24-7 Spyz - The Soundtrack to the Innermost Galaxy

Bronx-based black rock group 24-7 Spyz have been operating on the fringes of the mainstream for more than 30 years now, doggedly practicing their own particular musical gospel - a spicy blend of hard rock, metal, punk, soul, funk and even reggae and R&B - to those fortunate enough to have encountered it. Over the course of 6 albums they have persevered through lineup changes, record label mismanagement, and general public indifference to deliver material that, while not as consistently strong song-to-song as one might hope, was always a welcome respite from the tidal wave of grunge and nu-metal that dominated the popular rock landscape throughout the 90s. Now, 13 years have passed since their last album, and the Spyz have returned to a vastly different musical and cultural landscape to deliver The Soundtrack to the Innermost Galaxy, a joyous and ebullient collection of diverse songs that show the band in perhaps the best form of their long career.

Things begin with a quick, silly introduction (a modern Spyz tradition) before quickly establishing the playbook with "Anthem". Guitarist and singer Jimi Hazel delivers propulsive riffs as the other members of the group make their presence felt musically as well as vocally - bassist Rick Skatore, drummer Phil "Fish" Fishbone (the mastermind behind black rock brothers in arms Fishbone), and guitarist Ronnie "Head" Drayton - as the track shifts between Pantera-esque grooves and guitar solos to hip-hop, all while maintaining a goofy tone. The Spyz seem loathe to limit themselves to any one single genre as the album continues, moving through the brilliantly melodic heavy R&B on "Brothers and Sisters", the African psychedelia of "Ascension", to the stomping protest piece "Repeating Myself" and the breathlessly exuberant Gospel sentiment of "Thank You". There is a general warmth and confidence on display here that is quite impressive considering the time gap between this and the bands' previous record - Jimi Hazel's singing has only gotten better with age and his playing is as good as I've ever heard it.

I'm not able to get a dynamic range score at the moment for Soundtrack to the Innermost Galaxy, but I haven't experienced any noticeable symptoms of over compression or brickwalling in my time with it so far, in either MP3 or CD form. Mixing-wise, the album is quite good considering how tough the balancing act of these 2 excellent (and loud) guitar players, along with bass, drums, and oftentimes multiple vocalists all fighting for space at the same time. Discovering that Terry Date was once again on hand to mix the album was a great surprise as he clearly understands what type of sound the Spyz are looking for.

I could go on about Soundtrack to the Innermost Galaxy, but suffice it to say that it's something special. If you consider yourself a fan hard rock, metal, soul, or just bands with a unique sound, 24-7 Spyz have really delivered something worth checking out here. I only hope that it won't take 13 more years for the followup.

Alan Parsons - The Secret

It's difficult to think of a producer who has had a hand in as many memorable albums as Alan Parsons - from his work at Abbey Road Studios with The Beatles and Pink Floyd, his production roles with The Hollies, Al Stewart and others, as well as his own solo records and collaborative band with Eric Woolfson, The Alan Parsons Project. His imprint on an albums' sound is wonderfully consistent and instantly recognizable: softened drums, lush string arrangements, layered vocal harmonies, and an all-encompassing warmth that envelopes the listener like a favorite blanket.

Returning with his 5th solo album and his first in 15 years, The Secret, if nothing else, is a textbook Alan Parsons experience. Fans of his work in the 70s and 80s with his Project will find themselves right at home amidst the soft pop on offer here, which makes up the bulk of the material. As usual there is a light flourish of art rock adornment to be found - particularly on album highlight "One Note Symphony" and the opening track "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The majority of the album rests squarely in the soft pop category of Parson's wheelhouse, and longtime Project listeners will no doubt find the driving guitar-lead chug of "Miracle" and "As Lights Fall" reminiscent of Eye in the Sky-era Parsons Project.

While the album as a whole sounds excellent, I find that some of the songwriting decisions don't quite work out. "As Lights Fall" features Alan Parsons tackling the lead vocal role himself quite capably, but on "One Note Symphony" his vocal harmonies are noticeably off-key. Another trademark element of Alan Parsons Project albums is the rotating cast of singers, a feature that has been carried along onto The Secret, and I have few complaints with the roster Alan has assembled here. Jared Mahone ("I Can't Get There from Here"), Todd Cooper ("One Note Symphony", "Requiem"), and Mark Mikel (The incredibly Lennon-esque "Fly to Me") are my personal standouts and all deliver their performances wonderfully. The sole stumbling blocks come in the form of the bizarre inclusion of Foreigner's Lou Gramm on the ballad "Sometimes", a song that manages to be excessively schmaltzy even for an Alan Parsons album. The more I hear the track the more I think that fellow Brit Elton John would have been much more suited to the melody and desired delivery style, as Gramm's warbly vibrato distracts me more than enchants me.

The last couple of songs are fine, but nothing incredible. Songwriting was never Alan Parson's talent in the past, and The Secret doesn't do much to change that perception - there are few surprises here in terms of arrangement and composition. What The Secret makes up for in raw pop writing, however, is pure production value and dynamic range - even the weaker tracks here resonate with Parson's enhancements. Take the gorgeously overblown saxophone and piano tracks anchoring Todd Cooper's vocals on "Requiem", the string orchestration providing accent to P.J. Olsson's suave vox, or Alan's airy vocal harmonies in "Soiree Fantastique" - each track has been meticulously engineered and recorded to provide the richest listening experience possible. And that listening experience is Alan Parson's true legacy, because whenever the songwriting takes a dip or the lyrics get chintzy, you can always rest assured that the bottom line standard of what an acceptable sounding song is, will never drop too far below "fine". Mostly hits, a couple of misses, but The Secret as a whole is such a production treat to savor that it never feels aggressively out of place or overstays its welcome, clocking in at a modest 48 minutes. If you're a fan of the Alan Parsons Project or just excellent sounding records, The Secret is definitely worth your time even if it stumbles a couple of times before reaching the finish line. After all, who doesn't?

Dream Theater - Distance Over Time

I'm not sure if listening to too much Steven Wilson/Alan Parsons-engineered albums recently have made my ears into production snobs, but I cannot bear to listen to this album the whole way through. I can't tell you how many times I've thought to myself "You can do this, no problem, it's really not that bad", pressed play, and turned it off after 2-3 songs. I'm not sure how much blame rests with the music itself but in either case, this album was not engineered well.

And the songs themselves? Actually, I enjoy a couple of them. "Paralyzed", "S2N", and "Room 137" probably crush live, and when the band commits to the huge riffs that Petrucci throws out, it works pretty well. Other than that, nothing very memorable. John Myung's bass tone is loud and muddy, the drums are as cold and flat as cell wall, and James Labrie sounds... odd. Not bad necessarily, just that some of his vocal lines sound strange, like they weren't sure if some of these songs would work better as instrumentals or not, and threw together some quick vocal melodies just in case. "At Wit's End" is also pretty enjoyable, but again, the mix drowning you in guitar while also seemingly never getting louder or any softer for the whole runtime just makes everything blur together - no quiet time means that none of the big crescendo moments land as well as they should. So yeah, a couple of good moments (especially the outro of "S2N", holy shit that's good) amidst a sea of heavily compressed, semi-memorable Dream Theater material.

Haken - Vector

One of modern progressive metal's shining lights, Haken has returned after a nearly three-year gap with their next stage of musical evolution, entitled Vector. A band that somehow managed to pay their dues to progressive legends past (Dream Theater, Yes, King Crimson, etc.) while creating an atmosphere all their own, Haken has leapfrogged between studio releases with an ever-present eye towards the musical horizon, cunningly incorporating such disparate styles and artist touchpoints as the ever-underrated (and fellow Englishmen) Gentle Giant, 80's synth-based pop, and most explicitly on Vector, an increasing interest in Djent-scented riffs and grooves. With Vector, Haken have not only delivered on the art rock contract to which they are bound with overlong technical passages, numerous solos and song lengths frequently eclipsing the six minute mark, they've opted to do it in the span of just forty-five minutes, otherwise known to the larger listening public as "typical album length". While the considerably shorter runtime has been a point of contention among fans (previous Haken albums regularly ran past the sixty minute mark), Vector demonstrates an ability that seems absent from many bands: a willingness (or ability) to condense your sound, cut back on your keyboard patches and pre-chorus instrumental fingering exercises to deliver quality songs with quality musicianship. With Vector, Haken has achieved both.

Starting things off with a brief, atmospheric introduction in "Clear" before moving right into the high-intensity percussive force of "The Good Doctor", Vector wastes no time getting into the thick of it. "The Good Doctor" is denser and noticeably heavier than previous opening pieces like "Atlas Stone" and "Nocturnal Conspiracy", and reminds me quite a bit of "In Memoriam" with its mixture of stop-start riffing and memorable vocal lines, a tangled knot of tricky time signatures and instrumentation, topped by a great little crown of a chorus. The group then directly sets off into "Puzzle Box", a song that is eminently suffused with the modern Haken™ sound in a beautiful way: excellent keyboard work from Diego Tejeida, loping bass grooves from Connor Greene, and perhaps the band's best outro yet. "Veil", the longest track on the album and something of a centerpiece that the other songs revolve around, begins with some gorgeous harmony vocals before moving afield through several distinct sections and passages, a hugely satisfying chorus plus a bit of atmospheric multi-part vocals towards the end that recalls "The Architect". While it's the lengthiest piece to be found here, it clocks in at a svelte dozen minutes that go by far too quickly. "Veil" is easily my favorite track on Vector and is certainly one of the greatest songs Haken have written. (The whole band is in top form on Vector but drummer Ray Hearne deserves special mention. I'm not sure if it's a result of the band's more collaborative songwriting approach recently or just a quirk of the material here, but either way the drumming is a noticeable cut above their previous albums).

After "Veil", Vector is actually pretty close to wrapping up. "Nil By Mouth" is crunchy instrumental workout that showcases Diego's keyboard work quite well, in addition to being surprisingly groovy. The boys pump the brakes a bit with "Host", a moody ballad decorated with flugelhorn and organ before concluding with "A Cell Divides", a distinctly Leprous-tinged track with another great chorus as well some cryptic lyrics and atmospheric samples that give it a bit of a sinister air. I haven't touched on the lyrics because Vector is a concept album but I have almost no idea of what is happening in terms of story, although I did find the lyrics to be mostly on the same quality level as Affinity, which is welcome, with less of that traditional prog rock cheesiness that so often seeps into this type of music. If this review seems a bit terse, it's because truthfully I find it difficult to say much about Vector that won't make itself evident upon listening to it: it's a fantastic piece of work that asks quite little of the listener by only running for three of quarters of an hour from start to finish. Haken have managed to successfully distill and refine their sound on Vector and only seem to be getting more confident and clever with each new album, and I'm very curious to see where they go from here.

Empire At War: Thrawn's Revenge

Source: thrawnsrevenge.com

While Electronic Arts' Star Wars: Battlefront games tend to draw most of the water when it comes to the recently revitalized franchise's space in the console video game market, a more unassuming title holds the bestseller crown on the PC platform: a real-time strategy game released in 2007 called Star Wars: Empire at War. Set in the period just before and covering the events of Episode IV: A New Hope, Empire at War was a quietly competent strategy experience with an outsized modding community owing to the massive Star Wars Expanded Universe (now known as "Legends"). That community has carried the flame for over ten years while numerous mod projects have come and gone, covering everything from the Clone Wars to the Old Republic, all the way into the Legacy Era (my personal favorite period). Sadly, Empire at War's multiplayer servers were brought offline after the demise of GameSpy in 2014 and official support from developer Petroglyph Studios also came to a halt. With EA shifting focus to its Battlefront series and a larger shift of interest away from traditional RTS games towards MOBAs, it seemed like Empire at War was destined to join the hefty pile of forgotten Star Wars licensed games - until a surprise announcement in the summer of 2017 appearing from Disney and Petroglyph trumpeted the return of multiplayer support for the title as well as numerous bug fixes and modern quality-of-life improvements.

Buttressed by the unlikely revival, the game received a fresh wave of interest thanks to integration with Steam as well as the the current wave of new films, resulting in a wave of updates bringing long-dead mods up to current spec as well as a shot to the arm of several in-progress mods, one of which being Thrawn's Revenge. In some form of development since at least 2014, Thrawn's Revenge is, to me, the most impressive mod available for Empire at War because it is one of the few projects that has emerged out the other end of all these years with a fantastic and impressive breadth of new features and content while holding itself to a sheen of polish and professionalism that is sadly absent in most fan-created work. I'll go over the broad strokes of the mod here but I encourage you to check out their website or Steam page to learn more.

A New Era

The biggest change introduced in Thrawn's Revenge is the "Era System", which replaces the base game's Tech System. In vanilla Empire at War, different factions have different methods available to them of advancing their "tech level", which governs what units and structures they can build, with higher tech levels granting access to more powerful units in a linear progression. Under the Era System in the mod, the death of the current Imperial leader (usually) results in the era shifting into the next one, from 1 to 5, changing the available units and heroes for certain factions depending on the specific era. For example, in later eras the New Republic gains access to more modern battleships that rival the Imperials, whereas the Imperial Remnant only gets weaker as the eras progress. Recently the Remnant faction was given the option to force an era change for a hefty cost, meaning that now there is a great push/pull dynamic between the different factions and their goals.

There's a laundry list of countless other changes, tweaks, and additions that can be viewed at the Thrawn's Revenge website, but to wrap this up I'll briefly go over the different factions available to play as in the mod. There are a couple of others besides these that are either in progress or simply emergent AI factions meant to spice up gameplay, and more information on them can also be found on the website.

New Republic

The updated New Republic faction takes the place of the Rebels from the base game, and is the only faction in the mod that only improves as the eras advance. Early days see them with their characteristic roster of X-Wings, Mon Calamari cruisers and Nebulon-Bs, while the later few eras show off more advanced units and heroes only seen in expanded universe material (like much of Thrawn's Revenge). While the Empire of the Hand shares their ability to build starfighters discretely, the New Republic has an interesting playstyle all their own, and I really like the way they are incentivized to go after the Imperial Remnant primarily in order to advance the eras and "unlock" their more powerful units.

Empire of the Hand

A secret entity formed by Admiral Thrawn in the early days of the Empire, the Empire of the Hand has some of the most well-realized units in the mod and an well-differentiated playstyle fitting of this hybrid of alien and Imperial interests. An emphasis on hit and run tactics and smaller, more agile units that punch above their weight sets the Hand apart, but they largely pay for that flexibility with lower amounts of health/armor/shields, making straight-up slugfests into a typically poor proposition. Like the New Republic they seem to have a tendency to get beaten up on by the AI in larger galactic conquests, but they are easily the most visually interesting faction as every unit was built from scratch for the mod.

Imperial Remnant 

The Imperial Remnant replaces the default Empire faction and experiences probably the most dynamic timeline throughout the progression of the different eras. While other factions may find a couple of new units replacing older ones and one or two different heroes coming and going, the Remnant has a continuous succession of new units, heroes, and overall footing on the map, as well as a couple of different superweapons and story events depending on the specific era. Since the jump to subsequent eras still hinges on the death of the current Imperial Remnant leader, the new ability to purposefully force a regime change as the Remnant player eliminates a lot of the strange suicide missions previous versions of the mod forced you into undertaking in order to progress the timeline. The other Imperial Warlord factions have been more interesting to me at the moment, but the Remnant definitely is the best example of the era system of Thrawn's Revenge in action.

Imperial Warlord Factions

These are splinter groups of the Empire led by various officers who all vied for control of the remaining Imperial forces in the aftermath of Episode VI:

• Warlord Zsinj: One of my favorite factions just because of how ragtag it feels. Zsinj starts off with the largest amount of territory of all the Warlords and a special TIE model for some flair, but other than that his unit selection is a strange mix of low-tech Rebel carrier ships and standard Imperial stuff. While Zsinj himself comes with a Super Star Destroyer right off the rip, the rest of his heroes are intensely forgettable and his starting position on the galactic map means he will be getting hit on all sides by other factions.
• Greater Maldrood: Zsinj's neighbor on the galactic map and chief rival is the Greater Maldrood, led by Admiral Teradoc. Low-key the best Warlord faction thanks to a solid starting position, solid-to-great hero roster, and a range of units that covers all bases between huge capital ships, hard hitting frigates and excellent carriers and fighters.
• Pentastar Alignment: The other Warlord faction led by a hero with a Super Star Destroyer, the Alignment seems set up around a hammer and anvil strategy of drowning the enemy in fighters from various carriers before giving them the Emperor's peace with a selection of capital ships. These guys probably have the best starting location of all as well as some very unique heroes and old school Clone Wars units.
• Eriadu Authority: My personal favorite, these guys are basically "Star Destroyer: The Faction". Great capital ship selection, competent fighters and a fine but vanilla selection of smaller ships, they're let down by some trash heroes and a starting location that makes them the Rebels' and Imperial Remnant's punching bag.

 

And that is Thrawn's Revenge, a mod that, in my mind, far surpasses the variety and depth provided in the base Empire at War experience to deliver an experience that any Star Wars or RTS fan would enjoy. I also recommend checking out the lead developer's YouTube channel for many videos covering the mod itself as well as modding tutorials, previews of upcoming features, and more.

Far Cry 5

Times change. Franchises change. That's cool. Far Cry games have always been more alike than they are different, trading large-scale paradigm shifts for minor systemic adjustments to the Far Cry­© Formula ever since the series hit its mainstream stride with 2012's Far Cry 3. The problem with building successive sequels on the same mechanical root system is that inevitable, shit is going to get stale. The obvious solution to that is to think of new ingredients to pop into the recipe to keep the novelty at a nice high level, right? Well Far Cry 5 doesn't really do that. In fact, there is so little new content/things to experience in this game that I'm wondering if I'm missing something in a way I've never experienced with one of these games. From the narrative to the gameplay, everything about this game feels designed to be as bland and easily palatable as a McNugget.

First, a quick thought experiment. Close your eyes and imagine you're in a boardroom in a large office building in Montreal, at a table with a bunch of pale Canadian video game developers. Creative director of Far Cry 5 Dan Hay is at the front of the room next to a whiteboard, asking everyone to come up with what they think are the pillars of the Far Cry brand. Give it a shot!

...

...

...

...

Ok, got em? Here's what I have:

1. Large open world to explore freely, with as few loading screens as possible (preferably zero)

2. Largely focused on man-vs-man armed conflict that can be approached in various ways (shooting, fire, stealth, etc.)

3. A charismatic antagonist that drives the plot and gives the player some motivation to continue and/or big picture goal

Far Cry 5 certainly has # 1 in the bag. It's little slice of Montana is simultaneously aggressively full of content and sobering in its lack of visual variety (as someone who grew up in southern Michigan, it isn't exactly exotic but YMMV). Not only are there just... a lot of trees and farms to drive past, there aren't really any interesting things to find hidden in the world. The various collectibles from previous titles have been boiled down to a much leaner offering: you can find perk points and money in prepper stashes scattered around the game world (I've read these are ostensibly supposed to stand in for the radio towers of yesteryear), and there are bobbleheads and lighters to find, but they no longer serve any in-game purpose like, say, unlocking special weapons or revealing additional backstory on any of the characters. As far as I can tell, perk points and money are the only things you can get by exploring. No special guns, or outfits, or camo patterns, or lore, or anything. This is... alright for your first time through the game, I guess. This series has always rewarded/been about exploring so it's disappointing to see it augmented in some ways (having perk points out in the world in discoverable stashes like this is great) yet exsanguinated in others (no unlockable items, no additional backstory on anyone/the game world).

If you noticed me write "outfits" there and are wondering what I mean - yes, Far Cry 5 features several unlockable outfits for your character to purchase and wear. "Unlockable clothing options, in Far Cry? Wait, does that mean you can see your feet now??" Yes, Virginia. This is one of those features that just makes you wonder how much money and time was spent on it when those funds and hours could've spent on literally anything else in this game, especially considering how much of a token effort it seems to be. You can pick from a small grid of generic Pearl Jam fan attire as well as a couple of special outfits that are slowly being unlocked through live events. It's honestly so pointless that I'm surprised they bothered.

Look, I'm not against having more customizability. Even though it's totally trivial, I can admit that it's kind of fun to dress up my personal Far Cry Guy in certain threads, for a bit. My problem is that the fun does not last long as there are not many interesting decisions to be made when choosing between all of these clothes. Maybe if some of them had certain built-in perks, like a leather jacket that had a holster to allow you to draw your sidearm faster, or a fire-resistant jacket? Like most things in game development, they probably thought of that but couldn't make it work, or maybe they thought it would move the game closer to an RPG than they wanted, who knows. You know what? The clothes situation is fine, since it doesn't the gameplay at all. The problem is that this philosophy that prioritizes player customization over impact on gameplay is soaked into all of Far Cry 5, and the available arsenal of weapons the player gets to pick from is the clearest example of this. Far Cry has always been a series featuring a wide array of firearms, ranging from typical genre staples like assault rifles and shotguns all the way to bows and flare guns. Far Cry 3 and 4 shared quite a few weapons between them, which made sense considering the time frame the circumstances of their development, but Far Cry 5 is the first big, serious, next-gen numbered installment in the series since 2014, set in America as well - you might as well be walking in to a Cabela's right? Nah. There are five entirely new weapons, including models and animations. The rest are all either holdovers from previous games or strange reskins: 3 different pump action shotgun models with identical stats, animations and attachments. 4 clones of various rifles with different models, and 3 different MP5s that are each considered their own separate weapon in the store. What's really annoying and strange about this isn't all of these repeated assets, it's how they're presented to the player as discrete new guns for you to unlock. Yes, you will spend precious hours of your life unlocking 3 separate shotguns that all do the exact same thing, and you will have to pay for the privilege of using them and realizing that they are all the same, just like I did.

Maybe if all of these guns were unlocked from the start, then I can sort of see it. All of the clone weapons would still look bizarre, but I can understand the increased variety and customization angle that would've provided as it fits with the rest of the features. But... they aren't. You spend the whole game unlocking these boring cloned weapons to use on the same 5 enemy types from the last 3 Far Cry games. Even calling it "fighting" seems like a stretch, since you only ever lose a couple of seconds of progress if you kick the bucket and your inventory sticks with you anyway, so you never end up losing anything (Mark Brown talked about this in his video on the series). So the mechanic you end up interacting with the most ends up being the most restrictive to player freedom, which doesn't mesh well with the Resistance Meter mechanic that drives the whole game forward, as nearly everything you do in Far Cry 5 contributes to this meter, gradually filling it up towards the next story beat. Outposts, random roadside hostages, and story missions all give you "Resistance Points", and you unlock more weapons as you fill up the meter in each of the game's 3 regions. Bad guys stick around in a region even after you defeat the boss, so you aren't emptying the world of content too quickly (the world only really feels empty if you continue your save file after finishing the campaign as all of the random encounters no longer happen and enemies are only found in outposts), but there is something psychologically needling to me about the constant reminders. It's like a timer is constantly ticking down until the game is no longer fun.

Plot-wise, the cult and its leaders have shockingly few interesting things to say or do during their long, long monologues. Jacob Seed's brainwashing storyline was the only one I felt was interesting and that fit in with the whole cult scenario, but what really let me down was the big cult leader, Joseph Seed. Typically people complain that the interesting villains in Far Cry games don't get enough screen time, and while that tradition continues with Joseph Seed here, the bigger problem is that while Greg Bryk does everything he can to bring this guy to life, the writing just doesn't seem to have his back as there is barely any actual religious demagoguery going on, just vague references to how great things used to be and how the world is going to shit. John Seed is much less interesting than the characters you interact with in Fall's End like Pastor Jerome (how is he not a companion??) while Faith's scenes feel like they stretched out a minor character into a major one at the last minute.

Outside of the main storyline, the bare minimum setup of this situation doesn't really seem to make much sense either. You spend the whole game flying around in planes and helicopters and can buy them from shops all over the place, so what's stopping you from just flying away? No reason given. Why do I care? Because they took the time to explicitly acknowledge this kind of thing in the opening of the game when Joseph Seed orders a police dispatcher to not call in the National Guard and its revealed that she is actually a member of the cult... or he convinces her not too with his cult leader charisma powers, I honestly can't tell what I was supposed to think happened there. You also get vague hints on the car radios of Moscow getting nuked, US diplomats being recalled, and other happenings that ostensibly explain why no one cares what this cult is doing in rural Montana - the world really is collapsing out there. I'm fine with that, but why is that kind of worldbuilding only given via a car radio that many players (including myself) can and will miss entirely? I'm not trying to nit-pick this story to death because I hate it, I'm just surprised at how bland it is. Just off the top of my head, here are some interesting ideas to base story missions off:

- Helping defectors escape the cult (there's already a mission in the game that deals with this, but's its just a one-off. Maybe it could be set up like the Underground missions in Far Cry 2 where there are several missions you perform to help these defectors with getting out of the county or you run guns for them or something)

- Going undercover into the cult to sabotage something/get information/rescue someone

- Excavating one of the tunnels out of the county and leading a convoy of civilians out (would be a cool reversal of the usual convoy missions)

- Maybe the reason you can't fly out of the county is because the cult has some sort of anti-air weapons. Maybe a mission where you try to disable one so some civilians can get away?

- Helping some civilians with building a makeshift radio system to contact the outside world

- There don't seem to be any hospitals in the county, so maybe a mission to steal medical supplies from the cult? Or maybe there is some sort of black market trading going on between disgruntled members of both the cult and the resistance and you have to do something involving that.

Just spitballing here, but the story missions truly are so lame and forgettable that I'm wondering what happened with those. I'm assuming they had to design them all to be roughly the same in terms of difficulty because of the free-form nature of the player's progression, but I'm really not sure. It really is unfortunate that a game with a premise as potentially insane as this ended up with the narrative equivalent of a chicken McNugget, but I don't think it would be unfair to say that a lot more of the team's efforts are being directed at the gameplay side of things, and those efforts at least have borne some fruit.

It's smooth. Like, really really smooth. The way your character's movement is handled is just a bit faster than the previous games but it makes a world of difference, especially combined with the improved animations for basically of your actions. Honestly the movement is much more fluid that it makes me realize how much of the difficulty of previous games was due to just how clunky movement was handled, so that is definitely Far Cry 5 deserves props for. I also generally enjoy the environment of Hope County and the various little prepper dens and cool locations to discover, and think that the way missions are learned about by talking to people instead of just going to an icon on a map is a mostly good change. Like I said before, I just wish there was a bit more of a reward for exploring outside of the handful of unique vehicles.

The game also runs and looks pretty damn fantastic. I'm running it on a 970 with only 8GB of RAM and I'm getting a consistent 60 frames with only a few areas of chugging, so thanks to Ubi for correcting the record with their previous PC launches with a pretty well optimized game. I haven't gone back and played any of the older Far Cry games recently besides 2, so the level of fidelity with those isn't quite fresh in mind anymore, but the lighting and water effects are obviously a step up from those older titles. Character models for anyone who isn't one of the 6 main characters still look like they were ripped from an Xbox 360 and the draw distance and environment detail hasn't advanced as far as I would've thought, but it doesn't detract from the experience much aside from the bizarrely awful looking death clones for the vehicles and the way the game still evaporates any dead bodies you haven't looted at an outpost once you clear or if a certain threshold of enemies in a small area is reached (seriously... what year is it?).

When it comes to the multiplayer/community aspect, Ubisoft really seems to be giving a shit in that area with the greatly expanded Arcade mode that pulls in assets from several other Ubi games this time around as well as these "Live Event" group challenge things that happen every week. I appreciate the support but also have to wonder about how someone who misses out on these events is supposed to obtain the rewards? Because the rewards have tended to be actual unique weapons and items that seem to have been held back for these events, e.g. a new car or a returning weapon from the previous games. So this is basically on-disc content is being slowly unlocked one week at a time. I can't say I'm a huge fan, but I'm ok with it as long as it stays free, and maybe stringing things along will help to maintain a longer tail with the game's community, as Far Cry games have never been known to have strong, long-lasting multiplayer populations from 3 onward.

So Far Cry 5. If you like open world games or FPS games, you will probably like this game. If you've never played a Far Cry game before you will probably love this game, but if you've experienced these games in the past you know pretty much exactly what you are in for, so just be aware that very little has changed. The core gameplay is great, but the systems and narrative that surround it are so tame and inoffensive that the premise feels a bit wasted. I compared it to a chicken McNugget earlier and I keep coming back to that because this game really feels like McDonald's: everything in it was approved by a corporate committee, it's never very good, and it definitely isn't nutritious. But it is really consistent and its on the way home from work, so what the fuck.

Galactic Cowboys - Long Way Back To The Moon

As someone who grew up in the 90's, it's pretty surreal to imagine that enough time has passed between then and now for a band that was active in that decade to have had a career and release several records, break up and spend 17 years separated, and then re-form for another album out of nowhere. 17-year-reunion territory belongs to dinosaur bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, not obscure prog metal groups like Galactic Cowboys - but here we are. The original lineup of the band was comprised of Ben Huggins on vocals, Dane Sonnier on guitar/vocals, Monty Colvin on bass/vocals, and Alan Doss on drums/vocals. To give you an idea of their sound, this was their "big hit" from way back in the day. Layered vocal harmonies, thrash riffs, prog rock chops and an off-beat sense of humor round out the package. I've covered them before and had assumed that the boys had packed it in after their 6th disc in 2000, but apparently a friend at Mascot Label Group floated the idea of another album to the singer and bassist, and the thought stuck, resulting in Long Way Back To The Moon arriving here in 2017.

Things are kicked off with "In The Clouds", a nice and compact little chugfest that has a bit of history to it, as it was originally a track from their 1989 demo tape before the first album dropped. Production-wise, they replicated that classic Cowboys sound perfectly, and I actually really like how different it sounds from the rest of the album and bridges the dirtier, rougher edge from their early albums into the cleaner, more modern sounds of the rest of the disc. Besides the nostalgia appeal, I also really enjoy the way the track shifts around the 3 minute mark from a kind of mid-tempo plod into a bass-driven fast n' dirty groove that quickly drives us through the last couple of minutes of the song. Long Way Back... stays strong as "Internal Masquerade" takes over and gives us a taste of the rest of the album, production-wise: surprisingly clean (maybe a little too clean, especially on the group harmonies), with pretty clear/even instruments. Monty, Alan, and Dane all sound great, but Ben's vocals never quite make it up to their level as I find his lines tend to get buried, especially as Monty's distorted bass takes up a decent amount of sonic space just by itself. He suffers the same problem that J.D. Cronise went through on the early Sword albums with getting drowned out, and I wonder if double-tracking vocals would've helped thicken the sound and push back against the wall of distortion coming from the rest of the group.

Leaving production aside, I'm relieved and impressed by how much quality songwriting is contained here. "Zombies"' is an amazing little riff monster with fantastic lead work by Dane, "Next Joke" is trademark Monty grunge-punk, and the 2 bonus tracks are so unexpectedly good that I wonder why they didn't make it onto the proper album. Fans expecting "Sea of Tranquility"-levels of start-stop prog thrash might not be totally enthused with the overall slower pace of the songs here, as everything (and everyone) is running a bit slower these days. Hard rock is the name of the game on Long Way Back... and thankfully that vibe is never killed by any cheesy ballads, which has been a pain point on previous Cowboys records. Unfortunately, that even-handed approach to a common tone between all of the songs leads to a tendency for things to blur together, and the weaker songs seem to lean on the "Galactic Cowboys© Sound" more than quality writing, most noticeably "Blood In My Eyes", "Hate Me", and "Amisarewas", that last one featuring some Christian lyrics, another Cowboys quirk - they were not ostensibly a Christian band, but they displayed a kind of red blooded conservative Christian viewpoint in some songs (including one of their most popular tunes, no joke) that always seemed out of place in the mainstream music industry. Special attention has to go to standout cuts "Believing The Hype" and the title track, which easily stack up with the best that that GC has recorded. Long Way Back To The Moon starts and ends strong, which counts for a lot, and even the weaker songs are just OK hard rock filler tracks. Solid production (not sure by who though as I don't have my hard copy of the album yet), solid songwriting, solid artwork... for a 17 year reunion, it could have gone a hell of a lot worse.