arts / 8

Guard your wallets,

» ‘Thief’ epically botches franchise heist

Adam Tatelman
Contributor

90000

Te? isa perfectexample of —:
everything that’s wrong with :
reboots. The newly released :
fourth game in the series takes
an established franchise, shafts
the lead voice actor, and junks
a trilogy of lore in favour of an
over-designed, grim setting
with a bland monotonous
protagonist whose dialogue
falls flatter than Chris Pine’s :
acting. It makes me wonder why :
(aside from blatant marketing — :
purposes) Eidos Montreal
bothered continuing the Thief
brand.

The Playstation/Xbox
game puts players in control
of master thief Garrett, who
moves through the City stealing
items by using his stealth and
fighting skills. For a sandbox
stealth game, Thiefis slide-
rule-linear and filled with

: Eidos Montreal offers

: the option to remove

: condescending heads-up

: display elements to “please

: oldschool fans,” as they put it,

: but that’s beside the point—the
: handholding is inherent in the
: level design. Rope Arrows can

: no longer latch onto any wooden :

token side paths that all endup : surface, aside from restrictingly
in the same place. This false, : pred . :
predetermined points.

cosmetic freedom is consistently :
symptomatic—frustratingly, Do, When the few open-ended
: heist scenarios aren't ripping

you can't jump without agrab-: : ; >
ledge-button prompt, anissue off Dishonored, they’re nothing
: more than simplified retreads

only worsened by the cramped, :
overstuffed environments. : of fan favourite robberies. Thief: :
: Deadly Shadows’ Shalebridge

 

Steven's Man-Cave:
Enjoy your stay at South Park

» ‘South Park: The Stick of Truth’ review

: meet Butters, your next-door

: neighbour. He invites you to play
: a game of make-believe with

: him and the other kids. You then
meet Cartman, the leader of the
humans, and Kenny (who’s a fair
maiden for reasons unknown).

: They are fighting against the

: elves, Kyle and Stan, who are

: trying to steal the stick of

: truth, which grants the wielder

: ultimate power. You are thrown

: into the mix of imagination and
: hilarious writing.

: This has got to be one of

: my top two games I’ve ever

: played. The story, gameplay,

: and exploration are all amazing.
: The turn-based combat is not

: unlike Paper Mario, but it also

: keeps you on your toes. The

: exploration is awesome because
: everything you can collect is

: some kind of reference to the

: show. If you area fan of South

: Park, there’s absolutely no

: reason why you shouldn't pick

: this up.

 

* Steven Cayer
Senior Columnist

90000

elcome to a very special

week of my Man-Cave
in which I review South Park:
The Stick of Truth, the new
game made by Obsidian
Entertainment. Right off the
bat, if you are not a fan of the
TV show, I don’t recommend
you pick this one up. But for
huge fans such as myself, Stick
of Truth is written by the same
people who write for the show,
Trey Parker and Matt Stone,
making this a great game. It is
a love letter to South Park fans
in the form of an explorative
Japanese role-playing game.

In the game, you and

your family have just moved
in to South Park. There, you

taffers

: Cradle, one of the most

: terrifying stealth-horror hybrids :
in history, is shamelessly
: recycled as the Moira Asylum
: with less context and more
scripted jump scares. These

: derivative romps are loosely

: linked by badly lip-synched,

audio-dropping cutscenes,

a predictable, soap opera-

: like plot with more Deus Ex

: Machinas than a Greek tragedy

: and incessant self-indulgent

: references to the original trilogy.
: This game should either copy its

precursors or do its own thing

: because trying to encompass

  

a : ra. its: its
Screenshot from Thief // By www.gamerfitnation.com :

: enough to appeal to the lowest

: both methods just comes off as a ¢ommon denominator, how

weak and indecisive non-choice. ! can the resulting necromancy
do anything other than repulse

: newcomers and longtime Taffers
: alike? I never expected this

: game to recreate the Thief of old

: and I was excited to see what

Many of the game’s

: problems could be somewhat
: fixed by naming it anything
other than Thief, so the

: expectation isn’t there. It’s full
: of amateurish errors that should :
: have been ironed out over the
: five-year development cycle: the :
: sound design is full of creepy,
: ambient strings and the lighting :
: creates top-notch contrasting

: visuals, but none of this

; atmosphere matters when the
: flavour text is more interesting
: than the plot.

Comic Corner:
Darker version of X-Men changes the game

» ‘Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 1: Revolution’ review

Brittney MacDonald
Senior Columnist

OOOOS

sa long time X-Men fan, I am conflicted about the contents of Revolution, but I cannot

deny that it is a truly amazing graphic novel. Featuring experimental art styles and a plot
that delves deep into the anger and frustration of a marginalized society with the power to fight
back, Revolution gives us a window into what would happen if the heroes stopped caring about
helping the “greater good” and instead decided to make it better for themselves.

In the story written by award-winner Brian Michael Bendis, the team is suffering as
members have lost control over their powers due to battles with the all-powerful, psychic
entity, Phoenix. They have become unstable, none more so than Cyclops. As leader to the
X-Men, Cyclops has one mission: to ensure every mutant has their equal rights. With no Jean
Grey or Professor Xavier to convince him of a better, less violent way, Cyclops, now allied with
the volatile Magneto, has decided an all-out violent revolution is the answer.

Featuring art by Chris Bachalo and Frazer Irving, the style is definitely unlike anything I
have seen before. It’s highly stylized, with less emphasis on heavy blacks and a simplicity to the
colours that compliments the new character designs well. Cyclops in particular is made to look
more intimidating. Gone are the royal blue and yellow spandex suits, instead replaced with a
demonizing red and black number.

My conflict comes from my love of the X-Men as a team devoted to maintaining the often
strenuous peace between human and mutant. This is a very different kind of X-Men—but I

can't say I don’t like it.

 

theotherpress.ca

The Artificial Intelligence

endlessly loops canned dialogue
: while patrolling smack into
walls, and established stealth

gameplay is skewed in favour
of scripted set pieces and boss
battles. Eidos Montreal could
have foisted this tomfoolery on
a new intellectual property and

been more successful. Why try
: to mesh it with a title whose

design philosophy is a polar

: Opposite?

I define a bad game as
one that fails to accomplish
its goals. When a game tries
to reboot a franchise for a new

: audience, simultaneously
: mollify a dedicated fan base,
: and still be streamlined

: new developers could do with

: the franchise. Unfortunately, the
: result was underwhelming at

: best and insulting at worst. I can
: only hope this transparent, two-
: faced excuse for pandering fan

: service will be forgotten, leaving
: the legacy of the master thief

: untarnished.

The graphic novel is intriguing, dark, and thoroughly believable in the context of the
world. In short, a very good read.