Gran Turismo Sport: PS4 Review

Gran Turismo Sport: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Developed by Polyphony Digital

The Gran Turismo brand is still in tact on PlayStation.

Synonymous with solid simulations, the 2017 entry is one that makes the most of what it's already got and ensures the grunt of the PlayStation is capitalised on.

It's the same as it was - and the same as most car simulations are these days; race tracks, build your skill base up, accrue points and XP, spend money on cars and generally progress through the ranks.

But Gran Turismo Sport manages to do all this and still looks beautiful.

Whereas DriveClub claimed a higher ground in terms of making cars look like a work of art, GT Sport concentrates more on the handling of these beauties rather than ensuring vistas and environments are sparkling too.

It does make a case for a little old school racing simulations in many ways though, as its intentions are clearly all about the cars, whereas others, such as the Forza series, manage to make it about the environments just off the track as well.

Perhaps the biggest fault is any kind of truly dynamic weather system, meaning some races feel a little static in some ways and out of step with what's currently around.

However, there is a lot of beauty in GT Sport's motors.

Lovingly crafted and beautifully rendered, the cars are the star of GT Sports - and at the expense of a more single player campaign, the online mode is where the game's spent a great deal of its time. Whilst you may never crash entirely out in a race (there's yet to be a car seen despite plenty of scraping up against the railings) and there it lacks a degree of reality, it's the technical side of the game which flourishes.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the VR version of the game.

Nervous after DriveClub's VR made this reviewer want to hurl within seconds, it's pleasing to report that the VR experience is exceptional. Several burn outs around the tracks soared by without a hint of nausea and while the inner race experience is a static, the experience is second-to-none.

Cruising through Tokyo and its streets from the inside of the helmet is thrilling and shows that one year after launch VR is finally getting the bits that flawed its last 12 months right.

Ultimately, while GT Sport can feel a little more of a technical beast than an arcade thrill, it's still showing no signs of slowing against its competitors. It may need a little tweak under the hood for its next reveal, but this is still a series that's vying strongly for pole position despite a growing field of competitors.

Murder On The Orient Express: Film Review

Murder On The Orient Express: Film Review

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Daisy Ridley, Dame Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Penelope Cruz
Director: Kenneth Branagh

It's fair to say no-one loves Kenneth Branagh on the screen as much as Kenneth Branagh does behind the camera in the latest version of Murder On The Orient Express.

And while the lavish, star-studded affair looks sumptuous in its vistas, it narratively stutters to a halt around the same time the famed Orient Express derails.

For those unfamiliar with Agatha Christie's novel and the plot, it centres around the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh, complete with hair lip) who tries to take some rest on a trip but finds himself called upon to solve a murder mystery on board the famed Orient Express.

When Johnny Depp's Ratchett is found stabbed to the death in his compartment on the train, it seems like everyone on board has some kind of motive to be involved.

However, the deeper Poirot delves, the more puzzling the case seems - can the self-professed greatest detective solve the mystery before the snowclad train begins its journey again?

While Murder on The Orient Express is lavishly shot on 65mm, and starts off dizzyingly with Poirot solving a case at the Wailing Wall (involving a priest, an imam and a rabbi, as the old joke apparently goes), the film comes a bit of a cropper when it starts to try and crack the conundrum.

It becomes clear that there are too many in the ensemble to give the film the time it needs to breathe - with a cast that numbers the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi to name but a few, the narrative groans under the strain of not enough time for any of them - other than Poirot himself. And some, such as Penelope Cruz's religious mouse get nary any oxygen needed to breathe any life upon the screen.

As a result, everyone becomes a bit of a once-over-lightly character - be it Depp's spiv-like villain or Dench's sneering Russian aristocrat.

It's not helped by the fact that the central mystery requires reams of exposition as the final reveal unmasks the culprit and motive.

To be fair, it's not Branagh's fault, merely the source material - and whilst most of the screen time is devoted to Poirot's bizarre chortling at Dickens or picking up his borderline OCD autistic tendencies, Branagh does also manage to imbue some wearied sadness into his eyes as he tries to escape the right and wrong of life.

Whilst his Poirot is perhaps not as iconic as David Suchet's portly moustachioed investigator, this one has a little more depth than perhaps you'd expect - and certainly doesn't have the flashiness of the modern day Sherlock Holmes, as depicted by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Perhaps therein lies an element of the problem as well - this is a film that's very much of its time, a period piece that has none of the accoutrements of a modern day adaptation other than perhaps a smattering of Hollywood's current glitterati. It's a curio on that front then, and one which modern day audiences may struggle with the pacing of (it goes distinctly off the boil in the middle).

While the film throws a cursory mention of a problem on the Nile in its conclusion, hinting at more for Belgium's greatest detective, one of the more infamous cases from the pen of Agatha Christie leaves you with a sad feeling of indifference.

Unfortunately, it's almost as if this Orient Express has been slightly derailed by narrative leaves on the line as it departs the cinematic platform.

The Evil Within 2: PS4 Review

The Evil Within 2: PS4 Review

Developed by Tango
Released by Bethesda
Platform: PS4

The latest nightmare to haunt your dreams and hitting the gaming world is Bethesda's generally terrifying, but occasionally familiar The Evil Within 2.

Three years after the events at Beacon Mental Hospital in The Evil Within, you get to play Sebastian Castellanos again in the third person horror thriller.

Having left the Krimson City Police Department to uncover the truth about the mysterious organization Mobius, Sebastian's consumed by dreams about the death of his daughter Lily in a house fire. 

When he discovers her death was faked, things take a turn for the macabre....

The Evil Within 2 is disturbingly brought to life - it's almost like a psychological Saw movie writ dangerously large on the screen, with some extra jolts thrown in for HD fun.

Ticking off many of the horror genre tropes and jump scares, the game's got an edge that's as compulsive as it is gut-wrenchingly tense. From a cat who gives you gel to level up to mirrors that take you places you'd never expect, the game's desire is to freak you out and in several places, it does this well.

However, it's in the execution of the game that it really stands out.

Some balletic and kinetic horrifying imagery aside, the art within and the scenes that play out are generally the stuff of nightmares. It sounds cliched to say it, and while the reliance on typical horror scares may put some off, The Evil Within 2 really is a game to play alone.

There are elements of Resident Evil mixed in with Silent Hill pepper a lot of this and there are perhaps influences of the short lived PT mixed in as well.

Maybe the dialogue seems a little corny in places and there are hints that perhaps it goes for hoary rote cliches, but to be honest, it's hard to put The Evil Within 2 down. From its stealth skulking to its moments of body horror, there's more than enough to keep fans of this particular gaming genre more than happy.

Tense and scary with a story and mystery that's anchored in the personal, The Evil Within 2 has more success than its first outing - namely because, like it or not, you're involved from beginning to end.

Detroit: Film Review

Detroit: Film Review

Cast: John Boyega, Will Poulter
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Reuniting Zero Dark Thirty's team in the form of director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal proves in part to be potent for Detroit.

Centred around the summer of 1967 and the riots which hit the Detroit African American population, Bigelow's film finds its focus in one pivotal moment - a motel raid which spirals out of control, and police abused their power.

Boyega plays a security guard, treading a dangerous line between keeping the cops on side and sympathising and saving others from being caught in the riot; whereas Poulter plays a cop, whose momentary lapse early on when he shoots a fleeing man in the back seems to set his moral compass distinctly awry.

The film uses its NYPD Blue style shaky cam to good effect early on, throwing you slap bang into the middle of the riots and the urgency and danger of the situation. But the film hits the skids to centre its actions on the Algiers Hotel, and sacrifices the space it's created for a claustrophobic and unflinchingly difficult section within.

Against a backdrop of Motown uniting people and then suddenly dividing those caught within, the discomfort is palpable, even if one of the cops within the actual event feels like a lazy stereotype. It's a shame given the work done in the run up to the event with Poulter's character feeling a little more multi-faceted than his closeted hatred would demonstrate.

While the back half of the film and its PTSD approach and subsequent trial feel a little more disjointed and discombobulated, its first half, warzone and all,  is painful watching  made ever more disgusting by the fact this is no fiction, but a reality that occurred.

Detroit's searing strength lies in its mid-section execution, an interlude of pure hatred and abuse of power that's so tautly executed, it feels like a modern day horror sequence, guaranteed to leave you with your mouth agog in horror.

Ultimately, it's the little moments and the ripples of after effects in Detroit which make it, for the large part, so compelling.

Perhaps timely given the social divides we currently face and equivocally appalling, Detroit's light-the-touch-paper-and-stand-back execution of events makes it a livewire event that slightly fizzes in the back third.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole: PS4 Review

South Park: The Fractured But Whole: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Ubisoft

I've not ventured back to South Park for years.

While I'm aware that the show continues under the watchful satirical eye of Parker and Stone, the last time I touched South Park was the Stick of Truth game a few years back.

This latest, the wonderfully mature titled South Park: The Fractured But Whole seems to build on exactly what they did with the first one, but makes it a little naughtier and a little bit more welcoming for both casual and long term fans of the show.

Whereas the Stick of Truth roundly mocked fantasy, this Fractured But Whole takes a swipe at superhero films and the team-up mentality.

You get to play the New Kid (on the South Park block) as Cartman as the Coon time travels back into the past to prevent a kitty from going missing. But the Coon's arrival causes a civil war between the kids with each taking sides in the conflict.... it's up to you to tip the balance of power.

There are moments of satire in South Park: The Fractured But Whole which amuse and as ever with Parker and Stone's world some of it sticks, some of it misses. There are classes to negotiate and unlock as the game goes on, and things to do with crafting.

In amongst that is all the puerile scatological edges you've come to expect from the show. From using toilets at every house to simply letting one rip whenever you want, the game's got the South Park mentality to a tee.

Combat this time is still turn based and takes place on a grid - it's a little less complicated than previously, and still provides as much bemusement as it does amusement.

It's also got the look and feel of the show down to perfection as well - it almost feels like you've crafted your own South Park adventure at home and animated it yourself.

That's perhaps part of the problem for South Park: The Fractured But Whole in some ways. It all feels very familiar and like The Stick of Truth to make it feel like an evolution of the series and leaves it feeling like another episode of the series.

Playable in puerile doses, but ultimately sadly disposable, South Park: The Fractured But Whole is worth it after a few beers and with some mates - but the casual gamer may feel a little alienated by it.

Baby Driver: Blu Ray Review

Baby Driver: Blu Ray Review

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Jamie Foxx, CJ Jones
Director: Edgar Wright

Seeded from an idea Spaced and Cornetto Trilogy director Edgar Wright had two decades ago, and given life after studio executives caught Wright on the hop after being bounced off Ant-Man, Baby Driver is a jukebox blast of a movie.

Baby Driver

Centring around the story of hotshot driver, Baby (Elgort, in relatively mute, but extremely physical form) who's blackmailed into one last job by Doc (Kevin Spacey, in monosyllabic but charismatic form), Wright's latest marks a more mature directing outlook.

When the assembled crew of volatile Bats (Foxx), Buddy (Hamm) and his wife Darling (Gonzalez) are teamed up with Baby, Baby decides to try and get away from the job, after falling for local diner waitress Debora (James).

But with the clock ticking, and the screws tightening, is Baby ever going to be able to just drive off into the sunset with his love in the passenger seat?

Riffing on many a familiar heist premise, and with the stonking soundtrack providing the cues for much of the action and editing, large parts of Baby Driver are high-octane, adrenaline-fuelled fun. The synchronisation of sound with the onscreen action proves to be a great boon for Baby Driver, as it mixes the music that Baby's permanently listening to with life around him (including a breath-taking one take street walking sequence that exceeds La La Land's highway opening number).

While it's fair to say that perhaps the romance doesn't quite gel as much as it could thanks to Debora feeling more like a passenger than a driver of the story, the women feeling slightly underwritten, and the back third of the film feels raced and jumbled, what Wright's brought to the screen for the rest is a relative delight.

From a laundromat scene where different coloured sheets flow in wash in the background via a sublime choreography to the use of sign language in Baby's relationship with his father, Wright's eye for details and their execution is second-to-none.

A physical Ansel has to use his gangly gait and the music to propel most of his action along, and Elgort willingly surrenders easily to the beat, imbuing Baby with a heart, and a naive innocence that's grimly catchy.

There's much of Baby Driver which feels fresh on the screen, even if the trademark Wright quick cuts show up at the end. With a script that's more like an album transposed on screen, music's a major part of Baby Driver and gives the film its beating heart. But it's Wright whose eye for cinematic flair and directing maturity hold the film together when the wheels threaten to fall off.

In a cinematic landscape which is overwhelmed by sequels and superheroes, Baby Driver (along with Colossus earlier this year) demonstrate there's still thankfully a place for originality at the movies. 

FINAL FANTASY XV - Episode Ignis Release Date & Videos

FINAL FANTASY XV - Episode Ignis Release Date & Videos

FINAL FANTASY XV EPISODE IGNIS RELEASE DATE

AND LEGENDARY GUEST COMPOSER REVEALED

New Trailer For Episode Ignis Contains Surprises For Fans

SYDNEY, 31^st October 2017 – Square Enix Ltd., today announced the release date of FINAL FANTASY® XV: EPISODE IGNIS, the new DLC episode where players can experience a brand-new storyline from the perspective of the ever-dependable team member and chef. FINAL FANTASY XV players will be able to enjoy this latest DLC episode from 13^th December.

A new story trailer released today contains a first detailed look at the action and story surprises that EPISODE IGNIS will offer, but also reveals the next guest composer to work within theFINAL FANTASY XV Universe. The legendary Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears), has composed and recorded three new songs with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra for EPISODE IGNIS.

FINAL FANTASY XV: EPISODE IGNIS features:

• A brand-new storyline, unbeknownst to Noctis as he remains unconscious after the Trial of Leviathan. Ignis faces his own fight on the streets of Altissia, driven by his unwavering dedication to protect Noctis at all costs.
• Fast-paced action and battles – Ignis’ spelldaggers can be imbued with elemental properties, and his unique ability “Total Clarity” allows him to target and attack multiple enemies at once.
• A new Comrade – following the guest appearances of Cor in EPISODE GLADIOLUS and Aranea in EPISODE PROMPTO, Ravus will join forces with Ignis, putting allegiances aside in order to save the ones they care about.
• Master Your Fate – EPISODE IGNIS features multiple endings, allowing players to see a different outcome of events.

FINAL FANTASY XV: EPISODE IGNIS Story Trailer is available to view on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qWerLwE_uDw

A short video interview with composer Yasunori Mitsuda talking about his work on EPISODE IGNIS, is available to view here: https://youtu.be/X5TRZEW5_sc

FINAL FANTASY XV is available now worldwide for the Xbox One and PlayStation®4 system and will be available next year on Windows PC. For more information on FINAL FANTASY XV, visit: http://www.finalfantasyxv.com/