Horizon Zero Dawn: PS4 Review

Horizon Zero Dawn: PS4 Review

Developed by Guerrilla Games
Platform: PS4

Delivering a new IP is not an easy task these days.

In the gaming world, sequels and established titles rule and creativity is largely confined to indie games.

However, Guerrilla Games has just changed all that with the dropping of Horizon Zero Dawn, a new IP and a game that would easily and safely be a contender for Game of The Year come December time.

Set in a post-post apocalyptic world of Earth where nature has taken back the planet and where robot creatures / animals roam the countryside, this third-person action game sees you taking on the role of the outcast Aloy.

With her ginger hair and outcast status, Aloy's aloof in a world of tribes and desperate to know why she's been so removed from the world she lives in. With her trusted carer from birth, Rost, himself outlawed for their connection, Aloy must find her way in the world and discover the mysteries within.

However, with this massive world, side quests and other things to do such as salvage parts from hunting the beasts within, Horizon Zero Dawn has a hell of a lot of stuff to do. From setting traps and using trip wires to snare the metallic beasts, the game's quick to introduce you to a world that feels natural and feels rich in both wildlife and story.

Even though some of the dialogue and interactions can feel a little clunky as you negotiate your way through the world of Aloy and her awakening, the choices you make bring different facets of Aloy to life. From a simple interaction to helping others with their plights, the difference to her is marked. Be it showing empathy or giving you a feeling of her loneliness for being cast out for reasons unknown to a child, there are moments of great heart with Horizon Zero Dawn waiting to be explored.

Equally, there are moments of wonderment too.

The nature and robotic creatures are excellently realised. From the Raptor-like Watchers stalking the undergrowth to the Strider horse like creatures, all efforts from Guerrilla have gone into ensuring this feels like a David Attenborough Walking With Robot Dinosaurs writ large. Either from the small head movements of the creatures or the way they stick to packs when attacked, everything feels like a metal evolution of the animal kingdom - and it's intoxicating to behold.

Crafting, collecting and attacking feels like a mesh between Far Cry and Tomb Raider's collective ethos, but that's no bad thing and as you build your skill set and weapon traits, the game's opening up feels more intuitive. It's a good thing too as you can't simply wallop a creature with a spear later on, ensuring you need to apply your hunter mentality to guaranteeing your health doesn't take a major beating.

As the game opens up beyond its initial small yet somehow big scale, it's quite jaw-dropping. From an uptick in the creatures that roam and threaten to what you can do - corrupting machines and riding them, setting up other quests and side missions; you could spend your time doing anything but the main story missions. The scope is incredible and will eat plenty of your time with ease.

All in all, Horizon Zero Dawn is a great open world game - there's more than a lot to do, and more than a lot will be rewarded in the exploring. While some of the more human elements and the basics are a little clunky at times, the lushly rendered environments and the critters within more than make up for the shortcomings.

It's to be hoped there's more to come from Aloy's world because Horizon Zero Dawn does much to ensure that deep diving into it pays off in spades.

Win a Horizon Zero Dawn prize pack

Win a Horizon Zero Dawn prize pack

Horizon Zero Dawn™ an exhilarating new action role playing game exclusively for the PlayStation 4 system, developed by the award winning Guerrilla Games, creators of PlayStation’s venerated Killzone franchise. As Horizon Zero Dawn’s main protagonist Aloy, a skilled hunter, explore a vibrant and lush world inhabited by mysterious mechanized creatures.

Embark on a compelling, emotional journey and unravel mysteries of tribal societies, ancient artifacts and advanced technologies that will determine the fate of this planet, and of life itself.


KEY FEATURES

A Lush Post-Apocalyptic World – How have machines dominated this world, and what is their purpose? What happened to the civilization here before? Scour every corner of a realm filled with ancient relics and mysterious buildings in order to uncover your past and unearth the many secrets of a forgotten land.

Nature and Machines Collide – Horizon Zero Dawn juxtaposes two contrasting elements, taking a vibrant world rich with beautiful nature and filling it with awe-inspiring highly advanced technology. This marriage creates a dynamic combination for both exploration and gameplay.

Defy Overwhelming Odds – The foundation of combat in Horizon Zero Dawn is built upon the speed and cunning of Aloy versus the raw strength and size of the machines. In order to overcome a much larger and technologically superior enemy, Aloy must use every ounce of her knowledge, intelligence, and agility to survive each encounter.

Cutting Edge Open World Tech: Stunningly detailed forests, imposing mountains, and atmospheric ruins of a bygone civilization meld together in a landscape that is alive with changing weather systems and a full day/night cycle.

Horizon Zero Dawn hits PlayStation 4 exclusively from March 1st and now you can win a prize pack, including a copy of the game and T-shirt!

All you have to do is tell me Who is the Star of Horizon Zero Dawn?

To enter simply answer this question and email your answer to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address; title your entry HZD! - competition closes March 15th!

Middle Earth: Shadow OF War Announced

Middle Earth: Shadow OF War Announced
 

WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES 

MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR, SEQUEL TO CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR

Monolith Productions Expands on the Award-Winning Nemesis System and Offers Each Player Unique Personal Game Worlds

Sydney, Australia. – February 28, 2017 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced Middle-earth: Shadow of War™, the sequel to the critically-acclaimed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor™, winner of more than 50 industry awards, including 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards’ Game of the Year, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming at the 2015 D.I.C.E. Awards and the BAFTA for Game Design. Developed by Monolith Productions, Middle-earth: Shadow of War features an original story with the return of Talion and Celebrimbor, who must go behind enemy lines to forge an army and turn all of Mordor against the Dark Lord, Sauron.

The official Middle-earth: Shadow of War Announcement Trailer can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlZc8dPRrbs

In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, players wield a new Ring of Power and confront the deadliest of enemies, including Sauron and his Nazgul, in a monumental battle for Middle-earth. The open-world action-adventure game is brought to life through the expansion of the award-winning Nemesis System. The robust personalization from the first game is now applied to the entire world where the environments and characters are all shaped by player actions and decisions, creating a personal world unique to every gameplay experience. 

Middle-earth: Shadow of War will be available for Xbox One, Project Scorpio, Windows 10 PC (Windows Store and Steam), PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®4 Pro beginning August 23, 2017.  Middle-earth: Shadow of Warwill be available as an Xbox Play Anywhere title. 

“Monolith Productions continues to innovate by introducing deeper, more personalized gameplay experiences, coupled with authentic storytelling,” said David Haddad, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Middle-earth: Shadow of War truly drives the genre forward by taking the Nemesis System to new heights and allowing players to create their own personal journey within Middle-earth.”

“Following the amazing reception to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, we massively expanded every dimension of the game, including the world, the story, the RPG systems, the core gameplay and of course the personal player stories of the Nemesis System,” said Michael de Plater, Vice President, Creative, Monolith Productions. “As lifelong fans of Middle-earth, we are so grateful to have the privilege to bring to life the most incredible fantasy world ever created in a new way, for a new generation. With Middle-earth: Shadow of War, we can’t wait to see the amazing stories players are going to create and share.”

The innovative Nemesis System created unique personal stories through procedurally-generated enemies who remember every encounter and are differentiated by their personality, strengths and weaknesses. Middle-earth: Shadow of War expands this innovation with the introduction of Followers who bring about entirely new stories of loyalty, betrayal and revenge. The Nemesis System is also expanded to create a unique personal world through Nemesis Fortresses, which allows players to utilize different strategies to conquer dynamic strongholds and create personalized worlds with their unique Orc army.

Set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth: Shadow of War continues the original narrative of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Players will be engrossed in a richer, more personal and expansive world full of epic heroes and villains, iconic locations, original enemy types, even more personalities and a new cast of characters with untold stories.

As an Xbox Play Anywhere title, players can purchase a digital version of Middle-earth: Shadow of War once and play it on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Gamers can pick up where they left off on another Xbox One or Windows 10 PC, bringing all the saves, game add-ons and achievements with them at no additional cost.

All available assets are up on the WBIE press-site here

For more information or to join the Middle-earth: Shadow of War conversation, visit www.shadowofwar.com

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About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc., is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all platforms, including console, handheld, mobile and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.

About Monolith Productions

Developing immersive gaming experiences for more than 20 years, Monolith Productions continues to create innovative games including the 2014 release of the critically-acclaimed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The title introduced the cutting-edge Nemesis System and won more than 50 industry awards worldwide. Additional information about Monolith Productions can be found at www.lith.com.

About Middle-earth Enterprises

The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises is the holder of worldwide motion picture, legitimate stage, merchandising, and other rights in the literary works of  J.R.R. Tolkien including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  SZC has been producing and licensing films, stage productions and merchandise based on the Tolkien works for more than 35 years.  Its headquarters are located in Berkeley, California and its website may be found at www.middleearth.com.

Win a double pass to see Alone in Berlin

Win a double pass to see Alone in Berlin

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.

We're giving away double passes to the movie - To enter simply email ALONE IN BERLIN to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes March 5th;

Oscar Winners 2017

Oscar Winners 2017

It is of course Hollywood's big day today.

The 89th Annual Academy Awards will be held in Hollywood this afternoon, with La La Land widely tipped to romp home after its 14 nominations.

Here's my list of the Oscars winners for 2017.

Here's the full list of the winners at the 89th Academy Awards

Best Picture: “Moonlight”

Actor: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”

Actress: Emma Stone, “La La Land”

Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”

Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, “Fences”

Animated Feature: “Zootopia”

Cinematography: “La La Land”

Costume Design: “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”

Direction: Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”

Documentary Feature: “O.J.: Made in America”

Documentary Short: “The White Helmets”

Film Editing: “Hacksaw Ridge”

Foreign Language Film: “The Salesman”

Makeup and Hairstyling: “Suicide Squad”

Score: “La La Land”

Song: “City of Stars” from “La La Land”

Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Production Design: “La La Land”

Animated Short: “Piper”

Live Action Short: “Sing”

Sound Editing: “Arrival”

Sound Mixing: “Hacksaw Ridge”

Visual Effects: “The Jungle Book”

Adapted Screenplay: “Moonlight”

Original Screenplay: “Manchester by the Sea”

Logan: Film Review

Logan: Film Review

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.

Poi E: The Story of Our Song: DVD Review

Poi E: The Story of Our Song: DVD Review

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.