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Digital Downloads
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 15 April 2008 16:00 |
 Another digital download from the good folks at GONZO, BLASSREITER digs further into Gerd's sudden transformation from cripple to armoured fighting machine. There's no doubt the change will have come at a cost - but just how high will that cost be..?
After witnessing the Gerd-turned-Amalgam protecting the humans from the threat of another Amalgam, people embrace his comeback as the emergence of a hero - although the ability of a live human to turn into an Amalgam is unprecedented, and leads to some calls for Gerd to be quarantined until it's known what's happened to him. Hermann overrules that suggestion, believing that he knows Gerd well enough to know he's not a risk, but in truth he's a curious as the rest to know what's happened to his friend. For Gerd, the 'change' means that his once-devastated life seems back on the track - his ex-girlfriend Jil even wants to make up with him - but Gerd's dreams are becoming tortured by the image of his Amalgam self, while Jil's approach isn't what it first appeared...
After taking advantage of BostTV's free taster episode last week, this week I'm reduced to YouTube - and the difference that US$2 will get you is plain to see. Even using the high-quality URL hack, any amount of real motion turns the video here into a macroblocked mess - really not what you want. Although I suppose you get what you pay for...
Enough of the technicalities. This episode begins to make a little more sense than episode 1 did, but there are still a whole lot of issues yet to be dealt with. Gert is the focus of events, particulary that small matter of what he now is - Amalgams are a known quanitity, but as far as anyone knows you need to be dead before you can become one. Gerd wasn't, so he's something new - but it seems as though the Amalgam tendency to violence is still there, barely beneath the surface. The examination of Gerd's life is interesting enough in itself, but without much explanation of the setup behind that, there's little to really hook onto.
There is a little bit of motion in the behind-the-scenes scheming, as another 'living' Amalgam approaches Gerd, but the meeting is more of a high-speed bike chase than a chance for plot exposition. The indication's there that things will eventually be explained, though, so I'm looking forward to seeing the series begin to make some real sense. While this episode is an improvement, BLASSREITER still has a long way to go before it becomes truly enjoyable.
Watch this episode
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