LIST - My Top 10 Anime Songs/Video Game Songs

When it comes to video games or anime, there's always one key thing I like to look out for: Atmosphere. The atmosphere is what makes or breaks the immersion factor when it comes it a good game or anime series. And what is one element that makes up the atmosphere in a game or anime?

Music.

Music is simply a key ingredient when it comes to making a game or anime feel extremely atmospheric. Without it, the world seems lonely and lost somehow (unless it's intentional like in Shadow of the Colossus) and the immersion is just lost. So today, I'm going to be posting my top ten favourite anime tracks, and top ten favourite video game tracks. Keep in mind for the anime music I'm not counting Openings or Endings, they're for a separate list. Without further ado, let us begin!

~Top 10 Anime Tracks~

10: XL-TT from Shingeki no Kyojin

Also known as the Colossal Titan's theme, XL-TT is a song that really gets the dread and fear rising inside as soon as it starts playing. You know that as soon as this song starts playing, you are screwed beyond belief. Very tense and bombastic.

9: Swordland from Sword Art Online

Like I said in my review, Sword Art Online is one of the worst anime I have ever seen, but the soundtrack by Yuki Kajura is simply astonishing. The main theme, Swordland, is perfectly fitting as the main theme of the game and is used very well in action scenes and is a joy to the ears. While not perfect, it's arguably the best thing about Sword Art Online.

8: Farewell at the Foot of the Hill (Nagisa Theme) from Clannad/Clannad After Story

Nagisa Furukawa, one of the all time most tragic anime characters. Just like her character, her theme song is one of the reasons I fell in love with Clannad straight away. It fits the show's opening scene so well that I paused the episode and went straight to YouTube to find the song it was that good.

7: DOA from Shingeki no Kyojin

DOA is like, the first song in an Anime that's English and doesn't sound bad. The rockin' guitar and the kickass vocals always get me pumped for when the characters go on a rampage of Titan killin'. It's fast paced and full of energy.

6: L's Theme from Death Note

Is it me or does this sound like something you would hear in the Exorcist? It starts off with a haunting Piano, then gains momentum as it gains a guitar and bass and rhythm. It's also very fitting of the mysterious L, and has that element of mystery to it.

5: Kira's Theme from Death Note

It just sounds so bad ass. No other words are needed.

4: Roaring Tides from Clannad/Clannad After Story

Emotional, gripping, sad and just simply amazing describe Jun Maeda's masterful Roaring Tides from one of the greatest shows of all time, Clannad. When used right, this song makes emotional moments seem all the more emotional. The mood that this song sets is just absolutely brilliant.

3: Vogel Im Kafig from Shingeki no Kyojin

This song hits on the feelings big time. I mean BIG time. Right from Episode 1 I have loved this track. Not much else to say about it.

2: Main Theme from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Scary as fuck. Next please.

1: Tsumi from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn from Shingeki no Kyojin

These songs are why anime music is awesome. Tsumi is the perfect atmospheric theme, usually played when a character is having an inner reflection in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn is the ultimate ass-kicking theme that when used in the right spots, make Shingeki no Kyojin look like one of the best anime ever. These songs are just amazing.

~Top 10 Video Game Songs~

10: The Ocean on His Shoulders from BioShock

BioShock is one of those games with the perfect setting. A dystopian & mutated society mixed with a 1960's vibe and swingin' culture may seem like an odd clash, but with the right soundtrack, it can be a match made in heaven. In the case of The Ocean on His Shoulders, it made me fall that much more in love with BioShock's setting.

9: The Final Push from Call of Duty: World at War

Call of Duty: World at War is one of my all time favourite video games. I may get a lot of stick for that statement but I truly believe that the writing and events portrayed in that game are some of the best in recent years. What truly got me was the penultimate mission in the Russian Campaign, where you're running through a ruined Berlin and this song is playing. Holy. Fucking Shit. I have never felt my jaw drop as much playing a Call of Duty game as I has playing through World at War.

8: Main Theme from Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Ken

Most of you probably know this song from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and that version is amazing too, but I'm opting for the NES original from 1990. Sure the game was never released outside of Japan, but who cares? The song is too great to care! It's triumphant and fitting for the anime-esque adventure that awaits Marth and his companions.

7: Main Theme from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

It may be performed in a hokey-pokey language and it features in a good but under-whelming game (for the hype that it got!) but holy hot dam the main theme of Skyrim is ball bustlingly amazing.

6: The Beginning from Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse)

I chose the Japanese soundtrack over the American one on the grounds that it just sounds better, and hot dam this song has so much pace and a kick ass beat. It also fits the mood of Castlevania III very well and makes the first stage all that more memorable.

5: His World from SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 

Just listen. Amazing lyrics, spectacular instruments, and an absolute piece of shit game.

4: Progress from Tales of Xillia

Progress perfectly fits how I feel about my favourite Video Game of all time. It's an encapsulation of fear and anxiety mixed with a romantic tale and a courageous upbringing. Powerful singing from Ayumi Hamasaki makes the song perfect <3

3: Opening~Bombing Mission from Final Fantasy VII

Perfectly fitting to the tense opening of FFVII and is one of Uematsu's finest compositions.

2: Main Theme from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Even though it was composed by the guy who composed the movie Shrek, this song is an amazing rendition of the Metal Gear Solid theme song. Triumphant and Patriotic, I salute every time I hear it.

1: Title Theme (Toberu Mono~Instrumental) from The Last Story

I will not explain why I love The Last Story until the time is right, but please, do listen to something that has made my ear fill with joy every time I listen to it's glorious melody. Sakaguchi and Uematsu's genius......the best game ever made on a Nintendo console.

REVIEW - Aku no Hana - Flowers of Evil (2013)

Every once in a while, you'll stumble across something that is very difficult to put into words. Anime are very good at doing this for some unexplainable reason. To attribute it to the writing, or the storyline, or the characters or animation is hard since explaining how you feel about the show is really just an amalgamation of thought. It's like trying to explain to someone how great the movie Titanic (1997) is as a testosterone filled male (not saying it's only women who enjoy Titanic I'm just following the stereotype), it's just really hard to do so. Words are hard to find in some cases. Today, I face my biggest challenge yet, in the form of an anime based off of a very dark manga series.

Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil) by Zecxs.

Now, where do I begin with this show....may as well start with the story as I usually do. At the start of the story, and by that I mean the first half of Episode One, Aku no Hana things seem fairly standard for a drama anime set in a Japanese middle school. Our protagonist, Takao Kasuga, is someone who classifies himself as "better than everyone else" because he reads books, his favourite being the infamous (and real) book Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire. He has a crush on one Saeki Nanako, a girl who is top of their class and is, by Kasuga's standard's a "muse" and his "femme fatale". After forgetting his prized Flowers of Evil at school, he runs back to school to get it. As he leaves with his book back in his possession, a gym bag falls to the floor from the shelf - Saeki's to be exact. Because he is so infatuated with Saeki, he brings home her gym bag and does...things with it (we don't see these things but we are told he rubbed her gym uniform all over himself because he's a "twisted sicko"). Unbeknown to Kasuga, another student, Suga Nakamura sees him take the uniform. The next day, Suga informs Kasuga of his mischief and threatens to tell everyone about what he has done. Kasuga begs her not to, and return for not telling everybody, Kasuga must sign a "contract" with Suga. From here on in, the show adopts a very twisted story about how to handle sin, grief, insanity and dealing with how you have hurt others. While it does have a really tense climax, the ending teases you with scenes from the supposed second season (which I'm not sure if it's in production or not) which leaves the show on an absolutely gigantic cliffhanger which, unless you're going to read the manga, you may not get to see the end of. The show's tone is extremely dark, but I think it works perfectly. The pacing is done well and the characters are all developed very well (considering you only have to care about three of them it was a lot easier on the production team to develop them all) and the show is full of some absolutely unforgettable emotional moments. When watching keep a special eye out on Episode Ten, it's something that will make your jaw hit the floor.

I don't think that I'll go really in-depth to any characters for this review, however, I do want to talk about them in general. The three main characters that make up the Aku no Hana story - Saeki, Kasuga and Suga - all have something that make them special. Kasuga is someone who cannot accept his true self and tries to mask his life by reading books all the time to make him feel better about himself and worsen his opinion on other people to, again, make him feel better about himself. He's a very anxious character, always afraid of what twisted things Suga has in store for him when it comes to fulfilling his end of the contract. Speaking of Suga, I didn't think anybody could be more sadistic and twisted than Beatrice from Umineko no Naku Koro ni but holy mother of God, Suga takes the cake. She is a bloody sadist and wants to watch Kasuga destroy himself and unmask himself. Why? Because she wants him to be like her. She wants to make Kasuga feel like the sicko he really is under those layers that comprise his mask. She is absolutely brutal...and yet there's a weird charm about her. I like her absolute weird way of destroying Kasuga...if that makes any sense. Then we have Saeki, who has some depth but not a lot. Most of the time when she's on screen she's just wondering about what Kasuga is thinking and how it affects her. She's a decent character but she's easily the worst in the show. The cast of Aku no Hana is deep, intricate and emotionally touching but twisted, sick and absolutely evil at the same time. It's by far my favourite anime cast of all time, even if it's a small cast marred by a lacklustre Saeki.

Time to review the animation, and again, Aku no Hana employs a very different art style which uses Rotoscoping to give the show a realistic look. This results in a very beautiful looking, yet sometimes jarring show. It's beautiful because of how amazing the backgrounds look and how well proportioned the characters are. They make the show's setting seem very believable and thankfully this anime doesn't use the traditional anime art style of HUUUUGE FREAKING EYES and Moe as hell characters, it uses people who actually look like real Japanese people. It's jarring in the sense that the lip movements are off a bit and it's really distracting, but other than that movement it extremely fluid and very unique.

I won't spend too long talking about the sound since there's not a lot of songs on the soundtrack but what I will say is that the soundtrack is bloody A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Seriously, this soundtrack is fucking unreal. While there's not a lot of tracks, the four openings and the one stunning, beautiful, amazing, tragic and twisted ending theme make up for it. 

In conclusion....this show is bloody brilliant. Classified as a "Thriller, Horror, Shonen, Drama, Slice of Life, romance" and "Tragic", Aku no Hana ticks all of those boxes and is one pf the all time greatest stories told in an anime. The journey our three characters go through, the emotional torture, the pain, the sorrow you feel it all. It's a sad story...but it's one worth experiencing. Aku no Hana gives Shingeki no Kyojin a run for it's money in terms of what was 2013's best anime...

Story: 10

Characters: 10

Animation: 10

Sound: 10

Personal Enjoyment: 10

FINAL SCORE FOR AKU NO HANA: 10/10

A Masterpiece.

UPDATE - What I've been Upto

As you've probably gathered, there hasn't been much going on around here recently. I blame that upon 4 things:

• School
• Arsenal Football Club
• Video Games
• Aku no Hana

Now while school seems to be a cliché thing to blame it on, it's certainly a cause as to why I haven't been writing as much as I used to. We've been busy in school, performing musicals, going out on trips and preparing for our graduation and stuff. It's been really hectic and a lot of planning goes into all of this so I'm sorry for all of that.

Secondly, Arsenal. Whenever I DO have free time not playing video games or watching anime,I'm following the ever-present rollercoaster of a soccer club known as Arsenal, based in North London (An Irishman following an English Soccer team? Well Irish soccer is shit that's why). They recently won their first trophy in nine, very long years so it's been interesting to see them do so well. However, the 2013/14 English season is over, so soccer will be out of my mind.....until June and the World Cup.

When it comes to video games, I've been busy playing the amazing BioShock Infinite, the strange The Binding of Isaac and the cheesy but fun Harvester. They're all eating into my playtime and soul and have barely given me time to do anything anymore.

Lastly, we have Aku no Hana, or as the English speakers like to call it "The Flowers of Evil" which is an anime that finished around the time Shingeki no Kyojin finished. While I definitely plan on reviewing it in full once I am finished watching it on Crunchyroll, as a quick summary it's very good so far and all I want now is the characters stories to all tie in to a nice bow with a fitting ending.

To end off, I do apologize for the lack of content on this blog as of late. I do promise to bring out more in the months to come, just hang tight :)

Love, Dillon <3

VIDEO REVIEW: Attack on Titan English Dub (2014)

REVIEW - BioShock (2007)

The first person shooter had gotten so much stick over recent years that it's hard to find a game within the genre that isn't about Americans kicking the crap about of Arabs or Russians. Whenever someone tries to experiment with the genre in a unique or different way, it often gets thrown aside as either "and indie attempt gone wrong" or something that doesn't qualify for the genre at all. Today I want you all to meet one of the greatest games of the last generation and a pinnacle of story telling in First-Person.

2K's amazing BioShock

BioShock takes place in the year 1960. You take control of someone called Jack, a simple man who only utters one line of dialogue in the game's opening

"When Mum and Dad put me on that plane to visit my cousins in England, they told me, 'Son, you're special, you were born to do great things.' You know what? They were right."

Unfortunately for little 'ol Jack, his plane crashes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean due to a 'thunderstorm' which tears the plane apart. The only apparent Survivor, Jack takes refuge by a nearby lighthouse. Feeling a bit curious, Jack decides to head inside to see what's in there. Inside he finds Murals and Statues commemorating a man by the name of Andrew Ryan. After walking into something that looks like a submarine, Jack finds himself in what is quite possibly the best setting in a modern video game, Rapture - an underwater city built by Ryan. Once he arrives, he sees that things have gone to hell. After nearly being attacked by a strange, deranged looking person, Jack picks up a radio and begins to befriend an Irishman over the radio who goes by the name Atlas. Atlas guides Jack through Rapture, telling him about everywhere and everyone, about what's safe and what isn't safe. BioShock is a unique tale of choice, freedom of thought, power and manipulation. Things are not as the seem in Rapture, and soon enough Jack has to realize that he can't trust anybody but himself. Everyone has gone mad in the city, and only if you make the right choices, can you get the good ending (which is obtained by Saving the Little Sisters and not Harming them). The thing that makes BioShock amazing for me though is it's setting. The world of Rapture is simply a sight to see and is absolutely brimming with atmosphere. It's a very bleak and harsh setting, which tries to evoke steampunk and 1960's America all at once with great results. It's the music and design of everything that ties it ll together, but more on that later. The plot and setting of BioShock is the best of any modern video game period. And of course, let us not forget;

"Would you Kindly....a powerful phrase....a, familiar phrase? Kneel, Would You Kindly? Stand, Would you Kindly? Run...Stop! Would you kindly? A Man chooses....a Slave Obeys..."

At first glance in regards to gameplay, you'd be forgiven in thinking that BioShock was a run-of-the-mill First Person Shooter. From screenshots and whatnot that's the impression that it gives off. However just like the plot things aren't as they seem. I guess that Mr. Ken Levine's work on 1999's System Shock 2 (which is often called BioShock's spiritual predecessor) heavily influenced his decisions when designing the way BioShock would be played. First of all, you have two main ways of attacking - via weaponry or via Plasmids. Plasmids consume EVE and are kind of like special perks. They allow you to do special things like Shoot Electricity, Fire, Bees and Manipulate the environment. One of the things that kept me entertained for ages was trying to find new and unique ways of killing enemies with my Plasmids in combination with my weapons. Weaponry in BioShock is pretty standard as first. You get a Wrench, Pistol, Tommy Gun, Shotgun, Napalm Shooter, Crossbow, Camera (which is used to weaken enemies and increase their weaknesses to certain plasmids) among other things. What makes it all stand out is the fact that every weapon minus the wrench and Camera have unique additional bullets, which adds perks like being able to pierce armour better or shooting electro bolts. BioShock also allows the player to hack into things like turrets or enemy sentry cameras, which allow for more tactical movement and let's you fight off bigger enemies like Big Daddies with ease. You can also craft items like health kits out of materials you pick up in Rapture, and there's also weaponry and plasmid upgrades which increase weapon storage or the power of a plasmid etc. Finally, there are tonics and the morality system, which affect the player and how they interact with the world. Your morality is based off of how you treat the Little Sisters - demented looking little girls who go around sucking ADAM - the lifeblood of Plasmids in Rapture - out of it's inhabitants. By either killing them for more ADAM or saving them for items, you influence the games ending. Tonics affect how the player navigates Rapture and their abilities, such as being able to search crates and boxes twice and they also affect how plasmids work. Overall, BioShock has a very deep and customizable feel to it, much more than any other FPS out there.

With it's steampunk aesthetic and its creepy 1960's American destroyed Utopian vibe, there's certainly a sense of despair emanating from the world of BioShock and to be honest, it wouldn't be the game it is without it's atmosphere. It is simply one of the best looking and feeling games period. Its got the perfect tone, setting and environment right. Speaking of the environments, the game does look gorgeous, especially on a PC if you have the specs to run it at Max settings. The game doesn't look too bad on Consoles either (I originally played it on the PS3). Whatever way you look at it, the presentation in BioShock is top quality high brow stuff.

The soundtrack is again, top quality stuff. While not perfect, it's pretty damn good. The games main theme, "The Ocean on His Shoulders" is the perfect song to be the main theme. It fits to the tone and mood so exceedingly well that it's almost scary. The 60's jazz is a stark contrast, but it fits when used well. Like I said it's not perfect since some of the instrumentals don't really stick out too much to me. Other than that it's a solid soundtrack.

Overall, BioShock is a piece of art. It is not the best game ever no, but it's one of those games that really makes you think about things in life. It's a philosophical kind of game, with kickass gameplay, a dystopian yet somewhat barely functioning society and a swell soundtrack. If you're looking for an FPS that is different....look no further.

Story: 10

Gameplay: 10

Graphics: 10

Sound: 9.5

Personal Enjoyment: 10

FINAL SCORE FOR BIOSHOCK: 9.9/10

One of the All Time Greats.

REVIEW - Steins;Gate (Anime, 2011)

When it comes to science-fiction, or any kind of fiction for that matter, it seems that no matter what the hardest thing to base a plot on is the theory of travelling through time. With so many complex theories such as The Butterfly Effect or the theories of John Titor, it's hard to wonder how anybody could even base a plot off of time travel. Well, today's anime certainly knows how to deal with the subject of time travel, and how to explain it in a fun, entertaining but very serious way.

Steins;Gate by WHITEFOX, 5pb and Nitro+ is simply a masterpiece.

The story of Steins;Gate takes place in the summer - specifically July and August - of the year 2010 in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, Japan. On July 28th, self-proclaimed "mad scientist" Hououin Kyoma (his real name is Okabe Rintarou) attends a conference dealing with the ideas of time travel. At the same time back in his "lab" (which is actually his apartment), his friend and "lab" member Hashida (everyone calls him Daru) is working on a Phone Microwave (name subject to change), a device which can manipulate objects and send things back to the past, such as text messages. At the conference, Okabe sees the stabbed body of one Makise Kurisu on the ground, and proceeds to text Daru about it. This text is unintentionally sent at the same time Daru's phone is connected to the phone microwave. As such, the text is sent back to the past, and changes the future immensely. Makise Kurisu is now alive and well, much to the surprise of Okabe. The rest of the show is about the Lab Members (of which 8 eventually join) trying to figure out what purpose the Phone Microwave could serve, and also trying to keep SERN, an organization researching time travel themselves, as far away from them as possible. If SERN finds out about Okabe and co's experiments, it coule mean the end of their lives - and the world - as they know it. The plot of the show is very well thought out, even if it starts off quite slow but the pace from Episode 9 onwards more than makes up for it. It's a show filled with unpredictability and it also helps to explain some time travel theories in layman's terms, to make it easier on people and to make the concept more approachable. It's more focused on the cause and effect side of things rather than characters travelling through time. I love the plot and it's just one of the reasons why I think this show has topped all others.

The characters of Steins;Gate are without a doubt some of the most eccentric and deep characters in the anime medium. While there are some that don't get that much development (Moeka and Feyris come straight to my attention), they all serve some purpose in the plot and all have implications on the plots direction. With the way the plot works, you can intricately read these characters and see their feelings for one another slowly develop as time goes on, and it's one of the wonderful things about this anime. As per usual, main character and my personal favourite will get a paragraph dedicated to them.

Okabe Rintarou (Hououin Kyoma)

You can't not love Okabe. You simply can't. He's an eccentric who thinks that the world can only be saved by him, and he's constantly switching between being the nice and caring "Okarin" and the mad and bombastic Hououin Kyoma. Okabe is sweet and cares about everyone's feelings, and does his absolute best to try and prevent anyone's fate from being fatal. He's not a quitter either and often puts himself in harms way to try and prevent anyone from being hurt. When he activates his Hououin Kyoma mode...he completely changes, and becomes an eccentric "mad scientist". Wanna see an example of his humour?

It's scenes like that that make me love this show.

Makise Kurisu

Probably the deepest character in the cast, besides maybe Okabe, is the girl who should've died on July 28th, Makise Kurisu. Believe it or not it was her design that actually got me interested in watching Steins;Gate, with those bewitching grey eyes and crimson red hair of hers. I went in Makise was going to be a serious, somewhat depressing character actually. Turns out, she's actually a loud mouth Tsundere who is very smart and intricate with her thought processing. She's the character that pushes the plot forward most of the time, as she is the one who develops the time leap machine and figures out how the Phone Microwave works and what the conditions are for time travel. She's my favourite because of her amazing design, thinking and her development is the most expanded on in the whole series.

The animation in Steins;Gate was done by a company known as WHITEFOX (yes, all caps) with assistance from the original Visual Novel developers, 5pb. and Nitro+. What I love about the show is how bright and stylized it is. People's eyes in this show are definitely unlike anything I've ever seen in any anime prior to Steins;Gate. It's hard to explain how I find it different, but once you see the show you'll understand where I'm coming from. The animation itself is bright and colourful, with plenty of detail in background, and characters look solid and built right with a smooth frame-rate to boot. For a show that's more "realistic" (as realistic as anime can be) than moe, the world and art of Steins;Gate looks simply fabulous.

The music in the show was composed by the same person who composed the original Steins;Gate visual novel, Shikura Chiyomaru. I must hand it to Chiyomaru-san....this soundtrack is gorgeous. It's actually flawless. I love every single song on this OST, but if I had to pick my favourite it would be - of course - Gate of Steiner. Then we have the opening and ending themes, 「Hacking to the Gate」and Toki tsukasadoru Juuni no Meiyaku, both of which have become my favourite Opening and Ending themes to any anime ever. The pace of the opening along with it's animation is just out of this world and the ending is sombre in tone and just picks up with a bang and it all culminates together near the end. The soundtrack to Steins;Gate beats out Shingeki no Kyojin as my all time favourite anime soundtrack. It's THAT good.

It shall be known that it's not easy to get a perfect recommendation off of me, especially when it comes to anime as it's a lot harder to judge an anime than it is a game in my opinion. Let it be known though, that Steins;Gate could never ever be anything less than perfect. Some argue that the show's slow start and themes bring it down, but I don't see how.The slow start is needed to ease the viewer into the ideals of time travel and to show us the way the gadgets of the "lab" work. The characters are great, the animation is superb and the soundtrack is simply gorgeous. Steins;Gate may not be for everyone, but to me, it is without a doubt the best anime I've seen, and completely trumps Clannad After Story in every way possible.

Story: 10

Characters: 10

Animation: 10

Sound: 10

Personal Enjoyment: 10

FINAL SCORE FOR STEINS;GATE: 10/10

A Masterpiece.

REVIEW - Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode I: Legend of the Golden Witch (2007)

Visual Novels normally have some gameplay element to them in order to keep the player invested in what they're interacting with. After all, without any sort of interactivity between the player and game, how is the player going to be happy with their purchase? Well, a certain Japanese company known as 07th Expansion thrive on making a certain type of visual novel, called a sound novel. It first started in 2002 with the infamous "Higurashi When They Cry" games. Higurashi was praised by people around the world for it's intricate plot, characters and - as is the selling point of a sound novel - an amazing atmosphere. It didn't have any interactive elements, no choices no nothing. It was an appalling game to look at too, with characters having hands that resembled boxing gloves. However, what if you took the best elements of a Higurashi game, threw in Battler Ushiromiya and added some elements that are reminiscent of Kara no Shoujo?

Umineko no Naku Koro ni I: Legend of the Golden Witch would be your answer.

(Note: This is a review of the 2007 original with a Translation patch by The Witch Hunt. The graphics have not been altered and the game does not have voice work. There is a version with a voice and graphics patch available on the PS3 or as a mod for the original)

If you're familiar with the Umineko no Naku Koro ni anime, you'll be comfortable with the plot of the Visual/Sound Novel. The plot centers around the Ushiromiya family coming together for their annual family conference on the island of Rokkenjima. The first game focuses on Battler Ushiromiya and him returning to the conference for the first time in six years. If you've watched at least the first five episodes of the anime, the story to Legend of the Golden Witch should be a tad familiar to you. There are extra descriptions as to what goes on in the story, but as such, the basic plot and major scenes are the same.

October 4th, 1986 - Rokkenjima, Japan.

The Ushiromiya family gathers on Rokkenjima, a small island off the coast of Japan, for their annual family conference to discuss how the inheritance of the ailing family head, Kinzo, will be distributed among his children and their spouses. Battler, who has not attended the conference in six years, notices a new painting in the foyer of the mansion. He is told that it is a portrait of the "Golden Witch" Beatrice, who had supposedly given Kinzo all his wealth, and who Kinzo desires to see again. Battler, however, does not believe in witches or magic, and doubts she exists. A typhoon approaches the island, and Maria is left outside by her mother Rosa while searching for a wilted rose George had marked for her in the garden. When it begins to rain, Battler, Jessica, George, Kanon, and Rosa go outside to find Maria with an umbrella she did not have before, which Maria says Beatrice gave her.

During dinner, no one admits to giving Maria her umbrella, leaving them to wonder if there is a nineteenth resident in addition to the original eighteen guests. After everyone finishes eating, Maria reads a letter she claims to have received from Beatrice earlier, reading that Beatrice will take everything from the Ushiromiya family if no one can solve the witch's cryptic epitaph, much to the guests' concern. Later, George proposes to Shannon, and asks her to wordlessly give her reply the next day by wearing the ring on a finger of her choosing. The following morning, Krauss, Rudolf, Rosa, Kyrie, Shannon, and Toshiro have gone missing, and the phone lines are out. Natsuhi is informed of a strange symbol drawn on the outdoor tool shed. While the others investigate the matter, Battler, Jessica, and George follow to discover the missing people brutally murdered inside, with Shannon wearing George's ring on her left ring finger. 

While attempting to figure out what had happened, the remaining guests discover that their radio is not working, effectively leaving them stranded on the island with the culprit until the typhoon passes. They also quickly discover that Kinzo has gone missing as well. Battler and the rest of the family come up with the theory that one of the eighteen people on the island is posing as Beatrice in an attempt to claim Kinzo's inheritance. The three primary suspects are the servants, who have access to the entire mansion; Natsuhi, who was the last person seen with Kinzo; and Eva, who has the most to gain from the murders. However, after a heated argument between Natsuhi and Eva, they are unable to come to a definitive answer and return to their rooms. Later, Eva and Hideyoshi are found to have been murdered in their locked room. 

Everybody tries to determine how Eva and Hideyoshi could have been killed when an odd smell begins to fill the mansion. Kanon goes to investigate the boiler room along with Chiyo, but is mortally wounded in the process. The rest of the family and staff arrive and discover the dying Kanon, as well as Kinzo's partially incinerated body. They decide to retreat to Kinzo's study, which should be the safest room in the house. After they enter, however, a letter from Beatrice mysteriously appears. Since Genji, Terumasa, Chiyo, or Maria are the only possible suspects for planting the letter, Natsuhi forces them to leave the study. Later that night, the phone rings with Maria singing on the other end. Natsuhi, Battler, George, and Jessica rush downstairs to find Genji, Terumasa, and Chiyo murdered and Maria standing in the corner, still singing. 

Upon being pressed about the murders, Maria tells them that Beatrice is the culprit, though Battler refuses to accept this explanation. As they argue, Natsuhi bars everyone inside the room and demands Beatrice show herself. By the time everyone breaks out of the room, they see Natsuhi as she drops dead, apparently having committed suicide. Golden butterflies soon fill the room, and the remaining survivors are killed. Afterward, everyone is brought to Purgatory, revived and joking about how they should have solved the epitaph rather than determine who was committing the murders. However, everyone except Battler is convinced that the culprit is a witch. When Battler insists that everything that happened could have been carried out by human means, he is confronted by Beatrice herself, who challenges Battler to prove that the murders were not caused by magic. Later, Beatrice discusses the events she has set into motion with a rival witch, Bernkastel , who plans to lend her own powers to assist Battler.

Now as confusing as that is to some, if you follow the plot along and don't skip anything, you're in for one of the most intense plots a visual novel could ever have. Twists and turns come along every few pages, and the gore just absolutely seals it for me. Scary, intense, full of character and atmosphere. A perfect VN plot line.

Unfortunately, this "game" doesn't actually have gameplay. You're just sitting and reading what's going on in the story while occasionally looking at the menu to see if anything new has been added to the Tips, Character Profiles (which change when a character goes missing or dies) and - if you're playing the English version - the Grimoire. While it's a trademark for a sound novel to not have gameplay...I'm sorry but no gameplay is just not good enough.

Graphically speaking the original Legend of the Golden WItch surprised me heavily. Completed only a few months after the final Higurashi game, Umineko looks as though it was done by a completely different artist. It's not a great looking game by any means but as someone who came straight off of Higurashi this looks much better and it goes to show that 07th Expansion aren't afraid to improve themselves. The opening movie is well animated, even if it uses a lot of stock images. The characters are well stylized and shoe emotions well and the background, while just a bunch of posterized photo's, work well with the atmosphere of the game world.

The soundtrack that is played during Legend of the Golden Witch is actually pretty good. Sure, one or two songs get ear gradingly annoying but as a whole, the soundtrack is pretty good for the second project by 07th Expansion. The opening song isn't as good as the anime's, but it still goes well with the whole "latin bomba" thing the series seems to have.

Overall, Legend of the Golden Witch gets the Umineko ball rolling. While it's a terrible game to play due to the lack of gameplay,  it's an amazing one to experience with some decent graphics and a stellar soundtrack. If you liked Higurashi, you'll like Umineko.

JESUS, GEORGE LOOKS FUCKIN' CREEPY HERE

Story: 10

Gameplay: 1

Graphics: 7

Sound: 9

Personal Enjoyment: 7

FINAL SCORE FOR UMINEKO NO NAKU KORO NI I: LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN WITCH: 6.6/10