Rio 2: Movie Review

Rio 2: Movie Review

Vocal cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jemaine Clement, Kristin Chenoweth, Andy Garcia
Director: Carlos Saldahna

In 2011, Rio the movie was a hit - the CGI story of a neurotic blue Macaw, called, erm Blu, voiced with precision by Jesse Eisenberg, saw the bird taken to Rio to mate and propogate the endangered species.

This sequel takes up where that story left off, with Blu (once again voiced by Eisenberg) an over-cautious father now to three youngsters with bird wife Jewel (Hathaway) but enjoying a quieter life in Rio, away from the perils of the jungle and threats from angry cockatoo nemesis Nigel (Jemaine Clement), who's now a flightless bird and confined to working as a pet in a roadside show.

But when Blu and Jewel spot more of their kind in the Amazon rainforest on TV, suddenly Jewel decides it's time to go visit the tribe - much to Blu's horror. On their way back, Blu and Jewel are stalked by Nigel who's teamed up with a poison frog to take him down once and for all.

However, that threat to Blu's life is not the only danger that he faces once he gets to meet Jewel's long feared dead father Eduardo (voiced by Andy Garcia)...

Rio 2 the movie is a case of same territory as Ice Age 4 Continental Drift, where the creatures within met similar issues (with Manny being a father and obsessing over the minutiae of life and not being good enough for his in-laws) - but with added dollops of lots of singing (in fact, it's way too much as the birds and various creatures seem to burst out into song without any warning and at a moment's notice).

It's perfectly serviceable and the young kids will enjoy the wacky antics of some of the crew who are trying to put together a sideshow for Rio's carnival, but Rio 2 lacks the magic of the first in among the avian antics. Eisenberg once again brings his neurotic A game to Blu but the over-worrying nature of the bird starts to grate a little as the in-law clashes come and the panic around Jewel's former flame, Roberto (voiced by Bruno Mars) starts to increase.

Thankfully, Jemaine Clement's Nigel and Kristin Chenoweth's psychotically loveable poison toad bring some welcome zany relief to the proceedings, as they play out their doomed Romeo and Juliet style story to great comedic effect. Off all the songs, Clement's I Will Survive has echoes of the Flight of the Conchords' lyrical madness and proves a great tonic to the proceedings. Equally, his thwarted thespian wannabe antics cut a swathe through the obvious environmental and deforestation sub-plot that forces Blu and Eduardo to set aside their differences.

As the final act descends into avian anarchy as the bird battle for the forest takes on the developers, there's a feeling that Rio 2 has nowhere else left to go in amid the singing and antics of the group.

If anything, Rio 2 works as a piece of forgettable kids' friendly cinema but one which, were it not for Clement's presence, feels like a formulaic CGI outing, lacking in zing and punch that made the original such a joyously offbeat journey to have embarked on. It's clear this franchise is in real danger of having its wings clipped.

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How To Train Your Dragon 2 new trailer drops

How To Train Your Dragon 2 new trailer drops

There's good news for fans of Hiccup.

A brand new How To Train Your Dragon 2 trailer is here....

When we catch up with the island of Berk, five years have passed. 

The residents now leave in peace with the dragons, and while Astrid, Snoutlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races, the now inseparable Hiccup and Toothless journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. 

When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the centre of a battle to protect the peace.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle demo

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle demo

JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: ALL-STAR BATTLE

DEMO NOW AVAILABLE!

Get a first look at the most stylish fighting-game ever made!

The demo for JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: ALL-STAR BATTLE is now downloadable via the PlayStation®Network.

The demo includes:

·        Arcade Mode

o   3 Playable Characters (Caesar A. Zeppeli, Jotaro Kujo, Dio Brando)

o   3 fights vs. COM

By playing the demo, players will be able to earn 100.000G in-game!*

Download the demo and unleash your most stylish combos!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle will be available on 24^th April 2014 in Australia and New Zealand. For the latest news and updates, join us on www.Fight-with-Style.com.For more information about BANDAI NAMCO Games’ entire line up, go to www.BandaiNamcoGames.eu.

© Hirohiko Araki & LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS / SHUEISHA

Game © BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc.

*Automatically redeemed with save datas from demo when first launching the full-game

New Enemy Within trailer unleashed

New Enemy Within trailer unleashed

A new gameplay trailer is out for The Evil Within, the new survival horror game from legendary game director, Shinji Mikami. The Evil Within is in development for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC and will be available in North America on August 26, 2014, Australia & New Zealand on August 28 and throughout Europe on August 29.

Developed by Shinji Mikami and the talented team at Tango Gameworks, The Evil Within embodies the meaning of pure survival horror. Highly-crafted environments, horrifying anxiety, and an intricate story are combined to create an immersive world that will bring you to the height of tension. With limited resources at your disposal, you’ll fight for survival and experience profound fear in this perfect blend of horror and action.

While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners encounter a mysterious and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures wander among the dead. Facing unimaginable terror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel what’s behind this evil force.

For more information on The Evil Within, visit or recently updated site at www.theevilwithin.com.

The Last Of Us Remastered coming to PS4

The Last Of Us Remastered coming to PS4

News just released this morning.... The Last Of Us is coming to PS4...

"It’s no secret that we have been working night and day at the studio to bring 2013 Game of the Year, The Last of Us, to PS4. We’re calling itThe Last of Us Remastered.

Moving our efforts to the PS4 has allowed us to remaster an already phenomenal looking The Last of Us in 1080p with a list of upgrades including higher resolution character models, improved shadows and lighting, upgraded textures, along with even more improvements. We love setting challenging technical hurdles for us when working on each game – and this is no different. We’ve been working hard on The Last of Us Remastered to release a next-gen evolution worthy of the 200+ Game of the Year awards, not to mention the acclaim and expectations of our fans. We will be revealing more detailed information about the upgrades for the PS4 version in the coming months.

In addition to all the technical updates, we’re also including an exclusive director’s commentary for all in-game cinematics featuring Creative Director and Writer, Neil Druckmann; Game Director, Bruce Straley; Voice Actor, Troy Baker, who plays Joel; and BAFTA Award winning Voice Actress, Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie.

We’ve released a ton of additional content since The Last of Us launched in June 2013, including our first ever single player expansion, Left Behind. We’re happy to say that the major content releases will be included with The Last of Us Remastered:

• Left Behind single player expansion
• Abandoned Territories multiplayer map pack
• Reclaimed Territories pack – details will be coming soon on exactly what is included

Whether you are new to The Last of Us or have played it already on the PS3, we hope you are all looking forward to this release. We are!

You can preorder The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 right now from many of your favourite retailers and receive these pre-order bonuses:

• 100 Supply Points (XP) for use in Factions mode
• Two special bonus skins for Joel and Ellie which will be unlocked after your complete the single player campaign
• Increased Crafting Speed for use in the Single Player Campaign
• Increased Healing Speed for use in the Single Player Campaign
• 9mm Reload Speed Increase Upgrade for use in the Single Player Campaign
• Rifle Clip Capacity Increase Upgrade for use in the Single Player Campaign

Now that we’ve finally gotten the official announcement out of the way, we’ll be keeping you updated regularly about The Last of Us Remastered until it releases in Winter 2014."

Child of Light: PS4 Preview

Child of Light: PS4 Preview

Released end of April 2014

Ubisoft are at it again.

Following in a similar visual vein of Rayman comes Child of Light, a downloadable title for the PS4 which is due out at the end of April.

Set in a fairy tale world, you play the Princess Aurora in this RPG style sidescroller. At a recent preview event, I was given the chance to play through the first four chapters of what can only be described as a charming little game that's both ethereal and nightmarish.

As the prelude reveals, Aurora is a child stolen from her home and is desperate to get home to her father. Initially lost in the woodlands, Aurora meets Igniculus, the firefly, who becomes her ally in this quest (and is controlled in a similar manner to Murfy from the Rayman game) - between the two of them they have to face all manner of nasty creatures in the woods, solve a few puzzles (using Igniculus' light powers) and try and face their darkest fears.

The artwork for the game shows Aurora wielding a Sword in the face of a dragon, but that beastie was nowhere to be seen, leading me to the conclusion that it shows up as the final big boss. However, the initial chapters have a feel of many fairy tales which you'll be familiar with. As Aurora sets about freeing the sword, you'll end up recalling the Sword in the Stone for many reasons.

Visually, the game is absolutely sumptuous. Once again, Ubisoft has used the paintings style backgrounding technique so deftly employed in Rayman and it works to bring an ethereal and childlike feel to this story. With her Merida style red hair, Aurora is a simply charming heroine that'll be fun to help on her quest. The animation is smoothly done and the action (such as it is) is occasionally interrupted by a kind of cartoon-like story being told, as well as with rhyming couplets being seen on screen. All of this (crudely described by me) adds to a feeling of a poem and tale being sketched out on the PS4 by the UBISOFT team.

There are many familiar traits shared with Rayman - parts of the landscape are hidden and will only be revealed when you wonder near to their locale and the wishes that appear for you to collect operate in a similar manner to the Lums of the games.

Combat is kind of intriguing in Child of Light and is not your tradition wield a sword and smash them sort of affair. In fact, you can be clever and can use Igniculus to blind any nearby beasties with his glow to avoid fighting them. But by doing so, you end up losing out on the chance to power up Aurora and improve her skills (which will no doubt be called into question further down the track)

Combat takes you to another screen where you have to decide whether to attack or defend and whether to fight or flee. Using a speed bar, it's a race to see who is the first to fight and strike - and you can delay your opponent's avatar reaching their goal by using Igniculus to blind them with his light for a short time, allowing you the chance to strike. Each blow takes a toll on the baddies and it's an intriguing combat strategy (quite similar to the mechanic of South Park: Stick of Truth) but doesn't quite reveal how much strength or weakness your baddie has left meaning sometimes, planning strategy can be hard. Companions can be brought into the fight and when you're facing off against 3 others, that's no bad thing.

Overall, Child of Light looks interesting, intriguing and with that small screen lusciousness that we've come to expect from Ubisoft. It's due to drop at the end of April and having invested a few hours into the game, I've really had my curiosity piqued as to how the journey will go - and what awaits Aurora in this nightmare fairytale.

Resogun: PS4 Review

Resogun: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
As part of PlayStation Plus sub in December, currently on PSN

They say sometimes, simpler is better.

And in Resogun's sake, nothing could be truer.

This fast paced, simple shoot'em'up is one of the best titles currently on the PS4 and is, if you're serious about gaming, worth seeking out and investing time in. It's a simple concept - you just simply shoot stuff and try and save the humans silly enough to stick around in the face of an alien invasion.

In essence, it's an updated version of Defender, but one set in a cylindrical world which allows you to see all around and realise what threats lie around the corner, so you can scroll off and fight them. Using power ups and boosts, you do all you can to destroy the hordes of oncoming bad guys which come at you from all sides, show up without warning and swarm to you like flies to honey.

Power ups appear every now and again, giving you the chance to tool up your ship with improved firepower (there's little modding on show here for you to abuse) and in all honesty, you have to be a bit smart with how you craft your attacks and when you look to try and save the humans who will be blasted out of their homes in the sky.

Swooping in you collect them and transport them to freedom for various rewards - but as with all of these styles of games, there is an end of the level boss to take on as well. Also, the game doesn't reward you for not shooting with a score multiplier increasing each time you blast the beejesus out of all and sundry. Stop for too long and that points ladder is swept from under you and you have to start all over again. A Voice keeps intoning to you the threats and rewards you get - and that's about as far as the interaction goes.

Resogun looks amazing in the PS4 environment - simply crafted graphics which glow and shimmer as the game play goes on suck you in and prove addictive. Boosts and an overpowerful weapon can be employed, but sense needs to prevail to pick the moment for maximum impact; boosting into the bad guys can also take them down.

Resogun is utterly addictive, completely entertaining and a welcome throwback to simple games which value playability over visual smarts and complexity. It's well worth seeking out as it may actually be one of the best things around on the PS4 - and I can guarantee that you'll lose plenty of time trying to beat this next gen shooter that's as impressive as it is simple.

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