Ghost Hunt (Anime)

To emulate the effectiveness of the actual ghost stories it tells, Ghost Hunt keeps true to the primary rule: brevity. Though the series spans 25 episodes, there are eight separate “files” or cases investigated by the same team of protagonists. This series loves to play on its own formula, starting early with the is-it-or-isn’t-it ambiguity inherent in paranormal investigation, and then builds each scenario to play upon the convictions of the former. Each character comes from a different background with certain specialties, and the characters as well as their relationships to one another evolve over the course of their investigations. Stories run the gamut from funny and tense to sullen and haunting. FUNimation’s S.A.V.E. edition just came out, and you can pick it up for $21 or so.

– Ink

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Anime)

When it comes down to classic anime horror, few franchises can beat Vampire Hunter D, the film series based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's Japanese novels (Which I suggested in last year's Staff Picks). The first Vampire Hunter D (1985) certainly hasn't aged too well with its dated character designs and Toyoo Ashida's (Fist of the North Star) directing, but it's still a relatively fun time for fans of old-school anime.

The 2000 sequel, Bloodlust, however, is well worth your time this Halloween. Directed by 80s/90s OAV superstar Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll, Cyber City Oedo 808), it features top-notch animation, spectacular action scenes, and an unsettling combination of Kawajiri and Yoshitaka Amano's distinctive character designs.

On the scare side, it's filled with gruesome monsters and dark, post-apocalyptic landscapes. Plus, the villain, Meier Link, is delightfully creepy, with his languid demeanor and long-faced character design. It might not be a traditional horror movie, but as a horror-themed action-adventure film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust will certainly be a fun addition to your Halloween festivities. The Urban Vision special edition DVD isn't particularly cheap, but it's a disc that's sure get a lot of use over the years.

– Vampt Vo

Dead Space (Video Game)

Unfortunately, I have been gaming exclusively on my Xbox 360, so I haven’t come across any good J-horror video games of late. But as far as creepy action-horror titles, I fully recommend Dead Space (Xbox 360). I played the latter at the insistence of a co-worker and do not regret it. Even though the story’s setup, progression, and interactivity nearly mirror that of the older DOOM 3, the third-person POV definitely adds over-the-shoulder terror. Both games use silence and ambient noise to heighten tension, something at which J-horror games are usually very adept, but Dead Space also offers inventory limitations to enhance the feeling of desperation and helplessness as well as close-quarter environments that are great for inducing claustrophobia. One of the Xbox 360’s Platinum Hits, you can pick this title up for $19.99 or less. The prequel is available on Xbox Live, and the sequel will be out in January 2011.

– Ink

Kuro

1. Cowboy Bebop - the Movie (anime): This is my number one choice for good reason. It's a movie that brings the hilarious scenes, dramatic fights, and everything else a person could ask for from a Cowboy Bebop movie and blends it perfectly with the mystery and drama of Halloween. To sum up the story, Faye, en route to catch a low-level target, witnesses the explosion of the tanker truck that she was following, thus releasing a deadly cloud of some mysterious disease into the air that kills hundreds of people. Now it's up to Spike and company to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.
2. Kakurenbo - Hide and Seek (anime): This is my hardcore Halloween pick of the three. In an abandoned city in Neo-Japan, children play a game called "Otokoyo." It's basically hide and seek, but there is a twist: all of the children who have played the game have mysteriously disappeared. The absolutely beautiful cell shading, sound effects, and background music used throughout the story really lend themselves to the dark and mysterious city in which Otokoyo takes place. For people on a bit of the squeamish side, this OVA will provide a good psychological thrill ride without all the blood and gore of typical horror.
3. Battle Royale (movie): Here's a movie and it's sequel that might be one of the biggest cult classic movies out of Japan since Godzilla. The plot is simple: a random Japanese class from a random school is chosen by lottery. The 30 to 40 kids in the class must then partake in the event know as Battle Royale, essentially a timed death match on a deserted island, with only one winner. It's much more than a bunch of kids killing each other though. The amount of mind games and political propaganda in this movie really get a person thinking about what can really happen when the government has all the control.

Uncle Yo

1. I Luv Halloween (manga): Tokyopop's OEL manga program shows off its gruesomely dark side in this hilarious take on a sadistic suburbia haunted by the sickest creatures imaginable: children in search of candy. With uniquely disturbed, violently apathetic characters and magnificent detail from the artist, this three-book series is great for a brutal laugh or just some other-worldy nostalgia.
2. Blood - The Last Vampire (anime): This is NOT Blood+; this is shorter and faaaaar more ambiguious. It's also violent as hell and just as scary. (The bishōjo-tone of the series is butchered here for the sake of making the monsters as menacing as possible.) This was the only anime to ever have a fight scene to a brass band playing in the background, and I'm sad that the trend never caught on. Begins with blood and ends with fire; what else is going to pump you up for wandering the neighborhood after dark?
3. Silent Hill (PS1): The classic start to the deeply disturbing series of video games about a Lovecraftian world that haunts and torments the people inside with the reincarnated demons from their own twisted lives. Unlike Resident Evil (that glorious horror-survivor), Silent Hill is about helpless believable people with few clues and even fewer weapons. The gloomy, cold fog, the iron gates, the fire rising from below, and mutha-f*&%ing Pyramid Head. Halloween is only complete once you've survived the demons that inhabit Silent Hill.

Phreak

1. Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360): I always believed that something was very wrong with Clive Barker, and with this game's release I found out that I was totally correct. Only "The Barker" could come up with a storyline filled with evil and religion, all intertwined to blur the line between good and evil while making us think, "could even God make a mistake?" The A.I. is about as intuitive as being shown around the Alaskan wilderness by a dumb, deaf, & blind man, but the atmosphere is dark, brooding, and bloody.
2. The Suffering 1 & 2 (PS2): The Suffering follows a character named Torque, whose twisted fate is primarily shaped by decisions that the player actually makes. These games were one of my first introductions to good vs. evil decision-making, as they present players with moral choices between killing and helping other people. Again, the atmosphere – a strange prison swallowed by hate and evil – really made this game worth it for me.
3. Candyman Trilogy (movies): Starting to see a pattern here? Yes, I love Clive Barker. He has a twisted mind that he manages to show us in vivid detail through his written word. The transition from book (in this case it was a short story) to movie tends to dilute the original's flavor, but with Candyman, this was not the case. They couldn't have picked a better Candyman; Tony Todd's voice and build are perfect for the character. The line "Believe in me.. Be my victim.." Fantastic! I always thought that staring into a mirror and saying some name a certain amount of times was all B.S., but after Candyman I seriously didn't look in a mirror again for 6 months.

Vampt Vo

1. Boogiepop Phantom (anime): When people think Japanese horror, live-action films like Ringu and Ju-on jump to mind, but Boogiepop Phantom is one of the many under-appreciated gems in the anime horror genre. The first few episodes revolve around people with subtle mental problems and their encounters with the mysterious entity Boogiepop. As the show goes on, its vision into the blackest heart of humanity manages to terrify without gruesome monsters or ageless curses.
2. The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask (N64): Alright, so maybe it's not overtly scary, but Majora's Mask is easily the darkest Zelda game ever made, with its theme of imminent, moon-induced destruction and its disturbing, childishly sinister villain. And what's more, it's got a whole slew of masks for Link to wear! So if you're not up for dressing up yourself this Saturday, why not play dress up with everybody's favorite sword-toting Nintendo hero?
3. Vampire Hunter D (novel): Hideyuki Kikuchi's original novel is all about one of the most terrifying of the night's creatures: vampires. The titular protagonist D is a half-vampire hired by a young woman to protect her and kill the vampire who bit her, thereby freeing her from his curse. The story is filled with tense fantasy storytelling and some surprisingly high-octane action scenes. Kevin Leahy's translation is a little awkward, but it's still a fun, quick read.

That's it for us! What are your favorite Halloween anime, games, movies, and books?

The single player campaign of Halo Wars is very much like any other RTS campaign; it slowly brings you through the learning curve by showing you how to control units and build bases until you have to fight off wave after wave of unrelenting enemy forces towards the end of your campaign.

The story is a prequel to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and takes place six years after the fall of the planet Harvest. Many familiar themes come into play; the Prophets stop at nothing to continue the great journey, you go toe-to-toe with Grunts, Elites, Hunters, Jackals, Brutes, and many familiar vehicles, as well as some new ones, and you have to blow up some forerunner technology to save everyone's lives.

The gameplay within the storyline is slightly different from multiplayer or skirmish matches. For one thing, there are some campaign-exclusive units that effectively change battle scenarios throughout the campaign. They usually give you an unfair edge over the enemy and make some missions a cakewalk if you're playing on the "normal" difficulty level. On top of that, in some missions you're given ridiculous amounts of something, like 11 Spartans as opposed to the maximum 3 in multiplayer, 40 Mass Accelerated Cannon rounds, or free drops of fully-upgraded ODSTs.

The hero system within the campaign is different as well, marking Spartans as hero units, as well as your leader. When any of your heroes die, you can revive them as in Age of Empires III by bringing a friendly unit close to them. In the other game modes, heroes just die and they have to be resurrected, and as a balancing issue, UNSC leaders do not actually enter the battle yet act more like the governors in the AOEIII system.

The game's graphics are the best I have ever seen in an RTS. It includes incredibly detailed, slightly different renditions of the characters of Halo to take time difference into account. The sounds within the game are ripped directly from the Halo series, and their quality has been improved to allow for sound cues within battles.

Playing online is incredibly entertaining because each of the six leaders has a different way of playing the game, therefore making an effective six races. Because the game is not as strict as other RTS games such as StarCraft, no two players can play the game the same way. The limitation of how many buildings one can create force a player to specialize in one aspect and utilize it to its full effectiveness.

Ensemble claims that there is a rock-paper-scissors type balancing within the game, but I found that to not be completely true. The game's unique style of play puts strategy over production, and in a battle of ODSTs versus Grizzly tanks (Scorpion tanks with two cannons) a good commander on the ODST side has about as much of a chance of winning as the commander of the Grizzlies.

The largest drawback to playing online isn't caused as much by the game as by player mentality. When I first got Halo Wars, I ran through the tutorial levels, fought some skirmish battles, played online, then played through campaign mode. The average player, however, would play the campaign before they would play online. Because the campaign only covers the UNSC, about two in every three members of the online community play as the UNSC. Regardless, battles still turn out interesting with every player having their own unique strategy, making every battle different.

Overall, Halo Wars is a great game, earning most of that greatness through its uniqueness. Being a veteran of many RTS games, I can comfortably call this one of the simplest – but simultaneously one of the most fun – games I've played. I wouldn't recommend buying it if you don't have access to LIVE, but the skulls and achievements allow for a lot of replay value, as does the ability to create your own scenarios through the skirmish option. Even with LIVE, the $60 price tag seems a little steep, but due to its addictiveness, Halo Wars is definitely too valuable to rent. Chances are, the price won't drop because it is part of the Halo franchise, so do a few odd jobs and the game will pay for itself.

great.

Game Informer: Halo 3 Recon '3 to 5' hours, earn Recon armor / GI: Halo 3 Recon is open-world (Joystiq): According to the latest issue of GameInformer magazine, Halo 3: Recon will not be "a $60 game" and will bemore like "a three to five-hour expansion pack." Not just that, but according to the article, Recon is also an "open-world" title, meaning that Bungie is ditching the linear, run-and-gun FPS gameplay of the previous Halo games. Even though users will be able to acquire the rare, Bungie staff-only "Recon Armor" through the game, I question the validity of a "three to five-hour" "open-world" title. In a "real" open-world game, you spend three to five hours in your inventory alone!

Sony to Release Madhouse's Marvel Hero Anime Worldwide (Anime News Network): Madhouse's anime adaptations of Marvel superheroes will not only be releasing in Japan. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will distribute the series in America after the Iron Man and Wolverine series premiere on Japanese television in Spring 2009. Without question this is Marvel's attempt to fight the popularity of animated feature Batman: Gotham Knight (read Uncle Yo's review). The DVD - propelled by The Dark Knight, no doubt - soared to the top of the anime sales charts in the past months, giving Warner Bros. a significant edge over Sony in the casual anime market.

That was quite a while ago, however, and for now, the spotlight is on Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat, as their map pack compiling not three, but four new maps was released on April 4th for voracious players to drool all over. These include: Broadcast, set in the television production studio and parking lot of the 'Charlie Don't Surf' level in Call of Duty 4. Chinatown is a direct remake of the classic Call of Duty 2 map, Carentan, but in the foggier, grittier, and certainly darker ambient of Chinatown. Creek, which is perhaps Call of Duty 4's most colorful map, is set outside [by a creek] in a large, wide open combat ravaged village with scarce cover spots, and might I say, it looks beautiful. The final map is called Killhouse, a desolate training warehouse with several cover spots, not all of which are entirely safe.

One more thing that I found laughable is the trailer for Halo 3's new map pack...well, two things...

Second laughable material: Its theme is very peculiar. It seems very off-the-beaten-path, yet it feels somewhat Halo while being significantly off. Death, ancient battles, scars, and darkness were some of the more notable keywords amidst all these maps and the trailer; the reasons why could be speculated, but I'm not going to do so here.

Are these maps worth the money, or should we all just wait until they are offered free of charge? Maybe, maybe not -- but I've given you what you need to decide if you want one, the other, both, or even neither!

[news data via Bungie / Kotaku]

Dystopia
The first one covered is Dystopia. Think of this as Counter Strike meets Ghost in the Shell. There are three classes: light, medium, and heavy. With each able to choose from a bank of abilities, you will fight the war on two fronts, cyberspace and the "meat world." The gameplay is much like Unreal Tournament; almost every game requires you to capture or destroy certain objectives. It's a fun game, and good enough to keep you distracted from the pre-pubescent infested Team Fortress 2 (I'm not bashing TF2's gameplay, but please refrain from using voice chat if you sound like a 10 year old).

Zombie Master
Mod number two is Zombie Master. One player controls hordes of zombies in an RTS scheme, and the other players exist as survivors. They have to complete chalenging objectives, such as repairing a truck to drive away from an infested city. The game mechanics are great; you have to take advantage of the Source Engine's physics to succeed. Survival gear includes a crowbar a la Gordon Freeman, a sledge hammer, a pistol, a shotgun, a winchester rifle (some see it as a tribue to Shaun of the Dead), and an uzi with Something Awful's signature awesome face grafted onto it. Have fun surviving!

Eternal Silence
Eternal Silence can be seen as a hard-futuristic port of the space battles seen in Battlefront II. However, I have very little to say about this game as there are never any playable servers.

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
Half Life 2: Deathmatch is a mod you have to purchace from the Valve store. However, the $9.95 is well worth it. The game pits the Combine police and army against the terrorists and freedom fighters, the Rebels. Arm yourself with weapons from all three Half Life 2 games, including the gravity gun. Nothing is more satisfying than throwing an enemy's grenade back at them. Maybe throwing a buz saw at their neck, or crushing them with a car. Oh well, be creative.

Zombie Master
Half Life 2: Deathmatch is a mod you have to purchace from the Valve store. However, the $9.95 is well worth it. The game pits the Combine police and army against the terrorists and freedom fighters, the Rebels. Arm yourself with weapons from all three Half Life 2 games, including the gravity gun. Nothing is more satisfying than throwing an enemy's grenade back at them. Maybe throwing a buz saw at their neck, or crushing them with a car. Oh well, be creative.

Battle Grounds 2
Our final game is called The Battle Grounds 2 (requires Deathmatch). It is the sequel to the hit game of the same title. The mod takes you back in time to the revolutionary war, where you fight as either a royal infantry man, an officer, or German Jaeger mercenary for the British or as a soldier, officer, or frontiersman for the Americans. The soldier classes are armed with standard-issue muskets with average accuracy and relatively fast load times. They are also armed with bayonettes which could be used to stab the enemy during a charge. Officers start out with pistols, which have poor accuracy but are more acurate than a musket when moving. They are also endowed swords for hand-to hand combat. Jaegers and Frontiersmen are sniper classes; their muskets have excelent accuracy yet have longer reload times, and their lack of bayonette force them to rely on either a hunting knife or a a sword.

A brief conversation with the lead developer of TBG2 revealed that with the new release of Steam and Source, new features will be avaliable in game. Such features include unlockable equipment, such as better bullets, rifled barrels, a scope for the sniper classes, and a ridable horse vehicle. They will also make it possible for players to destroy said scopes with an acurate shot, dislodge bayonettes, and kill the horses. There will also be at least two new classes: a mercenary class for the British (possibly Swiss or Dutch) who is armed with only a sword, yet has the ability to sprint. The American double of this class is the pirate, armed with a sabre. The developer also claims that they attempted to make grenadier classes for both factions, yet the modeling and coding is proving quite dificult, and they have decided to delay the class. Additionally, they are looking into a way of creating musket-bayonette battles in other eras such as the Napoleanic battles and the Civil War.

Each of these mods are not my work, and credit should be given to their creators. The interview with the creator of BG2 took place during an in-game battle so not all information may be 100% accurate. After all, we were busy trying to defend our last capture point and push forward before the British could respawn.