Fear the Walking Dead - Episode 1 Pilot Review

Fear the Walking Dead was a big concern of mine. I cherish the Walking Dead series through many avenues but a spin-off sounded more like a desperate attempt to generate more and maintain the buzz around zombies in popular culture and milk the cow for a little longer. But honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Entering into LA where the outbreak of the zombie virus is just beginning to take effect, we join our first group comprised of two teachers, Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) and Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and her two children Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). Here we begin with Nick in some run down church after doing enough meth to kill a horse (perhaps explaining why he looks so much like one). Almost instantly we are thrown into the zombie apocalypse with 3 dead and one psycho women chomping away at their faces. Fleeing from the area, presuming it was all some bad trip, Nick lands himself in hospital after playing Chicken with a sedan. Enter the awkward family love triangle. Typical step father (Travis) not being deemed as good by his new family and rejected by his original. From here on its about Travis understanding what is going on with Nick and throughout we begin to get bigger and bigger hints about the upcoming shit storm about to hit the world. It feels very real. Its not a superhero with the ability to punch through every wall in their way, its a normal person reacting to an extraordinary situation in the ordinary way. Its a very believable collection of reactions and that in itself is very refreshing towards the larger series.

So, its looking promising, but what about acting? In all fairness, I can honestly say I've never seen any of the actors before apart from Cliff Curtis and that was for a mildly entertaining ER show called Trauma, but there was a reason that didn't survive more than 1 series. The acting in general was okay but my biggest bane is once again young actors. Often their scenes felt full of teen angst with lacklustre acting that belongs in crappy teen movies. Nick seems like a giant shit bag with a potentially complex narrative that will hopefully see him develop into an awesome character to follow later down the line.

Is it worth the watch? Hell yes. Even more so if you're eagerly anticipating season 6 of its parent. The refreshing take on the zombie world has made Fear the Walking Dead a great entry into the lore and environment that separates itself from the activities of its comic book and Telltale variants.

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.

The Walking Dead Game - QUICKY REVIEW - SPOILERS

I truly cannot believe that I left it so long to play this game. I have just wrapped up playing it and it's safe to say that the game was one of the best I have played. With the morale choices, the cause and effects moment that shapes the story, I find myself emotionally attached, possibly a little drained. A game, with such a detailed, exuberant story and character development has managed to make me feel for the characters in a way that I would not normally do. Moments of sheer panic make me crease, fear making too much noise or shouting at the screen for the stupid thing I just did.

Just looking back through the story, reminiscing on the short, but wondrous journey I've just undertaken, I feel a sense on anger and dismay at how we ended episode 5. Leaving Clementine to wonder the world alone, in search for who ever you told her to look for is dark and really kicks you in the teeth when you could have kept Lee if he didn't just go grabbing things. It was dark, gritty and disturbing, especially when you don't know who the two silhouettes are (Just downloaded 400 Days, so hopefully that will shed some light on it for me). It's a testament to how well the game was scripted and directed, you felt for the characters like you would in the books. It doesn't help that I had a soft spot for Clem. A bond between her and Lee was adorable and blossomed quickly but she played an asset all the way through, which other character didn't. With the love for some of the characters, you also hate a few and I tended to them in the best of fashion...

The ability to change the outcome of he story is crazy, every twist and turn is calculated for. Extra lines written, new dialogue for each part which also affects the story. It's a complicated process and is just stunning to look at it being done. It's a shame that you can't save certain people, most notably would be Lee. Without him and the announcement of a season 2 makes it unknown territory with new characters and could leave you with no answers at the end.

There is only a few problems I had with this game. Fortunately, I bought the hard copy and got all of the episodes, but I feel those that did could have felt a little cheated on the purchases. My second issue is the visuals. They are gorgeous and remind me of Borderlands but darkness levels plummet at points that make it really difficult for you to even see Lee, and some of the smaller textures, like the bushes, looked a little messy. Thirdly, the Sound is variable. I found myself turning the volume up and down continuously, alongside a lot of the glitching and buggyness, it was making it hard to watch the videos, which was a let down. Finally, the last problem I have is with the shooting. Aiming is incredibly difficult, sluggish and unresponsive. Aiming on FPS games is crisp and easy to use, but it takes the biscuit for me. Glitching about as I'm trying to shoot makes it hard enough and the sluggish movement isn't helping anyone.
So overall? Due to a few technical issues, I shall be giving this a 9/10. With a little more focus on the technical aspects of the game, season 2 should be one hell of a ride. Please comment if you would like a review of 400 days once I'm done playing and be sure to check out the new youtube channel that is in the works. Has a few Walking dead testers on there but check it out! - http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackRibbonGaming

World War Z Quicky Review! -Spoilers-

I shall let you know now, I have no idea how to review this movie. My irrational phobia of zombies made this movie had to concentrate and the fact that I watch very little horror/thriller movies, gives me little, if any understanding of the genre and style it works in. But I shall give it a stab!

As you could probably have guessed, World War Z is based on a book which depicts the rise of an infection that mutates humans and creates the walking dead. It's a simple plot, but the focus is more on the tension that can be built, alongside acting. The basic premise is the simple part.

Attention falls primarily on top of the tension builders. For instance, a scene - which is eerily reminiscent of Dead Island's hotel scenes - we are working through the tight spaces of a lab with little weaponry and at a crawl to avoid zombie attention. Music builds at the right points, silently enough that it fills the scene without being obvious and every environmental sound pricks your hair up. The perfect mix of music and scenery made the whole cinema quiet, my sweaty fists crushing my girlfriends hand as I squeeze uncontrollably.

However, there is instances where tension is diminished and can be somewhat laughable. The
dormant zombies do very little apart from repeating a movement continuously. As ominous as this sounds, a zombie bumping it's head against a wall, just looks stupid. It doesn't create a sense of mindless killer. We also come face to face with one which isn't biting but acts like a hamster or rabbit which it munches on a carrot. The performance was laugh worthy, due to it being way over the top but the make-up was unbelievably realistic.

On the topic of performance, Brad Pitt's was good; not amazing, but good. For the majority of the movie, the camera is focused on him and what he is looking at. We do also get a few variations from Brad, but we don't connect to them very well as the have no character development and very little line. The characters that do stand out are the adopted son, and the family. The adopted son, comes out of nowhere and does nothing, the youngest daughter screams continuously while the eldest chooses to ignore instructions and almost get themselves killed and finally the mother. I swear down, this women just wants her husband dead and is extremely stupid! (You will see why, if not comment and I will tell you! xD)

On a final note, the cinematography is great, framing on certain scenes cut out things that are quite sick which helps keep a low age rating, but also factors out the excessive Tarrintino blood. We also have little snapshots of what Pitt is observing, all of which are clues for him to piece together - or the audience if you can work it out before him. Another scene is one of the first zombie encounters in Korea. The lighting of the plane, mixed with heavy rain and the screeches of ensuing zombies makes the scene incredibly vivid and the whole area sticks in your mind as one of the best sets I have seen.

So, I feel that my overall rating will have to be 7/10. Its smart use of the camera and the thrill-ride of a journey which had my heart pounding and my girlfriends hand throbbing were all great bonuses, but you do feel that certain characters are an annoyance, zombies behaviour is entertaining and the story was a little sparse.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 - Uprising DLC! REVIEW

As you can tell, this is about the new DLC for Call of Duty!
Within this DLC pack we have 4 new maps, a new zombie mode with some new guns to blow stuff up!

To avoid me tearing my hair out when playing online, I created a private match and just went through to critic the maps on my likes and dislikes.

First map on this list is.....ENCORE
The map is alright, it's supposed to represent an actual concert but seems way to small for such an event... The map doesn't really stick out and grip you to your seat but I can bet it will get your blood pumping when you have a round of free for all with your friends alongside some sub machine guns. But first, make sure your friends aren't campers, otherwise you're gonna have a bad time! The description for the map talks about sight lines, yet they are incredibly small and really ruin the whole sniper aspect of the weapons system. However, COD players tend to enjoy quick-scoping rather than the simple and realistic methods...

The next map is MAGMA
Right, so we are now in Asia, a big volcano has gone off and there is lava everywhere. There are no invisible walls to stop you from exiting the map, just hot magma that kills you instantly when you step on the cooling sections...Further around the map I start to watch the lava roll down the hill and I know it's hard to make it look like the lava is flowing but it just doesn't look right in the parts that require detailing to get right. Some of the fire effects are poor and a lot of stuff is simply copied and pasted from other maps. This map is nothing spectacular but the lava is a nice touch to keep you on your toes but more campy spots found!

Now VERTIGO
Vertigo is eerily reminiscent of Highrise for MW2. With medium length stretches and small rooms, combat is well varied, however a lack of sniper high points make the map look fairly level or flat. The map was dragged straight from the game making you wonder why it wasn't part of the online on release day, but we know that game companies, most notably the cod franchise; like to get their hands on more money. It also seems that they run out of map ideas and just threw this one in there as they already had it all set up.

Finally STUDIO
This map is my personal favourite from the maps. The original map (Range) was also good fun in the original Black Ops but why they couldn't have made these free when they are from previous games, it really makes me wonder. On spawning into the map, I noticed barrels, explosive barrels which can quite easily spawn kill you if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time!
The T-rex and other mechanical robot things move and make robotic motion noises, but lack a roar or a screech (in the case of the Alien thing) when you walk past it, which could be created with a simple trip switch. The varied sections liven each area up and make it obviously identifiable when calling for help in certain areas. "HELP ME!, I'M STUCK IN THE ALIEN WORLD" will certainly make life easier when you are a tad stuck. Once again though, COD didn't have the decency to make a new map, just take the remains of a map which became campers map shortly after it's original release.

MOB OF THE DEAD!!!

Upon opening the zombie world you are given 2 areas to select from, Cell Block [Grief] or Sunset Strip [mob of the dead]. Mob of the dead is the first zombies map to actually let you escape from the island, but you need a lot of skill, patience and team work. But as always, my partner and I were dropped in with some retards that would ditch you at the smallest sign of trouble, making this game very difficult with anything less than 4 players. Once you select the Mob of the dead you become a ghost and you go to revive yourself to start the game off. It's a cool little feature but you cannot choose which character you want to be. The ghost aspect of the game opens tunnels that give you extras, power and parts for the escape plan, but in the heat of battle you can revive yourself in certain circumstances while teleporting zombies away.  I only played one game, so I'm yet to experience new weapons and the true extent of the game but a lot of detail was put into this with little

pep talks to yourself if you are truly close to death, which is actually quite deep and meaningful. Plus it's one of my favourite eras, so the accents and the gangster mannerisms of the characters are pretty damn funky.

Overall, the DLC is good, maps are lacking and are simply to grab a bit more money out of everyone's already tight pockets. If you want them, I recommend getting the season pass. It is cheaper in the long run and you get a couple of extras along the way.
Maps - 6/10
Mob of the dead - 8/10  (May change once I get a really solid go at it!)

Time to try and sleep. Here come the zombie nightmares! xD