I’d already noticed on Day 1 that our hotel was conveniently located right near the shore, so sunrise photograph opportunity alarm bells immediately started ringing in my head. This meant waking up at 5am on Day 2 to get out the door nice and early for the sunrise. I expected to be the only person outside at such an ungodly hour, but boy was I wrong…

Early morning exercisers

I took the 3 minute stroll towards the shore only to realise the entire place was already bustling with people! Rows and rows of local people gyrating, side-stepping, pirouetting in perfect unison to the rhythm of music blasting from loudspeakers all sub-divided into groups. It was quite surreal and unexpected. It’s not unusual to see the elderly practising Tai Chi in the parks of Vietnam either in the morning or evening, but rarely have I seen groups as large as this, and with such a melting pot of ages.

The shore was just opposite the Golden Palace we had visited the day before, so I went back across to capture another shot of the architecture with the more dramatic morning sky.

Golden Palace Early Morning

After all this early morning excitement I realised it was fast approaching 6am, which meant breakfast! Quick dash back to the hotel to find my family had already vacated their rooms and I had no idea where to go. But my motto in life is; ‘If in doubt, follow your nose’, which hasn’t failed me yet. The waft of breakfast buffet was unmistably drawing me to the top floor where, lo and behold, everyone was already digging in to a hearty meal. This would be one of many, many buffets we’d partake of along this tour. I guess a buffet set up is much easier to cater for people’s varying tastes and culinary requirements, but by the end of the trip my waistline was not amused. Breakfast over, it was time to hop aboard the party bus once again, next destination: Siem Reap.

Colourful Cloth on the way to Siem Reap

Alternative career in narration?

We got to Siem Reap about 3 or so hours later where we arrived for lunch at our hotel. This hotel was owned and managed by Sinh Tourist so the staff all spoke Vietnamese. Again I was pleasantly surprised, the room and bathroom was clean, we had cable TV and air-conditioning. There was even a balcony (which I almost lost a pair of drying shorts over). I’d used Sinh Tourist (formerly Sinh Cafe) in the past when holidaying in Vietnam and will continue to do so for organised tours. The organisation and quality of service and accomodation truly is excellent for the price. Duc, our tour guide, was also very friendly and able to speak English. There was something very soothing about the sound of his voice in either language as well.

Lunch out of the way, we had a few minutes to get refreshed before we were back on the bus to visit a local temple. Nicknamed ‘Lucky Temple’ it was very small but very busy. Whilst walking towards it we passed a number of street vendors with caged birds, this perplexed me slightly as I wasn’t sure if they were for eating or for pets. I later discovered you could buy a cage to bring to the temple where you could release the birds, which brought you good luck. It all suddenly made more sense.

Thinking back, I missed what would have been a most excellent photo opportunity. I was stood watching a man who had bought one of these bird cages release them, and they all burst out flying directly towards me. If only I had the camera up to my eye at the time. Such is life; missed opportunities full of regret.

I wouldn't want to be the one to have to re-capture the birds

Spectacled Monk

The interior of the temple was very charming, with a large collection of candles in the main area in front of the altar where you could light incense and leave a donation.

Candles and Incense

Visitors pay respect

Our time at the Lucky Temple complete, we were off to the local market for some souvenir shopping. This market wasn’t much different to Cho Ben Thanh in Saigon, so didn’t really introduce anything new. It was strange to find a lot of the sellers spoke fluent Vietnamese though. A side-effect of open borders I imagine. This reminds me of something else I had noticed in Phnomh Penh; a lot of the street beggar children also spoke Vietnamese and told the same sort of story regarding why they were in Cambodia. The usual story was they were in Cambodia to live with their grandparents, which I imagine translates to they were victims of people trafficking. I’m pretty sure this is still a big problem prevalent in Cambodia and Vietnam – gangs taking orphan children and forcing them to beg in tourist destinations. This is obviously just speculation.

Usual souvenirs for sale

And food

Local Dancer

By now the day was beginning to wrap up, which just left dinner to sort out. Can you guess the format of our dinner? Yes, a buffet. This wasn’t at the hotel though, rather it was at a local restaurant that also provided entertainment in the form of local dancing. This restaurant was very large, with dozens of tour buses parked outside. Obviously a destination for every tour visiting Siem Reap. This is also where I discovered I have neither the physical, nor mental strength to compete with hungry old Vietnamese ladies for food. These guys are ruthless. The food again was pretty good and I stuffed myself silly. But the real draw for this place was the dancing. Not long into everyone sitting down, the performances began. These varied from general dance performance to performances that had what you could consider a degree of narrative story. The costumes were very elaborate and typical of your preconceptions of Cambodia.

Dance opera

This is also where I had to display some ruthlessness in wanting to capture the best photographs I could. There were dozens of other people with the same idea, with their DSLRs and expensive glass all lined up at the front like it was a Paris fashion show. I definitely saw some ‘red rings’ on the front of a few lenses I can tell you. If I blocked your view of the show, well, sorry. But I had more than a few promising shots ruined by point and shooters jumping in the way with a flagrant disregard for the photographer hierarchy I can assure you. The fact that the performance was simultaneous with people eating meant that a lot weren’t even really paying attention to the stage, which is a shame as they’d have missed out.

Monkey shows off his acrobatics

Post Torture Smoothies

After dinner it was really beginning to rain outside, but we were still given the option of either returning to the hotel, or returning to the market which would have by now been converted to the night market. We of course went to the market, you can’t pass up on these opportunities you see. Plus, we’d have to make our own way back to the hotel, which meant a ride on a Tuk Tuk! The night market wasn’t too bustling due to the rain and there wasn’t a great deal available that differed from the daytime. The only notable difference was the number of foot massage stalls that had shown up, their gimmick being that it was a fish foot massage. Unfortunately I didn’t give it a go, I don’t really like touching fish, something particularly icky about it. We did go elsewhere to get a body massage though, which, for me at least, wasn’t that pleasant. First and foremost my masseuse was a dude, and he had strong hands. In fairness he asked if it hurt, which it did, but my masculinity meant I had to say no. I’m a genius like that. By the end my spine had been pushed, squeezed and contorted. I did feel slightly more limber afterwards though, if not also bruised and battered.

A pineapple smoothie in the local bar afterwards made me feel a bit better and gave me time to ruminate on the main event of our trip; our visit to Angkor Wat the following day. Look out for Day 3 real soon and read about Day 1 if you haven’t already done so!

As usual, photos are available in the Gallery.

The technology behind Avatar was getting a lot of mentions prior to release, with Avatar supposedly the film to finally justify 3D as an artistic medium for film. But honestly, it still falls short in conveying 3D as anything but a gimmick or a means to try and combat piracy. All in my opinion of course. The lush locales of the alien planet of Pandora makes the shortcomings of 3D tech all the more apparent, as what your brain knows should be vibrant greens is nothing more than desaturated and washed out due to the 3D image rendering. At least 3D is used sparingly and not to pointlessly throw objects through the screen at you, something that has proved too tempting for far too many other 3D films. Instead scenes have some depth of field, but everything still appears somewhat like a pop-up story book, as flat, 2D planes are layered over each other to create an illusion of depth.

I also wasn’t particularly fond of the character models and designs for the Na’vi and the other indigenous creatures. This of course is incredibly subjective, so I won’t dwell too much. It just all felt too reminiscent of the sort of bad art you’d find in a medium budget video game, not a major budget motion picture that has been anticipated and hyped to high heavens. The Na’vi also feature a unique way of ‘connecting’ to other creatures and plants of their homeplanet; the ends of their ponytails literally daisychain creating a link between the two. Why this couldn’t have been achieved just through touch or a telepathic link is beyond me. The Na’vi have to tame and break in other animals, be they alien horses (that conveniently resemble human horses) or flying beasts, so the image of the protagonist wrestling a resisting animal and then his ponytail connector thing on it has some rather disturbing connotations.

This all sounds like a lot of negatives, yet I still enjoyed the film immensely. It’s just less time consuming and easier to list the shortcomings. Cameron successfully weaves a tale allegorising colonialism and war for resources that alludes to the current climate, whilst also creating interesting characters – even the CG ones are endowed with emotion and a believability that borders on uncanny vally. The plot, whilst predictable and lacking depth, does the job, though the crux and namesake of it, the need for Avatars, felt a little tacked on just to give the film more of a Sci-Fi edge. But all in all, Avatar is definitely worth a watch this festive season.

Now, you may remember me sharing a certain Mario themed wallpaper I made a few days ago. Well on that same day, I encountered Gelaskins, who promise to create skins for iPhones (and a plethora of other devices) using your own designs. Taking this as a sign, I decided to see how my Mario design would look  as an iPhone skin.

It’s finally arrived all the way from Canada eh, taking just over a week, though I’m sure this was not helped by the recent Royal Mail postal strikes. Thoughts and photos after the break.

Your Gelaskin will come well packaged inside a hard, cardboard envelope and attached to some backing paper. Don’t throw this away, because your skin can be reused if you reattach it to the backing.

You’ll get some other documentation in the envelope as well, including an option to download various free iPhone wallpapers from the Gelaskins website, or via their free iPhone Application. If you’ve ordered one of their many listed artist designs, and not a custom one, you’ll be able to get the matching wallpaper this way. I’ll provide a brief run through of the application procedure:

After giving the back of my iPhone a good clean, so that there’s no dirt to cause any lumps or other imperfections, I’m ready to apply the skin. Simply a matter of removing it from its backing and then lining up the precut hole for the camera lens. Once that’s all done, press down. It’s probably a good idea to start with the two top corners and then work your way down.

In honesty, it took me four attempts to get it perfect. It’s a bit fiddly lining up the sides so the skin covers the entire thing symmetrically. But then i’m also a bit of a perfectionist.

Due to the rounded corners of the iPhone, these can be a bit finnicky to get completely smooth, but a bit of perseverence and you should be able to succeed. You can see in the photo below where it’s slightly raised – using a finger nail I was able to ‘iron’ this out eventually.And here’s the end result for my trials.

Having had the skin on my iPhone for the past day, I must say the experience has been rather positive. Originally, I had my iPhone in a Griffin Reveal case, which, although a relatively thin case, did add some bulk to the form factor. Since applying the skin, I’ve now removed the case, so getting used to the iPhone’s svelte body has taken some getting used to again. It’s a shame that the skin doesn’t cover the entirety of the iPhone’s back, specifically the top and bottom. You can see why this is the case though, as being able to apply a skin to the entirety of a curved surface is nigh on impossible without it being some kind of hardened shell. As it stands, the skin adds no bulk whatsoever, and will protect the back of your iPhone from surface scratches when laying it on tables and the like. Of course, it also adds a touch of personality.

I found the print quality to be very good; Gelaskin prints on 3M vinyl, and this feels robust. I would say the print is a touch on the dark side, and I can say this with a degree of confidence having had my monitor calibrated using professional tools. It’s only a slight niggle, and obviously is more noticable due to my design being on the bright side of the spectrum. The 3M vinyl also has some texture to it, a sort of checkered feel, which is something I like. It gives the back of the iPhone more grip, which is a good thing for such an expensive device. I tried to take a photo with close-up filters to show this ‘texture’ but it did a better job of showing the dust around my window.

Other than a few minor detractions, I’m pleased with the quality of Gelaskin’s iPhone skin. I just wish my iPhone was white now, so it would blend in more seamlessly. I’ll make sure my next design is on black for this very reason.

A custom Gelaskin will set you back $14.95 with an additional $5.95 for postage and packing to the UK.

You can count the number of good superhero videogames on one hand, even if that hand happened to be horribly mutilated after a run-in with a murderous crocodile. So suffice to say, when Batman Arkham Asylum was first announced over a year ago, gamers barely batted an eyelid.

So now that it’s finally been released, how has the Dark Knight faired?

I might as well get this out of the way nice and early; Batman Arkham Asylum is a momentous achievement. Although not without its flaws, it’s undoubtedly the best superhero video game adaptation to date. The high production values and sheer polish are prevalent throughout and the game feels as though it were a labour of love from genuine fans, with dabbing of fan service and sprinkles of Batman lore scattered throughout the game bound to bring a smile to the face of other fans of the caped crusader.

What makes the game work so well is the fusion of different gameplay elements which helps to never allow the gameplay to become stagnant or too repetitive. Arkham Asylum fuses the atmosphere of Bioshock and the stealth of Splinter Cell with the exploration and investigatory nature reminiscent of Metroid and Castlevania.

Just like Bioshock, the environment has a character of its own; Arkham Asylum has been created meticulously as a self-contained playground for the Joker to wreak havoc and destruction. Although the locale sounds as though it would be limiting in scope, there’s a good degree of variety, hell, there’s a Bat Cave hidden on the island. Graphically, the island is rendered beautifully, from confined rooms to vast open spaces. Subtle lighting effects like Batman’s iconic silhouette remind you that you’re the god damn Batman and further heighten the atmosphere. The story is delivered both through the customary cutscenes but also through other mediums. Audio tapes and newspaper clippings adorn the Asylum each giving further insight into the criminals incarcerated within the walls, with character biographies to also be found, further delving into their twisted minds. For those without a deep knowledge of the Batman series some of these characters will be slightly obscure, but they prove interesting.

The atmosphere and story are further elevated by the excellent voice acting, provided by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, who will be instantly recognisable to anyone who grew up watching Batman the Animated Series. Whilst Conroy’s delivery is flat and by the book, emulating his prior work, Hamill’s take on the Joker is far more mature and demented in nature compared to the 90s cartoon. Joker’s omnipresence, due in part to the video telecomm system, is a constant reminder of his threat, and an opportunity for more great dialogue; some of it genuinely disturbing whilst simultaneously hilarious. The story written by Paul Dini, again of Batman TAS fame, is competent, but isn’t going to set the world alight. Cliffnotes: Joker escapes Arkham, is recaptured by Batman, returned to Arkham, but it’s all a ruse to lure the Batman into his elaborate trap. There’s a tad more, but that’s the gist of it. What is a rudimentary plot is largely saved by the interactions between characters.

Now, developers Rocksteady have made an interesting return to Batman’s title of ‘World’s Greatest Detective’, his introduction was after all in the Detective Comics series. His sleuthing abilities are often glazed over somewhat by most portrayals of the Dark Knight, but not here. Batman has a ‘detective mode’ built into his cowl, allowing him to detect hostiles and points of interest. Whilst in this mode, everything takes on a blue-tone X-Ray like filter, allowing you to see through walls. The only problem with this is the temptation to stay in this mode throughout, but if you do this you’ll miss out on all of the graphical touches, as well as risking the colour blue being burned into your retinas. You’ll also be able to see the current emotional status of hostiles, ranging from nervous to outright soiling themselves. It’s always amusing to just terrorise these hapless foes, at which point they may begin firing aimlessly into the room as their Batphobia takes a turn for the worse. Exploring the island is an integral part of the gameplay, you’ll often find yourself backtracking through old environments much like Metroidvania titles. What was once an inaccessible section will become available once you’ve gained the necessary tools. The environment is also constantly changing, so even though you may have traversed through them earlier, a storyline element could mean it looks drastically different upon your return.

As well as ‘getting your Holmes on’, the combat system proves refreshing, due in part to the freedom amounted to you. There’s often limitless ways to clear a room of enemies, with some rooms seemingly just created as a playground for you to try out various new tactics. The game does an excellent job of teaching you new techniques and then giving you a set piece to utilise them. You’ll encounter both unarmed and armed goons, and each will require a different approach.

An unarmed gang of goons can for the most part just be taken on in hand to hand combat if you so wish. This is a great opportunity to make use of Arkham Asylum’s excellent freeflow combo system. You’re able to seamlessly incapacitate a dozen enemies thanks to the intuitive controls. I’ll be referring to the 360 controls, but they’re the same on the PS3 version. The X button is your attack button, throwing a punch or kick of sweet justice. As soon as you engage an enemy the combo meter starts building, all you need to do is press the control stick towards whatever enemy you want to attack and press the X button and Batman will seamlessly transition and pummel his next opponent, even if they’re across the room. This basic combat system makes it a joy to take on groups of enemies, with slow-motion effects really nailing home the delivery of Bat-justice. Your Y button acts as your counter button; when a hostile is about to attack, an icon appears above their head (though not in Hard mode) at which point they’re open to a pain inducing counter attack, allowing you to continue your combo, and in the world of Batman – combos means more experience points, which in turn can be used for upgrades and new moves. Your A button during combat is your evade button, allowing you to dive out of the way of attacks, as well as vault enemies, which is necessary for certain enemy types. The B button is your ‘Cape Stun’ manoeuvre, again required for certain enemies. This is probably the first game where your cape proves an actually useful tool.

The variation of enemies makes hand to hand combat fresh and enjoyable and you’re rewarded for varying your attack methods with more experience points. The only problem with the combat is it’s very much like an old kung-fu movie. Your hero may be taking on a ‘dozen enemies’, but really, you’re only fighting one at a time, whilst the others sort of hang back and try to look menacing. Logistically it makes sense, so I can’t really say it’s a criticism, it’s just an observation. The hand to hand combat very much reminds me of the modern day Prince of Persia series, well, minus the dullness, which is clearly a good thing. Ubi Soft should really consider looking at the Arkham Asylum combat model for their next Prince of Persia game.

Taking on hostiles armed with firearms are an altogether different ball game. Here the gameplay requires a far more methodical, stealth-based approach ala Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid. You’ll need to often clear a multi-tiered room of patrolling guards and there’s often more than one way of achieving this goal. This is due mostly by Batman’s arsenal of gadgetry. From Batarangs, to Batclaws, to Explosive Gels, these can all be utilised in often novel ways to incapacitate your enemies. On top of this, these rooms often have conveniently placed gargoyles positioned in the rafters, to which Batman can grapple up. These vantage points are both a useful means to survey your surroundings, but are also a means to escape once you’ve been spotted. The Joker’s henchmen aren’t the smartest; once detected, grappling up and between gargoyles will result in them exclaiming ‘Uh, where did he go?!’, because for whatever reason they’re not able to track anything above eyelevel. You can also deal out swift fury from the skies by waiting for a goon to walk below a gargoyle, at which point you can string them up. Better yet, wait for another goon to walk below their strung up comrade, then cut them down with a Batarang. Not fun enough? How about sneaking up behind an enemy, doing a Silent Takedown, spraying explosive gel near their unconscious body, then waiting for their buddies to come investigate, then blow them to smithereens. These rooms are literally your playground.

The combat in Arkham Asylum is so fun that they’re available as standalone ‘Challenge Rooms’, both in straight on combo-accumulating fisticuff fun and timed stealth-em-ups with medals for achieving set goals, such as ‘Explode Weakened Wall into Silly Goon’. Combined with leaderboards, these Challenge Rooms extend the gameplay after the story is done. Another means of extending the gameplay is the Riddler Challenges. Everyone’s favourite puzzler E. Nigma has left across Arkham Island various Riddler Trophies, riddles to solve and other things to collect. Altogether there are 240 things to find, and although I’m not a fan of collectathons, I did go back and find them all. Some of the riddles were quite clever, but they’re not too perplexing, especially after you find maps listing their whereabouts.

The Batman series is famous for some of the most popular comic book villains, and many of them make appearances in Arkham Asylum, it is a prison for the most dangerous individuals after all. You’ll encounter the likes of Killer Croc, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy to name a few, and for the most part the boss encounters are fun, if not somewhat easy. The Scarecrow encounter is engaging if not for the gameplay, but for his introduction. The build up to his encounter results in ‘insanity effects’, nothing new to anyone who played Eternal Darkness on the GameCube. Killer Croc on the other hand is quite dull, I won’t reveal too much, but his constant threat has aptly been described as akin to the helicopter in Half-Life 2.

There really isn’t a lot to complain about with Batman Arkham Asylum. The game is extremely polished, the gameplay is engaging and the characters are fun. My only complaints would be that the bosses were too easy. An aside is the Downloadable Content debacle. The Joker Challenge Rooms (where you can play as the Joker) are exclusive to the PS3 version which is disappointing for 360 and PC owners. The ‘Insane Nights’ DLC has, as of writing, been released across all platforms, but the forthcoming ‘Prey in the Darkness’ DLC is exclusive to the PS3 in North America, and unavailable on PC in any territory. The whole exclusive DLC debacle quite frankly leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Frankly I’d have rather they just made the game exclusive to one platform if they’re going to limit the DLC.

Regardless of all this, Batman Arkham Asylum has literally come out of nowhere (possibly descending from a gargoyle) to put forth itself as a potential Game of the Year.

5 Batarangs out of 5.