This Zombie 'fad' needs to end soon - Gaming Rant

When we say the phrase 'stop flogging a dead horse', most of us will think that it means not to something until it becomes boring, meaningless and just boring. The games industry obviously see this phrase as 'better make another Zombie game'.

As of late, there has been an over saturation of Zombie games and Zombie media. The latest of these being the PS3 exclusive, The Last of Us. Seeing trailers and gameplay, I see nothing spectacular about the game other than it looks like Uncharted: Zombie Edition. Don't get me wrong, Naughty Dog have probably done a great job yet again with graphics and gameplay, but the premise is as old as the some of the Zombies you have to beat to death. I mean, now we probably see more zombie games coming out per year than any other genre, probably because zombies are seemingly able to fit in to any genre with ease. First and Third Person shooters, RTS, DOTA games, you name it there's probably a zombie game dedicated to it.

I know people complain about the lack of innovation that has come into the industry, where the most innovative thing to come into a series is a dog with a flak jacket (have a guess what game that is...), but just because you're a new Intellectual Property, that doesn't meant you NEED to be a zombie game. Obviously there is a lot of good zombie games out there, like Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Day Z etc, but that fact is they came out spread out enough for each to stand alone as 'not another zombie game' release. When you look at the release line up and at least 4 of the next 10 games out happen to be about there slow moving sods, you start to grow as tired of them as internet reviewers do of first person shooters.

Another problem I have with these zombie games is the setting. Of course, for these games to really work they need to be set in the 'post-apocalyptic' world. Shambling monstrosities wouldn't look as threatening in an open park on a sunny day, would they? The problem I have is that it's become a device for people who can't be bothered to do research into a historical period. It's like someone in an office once said:
Guy 1: "Hey, let's make a game where you play the role of a normal person during a historically relevant time!"
Guy 2: "That would mean research and effort wouldn't it?"
Guy 1: "Well, of course, yeah. But..."
Guy 2: "POST-APOCALYPSE WORLD!!!"
I know some games need it, but others just make the market seem over saturated, especially when zombies are added.

I would just like to see some new games with different antagonists, the kind that can think and not just stumble at you until you hit them enough. I heard someone recently asking for a come back of Pirates as villains in games, and I think its a good idea. We have a couple of new games coming out with that premise, but maybe not enough. Personally, I would like to see more mundane and realistic things twisted and manipulated into threatening objects of terror. For me, the idea of humans being manipulated to turn against you is far scarier and more threatening than brainless shuffling zombies.

Again, this is only my opinion, but if we carry on abusing the use of zombies in media, it will become even less scary than Vampires and Werewolves have become in recent years...

Green Day: 99 Revolutions Tour at The Emirates Stadium, London - Gig Review

As I stated in my review of Uno, Dos and Tre, Green Day's return to the Emirates Stadium, London is my second live experience with the pop rock giants. However, their visit to Wembley Stadium in 2010 was backed by an excellent album in the form of 21st Century Breakdown, an album I would say was one of Green Day's best. This time, however, things are different. With Billie Joe only recently coming out of rehab and their London gig the first surviving gig from the original tour before his trip there, It was concerning to see how his stage presence would change. Also, with the release of what I feel were three below average albums from the band, this trip to London for me went from sheer excitement to nervous excitement very quickly. The question is now, did Green Day deliver on their only trip to the UK on their tour?

Build Up

As with most gigs I go to, I'm not a fan of heading up on the day and coming home again. Seeing as I live a good 5 to 6 hour coach journey from London, I would probably be massively uncomfortable and tired for the entire gig and for the following days. So instead I travelled up a few days earlier with my girlfriend to enjoy London in some of the few sunny days we've seen so far this year. When it came to the day, the weather was beautiful, I met up with some of my friends who were coming and we head to the Emirates Stadium, home ground of Arsenal Football Club. I have to say, the stadium is mightily impressive. A 60,000 capacity stadium which was quite frankly astonishing to look at. Another nice touch, for a football fan at least, was the ability to walk up and down the tunnel where the players would come out onto the field. So, for a venue, it scored highly.

All Time Low

In all honesty, I've never been a huge fan of All Time Low. They've never really appealed to me. It also didn't help that I missed their first song (the only one I knew, Lost in Stereo) because I was getting Green Day Merch. Although this performance hasn't made me a super fan, they definitely set the right mood and kept the tempo up. As with a lot of opening bands in big gigs like this one, with most of the fans just wanting to see Green Day and go home, they didn't get the reception they deserved. I've always found a problem with bands like All Time Low that, sometimes, they can't deliver on stage as well as they can in the studio. I can happily say that this is not the case with All Time Low. They sounded amazing. I personal highlight for me was seeing them play Somewhere in Neverland, as well as the second half of Lost In Stereo which I actually caught. However, me and my friends ended up nicknaming them 'All Time Fuck', as after almost every song they would exclaim the word, which was funny to start with, but ended up becoming a bit grating by the fourth song. Other than that, they rocked it and set up the crowd for an awesome evening. I should also point out that All Time Low started playing at 5.20pm, which is pretty early for most gigs. This wasn't a bad thing, however, as I will explain later.

[All Time Low's Setlist]

Kaiser Chiefs

For those of you who don't know, the Kaiser Chiefs are a British rock band who have been fleeting in and out of mainstream fame since their first album. They are a strange entity, as they have had some pretty big hits in the UK, and although many people came to see Green Day, there were enough voices in the crowd singing their songs to warrant see why this is the case. Personally, I haven't really followed Kaiser Chiefs' career intently. I can say, though, that their song Never Miss A Beat was the last physical single I ever bought, so it was gratifying to see them open with the hit. Ok, cut a long story short, Kaiser Chiefs were absolutely incredible live! This is something I was not expecting at all. Like I've said, I don't know many of their songs that weren't singles, but their set kept people moving and they just performed superbly. The highlight for me was actually a song I'd never heard before called Kinda Girl You Are, which has been stuck in my head since the gig. If you ever get the chance to see the Kaiser Chiefs live, I would definitely say go for it, you will not be disappointed.

[Kaiser Chiefs' Setlist]

Green Day

The main event. It was at this point that me and my girlfriend backed into the seats, as we couldn't see a thing through the tightly packed crowd. However, this did not ruin the atmosphere at all - in fact, it made it so much more awe inspiring. Remember I said earlier that the gig started relatively early? That is because Green Day play for on average about 2 hours. They put everything into the did and I love them because of that. As soon as I heard them begin to play their opener, 99 Revolutions, all of my worries and qualms about the band melted away and I just basked in the glory of the performance in front of me. It's hard to express in words the stage presence of Billie Joe Armstrong. He just keeps your eyes on him, daring you to look away, because when you do, you'll miss something magical. In all, the entire band were incredible. Tre did his parts perfectly, and Mike was as reliable as ever, while Jason White and the others also didn't miss a beat. You could almost feel the stadium shaking with anticipation when they first came on, and when they started to play their mega hits and even some other, less known songs, the crowd ate it up so well and that energy stayed until the bitter end. A personal highlight for me was Waiting, as I love the album Warning, and as always their rendition of King For A Day brought a smile to everyone's faces. If I had one problem with the whole gig, it was the fact they didn't play Time of Your Life (Good Riddance). I know this was because of curfew restrictions, and Brutal Love ending the set was pretty damn amazing too, but it seemed a staple of Green Day sets and it was just missing. But what am I complaining about? The songs they played were incredible, the atmosphere was electric and it was everything you could have asked for from a Green Day gig and more. Great stadium, great support and as always, the Great Green Day captivate another UK crowd.

[Green Day's Setlist]

To Wrap Up...

Do I really have to wrap up? I mean, it's Green Day, of course they're going to deliver a captivating and frankly incredible performance in front of the UK fans. I was more surprised by the quality of the warm up acts than the quality of Green Day. All Time Low and Kaiser Chiefs really upped the atmosphere ten fold by keeping the crowd on their feet and did their job warming them up for Green Day to knock them down. It was one of the best gigs I've ever been to and, when Green Day come around again, I'll be waiting...(see what I did there?)

Tumblr, Ho!

Yes, I have a Tumblr now.

This is where I'll post more community stuff etc, and also run more opinion type stuff.

My reviews will still stay on here and I'll link what's on Tumblr to here too.

So, here's a link and I shall see you there!

Tumblr

Take care, guys

Save Rock And Roll by Fall Out Boy - Album Review

REVIEW MOVED TO:

https://rambolicrambler.wordpress.com/

¡Uno!, ¡Dos! & ¡Tre! by Green Day - Album Review(s)

REVIEW MOVED TO:

https://rambolicrambler.wordpress.com/

Humans > Animals - Serious Rant

If you live in the United Kingdom, you've probably heard the terrible news of a teenager being killed by four dogs in the Greater Manchester area. Sadly enough, this tragic scenario plays out far too often, with people, primarily young children, being killed by dangerous and viscous dogs. This may sound ridiculous, but why are we letting these dogs remain in our society when they've been known to attack people on a very, very regular basis?

This has brought up an issue that I have held close to my heart for a long time now. Ever since I've been earning money, I have donated to several different charities. The charities I deem most worthy of my hard earned money are Cancer Research, NSPCC and Amnesty International. Every now and again, however, I am approached in the street by a charity worker who is representing an animal charity, such as the RSPCA or WWF. I'm never rude to these people, but I can tell you now that these people will never see one penny of my money. Why you ask? Because I feel that while we still have humans, our own species, being killed, trafficked into sex industries, starving and dying of curable illnesses, then our attentions have to stay focussed on what is important, preserving human life. 

People who donate to animal charities always come up with the same line every time. "The animals can't protect themselves". Variants of this phrase have been used in the official RSPCA advert drives during the Christmas holidays. This line of argument has always irritated me. Leaving aside the whole evolution side of things which, as an argument against a charity is pretty dickish in itself, this argument assumes that all humans can protect themselves from their circumstances. Bullshit. Do you think that a baby in a war-torn part of Africa who is born into illness and suffering can dictate that he does not deserve this treatment? Do you think a young girl who is abused by her parents every day, physically and mentally, can just open her mouth and make it all stop? Yes, it's sad that animals can't tell you when they're being mistreated, but it's unacceptable when human beings are put in that same position, without a voice and in constant pain. You can say that animal cruelty is always caused by humans and that's why we have to protect them. Well guess what? human cruelty is also caused by humans, and I care much more for a week and helpless child being abused than a puppy. Call me an evil man, but I can't sit idly by while I see people like myself living in such poor circumstances just because they happen to have been born in a different country. That's just wrong. 

So I get back to the original point of this piece. while researching, I have found that, since 2005, eight children and five adults have been killed in dog attacks, with hundreds more being injured in that same time period. That's outrageous. Many of the attacks can be narrowed down to a certain number of dog breeds. For example, in the most recent fatality of a fourteen year old girl, it's been suggested that the dogs involved were Mastiffs and Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Two dogs which have been known for violent attacks for year, and even bred to be attack dogs. I know it's unfair to say an entire dog breed is inherently bad because of its breeding, but these dogs are no longer needed for their bred purposes and are now dangerous to have in modern society. The reason there isn't a more stringent set of Dog Ownership Laws in this country? The animal lobby is too powerful and will not allow it. MPs are scared to vote on such bills as they would lose voters. In my opinion, you would either need to bring in dog licences, if not just for these dangerous dogs then all dogs, or just remove dangerous dogs from this country to stop any more attacks on children and adults alike. My dad was attacked by a dog several times, each time getting progressively worse until it became apparent that this dog was unsafe to have in the community any more. On the last attack, the dog threw him over a car bonnet and pounced on him afterwards. If it wasn't for a neighbour in his community which helped lure the dog away, that dog could have serious injured, even killed my father as a child. He followed legal proceedings with his parents after that to have the dog put down for being a threat to people, in which he was successful. You have the right to say he was cruel for that, but my father feared for his life whenever he walked down his street knowing that dog was there. That's not a life anyone wants to lead. Living in constant fear. Nothing should make you feel that way in your life, be it another person or animal. 

I have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison - Short Story Review

REVIEW MOVED TO:

https://rambolicrambler.wordpress.com/