Reviews for November 2017
Nov. 24th, 2017 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI realise I've never explicitly said this, but each section is roughly ordered from most liked to least.
Animated:
Recovery of an MMO Addict: I love this anime about an unemployed 30 year old Japanese woman who spends her days playing a male character in an online game, making friends and having endearing identity porn shenanigans with a the guy playing her character's female bff. It is very much not trying to be actually queer, but does play around with gender roles a little, and so far nothing has actively prevented me from headcanoning the main characters as bi and trans. The most recent episode had some unfortunate implicit transmisogyny from the narrative, and it will plausibly all end very heteronormatively, but for now I'm having fun.
Princess Principal: appears to be the result of the writer wanting a cold war spy thriller, the character designer wanting cute teenage girls in steampunk goth lolita outfits, and the background artists aiming for accurate Victorian details. But once I got used to that (and the random ninja girl) I really enjoyed it! Enjoyable spy stories and emotionally complex female characters having interesting relationships with each other. Super femslashy, and while it has sad parts it's overall pretty uplifting.
RWBY: I initially dismissed this US-made animated show as generic, uncanny valley CGI "teen girls at battle school", but some friends persuaded me to give it another shot and it's really grown on me. I've gotten used to the animation, and the characters and their relationships are a lot of fun. The worldbuilding is pretty silly, but the overarching plot holds together pretty well.
The Ancient Magus's Bride: A depressed Japanese girl harassed by magic creatures noone else can see sells herself into slavery and is bought by an ancient English mage with a animal skull for a head. He takes her on as an apprentice, and says he wants her to be his bride, though it's not clear what he means by this, and their relationship is mostly just him teaching her magic and protecting her. I'm stalled on this, it's not bad for what it is but has been a bit too bittersweet and plotless for me, and the power relationship weirds me out even though it apparently never gets too creepy.
Movies:
Thor Ragnarok: This was a lot of fun! Great characters, sparkling plot, and cool action, with a subtle undercurrent of anti-colonialism. The main flaw was it never gave itself time to just sit and sincerely feel things, instead always rushing on to the next joke or explosion.
Books:
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries 1 by Martha Wells: I knew I'd love this when I got around to reading it and I did. The protagonist is a cheaply made cyborg clone working as a bored security unit for a scientific expedition and hoping the humans won't bother it by being cruel or, nearly as bad, trying to make conversation. But then things start going wrong and Murderbot (as it has dubbed itself) and the humans have to work together and maybe even become friends. Short, easy to read, and super fun.
The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian: A great m/m regency romance about an upright gentleman soldier and lower class fixer having to work together and being annoyed to find themselves falling in love.
Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole: two slaves on opposite sides of the US war of Independence have to navigate their complex allegiances and the constant danger. Didn't quite click for me for some reason, but never pissed me off and was still an enjoyable story of two decent people overcoming a really difficult situation and finding happiness together.
Games:
Abzu (Windows only): a gentle and beautiful ocean exploration game with simple puzzles and a slow, ambiguous plot. It's made by people who worked on Journey, and is very similar in feel and structure. Sometimes it felt a bit repetitive and dull, and the plot didn't quite make sense to me in the end, but it was heart stoppingly beautiful in parts and overall a wonderful experience. You can't die or fail, but there are some emotionally tense and sad parts, and while my poor coordination and reaction times never stopped me in my tracks they did make some parts a little frustrating.
Opus Magnum: An alchemy themed puzzle game about constructing molecules using levers and tracks. From the makers of Spacechem. Absolutely my favourite Zachtronics game yet, the puzzles are challenging but feel do-able with some effort. The community made games are a fun addition and the little included solitaire game is surprisingly enjoyable. The plot and characters are basic but competent and add a nice bit of extra meaning to the progression of puzzles.
Subnautica (early access, Windows only): I've gotten as far in the plot as is currently possible and am impatiently waiting for them to finish it! It's still flawed but some of the more annoying bugs have been fixed, and I've had a lot of fun exploring pretty underwater landscapes and gathering/crafting.
Engare: A gorgeous but flawed geometric design puzzle game inspired by islamic art, with tools to create your own designs. Could be frustrating to use sometimes, and is quite short, but is unique and interesting.
Freddie Fish and Kelp Seeds: A light, enjoyable kids' point and click game about a fish finding her grandma's missing seeds.
The Eyes of Ara: a point and click puzzle game in the style of Myst that I discovered at PAX. I've stalled on it but it's enjoyable enough. The puzzles are fine but the flavour text on letters etc is often unneccesarily hard to read.
Sumico the numbers game (Windows only): a puzzle game about connecting numbers and numerical operators to create specific number goals. Perfectly fine but didn't really grab me.
Spy Fox in Dry Cereal: The first Humungous children's point and click game I've disliked. It's not clever enough to carry off the quippy spy cool it's going for, and the plot irritated me (an evil goat has stolen all the cows to force everyone to drink "gross" goat milk. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH GOAT MILK)
Animated:
Recovery of an MMO Addict: I love this anime about an unemployed 30 year old Japanese woman who spends her days playing a male character in an online game, making friends and having endearing identity porn shenanigans with a the guy playing her character's female bff. It is very much not trying to be actually queer, but does play around with gender roles a little, and so far nothing has actively prevented me from headcanoning the main characters as bi and trans. The most recent episode had some unfortunate implicit transmisogyny from the narrative, and it will plausibly all end very heteronormatively, but for now I'm having fun.
Princess Principal: appears to be the result of the writer wanting a cold war spy thriller, the character designer wanting cute teenage girls in steampunk goth lolita outfits, and the background artists aiming for accurate Victorian details. But once I got used to that (and the random ninja girl) I really enjoyed it! Enjoyable spy stories and emotionally complex female characters having interesting relationships with each other. Super femslashy, and while it has sad parts it's overall pretty uplifting.
RWBY: I initially dismissed this US-made animated show as generic, uncanny valley CGI "teen girls at battle school", but some friends persuaded me to give it another shot and it's really grown on me. I've gotten used to the animation, and the characters and their relationships are a lot of fun. The worldbuilding is pretty silly, but the overarching plot holds together pretty well.
The Ancient Magus's Bride: A depressed Japanese girl harassed by magic creatures noone else can see sells herself into slavery and is bought by an ancient English mage with a animal skull for a head. He takes her on as an apprentice, and says he wants her to be his bride, though it's not clear what he means by this, and their relationship is mostly just him teaching her magic and protecting her. I'm stalled on this, it's not bad for what it is but has been a bit too bittersweet and plotless for me, and the power relationship weirds me out even though it apparently never gets too creepy.
Movies:
Thor Ragnarok: This was a lot of fun! Great characters, sparkling plot, and cool action, with a subtle undercurrent of anti-colonialism. The main flaw was it never gave itself time to just sit and sincerely feel things, instead always rushing on to the next joke or explosion.
Books:
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries 1 by Martha Wells: I knew I'd love this when I got around to reading it and I did. The protagonist is a cheaply made cyborg clone working as a bored security unit for a scientific expedition and hoping the humans won't bother it by being cruel or, nearly as bad, trying to make conversation. But then things start going wrong and Murderbot (as it has dubbed itself) and the humans have to work together and maybe even become friends. Short, easy to read, and super fun.
The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian: A great m/m regency romance about an upright gentleman soldier and lower class fixer having to work together and being annoyed to find themselves falling in love.
Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole: two slaves on opposite sides of the US war of Independence have to navigate their complex allegiances and the constant danger. Didn't quite click for me for some reason, but never pissed me off and was still an enjoyable story of two decent people overcoming a really difficult situation and finding happiness together.
Games:
Abzu (Windows only): a gentle and beautiful ocean exploration game with simple puzzles and a slow, ambiguous plot. It's made by people who worked on Journey, and is very similar in feel and structure. Sometimes it felt a bit repetitive and dull, and the plot didn't quite make sense to me in the end, but it was heart stoppingly beautiful in parts and overall a wonderful experience. You can't die or fail, but there are some emotionally tense and sad parts, and while my poor coordination and reaction times never stopped me in my tracks they did make some parts a little frustrating.
Opus Magnum: An alchemy themed puzzle game about constructing molecules using levers and tracks. From the makers of Spacechem. Absolutely my favourite Zachtronics game yet, the puzzles are challenging but feel do-able with some effort. The community made games are a fun addition and the little included solitaire game is surprisingly enjoyable. The plot and characters are basic but competent and add a nice bit of extra meaning to the progression of puzzles.
Subnautica (early access, Windows only): I've gotten as far in the plot as is currently possible and am impatiently waiting for them to finish it! It's still flawed but some of the more annoying bugs have been fixed, and I've had a lot of fun exploring pretty underwater landscapes and gathering/crafting.
Engare: A gorgeous but flawed geometric design puzzle game inspired by islamic art, with tools to create your own designs. Could be frustrating to use sometimes, and is quite short, but is unique and interesting.
Freddie Fish and Kelp Seeds: A light, enjoyable kids' point and click game about a fish finding her grandma's missing seeds.
The Eyes of Ara: a point and click puzzle game in the style of Myst that I discovered at PAX. I've stalled on it but it's enjoyable enough. The puzzles are fine but the flavour text on letters etc is often unneccesarily hard to read.
Sumico the numbers game (Windows only): a puzzle game about connecting numbers and numerical operators to create specific number goals. Perfectly fine but didn't really grab me.
Spy Fox in Dry Cereal: The first Humungous children's point and click game I've disliked. It's not clever enough to carry off the quippy spy cool it's going for, and the plot irritated me (an evil goat has stolen all the cows to force everyone to drink "gross" goat milk. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH GOAT MILK)
