Soma

Soma, Frictional Games' follow up to the breakout success of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, is pretty tough to write about -- it's not as intense as Amnesia or as abstract as Penumbra. Instead, we have a very detailed science fiction narrative that touches on old chestnuts like the nature of consciousness, what it means to be human, rogue AI, etc., delivered in Frictional's trusty piecemeal, sound-byte audio log method, which has never worked better here -- the small crumbs of narrative goodness lead you on a story that seems much more complicated than it turns out to be, which only made me more anxious to progress and see how things would resolve. The environmental design is some of the best I've seen in a while: Soma's ocean-floor segments inspire a real sense of awe at the sheer vastness of this place, while it's mechanical and monster designs are as top-notch as ever. What really makes this game stick out is it's lack of a position on the issues it raises: it's dark stuff, and it's delivered so evenly that you're left with no choice but to consider your own positions on this stuff. For such a modest time (about 8 hours) and money (about $20) commitment, Soma is a standout.

KXM - "KXM" | OSI - "Blood"

Distortion-soaked grooves and lyrics touching on faith and loneliness are deep in the weelhouse for Pinnick's devotees, but for a freshly-minted supergroup KXMs fondness on vamped riffs to get to that 4:30 mark is frustrating. Maybe dUg has a bet with Mike Portnoy to see who can form the more forgettable hard rock trio? C+

"Terminal" and the title track are interesting, but Moore and Matheos never achieve a good enough fusion to make the rest of this really come alive -- the heavy songs sound stilted and the soft ones feel stretched. Bonus points for blatantly reusing keyboard patches during Mikael Akerfeldt's song (the most overlong piece in OSI's discography) and for assisting Gavin Harrison in recording his most forgettable drum parts. C