Why NBC's "Awake" Needed to be Cancelled

I am a fan of actor BD Wong. So when I heard he was ending his position as Law and Order: SVU's Dr. Huang I was very sad. I was, however, excited to know he would be in a new show on NBC called "Awake."

Awake is a strange show about Detective Michael Britten who has been in a car accident and now he doesn't sleep. In fact, instead of sleeping he lives in two different worlds. In one world his wife lived, but his son died, and in the other his wife died and his son lived. The thing is, when he falls asleep in one world, he wakes up in another. Soon, parts of his cases begin overlapping. He is now solving both cases at the same time, using evidence from each life.



Unique concept, yeah? Too bad it hasn't worked out. It's being cancelled after just one season, and a lot of people are really upset about this.

Except apparently I'm in the minority; I really and truly understand why Awake was cancelled.

Television shows have three plots to them - a running subplot for the season, a running subplot for the series, and the plot. Think about it like a car. The television show is supposed to be the vehicle. It could be a simple number like a Subaru with minimal frills and add-ons (think of this like NCIS - what you see is what you get), or something really fancy with onboard navigation and other bells and whistles like the Infinity EX35 (I watch way too much Top Gear).

Either way, in every episode a different plot is driving the car. The subplot should be a respectful passenger riding shotgun - quiet, contributes to the conversation, is enjoyable to ride with, and doesn't dictate how the plot should be driving. The series subplot should be like the sleeping kid in the backseat. They're snoring softly so we don't forget they're there, but they're only contributing to the road trip by existing. In Awake, there is no season subplot, so the series subplot is sitting in the passenger seat and going on like an annoying backseat driver: It wants to drive the show instead of letting the plot do so.

Awake's subplot quickly took over the show, and the plot shifted into the passenger seat - bad move if you want the show to last. What we like about a subplot is that it runs the entire length of the series and we wait for it to be resolved. SyFi's Eureka does (soon to be "did") this brilliantly. The series subplot is an undercurrent of sexual tension between various characters and the friendships and relationships they form. Every season of Eureka has a different subplot to it that just happens to be there. Last season it was a preparation for the Astraeus mission. It quietly sat there, existing but allowing other plots (like Eureka's bank literally floating away) to be the primary focus of the episode. 

Awake quickly became all about the subplot of Britten's condition instead of about the cases he was solving. The subplot developed too quickly - the series finale was tonight and there wasn't much of a surprise twist to me, despite promises that it would have one. I guessed the ending about six weeks or so ago.

Awake could have been a hit. It had all of the potential to do so. It had an undercurrent of conspiracy theories (like the X-Files), a bit of something unusual (the quantum mechanics theory known as the Many-Worlds Interpretation), and a potential for a great crime drama. It's a shame the subplot took over. I would have loved to have seen how the writers planned on developing the concept. 

Awake would have been fantastic as a mini-series, not a multi-season show. 

Yet Another Video Game Review

I'm sorry I haven't gotten on and blogged lately. You can blame my new videogame obsession.

See, the newest Humble Bundle came out, and with it came the premiere of Amanita Designs' newest game, Botanicula.

I would say this is my favorite game that Amanita has produced to date.

Botanicula is a puzzle/adventure game about a group of plant friends who are on a mission to save the last star tree in the world (I honestly don't know what to call it. The problem with all of Amanita's games is that none of the characters use actual words) from these evil spider creatures that suck the life out of everything around them. While they do this, they attempt to right as many of the spiders' wrongs as they can along the way.

Typically of Amanita Designs, the game is visually stunning. Amanita almost seems to be attempting to blur the line between video games and art. Here are a couple screen shots from Botanicula:

Look at those. They are art, plain and simple. When you add in the beautiful music, Botanicula is much more than just a piece of entertainment. And the beauty of Botanicula is that the game is almost magical.

But that's just it, though. These sorts of visually beautiful games are not limited to one of Amanita Designs' games. This is actually quite typical of them. Here's a shot from Machinarium:

Here's one from Samarost:

And here's one from Windowsill.

The fact is, everything they do is remarkably beautiful. Even if it isn't detailed, the game play is smooth,  intuitive, and fluid. I recommend just about everything they've put out. The four I've mentioned here are only a few of the games Amanita Designs has produced.

The visuals aren't the only thing that's inherently beautiful about the design. In every game I keep hoping for a soundtrack that I can listen to when I'm walking around. They have fit the music to the scene perfectly.

You can currently get Machinarium, Botanicula, Samarost 2, and Windowsill with the Humble Bundle.

Special thanks to gamrReview for the screenshots I used. 

Flash Games Forever!

As I've said before, I'm a little addicted to flash games. I could play some of them for hours on end. A few of them, however, are better than others.

One of these is William and Sly and its sequel, the recently released and uniquely titled William and Sly 2. (I can give the creator, Lucas Paakh, a lot, but his titling is not at all creative.)

In the first game, you play as Sly and you're trying to turn a bunch of runes back on for your human friend, William.

The stunning 2D play is complimented by equally beautiful music. It plays like a typical platform game. You use the arrow keys to move and jump, and you have to grab a certain number of fairyflies (little floating orange light-y things that fly around in the game) to turn on the runes. Also, like a typical platform, there are regular baddies to destroy called darklings. They pop up and steal your fairyflies. At the end, there's a boss level to fight.

As platforms go, it's not particularly original in its gameplay and yet... I've played this game at least a dozen times, if not more. I'm not sure what it is about the game. Is it the perfect amount of difficulty that keeps it interesting? Is it the amazingly relaxing music? Is it the idea that I might just be playing with a fox that can either jump abnormally high or just happens to live in a world where there isn't a lot of gravity? I'm not sure. This game is one of the darlings of Newgrounds and there doesn't seem to be a specific reason for it.

When William and Sly 2 was released in December, fans of the original game (like me) hyperventilated at the chance to play the long awaited sequel. And we've waited awhile. The original was released in July of 2009.

As gameplay goes, William and Sly 2 is both a wonderfully similar experience, and completely different as well.

Firstly, there's the graphics to consider.

Where the original game was this:

The new game is this:

Yeah. Paakh has taken William and Sly out of the realms of 2D renderings, and into 3D. And it's stunning. The world was already immersive and beautiful, and now it's even more so. Plus there's new music and a brand new series of objectives.

But this is where the similarities start to end. Where the original game was almost typical platform - you mostly went in one direction and you had a level boss - the new game is more open world. There are four objectives here where once there was only one. Now you need to unlock the runes, save the pixies, put the Ahmni back on their towers, and retrieve the scraps of William's journal that those blasted gnomes have scattered everywhere. Now, instead of only moving right, you're going all over the game world. 

There's no boss, either. That doesn't make it any less frustrating at times. I spent my first night with the game desperately trying to find the last key to open the last chest that held the last journal scrap so I could win.

However you look at it, William and Sly is a brilliant game series, and I look forward to seeing if there will be a William and Sly 3. No matter what, I'll play it. You should too. I guarantee, you'll enjoy yourself thoroughly.