Monaco: What's Yours is Mine

Cooperative stealth action game where players will perform heists, rescue partners or other objectives, Monaco is seen from a top-down view and has a certain style of graphics to differentiate it from others.

Gameplay is similar to Pac-Man, but way more expanded. You will traverse each level using stealth first and foremost, as many rooms and secrets will remain hidden with darkness until you explore them themselves.

There are eight different characters to choose from, each with their own unique ability. The Locksmith is able to pick lock doors, safes, ATM's and cash registers faster than anyone else, while The Cleaner can take out unsuspecting guards.

Another example is The Mole, who can dig through walls, giving him a huge advantage with certain levels. And The Hacker is able to manipulate security systems, giving you more view, control and sometimes even letting power shutdowns happen.

The Co-op found in Monaco can be very entertaining, with voice chat directing frustrations most of all towards the challenge of the maps themselves, as the game gets more difficult, especially with 4 players teaming up.

Monaco also has French culture inside, such as the characters and their enemies being French, but also being named after the sovereign city-state and even taking place there. It certainly has some charm and atmosphere to be found despite being in 2D.

Unfortunately, despite critical acclaim, Monaco is a commercial failure at the moment and is largely neglected by gamers. That's what you get with the video game industry; you either get lucky with Angry Birds, or go into obscurity like Monaco.

Rating: 8.0

Fire Emblem: Awakening

One of Nintendo's oldest global franchises is Fire Emblem, first debutting with the Famicom in 1990. This turn based strategy RPG would shape up to become one of the most respected and well known in it's genre.

My own first experience with it was shortly before the arrival of Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube, playing Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War emulated. After briefly trying that out, I quickly forgot about it as I was not prepared to appreciate the established formula yet.

Several years later, Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword, the seventh entry got released in the West, and with it, the franchise would from now be critically and commercially acclaimed all over the world. Intelligent System would continue to release quality entries even to this day.

The anime based characters combined with deep dialogue, sometimes intriguing stories, phenomenal music and best of all challenging and thinking gameplay is what Fire Emblem is all about. One of the unique features is that your party members can permanently perish or retire from the battlefield if defeated.

But there's much more involved. Different unit classes and a rock/paper/scissor system are also present, giving us more depth into the various battlefields you will be participating in. And there are sometimes special obstacles such as long distance ballistas in your way.

Also available is the option of recruiting new characters, usually triggered when your main character talks to them on the battlefields, but sometimes requiring a bit more effort. Another feature aspect I personally like is the one where you are able to rescue units in danger and send them safely away.

Fire Emblem can also be very unforgiving should you try out the harder modes or challenging side quests. It can however be exploited because you are able to grind on world maps with some of the entries.

The latest title, Awakening, is special in several ways, as downloadable content is available for the first time. Furthermore, a new feature where two units can help each other out is present, strengthening their abilities and making up for some interesting tactics, but sadly the rescue option is still missing. It could be argued that this new feature replaces the rescue function though, so perhaps I will get used to it in the future.

The story felt typical for Fire Emblem standards, as there is not much difference between Shadow Dragon and Awakening for example minus some time travel elements playing. Chrom is the new likable main character, and this time you will be able to create one custom tactician character who will also fight alongside Chrom’s Mercenaries.

A new kind of "breeding" feature involving marriage is also implemented in Awakening, but perhaps because I beat the game on Hard and Classic Mode, this feature was never explained to me, so in the end only Chrom married a redhead character and got two kids. Supposedly it has replay value and depth toward it.

What I really, really dislike about any Fire Emblem is when enemy reinforcements upon spawning are able to instantly move around, which makes up for some truly painful trial and error at certain moments. And Awakening is with this regard no different.

Rating: 8.6

North Korea

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

North Korea, oh man, I can tell you about so many kinds of different topics regarding that, I really don't know where to start with perhaps the most unique and fascinating country I have seen yet so far. The surrealistic and jingoistic DPRK with their Songun policy and Juche ideology is unforgettable.

So let's start anywhere and jump to the next random topic I want to share with you! To set you up for the mood, use any of these links showcasing the country's extreme patriotism, which nevertheless is constantly entrancing to listen to, reminding us of CCCP's lesser tone :

Deo Nopi Deo Ppari
My Country is the Best!
Without a Break
One Against a Hundred
The Star of Korea
Reunification
No Motherland Without You
We Shall Follow You Forever

Before continueing, it may be wise to study the country itself before taking my observations, experiences, memories and opinion for granted with ease, or not. North Korea is infamous for being unpredictable, mysterious and seeking attention.

Tensions of war and conflicts escalated in record times at the beginning of 2013, but before that happened, I was planning on going to this fascinating part of the world already. I read every news article I could find from Al Jazeera, the KCNA, Korea DPR, Dutch sites and American ones, DailyNK, and Rimjin-gang. Hell I even installed a North Korean App to watch the latest sceptical news headlines, and I decided to go there anyway.

Why? Because the major rhetoric threats have not been realistic since decades. I have seen and read so many interviews, documentaries and articles about the nation that I honestly can say that I have been obsessed by it. But I loved the enigmatic and abstract scale of it all.

The conundrum on the Korean peninsula is a mandatory and serious future problem to solve. I have yet to see South Korea, so I can only inform you from the northern side, which changed my perspective towards them considerably, as I now have sympathy for them for not only being partially misguided, but understanding why they carry big guns as well.

First of all, they told me that throughout the centuries, Koryo, or Korea has been invaded so many times by their more powerful neighbors that it is a primary reason why this Songun military state was created by the late Kim Jong-il.

Their paranoia had increased so much after the Korean War, which is the conflict by the way constantly referenced throughout the Liberation Grand Tour I took, that they isolated themselves infamously, build a socialist state, made a totalitarian regime around it and lived by the Juche ideology.

The Juche ideology is translated as being self reliant upon themselves, which combined with socialism creates strong and independent Koreans. However, because their late revolutionary founder Kim Il-sung created the most unstable cult of personality found on the planet, leaving an out of hand obsession with the community's leaders behind, this unusual mix of adopting lifestyles created modern North Korea.

An abundance of propaganda and jingoism sealed the coffin for presumably all of the locals, most of the military and several of the party members regarding whatever truth there ever was before the Korean War, World War II or the Japanese Occupation.

On top of all that, they have a nuclear program involving the potential to reach ten thousand kilometers, effectively being able to hit targets such as Hawaii, Alaska, Kazachstan and the northern tip of Australia.

The simple reason they have nuclear weapons in stock is because other nations have them. If they have them, then the norks are allowed to have that same privilege. The more unstable reason is that they are honestly afraid of the U.S.A. most of all, their current archenemy.

Of course not all is well with this country, but I don't side with the West for a 100% either. It's just communism versus capitalism and an old and new stage from the Cold War all over again. History is indeed repeating itself with these old wounds.

No one wants a war on the peninsula, because America can't afford it, China is the economical power, South Korea's GDP and HDI are very high, Japan would probably be affected with more radioactivity and North Korea would lose their identity. On top of all that, there are also disruptions and waves of hate, deaths, destruction and worse.

The U.S.A. is most likely more dangerous when looking at their war history in overall compared to DPRK, whom have never invaded other countries if you forget South Korea for a moment. Power plays are much more common then you think, America's shift to the pacific region was an acknowledgement of China's rising dominance and in itself a power play.

So, let me explain what the U.S.A. would gain from this. Even though we currently live in a globalized world with interconnected economies and what not it still doesn't mean there are countries competing against one another in a strategic sense. North Korea has a reason to exist and it's not because they're such a vital ally either for China, rather they act as a buffer-zone against U.S. power.

If North Korea were to fall then the U.S.A. would have bases and the ability to project it's military power on mainland Asia and be right by China's borders after occupying South Korea and Japan already with their military bases.

This is a very problematic situation for the Chinese so they support North Korea so America doesn't gain that foothold on the continent. This is simply a matter of geopolitical positioning. China is also reliant on the American economy as much as America is to China.

It seems fair game to me to make sure a power play is happening, and from my perspective North Korea is becoming more of a liability for China everyday as tensions increase. But I suppose should a second war arise, the Chinese would once again help them out.

Both Japan and South Korea have said they are thinking about reconsidering their commitments to nuclear proliferation in order to protect themselves from NK, which will give them considered leverage over China as well and on top of that just throw the entire region into disarray and might inspire an arms race considering their past wars, conflicts and occupations.

Truly, the eastern asians have politically still a ton of hatred left for each other. Meanwhile, North Korea is proudly presenting to us their outdated urban cities, Soviet equipment and way of thinking, as if they are still stuck in the Cold War.

The hermit kingdom in fact has a larger army divided into five branches than all of the Nazi's, Fascists and imperial Japanese soldiers from World War II. Just think about what would happen on the Korean peninsula if someone would set up them the bomb. They have the 4th largest army in the current world.

Countless conspiracies, propaganda machines and the conundrum situation make it very hard to think about the scale of truth surrounding DPRK. And yes, it's probably safe to confirm that they have terrifying political penal labour colonies, the Kwalliso, for political enemies, disobeying Koreans and foolish foreigners.

Fortunately, North Korea also has a beautiful side towards it. My main reason for visiting might surprise you, but that turned out to be their sacred mountain Paektu, an active volcano with a large crater lake called Heaven Lake.

And after seeing it with my own eyes, I can gladly confirm that it was the most impressive thing to see in my whole tour when speaking of Mother Nature. Of course, the DPRK established that their revolution(and Kim dynasty) was born here on this very mountain during a guerilla period against Japanese Occupation.

Even Kim Jong-il was born here at the foot of the mountain in a secret military camp, and do you know how? I'll tell you, he hatched from an egg as double rainbows appeared across the sky and this was foretold by a swallow. I am dead, fucking serious.

This even plays in part back at the famous Arirang Mass Games, which is the highlight for most tourists visiting. This grand show has a total of 100.000 performers giving you an unforgettable experience of the Korean history in all it's insane and crazy over the top glory.

Patriotism is dripping everywhere, as is their sincere passion for the fatherland. The demilitarized zone in Panmunjom separating the two Koreans is supposed to be the most guarded one in the world, but as I visited it, things looked very quiet. Never judge a place by it's cover though.

Only members of the Workers' Party of Korea are allowed to drive in the capital Pyongyang. Local people must first ask permission to be allowed to live or wander in those streets before moving in. The streets are the cleanest I have seen anywhere and I only saw one advertisement in the whole country; a new car.

At the national friendship exhibition hall where valuable gifts are displayed from the South and North Koreans lies a single CD-ROM containing Adobe Photoshop 5.1. Upon seeing this, the group giggled that THIS must be the reason why military intel on the Korean People's Army is so misinformed; fake tanks, missile launchers and artillery are pasted next towards original ones on certain "leaked" photos.

According to a certain documentary, supermarkets do exist, but this is temporary. If the Koreans get reunited then they will have to be removed as well as the capitalism and marketing in the south so that an eternal socialistic solution shall ever be implemented.

Is the socialist state a ticking time bomb or an enduring independent country for the long term? The norks continue to be unpredictable considering the complex situation they and their neighbors are in, despite knowing about their massive amount of hatred towards their main enemies.

North Koreans are the proudest and most passionate kind of people I have seen in life yet. Their xenophobic and jingoistic nature is fascinating as well as disturbing. The ultra nationalists have even an agreement with China that defectors get send back to them by use of the DPRK embassies.

Surely many of you will still conclude that North Korea is unpredictable and dangerous. However, consider an educational footage involving the failures of Western civilization from their perspective.
I am sure that towards you, it will open up some insight into how they think about us, and honestly, I agree with a lot of points they make towards the West, even when they sometimes got hypocritical with themselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRT3C1mGRM&list=PL7A079DCC0C1D5B81

Totalitarianism, a grotesque cult of personality, extreme militarization, the 4th largest army in the world, a developing nuclear program and brainwashing amongst the socialists, it's a sad situation that somehow still exists in an age where technology and science are growing so fast.

To end, I wish the Koreans the best reunification anyone will ever have, better diplomatic relations and a true prosperous growth in their overall happiness. May it all happen peacefully, but I am afraid that will not be the case.

MANSE! MANSE! MAAAANSSSSEEEEEEE!!!!!!

  

Here's a link to my Dutch written travel journey to the DPRK. It has different content than this post:

http://flowrush.waarbenjij.nu/reisverslag/4612295/noord-korea-2013 

China

Illusion of Gaia: Great Wall of China

The People's Republic of China is a civilization with one of the oldest ancient histories. Nowadays, it is one of the largest countries in the world and also considered as a rising superpower despite global economical difficulties.

This August, I went to backpack for the first time, as I began my journey stepping over from Paris to Shanghai, while I traveled towards my hostels, train stations and attractions. I am glad to mention that I was able to visit every part I wanted to see.

This post will function only as a short summary of each location I have visited. There will be another blog written in Dutch, which will go more in detail per day. Once that one is finished, I will put the link up here should you desire to read that, translated or not, as well.

Shanghai

The largest city proper in the world and also a major port, my vacation started here. As I grew accustomed towards the weather and navigating around, I noticed that time was moving fast. Thus, I had to keep up with my tight schedule.

During the very first day, heavy rainfall happened in the afternoon. After a quick visit towards the famous Bund site, I met up with Belgians. We decided to eat at a hot pot restaurant and the next day, we properly visited the Bund and Pudong's financial district.

After splitting ways, I walked through the Yu Yuan gardens and walked through a lot of Nanjing Road as well during day and night. The neon signs, the massive amount of people and the shopping malls continue to be fun to experience.

There are some temples and a revolutionary martyr site situated here as well, but I decided not to go to them because I would visit both of those in the future many times anyway. Shanghai was a good start for me, unlike many people who start in the capital instead.

Guilin/Yangshuo

As my first train ride ended (which was horrible regarding comfort) I stepped outside into Guilin, and like before and any other location afterwards, I had trouble finding the hostel. Even though it's clear to find on the map I used in my travelbook, it did not consider the smaller streets.

So every time I came to a new place, in the end I had to give up looking and constantly take a taxi towards the destinations. I'm glad that many signs have english names under them, but still, navigation could be improved.

Upon arriving at what turned out to be my favorite hostel through the journey, I booked the Li river tour and the next day, as I was enjoying the natural scenery by bamboo boat on a hot day, I met up with Italians.

I think that I liked Guilin in overall because it was the most orderly city I visited and was in no way as busy as the others. Plus I enjoyed the evenings in here too, as I saw several street performances and drank beer while watching the locals mind their own lives.

Yangshuo is considered famous for it's beauty landscape, and I agree with that upon visiting it myself. I sat on a water buffalo and enjoyed another trip by boat. The sun was in our faces, but fortunately many shadows were present as well.

On the last day before departing, I went to the incredible Reed Flute Cave, which is a landmark and is filled with stalactites, stalagmites and rock formations in unusual shapes. I went with a Chinese tour group of about 50 people, and I was the only foreigner, so I ignored the tour guide's info and snapped up some nice shots inside.

Chengdu/Leshan

The second train ride was a nightmare because I had to stand for 25 hours. I am still amazed that I am back at home and alive. Chengdu was next on the list, and it continues to be an important central city in western China as it was in the past as well during certain dynasties and cultures.

Another heavy rainfall occurred here, but this would be the last one. The hostel was so close, but because of the rain I was still unable to find it. Afterwards, I met up with Dutch guys, but in my opinion they were the least company I had through the whole trip.

Still, on the next day, we visited the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base northeast, and we enjoyed their activities, how few they were. After departing from me, I explored the Giant Buddha in Leshan on my own, which was immense to experience, mostly because of it's size.

Miscellaneously I explored Chengdu by going through some national parks, tea houses and had my ears checked by this "ear master" who could massage them. I also visited a Tibetan street which sold all kinds of their culture, and I spotted some monks.

In the end, I think I disliked this city the most if you forget about the fun center square with the statue of Mao Zedong and the attactions surrounding the city, such as Mt.Emei, which I had no time to visit.

Still glad to have seen it though.

Xi'an

Another ancient city which has been the capital of China for several dynasties, Xi'an has interesting geography in the center because an old city wall is still present through the modern buildings found inside and around it.

I got deeply confused with the location of the hostel, and only after walking to the far east of the east city gate did I notice that I looked at the map entirely wrong. That doesn't mean walking all that was not worth it.

The next day, surprisingly and luckily as I traveled towards the exhibition of the famous Terracotta Army, I met up with a Canadian girl and I think her Chinese friend plus professor as well. We joined for this tour together and afterwards, I was in for a treat.

They gave me a free ride back to Xi'an and a free private tour towards the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and some other scenes of interest as well, just like back at the Terracotta Army, which was also worth seeing. As I got a free dinner meal, they welcomed me into China.

Such kindness was extraordinary for me, as it made the day way better. Originally I wanted to see the Great Mosque and the Bell plus Drum towers in Xi'an, but I decided to stay with them because there was so much fun to be found.

After seeing the biggest watershow in Asia according to the professor, I slept back at the hostel, as it was time to move on. This was another city and memories worth remembering.

Beijing

This metropolis is definitely worth seeing not only because it is the current capital of China, but also because of it's many unique attractions and landmarks. If only the air wasn't so heavily polluted as I noticed especially on the first day, then it would be my favorite city.

My first day here felt short because I was about to attend a pre-tour meeting regarding North Korea, which will be updated as a post soon. I didn't actually really experience Beijing until returning on the 27th of August.

Staying at supposedly one of the best hostels in China called Leo Hostel, I booked a tour towards the ancient part of Badalung's Great Wall. The next day, I met up with an Israeli, Canadian and English, and together, we climbed one of the modern world wonders, which turned out to be my first one.

Afterwards, we quickly decided to visit the Temple of Heaven, where emperors used to bring offers for good intentions. We had some trouble with getting the "inner" tickets to see the temple and nearby buildings up close, but we managed to succeed.

The next day, only the Israeli was still around in Beijing, so naturally we decided to visit the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace next, which both were interesting, but also massively crowded and frankly repetitive the longer I stayed at each.

Before that, we took a good look inside the mausoleum at Mao Zedong, a revolutionary political leader of which I still have to learn a lot about considering the many achievements he has made. We also walked around on Qianmen Street and Tiananmen Square, of which I wasn't really impressed by it's size, which is a weird afterthought for me.

In the evening, after eating a mediocre Falafel for the first time, I met up with more Israelis, which were all fun and interesting people for me, and together we went to the Wangfujing district, where during the night there is a famous snack street open, which sells exotic food.

I ate a flying lizard for the first time and it was a great moment because not only did it got captured, the Israeli's and surrounding Chinese looked with interest at me, as I was tasting something entirely new. And luckily, I never got sick from it.

On the last full day, the original Israeli went with me towards the Military Museum, which I was interested about, and it turned out to be worth seeing if you dig war objects. After saying goodbye to a good friend I made, I visited the Beijing Zoo on my own, which was way too big and had way too many animals to view.

The very final attraction on my vacation turned out to be the National Museum of China, which is the largest museum in the world. Seeing as my time was running out and I was the last guy with a ticket to enter it, I only had time to visit the Ancient Part of China's history.

So many ancient artifacts, curious objects and other unknown devices for me, I wish I could see pretty much all of the objects displayed. But I'm sure that I will return to Beijing one day, as I am planning on returning to China to see other cities such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Macau and Lhasa anyway.

And after returning to Shanghai using the Bullet train, my circle through backpacking China alone was complete, and I look back at a journey full of exciting stories, adventurous people and many pretty pictures taken.

But this is only part one of my biggest trip yet. Part two was even more unforgettable, better and special for me. Expect to see this part appearing inside the blog soon!

Here's a link towards my Dutch written blog about China. It has different content than this post:

http://flowrush.waarbenjij.nu/reisverslag/4612293/china-2013

Nineteen Eighty-Four

1984 is George Orwell's most famous and important book released back in 1949 after having previously done another release called Animal Farm, which is also recommendable. This dystopian is about a man and woman who fall in love and rebel during the reign of an extreme totalitarian regime.

With so much propaganda and control surrounding personal and private lives, Big Brother is always watching you, and it is uncertain if he exists, or even the Party's enemies in the form of Eastasia and Eurasia. The language of Old Speak is getting replaced with New Speak in every new edition so that communication in the future will only be limited by the Party's desires.

The Thought Police is making sure that there are no thought criminals, saboteurs or other defected ones left in Oceania. As Winston Smith, a propagandist, has had enough with the ruling party, he gets to meet Julia, who is similarily rebelling.

As I went towards a real totalitarian regime on vacation in August, I rewatched the movie adaptation and also brought along the original book, and easily could see similarities between fiction and real life. But this particular regime is just one of many organizations today that try to control people's lives, as the book is still just as relevant as when it was first released.

O'Brian, a fellow colleague of Winston of whom the two have never spoken to in seven years but are aware of each other, decides to approach him after Julia and Winston have been secretly enjoying their rebellion, love and new perspectives.

Introducing himself as a member of the secret Brotherhood, an organization with Emmanuel Goldstein as their leader,  who is proclaiming the Inner Party, Big Brother and the lower ranks to be all working with lies and deceit.

Soon after, Winston and Julia get caught by the Thought Police, and it is O'Brian who has betrayed them, for he is a member of the Thought Police instead of the Brotherhood. A series of physical, mental and psychological tortures follow, and Winston is consequently defeated by the insane procedures.

Argumenting that he is simply curing them from their individual truth, O'Brian announces that the only way worth living is to join the collective mind of the Party, which is immortal. And any other political ideologies, religious practices and miscellanous ways of wisdom are all inferior, irrelevant and must be erased or rewritten from history.

Such is the way of converting, brainwashing and implementing doctrines onward the Middle and Lower classes in the Party, thus making it a very effective totalitarian regime. Big Brother is watching you, and you must love him for that.

The United States and other nations are watching you. Religion is watching you. Corporations are watching you. Is your moral compass content with them? Will you love them, or hate them in return?

Rating: ***(out of 4)