Actions speak louder than words

Blood, sweat, tears and guts combine into an amazing recipe for success in “The Walking Dead” video game by Telltale Games. Fans of the television show and comic book series of the same name are in for the ride of their lives as their emotions are strained based on their own decisions throughout the game.

“The Walking Dead” is a point-and-click adventure roleplaying game that follows lead character Lee Everett as he is thrown into the zombie apocalypse. Set in Georgia, the same location as the show and the comic books, Everett is the only directly controllable character. Each part, or episode, of the game is downloadable and available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Released from April to November, this game kept fans at the edge of their seats wondering what barbaric and life-threatening decisions they would have to make in the next episode. It is unlikely that any fan realized how difficult each decision would be, or how much each would truly affect the outcome of the game.

Lee Everett comes into contact with one of the many walkers lingering around throughout 'The Walking Dead' video game.

Everett teams up with a young girl named Clementine, eventually meeting groups of survivors along the way, but it is clear from the get-go that Everett is not going to let anything happen to the little girl. As they go from place to place, Everett is constantly thrown into the leader role which he never asked for, nor turned down.  Life-changing decisions are continuously presented to the player, who frequently has to decide which characters will live die, often with very little time to make these tough choices.

“The Walking Dead” does not allow time for much thinking unless the decision is very complex. Time is rarely given on decisions that seem more important than others. When a decision has to be made, buttons pop up at the bottom of the screen with at least three possible options that Everett can either say or do. Whether it is breaking up a fight, deciding where to go, or simply choosing whether to talk to someone or not, each decision has an effect on how characters react to Everett and how they will help him in the future. The overall effectiveness of this method is still up for much improvement. At some points it would seem as if no matter the choice, the game will reach the same outcomes. However, this has to be done in order to have some type of cohesive and conclusive ending for the game.

Despite the overall effectiveness of each decision on the outcome of the story, there are few things wrong with the game. Glitches and the occasional long load time errors are expected of a game with various outcomes resulting from a click of a button. There have to be at least 100 decisions that can be made throughout the five episodes.

One aspect “The Walking Dead” video game was able to accomplish with extreme success was putting the characters in such harrowing circumstances and making players truly care about their fates. This is done in the television show and the comic books beautifully. Characters are constantly pushed to the edge and even further, just to be brought back up again to get knocked over one more time. Players can easily just be mean and rude to anyone they want, but this will play against them and likely get them killed. Players are forced to make some bonds with others, no matter how loose they are, just to get by. The game is very much how it could be if anything this disastrous happened in real life.

“The Walking Dead” has definitely introduced a fresh form of storytelling, and more game developers should be in the back taking notes.

“The Walking Dead” receives 5 out of 5 stars.

Visit www.telltalegames.com/walkingdeadto for more information on purchasing “The Walking Dead.

Kimbra moves the Metro

A 22-year-old New Zealand woman hops and skips her way onto the stage wearing a frilly and puffy dress covered in pinks, greens andgolds. Hundreds of fans packed inside the Metro in Chicago on the rainy and dreary night of Oct. 17 are immediately enthused aboutKimbra’s appearance on stage, and begin to scream and hoot at her. She constantly feeds off the audience and feels the music, quite literally, down to her bones causing her to hop around stage, throw herself to the floor and spin around every second she gets. Kimbra, who was virtually unknown at this time last year, has bubbled over and spilled her incredibly heavy musical talent all over the United States.

There is not much known about Kimbra, at least not yet, besides the fact that she is an incredibly complex individual. It would be most apt to compare her music to an onion. It is unimpressive at first, but when the layers are peeled back it gives off a strong punch of flavor. Her music is a beautiful mixture of jazz, soul and pop. Although she is only 22 years old, she sings as though she has been to hell, back to earth, and lived through thousands of harsh relationships. Her personality immediately fills the room and causes crowds to stop and listen to what she has to say.

Kimbra's tour throughout the states comes to a wrap on Oct. 24 in Boston, Mass.

Kimbra slowly began to play through tracks from her debut album “Vows,” but put a soft and unique twist on all the songs that she trickled through. She did not just stand there and sang each lyric word for word; instead, she would sometimes simply speak some words are add vibrato to keep the audience interested. Although her interaction with the crowd was not straight forward, her bright smiles and constant motions towards them make it obvious that she was happy to be in their presence.

Some songs she mixed live, such as “Settle Down.” She kindly hushed the crowd and started to record some scatting, then began to quickly layer them. As she broke into the song she danced around, grabbed a tambourine and slapped it on her hip, protected by a giant frilly multi-colored skirt. Throughout the night she would scurry to the back of the stage, toss of a section of her wardrobe and reveal an even crazier attire than the one before it.

Her airy and sweet voice hypnotized the audience whenever she slowed down the tempo and went into any of her slower songs. But eventually she would push herself and belt out a voice that would resemble Ella Fitzgerald then slow back down to a sultry tone. Her voice would fluctuate to different ranges and hit them perfectly.

Her encore included some songs that are not on the U.S. release of her album. “Call Me” and “Withdraw” were her last solo songs for the night and they left the crowd ecstatic. While singing “Withdraw,” Kimbra got a little choked up, lowered her head and the crowd cheered at her trying to cheer her up.  But a song that kept the crowd up all night was a song from her album called “Warrior,” which she collaborated on with Mark Foster from the band Foster the People. This was her most pop-filled song of the night and helped everyone travel back to the 80’s with its catchy lyrics and electronic keyboard.

Kimbra definitely brought herself up a level with her highly impressive and lively performance at the Metro. If fans were patient enough, they could have waited for her to come out of the building and snap a picture with her, which she was more than happy to take. But under her sweet and caring exterior is a low flame which hopefully will grow to great heights without getting blown out by other foreign female soul singers like Adele and Jessie J.

Kimbra’s album “Vows” is available on iTunes. 

'Blood v. Electricity' is hauntingly unique

Hailing from Iowa, independent artist Keith Lynch has released his10th album through his music project Unknown Component titled, “Blood v. Electricity.” Filled with daunting lyrics, impressive performance and quality, Lynch has definitely found a sound that suits his musical persona.

Lynch is the sole member of Unknown Component, and this allows plenty of room for failure or success. However, he proves in many tracks of this album that he certainly knows how to musically multi-task. The album is filled with several intensely somber lyrics along with slow-moving guitar riffs combined with a pulsating drumming in the background.  This album constantly ventures across different spectrums of rock such as experimental, punk, alternative and even indie.

Most of Lynch’s lyrics are very open and could be interpreted in several different ways. This was  intentional on Lynch’s part. During an interview with blogger Patrick Crowley, Lynch was asked about his writing process.

 "I try not to have any specific agenda when I’m writing. I like songs that can have different interpretations," Lynch said.

This concept is demonstrated in “For All Intents and Purposes” with lyrics like "Well if you’re building up a wall, you had better build it tall/ cause they are waiting on the other side with a motive and an alibi" could be a jab at propaganda or just a jab towards past or future relationships.

The new types of technology available to various artists could improve or weaken the quality of music produced in the market. Lynch expressed his concerns about this new venue for artists in an interview on his YouTube channel.

“You had to be able to prove that what you were doing is worth someone’s attention, now you don’t have to do that now you can just put something out there and just call yourself an artist, maybe that’s how it should be. It’s interesting to see how the music industry is evolving to try and meet that, or counter that, because they don’t want the gates to be open to everybody,” Lynch said.

In that sense, Lynch understands the challenges he is facing in getting his product out there but obviously with so many albums under his belt it shows that he is still very passionate about what really matters to him, the music.

Various other gold mines are scattered throughout “Blood v. Electricity” such as “Pendulum” which has a very new wave feel to it with very complex music elements (mixture of electronic instruments as well as real drums and guitar.) It is clashing but in a good way. It is also relatable to many young adults possibly listening to his music with the lyrics, "The animal spirit of death and decay/ is building a throne on minimum wage.”

Taking a slightly different tone is the track “Sensory Deprivation.” When the chorus comes along, his voice actually breaks through and leaves its murky tone behind, switching to a very empathizing mood. “Through the Surface” is the last song on this album, and at first it seems very finalizing by ending on a soft note almost resolving the tough feelings throughout the album, but when the lyrics are actually listened to it is obvious that resolution is not in sight.

“Blood v. Electricity” on first listen comes across as a very average album but once it is given a second chance it is clear that Lynch has some understated talent. With an improved studio and an equal amount of time spent on sound quality and lyrics he has produced a forceful album.

“Blood v. Electricity” receives 3.5 out of 5 stars

To purchase “Blood v. Electricity” please visit www.unknowncomponent.com