The Swapper

I was looking forward to doing an indie review this week, and up until yesterday that review was going to be of Dust: An Elysian Tail. Dust was a great game, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of side-scrolling hack-and-slash. That review would be written now if I hadn’t picked up The Swapper in the exact same Humble Bundle.

The Swapper is a little on the obscure side. I’d started hearing about it a few months ago, and was surprised to discover it was actually released May last year. It’s made by Facepalm Games who, at time of writing, don’t have a Wikipedia page. In light of these revealing discoveries, I feel it’s probably a good idea for me to introduce it to you.

Saints Row IV

I started playing Saints Row IV a few days ago. I bought during on sale through the Humble Store, which granted me a Steam key. Part of the reason I bought the game so late was because I'd been hoping to find an overseas copy, unaltered by our out-of-touch government.

Of course, my Steam account identifies me as a fragile Australian, and I'd already read that the gifting-from-an-overseas-account exploit that was so popular during the Left 4 Dead 2 era didn't work for SR4. The sale was too tempting, though, and I resigned myself to an incomplete game. Much to my surprise, however, I found that the game I played contained all the content but for one weapon.

I didn't realise this until I actually reached the content that was supposed to be cut, roughly halfway through the game. I have no idea why I was this lucky; nothing I've read explains it. Though the content itself wasn't all that stand-out, I don't have to describe the satisfaction that comes with discovering something you were certain you'd lost. It was like finding a $50 note in my back pocket.

Obviously this very much a post release review, and that’s probably a pattern you’ll see a lot of. Unfortunately, I don’t do this professionally, and can afford neither the money or time required to do a review “the week of.” Hopefully the delays won’t bother many people, and my thoughts will still hold a modicum of value.

The Train

I submitted a few of my pieces to The Overland today. They were running an "emerging writers" edition, and midnight was the deadline. I doubt my pieces will be selected for publication (partly because of their tone, partly because of raw probability) but it's always kind of invigorating to actually submit something.

One of the pieces I chose is one I wrote a while ago. I'm kind of proud of it, so I thought I'd throw it up here. Hope you enjoy it.

Sex and Gender in the Mass Effect Series

I was thinking about Mass Effect the other day, and was considering the way it depicted women. It occurred to me that there was a lot of meat on that bone, so I thought I’d write up an analysis of the series with that in mind. Since my last post was a bit of fun, I also thought it might be good to do something with a bit more depth.

Before we begin, I should clarify that the Mass Effect series is a beautifully crafted, excellent series of games. Nothing I say here is designed to be a blanket decree that the series is evil, immoral or sexist. This is merely my take on some aspects of the series, and what that might communicate to certain players. The series explores many complex themes in an intelligent and meaningful way; the fact that Mass Effect can be seriously subjected to this level of analysis is in itself an achievement (though thankfully we're seeing this more often in gaming).

Now that’s over, let’s begin, shall we?