Upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Beta for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One Offers Four Quests, Including the Elder Dragon Velkhana

Upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Beta for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One Offers Four Quests, Including the Elder Dragon Velkhana

Upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Beta for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One

Offers Four Quests, Including the Elder Dragon Velkhana

Ahead of the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne massive expansion’s global console release on September 6, Capcom today confirmed details about upcoming beta sessions, which offer four quest options for players to try at home. The Monster Hunter World: Iceborne PlayStation®4 beta will be available for all PS4™ users from 5:00pm AEST on Friday, August 30 through 4:59pm AEST on Monday, September 2. Following that, a beta for Xbox One will be available from 5:00pm AEST on Monday, September 2 through 4:59pm AEST on Thursday, September 5. Preload options will be available a couple of days before each beta period begins. The Monster Hunter: World base game is not required to participate in the Iceborne beta sessions.

These pre-launch beta sessions for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne are cooler than ever with the addition of a frosty new challenge. Alongside the previously available Great Jagras (Beginner), Banbaro (Intermediate) and Tigrex (Expert) quests, players will be able to battle against the game’s mythical flagship monster Velkhana for the first time. Watch out though, this Elder Dragon’s icy breath is dangerous and offers a bone-chilling fight for even the fiercest of hunters.

Similar to previous beta sessions, hunters can test out all 14 weapon types in any of the four quests and the training area. The weapons include the new Iceborne features, plus the new Slinger tool options such as the Clutch Claw grapple mechanic.

Upon completing each quest for the first time, hunters can earn a total of four special commendation packs containing helpful consumable items that will be available to use in the full version of the Iceborne expansion when it releases. So, pack those Hot Drinks and join a hunting party to clear these quests!

Rocketman: Blu Ray Review

Rocketman: Blu Ray Review

The musical biopic is so hot right now.

On the coat-tails of Bohemian Rhapsody, its global success and its unexpected awards success, it's no surprise that Rocketman arrives in cinemas with a weight of expectation.

With its more verite approach thanks to singing actors, rather than a performer miming, Dexter Fletcher re-teams with his Eddie The Eagle co-star Taron Egerton to take on the story of one Reg Dwight.

Beginning with the neglect in his childhood from his father and distant mother, to the discovery of his piano skills through to the tales of excess and stardom, Fletcher weaves an interesting tapestry of Elton John's life from the early years.

It's crowd-pleasing, conventional, and in the latter stages, somewhat camp, but never anything less than a spectacle.

Fletcher knows what the tropes of the genre are (early childhood adversity, self-doubt, midlife adversity, lovers adversity and ultimately self-acceptance) and skirts through them with ease.

At times, this is both a good and a bad thing for Rocketman, with the film feeling very much like outside of Elton John himself, it  skirts over some character edges, which is much to its detriment. (The only female character of note is John's grandmother).

Even the darkness of Elton John's life are given a light touch, but are never shied away from, as Fletcher pulls what could easily be a stage show, framed as it is with John's AA group confessional, into something that becomes a jukebox piece tale of acceptance, dishing out the hits when the energy hits a lull (as it does in the final third).

In truth, Rocketman is never better than when it's a balls-to-the-wall brazen musical.

From the younger version of Elton John bursting through a pub and segueing into Egerton's look to Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, to John's Troubador club appearance in the US where the music literally lifts the audience through euphoria, via Pinball Wizard's swirling piano as the film shuffles through numerous outfits and John's need to be his on-stage persona cycles through, Fletcher's smart enough to deploy some visual flourishes to keep the film engaging as the energy levels teeter dangerously high to exuberant.

It's less successful in some of the more human elements - but not because of Egerton's efforts as Elton John.

Moments when Elton interacts with his stifled father desperate for love are given a tremendous resonance in their brief outings. And while Richard Madden brings a dangerous smouldering to his manager-cum-lover, it's Egerton who sells the relationship with the most subtle of touches.

Ultimately, much like Bohemian Rhapsody, it won't matter what critics make of Rocketman.

In places, it soars, a spectacle of a tried-and-tested story of acceptance; elsewhere, it's grounded. But audiences will adore its commitment to being crowd-pleasing, its desire to entertain and its salutation to the early part of the Elton John legacy. 

Control: PS4 Review

Control: PS4 Review

Developed by Remedy and 505 Games
Platform: PS4

A game that keeps you mystified and bemused throughout, Remedy’s CONTROL is not your typical IP.

Meshing supernatural TV show Fringe with a shooter and wrapping the whole thing up in an enigmatic riddle, the game’s adherence to Nolan-esque shifting visuals and one location make it one of those games that almost makes you wish you mapped it as you go along - were it not for the fact that everything keeps shifting and changing.

You are Jesse, who heads into the Federal Bureau Of Control to find out what happened to your brother who went AWOL.

But upon entry, you’re thrown into a world of confusion and supernatural edges as you work your way through the levels.

Part of the joy of Control is the unknown, and it’s not this reviewer being coy to not reveal what the Hiss is, what the story is and where it lands - that’s simply respectful of Remedy’s efforts to bring something new to an ever saturated and easily spoilt gaming world. It's refreshing that it plays differently, and slowly reveals like an onion of excitement.

The game rewards you as it unfolds as it pushes its third person shooter and investigative MO to its limits. (Although at its heart, Control is a shooter and meshed with Infamous character abilities).

Astral planes are involved, strategy is needed and a non linear approach to the game will be rewarded - albeit in due course.

While there are some gaming similarities with their own Quantum Break and the aforementioned Infamous, the graphics work well to create an atmosphere of unease and uncertainty, as befits the story.

Occasionally there are some jarring overloads in the action on the screen but mostly it’s clear and unfussy workmanship that stands out to produce the structures and the cut scenes which add to the intrigue.

It also rewards the player for the effort they put in and the time that they enjoy trying to work out the head scratching sensibilities of the game itself.

While most of the cut scenes are of a static nature, the HD qualities of the characters themselves make them superlatives in their execution.

This is a game which takes its time to unfold unless all more and enticing because of it, simply put Control would not be the game it is not without Remedy's careful and meticulous touches and commitment to unnerving and atmospheric thrills.

Do yourself a favour and experience Control the way Remedy wanted you to - unspoiled and unsure what’s happening next; it’s the best way to evolve your experience within and get the most out of the shorter main story.

It is rare for a game to appear on the scene without any elements completely and spoiled.

Control offers a unique and edifying experience that is worth acclaiming - sure, its brevity and some of the load issues cause a few red flags, but all in all, this is Remedy firing at their cerebral best, and gaming at its most intriguing and rewarding.

The Hustle: DVD Review

The Hustle: DVD Review

Remaking Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with female leads isn't a bad idea, it's just that The Hustle doesn't really do much with its central conceit.

Meshing both the original through a prism of The Taming of The Shrew with This Means War mentalities and throwing in Rebel Wilson's freewheeling ways and Anne Hathaway's uptight English accent doesn't quite deliver the requisite goods, even if it does proffer a few belly laughs.

With their odd couple vibe (Wilson plays a low rent hustler, Hathaway a more society-obsessed scammer), the duo forge a bet against each other after Hathaway's Josephine's offended by the arrival of Wilson's Penny in her patch. Landing on a scam that's a winner takes all, the battle lines are drawn...

To be fair, the banter between Josephine and Penny makes part of the film worthwhile. From decrying Hathaway's Josephine to a "librarian's corpse, but less lively" to referring to Wilson as a "big titted Russell Crowe", there are some moments that really land in this continually flat and formulaic mess.

But they're outweighed by Wilson once again debasing herself in weight gags and the fact nobody can love her (relatively fresh in Pitch Perfect, but starting to depressingly stink in 2019) and a script that's nonsensical and keen to drop storylines for the hell of it, despite giving them weighting early on.

Hathaway's game for comedy proves fruitful once again, with a deft light touch benefiting proceedings.

While The Hustle doesn't outstay its welcome at a relatively tight 90 minutes, it can be summed up in one interaction between Wilson's Penny, who's pretending to be blind, and Sharp's benevolent tech guy who befriends her, unaware he's her mark.

"You've got hysterical blindness," he says; to which she remarks quickly "It's not that funny to me."

So say we all, Rebel Wilson, so say we all.

The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: DVD Review

The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: DVD Review

Director: Julia Parnell

A good documentary piques your interest in your subject, answers your questions and gives you insight; a great documentary makes you fall in love with your subject, makes you aware of something you never knew of before, and sends you scuttling to find out more.

Sadly, to those outside of New Zealand and never around for the key moments of the Chills, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a documentary that falls into the slightly lacking if you don't already have pre-knowledge of your subject.

What director..... is aiming to do is at best, present a tale of someone who went through the musical machine and has hit the highs and the lows, and get them to reflect back on it. Throw in a medical character arc for Phillipps as well as the feeling there's a lot of unfinished business and it could, in all honesty, have been an intriguing meditation on the merits and perils of the industry and those who are chewed up and spit out.

But what The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps doesn't manage to do is fully convey the reasons why the band were so beloved, other than to show repeated amounts of concert footage attended by hardly anyone and have members of the band state they were so great. Earlier contributions from the likes of Neil Finn are quickly phased out, in lieu of spending time with Phillipps as he deals with the fallout from Hepatitis C and reflections back on some of his work.

It's here the humanity of the piece comes out; of a man who's lost his way a little, who's filled his house with inexorable amounts of junk masquerading as collections, and of a man whose desire to be arty sees him spray painting mummified cats. And it's here the most interesting kernels of the film emerge, only to be left - upon leaving this film, I still have no full idea why Phillipps is so alone in his darkest days, other than hints of how his behaviour pushed others away.

That's the prime gripe of The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: it forces you to make assumptions about its enigmatic subject and proffers you hints of what artistry demands of you within the business.

Whilst it's nicely shot, conveys both the merits and perils of its Dunedin setting thanks to Phillipps' cluttered house and the pressure cooker weather elements, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a frustratingly indecisive watch; by failing to take a stance on its subject, it's sadly too obtuse to be anything more than niche appeal. 

Win a double pass to see AMAZING GRACE

Win a double pass to see AMAZING GRACE

To celebrate the release of Amazing Grace, in cinemas September 5, you can win a double pass to see the concert film starring Aretha Franklin.

About Amazing Grace

In 1972, 29-year-old Aretha Franklin, ‘Queen of Soul’, wishing to return to her gospel roots, chose to record an album live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, a disused movie theatre, in Watts, Los Angeles. 

She was ably accompanied by the accomplished musicians of her regular touring band; the heavenly Southern California Community Choir, conducted by a rocking Alexander Hamilton; mighty Reverend James Cleveland, himself a gospel singer, songwriter and arranger, who taught Franklin piano; and her own father, the great preacher C.L. Franklin.

Warner Bros. brought in Sydney Pollack to shoot the recording, which took place over two nights and resulted in a double album that went on to become the highest-selling live gospel music album of all time.

To win a double pass, simply enter below!

Wolfenstein: Young Blood: PS4 Review

Wolfenstein: Young Blood: PS4 Review

Released by Bethesda
Developed by Machine Games, Arkane Studios
Platform: PS4

This Wolfenstein spin off is a co-op shooter that works best with your friends, not as well with the AI.

Assuming the role of either Jess or Soph Blazkowicz, the twin daughters of BJ Blazkowicz, it's up to you to do what the family's done for years - killing Nazis. When their father mysteriously disappears, the girls throw on power suits and start to try and track him down in Neu Paris, where he was last seen.

Wolfenstein Youngblood goes someway to keeping the hedonistic blasting of bad guys in tact, but most of the game relies on the second person to help you out to progress.

Which is fine for when a mate's playing along with you, but is occasionally more problematic when it comes to the computer side of things helping you out. It's perhaps pertinent the game is more committed to the gameplay rather than offering up new and surprising twists on the patented Wolfenstein formula.

That's not to say it's not playable - quite the opposite in fact.

The game's committed to its lunacy, but at its heart, Wolfenstein Youngblood is still just a simple run and gun game from the first person perspective. Stealth is a weaker element this time around, but in fairness, it's still playable enough.

It seems a crime to label Wolfenstein: Youngblood as fine, but that's all it really is. A simple levelling up system, a game whose core MO hasn't changed, and a plot that's not as outrageous as it should or could be with two protagonists who make the journey bearable (aside from annoying dance moves in lifts), Wolfenstein Youngblood is a solid spinoff, but an inessential one.