issue 10 // volume 42

arts // no. 9

Comic Corner: A ground-breaking story of growing up

» ‘The Complete Persepolis’ review

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor
& lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

OOOO

Prrscrels isan

autobiographical account

of author Marjane Satrapi’s

coming of age during a time of

political revolution in Iran. The

story follows her throughout

her childhood and into her

adult life. Persepolis is deeply

concerned with issues of political

freedom, feminism, racism, and

a multitude of other barriers

to social growth. It is also

one of the few graphic novels

repeatedly looked at from an

academic level. To sum it all

up, Persepolis is not just a good

graphic novel, it’s good literature.
Since I chose to review The

Complete Persepolis, an omnibus

of all four volumes, the plot

does jump around quite a bit. It

begins with Satrapi’s childhood

 

Revolution before moving on
to her teenage years in Vienna,
Austria. Her eventual return to

: her homeland, although moving
: because it marks a reunion

: with her family, does not come

: without its own issues—all

: of which Satrapi narrates in a

: very organic and honest way.

Normally I’m not a huge fan

: of biographies, as I find them

: a little too self-serving. But

: Persepolis is this hugely intricate,
: amazing story of growing up

: beyond the confines of tradition,
: and finding a way to relate and

: deal with issues of identity.

Art-wise, the illustrations,

also done by Satrapi, are very

: simplistic. They use colour

: blocking so the images appear

: very stark, but also incorporate

: enough detail to make certain

: elements recognizable or to affect
: the mood of the narrative. It isa

: very unique art-style, but it is also
: very clean and easily readable, so
: you're never confused as to what

: is happening. I quite enjoyed

: it in this narrative, but I think

: we'd be hard-pressed to find

in Tehran, Iran during the Islamic another where it worked so well.

No matter what I say, I know

: T could never do this amazing
: book justice. It’s a very definite
: recommendation to everyone.

 
 

Image via www.animationmagazine.net

 

Get ready to rock—or stay on hiatus?

» ‘Guitar Hero Live’ video game review

Alex Stanton
Staff Writer

OOSGOS

hen Guitar Hero made
its debut over 10 years

ago, it was something pretty
special to an entire generation
of gamers. Although the idea of
strumming and fretting your way
across a plastic guitar controller
to your favourite songs had
been done before in arcades,
Guitar Hero’s release marked
the point in which anyone could
bring the concert home to their
living room. However, within
the span of about five years,
publisher Activision saturated
the market with a new Guitar
Hero every single year. The last
Guitar Hero game before this
year’s Guitar Hero Live was
2010's Warriors of Rock. By that
point, the series made disco look
alive and in wonderful health.

Thus, after a wisely chosen
half-decade hiatus, Guitar Hero
Live brings the series to the
current and previous round of
home consoles, complete with
some choice innovations, an
extensive song list that covers
all decades and genres, along
with some rather questionable
choices—particularly when
it comes to presentation and
inclusion of microtransactions.

Despite the fully revamped

: guitar controller, anyone who's

: played these games in the past

: will find their way around the

: fretboard relatively easily. With
: the previous games, the plastic

: guitar was set up in a way that

: would allow you to play any title
: inthe series with any controller =:
: you'd like. With Guitar Hero Live, :
: they’ve completely altered the :
: fret board (and, by extension,

: the gameplay), turning the five
: button row into two rows of

: three, one row above the other. :
: An honest-to-goodness gameplay :
: innovation was something I :
: simply never thought I would get
: from another Guitar Hero game.
: For many veteran shredders, the

: massive reboot of the gameplay

: alone may be all they need to

: justify picking up the axe again.

It strikes me as strange that

: they changed the controller in

: a way that makes it seem more

: challenging when the 42 songs

: available upon purchase are

: incredibly easy to play (such as

: “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers),

: come from genres that generally
: don’t contain guitar (“Bangarang” :
: by Skrillex), or are just plain

: boring (“Counting Stars” by

: OneRepublic). Guitar Hero 3

: was the most critically acclaimed
: game in the series, thanks

: mostly in part to the extreme

: challenge of some of the later

: tracks. I can’t imagine anyone

: who mastered that game being

: impressed with this set list.

This is alright, though,

: because Guitar Hero TV—the

: alleged centrepiece of this latest

: title—has over 200 songs... except
: you can’t choose to play them at

: will. It’s a predetermined set list

: of songs that you may or may not
: want to play and, although the

: option to play at will is there, it

: costs real life money ($6 for 10

: free plays). You don’t even get to

: keep the songs afterwards; you're

  

: just renting the right to play the
: tracks. That is not at all what 'm
: looking for in a music game.

The single player career

: presentation is also super

: questionable, which becomes

: glaringly obvious upon starting
: your first song. The audience

: is seen from a first person

: perspective, as if you were

: playing on stage yourself, but

: those audience members are

: super lame. They have the

a

meee ><

Screenshot from the game

: most ridiculous smiles and
: over-zealous cheer, making the
: whole thing an unfunny joke.

Guitar Hero Live is the

best Guitar Hero in a decade.

: Though, considering the quality
: of Guitar Hero 4 and Warriors

: of Rock, that says nothing at all.

: There are many reasons why I

: wouldn’t recommend this game

: but, ultimately, people who want
: to rock out with their plastic

: controllers out will do just that.