Twisted Metal - PS3 Review

Twisted Metal - PS3 Review

Platform: PS3
Released by Sony Home Ent
Rating: R16

We've all had a bit of road rage now and again.

The overwhelming urge to blast thatcar out of the way in front of us on the road - well, Twisted Metal takes that terrifying streak of violence you've tried to curtail and curtain and throws it into a natural arena of death.

It's the eighth episode of the franchise and to be honest, if you've played them before, then you should know exactly what to expect.

It's a car racing game with weapons aplenty - and you have to try your best to win Calypso's Twisted Metal Tournament as you play your way through levels, facing off against a myriad of players and other vehicles. It's a multiplayer combat situation which really does see you needing to be on your toes right from the off as you need to work out how to control weapons, how to target and how to avoid being blown to smithereens. It's a fight to the death and quite a violent but extremely fun one to be brutally honest.

Initial gameplay concentrates on you getting to grips with the controls which to be honest takes a little bit of time as you work out the minutiae of the controls and the subtle nuances which can help you to victory. To be honest, that does take a while and it's a little bit tough trying to negotiate the frenetci pace of the mayhem as the carnage unfolds around you.

You can take the game online too as you take on other drivers - again, I'd recommend you had some level of nous before you do this or the whole reasoning for it could be a waste of time if you're trying to play the game for longer than a few minutes.

There is a story running through the game but to be honest, you're more likely to be consumed by the chance to vent your road rage issues out on the other players in the arena and while it's fun for a while, I'd really recommend you getting some mates to pick up controllers and join in on the game, because that's where the social side of it really comes into its own and gives it a life beyond the normal one player pursuits.

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Motorstorm RC: PS Vita Review

Motorstorm RC: PS Vita Review

Released by Sony
Platform: PS Vita

Were you ever any good at racing remote control cars?

Because that's what this latest Motorstorm is all about - handheld portable remote control racing cars.

Viewed from the top down, you get to race about various tracks by using the dual sticks and buttons to speed your racer around and hopefully take first place.

Graphically, it's quite a nice sweet touch as the racers head around the track, kicking up dirt as they go and blatting around the course; it certainly looks cute. But that cuteness belies just how difficult occasionally it can be to race the cars and to control them.

The game starts with some training and you'd be wise to take those tips onboard; you've also got the option to switch between controls and work on your best format for achieving maximum success on the tracks. Talking of which, they've been brought across from the console games before them and it's a nice nod to continuity as the game unfolds.

As ever, the more you progress depends on how well you do on each individual course and the more medals you net, the further you go. And the tracks get tougher too so it's all about ensuring that you're on top of game all the way through.

Motorostorm RC works well on the VITA - online opportunities focus on the leaderboards and see you in a constant battle to ensure that you're top of the table - as well as giving you access to a lot of downloadable content which helps keep it fresh.

All in all, Motorstorm RC is a perfectly good and simply disposable game - it's what handheld gaming is all about in terms of simplicity and playability. Plus the fact you can stop and start whenever you want rather than spending hours engrossed in it gives it a longevity which is perfect for the genre.

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Harry Potter LEGO - Years 5-7 PS Vita Review

Harry Potter LEGO - Years 5-7 PS Vita Review

Released by Warner Bros and TT Games
Platform: PS Vita

LEGO makes its debut on the PS Vita - and along with it, a certain wizard.

The charm of the LEGO strand of games has really, if we're brutally honest, been about the kiddy friendly look and the slightly goofy humour.

Harry Potter LEGO carries on some of that charm as it transfers to the portable format - and to be honest, very little is changed in terms of playability and what's expected of you. You're still given a wand to blast LEGO studs out of various objects and collect them to become a True Wizard; there's still puzzles aplenty and situations that require a bit of strategy rather than simply blundering in and there's still plenty of goofy cut scenes to keep you amused as the different parts load up.

That said, there's also a few other little niggly issues on the VITA which don't quite make this the fully playable experience you'd want - but these are only minor moments. The graphics of the gameplay are quite good but the cutscenes see a lot bit of the quality and sharpness drop making them occasionally feel blurred and a bit faded on the crystal clear screen of the VITA ; also, in terms of the gameplay, there's still way too many moments where instructions on what button to press and what to do mean you don't really have to pay any attention or engage the grey matter too much to solve a puzzle. That's a criticism I'd level at the last few releases of LEGO though and it's not something which is particularly new to the VITA format release.

Having said that, you can use the touch screen to help cast spells (which takes a little bit of getting used to) and the characters respond very nicely to the analogue sticks and use of the "L1/R1" sticks at the top of the controller; there's plenty of bits to unlock in the game and also plenty of costumes and characters to collect at the expense of a lot of studs.

There's a quite nice touch as well which sees you take part in duels against the other students as you cast wands, block spells and try to beat your opponent by batting magic back and forth.

I think at the end of the day this is really one aimed at the kids - which is a bit of a shame; that's not to say that the adults won't have a bit of harmless fun on the game as they play it but many are likely to find it too superficial to spend heaps of time on. However, I reckon a kid would love it to pieces and would play it frantically and until it's completed as well.

Overall, Harry Potter LEGO has its share of hits and misses; it's playable enough but it feels in some parts as if it's simply been ported over to the format rather than showcasing the very best of the tech on offer to the VITA.

Here's hoping future LEGO VITA releases slightly up the game in terms of quality to match the brilliant playability of the series..

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Immortals: Blu Ray Review

Immortals - Blu Ray Review

Rating: R16
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Swords, sandals, slow mo fight scenes and a lot of blood.

Nope, it's not 300 - it's from the producers of 300 that we get Immortals, the tale set in Ancient Greece.

Henry Cavill (the future Superman) plays Theseus, a peasant living in a small village and suddenly facing the marauding hordes of King Hyperion. Hyperion, played by a scenery chewing Mickey Rourke, is trying to find a mystical bow to free the evil Titans from Mount Tartarus.

The Titans were imprisoned by the gods of Greece and believed by Hyperion to be the deciding factor in a war against the Olympian gods (headed up by Luke Evans' Zeus).

Teaming up with an oracle (Slumdog's Freida Pinto) and a thief (Stephen Dorff), Theseus leads the charge to try and save the world both above and below from the disastrous consequences of an onslaught by Hyperion's hordes...

Immortals is a flat, emotionless piece, blessed with some truly outstanding visuals.

It treats the mythology of Greece extremely lightly but Singh does actually give a nice twist to some of the tales of Theseus - including the clash with the Minotaur.

Dialogue itself is largely uninspired and most of the film is painfully slow and lacking in any initially gripping moments. But throughout the film, Singh uses visuals to jawdropping effect - he swoops in and out of CGI rendered scenes, gives us more slow mo then speeded up fight scenes and shows heads being smashed and turned into bloody explosions.

And it's this which really brings the film to life - a final fight sequence between the gods and the Titans is absolutely stunning and is one of the finest recreations seen this year as the attack happens. With sped up shots, slow moments and impressive FX, this is the film's major saving grace in a relatively spectacle free affair.

Of the leads, Cavill's good, Rourke's just a mumbling despot on a killing spree and Pinto's largely wasted - but quite frankly in these kinds of films, you're here to see buffed up bodies, impressive FX and scintillating fight scenes.

Immortals offers up an uneasy mix - moments of manic energy coupled with stilted and slow storytelling make it an unfortunately unsatisfying night of home viewing.

Extras: Over one hour of special features including an alternate opening scene, endings and deleted scenes

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Perfect Sense: Blu Ray Review

Perfect Sense: Blu Ray Review

Rating:M
Released by Madman Home Ent

Much like Contagion earlier this year, Perfect Sense takes a look at an outbreak.

Ewan McGregor is Michael, a chef in Glasgow who one day inadvertently happens to see epidemiologist Susan (Eva Green) from a window opposite his restaurant.

An innocent flirtation begins but the pair, while they fall in love, have no idea what's ahead as the epidemic begins to hit. First, people begin to lose their sense of smell and that causes panic...

But Michael and Susan believe they have each other and can get by - however, the disease begins to spread to other senses as well, bringing civilisation to its knees....

Sprawling and shambolic, arty and a little bit up itself, Perfect Sense feels like an art student's film project just got terribly pretentious and all universal in its approach and feel. Scenes of chaos are intercut with a portentiously stuffy voiceover and give you a feeling this slightly scifi film is a little bit lunatic in its intentions.

At the end of the day, Perfect Sense is about a love affair more than anything - and Green and McGregor have a great chemistry together - and that's just enough to see you through this maraudingly maddening piece which at times, feels like an extended commercial for a car.

Extras: Interviews with the stars, trailer and a brief doco

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Dream House: Blu Ray Review

Dream House: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz star in this direct to video thriller.

Craig is Will Atenton, who starts the film handing in his notice as an editor in the city to head to live in his dream home with his wife (Weisz) and their two daughters.

While it all seems like it's going swimmingly, soon there's people being seen outside the house at night and Will's facing the possibility his dream home is about to become a living nightmare for the family...and it gets worse when they learn the last residents were killed...

Extremely slow, Dream House is not the kind of thriller that really grips you from the start.

If you've seen plenty of these flicks, you can see the twists coming and work out what happens before it actually does.

Craig's okay as Will and Weisz is her usual stoic self as the wife of the threatened home but in this ghost story murder mystery mesh up mess, it's all a bit muddled and you don't really care about what's going on. Goodness alone knows why Naomi Watts is in this other than to look a little whimsically into the distance because she's completely wasted in the film.

Dream House hints at potential but it's never anything but average and hard to get through.

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Midnight in Paris - Blu Ray Review

Midnight in Paris - Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Hopscotch Entertainment

Owen Wilson stars in Woody Allen's latest, a whimsical look at life in the French capital.

Wilson is Gil, a screen writer for Hollywood who's served up some trashy stuff before and is looking to broaden out his horizons by writing a novel.

He's in Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) holidaying with her family and dreaming of a romantic life in the city of love, with walks in the rain, sauntering down the streets during the day and reflecting on what future may lie ahead.

But one night, after leaving his fiancée to go dancing with some mutual friends, Gil finds himself transported back to Paris of the 1920s when midnight strikes and into the world of some of his literary heroes.

This latest from Allen is a slight, uncomplicated and sumptuously shot piece. Opening with a jazzy soundtrack and some picture postcard moments of Paris, it's clear, for once, the writer/ director's gone for something simpler and something which wallows more in the nostalgic side of life.

Wilson is in fine form as essentially, an extension of Woody Allen; McAdams and Michael Sheen are quite insufferable though as a fiancée and friend who clearly don't like or respect Gil so it's hard to see why exactly you should feel any sympathy for them when they get their comeuppance.

But it's the period detail where Allen's latest shines; the recreation of the 1920s scene is amazing and fantastical. With the usual smattering of some good one liners, this is a frothy piece of escapist cinema, which is light and breezy and extremely likeable.

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