Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Review

(Video Version)

12 years ago, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was released on the Gameboy Advance and became two of the all-time best sellers for the console. Since their release, fans of the Pokémon franchise have wanted a remake of these beloved titles and earlier this year in May, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were announced to an eagerly awaiting public.

But were they worth the wait?

Firstly the story,

To those familiar with the original Ruby & Sapphire, the story of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire won’t surprise you with them largely being remakes.

You are a kid who has just moved into the region of Hoenn where your father has become a Gym leader. After meeting your neighbour Brandon/May (depending on what gender you chose your character to be.) you meet Professor Birch being chased by a Poochyena while out doing fieldwork and here you chose your Pokémon and have your first battle.

From there you start on your Pokémon adventure and go out into the world to catch and train Pokémon, earn Badges at various Gyms to prove yourself as a trainer, challenge the Elite Four and the Champion while also stopping either Team Aqua/Magma from realising their plans.

But there are some differences in these updated versions.

Like in X & Y, Mega Evolutions play a big part of the narrative bringing an origin that was briefly touched on in the previous games by tying in a type of evolution exclusive to the Hoenn legendaries Groudon and Kyogre as being linked with Mega Evolutions.

Another addition is the Delta Episode which like the Looker Bureau of X & Y adds a last chapter to the main story of the games while also tying in some elements from Emerald. The Delta Episode also introduces us to Zinnia a mysterious Draconid woman who holds the key to the Delta Episode’s storyline. As a whole the Delta Episode carries a story worth caring about in Pokémon, and the execution was way better than I expected and hope that Game Freak continue this trend with any future additions like this.

One area where both these games excel in greatly is character development by adding more in animation as well as changes in dialogue making the cast more dynamic as a whole and adds to the more intricate storytelling presented here in ORAS.

Onto the graphics,

The graphical bump to 3D that we saw in Pokémon X and Y is here but I've been far more impressed with the world of Hoenn than I ever was with the region of Kalos. Its art seems brighter and much more lively with its locations feeling strangely more fresh than I would have thought given the age of both Ruby and Sapphire. Many of Ruby and Sapphire's characters are now more expressive and emotive and while that's often played up for laughs, it also gave the entire cast a personality and style that they had lacked before in the original games.

One part of these where the graphics are at their most breathtaking is when call on Latios or Latias (depending what version you have) and use the Soar ability. Soar allows you to ride said Pokémon in a third-person perspective and fly to every corner of Hoenn even the islands you couldn’t reach in the originals and the view of Hoenn while doing this is an incredible thing to see and the freedom of movement you get will most likely render the Fly HM pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Onto the music,

One of the reasons why the original Ruby and Sapphire stood out from the previous games was its music. The approach that ORAS has with its soundtrack is that it tries to be faithful while also trying to make it fit the situation more. In general, the remixes capture the essence of the original soundtrack, while amplifying the feeling, ambience, and tone of it. They add charm to the world, and enrich the atmosphere, while preserving the feeling and tone that the original tracks had.

That being said, every now and then, you'll run into some tracks that sound off. The differences are really subtle so some of the added tones detract from the melody and dilute the sharp feeling that the originals had. The soundtrack overall is pretty outstanding here in ORAS.

Quickly onto the features of Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire,

A lot of the features are essentially a copy of the ones seen in X & Y which makes sense because the four games shared development but it would have been great if each had some degree of flare unique to X & Y/ORAS design wise to differentiate from each other. The other problem is that these features are hidden within the interface which leads to most players forgetting they are even available in game to use.

The new addition of the DexNav makes it easier for trainers looking for Pokémon with certain moves, stats and abilities they don’t normally have and the inclusion of the PSS and its features improves on the restrictive trading found in Ruby & Sapphire by integrating with the system used by X & Y making for a smooth online experience either in trading or battling with other players across the world which allows players to determine how they want their experience in ORAS to be if that should just using the Pokémon only in their respective versions making it closer to the originals or migrating Pokémon via PokéBank to have an playthrough closer to that seen in X & Y for a more customised team.

Another new feature fresh in ORAS is the extension to the Fly HM which now allows players to access routes as well as towns and points of interest like before in previous generations.

Now onto some drawbacks with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire,

The first thing is the story writing. What I mean by this is parts of the story that worked in Ruby & Sapphire seemed dated in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire and one example of this shows when your character meets his/her father Norman and some of the dialogue would suggest that Norman is somewhat distant when read today which makes him as a character comes off as not really interested and is more encouraging toward Wally a frail and shy trainer just starting out who later becomes your rival alongside Brandon/May.

Next I’m touching on the HMs and the abundance of them. While being necessary for exploring a diverse landscape like Hoenn, it’s a double edge part of these being truly faithful remakes which means at least two Pokémon in your party will each have 4 of the total 8 HMs for the sake of progression through the game which will annoy some players.

On the plus side of the HM issue, the Pokémon Sharpedo has now got a faster swimming speed when using Surf so traversing the water heavy areas is much better if you feel that Hoenn has “too much water.”

The next issue is the lack of the Battle Frontier. Personally like many others, I was surprised that the Battle Frontier wasn’t immediately included in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire leaving only a model version of it and saying it was coming soon seen during the post game giving the impression that it would come later on via DLC.

Finally a personal issue I have with ORAS.

While I played from the beginning right through the first five Gyms, it felt more like a tutorial instead of the challenging climb I remembered from when I played the originals which disappointed me partly.

Onto my final thoughts,

I did have high standards for these remakes in how they would be crafted and if they could improve on the older mechanics as well as the storytelling and characters while improving on the games being remade enough to justify having me and many others to play through them again.

In the past, Game Freak proved with Heart Gold & Soul Silver that remakes of older Pokémon games could do just that and I’m happy to say that Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire are overall winners in this regard.

From the introduction to the ending credits, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are fantastic reintroductions to Hoenn for both players of the originals and new players alike and while they are not perfect games, they did hit the mark needed for remade titles and the strengths of the modern Pokémon games have been used well to improve on the style that the originals had while keeping the feeling of the game intact.

Pokémon X & Y Review

 

(Video Version)

It’s been just over a year since Pokémon X & Y was released worldwide which was a first for a Pokémon game especially for a main title. But this wasn’t the only first that X & Y incorporated.

Before you even start your journey across the region of Kalos, you are asked the age old question of “are you a boy or girl?” and this has been standard since Pokémon Crystal on the Gameboy added the female trainer alongside the male trainer which was the only choice available for players in previous titles.

Then you get the option of how your selected trainer will look from a choice of three different skin tones and hair colour and you then get to choose your name and the game begins.

The first thing I’d like to talk about is the story.

The story of Pokémon X & Y isn’t anything new to anyone who is familiar to the main series of games:

You are a kid who is starting on their Pokémon adventure and goes out into the world in the game’s respective region (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn etc.) to catch and train Pokémon in order to earn Badges at various Gyms to prove yourself as a trainer and going on to challenge the Elite Four ultimately becoming the Champion while also stopping an evil organisation from realising their plans. So like with the past games, the narrative is kept simple and easily digestible for the intended younger audience while at the same time not being off-putting for an older demographic.

Next onto the graphics of X & Y.

Gone are the days of the 2D pixelated sprites and overhead perspective with the conversion to 3D that started in Gen 4 with Diamond/Pearl & Platinum with the introduction of 3D elements in the over world while keeping the static pixel sprites for the Pokémon till Gen 5 with White/Black and its follow ups where the sprites became fully animated, the over world leaned closer to 3D and the inclusion of a few cutscenes using Pokémon Stadium-like visuals and others utilizing anime-like animation for the Xtransciever/Live Caster.

With X & Y, the transition into full 3D is complete with a more modern look for the over world, NPCs, the Trainer and most importantly the Pokémon themselves since a handful did go under some slight redesigns over the years. The over world of X & Y is simply amazing to look at with the new dimension of depth and its bright and colourful scenery while also allowing for more interaction than previous games in the series as well as more dynamic camera angles during battles.

Onto X & Y’s mechanics,

At the core, X & Y are using the tried and tested formula of over world exploration and turn based RPG style battles that have been there since Red & Blue (Red & Green in Japan). Succeeding generations have seen the additions of double battles, triple battles, rotation battles and even multi battles involving four trainers whereas X & Y introduce three new variations:

Horde Encounters

Horde Encounters are when trainers come across five Pokémon of the same species who are usually half the level of a one on one encounter with the same Pokémon.

Sky Battle

Sky Battles are unique battles where only Pokémon who can fly or have the Levitate ability can be used to participate so you will need at least one Pokémon that fits into those categories in your party otherwise these battles will be locked to you.

Inverse Battle

An Inverse Battle is a battle where Pokémon type matchups are reversed and this variant can only be accessed by challenging Psychic Inver on Route 18 and he can only be battled against once a day.

Other additions in X & Y include the PSS which replaces the C-Gear from the previous generation and it allows for more connectivity with other players as well as some brand new features. The new features that PSS introduces are Wonder Trade were players trade Pokémon without knowing what they will get in return, the GTS which lets players search for specific Pokémon and put up one of their own for trade in exchange for one chosen by the player. It has many different functions, including these and more. The PSS primary interface is divided into three categories: Friends, Acquaintances, and Passersby, each of which allows a maximum of 100 players.

Some adjustments have also been made in X & Y to make the experience as quick and problem free as possible. The interface is more streamlined and makes tasks like checking your map to trading Pokémon a painless endeavour and thankfully the game save is near-instant which is greatly appreciated by myself and others who play till the batteries were practically dead.

Now Pokémon has always had the message of loving your Pokémon will help you succeed as a trainer but nothing has been in the games to iterate this but X & Y has changed this with Pokémon Amie. Pokémon Amie allows trainers to “bond” with a selected Pokémon in your party by feeding it Poke Puffs, playing games (you need three Pokémon to play them). You can also pet your Pokémon and even pull faces using the 3DS camera and by doing this, it can impact how your Pokémon may battle by land more critical hits and dodging attacks.

Then there is Super Training where trainers can put Pokémon through mini games to increase their IVs and also potentially increase the amount of experience that Pokémon gets from EV training. While I’m talking about EV training, In X & Y you can now gain experience from capturing Pokémon as well as battling them which makes levelling up much easier and this is made easier even more with the EXP Share which you get early in the game and the experience is shared between all the Pokémon in your party even if they never got used in a battle. But if you would prefer to grind each Pokémon to level it up like in older titles, you can always turn the EXP Share off.

In X & Y we got the introduction of a new Pokémon type which is Fairy the first new type since Gold & Silver. Fairy type was added to give a balance to Dragon type who previously were weak against Ice and its own type.

After so long, we got the ability to customise our trainers which is very extensive with all options ranging from skin tone and hair colour at the start to clothes which are available to buy at boutiques throughout your journey across Kalos and even changing your trainer’s hairstyle and eye colour after obtaining the Lens Case.

Lastly there’s the Mega Evolutions where certain Pokémon can temporally evolve during battle increasing their stats and sometimes changing a Pokémon’s type. Only one Mega Evolution can be used per battle so theres no unbalance in the battle system.

Sadly I now come to the drawbacks with X & Y,

The first issue is that of some frame drop while using the 3D feature of the 3DS but thankfully this only is really seen during Pokémon battles but were this is at its worst is in Horde Battles.

That being said leads me to the use of the 3D feature of the 3DS because I think that certain areas in X & Y were designed with the 3D slider in mind but ultimately the feature is disabled for the most part.

This one is more a personal view than a criticism and it’s about Team Flare because not only did I find them to boring as antagonists but their goal is to create a "beautiful and better" world while making money and eliminating everyone who doesn’t follow their standards was nonsense. The reason why I say this is because Team Flare never really does anything threatening throughout the game when compared to Team Galactic who blow up a lake which somehow is meant to lead to the liberation of Pokémon.

Team Flare's goal of "making the world more beautiful." is really ambiguous and never gets fleshed out, and the game never shows how humans make the world an uglier place, aside from some war which is never talked about in detail, only vaguely described right before you fight Xerneas/Yveltal and this is why it makes it hard to understand why Team Flare is doing what they're doing. Lastly the leader of Team Flare Lysandre had so much missed potential. It was interesting how he was portrayed to be a likable and sympathetic person, a kind person even, but then all of a sudden he sends out a Holoclip saying he's going to kill everyone and this just seemed so abrupt and somewhat forced or at least it felt that way.

Next is the small amount of post-game content because after you have beaten the Elite Four and the Champion, you get the opportunity to encounter one of the legendary birds from Kanto depending on what Kalos starter you chose at the start, capturing Mewtwo & Zygarde, finding all of the remaining Mega Stones after having the Mega Ring upgraded by Sycamore that also unlocks the Looker Bureau which is the final part of the main story and ultimately completing the Pokedex. This is the biggest issue that X & Y suffer from but you get access to the Friend Safari for Shiny hunting, the Battle Maison for new challenges after obtaining the TMV Pass and travelling to Kiloude City.

Overall Pokémon X & Y has made a successful transition into the 3D plain and the adjustments made make for a reinvigorating experience which still feels like the past Pokémon releases and I would say it is more of regeneration than a revolution for the franchise so X & Y offers something for everyone from older trainers, newer players, shiny hunters and EV trainers alike.

So in closing, Pokémon X & Y are two of the best in the whole main series of Pokémon games and while the story may have its shortcomings and what are the benefits to Mega Evolutions are mostly unclear, the new features and overall presentation reinvigorates the core philosophies and fun of being the best which makes the joy of catching em all once again a joyful and impressive experience.

An ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Appeared!!

At about 10am this morning, I got nominated to do the Ice Bucket Challenge to promote and spread awareness the effects of ALS or as it's better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

So here's my video of when I did the challenge earlier today and hope its as entertaing as it is informative. Enjoy my friends :)

The Rosie Project Review

(Video Review)

The Rosie Project

Released in April 2013, The Rosie Project is the first novel by Graeme Simsion who previously has written two books and several papers about data-modelling. The Rosie Project revolves around a 39 year old geneticist named Don Tillman who wants to find himself a wife.

The book begins with Don covering a lecture on Aspergers for Gene Barrow, The head of the Psychology department at Melbourne University and also Don’s best friend and colleague. After using two lunch breaks from over the past couple of days to cram in some research on autism spectrum disorders and preparing his presentation which is due for 7pm at a school, to which he arrives at 6:57PM allowing himself three minutes to set up the equipment in the hall where he meets Julie the convenor for the lecture who makes small talk while Don focuses on preparing everything not wanting to waste time.

While his attention is on the task at hand, Don doesn’t see the audience for the presentation enter and take their seats. Julie then asks about Gene who Don reveals is out on a date instead of being ill as he had told Julie and eighteen minutes later than planned, Don begins his talk which focuses on the genetic aspects of the condition and even uses a scenario where a lack of emotion could be an asset where they were in hiding from enemies but a crying baby gives them away but they also have a gun. The kids give suggestions such as ambush the enemy or even shooting the baby while everyone else is stunned by the idea and this prompts an early end to the lecture and while Don is packing up, Julie asks if he could join her for a drink but Don turns her down having got things back on schedule and he states that he has other activities scheduled.

Two days later, Don gets a call from Julie who asks him a question about a point he made during the lecture where he mentioned a company in Denmark that employed people with Aspergers for computer application testing. The question she asks is how candidates are found because as she puts it "Most adults with Aspergers don't even know they have it". Don guesses that they use a questionnaire as a primary filter which gives him an idea:

Design a detailed and strict questionnaire that filters out any unpromising candidates: women who are unpunctual, overweight, vegetarian, those who drink or smoke or have STDs.

With this measure now in place, Don hangs up on Julie and embarks on his now dubbed Wife Project and hopes to find his ideal partner and avoid mistakes like in his past attempts at finding a partner.

The subject of autism has been used in fiction before with the best example being The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon from 2003 where the story revolves around a 15 year old boy with Aspergers looking into a murder of a neighbour’s dog with a pitch fork whereas Simsion’s first novel explores how the condition affects an undiagnosed adult and how he approaches a romantic situation and everyday life in general.

The irony is where everyone else can see the variant in Don, he can’t see it in himself whereas he sees it in other people such as Lazlo a colleague of his at Melbourne University. This creates some degree of confusion in some readers due to Don regularly describing stock features of Aspergers in reference to himself – “I am not good at non-verbal communication”; “Unlike many people, I am very comfortable with repetition”.

The story is presented in a mix of past tense and present tense with Don himself providing the narration which is pitch perfect while also being precise and formal with a geeky tone that encapsulates his rigidly scheduled, rationally detached world-view.

Throughout the book we get to know Don and his routines, e.g. the very efficient standardised meal system, and as he devises his questionnaire to seek out the perfect wife, then Rosie enters the story and it starts to drift off in another direction where we see Don break away (rather reluctantly) from his structured and organised lifestyle into new expanses he has never experienced before and he also learns that life and love don’t adhere to logical thought and planning.

The relationship between Don and Rosie is primarily based on Rosie’s search for her real father as her mother never revealed his identity before she died when Rosie was a child and Don with his expertise of being a professor of genetics is the perfect person to help her. Initially there is confusion between the two with Don mistaking Rosie as a candidate for his Wife Project and Rosie thinking that Don is helping her because he has an interest in her.

Even when this is cleared up later on, they both continue with The Father Project which puts the two into an entertaining series of comic set pieces and occasionally life-threatening situations and despite their seemingly justified approach to being in each other’s company, a relationship begins to form.

However I do have two minor issues with this book and they go as follows:

• Slight misrepresentation of those on the autism spectrum:

The assumptions presented here about people with autism is that they all possess extraordinary mental capabilities, when in fact only a small minority of people with the condition do and that the majority of autistic people actually have some form of learning disability. This makes it almost a cliché view of the condition unfortunately which is shared with other books that touch on autism.

• The ending:

The final act of the book has a more brisk pace compared with the rest of the story which partly disrupts the flow and build-up. This makes it seem to some readers like it was rushed in retropect.

Despite these issues, I immensely enjoyed The Rosie Project with its originality, quirkiness, wit, interesting and well-defined characters, plot twists, and setting. I also found it to be warm-hearted and perfectly pitched. At its core, The Rosie Project is a classic feel-good screwball romantic comedy with possibly the oddest of couples which proves that love comes from the unexpected and that you don’t find it, it finds you.

Overall The Rosie Project is a very well written, well-researched, engaging, charming, funny, affectionate and intelligent novel with plenty of local flavour being set in Melbourne that makes for a very enjoyable read.

I also felt an understanding with Don because I have Aspergers myself and found it endearing to have someone like him because I feel there aren’t enough characters in media in general so it made for a refreshing change and for that alone, The Rosie Project holds a special place in my library as well as my top three.

The Rosie Project is available in paperback, hardback, e-book formats, audiobook, Audio CD, and CD-ROM.

The sequel titled The Rosie Effect is set for release next month on September 24^th.

Meg Hell's Aquarium Review

(Video Review)

Meg Hell’s Aquarium

Released in 2009, Meg Hell’s Aquarium is the fifth entry in Steve Alten’s Meg series. Set four years after the events of Primal Waters where we find Jonas Taylor back working at the Tanaka Institute closely with the recaptured Angel.

The book’s prologue begins in the Philippine Sea where the book explains the geography of the area through history as well as the evolution of life present too. Then the book focuses on a lone Megalodon who is revealed to be Scarface the vicious male who Michael Maren tried to use to get his revenge on Jonas with in Primal Waters. Scarface has abandoned his old hunting ground in the Mariana Trench to stakeout the Western Mariana Trough to search for a meal despite having killed a juvenile whale shark.

Scarface then picks up a strange object through his ampullae of Lorenzini and investigates the faint electrical field which turns out to be a World War II Japanese destroyer and after determining that it is inedible, Scarface moves on eventually entering the Western Mariana Ridge and soon picks up reverberations in the water which takes him to a hole in the sea floor about 400 feet across. As Scarface circles the void, A 68 foot Leedsichthys rises out of the gap as Scarface attacks and drives his hyperextended jaws into the giant and as Scarface becomes preoccupied and distracted by the kill, a pair of jaws about thirty two feet emerge from the gap and close on Scarface’s caudal fin reducing it to mincemeat and snapping his twin claspers off.

Scarface recovers from the sudden attack and sees the 122 feet long Pliosaur fully emerge from the gap which keeps its distance due to Scarface’s fearsome jaws but is locked onto the stream of blood pouring into the surrounding water.  The pliosaur then disappears into the darkness with a quick thrust of its front flippers and banks round and attacks again and Scarface is heavily injured and after about twenty minutes of being interlocked with each other, Scarface dies from his wounds.

Meanwhile at the Monterey Peninsula Airport, we find Jonas Taylor waiting outside Gate B with his now twenty four year old daughter Dani for his son David’s plane to land and let out passengers and to pass the time they resume talk about their own choices of music. Eventually David appears from the baggage claim exit and tosses his stuff into the Lexus Sudan and climbs in. As Jonas drives onto the car towards Highway 68, he brings up the subject of football to David on seeing his jersey and that the coach who called their home lost two wide-outs because of injuries to which David replies that his football days ended with high school.

Dani then points out Jonas’ now snowy white hair to David who remembers his father still being gray from the last time he had seen him and the conversion moves to Jonas talking to David about opportunities in marine biology internships including a recent sale of the Manta Ray with the Naval Warfare Center partly due to a piloting demonstration that David had partook in. This leads David to say that the Vice Admiral mentioned that they could use a good trainer hinting that Jonas could take the position but Jonas turns down the idea because of his enjoyment of working with the Megs and that they needed special care.

David jokes about how Angel’s “pups” who are now larger than an adult Great White after Jonas make them sound like they are a litter of cocker spaniels and the conversion touches on the subject of “the sisters” . Dani states that while all five pups shared the same womb, the three “runts” are nothing compared with Lizzy & Belle who are just as vicious as their mother Angel as Jonas turns off Highway 68 and south on Highway 1.

After the subject of David’s breakup with his girlfriend is brought up, David says it was because she was getting too serious in the relationship which put him off her with Dani saying she didn’t like her much either then David asks how his mother Terry is doing and Dani replies that she is stressed out due to an animal rights group called R.A.W. (Release Animals to the Wild) wanting the Megs released and members of the groups have been doing things like slashing tyres of employee’s cars which made Jonas hire a security firm to deal with the problem.

Jonas then talks about how the pens are too small for the Megs and no more expansions can be made at the Tanaka Institute along the coast because of the State Assembly but they offer 600 acres in Bakersfield as an alternative. Jonas then mentions a meeting he and Mac are to have with Emaar Properties out of the United Arab Emirates about a new state of the art aquarium and hotel in Dubai which presents an opportunity of them taking one or more of the Meg pups. Before the meeting takes place however two incidents occur the first being where Angel goes berserk and this results in Dani getting injured and a guest feeder is bitten in half after the swell of water created by Angel’s rampage pulls him from the A frame into the southern part of the tank.

The second incident is when Angelica, one of the “runts” is suddenly attacked by the “sisters” Lizzy and Belle and after staff manage to separate them and get Angelica into a transport net to move her into the medic pool to treat the wounds on her pectoral fin and left flank, however before Angelica can be moved into the medic pool having just been tranquilized Belle attacks again and tears a huge hole in her abdomen resulting in the Meg’s death.

While Terry goes on Good Morning America to address the accident with Angel, Jonas and Mac meet with the entourage from Dubai including Fiesal bin Rashidi, the first cousin to the crown prince and the CEO of Emaar Properties. During the lengthy discussion, a series of hand-drawn sketches are presented to Jonas and Mac depicting creatures such as the Kronosaurs that Jonas encountered during his last trip to the Mariana Trench among other species once thought extinct and Jonas recognises who drew the images as Dr Michael Maren the ichthyologist who tried to kill Jonas using Scarface.

Following the drawings, Jonas and Mac are presented with Maren’s research data and an offer of purchasing the two surviving Meg “runts” Mary-Kate & Ashley, a dozen of the Institute’s new Manta Ray submersibles and the employ of Jonas and the staff to help capture the creatures in Maren’s drawings for the Dubai aquarium.

Jonas and Mac laugh at the idea of them going due to their experiences in the Mariana Trench and their dealings with Maren so they turn down their part in the deal despite the additional offer of five million dollars each for their participation in the venture. The meeting ends with the Dubai entourage leaving but one who turns out to be the crown prince in disguise speaking with Jonas and Mac about the deal further and Jonas offers that David would show him the Manta Ray. David decides that a ride is better than a demonstration taking the prince with him and puts the Manta Ray through its paces which by the end impresses the prince so much that he offers David the job that Jonas and Mac both turned down and he accepts.

Having read all of the previous entries in the MEG series in order, I found it hard to fathom just how Steve Alten could take up from where Primal Waters left off. But yes he surprised me with Hell’s Aquarium which returns the series to form from the ridiculousness of Primal Waters. The vivid detail of the Meg’s sensory perception which is now a staple of the series returns as well as the recap for the three previous books is present for newcomers to the series to catch up which makes the book work as a standalone title fairly well.

However there are flaws present and they are as follows.

• Continuity Issues:

This first flaw concerns the age of the characters namely Dani and David Taylor considering that Hell’s Aquarium is set four years after the events of Primal Waters where David and Dani were fourteen and eighteen respectively while in Hell’s Aquarium where they are somehow now twenty years old and twenty four when they should be eighteen and twenty two. Personally I think this may just be an oversight by the author but thought I would mention it.

• Female Characters:

Most of the female cast in Hell’s Aquarium are presented poorly again with the exceptions of Terry, Mac’s wife Trish and surprisingly Dani who seems to have grown as a person in leaps and bounds since Primal Waters but still has holds onto her gangsta music preference. The others are presented as either mentally unstable, major teases, psychotic or downright stupid and generally have bigger breasts than IQs which some readers will find to be misogynistic but personally I found to be ultimately tiresome.

• Level of Detail:

This is another personal issue I have where the author describes the weight, size, lifting power, construction and tensile strength of every single piece of equipment in the book. I didn't know whether to be impressed or just annoyed by this aspect of Hell’s Aquarium mostly due to the explanations taking up sizeable pieces of a chapter which reduces the amount of story progression. Overall to the casual reader, this makes the book overly technical which maybe off-putting whereas those interested in sea exploration will absolutely love it.

• Story Direction:

While Hell’s Aquarium is a step above the previous book Primal Waters, it does suffer from similar problems like the prologue which reads like an essay on tectonic plates. Like with the previous entry Primal Waters, Hell’s Aquarium is written in the present tense over the past tense style of the first two books in the series but this time around the flow of the story is considerably better which makes a better read overall.

Steve Alten ups the ante yet again with Hell’s Aquarium with the return of Angel along with her five pups which all have their own personalities and group dynamic where the three runts don’t clash with each other while the “sisters” Lizzy & Belle form a sort-of symbiotic predatory relationship between them with Belle acting as the brawn to Lizzy's brains. Also introduced is a large menagerie of other creatures including the Kronosaurs and the new Liopleurodon hinted from Primal Waters to be the rival to the Megs.

Like with its predecessor Primal Waters, the story is split across the main focus with David going to Dubai to work at the new aquarium being financed by the Prince and the subplots of Jonas dealing the day to day problems with Angel and her brood and the activists of the group R.A.W. who are using the incidents at the Institute to push their agenda.

Hell’s Aquarium acts as a passing of the torch where we see Jonas’ son David quickly becoming the main character whereas Jonas is adjusted into a secondary role. Overall Hell’s Aquarium is an entertaining read and a welcome addition to the Meg series and the best way that I can sum this up is by saying there's a fantastic sense of dynasty and tradition, continuity of life and the interaction between the generations on both sides. 

Me as well as other followers of the series will invested a lot of time with the Taylors and their travails with Angel and her brood, and the masterstroke of Hell's Aquarium is in acknowledging that in-between toothsome adventures, time moves on, people change, and life keeps dealing new cards making this entry as enthralling as The Trench and steers the series into the uncharted waters of infinite possibility.

Meg Hell’s Aquarium is available in paperback, hardback and e-book formats.