directing the non-playable bits hasn't got much of a clue about how to construct and pace a successful action scene. That's particularly true for the opening, but, thankfully, things gradually get better as the movie goes on.

The story is a globe-trotting adventure born from the pursuits and hobbies of the super-rich (on both sides of the equation). It's basic stuff.

Uncharted: Comicbook TPB (2012)

Uncharted: Comicbook TPB (2012)

Author: Joshua Williamson | Illustrator: Sergio Sandoval | Page Court: 144

"Hey, Sully! Things are going from bad to worse out here... it's time to roll."

A six-issue miniseries based on developer Naughty Dog's video game franchise of the same name.

I enjoy the parkour, puzzle solving, and exploration aspects of the games very much and am in awe of ND's attention to detail in their world-building, but it's not a franchise that I get overly enthused about beyond that.

For people that love it more than I do, besides a few grammar slip-ups the writing, artwork, and pacing are all good, with characterisation and dialogue that's tonally about as faithful to its video game inspiration as it's possible to get in a comicbook format. All in all, it's an excellent tie-in that feels very much like a proper Uncharted adventure - minus the interactivity, of course.

.hack//4Koma (2010)

.hack//4Koma (2010)

Author: Koichi Sumimaru | Illustrator: Various |  Page Count: 192

"Your morals as a protagonist are being challenged, aren't they?"

A yonkoma, often shortened to 4koma, is a four-panel manga similar to the kind of thing you'd see in a Sunday newspaper, except that most yonkoma are read from top to bottom, not left to right horizontal.

The .hack yonkoma parodies Project .hack and .hack Conglomerate. The comedy is derived mostly from non-canon meetings, rivalries, awkward social situations, and typically friendly people being dicks to other characters. As such, in-jokes are definitely the order of the day, so if you're not very familiar with each person's usual demeanour, or the .hack world, in general, you'll miss most of the situational humour.

Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series (2007)

Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series (2007)

10 episodes, approx 6 minutes each.

An anthology of short animated tales featuring the virtual bra-busting Brit, Lara Croft, from a number of different writers and animators. See the end of post for a full list of names. [1]

Each creator puts their own unique spin on the Lara character, which range from the wonderfully inventive (Keys to the Kingdom) to the piss-poor self-parody (Revenge of the Aztec Mummy).

None of them bother to waste time giving her any back-story or history. They assume that most viewers will already have knowledge of that from the games. The short format really doesn't allow for that kind of exposition, anyhow.

Brief (and biased) thoughts on each episode are below the cut, if you care to know more.

Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast: Volume 1 (2018)

Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast: Volume 1 (2018)

Authors: Llexi Leon (story) / Ian Edginton (script) | Artist: Kevin J West | Page Count: 128

'Eddie is an embodiment of free will, a chaotic spirit, the unseen catalyst during crucial turning points in history. The spark that lights the flame.'

LotB's story is based on a 'free to play' mobile phone game that I've not played. The structure of the first collected volume feels very much like a series of game levels stitched together, with little care put into smoothing over the level changes. It also lacks a decent introduction, as if we're missing a crucial cut-scene.

In the story, Eddie is freed from bondage by a floating lady in a flowing dress, the Clairvoyant, a self-proclaimed 'sightless seer in the realm of the senses'. It seems that sometime before that, however, Eddie's soul was ripped from his body by The Beast, looking like he did on Iron Maiden's classic Number of the Beast (1982) album.

The mascot's stolen soul somehow became a glowing red crystalline substance that was shattered into shards and distributed to a group of nefarious individuals. Eddie's quest, therefore, is to retrieve his lost soul by defeating the holders of the fragments.

Playing With Power: Nintendo NES Classics (2016)

Playing With Power:

Nintendo NES Classics (2016)

Authors: Garitt Rocha / Nick von Esmarch | Page Count: 320

'If you imagine the Game Pak as a cook book, the CPU would be the cook who follows the instructions — for every dish in the book at the same time.'

The best thing about Playing With Power is its presentation, specifically the hardcover edition (214 x 291 mm) that fits snugly inside a sturdy embossed slipcase that is itself designed to look like an oversized classic NES Game Pak. It's clever and it's beautiful. The paperback is much less interesting.

The editorial content of both, on the other hand, is as flimsy as the cardboard box that an original NES Game Pak would've been housed in when bought.

Some of it is reprint from old issues of Nintendo Power magazine. I know a lot of video game fans in America have a great nostalgia for NP, but it's not a publication that I ever even saw as a kid living in the UK. Therefore, I don't have the rose-tinted glasses that would be needed to fully enjoy it. From an objective PoV, the writing isn’t very good, even when taking into consideration that it seems to be tailored primarily for a teenage audience.

.hack//Legend of the Twilight: Manga Trilogy (2003)

.hack//Legend of the Twilight: Volume 01 (2003)

Author: Tatsuya Hamazaki | Illustrator: Rei Izumi | Page Count: 176

"I'd watch my back if I were you.
Your friend has returned."

A manga trilogy that forms a part of the Project .hack series, the first generation of the .hack universe. It's set chronologically after the first four games that appeared on the Playstation 2 console; i.e. Infection; Mutation; Outbreak; and Quarantine. (See HERE.)

If you're new to The World you'll lack the necessary background and will encounter minor spoilers of events that unfolded in the games. It's not necessary to have played them first, but it's recommended. The book makes some allowances for new fans, but space is limited, so the catch-up is necessarily brief.

If you've a working knowledge of what has gone before, then dive in. Otherwise, you might want to play the games first, if that's an option for you.

.hack//Liminality (2003)

.hack//Liminality (2003)

4 episodes of varying lengths (45 mins or 30 mins long; 132 minutes in total)

A small but significant number of players have fallen into a coma while playing a game, an MMORPG titled The World. While the bodies of the afflicted lie in a hospital bed their online avatars have gone mysteriously missing. A group of concerned Player Characters band together to find out if there's a connection and, if there is, how to reverse the process so that they can get their friends back.

.hack// is a huge franchise. I've played games, read novels and manga, watched multiple anime (series and films) and own soundtracks. Sometimes the works are standalone and sometimes they aren't. The .hack//Liminality OVA requires knowledge of the larger universe, specifically the first four PS2 games (info HERE) to understand its history fully; the events that occur in the games are happening concurrently with events in the real world, although the main characters in each aren't the same.

ICO: Castle in the Mist (2008)

ICO: Castle in the Mist (2008)

Author:  Miyuki Miyabe  |  Translator:  Alexander O. Smith  |  Page Count: 370

'Whatever it was that dripped from the cage, it was blacker than pitch, the colour of melted shadow.'

The story as presented in the ICO video game (2001) was purposefully vague. It encouraged players to speculate about the backstory of the characters.

The act of filling in the blanks gave rise to a more personal experience for the player, making us not just the protagonist but also the teller, the narrator of the story as it was being lived/directed in real time.

Reading someone else's version of those same events, comparing and contrasting them with your own, can be an interesting or even rewarding undertaking for some folks. But when put into context, isn't a published version of such simply fan-fiction being sold at RRP?

Regardless of whether or not that's a fair assessment, I made sure while reading to judge the work for what it did well (or otherwise) with regards world-building, characterisation, etc, and not for being different to my own interpretation of the game's story; to have did otherwise would be a disservice to everyone involved.

Assassin's Creed: The Fall (2012) + The Chain (2012)

Assassin's Creed: The Fall (2012)

Authors: Cameron Stewart / Karl Kerschl  |  Illustrators: Cameron Stewart / Karl Kerschl  |  Page Count: 96 / 128 (Deluxe)

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted…"

Considering how asinine and clusterfucky the main story of the Assassin's Creed games was, is and likely will become, I didn't have high hopes for The Fall. Shock news: It’s surprisingly good. It's not amazing but it does a better job at balancing two different time periods and making them feel like one cohesive whole than any of the games I've played so far have managed to do.

If you don't know how that works, each instalment has two protagonists, one in the present and one in the past. In the present era, sometime around the turn of the 21st Century, there’s Daniel Cross. The book spends a fair amount of time showing us what kind of guy Daniel is and, perhaps more importantly, what kind of guy he isn't. He’s not a noble champion of the people. He’s quick to anger and full of doubts, dislikes authority, enjoys a drink and is slowly spiralling out of control.