Forza Motorsport 6: XBox One Review

Forza Motorsport 6: XBox One Review

Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Format: XBox One

There's no denying this year has been a cluttered one for car games on the next gen consoles.

With Driveclub and Project CARS as well as Forza Horizon 2 still in the wing mirror, the platform and genre are already very well serviced in this area, so why would another version of Forza be needed?

Well, the simple reason is that it's essential and thrilling.

For the 10th anniversary of the Forza series, the game's pulled out all the stops to deliver an incredible driving experience that is a joy to play from the moment you load the game up to when you inevitably have to turn it off.

With over 460 vehicles to collect, there's more than enough to do with the racing side of things and with 26 tracks there are certainly enough choices to keep you occupied. Drivatars can be set to various skills and rewards can be gained, but at the end of the day Forza Motorsport 6 is all about the racing and little else.

And it's breathtakingly well-executed on the XBox One.

Graphically, the game soars with the sheen and shine of the cars being the main reason it looks so damn good as you hurtle around the tracks. And while the crowds aren't particularly animated as you speed by (just taking a picture of them in photo mode demonstrates this), the backgrounds are nothing short of stunning. Snowy mountains have contours and look beautiful as the sun's rays catch them and you as you burn round a bend.

But it's the wet weather that impresses too. While it doesn't come on naturally like other racing sims, even though you're thrown in to the middle of race where a downpour is ongoing, it's electric. Droplets of rain water track up and down your screen as if you're watching through a window on a rainy day - and with 3D puddles on the track, the game is changed. Because hitting one of those head on can send you far enough off course to lose your racing position without any warning. The simulated planing you do when you manage that - either deliberately or accidentally - is tricky to correct, but just occasionally, it benefits you.

Career mode is simply fun too; you're thrown into all kinds of cars that normally games need you to progress through as you go through the game. Whether it's because of the credits you accrue in the game or because of the spin fortune mechanism in place, it's great to have access to all of them right away.

Playing through five tiers of Stories of Motorsport, (with the likes of Top Gear stars Richard Hammond and James Mays narrating), there are some 70plus hours of driving to get through - including the Showcase events, where you can end up racing up to 320KPH in an Indy Car track.

There's also a new Mods facility, an in-game pack that you buy with your own credits and which give you a series of boosts or technical upgrades which last for a limited amount of time or are for one race only. It's not a micro-transaction but is available to all within the game and is a welcome touch, though it has to be said, it's not essential to your career if you don't want to invest in them.

Night-time races are also a blast, but make the motoring a different ball game. Set entirely in the pitch black of night the races are actually harder and will see you relying on your skills, map-reading and ability to read the other racers in equal measure. The issue is nothing can be taken for guaranteed and every race is fraught with a minor mishap causing you to tumble down the race ranks.

Endurance races, matches with the Stig, and a whole heap of other show case events will all easily eat up your time - a 40 lap endurance being the biggest ask for concentration and skill. There's certainly variety ahoy in this latest Forza outing and there's really no need to leave the game in the slightest.

Also on offer is the player multiplayer which I've yet to experience having missed the guided multiplayer time zones due to other commitments - stay tuned as that side of the review will be added in a later stage.

All in all, Forza Motorsport 6 is a top tier title. It makes the racing fun, is beautifully executed and makes a great case for this series continuing to be updated. If you're a racing fan, you can't afford to be without this game - and if you're not, I guarantee you should own it as it'll convert you with absolute ease.

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Mad Max: PS4 Review

Mad Max: PS4 Review

Developer: Avalanche Studios
Platform: PS4

Mad Max has had a great year.

What with the cinematic epic chase film Fury Road starring Tom Hardy earlier this year and now an extremely enjoyable entry into the console world, it's been all about the return of Max.

Set in the post apocalyptic world we're all familiar with, this open world game gives you the chance to become Mad Max and to scavenge the wastelands and get revenge. When Max finds his vehicle stolen by local warlord Scrotus, he's on a quest to get it back - with only help coming from an oddball mechanic called Chumbucket (looking like the hunchback from 300), Max has to build a war vehicle, survive the baddies and get his beloved Interceptor back.

With missions and side-missions, the majority of which are aimed at getting Max's new vehicle built, scavenging parts and tooling up, there's plenty to do and plenty of places to explore in Mad Max. Which is a great thing, because the open world that's been created by Avalanche is simply stunning, a wasteland of epic proportions which really does translate well on the small screen following the film's magnum opus. Salvaging scrap from areas also helps Max reach his goals as well, and gives you extra reasons to hang around areas.

Using the usual combat methods and fisticuffs to take out various members of the warboys who stand in your way, Max has a kind of gritty realistic feel to its fighting that's both familiar and welcoming. Running up to a victim and smacking them squarely in the face with a power punch has quite the impact and Max can even unleash his Fury when hitting enough of the right anger points.

And the driving elements of the game prove to be exciting too - powering through sand dunes in buggies and taking on bad guys as you head to your next mission gives this game a feeling of place within the Mad Max canon - equally, the initial opening sequences and cut scenes really are perfect; a mix of the gut-punching violence and the superb execution (both literally and figuratively) give Mad Max a sense of brutality and tension that's welcome.

Oddly though, there are some glitches, including moments when Max tries to run through vehicles and simply melds into them rather than stopping and going around and occasionally some of the movement and execution of jumping doesn't quite work. But these are minor niggles that don't fully detract from the game once you embrace their quirkiness.

All in all, Mad Max is a well-executed take on what was undoubtedly one of the action films of the year. Brutally faithful to its source material and with some uniquely Aussie twang and slang, it certainly hits all the key moments and gives the open world game an authenticity that's worth embracing.

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Disney Infinity 3.0: PS4 Review

Disney Infinity 3.0: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Disney

The Force may not be awakening until December this year, but the merchandise certainly had a rude awakening already.

So it is with the rather brilliant family orientated Disney Infinity series which sort of spluttered a little with the Marvel SuperHeroes set last year - but there was certainly a lot more excitement when the news was released that Star Wars would be finding its way on to the platform this time around.

Granted, you'll have to wait until a little later in the year to play an original Luke, Leia and Han set adventure, but this starter pack that's out now is certainly making all the right noises in a market place which is already somewhat crowded, with this franchise, Skylanders and in a few weeks, LEGO Dimensions (bring on the Doctor Who element already!!)

Twilight of the Republic is the major starter pack piece, and the cartoony approach that Disney Infinity brought with their art style, certainly works wonders with this given how it's set in the Clone Wars Universe. In fact, this execution is nigh-on perfect with the ducking and diving, fighting - and you can see how it's come from the same developer as Devil May Cry. Using the light sabres never loses its thrill either - and to be honest, kids of all ages - particularly dads and their sons - will get a lot out of the adventure. Playing as Anakin or Ahsoka, there are different skills to master and different ways to play. But with the wonderfully realised statues on hand, the boundaries to this is as much as the imagination will allow.

And the Toy Box makes a welcome return too - using the if you can build it, you can play it mentality and ethos, there's still plenty to do. The core concepts of the development are the same, but thankfully, the community's embraced this way of gaming already and there's plenty of options to experience what others would create early on. But that's the great appeal of the Toy Box, worlds are created and you can access other people's work; it's a boon to the lazy and the restless - and it's a joy to see others bring it to life.

The thing with the Disney Infinity Star Wars iteration is its perfect amalgamation of gaming and the imagination. Star Wars was always about dreaming, of shooting and playing with light sabres in a galaxy, far far away and now this set has brought that to life. You'd have to be a curmudgeon to not fall for its charms, though it's understandable that given the number of characters to collect, your budget may feel a great disturbance over the coming months.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops III: PS4 Preview

Call of Duty: Black Ops III: PS4 Preview

Studio: Treyarch Games
Platform: PS4

Earlier in August, the Call of Duty: Black Ops III Beta dropped giving long time fans of the franchise a sneak peek of what lies ahead with the latest release.

The sequel to the 2012 game series is highly anticipated and with PlayStation nabbing some of the exclusive content, the PS4's early sneak was entirely welcome, even if its fast paced nature meant plenty of respawns for those involved.

Last year's annual iteration, the release of Advanced Warfare certainly upped the game for those wanting to play smooth shooters and its execution meant the recent DLC for the series has been thrilling and exciting. This Beta showed the future of the series and to be frank, it appears to all be about pace.

Set 50 years in the future in 2065, and with a storyline that concentrates your forces more on the ground rather than allowing them into the air, it's clear that Call of Duty wants to hit the ground running. And it's not just the ground that gets the running too, as you can hurtle along the walls.

The multiplayer gives you a chance to choose a specialist area as well when it boots up, which gives you special skills and weapons, but more of that will be forthcoming when the game is released in November.

The games kick in with a real urgency and speed, and it wasn't long before others dealt to me very quickly, providing plenty of respawn opportunities. This is not a game to stand and admire the world around you - although, in the brief moments before being blasted again, there is more than enough to see, thanks to the wondrous world around it. It's kind of cool because there's plenty of space in the open world to both explore and hide in as well. But when push comes to shove, it's really about the action and it's fast-paced, occasionally hard to adjust to and worth simply getting your sights on.

One of the games I played was a capture the area type scenario, where weapons were good, but stealth was better. Simply put, this beta took some of the finer points of Advanced Warfare and ramped them up to 11. Speed is definitely an issue with this iteration of COD and I do hope there's some time to adjust to what's ahead before being thrown into the game, as you need time to adjust to skills and weaponry.

The beta was an enticing look at Call of Duty: Black Ops III and there's certainly proof that the maps offer up plenty of scope for gaming excitement. I'm intrigued to see what the game offers in November and expect that Treyarch will knock it out of the park when the time comes.

Star Wars Battlefront 10 mins footage

Star Wars Battlefront 10 mins footage

10 minutes of alpha play from STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT  has made its way onto the internet.

Watch the Star Wars Battlefront footage below.

Samba: DVD Review

Samba: DVD Review

Rating:M
Released by Transmission

The directors of The Intouchables re-team with the star of that film, Omar Sy, for this new flick, that promises comedy but wallows in its own earnestness.

Ten years ago, Samba (Sy) migrated from Senegal to Paris and has been doing lowly paid jobs to get by, slowly shuffling cash back home. But when he's caught in an immigration sting, he comes across Charlotte Gainsbourg's Alice, an immigration worker who's a little lost in life.

The two form a friendship thanks to Samba's flirting and big brown eyes hitting the spot with Alice, his case worker who's getting involved where she shouldn't. But the relationship that shouldn't be faces all kinds of problems and stumbling blocks...

Samba starts with a dancing club- flapper style hijinks, with the camera pulling back to reveal a wedding and then looping into the backrooms and the solitude of Samba working in the kitchen. It's a burst of energy from the high life to the backlot but it's symptomatic of the hiss and the roar that Samba starts with and then fizzles out.

Granted, there are comic moments here and there, with Samba working a window cleaning job atop a tall building providing the best laughs of the film, but Samba the movie struggles to find an engaging footing throughout despite the work of the two leads. There's a nice softening of the relationship which is carried along by a modicum of gentle charm, but the movie tries to mix the earnestness and cliche to create a commentary on migration in these times.

It's nowhere near as successful as it wants to be, which is a real shame, and Samba consequently struggles to find its own path, meaning the message is lost, and the film, like Samba adrift in the system, fails to really capitalise on its own identity.

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A Little Chaos: DVD Review

A Little Chaos: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Transmission


It's off to the palace of Versailles for this the second directorial outing for Alan Rickman.

It's Paris, 1687 and Winslet plays Sabine de Barra, a landscape gardener who's on the look out for her next commission. So, with the weight of expectation not in her favour, she attends an interview for a commission to build in the palace of Versailles and in an ironic twist for the time, manages to convince the man in charge Andre Le Notre (Rust and Bone star Schoenaerts) that she's the right man for the job.

But her appointment causes all manner of problems; from the work force who won't take her seriously to the back and forth between her and Le Notre, as well as wrestling with her demons, it looks as if De Barra is on a hiding to nothing.

Winslet is the rock and foundations of the somewhat disjointed A Little Chaos.

Her underplaying of De Barra stands in stark contrast to Rickman's relatively frenzied zig-zagging direction. The film's constantly being derailed in terms of its flow by the stop-start stutterings of the story and De Barra's flashbacks (pointlessly inserted in from time to time in way that over-eggs rather than nourishing the whole piece).

There's a plodding pace to the film too, which Rickman fails to fully grasp and exert some kind of control of; moments of nuance from Winslet are counter-balanced with moments of a relatively emotionless Le Notre and end up cancelling each other out. (In another world, the Le Notre role of brooding would have been played by Viggo Mortensen).

There are some moments of humanity and heart where a levity of touch proves a welcome tonic to proceedings - nowhere more so than when Rickman's King Louis is incognito in a garden and De Barra mistakes him for a seller rather than royalty. It's this single scene that breathes some life, passion and emotion into the proceedings and sees this drama bloom and blossom. Equally, a veritable cameo from Stanley Tucci as the King's brother in law only serves to highlight what exactly the film is missing in one single scene.

One major problem is the romance between the two leads which suddenly feels abruptly shoe-horned in and doesn't inject any of the gravity or passion that's clearly hinted at throughout, leading to a conclusion and romance that feels forced and unnatural.

All in all, A Little Chaos could have benefited from a little more order; Rickman has moments that work well but they're suffused with too much that doesn't quite work as well as it should. A touch more pruning at the script stages could have meant this flower would have smelt a little better and blossomed for a little longer.

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