Rise of the Tomb Raider Game Add-On Content Detailed

Rise of the Tomb Raider Game Add-On Content Detailed

Back in October, Xbox and Crystal Dynamics revealed how the single player experience will be extended in Rise of the Tomb Raider and last night at The Game Awards shared a first glimpse at Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, one of the major content packs coming early next year via the Season Pass or as standalone DLC. In addition to Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, fans can also look forward to two other considerable additions to Rise of the Tomb Raider with Endurance Mode (available Dec. 29) and Cold Darkness Awakened (available in 2016) along with a slew of new outfits, weapons and expedition cards to personalize and extend fans experience in the main campaign. 

More information on the main content additions available in the Season Pass or as Standalone DLC for both Xbox One and Xbox 360:

Endurance Mode – Available December 29th 

Alone and in the wild, Lara must scrounge, scavenge, craft and survive the harsh elements by day, as well as lethal threats from enemies, both man and beast, by night. This is her ultimate woman-versus-wild test to push the limits of how long she can survive on her own in sprawling, unforgiving landscapes. Fire takes fuel, cold kills the unprepared, food restores health, but everything must be caught, collected, or crafted. You start with nothing and must find everything. Challenge friends to your longest survival run and battle to the top of the leaderboards for the title of Ultimate Survivor. Includes a new outfit and weapon.

Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch – Available in early 2016

Deep in the wilds of Siberia, there is a forbidden forest that no man will enter, where a Soviet expedition vanished without a trace. Lara enters the Wicked Vale in search of a missing man, but what she finds is a nightmare that she cannot explain. Is the witch, Baba Yaga, truly haunting the forbidden forest? Or is there more to the legend? Featuring hours of new gameplay, this adventure expands the story of the main campaign with Lara facing deadly new adversaries, exploring a new puzzle-filled tomb, and solving a decades old mystery, all culminating in a showdown with an ancient and mythic evil. Includes a new outfit, and a new bow.

Cold Darkness Awakened – Available in 2016

Decommissioned during the Cold War, a dormant weapons research base has been breached, unleashing a mysterious affliction into the Siberian wilds that transforms beasts and men into blood-thirsty, mindless killers. Lara must overcome increasingly dangerous waves of these infected predators while scrounging their equipment and crafting additional gear on the fly, in kill or be killed survival-combat. Fight for your life against new enemies and complete new challenges, while discovering a way to stop or perhaps even reverse this impending catastrophe. Includes a new outfit and weapon.

Newstalk ZB Review - The Night Before, Goosebumps and Self/Less

Newstalk ZB Review - The Night Before, Goosebumps and Self/Less

This week on Jack Tame, I caught up with Jack Tame to discuss Seth Rogen's newest comedy, The Night Before, the impressive Goosebumps and DVD release Self/Less.

Take a listen below:

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-the-night-before-goosebumps/

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-the-night-before-goosebumps/

Far From The Madding Crowd: DVD Review

Far From The Madding Crowd: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

"Bathsheba Everdene"

It's a bold opening statement from Carey Mulligan's heroine in this adaptation of the Thomas Hardy book from The Hunt director Thomas Vinterberg. But it's one which sets the stall out impressively and gives Mulligan a chance to shine as the Victorian heroine of the piece.

Through circumstance, Everdene finds herself the owner of a farm and attracting the attention of three different suitors; a gentle shepherd Gabriel Oak (Schoenaerts), her lonely and unhappy neighbour Boldwood (Sheen) and the jilted desperate Sergeant Frank Troy (Sturridge).

In adapting the novel for the big screen and today's audience sensibilities, Vinterberg has not taken his eye off the ball. Lushly shot, making the best of the occasionally desolate period settings, the sunsets and occasionally horrifying imagery (a haunting herding sequence early on being shocking), this Far From The Madding Crowdis a treat for the eyes and the mind.

Mulligan brings a stoic strength and moments of vulnerability to Everdene as the story plays out and the consequences of her triumvirate of suitors. But it's never entirely convincing when it comes to the chemistry between her and Schoenaerts as the love story builds in the face of such challenges, with scenes faltering as they head on their path. She intones at one point that "It is my intention to astonish you all" and that ethos could be applied to Mulligan who's never anything less than compelling as the feminist lead.

Subsequently another weak point is Sergeant Troy, a man who feels underdeveloped and whose actions probably felt more understandable among the prose but whose treatment on the screen suffers due to necessary narrative truncation.

But it's the heartbreak and sadness of Sheen's dignified yet tragic Boldwood that really hits the dramatic mark, imbuing each interaction with Everdene with a feeling that tears are never too far away and that a bittersweet life has left him teetering on the edge.

There's class riddled through this production though, with cinematography of the Dorset countryside, the costuming and attention to period detail shining all the way through, giving it a feeling of prestige.

Worth it for Mulligan and Sheen alone, this Far From The Madding Crowd takes a book from the 1800s and heaves a thrilling breath of cinematic air into it.

Rating:

Ant-Man: Blu Ray Review

Ant-Man: Blu Ray Review

Rating:  M
Released by Sony Home Ent

It's fair to say that as the Marvel Universe expanded its horizons, those running it really did start to lose track of what made the earlier movies so great - character and a degree of intimacy.

Particularly in the last Avengers movie, which concluded in a soulless retread formulaic finale that was redolent of many before, relied on a MacGuffin and that was so steeped in angst, all the joie de vivre threatened to be crushed forever.

So, it's a joy to report that, despite a lack of ant-icipation, Ant-man takes Marvel back to its origins, with a flick that feels like a set- up / origins piece that was so prevalent of Phase Oneand one that is an utter blast in the cinema due to its simple plot.

Those unfamiliar with the incredible shrinking man needn't feel left out. 

It's the story of down-on-his-luck Scott Lang (a brilliantly vulnerable yet timed to comic perfection Paul Rudd), an ex-con with a moral code who just wants to do right by his daughter Cassie after getting out of jail. 

But Lang is singled out by Doctor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas back on form and looking wearied enough to suggest an age and lifetime in the role prior to where we join the movie) to be the recipient of his shrinking super-suit and help Pym ensure that the current CEO of the Pym Industries Darren Cross (Corey Stoll in a relatively thankless role as the rather average and cartoon villain of the piece) doesn't use the tech for the wrong reasons and let it fall into the wrong hands.

Ant-Man is refreshingly small scale and, for the most part, all the better for it.

Sure, it's entrenched in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it never feels fully bound by its conventions, ongoing storylines or bogged down by the Infinity Gems saga. 

There are nods to the world around and an acknowledgement of the events in Age of Ultron(even Pym has a wariness about the Avengers getting their hands on their tech) but this is flick is more about the story of fathers and their legacies, rather than super-sized and angsty heroes coming together to save the day.

Ant-Man is at pains to put its redemption lessons and daddy issues front and centre of the film, with a mantra of the ordinary man being a hero squarely at the fore. Lang's told by his ex-wife at one point that his daughter thinks he's "her hero - so just be the person she already thinks you are"; Pym himself talks a lot about how he failed his daughter Hope (a worryingly sidelined Evangeline Lilly) and Cross is angry that his mentor Pym never fully trusted him or embraced him.

But it's the fact that Marvel's embraced these issues and looked more to address the intimacy of the films that's not proved an insignifc-ant contribution to the overall effect.

Granted, there are some pretty impressive visuals that revel in their Honey I Shrunk the Kidsand Planet of the Giants aesthetics, thanks to Pena's performance, there's a crackling line of comedy that buzzes all the way through (and clearly has Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish's DNA all over it) but there is never anything that wanders too far from the emotional edge that's clearly running through this ant's mandibles. And it's all wonderfully executed by Yes-Man director Peyton Reed.

It's not all perfect though - Stoll is never a full-on threat as the bad guy and the Marvel truck has gone back a few steps in its treatment and execution of women in this piece. Lilly deserved more of a presence in this first film (even if a mid-credits coda seems to promise more ahead) and is sidelined; it's once again a boy's world in this superior heist flick. And it has to be said the appearance of the wider world intrudes into this film - a mid-film sequence and even the post-credits moment feels like Marvel's going back to easy old habits, which is unwelcome after what's just transpired.

Ultimately, thanks to a massively charming Rudd and the lighter touch of the script, Ant-Man is entertaining fare, a welcome diversion from the darker edges and continual set-ups that have become the norm for these films and shorn of the ongoing mythology. 

Ant-Man is light, inventive, frothy and above all, fun - this caper has refreshed the Marvel cinematic offering and it's to be hoped that this formula won't be lost in future.

Rating:

Ex Machina: Blu Ray Review

Ex Machina: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Finally making its way onto the screen after languishing unreleased is this brilliant tale of AI and mind games.

Domnhall Gleeson plays Caleb in Alex Garland's psychological thriller, a winner in a staff-run lottery to head to an island owned by company CEO Nathan (a suitably creepy Oscar Isaac) and check out some new tech.

When Caleb arrives on the island, he's introduced to Ava (a deliciously slinky and deliberately ambiguous, yet achingly vulnerable Alicia Vikander) and ordered to carry out a Turing Test on her to see if she can pass as a human.

However, as time passes, Caleb begins to question what he's doing on the island and who is playing who.

Devilishly smart, this three-hander psychological game has a claustrophobic feel that's as creepy as it is clever. As the time begins to pass, this sci-fi treat will have guessing from beginning to end; it's almost as if you are expecting something but don't have a clue where it will come from.

There's a sleekness and sophisticated sheen to the film, which really does achieve its day-after-tomorrow aesthetics with worrying ease; there's a very real feeling that this jump into AI could be in our very near future and be more subversive than we'd expect.

But while the film may be about concepts and ideas, its human personification and execution is nothing short of enthralling.

Vikander seals her rising star status with utter ease; her near emotionless face manages to convey more than you'd ever expect, a tangled set of wires may be part of her back head giving you a physical peek into what's within but you can never glimpse a full picture of what's being thought.

Equally, Gleeson relishes his time in the spotlight as the pieces of the puzzle float around his head - the swirling paranoia is gleefully orchestrated by Garland, but it's thanks to Caleb that we're given access to this quandary. Gleeson easily steps up and seizes the opportunity, turning it into something that begins as intriguing and ends with dread.

But it's Oscar Isaac who impresses most - his alpha male Nathan is a terrifying glimpse into where tech svengalis may already be heading and what lengths they're willing to go to get there. But not once does he ever leave you questioning the vision and humanity of the ethical dilemmas within thanks to a nuanced performance.

Elegant and intelligent, Ex Machina is thought-provoking cinema at its best. 

Doctor Who Legacy - Talking its 2 year life and the future

Doctor Who Legacy - Talking its 2 year life and the future

With Doctor Who celebrating its 52 anniversary this November and Christmas on the way too, it’s never been a better time to pick up Doctor Who Legacy, the gem-matching game that also matches up a lot of the show’s history.

It’s the perfect gift for Xmas too for all ages to enjoy before the appearance of the Doctor on our festive tellies.
The game’s celebrating its second year anniversary as well this year and has launched some new premium content for fans of all ages to enjoy. There’s the Kids Content which aims at players of younger ages, and the Sonic Adventures which is a slightly trickier proposition for games with bombs and strategy needing to be deployed.

But Tiny Rebel Games has never lost sight of the community it serves – and while there were initial launch problems for some with the Premium content, both Lee and Susan from TRG tirelessly worked through the contacts and replied to everyone individually (something which is incredible for the amount of work they have on).

Equally, a server issue at their end recently saw them reward their community with a free character once it was fixed, continuing their patented approach of community and players first.

So with the 2nd year anniversary just gone past, and with there never being a better time to buy the Premium content as a Christmas present for the Whovian in your life, I reached out to TRG for a chat about the content, the future and what the plans are for Christmas this year.

Susan Cummings from Tiny Rebel Games got back in touch (for which I am grateful for her time)


The Kids content evolved from Anna’s Playground, but how did the gorgeously adorable artwork come about?
The BBC had shown us some of the early art in the new style they were developing a bit before we launched Anna’s Playground, and we were all in the process of trying to decide what, if anything, we would do with it in Legacy. Once it became obvious that there was a significant demand for more younger-Whovian oriented content in the game things just fell together neatly. We loved the art style from the moment we saw it =)

What was your general desire for achievement with the Kids Content? And how has the Kids stuff been received?
Anna’s playground started because we were sitting around on Boxing day going through support tickets, and someone had emailed us about their daughter, Anna. By lunch time we had a level mocked up, designed around the idea that we could tweak the core gameplay enough to truly let young kids have a compelling experience on their own, and had emailed Anna’s father back asking for a list of her favorite enemies so we could personalize the level for her. Our desire was to do something for the daughter of one of our fans, but once it became clear there was demand for more if it, our desire changed to doing that the best way we could. In the short term, that meant launching a second Anna’s playground and then that shifted to doing a full Kids area for the game. We’re very happy about the reception to the Kids area by our amazing community =)

You’ve dropped some new levels, proving once unlocked, the investment in the game’s paid off – will there be more kids content on the way and what’s the ultimate plan?
Internally we’re treating the Kids area like the Fan Area – once unlocked we’re going to keep updating it as much as we can. The first level pack for the Kids area has already been released, and I hope to get a second one out after Christmas. I can’t see us doing less than 4 expansions to the area, hopefully a lot more than that.

Turning to The Sonic Adventures, your own spin-off series in many ways, what was the plan with that one – it introduces Jo Grant to the game, the Eric Roberts Master ; was it always the idea to have older characters within the game to reflect the show’s legacy?
At launch we began with the most recent seasons, with a plan to continue backwards as far as we could (ideally to An Unearthly Child), but after launch as we started talking to the BBC about new characters for the game, and the community made it very clear that these should include many classic characters.  We therefore shifted the whole of the Legacy project over to a much more “classic inclusive” position, while also trying to keep right up to date with canon alongside each new season. When we found out from the BBC that we were going to be able to start putting Sonics into the game we were faced with a decision – we could do this slowly over time as with any other ally, or we could try and do it all at once and wrap it all together in our first “real” expansion. By doing that we were able to put together a self-contained adventure including a massive selection of sonic devices from throughout canon, as well as many hours of gameplay. When we got to that point we started talking about how this would tie into the canon of the game, and I decided that we would treat it as a side story to chapter 4. If you’re a user who stays with only free content then you shouldn’t be effected by the fact that this adventure is happening off to one side. You shouldn’t feel pressured to go take part in it. But for those who do decide to join the first Doctor you get some insight into the larger chapter 4 story as the TV Movie Master spearheads a counterattack against the Doctor.

The self-contained adventure of The Sonic Adventures is quite tricky, how much thought goes into strategies for the game and is there anything else like you’d like to do with this series? Could it be expanded?
We’re always looking at new ways to change the core gameplay in order to keep players on their toes =) You’ll see more of this next year.

Are there other plans for Premium content within the game? Or is there something else you’d love to do within the Game?
The next chapter of Bigger on the Inside will be premium content, and will be heavily story driven. We have years’ worth of plans for the game. We’ve only just started =)

There may be some who feel that outside of the Sonic Adventures and the Fan area Frenemies level,  there’s little chance to continue levelling up to 60 without access to the Strands of Time – it must be hard for you to balance the freemium mode you’ve done so successfully with the need for continual re-investment into the game – how do you counter comments like that from the community? (Even with continual weekly free drops, there must be some pressure / desire to keep it financially sustainable)
The plan was always to give Sonic Adventure players access first, then the Fan Area, and then to everyone else – sadly some players will have to wait but considering that to have that complaint they’re likely 50 – 60 hours into the game without spending a penny to speed that up in any way, I’m sure they don’t mind waiting a little longer.

The game’s been going for 2 years now and with weekly story levels dropping for the current Peter Capaldi TV show, what’s been your proudest achievement with it?
We’re very proud of the fact that we’re the first mobile game in history to shadow a running TV show in this way, the fact that we’ve done it for two years, and the fact that we can do it for free to our users.  But I would say our proudest achievement is undoubtedly the amazing community we have.

What are the plans for the future of Doctor Who Legacy ? Given Season 9 ends soon, what’s next for DWLegacy?
In order:
Special Fan Area level coming in the next few weeks
More Titan Comics costumes and characters
“The Event” starts in the next few weeks
Signature Series in Fan Area
Bigger On the Inside, Chapter 2
Chapter 4 continuing
We have plans past that with the BBC which run through to the end of next year, however these are the ones I’m comfortable mentioning right now.

Will there be an Advent Calendar this year in December? And will you all be taking some well-deserved down time after the efforts you’ve poured into the game and the community?
We released this info yesterday!

2015 Advent Calendar plans!!  – There have been a lot of questions regarding the advent calendar plans for 2015, so here is the official reply: because season 9 of the show is running into December this year, and then we have to prepare for the Christmas episode, we haven’t had the space between the end of the TV season and the start of advent to plan and execute an additional month of free content. However, as we continue to say – users who financially support the game through unlocking the fan area deserve special recognition for what they’ve done (it’s the 5% of players who have financially supported the game over the last 2 years who have kept it going, not the 95% who don’t), so we’re doing a very special “SIGNATURE SERIES” of characters exclusively for the fan area.

Over the last year the team at Tiny Rebel have gone from one Doctor Who convention to the next in order to tell Whovians about the game. During these travels we met members of the cast of the show, we would thank them for agreeing to be in the game, and we started asking them something very specific – would you mind signing your in-game art so we can do a special series of characters for fans of the game. Enough said yes that, for the week before Christmas, the Fan Area will receive a new set of characters, re-balanced, each displaying the actor’s signature on the profile page.

The fan area launched with 9 levels, and now has over 50. We hope the addition of the Signature Series helps reinforce the promise we made when we launched the game – if you unlock the fan area we’re going to keep giving you unique goodies as a thank you for as long as we’re making the game.

Lee. Creative Director.

To play Doctor Who Legacy for free and get into the game that's got Whovians buzzing, click on the various formats below:

In The Heart of The Sea: Film Review

In The Heart of The Sea: Film Review

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Benjamin Walker
Director: Ron Howard

The tale of Moby Dick is not a new one by any stretch of the imagination.

But this true story whale tale sees Hemsworth and director Howard reuniting after the much-overlooked Rush to tell the story of the story of the sinking of the Essex back in 1820 which inspired Melville to write Moby Dick.

Complete with John Wayne drawl, Hemsworth plays Owen Chase, the rugged first mate who's always overlooked for captaincy of vessels heading off to see from Nantucket to gather whale oil. Hooked in by the promise of being a captain in a next voyage, Chase takes his position on the Essex, and defers to Benjamin Walker's Captain George Pollard who's installed in charge by way of nepotism rather than via hardy hours at sea.

With this tension and a crew that barely seems sea-worthy, the Essex sets out on its fruitless search, but falling foul of not enough supply but plenty of demand, Pollard pushes the crew out into the uncharted waters. But it's here the crew faces its biggest challenge as they're struck by a massive white whale and suddenly have to put aside their quarrels and survive.

In The Heart of The Sea is a muddled film that at times, finds itself at sea.

By balancing two narratives as Gleeson's older survivor tells his story to Whishaw's author Melville who's seeking inspiration and by flashing back and showing the fate of the Essex, Howard inadvertently strips the story of any real tension, preferring to use a hoary old narrative crutch instead of letting the drama talk for itself.

And while the sequences when the great white attack show a sense of urgency, even though they're over incredibly quickly, In the Heart of the Sea isn't exactly in a rush to get to its destination.

Large portions of the second half of the film see the men all at sea a la Unbroken and Life Of Pi, but because earlier stretches of the film do little to build character outside of Chase, the plight of the rest of the crew is somewhat lost in the wash (even the tension between Pollard's silver-spooned captain and Chase's tired of being passed over falters dangerously close to undeveloped) and consequently lacks the engagement needed.

Fortunately that gap is filled by Gleeson's weighty performance of a man desperate to unburden his soul but terrified of what the truth reveals about the lengths gone to for survival. It's here the gravitas is brought and Gleeson becomes the film's MVP without any shadow of a doubt, pulling in pathos, horror and eliciting emotion from the simplest of looks. In stark contrast Hemsworth seems too clean cut and lacking in any real depth; there's no disputing his good intentions, but there's equally no escaping the one dimensional nature of this landsman in these flashbacks - it's a fatal flaw that holds you at arm's length.

Howard's cinematography is replete with images from the level of the ropes and the masts that scatter the ship and his solid directorial eye brings an interesting take on the hoary old sea dog stories, even if it does lapse into water-bound visual cliches and proffers little in the way of new perspectives.

Ultimately, In The Heart of the Sea relies a little too heavily on its CGI creatures and leans not enough on its own character developments; there are tantalising hints of what the film could have been, but these elements don't quite gel together. In stopping the story at crucial points for a flash-forward and failing to build all characters other than Chase (who borders on a caricature) In The Heart of the Sea proves a fitful beast, and one which isn't exactly destined for Davy Jones' Locker but one that never quite gets the wind it needs in its dramatic sails.

Rating: