FIFA 17: PS4 Review

FIFA 17: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by EA Sports

The Beautiful Game's back - and this time around, it's all about The Journey.

Using the same kind of ethos that's worked for the NBA2K titles, and throwing in a degree of the Telltale Games' strategy of reacting with choices, The Journey focuses on Alex Hunter and his career ascent (or descent if you don't play well enough).

With some cliched sporting dialogue and some fairly stockstandard characters, you could easily dismiss The Journey as being a bit of a waste, but it's actually proving to be a welcome new element to the franchise.

In the first case, it's actually a smart way to get people across the basics and show some training, by setting it in the context of try-outs. Keep Alex in the top 10 and he scores a contract; it's a clever touch that keeps you invested right off rather than getting trophies for hitting a certain number of points in a certain skill-set.

And it's devastating when you don't make the grade in training, and fail to make a starting line up. Not only does it cost you career money, but it also costs you your place in the club. I am particularly gutted that Alex has been put out on loan to get more time on the pitch with other clubs - that's how immersed into this story I am.

It's not worth spoiling the rest of The Journey as the fun is in the playing, but suffice to say it, this FIFA Story Mode may be something to consider a return to next year.

Elsewhere the game is much the same as ever - but with Frostbite providing the graphics' engine, the game actually looks like a beautiful game in many ways. With rendered edges and great lighting the replays sparkle and give you the thrills and chills you need.

But as for the gameplay itself, there are few changes, because the previous iterations have been already so playable and easy to get on with. AI has stepped up a notch and it's noticeably harder to harness a victory on the field in FIFA; Player and Manager Career Modes are back - and to be honest, they're fine; the single player is the reason to take on FIFA and it's welcome.

For many the footballing sim world is already chock-a-block, but this latest makes the time and investment worth it as you follow Alex Hunter - you'll be surprised how much you want to keep playing on.

Gears of War 4: XBox One Review

Gears of War 4: XBox One Review

Platform: XBox One
Developed by The Coalition

Gears of War 4 is perhaps one of the best looking shooters of the next generation.

Taking place 25 years after the events of Gears of Wars 3, the game picks up and thrusts you into the role of James Fenix, the son of Marcus Fenix - and into a world of trouble.

With a prologue that essentially gives you some recap of the previous games and also sends you directly into the action before ensuring you have to face a new threat in the form of critters known as The Swarm, it's clear that Gears of War 4 under The Coalition's watch is going to be about action.

And quite frankly, it is all about the action and the shooting.

With characters that wouldn't feel out of place in an action film, and with dialogue that fits too, Gears of War 4 is cinematic in ways you wouldn't expect.

Graphically, the game's excellent with its post -space world and rendering feeling bright, futuristic and day after tomorrow as well as vibrant and engaging.

Creature design for the Swarm is pretty spot on and feels both enticing and occasionally repulsive. But the cut scenes which introduce the new threat are filled with as much adrenaline as they are threat, and give the game a sheen that reeks of quality.

Early sequences see you taking on guard robots and their rolling buddies (which feel like they wouldn't be out of place in Terrahawks) before the game switches things up. The sense of peril explodes and the game matches the scope of what transpires with ease. It looks so pretty on the XBox One and the worlds rendered around JD and his gangs are worthy of exploring on their own.
Add in some good solid character edges and you begin to understand why Gears of War 4 feels like the full package.

There are a couple of niggles with the cover elements of the fighting though.

Far too often I'd press the button to go to cover and it wouldn't be as fluid or intuitive as I'd expect - or trying to vault over pieces of cover, it didn't work as well as expected. It's a minor complaint, though in tougher boss battles and in waves of attacks, it becomes an ongoing concern.

There's plenty of Multiplayer for Gears of War 4 too, but these will be explored a little further once the servers are a little more populated; my initial quest to get a game on Horde was met with a lot of waiting for the server to give enough people, so I'll review that at a later date.

Ultimately Gears of War 4 does what you'd expect on the box.

But the fact that it does it looking so utterly incredible is a real testament to all involved. It may be one of the best looking shooters on the XBox One, but it certainly never takes that for granted, and doesn't rest on its laurels.

Win Short Poppies on DVD

Win Short Poppies on DVD

Real life journalist David Farrier (Tickled) is on a quest to find the everyday New Zealander, the stalwart of our community, in this mockumentary series. 

He meets seven of these so called “Short Poppies”, a diverse group of unique individuals all played by comedy tour de force, Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Yes Man). 

Meet part time leg model and lifeguard Terry Pole, park ranger Bill Napier, senior citizen Mary Ledbetter as she wrestles with town issues and criticisms, artist and beauty Louise Cooper, UFOlogist Steve Whittle, and local lawyer Rhod Gainer. 

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or click here  and in the subject line put SHORT POPPIES. 

Please include your name and address and good luck!

Competition ends October 27th.

Win Weiner on DVD

Win Weiner on DVD

To celebrate the release of Weiner on DVD, I've teamed up with Madman Home Entertainment to give you a chance to score a copy!

About Weiner

Anthony Weiner was a young congressman on the cusp of higher office when a sexting scandal forced a humiliating resignation. Just two years later, he ran for mayor of New York City, betting that his ideas would trump his indiscretions. 

He was wrong. 

With unprecedented access to Weiner, his family, and his campaign team, WEINER is a thrilling look inside a political comeback-turned-meltdown. What begins as an unexpected surge to the top of the polls takes a sharp turn once Weiner is forced to admit to new sexting allegations. As the media descends and dissects his every move, Weiner desperately tries to forge ahead, but the increasing pressure and crippling 24-hour news coverage halt his political aspirations. WEINER walks the line between political farce and personal tragedy. 

With the city of New York as a loud and bustling backdrop, this documentary charges through an increasingly baffling political campaign with unflinching clarity, humor, and pathos.

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or click here  and in the subject line put WEINER. 

Please include your name and address and good luck!
Competition closes October 27th.

Dead Rising Trilogy: PS4 Review

Dead Rising Trilogy: PS4 Review

Released by Capcom
Platform: PS4

The dead will rise again with this next gen port of the infamous Dead Rising series.

The survival horror series first dropped in August 2006 and centres around freelance photographer Frank West who's dropped into a Colorado mall amid a zombie meltdown. From there, it's survival time for Frank, as well as a time to pull together anyone who's still alive and make it out over a 72 hour period.

The second Dead Rising 2 and Off The Record (all neatly packaged together) are much the same ethos with you being supplanted into the role of Chuck Greene a motorcross rider who's got to face the same undead problems as Frank did - as well as ensuring his daughter gets a constant supply of Zombrex to stop her tipping over to the baddies side. Off the Record puts Frank into the same story and lets you play as the original.

As a trilogy of releases and a port over to the next gen consoles, the Dead Rising Trilogy looks pretty much as it did for the last gen release. Even if the HD elements of the next gen machines mean the games look a lot jerkier than they should do, these are still crispy executed do-overs. But it still looks ever so slightly terrible in its shinier new home and it's good in many ways to see that Capcom's embraced the rougher edges of the series.

Off The Record gains a sandbox mode with challenges but for the large part this is the game you played 10 years ago - zombies stutter and shamble towards death and there's a lot of button mashing to escape their clutches.

All in all, the Dead Rising trilogy feels like a nostalgic curtain raiser to the arrival of Dead Rising 4 in December - it's a welcome blast from the past, but it  perhaps feels a little old hat in this current day and age. Here's hoping the fourth outing has a little more of an edge when it shows up.

HITMAN - Season Finale Episode 6 Announced

HITMAN - Season Finale Episode 6 Announced

The Season Finale – October 31

HITMAN™ - Episode 6: Hokkaido

SYDNEY, 13^TH October 2016 – Io-Interactive is excited to announce the destination and release date for the Season Finale of HITMAN, which will take place in Hokkaido, Japan on October 31.   

The Season Finale for HITMAN Season One features a mission called “Situs Inversus” and is the culmination of everything players will have learnt in terms of both gameplay and story.

The Hokkaido location is set within the grounds of the hyper-exclusive GAMA private hospital and resort. This secluded facility is a fusion of Japanese beauty and cutting-edge technology, featuring its own Zen gardens, organic sushi restaurant and traditional Japanese hot spring. Agent 47 must locate two targets in this climactic Season Finale. 

“It was a brave decision to go fully digital episodic with Hitman, fundamentally changing how we make the game, and for us it has been a major success,” said Hannes Seifert, Studio Head, Io-Interactive. “I want to say a big thank you to all the players for making this possible! Together we’ve built and run the biggest and most replayable locations of any Hitman game and added new live content every single week since launch. And although we’re now completing season one, this is only the beginning for our ever expanding World of Assassination.”

HITMAN began with a Prologue and Paris location in March, continued with Episode 2: Sapienza in April, Episode 3: Marrakesh in May, the Summer Bonus Episode in July, Episode 4: Bangkok in August, Episode 5: Colorado in September and the season finale, Episode 6: Hokkaido on October 31. 

Show Me Shorts Film festival 2016 review

Show Me Shorts Film festival 2016 review

The Show Me Shorts Film Festival is now on and with it, a sign once again that short film-making is in very rude health.

The team's spent six months sifting through 1500 entries from 60 countries, an increase of 50%, and now with a clutch of world premieres, the festival's been spewed out into the public domain to be gorged upon (the reason for that choice of wording will become clearer...)

And with the opening in Auckland gifting out the winners with accolades, there's no sign that this festival is going to slow any time soon, which is great.

As Flicks points out  the big winner on the night was an animated 5 minute short, called Spring Jam.
This is a joyous and comic ode to a stag in mating season finding his feet and his amorous edge in the annual rutting competition that is mating season.

SpringJam

With ACME levels and Looney Tunes edges of lunacy, as well as packed full of vibrant inventiveness in its very short run time, this riff on the senses is fun, frivolous and utterly charming, guaranteeing you to be grinning from beginning to end.
It's a rightful winner of the top award, and a sign that NZ animation doesn't just have to be of a fantastical nature. Based on this Ned Wenlock's got a great future ahead, and with the validation of the top award, it's a sign that animation here is once again world-class.

Going about as far as you can from the happy bright spring rituals, Schmeat's darker almost Grimm Fairy Tale edges are as much a dichotomy of Burton-eseque edges as you'd expect.

Opening on a skull with some kind of huhu grub crawling out, this animated vision of a dystopian NZ where meat is scarce has a nutty scientist and a poem as its guide.
There are horror overtones present in this and they're welcome, but the fact it's animated means it never goes over the edge, and if anything  Matasila Freshwater's ideas are more worthy of a Horrible History than an outright scare. It's reminiscent of Frankenweenie crossed with a deliciously dark tone, and it's a welcome watch.
More Gru from Despicable Me than outright gruesome, the scientist's adorable edges are offset only by spiky teeth - and the story's got a spike to it as well which is welcome.

Home

One of the spikier and more timely stories in the programme is Home, one of the NZ premieres.
Written by BAFTA winning director Daniel Mulloy, this sly subversion of the refugee crisis is as prescient as it is frightening.

Jack O'Connell and Holliday Grainger bundle up their two kids and look to be heading on a family holiday but there are shocks ahead as this uncertainty of hope plays out.
As frailties of trust play out and the purpose of the story becomes clearer, it's obvious why Home is such a hot potato of a film - and with the subtlest of movements on Jack O'Connell's face protraying and betraying so much, the power of Home hits you long after it's ended. And as you dwell on it, it may make you nauseous.

Certainly guaranteed to make you nauseous is the puke-fest that is Shout At the Ground.
If ever a short film packed as much puking in as one scene did in Stand By Me, it's yet to cross my eyes.
A band reflect on a weekend that saw them robbed of their takings - and as the winding road to resolution plays out both literally and figuratively, there's plenty of blowing chunks.

Comedic and ribbed with escalating chaos, this comedy in a Kombi may test your own resolve and stomach lining, but Joe Leonie certainly has fired something different together. Subtlety is not its forte, but some nice reflective character moments and a pacy twist pack a punch give it an edge to stand out in the festival.

Leading proceedings in Shout At The Ground and Break In The Weather is actress Aidee Walker, who appears to be one of the 2016 MVPs.

Break In The Weather

A complete story of regret, coping and caring, Break In The Weather sees an estranged daughter Jamie forced back to care for her father (Peter Elliott) after a stroke.

Forced together, reflections on the past and also present conditions add much emotional weight to proceedings and give Break In The Weather a mournful power that's hard to deny.
Tensions and reflections are subtly underplayed, and Walker who wrote and directed this piece displays a great eye for not only embracing the full current context of a short but also manages to pack in plenty of backstory to give the feud and rift some real emotional heft, depth and context.

All in all, The Show Me Shorts festival is clearly on the up, and given numbers of submissions have vastly increased, it shows no sign of dying.

With international talent emerging at all quarters, and Kiwi film-makers holding their own and even beating them at their own game, there's no better time to embrace the festival and dive in - because based on this smattering from the smorgasbord from the short form cinema, there's more than enough to satiate any appetite.

Get the Show Me Shorts programme and festival info here.