Destiny: Alpha Preview

Destiny: Alpha Preview

Platform: PS4
Released by Bungie

Released last week to much fanfare at the E3 expo, Destiny came like a bolt out of the blue with the Alpha being released to a select few who signed up in time and were lucky enough.

Fortunately, I was one of the ones to spend all of last weekend in the Alpha, and to appreciate what Bungie's got ahead of us for its September release.

And boy, if this is an indication of what lies ahead, sign me up in spades, because this Alpha left me wanting more and more when the weekend was done - and I'm not usually a fan of FPS games. Perhaps, also, though this may count against me, I've never really got into HALO.

Destiny though, looks to be a fully immersive experience, a game that takes you into its world and settles you in without your realising that you're in a different place. That's to say everything seems natural - from the Peter Dinklage voiced AI which drips out part of the history of the planet as you traverse through it to the combat and working with others, it just seems to fire from the very beginning. The Alpha gave you a choice of a story mission, exploration and a few other bits and bobs.

As the game begins, you get to pick your character - male or female - and choose what kind of person you want to be, both in looks and in game play style. Adding markings, eye colours and skin tones are all fun (even if they're obscured in combat by a helmet and also by the fact it's an FPS) but it's the choice of what kind of warrior you want to be that's the most interesting.

From choosing to be a warlock (magic being the main power), titan (guns a blazing) or hunter (speed), the game gives you the chance to decide how your combat will go. I took on Warlock to start off with and was promptly dropped into a warzone in old Russia on Earth, with a mission to head to the Tower and take on the creatures within. Within seconds of being dumped in, there were creatures known as the Fallen to take on with an array of weapons at my disposal - blasting them and their floating robots is relatively easy, but I chose to use the AI to summon a bike (a la Speeder in Return of the Jedi) to run past them all and avoid combat. Which seemed smart at the time, but after getting to the tower and having to fight a floating wizard and his horde of creatures, was a truly dumb move. Killing critters off helps you level up and boost your skill set, all of which was needed when it came to the final showdown, which took forever to complete and had to see me shooting a few of the creatures (known as the Horde) before retreating to power up my guns and get back into it as the forces of darkness take on the forces of the Light.

Combat's easy to get into but levelling up is the best way to go, as it helps you get to take down the Fallen and the rest of them with a bit more ease. Once the story mission's done, you get a chance to head back to the Cosmodrome and explore, giving you the chance to play with other players to take on various mini missions, such as defending oil wells, collecting scrap and recovering parts - one public mission saw me team up with 3 other players to try and defeat another major big bad who was hidden in an area below ground. Needless to say we didn't succeed, but the co-op play was certainly good fun and gives an indication of what could be going on once the game launches later this year and other players join. Though, I do wonder how they'll limit the numbers of Guardians involved in the game to prevent it from simply being a mess of players running around, going beserk. (Points though for the whole waving to others, as well as being able to dance which were activated with the D-pad)

Other elements of the game were in the Tower, the social area where you can head to collect items, ramp your collection up and tool up as well. Sort of like a space market, there was little real interaction, though, once again, if it comes to the whole multi-population, it could in reality turn out to be something a little like Mos Eisley spaceport... We'll see in September.

Graphically, Destiny is completely beautiful, with landscapes giving you the kind of look you'd expect from a great space opera. The level of detail is astonishingly good in the scenery and while you're ploughing around the Alpha, there was never really a lot of time to take it all in - but once in a while, there's time to stop and marvel and take it all in. When you're up in the Tower and peering down into the world below, I got a vague sense of vertigo as I marvelled at the work done around.

The Beta of Destiny is due on July 17th, but all the early signs are that this game is set to be massive - visually, it soars and when it comes to gameplay, it's actually redefined my approach to FPS and their ilk given how easy it is to get into. I personally can't wait for another session on this, so am hanging out to see if the BETA brings more of the multiplayer experience and a further tantalising glimpse of the story.

Based on early impressions, it looks like Destiny could be one of the titles of the year.

Brand new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer

Brand new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer

There's a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer for you to enjoy...



Good news for Marvel fans - it's your first look at the Guardians of the Galaxy poster!

It follows the launch of the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer earlier this week.

The movie trailer for #GOTG Guardians of The Galaxy is the first full look from Marvel followingthe Collector's appearance at the end of Thor: The Dark World.

The Witcher 3 - E3 info

The Witcher 3 - E3 info

There's a whole heap of trailers from the E3 launch of The Witcher 3 for you to enjoy:

Collector's edition making of trailer Collector's edition unboxing featurette

12 Years A Slave: Blu Ray Review

12 Years A Slave: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R16
Released by Icon and Roadshow Home Ent

Lavished with Oscar nominations, SAG awards, PGA awards and Golden Globes, 12 Years A Slave arrives on our screens with expectations and in some quarters, a little dread over its subject matter.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (rightly nominated for glory) plays Solomon Northup, a talented violinist, living in Saratoga, New York in 1841 as a free man, with a wife and family. As his wife and family head away for an annual commitment, Solomon is offered work in Washington which he duly takes. However, after a night of partying with them, he awakes to find himself in chains, renamed and shipped off into slavery.

Northup's first master is a relatively benevolent one, William Ford (played with earnest bySherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch) but thanks to the racism on the grounds, he ends up nearly hanged and is sold on to Michael Fassbender's Edwin Epps, a cruel and sadistic man who is prone to breaking his slaves.

Thus begins Northup's quest to survive, his attempts to maintain his dignity and his desperate fight to win back his freedom amid betrayal, unexpected kindness, utterly repugnant cruelty and horrifying attitudes toward fellow human beings.

12 Years A Slave is a totally brutal film - perhaps inevitably so given its true life subject matter and that within five minutes of beginning, our hero is beaten to within an inch of his life by a paddle wielded by a new master.

Its strength though lies in the relative restraint of its film-maker, Steve McQueen and its lead actor,Chiwetel Ejiofor. While McQueen does not flinch from showing every second of the horror with the camera holding firm and forcing you to confront the violence, he shows a remarkably masterful touch at telling a story which gets so dark and sickening, you will find it hard to stomach in places.

Unlike many of his ilk, McQueen does not turn this film into a worthy piece about one of humanity's darkest days, choosing instead to blend together a movie that doesn't flinch from its subject matter, but also doesn't seek to make light of it, dish out platitudes or beset it with sentimental moments in among the bleak story.

Throughout it all, Ejiofor commands the screen, imbuing the real life Northup with a dignity and grace as he tries to survive that is all the more heartbreaking given what he had to endure. A remarkable long shot where Northup is hung out on a plantation leaves nausea in the pit of your stomach, as he scrabbles for air, looks around him and faces a desolate inevitability; but every moment of that horror is understated by Ejiofor and as a result, the audience is in total sympathy with him, aghast that around Northup, people are going about their daily business, untroubled by the life slipping away next to them.

Among the betrayals, the heartfelt pleas from a fellow slave to show her some kindness and kill her, the hardships that Northup endured, Ejiofor remains a presence throughout amid close ups and thanks to the dignity of his portrayal. While you get little insight into his psychological state throughout, his final scenes will reduce you to tears, a cathartic testament to a 2 hour portrayal that has showcased the best of humanity when it's pitted against the very worst.

Juxtaposed to such grandeur is Fassbender's cruel and sadistic Epps, a man who rapes his favourite slave and whose towering monstrousness is a blight on those around him. It's an ugly and repugnant role, which Fassbender commands and taps into something within to leave you utterly hating the man. Thanks to that unrelenting spirit and McQueen's lingering camera which circles around during some whipping sequences, you will find yourself questioning humanity and what we've done, but never find yourself brushing it off with a trite dismissal or tricked by a naively blithe moment deployed by the director to counteract the darkness.

That's really the power of 12 Years A Slave - the sickeningly visceral period piece has a way of inveigling itself under your skin, but has such a pull that it's hard to deny - if there's a more perfect, more powerful and more harrowing or sobering film up for an Academy Award this year, I've yet to see it.

Extras: Doco, featurette and the score

Rating:

Million Dollar Arm: Movie Review

Million Dollar Arm: Movie Review

Cast: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Alan Arkin, Lake Bell, Madhur Mittal, Suraj Sharma, Bill Paxton
Director: Craig Gillespie

It's Slumdog Jerry Maguire in this latest from the Disney stable, which is based on a true story.

Mad Men star Jon Hamm is JB Bernstein, a sports agent whose repertoire of talent is waning and whose business is facing potential ruin due to a lack of big star names on his books. Along with his friend Aash (Mandvi), the two are looking at disaster.

But, when JB hits on the idea of merging a talent contest with the hunt for an Indian cricketer who could turn his arm to baseball, suddenly the world opens up.

So, heading to India, with a cranky retired scout (with a performance pretty much phoned in by Alan Arkin) in tow, JB's dream looks like becoming reality after initially disastrous try-outs when he comes across two with potential, Dinesh and Rinku (Slumdog Millionaire's Mittal and Life of Pi's Suraj Sharma).

However, shifting them back to the USA to be tutored by Bill Paxton's baseball coach, throws up more problems than JB could have predicted, leading him closer to the abyss - both on a personal and professional front.

Million Dollar Arm had some real potential as it came out swinging onto the screen.

It's your typical underdog, sports story and should, in theory, have hit a home run.

But it's marred by some incredibly lazy, borderline racist, stereotyping that leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. Its patronising and condescending Americanised view of Indian life and their habits is quite uncomfortable in places and provokes worry that it'll create unrealistic expectations of foreigners within some audiences and propagate some stereotypes.

That distastefulness aside, this way too long fish-out-of-water story does have its moments when it works; more notably in the quieter times and in the interactions of Dinesh and Rinku. There's a sentimentality and softness to their feelings and reactions to life around them that's entirely plausible and isn't milked by Gillespie for maximum effect (unlike anything else to do with their culture and heritage.)

Hamm's reasonable enough as the nonchalant facade begins to fade, though he lacks the powerwatt performance of Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire to keep you rooting for him. Perhaps, that's intentional, but Hamm doesn't overdeliver on the personal crumbling and falling apart path that he's inevitably got to tread. A romance with his house tenant (played by Lake Bell) starts off as a little implausible but gradually wins you over with her down-to-earth viewpoint cutting through his sports BS.

Skewing noticeably older, Million Dollar Arm is a queasy piece of film-making. Its sickly sentimentality rubs rather oddly up against the uncomfortable stereotyping within and left me feeling more angry than inspired.

Rating:

Murdered Soul Suspect: PS4 Review

Murdered Soul Suspect: PS4 Review

Released by Square Enix
Platform: PS4

Salem.

Famed for its witches and spooky goings on - and now in the latest game from Square Enix, famed for your death.

You play Detective Ronan O'Connor, whose day goes to very bad when he's thrown out of a window by the Bell Killer, a serial killer haunting the streets of Salem. On the cusp of surviving the fall, the killer shoots O'Connor point blank seven times, thus finishing him off.

Stuck between worlds and with unfinished business, O'Connor (who has a permanently ghostly cigarette attached to his lips) has to work out who did it, why and stop them, by investigating clues around Salem. Initially guided by a ghost called Abigail who gives you the chance to explore your abilities (walking through some walls, possession etc), the quest takes on a darker turn when various demons start appearing around Salem with the intent of sucking your soul dry.

Part of the mission of Murdered Soul Suspect is to avoid these, or to creep up behind them and exorcise them (a chillingly spooky experience all round) - avoiding them is done by leaping from one ghostly spirit trail to the next as they get closer; it's a freaky trip that's actually unsettling to watch and takes a wee bit of time to master.

A lot of the game though is spent examining crime scenes, possessing people at the scene to read their minds, get clues and further insights et al. It's this part which feels a little underdeveloped as you're relatively constrained with what you can and can't do at the scene - answers are needed to move on and in some ways, it feels like you're going through the motions to get there.

Possession can be relatively fun though - as you get to take on all manner of things to achieve your aims - but it's frustrating that you can walk through some doors, and not others. There's a lot of stealth needed in parts of the game and you require patience without always feeling like you're getting the reward at the end of it.

Graphically, the game is nicely put together, with the ghostly feeling evocatively done, and there are enough creepy moments to catch you out if you have the lights down and the sound up. Characters of the undead litter the world around you and give you side missions to be part of, such as trying to find where someone was killed etc, but it's the main narrative that will propel you along.

Murdered Soul Suspect has a great concept and is smarter title in terms of what it tries to achieve and how it brings it to life. In parts, it feels like this is slightly undercooked and could do with a bit more, but as a gaming alternative to the detective genre, it's a welcome - if not fully inspirational - addition.

Rating:

Grudge Match: Blu Ray Review

Grudge Match: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Ent

It's a delicious idea - Rocky vs Raging Bull in the ring, mano a mano with only the bell to separate them.

It becomes a reality in this gentle comedy from the director of Get Smart and Anger Management.

Stallone is Henry "Razor" Sharp, a boxer who decided to retire when his nemesis, Billy "The Kid" McDonnen (De Niro in feisty frowny form) slept with his girlfriend Sally Rose (Basinger). Denied the final title fight, a rivalry's formed through the years - and when their former promoter's son, Dante Slate Jr (Kevin hart) comes to them to offer a chance of a rematch on the 30th anniversary, only The Kid is keen.

But when Razor loses his job, and has no money, he has no choice....

However, will their out of the ring rivalry cause the rematch train to come off the tracks?

Let's pull no punches here, Grudge Match is a comedy that's a little thin on laughs, but gets by on a relative charm as its old timers creak along, complete with predictable side plots - a son comes out of the woodwork, facilitating necessary bonding, an age old score over romance has to be settled and old timers set back on the path of redemption.

Seagal makes good fist of it all (from what there is to work with), as you wait for the inevitable match up at the end - Razor's home in Pittsburgh is beautifully shot against the mists and the bridge, evoking a man who's fallen on hard times.

The major annoyance of the piece is Kevin Hart as the promoter, whose delivery verges on the Chris Tucker / Eddie Murphy motormouth excesses but simply ends up shouting his lines as his scenes draw to a limp conclusion. It's excruciating in places and puts your teeth on edge.

Alan Arkin offers up his usual slice of deadpan mischievous sarcasm as Razor's dad and Basinger is bland enough as the love interest. There are the obligatory training montages and moments as you'd expect in most boxing movies - and there's even scenes of Stallone trying to emote. De Niro still packs a punch as he wrestles with an average script and some phone it in dialogue (and corny cheeseball moments)- but the scenes of him training remind you of the wiriness of Jake La Motta and his physicality is impressive also as he skips around.

The relative knock out blow comes with the fight at the end, drowned as it is with nostalgia, though it's still lacking the killer punch it really needs - but Stallone and De Niro are to be commended for slugging it out in the ring (though you do wonder how many takes it took to get in the can) but to be honest, at this stage, it just looks like two old guys going at it.

All in all, Grudge Matchdoes make you occasionally want to throw in the towel and has you leaving the cinema like you've been punched in the head - make sure you stick around for the credits as the promoter pitches another fight to two others who may have a score to settle; it delivers more of the laughs that you'd have expected from the film in the first place.

Extras: Alternate opening, alternate endings, legends of the ring feature, more with Kevin Hart

Rating: