Articles written by Johan Burghall

Advanced Search

What is Helium

About me - Johan Burghall

Anglo-Finnish antiquarian with a head full of stories, games, and rants against creative tripe old and new.

+ more bio information

RSS Feed

Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: BioShock (PC, Xbox 360): 1 of 9
"Any contact with the surface exposes Rapture to the very Parasites we fled from. A few stretched necks are a small price to pay for our ideals." Andrew RyanSet in 1960, Bioshock begins with a plane crash over the ocean, after which you descend into a hidden underwater city called Rapture, brain-child of Andrew Ryan, who asks... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: Halo: 3 of 25
Why is Halo one of the greatest games of our generation?One acronym, two letters.AI.Except there's nothing Artificial about this Intelligence.A group of Covenant aliens, fanatical and human-hating, stand guard over an entrance to the Halo's interior, delving into its secrets of ultimate destruction. Large Elites survey the se... More..
Hobbies & Games > Board Games The history of the board game Risk: 1 of 5

Risk is a board game of world domination played on a stylised Napoleonic era map of the world with different coloured tokens representing the forces of opposing generals. The rules of the game are simple and effective, with players moving their pieces into neighbouring territories and the outcome of battles being decided by ... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: Left 4 Dead (PC): 1 of 4

In Left 4 Dead (2008), legendary developer Valve takes online co-operative play to a new level, whilst simultaneously creating the most tense and atmospheric zombie survival horror FPS yet. They have taken the very best (and worst) of the zombie genre, from the B movie posters and clichd taglines on the loading screens of ... More..
Entertainment > Movie Genres Exploring the vampire in cinema: 11 of 39
"An audience gives me life," says Greta Schroder in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). "This thing only takes it from me."She might as well be talking about the vampire as of the film camera, for there are great similarities between them. The camera too lurks in the shadows like the predatory undead, inhumanly observing the brief ... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: American McGee's Alice (PC): 1 of 2
"When is a croquet mallet like a billy club?" asks the gaunt, demonically-grinning form of the Cheshire Cat. "I'll tell you: WHENEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE."American McGee's Alice has enjoyed great critical acclaim, and though it has fallen by the wayside in this age of better and better graphics, it still retains its charms for ... More..
Hobbies & Games > Board Games Board game reviews: Risk 2210AD: 1 of 2
Risk 2210AD takes the classic game of global domination to a whole new level, with an amazingly-designed map of the Earth of the future and hundreds of robotic units to take to the battlefield to claim the blasted surface of the planet, underwater cities, and even the Moon!Risk 2210AD plays in exactly the same way as Risk, bu... More..
Hobbies & Games > Board Games Board game reviews: Escape from Atlantis: 1 of 1
Atlantis is sinking! Panicked citizens rush for the boats, but there aren't nearly enough. On the horizon glitter the ports that offer the only chance of safety as the waters around Atlantis begin to swirl and grow choppy. Suddenly, without warning, huge chunks of the island begin to fall off, crashing into the waters and dis... More..
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007): 58 of 104
Darkness. Optimus Prime's voice (that of the immortal Peter Cullen) echoes through space as stars fade into view. For a second, for just a second, I think things are going to be ok.Then I start listening to the words. "Autobots... Decepticons." Good. "Devastating war that destroyed our whole civilisation." Great. "Allspark Cu... More..
Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl (PC): 4 of 5
It took a long time to get to us. It promised so much. It delivered a lot. Then it shot itself down. But let's start at the beginning.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, a survival horror First Person Shooter RPG set after a second incident at Chernobyl, promised to deliver the exploration of a mutated nightmare world, a stru... More..