At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
UBISOFT® ANNOUNCES WATCH DOGS™ RELEASE DATE FOR Wii U™
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – September 11, 2014 – Ubisoft has announced that record-breaking open-world action game, Watch Dogs, will be available for the Wii U™ system from Nintendo on November 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
Watch Dogs will take advantage of the Wii U specific hardware with a detailed and interactive map of Chicago to be displayed on the Wii U™ GamePad. The game also features Off-TV Play, letting gamers continue playing Watch Dogs solely on the Wii U GamePad.
The development of Watch Dogs on Wii U is being led by Ubisoft Bucharest, in collaboration with Ubisoft Montreal.
Watch Dogs tells the story of Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. Now on the hunt for those who hurt his family, players will be able to monitor and hack their enemies by manipulating everything connected to the city’s Central Operating System (ctOS). Watch Dogs lets the player use Chicago as their ultimate weapon and exact their own style of revenge.
Watch Dogs is currently available for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC.
A couple of stirring announcements on “Forza Horizon 2”, which is set to launch in New Zealand on 2 October.
Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games have premiered a heart-pounding launch trailer and announced an exciting loyalty program - Forza Rewards.
Start “Forza Horizon 2” with Several Exciting Cars Earned through Forza Rewards
Fans can obtain monthly rewards in “Forza Horizon 2” based on past “Forza” experience; “Forza Horizon 2” launch trailer ignites the countdown to Oct. 2.
As a way of saying “thank you” to all the passionate fans who have continued to be a part of the “Forza” experience over the years, Turn 10 Studios today announced that fans will be eligible to receive several “Forza Horizon 2” cars through Forza Rewards, the loyalty program where players can earn in-game content just for playing “Forza” games.
Whether they’re an experienced “Forza” Faithful or a first time driver, all “Forza” players have a chance to add up to five in-game cars to their “Forza Horizon 2” garage the first time they log in to the game. These five in-game (not DLC) cars include the 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe, the 2013 Viper GTS, the 2015 Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4, the 2014 Local Motors Rally Fighter, and the 2013 McLaren P1.
Players start earning Forza Rewards practically the moment they start playing a “Forza” game. Whether it’s new cars to add to their garage, or a stack of in-game credits for players to spend how they like, each month “Forza” fans will always receive something new.
Starting from “Forza Motorsport 2” on the Xbox 360, through “Forza Motorsport 5” and now “Forza Horizon 2” on Xbox One, players automatically earn points by doing specific things in a game. In “Forza Motorsport 5,” for example, players earn points based on the number of cars they own, the number of miles they’ve driven in the game, and so on.
The more points players earn, the higher their Rewards Tier Levelwill be. Your Rewards Tier Level determines what awards are available to players at the start of each month. The higher the Rewards Tier Level, the bigger the reward they’ll receive each month.
Earning free in-game content each month is great but it’s just the start of the story. The first time players log in to “Forza Horizon 2,” they’ll earn a special one-time gift via Forza Rewards. This gift-car reward will depend on their current Forza Rewards Tier Level, and they’ll have to be at least Tier 2 to earn a reward.
Here’s how the rewards break down by Rewards Tier Level:
Tier Level
Car
2
2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe
3
2013 Viper GTS
4
2015 Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4
5
2014 Local Motors Rally Fighter
6
2013 McLaren P1
Once you have logged in to the game, you will receive a special message in “Forza Horizon 2” and be able to add these awesome cars to your “Forza Horizon 2” garage. Note that these Tier Rewards are cumulative. For example, if you are Rewards Tier Level 3 the first time you log in to Horizon 2, you will earn both the 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe and the 2013 Viper GTS. If you have maxed out your Rewards Tier Level at Tier 6, you will receive all five of the bonus cars.
With just a few weeks to go before the launch of “Forza Horizon 2,” there’s still time for fans to increase their Rewards Tier Level to ensure that they get the best reward they can. To get a full breakdown of how players have been progressing in all participating “Forza” games and to learn more details on Forza Rewards, visit http://rewards.forzamotorsport.net.
“Forza Horizon 2” Launch Trailer Now Available
In addition to sharing details on Forza Rewards, Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games today also premiered a heart-pounding launch trailer showcasing the game’s massive wide-open world racing experience and ultimate celebration of speed, style and action-packed driving.
The “Forza Horizon 2” launch trailer highlights the game’s beautiful southern European setting and thrilling, action-packed racing. Featuring many of the more than 200 cars that are available at launch, the trailer brings to life the freedom and fun that defines “Forza Horizon 2”: http://youtu.be/YQFiWpp5Y5w.
Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Whoopi Goldberg
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
T-U-R-T-L-E Power returns to the big screen with the reincarnation of those heroes in a half shell which were so instrumental to so many growing up.
In this Michael Bay produced blockbuster popcorn piece, it's the aeons old fashioned tale of good versus evil. In New York, the evil gang The Foot Clans, headed by Shredder (voiced by Tony Shaloub) is trying to take over the city - but when Megan Fox's reporter April O'Neill discovers a connection between the gangs and a well to do businessman, she inadvertently puts herself in harm's way.
However, thankfully there are four hidden friends on hand to save the day - Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and Michaelangelo....
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn't made by Michael Bay per se, but it has his trademark elements of Bay-hem and product placement throughout (a Pizza Hutt placement being the absolute worst). As parts of the city are taken out by the paramilitary Foot Clan and the robot Samurai Shredder, the destruction is on a Transformers level of chaos (complete with obligatory lens flare).
But, despite those paw marks, Liebesman has actually put together a fairly decent (if occasionally violent) kids' flick with one-dimensional baddies and some fairly low level dialogue that all hangs together coherently.
Wise-cracking Arnett sticks to his trademark schtick as O'Neil's cameraman, and even Fox starts off well as the frustrated reporter before sliding into simple damsel in distress. The baddies hit that one note level well with Shredder being little more than a dramatic cypher, and Fichtner lacking all but a moustache to twirl as his machinations come to the fore.
And while the Turtles don't initially have their personalities shine out (despite a very cool graphic novel style intro extolling their back-story), there are scenes which showcase their dynamic; an elevator scene that sees them beat-boxing reminds us they're just kids, a set piece de resistance atop a snowy mountain taps their bond very well in between all the whirling FX wizardry) all serve to remind you why you fell in love with these half-shells years ago.
Popcorn entertainment at its best, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles won't trouble your grey matter in the slightest. While there are holes here and there in the movie and it skews a little more towards the young, (why it's not been positioned as a kids movie defeats me), but overall, the reinvention of the turtles is simply - and surprisingly - disposably-leave-your-brain-at-the-door-dumb-fun.
Rating: R18
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment
This 6 part UK conspiracy thriller series is about as skewed a take on the genre as you could possibly ever foresee.
Utopia Experiments is a graphic novel which is supposed to have predicted the worst disasters of the 20th Century; dismissed as the insane rantings, it's certainly the fevered start of a nightmare for a group of outsiders who find themselves in possession of the manuscript and on the run.
A shadowy organisation known as The Network wants the unpublished second part of the novel, which the group of computer geeks and internet forum dwellers are in possession of - and suddenly, their worlds are changed forever...
Tapping into a vein of something that's niggling many at the turn of the 21st Century, Utopia is a searing drama, a six part rollercoaster ride of stunning visuals and shocking violence. Centring around 3 protagonists initially, Becky (Alexandra Roach), Ian (Misfits star Nathan Stewart-Jarett) and Wilson (break out star Adeel Akhtar), the series delivers a mix of uncertain thrills and clever twists.
A second series is out there, but it remains to be seen if it can capture the pacing, suspense and surprise of the first - well worth a binge watch, Utopia's mix of visuals and style as well as a rich narrative is one of the definitive surprises of the year.
Our players are the heart and soul of DRIVECLUB, and when the game begins on 8th October 2014, Evolution Studios will be going all out to keep the game fresh and exciting for all of you.
We are determined to build up a lively community of millions of connected racers around you, so our post-launch development will be influenced by what you do in the game and the feedback you share with us. New content, improvements and updates will all be shaped by you and everyone you play with. And of course, we’re going to do our best to keep surprising you with our own creativity too!
In fact, thanks to all of the players we’ve met and talked to already, our mission has already started.
We’re already working hard to develop free updates that will introduce a powerful weather system (that you can play around with to change the dynamics of every race) and a photo mode, because they’ve both been requested ever since we first showed how you can control the time of day and skies in the game.
And even though we’ve already got 55 routes over 25 tracks in the game, we’ll be bringing you more new tracks to enjoy and all of them will be free.
We’ll also keep adding more of the world’s best cars to the game and we’ll give you one car every month, as a free series running from October 2014 to June 2015.
For those who want even more, we’re making a full calendar of new release DLC that will run deep into 2015. This will let you buy packs of new cars and new campaign tour expansions, to give you more to play for each month. This calendar will start in November 2014 with every pack offering new challenges to play and new trophies for you to earn.
There will also be a Season Pass available for €24.99 so that you can pre-order the DLC packs and get a huge saving. In fact, it works out that with the Season Pass you’ll save more than 60% on the cost of purchasing these packs individually, as the total value of the packs will be €75.84 (based on regular price on PlayStation Store).
And the best part? All of this is just the start! We keep saying “DRIVECLUB begins on October 8th 2014″ because we don’t know exactly how the game will evolve with each update until you get your hands on the game and start playing!
Are you on board and are you bringing your friends along with you? We hope you’re as excited about this as we are. We can’t wait to shape the future of DRIVECLUB with you!
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor
Director: The Spierig Brothers
The time travel genre gets an incredibly smart, reasonably complex if-you-don't-look-at-it-too-closely entry with The Spierig Brothers' latest cinematic foray, based on 1959 short story "All You Zombies".
Ethan Hawke stars as a time-hopping agent of a mysteriously shadowy organisation out to stop a bomber known as the Fizzle Bomber, who caused chaos in 1975 New York, killing around 10, 000. Pursuing a lead back in time, Hawke's character ends up working as a Bartender and meets Sarah Snook's Unmarried Mother who begins to relate a tale to him. And to say any more about the plot of Predestination would be to ruin one of the best time travel films of the year. As the layers of this deeply plotted onion peel back, there's plenty of cleverly woven threads sown deep in to the narrative as The Spierig Brothers unleash a mind-bendingly complex story that hits an emotional resonance as well as showing an incredible inventiveness. In Daybreakers, The Spierig Brothers demonstrated they could do low budget without compromising the style; and certainly this time around, they've ramped up the stylishness of the piece without jeopardising any of the budget. The time travel FX are minimal but work to maximum effect and one sequence set within a Space Corp echoes 2001: A Space Odyssey down to a trippy tee. But Predestination is about more than time travel (and a subtle nod to an infamous Red Dwarf episode); at its intricate core, it's about emotional performances - and the two leads in particular. Hawke is assured as the time-travelling agent and manages to imbue his agent with a world weariness and inevitability as the paradoxes of the situation begin to unfold, but it's his co-star, Aussie actress Sarah Snook who delivers a star-making turn as the Unmarried Mother. As the story unfolds, she's a towering and commanding presence from go to woah, for reasons that are hard to elaborate on without destroying some of the best reveals of the film. Needless to say, nuanced and subtle are the key points here as the head-scratching mysteries start to trouble your cerebellum.
While there are a couple of sing-posting moments could have been excised (one moment in the bar serves only to ram the plot down your throat in a crowd-pandering way), most of Predestination impresses because of the story-telling, even if parts of the logic begin to fall away when closely scrutinised. Overall, Predestination is a mind-bending twister of a sci-fi story, a belter that's steeped in sadness, story-telling and subtlety; destined for multiple viewings and discussion, this latest from The Spierig Brothers confirms them as masters of genre-making - and is a welcome addition to the pantheon of cinematic time-twisters and the sci-fi genre as a whole. Rating:
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