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Alison Carroll Is The New Lara Croft.

Paparazzi are pretty creepy right. What with the whole Britney Spears going mental and Princess Diana getting killed or whatever. I used to think that if I was a celeb I’d quite enjoy getting my followed everywhere all day; would totally make me feel good that someone was getting paid to follow me.

I think a lot of the time celebrities want the pap’s to follow them - from media portrayal you get the sense that a lot of people in the public lime light are attention seekers. And I still believe all that is true but having seen video’s of people like Madonna, Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears being literally hounded I kinda think it’s all a bit weird now.

ANYWAY. How do I tie this in with Lara Croft? Well, like this, because I’ve been meaning to write a post about the new “Lara Croft” for ages. Alison Carroll, a south-London born gymnast has taken on the role of being the “real” Lara Croft in time for the release of new game Underworld (which genuinely looks ok). This means she get’s to make awesome promo videos like this to create hype:

Mmmm-ahem… Anyway crazy geeks have managed to locate her, stay in the hotel room opposite her, and take pictures of her through their door’s peeping hole.

Tomb Stalker (rolls eyes).

Too much? Hell yes.

Natasha Bedingfield Hot Or Horse?

I’ve kinda always thought so to be honest (I always wanted to rip-off “I’m A Bomb“) but it’s actually only just hit me that she’s huge in USA. I thought it odd that she was like Britains main-spokesperson at some awards show the other day. Then I thought it odd that she is the main face for EA’s sequel to Boogie. Then I realised she is huge in America. Which reminded me how much I liked albums “Unwritten” and “Pocketful Of Sunshine”.

And then I finally realised I liked the mash-up of “I Bruise Easily” and “Saltwater“, the aptly titled “Bruised Water” (rolls eyes).

I have two questions to ask at the end of this post:

a) Is liking Natasha Bedingfield something one should keep secret?

b) Is Natasha Bedingfield hot or does she look a bit like a horse?

Pjanoo By Eric Prydz Has A Shit Cover

You may have recently heard Eric Prydz’s “awesome” new single Pjanoo which is currently lying number 2 on the iTunes charts. And if you have heard it you may have possibly seen the “record sleeve” on iTunes. It’s basically very, very shit.

The record industry is in a state of change you see — less and less people are going into shops and actually buying real music. Which means covers are less important from the days you’d buy something just because you liked the artwork.

Which means we get shit like this. And yes, the song is really repetitive isn’t it?

Ratchet & Clank Quest For Booty on Playstation 3 Store

Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty on Playstation 3 is essentially fan-service. It’s a quick release from a popular franchise designed to tide fans of the series over until the next full release (next year).

The game continues where previous iteration (Tools Of Destruction) left off; Clank has been captured by a weird robotic race called the “Zoni” and Ratchet is sure as hell gonna find his buddy with the help of ladyfriend Talwyn.

Quest For Booty was described by Vinny Carravella of GiantBomb as being “much like your Ikea bookshelf, you’ll find that Quest for Booty looks great for the price, but doesn’t really contain the love and craftsmanship of its higher-priced counterparts”. And he’s so, so right because while Quest For Booty contains all the charm, humour and great characterisation we’ve come to expect from an R&C game, it just doesn’t feel polished in the same way the full releases are.

Whether it’s something in the timing or something in the plot I know I didn’t giggle quite as much as Insomniac wanted me to. That’s not to say I didn’t giggle at all though.

Quest For Booty sets up numerous cameo’s between past and present R&C characters and the story spans a good 4 or 5 different areas. Your weapon arsenal is largely the same as it was in Tools Of Destruction but you have the ability to raise their levels again. The main new addition is the ability of Ratchet’s boomerang wrench which allows you to throw it, latch onto enemies or platforms and use mystical powers to move platforms into posistion. It’s a neat addition to the series, one that I’m sure they will build on in the next game.

Graphically Quest For Booty is phenomonal opting for the same presentation techniques as were present in Tools Of Destruction. And I actually mean, the same. It looks amazing for a downloadable game and while I did notice some frame rate dips here and there I’ll forgive them entirely given the nature of the package.

At £9.99 I estimate that Quest For Booty is just about the right length - for me I judge 2.5 hours of video game entertainment to carry a price of £5 so at £9.99 you’re paying the right price for a 5 hour game. There is sadly no reason to replay but it’s an honourable addition to the series and will tide fans over until next years confirmed iteration in the R&C series.

7/10.

Siren Blood Curse Is £20 From Playstation 3 Store

I know, I know. Siren Blood Curse came out ages ago and I hyped and hyped about it and then only did an “initial thoughts and opinion” post. It’s because I had personal stuff going on and wasn’t in the mood for a horror game to put it cryptically. But I finished the game last week and I quite enjoyed it you know.

Siren Blood Curse is essentially the first Playstation 3 “proper download game”. And what I mean by that is with Warhawk and Tekken 5 aside this is the first package that has been released on the PSN that is not a mini game or short 2 hour blaster - this is a proper game with big environments, lots of mechanics and a full storyline.

It’s hard to know exactly what is happening in Siren Blood Curse virtually throughout the whole game because you’ll watch events happen and then get mighty confused over the fact that said characters are “alive” again or in different places. I’ll try not to give anything away but it does get vaguely wrapped up at the end of the game so you’ll have some idea. You might need a lot of patience to understand the game fully though.

Siren Blood Curse puts you in control of a set of different characters, some Japanese, some American as you are set out to explore the village of “Hanuda” — a vanished village where human sacrifices have occured before. Cue the setting for a survival-stealth-action-horror game.

The game is split into 12 chapters which can be downloaded in one go for £20 from the PSN store or can be purchased in blocks of three for £6. Be aware that downloading the whole game will fill 9GB’s of your Playstation HDD but it is available on Blu-Ray Disc in Japan and soon Europe.

Each chapter puts you in different areas of the village with seperate objectives. Usually this involves finding an escape route from the part you are in but the game throws up enough challenges and unique surprises along the way to make things interesting.

The enemy, named Shibito, are a particularly horrifying form of zombie with tears of blood flowing from their eyes. Kudos goes to the sound engineers on Siren Blood Curse because there are a helluva lot of twittering and moaning sounds that really add to the atmosphere. These aren’t your typical moaning zombies — the Shibito almost sound vocoded. It’s an other worldly sound that will see you quaking in your boots.

Playing Siren blood Curse is hindered by the lack of robust controls. The camera is tight to the action and movement at times can be extremely clumsy. It’s an interesting point for discussion though because the often shit controls really define the game. I don’t know how much of an unfair let-off I’m giving this game but the fact that the camera is tight and your movement is flawed really, honestly does add to the tension of the game. That’s not to say it’s not frustrating — just that it offers that “oh shit, got to get away, where the FUCK do I run to, ARGH!”-kind of tension. If the controls and camera are done like this on purpose then it’s a brave move from the developer and one I think they kinda just about get away with.

Graphically Siren is unbelievably dark with even a brightness option not aiding the games gloomy look. Obviously the darkness is another intentional area of the game which has you sometimes wondering out totally blind into a field full of the undead. You’ll have to use your ears a lot in Siren which is totally awesome if you have surround sound. You’ll be immersed.

The whole game is covered with a grain filter which makes everything harder to see but also adds a layer of grime to proceedings. Horror games are all about building atmosphere and Siren does that in abundance.

The main gameplay mechanic to aid your plight in Blood Curse is “Sight Jacking” which allows you to see through the eyes of the Shibito. Sight Jacking is essentially if you need to sneak past an enemy or just find out where they are. Trust me when I say there is nothing more horrifying than watching through the eyes of the enemy your main protagonist be caught and subsequently murdered.

While Blood Curse won’t be the longest game you’ll ever play (took me about 9 and a half hours) there is plenty of replay value in the form of finding all the “Archive” data.

There are 50 pieces of archive data to be found throughout the game and they become almost essential in understanding the plot of the game and characters background. There are also some easter eggs that are hinted in the game and are unlocked in the real world which really help to provide a background to the game.

Siren Blood Curse is a pretty straightforward game but it’s a tense and most importantly scary one at that. What it lacks in longevity it makes up for in thrills so if you’re looking for a game to fill a dull weekend look no further than Blood Curse.

8/10.

Dreams - Fleetwood Mac.

Mmm Sexy Graphics.

= very good. More details to come when I’ve actually had chance to play the game. To settle your pants check out the EuroGamer review where they said it was basically very good but was a little short and not very fresh.

It’d be unfair of me to comment on that because I haven’t played the game yet (it’s downloading now) and they obviously had but I felt they are being a bit harsh given the title is essentially fan-fodder between the last release and the next one. It’s only £10 so you can be rest assured if it lasts me 4 or 5 hours I’ll be happy.

Did Someone Say Lighting Effects?

Did any of you play Fahrenheit(/Indigo Prophecy)? Literally a masterpiece of technical art and storytelling, Fahrenheit attempted to tell a story in a way that no game has ever done before. And succeeded on the most part. I wish I hadn’t been so careless in my placement of all my reviews for now defunct website GamesMainFrame but I’m sure I gave the game a score close to both 8 and 10. It’s actually one of the few games I’ve played that ever got inside my head — a psychological thriller to say the least.

Why all this bigging up of Fahrenheit then? Well because same developer Quantic Dream are set to unveil they’re latest game today Heavy Rain. It’s already unbelievably hyped due to a demo that was made for E3 2006 to show off the power of the Playstation 3. “The Casting” as it was known was a 3D demo prototype showing character emotion and interaction. It’s something that’s been impossible in video games until this breed of consoles and games like Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4 have been the first ones to really showcase it.

While we’re told The Casting has absolutely nothing to do with the game as a tech-demo it’s visually very impressive; mainly in terms of the way the protagonists body flows. What you’re looking for in that demo is not the subtle problems with the lip syncing and her weird looking teeth but the way in which her eyes and whole body show emotion. Now imagine that same tech-demo polished and put into the context of an amazing story. Then you’re somewhere in the region of what I’m expecting from Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain on Playstation 3 Is Undoubtedly Going To Look Gorgeous

It’s interesting that with all this hype we still remain totally in the dark about this game until 4PM (UK time) this afternoon but what we do know is that it’s going to be another “dark noir thriller” (similar to Fahrenheit; although it won’t be a sequel) and also that there won’t be free-roaming areas a la GTA but there will be a lot of life-like environments with living, breathing people.

Heavy Rain is floundering somewhere near the edge of my top 10 Most Wanted games but if it so much as matches the psychological intensity of Fahrenheit no doubt it will shoot to the very top.

Here’s an interview with director David Cage:

Excited yet? I am.

How Far Are You Prepared To Go To Save Someone You Love?

Oh my!