Unexpected Presents

This isn't a short story in the strictest sene. I wrote it as a sort of brainstorming piece for an idea I've had for a while now. It's plays on the old scenario of a family moving to a new country and starting again. Though the place this family have moved to is slightly unusual.

“Happy birthday kids.” Gwen yelled at her teenage offspring, hearing them thundering down the stairs.

     Jake was the first to walk through the kitchen door as it slid open. He stifled a yawn as he plunged his hands into the pockets of his deep blue dressing gown. “Now that’s a good smell to get you out of bed,” he remarked, sniffing the air in anticipation.

    “Not too old for pancakes now you’re fourteen?” Gwen asked with a knowing smirk.

    “Ha ha ha,” Jake grinned, shaking a strand of curly blond hair away from his forehead.

    Alice closely followed behind him, tightly bundled up in her purple dressing gown with her fluffy pink slippers slapping the polished tiles of the kitchen floor. Her head was bowed as she frantically typed a message into her Galaxy Phone, untidy tangles of her own blonde hair tumbling down the sides of her face. “God I’ve got like fifty messages. Living in a different time zone is weird. Megan says hi to you all,” she announced as she sat at the dining table, in front of a steaming pile of pancakes already put in place by her mother.

     “What’s the weather like in London?” Jake asked his twin sister as he sat beside her.

     “No snow as usual,” she replied without looking up. “Just lots and lots of rain.”

     “Doesn’t it make you glad your dad’s work moved us somewhere with a stable climate?” Gwen asked as she plonked a plate of pancakes in front of Jake, then turning to stare at the ruby red sky through the window.

    “Wwwnnnss ddddd gggtttnnn bbbccckk?” asked Jake through a mouthful of pancake and syrup.

     “He shouldn’t be too long, we’ll open the present when he gets here,” Gwen replied, pouring some more pancake mixture into the pan to fry up for her husband. “Least with him doing a night shift on the reserve he can spend the day with us.”

    After reading her latest message Alice gave a sudden yelp, pushing her chair back so violently it screeched against the stonework. “I can’t believe it. Henrietta’s older brother Stanley...he was killed by a bomb serving in the fifth London regiment...she only found out yesterday. I should seriously message her.”

    “Not now Alice, wait a day or so,” Gwen told her.

    “But she’s my friend, I have to,” Alice protested.

     “I know, but its best Henrietta spends some time alone with her family for now,” Gwen informed her over the hissing sound of the frying pancakes. She gave a sigh, again debating with herself whether it had truly been for the best moving her family from the city where they had lived throughout their lives. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the look of shock on her daughters face, and realised how hard it was being so far away from her old friends when tragedy struck. But it was one of the reasons they had moved here, to be far away from the war, the rhetoric and the anger and be in a place of stability and peace.

      They heard the front door unlocking, followed by the familiar clunk of hiking boots on the stone floor. The kitchen door slid open halfway and in sidled Harry Norton, his brown ranger’s uniform coated in dirt and green plant stains, his immaculately trimmed hair covered by his Stetson. “Happy birthday gang,” he greeted his family happily as he hastily slid the door shut behind him. “Any pancakes left, I’m starving!”

    “Whoah what happened to your head?” Jake suddenly asked, staring at a bloodstained patch above his dad’s left temple.

    Harry, instead of brushing his injury off, appeared delighted to have been asked. He took a seat, and using his healthily tanned arms to re-enact the whole event he explained, “We were transferring some creatures from site C3 to site E7, to protect them from the rise of poaching in the area. But one of them wasn’t sufficiently tranquilized, and started kicking off inside its container. As I was securing the container to the transport it gave a particularly big lurch, and I fell off and hit my head on a stone when I landed.”

     “Are you ok?” Alice asked, holding up a slice of pancake motionless on her fork, syrup dripping onto her plate.

    Looking thoroughly pleased with himself Harry replied, “You know me Alice. I’ve had plenty worse.”

    “You could have at least claimed you were running away from a T-Rex or something,” Jake informed his father jokingly.

      “Don’t encourage him. You’ll just give him more crazy ideas,” Gwen laughed, placing a full plate of pancakes in front of her husband of nineteen years. She then grabbed her large mug of coffee and sat down with her family, her auburn hair tumbling onto the shoulders of her grey hoodie she wore on her days off. She watched her family eat their breakfast, Alice slowly nursing her food in between texts, while Jake and Harry ate at such a speed that they barely took the time to chew. She couldn’t believe how much their lives had changed in the past year. They were free from the foggy and stale atmosphere of London, and now living the life she and Harry had dreamed of ever since they graduated together in the same year they got married.

     It was the kids first birthday in their new home. It had been tough at first, taking the long trip to a distant part of human civilization to start a new life, but they were adjusting well. Harry was enjoying having a regular day job, instead of jetting across the Earth for months on end as he had in the past. Jake shared his father’s sense of adventure and love of the outdoors, and as a result had fallen in love with the land they had travelled to. Alice had found the move the hardest, but she still kept in contact with all her old friends and had already made plenty of new ones. It had been the right move, she was sure of it now.       

    The silent ritual of breakfast was interrupted by a loud banging noise from outside the kitchen. The twins glanced at the door in confusion, then glanced at each other, then glanced at their parents. “What the hell was that?” Jake asked.

    “We don’t have an infestation do we?” Alice squeaked, suddenly looking very apprehensive.

    “Of course not. It’s probably just next door doing some more DIY,” Gwen replied.

   “At seven thirty in the morning?” Alice asked suspiciously.

   “Is it seven thirty already?” Harry exclaimed, hastily changing the subject. “Well I think we’ve delayed long enough. Looks like its present time.” At his words Jake and Alice hastily stood up, almost knocking their chairs over. Yet remaining completely relaxed in his chair Harry asked, “Where are you two going?”

     Jake and Alice froze. This was different to how they normally did things. “Aren’t we going to living room?” Jake asked.

     “Why bother when we can just give you your presents right here,” Harry told them, with a smug glint in his eyes of someone about to impart a great secret. He reached behind him and unclipped something from his belt, his gaze fixed on Jake. He pulled around a giant hunting knife, held in a brown leather sheath, and rested it on the tabletop. Pushing it to his son he said, “Happy birthday mate!”

      “Whoah!” Jake exclaimed, looking genuinely astonished. Gwen and Alice watched on with a mixture of pride and concern, as Jake unsheathed it and held it up to the light. It was nine inches long, curved at the tip and had jagged ridges along the razor sharp blade. The light glinted off the polished steel, making golden lines of light dance around the kitchen walls.

    “Now remember, this is not a weapon,” Harry told him authoritatively. “It is a tool to be used with the utmost responsibility. That means no taking it to school, or out for the evening with your friends. In fact, the only time you can use it will be when you come with me out on the reserve.”

     Alice’s gasp was covered by the loud clatter of metal on wood, as Jake dropped his new knife in shock. It took a few seconds to fully register what his dad had just told him. “You mean, I can come out on patrol with you? I mean like properly out in the wilderness.”

    “Well not on the dangerous expeditions in the middle of nowhere,” Harry replied. “You’ll be mostly sticking around the Triassic Centre with the local animals. I’ve spoken to Clive and he says given how enthusiastic you are about the project, and your strong marks in Biology, PE and Environmental Studies, that you’re perfect for some work experience on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings. You’ll start with boring jobs like mucking out and feeding, but stick with it and you’ll soon be coming out on patrol with me and the other rangers.”

     Jake couldn’t have asked for a better present. It had been his dream to see more of the reserve even before he had journeyed to his new home. Apart from a couple of trips on the tourist routes, he had seen nowhere near enough to satisfy this itch for adventure. But he was surprised he was being allowed in. A fourteen year old being allowed to work on the reserve wasn’t something that happened regularly. He turned to his mum, who had stayed silent throughout the present giving, and asked her, “You ok with this?”

   “As if I could stop you even if I wanted to,” Gwen smiled. “This is a fantastic opportunity you’ve been given, and your father really had to pull some strings for it, so make the most of it!”

    “Well that’s probably the best birthday present in the world,” Alice remarked, resting her elbow on the table as she watched Jake grasp the leather handle of his knife and examine it closely.

      “But you haven’t got yours yet,” Gwen remarked, giving her husband a knowing look as he stood up from the table.

     “Well if it’s another of Aunt Beatrice’s knitted scarves then...are you sure we haven’t got an infestation?” Alice stared at the kitchen door as Harry walked over to it, having heard a couple more clattering sounds from the hall that sounded suspiciously like footsteps.

     “Happy birthday sweetpea!” Harry said to her as he made the door slide back. He poked his head out into the hall and called in an uncharacteristically slushy manner, “Come on, come here. Come say hello to your new mummy!”

     The kitchen fell silent as they heard a strained, nasal cry from outside. It was followed by the clatter of toenails on the polished stone floor. Then Alice gave a delighted gasp and flung her hands over her mouth as a small animal scampered enthusiastically into the kitchen, a red bow tied about its neck.

     It was half a foot tall, walked on all fours and was only seven weeks old. Its scaly skin was coloured a dull maroon, with four black stripes on its back. It wagged its small tail enthusiastically, bashing against the chair legs as it explored its new home. As it scrabbled underneath Jake’s chair it got the jagged frill around its head caught against the crosspiece, and had to back up to progress further. Loud and excited gurgles were emitted from its beaked mouth, and when it knocked over Harry’s empty chair with the tiny yet already sharp horns over each eye and the one on its snout, it hooted in surprise.

     “Oh my God, oh my God she’s gorgeous!” Alice breathed as the tiny triceratops snuffled about her slipper clad feet.

     “Good job identifying her as a she,” Harry said, sharing his daughters delight. “She’s one of the pups born from Professor Parson’s hatchery. She’s a pygmy triceratops, so she’ll only grow to be about two feet tall; Nowhere near as big as the ones out on the reserve.”

     Alice got up from her seat and knelt down, outstretching her hand to the young reptile as it sought shelter underneath the table. “Come here baby, it’s alright,” she whispered affectionately. Encouraged by her soothing tone, the triceratops slowly inched closer, sniffing the air around her empty palm. Then when sure Alice meant no harm, she trotted over to her new owner happily, running about in a circle as Alice ran her hand over its smooth back. “There we are Ruby, aren’t you the cutest,” she murmured.

     “Ruby? Is that the best name you can come up with?” Jake laughed.

    “Don’t listen to him, he’s just jealous,” Alice purred as she stroked Ruby’s snout, making the tiny reptile gurgle happily. She pulled strands of her hair away from her face as she beamed up at her parents. “Best birthday present ever. Thank you so, so much!”

     “Just remember I won’t be walking her every day,” Gwen laughed as she rose from her chair. “You all head to the living room for some more presents. I’ll join you once I’ve checked the post.” She left her daughter cooing over her new pet, her son swishing his new blade, and her husband helping himself to more pancakes, as she moved out to the hall. She zipped up her hoodie as she pressed the electronic panel beside the front door. It beeped when it recognised her DNA signature and slid open.

    She stepped into the humid heat of the early morning. Their front garden had no lawn, as grass did not exist in the time of the dinosaurs. Instead their front garden was filled with luscious green ferns dripping wet from last night’s tropical storm and tall monkey puzzle trees shadowed their house as well as the others lining their street. She heard a caw from above her head, as an archaeopteryx was startled by her presence and flew into the red sky.

      A rattling sound to her right startled her, and she whirled around to see a gang of compsognathus’, no taller than her shins, rifling through her bins for last night’s dinner of diplodocus burgers. They chattered among themselves, ruffling their feathered bodies as they threw plastic packaging all over the drive. “Shoo, shoo get out of here!” Gwen shouted, running at them, at which they dashed back into the ferns as fast as their spindly legs could carry them.

    Gwen sighed at how hot it already was becoming. It was always roasting here in the Jurassic Zone, and always humid with storms occurring almost every day. The climate was closely controlled within the confines of the gigantic dome in which they lived. It had a circumference equal to the length of Great Britain in every direction, and they lived right in the centre of it. The dome itself was made out of a specially reinforced glass that was specially tinted so the sunlight that filtered through had a blood red hue to it, and the sky was always a dark red colour. It had to be this way, as outside the dome the atmosphere was pure sulphur dioxide and the surface temperature was minus 75 degrees centigrade.

    Yet as Gwen opened the letterbox at the end of her driveway she took the time to stare at the leafy suburbs in which she lived, breathing in the warm, clean air. Compared to London, with its choking atmosphere and skyscrapers stretching miles into the sky, this world was paradise. She’d spent the two month trip on the giant space cruiser dreaming of what it would be like here, yet it was better than anything her imagination could conjure. A distant terraformed planet where creatures from millions of years ago were being resurrected and raised, in the hope it would help secure the future of humanity across the galaxy.

       As she heard the distant roar of a T-Rex from beyond the city boundaries she couldn’t help but smile. Coming to Planet Pangaea was without a doubt the best decision she’d ever made.

Copyright Michael Foster 2012

Assassin's Creed Revelations - Review

When a series releases four games in the space of five years, it takes something special for it to maintain interest without going stale or instead losing what made it great in the first place. Perhaps it helped that the first Assassins Creed felt like a collection of great ideas that just failed to make a cohesive whole. It wasn’t until the sequel, and the shift from Altair to Ezio Auditore, that the series was propelled to a new stratosphere of high quality, which the following game Brotherhood expanded very well. Now with a third Ezio dominated game in as many years, you may be tempted to accuse Ubisoft of milking that cash cow till it’s dry.

    Well there is that to an extent, but that does not mean Ezio fails to deliver the same pulse racing assassinations, building scrambling and jaw dropping set pieces as before. They’re still very much present and correct, but are now even more cinematic and outlandish, with plenty derived from other action adventure titles such as Uncharted. Again the plot zips from historical intrigue, to all out action, then Parkour-esque scrambling with a dash of science fiction at a sometimes breathtaking pace.

    Ezio is now entering the autumn of his years but still perfectly capable of taking on a band of pesky Templars, as he travels to Eastern Europe in the hope of finding the keys to a secret vault that will reveal the last secret of Altair. This gives us an opportunity to relive key moments of Altairs life that were previously unexplored. And of course reliving all these events is Desmond, now trapped in a comatose state with his mind collapsing, having to use the Animus to put the shattered pieces of ancestor’s lives back in their proper place, so he can then find out just what the Revelation in the games title actually is.

     The result is a story that serves to wrap up the stories of both Ezio and Altair, and prepares the series to make a brave new step into unknown territory when it inevitably returns. Ezio is clearly a man tired with the constant struggle against the enemies of the Assassins, but who soldiers on because there is no-one else. Yet by the end of the game it is clear he has lived his last adventure and has no more stories to tell, and similarly Altair’s life is neatly packaged up. Their part in the overall Assassins Creed storyline has ended, paving the way for Desmond to explore a new personality next time. The way their final challenges unfold is both intriguing and exciting to witness, with some very solid scriptwriting. Though it is a shame the big revelation is something fans of the series already knew had happened. Likewise the big plot twist at the end of Brotherhood (I won’t spoil you) is simply glossed over, so you learn of the end result but not why it happened. Hopefully future games will address this, because it will be a real shame if it happened purely for the sake of being edgy.

      But of course, the true fun comes from having a city from human history recreated for us to play about in. For Revelations it is the turn of Constantinople, a city wrenched from invading army to the next, filled with political intrigue and its walls bursting with clashing cultures from across the world. It’s an inspired choice. Bringing back Ezio one last time was a bit of a gamble, but it was worth it to frolick inside one of the most fascinating cities in human history at an equally fascinating period. It’s fantastically big place, more condensed then Rome of Brotherhood but still packed with extra missions and buildings to purchase. There is barely a break in the rooftops, allowing yourself to hop from building to building almost the length of the city, making it a much more vibrant place then Rome, where you often needed a horse to get from point A to point B.

     Again it is a city in need of maintenance, so you spend your hard earned cash on rebuilding shops and landmarks, rewarding you with weapons and more cash. You can also recruit other Assassins to aid you once you’ve wrestled power from a templar seized area. So far so very much like Brotherhood. But now you can assign assassins to a den and unlock further missions, while rebuilding shops will make your enemies more aware of your presence. If they are put on high alert, you not only risk being spotted more easily, but this may also lead to an attack on your den, which if not repelled will mean the Templars retake control. This involves a strange tower defence style mini game, where you position your assassins and weapons to ensure the bad guys are repelled. It’s a strange and out of place addition, but only one is forced on you and you’ll only have to endure another if you are very careless.

     Ezio’s abilities and combat moves do not differ all that much from previous games. All the weapons and moves from Brotherhood are present, and the upgrade system remains the same. There are only a few additions. A hookblade you can use to aid your climbing abilities and to zipline across the city, which is a nice but far from essential tool. Your eagle vision ability has now become eagle sense, so not only do you use it to identify useful items or potential enemies, but you can also track the ghostly outlines of your quarries and see the routes guards patrol. Again, a welcome addition but hardly groundbreaking.

    The big addition is that of explosives. Used for damaging, diverting or inhibiting your enemies there is a wide range of bombs at your disposal. You create them yourself from ingredients nicked from chests or dead soldiers, and the result is create-your-own-explosive buffet. Do you opt for showering the baddies in shrapnel, distracting them with a cherry bomb, covering them in a poison gas cloud or even coating them in lambs blood, making them panic as they think they’ve been injured? There is a wealth of options and exploring them all is great fun.

     Indeed this is the strength of the Assassins Creed series. So many games promise freedom and choice but fail to deliver, allowing you instead to choose between set paths. In this series how you go about your dirty business is entirely up to you. You can stick to the rooftops picking off enemies with you crossbow, take to the streets but using the cover of crowds and paid allies to distract your enemies while you sneak in for the kill, or just go in with your sword held high and force your enemy to uncover themselves. Set pieces are more rigid granted, but the way you wrestle control of Constantinople back to the Assassins offers a flexibility that few other games do.

     Revelations does not really build on what went before, but enhances what was already there. There are no sweeping changes and everything that was in previous titles has been retained. It is essentially an expansion, but one so vast and content filled it is still very much its own game. Treated as a culmination in the stories of Ezio and Altair, it makes sense to use the solid framework of what has gone before and use it one last time.

     Yet as each previous game came out Ubisoft Montreal listened to the criticisms and made sure that each game saw an improvement, whereas with this title they have transferred over what they had in Brotherhood. This means combat still remains a little clunky, and it is often just as effective standing your ground and using repeated counter kills as it is to run away. There are fewer side missions to carry out than in the previous title, affecting the games longevity. And the hidden dungeon areas, (a fantastic mix of clambering, action and puzzle solving) this time prefer to rely on Uncharted-esque wide camera angles of Ezio making impossible leaps with debris falling about him or explosions ripping the screen apart. In a strange way, by being so bombastic, the quiet intensity of these sections is diminished.

    So it is just another Assassins Creed yes, but is very accomplished nonetheless and you don’t mind playing it through one more time. Revelations leaves the series in rude health, with Ubisoft Montreal now hitting their stride and confident in the direction they want the series taken. Assassins Creed Revelations is the culmination of four games in which each time they have not been afraid to change what was needed. In a strange way, the fact they have not needed to change much for this game is to their credit. With the next title we will certainly have a new time period and a new character to play about with, and presumably gameplay changes to go with it. What we have with this title is a chance to enjoy what the series has become. With Ezio retiring it is a chance for a fresh start, but it is great to see that he has finished on a high.   

Mario Kart 7 Review

It’s tempting to think that when it’s time to bring out a new Mario Kart, Nintendo bring out a large fruit machine from their basement, pull the lever, and whatever it comes up with is what they include in the next game. “So we’ve landed on coins, Daisy and blue shells. So coins have to come back, Daisy has to be a character and blue shells return for the 6^th bloody time.”

    I say this because of how with each new Mario Kart, Nintendo experiment with a host of fresh ideas while bringing back a host of old ones, and sometimes it can make the series seem a little random. The constant chopping and changing of the battle mode, toying with new race features and often bringing old ones from the dead; you certainly can’t accuse them of not being willing to experiment. Mario Kart 7 is in many ways an eclectic mix of past games in the famous series. Case in point, the return of gold coins, last seen in Super Circuit on the Game Boy Advance, is an indication of just how far back Nintendo has searched the series history for what works and what doesn’t.

    The result is a game that is quintessentially a Mario Kart and is proud of it. It makes no apologies for its gravity defying tracks and eclectic cast of characters. It has no qualms with bombarding your path with heaps of power ups. And it most certainly will not apologise for leaving you incandescent with rage as you lose on the line from another blue shell attack. And of course, this makes it the same old Mario Kart we all know and love, and a phenomenally strong racing game as a result.

    That’s not to say it fears powersliding into new territory. The most obvious addition is gliders attached to the vehicles that allow you to soar over the track and rival racers, and gives the developers an excuse to fill the tracks with plenty of whopping great jumps. Also added are underwater sections where your kart is powered by a rotor blade, which don’t drop the jaw quite as much but do offer plenty of multiple routes for you to explore and exploit.

     Other changes are more subtle but just as important. A decent vehicle creation screen adds to the traditional light/medium/heavy character selection conundrum, with the choice of kart, wheels and even parasail affecting your characters performance. It’s a simple, yet clever addition, and ensures one character does not steal the spotlight from the others. It’s just as much about car selection as it is about character choice, adding an added layer of strategy and plenty of unlockable extra parts to discover.

     The tracks are far from restrained, and are much more of a celebration of the Mario universe then other instalments. A romp through a piranha plant infested tunnel clearly influenced by level 1-2 of Super Mario Bros, an ice world surrounded by floating globes from Mario Galaxy, a massive jump of a mountain while gliding past a maze of green pipes and a race through DK’s jungle with a clear influence from the recent Donkey Kong Country Returns, are all highlights. And it culminates with the craziest, longest and most colourful Rainbow Road to have yet graced the series. Though was it entirely necessary to have two tracks set on Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort?

     The selection of retro tracks has largely been influenced by the ones the developers feel would be best suited to the underwater and gliding additions, but in that case, why no Royal Raceway from 64? They have picked the best tracks from the Wii and DS games, but otherwise it’s a strange selection, though it’s always nice to see the SNES rainbow road again.

   There’s a much stronger selection of characters to choose from in this game, much improved from the fillerific Wii game and the strange cast of the DS title. Queen Bee and Wriggler are odd choices granted, but better than having baby versions of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy. Though many are still waiting for Magikoopa to turn up, after he was tragically cut from 64, Rosalina, Metal Mario and at long last Lakitu are all inspired selections.

    In single player it’s all about Grand Prix and Time Trial, with the option of indulging in a battle mode designed to be played with human opposition. There is no single player VS mode, a strange and unwelcome omission for those who fancy a quick blast on a certain track without having to indulge in a full-on Grand Prix. Yet Time Trial and it’s unique brand of ghost busting remains as addictive as ever, and it will take you a while to unlock everything there is to unlock in the Grand Prix’s.

    Of course, the slightly trimmed single player is all to compensate for a strong online, one which takes Nintendo another inch closer towards a competent online network. Expecting them to adopt an Xbox Live rival overnight is asking too much, but they at least are beginning to understand why it is people play online. They do so to compete and communicate with likeminded players with an equivalent level of skill, and as a result do not need to hide away behind friend codes. Nevertheless, a buttery smooth online combined with a decent lobby system is very progressive stuff from Nintendo.

    As Mario Kart Wii played to the strengths of the system, so does 7. It provides some of the best 3D graphics Nintendo’s new portable, and sometimes you can’t tear yourself away from the fantastic 3D effects. A return to analogue controls (naturally) will appease the old time fans, and it offers a precise and responsive control scheme that will see you powersliding from corner to corner. Though mercifully snaking has been eradicated thanks to a tweak to the sliding system.

     It’s simple enough when it comes down to it. It’s Mario Kart, and you know exactly what you’re getting. It’s frantic fun from the first countdown and offers plenty from the seasoned racing game pro to the part time gamer. If you’ve played and loved any previous game in the series, you will love this game. Yet behind this simple conclusion is a hidden message of intent from Nintendo. That they are not content to rest on their laurels when all they could do is bring out another identical title and watch it sell. The tweaks and additions ensure that while you are fully aware you are playing a Mario Kart, you in no way regret it.