Spanish cuisine is becoming more popular in Glasgow, and La Tasca, situated at 39 Renfield Street, is among the best. Upon entering you're struck with how tastefully decorated the place is, with traditional Spanish music quietly playing above the din of happy customers. La Tasca is predominately a tapas restaurant, though there are a few traditional Spanish dishes if tapas isn't your thing.
The staff in La Tasca are very friendly and willing to guide you through the mysteries of tapas if you've never tried it before. Our waiter recommended ordering three dishes or four, and sharing to see what we enjoyed. We opted for some king prawns in batter, some calamari, and instead of more tapas, we gave the seafood paella a try. Other options included chicken, Spanish sausage, but we were on a bit of a seafood binge. We were warned that it would take up to an hour to make, as paella rice soaks up water slowly while cooking, but we were content to wait, drink some San Miguel lager and enjoy the atmosphere.
The tapas dishes were excellent. The calamari was served with rock salt and lemon, and a nice sauce, and was cooked to perfection. Not rubbery, not dry, very nicely prepared. The king prawns were the same, cooked in a light batter and was very tasty.
The paella arrived forty minutes later, in a huge round dish, filled with calamari, prawns, king prawns, mussels and tuna. There was only two of us but this could have easily fed four people. Again, everything was fresh ingredients, cooked to perfection and very enjoyable. We wasted little time in devouring the dish, and made a decent attempt at finishing it, but it beat us. If you're hungry the paella is excellent value for money.
La Tasca has a lot to recommend, and I can't think of anything to fault it, aside from the length of time to cook paella, which can't be helped. I'll definitely be back.
Wednesday, 6 June 2007
The Catwalk Review
The Catwalk, formily The Underground, is the latest addition to CPL's growing list of pubs and clubs, and acts as a feeder bar for the Cathouse, Glasgow's premier rock venue. The night I visited was Rock Karoke night, where anyone can sing their hearts out to a wide of rock and metal songs in the hope of winning £50. Some regulars even take it further and dress up for it, as I witnessed when the Blues Brothers look-a-likes took to the stage.
Behind the bar is the usual array of beers and spirts, reasonably priced, with an intriguing cocktail menu which I didn't risk trying. There is a very nice display on the bar wall too, with lines of bottles of beer lit up from below giving a nice warm glow to the place.
The Catwalk has a decent atmosphere to it when busy, but I can see on a quiet night how vacant it would appear. Unfortunately on a busier night there just isn't enough seats in the place to hold more than about 30 people , and so most of people ended up standing when I visited. There is a pool table if you fancy a game, but only one, so getting on it could be a challenge.
The Catwalk is a decent enough bar, and if you can get a seat you'll be happy enough before heading off to the Cathouse, if that is your pleasure. If it's a quiet night though you may find yourself longing for somewhere with a bit more buzz.
Behind the bar is the usual array of beers and spirts, reasonably priced, with an intriguing cocktail menu which I didn't risk trying. There is a very nice display on the bar wall too, with lines of bottles of beer lit up from below giving a nice warm glow to the place.
The Catwalk has a decent atmosphere to it when busy, but I can see on a quiet night how vacant it would appear. Unfortunately on a busier night there just isn't enough seats in the place to hold more than about 30 people , and so most of people ended up standing when I visited. There is a pool table if you fancy a game, but only one, so getting on it could be a challenge.
The Catwalk is a decent enough bar, and if you can get a seat you'll be happy enough before heading off to the Cathouse, if that is your pleasure. If it's a quiet night though you may find yourself longing for somewhere with a bit more buzz.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Magical Starsign (The Skinny, March 25 2007)
It’s a bit of a wonder that a turn based RPG ala Final Fantasy hasn’t turned up before Magical Starsign. In saying that, it’s a pretty good virgin outing for RPGs.
Our story begins in school. Controlling six magical students whose teacher has gone off on a quest, you and your class mates itch for adventure also. So, you go in the schools rocketship, visiting different planets in the solar system trying to find her.
Our story begins in school. Controlling six magical students whose teacher has gone off on a quest, you and your class mates itch for adventure also. So, you go in the schools rocketship, visiting different planets in the solar system trying to find her.
The main problem with the game is the wealth of information it fires at you. Unless you’re really into your turned based RPG’s then you’ll find it all a bit overwhelming. The battles are pretty standard (you hit them, they hit you, you hope you’re more powerful) but there’s little here to keep you coming back to it. You’ve seen it all before. So a pretty looking, decent RPG, but one for true fans of the genre.
2 skinnys
Okami review (The Skinny, Feb 25 2007)
It’s rare these days: you start to play a game, and it slowly dawns on you that you’re playing a classic. As we come to the end of the PS2, it’s fitting we get one of the greatest titles of its lifetime. Okami is brilliant.
There’s an instant comparison with Okami (means “wolf” in Japanese by the way) to The Legend of Zelda. Not a comparison to shy away from by any means – Okami is a sprawling RPG, with gorgeous graphics and a subtle learning curve that makes you instantly fall in love with the game. It’s funny too – you’ll find yourself sniggering during the dialogue between Amaterasu (you, a god in wolf form) and the people you meet.
Darkness has taken over the land, and you, as Ammy, must drive back the demons. Solving puzzles, acquiring new skills, so far so familiar. Except you learn to paint. With a paintbrush. You might draw a slice across an enemy (like a sword) or draw a sun in the sky to light the way, or colour in a constellation to see an old friend. It’s wonderfully bizarrely Japanese, and it works beautifully. Ammy herself is adorable, and has a little friend to help guide along the way, giving useful advice, and providing a bit of comedy. Little touches make things really enjoyable. Ammy can bark or howl, just for fun, and if you leave her alone for a while, she curls up and falls asleep. Do that in the right spot and you’ll find yourself just sitting there, peacefully watching...
Stunning graphics, instinctive game play, and a main character you can’t help adore, Okami looks, plays and feels like a bona fide classic. It doesn’t matter its taken nearly 6 years to arrive – it’s here. Now stop reading and go buy it.
5 skinnys
There’s an instant comparison with Okami (means “wolf” in Japanese by the way) to The Legend of Zelda. Not a comparison to shy away from by any means – Okami is a sprawling RPG, with gorgeous graphics and a subtle learning curve that makes you instantly fall in love with the game. It’s funny too – you’ll find yourself sniggering during the dialogue between Amaterasu (you, a god in wolf form) and the people you meet.
Darkness has taken over the land, and you, as Ammy, must drive back the demons. Solving puzzles, acquiring new skills, so far so familiar. Except you learn to paint. With a paintbrush. You might draw a slice across an enemy (like a sword) or draw a sun in the sky to light the way, or colour in a constellation to see an old friend. It’s wonderfully bizarrely Japanese, and it works beautifully. Ammy herself is adorable, and has a little friend to help guide along the way, giving useful advice, and providing a bit of comedy. Little touches make things really enjoyable. Ammy can bark or howl, just for fun, and if you leave her alone for a while, she curls up and falls asleep. Do that in the right spot and you’ll find yourself just sitting there, peacefully watching...
Stunning graphics, instinctive game play, and a main character you can’t help adore, Okami looks, plays and feels like a bona fide classic. It doesn’t matter its taken nearly 6 years to arrive – it’s here. Now stop reading and go buy it.
5 skinnys
Retro Gaming - Dizzy (The Skinny, Jan 31 2007)
One life, no continues, and no save points...
When asked to do this month’s retro feature, I started to think back to games that really meant
something in my childhood. One series of games came instantly to mind. Cutesy graphics, a loveable character, a hefty selection of puzzles - all disguising games with a difficultly level that would have you tearing your hair out over the five or six hours it takes to finish them. “Six hours?” I hear you cry, “I can do that with my eyes closed!” There’s a catch.
One life, no continues, and no save points.
The idea behind Dizzy was simple. Take one egg, add boxing gloves and legs, give him a family
(all with names beginning with ‘D’), then send on a mission to save the land: collecting objects,
solving puzzles and avoiding obstacles as you go. You could also collect coins, hidden about the
place, but as I never got all 100 I never found out what happened if you succeeded.
Essentially, that was it. You, as Dizzy, jumped and rolled about the place, exploring, talking to
your friends and family (Daisy, your girlfriend, Dylan, your stoner brother, etc) and ridding the
land of evil. Think The Secret of Monkey Island without the pointing and clicking. It was
fiendishly addictive, though imagine the frustration, three or four hours in, as you accidentally
jump into the water without picking up the snorkel first. Game over, back to the start with you.
Oh yes. Hard.
While the original game was criticised for being too difficult, the sequels: Treasure Island Dizzy,
Fantasy World Dizzy and Magicland Dizzy (not to mention the host of spin off games) pitched
the difficulty levels just right - though you still only got one life (Dizzy is an egg you see. Ever
tried putting an egg back together?). Think a 16 year-old today could finish it? I doubt it.
Released on Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/38284-retro-gaming-dizzy-codemasters
Mortal Kombat Armageddon review (The Skinny, Nov 26 2006)
60+ fighters. A mythical tournament. And blood. LOTS of blood. Has to be Mortal Kombat then. The latest in the series sees the fighting over the years reaching breaking point….ah who cares about the plot? It’s all just an excuse to get uppercuting, spilling lots of blood and those immortal words “FINISH HIM!” shouted as loud as possible. Do we really NEED another Mortal Kombat game though?
Well, yes and no. This is a step forward for Mortal Kombat, though its essentially the same game it always was, with tweaks. The Kreate-A-Fighter mode lets you make your own fighter and take him/her through the tournament (time consuming, and a little repeditive if we’re honest), and the new Kreate-A-Fatality mode does had some interest, even if it proves very annoying at first. Simple button combinations ending with one bodypart ripping finisher, which you WILL get to grips with, if you spend enough time with it….
Vastly improved from Mortal Kombat: Deception though is the Konquest mode, which plays much like Streets of Rage, which isn’t bad in my book, and is actually rather enjoyable, instead of a chore. However the ‘Motor Kombat’ is quite, quite poor, looking and feeling like a poor mans Mario Kart. The controls are, well, garbage, and it’s just not fun. Best avoid and get back to the bloodshed.
Mortal Kombat Armageddon is fun, and addictive in a way. The one downside though, aside from Motor Kombat, is that with 60+ characters, can you REALLY be bothered finishing it with all of them? Most likely not. Essentially, if you love Mortal Kombat, you’ll love this, though it’s unlikely to win many new fans. All together then….FINISH HIM!!
3 Skinnys
Well, yes and no. This is a step forward for Mortal Kombat, though its essentially the same game it always was, with tweaks. The Kreate-A-Fighter mode lets you make your own fighter and take him/her through the tournament (time consuming, and a little repeditive if we’re honest), and the new Kreate-A-Fatality mode does had some interest, even if it proves very annoying at first. Simple button combinations ending with one bodypart ripping finisher, which you WILL get to grips with, if you spend enough time with it….
Vastly improved from Mortal Kombat: Deception though is the Konquest mode, which plays much like Streets of Rage, which isn’t bad in my book, and is actually rather enjoyable, instead of a chore. However the ‘Motor Kombat’ is quite, quite poor, looking and feeling like a poor mans Mario Kart. The controls are, well, garbage, and it’s just not fun. Best avoid and get back to the bloodshed.
Mortal Kombat Armageddon is fun, and addictive in a way. The one downside though, aside from Motor Kombat, is that with 60+ characters, can you REALLY be bothered finishing it with all of them? Most likely not. Essentially, if you love Mortal Kombat, you’ll love this, though it’s unlikely to win many new fans. All together then….FINISH HIM!!
3 Skinnys
Forgotten Consoles feature (The Skinny, Oct 29 2006)
Scouring the bargin basement bin of the internet, more commonly know as eBay, every so often you come across a games system that you’ve never seen, or even heard of, before. Every so often a console is born that, despite being actually not too bad, disappears into memory. It may have been too pricey, not had enough support, or just really badly marketed, but is worth your time to explore. Here’s a few of those forgotten gems….
Neogeo Pocket, 1999
You may actually have heard of this one, even you like your arcade games. A nifty little handheld, riding on the back of its arcade cousin’s shoulders, it was a colour handheld to rival Nintendo’s Gameboy Colour, and had a surprisingly decent selection of games. It was small, easy on batteries, and boasted a stick controller instead of a D-Pad. The games were pretty good, but with slow sales and just not enough 3rd party support it died shortly afterwards. This is a pity, as it could have been a contender for Nintendo’s handheld crown…
GAMES – Puzzle Bobble, Sonic The Hedgehog, Namco Golf, King Of Fighters
Wonderswan
Bandi’s WonderSwan was available in ten case colors, playable both vertically and horizontally (looking damn odd doing it), and featured a fairly large library of games. It’s ultimate failng though was though 90% of these were in Japanese and were never translated into English, making its success in Europe and the US impossible. It has to be said though, even IF more of its games were translated, it was never marketed to a European audience, so had little chance of making it anyway.
GAMES – Final Fantasy II, Golden Axe, Rainbow Islands
Nintendo Virtual Boy
Seen more as a ‘gimmick’ than a serious console, looking like an old VR helmet, this never got released in Europe and had an astonishing two-colour display – red and black. The effect though was that it all looked 3D, and it worked. It worked very well. It’s size though made it hard to use and it needed 6 AA batteries to power, controlled by a larger control pad then the SNES. Decent games, but no European release, meant it never caught on.
GAMES – Warioland, Mario Tennis, Tetris
Neogeo Pocket, 1999
You may actually have heard of this one, even you like your arcade games. A nifty little handheld, riding on the back of its arcade cousin’s shoulders, it was a colour handheld to rival Nintendo’s Gameboy Colour, and had a surprisingly decent selection of games. It was small, easy on batteries, and boasted a stick controller instead of a D-Pad. The games were pretty good, but with slow sales and just not enough 3rd party support it died shortly afterwards. This is a pity, as it could have been a contender for Nintendo’s handheld crown…
GAMES – Puzzle Bobble, Sonic The Hedgehog, Namco Golf, King Of Fighters
Wonderswan
Bandi’s WonderSwan was available in ten case colors, playable both vertically and horizontally (looking damn odd doing it), and featured a fairly large library of games. It’s ultimate failng though was though 90% of these were in Japanese and were never translated into English, making its success in Europe and the US impossible. It has to be said though, even IF more of its games were translated, it was never marketed to a European audience, so had little chance of making it anyway.
GAMES – Final Fantasy II, Golden Axe, Rainbow Islands
Nintendo Virtual Boy
Seen more as a ‘gimmick’ than a serious console, looking like an old VR helmet, this never got released in Europe and had an astonishing two-colour display – red and black. The effect though was that it all looked 3D, and it worked. It worked very well. It’s size though made it hard to use and it needed 6 AA batteries to power, controlled by a larger control pad then the SNES. Decent games, but no European release, meant it never caught on.
GAMES – Warioland, Mario Tennis, Tetris
Tiger Woods PGA Golf '07 (The Skinny, Nov 26 2006)
It’s a beautiful game, golf. Hitting a small white ball with a large metal stick for some reason just works. So it’s with great anticipation we come to Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07, because last year’s version was stupidly addictive. Thankfully, so’s this update, with more courses (21 to be exact), 50 golfers and far too many new features to name, though you’ll know they’re new because they say ‘New’ beside them on the menus. EA have managed to make the courses look even better than before. Sun shining, deer walking about in the forests next to the green, waterfalls; you’ll feel like your actually there, and you’ll probably wish you had a club in your hands to smack off the ground when you go into the trees. It’s all really rather pretty.
More commentary this time around, from David Feherty and Gary McCord, and it actually proves quite handy to listen to the tips they come out with, or the random observations when you go into the bunker.
Quibbles then. Well, the Create-A-Player mode takes ages to go through, and feels a bit overdone, and you may or may not get around to actually trying out all the new modes – we just stick on Tournament or Multi-player and have at it.
It’s Multi-player where Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07 really comes into its own. Get a few mates, a six pack and it’s amazing how much fun you’ll actually have, even if you’re not really a golf fan.
We like Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07. Once you scratch the surface (i.e. get through all the menus) there is a fiendishly addictive game underneath, which will have you thinking “Just one more hole…”. Trust us. You’ll be glad you did.
3 Skinnys
More commentary this time around, from David Feherty and Gary McCord, and it actually proves quite handy to listen to the tips they come out with, or the random observations when you go into the bunker.
Quibbles then. Well, the Create-A-Player mode takes ages to go through, and feels a bit overdone, and you may or may not get around to actually trying out all the new modes – we just stick on Tournament or Multi-player and have at it.
It’s Multi-player where Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07 really comes into its own. Get a few mates, a six pack and it’s amazing how much fun you’ll actually have, even if you’re not really a golf fan.
We like Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’07. Once you scratch the surface (i.e. get through all the menus) there is a fiendishly addictive game underneath, which will have you thinking “Just one more hole…”. Trust us. You’ll be glad you did.
3 Skinnys
Dead Rising review (The Skinny, Oct 1 2006)
When there’s no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth…Unfortunately for Frank West, our fearless freelance reporter turned hero, he’s managed to land himself in the middle of the mall Satan chose for his landing party, and with zombies ago-go, Frank (aka you) must survive to break the story to the world, taking pictures of the carnage as you go.
Dead Reckoning is deceptively simple – find zombies, then dispose using whatever is at hand (an easy favourite is the lawnmower) - while providing a depth not normally associated with games of this ilk.
With plenty of references to your favourite horror flicks and more fun than a barrel full of monkeys (brains) Dead Reckoning will keep you coming back again and again, even if it is just to splatter a few undead body parts around the place with a hockey stick…
4 Skinnys
Dead Reckoning is deceptively simple – find zombies, then dispose using whatever is at hand (an easy favourite is the lawnmower) - while providing a depth not normally associated with games of this ilk.
With plenty of references to your favourite horror flicks and more fun than a barrel full of monkeys (brains) Dead Reckoning will keep you coming back again and again, even if it is just to splatter a few undead body parts around the place with a hockey stick…
4 Skinnys
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