Staff Choices: Solving a crime with a ducktective and cracking Jack White’s No Name

This week’s tips also come from very different ends of the entertainment spectrum, with Features Editor Jen Lennon launching a fun mystery game and Film Editor Jacob Oller praising Jack White’s new album.

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Duck Detective: Secret Salami

It’s raining outside the BearBus office as private investigator Eugene McQuaklin inspects the building. There is a flyer advertising a new bus route to the Salsiccia mountains. McQuacklin once dreamed of taking his wife there, but that flight is gone, lost somewhere in addiction and rent notices and divorce papers. Now, he needs to solve the case that awaits him on the other side of those two broken doors. It is not a misplaced desire for redemption; he just doesn’t have enough money to go home. Unless he wants to walk across town when this is over, he has to earn enough money to take the bus back to his apartment office so he can have fun again. It would have been a pretty mouth—yes, a mouthful—if McQuacklin wasn’t a duck addicted to white bread. As it stands, Happy Broccoli Games’ Duck Detective: Secret Salami is a loving homage to noir tropes that strike a balance between comedy and mystery, a comedy that takes the genre seriously.

Released back in May, Duck Detective is the latest addition to the small but growing genre of bird-themed detective games (some examples include the excellent. Aviary Attorney and Chicken Policewith a sequel coming out later this year). You play as McQuacklin, a clueless duck called to investigate a lunch theft case. The message was picked up by someone who left a sarcastic message with the signature “The Salami Bandit.” After you’ve gotten to know everyone in the office, your first task is to know who your customer is. The first call was rushed and lacked detail, but you were desperate. “I’m looking for a job. Will do anything,” he wrote Blueskyand now you find yourself wading through ponds and office politics in equal measure.

In fact, there is more to it than meets the eye. The game is short, about 2-3 hours per game, but has many levels as you unravel the central mystery. To find out who the salami criminal is, you have to investigate the office, talk to the suspects, and fill deductions (not typos) in your notebook (think). The case of The Golden Idolbut not surprising, in a way, even though this world is full of anthropomorphic animals). The gameplay and solving the puzzles is not very difficult, but that’s not the point: it’s fun to play this game. Even if you’re not into video games but like mysteries, you might want to give this one a go — it’s available for PC, Mac, and Linux, including Nintendo Switch and Xbox, and the controls are almost as simple as you. . they will be found in the game outside of the vision book. It’s also fully functional, which we always have to offer. Duck Detective: Secret Salami It might sound strange, but it’s clear that the Happy Broccoli team takes their ducktective work seriously. [Jen Lennon]

Ancestry of Jack White No Name

It’s not like Jack White has been off the rock ‘n’ roll radar since he started The White Stripes to get into the mainstream and White Blood Cells (and bringing back the classics to the garage), but he’s taken on a street art style that looks really interesting after being so successful. White made music with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather before embarking on his solo career, delving deep into his bluesy roots. Blunderbuss and surrendering the beauty of the rock to Lazaretto. But after ten years since the latter, it appears, no album has been banned (and with a few forgettable attempts in between), White has one. he removed his voice to grungy, crunchy basics with No Namewhich I don’t believe is as good as it is.

When I finished reading the last week of 2004, I have a good feeling in mind. So, while I’m not looking forward to rushing back to the early ’00s, No Name it’s a nasty, hooky, guitar rock piece that will make you remember how powerful The White Stripes were at their peak. A few chords, an earworm bass line, a steady drum beat – that’s all they needed to go from DIY Detroit shows to every commercial ever made and every match ever played between the two sports teams. No Name he returns to that deceptively soft sound, as White’s guitar strums with alluring metal immediately as his angry, reedy screams rise above it. White also initially released the album, secretly, as a free vinyl included with any purchase at his record stores in Detroit, London and Nashville. A charming mix of old head from an old rockstar.

And when those lucky customers go home and fire it up, “Old Scratch Blues” fire up their players. A powerful lick morphs into a chugging rock engine, which doesn’t allow for five straight hits. “Bless Yourself” sounds like White channeling Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de la Rocha—if Zack de la Rocha looked like Wormtongue knew about heroin—exploding through metallic funk. “Archbishop Harold Holmes” almost makes him do one of E-40’s fictional songs. But “That’s How I Feel” is truly the best song from the album, simply because it has a memorable chorus that splits the difference between pure rock and something Apple might consider selling phones. . It’s not that the song is poppy, but it’s reminiscent of the post-Y2K moment when The White Stripes championed that genre of rock. be poppy.

Throughout, White tackles relatable themes: brokenness, despair, being unloved, being able to play guitar like lightning. While there’s a nice bit of religious discussion, more than anything else, the talks of devils and gods and priests speak to the big, loving, loud-as-hell music that White likes to make. Garage rock is back in this kickass solo show, and it’s based on the Bible. [Jacob Oller]