Who would have thought that 46 years after the first Planet of The Apes film that another would come along and be the best of the bunch. Out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and it is first and foremost a sequel to 2011’s awesome Rise of the Planet of the Apes though, so don’t worry if you haven’t seen the originals.
The story starts 10 years after the fall of humanity that the events of the previous film caused. Caesar is living in the forest outside of San Francisco where he’s not only set up a colony of apes, but has also raised a family. Conflict arises though when Caesar's son Blue Eyes and his friend Ash come across a human and Ash is wounded. The leader of this group of humans, Malcolm (played by Jason Clarke), tells Caesar that the humans need power, and that they need it from the dam that’s inside the Apes territory. Caesar lets them work but other apes, and other humans, have different plans. Saying much else would ruin it but it becomes more complicated than simply Apes vs Humans as both sides have individual factions within them. Inside the humans camp, along with the more peaceful Malcolm, is Dreyfus, who is played by Gary Oldman. Dreyfus is arguably the ‘bad’ human as he leads the war against the apes, but he is never presented as being truly bad. And while we still side with Malcolm we do understand why Dreyfus does what he does. The apes side is similarly split. Caesar wants peace and doesn’t want to fight the humans, especially for the sake of his family, while Koba (the scarred ape in the previous film) wants to take over and wipe the humans out.
As is to be expected after the previous film, the special effects in Dawn of the Planet of The Apes are outstanding. These films wouldn’t have been as brilliant as they are even if they were made only 10 years earlier, as the technology really is that important. Andy Serkis’ motion captured performance as the weary Caesar is a particular highlight in the film, as is the work of the other motion captured actors. Pretty soon you’ll forget you’re watching animated monkeys and start thinking they’re real. That’s not too say there’s too many effects shots though; while the apes are CGI a lot of the stunts and action were performed practically. The battle scene where the apes attack the humans on horses is a real standout, with an especially awesome sequence involving a tank. The film isn’t all action though with lots of moments of real heart and gut wrenching emotion that you wouldn’t initially expect of a film centered of talking monkeys. The direction is also incredibly good, with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves doing an even better job than Rise helmer Rupert Wyatt did. The film is directed with all of the class and importance that most Oscar winners fail to achieve, and it really helps the film achieve its grand and epic tone.
You don’t have to be a fan of the original Planet of the Apes film to enjoy this one, though it would be advisable to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes first. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not just one of the best blockbusters of the year, it’s also one of the best films. I hesitate to even call it a blockbuster; it is one, it has all of the action that you’d expect but it’s also soooo much more. The film is heartfelt, beautiful, and full of brilliant performances – both animated and real. It’s an easy recommendation for fans of the series or just people looking for a good film, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is one of the best of the year.
A few years ago I got a chance to meet two developers from Media Molecule, the guys who made LittleBigPlanet. I loved the game when it first came out, so meeting them was a real treat. I was there to interview them, and though it was well before the release of LittleBigPlanet 2, I got the strong feeling that they wanted to move onto something new, and basically something that wasn't LittleBigPlanet. They loved their creation and their fans, but you could tell that they were itching to make something new. With that level of creativity and skill in their offices, do you blame them? They did move on from LittleBigPlanet, and that eventually came in the form of Tearaway for the PS Vita. Tearaway was great, but now the latest entry in the LittleBigPlanet series is here. However, with a different developer taking charge, does it live up to the first two? No, but that's OK.
Developed by Sumo Digital and out now on Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 comes LittleBigPlanet 3, the third main entry into the franchise, and one that, aside from a few problems, is great fun. While Media Molecule have not developed this latest instalment, Sumo Digital are no strangers to the franchise, namely helping out with some DLC for LittleBigPlanet 2. While the open-ended possibilities of the games sandbox is the focal point as per usual, LittleBigPlanet 3 changes up the mix by adding a more in-depth story, voice acting and cut-scenes to the mix. The story is pretty simple, and revolves around Sackboy teaming up with three heroes to stop evil genius Newton, and the three Titans that have been unleashed upon the world Bunkum. It's not exposition heavy though, and the story throughout is fun, light-hearted and has that very typical LittleBigPlanet charm to it. A lot of that charm is thanks to both the return of Stephen Fry as narrator to the game, and the addition of Hugh Laurie to the cast. His role of Newton is memorable, funny and something I only hope becomes as staple of the series.
LittleBigPlanet 3 makes many new additions to the typical LittleBigPlanet formula. Some work, some don't. The most noticeable are new characters Swoop, Oddsock and Toggle, as each one is not only visually vastly different from one another, but they also have their very own unique abilities. Swoop can fly around levels with ease and pick up small objects. Oddsock runs around on all fours and can also wall jump. Toggle is the heavy of the team, and can weight down areas such as pressure plates. Toggle can also turn into a small version of himself, which can be used when you either want to run across water or not activate a pressure plate. And of course there's Sackboy himself! Together they make quite varied team, but I was incredibly disappointed that I couldn't freely play as all four characters throughout the game. You see, from the trio of new characters available, they can only be played in levels within their hub world. Essentially this means that, say, you can only play as Oddsock when playing levels in the Manglewood hub world. I assumed I could switch between all of these characters throughout the game, but that just isn't the case. A real shame, as using all four characters at specific areas in one level would have been pretty interesting.
Gameplay itself largely remains the same as what we've seen in previous LittleBigPlanet games. To unlock Oddsock, Swoop and Toggle you'll need to collect glowing marbles in their respective hub world. Of course, navigating levels to find these marbles is tricky, fun and incredible inventive. From solving puzzles, using your environment in interesting and fun ways, utilising both Sackboy and the unique abilities of Oddsock, Swoop and Toggle, and generally dicking around in levels that looks like they're made of paper, twine and cushions is just so damn enjoyable and comfy.
Then you have the level creation tools, something that LittleBigPlanet 3 masters so perfectly. Though it may not get a mention in many places, whereas previous LittleBigPlanet games have offered the player 3 layers of depth when creating levels, Sumo Digital have bumped that up to 16. It may sound pretty trivial at first, but now levels can have a wonderful sense of depth and detail to them, and creations, if done well enough, can end up looking completely unlike LittleBigPlanet itself. From first-person shooters, racing games, theme parks and platformer games, the sky is the limit with these creations tools in your hands. Seriously.
Yet despite all of this, LittleBigPlanet 3 doesn't feel as perfect as the second game. Perhaps it may be the lack of Media Molecule's input, the misuse of the three new characters or the fact that the concept itself may be wearing thin on me, but regardless, it's still a fantastic game in its own right and one that every Playstation owner should have in their collection.
LittleBigPlanet 3 is another strong entry in the series and gets a 4/5.
Out now on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC is Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The first thing I noticed about Advanced Warfare on PS3 is that I should have been playing it on a PS4. The cut-scenes are utilising the Avatar motion capture for Kevin Spacey’s face (or Kevin Facey if you would prefer), and on PS3 you're left winding up your Playstation 3 graphics chip with a winch just so see what is only a slightly more sophisticated version of the paddle in Pong with Kevin Spacey written on it. I suddenly started to regret giving my PS4 to Matt last Christmas. Every cut-scene from here on in feels like every PS4 owner individually rubbing their high frame rate testicles in your eye sockets.
The actual first thing that will come to your attention here is that the game is now based, initially at least, in the not too distant future. This depends of course on your opinion of ‘too distant’. Without breaking any rules that we understand to be true in science, the game feels like a Robert Heinlein novel but with a lot less incestuous yet sexy time travelling weird paradox stuff. He invented the word Space-Marine. Did you know that?
The game feels like Modern Warfare but just a small bit into the future, just men with guns and bombs but also strapped with exoskeletons that allow them to perform faster and more efficiently. This exoskeleton also allows my character to slowly glide down from high areas, or to double jump over buses and the like. Featuring swarms of drones to make it feel futuristic but also things going wrong and sushi shops to make it feel real and authentic. After some events that caused my character to be hired by a ‘super-power for higher’ named Atlas, Kevin Spacey starts to make it all seem very futuristic. Grenades that show where enemies are standing, grenades that follow people as they try to run away, the ability to slow down time and whole training areas like the holodeck from Star Trek.
There were levels that made me think of the game Fear, and some that made me think of Halo even some that made me think of stabbing myself in the eyes out of frustration because I'm really shit at Call of Duty. This didn't help when I went online within minutes of the game being released, to find out that all of America and England have become teenagers and highly skilled tacticians. I played a bit of co-op which was like a more involved Tower Defence game, as I just waited for streams of enemies to pop out of nowhere and annihilate me and make love to my lifeless corpse. Metaphorically. It’s a bit like the Zombies levels from previous games though the multiplayer maps are much more generous with space and design I think. Apparently you can unlock interesting things if you survive enough, but my friend is as bad at Call of Duty games as I am, if not amusingly worse.
The campaign mode is really fun though, making me feel like I was James Bond one minute, and then investigating a school in Silent Hill the next. There were minute moments of stealth, not like Metal Gear Solid, but the level of tension you get when two people go for the last biscuit on a plate at the same time in a posh event somewhere. A posh event that has biscuits on a plate.
Sledgehammer Games have taken the reigns on this one as Infinity Ward decided they had made enough Black Ops/ Modern Warfare games I assume, and it feels the same but different. Like when you accidentally sleep with your ex girlfriend one drunken night. Or when you get her to dress up as Liam Neeson so you can pretend you are the wife from Taken. Which we’ve all done. The cut-scenes are superb and the game really deserves to be played on a PS4 or an XBOX One (but a PS4 really, obviously). There are a few bugs in the PS3 version I played, such as NPC team mates suddenly doing a somersault and swan diving through the floor when I accidentally shot them which was awesome, but unintentional. The team AI is really good as they don’t just shoot mercilessly near all the enemies while you have to take them all out yourself, which makes it feel more like a team instead of like the A Team. I imagine these PS3/360 versions are polite releases and money based decisions because they play very well but every cut-scene just makes you feel like such a dick when you go back to playing the game. Like if you were getting your girlfriend to dress up as Liam Neeson and then realised you don’t have a girlfriend and you’ve just closed yourself in a DVD box and have to go to the hospital.
I’m gonna give it a 4/5 as PS3 games go, but I think it’s about time I move away from last gen machines.
One of my favourite games of all time is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware's 2003 Star Wars title that focused on the era 4000 years before the original film trilogy. It was superb and gave the player a fantastic, in-depth RPG set in the Star Wars universe. From the Wookie home-world of Kashyyyk to the desert planet of Tatooine, the game was and still is the perfect Star Wars game. Battlefront II is still awesome, Dark Forces is still fantastic and Jedi Academy still is incredibly fun, but Knights of the Old Republic still reigns supreme over all of them. However, Bioware then moved onto their own original creations, accumulating in the release of Mass Effect. I also loved Mass Effect, but with the release of Mass Effect 3 something changed. There was a very noticeable change in the quality Bioware was churning out. After three pieces of crap in the form of Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2 and The Old Republic, this latest release has a lot riding on it. That said, I'm happy to say that not only have Bioware returned to form, but Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the best games of 2014.
Developed by Bioware and out now on Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC comes Dragon Age: Inquisition, a must-have for any RPG fan out there. The plot in Inquisition isn't a standalone story, so to get the most out of it you'll really need to have a pretty decent knowledge of what went down in both Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. You play Inquisition as a new, user created protagonist, one in which you'll get to choose between four races and three classes. The plot takes place in the land of Thedas, roughly one year after the events of Dragon Age 2. A massive explosion has tore multiple rifts in the Fade, the metaphysical realm of the Dragon Age series, and demons are now pouring through into the real world. You are tasked with assembling a team and closing these rifts at any cost. The stakes are incredibly high in Inquisition, and this momentum of dread never loses its steam over 100+ you may sink into the game.
First off, Inquisition is an open-world game... but not completely open-world. What I mean by that is this land of Thedas isn't one single open landmass to explore, but rather, it's as Bioware puts it, “multi-region”, essentially meaning that it's comprised of a few large, open areas. That may sound disappointing on paper, but damn, Bioware have seriously created an incredible world in Inquisition. Areas cover a large array of different types. From dimly lit caves, bleak deserts, vibrant forests, fortified castles and, of course, the otherworldly Fade, this isn't a copy and paste job like Dragon Age 2. This world is visually unique, beautiful, masterfully constructed and a complete joy to explore.
Combat comes across like the perfect blend between Dragon Age: Origins' slow paced tactical approach and Dragon Age 2's action based take on combat. So while you can simply take your team headlong into a battle and start hacking away at foes, you can also stand back, freeze gameplay, work out your next move and generally make use of the excellent “tactical camera” mode. So whether your want to dictate to your team mid-battle what moves they should unleash, where they should go and who they should protect, or line up their move set before battle and just wing it, Inquisition has you covered no matter what your play-style is. Regardless of which style you lean towards, enemies are smart, often quick on their feet and always present a decent challenge, especially the likes of the high Dragons.
Outside of the main quest there is plenty to see and do. From simple fetch quests to finding shards of an ancient puzzle, the Astrarium, scattered across the land of Thedas, there's enough content to keep you busy. Then there's the moments in which you'll discover your own adventures. While playing Inquisition I couldn't walk for more than five minutes without seeing something I wanted to explore further. Whether it was on my way to finishing a fetch quest or nearing the end of the main quest itself, the world is just so detailed and packed full of content that I found myself going off the beaten track at every turn.
Boasting an incredibly in-depth dialogue system and a varied and impressive list of weapons and spells to use, upgrade and master, Inquisition is not only the best Dragon Age game to date, but one of the best games of 2014. It's sprawling in scope, written immensely well compared to the cock-up that was Dragon Age 2 and genuinely a must-have for all RPG fans out there. Bioware is back.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is a return to form for Bioware and gets 5/5.
I've mentioned before that when growing up I wasn't really into comics. I'd enjoy the odd Spider-Man and X-Men comic here and there, but never really saw it as a hobby. Still though, even without reading comics regularly, I at least knew about the big dogs in the comic-book world. From Green Lantern to Aquaman I had a general sense of who everyone was. However, one group of heroes I never heard of up until around two years ago were the Guardians of the Galaxy. First appearing in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 in 1969, they never really reached the status of being a household name, like Superman, Batman or Wolverine. This latest Marvel film offering bases itself on the second iteration of the team that was formed in 2008. But unlike most other reviews, the question shouldn't be “is it any good?”. Instead the question should be, “Which is the best Marvel film to date, Captain America: The Winter Soldier or this?”.
Directed by James Gunn and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Guardians of the Galaxy, one of, if not the best, Marvel films to date. Instead of focusing on a lone rich/troubled man/woman who finds/is given a powerful gift like every other superhero film out there, Guardians of the Galaxy is essentially about a ragtag bunch of misfits that find a hero inside themselves. Though the group as a whole is the focal point of the film, our main hero is Peter Quill, a human who was taken by aliens when he was a young boy. Growing up in space isn't all Apollo 13 here though, as Quill is more Han Solo than Jim Lovell. The rest of the group comprises of Drax, a massive badass warrior, Gamora, personal assassin of Thanos (the big bad of Marvel's Phase Two film series), Rocket, a genetically altered raccoon that can speak, fight and dish out jokes and finally Groot, a large tree-like creature that can only say one sentence- “I am Groot”. This film basically brings our heroes together as they make a stand against Ronan the Accuser, a Kree fanatic that plans to obliterate the world of Xander. Compared to all the other Marvel films, on paper Guardians of the Galaxy sounds confusing, but it's all done so well that by the end you'll not only know who everyone is in this new unusual series, but you'll be dying to see more.
There are so many things I loved about Guardians of the Galaxy. From the cast, visuals, music and humour, it's just insanely fun from start to finish. The first thing that strikes you is that it looks completely different than every other Marvel film so far. There's no cameo by Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk or Hawkeye. There's no references as to what went down in The Avengers. Apart from hinting at the upcoming “Infinity War” storyline in The Avengers 3, Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty much a self contained story. This instantly makes it very interesting, as away from the Earth setting of The Avengers, there are copious amounts of weird aliens, space ships that look like they're from Star Wars, a wise cracking talking raccoon with the voice of Bradley Cooper, and an overall sense of a well constructed new, interesting universe. From the many real sets used to the CGI laden space battles, Guardians of the Galaxy just oozes slick style.
That said though, the true centrepiece of Guardians of the Galaxy are the cast and script. The guardians themselves are comprised of Chris Pratt, Zoe Salanda, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and Dave Batista, and they all fit together so well. Almost every single character within the group plays extremely well off each other, and that's also thanks to the hilarious, cheesy and often sweet and moving script set in place here. From the opening scenes in which a young Quill watches his mothers final moments as she succumbs to cancer, the fantastic scene in which the group break out of a space-station jail and the many funny scenes when characters rub each other the wrong way, Guardians of the Galaxy juggles a lot of different moods and emotions. However, whereas most summer blockbusters might fail in doing that, Guardians of the Galaxy succeeds in leaps and bounds.
Overall Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty much shoulder to shoulder with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, personally. It has action, heart, humour, excellent dialogue and a fantastic feeling of friendship and comradeship between its main cast. Buy it.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a must-see marvel and gets 5/5.
If you were wondering what that noise was last Friday night, it was probably the collective sigh of ‘Why am I surprised’ mixed in with a general feeling of ennui and disappointment. At the source of this wave of ‘meh’ was a new film starring Melissa McCarthy called Tammy, out now on Blu-Ray and DVD. It's a film about her driving across America with some ‘hilarious’ other characters. There aren’t very many movies featuring Melissa McCarthy of late wherein the phrase “…but eventually the mismatched pair begin to…” fails to appear in the description. Identity thief, The Heat and Tammy are all variations on an already tired out theme. Like the last three films she was in, thank god for digital film-making at least there was no actual film wasted in the creative process.
Tammy (McCarthy) starts off her film of hijinks by going to work only to suddenly find herself sacked. Ha ha ha, ho ho ho. She then finds herself driving home when her car breaks down making it even harder for her to get home. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. But if you find that funny, hold on to your laughter-release hats. When she eventually gets home she catches her husband having a romantic meal with another woman. Oh ho ho. Ha ha ha. Then…wait I can’t breathe…then she goes to her mums house which is..ha ha ha…two doors away… ha ha ha. I don’t understand why any of this is supposed to be funny. By 2014 there are newborn children watching this thinking that it’s derivative, because we've seen it hundreds of thousands of times, in films, TV shows and insurance adverts.
Then she illustrates her immaturity by being mean to her grandparents, driving recklessly and just behaving like a terrible person. This is all so that we can understand when she becomes a better person later on. With films like this it has become a sketch show. A collection of scenes that are interchangeable between films decorated with bad dialogue and a smugness that wrenches liquid hatred from my stomach.
So from here we have:
The fun scene.
The let down scene.
The every things OK again scene.
The ‘funny’ scene that’s in the trailer.
The sad scene. (Also known as the Hollywood drop-off where all of the consequences of the previous scenes happen at once followed by everything being OK because of some stupid gesture.)
And the ‘eventually the mismatched pair begin to get on real well scene’. This is usually were learning, personal growth and ‘the moral of the story’ comes in.
Tammy just was a whirlwind of mediocrity patronising everyone by constantly reminding us that bigger women can be attractive too. The unattractive thing about her in the film is not that she is a bigger size than American culture would have us believe is conventionally attractive, but more that she is acting like a total dick most of the time. Abandoning relatives, sponging off her family, being lazy and horrible to people is why her husband left her. It makes it hard to feel sorry for her at the bad bits and hard to feel she deserved all the good stuff at the end. If nothing else referring to ‘Duane Allman’ as the lesser Allman brother earned her no respect.
I struggle to write anything about it because it’s terrible. Enjoy.
Tammy is an awful person in an awful movie and gets a 2/5.
Between bouts of playing games to review them, I always still take the time to play other games. Recently I finished Lego The Lord of the Rings, the Lego adaptation of The Lord of the Rings film series. It pretty much perfectly follows the events of the films outside of all the dark content, and even reuses the dialogue from the film during its cut-scenes. From controlling Frodo and Sam in The Shire, the fellowship with the Balrog hot on their trail to the final moments at Mount Doom, it was a great game. But outside of all the voices, music and visuals that were taken from The Lord of the Rings, it struck me that at its heart the gameplay was nearly identical to Lego Star Wars. So when this latest Lego game was up for review, I started playing it well aware of how similar it might be to the past Lego titles. However, does this latest offering dish out anything new? Not really, but if you've stuck with Lego games up until now, that probably won't come as a surprise to you.
Developed by Traveller's Tales and out now for pretty much every platform made within the past decade comes Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, a game that is pretty much the typical Lego game but with the Justice League in it. Lego Batman 3 takes the story focus out of Gotham City and into space. After luring various Lanterns into the same place, villain Braniac outnumbers them and takes their Lantern Rings, the immense source of power for the Lanterns. Planning to collectively use these rings for usual villian-like evil deeds, Batman and Robin use their aptly named Bat-Rocket to venture into space in order to stop him. However, it'll take more than Batman and the Boy Wonder to stop Braniac, but thankfully the Justice League are at hand to help save the day. The story is fun, simple and exactly what you'd expect from a Lego game.
Though my experience with Lego games goes no further than Lego The Lord of the Rings and Lego Star Wars, I can safely say that Lego Batman 3 plays exactly like every other Lego game you've played so far. Essentially Lego games are built upon the two most important elements of playing Lego in real life- building and breaking. The games are no different. You'll venture through various levels on Earth, out in space and on other worlds, solving puzzles, beating up bad guys, all the while smashing Lego pieces into oblivion, while sometimes also rebuilding them into new structures. Whether you're wrecking a wall that you'll rebuilding into a staircase or an enemy structure that you'll reform into a ladder, the game puts a focus on the fact that you're living in a Lego world. It's all very simple stuff, but that doesn't mean it's not fun. Though combat is based purely on button bashing, running around and wrecking Lego enemies and structures is pretty fun stuff, and that's mainly due to the massive array of characters and abilities at your disposal.
Though Batman may be the titular character, Lego Batman 3 allows you to use over 150 characters, which includes both heroes and villains. From Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to the Joker, Bane and Mr. Freeze, the cast here is quite massive, and even includes some cameos from the likes of Adam West, Conan O'Brien and Kevin Smith. Of course, each character has their very own unique abilities too, which includes the Green Lanterns ability to create and levitate objects, Superman's heat vision and Martian Manhunter's alternate powerful creature form. This is what ultimately kept me coming back for more, the huge array of characters that are often incredibly different from each other. It keeps things feeling pretty fresh, even after you've completed the main quest.
Visually Lego Batman 3 is lovely. It's space setting has given Traveller's Tales a chance to tinker around with quite an interesting and bombastic colour palette, and this shines through in every mission. This also extends to the missions and situations you'll find yourself in, as in terms of scale they're more in line with The Lego Movie than any Lego game we've seen so far. At the end of the day Lego Batman 3 is indeed more of the same, but there's such a wonderful charm to the story, setting and characters that you'll find yourself completely hooked. If you're the kind of gamer who wants to explore every nook and cranny, get every achievement and find every hidden item, you'll have your work cut out for you here.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham doesn't go beyond expectations, but it's still a great. 4/5
Man, back in 2003 I loved Call of Duty, the first entry in the now long drawn out franchise. Compared to later instalments in the series, the original Call of Duty was set during World War 2, and though it didn't have the modern day weapons that later made it into the series, it was and still is my favourite. Another peak for the series was with the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the modern day take on Call of Duty that spawned its own series. Now comes the first entry of what will no doubt be a fifth series within the Call of Duty franchise. As one of the biggest releases of the year, the question is, is it any good? Sadly, as much as Advanced Warfare desperately tries to shake up the gameplay, it just isn't good enough.
Developed by Sledgehammer Games out now on Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC comes Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a game that does change up the series to some extent, but ends up coming across like as if Modern Warfare 3 and Titanfall had a baby. The story to Advanced Warfare is pretty typical, but thankfully due to the fact that it's set in the 2050's, the story often becomes more Dues Ex and less Call of Duty at times. You take on the role of Jack Mitchell, a US Marine who is discharged from duty after losing his arm in battle. However, Mitchell is given a new lease on life in the form of the Atlas Corporation; a huge private military contractor that hires Mitchell and outfits him with an advanced prosthetic arm. The game then focuses on a terrorist threat from a technophobic group known as the KVA. There's plot twists you'll see coming from a mile away, grunts hurling around bad language, greedy rich elites that want to bring the world to its knees and, of course, terrorists. It's Call of Duty storytelling 101, but I guess story in this franchise series was never its strongest point.
What instantly jumps out at you when playing is that in Advanced Warfare, your character can move much more fluidly than ever before in the series. This is thanks to the “Exo-Suit”; an exoskeleton that Mitchell wears which allows him to quickly dash in any given direction, jump twice as high than usual and even come crashing down on the heads on unsuspecting foes, almost like a twisted futuristic version of Mario. However, this new ability to quickly move around isn't just there to make you look cool, but rather it adds a whole new dimension to the game. From dodging bullets to making your way through a map at a neck breaking speed, this game mechanic is the best thing to happen to Call of Duty in years, and fundamentally changes up the gameplay. This isn't the Call of Duty game where you'll take cover, jump out, shoot and repeat that process 100 times over, instead you'll be dashing around, jumping onto rooftops and generally interacting more with your environment. You can also add certain unique properties to your Exo-Suit, some of which enable your character to turn invisible, run faster, run/walk with no footstep noises and even hover in place. Though they don't last long, these abilities shake up gameplay quite nicely.
There's also the nice little addition of upgrading your character during the campaign mode too. Essentially, the better you play the more reward points you get, and these points can be spent on upgrading your character and weapons. Fancy having more health? Make sure you only go for head-shots during the next mission. Want to peer down your iron sights quicker? Take out a bunch of enemies solely using grenades. It adds a freshness to the series that I haven't felt since Modern Warfare, as this, alongside how agile and mobile your character is, partially succeeds in turning it from generic shooter to something new and interesting.
However, that's where the innovation arguably stops, as everything else in the game is pretty standard in the series. Multiplayer is pretty much the exact same as the last two Call of Duty instalments, apart from some new bells and whistles. Granted it's a lot more fun now if even for the addition of the Exo-Suit, but it still feels almost identical to Black Ops 2, Modern Warfare 3, Ghosts, etc. But in terms of gunplay, modes and gameplay that doesn't make use of the Exo-Suit, it's pretty much what you're expecting. From taking part in modes such as Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Domination, Capture the Flag and Free-for-all, and unleashing a plethora of weaponry that are essentially futuristic versions of what we've seen in past games, a lot of Advanced Warfare seems like business as usual. Now, depending on how you view the series, that may either be a great or terrible thing.
If you're a Call of Duty multiplayer fan, you'll absolutely adore it. It has more of the same with a little bit extra that adds a whole new perspective on gameplay. However, like me if you're primarily just looking to play the campaign, it'll only last you around 6 hours, and even then there isn't much re-playability to dive into. While I can appreciate that Sledgehammer Games are trying something new here, it still all comes across a little too familiar both in terms of gameplay and narrative.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare isn't so advanced and gets a 3/5.
Everyone knows children are shit at acting, painting, singing and all those other things. Not all children obviously, but your children definitely are, and yet you find yourself putting everything you’ve got into seeing the positive in their creations and you fool yourself into thinking you’ve enjoyed them no matter how relentlessly terrible you know their performances to be. This is exactly how I felt watching Kite, except I have no biological programming or emotional investment that makes me think this. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and India Eisley and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD is Kite, dystopian film based on the anime of the same name, which is two parts Hannah and one part Frankenstein. Which in case you didn’t get the reference, is highlighted by some terrible dialogue at some point.
The film is set in a future where the banks have crashed and the good guys are only considered to be good because they aren’t as bad as the bad guys. It begins with a bad man bringing a young beautiful girl to be sold on as a prostitute, and probably to harvest organs from and forced to work in a second-hand shop for minimum wage, which is a fate worse than being harvested. The young girl has bright pink hair and a gun in her purse with exploding bullets which causes the would-be harvester to give birth to his brains out of his face. The young girl is Sawa, a drugged up semi-super hero with a vengeance for the murderer of her her parents. Sawa is played by India Eisley, and is not played by Jamie King like I had thought, which probably would’ve led to this film being banned and my computer being seized by the police.
It comes to light quite quickly that Sawa is off her tits on some drug called Amp that causes her to be brave, strong and efficient in her fighting style while also, unfortunately, leaving her memory substantially missing. Which is exactly the same as what alcohol makes you think you are achieving while making you just increasingly less socially desirable and capable.
Samuel L Jackson is in this film and proves an interesting point. A great actor can seem like a shit actor with a terrible script. The music, which is awesome, is used very rarely and not well. The script is like a fine wine; probably cost a lot more to make than it’s ever going to be worth. Samuel L. Jackson is Sawa’s protector and father figure, ensuring she stays on Amp, kills the right people and doesn’t get caught.
Sawa does some violent sexy moves and kills many bad men. The sudden introduction of a guy called El Plot-Twisto gives the film a reason to end but ultimately the film felt bland, gray and under worked. It could have been great, as there were so many amazing elements to it. I looked at it like a child’s drawing that I was hanging up on the fridge, because as much as I tried to like it, I had to face up to the fact that, well, it just isn't that great.
The time has almost come for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies to be released in cinemas. This upcoming final entry in The Hobbit film series is being touted as the “defining chapter of the Middle-Earth saga”, which Peter Jackson kicked off with his blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy back in 2001. However, The Hobbit takes place long before the fellowship embarked on their journey to destroy the One Ring, and focuses on the tale of Bilbo Baggins, how he finds the One Ring and the company of dwarves he decides to help take back their homeland. Though the second film in the trilogy has already made it to Blu-Ray before, this new release adds more content to the film. However, for a trilogy that has been accused of having too much filler, is this new content needed?
Directed by Peter Jackson and out now on Blu-Ray comes The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition, which compared to the extended edition of An Unexpected Journey, adds little filler with most of the content focusing on the greater lore of the series. The story picks right where An Unexpected Journey left off. With the Lonely Mountain in sight and the Arkenstone almost within Thorin Oakenshield's grasp, all that stands in way of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey and the company of 13 dwarves are Elves, a dark enchanted forest, legions of Orcs and, well, a fire breathing dragon with the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch! Granted the story isn't as interesting, powerful or epic as The Lord of the Rings, but it really doesn't have to be. This second part of The Hobbit adventure isn't without it's faults, but it ultimately comes together as a success.
First up, the bad. The thing about The Hobbit trilogy is that everyone wants to compare it to The Lord of the Rings. Granted it's deeply, deeply connected to that trilogy, but The Hobbit should be judged by its own merits, instead of how it is compared to The Lord of the Rings. But hey, even if you don't compare it to one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time, The Hobbit series is flawed, and these flaws remain during this second instalment. The first glaring issue at times is the overuse of CGI. I love the fact that most sets and costumes are real, but despite CGI Orcs such as Azog and Bolg looking pretty impressive when alone on screen, they utterly fall to pieces when literally shoulder to shoulder with an Orc that's comprised of a real costume and prosthetics. This lack of blending the real with the unreal is a little hit and miss throughout the film, with some scenes looking perfectly fine, while others appearing as if they're cut-scenes from a Playstation game. Then there's the barrel scene. Look, I know that The Hobbit isn't meant to be as dark and heavy as The Lord of the Rings, but the scene in which Bilbo and the dwarves ride barrels down a river is pretty awful. What should have been a 3-minute sequence turns into them being hunted down by Orcs, the Orcs being attacked by Elves, the dwarf Bombur having a very Star Wars prequel moment and a CGI Legolas balancing on the dwarves' heads. It's all a little too much, and pretty much encapsulates the issues that The Hobbit trilogy has ingrained within it; at times Peter Jackson shows signs of no longer understanding the concept of “less is more”.
But all of those little problems aside, The Desolation of Smaug is a genuine success. While many are up in arms about how many liberties this film takes with its source material, judged solely on its own merits I welcome them. Granted some of those liberties do step over the line, but for the most part it's clear that Peter Jackson is in love with this universe. The stand out characters in this entry are once again Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen), who absolutely win over any scene they find themselves in. That said, The Desolation of Smaug does offer up new and interesting characters, particularly in the form of Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) who, much like Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, contends with living a life of being the descendant of a major Middle-Earth screw up. Then you have the titular character of Smaug, the dragon that guards the gold of Erebor. Played masterfully by Benedict Cumberbatch and realised impeccably by WETA Digital, his moments, much like Gollum's scenes in An Unexpected Journey, are the best aspect of the film. He's cunning, smart, quick and toys with Bilbo like a cat would play with a mouse before killing it. Wonderful stuff.
As I mentioned before, though I tended to hate that barrel scene, The Desolation of Smaug has plenty going for it in terms of narrative, lore and adventure. Since first seeing Radagast the Brown being confronted by the spirit of the Witch-King of Angmar, my favourite story thread in this trilogy has been of the White Council and the growing threat emanating from Dol Guldur. This directly ties into Sauron's plan in The Lord of the Rings, and this story is greatly expanded on in The Desolation of Smaug. It's dark, intense and completely outshines the other main plot-line regarding Erebor. That said, the journey Bilbo and the dwrves find themselves on is fantastic, particularly in terms of seeing both Bilbo and Thorin's evolution as characters. Bilbo very slowly begins to show signs of losing his innocence while Thorin, a dwarf whose singular goal is to become king of Erebor, begins to change in pursuit of this great, corruptible power. Acting somewhat similar as to how someone does when under the influence of the One Ring, Thorin is clearly being set up as the tragic character of this trilogy.
As expected both in terms of visuals and music, The Desolation of Smaug is a roaring success. From Beorn, the tall woodland shape-shifter that despises dwarves, the hallucinogenic effects of Mirkwood forest and the Elves that live within it, the chilling dark tomb of the men who will ultimately become the Ring Wraiths, the bustling city of Laketown and Smaug in all his magnificence, the film is a powerhouse of design, art and world building. Then there's the music. I don't really care for the Ed Sheeran track played over the credits this time, but Howard Shores score is, as always, utterly perfect. It's exciting, playful, adventurous and reminiscent to The Lord of the Rings at times.
But what about the extended scenes? That's what you're probably shouting at your screen right now, right? While the extend edition of An Unexpected Journey didn't add much to the experience of the first film, this expansion of The Desolation of Smaug adds a total of 25 minutes to the film. The scenes are great too, most of which feed into the ongoing trouble brewing witihn Dol Guldur. From a longer opening scene that alludes to Thorin's fathers disappearance, the shape-shifter Beorn sharing his thoughts about the Necromancer in Dol Guldur, to a very different and longer storyline in Dol Guldur itself, I genuinely preferred this extended edition over the theatrical cut, whereas for An Unexpected Journey I thought the opposite. This extended edition is no doubt playing into the story that will erupt in The Battle of the Five Armies, and I for one can't wait!
The extras are fantastic and clock up to over 9 hours of footage. They cover just about everything to do with production- characters, weapons, sets, CGI, filming, writing, you name it! The Blu-Ray includes:
-Audio commentary by Director Peter Jackson and co-writer Philippa Boyens.
-The Appendices Part 9
-The Appendices Part 10
-New Zealand: Home to Middle-Earth Part Two
-The music of The Hobbit
-Realms of the Third Age: From Beorn's House to Lake-town
Overall The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition is not a perfect film, but it's another step forward in what is undoubtedly an unforgettable journey. While it does have its hiccups in the form of the overuse of CGI, the Kili and Tauriel love scenes and that barrel escape, it also has wonderfully moving moments, dark sinister happenings and enough adventure and lore to whet your appetite in time for The Battle of the Five Armies. Bring it on.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition is better than the theatrical cut and gets a 5/5.
★★★★★
Denis Murphy
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition at CeX
It's hard to believe that the original Assassin's Creed was released 7 years ago this month. I remember playing it for the first time, being enthralled by it's breathtaking setting and fluid controls, then having most of my appreciation for the game being dashed away by that story twist. You know the one, the twist that introduced the modern day setting, the Animus and the fact that everything you played up until that point was merely reliving memories of an ancestors past life. Granted it's an interesting concept on paper, but to me it cheapened the game, it's unique setting and any stakes set from there on out. I knew Altaïr would survive the game seeing as Desmond is a direct descendant of him. I knew that the world of the past was- for all tense and purposes- not immediately real, but rather some kind of lifeless echo. Personally, this problem diminished what would have been a fantastic series, as instead of simply exploring different eras through time, you were just some modern day bartender that got hooked into an expensive gaming console. However, this latest offering in the series doesn't really focus on the modern day convoluted saga of the Assassin's Creed franchise, and that's a good thing.
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and out now on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One comes Assassin's Creed: Unity, the 11th entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise and one that should reinvent the series, but ultimately ends up giving us more of the same. You take on the role of Arno Dorian, a native Frenchman who after his Assassin father is murdered, is adopted and raised by a high ranking member of the Templar Order. However, when his adoptive father is killed years later, Arno begins to learn about his past, and who his real father was as he takes his first steps into the Brotherhood of Assassins; the ancient order that runs through all Assassin's Creed titles. The story is rather typical, but as mentioned before I'm pretty glad that Ubisoft never quite puts too much focus on the modern day, post-Desmond Miles world, as this French Revolution setting is all the narrative this entry needs.
The first thing that strikes you when playing Unity are its visuals. Wow. Seriously, though they arguably have been somewhat downgraded since the reveal trailer shown at E3 2013, the city of Paris has been wonderfully realised here. Whether you're down on the ground making your way through poorer parts of the city towards a high profile target, or up high overlooking the city in all its majestic, detailed and bustling beauty, Ubisoft Montreal have outdone themselves with Unity's presentation and atmosphere. Crowds can amass to the hundreds, smoke billows from chimneys, people go about their daily lives and the whole open-world is dotted with so much detail and minutia that you'll find yourself getting lost in your own adventure, rather than the main one placed before you.
Gameplay remains mostly the same compared to previous instalments, with a few new additions and updates hidden behind the familiar. You'll do the usual Assassin's Creed stuff- Accept a mission, scale buildings, make your way across the city, stalk a foe as silently as you can and, naturally, assassinate the target. It follows the very same formula as before, though I will give Ubisoft a good deal of credit for re-jigging assassination missions into something a little more open ended, as you'll often find that there a multiple ways, routes and methods of murder for any given target. This, more than ever before, truly taps into the feeling of being part of the Brotherhood of Assassins. From stalking your prey until plunging your blade deep into them, assassination missions have never been done this well in previous Assassin's Creed games.
Combat has been once again rebuilt from the ground up, though it still relies on the basic idea of attacking and waiting to counter attack and/or dodge. It's bloody, fast paced and incredibly satisfying, especially if you manage to dispatch a large number of foes without getting hit. Furthermore, Unity finally ushers in customization to the series. From upgrading weapons to gain the upper hand during combat to unlocking new parkour moves that will allow you to run, climb and swing around Paris with extra ease, Unity does a great job at allowing you to create your own personal Arno Dorian. It's not exactly the levels of customization you get from games like Saints Row, but hey, it has choice where it matters.
The big disappointment comes in the form of multiplayer, which essentially doesn't end up being as epic as it should be. You can play with up to 4 players, embark on assassinations together and even take part in heist missions; missions in which payment increases the more stealthy your team is. Have a member of your team that keeps getting seen, has an addiction to killing civilians and doesn't have a stealthy bone in his body? Drop him, as he'll absolutely obliterate the money awarded to your team after completing the heist. Multiplayer is undoubtedly fun, but I guess I expected more from it, as ultimately even the most nuanced group of Assassin's Creed players end up looking like 4 dudes aimlessly jumping around and stabbing people.
Overall Assassin's Creed: Unity is a great game, but one that isn't the next-gen saviour that we all hoped it was going to be. While it does have a stunning open-world, an exciting era in the form of the French Revolution, interesting characters and fantastic “time anomaly” missions, at its heart it feels like it's reliving past games whereas it should feel like a revolution (no pun intended!). I don't mean to be down about it too much as it's a step in the right direction especially in terms of narrative, but I think it's time Ubisoft shook up the series before it's too late.
Assassin's Creed: Unity isn't quite the revolution I hoped it would be and gets a 4/5.
