Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered: PS5 Review

Developed by Pipeworks Software
Published by Infogrames
Platform: PS5

It truly is Godzilla's time to shine once again.

What with the tremendously good Godzilla Minus Zero hitting cinemas and being one of the loudest films ever, the screen's been the place to see the scaly beast in action - and there's no reason why the small screen can't get in on the action too.

This faithful updating of the 2002 brawler comes roaring out of the blocks with a chance to create some kaiju chaos - and its commitment to simplicity and getting on with it serves it well - as does a blast of nostalgia.

It's a simple idea - select one of the monsters from Godzilla's most popular eras (Mechagodzilla! Gigan!) and use them to fight against an opponent against a backdrop of a city. From dodging environmental hazards to wrestling each other, the game's not too fussed on taking itself seriously, even if it does play like some kind of game you'd play as kids when you were younger with toys.

With its last Kaiju standing attitude and its no-holds barred approach to ensuring the game does what is says on the tin, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered really is the kind fo nostalgia-based game entertainment that's fun to play.

It's colourful, it's faithful to the rubber-suited ways of Godzillas past and its soundtrack has all the bombast and noise you'd expect and want from a game of its era. Hand-to-hand attacks, close quarter brawling, and special moves all make up the game's ethos and Pipeworks' commitment to ensuring it's still as simple as it needs to be means the game's got a lot of legs, despite a paper-thin storyline holding parts of it together.

All in all, for fans of Godzilla and those looking for a bit of a nostalgia blast, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered roar than delivers what it needs to.

Backrooms: Blu Ray Review

Cast:  Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
Director: Kane Parsons

The latest psychological horror to hit screens comes from the director of a viral web series exploring the existential fear of spaces and transitions, as well as the whole Creepypasta vibe.

When furniture store owner Clark (Ejiofor) discovers a series of rooms in his store that he wasn't aware of before, he starts to explore. But after his therapist (Sentimental Value's Reinsve) discovers he's missing, she sets out to find him.

In  many ways, Backrooms is best experienced unspoiled. It's a film that's destined to be dissected, debated and done to death with screenshots as online forums pore over every single visual clue and comment.

There's a distinctly unsettling edge to the 90s set story and visuals with found footage vibes meshing nicely with sly nods to the past, via way of Creepypasta-style dread and unease.

But it's a little obtuse at times, giving non-fans a workout in terms of what's happening. However, what proves to be most effective during the atmospheric film's unsettling aesthetic is the contortions of memory, the dread of empty space and the unending hum of lights buzzing away.

The liminal horror genre is prone to using slave to unsettle and Parsons peppers much of the environments with carefully disturbing imagery, a loop of visuals and mirror images twisting what you see.

Like the first Paranormal Activity film where the home camera swept from side to side, Parsons makes great fist of his spatial sets and unending corridors with shadowy elements lurking in the background. It's easy to see where Severance got its inspiration from.

But while the visuals provide the nightmare fuel, both Eijofor and Reinsve tap into the existential dread of their characters with ease, even if direct answers aren't coming and opacity clouds proceedings.

For Reinsve's therapist,it's looping memories of the loss of the family home that rattle her carefully structured solo world. And for Eijofor's Clark, it's the frustration of how his life went from architect to crummy furniture salesman, left by his wife.

If Parsons does much to expand his shorts series, it's by design. A slow burn throughout builds up to very little, but with mono-yellow vistas and droning hums if lights, the film's high on its own atmosphere.

But by focusing on just two characters and placing them in worlds that challenge their beliefs, he creates a vision that's deeply haunting and one which will never allow you in future to look at an empty corridor without some kind of dread.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Is Out Now, Exclusively On Nintendo Switch 2

Embark on an adventure for the ages in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, out now exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2.

Join Link as he sets out on a heroic journey that spans the land of Hyrule and unfolds across two different eras. Experience this timeless tale and its vibrant characters brought to life through completely overhauled visuals, fully voiced cutscenes, expanded character dialogue, symphonic orchestral music, reworked camera and movement controls, and more.

Throughout the quest, learn tunes that will play an important role in Link’s journey and can be used to open new paths forward, turn day to night, and more. Play (or simply hum) one of Link’s learned ocarina melodies within range of the Nintendo Switch 2 console’s built-in microphone, and he will perform the song in the game. The game will also respond to instruments.

Additionally, players can track their adventure, create and share ocarina melodies, take a daily quiz with over 2,000 total questions and more in ZELDA NOTES, a game-specific service available via the Nintendo Switch App*1 for compatible smart devices.

Plus, new compatible amiibo figures*2 of Young Link and Young Zelda will launch in 2027, and can be used to unlock special in-game masks that evoke a retro graphical style. Other amiibo figures from The Legend of Zelda series can also be used to receive useful items.

And for those looking to broaden their knowledge of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s development, check out the latest Ask the Developer interview on Nintendo’s website, in which the developers share their thoughts about working on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. All four chapters are available now.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is out now, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. Discover the classic quest remade for a whole new era with reimagined visuals, a refreshed soundtrack and modernised gameplay.

Wicker: Movie Review

Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki, Phil Davis, Richard E Grant
Director: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson

Based on Ursula Wills-Jones' short story The Wicker Husband, director Alex Fischer and Eleanor Wilson weave an odd tale about the effect a decent man can have on those around him.

It's no lie to say that Wicker has an agenda to follow, one that bears repeating, yet one that's not incredibly new - to wit, women are worth more than just marriage and happiness is to be treasured, not coveted. They're not earth-shaking views, but they are ones that bear fruit in this drily vulgar and comedic fable about a poor put-upon Fisherwoman (Colman, once again plumbing the tragic depths of misery and delight with aplomb) who's constantly mocked by her villagers as a figure of tragedy and the antithesis of what a woman should be.

Thoroughly fed up at her station, the Fisherwoman visits the local basket weaver (Dinklage, in a subtle and comedic turn) and asks him to make her a husband. Cue the arrival of the very reedy but not needy Wicker-husband, played with the same kind of robotic stiffness that Robert Llewellyn managed in years of Red Dwarf as Kryten, the put-upon robot.

But the Wicker-Man's arrival stirs up something among the village as jealousies begin to rage at how happy and satisfied the FisherWoman has become. Chiefly among childhood friend turned mean girl The Tailor's Wife (Debicki in a broad Yorkshire accent and dismissive form), who does all she can to plant the seeds of doubt in her former friend's mind.

Wicker may have a lusty edge (witness the creaking sound of Skarsgård's character as he becomes erect) and a raw comedic edge thanks to a cast of Brit-com greats, but strip away the basics and you have a tale as old as time itself (equality between men and women, sex for happiness rather than just procreation et al) woven in front of you.

While Skarsgård may be overacting under the excellent practical suit New Zealand's Weta Workshop created for the film, Colman once again deploys her patented mix of pathos and joy throughout. It's impossible not to feel for the FisherWoman and once again, Colman inhabits a role with perfection - from spot-on comedic timing to just heartbreaking moments, there's still no stopping her.

There's a lightness here that doesn't really want to explore free will, nor does it want you to probe too deeply into how the logistics of a Wicker Husband works - this is a film that seeks to remind you of the basics of life, the rewards of unconditional love and the damage jealousy does - all while having a good time and enjoying the athletic antics of what one describes in the film as "fuckable furniture".

Wicker is a curious tale, told and acted with virtuoso and while it's not as moving as perhaps you'd expect, it's definitely a case of a story being woven with plenty to think about after the lights have gone up.

Grand Theft Auto VI reveals details of printable Leonida map, pre-load times, game file size

The arrival of Grand Theft Auto VI on PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series X|S consoles is now only a few weeks away. 

Digital pre-loading on PlayStation 5 will begin on Tuesday, November 10 at midnight local time in your respective time zone. On XBOX Series X|S, pre-loading begins globally on Tuesday, November 10 at 12 a.m. GMT. Code-in-box versions for both consoles should be available from retailers beginning November 12.

The pre-load file will require up to 212 GB depending on your device, so make sure you've got ample space to begin pre-loading as soon as possible.

For details on how to pre-load Grand Theft Auto VI for PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series X|S, please visit the Rockstar Support site.

For more information about Grand Theft Auto VI, check out the official site to watch official videos including An Extended Look, listen to in-game radio station previews and singles from Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, explore Vice City and beyond in the Only in Leonida section, and get details on the Ultimate Edition.

On November 19 we will be adding an official printable Grand Theft Auto VI cover art poster and map of Leonida as a free digital download to the official site. A double-sided physical version of this poster will also be made available shortly after launch from the Rockstar Store — for $0.99 on its own or as a free gift with any purchase from the Rockstar Store.

Wild Horse Nine: Movie Review

Cast: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailin Salas
Director: Martin McDonagh

It's familiar territory for McDonagh who gives us yet another version of a relationship between two males in his latest black comedy outing. But unlike the friction of the Banshees of Inisherin protagonists, this one drops the audience squarely back easily into the kind of dynamics witnessed in In Bruges.

This time, Malkovich is wearied CIA agent Chris Carlisle whose loose lips and laissez-faire attitude in Chile in 1973 has provoked the concerns of his superior MJ (Buscemi). Taken ro Easter Island by partner Lee (Rockwell, very much Malkovich's equal - and perhaps superior - here), the pressure grows on Chris' future when Chris declares he's writing his memoirs and hinting that he had something to do with JFK's death in Dallas in 1963.

To say more is to reveal some of the admittedly obvious layers coded by McDonagh, but given this is more about the dynamics between some six protagonists, wrapped in a blanket of cold war paranoia and unease from the bosses, suffice it to say the scene is set for a series of explosive reveals.

But McDonagh less interested in doing that, building an atmosphere of melancholy and maudlin that's relatively familiar and universal in its concerns once the onion reveals its layers.

In Wild Horse Nine, both Malkovich and Rockwell give their work partnership a lived-in feel with the resultant push and pull dynamic resembling something that is both genuine and real, a fraternal bond sealed by years of events witnessed together and decisions made as a whole.

It helps that the setting of Easter Island with the giant heads can feel like a bit of perspective being shone on our leads as they grapple with their place post the coup in Chile in 1973, but while McDonagh uses an island setting once again for his leads, despite some sweeping shots which seem included to appease a tourist board, this really could have been set anywhere.

With the human dynamics taking centre stage and the regrets of a life lived creeping in at all angles, wild horse nine is the kind of drama that's blankly comedic when it needs to be and occasionally poignant despite somehow being oddly unemotional in parts 

Di Girolamo's Monica, a tourist that Chris manages to annoy in a moment of prolonged frankness in an airport, is a welcome touch of the feminine among a film that's more about males - but McDonagh tries to make something of a role for her, while wilfully sticking to the male dynamics he's so well versed in.

Wild Horse Nine is a compelling and occasionally morally complex film - but it soars more when it focuses on what makes people work, how they gristle when rubbed up against power and how one event can change everything.