The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales | Gris | Snatch

Sounds like the start of a very odd joke.

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MOVIES

- I actually surprised myself today as I thought I'd previously published a post about Snatch before, but it turns out I hadn't, so it's actually a new film to rate for me!

- What I was going to say is that it's still as enjoyably daft nonsense as it was the first time around, and it very much is, so don't go in expecting a typical gangster movie.

- Hell, if you can't pick up on the London accents and the slang right away, it might take a while for you to even settle in to the movie and really keep track of what's going on.

- It's not even just the rapid-fire dialogue and equally frenetic cuts and edits that'll cause a problem either, as there are also a lot of characters and their own arcs within the larger story to keep track of, all of which intercut and crossover at various times.

- Still, it really is a lot of fun, with some genuinely laugh out loud moments, so if you don't mind a hefty dose of violence, threats and some creative cursing in your gangster comedies, then you should really enjoy it. [8/10]

GAMES

- I've made Game Pass worth my while with two games done in a month: Gris and The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales.

- Gris was done first as it's only around three and a half hours long, with no text or dialogue to work through, but just a very, very pretty world instead.

- It was simple enough to control for the most part, but there a few sequences later on which I imagine could prove frustrating to some as the puzzle side of things takes over from the running, jumping and swimming.

- I'm also really not joking about how pretty it looks; this is very much one of those games where you can take a screenshot at practically any second and still have something wallpaper-worthy.

- It wasn't the most satisfying game to play, but I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time either and would certainly recommend giving it a go if you have Game Pass. [6/10]

- As for The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales, that was surprisingly enrapturing considering how simple that was too, although the excellent writing for the characters, plus the unique premise, certainly take most of the credit.

- It is a bit jarring to go from the first-person perspective of the 'real' world to the isometric top-down view of the in-book settings at times, but it certainly serves its purpose of letting you know where you are.

- I also like a lot of the twists on traditional stories included - a science-fiction story revolving around trying to find someone worthy of pulling Excalibur from its stone; an apparent horror story winding up using time-travel.

- There's a lot of well-written dialogue too and that's my only real issue with the game; it's not the best-looking, -sounding or -playing game ever, but I really would've loved to hear that dialogue performed.

- I really did get sucked into this game more than I thought I would and would definitely recommend this to anyone who like well-written characters and is fine reading through a lot of text in their games; liking literature and enjoying twists on narrative conventions will only make you like it even more. [8/10]

TV

- Really got to get a move on with the Apple TV stuff before my free trial expires!

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