Ratchet and Clank: PS4 Review

Ratchet and Clank: PS4 Review

Released by Insomniac Games
Platform: PS4

There's no denying there's plenty of love for the furry Lombax and his little metal friend.

Certainly, when I first got my hands on a PS2, Ratchet and Clank was the first title I ever played. And simply put, its mix of cartoony family friendly fare and downright fun playability meant I was hooked from the get-go. It stretched to a bit of a mild addiction with even repeatedly playing Up Your Arsenal for fun numerous times after completion.

I suspect I'm not alone.

What this demonstrates the kind of love there is for the title and why, like Crash Bandicoot, there's been a lot of wailing and crying for the series to be brought to the PS4.

Finally then, it's here.

And by goodness, it's been worth the wait.

With a film based on the lovable duo out soon in Europe (not sure if any dates in NZ have been confirmed), the resurgence is on and to tie in, Insomniac Games have retooled the series' debut from 2002 and rebuilt it from the ground up, with a view to ensuring this doesn't feel like a lazy cash in remaster on the next gen console.

The result of that love is obvious - from the beginning titles through to the gameplay itself, this re-telling of the Ratchet and Clank friendship and their ascent into space heroes is packed with as much love, luscious graphics and lunacy as you'd want.

As the duo get involved with Captain Qwark and try to fulfill Ratchet's dream of becoming a Galactic Ranger, there are plenty of planets to explore and plenty of reasons to hurtle that trusty Omniwrench into crates to collect bolts to trade in for weapons.

But Insomniac Games are aware that even the deepest love for R&C and the fact it's on the next gen aren't enough to simply carry it through. And not once do the developers coast on a wave of space nostalgia, instead choosing to add options to upgrade your weapons by progression and collection of raretanium to be traded at Gadgetron boothes. Equally, they've added in a new weapon - The Pixelator- which does exactly what you'd expect - and to cap it all, a card collection game's been thrown in to the mix too, with dispatching baddies and hitting certain goals giving you access to the Hearthstone style game.

There are a few deviations and surprises in the story (and the news a patch is being developed to stop movie spoilers is an interesting one) but it's the gameplay of this much beloved platformer that makes all the difference.

Love pours from the screen; be it in the voice work in the cut scenes, the framing narrative or the background, there's a lot here that suggests Insomniac's desire to start all over again in many ways was creatively the best decision to have ever made.

That said, there were a couple of minor bugs that slightly blighted my pre-release access (which hopefully a full day one patch deployment may remove). Occasionally, some of the crates on the screen in some sequences would simply disappear from view and then re-appear without warning. There's also been some bugs which have seen button prompts atop of Ratchet stay with him long after being used (Tap X being one) that blight the screen's action.

These are only minor bugs, but it's a shame the game has been hit by them in the first place.

Ratchet and Clank on PS4 is nigh on impossible not to love.

It's an ode to platform gaming which both gives you a sense of nostalgia from the series but also rejuvenates the game as it launches on to the next generation. It's a breathless piece of family friendly gaming that revels in fun, drips with love and oozes playability. It's a game that rewards your love by satiating a desire to keep on playing and the developers reward your adoration by creating a crafty retooled remaster that raises the bar for any future franchises looking to simply create another collection or remaster in the market place.

Simply put, it's nothing short of a delight to dive back into the world of the Lombax with Ratchet and Clank on the PS4 - I'd strongly encourage you to do so as soon as possible.

Rating:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Blu Ray Review

Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Disney Home Ent


A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a trilogy of films ignited a generation with their timeless story of good vs evil, of heroes and villains and of rogues among the stars.

Then 16 years after their original conclusion, a new trilogy arrived and shattered all of those hopes of the first films but galvanised a new generation to fall in love with Star Wars all over again. They didn't care about the bloated script or the reliance of CGI, they fell for the space saga again.

Now, the two generations have spent a decade awaiting the next installment of the 9 film series - and with possibly the most crippling weight of expectation ever heaped on a film, the new Star Wars movie has arrived.

In The Force Awakens, director JJ Abrams has faced the unenviable task of both updating the saga while remaining faithful to the tenets set down by Star Wars A New Hope way back in the 1970s.

Set 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi when the Empire was vanquished, the story of The Force Awakens is a very simple one. From the ashes of the Empire has come a new threat in the form of the First Order led by Kylo Ren - and they are determined to wipe out the Jedi. And simply., that is all that can be said without drifting too far into spoiler territory.

The Force Awakens is very much the sum of its parts.

The slight problem with that statement is that the majority of those parts are taken from the original trilogy of Star Wars films, with fan service and momentary nods (right down to the odd iconic line of dialogue lifted from the original films) given pride of place.

Consequently, as a result, the film at times struggles to find its own voice, as it tries to walk the line between engaging the original fans and the newer generations of fans as well as bathing in the reverence of what made you fall in love with Star Wars back in the 1970s.

That's not to detract from what JJ Abrams and his team have executed even if it is swathed in a large blanket of nostalgia. You want a space cantina / Mos Eisley like you saw in A New Hope? Yup, we've got it. You want a space battle that threatens a world and requires X Wings to spring into action? Yep, we've got that too straight from Return of The Jedi. You want a healthy dose of issues the likes of which we saw in The Empire Strikes Back? Roll up because they're all here as well - and that doesn't even give time to point out a deus (robot) ex machina plot we saw in the opening moments of Star Wars.

But The Force Awakens is still a film that gives more room to its original stars. It's very much Han Solo's piece, with Harrison Ford showing no sign of losing the caddish rogueishness that made him such a star back then; equally his banter with Carrie Fisher's General Leia Organa represents the softer side of the film which allows it to pause when the action stops, and gives it the emotional edge that's needed.

Visually, the film is dazzling. Backdrops are sparingly littered with star cruisers and an immersive universe once again. But this isn't the overkill of the special editions, or the overkill of CGI, this is enough to create a world, inhabit it and make it feel like the universe is expanding out again.

Of the newer characters, the traumatised, guilt-ridden and conscience-struck StormTrooper Finn (John Boyega) treads on very thin ice occasionally as he borders on Anakin Skywalker style outbursts. Abrams is at pains to point him out early on, marking his trooper helmet with the blood of a fallen colleague. Equally, Daisy Ridley's scavenger / Tomb Raider Rey is a little too quick and exposition-laden as the feisty female lead, doused in pluck but only in a once over broad-stroke fashion and given tantalising hints of a back-story that's not quite strong enough to compel you on.  Portions of their dialogue feel forced and border on the cheesy rather than letting you feel you're watching something natural ignite and spark.

And unfortunately, Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is no substitute for an iconic villain. He's prone to tantrums where he uses his medieval lightsabre to smash things like a petulant child denied that final cookie. Even if he exudes a degree of menace, some of it is lost in the unmasking; whether that subtlety pays off in later films and investment remains to be seen. Domnhall Gleeson brings a darker edge to a very Nazi-esque updating of Grand Moff Tarkin. Thankfully, Oscar Isaac's timeless and tireless ace pilot Poe Dameron is a solid role and one character you'd want to see again, thanks to his dialogue, energy and gusto.

That's perhaps where The Force Awakens falls down a little - it fails to bring a new edge to the film series, even if JJ hasn't messed it up and re-awoken the ghost of the films past (Phantom Menace, I'm looking at you).

There's no denying the crest of nostalgia being surfed when the iconic John Williams theme kicks in at the start and the words "A long time ago" show at the beginning. But those serve as both strengths and weakness of the film; it feels like old trilogy is being re-created and passions reignited with characters you already know; the newer crop don't quite fare as well and certainly the emotional connection isn't quite there to propel you through to the next film or invest fully in their ultimate fate, something which was never the case in Star Wars.

All of this said, there is much to admire in The Force Awakens from the quips and humour to the perfectly rendered and impressively punchy space battles; there will be no denying this space behemoth as it hurtles toward the box office.

It may be the Star Wars for our generation in many ways, but it does lack the chutzpah to be as brave and as daring as perhaps it should be; its one moment that will define it is so telegraphed that it lacks the power it needs - whether this Star Wars becomes the film that you watch time and time again is yet to be fully determined; one thing's for certain, though, the cultural icon that is Star Wars has been restored and definitively re-awakened - fear not, it's still a Force to be reckoned with.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Film Review

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Film Review

Cast: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton
Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

That Tina Fey is the major revelation as an actor is perhaps the best takeaway of the slightly ramshackle Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Based on The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan, the war memoirs of Kim Baker, and from the directors of Crazy, Stupid Love, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is all about subverting the norms and expectations of the conventional war pic.

And it works to varying degrees.

Fey stars as Baker, a dissatisfied reporter stuck in a dead-end job and determined to turn things around. On a whim, she signs up to cover the conflict in Afghanistan in 2002, full of journalistic bluster and self-doubt.

However, when she gets to Afghanistan, she finds the Kabul atmosphere somewhat hedonistic as the embedded journalists there live life to the large, stuck in the mundanity of war time gallows humour and of a conflict that's already on the wane in the news cycle.

Initially awkward, Baker strikes up a friendship with fellow female reporter Tanya Vanderpoel (Robbie) and the pair work their way through the daily routine. But, as ever in wartime, there are casualties - both of the heart and of the human kind.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is an odd affair, a kind of dramedy that relies more on wry writing and a powerhouse delivery from Fey to see it through, rather than a stereotypical war movie with a comedy actress inserted in.

If your perception of Fey is solely as a comedic performer, the more restrained edges she brings to Kim Baker will be a welcome shock to your system, proving she has more than the dramatic chops needed to pull off the nuances necessary.

If Fey is impressive though, Girls' star Christopher Abbott eclipses what she does as Fahim, the native helper and guide to Baker. His is a turn of rare complexity, of understatement and one of the stand-outs of the film. And in an ensemble cast that numbers Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina and Margot Robbie, that is quite the feat.

By necessity, as the story has to cover several years worth of material, it jumps around a lot. Consequently though and unfortunately, it means some of the emotional heft of life within the self-coined "Kabubble" doesn't quite hit as perhaps it should or indeed could.

Some scenes hang together and then disappear, which is a shame because the rough and ready nature of how it's shot gives this unconventional wartime tale the sheen and grit it needs. This is no typical war story and it doesn't play out like you'd expect from the likes of Good Morning, Vietnam. You know a dramatic event is coming at some point, and unfortunately, in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, when it does show, the rushed conflict and sudden tonal whiplash of the final act jars a little (a rivalry, a kidnapping), leaving a feeling of contrivance rather than a deeper emotional immersing in events.

A bit more focus in some places and some slightly more fleshed out dramatic seeding would have greatly improved the at times satirical Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

All that said though, this is a film where both Fey and Abbott rise high above the material; they deliver human performances and elevate the slightly rougher edges of the jumpy story to leave you feeling that this is a tale whose complexities would have been better served with a more singular focus, but whose journey has delivered up two of the strongest acting surprises of the year.

Win Cartel Land!

Win Cartel Land!

Two vigilante groups. One war.

With unprecedented access, CARTEL LAND is a harrowing look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy the murderous Mexican drug cartels.

In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico's drug wars from seeping across the US border.

With never before seen footage of the brutality of this seemingly unstoppable war, filmmaker Matthew Heineman gives us front-seat access to a real and shocking story about an inescapable web of violence, corruption and exploitation.

Thanks to Madman Home Ent, you can win Cartel Land!

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com and in the subject line put CARTEL LAND. 

Please include your name and address and good luck! 

Win 99 Homes

Win 99 Homes

Greed is the only game in town

In this timely thriller, hard-working single father Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) and his mother (Academy Award® nominee Laura Dern) are cruelly evicted from their home. 

Desperate to get his house back, Nash goes to work for the wealthy and ruthless businessman Rick Carver (Academy Award® nominee Michael Shannon) the very man who repossessed Nash's home. 

It is a deal-with-the-devil that comes with an increasingly high cost on Carver's orders, Nash must evict families from their homes; in return, Nash is promised a lifestyle of wealth and glamour. 

As Nash falls deeper into Carver's web, he finds his situation grows more brutal and dangerous than he ever imagined....

Thanks to Madman Home Ent, you can win 99 Homes on Blu Ray.

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com and in the subject line put 99 HOMES. 

Please include your name and address and good luck! 
NB Competition closes 27 April - editor's decision final!

Born To Dance: Blu Ray Review

Born To Dance: Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Vendetta Films

The dance film genre is not one that's blessed with story or emotion.

Its simple MO is to showcase a multitude of moves, a plethora of dancers and to inject an occasional bit of tension into the will-the-dancer-make-good-on-his-or-her-dream-of-making-it-big tropes.

So, Australasia's first dance movie comes blasting out of the gate not really willing to shake up those conventions but wanting to showcase what Kiwis can do on the screen.

Hip hop champion Tia Taharoa Maipi stars as Tu, a teen who's out of school but with little prospects - his best mate is off to uni and his future could be the NZ Army, if his dad has his way. By day, Tu's working at a recycling warehouse with bro Benjy (Stan Walker) - but he doesn't want Benjy's future which includes low level drug dealing.

When Tu submits a dance video to world champs K-Krew, he gets called to auditions - and begins to realise that his dream of being a world - class dancer could be reality. Throw in a frisson of sexual tension with K-Krew Dancer Sasha (Payne, of Fame) and things are looking up for Tu.... potentially.

As mentioned, Born To Dance is your stereotypical dance flick - there's conflict aplenty and a dancer whose desires are conflicted and torn between his own crew, his dad's ambitions for him and his own coming-of-age journey. It's even got a Fame costs and here's where you start paying speech courtesy of the K-Krew leader.

But what it also has, to make up for some of the acting quality on the screen (potentially, some weren't hired for their emoting range) is a warm earnestness that's both endearing and exciting.

The main star of the piece though remains largely off the screen (save for one fierce cameo performance) - and that is Parris Goebel's terrific choreography that really does enliven the dance sequences. Wisely shorn of the 3D gimmick that's all too common-place these days (largely due to funding one suspects), it's upto Goebels' imagination to set the dance pieces in motion as well as first time director Tammy Davis and Dance unit director Chris Graham to make them reality. And Davis and Graham make a good fist of it too, with sweeping camera shots taking you right into the centre of the action - it's here that the energy of the Step Up films is easily eclipsed, certainly in the final 20 minutes of all-dancing action.

Sure, the message of self-belief, empowerment and following your dreams, as well as a dose of reality for evil-doers is nothing new in the genre but it's commendable for young New Zealanders to get exposure to such idioms; and granted, bar one twist, you can see where it's all going, butBorn To Dance certainly punches well above its weight.

Admittedly with its North and South Auckland divide storyline and one misplaced and misjudged story thread over a gay dancer may see it struggle to find a truly international audience (which is a shame given how universal its themes are), but Born To Dance is a Step Up for New Zealand dance films.

Win Ratchet and Clank for PS4

Win Ratchet and Clank for PS4

Play the game, based on the movie, based on the game! Ratchet & Clank (PS4) marks the PlayStation 4 debut of PlayStation’s greatest intergalactic heroes, Ratchet and Clank, as they battle to save the Solana Galaxy from the evil Chairman Drek.  

The game and film were designed to complement each other – with the game experience relating the story from the perspective of Captain Copernicus L. Qwark. 

Ratchet & Clank (PS4) is a new game based on elements from the original Ratchet & Clank (PS2), featuring more than an hour of new cinematics, new locations, an entirely updated arsenal, bosses and more.  

Join Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark and new friends as they embark on an intergalactic adventure, and experience the start of an epic friendship (again) on PlayStation 4.

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com and in the subject line put RATCHET. 

Please include your name and address and good luck! 
NB Competition closes 27 April - editor's decision final!