Serena and War of the Worlds

[lathany]

Yesterday I played a new game and watched a new film. This was despite all the travel chaos caused by various problems on my route (it took my an extra hour to get into work, so I left early).

I downloaded Serena from Steam and played it. It's free and only takes about an hour. It's produced by the people who created Scratches and will be producing Asylum. The result is an hour long point-and-click horror game which is more story than game. It's all set in one small location and is about clicking objects to learn more (entirely mouse-driven). The narrator is Serena's husband and he is missing her, but can not remember why she is not there. If you like the genre at all, it's worth a look not least because of the combination of free and short. It's not the most original story ever and has a few bits and pieces which seem to be in the game because the designers wanted to include them rather than because they were appropriate (basically referencing a specific background). However, it's all wonderfully creepy and memorable. I got into the habit of clicking every object until the text cycled to ensure I wasn't missing anything. I'm not convinced by the game engine which is all a bit retro (you phase from one place to the next rather than walking), but it's better than that awful one I had to operated for Darkness Within: Dark Lineage. Turns out that the creators dedicated this game to Serena Nelson (I haven't heard of her, but that doesn't mean much) who was treated rather horribly in public. Rock, Paper, Shotgun comments that this game is "A dark, gruesome adventure game, portraying loss and misery, named for someone who went through tough times at the hands of a prize jerk. I mean, flowers work too." Incidentally, the Rock, Paper, Shotgun review is spot on, if anyone is interested.

The film is question was War of the Worlds which came out in the middle of the last decade, starred Cruise, was produced by Spielberg and was generally a critical success. I didn't like it that much. I'd never read War of the Worlds or heard the radio version (but I did already know the punchline); however, bateleur tells me that the film isn't that close to the original source material. The critics raved about how it was a wonderful modern take on the theme. I didn't feel that. The effects are lovely and the horror set-pieces are well-done with plenty of tension, but I never felt that they were put together into a consistent story. I was constantly wondering why some person or the aliens did what they did (answer: to set up the next set-piece). Also, this film is mostly praised for being a film that doesn't glorify war, that weapons fail and that the key tactic is running away. Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that the one "weapon" success is - you guessed it - Cruise and, because he's lucky/awesome/Cruise, he's saved from dying from this because the other humans in the film (for pretty much the only occasion) do their best to rescue him. Overall, I felt it was a Cruise vehicle, featuring a rather good performance from Dakota Fanning, that fell a little too much into the "separated parent tried to reconnect with kids" pattern (with all the standard parental disconnects copied from other films and TV) that Hollywood is rather fond of.

Finally, I finished Torchlight II. And it turns out that Reeve does not like my pet. Said pet is a cat called Indy who mews. Reeve finds this disturbing.

Comments

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip re Serena! -- I really liked Scratches.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you thought of Serena.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Interesting! -- not sure it really is even a game as such, but it's a nice example of what can be done with changing state of objects. I did at first get a bit frustrated trying to make sense of how to unfold stuff, but once I realized it was pretty much click on everything in sight repeatedly, I was prepared to put up with that for a short game and an interesting story.