Revolution, Episode 1. First Impressions [UK]

Revolution is the new series airing on Sky 1, produced by the one and only J.J. Abrams. For those of you who don't know what the concept it, I believe it was a large solar flare which caused all electrical products to stop, dead in their tracks. Opening up the show we are given the perspective of the main protagonists at the start of when everything when tits up. Planes drop from the sky, cars cease to run and roll to a halt, computers crash and the lights flicker off. Can you imagine it? All of the power gone?, no internet, no TV, no cars...NOTHING...

Anyway, as I write this, I'm watching it gradually. Character development and violence has already developed and we are only 30 minutes in. However, everything seems to be moving rather rapidly. We have no chance to understand the background behind the event and how our protagonists have worked together to cultivate their own little village. However we move incredibly quickly to a city

(Chicago) without so much as one deep story between the travellers. We see fight scenes that are extremely over the top to the point of ridiculousness and we have characters that are a little boring.

Set pieces are gorgeous and very well refined. CGI helps to blend these and make them far more realistic. It's easy to see that this sort of thing would develop if all electricity was to disappear. This is true to some extent but when they have a church submerged in water, it gets a little confusing to imagine how that actually happened in the first place. Reviewing the sound is difficult as it varies from TV to TV but there are tiny noises that give the rooms atmosphere and sometimes you have an aggressive buzz that can be quite irritating.

At the end of this episode, we find out who the big bad boss is which is a bit of a downer as it could have really gripped people if they simply dropped small hints to real you in for the next few episodes. Finally to wrap this review up, I feel nothing towards the characters. The female protagonist is extremely annoying, her brother is also a huge pain in the ass. The rest are also much the same, their given roles are fairly poor and most of the acting leaves little to be desired.

All in all, I agree with the 6.5 rating on IMDB as mine is in that sort of area too.
I understand it is a little jumbled but it has been written as I watch it and make judgements throughout!, Don't forget it is the first of the series, it may get better!

Lil Wayne's I'm Not a Human Being II -Review-

Only heard about this a couple of days ago, which I find very odd but it was probably better that I didn't get myself excited for it's release.

Musically this album is brilliant, many variations in backing tracks make it so tracks don't blend into a constant stream. The variations are created and demand good lyrical content to push them further.

Lyrically the album is a bloody mess. I've loved Lil Wayne for years, I still think he's pretty badass but when you constantly shout 'pussy' in all of your songs, you begin to ignore the drone of his voice.


There's a few songs that catch my attention throughout the album that are the good from the 17 song album. 'Hello', 'Rich as F$#k',  'Love Me' and the return of 'Hot Revolver'' featuring Dre. Two of these happen to be singles, so they already stand out from the pack, and 'Hello' looks to reflect Wayne's rock album, Rebirth, which the 'Hot Revolver' originated. Why he has done this?, no one apart from Wayne will know. It may just be the cough syrup that had an influence on this album causing him to change it up...

Looking back at his albums, there were some that were poor to my taste and this appears to be one of them. However he manages to pull it back at some point or another. A redeeming factor to this album is the length, at approximately 72 minutes, you get plenty for your money (even if the majority is him rapping about sex and referring to pussy alongside Souja, who has to be one of the worst rappers alive). Compared to the lyrical capabilities of I'm not a human being 1 and The Carter IV, this album is getting 4/10.

The Wolverine trailer

Saw this little puppy today, and I have to say I had mixed feelings for this. Set in Japan after the X-men movies, it looks like Logan loses his healing ability. The trailer itself looks awesome and I am slightly looking forward to it, however due to the past x-men films it doesn’t make me want to rush out of my seat to the nearest cinema but hopefully it will break the chains of its predecessors and be an amazing watch.

Bioshock Infinite REVIEW! -POSSIBLE SPOILERS-

Here it is guys!, the long awaited sequel in the Bioshock series. As I have already stated, I have had this game on pre-order for exactly a year on it's release day and it was so worth the wait!

We enter the game on a small rowing boat with two cloaked people chatting away while a storm rages on around you. One of them hands you a small box with a pistol inside on the approach to a lighthouse, it's easy to see the similarities to the previous games within the first few minutes.

Once we arrive at Columbia, we are greeted with some stunning set pieces, reminiscent of Rapture and in perfect Bioshock style. The game is a visual masterpiece that truly takes your breath away on your first site of the floating city. The 1912 era of graphic design and advertising was a time of vibrant colours and simple typography which is reflected brilliant in and out of the game. If you follow me on Instagram, you will probably see the cover mixed in with the collection of photos of my dogs. If you were vigilant enough, you would notice that you can swap the cover around to reveal a stunning new piece which depicts the Songbird (Big Daddy of Columbia) towering over the floating city. As you can already guess, I liked the visuals and the character design was exactly the same with the fresh face of Elizabeth to the rock hard faces of the police that you will inevitably burn to a crunchy crisp. From visuals to sounds, you notice the crackles of the vinyl over the phonograph and the buzz of the classic microphones of the time. The flick of a coin is so simple yet so satisfying to hear. The selection of music is much like the previous with some Creedence thrown into the mix. The tension builders moved from "How much is that doggie in the window?" too new pieces created for the game.

Compared to previous entries, Infinite has an increased focus on character development that really grips you and allows you to develop a connection to both Booker and Elizabeth. Booker is a man with a past full of darkness and incredible fighting capabilities that gives him the typical badass protector persona throughout the game. Juxtaposed against Elizabeth, who spent her life locked away reading and has become quite unaware of life outside of her walls, therefore becoming quite innocent. The story starts off quite gradual and simple yet a couple hours in, the twists start to kick in in true fashion with an ending that catches everyone out and leaves you reconnecting your jaw back to your skull... Elizabeth's powers become vividly apparent but can also really help in combat scenes. Unlike most female accomplices in games, I actually like Elizabeth. She doesn't get in the way, she doesn't get attacked (All combat comes your way) and doesn't bitch on...Looking at you Resident Evil 4.

Combat is fluid and with Elizabeth's abilities, it helps to ease the onslaught of enemies when you are dry on ammo. She even finds money, health and salts for you throughout to aid in combat. A few little glitches allowed me to take out some of the baddies far easier. One being a collection of them getting stuck in a door only to be blown into pieces with my flaming shotgun. Weapons range from the original to the wacky, much like the characters you go into battle with. Fighting a robotic version of Washington with a Gatling gun is a terrifying experience and can come as a shock when they appear in groups. It is a shame that certain enemies didn't appear much throughout the game, only appearing once of twice, but this may change in the upcoming DLC.

With a game length of approximately 12 hours, it can be easy to smash out a day but it's a game that draws you back into the story to see if you can better yourself or if those decisions you made will effect the outcome of the game. HINT - It does in 1999 mode (Unlocked once you complete it on normal). It may be my Xbox but there was some laggy moments which slowed down the game for me but didn't affect combat. Surprisingly they have also removed the multi player mode which I actually quite enjoyed in Bioshock 2 and could have had potential.

Overall I loved the game, I'm a hardcore fan and would love a sequal (if possible of course). With its astonishing visuals, sounds, fluid combat and story, I give this game 10/10!
Now I can go to bed!

Bioshock Infinite Launch Trailer!

Seeing it is coming out tomorrow and I will be sat at my door waiting for it, expect it to be quiet until I smash it out.

This is pretty much teasing, I love this and can't wait to play it. Lets hope it lives up to it predecessors!

Gears of War Judgment REVIEW -SPOILERS-

Well hello everyone!, Sorry I haven't been able to do much apart from the odd trailer. Essays ain't fun!

Anyway, as you can already see, this review is about Gears of War Judgement (4).  On hearing about a sequel to Gears of War 3, I couldn't understand what they would be able to do when the Locust swarms were defeated and human society began rebuilding. However, we start a few weeks after the great war that the COG's fought in the Pendulum War's against other nations and in the aftermath of Emergence Day. Here we follow a younger Lieutenant, Damon Baird and his team 'Kilo Squad'. To set the scene, Kilo squad are dragged into a large complex while being labelled as war criminals, each character the reports to the leader of the Onyx core (Elite soldiers) in a tribunal hearing while Locusts fight the defences outside. As each character explains what happened, we play through their experience leading up to the 'crime' that they committed.

An interesting introduction and plot that managed to keep me involved. Yet that isn't hard when the main campaign took me approximately 6-7 hours of playing - Yes, I'm tired after playing till 2am but it just didn't feel long enough. For a game that costs up to £40 with an even higher RRP, you would expect to get a lot for your money. They even dropped in an extra campaign which is called Aftermath, this only took 1-2 hours. In this we follow Baird and Cole in Gears of war 3 as they go find a ship and some reinforcement for the final assault. This should have been a DLC pack or part of the story for the game it is involved in. It leaves me to think that this game was simply an opportunity of get some extra cash out of fans like myself.

Very little has changed in the world of COG's. Visuals are astonishing, with vast landscapes that need to be on a nice big 1080p screen! With new games, I will always look at their fire effects. This is my indication on whether a game is well made and well funded or vis versa. Gears had this effect which is brilliantly demonstrated with the first few minutes of game play, with a tree engulfed in flames filling the sky with a black fog. All the standard controls are back, no change there. They are still a little fiddly to start and can be a slight annoyance when you want to turn around sharply to smack a dude upside the head with your Lancer-chainsaw combo. Cover based shooting is always good but annoying when you try to switch between cover. I have also never understood how they are still alive when they hulk over any of the cover, but you know, it's only a game.

I've yet to test the online game play for this but seeing I have some time before the release of Bioshock, I should be able to give it a little poke. I know the standard games are back with all new maps. From my previous experience, online games can be really fun and do require a lot of team work between players to win matches like Horde, where you are bum-rushed by tons of the slimy gits.

Overall, the game is great fun. I'm a big fan of Gears and a big fan of excessive violence in games. As much as this is an unnecessary follow up to a game which ended quite clearly, the story was gripping and helped to describe a deeper look into Baird's background before he meet Dom even when it appears to be a way to get some extra cash, but we all know big corporations wouldn't go doing that now...Wink wink, nudge nudge...

 For this game, I will give it 7.5/10
(Because I can!, that's why!)

Tomb Raider 2013 review!

Hey guys, sorry for the late review, but now I’m back again and reviewing the new Tomb Raider game by Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix. Enjoy. 

 

The game shows the origin story of the young Lara Croft who became shipwrecked on a uncharted island somewhere near the region of Japan. There she is, forced to use all her ingenuity and strength to survive against the hostile locals, but also to discover the secrets of the island.
Due to the game being the origin story, it is a completely new beginning for the Tomb Raider series.

First of all the story is very compelling, however in the first couple of hours I did feel it was very similar to the Lost series. Why I think that is because other people get stranded on a mysterious island that has hostile locals, plus some weird un-dead zombie people. I quickly get over it. What I did have trouble with (well it made me laugh more than anything) was how unmatched the game play was to the cut scenes. What I mean by this is that Lara's character is very different from the one you actually control (in the beginning). You start off with a few cut scenes of Lara being very afraid and being very hesitant when killing a deer to eat. But then a few seconds later, you shoot arrows until the cows come home; killing wildlife around you for extra XP. Later, Lara kills her first person where one minute she is crying on the floor and the next, shooting off rounds into everything that moves.

Other than the differences of character between game play, Lara's character is well written. In fact, so well that other supporting characters seem very two dimensional in comparison! You do get to hear about what the other characters are thinking in little diaries you find around the island which adds a little bit of depth and substance, but not much more.

The controls and game play were what really hooked me; fighting, moving, jumping, climbing and shooting all felt really smooth and easy. Thank God there were no annoying camera angles! Crystal Dynamics did a really good job there.

The island Lara is stuck on is immense and fantastic to explore. Plus, if you can’t be asked to explore during the main story you can go back and explore the places you missed with some new gear after you finish it.

The puzzles themselves were not that difficult, there was only one puzzle which made me think a little harder, but luckily you don’t have solve any of the puzzles to continue in the main plot; going against the tomb raider series.

Looking back, I do have some minor complaints about this game, but to be honest I loved this game so much so that I couldn't wait to come back from work to play it. I loved the story, the action packed game play and the vastness of the island. It really made me want to look around for new treasures. I could continue explaining pros for this game for ages but bottom line is, if you want a game to kill a few hours while exploring a huge island, solving puzzles and killing hostile locals I really recommend this game to you. 9/10
BTW the multi-player sucked.

Kickass 2 trailer released!!

Here you go guys!, the brand new trailer for Kickass 2!

I can't talk much on the movie as I haven't seen the first one yet (It's in the post, get off my back), I can tell here that one of the previous 'Goodies' is now a 'Baddie' dressed as a gimp. I'm sure that is going to end well. We follow the same characters, but with a few new addiditions, Jim Carrey everybody, JIM FECKING CARREY.

As you can see, he is the reason I have bought the original and will be watching it once it arrives.

QOTD - Possibility of a scheduled movie plan?, I watch a movie on DVD or whatever, write about it and you guys add your reviews in the comments?

NEW Bioshock Infinite Trailer!!!!

Here we go guys, one of the top games for this year...which should have been last year!, but lets hope that the delays for fixes and new ideas all work out!

Here we work our way out of the sunken city of rapture and move well up into the sky to fling between lines, blow some heads open, scream with terror, giggle at the extreme violence and absorb every drop of the story that we have got used to from the previous games. On it's release day, I would have had this bad boy on pre-order for a year!, to the day!

I can tell you now, I will be smashing this game so god damn hard on release day. I just hope my day at work flies by rapidly so I can become the gaming hermit I was born to be.

Lets hope it lives up to it's hype!

Expect a review a few days after I have completed it. I will not be writing a first thoughts piece, mainly as I will be glued to my TV screen!

Hangover 3! Trailer Revealed!

If you haven't seen it, here is the new trailer released via their Facebook page. Only just be able to find it on youtube!It has Bradley Cooper in, I really don't think I need to write anything about it!

Enjoy!

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:D

Brand new Iron Man 3 trailer!

 

Within the last hour, this beauty was released! Rumoured to remove Tony Stark's armour to open a story that will be character focused and really delve into, the mind of, arguably the biggest superheroes to emerge  from the comics in many years. With an increased story, we begin to understand who Tony is. Not who Iron Man is. Since the alien attack of the Avengers, Stark has been unable to sleep, paranoia slowly creeping in and grasping at his ankles. A world of superheroes and other unimaginable forces will begin to make even the strongest among us.

Suggestions of this being the last Iron Man, worries many of us fans. Yet he will be returning for the second Avengers movie which, we all know, will kick ass and bring with it, the new Tony Stark.

This will easily become the best of the 3 films, with a mix of typical witty fun and action, mixed with a thorough story. With the huge success of Avengers, can Iron man 3 match it?

You Decide, Leave a comment on what you think of the trailer and whether Iron Man will be able to equal to success of Avengers?

Assassins Creed 4 TRAILER!

 As you could probably notice, there is a trailer for the new Assassins creed. Following from the release over the cover art which I covered yesterday, I am now even more worked up...PIRATES AND ASSASSINS! I have already pre-ordered it as it looks like it could be huge amounts of fun.

I have also now lost complete interest in what happened to Desmond as now I'm more concerned with having fun and killing a lot of baddies. In assassins creed 3, many of you may remember the little side quests that were all ship based and I really hope they continue this as they were one of my favourite additions to the games I have seen.

I don't plan to talk about this too much at the moment, but once it is revealed I will be all over it just for you, the readers!

Assasins Creed 4! Cover revealed!

Due for release on 29th October 2013, the unbelievable release of another assassins creed is hard to digest. Being quite sure that AC3 would be the final one, I was distraught to have completed it so rapidly.

Anyway, all I can tell from the cover is that we will be meeting some of the legends of the pirate era like Black beard. I will have this on pre-order, no doubt about that one as I buy into the craze. So you can expect news about it as I hear it and the a review on it when I inevitably complete it within a few days when I really should be doing coursework.

The only problem with it is that we cannot be sure when they are truly going to end this. The money is to great for them to just drop it and with the killing of Desmond at the end of the last one makes it even harder to understand where they can go on!

It is up for pre-order on amazon and most other sources. Like I said, keep your eyes out for any news or tune in here where I will try and keep you updated on such news