Bert Vandecasteele

Month: January 2011

  • Red Dead Redemption

    I’ve always had a weakness for those damned Grand Theft Auto games. They were incredibly fun to play. Sure, they were moral garbage, but for a last-generation video game, that garbage was very fulfilling and immersive. I had one gripe, though: as funny and satirical as those games were, I’ve always wished they would take the gameplay, quit being antisocially juvenile and use it to tell a more serious story. When the current generation of consoles arrived, we were treated to Grand Theft Auto 4, which made me swallow my words. GTA 4 was dark, sure, but if that was a mature game, I wouldn’t have anything to do with it. It was dark, mature and antisocial. Ick.

    But then, just as I had forgotten liking the sandbox principle so much and had gone back to linear games, came Red Dead Redemption. (more…)

  • Under The Dome (Stephen King)

    Preface

    I know I start many a review by saying this, but I’m not a big reader. Then again, every time I check out my book review section (at one of those moments where I also have the irresistable urge to smell my own farts or worse, read my own scripts), it strikes me how big the thing has become. Surely, if you think that I’ve been writing reviews for the last four years, it’s nothing. But then again, a lot of books I’ve read are missing. Because I didn’t have the time to write something about them. Or because I didn’t have the urge. Or nothing to say. (more…)