(There are some minor spoilers in this review.)
Van Helsing. Where to even begin with this show. Let's start with the basics. Van Helsing is a show on SyFy that centers around a woman named Vanessa. As the first episode starts, you see an unconscious Vanessa lying on a metal table in a nondescript medical room of some sort. She suddenly wakes up to find the world she once knew decimated, the human race enslaved by vampires and her daughter is missing. It does not take long for the viewer to understand that, though her last name is not Van Helsing, Vanessa is going to be the vampire slayer in this series. It is made quite clear that she is a reluctant savior of mankind and we are to follow her story to ascension. That is if I last that long.
As this series starts, you are introduced to a bleak world and a soldier named Axel who is hold up in a now defunct hospital building that he has made his fortress since the Uprising started. He takes in a group of people running from vampires. And this is when everything takes a free falling nose dive and I am ready to check out. Every new group introduced on this show seems to feel as if they own whatever save haven they have been invited into and suddenly begins making all the rules. I instantly became irritated with the entire lot and simply wished for them to be thrown back outside. Well not all. Mohammed and Sam could stay. But I'll get back to that later.
It becomes very apparent that Axel is the leader that no one wants to listen to. But no one has a choice but to listen, because he is the only one with any common sense. In the mean time, Vanessa does not seem to care that world is full of monsters, she can heal almost instantaneously or that she woke up with ninja-like fighting abilities. She simply wants to scour the streets of Seattle to find her daughter. No map, no plan, no clues where to start. She is just going to look around and hope for the best. Never mind she has been unconscious for 3 years and everything she knew about the world is obsolete. So Axel is doing everything in his power to keep this motley crew together and alive. And the group is seems to be doing anything it can to make that task as difficult as possible.
Let's talk about the antagonists, the vampires. There is a main ruling power, a brother sister duo whom all vampires bow the knee, Dimitri and Rebecca. But whenever there is someone with great power, there will always be those who are trying to take it. So that does give some underlying intrigue mixed in with the main plot that is human enslavement. From the vampire's point of view, the viewers first hear about the human rebellion and how Vanessa's existence is a problem that needs to be dealt with. It becomes apparent that it is race to see who can get to Vanessa first; the vampires or the humans. By this point, I am rooting for the vampires, because the humans are driving me insane.
My shining light in this mess was Mohammed and Sam. They looked out for each other. And unlike the rest, understood the situation they were in. Stronger together and all of that. Mohammed was the resourceful young one and Sam was the gentle giant. The relationship between these two characters was very heart warming and endearing. And I wanted nothing more than for these two to persevere to the end. Notice how I said was? Yep. Thanks Van Helsing for dousing that flickering candle with a bucket of ice water, you beasts. I can hear you.
When protagonists started dying, because let's face it, that was pretty much inevitable, I was happy instead of grieved. One less idiot to be squawking about what they want, who they don't trust and a whole laundry list of grievances which they should have been kicked in the teeth for having in the first place. But, even in dying, these characters still manage to be incredibly stupid. And yes, I'm talking about that door scene with Doc and Axel. What the holy fish sticks was that? Again, I'm rooting for the vampires. My only qualm with them is that I wish they would wipe their mouths every once in a while.
I don't know what is going on in this show. There is a reluctant hero who has no interest in saving anyone. The group that surrounds her only survives because a Marine is brute forcing them into survival and even that proves to not be enough in the end. There is mystery and intrigue that surrounds Vanessa and who she is, but honestly, I just can't make myself care. The show feels like it is throwing everything it can at the wall and seeing what sticks. Who knows, maybe the vampires will get a spin off show. I'd give that a chance.
A while back, I was watching a stream on Twitch TV where one of the viewers requested the caster to play Botanicula. From the moment the game started, I was hooked. I not only wanted to play the game myself, I wanted everyone to know about it and play it as well. Recently, I streamed this game over at Community Casters Live. These are my thoughts on Botanicula.
The premise of the game is pretty simple. Some evil, black, spider thing has come to town and is sucking the life out of all the trees. Trees which house teeming amounts of life, including the group of "heroes" this game centers around. It is your job to protect a seed that escaped the bad spider, make your way to the ground with it, and plant it so it grows a new tree.
A simple story with a simple goal, but nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to actually playing this game. Botanicula is a quirky, point and click puzzle game that takes a grand step outside of the box. Personally, I'm not sure the designers of this game even knew that a box existed to begin with. The game has lots of unexpected happenings, interesting characters, and many peculiar things that make you simply want to click everything, just to see what it does.
There is really no description about this game that would do it any justice. The art style is very unique and lends itself to the whimsy and bizarre feelings the game produces. The characters in the game do not actually speak, but instead, simply make sounds and noises that resemble speech. I thought that was interesting. I absolutely loved the music, especially at the end of certain puzzles.
Botanicula is on the short side when compared to the play time of other games. Of course it does depend on how quickly you see patterns and solve puzzles. I would definitely recommend it, just for the experience alone. Everyone I know who has seen this game has asked "What is this?" and so far no one has come up with a comprehensive answer. We usually say something along the lines of "We aren't sure". It is a game, you should play it. I believe that will always be the best response.
So for those who don't know, last month I was made Columns Editor at Unsung Heroes (www.the-ush.com). And while that might not have shocked anyone else, it was definitely a huge shock to me. In just about one year's time, I went from being no one to being an editor. I had my reservations about accepting the position. I have a pretty busy life and things are only going to get busier. However, I took this as something that would break up the monotony of what my every day life has to be bring me.
Speaking of the USH, I got another review up for this month. I took at look at Romantically Apocalyptic. You can click this link and see what my thoughts were on that particular webcomic. One thing that I will say, the art is really fantastic. I am hoping to get back to doing podcasts, but we will see how that goes. Life just got really crazy for both me and Frankie since April and things are just starting to settle back down. Hopefully we can crank out enough for summer time and wish for the best when fall comes. It would be so much easier if we lived in the same place. But, work with what you got.
I find it odd that the moment I become Column Editor, we get two new columnists. One of them debuted today and the other is still in the works. So if any of you happen to like DnD and want to learn how to make a rogue tank (I know, boggles the mind, right?) head over to the site and read the first installment of Natural Twenties. I can definitely say that I was hooked by it and I'm not saying that because of bias.
Brainstorming for UnSung is happening and I have no idea if I'm going to ride this train or watch it pull out of the station. My skeptic and my optimist are definitely at war with one another (again).I guess only time is going to tell on this one. For right now, I am going to sit on Team Skeptic and just do what it is that I'm in charge of. If I'm wrong, then I will switch sides.
So, shameless plug. But I figure if you are looking at my blog, it is all about me anyway. May marks one year of me writing Click Here For Comics over at UnSung Heroes. Honestly, I never really expected it to go for this long or for it to be as welcomed on the site as it is. Writing about webcomics had been something that I wanted to do for several months before I was introduced to the site. I was looking for a platform to stand on and they gave me one.
Honestly, I was expecting to be looked over since I didn't really have that strong of a background in print comics. Sure I knew about them, but I had just started reading some of the larger name in print comics and had a lot of learning to do when it come to super heroes and all that. However, that didn't seem to matter. I knew webcomics, knew what I liked and what I didn't like and people seemed to be pretty receptive to that.
If I had time to write more than just one article a month, I would. Doing this had sent me searching for other things to write about, different genres to look at and consider, and giving me the ability to say "Yeah, this is a good comic, however, I'm just not the target audience.". I have a lot of fun writing these. I have yet to sit down in front of a blank screen and say "Oh good Lord, I have to do this again.". I always have a feeling of, "Which one on this list am I going to do this week!"
I think the icing on this cake was given to me a few weeks ago when someone suggested a webcomic for me to look at review. Me handing out thoughts on a topic is one thing. Someone actually wanted to hear my thoughts is definitely something different. Makes me feel like I have built somewhat of a re pore and that's pretty cool.
So now that I have made it a full year, how long do I plan on keeping this up? Honestly I don't know. I guess I just ride it out until it's over. And I have no idea when that will be. But, webcomics is always going to be something that is near and dear to my heart. And I will probably be talking about them from now until forever as long as there is someone to listen.
On that note, let me plug the lastest edition of Click Here For Comics where I review the comic, Fey Winds.
Click and enjoy!
