Review - The forever war (Joe Haldeman)

Regular. So much said about this book, the heir of Starship troopers in military sci-fi but in the end it has been disappointing. Lacks the philosophy, the action, the rhythm and everything else that made the previous that good. It gets lost in pointless chapters and man, what's your problem with homos? Not recommended. Rating: 5

The rational way

Tolemy lifted one of his free dendrites up and extended a blade from the manip. He plunged it down towards Enhort’s right eye. There was a spray of blood. It splattered the wall of the chamber. Tolemy fell. The back of his head was missing. Enhort pulled himself out of Tolemy’s twisting, spasming dendrites. Egan lowered a bolt pistol and sat back down. He rested the pistol on his knees.    

‘He didn’t know I had this,’ Egan whispered in his fleshvoice. ‘Knowledge is power.’    

Unsteady, spattered in blood, Enhort walked over to Egan.    

<What have we done?’> Enhort canted.    

Egan shrugged. He put the bolt pistol to the side of his head. 

‘All I know is, I’ve done too much,’ he replied.    He pulled the trigger

Titanicus, chapter 10011 - Dan Abnett

Review - Hyperion Cantos (Dan Simmons)

Fantastic: one of the best sci-fi books you can read. Six stories, each woth a book for its own, linked in the critical point of the future of humankind. It is brilliant BUT it doesn't end...ufff, will it be another Lost? I wont rate it until I read the next but so far, so FUCKING good.

In for the kill

“For Christ’s sake, Diana. It wouldn’t be fair.”  “All’s fair,” she giggled. “And ’sides, I’m a doctor. I can be clin’cal; won’t bother me a bit. Help me with this.” 

After five hundred years, they were still putting brassiere clasps in the back.  One kind of gentleman would have helped her get undressed and then made a quiet exit. Another kind of gentleman might have bolted for the door. Being neither kind, I closed in for the kill.  

Perhaps fortunately, she passed out before we had made any headway.

The forever war, chapter 31 - Joe Haldeman

Abraham

Sol wanted to know how any ethical system—much less a religion so indomitable that it had survived every evil mankind could throw at it—could flow from a command from God for a man to slaughter his son. It did not matter to Sol that the command had been rescinded at the last moment. It did not matter that the command was a test of obedience. In fact, the idea that it was the obedience of Abraham which allowed him to become the father of all the tribes of Israel was precisely what drove Sol into fits of fury. After fifty-five years of dedicating his life and work to the story of ethical systems, Sol Weintraub had come to a single, unshakable conclusion: any allegiance to a deity or concept or universal principal which put obedience above decent behavior toward an innocent human being was evil

Hyperion Cantos, Chapter 4 - Dan Simmons

Progress

She cracked the capsule under her nose and took two deep breaths. 

“As a woman, though, I’m all in favor of it.” Hilleboe and Rusk nodded vigorously.  “Not having to go through childbirth?”  

“That’s part of it.” 

She crossed her eyes comically, looking at the capsule, gave it a final sniff. “Mostly, though, it’s not…having to…have a man. Inside me. You understand. It’s disgusting.”  

Moore laughed. “If you haven’t tried it, Diana, don’t—”  

“Oh, shut up.” She threw the empty capsule at him playfully.  

“But it’s perfectly natural,” I protested.  

“So is swinging through trees. Digging for roots with a blunt stick. Progress, my good major; progress.”

The Forever War, Chapter 29 - Joe Haldeman

The unself-concious flow of little things

Sarai had treasured every stage of Rachel’s childhood, enjoying the day-to-day normalcy of things; a normalcy which she quietly accepted as the best of life. She had always felt that the essence of human experience lay not primarily in the peak experiences, the wedding days and triumphs which stood out in the memory like dates circled in red on old calendars, but, rather, in the unself-conscious flow of little things—the weekend afternoon with each member of the family engaged in his or her own pursuit, their crossings and connections casual, dialogues imminently forgettable, but the sum of such hours creating a synergy which was important and eternal

Hyperion Cantos, Chapter 4 - Dan Simmons

Castlevania symphony of the night (PS3 - virtual PS1) -Análisis-

 Hay sequía de juegos en la next gen, lo sabemos, así que es el momento de rendir cuentas con un clasicazo que además estuvo hace poco de oferta en la ps store. Llega el momento de uno de los juegos más aclamados de la saga: Castlevania Symphony of the night.

 ¿Qué podemos de un juego de ps one hoy día para decir que sigue siendo un juegazo? Que sus gráficos estén anticuados pero no nos hagan sangrar los ojos, que las melodías no sean música ratonera, y que la jugabilidad no se limite al aporreo de los botones, ¿y algo más? Lo pregunto en serio y llamo a la reflexión ya que este juego es todo un ejemplo: gráficos buenos para la época pero que hoy al menos no duelen; jugabilidad limitada y vista hasta la saciedad hoy día; música fantástica, eso sí. En su día fue perfecto, ¿pero y hoy?

Quiero analizar este juego per se y no por su leyenda o su contexto. Es un buen juego, con una jugabilidad interesante pero que peca de machacabotones en algunos bosses. No hay grandes rutinas en los jefes (la mayoría) ni en los enemigos (quien golpee primero gana). El concepto de exploración es fantástico y el detalle del castillo invertido genial, pero hoy día existen fórmulas muchísimo más refinadas y peor puntuadas. Hoy día recomiendo muchos otros metroidvanias a no ser que uno se quiera colgar la medallita o comprobar en primera persona tantas parrafadas sobre esta obra maestra (como es mi caso).

Quiero ir directo al grano, sin rodeos: es un buen juego, entretenido, que engancha con su mecánica exploratoria y su sensación de progreso, pero poco más. Se me antoja realmente corto en opciones reales, es decir, mecánicas, combos, objetos que realmente sean necesarios, nada de cosas que puede llevar o no. Mil secretos y combos, objetos y demás que no hacen falta para llegar al final. Quiero creer que se debe al nivel de dificultad aunque no sé, un juego debe estar diseñado para el nivel normal, con retos en el difícil, y no un paseo en el normal y ajustado en el difícil. Tampoco quiero saberlo, me lo he terminado y me sobra.

Entiendo perfectamente que en su época fuera insuperable pero hoy no tengo ganas de contextualizar una época que no viví, así que me limito a lo que he comprobado hoy: un juego más, entretenido y prescindible. Le salva el nombre, si eres de los que gustan de decir que has jugado las grandes obras maestras de la historia del videojuego.

Puntuación: 5.2