At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
Emma Thompson & Brendan Gleeson use the truth as their resistance when ALONE IN BERLIN opens in cinemas March 2nd
Following the film’s premiere at the last Berlin Film Festival, the WWII resistance drama, ALONE IN BERLIN will open in cinemas across Australia and New Zealand on March 2nd
Inspired by a true story, ALONE IN BERLIN shines the light on two ordinary German people who made an extraordinary attempt to turn the tide on support for the Third Reich during WWII.
The film stars two-time Academy Award®-winner, Emma Thompson and three-time Golden Globe-nominee, Brendan Gleeson as Otto and Anna Quangel. It is 1940 in Berlin, and the devastating news that their only son has been killed on the front lines proves the tipping point for this working class
couple - already disillusioned with The Führer and The Fatherland.
Otto begins to write anti-Nazi messages on postcards, urging fellow Germans to question and resist the regime. Anna soon partners with him in this campaign of civil disobedience and together the covertly distribute hundreds of postcards, left in stairwells and mailboxes across the city; risking their lives in the process. In the course of their actions, this everyday couple discovered a unique way to impact the war and also found a way back to each other.
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen, Richard E Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Eriq LaSalle Director: James Mangold
That Logan's ending makes you feel the story is incomplete is both a testament and a damnation of the latest film that arrives with the announcement that after 17 years, Hugh Jackman's hanging up his adamantium claws.
For the large part, Logan, complete with its ageing hero, shuns the majority of the X-Men world and the mutants that have spawned so many films over the past 17 years, that have smashed box offices but been received with such varying degrees of success, and diminishing creative returns.
And confined to the sidelines (for the most part, aside from a messy third act that falls back into lazy ways), the fleeting mentions and glimpses of that world serve up a rich atmosphere to Logan that's to die for.
Limping, riddled with the ravages of old age, and forced to work as an anonymous chaffeur to hen parties and American frat boys chanting USA (heaven knows the parallels between mutants running amok and certain US policies on Mexico feel frighteningly near the bone here), Logan has shunned the mutant life. The year is 2029 and nary a new mutant has been discovered in decades.
But when Logan's approached by a woman wanting him to transport her and her young mute charge to a specific location, he finds himself drawn back into a world he'd believed he'd left long ago.
Re-teaming Mangold with Jackman, and then throwing in Stewart is a master touch in this Old country for Old men style road trip. It's the tender relationship between an ageing Charles Xavier, riddled with dementia and a deteriorating mind now classed a WMD, that speaks volumes to this film. Filled with warmth, empathy and an occasionally scratchy dynamic that feels human and as that of a carer and their charge, it's the emotional centre of the film. Stewart's rarely been better in the role - there's a mournful regret imbued throughout and the interplay between both Jackman and him feels natural and intimate, as they both rue over the tragedies of the past and as Xavier tries to get the dying Logan to revel in some of humanity's offering. Tying in elements of Mark Millar's Old Man Logan storyline, the grounded, almost mournful, movie has a great deal of craft and heft as it plays out. But Mangold's not afraid to let the film live up to its R-rating, with brutal action and swift dispatches in the opening moments being more than enough to satiate those who've desired to see Wolverine's anger in action over the years. But in amongst all of this, it's the human touches which make two-thirds of Logan stand head and shoulders above what's come before and what's gradually eroded the CGI-heavy-world-being-destroyed-previous outings. A large part of that is due to Jackman's wearied and scruffy scratchy hero as he limps his way through an old time western story (in fact, Mangold uses an entire sequence from Shane to parallel the X-Men ethos and Logan's reticence to embrace what he actually is).
From minor moments to Logan grabbing a cigar at a convenience store, to Merchant's albino mutant Caliban bemoaning the fact he'll become like a Nosferatu below deck, there's a poignancy and acknowledgement that's carried through this film and embodied by Jackman's grift and grit. There is no Wolverine without Jackman, and while Mangold's pointed out that parts of Logan owe a debt to Mickey Rourke's beaten pugilist in The Wrestler, it's Jackman whose subtle turn gives emotional heft to an anti-superhero film. It's a shame then that the final sequence in Logan, with its typical X-Men stylings and fight within a wood is the film's one weak point. A falling back into the lazy ways of mutants showing powers and deja-vu that ultimately mean the end, when it comes, lacks the emotional resonance and wallop that it should easily possess. And while Keen as the new sullen and muted mutant becomes a ferocious, almost feral, presence in a blistering action sequence, she's lost in the cacophony of an FX-heavy ending. Logan is at its best when it stays within its emotionally intimate confines and it's this which marks it out as a superior action-film. Imbued with a heart and a pathos that's hard to shake, the thrills are more evident in the quieter moments, than in the larger scale sound-and-fury that becomes its end. However, if this is truly Jackman's farewell to the role, then both he and Mangold can hold their heads high. They've done the mythology of Wolverine a great service with this last brutal and occasionally emotionally bleak outing - and Jackman's earned himself a place in the pantheon of iconic celluloid characters with ease thanks to this powerfully-engaging swan song.
There's no denying the electricity of Poi E: The Story of Our Song.
At its world premiere at the start of the New Zealand International Film Festival, the Civic Theatre audience was clearly in the mood to enjoy a slice of Kiwiana.
And to all intents and purposes, Tearepa Kahi's simultaneous salute to a generation growing up and to the eminence of Dalvanius Prime achieves what it sets out to with exuberance and insight.
But as a non-Kiwi not versed in the 1980s trappings of beige stubbies, A&P shows, BYC and long hot summers, perhaps some of its intricacies and significance didn't land as they should and it may not travel as well internationally.
That's not to decry what Kahi's done and the hard work that's been put into the making of the film.
It's a documentary blast of nostalgia that is extremely well-crafted with interviews from the original Patea Maori Club as well as various people offering insight like The Topp Twins, the members of the club, Taika Waititi and Stan Walker et al.
There's plenty of humour and vitality around as well in the simplicity of the interviewees from the heartland of New Zealand and Patea itself. It's fair to say the film's a celebration and does much to set the scene for the birth of the Poi E song and the growth of the club which to some degree appears to rise stronger when the local freezing works closes.
And in the centre of it all, is Dalvanius Prime, a chihuahua loving, larger than life visionary who clearly blazed a trail for Patea but who didn't come to it willingly at the start. Using archive interviews, current day footage and super 8 film stock, Kahi's crafting of Prime's story and the subsequent ripples his influence had on the music scene are vibrant and entertaining.
Audio interviews and a very first ever recording of the inception of Poi E give the film an intimate authenticity that adds both to its veracity and its cinematic vitality. Coupled with Kiwis being Kiwis on screen and the natural characters of the heartland coming through, the film's portrait builds nicely both of Prime, his influence and his legacy.
But a quick brush over Dalvanius' death seems to deny the man the full implications and explanation of his story for those non-versed with him or who didn't grow up here. Though one can understand the desire to keep this upbeat and there's no denying that 30 years on, the song's still New Zealand's legacy.
But in many ways, Poi E: The Story of Our Song is more than just a documentary piece about a song and cultural icon that's lasted over 30 years - indeed a footnote adds the club meets every Monday, and Auntie Bib says you just need to bring a plate. (An example of the disarming and charming moments infused within this film by Kahi)
There are hints of politics within and contempt for Maori and small town New Zealand that shine an unhealthy light on New Zealand in the nicest possible way, as they bubble away in the background. It's never Kahi's MO to keep this anything other than feel-good and all the audience projection and feeling of the time will come simply from the authentic way it's all been laid out.
It's hard not to feel anger when Prime's attempts to attend a Royal Gala at the Queen's behest are greeted with a resounding No from all quarters, leading him to mortgage his home. Likewise, the closing of the freezing works is presented as a harsh community reality but Kahi's at pains to show how the community (like so many around Aotearoa) rallied to the call.
Cheekily ending with a claim that many know the chorus but not the words before presenting the song's lyrics via animation and a montage of performances, Poi E: The Story of Our Song leaves with a joyous earworm in your heart and a smile on your face, even if you may be less versed in some of the more nostalgic moments.
We’ve just released a new gameplay video for Prey titled, ‘Mimic Madness’. In this video, see just a few ways you can use to use the Mimic’s power against the alien force that has taken over Talos I
When you awaken aboard the Talos I space station, you find yourself as the key subject of an experiment meant to alter humanity forever – but things have gone terribly wrong. Talos I has been overrun by an alien force, and you must stop the Typhon threat from destroying humanity. As Morgan Yu, and mankind’s last hope, fend off the alien infestation armed with the tools found on the station, your wits, weapons, and mind-bending abilities.
One of the first alien powers you’ll learn is Mimic Matter. Acquired from the diminutive (and aptly named) Mimic Typhon, this power allows you to take the form of just about any appropriately sized object aboard Talos I. You’ll start small – a coffee mug, a teapot, a lamp, a banana – but as you level up this ability, you’ll soon be able to mimic more complex objects, including an impressive array of security turrets and Operator robots.
Set to launch worldwide on Friday, May 5, 2017 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, Prey is the highly-anticipated first-person sci-fi action game from Arkane Studios - creators of the award-winning Dishonoredseries which includes the 2012 'Game of the Year' and the critically-acclaimed follow-up, Dishonored 2.
Platform: PS4
Released by GDE, Developed by Rebellion Games
Set in 1943, most of Sniper Elite 4 is fairly on target.
Essentially, mixing in Hitman's assassination and the MO of prior Sniper Elite Games, the latest iteration's quite the tense blast of gaming.
A third person tactical shooter, the game's MO is very simple in its campaign front. You're dropped into a map area, have a list of objectives to achieve and need to survive being found and taken out.
Set in Italy, the game follows a familiar route to anyone who's ever been involved in war gaming - fight your way out and do what's necessary to survive.
But equally on a par with this, are the stealth elements of the game.
There's nothing to beat the well planned execution of your target (much like Hitman) and putting this into the war elements of Sniper Elite 4 adds a lot. That said, there's still plenty to revel in when you're discovered and have to fight your way out.
And perhaps in this way, Sniper Elite is more a shooting game, than a tactical and literal reading of its title.
While emptying your lung steadies your gun as you look down the sights at your intended Nazi victim, the steadying thrill of the bullet being fired in its direction and hitting is quite the burst of adrenaline.
However, there are moments when the X Ray execution of your targets feels a little queasy and almost gun pornographic, given how well put together they are.
As the slow mo bullet leaves the chamber and heads on its way, the bullet time elements of the camera and the game work really well. Sound plays a big part in these recreations as well, as the bullet makes sickening noises as it slices through its victim. Equally, as you use the environment around your targets to dispose of them (explosives being detonated, missiles being fired at, trucks exploding), there's a distinct feeling there are many inventive ways to off people.
But perhaps a little once too often, the game revels in its X Ray vision, and ultimately, there are times when it feels like it needs to be turned off (which it can).
Progression and medals are all there for the taking as well, but the game's core ideas about sniping are more down to the user's preference of playing.
Stealth can be used but equally running amok when discovered also works. Though it makes scouring the bodies for bounty a trifle harder as troops swarm around you like flies, searching for you and gradually pin-pointing your last location.
Meanwhile, Sniper Elite's multiplayer is an exercise in patience.
Certainly games where you have to take out the opposition, any move is deadly and any shot can signal your downfall.
Over different maps and scattered through different locations, it's a waiting game to see who'll be chicken first as you take out the opposition.
There's no slow-mo style execution scenes here, but there's plenty of tension and a degree of jubiliation getting it right and taking someone down.
Servers seem to hold up well with the game and certainly the few sessions that were jumped into, there were no issues either from the trash talking or the simply playing the game. Occasionally, the game spawned near where being ignominiously killed, signalling to your rivals where you were, but for the most part, Sniper Elite's online world is certainly worth diving into.
For now, Sniper Elite 4 feels like a fairly disposable, undeniably thrilling and fun shooter - that just happens to have a sniper weapon as an option to achieve your aims.
Cast: Charlie Day, Ice Cube, Jillian Bell, Tracy Morgan, Christina Hendricks, Dean Norris, Kumail Nanjiani Director: Richie Keen
That it takes 75 minutes of the 90 minute comedy Fist Fight to elicit a belly laugh is a sad state of affairs.
And that its laugh comes courtesy of a rehash of Little Miss Sunshine's inappropriate talent show is to further damn this knuckle-head comedy that purports bare knuckle fighting is any way to solve conflict. Dubious central message aside and ignoring the feeling that this is about serving Charlie Day's nice guy English teacher a lesson on standing up for yo'self to the bullies / empowerment, Fist Fight is also noteable for its return to the screen of 30 Rock alum Tracy Morgan after his 2014 accident.But even the return of this once comedy giant can't quell the depressing state of affairs that transpires when Day's down-trodden Andy Campbell gets Ice Cube's growling strict Strickland fired on the last day before schools out.
How does the intimidating Strickland respond? By challenging Campbell to a fight in the yard after school.
And we thought they were supposed to be teachers.
So far, so puerile for these bad teachers.
But as R rated comedies like The Hangover et al have demonstrated, big laughs can be garnered from smart deployment of crude gags, recognisable, and somehow,relatable characters and some semblance of plot - even the central idea is not a cerebral one.
Fist Fight cares not one bit for these rules and sticks doggedly to its MO of Day squawking and running from his plight. The first rule of any comedy - be it derivative or otherwise - is to ensure there are laughs. Yet while there are three scriptwriters putting their names to this, the laughs are few and far between. Jillian Bell channels inappropriateness as a teacher hitting on students, Cube riffs on his street image and even gets to utter his infamous and inflammatory NWA line once again, and a returning Morgan gets to go off script occasionally (with an over-riding feel that improvisation was high on the list for this loosely written piece). And Mad Men's Christina Hendricks' French teacher is psychotic for no reason - a real waste of her talents. Though on reflection, most of the players in this are doing thankless work as this patchy mess of missed moments and occasional one-liners plays out. However, even with Day's desperately wound, utterly neurotic and screeching Campbell rushing around, there's simply not enough humour to fill 30 minutes, let alone 90 minutes.
Fist Fight with Ice Cube and Charlie Day
Apparently despite paying homage to Three O'Clock High, the film's writers still don't feel the need to flesh it out more, or make any of the rest of the teachers sane enough to care about or connect with. While the promised titular bout finally arrives, it delivers only muted moments of cinematic stupidity to counter the utter screeching that's already passed. And it's by this stage, that, quite frankly, either copious amounts of alcohol or a punch to the side of the head and KO would be preferable to any more of this "comedy" transpiring.
Once again dialling down his mega-watt smile to get into the clothes of the cinematic equivalent of The Littlest Hobo, Tom Cruise returns as Jack Reacher.
(Much to the annoyance of many who still believe he has neither the height nor the gravitas to fill the boots of their beloved Lee Child hero).
This time around, in the adaptation of the eighteenth book in the Reacher series from way back in 2003, Reacher's plunged deep into a major conspiracy when he tries to help out Army major Susan Turner (Avengers star Cobie Smulders) in charge of Reacher's old investigative unit.
Accused of treason, Turner's in the firing line and Reacher, out of a sense of duty and obligation from when the Major helped him with cases as he drifted from one to the next, busts her out of jail. But the pair soon find themselves on the run with the need to clear both their names.
However, Reacher's not only on the run from shadowy forces, but also having to face up to the fact he could be a father with news a former squeeze's filed a paternity claim with the army....
Rote, formulaic and flat, despite some occasional tautness of execution, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is as predictable a chase conspiracy movie as ever you'd expect.
A sinewy Cruise may do the action thing reasonably well, but Jack Reacher: Never Go Back never really starts firing at all as its pulpy and dull perfunctory execution plays out. It's part in fact due to its source material and the lumpen and leaden necessary exposition that needs to be dumped to keep things moving along; but with much of the main plot feeling relatively underdeveloped, it feels more like padding as we race from one action sequence to the next.
Saddling Reacher with a conundrum of is it or is it not his kid while Cruise flexes his jawbones and grits his teeth in a demonstration of his intensity doesn't cut it either.
Cobie Smulders doesn't fare well either - going from hard ass action gal to cuckold within the space of moments as the potential love interest is teased out into this nuclear family. It's intensely irritating as the surrogate dad and ultimate bonding storyline plays out - with the kid looking like a young Anna Paquin more and more as the film goes on. And it's barely worth mentioning that there's a distinct lack of chemistry between Smulders and Cruise when it really needs to count.
Missing this time around is a Werner Herzog style baddie to inject some oomph into proceedings - and while Prison Break's Robert Knepper once again rolls out his southern drawl with a side of menace, he's hardly in the film and barely registers - this Reacher is not about the conspiracy and is more about the idea of a drifter being saddled with a family (complete with gloopily sentimental ending) and flounders as a result.
This is a story where convenient things happen because the narrative conveniently demands them and demands nothing from its audience to join the dots.
Ultimately, utterly disposable and instantly forgettable, this formulaic blockbuster lacks the killer thrills and the smarter plot to propel it along with the energy it needs; in fact, Never Go Backproves to be a prophetic title for this Reacher outing.
Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan and Vincent D’Onofrio
A new chapter in the beloved RING horror franchise.
A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it.
She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before…
Rings hits cinemas February 23rd Rated M: Violence & Horror
After years of estrangement, Texan brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) decide to rob the branches of the bank threatening to foreclose on their family land.
For them, the hold-ups are part of a last-ditch scheme to take back a future that was stolen from under them.
Vengeance seems to be theirs until they find themselves on the radar of Marcus (Jeff Bridges), a Ranger looking for one last grand pursuit on the eve of his retirement, and his partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham).
As the brothers plot a final bank heist to complete their scheme, and with the Rangers on their heels, a murderous showdown looms.
From the writer of Sicario, HELL OR HIGH WATER is a gripping action-thriller about family, crime and justice.
PLAY THE PS4’S HIGHEST RATED RACING GAME* ON PLAYSTATION®VR NOW
DiRT RALLY’S VR UPGRADE AVAILABLE NOW ON THE PLAYSTATION STORE
SYDNEY, 20th February 2017– Codemasters has today launched the PlayStation®VR update for DiRT Rally®, the highest rated racing game on the PlayStation®4*. The update makes the entire game playable in VR and introduces a brand new Co-Driver Mode where a second player can give the all-important calls using a controller and the social screen.
Available for existing players as a standalone DLC Add-on via the PlayStation®Store for AUD$19.45 and as a new digital bundle from the PlayStation®Store,the update fully immerses you in the world of rally, putting you directly at the wheel of some of the most iconic cars ever to ever take to a stage.
Every game mode within DiRT Rally is playable as the driver in VR including rallycross and hill climb. In addition, the new Co-Driver Mode means that on the rally stages a second player can become engrossed in the action as they use the buttons and touchpad on a DUALSHOCK 4® to give the pace note calls to the driver from the social screen. Timing and accuracy are vital, just like in real life, in order for you to complete the stage in the best time possible.
Built by Codemasters and road tested over 200 million miles by the DiRT community, DiRT Rally® is the ultimate rally experience. It captures the essence of what makes rally unique like no other game – that sense of trying to remain in control of your emotions, as you hurtle along dangerous, undulating roads at breakneck speed, aiming to squeeze everything out of your car whilst knowing that one crash could irreparably harm your stage time.
Every stage tests you differently, as you race on the edge of control across varying surfaces in a range of environments such as snow, ice, tarmac and dirt and as you tackle a variety of weather types. As the car suffers attrition, you need to account for mechanical damage whilst your dedicated rally team tries to keep you competitive with time-limited repairs. Stages string together and each rally becomes a marathon-like test of concentration and skill as you trust in your co-driver, chasing that ever-elusive perfect run.
DiRT Rally® also includes officially licensed FIA World Rallycross Championship content, allowing you to experience the breathless, high-speed thrills of some of the world’s fastest off-road cars as you trade paint with other drivers at some of the series best-loved circuits, in both single player and high-intensity multiplayer races.
Join the DiRT team for the continuing road ahead and follow updates from the studio on Facebook and Twitter
KOEI TECMO ANNOUNCES WESTERN RELEASE FOR SAMURAI WARRIORS: SPIRIT OF SANADA
Follow the Legend of the Sanada Clan from Their Heroic Rise to Their Tragic Fall
in an All New Entry in the Historically Inspired Series, Headed to PlayStation®4
Sydney, 20th February 2017 - KOEI TECMO today is pleased to reveal the latest entry in the renowned SAMURAI WARRIORS action series, SAMURAI WARRIORS: Spirit of Sanada - a new adventure based on the heroic legend of the Sanada Clan, a cunning group of warriors from Sengoku Era Japan who believed in survival at all costs. SAMURAI WARRIORS: Spirit of Sanada is slated to release on the 26th May 2017 for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system.
A historically inspired action title set in Sengoku era Japan - the storied historical period also known as the Age of Samurai - SAMURAI WARRIORS: Spirit of Sanada focuses solely on the legendary Sanada Clan. Through their fierce will to survive, they fought with utmost vigilance to ensure that the Sanada name would be withheld throughout history.
The tale of the Sanada Clan begins with patriarch Masayuki Sanada, a much-requested character who joins the SAMURAI WARRIORS series for the first time. The player follows Masayuki's first battle, trailing the clan's meteoric rise from lowly vassals to powerful lords which led to the birth of the fan-favourite samurai, Yukimura Sanada. Continuing the clan's legacy, players will then journey from boyhood as the legendary warrior, following his footsteps as Yukimura rises to the title of "The Crimson Demon of War." Players will also experience the epic tale of his father's reign and his finest battles, up to his valiant final stand at the Siege of Osaka.
While more information about the game's plot, key mechanics, and many playable characters will be unveiled in the coming weeks, a first batch of images was released showcasing the newly added Masayuki Sanada.
Disgaea® 5 Complete will be arriving to the Nintendo Switch™ on May 26
At their annual press event, NIS America announced that Disgaea® 5 Complete will be arriving to the Nintendo Switch™ on May 26, 2017 as a physical and digital release. Disgaea 5 Complete is a strategy RPG that offers hundreds of hours of over-the-top, award-winning gameplay, and marks the first time the core game is available on-the-go. The game includes all 8 bonus scenarios, 4 fan-favorite characters, and 3 character classes that were originally DLC in the PlayStation®4 release of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance.
About the story:
Disgaea 5 Complete tells a tale of revenge and rebellion. As a new and terrible Overlord named Void Dark seeks to enslave the countless Netherworlds, one young demon has stood to end his reign—Killia. In Disgaea 5 Complete, lead Killia and his tenacious army of rebels on their dark and dangerous path to vengeance. Filled with more over-the-top action and hilarious writing than ever before,Disgaea 5 Complete’s damage numbers are surely headed for the record books.
Key Features:
·The Complete Disgaea 5 Experience - Enjoy the full Disgaea 5 story along with 8 bonus scenarios, 4 fan-favorite characters and 3 character classes from the Disgaea series!
·A Legendary RPG Series Reborn - The latest flagship RPG from the most prolific strategy RPG developer in the world welcomes newcomers and veterans alike with a brand-new story and dials the hilarity and strategy up to level 9999!
·Hundreds of Hours of Content - Following Disgaea tradition, Disgaea 5 Complete offers hundreds of hours of deep strategic content.
·Deep Strategic Battles - Engage in exciting tactical battles with inventive systems like Magichange, Geo Effects, Alliance Attacks, Character Towers, and more!
·Extensive and Fun Customization - Recruit new units from over 40 jobs and races, then dive in and strengthen them as you see fit in their personal Chara Worlds! Find hundreds of items or make your own at the Alchemist, then power them up and discover hidden abilities in the Item World! Or, if you’re feeling wild, change the rules of the game at the Dark Assembly! The possibilities are endless!
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony will be coming on September 29
DANGANRONPA V3: KILLING HARMONY ARRIVING SEPTEMBER 2017 FOR PS4™AND PS VITA
NIS America announced at their annual press event that Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony will be coming on September 29, 2017 for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®Vita as both a physical and digital release!The third main entry of the hit murder-mystery adventure game series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is an all-new journey into the world of Danganronpa. As the killing game begins a third time, the line between lies and the truth has never been more blurred!
About the game: Welcome to a new world of Danganronpa, and prepare yourself for the biggest, most exhilarating episode yet. Set in a “psycho-cool” environment, a new cast of 16 characters find themselves kidnapped and imprisoned in a school. Inside, some will kill, some will die, and some will be punished. Reimagine what you thought high-stakes, fast-paced investigation was as you investigate twisted murder cases and condemn your new friends to death.
Key Features: A New Danganronpa Begins - Forget what you thought you knew about Danganronpa and join a completely new cast of Ultimates for a brand-new beginning.
Murder Mysteries - In a world where everyone is trying to survive, nobody’s motivations are quite what they seem. Use your skills to solve each new murder or meet a gruesome end.
Lie, Panic, Debate! - The world is shaped by our perception of it. Fast-paced trial scenes will require lies, quick wits, and logic to guide your classmates to the right conclusions.
New Minigames - Between the madness of murdered peers and deadly trials, enjoy an abundance of brand-new minigames!
2017's first major new IP is about to land - Horizon Zero Dawn.
To celebrate the launch of the game, I was fortunate enough to get some time with Guerrilla Games senior developer Joel Eschler.
An Aussie, Joel's worked on such titles as the Bioshock series, The Bureau: XCom Declassified, Borderland: The Pre-Sequel to name but a few.
And of course, Horizon Zero Dawn....
So tell us about Horizon Zero Dawn, it's gone gold and it's on its way March 1st - you must be excited to have it out there?
The game's been in development in one way or another for about 6 years, there were a couple of years there where it was in a pre-production phase, with around 6-30 people really fleshing out the concepts and exploring the back-story of the world before the full team jumped on board after Shadowfall shipped.It's a really good feeling as we're about to ship.
It's an original IP, that's becoming more difficult to get out into the marketplace these days?
Yeah, for big companies, it's easy to say yes to known commodoties and properties and it's always more difficult to build a marketing plan around an original IP. But internally, at Guerrilla, it excited all of the devs, so I think you need to have fresh ideas to get the best out of people and that's what worked for Horizon Zero Dawn and the team. It was the riskiest proposition they've had before them.
The original concept came out of a pitching competition in the studio where a number of people pitched ideas and Horizon being an open world game which the studio had never done, a new IP which is risky, a completely new art style which is more focussed on natural foliage and jungles; it was the riskiest and also the one which excited us the most.
As game developers and as creative people, you're always wanting to do the most challenging thing out there to surprise people in the market. But for Sony, I'm sure they look back and ask "Did you really have to pick that one?", but now, at the end of the day, we're really happy that we're allowed to do it and I think Sony's really happy too.
It's already picked up a heap of pre-release awards, that must be encouraging?
It's really awesome as you live in a vacuum as a game developer, especially before a game is announced. And it's really scary when the world gets to see what you've been working on, but we've been really lucky and really humbled with the response we've gotten for Horizon Zero Dawn, whenever we've shown the game.
What can people expect - it's more than just big robot dinosaurs in an open world with a huntress, right?
Yeah, it's an action RPG, set in a post-post apocalyptic Earth, so this is 1000 years after society has crumbled and nature has taken over. The world as we know it, is a remnant and a piece of history for those still living in the world. The human race is no longer the dominant species - that now goes to the machines, as you'll have seen in trailers and the gameplay. They roam around the world and have their activities. You are Aloy, a really skilled hunter, but you find out at the beginning of the game, she's actually an outcast.
Shunned from society, she is not a member of any given tribe. She grew up in the region of the Nora and they are a tribe who hunt machines and pride themselves on being skilled hunters. She grows up, wanting to be skilled and accepted - or at least, be accepted enough to discover why she's been cast in and what her place is in the world.
How quickly did Aloy rise from the process? What was the concept of bringing her to life?
It's interesting because I think a lot of people thought, there were a lot of meetings and a lot of discussion went into this but Aloy was always Horizon, for as long as Horizon was Horizon. The initial pitch and imagery was the post-post apocalyptic world, the nature, the machines - and Aloy. So she really has been part of the world from the beginning and we definitely built a narrative around her. The world can exist without Aloy - but this game is her story and she is central to her journey, to her world.
Even when you're aiming for a strong female empowering lead, characters tend to naturally form around the developers. Aloy is the hero of the game, so she's going to be strong in one way or another from the start, but as we developed what the world is, what the mystery is and how we feel players may enjoy uncovering the mysteries, we thought this is all new to Aloy as well and she's discovering it. It all went hand in hand - but we're really happy to see the response people are getting from Aloy.
You've mentioned mystery a lot already, how worried are you about spoilers leaking out on this?
I mean, you can't block spoilers, but we have a really big story to the world and a lot of things to uncover, ideally we want people to play through it and discover this for themselves, rather than have someone ruin it. We put a lot of effort in keeping things under wrap ever since the reveal; there's been some teases to the cauldrons and some entrances to some underground locations which are central to the story and the mystery of the Old World and what happened. Really I'd love it if the first time you play through the game, it's kind of the Wow moment of the reveal.
The robots have struck me as being something of a David Attenborough feel, give me some idea of how you landed where you did with the creatures?
So, I guess some of the staff at Guerrilla have really diverse backgrounds and one of the lead visual designers actually had a background in engineering. And as we started to think about hvaing these machines in the world where nature has taken over, we started to think about what their purpose in the world is. Some of them is to collect debris, tree or water to transport them or convert into other materials that can be used and so we thought about what would be a useful design to serve this purpose for this machine; should it have inflatable areas, it needs to be fun to fight, should it have the ability to combine these materials to shoot fire out.
They were created from a functional as well as a natural perspective from their design. They went through many iterations - I personally can't wait for people to see the artwork we're putting together for the game, so you can see the early concepts and how they started out as more robotic before they progressed into their final version. They grew into more natural versions. Some of them have inspiration from kangaroos or ant-eaters and we looked at the movements which we used in their animation. It was a fun research-gathering experience for the guys; we were lucky enough to have that long pre-production cycle to really work out everything before we started building.
Guerrilla's made up of a lot of seasoned industry professionals who have gone through Feature Creep and through hard crunches, I think we're pretty good at checking ourselves, so we never got carried away.
We've been doing external test for years and I think pretty early on, the feature set of the game reached more than people getting their money's worth for what's in this game. Reaching that point fairly early on was good for the team; there were other things that people wanted to layer on, but we could sit back and say that even without it, the game is really good.
Are you worried by comparisons to Far Cry and Tomb Raider in terms of the gameplay?
Every game that you make takes inspiration from every other game, that's good. I think it's smart to look at what works and try and make it better and we definitely take inspiration from lots of different places while taking in our own world and trying to elevate recognisable gaming features. If people enjoyed those games, then they'll definitely enjoy Horizon and they'll see new things they like. Then in a couple of years, there'll be other games coming out where people say this is a lot like Horizon! But that's just games for you. We all want to make them better.
There was a map which leaked this week, and it looked massive. Is this an open world that's full?
There are many different tribes in this game, and many different settlements - both big and small from the ones. We showed a little snippet of Meridian in the recent trailers. Even I take a step back and I think others do, to say we actually managed to pull this off. Coming from the more linear Killzone games in the past, where everything is fine-tuned as players will see it to working in a massive open world in Horizon, it was definitely a challenge, but it was a challenge that the team fully took on board. There's not a corner of the game that doesn't have love to it.
Is this the first game in a series - will there be more Aloy?
I really hope this game resonates with people and they enjoy it. Right now, a lot of the team is taking time off now we've gone gold. A lot of the team are actually taking the opportunity to play through for the first time from start to finish. I hope it's successful and I hope people love it. Aloy is the one we resonate with and we're proud to tell her story.
What's the one moment you really love in the game?
Something that happens when we have people playing the game for the very first time. We had an event in Amsterdam where we had 5 Aloy cosplayers that we flew in to play the game for the first time and during the opening section, you're in an area called The Embrace. It's quite a large area where you can spend many many hours doing these side quests and things, and the game feels pretty big. Then you reach a point when the world opens up to be so many times bigger and you have this amazing vista over a landscape where you can see Meridian city and the spires, the jungle, the snow-capped mountains, the Spires - and you just think "Holy crap, this is 10 times bigger than I thought it would be." I just love seeing their reaction when people get to that point.
What's your favourite robot in the game and why?
Thunderjaw. Just because when I'm roaming the environment and I see it off in the distance, early on, I'm just I'm not going anywhere near that thing. Then other times when I get really close, I think I can take that thing and it crushes trees, smashes rocks and kills me. It forces me to play the game a bit differently. Earlier on in the game, you kind of can brute force your way through it, but with the Thunderjaw, you really need to think tactically and take advantage of all the features in the game. There's a lot of behaviours built into enemies that can leave them existing on their own, but they're also built to react to what's around them. There are different machines, Aloy, destructible rocks ; there's water, burrowing enemies and all these different things and variables - a lot of research was done into animal behaviour. But a lot of engineering time was done to make this all work together.
Give us a spoiler from the game...
(Laughing) I'm trying tot hink of anything I could tell - I'd get into trouble with anything I may say!
Horizon Zero Dawn hits the PlayStation 4 on March 1st.
You can pre-order it here -
https://www.playstation.com/en-nz/games/horizon-zero-dawn-ps4/
