Space Pioneer: Nintendo Switch review

Space Pioneer: Nintendo Switch review

Developed by Vivid Games
Platform: Nintendo Switch

The run and gun is a simple concept.

Fire your weapon, defeat the bad guys, avoid being killed - it's a basic formula, easy to master, and yet also easy to mess up.

Space Pioneer on the Switch, in truth, falls somewhere in the middle.

It's a basic concept - you're a kind of ranger, mercenary type, who's tasked with simply going to different worlds during various chapters, firing your weapon, killing the creatures and performing simple tasks like taking artifacts, destroying hives and defeating marauding waves before warping out.

Objectives are filtered in to secondary and primary, but all essential to get the relevant stars to open up other planets for you to explore and to try and stop the intergalactic threat that awaits in the background.

Space Pioneer is kind of disposable fun, but yet it also sometimes too shallow to play long term - it's definitely here for the bitesize audience to enjoy, and offers some chances of easy progression because of the short nature of the levels.

Yet once you begin to upgrade, the game takes on newer forms and better weapons aid you in your quests - it's all fairly by the numbers kind of stuff, but it takes on a sort of compulsion that you'd least expect once the need to level up comes in, and the required amount of stars fall short.

Graphically the game is nothing inspirational, but it is fairly passable fare, it's a port that's clearly been smoothed over and one which offers the fun it needs. Upgrades to the weapons and robots are nicely done, and the game itself gives enough of itself as it gets going.

Ultimately, Space Pioneer is a handheld pleasure. It may not reinvent the wheel, or challenge the format, but it delivers what it needs to on the tin.

Gears 5: XBox One Review

Gears 5: XBox One Review

Platform: Xbox One
Developer: The Coalition

The latest iteration of Gears of War series brings much to the table.

Exceptional graphics and cut scenes, a female lead in a shooter (sadly too uncommon) and a sense that the Gears series knows what it wants to do.

Putting you in the shoes of Kait,who's haunted by visions of the Locust triggered in the last game, Gears 5 sets you off on a mission that allows you to explore, rather than follow a traditional linear path.

Swarm attacks, exploration and just general mayhem with chainsaws and guns make the formula pop again this time around - but it's the sense of character that shines amid some of the chaos. The campaign's storyline is what makes the difference this time around, and gives you the reward of the sense of investment.

There are also other modes which makes Gears 5 worthy of time, and while the multiplayer isn't as good as the main storyline, it does still add an element of fun to proceedings, as well as doubling down on the need for tactics later on.

The murkier edges of the moral tones make the story more compelling ultimately and the fact characters are less of a stereotype proves a great boon for the Gears series, giving the player a reason to carry on.

All in all Gears 5 offers great promise for the franchise and for a series which has been ongoing since 2006 - it never loses its sense of what it should be, but it also has the smarts to evolve as it goes on.

Herbs: Songs of Freedom: DVD Review

Herbs: Songs of Freedom: DVD Review

Much like Tearepa Kahi's Poi E documentary did, Herbs: Songs of Freedom looks to pitch New Zealand of your youth against the socioeconomic backdrop of the reggae freedom fighters, Herbs.

Taking in the politics of the 80s in Bastion Point, against a background of a reforming Herbs, some four decades after they began, Kahi's doco has geniality written through as much as it has L&P coursing through its veins.

That is to say, initially, this is a nostalgia blast in some ways, a film that makes you remember those glorious never-ending summers and sets out an OST to your youth that hits you where it should.

However, more than just context,  some flashy graphics (a neon coloured tape illustration is just one of the wonderful images that Kahi drops on to the screen) and some gorgeously shot images from Auckland's Harbour Bridge, is what's needed for Herbs: Songs of Freedom.

And for a large part, the doco fulfills that remit, capturing the intimate moments of the band then and now coming back together, seizing on moments from within the rehearsal hall and detailing how the band came to prominence when Stevie Wonder wouldn't play Western Springs in the 70s as a deluge blew in.

Yet, despite the vim and vigour of the start of the piece, the doco frustratingly fails to capture some of the more interesting narrative threads available. Hints of a bust up and some sour grapes that befell members of the band are alluded to, and not expanded upon. (Though it must be said that Kahi teases details out of various members, chiefly Dilworth Karaka, as if this is some great musical stoush the whole world already knew of.)

The final 30 minutes of the film drift into discord as well, turning the proceedings into Auckland's reunion concert and providing some incredible musical moments, but leaving you feeling like the doco's run out of things to say, but equally leaving you feeling extremely grateful for the music, and for the timelessness of the performers.

Ultimately, Herbs: Songs of Freedom does much to capture the zeitgeist of 80s New Zealand and once again demonstrates Kahi's heartland approach is a voice much needed in the film-making community.

But frustratingly the doco's overall feeling is one of could have been, and one which lacks the full coherence demonstrated by Poi E: The Story of Our Song.

That said it is one which will leave you tapping your toes in the aisle for two thirds of its generous heart. 

Abominable: DVD Review

Abominable: DVD Review

Dreamworks' latest dials up the cute, channels a bit of Kubo and the Two Strings, and showcases Chinese leads - so in theory, it should be a home run.

But the tale of Yi (SHIELD's Chloe Bennet) and her quest to return a furry Yeti back to Everest at times suffers from an over-familiarity of themes and ideas, rendering parts of it too much like deja vu.

However, it's in the subtleties and the beautiful evocation of some of the sum of its parts that Abominable justifies itself on the big screen.

It's the visuals which soar in Abominable, not the characters. Sure, there's comedy Peng, the basketball-yearning youngster who bonds with Everest in a kind of dude-bro relationship that brings some of the funnies the kids will love; and there's a silly snake that pops up from time to time to amuse, but much of Abominable's characters are sadly forgotten when the film's over.

The aforementioned evocations of landscapes, of giant Buddha or of the lunacy of a blueberry attack from the sky soar, lifting the King Kong chase scenes early on from a kind of mental checking out that may attack parts of the audience during the film.

But when the group surf a field of yellow daffodils towards the end, Abominable finds its visual groove, a symphony of magical mixing with the mystical proving to be the bright vibrant compelling colour touch the script desperately needed.

Izzard is serviceable as an English villain named Burnish (a sly nod to a mix of Carl from UP and Mr Burns from the Simpsons - hence Burnish perhaps?), and Bennet has earnestness aplenty as Yi the strong and yet vulnerable heroine throughout. Animation on the Yeti is stunning, mixing Toothless visuals with white furry edges and blurring the line between pet pooch and cutesy Yeti with aplomb.

(Though little with the Yeti is better than the opening POV escape which hints at the menace within.)

Ultimately, heading into safe territory does much to harm Abominable's chances of standing the test of time, but it's perfectly enjoyable-in-the-moment animated fare that's more interested in evocative visuals than deep meaningful storylines.

Good Boys: DVD Review

Good Boys: DVD Review

The sex comedy has gone about as far as it can do in modern gross out terms.

Yet, never once has it wandered into tweens' territory, something which producer Seth Rogen and his team acknowledge but dare to go there anyway.

In the latest comedy to burst out of the ranks, Good Boys follows a close knit trio of young sixth graders, the self-named Beanbag Boys, led by Jacob Tremblay's Max. Friends since their younger years, the trio find themselves invited to a kissing party where Max's crush will be.

But when their plan to learn about the opposite sex goes awry , they're sent on an adventure that pushes them out of their comfort zone.

It may send the idea of naivety to the edges, and a lot of the gags may centre around the sixth graders' misunderstanding of sexual posturing, but Good Boys offers some solid laughs in among the gross out behaviour.

Once you get past the whole "should tweens be talking / doing this," there's a vein of something in Good Boys which transgresses the cute and crass with some ease. There's also something to be said for the way the film mines the inevitable peer pressure of tweens these days to understand sex and their misplaced braggadacio of understanding between friends - certainly while the laughs come from here, they also come from a place of sweetness and an inherent understanding of the pressure constantly imposed on children's lives.

The trio are sweetly matched; from Tremblay's conflict over friends and girls, via loudmouth Thor's preoccupation with musical theatre to Lucas' compulsive need to tell the truth (breakout star Williams), this group feels real, and the push and pull of friendship is cleverly explored during the no-longer-than-it-needs-to-be 90 minute run time.

It will be easily dismissed as a Superbad: The Early Years, but Good Boys, while nothing superlative, deserves to stand on its own two feet, mixing drugs, sex and comedy with a nice touch of sweet observations, the film offers a solid night out with solid laughs at a universal experience.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold: DVD Review

Dora and the Lost City of Gold: DVD Review

Can you say "Not quite sure what it wants to be?"

The Dora the Explorer film, with Muppets director James Bobin behind the helm, is a family friendly slice of Indiana Jones, coming of age, Tomb Raider-esque oddity.

Moner is Dora, prone to asking questions of nobody (something her father, the excellently cast Michael Pena, hopes she'll grow out of) and who has been brought up in the jungle.

When her parents decide to go on a quest to find the ancient city of Parapata, Dora is sent to the city to reunite with her cousin Diego (Wahlberg) and to experience the horrors of high school.
Roundly mocked by the cliques for her perkiness and odd precocious behaviour, Dora finds herself- along with her unwilling high school compadres - thrown into an adventure when she's kidnapped after her parents go missing...

Mixing a huge dollop of self-awareness, with an irritatingly winning ever-chipper performance from Moner, Dora and the Lost City of Gold will prove successful with its audience who've grown up with the animated explorer and her wily ways.

But Bobin injects a degree of magicality into the film, peppering it with silly songs that are supposed to inform and entertain ("Can you say severe neurotoxicity? ", Dora says at one point) and which nods to the show's MO.

There are messages of self-belief, and of staying true to yourself which will appeal to the outsiders among the viewers, and there are moments, particularly during the final exploration, that are a bit scarier for younger ends of the audience, but which pay homage to the Indiana Jones-esque elements.

Ultimately, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a solid slice of family film - it's not too memorable in the wash, but with a winning Moner giving her all and keeping the energy up throughout, she's one explorer you're happy to tag along with for the adventure.

Merry Christmas one and all

Merry Christmas one and all

So, 2019 is done, and the end of the decade too.

Life's been pressing this year, so it's unlikely there will be a best and worst of the year - and in truth, most of what the cinema has presented this year has been middling dross with highlights too far and few in between.

It's also been a year where many have concentrated on the bad rather than the good, and it falls to bucking the trend at the end of the year.

Thanks for the support of this website, its reviews, and its news and content - wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

And if you're in need of people to lean on this festive time, reach out - don't hold back, as there's been too much of this year already - and help is always a call away.

Here's to 2020.