Unfinished

So, after more than a year of pretending to ignore it, I finally faced up to my terror and ventured back to Silent Hill to tackle Shattered Memories' "paparazzi" challenge in the high school. I knew it was going to be tricky, because I'd watched a Let's Play of the game, in which the player got hopelessly lost and overwhelmed by the rape monsters while trying to take photographs on the game's cellphone at three different locations.

One is easy - it's right near the starting point for the challenge. The other two are at almost opposite ends of the frozen school. The map is of next to no use because it only traces where you've been on any particular nightmare sequence and, even if you try to use it, you're limited to a v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w  a-m-b-l-e with a tiny on-screen map, or absolutely no movement (though the game effectively goes on pause) for the full-screen view. Either way, the map only shows the outlines of buildings, not the rooms within them, and those rooms are altered in nightmare sequences anyway...

When I went back to the game, I was slightly surprised to find that I hadn't saved my game where I thought I had - rather than being ready to start the challenge, I had to hack the Principle's PC (reminding myself of all the clues to the security questions) and find the starting point for the challenge all over again.

In preparation, I'd watched a playthrough of the sequence - done well - and noted down directions... but that was several weeks before I picked up the game again, so some of my own directions didn't make sense or, in fact, match the map. They were only minor glitches - where I hadn't differentiated between a change in direction within a room or at a door, so 'left' could mean turn left or take the left hand door.

Still, I got through eventually (only got overwhelmed once!) and managed to carry on till the very end of the game. I love how it lets you know - subtly, via costume changes in yourself and the other characters - how you're doing and which ending seems most likely for you. It's a game packed full of intriguing details and, as it tells you right at the beginning, it plays you as much as you play it.

Even though I knew how the game would end, it was strangely affecting to guide Harry to the inevitable conclusion at the lighthouse, to see Cheryl reuniting with her mother, packing away all the mementoes Harry picked up throughout the game (a very nice touch!) and then to see the final home movie - for which there are four possibilities - revealing my ending. Despite early indications that I was heading for the "Wicked and Weak" ending (where Harry is violently henpecked), I'm happy to report that I ended up with "Love Lost", though this may be because it's apparently the easiest ending to get - as long as you don't exhibit any extremes of behaviour.

Completing this game made me rather more keen to go back to some others and try to complete them... Leading me soon to the epiphany that there are some games that are just too much trouble, too much like a thankless task to complete. Case in point: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. It's actually a reasonably good attempt at a Spider-Man game - they all tend to be mission based, rather than the open-world swing-a-thons the Webhead deserves (come on RockStar, do a superhero game!) - and the presentation is excellent. The Wii version heads for a rather more cartoon-style presentation than the other versions, but it suits the game well... The downfall is in the gameplay.

Once you get down to it, each alternate version of Spidey plays through much the same sort of game... You meet the level's boss almost instantly, then chase them through several sublevels and preliminary battles until the final battle, in their tablet-fragment-empowered form. The exploratory parts are cool enough, the bosses are imaginative enough... but the bits where you're slogging through henchmen are just tedious. I've now beaten the first round in each dimension, leading me to Sandman (Amazing), The Vulture (Noire), Scorpion (2099) and Deadpool (Ultimate). I've only played Sandman and Vulture's levels so far, but they're pretty tedious... and the boss battles rely on identifying a pattern and repeating it, rather than really making use of the skills each Spider-Man has.

Noire, for example, is all about stealth, and subduing the hoods before they can shoot you... Except certain sequences, where you actually have to fight. Since this version of Spidey is physically weak, such battles are a complete slog. And, in these battles, the web takedowns do not function. Sure, they'd make it too easy... but they'd also make it a more sensible, realistic game.

Much the same is true of the Sandman level, though, where you have to keep throwing waterbarrels at the enemies, or leading them into jets of water from convenient pipes, because dry sand won't take damage... And, having watched a playthrough of the whole level, I'm not sure I can be bothered with it... it doesn't look fun.

In other news, I actually had a job interview recently... I shan't mention the name of the publication but, while the job title was "Advertising Production Controller", the role was as much Editorial as it was Production... and not just setting Editorial, but subbing copy and occasionally writing headlines. Half of that job is well within my skill set... the other half would be looking at someone with Editorial experience, and very probably qualifications in journalism. I can't see too many folks from that background being willing to set advertisements, however good they think they are with InDesign.

Naturally, I wasn't offered the job... but, if they figure out they're chasing something that doesn't exist, they may reconsider... Though it does worry me that they described the position as having "split", when it seems - from the outside - far more likely that they're attempting to replace two people with one.

Last weekend, I saw Captain America, and thoroughly enjoyed it... though, considering the character's history, it's going to become increasingly difficult to contemporise him. He ends this film in the present day, having been 'asleep' in the arctic ice for the best part of 70 years... far longer than intended when the character was first created. Back then, he could still have had something of a relationship with an older Peggy Carter... in this version, she'd almost certainly be dead. It was nice to see Chris Evans toning down the comedy and becoming a more substantial hero character, and Hugo Weaving is always good value for money (though, was it just me, or did it sound like he was doing an impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger?). The weirdest thing for me is that, having had Howard Stark (Tony's father) in three Marvel Superhero movies now, they've used a different actor each time.

Well, that and the 3D... Really couldn't see the point to it, other than the obvious 'Cap throws his shield at the camera' japes.

Roll on, The Avengers movie...