(re)Visions: Alice

(re)Visions: Alice is an anthology containing Carroll's classic and four "retellings" by new authors. Though really, they aren't retellings or revisions.

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Overall: A fun read, and it's good that it includes the original, especially if you haven't read it in a while. In retrospect, it probably should have included Through the Looking-Glass also, which would have made a bunch of the references clearer to an unaware reader. I'd call it overall worth the money, though personally, I was looking for more stories like Knave.

Disclosure: I'm friends with the publisher and two of the authors. I may be biased.

Demos from games I probably won't buy

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron - I was curious about this, so I downloaded the demo from PSN. If the demo is at all indicative of the real game, I'm glad I didn't shell out for it. Amazon keeps suggesting it to me because I bought NIER and a number of other games that involve the Japanese making a hash out of western religious traditions. The problem is, this has no rpg elements at all, as far as I can tell. It's a cross between 3D action/beat-em-up and 2D platformer, and the entire thing is done in a weird anime watercolor style that makes it really hard to tell what's a puddle and what's a pit. It's a game of beating up fallen angels, stealing their weapons, and using those weapons to beat up other fallen angels. Meanwhile, ominous voices say ominous things. I'll stick to my jrpgs, thanks.

Scarygirl - Gimmicky side-scroller published by Square Enix. The eponymous Scarygirl is an abandoned girl raised by a friendly and talented giant octopus. The art style is somewhere between Edward Gorey and Maurice Sendack, with a little Nightmare Before Christmas thrown in the mix. (Macabre and also cute.) It's an action-platformer with a lot of “grab and throw” moves, as Scarygirl uses a whip in the best Castlevania style. It reminded me more than anything of LittleBigPlanet, which I should probably play more of before I go buying new and similar games. And it apparently features two-player co-op, along the same lines.