Film Review: The Signal

William Eubank's The Signal follows in the footsteps of other independent, low-budget films that have been released this year that have tried to expand upon the horizons of the respective genre they have adhered to. For the case of sci-fi, we have already had Alex Garland's brilliantly edgy Ex Machina, and for horror, we had the not-so brilliant It Follows. The Signal focuses on two hackers, who on their way to dropping off the not-so-hacker female of the group, Bates Motel's Olivia Cooke, decide to come face-to-face with rival hacker NOMAD in the middle of Nevada. Hey, the film's set in Nevada. Guess what... There might be a twist of who's really there.

The first thing I have to say in the case of The Signal is that it succeeds in making It Follows seem a much better film than I first thought, with it's attempt at producing a kind of spooky, kind of arty sci-fi flick falling flat on its' face and instead, presents something so skull-shaterringly dull and incomprehensibly stupid, I was ready to leave as soon as the credits rolled in order to erase it  from my mind completely. I began to lose all hope entirely towards the latter stage of the film where it decides to sway from its' original echoes of horror as promised in the opening stages of the film and instead, turns into a cross between District 9 and RoboCop; and not in a good way.

In a sentence? Boring, boring, offensively stupid. The Signal reminded me how bad Series 8 and 9 of The X Files were, as the film feels like a rejected two-part episode of such albeit without Agent Scully, and without requiring a need from the audience to actually care about what is going on. Although it starts well, the film descends into something I'm sure you will find The Signal in the bargain bin soon. Not good.

Overall Score: 4/10  

Film Review: Wild Tales

A Dish Best Served Cold

Over the past few years there have been a fair few additions to the genre of anthology movies, with V/H/S and The ABC's of Death both being examples of films that have been admirable but have ultimately fallen rather flat in the wider context of horror movies, particularly the latter, with ABC's being painful (not in a good way) in some places to sit through. What a genuine surprise it was then to see that one of the nominated films for "Best Foreign Language Film" at this year's Oscars was in fact an anthology movie, showcasing six segments based around the theme of revenge. Sounds awesome doesn't it? And boy, Wild Tales really is. 

With the tragic events of Germanwings happening over the past week or so, the uncanny nature of the first segment within the film was inevitably going to make headlines in the UK this week, yet this particular slice of strangeness shouldn't put you off, with the film being released in countries across the globe since last summer anyhow, as well as it being being bloody brilliant from start to finish. Black comedy is fundamentally hard to perfect within cinema, but Wild Tales has barrels-full during its' two-hour runtime, with scenes that are tense, violent, and completely bonkers, of which, encapsulated me entirely, something of which other anthology movies have failed to succeed at.   

Wild Tales includes stories that will make you think twice about who you should piss off, who you should trust, and, most importantly, who you should marry. It's comical take on the age-old theme of revenge is hilarious, if dark, making it one of the most interesting, yet enjoyable, films of the year so far. Muy Buena.

Overall Score: 9/10

Film Review: Seventh Son

Unlucky Number Seven

Julianne Moore. Oscar Winner. Jeff Bridges. Oscar Winner. Kit Harrington. He knows nothing. In terms of an A-List cast, Seventh Son does pretty well, with it even having the chance to show off rising star Alicia Vikander who seems to be in absolutely everything this year, from Ex Machina to Testament of Youth alongside Jon Snow himself.  Based upon the novel, The Spook's Apprentice, something of which I was unaware of before watching the film, Seventh Son tells the tale of seventh son of the seventh son Tom Ward, played by Prince Caspian's Ben Barnes, who is taken under the wing of Jeff Bridges', John Gregory, the legendary "spook", who is tasked with defending humanity from the dark supernatural forces around them, including Julianne Moore's Mother Malkin, the renowned evil blood-magic witch. With such a cast, and a pretty cool premise including all the mystical tropes of dragons, witches and sword-fights, Seventh Son has to be nothing short of amazing, surely? Erm. no. It really isn't.

Firstly, from the kick-off, Jeff Bridges is incomprehensible. Imagine Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, mashed together with a drunk Billy Connolly and that's pretty much how Bridges has chosen to play this particular role, although, to be honest, none of what he says really matters throughout the 100 minutes run-time, with the script being unbelievably dull and the characters even more so, particularly Barne's, Tom Ward, who will take some beating to not win worst and, or, most forgettable main character in a film released this year. Truly awful. As for newly crowned "Best Actress", Julianne Moore, her performance as the witch/dragon/thing antagonist has made me think twice whether she was right to gain such an award earlier this year. In my opinion, Moore and "Best Actor", Eddie Redmaybe, both made secret pacts with Hollywood that involved both of them being given Oscars as long as they performed as bad as they could at being baddies in other films released this year. 

Talking of Eddie Redmayne and Jupiter Ascending, Seventh Son at least has one up on the latter by having rather enjoyable action sequences throughout, particularly in ones when the General Grievous/Kali-esque warrior is present, but Seventh Son is definitely at the level of the abomination that was Jupiter Ascending earlier this year. It's dull. It's badly CGI'd. It's a total waste of time. There was talk of Seventh Son being turned into a franchise for the future. If that franchise is going to be at this level however, don't waste your time lads and lasses. Wait for Star Wars.

Overall Score: 4/10

James Bond SPECTRE - TEASER TRAILER

Daniel Craig, yes
Christoph Waltz - OMG YES

New Bond movie? - GIVE IT TO ME NOW

Let's be honest, who isn't excited for this?

One of the most hotly anticipated movies this year, this spectre trailer shows huge potential for the long awaited return. Sided with one the best actors in the biz, I can see Spectre equalling the success of our beloved Skyfall.

Bring on October!

Feature: Doctor Who - Ten Years of NuWho

Doctor Who "NuWho": Ten Years Gone

Ten years ago I remember sitting down in front of my Grandparent's TV and getting ready for the resurrection of one of, if not the, greatest TV programmes of all time. My first venture into the magical world of the Doctor and his Tardis came when my father took me to the local market and purchased a load of Classic Who serials such as "The Planet of Evil" and "Kinda" on VHS which we subsequently watched over, and over, and over again until he was forced to purchase a load more. With my knowledge of the Whoniverse already well configured at the ripe old age of 11, to see my earliest childhood show return after 16 years of being off the TV was simply magical. It was to my surprise therefore to realise how ten years this week have suddenly passed since that moment, whilst my fondness and love for such a show not being undermined in the slightest. Therefore, it is only apt for me to celebrate the brilliance I have witnessed over the course of the past decade in this special feature dedicated to the magical genius that is Doctor Who.

When the show returned in 2005, the reigns of the responsibility of being the titular character was given to Christopher Eccleston, an esteemed dramatic actor, famous for roles in Danny Boyles' Shallow Grave, the police drama, Cracker, as well as a range of stage plays such as Hamlet and A Streetcar Named Desire. Although at the time, I was young enough to not understand the quality of acting Eccleston brought with him to the show, looking back after countless re-watches of his first and only season as the Doctor, it was clear that Eccleston gave the show the firm kick up the backside it needed after it's time off-screen, relaunching it's popularity with old fans, whilst simultaneously gaining new ones who were previously unaware of the story of the time-travelling Gallifreyan. In his first season, the 9th Doctor battled classic villains such as Autons and Daleks, whilst fighting new enemies such as the Gelth, the Slitheen and the wonderful gas-masked zombies with a knack of questioning, "are you my mummy?". Aside from foes, the 9th Doctor also introduced us to Billie Piper's character Rose, whose brilliance as the Doctor's companion laid the foundation for those who would eventually follow in what it took to be the Doctor's esteemed sidekick during the 21st century. A short-lived career as the Doctor was sealed for Eccleston during the excellent two-parter, "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways," but the sheer quality of the first series allowed it to continue without him, with Eccleston forever being celebrated within the Who fanbase for solidifying the return of sci-fi's most beloved specimen. 

So what was needed after the heartbreak of losing our much loved, leather wearing, proper northern, 9th Doctor? That's right, David Tennant, whose first 40 or so minutes as the Doctor saw him in his pyjamas, comatose from his sudden regeneration, whilst the Tyler's and Co. battled the hideous Sycorax on Christmas Day. Nice way to spoil the turkey. As soon as Tennant appeared however, the Whoniverse was sold. His quick quips and cheeky demeanor presented a Doctor that was much more user-friendly than maybe Eccleston's, whilst the relationship between himself and Rose was explored upon much deeper than the series previously, resulting in cry of the decade when the two were forced to part ways during the series two closer "Doomsday". Aside from his ability to be simply brilliant, Tennant's take on the Doctor was enhanced by the ability of the writers around him, with show-runner Russel T Davies, Steven Moffat, and Paul Cornell creating classics such as "Midnight", "Blink" and "The Family of Blood/Human Nature", all of which seemed to result in producing the strongest levels of acting from all involved. 

Another success during the 10th Doctor's reign was the decision to bring back arch-enemy, the Master, first played by the wonderful Derek Jacobi and then John Simm, whose erratic, yet creepy take on the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock, was a sheer triumph. With the Master returning, it was only inevitable for the return of the Time Lords, who along with the Master brought about the end of the 10th Doctor when he courageously inhaled the radiation that was about to kill Bernard Cribbins' Wilfred Mott during "The End of Time". With a cry of, "I don't want to go", the Tenth Doctor was history. Where Eccleston had established a return of Doctor Who, Tennant had enhanced it to levels of preposterous popularity and will forever be remembered as one of, if not the, best Doctor of all time. Allons-y.   

Replacing Tennant and show-runner Russel T Davies, was the youthful Matt Smith, and the not-so-youthful yet renowned, Steven Moffat, famous for writing previous freaky-filled Who episodes such as "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", "Blink" and "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead". Where Moffat was rather popular and highly regarded in the world of Who, Smith was an more of an unknown, although he had previously appeared in Secret Diary of a Call Girl with ex-companion Billie Piper. The Eleventh Doctor's era therefore began with a strange sense of regeneration (pun intended) with a new writer, new Doctor, and even a new companion in the form of Karen Gillan's Amelia Pond appearing on our screens. Any doubts were suddenly erased soon after however with Smith solidifying his role as the Doctor in classic series five episodes such as "The Eleventh Hour", "Vincent and the Doctor" and the series closer "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang". Smith's childish attitude and sometimes OTT performances made this era of Doctor Who much more accessible to the younger generation than ever before, although the introduction of the hideous Silence reinforced the fearful nature of Moffat's ability to make absolutely anything simply terrifying. It was also within this era that Doctor Who celebrated a whopping 50 years since it first appeared on the black and white screens of 1963 by treating the fans to the glorious "Day of the Doctor", featuring Smith, Tennant, Piper, new companion Jenna Coleman, and even acting legend John Hurt as the 8.5th "War" Doctor. It was within this particular serial that Doctor Who celebrated all things that made Doctor Who, well, Doctor Who and was a real triumph of British television, much to the relief of writer, Steven Moffat. Smith's era as the Doctor was soon to be concluded however in the following episode "The Time of the Doctor" where he let the bow tie loose and began the next phase of regeneration, leaving an era of Doctor Who behind that continued to breed strong viewers and brilliant tales of the time-travelling madman. 

If Smith's era of Doctor Who was suspect of being childish at times, then Peter Capaldi's first season as the 12th incarnation of the time lord was a drastic change of tone, evident from the offset with cult-director Ben Wheatley being at the helm for the first two episodes of the eighth NuWho series which dealt with murderous clockwork droids, a psychotic dalek, and the new Doctor seemingly not having a care in the world when witnessing the death of a helpless soldier. And I loved it. Capaldi's take on the Doctor has been very reminiscent of classic Doctors, such as my all-time favourite Jon Pertwee, the jelly-bean loving, Tom Baker, and even the very first, William Hartnell, but also had enough differences to make the role his own. Although we have only had one series with Mr. Capaldi, the signs so far are is that Doctor Who is better than ever, even after ten years of continued airtime on the BBC. In a nutshell, it is simply marvelous to witness a much loved programme continue to prosper across the world, and may it continue to do so. Happy 10th Birthday NuWho. 

Live Music Review - Muse at Brighton Dome

The Sound of Muse-Ic

Earlier this year, I was reminiscing the brilliant back-to-back gigs I witnessed when Muse shook the foundations of the Emirates Stadium to its' core back in 2013, where although me and my fellow cronies queued for near on six hours on both the Saturday and Sunday, the quality and sheer awesomeness of the concerts that proceeded were more than worth the wait. Almost two years later, with an impending seventh album on the horizon, Muse are finally back on the road with their aptly named "Psycho Tour", consisting of six gigs at rather small venues across the UK. Fortunately for myself, I managed to bag a ticket for their final show at the Brighton Dome and it would be criminal to say that the show was anything less than perfection.

Before the show even began, Muse fans were treated to the release of the first single from the upcoming album Drones, "Dead Inside", which I heard briefly before entering the beautiful and rather intimate Brighton Dome. I could only assume therefore that we were set to hear its' first live performance that very same night. Kicking off with the riff-ology that is "Psycho", it was clear there was to be no messing around tonight, with the fulcrum of the gig being based around the trio of drums, bass and electric guitar, adhering to the bands' promise of going back to their roots. As soon as the "bum bum de bum de bum bum" riff kicked in, mosh pits were evolving and the energy between the crowd and the band were in complete sync already. Next, the crowd was treated to the magnificent "Map of the Problematique," from Black Holes and Revelations, relaying echoes of both U2 and Depeche Mode, something of which could be said of the new single which was played for the first time ever swiftly after. If "Psycho" is Full Metal Jacket, then "Dead Inside" can only be described as Atonement, with it's funky beat centered around the idea of loss and love whilst clearly outlining the central themes of the upcoming album. Also, it sounds pretty damn great live.

Accompanied by the fan-favoured "hullabaloons", the band then bashed out Origin of Symmetry single "Bliss" which ended with a jam of Rage Against the Machine's "Maggies Farm" followed by Matt Bellamy retelling of how the band stayed in Winston Churchill's house in Brighton for almost a year during the recording of their third LP "Absolution". It was only apt for the band to then play the trilogy of "Time is Running Out", "Hysteria", and "Stockholm Syndrome" from that particular album, with the latter ending with a thrash-metal version of the rocking outro to "Micro Cuts" and Bellamy jumping energetically into his on-stage amps. If that wasn't enough, the band then treated the hardcore fans, me included, to B-Side "The Groove", leaving the crowd sweaty, the band pumped, and my neck considerably damaged from the headbanging required for that particular quartet of songs. 

With that carnage of rock out of the way, it was only inevitable for the band to calm things down slightly with singles "Starlight", "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Uprising" all being performed to perfection, even with Bellamy's consistent improvisations and asking the crowd to sing parts of the songs for him. It was simply magical to witness thousands of people all scream "THEY WILL NOT FORCE US" at the top of their voices, and although I had seen this at previous gigs, the acoustics of the Dome enhanced the power this particular demonstration provided. The main set concluded with new track "Reapers" channeling vibes of 80's rock artists such as Van Halen and AC/DC, not surprising when Robert John "Mutt" Lunge is the producer of their upcoming album Drones, whose previous efforts include "Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black". 

After a short break, the encore consisted of rare Showbiz single, "Uno", sounding as brilliant as ever, the classic fuzzed-up "Plug in Baby", and concluded with mosh-pit magnet "Knights of Cydonia".  Even with it being the seventh time I had seen them, Muse continue to impress. The sheer amount of energy they produce could stabilise the economy, and their showcasing of the new tracks has made me even more excited for the album release in June. Best gig ever? Quite possibly.

Overall Score: 10/10

News: The X-Files Returns

Are we back in the 90's all of a sudden? Is Kurt Cobain suddenly going to reappear and blast out some new grunge tunes? I wouldn't be surprised, with Fox and Chris Carter following in the footsteps of David Lynch and Twin Peaks by announcing that the much loved The X-Files is set to return to our screens in the near future with a six-episode run. Major Win. Duchovny and Anderson are set to apprise their roles as Agents Mulder and Scully respectively, something of which I can safely say I am drooling over, adding to the excitement of seeing Agent Cooper soon too. Trust No One. 

http://www.fox.com/the-x-files/thexfiles

Film Review - The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

The Princess Diaries

Although I was chuffed when Big Hero 6 walked away with the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at this years' ceremony, my joy was short-lived when I realised  I hadn't seen any other contender in the category. Yes, not even How to Train Your Dragon 2. One excuse was that The Tale of the Princess Kaguya hadn't been released in the UK yet, even though it had been floating around cinemas across the world for the past couple of years. Now released and featuring an English-dubbed cast consisting of Chloe Grace Moretz, James Caan, and Lucy Liu, it was time for redemption, and to watch what once slipped through my fingers. Or eyes. You know what I mean.

Once upon time, in a galaxy far, far away, Mr Bamboo cutter, voiced by Sonny Corleone himself, James Caan, finds the tiniest of children hidden in a magical bamboo shoot and decides to take her under his, and his wife's, wing, raising her like their own and naming her Princess, due to her ability to grow at the speed of knots and develop much quicker than that of a mortal human. One day, Mr Bamboo cutter finds gold and cloth of fine quality in the same place he found his beloved Princess, and decides that she must be moved to the capital in order to fulfill her fate of nobility and become a real-life princess. First off, the film looks beautiful. In terms of effort and sheer elbow-grease the film must have required from the makers, it deserves a standing ovation, and I'm rather glad it got recognised by the Oscars, albeit losing out to the much more mainstream Big Hero 6. Each scene looks like it should be paused, printed out, and shoved in the Louvre for close examination. It is simply a wonder to behold. 

Now on to the story. Imagine the wonder of Pans Labyrinth. but set in the delicate world of a U rated movie; that's what came to mind during the course of Tale's simply glorious story that deals with all the key subjects of childhood, moving home, arranged marriage, and finally, fulfilling  your destiny. The length of 137 minutes for an animated movie might be questionable, with the film suffering slightly during the half-way mark, but sticking with it results in one of the most heartbreaking, yet inevitable, endings of an animated movie you may ever see. In a nutshell? It's lovely.

Overall Score: 8/10

Pixels New Trailer!

Last Tuesday, Sony pictures released their first trailer for pixels. The film is an adaptation of Patrick Jeans short film (2010) of the same name. The world is under attack by characters from old school video games such as PAC-Man, Donkey Kong and Space invaders sent by an alien aggressor who misunderstood the video games we sent into space in 1982, as a declaration of war......right.

Featuring Adam Sandler, Peter, Dinklage and Josh Gad. The movie follows them as they use their arcade gaming skills to save the world from being turned into pixels.

Directed by Chris Columbus whose earlier works include Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire and Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone gives the movie some real potential. Also starring Tōru Iwatani the creator of PAC-Man! Which you do see in trailer getting his arm bitten. 

 The idea of old school video games destroying the word is solid, and the video effects are amazing.

Pixels will be released May 15th this year, and I look forward to reviewing it with all the good and the bad.

 

Film Review - Wild Card

Punch Drunk Love

Much like Christmas, Halloween, and public disgust towards the headliners of Glastonbury, sub-par Jason Statham action movies are kind of expected now going into the new year, with The Mechanic, Parker, Homefront, and Hummingbird, all being released within the last four or so years, with each seemingly blending in to one another so much it would be hard to tell them apart. So now in 2015, we have Wild Card. based upon William Goldman's novel Heat, with it being, much like it's predecessors, instantly forgettable, with bog-standard action scenes, but for the most part enjoyable enough to withstand ones' attention for the course of its' run-time. Hit me.

Jason Statham plays Lee Christmas, no sorry, Chev Chelios, nope, still wrong film. That's it, Nick Wild! He plays Nick Wild, a recovering gambling addict who sticks to his addiction by being chaperone to Las Vegas's rich and famous by guiding them around the different casinos, bars, strip joints, whatever, until one day he receives a phone call from an acquaintance named Holly, who claims she had been raped and attacked the previous night by Peter Petrelli himself, Milo Ventimiglia's character, Danny DeMarco. The film then decides to go a bit revenge drama, followed by Martin Scorsese's Casino, and then into full Statham style action mode, whilst incorporating the much-loved need to hit everyone in the throat from Taken. In a nutshell, it's a bit of a mess.

A mess it may be, but I can't deny I didn't enjoy it for the most part, particularly in scenes when Statham turns full ninja and takes out everyone in the room with a spork or something of similar strength. Like previous Statham efforts however, Wild Card is instantly forgettable and even worse, seems to act as an OTT advert for the "wonders of Las Vegas". Still, we have Furious 7 to look forward to. Not. 

Overall Score: 5/10

Youtube 360-degree capability!

Youtube have finally released that thing you never actually needed but now do!

Google's experts have been squireling away at implementing a full rotational viewing experience for tablet and smart phones users. If you've got a smart phone, jump over watch the video below from FullMag! with the use of Google Chrome or the Youtube App

For all PC and laptop users you will notice a distinctive curve to the image but for those on their more portable devices can see the whole scene from bottom to top, left to right. A rather surreal experience but a brilliant achievement. Although the video may lack the finesse and quality of a cinematographers camera, its undoubtedly a fun tool to immerse you into the scene.

With the rise of Youtube content creators and the media's attention on the platform, could we begin to see movies online hosted in 360-degrees?

LEGO Jurassic Park! - The child inside me weeps with joy! - Trailer Inside

About 5 hours ago, something arose from Lego HQ that I never thought would happen. LEGO JURASSIC PARK!

Here's the brand spanking new trailer!

Lego games are probably some of the best games around. Its formula of slapstick comedy, creativity and adoption of popular classics makes every game a great experience. In this trailer we can really see all of these elements guaranteeing a wonderful outcome. The best part about the games are that they don't demand that you engross yourself into a compelling, often complex story, so by adopting a world that almost everyone knows about, you can focus on having fun and enjoying the comedic aspects in said world.

Lego Jurassic World will drop on all current and previous generation consoles including the PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS and PC in June this year coinciding with the latest movie in the franchise.

Who couldn't love this!?

Source - Gamespot

News: Twin Peaks Return - Off the Cards? UPDATED

After all the excitement that came with David Lynch and Mark Frost announcing a new series of the masterful Twin Peaks for 2016, it was inevitable life would't be that good to its' beloved fans after news filtered through today that the series might not be getting off the ground after all. In an Q and A with the audience at the opening of the Between Two Worlds exhibition in Brisbane, Lynch stated, "I'm not sure at this point if it's happening," with the reasoning behind such being "complications" with contracts. With Kyle MacLachlan stating he will be returning as FBI Agent Dale Cooper, I can only hope such complications between Lynch and whoever can be resolved soon, and the original release date of 2016 can be adhered to. Time for some damn good coffee. 

According to IMDB, the fear that had gripped Twin Peaks fans across the globe may have been premature with Showtime sources stating, "Nothing is going on that's any more than any preproduction process with David Lynch. Everything is moving forward and everybody is crazy thrilled and excited." Phew. 

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni58404712?ref_=hm_nw_uk_tp1_sm

Armello review - A good first step but a long 9999 to go.

Armello Early Access review

This card placing, dice throwing, role-playing board adventure game has been in early access on steam for a while. With its colourful cartoon art style and its so called strategic game-play, it was immediately peaking my interest.

Now, playing board games isn’t something I generally do, unless in the middle of a blackout with the family after the battery on my tablet has died. Let alone playing digital board games on the computer which is also damn useless in a blackout. In fact the last digital game that involved a dice was Mario party 5 back in 2005 on the Gamecube, due to the fact that I generally get very little entertainment from games which are determined from the outcome of a dice roll, and itself involve very little knowledge or skill to win, I was generally surprised on how much time I actually spent with this game. 

The context of the game is that the world of Armello is under threat. The Rot is creeping in, corrupting the land, spawning monstrous creatures that terrorise villages while it plagues the King slowly turning him mad. You play as one of the four Anthropomorphic animal heroes on a journey across Armello to take the throne for yourself and your clan and save the kingdom. 

Reading it back to myself it does sound like a fairy tale adventure, straight out of a children's book with its bright and colourful animations. Each card in the game looks amazing, each has a unique animated picture that really bring the game to life, to the extent that I wanted to see every card. Luckily there is a gallery mode to admire every card you play.
 

Players must travel across a hexagonal tiled game board to reach randomly placed quest tiles, which upon arrival are given 3 choices to a problem for example a abandoned kart in the road do you do option A,B or C. This is the so called "role-playing" portion of the game however, there seems to be no consequence to the choices you make making it fairly irrelevant to the gameplay thus shaping weak role-play. No matter which choice you make, upon completion you gain prestige, a currency to win the game, which is a bit too easy to acquire.

The most satisfying about Armello is the combat which is very much decided by chance with the roll of your dice. It is possible to win the game without fighting a single opponent or other player, you can easily hinder other players adventure using traps and magic which cost gold or magic.

Armello is the first initial project of “League Of Geeks”. The Australian indie game company originally announced Armello to be released as an Ipad exclusive which has still yet to be released, however they later made it available for Windows, Mac and Linux through the Steam client. You can still feel the initial tablet interface through the game play and I would Say the game would be more enjoyable with a touch pad interface.

League Of Geeks did start a Kickstarter campaign to raise a massive $200,000 to increase development to full time and for the extra support to the multiple platforms, which is pretty daring feat to ask for. By being a funder of the game, League of Geeks offered bonus content on release of the game with 4 extra characters known as the “Bandit clan” and access to another 4 which would come available as DLC to non backers, and it worked. To this date they have raised over $300,000 with 6239 backers and more money coming in with the early access on steam. 

The game looks promising, with its beautiful animations standing out, however it does come with, in my opinion a few problems. On single player watching the A.I take its turn was painful with only their character model moving a few spaces on the board which gets dull very quickly. The idea of setting traps, which in the game is known as perils is fairly worthless as players can just step out of the way. With each character having its strengths and weakness it both limits the player on what victory they can achieve making the multiple victory options pointless. The A.I. constantly starts fights with NPCs which it gains no merit from defeating, in this case the kings guard. Rot victory impossible! Gaining that much rot before the king dies isn’t possible. You have to be defeated by rot creatures to gain rot points which also immediately ends your turn. You have to lose to a rot creature every turn to have a value higher then the kings which is madness! I understand that the game is still in development with the early access but the rules of the game need a lot of revision. Despite all its initial flaws I actually enjoyed the game. I played it multiple times with different characters to hopefully achieve each victory option (still cant do rot victory). Hopefully upon the full release of the game they will iron out all of these problems.  

Overall if you like fantasy, turn based games with beautiful art then this game is for you. With updates around every other week the game is steadily evolving. I look forward to playing the finished product, thus Armello gets my full recommendation.

7/10 

GTAV Heists - Review - A Little too Late?

I'll be uploading some videos soon!

Its been over a year since the release of the biggest game in recent history. With promises of online heists, many of its devoted fan base waited through the delays and poor community feedback. Finally, it arrived. Yet, was it worth it?

As it stands, I've only had time to play the first two heists, Fleeca Bank and The Prison Job.

As soon as I got into a lobby I received the call from Lester. After a little back and forth, I was finally able to participate in the first job. In the same format as the single player campaign, the job is dividing into sections and makes you clear off the entire checklist before doing said job. Each time you have to go through a process of hosting a lobby and inviting people into the game, this is where I experienced many a problem. First of all, you have the rabble of GTA who will not wait for people to join the lobby, secondly you have the extreme pressure on the servers causing certain functions to dissipate and finally close the lobby. As a format, the process of joining is not easy. Its in fact a nuisance. In the second job when one person joined, it would kick another member out meaning you'd have a conga line of players incoming and out going because they were clashing.

Gameplay wise, it's no difference to the game. AI's are just as dull and fairly easy to whittle through, unless you pull the short straw and get stuck with a dullard (this is often). Restarts are punished and the overall outcome is far less which has a sense of reality which is also effected by the quality of vehicles you bring to them. For a host, you drop a lump sum of money up front. The Prison Job is the first mission that you have to do this for. For a whopping 40k you can go ahead and start robbing people. Considering the payout from the last mission was significant, espicially as the host, you can finally earn a decent amount of money without spending hours grinding 'Rooftop Rumble' and races. Now you can just grind heists!

Its a great change to the economy of GTA and nice to have something that actively rewards you rather than being pressured into buying virtual currency. Fortunately, I'm skint and have plenty of time on my hands to grind away but this really makes it easy for any player to enjoy the game again, Unless you're a PC fan... Perhaps in a few months we'll hear about a new GTA coming out next year as they may have finally milked the GTAV cow dry.

Run All Night - Liam Neeson, at it again! - Quicky Review

For an actor with an Oscar under his belt, Liam Neeson appears to have just given up caring. Whether its his agent or the fact that he is looking for something to do rather than hang around the retirement home watching Loose Women on daytime. Run All Night is one of these films. It seems as if Jaume Collet-Serra has one heck of a hard-on for trying to recreate Taken but with the same actor. In his 6 movie directorial roles, 3 of those have Neeson as the poster boy all playing the same action man role. The Taken formula has become so blistered and bruised by the constant beatings that I may have to call the Samaritans.

My presence at the movie theatres has been somewhat less frequent this year so I can't judge many, however, Run All Night has to be the worst film I've seen all year. It will sit on my list of awful movies in a fairly moderate position, not quite overtaking anything Seth Rogen or Franco have anything to do with.

Run All Night is the story of a drunkard gangster whose worth to society is the killing of other mobsters. Its been rather quiet for some time it appears and shit goes to pop when his estranged son witnesses a murder by the mob bosses son and flees. Neeson kills the mob bosses son to save his son from being kill by the mob bosses son. This is probably the most interesting part of the film in a story sense. So once Neeson kills the mob bosses son, he calls the mob boss and tells him he killed his son. The mob boss (Neeson's now former friend) decides to kill him, his son and his sons family. Sounds exciting, right? No. Its just a dull catch and mouse chase with an ending you could have predicted from the moment Liam Neeson was handed the script. If you want mindless entertainment, you won't find it here.

With acting worse than a small budget hentai, Neeson is as convincing as Kristen Stewart "happy". The rest as just as dull and extremely overzealous, visual transitions are a mixture of stock footage suddenly zoomed in to look realistic but looks like utter dogshit. If you'd like to get close to characters, understand what pushes them or experience their raw emotions, you also won't find that. Many of them appear only to fade away. Sway in on screen with a glancing photobomb to then run off giggling. Joel Kinnaman was more convincing as Robocop than an actual human while Ed Harris spoke like a king but walked like a peg-legged zombie.

If you want to laugh at something that actively tries to be good, you could probably watch this. I wouldn't recommend seeing the movie in the cinema or DVD until its either being thrown at you for free or the supermarket throws them into the bin as only one person bought the DVD out of the 10,000 copies they ordered. 5/10 for something that you can laugh at, a 4 would equal it to This Is The End, so that isn't fair to put it in that bracket. IMDB's 7.3 rating and Rotten Tomatoes 60% amaze me, obviously, if you feel otherwise, leave a comment and let us know what you thought!

Music Review: Muse - Psycho

Full Metal Racket

Here we are at last. Finally, after three years we have confirmation of a new Muse record by the name of "Drones", and although the full album is set for a June release, the Teignmouth Trio decided to do a Beyonce this week and drop all information regarding an upcoming tour, song titles, etc. resulting in crazed Musers across the world. Being part of such an esteemed group of fans, it was fair to say my excitement levels reached DEFCON One when the band suddenly dropped their promotional tune "Psycho" to the world this week and it is fair to say I wasn't disappointed.

Kicking off with a Rage Against the Machine inspired riff that Muse fans have known for near-on a decade now, with it famously being part of the closing stages of "Stockholm Syndrome" at Glasto 2004, the song begins with the same DNA you would expect in early Muse tracks such as "Agitated" and "Dead Star", with Chris Wolstenholme's trademark bass sound perfectly accompanying Matt Bellamy's distorted lead, whilst Dominic Howard's effortless drumming emphasising the notion that the band are trying to revisit their roots. After a pretty funky breakdown, the lyrics, sang over the top of a "Roadhouse Blues" inspired rock-riff, start to paint a picture of the theme the album is probably going to based around, especially the screamo-sounding,"I'm gonna make you, I'm gonna break you, I'm gonna make you, a fuckin' psycho," followed by the questionable chorus of Bellamy screaming, "Your ass belongs to me now." 

After another verse and chorus, we have another pretty funky breakdown with Bellamy alone playing his new favourite riff followed by the band exploding once again into their rocky rawness with an added, yet uninspiring, guitar solo of which, is very reminiscent of the guitar solo from "Showbiz", a track that I have never had the pleasure to witness live (Hint to Muse: Play it at Brighton). The song concludes with another whack of the chorus and the band fizzing out to distorted guitars with Bellamy showing off his unreal knack of mastering the male falsetto. All in all, "Psycho" is a solid start to the "Drones" era of Muse, with their promise of a return to their earlier rock-infused madness being clearly abode by. I look forward to hearing the full record in June.

Overall Score: 8/10

Dying Light - Milking the zombie cow for all it's worth - Xbox One Review

With a European console delay, Dying Light was just outside of my grasp. The excitable child within me wanted it now, only to have it snatched away like candy by Warner Bros. distribution! Was it worth the wait? Sure it was. As a giant wet blanket when it comes to the reality of Zombies, my love of all zombie is rather ridiculous. Dead Island's humble beginnings was one of trepidation for myself, a deep longing to experience but the bladder of an incontinent old lady made it all the harder to pick up the game and play. So, I strapped myself down, inserted a catheter and got down to business. Its combat system was fun alongside a creative array of weapons and a horrifying landscape made it a huge favourite of mine. Why am I talking so fondly of Dead Island? Well, its by the very same creators of Dying Light. This time however, Techland have taken a somewhat different approach.

Dropped in by the GRE (Some world health organization), you are tasked with apprehending stolen documents and to also kill a certain target. Its a particularly muddled affair which never ceases to drag on. Rescued upon landing by survivors, you are treated for a bite wound and given the chance to earn your keep as a runner. With a conflict of interest, our lead man, Crane, is left with tough decisions between the few or the many. Crane is a one man army. A one man army against a legitimate army of thugs and zombies. Sure, its a fairly simple plot convoluted by the aspect of political bureaucracy and a villain with a mouth looser than that blonde bimbo in every high school movie ever, but the physical aspects of the story that would lead you closer to the enemy were actually very good and exciting. The quests in between that disguised themselves as story were mere side-missions for characters that were a dull as doorknobs. As for the rest of the crew, don't expect to get chummy with anyone. One such character, who happens to be the first you meet, is one of the biggest douchebags in the history of douchebaggery. With a voice that grinds worse than when you just miss that gear change, you often wish you could just nudge him off the roof.

With Dead Island, combat was great. Dying light?, not so much. In fact it felt more of a chore in

some cases. In some scenes, its demonstrated that the zombies can be killed by simply snapping their necks, by this logic, combat should be quick flowing and realistic. This is not the case. Any day of the week, being hit with a military combat shovel, blade first, would leave an assailant with a significant hole in their head, thus rendering the dead. Dying Light, not so much. Be prepared to whale on someone a good 10 times before the show any sign of dying...again. This issue is also inflated when in combat with AI survivors who can block throwing knives and block an axe with a kitchen knife. Perhaps this extreme increase in combat strength is due to the games most prominent feature. Parkour is great fun, when it works. Otherwise, prepare to fall obnoxious amounts of time.

He only wants a hug!

Traversing the world is fun, no doubt and its a great way to experience the game and effectively render combat useless meaning your interaction with the zombies can be limited, until it gets dark. If you have balls of steel and the brains of a nutjob, you can run about at night being chased by Satan and his posse of ugly volatiles. You will find yourself facing this guys when the story dictates, unless, like myself, you are extremely unlucky and it turns from 1PM to 11PM upon opening a door after a mission. If you like heart attacks, skid marks and night terrors, this experience is for you. As for me, I'll stay hidden behind this desk until its light again as I'm not going to be chased by 20 of the glowing bastards. With the added benefit of extra XP for taking this risk, you can get extra abilities which you may never use, but y'know, you may need it for that one thing that you're refusing to do anyway. So gameplay wise, the game is solid. Difficult and often punishing which also can be put down to the awful control scheme (who the fuck puts right bumper as jump!?)...

Next-gen consoles are increasingly being sold based on graphical capabilities, you would expect a diverse range of textures, environments and character models. Now, this is where Dying Light sinks for me. Obviously, with a whole island plagued by zombies, you cannot expect millions of different character models, however, when most of the inhabitants of The Tower looking exactly the same, it shows little effort, especially when you are surrounded by 5 zombies exactly the same. Even the species of zombies lack any notable differences amongst themselves. Many parkour areas were a simple copy & paste job with no additions or removals which made traversing the world without tabbing to the larger map a real issue for those who are in a pinch. Apart from the copy and paste marathon, the world looked nice. The vegetation often looked flat but when you're spending most of your time across the rooftops, that is a mere formality. Alongside a few little visual bugs, it could have been drastically worse

Solid gameplay, awful controls, a lack of diversity with a surprisingly decent story isn't the recipe to world domination but Dying Light is extremely fun nightmare fuel. Its also a game that you can simply drop into without issue as the story is very simple and explains why I spent more time avoiding it than physically playing it. 8/10 - would shit my pants again.

NEWS - Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Returning to Next-gen consoles?

 

Everyone and their aunt has heard of Call of Duty, more specifically the acronym MW2, fondly remembered by many, myself included (I cut my teeth on it when I first got an Xbox 360). Since then, the community has become worn and tired of iterations that decided to destroy something that was almost perfect. So much so that one man has taken it upon himself to petition the devs for a next-gen recreation. Upon signing, the petition was at 300 signatures in about 20 minutes after The Lad Bible were asked to share the post, the petition has reached a whopping 6000.

With popular games moving towards next-gen re-releases, the opportunity to milk the cow even more is a no brainer for a company that is well known for squeezing the audience as much as possible.

If you would like to show your support, click HERE.

Source - The Lad Bible

Film Review: It Follows

Every Step You Take

Oh I do love a good horror movie. Last years' The Babadook took home first prize for being the best in it's respective category whilst so far this year, there has been an array of sub-par horror films such as The Woman in Black 2 and REC 4. Now we have It Follows, which has been dubbed, "smart, original, and above all terrifying," by the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, starring Maika Monroe, last seen in the rather bonkers, The Guest. Although I am usually in accordance with what Rotten Tomatoes say about the quality of films, this is a rare occasion where I have to disagree, with It Follows not being overly smart, not really being original, and definitely not being terrifying. Sorry RT.

It Follows tells the tale of Monroe's character, Jay, who after having a bit of fun-and-games with boyfriend Hugh, starts to become haunted by a shape-shifting wraith-like entity which only she can see and can only be "passed on" by having more fun-and-games with other people. Sounds like a cool premise doesn't it? I mean you have the generic teen-sex-is-bad-and-should-be-punished vibe running throughout, which has been done countless times before, and a pretty funky 80's synth soundtrack, which has been done before, rounded off with those kind of eerie and spooky long shots of people walking down even longer pavements, or sidewalks if stateside, which has been done before, and more effectively in umm what's that film? Oh yeah, Halloween. So in terms of originality, I wholeheartedly disagree, with It Follows basically ripping the foundations of Halloween from it's feet and replacing Michael Myers with combination of a really tall guy, a naked woman, and a guy who gets really angry when near a swimming pool.

In terms of fear factor, I think I managed to properly jump once, and this was only when the film resorted to the ever-so-original quiet, quiet, quiet, LOUD process which horror films tend to go for these days when they think the audience might have become bored or even worse, fallen asleep, with the loudness of cinemas these days being more than capable of wakening anyone from the deepest of sleeps. In fact, they should have put Schumacher in one when he was in his coma. That would have woken him up. Hope you get better soon Mike. So, back to the movie, not one time during the film could I honestly say I felt under threat, whilst the long-drawn out scenes in between each entity attack becoming seemingly more boring than the last. So, in terms of  being, "above all, terrifying," I once again disagree.

Enough slating. In it's best moments, It Follows is a solid re-hash of better films of its' type, such as Halloween, with the acting being pretty much top-notch, particularly from leading lady, Maika Monroe, who gives a particularly good performance as the victim of the slowly walking entity that I will name "It". When it's dull, it's dull, and the originality and scares that the film promised were overly lacking, resulting in another film that has suffered from it's necessity to generate hype and declaration at being, "one of the most striking American horror films in years." Um, it's not.

Overall Score: 5/10