Gravity Rush 2: PS4 Review

Gravity Rush 2: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by SIE

Released first on the VITA, Gravity Rush was indeed a rush.

Using the combined touch capabilities and infusing it with a Manga comic aesthetic added a lot to the whole experience and made the game one of the few that helped the format stand out.

Remastered on the Ps4, the first game was still fun, but it was clearly a port of playable proportions.

With the sequel, it's all on for the console.

Picking up where the first game ended, the sequel returns you to the shoes of Kat but to start off with, minus her Gravity shifting cat.

Stranded on a floating clutch of ships (Howl's Moving Castle springs immediately to mind), Kat's helping work at mining the nearby rocks and under the minor dictatorship of the owners. But when Dusty the cat shows up, Kat gets her powers back.
And just as well, given that trouble lies ahead....

Gravity Rush 2 is a thrill, a game that builds on what the first game offered - a kooky playability and a different way of shifting the game spectrum around.

Adding in the ability for Kat to hurtle debris through the air as part of combat may be a little like inFamous, but it works where it needs to and can make a difference from repeatedly having to use the kick button to take down an enemy et al. But floating and attacking in the sky never gets old and the thrill is still there.

The hub city is beautifully rendered and really brings the wealth of personalities within to life. As the pages of the comic unfurl between chapters, it makes a unique USP for Gravity Rush.

But parts of the story feel occasionally repetitive and some of the missions certainly feel very familiar as it all builds to a climactic fight.
However, the smaller moments really stand out in the game, and Kat and Dusty make very likeable protagonists.

Ultimately, Gravity Rush 2 is a wonderfully colourful way of bringing a comic book to life without ever losing its true aesthetics. It may not have the novelty of its VITA outing, but it makes use of the PS4 engine without ever betraying its origins.

Win Fifty Shades Darker prize

Win Fifty Shades Darker prize

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Darker, the second chapter based on the worldwide bestselling “Fifty Shades” phenomenon.  Expanding upon events set in motion in 2015’s blockbuster film that grossed more than $560 million globally, the new installment arrives for Valentine’s Day and invites you to slip into something a shade darker.

When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance.  As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian’s past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.

Also returning from Fifty Shades of Grey are Academy Award^® winner Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Ehle, Luke Grimes, Rita Ora, Victor Rasuk, Eloise Mumford and Max Martini, who are joined for the first time by Oscar^® winner Kim Basinger, Hugh Dancy, Bella Heathcote and Eric Johnson.

Fifty Shades Darker is directed by James Foley (Fear, House of Cards) and once again produced by Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and Marcus Viscidi, alongside E L James, the creator of the culture-spanning blockbuster series.  The screenplay is by Niall Leonard, based on the novel by James. 

Fifty Shades Darker has now been rated R18: Sex scenes and offensive language

To enter simply email FIFTY SHADES to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes February 9th 

Win a double pass to see FENCES

Win a double pass to see FENCES

FENCES is directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson, adapted from Wilson's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play.

The film stars Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sydney.

The film is produced by Denzel Washington, Todd Black and Scott Rudin.

Fences is in cinemas February 9th

Fences – PG: Coarse Language and Sexual References To enter simply email FENCES to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes February 9th 

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Stealth Edition Revealed

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Stealth Edition Revealed

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Stealth Edition Revealed

Sydney, 2nd February 2017 - Exclusive to Australia only, the Stealth Edition for Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 has now been announced. It is available to pre-order from today, and it includes a thrilling arsenal of items.

Included in the Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Stealth Edition:

• Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 - Season Pass Edition (PS4 and PC only) or Limited Edition (Xbox One)
• SGW3 Branded Remote Controlled Quadcopter Drone with HD Video/Photo Camera
• 3x Exclusive Sniper Rifle Skin DLC

The Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Season Pass includes:

• Two major single player expansions:
• Single Player campaign The Escape of Lydia
• Single Player campaign The Sabotage
• Two multiplayer maps
• All-terrain vehicle
• Sniper Rifle McMillan TAC-338A
• Compound Bow

The Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Limited Edition includes:

• Additional single player campaign The Escape of Lydia
• All-terrain vehicle
• Compound Bow

The Escape of Lydia single player campaign and Vehicle Buggy will be available at launch, with the rest of the content becoming available throughout the year.

The Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Stealth Edition is available to pre-order at EB Games only, and will be released for PC, PlayStation®4 Computer Entertainment System, and Xbox One on April 4th, 2017. It will RRP for $169.95 on PS4 and XBO, and $159.95 on PC.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 tells the story of brotherhood, faith and betrayal in the most complete sniper experience ever. Take the role of an American sniper named Jonathan North, who is dropped into enemy territory in northern Georgia, nearby Russian borders. Explore large open-world maps with dynamic weather and a day and night cycle that actually impacts play and decisions. Customize weapon equipment, accessories, vehicles and a drone, and utilize the three pillars of gameplay to your liking: Sniper, Ghost, and Warrior.

To learn more about CI Games and Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, visit:

• CI Games website: www.cigames.com
• Sniper Ghost Warrior 3: www.sgw3.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SniperGhostWarrior
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/SGW3Game

CI GAMES Reveals Exclusive Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Pre-Order Season Pass Edition

on PlayStation®4 Computer System and PC

Sydney, Australia – February 2, 2017 - CI Games has announced a super special incentive for people who pre-order Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, containing a load of extras at no additional cost. Players can take advantage of this valuable season pass offering beginning today on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and PC.

“We have a long-term investment in our community and believe that this season pass is a huge value to them,” said Marek Tymiński, CEO of CI Games. “The content within the season pass has variety to it, and we’re committed to provide support and additional content throughout 2017 for our largest game to date. The major part of the edition will be the single player campaign 'The Sabotage'. This is one we’re quite proud of where players will follow the story of the separatists and experience everything from the other side of the conflict making the story more being in the grey zone than black and white."

In addition to the highlighted extras below, CI Games plans to roll out exclusive content drops and special events that will enhance the game throughout 2017.

The season pass on PS4™ and PC includes the following:

• Two major single-player expansions
• The Escape of Lydia
• The Sabotage
• Two multiplayer maps
• An exclusive all-terrain vehicle
• Two exclusive weapons:
• The McMillan TAC-338A Sniper Rifle
• Compound Bow

The season pass is available for free for those who pre-order the game. Players can pre-order the game at their local retailers or at http://sniperghostwarrior3.com/pre-order/.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 launches on the PlayStation®4 system and Windows PC on April 4, 2017.

The Alliance Française French Film Festival Announces 2017 Programme

The Alliance Française French Film Festival Announces 2017 Programme

The Alliance Française French Film Festival Announces 2017 Programme

The Alliance Française French Film Festival has announced the full 2017 programme, inviting audiences to experience one language, and a world of emotions.

“After months of preparation, viewing and selecting films, liaising with partners and much detailed planning, we are excited and happy to have arrived at the moment when we officially announce the full programme.

This year’s Festival is full of emotions: laughter, tears, suspense, excitement and entertainment. Much reflection lies ahead of us with 36 films presented over 6 weeks in 12 cities across New Zealand.

And all of this en français - bien sûr! Le cinéma — a great place to experience a culture, to learn a language, to travel the world and gain new understanding.” — Festival Director Dorothée Basel

With award-winning Festival titles, numerous female-directed features, and slapstick comedies, the 11th edition of the Alliance Française French Film Festival will feature some of France’s top stars and shine a light on up-and-coming talent. 

Having presented the International Premieres of some superb French jewels in the past, such as The Bélier Family and Rosalie Blum, 2017 is no exception, marking the world debut of writer-director Carine Tardieu’s wonderfully funny Just to be Sure (Ôtez-moi d’un doute). Starring François Damiens (The Bélier Family, AF FFF 2015) and Cécile de France (La Belle Saison, AF FFF 2016), the film leads the La Vie et L’Amour section of the programme.

Fans of classic French cinema will enjoy a fresh look at classic film genres with the Classics Remixed section, which pairs musical comedy The Umbrellas of Cherbourg with Julie and the Shoe Factory, and the film noir Le Doulos with Dark Diamond.

Featuring a line-up ripe with César Award nominees from Best Film (Slack Bay, From the Land of the Moon, In Bed with Victoria) and Best Actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle for A Decent Man, Fabrice Luchini for Slack Bay, Omar Sy for Monsieur Chocolat, Gaspard Ulliel for It’s Only the End of the World) to Best First Film (Dark Diamond by Arthur Harari), the 2017 Alliance Française French Film Festival is guaranteed to be a highlight in New Zealand’s cultural calendar.

The Alliance Française French Film Festival will run from 1 March - 12 April 2017 in 12 cities across New Zealand. For full programme information, including dates and venues, visit www.frenchfilmfestival.co.nz

Patriots Day: Film Review

Patriots Day: Film Review

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, JK Simmonds, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon
Director: Peter Berg

Teaming up for the third time proves to be a great deal of charm for director Peter Berg and star Mark Wahlberg.

After the gung-ho jingoism of Lone Survivor and the major  OSH incident at Deepwater Horizon, this duo's tapped into a rich vein of blue collar Middle America that's worth continuing to mine.

Patriots Day, starring Mark Wahlberg

This time around, it's back to April 15 2013 and the Boston Marathon that they head for a largely successful drama that recreates events both pre and post the bombing that shocked the world.

Proving once again adept at pulling together the minutiae of life and the everyday characters (a newly married young couple, a cop who's been injured and wants fully back on the job, the Chinese immigrant making good on life in the USA et al) to build momentum going into the event, Berg brilliantly sets the scene for what's about to unfurl with a controlled eye and a sense of impending terror.

As he spins a wide web of people caught up in what's about to happen, he refines the thread to a single line to follow Mark Wahlberg's lumpy Boston cop Tommy Saunders, a composite of many different characters of the day. Confined to the finish line and desperate to get back properly to the job, Saunders finds his world thrown into disarray when the bombs planted by the Tsarnaev brothers explode.

When the FBI moves in, battle lines are drawn between the local PD, the powers that be wanting to capture the criminals and the confusion and chaos that unfolds.

As previously mentioned, Patriots Day's strength comes from Berg's connection of the disparate strands and the docudrama style in which it plays out. Focussing more on the manhunt after the explosion (which comes 30 minutes into the film and shocks with its ordinariness), this restrained film spools with a suspense that's at times claustrophobic in its ordinariness. Shaky-cam footage of the scene, ground level cameras and real-life footage blend perfectly together to capture the horrific aftermath of the event and the bravura of the spirit of camaraderie that went on display.

Wahlberg excellently pulls together the everyman role once again, even if Tommy's clashes with the FBI seem a little orchestrated as the paean to policing and community plays out. But it's an unshowy performance from Wahlberg, although his composite character does somehow have the knack of showing up at all the key moments in the 100 plus hours after the event (something which possibly should have been jettisoned to inject a degree of more realism into the already volatile and gripping proceedings).

It's perhaps fair to say that some of the other characters within don't feel fully fleshed out and despite Berg's perhaps best intentions the Tsarnaev brothers never feel anything less than one dimensional from their watching bomb-making videos to their behaviour post bombing.

However, Patriots Day comes unstuck from its earnest intentions and solid presentation of timelines with a horrendously over-milked post-event sequence that interviews the victims of the event. It's almost as if the propaganda machine needs to pump to really galvanise the anger and showcase the courage on show.

With no disrespect to those caught up in the horrific events of April 2013, it's a wild directorial misstep for both Berg and the film (and other films are adopting this approach more readily, a kind of Hollywood coda to ladle on the true story syrup) that up until the end had been extraordinary in its showing of ordinariness in the face of overwhelming odds. This is fast becoming Hollywood's go-to denouement and it's not welcome or needed in the true story stakes - the film should be enough to satiate the story-telling and this should be confined to a DVD extra at best.

All things being even, Patriots Day remains a strongly and unexpectedly compelling watch despite this ending; from aerial shots showing the chaos and pandemonium post-event to the eerie calm of a city in lock-down, Berg's crafted an intriguing tale that borders on some jingoism and self-aggrandisement in the face of adversity.

But then, for a film titled Patriots Day and focussing on ordinary Americans, civic healing and the manhunt as the worst terrorist event played out post 9/11, what would you expect?

Ubisoft announces Wildlands - The companion feature documentary to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands

 Ubisoft announces Wildlands - The companion feature documentary to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands

WELCOME TO THE WILDLANDS

UBISOFT ANNOUNCES ‘WILDLANDS’ – THE COMPANION FEATURE DOCUMENTARY TO TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON^® WILDLANDS, RELEASING MARCH 6, 2017

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — February 1, 2017 – Ubisoft has announced that it is working on a ground-breaking documentary, which is set to offer one of the most revealing insights to date into the drug trade in South America, and the battle to contain it. Scheduled to release on March 6, 2017, the feature length film, titled “Wildlands”, will showcase the real stories behind Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands’ fictional Bolivian setting. The documentary provides a fascinating insight and wider context to the inspirational themes in the videogame, further highlighting the incredible lengths that the Paris based development team has gone to in order to create a truly believable setting.

To view the trailer click the image below

This feature length documentary explores the real-life stories of key figures, who have been at the centre of the war on drugs from the past thirty years. Viewers will accompany narrator Rusty Young, author of New York Times best-seller, Marching Powder, as he meets the people, who have been involved in shaping the cocaine trade in South America, many of whom are telling their stories for the first time. Travelling from Bolivia, and up through to the United States, he will listen to the fascinating stories of characters from both sides of the law, from the coca farmers, through the drug supply chain, to the Special Forces soldiers fighting the war on drugs – to get a raw snapshot of drug trafficking and production in South America.

Developed in partnership with Chief Productions, Wildlands captures the stories of some of the most influential voices on the matter. For the very first time, these diverse characters are brought together to give a broad perspective on a global crisis. Bolivia, Colombia and North America form the landscape for this complex story of the battle between law enforcement and criminal organisations seeking to monopolise a multi-billion-dollar illegal industry.

Director, Colin Offland, described the process involved in gathering the compelling and visceral source material; “We spoke to the people who know the drug trade better than anyone else; iconic characters, from either side of the law, who have defined this continent’s notorious image. The war on drugs is a complex one and we give viewers unprecedented insight to the people who have shaped this landscape, enabling a better understanding of a global issue which affects us all.”

Wildlands introduces the compelling, unbelievable, and often devastating, life stories of a number of individuals, including - George Jung: The man known for hooking North America on cocaine, George Jung was a major player in the cocaine trade during the 70’s and 80’s and was immortalised by Johnny Depp in the movie ‘Blow’. Adam Newbold: A former Navy SEAL with over 20 years’ combat experience, Adam has worked throughout South America. Tomas McFadden: Reformed drug trafficker, and subject of “Marching Powder”, reveals the tricks of his trade, which saw him become a prolific smuggler, until the day he was arrested with 5kg of cocaine at La Paz airport – leading to a lengthy stay at the notorious San Pedro Prison.

Alongside these individuals, Wildlands introduces traffickers, smugglers, money launderers, informants and law enforcers that shape the complex jigsaw forming the criminal underworld profiteering from this thriving industry and those seeking to defeat it.

Geoffroy Sardin, Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing at Ubisoft said, “Wildlands is a thought-provoking depiction of this complex issue. This subject matter has accumulated huge global interest and we believe that, as a companion to Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, we take gamers and viewers of Wildlands on a journey of discovery of an issue that continues to grip and fascinate global audiences.”

Developed by Ubisoft Paris*, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, the latest instalment in the critically acclaimed franchise, is a tactical military themed shooter videogame set in a massive and stunningly rendered open-world set in a near-future vision of Bolivia.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands will be available on March 7th 2017 for Microsoft Xbox One, PlayStation®4 entertainment system and Windows PC.