#you can get hit stunned and fall off a platform and get an instant GAME OVER.

[fightinggamegirlfriend]

never under any circumstances do I ever recommend you play tekken 6. it’s not worth your time unless you’re a masochist who hates themselves. instead just watch someone else play it. you’ll be saving your precious time by not playing it.

[clickbliss]

Umihara Kawase Bazooka makes for a surprisingly fun single screen platformer

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Umihara Kawase Bazooka

Developer: Studio Saizensen, Success

Publisher: ININ Games

Switch, PS4, PC

When Umihara Kawase Bazooka was announced, I was skeptical. The franchise has had its share of left field outings and cameos--to mixed success--and I wasn’t sure that the series’ signature wire action physics would translate to the hectic pace of a platform fighter. Well, after a strange, staggered release, Umihara Kawase Bazooka is finally here on the Switch and I can confidently say that my concerns were mostly unfounded--at least as far as the singleplayer goes. 

Bazooka eschews the usual Arcade mode for a Challenge mode, where you face off against waves of enemies in single screen arenas. The time attack emphasis from its parent series is folded in here, with waves continually respawning until you either clear a set amount of enemies and pick up the required amount of score tokens, or run out of time. 

Certain enemies will require different tactics, asking you to learn one of the game’s various mechanics, but most of them will be dispatched with the titular Bazooka attack. By stunning and reeling in enemies with your line you can store them in your backpack, where they can be fired at high speed towards other enemies. Taking out several at a time will not only spawn score tokens faster, but create combo balls, which can be picked up and launched into other enemies to keep the combo going. 

The combo mechanics give Bazooka a very arcade feel, not unlike something like Bubble Bobble. At the start you’ll be focused on just surviving, but as you get more comfortable you’ll begin to see the patterns in how enemies spawn, and try to manipulate them to hit as many at a time with a single shot. It gives a great incentive to return to levels, seeing how fast you can clear the stage with more knowledge of the layout and enemy spawns. 

What doesn’t quite work is the series’ signature grappling physics. The bouncy grappling hook takes a long time to retract and build up speed, and is way more technical to use than you’d want in the heat of battle. It’s fine for combat, but navigating platforms smoothly is going to take a long time to get used to unless you’re already a series expert. Bazooka offers a few control options to mitigate this, but they also end up taking away some control from you and don’t solve the problem, especially when the huge, lumbering bosses show up. 

These issues can be mitigated by your choice of character, with each falling into a particular archetype and sporting two abilities to help in navigation and combat. Characters like Kawase can fire off items they can recapture for an instant Bazooka attack, while others might be able to leap across the stage or even fly. The skills bring a decent variety of styles to the table and give you alternate approaches to a stage when you get stuck on a particularly troublesome one. 

Eventually the stages ramp up in difficulty enough that you’re either going to have to get serious about mastering the finicky grappling hook, or call in a few friends for backup. 

And for obvious reasons, getting a couple people in the same room is proving kind of difficult right now, let alone ones who are willing to stick around long enough to start learning the nuances of the grappling physics. And without any option to play against the CPU, at least as of writing, I didn’t get a chance to try its versus component at all. I’ll be following up with a report on its online play at a later date, now that the game has properly been released and hopefully has been given time to populate. 

Until then, Umihara Kawase Bazooka is going to be a surprisingly enjoyable set of challenge rooms, with just enough to keep me coming back to knock down those times. It’s not enough to carry the game on its own, but it’s thought out for something that could have easily been a throwaway extra. 

[osmw1]

Crowbar Nurse   Chapter 2 — A Gun, A (Zombie!) Virus, and an Out of Place Hottie

“Argh, Sera this time?! This isn’t some sort of web novel! What is happening in here?!”

Barrelling into the room was an unbelievably handsome guy. By “unbelievable”, I meant it quite literally. He was unrealistically handsome.

“… huh? Kiryū?!”

I was just as shocked seeing him as he was seeing me… that's because he’s definitely a fictional character.

Kiryū Sōichirō. The most popular character from the hit dating sim released in 2014 on social media platforms, Rainbow Dreams High School☆Fantasia.

His dark brown eyes, black hair, and a soft smile gives off a clean-cut look. When combined with his calm demeanor, it made for a perfect young mastermind character like him. Kiryū would act as your mentor, guiding the player along with hints and tips. Because he helps the player perhaps a little too much, he would always come out on top of the character popularity rankings.

… but he was a secret unlockable love interest.

In other words, Kiryū is only unlocked after clearing all other routes first.

Players would begrudgingly clear characters they weren’t interested in to finally get the chance to date him… well, not that this really matters though.

“Hey, stop spacing out! I’ll explain everything later, but first, we gotta shake off these zombies!”

Kiryū lifted me up by the shoulders right as he shouted at me. He sure is strong in real life, I thought to myself.

“Can you move?” “Mm… I’m really sleepy, so… maybe?” “You shoulda gone to bed earlier last night! Oh, whatever, just hide behind me!” “Uh… okay!

I was shocked when I first saw him, but now I was stunned at how he spoke to me. It was completely wrong. The Kiryū I knew was soft-spoken and perceptive. But this guy was snappy, if not brusque.

Weird. It’s as if it were someone else in Kiryū’s body…

—hmm?

—wait, zombies?

“… whaaaaaaaat?!”

Just as I screamed out loud, Kiryū grabbed a crowbar lying nearby and then struck a zombie with it.

Blood splattered down onto the ground… along with various other fluids.

A single swing of the crowbar was enough to silent any groaning zombie. He then kicked the dead-again zombies aside to create a path before forcefully grabbing my wrist and dashing through the door.

—his hand was so warm.

I had questioned whether this Kiryū was a figment of my imagination, but the warmth of his hand seemed to prove otherwise. And even though I realized I was in a dire situation, his warmth was comforting.

He seems so used to fighting. Wait, was Kiryū a bad boy-type character?

We ran through the door together as I questioned my memory of the game. The familiar nurses’ station should be just on the other side… except, it wasn’t. Instead, my eyes opened wide as I found an unfamiliar alley in a busy, cloudy part of town.

…! No, I recognize this! I’ve been here before!

“—run!”

He grabbed my wrist and started running before I even had a chance to reply.

“H-Hold on!”

I hadn’t been eating or sleeping nearly enough. I might actually die if I suddenly broke into a full sprint…! Or so I thought, but I actually felt quite agile.

… huh?

In fact, I felt great running. It’s as if the exhaustion I felt until were but mere lies.

Strange… I don’t feel tired at all. No way I’ve had enough sleep to feel this good…

That’s so weird. Was I in the afterlife? I confusedly scanned my surroundings while running.

A narrow alleyway. Worn-out walls.

The buildings are so decrepit, they made me wonder whether they were still structurally sound.

Countless air conditioning units and broken gutters were dangling on the side of them.

I instinctively looked over my shoulder and realized that there were zombies staggering—or rather, scurrying—and chasing us. It probably wouldn’t take more than ten seconds for them to catch up to me if I had stopped running right now.

No surprise that one hit with the crowbar wasn’t enough to take them down… we probably have to do something about them though…

Even though I still didn’t have any idea of what was going on, I knew that we definitely didn’t have the time to sit and think unless we killed the zombies first. I looked at my surroundings once more as I tried to calm myself down.

—I have definitely been here before.

I… remember seeing this area on a map before.

 … we’re in a game…

Realizing the truth sent shivers down my spine. The streets and the area around it were just how I remembered… we’re in a level of Dead Man’s Conflict 3. The 1998 game was a Japanese classic in which the player has to slay hordes of zombies while trying to escape from the infected Confi City.

“Downtown”.

This was the first stage of Dead Man’s Conflict 3. The graphics look a lot better, but otherwise it was the same. The door to Uptown should be just a little farther ahead.

The roads here twist and turn like a maze. It sure makes it difficult for beginners…

I remember how tough it was all those years ago where I would be lost in these streets while being chased by zombies and ultimately being eaten over and over and over again. But perhaps thanks to that, the layout of this town had been deeply burned into my memory…

… hmm? Hey, hold on, you can’t go this way…

I blinked at the path before me. The road ahead splits into three… and the middle path that Kiryū headed towards was the wrong way. I panicked and yanked at his hand to stop him.

“—whoa, hey! What’s wrong?!”

He looked down at me in confusion.

“We gotta hurry, or else the zombies—” “That way is a dead end, my dea—err, Kiryū!” “What?!” “I-It… it’s this way!”

I pulled Kiryū towards the left path as I told him which way we should go.

“Wha—but isn’t that way a dead end? I can’t help but feel we shouldn’t go where it’s clearly marked ‘KEEP OUT’, y’know…?” “Normally, it’s only open after you complete the second week in game! We’ll… rip through the tape!” “What?! Rip through it?!”

If this were a game then there would be no way to get past the black and yellow tape with “KEEP OUT” written in big, Helvetica letters. This path is locked until after the second week is finished. The tape doesn’t budge no matter how much the player cuts or runs into it.

“Hyaaa!”

But seeing how we’re not bound by the rules that the protagonist should be, I easily torn down the tape.

“Just who are…”

Kiryū blankly stared at me but now’s not the time to care about that. It took me five seconds to take down the tape before we could hurry on through.

—I haven’t touched a single game in this past six months.

All I did after getting home was either check social media or pass out. But… my body remembered. Dead Man’s Conflict 3 is second nature to me.

“But Sera, we can’t open windows in this world.” “Windows are another story!”

A large window was on the wall right beside us. I hooked my fingers on the frame and pulled on it, but it did no more than jostling it. It’s a little weird how he addressed me as “Sera”, but that’s not important right now. Neither pushing nor pulling the window had any effect so I resorted to borrowing Kiryū’s crowbar and smashed away at the window. … crowbars are heavier than I imagined.

“Aaaaargh!” “… you some sort of runaway gorilla or something…?

I ignored Kiryū’s comment on how I’m swinging at the window. I sure am glad to have played all these zombie games and have researched all the strategies. Having been swamped by work for the past half year, the gamer didn't get to unleash all the knowledge I stored for future use, until now!

“Can we really go through this?!” “Yes, we can! Just be careful of the broken glass!”

We crawled through the window and into the room, and if my memory serves me right… there it was! The corpse of an old man (which I couldn’t smell in a game unlike now) sat on a dining chair and in his hand was his assault rifle with unlimited ammo!

It tough enough to pry it out of his hand, but the old man suddenly turned into a zombie as well. I delivered a swift kick to his head before sending bullet in his brain. It was an instant kill. It’s not like I did it because I’m actually that savage in real life. The protagonist had to do the same thing else he gets eaten by the old man.

… I never knew rifles were this heavy either.

“Tch, still alive, huh? Why don't you stay dead already!” “… what in the world are you…”

Kiryū was dumbfounded after seeing me like that and muttered to himself again, but I didn’t have the time to respond. The zombies should have almost caught up to us by now.

“… crap! The damn zombies are here already!”

I flashed a smirk just as he shrieked out. Just as I expected, the zombies were here.

“Don’t worry… the old man’s dead for good but let me clean up the rest of them!”

My skirt fluttered as I whipped around. The zombies came crawling and lumbering to meet my machine gun.

—blam blam blam!

The sound of gunfire masked the sound of the zombie falling over after being shot between the eyes. Not only did I flip the fire selector switch to burst, but by also going for headshots, I should get double the points. I acquire my next target and fired. And at the next zombie. And the next one…

“Just what kind of creature is she…?”

Kiryū seemed to be taken aback at how casually I’m slaying these zombies. He stood there with a with his mouth wide open.

“You can’t hold back when dealing with zombies, Kiryū. They’re tougher than you might think. They will pretend they’re dead and then ambush when you’re not expecting it… they’re sneaky bastards, eh?!”

I kicked each zombie as I said that to make sure none of them were feigning death.

“When the zombies in this game don’t bleed after keeling over, that means they’re just faking it. Then when you walk close to them, they’ll get you and bite your legs. Be careful about that, okay?”

Right after I felt like I cleared this area, I came back to my senses.

“…”

Then, Kiryū—who was standing there speechless—and I looked at each other.

“…” “…” “… umm, uhh, Kiryū! We’re good now! We’re safe!”

 Kiryū could only fake a smile as he stared wide eyed at me as I switched back from the gamer me to being a proper human being.

■This isn’t some sort of web novel!

Web novels are novels which authors post online on dedicated forums or personal websites. Many authors do not have editors to help and instead tend to upload whatever they scribble down. But because of that, there are many elements in their writing which may represent the authors' desires and frustrations. Some may be off-putting, but many readers appreciate web novels for that very reason (and of course, many don't). When Kiryū mentioned to "web novels", he alluded to the popular theme of everyday characters being transported into game worlds for reasons unknown.

contents: /ch001/ /ch002/ /next/

(leave me a tip on Patreon?)

[complexmagrparchive]

                                THE ART OF EYE CONTACT

NAME › Han Jiae D.O.B. › 07 17 1992 (25) OCCUPATION › Picture Editor at Complex INSTA › @hanjjiae

PORTFOLIO

hanjiae.com

EXPERIENCE

photo editor (february 2016 - present)

complex magazine | seoul, south korea

freelance photographer (june 2011 - present)

han jiae photography | seoul, south korea

formerly based in new york

photo editor (december 2015 - january 2016)

nylon korea | seoul, south korea

freelance photo editor (july 2015 - november 2015)

elle | new york city, usa

photography intern (june 2014 - august 2014)

seventeen magazine | new york city, usa

EDUCATION

bachelor of fine arts - photography

rhode island school of design (2010 - 2014)

DETAILS

an old soul, jiae’s loneliness is only made more profound by a mother with touches too fleeting to be warm, and a ghost for a father who leaves before she’s born. with a mother more in love with her ex than her own daughter, jiae learns of heartbreak at an early age.

running is her only hobby, for a while. running after the imagined picture of her father, running after the attention of her mother. running later turns to jumping. and then to falling. scrapes and bruises - it’s more effective that way.

she learns to stand still when a camera makes its way into her hands. its hoarding moments, from then on. mother, mother, father, father. whose camera is it, really? what does photography mean to you?

her answer lies on 14 hour flight to new york - an art university, overseas. she stretches her so-called passion to the limits in a foreign city - but the lights are the same, the people are the same - it solidifies.

it’s back to running, she thinks, but in a better way. dreams, passion, work - it all starts to make sense. and with every click of the shutter, she’s one step closer to finding herself. but it’s good. it feels good.

remember how things were the same? it seems loneliness applies, too, no matter how many filters or selective color is applied. she did this for her father. she did this for her mother. she did this for herself? or is she delusional?

doubt creeps its way in, and she barely lasts two years out of school before she’s back to seoul.

but she’s good at running. away from things. and she can take pictures.

work seems more like a distraction. she molds people for a living, molds herself to them in return.

complex seems different, though. not better, but different. less glitz, less glam, more chic. takes her back to her roots. hidden artists of seoul. she sees a spark and follows it.

On Staying Focused: Meet COMPLEX’s Newest Photo Editor

by Ahn Seolhyun - 06.18.16

From New York to Seoul, you’ve been pursuing photography for years now. Has photography always been your passion? How did you get your start?

Not always, but photography has been a passion of mine for a while now, yes. I actually started taking pictures when I was a teenager, during the summer in my first year of high school. That period of time has become a photograph of its own in my mind – I remember it very vividly. My mother gifted me one of those cheap digital cameras one night - the plastic ones. The pictures I took – they weren’t very good, naturally. They were dark and grainy, but I was obsessed with the new power I held in my hands. All throughout that night, and throughout high school and university, I never stopped capturing the moments around me.

jiae? how many times have i told you not to wait up for me?

sorry, eomma.

you don’t sound sorry at all. she smiles and reaches out to smooth down jiae’s hair. well, you chose a good night because… eomma has a gift for you.

she hands jiae a small, brown gift bag made of paper. jiae looks at it curiously before taking it from her mother’s hands.

a camera? she asks slowly, and lays it flat on her palm. this might as well be the first time she’s ever seen a camera - they’ve never taken pictures before. does eomma like taking pictures?

eomma laughs lightly and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. she looks down, almost bashfully and says, ah… no. not really. i’m not very good at it. but your father was.

jiae perks up at this. appa?

yes. i was just browsing when i saw this and… i felt so nostalgic. your father would’ve stopped and read every label on the back. they’re just these cheap things but… he would’ve loved them. i know he would. so i thought… since i could never see the world from his eyes, maybe i could give you the chance to do so… ah! listen to your mother ramble on like this. it’s just a silly thought i had-

no! jiae says a little too loudly, and startles her mother out of her reverie. she stares, wide-eyed at jiae who is suddenly cradling the camera between her palms.

i want to try, jiae says. if a camera was a part of appa’s world then… i want to find him. she raises the camera to eye-level, like the people on the street, and aims it at her mother sitting on the front steps, barely illuminated by the porch light.

smile, eomma.

click.

Being a photo editor, and a photographer in general, what’s your creative process like? How do you keep the ideas flowing? Do you have any advice?

For work, at least, I’d say it’s very collaborative. I’m always conferring with other people. Other photographers, photo editors, and the creative director especially. It’s very much a game of ping pong. Someone shoots out an idea and someone hits it back until we’re all on the same page. It’s very humbling to see your personal thoughts bounced around like that. Which leads me to my first piece of advice, I suppose. Remain true to yourself. Don’t be afraid to stray from what’s conventional. As creative people, it’s easy to get stuck doing what other people want to see. Of course it’s part of the job, but who are you behind the lens? Who are you behind the editorial shoots and the minimalist flat-lays? Focus your lens with intent. Don’t just take pictures of what’s trendy. Have a message, a theme, an aesthetic, have something that’s interesting to you, and run with it.

click.

sorry, eomma.

let me see.

jiae shrinks as she pads over to where her mother is perched on the couch. she gingerly passes the camera into her mother’s hands and bites her lip as she waits. please don’t make me delete it, she thinks. her mother has been known to cut her off at a moment’s notice. as quick to ire as she is to praise.

eomma tilts her head lightly as she regards the photo with an unreadable expression.

the photo is of her, face turned to the window. one leg dangles from the couch, toes barely grazing the white fur of the rug. an elbow rests atop her knee as her hand curls and rests upon her lips. a dark green shawl slips down her shoulders and mingles with the strands of her hair. the scene is illuminated with sunlight.

it’s beautiful, she says finally.

jiae smiles shyly. it’s you who’s beautiful, eomma. all i did was capture it.

eomma turns fully towards her and sits up. that’s not true, jiae. you’re an artist. you take an instant out of time and hold it still. no matter how many photographers there are, no one will see the world the way you do.

she smiles at jiae’s stunned expression.

focus your lens with intent, and never let go.

What do you hope to accomplish in your role as photo editor at COMPLEX?

I very much hope to continue COMPLEX’s goal of giving Seoul’s youth a platform where they can share their work. There’s always been a unique quality about “independent brands,” if you will. It’s what makes them different, and it’s that difference that allows us to do all these interesting things as a magazine. We just put a new spin on your average expectations when it comes to fashion, art and design. Let’s put it this way: try matte instead of gloss, and you might see something you’d never thought of before.

i did everything for them. and what do i have to show for it?

everything.

and yet nothing.