Just Cause 3 unveiled

Just Cause 3 unveiled

Square Enix and Avalanche Studios today unveiled JUST CAUSE 3, a vast open-world action adventure, and the latest instalment in the much-loved JUST CAUSE series. JUST CAUSE 3 will be available in 2015 for PlayStation 4® computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Windows PC.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment ever since Just Cause 2 was released, said Christofer Sundberg, founder and Chief Creative Officer at Avalanche Studios. “This is the culmination of a decade’s worth of open-world evolution and innovation. In JUST CAUSE 3, we’ve sent Rico to a beautiful Mediterranean archipelago. He is of course bringing his Grapple and Parachute, both with game-changing upgrades, as well as the brand new Wingsuit. JUST CAUSE 3 truly represents the next generation of chaotic sandbox fun, and we can’t wait to show you more next year.”

Exclusive coverage and developer interviews can be found in Game Informer’s December issue. Additionally, visit GameInformer.com/JustCause3 & Game Informer AU's Facebook page throughout the month for on-going coverage.

Sunset Overdrive: XBox One Review

Sunset Overdrive: XBox One Review

Platform: XBox One
Released by Insomniac Games

Sometimes, madness prevails.

So it is with the bright colours, general insanity and orange overtones of XBox One exclusive Insomniac Games title, Sunset Overdrive.

It's 2027 and in a move that would see Red Bull, V, Monster and the like potentially suing, an energy drink called Overcharge's been launched that turns the entire populace of Sunset City into bubble-headed mutated monstrosities hell-bent on ripping you apart after you were the only one to survive (being a janitor for the drinks company and all that).

Gradually though, as you head around Sunset City after initially locking yourself into your own panic room, you realise there are other human survivors and people out there, who can help you try and save the day and your city from being over-run by these Overcharge guzzling goobies.

Sunset Overdrive is going to win you over big time.

It's nothing but pure unadulterated bubble-gum fun, that aims to put a goofball smile on your face as you play around the free-wheeling world. The problem with the game is that there really aren't enough hours in the day to help you hoon around the world that's been created.

Movement's largely confined to the skies, given that the ground's actually the most dangerous place to be - from grinding to traversing wires to speeding around, airborne tactics are the only way you'll survive the hordes of attacking critters. And you're not confined to simply being sky bound, because you can use your weapons to maximum effect from the skies too, which help you boost your style meter and get you the points you need to level up.

It's mainly quest-driven gameplay to be honest, so there are times when it starts to feel somewhat repetitive; but I guarantee you won't care about that as you grin your way from one mission to the next. There's also plenty of personality within the game as well - from the people you meet to your own character, there's more than enough to keep you engaged. Add to that the thought that's been put in to the game - even from various animated respawnings after death (you come to life from a grave, or out of a missile shot in) and it's easy to see why you'll get swept into the pure fun that is Sunset Overdrive.

Upgrades help you get your weapons and with the armoury you can get hold of, you'll want to power these puppies up. From a simple Dirty Harry shooter to a TNTeddy that fires exploding teddy bears, the mania doesn't stop short of what's on the screen.

The game chooses to break the 4th wall and has fun doing so; and that's probably why you're swept up in this game. There are no real rules - sure, you've got missions to achieve and reasons to exist, but if you want to take the time to explore Sunset City via the wires, then you can fly away, shooting at OD and bouncing to your heart's content on cars (and your style meter will thank you for this too).

Fun is the MO of this XBox One exclusive title - and in a world where the apocalypse is an all too often mined for serious intentions cliche, the fact Insomniac have thrown everything in (even the kitchen sink in some parts) is to be applauded.

Put simply, if you own a Xbox One, you can't afford to not have Sunset Overdrive sitting on the system ready for you to fire up after a particularly tedious day of the 9 to 5. No other game this year has presented fun in such a playably lunatic way.

For that, Insomniac Games, we salute you. (And demand a sequel).

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Grand Theft Auto V: PS4 and XBox One launch trailer

Grand Theft Auto V: PS4 and XBox One launch trailer

Grand Theft Auto V- Launch Trailer

New, enhanced versions of Grand Theft Auto V arrive for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One November 18 – here’s the all-new launch trailer which will serve as the game’s official TV spot.

For more information on enhancements to these new versions, as well as exclusive content details for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions, please check out the Rockstar Newswire.

Personally, what with the news of the First player mode, the enhancements and the fact it's GTA V, I cannot wait for this one to hit.

Exists: Movie Review

Exists: Movie Review

Cast: Samuel Davis, Roger Edwards, Brian Steele, Dora Burge, Denise Williamson
Director: Eduardo Sanchez

It's back into the woods once more for the director of The Blair Witch Project who made such a killing with the movie back in 1999 and changed the found footage horror genre forever.

This time around, a group of friends head into a remote wood in Texas to party at an uncle's cabin, armed with a bazillion cameras, beers and hormones. On the way to the venue, the group hits something on the road - and dismissing it as a deer, they continue to head to the cabin.

But, later that night, a wailing starts in the woods - and soon they're being hunted by a Sasquatch...

Exists is exactly what you'd expect from the found footage genre.

There's an overload of shoe-horning in of cameras (everyone's always recording these days) and a series of horror tropes and conventions which are present from beginning to end. Sure, there's the obligatory shots of nondescript good-looking people getting passionate (thanks to one of their group perving on them and taping it all) and granted the group chooses to go further into the woods "for a short-cut" when they're being chased (cue eye-rolls of incredulity), but despite a bumpy 30 minutes that does little to endear you to the group, Exists soon proves to be remarkably solid.

With a fearsomely evocative sound-scape that manages to ramp up some of the tension in the cabin in the woods, Exists starts to come into its own as the Sasquatch begins to attack after its provocation.

Early onslaughts are confined to the blurred furry beast being glimpsed, running through the woods as one of the group tries to escape on a bike or from views of those hiding within the cabin, but Sanchez and the script don't shy away from revealing the beast in its glory and for subverting the genre by having the creature attack in the full light of day. There's a feral ferocity and animal logic to the Sasquatch which is commendable, even if its final interaction ends up being somewhat out of character.

Mind you, it's not to say that some of the more truly stupid moments don't detract from the film - a gung-ho firing of a gun with limited ammo by one character amed up on machismo being the true high of dumb behaviour - but the clever seeding of the cameras actually pays off with multiple angles in a climactic showdown revealing more than these usually would. Other scenes aren't as lucky though with darkness and muffled moments muddying the tension and proving frustrating rather than frightening as you struggle to work out exactly what - if anything - is going on.

All that said, if you go down to the woods today for Exists, you may actually get a bit of a cinematic surprise.

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Frank: DVD Review

Frank: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

Frank is one of the weirdest yet sanest pieces of cinema around with a great insight into what it means to be a musician and how the creative gene pool work.

Domnhall Gleeson plays Jon, a wannabe singer songwriter, who spends a lot of his time forcing creativity to come when there really is none. Stuck in a seaside town, in a dead-end job and with aspirations beyond his talent, his chance comes after a bizarre moment when he witnesses a keyboard player of a group trying to drown himself on a beach.

Striking up a conversation with the band's manager, Don (McNairy), Jon's asked to step in if he "can play C,F or G". Thrust onto the stage that night with stardom in his eyes, he discovers the lead singer of the band is Frank, a man whose sole tic is to wear a big giant papier mache head.

Thinking it's a stage thing only, Jon soon discovers that Frank lives inside the head and is a cypher for the rest of the band, pushing their creativity and frustrations - given the chance to record an album with the group, Jon soon finds himself ensconced in the lifestyle but frustrated none of his music is taken onboard. After 12 months writing, the band finally write their album and set out on a tour....which is when things start to not go according to plan.

Frank is based on the character Frank Sidebottom and is a piece that's inspired by an article written by Jon Ronson, who co-created the movie.

Part tribute to the character and also part documentary (if you read the article), there's something wilfully obscure and offbeat about Frank as it dances to the sound of its own beat.

From the hostility of Clara (Gyllenhaal) to the seeming mania of Frank himself (Fassbender in a tour de force performance), there's a whole range of emotions at play here. Initially, the seaside is evocative of the mundanity of suburbia with Jon longing for escape - but he soon swaps one mundane existence for another (albeit an offbeat one) as he spends a year recording with Frank.

With a wildly eclectic soundtrack and a Jim Morrison style front man, there is poignancy with punchlines aplenty in Frank - and it's all a little bit out there, thanks to the bizarre premise. But there's also tragedy as the film takes a darker tone towards the end (which may cause some to feel shortchanged) as the bleakness creeps in

It's destined for cult status too - with scenes like Frank describing his mood underneath the mask forming part of the early laughs ("Welcoming smile" is likely to become a catchphrase) but perhaps the simplest statement comes from Don early on when he tells Jon, "You're just going to have to go with this".

It's a wise mantra for anyone going into the early parts of Frank where little is revealed about the whys or who Frank actually is - it's a clever touch by Abrahmson and Fassbender particularly that you care more about the character with the mask on. Gleeson's naive lost soul also makes a good impression as he grows from talentless to inspired, to full on manager of his destiny - but never before has one man's journey seemed so destined for despair.

Humour, tragedy and pathos are littered throughout this eccentric piece which explores creativity- Frank truly surprises in among the dry, deadpan humour- there's an inherent vein of sadness running throughout which imbues everything with a rock'n'roll richness that's hard to pigeonhole in this enigmatic treat.

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Tarzan: Blu Ray Review

Tarzan: Blu Ray Review

Rating: G
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

Another version of Tarzan swings in, this time a computer generated piece which aims to put a new twist on the legend.

Kellan Lutz stars as JJ Greystoke, a kid who finds himself alone after his parents die in a helicopter crash instigated by his dad affecting the balance of nature after taking a chunk out of a meteor (yep, seriously).

Raised in the jungle by a mother gorilla who had her child killed during the chaos caused by JJ's father, Tarzan, the hairless ape, grows. But when the CEO of Greystoke industries heads back to the jungle determined to find the meteor and with it, a new source of energy for the world, Tarzan finds his resolve tested and his loyalties torn.

The computer animated Tarzan is perhaps one of the bizarrest re-tellings of the story I've ever seen.

While Kellan Lutz gives his all to the human ape, the animation takes a while to get used to, thanks to a weird mix of Cloudy With Meatballs stule humans and very well defined other humans. But that's about as far as the definition goes in this piece, which lacks emotion, sees Tarzan using extremely dodgy ways to pick up Jane (stalking, rifling through her belongings) and has a terrible romantic montage soundtracked by Coldplay's Paradise.

With swirling cameras, swelling music, plenty of pointless voiceover and lots of animated scenes showingTarzan flying through the air a la Spider-Man for no other reason than they can, this Tarzan has very little going for it. An additional plot about a meteor from the Jurassic ages feels like the kind of tosh more suited to a Transformers film than a push to protect the wild forests.

Ultimately, this Tarzan lacks definition, bite and a decent origin story that seems to flow - it really does need to be confined to the jungle, rather than inflicted on cinema audiences.

Rating:

Show Me Shorts Q&A with festival director, Gina!

Show Me Shorts Q&A with festival director, Gina!

The Show Me Shorts festival is now underway nationwide. I caught up with Festival director Gina Dellabarca to see how it's all looking!

Hi Gina, how have you been?
Hi Darren, I’m swell thanks. Busy year! Lots of exciting wins for short films here in NZ and abroad.

What's the field like this year for Short films?
We had almost 1,000 entries for Show Me Shorts this year. Our largest number yet. The result is outstanding short films. Our judges this year (Robyn Malcolm, David Larsen, Sophie Henderson and Joe Lonie) were blown away, especially by the NZ films.

It's a big year for the festival too with Academy Award accreditation and a Chinese delegation on the way over…
We’re proud to be hosting Yu Han for the international premiere of his film 家 (Home). It offers a unique peek inside the life of one small Chinese small apartment across ten years. Visually striking and hugely memorable.
Our Academy Awards-accreditation puts us in the same category as big international film festivals like Melbourne, Cannes, Sundance and Venice – in terms of being able to provide a pathway to the Oscars. It’s a big deal for our local filmmakers.

There are some big names in the short films this year too? 

Festival director, Gina Dellabarca

Short films are not just for amateurs, as we often see established directors (e.g. Wes Anderson) experimenting with short film. This year’s most high profile actors include Amanda Seyfried (Les Misérables, Mamma Mia!) in the romantic thriller Dog Food, and Oscar-nominated British actress Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky, Blue Jasmine) and Jim Broadbent (Harry Potter, Moulin Rouge) who co-star in the high-stakes drama The Phone Call.
There are lots of Kiwi stars too! Loren Taylor (Eagle vs. Shark) features in two short films: Leo Woodhead’s award winning Cold Snap, and the post-apocalyptic world of The Light Harvester alongside Craig Hall (A Place to Call Home, The Hobbit). Greg Johnson and John Leigh (both ex-Shortland Street) wake up hungover in Antarctica wondering how they got there in the bromantic comedy Snowmen, and Charlie Bleakley (Scarfies) and Cohen Holloway (Boy, Good for Nothing) prove their friendship in the hilarious road trip comedy Coconut.

Over 1000 entries from 50 countries as well - did you see any trend in the films? 
There is increasing diversity of stories, which is great for audiences because there is healthy demand for a wider variety of films, with new and unique characters.

Which country was the most prolific for entries?
We have an established reputation in Australia so we always get lots from there, and their entries were really strong this year. America probably sent in the most. But closely followed by France and Germany, thanks to my visit to film festivals there earlier this year to promote Show Me Shorts and build market connections.

Does it always surprise you how this genre continues to be explored?
Shorts films are a medium for exploration of ideas and characters. My favourite thing is when filmmakers transport us to an entirely new world we couldn’t possibly have dreamed up ourselves.

How tough do you think your judges have had it this year?
They loved it! It’s a big job, but also a total privilege to watch all these wonderful shorts.

The festival's going nationwide again, did you ever envisage this kind of roll out when you first started?
Not at first. Year one was just a three-day event in one location. But as we have grown, so have my ambitions for Show Me Shorts. World domination is totally on our agenda some day.

Have preparations already started for next year?
Always. When you’re working with limited resources in terms of money and almost entirely volunteer staff, it’s important to look ahead and think about how we can be sustainable into the future.
Our programming team is also continually plotting how we can attract the best short films for the next season.

Just finally, which shorts do you think people need to make sure they see and why? 
If you need a laugh, see Snowmen and Coconut in the Bromance section. If you need to be reminded of the unique and wonderful qualities of the human condition, The Last 40 Miles and The Phone Call in the Listen Up section are in order. If you have kids, Vigia (Lookout) in the My Generation section for families and children is a must-see - it’s an animated story explaining why bees are so important.
But don’t stop at those ones. There are only six different sessions. It would be a very easy and enjoyable thing to get along and see all of them.

For more info, visit Showmeshorts.co.nz to get details of the festival showings!