How strange! We seem to have picked up a DVD containing evidence of pickpocketing. Who would be so brazen as to film themselves committing crimes, and why?

Perhaps it will lead to a new Contradiction.

How time changes our perspectives. Hypnosis is not my thing personally, but in the furry fandom, I’m aware of multiple people who are into hypnosis and could be reasonably considered knowledgeable on the subject. One of them conveniently happens to be in the process of writing a short comic regarding how to practice hypnosis safely. While it isn’t exactly what you’d expect from pop culture, it’s still something that influences one’s state of mind and needs to be done with respect to that person.

And that’s something I wouldn’t have the ability to point to years ago, when this game originally came out.

At last, we have finally managed to meet the elusive founder of Atlas, Paul Rand. Perhaps he’ll have some clues as to who killed Laura Palm- I mean Kate Vine.

I shouldn’t be surprised that the actor playing Paul Rand is so skilled at his craft, for he is none other than Paul Darrow, which I should have known. For those of you who have been following my channel for a while, this man is the voice of the evil sorcerer Zarok, the primary antagonist of Medievil, a role that he was happy to reprise for both the PSP version and the 2019 remake. Alas, part of why this was noteworthy is that he passed before he could reprise his role, so the developers chose to clean up and reuse his already recorded lines rather than recast him. There was even a dedication to his memory in the credits for the remake.

Rest in power, Mr. Darrow. You were a great talent.

The clock is ticking, and we only have a few hours left to solve the mystery of Lauren Palm- Kate Vine. The question remains what else has been tangled up in this bizarre case in the otherwise sleepy village of Edenton.

It’s always strange going back to replay or rewatch old media with fresh eyes because I never picked up on Contradiction’s strained relationship with relatively benign (and now legal in many areas) substances like salvia and pot. I myself don’t partake in either, but even I’m aware that the danger of both substances has been largely exaggerated in pop culture and beyond.

But looking back, this game is almost ten years old, so I can’t be too surprised by that either. The world changed a great deal in the time since, and this is partially a time capsule of bygone days.

Next time, we’ll interview Paul Rand, father of Ryan Rand (not Paul Ryan, nor Ayn Rand).

We didn’t have enough to reveal Emma’s Contradiction before, but a bit of detective work and we’re all teed up to Spot the Lair!

One of the fun aspects of detective stories and games is the way the truth of whatever incident is being investigated unravels over the course of the adventure. At first, every clue and piece of evidence seems to point in one obvious direction. But by picking apart minor inconsistencies, the detective can slowly begin to unravel the tapestry to uncover what was hiding underneath.

It’s that kind of slow, deliberate buildup that can lead to a fun, suspenseful story. And though Jenks’s antics can verge on the absurd, we are still inching ever closer.

Something about what Emma said at the end of the last episode rubs me the wrong way. I have a sneaking suspicion that under scrutiny, we’ll find a Contradiction in her statement!

I knew I would love this game the moment I saw Vinny Caravela, Alex Navarro, and Austin Walker cover it in a Quick Look, back when they were all working for Giant Bomb. In much the same way I’m having a laugh at the absurdity of Detective Inspector Jenks, the three of them were having such a genuinely fun time that I had to get in on the actor and play it for myself.

And I’m glad I did because now I can share it with you all.

I’ve run out of PS2-era nostalgia platformers to milk for easy stream content, so I think it’s a good idea to start showcasing one of my other loves: Murder Mysteries!

And let’s start with a simple one, to see how the format works for me. This is Contradiction: Spot the Liar, one of my favorite lesser-known gems.

This is a good game for our first murder mystery for a few reasons. The first is that it has a simple, comprehensible gameplay loop. Our primary method of furthering our investigation is by asking questions to our various persons of interest and pointing out the Contradictions in their own statements. Along the way, we’ll do some light fieldwork by exploring the village for clues, but our role will largely be to expose lies by pointing out incongruities. The task is simple enough that we shouldn’t find ourselves too stuck too frequently. (Famous last words, I know.)

The other big reason this is our first mystery game is that the actor playing Detective Inspector Jenks is one of the goofiest people I have ever seen in the leading role of a murder mystery. His antics alone make for great content, which should help alleviate the burden on me.

So I hope you join me for this investigation in the sleepy village of Edenton.

Sadler had one last trick up his sleeve. Thankfully, we had many more than that.

And that’s a rap. Though the beginning was rough, as the expansion wore on, it found it’s groove and grew more fun and interesting as a direct result.

And next week, we’ll play Marvel’s The Avengers.

It’s time. We’re finally ready to confront Sadler and steal back the amber.

I have to admit that’s cute that David thinks I could get frustrated or scared by a video game boss fight like the one here. Even if I died a few times to what felt like a glitch in the system, his attack pattern isn’t too difficult to avoid and I had more than enough ammo to sustain myself.

The only real problem with Resident Evil boss fights is that it’s tough to determine whether or not we’re actually making progress until we see the cutscene transition to the next phase. It’s part of why I’m constantly wondering out loud if I’m actually doing any damage whatsoever. All it would take is a little more visual/audio feedback to give me a sign.

And with that, the next episode is going to be the last of this series.

I don’t know how many obstacles remain between us and Sadler, but I know we can take them all.

I can’t help but admire the campy goofiness of the laser grid sequence in this episode. Ada Wong is a super spy, and it’s such a classic genre trope, and a reference to the movies to boot, that it fits perfectly in with the rest of the game. Doubly so since our second attempt at it has a giant BOW out to get us.

That said, I’m surprised that were confident enough to do even a small QTE like this in the context of Resident Evil 4. It’s not a big one, but the original game is so infamous for its long QTEs that you’d be they’d be nervous to do one at all.

We’re on the home stretch. Sadler has our prize. So to complete our contract, we will have to dispose of him.

While fighting the Regeneradors in this episode, we hit upon an interesting comparison of the classic Resident Evil 4 versus this version, highlighting a key difference in how games of their respective generations function.

In the original, once the player has the biosensor scope, it’s actually relatively easy to shoot the hearts of the creature to dispose of it. There’s very little mechanic skill involved in the act because of the simplistic way it moves and animates. By and large, it moves predictably, in a straight line towards you.

To sell the fluid and dynamic nature of the creature, the remake introduces a degree of bobbing and swaying that wasn’t present before. While this adds to the verisimilitude, it comes at the cost of making the hearts, even with the BioScope, more difficult to hit accurately. This may be an intended side-effect, but the push for higher-definition enemy designs and animations comes at the cost of functionality, similar to how we need yellow paint in modern games to tell us where to go since environments aren’t as legible as they used to be in older console generations.

It’s something I’m beginning to notice more and more as the graphical fidelity wars continue and I get older. Part of the magic of the older generation of games is that they were intensely legible at a glance, by design, and many games have begun to lose elements of that as they progress into the modern era.

Admittedly, this is only a minor example, but it is one that I will probably reference for years to come.