Valiant Hearts: The Great War

By: Robert Murphy

There have always been a vast amount of video games that tell the stories of past wars and it has been awhile since I have seen one about World War I but that isn't even the most significant aspect to Valiant Hearts: The Great War.  The story is represented in a charming cartoon like manor although it definitely has it's darker tone to it. War has brought for individuals and a dog together in a story of love, loss and conflict the likes of which the world had never before seen up until this point in 1914. The game however doesn't revolve any sort of gun play and instead features a puzzle solving adventure that you will embark on as your four main characters or five really, try to survive this harsh time in world history. 

At the beginning of the war, German citizens living in France were asked to leave their nation and return home as the conflict began to break out. This is where Karl, a German born man comes into our story as he is forced to leave his wife and newborn son to return to his home country. From here we meet Emile, who is the grandfather to Karl's young son and is called into service for the French army quickly moving through boot camp and sent out to fight when we meet another man character Freddie. Freddie is an american solider who befriends Emile early in the game and is a man who has volunteered to fight for the French as the Germans have taken away what he holds most dear to him and seeks revenge against them. Even though this is all taken into a 2D and relatively simpler narrative to what happened during this time, it is no less powerful in it's story telling. It was a heart jerking moment to almost immediately see Karl taken away from his wife and son and then being sent along with Emile to fight in the war where artillery fire, gas attacks and mounted machine gun fire would kill thousands of men on the field. The imagery is exceedingly well done and brought to life here with all that occurs and will make you forget any notion of the game being childish for it's initial representation. 

The games 2D platforming style works very well as it uses both a foreground and background affect that comes into play with enemies as well as the other character you may have along with in certain parts of the story. Where it often comes into play is when you must hide from enemy AI in the game as you won't spend a lot of time fighting as I said earlier. Bushes, bookshelves and other items can be hidden behind while you wait for a patrolling French policemen to move out of the way or distract him with something you're holding. Perhaps my favorite fleeing moment came later in the game while playing as Karl escaping from a prison camp, moving a scarecrow across the field while waiting for patrolling soldiers in the foreground to move along their path. While most of the time the game is fairly simple with it's puzzles, I still very much enjoyed them. There are a variety of puzzles to face in Valiant Hearts many of which involve doing a series of events to get to your underline goal of the level where you help one person get something to get what you want in the end. Also though in the unlikely event you do get stuck on a puzzle or array the game provides hints, a carrier pigeon in the corner will appear after you spend to long in an area and it will have an envelope with a clue for you which I thought was a fun addition to the game.

Each character also has their own unique sort of skill and little attributes that will contribute as you play as either one of them. Freddie carries with him a handy set of wire cutters to cut through fencing on the battlefield while Emile carries with him a shovel to move dirt and maneuver to areas you can't get with others. Ana, who will come a bit later to the first chapter of the game is looking for her father who she hasn't heard from and is believed to be forcibly helping the Germans. Ana is a young girl who knows quite a bit about medicine will patch up soldiers in the game with a medical mini game and also plays feature to a few taxi mini games as she drives her handy vehicle all across the front lines and must dodge enemy bombs, gun fire and just about everything else. Our last character is a furry little hero named Walt who helps all of the characters at one point or another in the game whether it's flicking a switch or distracting an enemy so you can sneak by, he is one handy pup to have around. 

In conclusion, I really loved Valiant Hearts, it was a game that I had heard nothing about but is something that I am glad to have played through once I had bought it. Despite it's appearance, it gives a very hardening tale of not only World War I but also the characters who were all around favorites for me, each with their own story to tell and each very enjoyable to play through. The puzzles may not be too much of a challenge for most but each was unique and entertaining for me as they all worked together in some way, one thing led you to get another and reach your goal. They were not tedious tasks for me to complete, they were fun and quirky and fit the story. 

Good:

- Very powerful story telling

- Incredible design and artwork

- Enjoyable characters all around to play as 

- Solid puzzle solving and adventure side scroller

Bad:

- The somewhat demeaning moments for the German soldiers which occurred time to time especially with the games central enemy 

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

The Monuments Men

By: Robert Murphy

How to best describe The Monuments Men if I had to put it into a few words? I would have to describe it as a puzzle with all the right pieces but it somehow came out as the opposite of the picture on the box. The story takes places during World War II shortly after the storming of the beaches at Normandy and puts the question in your head of “who will save the culture and art work of man kind in this bloody and terrifying war.” Perhaps my favorite line in the film has to be from George Clooney as he states “You can wipe out an entire generation of people but if you take away the art work and burn away its culture, it can’t be replaced, it’ll just be ash.” And so at the request of George Clooney’s character and with permission from the President of the United States a team is put together with the task of protecting the remaining pieces of art from being destroyed by the Germans as the war comes to a close.

The Monuments Men is a film that sends George Clooney and his merry men into war stricken Europe and the cast list reads Matt Damon, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Jean Dujardin who all play various expert in a field of art in the era. When you hear these names though they are the last people you would imagine in a war film due to age and generally being well pudgy men but that’s okay because they fit the gambit for cultural aristocrats quite well. And perhaps one of the movies best qualities is too point this fact out, that aside from Matt Damon and Jean Dujardin, these are out of shape men going into a war zone and they themselves can’t help but marvel at the situation. While these men do find themselves in a dangerous situation once or twice throughout the film, there is quite a bit of chuckling and amusement as these men are from art circles and know one another in some shape or form and poke fun at their discernable characteristics. What touched me most about the film had to be the art work itself, I am in no way an art scholar and if someone said lets spend the day at the art museum I’d most likely get smashed before hand. But all the pieces that appear on screen from sculptures to portraits and more were all very beautiful and an incredible sight, it really makes you enjoy the premise of the film even more as these men set out to preserve these masterpieces.

Now unfortunately things don’t continue to hit me at a high note as the story proceeds to go on a serious of miss adventures with its cast. Through a sizeable portion of the movie Matt Damon’s character is sent to Paris where he must convince a friend of the resistance there, Cate Blanchette, to reveal where stolen pieces of art were sent when the Germans pulled out. This was a forced romantic entanglement that went on for the longest time and when it reached its climax it soured me even more and not even Matt Damon’s charm could save it. The film also adds other non important scenes as well with the land mine moment where Matt is stuck standing on a mine while the other Monument Men try and devise a way to get him off it without losing his legs. This took fifteen unnecessary minutes away from the screen and was suppose to be a touching moment I realize but it just wasn’t.

All in all, The Monuments Men amounts to a film that had the right players but it never was given shape, it amounted to an assortment of misadventures with some chuckles thrown in. The films quality cast is really one of the things that holds it up especially John Goodman who in the first scene of the Monument Men going through basic training makes you laugh as he chuckles about training with teenage men at his age. In my mind I just wish that the film had chosen one direction and stuck with it but you had the moments with Matt Damon in Paris and then George Clooney who starts strong but ends up obsessing over a piece of art for the better portion of the film. Still there are those good witted and heart warming moments you will love along the way and of course the incredible pieces of art you see as well, so you’re left in a middle area with The Monuments Men.

Good:

- A great premise for the film and an even better setting

- The incredible master pieces that the movie shows off make even a non art goer like me think they’re amazing

- A truly stellar cast but not all of them will hit their high points such as Matt Damon

Bad:

- The film lumbers about on many misadventures and lacked a shape and direction

- Matt Damon’s ill gotten adventures in Paris felt too long and forced 

- Many unnecessary scenes were put in the film and make you question why they are there

Scully Rating: 5.5 out of 10