Halloween Sale 16

The Steam Halloween Sale 2016 is over tomorrow. I picked up a couple of small games but I figured I would finally take a plunge so I picked up the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. bundle on the cheap.

I have hear a lot about the series over the years. You play as a stalker, a mercenary/scavenger in and around Chernobyl and Pripyat.

The very idea is awesome. Sneaking around the nuclear poisoned ruins, dodging enemies and hunting mutants. Really cool, but there is a hitch.

The camera bobbing is hideous. It is extreme to say the least. I'm not prone to motion sickness, but twenty minutes of the first game gave me a headache. A literal headache and mild nausea. I've understood that the two sequels are better in that aspect, but I wanted nothing to do with it.

What also surprised me was that the graphics were so dated in my eyes. Granted, it came out in 2007, but I have played older games that looked better.

In the end I gave up and put in for my first Steam refund, which worked really well. You can't do it through the client, rather you have to go via their online help page. Fill in a short explanation and click send. In no time at all, I got it approved and my funds have been returned as I'm writing this.

Instead, I put down the money and bought Hard West. A reviewer described it as a mix of the old Desperados game, X-COM and the Deadlands rpg. I was sold.

Desperados is one of my all time favorite games. I love the turn based strategy of X-COM. And I ran Deadlands games for years. I really like weird west stuff.

So far, I have only completed two missions and the tutorial. The first one took me three tries, but I aced the second, and I have the game set to easy. The hard in Hard West is true folks, make no mistake. Overall the feeling and the design is excellent, and I'm looking forward to continuing my journey.

There are a few things one has to keep in mind though. Like you can move and then shoot, but not vice versa. That led to the death of my main character as he got stuck in the open with predictable results.

Since I haven't yet played enough to really review it I can't recommend it yet, but it looks really promising, and if you also like the whole wild/weird west thing, you should give it a look.

Alright, that's me done for today. Until next time, have a great week y'all!

Butchers of Berlin

It's been a while since I've reviewed any books, but today we're changing that.

Today I want to go over the novel Butchers of Berlin by Chris Petit (2016).

I haven't ready any of Mr. Petit's other works, but based on Butchers, he is one hell of a writer.

The book is set in Berlin in 1943, which means it's smack in the middle of World War II. Our “hero” is August Schlegel, a cop who works on financial crimes as a part of Kripo (short for Kriminalpolizei or criminal police). He none the less gets pulled in on a murder investigation that leads to some very dark places.

It should be pointed out that Butchers of Berlin (or BoB) is a fairly gruesome novel. Due to the setting and the theme, it needs to be nasty and I commend Mr. Petit for making it so, while not going overboard. Some readers might disagree, and if you're sensitive to blood, cruelty and such things, maybe give BoB a miss. At the same time, it's not too much. I found no part where the book revels in gore just to shock and be sensational, to the contrary, I'd say it actually pulls back a bit.

The mystery at the core of the book is convoluted and takes more than a few twists and turns, but as it should, it all gets wrapped up in the end.

I haven't read any others of Mr. Petit's works, but based on this I want to. He writes well, but with an interesting twist. I don't think there was a single back and forth dialog in the entire book. Instead it looks something like this:

A: “I think it's time for dinner.”

B agreed and added that he was hungry.

It threw me for a loop at first, and a lesser writer would probably have gotten lost, but Mr. Petit makes it work and at times it helps the text flow smoother. Once I got used to it, I really liked it as there was no useless comments anywhere in sight.

Overall BoB is a well researched book with a great story and good characters. It's worth noting that some of the people that show up actually existed for real. I won't spoil which ones, it's all explained in the appendix.

Bottom line: Butchers of Berlin is a great mystery/thriller set against the backdrop of war torn Berlin with all the misery, paranoia, corruption and horror one would expect to find there. If that's your thing, I highly recommend it.

That's it for me, join me again next Monday for more Eccentric Spheres. Until then, have a great week!

Dark Controller

For years I've been fascinated by the gaming phenomenon that is Dark Souls.

If you're not in the know, Dark Souls is a, as the name suggests, dark fantasy game. There are three games in the series so far, with two Demon Souls games and the gothic Bloodborne on the side. The latter three games are only available on the Playstation, so that's me out.

What all these game have in common is the Third Person style of play and a brutal difficulty level. There is no easy mode anywhere in sight. Every fight, every enemy is hard and can kill you if you slip up even a little. I've seen some truly impressive videos by players with genuine skill who are able to dance effortlessly through the games, but this is a skill they have earned the hard way: through countless hours filled with sweat, frustration and swearing. They have earned the ability to run around at will thumbing their noses at the horrors inhabiting the world, but even they slip up and die. No one is truly safe.

But Dark Souls is never unfair and it never cheats. Instead it constantly pushes you to be better or quit. And every time you die, you learn something. The placement of an enemy, a fighting technique, a new way to approach the game and so on. This, and the dark but gorgeous atmosphere ultimately made me take the plunge. I found the first Dark Souls on Steam for a fiver, so even if I hated it, it was no loss. So far I love it, but the thought of firing up the game is intimidating. I'm on the second boss, the Taurus Demon, and he is Hard. Yes the capital h is no typo. The kicker? He isn't really that hard, not compared with what awaits further ahead, mostly it's all in my head. Still, I'm excited to get there, and this I suppose is the true allure of the Dark Souls universe.

Before I could start playing however, I had to make a choice. These games are designed with controllers in mind, and although you can play with mouse and keyboard, like I do, it makes the game even harder. Thus I took another plunge and bought the Steam Controller. I wavered between it and an Xbox controller for quite a while, but I came down on the Steam Controller's side and I think I made the right choice.

The Steam Controller is different from it's competitors mainly in the fact that instead of a second joystick, it has a track-pad. You know, the mouse replacing square on a laptop? This gives it (perhaps) more flexibility, but being completely new to me, is another thing I have to learn. So far, I'm very happy with my choice. The fact that you can make up a control scheme for the Steam Controller and upload it to Steam for others to use, is a great tool, and one that I have already availed myself of.

My one complaint, is the D-pad. Compared to other controllers out there it feels clunky and very loud. It's not a silent little click, it's a loud CLICK every time. This I feel they could have improved on a little, but apart from this issue, it's been great so far.

Well, I'm done for this time, so have a nice and easy week!

Haunted Honeymoon

Another Monday, another Eccentric Sphere.

Today I want to talk about a movie that I recently re-watched after not having seen it since the late 80's. It popped up into my awareness due to the death of one it's man actors: Gene Wilder.

Today were looking at Haunted Honeymoon (1986).

Haunted Honeymoon is a fun little movie. It's never going to be one of the greats, but it has aged surprisingly well, and it is pretty well made. Interestingly, the name is essentially misleading, since the two main characters are about to get married, not recently wed, so there is no actual honeymoon in the film. Not that it matter the least, it's just a funny piece of pedantry.

The film deals with Larry Abbot, a huge radio-play star and his upcoming wedding as well as his unraveling sanity. I won't say more to avoid spoilers.

So what do we have here? Solid actors for one. Everyone does their job with real style. All the other elements work really well, with my favorite being sound. This film has great sound, in part because they used the same techniques common to the old radio plays. This naturally ties in very well with the story itself.

The scenery is worth talking about. You may think it looks incredibly cheesy and theatrical as opposed to cinematic and you would be right. However, there is a good reason for this, so be patient.

Haunted Honeymoon is one of those films that explain very little until the very end. It's only 86 minutes, so you won't have to wait too long, but I think it's worth it.

As I said, it's not a “cinematic great”, but it's a neat movie that does what it does very well. I also think it's genuinely funny, so I absolutely recommend giving it a look.

Until next time, have a ghost free week!

Wow, really?

Hello friends and welcome to Eccentric Spheres for a lesson in weird facts!

Yes, it's once again time to take a look at some of the odd and amazing things and people that populate the spinning ball of rock and molten iron we call Earth.

As usual, the facts are borrowed from Kickassfacts.com.

1. During the early 20th century, there was some interest in mock dueling with pistols loaded with wax bullets. The sport first gained popularity in France, and heavy canvas clothing was worn to protect the body, a metal helmet with a thick glass plate protected the head and face, and the pistols were often equipped with guards on the front of the trigger guard that extended outwards to protect the shooter’s hand. For a brief time it was popular, and was featured during the 1908 Summer Olympics.

2. W.V Meadows of West Point, Georgia, was shot in the eye at the battle of Vicksburg on July 1, 1863 during the American Civil War. He survived and fifty eight years later, he unexpectedly coughed the bullet out of his mouth on July 21, 1932.

3. A sharp knife does less damage to the cell walls of an onion, releasing less propanethial S-oxide, the irritant that causes you to cry.

4. Obsidian blades are so sharp (3 nm thick) that, on a cellular level, obsidian knives will cut between cells rather than tear the cells as steel knives would do, these blades were used to make blades in the Stone Age and they are now being used in modern surgery because it is sharper than metal.

5. In the late 1950s, psychologist Milton Rokeach conducted an experiment called The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. Three schizophrenics who claimed themselves to be Jesus were brought together have their reactions documented. In the end, each came to the conclusion that the other two must have mental issues.

6. In the 1960’s, US army did an experiment, where two people without nuclear training had to design a nuke with only access to public available documents and they succeeded.

7. No one knows who invented the fire hydrant, because its patent was destroyed in a fire.

8. Disney World is the largest consumer of fireworks in the United States. The park also launches the fireworks with compressed air instead of gunpowder to reduce fumes and gain better height and timing.

9. Two scientists proved time dilation by each flying around the world (east and west) carrying 4 synchronized atomic clocks. Upon landing, they compared them to atomic clocks they’d left on the ground and found that their clocks were no longer in sync.

10. “Fire Fighting” and “kite flying” were featured at the 1900 Olympics in Paris. 

That's it for me, so until next time, have an interesting week!