GamerShindig

Left 4 Dead 2

2009-11-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

I'll be taking a small break from the usual today, and tomorrow I will have the next and last post for dragon age, so it will be more of a wrap up. But, I want to talk about a game I've been anticipating for awhile now, that has a special little niche in my heart. While most people wouldn't say that this game is very deep story-wise, the visual and storytelling elements available will surprise the uninformed. I will also be trying a new style of reviewing you sort of saw before, I'll be chopping this up into three parts: Art, Story, Sound. I think this will better serve the reviewing purpose.

ART

The first Left 4 Dead had a grungy post-apocalyptic look to it that spoke well for the material. However, this game is set in a slightly different tone, since it is held mostly during the daytime hours. It seems the art time went over every thing with an interesting gloss, the blood splatter is shiney and the general look and feel is much richer. Sometimes the levels can be pretty astounding, if it weren't for the hordes of undead monsters lurking in every alley.

The zombies have gotten quite the overhaul, they wear appropriate attire for the area you are in (eg Clowns in the theme park area, and hazmat suits for the quarantine areas) and are quite varied look. Each one has a unique appeal to them, especially the special infected.

The four protaganists are set apart from the normal horde by their obvious color schemes compared to everything else. Most of them are wearing something brighter than the dirty and dank normal zombies and can be clearly distinguished from for game purposes. Valve has done a fantastic job in getting everything to work well within the atmosphere and still look somewhat realistic and interesting.

The art has been given a good bit more personality comparatively to the last game. It now has a recognizable feel to it, as in when you see a screen shot of it, or look at it in passing, you know what it is immediately. This works greatly in it's favor as recognition is one of the steps to making the game quite popular.

STORY

Thought the game is indeed light on story, it does have many elements that keep you guessing. The infection and how it came about is one question that is only hinted at throughout the game, as you go farther into it, you learn a little more each time. The observations by the characters, and the graffiti on the walls in many places just give you a taste as to the origin of this infection.

The backgrounds for the characters themselves is just barely touched, Valve seems to have decided to focus more on the personalities of the characters. They are stuck together, and must survive the horde of monsters that are bearing down on them. The camaraderie that stems from this is apparent the more you play. Some are easier to get into this than others, but in the end the all work for the same goal, escaping the infected horde. Not to mention, some of the dialogue is hilarious, especially Ellis' he seems to have a story for every situation.

Sound

This is an area in which L4D2 excels. Sound is very important in a game like this, for when you're trying to fight your way out of a horde of monsters, you need to know when a special infected is on it's way. All the special infected have a unique noise they make, that gives you a warning to their type and possible origin. In a game like this you need to know whats coming from the front, left, right or back. And they sound designers have done a masterful job at getting this down.

The sound cues are not the only thing that is impressive. The general noises the horde makes, the music that crescendos at the right time to give you that sense of urgency. It's all almost like a movie in which you are the ultimate victim. The music will drive you to do what is necessary to survive, while still keeping your heart pounding as you run for that last leg to get to a safe house. All the while a horde of zombies tail you, growling and gnashing teeth to get at you.

The game can illicit some awesome emotional responses, to the point that some can even get anxious at the thought of completing a run down a hallway or to a ladder. Putting all these elements together makes the game a great visual and audio pleasure. And although it is no art masterpiece, it's intentions are clear. To entertain, and challenge. And it does that in spades.

In-Depth: Dragon Age (2)

2009-11-17T06:41:00.001-08:00

Note: Due to not liking the direction of the first character, I decided to reroll a character. This one would be a human fighter who started off as a noble. The idea for the character was a no-nonsense soldier, who was fiercely loyal to his family and friends, but less inclined to trust outsiders. However, he felt that it was his duty to uphold what was right, even if it broke the law.

Once the intro was over I introduced to my character's father, who was meeting with a noble. My character arrived after a short conversation between the two, after being summoned. I was informed that the troops were to move out soon, to fight a Blight down south. My brother was to lead a contingent of men down, to help in the effort. Being a person inclined to fight, I insisted I should join, but it was to no avail. At this time Duncan, a Grey Warden arrived, he had a short conversation with my father. Apparently he was here looking for recruits, one in particular, but mentioned my potential as well. My father would not have it, and sent me off to inform my brother of his orders.

In route to my brother's quarters I met the aforementioned prospective Grey Warden. The young soldier seemed ecstatic once I told him of Duncan's presence, despite the bit of jealousy I admitted. He did inform me however, that my Marabi was currently in the kitchen pantry and was making a huge racket. He had orders from my mother to go get the dog under control. So the soldier accompanied me to the kitchen where I met the angry cook. It was here that I was exposed to the first signs of racism in Dragon Age. Elves had been a slave race for quite some time, and though they are now 'free' per say, they still hold lowly positions in normal society. The kitchen cook had two Elven aides that she rattled off insults to. As someone quite opposed to such notions, I decided that my character would be as well.

Being the lore nerd that I am I tend to like to have reasons for my character's personality. It could be that my character had a childhood Elf friend, or simply grew up during the freeing of Elven society and pitied them and hated their treatment. Due to this I insulted the cook when it came time, for both mistreating her aides and my dog. When I entered the pantry I found my dog was quite interesting to say the least.

In game lore Marabi are large very smart hounds, who are muscled and look pit-bullish in nature. They look very strong, and have a massive set of jaws and small short hair. Despite the brutish nature I still found the dog somewhat charming as it whined when asked it what was wrong. Apparently the dog had followed rats into the pantry and was hunting them. Large rats suddenly came out of the woodwork, and I got my first taste of battle.

Game mechanics are not my focus, but just to be informative they are very old-style RPG-ish in nature. The abilities are cued and the acted upon once you un-pause the game, or you can do it all in real-time. Once we defeated the rat infestation, the dialogue became quite self aware. The begrudgingly thankful cook mention that this was no silly adventure in which you got paid to hunt down pests. An obvious reference to the many old-school games in which you do just that for most of the early levels.

Once the infestation was cleared the prospective soldier left the party, and me and my dog (Now named Rakhain) headed to my brothers quarters. There I found my brother, with the rest of family. An emotional moment was held, in which the particularly good voice acting helped as my father and mother arrived aswell and we said our goodbyes. After that scene my character went to bed.

------------------------------------------ That Night-----------

I was awoke with a start as one of the servants appeared banging on my door. I got out of bed just in time to see a man run him through as put on my armor. Another taste of combat as I fought my way through a couple men with my loyal dog and reached my mothers room. She apparently a capable fighter, as she took up a sword and shield and joined in on the fray. As we fought our way through the castle, we found several servants who were running away. Through dialogue I was able to convince one of them to fight along side the rest of the defenders. This was a nice touch for those of us who enjoy dialogue as an option other than combat.

Once we reached the main hall I met the prospective Grey Warden again, he said that my father was in the Kitchen trying to find us at the secret escape tunnel. The man bravely held off an invading force as we went off in search of him. We found my father wounded and bleeding on the ground, dying. There was an emotional moment, where he told us that the noble who had visited, a friend he though he could trust, attacked the castle. I swore revenge, just as Duncan arrived covered in blood telling us he held off a small assault coming toward us.

It was here where my father told me to go with the Grey Warden, to exact revenge for our family. I agreed and moved to strike at the offenders, but Duncan stopped me, and told me to escape with him to the south. At first I refused, but at the behest of my father and mother I finally agreed and left them to their fate.

Dragon Age: Origins (Creation Process)

2009-11-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

Once I loaded up the game, the intro cinematic did a good job laying down the basics of the story. Generally it seems that magic is a vary dangerous art in the Dragon Age universe as a cabal of mages created some sort of gate to go to and destroy Heaven. This created a rift, from which something called the blight escapes from and soon monsters pour into the world. These are called the Darkspawn, and they carved a swath throughout the world killing everything in their way. Many armies fell, the first being those of the Dwarves. However, the humans are not far behind as they are beset upon by the dark horde.

The humans are brought to the point of near destruction, until the Grey Wardens are formed. The Grey Wardens are an organization of human, elf, and dwarf kind who have mastered the taint of the blight. With the help of the Grey Wardens the armies of the humans are able to push back the evil and kill the Archdemon who controlled it. With the defeat of the blight, the Grey Wardens are held in a high regard as the saviors of the land and are given special political power. However, after many many years since the last blight was seen, the favor is starting to run short. People are forgetting what the Wardens did, and now the warnings of another blight is on the horizon.

The intro cinematic which was very very good, it had several animated and in-game sections, both of them were animated smoothly and the voices were well done. I moved on to the character select screen, which sort of disappointed. While the mechanics were clear the lighting wasn't and so trying to figure out how I wanted my character to look like was difficult. The sliders added for a little customization but it wasn't extremely noticeable, unless you move the sliders to the extreme options. The races seemed different enough, as did all the backgrounds and class combination you could choose from. Sadly if you pick certain coronations you cannot be certain things, (you cannot be a rogue and a commoner for example.

The game does a good job of giving you a little background information of the classes, races, and backgrounds to get a general feel for your first foray. I picked an Elven Rogue, mainly because I love sneaking around and the lore of the Elves is actually quite interesting. Usually I hate elves, they are not my cup of tea, they are the ultimate form of human pride and manifest it into these semi-perfect beings. However, Elves in Dragon age are a downtrodden race who used to serve as slaves to the humans and have recently gained independence. The Elf Rogue start is of a commoner, not some rich noble, which I find more appealing. Once the background was picked I had to pick a name, and ended up with Rhemus.

The creation process was pretty smooth, though this was a very game mechanics intensive part of the game, I found plenty of art to appreciate. The models look very nice, if a little stiff, and the information offered makes it obvious that Bioware has focused on the story part of this game quite a bit. They obviously want to make it different from a normal fantasy story, a darker more interesting tone. I got the feeling that not all my characters would be flinging spells about and magic won't be everywhere. That serves for a great break from the normal spell-flinging game, and I was excited to get started.

The next post will deal with the beginning experiences with the game, and how the art compels one to immerse yourself into the world of Dragon Age.

In Depth: Dragon Age

2009-11-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well, time to mix it up. I've done a couple general overviews of games. And though they were interesting insights I've decided to do something a little more In Depth. A new game has come out recently, made by the famed developers Bioware. They are responsible for games like Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, and Kights of the Old Republic. A very highly regarded dev team indeed. At first I thought I would just do an overview as I have with the other games. However, once I started playing it I realized that this was a much deeper game than I anticipated. And I did a little research and found out that the game tends to play at around 30ish hours. So due to it's huge size I've decided to take a more methodical approach.

This will be the first of a series of in depth reports on my time playing through Dragon Age. I've decided that the art, story, and audio are all enough to fill at least a couple weeks worth of posts. So shuck your worldly vestments and pick up your sword, lets get ready to delve into a new world.

Once more into the abyss!

2009-11-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

I've apparently been on an MMO kick recently! Well I really wanted to touch on this subject, since it has a special place in my heart. EVE online is a MMO that is unique in one specific way, it has player run areas. Normally, this wouldn't be of much interest as we all know people on the internet aren't the most, shall we say civilized folks. However, this community is different in several ways. Although EVE has very nice graphics and okay audio to compliment it, I will be focusing on it's main strength, story.

EVE is unique in that the players themselves get to contribute to the online community. In this sci-fi MMO based in space, there are sections of space called "zero zero". This means that the in-game NPC police force has no authority in that space, and players can lay claim to land to build corporations, organizations, and even Empires.

And this is where the story of EVE really starts to get interesting. All that happens out there in the zero zero sections of EVE is player driven. And the unique player base, people from all over the world (Mainly U.S. and Europe), help drive stories that are all too unique in their own right. There are assassinations, hostile takeovers, wars, treaties, and disputes of all sorts that go on. And none of it is driven by the developers, the players simply play with the tools given to them.
This has led to very inspiring and interesting stories, as players create a world of their own inside of this virtual one.

In respect to art, this is the ultimate form of community driven story. There is even a CSM (Council of Stellar Management) that is a group of voted player officials that are in contact with the developer team. They help shape the game through the player's point of view adding a new dynamic to how developers can approach the game.

Here are just a few samples of EVE online stories that exemplify what a player run community can create:

http://mmorpg.qj.net/Biggest-scam-in-EVE-Online-history/pg/49/aid/62826
http://eve.klaki.net/heist/

And those are just two examples of what can really be accomplished within this community. There are hundreds of little personal stories like this that happen every day, and as the developers add more functionality to the game it will become more and more intuitive and diverse. Although, game play-wise this game isn't for me, it is one that I enjoy watching very much. My foray into the world yielded a couple gems that were quite entertaining, but eventually I realized I didn't have the time to devote to it. It is a very demanding game, as once you are in the community, you are depended on by all the other pilots in the corporation you work with. The game quickly becomes a second life, and can have as much success and failure as a real one.

The lore that is written by the EVE developers helps when you are not in the player controlled regions of space, but that is where the real story and action is. I think that it is a prime example of dynamic and organic storytelling. It's easy to see how one would get lost in the vast amount of possibilities available. EVE is truly a unique game in those respects.

State of the Blog

2009-10-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Once in awhile I will be doing these 'state of the blog' posts to shed some light on changes or see how it has evolved since I first started this. I do these because it expands on my own idea of what this project will turn into, and will help guide my future posts in being more in line with that idea. So as I have reviewed these games, so shall I review myself in regards to my criticism. The way I see it, this will be either enlightening, or self-loathing, either way you win!

One thing I have noticed quite prominently since I've started is that I have an opinion. That's not surprising in itself really, I have pretty strong opinions and most people don't agree with them. However, when I started this I wanted it to be an objective view on art in the medium. Sadly, that hasn't panned out exactly how I thought it was and it could be because of a few things.

The strongest theory I have is that art in itself cannot be criticized without some sort of opinion on your part. Think about it, what makes people believe that a completely abstract piece is art? When others only see a bunch of shapes and lines and just mutter "My five year old could do that". Are they both considered art? Should they be qualified as art? Who the heck says what is art and what is not? One might think there is a board of art directors out there somewhere making judgment calls a-la Illuminati shadow heads and trickling down information as to what is really art.

Now if we take off our tinfoil hats I think we'll start to understand that art really is subjective. You cannot objectively criticize art. It is a nebulous form of emotion that only applies to certain characteristics. It could be as simple as 'I like art to be completely unchained from reality'. That person would dislike landscapes and art based on real things, why? Well it could be for a yearning to escape reality, or just the though that art should transcend it. Again, it is simply subjective to who is viewing it. I could get into the various forms of visual, textrual, audio and taste that could be used in art, but that would simply reiterate my point.

As is almost everything about humans, Art is contextual, it serves one person differently than it does another person. Why this is? I'm not smart enough to know, but I will continue to insert a little of my opinion in the review process while trying to keep in mind the cons of my opinion. Objective view of something as emotionally attached as art may have been a folly in the first place.

Where is Mankrik's wife?

2009-10-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

The next installment of art talk with Skeleton King has to do with a game that is a little different compared to the previously reviewed ones, World of Warcraft. Yes, you've probably heard of this game, I hear it's quite popular.

Commonly called World of Warcrack due to it's addictive nature (for good reason may I add), this game is a bit of a challenge to review. Why so oh Sultan of Skeletons? You may ask. Well that's because in all normal conventions it's graphical value is almost nil. I lamens terms this means that the game isn't particularly good looking considering today's standards. But, within that ugly exterior is the beauty of it all. World of Warcraft may not be a pretty game when compared to say, Uncharted 2, but it is fantastically artistic in style. The people who work on this game are masters at making due with the available graphics. This is especially true in the newer expansion places like Northrend and Outlands.

Though the texture resolution isn't great most of the time, they use interesting artistic tricks to create a great looking game. This is apparent in some of the new looks druids get when they turn into cat and bear form.

The graphical power needed hasn't changed much, and yet the new models look leagues better than the old ones.

As for story, the game is pretty light on it for the most part, of course this changed with the new expansion as well. Where it used to be that every quest was fetch x and bring y to z. Now there is new twist on the old formula, most of the Northrend quests have an interesting component outside of the formula, like say flying on the back of a dragon and bringing him down with only a spear in one hand.

This is not even to mention the epic happenings at the Wrathgate. This story chain seems like a normal quest at first, till you reach the end of the line and suddenly a in-game cinematic plays and a part of the world is changed completely. This is called 'phasing' and its newly implemented in Wrath of the Lich King. What phasing does is change a small part of the landscape for you when you reach a certain point in the quest. People who have done the quest will see it as you do, and people who haven't will see it as it was. It is an ingenius way to move story along.

The audio in WotLK is pretty good, the music scores are fantastic, and many bosses are voiced to give you a sense of immersion. It is not necessarily the most amazing audio in the industry, and I would say that this is one of the failings of WoW's otherwise addictive nature. Most people I know listen to their own music during play anyway.

All in all WoW was an interesting project, as I am currently playing it myself and now count myself among the 'wow zombies' as a friend of mine put it. None the less it is a great game, and if you can find a good server, the community can be generally nice. Just stay away from the kiddies an the immature people, they can completely ruin an otherwise great experience.

Welcome to the madhouse, Batman!

2009-10-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

In respect to video games based on comics, us gamers get the short end of the stick sometimes. There have been some mediocre games out there in recent years, the Spider-man series, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Hulk Ultimate destruction and Wolverine Origins. And then of course are the complete train wrecks like Iron Man, Superman, and Fantastic Four. In theory these games should be fun, and cool. Who doesn't want to be a super hero and run around beating up bad guys and flying/jumping/swinging your way around huge cities?

But, what happens when you take the most human super hero, get rid of those giant open ended cities, and stick him in an asylum with his most dangerous nemesis? Absolute gold is the answer. To say that Rocksteady, the developers of Batman:Arkham Asylum, have created the most critically acclaimed super hero game in the industry to date, is no lie. The game as reviewed well, and is widely considered and fantastic take on the caped crusader. But, how will it hold up to artistic scrutiny? READ ON TRUE BELIEVERS! (I know wrong universe.)

Holy Graphical Quality Batman!

Oh how I wished the team who worked on the models and environment of this game worked on every game. The textures are beautiful, skies and vistas are enthralling, the bat cape, oh the bat cape! I think they had one person working on the bat cape for the whole development schedule! The way it moves, the way it's textured, the way light reflects off it. The cape seems to have the right weight and despite a few glitches with it clipping through things it is one of the most realistic pieces in a game to date.

The only thing I would detract from the artistic visuals of the game are that often most of the characters seem to be meat heads. Batman is so buff it looks like he would have a hard time raising his hands over his head, and so are most of the goons you come across. I wish that were the only thing, but a mechanic that is in itself interesting and quite fun, destroys a lot of the art. Detective mode covers the world in a filter meant to help batman sniff out the bad guys. It works well within game play mechanics, but it must have made all the hard working artists cry a little when they saw what it did to their beautiful landscapes.

Holy Audio Batman!

The voice actors, oh the voice actors! Forgive me if I gush but Mark Hamil and Kevin Conroy (the voice actors from the much acclaimed animated series) voice Joker and Batman respectively. And they do a fantastic job. Batman keeps a somber and serious tone, speaking confidently and quickly of a situation, Joker throws insults and jests left and right cackling all the while. It is a great take on the characters, and tugs at the heart strings of the little kid in us who used to watch the animated series.

The musical score is good as well, though not as appropriate as Mass Effect in most cases. The score is well deigned and hits the right notes between combat and exploration. It does its job well when trying to create suspenseful moments during moments when you are the predator, and causes the right amount of excitement when you are caught or in battle.

Holy overused jokes batman!

The story is very well developed. I can't say much without revealing a good amount of spoilers, but let us just say that Scarecrow couldn't have been put in a better role. And the way the story moves along despite Joker just being an ambient voice over loud speakers is a testament to the overall game. The final confrontation however, brings a lot to be desired, and left me with a bit of disappointment.

Overall this game is more than just an acceptable video game, it deserves all the credit it gets and has fantastic overall artistic value. If you haven't checked it out I recommend you do.

Sometimes crazy is the best way to go.

2009-10-20T10:46:00.001-07:00

"Why Skeleton King!", you say with mouth agape. "That game is almost two years old, why are you analyzing this!?"

Well, I would tell you that I am because the market today moves so quickly that it barely focuses good games that have gone by and exclusively on everything new and shiny in the world. Also, that I as a great researcher feel it is my duty to take a look at all these magnificent games that are a little aged, and bring them to the spotlight so I may share memories with those who have played, and expose people who haven't.

But, that would be a lie.

Fact is, as a poor college student, I don't have many resources available to me to review many new games artistically. And although I will be taking some newer games into account, I have to pace myself with my money, since other options *COUGHDOWNLOADINGILLEGALLYCOUGH* are not open to me. That is not to mention that I know the game pretty well, having played through it a couple times, and enjoyed it. So I think it's a good start to my little project here. Fasten your seat belts folks, it's gonna be a funky ride!

Ah unreal engine 3, how I love your pop up textures and weird plastic muppet human models. Mass Effect would do so much better with a little overhaul when it comes to the human models, maybe it is something to do with the imagination of the designers, but the aliens look much better than most of the human models. It seems like the faces had been made out of some sort of plastic, molded over a skeletal structure and the moving parts are jerkily animated by thousands of tiny clockwork gnomes. It's no secret that the human body is very hard to get right, so I can't complain too much about this part but I can surely point out its faults.

Other than the human models, and the pop-in textures that appear when loading a new area. Mass Effect pulls off the look of a space drama quite well, all the ships of the different races look very unique in style. The alien races themselves are imaginative and even likable in some cases. Although, they do sometimes fall into the 'various human personalities' problem where the races are characterized by standardized human psychological personalities. This kind of takes the edge off at first, but when you start to delve into the stories behind each race then you start to realize how amazingly detailed and different they are.

And this brings up one of the major strengths of Mass Effect, Story. When you first start the game you are fed a little data, and can get a feel for the universe around you. However, you don't delve in, you aren't immersed till you find out all the little details. When you first find the Codex, and you realize that there is a ever expanding encyclopedia of knowledge at your fingertips. It only gets bigger as you go further in the game and almost all of this is fully voiced. I cannot tell you the benefits this adds to the overall feel of the game. Sure you can read faster than the voice actor can say the text, but it gives you all the experience of a sci-fi universe. Everything is presented in a sleek and easy to use fashion within the codex. And it helps show you how deep the makers of this game have gone to make a very lively and rich world.

Another strength of Mass Effect is the music. At first some might be put off by the odd synth music that greets you at the title screen, its not like most sci-fi presentations now a day. However, it quickly gives you a sense of uniqueness for this game, it isn't just another space marine shooter with grunting men and aliens to blast away left and right. On the contrary, you can even form a romantic relationship with one. The music keeps a good temp and beat through the entire game, and helps move the action along with great effect.

Now comes one of the most disappointing parts of this game, the exploration levels. Once you are free to move about the galaxy, you get a feeling of freelance agent that can find all these wonderful and interesting worlds. This however, is not the case for the most part. The side-missions often send you to barren worlds, devoid of any life and dotted with things you can salvage and nodes you can mark. All these things serve to disappoint you. The worlds have no true schemes of their own, they are very barren for the most part, only offering you a couple color palettes, and some mild weather effects. Overall these sections are the most 'game-y' parts of the title and offer no real value aside XP and items.

With Mass Effect 2 coming up soon I hope they revisited these parts of the game, and improve an the already fantastic musical score and story. If I had my way I would have revamped human models (So their hair doesn't look like molded play dough) and breath some sort of life into the side-mission worlds. They have a world with a very rich history on their hands, all they need to do is feed it some more vistas, colorful textures, and realistic models. Let the environment artists go crazy, and let us explore another universe that seems just as real as our own.

And so it begins...

2009-10-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

This blog is an experiment of sorts, mainly a way for me to try out my own little way of writing a research paper. Why am I doing this on a blog might you ask? Well then, I'd be obliged to tell you that I was just curious as to how the blogging dynamic could affect someone writing research about a certain topic.

At first I thought, how could a student sit down for hours on end and write line after line of text in a mind-numbingly boring fashion without growing some sort of pattern, or cutting some corners? Well I don't think they can. While you can take little breaks to relieve some of that monotony, there is no way to guarantee that once you get back into the grind, it'll just be the same old same old till you can go do something fun.

So I thought it would be interesting to try blogging. Now, I know this format isn't what it used to be. Blogging used to be the twitter of the internet, just more long winded. It was a place where boring people talked about boring things, that nobody cared about. But, it's evolved into something a little different, to get people to follow your blog you have to do something most people aren't.

Be Interesting.

And that is what I will attempt to do, now I'm not touting the fact that I'm more interesting than other people(maybe a little weirder)but, I can try to make this somewhat entertaining without causing the reader to fall into a coma. So I hope that you'll enjoy this short little foray into the art in video games, and maybe a little of myself as well. (Not too much don't want to scare you off)