From Ants to Zombies: Six Decades of Video Game Horror January 30, 2024

Posted by Maniac in Reviews.
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Since last year, we’ve been obsessed with the incredible volume of releases coming out of Bitmap Books. Their independently published titles focused on the art and history of video games are an incredible mix of coffee table artbook and reference quality encyclopedia that perfectly matches this website’s tastes and aesthetics. Recently, the publisher has released a new book focused on the history of video game horror, From Ants to Zombies: Six Decades of Video Game Horror, and we were able secure a copy of the book for review.

This site has a long history of covering horror games of multiple platforms and eras, and we’ve been proud to talk about games like Silent Hill, Dead Space, and Until Dawn throughout our existence. Horror is a major genre of the current video game industry, and with platforms like Virtual Reality (VR) getting a wider adoption, the genre is poised to expand to an even stronger audience. However, before we speculate on the future, it’s important to know about the past. That’s where our interest began in From Ants to Zombies, and why we were so excited to check it out.

Before we get into the review, let’s take a look at what someone who purchases the game from the publisher can expect to arrive on the day of delivery!

Nothing beats the smell or feeling of opening up a brand new physical book, and proudly keeping it on your bookshelf or coffee table for future rereading. However, a physical book is just ONE component of your purchase. As always with purchases made off of Bitmap Books, you will get access to a high-resolution PDF file of the book you purchased, which can be downloaded and viewed on the device of your choice. That is typically our preferred method of reading the books (we did our reading of the book’s contents using the official PDF on iPad Pro).

The book begins with an author’s preface where writer Alexander Chatziioannou described their early childhood upbringing watching the same kinds of horror films my wife grew up with. It’s an introduction that likely will resonate with most of the book’s readers. The foreword, which attempts to define “what is horror?” is well-researched and cited in such a way to please my tastes as well as the English professors I had growing up. With the exception of Alien and Halloween, I am not much of a fan of horror films, but I absolutely love the author would draw connections between the games discussed in the book and the great films that clearly inspired them. The preface also includes a detailed description of the book’s layout to better help you navigate the tome in the event you want to skip directly to your favorite game.

Each section of the book essentially themes itself to the games it’s covering. The complementary colors on each page really puts you in the mood to read each section. The typical high resolution in-game screenshots that you would expect from a collector’s guidebook are included with each entry, but unlike a standard collector’s book or encyclopedia, the book will actually alter its page color to better match the aestetic of the game. Information about each game is detailed, with a fair mixture behind the scenes information about the making of the game sprinkled on top of the description of the game’s plot and description of its gameplay.

In some sections, the game’s actual developers have provided their own insight into a featured game’s development. I was absolutely blown away to read the legendary Ken Levine look back on System Shock 2 or Graeme Devine talk about The 7th Guest all these years after the games’ release. I have to say I was literally hooked on every word I read, and there was plenty of information about games I was familiar with included in the book that I didn’t even know about, and no we are not going to be spoiling any of that here.

If the last few paragraphs haven’t already made it clear, Bitmap Books has done it again! They have delivered another reference-quality coffee table encyclopedia on a major portion of gaming history. I’m sure it will be cited and referenced by many publications moving forward, as it really is that well researched. If you do order a copy, make sure to read it under a blanket with a flashlight. Oh and did I mention in the unboxing that the accompanying sticker glows in the dark?

Editor’s Note: Review copy provided by Bitmap Books. A PDF version is provided to all customers who purchase the book through the publisher’s website.

Crumbling Review January 18, 2024

Posted by Maniac in Reviews.
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Today, in a first for our website, we’re doing a review of a Virtual Reality game, Crumbling. Here’s the official trailer!

Story

Crumbling takes place inside a magical hobby shop where you are the only patron. Through the power of magic, the objects in the shop have the power to come to life and you need to help the shop’s collectibles defeat the evil characters that have manifested. Your job is to destroy the evil magic and save the store from the darkness of a hostile corporate takeover.

The game’s backstory is told through wonderfully narrated comic book pages. A major conglomerate is interested in replicating the unique toys sold at the shop, and are not against stooping to dangerous means to get what they wanted. We have a policy of not including spoilers in our reviews, so that’s about all we’re willing to pass along. A new comic page unlocks after completing each stage, providing a great incentive to continue on to the next level. I was on the edge of my seat with each page!

Graphics

Crumbling has a unique art style with vibrant colors clearly inspired by the pop art you will see on the various comic books and board games hanging up at your local hobby shop. The game’s story features supernatural elements, but the world it inhabits feels grounded.

I absolutely LOVED the game’s art style, and I thought the game looked great on my Quest Pro. I am a regular patron of comic book and hobby stores, and I felt right at home in the game’s primary environment. The shop offers a decent level of interactivity while exploring it. You are able to play with the game’s cash register to perform upgrades, pick up collectibles for closer inspection, re-read unlocked comic books to catch up on the game’s story, and rip open the figure packages before use on each round, but I would have loved to be able to manipulate the t-shirts hanging up on the shelves.

Gameplay

The game itself as a roguelike, so each encounter you start will be random experience. To fight, you “hold” a game character in front of you with your motion controller, and use it to attack the enemies in the game space. The position of your character in the 3D space in front of you is essential to ensure if an attack is successful. Your character has two base attacks, a light attack you can unleash with the trigger, and a heavy attack which activates with the push of a face button. Simply move away from your enemies or hit the dodge button to avoid attacks. This reminded me of when I used to hold up an action figure to “play fight” when I was young. As the game continues you’ll unlock new characters with differing attacks and abilities. It’ll be up to you to decide what to take into battle.

Since I had little experience with this type of gameplay, particularly the positioning of my character in a real-time 3D space, I found the motion controls required some getting used to, but I was able to pick it up after a few rounds. You can occasionally get swarmed with enemies, but the game make sure to telegraph to you when attacks are coming, and if you’re observant you’ll be able to find a safe space to move your character to avoid the scramble. I’m sure players with motion controller experience, such as with the PlayStation Move, will have no trouble adapting to the controls.

Each level takes place in the form of a round in which you will need to take control of your character to defeat the spawning enemies. At the end of each round, you will get the option to choose one of three random temporary stat modifiers you can use to improve your character’s health or attack abilities. If you’re lucky, you may randomly get presented a special bonus round where you can complete a motion controlled mini game or spend magic points to get an extra stat bonus between rounds. I found these to be EXTREMELY useful to surviving later stages.

Throughout each level you will earn magic points for defeating enemies and coins for beating levels. The coins can be used to purchase collectibles that act as the game’s modifiers. The magic can be used to unlock new levels, upgrade your modifiers, and add features such as the ability to change the color of your character.

When not in a round, you’ll find yourself inside the hobby shop, the game’s primary environment. From here you can purchase upgrades, view your collectibles, and select which character you want use for the next adventure. Movement around this space can be done instantly with the push of a button, or you can hold down the lower trigger button on your controller to “drag” yourself around. It takes some getting used to, but I found it a better movement control then most current VR games have.

Final Thoughts

Crumbling is worth your time. I first heard about the game during the UploadVR event and was immediately interested in its story and unique art style. While I did require some time to adjust to the game’s motion controls, and movement around the space is different from other VR games I experienced, in a lot of ways Crumbling is a new type of VR game that REALLY takes advantage of the not just VR but of VR’s motion controller capabilities.

Not since the days of the Wii or the PlayStation Move have I had been presented such an inventive control system. Whether you’re a gamer interested in a unique gameplay experience where the challenge keeps you on your toes and you don’t know what’s going to happen next, or if you just love the shop’s aesthetic and want to see the comic book’s story come to life, you should give Crumbling a closer look.

Editor’s Note: A copy of the game was provided to this website for review. The game was played entirely on a Meta Quest Pro.

Crumbling is coming soon to Meta Quest 2/3/Pro and Steam VR. It will also be coming to PicoVR.