Slender Review

Slender is a pyschological horror rpg PC game developed by Parsec Productions. Recently since its release it has become very popular amongst both casual and hardcore gamers for a number of different reasons. First of all, it’s free, which I find quite amusing seeing as whatever sick minded person that came up with the idea most likely created it just to see the look on people’s faces and not to wake up with a whole load of dosh lying on their doorstep. when you first download the game, you will first enter an environment that is very stereotypical amongst the horror genre: a pitch black forest covered with barren trees scattered across it. At the midpoint of your screen is a “simple” task or objective. completing this task is to complete the game. “find all 8 pages”. But of course a horror game giving you such a simple task as this has got to have obstacles along the way. At first I didn’t see this game as having much of a scare factor but as soon as I collected the first page, I was emersed in a completely different environment. A drum began to beat and already I knew this was a trap the whole time. Everytime I collected a new page, the sounds around me became louder and more ferocious and I just knew someone was watching me the whole time. That someone was infact, The Slenderman. In this game you are to collect 8 pages stuck on walls or trees or abandoned trucks across the forest but also, to avoid getting spotted by the Slenderman. No one is entirely sure what this Slenderman is but all I can say is this creature can give you a real fright when your mind is off guard. And if he sees you its game over. Hardly anyone has been able to actually complete the game and many are too scared to even download it because it is so terrifying. In my opinion I can safely say that this is one of the scariest games I have ever played. But at the same time, the objective is so simple..

However, there will always be some kind of downfall within a free game especially. My thoughts are this. When I first entered the game, the environment still looked scary but it is all too familiar when comparing it to other games like Silent Hill or Alan Wake. But dark forest environments put me off mostly because of how bare and cheaply designed they are when incorporated into games such as these. Plus, the graphics could definately use some work. I think some people are just forgetting that this is 2012 and and some games such as Crysis or grand turismo are inevitably reaching the stages of reality in their graphic display. Perhaps a HD remake would be in order.

THE VERDICT: 8/10 great

I can safely say that you will not be dissapointed with Slender. It’s simple objective that slowly morphs into a nightmare is just so well choreographed. its experience is something that all ages can try with or without your friends and the shocks and screams just never get old. The graphics and presented environment don’t exactly affect the style of play but I believe that in its early stage, Parsec can hopefully take in a bit of criticism and atleast come back to the game once in a while and add more to it..

http://stickskills.com/omega/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/slender.jpg

Dead Space 3 presumed by many to have low scare factor!

As many of you may know, the Dead Space 3 co-op demo, which was released at E3 last week, might not have been the bone chilling dark thrilling content you were expecting. The Dead Space series, created by Visceral games and published by EA, has been renowned for its gory and creepy singleplayer scenario with the odd psychological breakdowns of Isaac Clarke. This time around they’ve decided to switch from horror to a Left4Dead style shooter. Of course….not in a bad way. I mean, Dead Space scares have in my opinion become quite predictable and maybe the new co-op feature is just another way to promote expansion into their series which is definately what the fans want to hear. There’s lots of different types of people who play Dead Space. But for the guys who continuously want to make themselves shit scared for entertainment could end up feeling potentially dissapointed. So far, we haven’t seen much alone time for main men John Carver/ Isaac Clarke and when I say this I mean all alone in a chlostrophobic corridor with ancient Marker language in blood smeared across the walls. But traditional or not, I am definately getting this game and hopefully (seeing as we still don’t know how far they’ll go with the whole “change of plan”) Visceral will be able to make the gore and mindless shooting good enough to replace the horror we would have hoped for! 

E3 LIVE thoughts: Dishonored (BethesdaSoftworks)

Dishonored, with its intruiging feedback and quality storyline, might just be Bethesda’s best work ever. From what we know from the reveal trailer and gameplay trailers, Dishonored is set to take place in a SteamPunk city called Dunwall. This city is especially interesting for it contains technology from the Past, Present and Future. This means guns and Robots with victorian clothing set in an Industrial Revolution. The story starts off with an ex-bodyguard to the Empress named Corvo, who is a prime suspect for her murder. While locked up in jail, a strange figure confronts him and engraves a mark on his hand, turning into a supernatural assasin seeking out bloody revenge on those who betrayed him. Some perceive this to be the baby of Bioshock, Halflife and Assasins Creed with a gothic sandbox mode. Now I don’t know what the developers are trying to drill in our minds but that perception just causes me to throw my money at the computer screen more and more. I will be sure to get my hands on this game but before that my eyes and ears are still open to hear how the developers at E3 are going to analyse it. You never know, it could turn out to be a complete failure but lets face it, have Bethesda and their releases really ever done us wrong??