Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy go Telltale Episodic!

After months of waiting, Telltale have finally released a trailer for their upcoming series of the Guardians of the Galaxy which has received a very mixed response.

Watch it here!

It appears that Telltale have stepped away from their iconic art style that's prevalent in The Walking Dead and Borderlands releases and opted for a style similar to Disney's Infinity games. As a fan of the developers, I prefer the scratchy and darker hues that Telltale have demonstrated and feel like GotG is going to be commercially driven - similar to the Minecraft series. We see the emulation of the property owners styles to fit into the mainstream expectations of the younger, more mainstream audiences rather than the comic book fans and hardcore fan bases. The characters appear very long and slender with a lot of block based colours and little defining features to portray itself as a Telltale game. 

In all honestly, i feel the trailer demonstrates nothing of significant value. The action and comedy factors that underpin that Guardians of the Galaxy aren't showing through and it feels more of a show reel of that characters we will be seeing through the 5 episode series.

What do you think of the trailers, are you excited or as wary as us? Let us know in the comment section down below!

Film Review: Passengers

"There's A Reason We Woke Up Early..."

If ever were a movie to put off its' audience by sheer propaganda-esque exploitation, then Passengers is it, a movie advertised within the inch of its' life within every single cinema screening over the past four months or so, and a movie which seems to be once again a case of revealing too much to be a true success as a two-hour spectacle instead of a two-minute preview. With two of most bankable acting talents at the moment leading the way in the form of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum of The Imitation Game alongside a story by Prometheus and Doctor Strange screenwriter Jon Spaihts, is a traditionally cheesy sci-fi romance, one which gains kudos for attempting to subvert its' narrative giveaways within its' trailers with a nice juicy twist to get the film going, but ultimately succumbs to its' fundamental 12A-ness and becomes yet another flashy yet forgettable piece of cinema.

Following in the footsteps of Allied recently, a similarly forgettable tale which just happened to feature top-end A-List actors, Passengers suffers primarily from a saccharin-sweet filled narrative at its' core, one which above all, results in the concluding act of the movie being one hard not to shout "Cheese!" at, with a cliched resuscitation scene being the heart of such of a problem. Whilst Lawrence and Pratt have some decent on-screen chemistry, the absurdness of their celebrity appearance throughout the movie (Not one pixel of make-up is out of place) creates a difficulty in taking in the apparent science fiction notions the film attempts to lay on its' audience, with obvious nods to Interstellar, Alien, Solaris, Moon and even The Shining putting the film in danger of being just a reel of scenes from better and more memorable productions. Whilst there are a wide range of issues with Passengers, the inherent friendliness makes it somewhat suitable for this particular period of the year, yet its' plain-sailing approach sadly just won't make it past the month as something memorable, a shame when considering the talent on display. Also, what was the point of hiring Andy Garcia? HE DOES NOTHING. Merry Christmas.

Overall Score: 5/10

Film Review: Star Trek: Beyond

"We've Got No Ship, No Crew, How're We Going To Get Out Of This One...?

Taking the helm as only producer this time around, it is resoundingly safe to say that J. J. Abrams is the all-round geek saviour of the 20th century where long before breaking box office records and smashing countless other cinematic achievements with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mr. Abrams lit the fuse once again in regards to the nations' love of Star Trek, with a brand new team of space explorers being offset with a brand new timeline, expanding the stories of the crew upon the Enterprise to new and exciting limits. Now, six years since the first Star Trek reboot, Star Trek: Beyond continues the blockbuster success of the franchise, where although it could be regarded as the weakest of the three so far, Justin Lin's directorial space debut is solid and sometimes spectacular summer popcorn fun featuring everything you would expect from an array of actors each used to their own talents on and off-screen in the six years from which they first began their voyage into deep space, albeit if the series itself is beginning to feel ever so slightly formulaic.

Beginning with a portrayal of a day in the life of our beloved Enterprise crew, Star Trek: Beyond begins rather slowly and then ascends into a two-hour survival mission against the ominous yet dedicated figure of main antagonist Krall, played expertly by everyone's favourite Bond hopeful, Idris Elba, and his pack of cronies, hell bent on bringing destruction to those who wronged them in the past. If anything, Krall's role in Beyond is all too small, where although Elba's performance is enough to make him an effective bad guy, the script just doesn't allow his character to become complex enough to make him memorable. Of course, the one-two of Pine and Quinto brings the bromance factor to the table, sidelined by the cling-on (no pun intended) of third wheeler Bones, whilst the bad-ass duo of Zoe Saldana and Sofia Boutella gives the female characters an extensive role to bring to life. Of course, overshadowing the release of Beyond is the deeply saddening loss of Anton Yelchin, an actor lost too young and an actor whose roles in films such as Green Room and the Star Trek franchise means he will not swiftly be forgotten. Beyond is Star Trek to the T. A classic adventure with some great thrills, if not entirely up to the mark of its' predecessors within the 21st century revival trilogy. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Midnight Special

"Could We Go Back To Texas Now?"

Oh boy, it's glad to be back. Taking a much needed couple of weeks off from the cinema during the over-long Easter break, my return to the big-screen begins with Midnight Special, the newest film from the mind of Jeff Nichols, best know for films such as Take Shelter and the critically acclaimed Mud a couple of years back. Erasing the horror of my last venture into the cinema before my break, with Batman v Superman still hurting my mind every time I think about it, I ventured into Midnight Special hardly knowing anything about it apart from the incredibly solid A-List cast featuring the likes of the brilliant Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton as well as the newest Sith Lord himself, Adam Driver being on the payroll. Mixing in-between genres quicker than you can say space invaders, Midnight Special is a strange, quirky movie, one that undeniably revels in showing off it's love of movies like E.T and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in fact, it's love of Spielberg in general, yet it ultimately fails to live up to the great man, coming up short in many aspects that could have perhaps made it a future cult classic. 

Delving right into the mix of things, Midnight Special begins head-first into the action, with little characterisation to begin with being offset with ambiguous plot threads ranging from a mysterious cult, to the involvement of the FBI and DEA, and finally, the kidnapping of a young child, one whom may not be all he seems, ripping a plot device used so effectively in Rian Johnson's Looper, a film which bears minor similarities to Midnight Special, along with a hint of last years' Tomorrowland, particularly in the film's slightly over-long final third. Mix in a element of A.I, and the recipe completes the blueprints to Midnight Special, a film which begins well enough but then slightly descends into generic sci-fi territory, with added corny CGI thrown into the midst. A solid sci-fi, but nothing extraordinary, but hey, at least it's better than Batman v Superman. 

Overall Score: 6/10

TV Review: The X-Files Revival Episode Two "Founders Mutation"

"All We Can Do Scully Is Pull The Thread, See What It Unravels..."

Typical. You wait fourteen years for one of your favourite shows to return and then you get hit with two new episodes within the space of just twenty four hours. It's like London buses. Kind of. If the first episode was let down by its' extreme determination to shove as much in your face as humanly possible with the return of the shows' overlying mythology, then the second adheres to the secondary X-Files plot basis with the return of the "Monster of the Week" stories whilst featuring a heavy dose of looking back in regards to the long lost William, the son of both Mulder and Scully whom they gave up for adoption in Series 8. From the off, it is fundamentally wonderful to witness a programme as loved as The X-Files back on the small screen, and those that may have been let down by the premiere of the latest series will hopefully have their faith restored with "Founders Mutation", an episode in which it reminds us of the good old tales of the paranormal in which the original series made its' name. And oh, with added blood and gore. 

After the supposed suicide of a scientist, Agents Mulder and Scully, recently back on X-Files duty, unravel the strange circumstances regarding his death, eventually resulting in the discovery of a laboratory in which testings are made upon young children, each with extreme genetic deformities as well as dangerous and powerful paranormal powers. Sounds like an atypical episode of The X-Files does it not? And in proper succinct fashion with classic monster-of-the-week episodes, "Founders Mutation" does what X-Files has always done best; show off a creepy story with a rather mind-boggling plot but keep it together with the chemistry of its' two leads. If Duchovny and Scully were in danger of being recognised as actors who had perhaps just decided to "phone-in" their performances within this latest series, then this episode alone shows off how inherently excited and proud they must be to back in the show that quickly made them household names in the 1990's. They're having fun and so is the audience, with a script so stark-raving mad it verges on X-Files satire with the violence being turned up way past eleven it makes a Tarantino flick look harmless. It's X-Files 101 and I love it. 

   Viewers who are perhaps less than informed with the overarching mythology of the series' earlier seasons may be rather alienated by the plot thread of William, but it was interesting to see the correlation between the investigation and our agents' personal lives, one in which the discussion of their long lost child has been a good way to keep relations to the earlier plot lines established across the mythology. Perhaps the realisation of Scully's DNA being part alien will tie into the rediscovery of their adopted son, something of which may in turn be exposed in the remaining four episodes. Whatever the ultimate goal of this ever-so-short revival inevitably is, whether it be to see if interest in the show is still rife today, fans across the globe are just happy to see its' return and with "Founders Mutation" being a stark improvement on the first episode, things are only getting better.

Overall Score: 8/10

TV Review: The X-Files Revival Episode One "My Struggle"

"I'm Always Happy To See You..."

Here we are at last. After fourteen years of a anxiety-ridden wait. remedied slightly by the second feature film in 2008, The X-Files finally returns to the small screen, once again helmed by the creative genius of Chris Carter and starring, of course, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Agents Mulder and Scully respectively. Picked up by those over at FOX for a six episode event, this ever-so short revival of one of TV's greatest ever cult shows has a lot riding on it, particularly in the case for its' hard-hitting fans, myself included, who have watched endless repeats of the first nine series, due in part to the wonder of Netflix, and who most definitely have questions to answer and notions to convey but most importantly, should be the sole basis and focus of the shows' return. Sure, the series has a lot of plot lines to fill over the course of just under five hours worth of alien-goodness, but the main concern of the revival is its' desire to not let the reputation of the past be tarnished by something not entirely up to scratch. So, speaking from the heart of a true X-Files fanboy, the first episode of the series' return is everything you would expect, alien conspiracies, the end of the world, and men in black suits, but the real question remains; Is it any good?

Beginning with a heavy dose of X-Files exposition, which strangely enough doesn't even scratch the surface on the underlying mythology of the series, "My Struggle" quickly delves into the lives of present day Mulder and Scully, with the former seemingly hibernating in a dingy, dark hideaway whilst the former continues to blossom in the career of medicine, yet these lives are swiftly combined once again when they are asked to meet up with celebrity online forecaster, Tad O'Malley whose heavy sense of paranoia and strong beliefs mirror that of a much younger and much fresher looking Agent Mulder. The rest of the episode then attempts to cram pretty much everything you could think of when it comes to the plot lines of original series. Men in black. Roswell. Alien abductions. Whistleblowers. It's a strange and overly rushed start to the revival, with little chance for characterisation on anyone's part, whilst the word cameo doesn't even come close to the return of fan favourites such as Assistant Director Skinner and of course, spoilers incoming, William B. Davis as the rather aged and decrepit Cigarette Smoking Man, whose fleeing appearances seem rather thrown in for good measure.

On the other hand, the unbreakable bond of familiarity between the two leads is still fresh and ripe, even after 23 years, and its' the two central characters in Mulder and Scully which makes the episode strangely hypnotic and engaging despite its' rather obvious flaws. Beginning with a mythology led episode was inevitably going to be the way to go and for fans of the original series, it is undeniably exciting to witness its' return in the 21st century with added conspiracies of governmental control on money, resources and even food. Those poor chickens. If it was any other show, it would have lost me, but the undeniable sense of happiness to see Mulder and Scully on-screen together for the first time in years cannot be disregarded and amongst a sheer ludicrous plot, slightly ear-bouncing dialogue, and dodgy CGI, the return of The X-Files is a time for rejoicing, not one for critcising. Welcome back Agents, it's been too long.

Episode Score: 7/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode 11 "Heaven Sent"

"Clara Said "Don't Take Revenge." You Should Know I Don't Always Listen..."

Every now and then, certain programmes attempt to remind you why you, as the viewer, readily choose to invest so much time and effort, both mentally and/or physically, in such a programme in order to fuel such the heavy, and sometimes rather unhealthy, addiction that has been created from such dedication. In the case of Doctor Who therefore, a programme in which I began watching as a young child, with bundles upon bundles of Classic Who VHS’s keeping me company throughout my younger years, it is a feat unparalleled when a show almost 53 years old can keep on pulling out surprise after surprise, hit after hit, without every feeling the need to slow down and say, “hey, we’re running out of ideas here.” Although Series 9 has been a consistently strong and inventive addition to the Who canon thus far, this week’s episode truly hit new sumptuous levels, with “Heaven Sent”, showing how our most beloved of Sci-Fi shows has once again hit that high watermark, peaking in similar brilliance to some of the best ever stories that have been told over the past five decades with it ticking all the right boxes in what makes Doctor Who well, Doctor Who.

Acting as a straight-forward continuation from “Face the Raven”, with our beloved Twelfth not having any time at all to grieve at the loss of his loving companion, “Heaven Sent” immediately sets out its’ genre-bending tones in the first few scenes. Alone, lost, and completely out of his depth, we witness The Doctor being menacingly stalked by a creature simply known as The Veil, a manifestation of one of the Doctor’s memories in which he witnessed a dead woman, still cloaked in her veil, being surrounded by a hoard of death-mongering flies, with its’ full form slowly following our Doctor in every step he takes throughout a clock-work maze, utilised and set up by some form of unknown entity in order to gain the Doctor’s deepest confessions. Not only does “Heaven Sent” fully ramp the horror element of Doctor Who up to eleven, with the presence of the Veil making me jump on at least two occasions, it also manages to add an even deeper level to the character of the Doctor, with the fear of death highlighting a more human side to our favourite Time Lord whilst expanding on the very nature of the Doctor’s escape from Gallifrey all those years ago, something of which has been leaned upon ever since “The Magician’s Apprentice”.

Although in the past, Steven Moffat has been criticised by many for introducing plot lines and stories that although look fun and mean well, actually end up making no logical sense whatsoever, “Heaven Sent” shows the brilliant side of Moffat, with its’ timey-wimey plot all coming clear in a final act that ranks high amongst some of his best work for the show.  Within the midst of the Inception-esque mind-bending science fiction and fabulous inventive writing,  is the performance from Peter Capaldi, a performance that not only can be regarded as the best so far within his tenure as the Twelfth Doctor, but one of the greatest in the series to this date, with the Pertwee/Tom Baker hallmarks being fully embraced in an episode that attempts to put our Doctor well and truly through the wringer in a similar vein to the Fourth Doctor’s venture into the Matrix within “The Deadly Assassin,” an episode in which our beloved Time-Lord is also companion-less and also returns to his homeland of Gallifrey. The only negative thing to say about “Heaven Sent” is that because of its’ sheer brilliance, next week’s “Hell Bent” has so much to live up to, but for now, let us sway in the remarkable abilities of both Capaldi and Moffat with “Heaven Sent” certainly earning the right to earn a place in the hall of fame of great Who stories. Roll on next week!

Overall Score: 10/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode 10 "Face The Raven"

"I Will Die, And Nobody Here Or Anywhere Else Will Suffer..."

Here we go then... The departure of Jenna Coleman as long-term companion Clara Oswald has been big news in the Who fanbase for many months now, thanks in part to the overblown nature of the world in which social media prevents such things as spoilers and secrets (Screw you Daily Mirror!) when it comes to high profile shows such as Doctor Who, yet not many would have guessed that the departure of Coleman would have been done so nonchalantly and without warning in an episode that firstly, was not a series finale or mid-season break, but was not in fact penned by the lead writer, with newcomer Sarah Dollard being handed the task of crushing the hearts of many Clara fans out there within the Whoniverse, and given the chance to pen the final scenes between our beloved Twelfth Doctor and his latest favourite human, Clara Oswald. Coming from an eagle-eyed Who fan where even the writing or directorial credits announce something rather epic is set to happen, the untimely demise of our latest companion was a shock to say the least, albeit if it ends up serving a slightly different purpose in the next few weeks left of Series Nine.

Much like the latter end of Series Three, "Face The Raven" seems to be similar in form to that of the rather excellent "Utopia", whereby a first-thought standalone episode may in fact hold the beginnings of an epic trilogy, where this time its' focus is set clearly on the end of the line for Ms. Oswald as well as a possible return to Gallifrey, judging by the clips at the end of the episode which show the destination to which The Doctor is sent via that of a teleportation bracelet. Although the rather far-out plan spearheaded by an unknown entity forcing the Doctor into a sudden change of scenery featured way too many holes in terms of clear-cut explanation, the fact that "Face The Raven" is set to be part of a bigger story in the long-run means the two remaining episodes will hopefully clear up such mind-boggling plot-lines and explain why the character of Ashildr, played with confidence once again by the wonderful Maisie Williams, was ever needed in the first place (So much for her as the new companion too don't you think?)

If anything, "Face The Raven" felt strangely enough like a return of the Russel T Davies led Who, with the sets in which the unknown Diagon Alley-esque streets were presented feeling rather 420p, leading me to believe we had returned to 2007 and David Tennant as The Doctor, a notion not helped by the return of Davies era creatures such as the Judoon, yet witnessing Peter Capaldi looking rather suave in his Pertwee-inspired velvet coat gave a soft reminder that we were in fact back in 2015, with Capaldi once again showing his awe-inspiring range of emotion with his sheer heartbreak at not knowing what to do in order to save his long-term companion, a devastating loss that is set to have major repercussions in the weeks that follow. Whatever you do, don't make THIS Doctor angry. Although Clara's death in this week's episode of Doctor Who seemingly marked the end of the line for our latest companion, the means to her end ultimately felt strangely uncertain, albeit managing to  play rather effectively on the heartstrings, suggesting more is certainly set to come within the next few weeks in the concluding parts of Series Nine, a series which just keeps getting better and better.

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Nine "Sleep No More"

"None Of This Makes Any Sense!"

As a huge advocate of horror movies in general, this week’s episode of Doctor Who attempted to hop aboard the well-and-truly-used trope train that is the “found footage” genre, a film-making technique that has now begun to strike fear into the heart of many critics who believe the invention of franchises such as Paranormal Activity and subsequent admirers, including this years’ terrible The Gallows, have well and truly sealed the fate of the once ground-breaking mode of movie-making which although came to the attention of many with the release of The Blair Witch Project in the late 1990’s, can be traced all the way back to the release of Cannibal Holocaust in the mid-1900’s. For me personally therefore, “Sleep No More” was bound to be an interesting and slightly off-key episode of Doctor Who, yet the signs were inherently positive from the beginning. Doctor Who meets The Blair Witch Project? Sounds unmissable in my book.

Beginning with a notable dismissal of the opening theme tune and credits, something of which I believe has not occurred throughout the shows’ 52 year history, we are introduced to a spectacle-wearing mystery, a man who appears to be the last survivor of a deserted space station, and a man who is very clearly telling us not to watch any of what is to come in the next 45 minutes. Intrigued? Sure, and add into the equation a minor rescue squad and the rather swift introduction of some rather eerie deathly creatures, this weeks’ episode sets the tone straight away, with “Sleep No More” essentially being Doctor Who meets Event Horizon with a dash of Blair Witch, and it’s rather brilliant. Although it can be easily argued that Who has kind of missed the boat when it comes to embracing the lost art of the found footage genre, it can also equally be argued that with all the nonsensical releases that adhere to such a format released in the past few years, that Who in 45 minutes has accomplished what some feature films completely miss out on, a sense of threat and drama which uses the found footage technique to its’ advantage in creating a spooky and fundamentally organic episode of Doctor Who, of which, I believe, will be one of the most memorable episodes of the Capaldi era in years to come.

Where the episode strangely both succeeds and fails is in its’ attempt to coherently paint a picture of what is actually happening aboard the spaceship, with the Doctor’s ramblings of “None of this makes any sense!” essentially mirroring the exact same feelings from the viewer with Mark Gatiss’ script obviously attempting to be rather ambiguous in a similar vein to last years’ Series 8 episode, “Listen”, a trait I believe will cause some viewers to underrate the episode because of its’ desire to not paint out a whole picture by the numbers and instead leave it dangling by a titillating thread. Ending on a rather spooky cliff-hanger, “Sleep No More” continues the trend of Series 9’s surprising consistency, mixing the found-footage genre in with the sci-fi wonder that is The Doctor and Clara’s ventures around time and space, making it for me personally, one of the best of Capaldi’s reign so far. 

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episodes Seven/Eight "The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion"

"You Have Left Us With An Impossible Situation, Doctor..."

This week I have to admit to taking a slight and minor kop-out when it comes to our weekly review of Doctor Who wherein instead of focusing on just one episode, I felt it was plausible to review both stories of the returning Zygon menace at the same time due to not only having all the facts and all the answers to the questions from both parts of the story, but mainly because it fits in rather well with my over-burdened work schedule (Screw you real life!). Returning from their short stint in the 50th anniversary episode, "The Day of The Doctor", an episode where we were left with the notion that the remaining Zygon threat had successfully been integrated into society via that of a rather flimsy peace treaty, "The Zygon Invasion/Inversion" focuses on the uprising of a rogue Zygon threat, hell bent on releasing chaos throughout the world whilst attempting to break free from the secretive nature of their newly found Earth-based lifestyle. It is no surprise that this season of Doctor Who has definitely been more on the solid and consistent side than those previous with the return of the two-parter no doubt being one of the many reasons why with this week's story only adding to the quality that has been inherent throughout this year's entry into the Who canon so far.

The fundamental image that comes to mind whenever the Zygons are on-screen in Doctor Who, whether it be their first appearance in the 1975 Tom Baker serial Terror of the Zygons, or in today's NuWho, is that of the alien race present in the many versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a tale in which the titular "body snatchers" slowly take over the earth by hatching duplicates of those they have captured and then integrating themselves into society. Sound familiar? Of course, but what this week's tale effectively managed to do was increase the paranoia and sense of unknown of which the alien Zygon race automatically bring about with them whenever they appear on our screens culminating in a rather spectacular appearance of the "evil" Clara, a Zygon doppelganger of our beloved companion who tortuously attempts to bring about the death of not only Clara, The Doctor and that UNIT, but the entire world, with Jenna Coleman clearly having bundles of fun with her newly found evilness in such a role.

Where part one of this latest Zygon tale sought to show the uprising of the Zygon threat, the second part ultimately concluded in a resolution that not only was similar to that of the discussion that took place between human/Zygon Kate in "Day of the Doctor", but also gave Peter Capaldi another chance to shine, with his speech in which he describes the horror of war and the consequences it brings being another accolade in the Twelfth Doctor's already star-studded reign as the travelling Time Lord, a speech both incredibly heart-felt and powerful whilst being incredibly apt for a British audience in terms of its' relevance to Remembrance weekend. Not only does "The Zygon Invasion/Inversion" show how the two-part format most definitely has added a new level of consistency to NuWho, but it also shows that when a story is given that extra amount of time to breath and to metaphorically spread its' legs, can result in a quality that may have been absent if squeezed into the relatively short and rather familiar, 45 minute time slot, something of which we seemingly are returning to next week in the Mark Gatiss penned, "Sleep No More". Will it hold up to the quality of Series 9 so far? We shall see. 

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Halo 5: Guardians - The gift that doesn't give - Xbox One Review

Let's get straight to the point, I'm no Halo fanatic. In fact, I didn't care very much for him. I picked up the series from 3 and just enjoyed shooting stuff. Even more so when I probably paid £20 for the lot making it worth the investment. Now I thought I'd change that and jump onto the pre-order bandwagon for Halo 5. Was it worth it? Hell nah

For anyone who has read previous articles, you'll be well aware that I enjoy story. Halo's trailers depicted a rogue Master Chief being chased down by another Spartan called Locke; a hench dude with a a beard that looks like he's drawn it on with a whiteboard marker. Surrounded by rubble, the 2 variants features both characters in vice versa roles drawing their weapon to shoot the restrained one. The whole world appeared to be mourning the death of Chief and the whole thing looked very distopian. Jump into the game and its dramatically different. There is only one confrontation between the characters and this is just over the halfway mark in the game, so about 3-4 hours in and lasts a mere 30 seconds. Chief isn't dead and the world has a far different threat to deal with. SPOILERS - Its Cortana. She's gone batshit crazy and is now planning to police all of the known worlds with some crazy machines. Here is the problem, after 6-8 hours of gameplay, the story isn't actually finished. The credits roll, the game is over and you're left wondering why you spent a fortune for something that wasn't even complete and drags a story so dull and lacklustre on for another instalment. I've played indie games for longer that were cheaper and far more enjoyable. It's the perfect depiction of a cash cow and it'll become another yearly game that bleeds money from its consumers because some mechanics are slightly different and the multiplayer maps have changed - aka Call of Duty.


Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my experience of shooting stuff on platforms, moving on and rinse and repeat a hundred times, but I'm a different kettle of fish. I'm not there for multiplayer, I'm here for lots of fun and I didn't get that. We've established that the story was pulled from the inner rim of a public toilet but lets talk about everything else wrong with it.

• Its recycled
• Characters and Voice acting were rather dull (Sorry Nathan Fillion, you don't sell it)
• Weapons lack diversity, power and ammo. Seriously, how the fuck does it take a full magazine to kill one enemy!?
• No diversity in enemies. They're dropped in from the beginning and they never change so levels don't ramp up in difficulty, they just add more
• Repetitive zones and boss - Literally, its all the same
• God awful boost mechanic which moves you about 3ft at a time

Its not a long list, sure. Yet its a big list when the only things I can draw from it that are actually good are the visual cut scenes,general graphics and the sound effects. Many people worry about triple A games and the reviewers who cover them for the big publications and so far, these big guys have talked up and marketed these titles as some of the best games ever. I simply cannot agree and with complaints and rumours of paid promotions and reviews by these publications, its not looking good.
I'm currently debating selling or returning this item because it was honestly a bleed on an already tight purse that didn't give its customers what they really deserved - A game for the people, not for the bank account.

6/10 - Tune in next time to see the gradual decline of triple A games in record time

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Six "The Woman Who Lived"

"You'll Have To Remind Me, What's Sorrow Like?"

If last week's episode of Doctor Who attempted to cram in as much craziness as humanly possible, with electric eels, spider mines, testosterone craving alien race, and of course, Arya Stark, then this week's concluding half of the story of Ashildr, was much more composed and carefully designed to focus on the possibility of immortality from someone else's point of view, rather than that of the wandering Time Lord who seems all too secure with the notion that he may just carry on travelling around the galaxy for eternity. What "The Woman Who Lived" attempted to embrace was the notion that immortality and the chance to live throughout Earth's long and arduous history is in fact a terrifying nightmare, with young Ashildr, played tremendously once again by Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, facing the fact that all her gift brings her is heartbreak and pain. Kudos must surely go to not only the writers and the actors, but the general distributors of this particular episode in the form of the BBC who even though are continued to be getting a hard time in the press, continue their argument for success with the balls out approach in releasing an episode of Doctor Who that wasn't all spaceships and mud monsters and instead focused on the coldness of loss and the painful nature of death.

Such a notion of death and loss was clearly emphasised to reach out to the impending departure of Jenna Coleman as long-serving assistant Clara Oswald, who even though only showed up in the last few minutes of this week's episode, had just enough screen-time to emphasise that her bubbly demeanor and classy Blackpudlian accent will well and truly be missed by everyone, particularly The Doctor himself, who ended the episode staring at our beloved companion with a sense of sadness in the knowledge that he well and truly knew the answer to Ashildr's question of how many Clara's had been lost throughout the Doctors' own long lifespan. Ultimately, the slight reservations of the episode was when it duly swerved off course from the deep characterisation study and then remembered it was in fact a science-fiction show, resulting in a concluding act that felt rather rushed and wholly out of place for an episode in which the first half was truly something rather genius in retrospect and different from the usual swing of Doctor Who, something of which we look like getting more of next week with the return of the Zygons. Solid Who once again, this season is one to keep an eye on.

Overall Score: 8/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Five "The Girl Who Died"

"Immortality Means Watching Everyone Else Die..."

Five weeks into this latest series of Doctor Who and it is fair to say that this week's episode, written two-fold by both chief writer Steven Moffat and Jamie Mathieson, the mastermind behind two of last series' best episodes in "Mummy On The Orient Express" and "Flatline", is completely bonkers. Not only are we rushed straight between space, spider mines, and Vikings within the space of five minutes, but "The Girl Who Died" also featured not one, but two fake reincarnations of Odin, with the latter screaming an oath to Valhalla in a similar vein to the War Boys in Mad Max: Fury Road, an alien battle fleet known as the Mire, and Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams as the mysterious Ashildr, who although carried speculation of being someone of vital importance to the Doctor such as Susan Foreman or someone of similar familiarity, simply was in the end, a Viking girl, albeit a rather extraordinary one who is set to feature quite a bit in the concluding part next week.

In the midst of all this complete and utter mayhem, which although was pretty darn fun from the outset, resulted in a overly flashy, if rather underdeveloped episode in terms of certain aspects such as character development and plot threads (I mean is it just me, or did the reasoning behind the creation of the massive eel thing seem rather brushed over?), is the performance from Peter Capaldi who once again showed the flawless nature in which he can divert his incarnation of the travelling time lord from the humorous, sarcastic stick insect, to the snarling, emotion-riddled old alien that he is, with the speeches in which he explains the curse of immortality and the realisation of why his face is something in which is overly familiar, a real standout of the episode. As for immortality, this week's cliffhanger showed how such may have affected one young viking girl in particular with next week once again setting up a whole new range of questions that need to be adequately answered. Man, I'm glad these two-parters are back.

Overall Score: 8/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Four "Before The Flood"

"Who Composed Beethoven's 5th?"

Beginning this week's latest episode of The Doctor's travels in time and space was an unusual change of atmosphere with the fourth wall being well and truly broken by Mr. Capaldi in a vein that heavily reminded me of John Normington in The Caves of Androzani when, after misunderstanding the script and stage direction, directly addresses the viewer with his lines, much to the enjoyment of both the producers and die-hard Doctor Who fans across the globe who all agree in coherence that Peter Davison's farewell was rather splendid indeed, with that scene in particular being one to remember. Although "Before The Flood" is not entirely in the league of classics that include "The Caves of Androzani", the concluding part of Toby Whithouse's two-parter definitely attempted to stir the brain-cells with more mind-bending timey-wimey action, a frightening, if underused, monster-of-the-week, and a final moment to ponder upon cemented around the confounding notion of The Bootstrap Paradox, a theory in which the fourth wall was shattered down and explained to the audience by the guitar-wielding Twelfth Doctor of whom we all are beginning to cherish and love.

If last week's episode upped the ante on the scares and solidified a focus on character development, aiming towards more of a direction of horror, then "Before The Flood" chose to replace such with full-out monster mayhem; think Aliens rather that Alien, with The Fisher King being a ominous presence from start to finish, who although seemed way too much of a physical threat for The Doctor and co, was defeated in roundabout fashion, linking back to one of the questions that was being asked right from the start of Whithouse's two parter; what or who is in the stasis chamber? Surprisingly, all of the remaining questions that were left hanging at the conclusion of "Under The Lake" were all dealt with in a satisfactory fashion, particularly the origin of The Doctor's ghost form and the real point of the creepy apparitions in the first place. Where the episode ultimately succeeded however, was the way in which the origin of the Bootstrap Paradox, in which the legend of Beethoven was well and truly questioned, fashionably attempted to cover all the holes opened wide by the timey-wimey nature of Whithouse's script, emphasised by the final shrug and smirk of the Doctor, who, like us, must have been pondering on whether his meddles in time and space actually do make sense after all.

Overall Score: 8/10 

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Three "Under The Lake"

"They're Ghosts! Yeah, Ghosts!"

I can't help but think that the amount of influence that Peter Capaldi has had since his arrival as the formidable, highly sarcastic, yet inherently heartwarming Twelfth Doctor is one of the few reasons why in the latest series of Doctor Who, we are being treated to a wider range of two-part stories, an obvious hark back to the classic era of Doctor Who where stories were not just told over the course of a brief 45 minute stint, but in fact, over the course of weeks leading into months. Take one of my favourite Doctor Who stories for example in the form of Jon Pertwee's Inferno, a story so laced with atmosphere and tension, that to squeeze it all into a shorter amount of time would have no-doubt have prevented it from the classic Who story it has become, and ironically enough, this weeks' adventure into an underwater base features a heavy breeze of old school Who, something of which those who love the classic era were bound to enjoy regardless of its' rather over-lapping familiarity. 

Although ghosts, yeah, actual ghosts, may not have been privy to the Doctor and his travels thus far in his many years of exploration, other parts of "Under The Lake" surely must have felt extremely familiar to the self-proclaimed madman in a box, with the setting of a scarce, cut-off base being something that has been presented before ("The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit") whilst the cliffhanger in which we see our beloved Doctor take the form of a other-worldly style doppelganger being an almost complete mirror image of the cliffhanger to the Matt Smith two-parter, "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People". Aside from the overly familiar tropes of "Under the Lake", the episode was actually quite creepy on occasions, with the scene in which our beloved heroes attempt to trap the ghostly entities overly nail-biting whilst the ways in which the crew were being slowly picked off was indeed quite alarming, adhering to the "darker side" of NuWho which the show has attempted to swing towards. 

Within all the hammer-horror moments of the episode was Capaldi at his sharpest, with the Doctor's intense amount of knowledge and experience being truly put to the test in the face of an unknown danger, whilst the scene in which Clara helps the Doctor act out his more human side with the aid of different cue-cards, wholly entertaining and suiting Capaldi's take on the Doctor to a capital T. Of course, acting as a first of a two-part episode, "Under The Lake" essentially involved a heck of a lot of buildup for the conclusion of the story next week which sometimes made the episode drag ever so slightly, but if the teaser for next week is anything to go by, the second two-part story of this current season of NuWho is set to be something rather magical. 

Overall Score: 8/10 

Film Review: The Martian

Life On Mars

When the first theatrical trailer for Ridley Scott's new sci-fi movie The Martian was released to the world a few months back, the two-minute clip was so spoiler-heavy in terms of some rather important plot points, you could have been easily forgiven for not choosing to pay to watch what essentially might have been a two and a half hour extension of the ideas highlighted in that particularly short amount of time, and when a following six-minute trailer for the film was released soon after the first, I completely blocked it in order to save some of the excitement for the film's release. If you were one of the many who chose to watch The Martian in its' six-minute release format, I can't imagine you could have been overly impressed by the complete package, with it, like Everest recently, suffering from the now-familiar problem that its' core shocks and storylines were overtly spoiled before the film's release in a vain attempt to sell the film to the masses via that of a trailer, something of which detracts the film from the excellence it could have possibly become.

When the NASA led Ares III manned mission to Mars is forced to retreat due to heavy storms and dangerous weather, astronaut and acclaimed botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left for dead on the planet after being hit by debris, yet soon after, NASA realise Watney is in fact alive and well on the planet after surviving the accident and is now attempting to survive on Mars for the duration of time it takes until the next scheduled NASA mission lands. Using the wide range of expertise of both Watney and those back on Earth, the two combine in an attempt to accomplish the miracle of getting Watney back home, a destination all of 33 million miles away. Directed by the genius that is Ridley Scott, creator of two of my favourite films of all time in the form of Blade Runner and Alien, The Martian proves to be one of his better works in recent times but ultimately fails to touch the greatness of some of his most prestigious work whilst feeling indirectly and unfortunately familiar to the masterpiece that was last year's Interstellar, with the film even going so far as having some of the same actors (Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain) whilst having an unbelievably uncanny plot point that derives straight from last years' Nolan epic (Matt Damon being stranded alone on a alien planet).

Areas in which the film succeeds is the way in which Damon's portrayal of the lone astronaut Mark Watney is strongly handled with him neither passing into the realm of annoyance or boredom and instead being an interesting and well-developed character throughout, whilst the interaction of geeks and gargantuan space-filled characters on Earth was also highly enjoyable with a wide range of unexpected comedic content, aside from the inclusion of Donald Glover's Rich Purnell whose annoying ten-minute inclusion almost ruined every scene in which he was present. Excellent also was the presentation of the desperate wasteland that is Mars, with Dariusz Wolski's cinematography being on tip-top form when confronted with the planet's desolate surroundings. The main problem in my opinion with The Martian, aside from it being around twenty-minutes too long, was there was no real sense of threat for the character of Mark Watney, with it being blindingly obvious that his escape from Mars was set to be a successful venture, something of which was rather disappointing, whilst the sometimes cheesy script and dialogue (That Iron Man scene...Eugh) resulted in The Martian being a solid return for Sir Ridley, but nothing actually that spectacular on the face of it. 

Overall Score: 7/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Two "The Witch's Familiar"

"Anyone For Dodgems?"

The fundamental strangeness to this years' two-part opener of Doctor Who stems from the notion that it feels way too much like a series finale, something of which can't be said of any of the eight series' previous of NuWho, with the return of "arch-nemesis" Davros being one the most shocking and unexpected characters to return this early on in the series. Where "The Magician's Apprentice" essentially allowed the audience to witness the return of the Doctor this year in proper rock n' roll fashion with a heap of effective buildup and plot development, "The Witches' Familiar" takes a whole step further by delving deeper into the relationship between two contrasting couples; Missy and Clara and Davros and The Doctor, whilst continuing to play on the established riffs set years earlier of genocide and choice in the Tom Baker serial "Genesis of the Daleks". Where last years' series finale double-header of "Dark Water" and "Death In Heaven" started off brilliantly yet ultimately fizzled out by the time of its' conclusion, the start to this years' series has been a brilliant and welcome return for The Doctor, with "The Witch's Familiar" not falling behind its' predecessor at all and instead wholly surpassing it.

Within the depths of greatness present in "The Witch's Familiar" lies ultimately, a fantastic lead performance from Capaldi as The Doctor, who surely now has shrugged off the little criticism he had at the start of his tenure and has taken to his new persona with aplomb. Not only does Capaldi address both the darker and lighter sides of the Doctor better than possibly any before him, (with Ecclestone a close second) with scenes of sheer hatred towards Davros being contrasted with scenes of a much more comedic nature, particularly when Davros' mode of transport is duly repossessed, much to the audience's and the Doctor's enjoyment. Not only does Capaldi shine, but so too does the return of Julian Bleach, whose portrayal of Davros surely must rank as one of the greatest of all time in the mythology of Doctor Who, with the scene in which tears and compassion trick the Doctor into helping his evil plans being wholly majestic from start to finish. 

In terms of the overall layout for the season, the organic plot point of the Doctor's involvement in a supposed Time Lord/Dalek hybrid automatically grabbed my attention, with the reasoning for the Doctors' departure from Gallifrey perhaps being the reaction to such, a storyline that is inevitably set to be expanded upon over the course of the next couple of months or so, whilst the foreshadowing of Clara's imminent departure surely must have been played upon during the heartbreaking scene in which she attempted to stop the Doctor from killing her when inside the Dalek (a hark back to "Planet of the Daleks"), a scene in which had a range of different symbolic interpretations ranging from Clara's first appearance in "Asylum of the Daleks", to the underlying genetic makeup of the Daleks and their quest for hatred rather than compassion. "The Witch's Familiar" ultimately proved that two-part Doctor Who serials are not wholly dead and buried, setting up the series with a bang and reviving everyone's love for the most famous time-travelling madman. 

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode One "The Magician's Apprentice"

Enemies Reunited

After a wholly unbearable wait of almost nine and a half months, Doctor Who has finally returned to our screens with the wonderful Peter Capaldi reprising his role as the 12th (13th or 14th depending on your own POV) Doctor with trusty Jenna Coleman keeping her place as loving assistant Clara Oswald, albeit for the time being with it being confirmed that she is set to leave the programme at the end of the series. Her departure will be examined at a much later date but for now, the return of Doctor Who featured everything you could possibly desire from a programme that even in its' ninth season since its' return in 2005 is running strong and arguably, is better than ever, with the overly dark, adult tones prominent in series 8 being continued upon, with themes of genocide, child killing, and regret all resulting in "The Magician's Apprentice" being a booming, if rather eerie, return for the Doctor and his TARDIS.

When a programme such as Doctor Who has been running for longer than half a century, certain plot threads and storylines are inevitably going to either end up tangled up in knots or re-visited, something of which can be said of "The Magician's Apprentice", an episode that borrows heavily from themes first presented in Tom Baker's classic episode, "Genesis of the Daleks", a story in which the Doctor is sent back to Skaro by his fellow Time Lords in order to prevent the creation of the Daleks from ever occurring, yet instead of simply hiding from such, series nine's opening episode takes one step further from the Fourth Doctor's attempts by asking the question whether the Doctor would kill the creator of the Daleks if he met him as a child? The revelation of Davros in the opening scene in which the creepy, yet rather brilliant hand-mines are the cause of almost certain death for the young creator of the Daleks was simply excellent particularly if you, like me, refrained from spoiler-tastic Twitter feeds and journalists who stupidly revealed the return of one of the Doctor's biggest enemies before the episode's launch.

Of course, Peter Capaldi is excellent as the aging Time Lord running from the threat of Davros' hate, whilst the rather anti-climactic return of Michelle Gomez as Missy sought to highlight the rather bonkers approach she has taken to the role of the Master who even through their many battles, still remains one the Doctor's oldest friends, evident with Missy receiving the last will and testament of the Doctor, something of which was not sent to Clara, much to her distaste. If their are problems with the episode, these include the rather overlong guitar-wielding scene, and the cringe-worthy, almost wooden performance of Jemma Redgrave as UNIT Director Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, but with these being swiftly looked over, "The Magician's Apprentice" is a solid return for the Twelfth Doctor, with the return of Davros being a rather unexpected bonus resulting in an eagerly anticipated climax to the story which is set to air this coming Saturday. Welcome back, Doctor Who!

Overall Score: 8/10 

Film Review: Pixels

Game Over

Within the space of the past two weeks or so, the gods of cinema declared it within out interest to allow Adam Sandler to release not one, but two films in which he takes leading roles. If you saw my review of the awfully dull The Cobbler last week, you would have seen that Sandler's first attempt at some sort of cinematic redemption flopped entirely yet the much more publicised release of this weeks' Pixels seemed always to be the one in which Sandler was set to be at least slightly praised for. What can be said about the Christoper Columbus directed Pixels then? Is it any good? Not really. Is it terrible? Not at all. Does it feature Adam Sandler as a burned out low-life with no sense of future or accomplishment who somehow ends up with the gorgeous supporting actress through a wacky turn of events? Of course. Sandler territory here we are.

Years after a space probe featuring classic arcade games from the early 1980's is sent into space, weaponised versions of such games declare war on Earth, much to the horror of President Cooper (Kevin James) who enlists the help of childhood friend Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) and Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) to use their expert knowledge on arcade games to defeat the evil presence that has engulfed their planet. Sound cool right? And to be fair to Pixels, its' well designed CGI and willingness to go full retro does play the cool card every time said arcade games are brought to life on-screen, but is ultimately let down by a farcical and cliched script, cringe-worthy acting, particularly, and strangely, from Dinklage of all people, and an adolescent desire to retire to age-old jokes about women and sex. Typical Sandler territory then. Although it may not be as mind-numbingly boring as The Cobbler, Pixels ultimately fails at bringing a rather cool premise to fruition and instead only accomplishes in being another cog on the wheel of Sandler's embarrassing filmography. 

Overall Score: 4/10