Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition

2013 saw the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the much-loved BBC science fiction adventure that is now considered a worldwide phenomenon. It all began in November 1963 with its first episode “An Unearthly Child”. William Hartnell played the Doctor in his first incarnation, but since then, thanks to the fact that the Doctor can regenerate his body upon death, the character has been played by a number of actors, as he has regenerated 12 times so far. Then again, I'm sure some Whovian can school me on that number, as I'm not counting the “Meta-crisis Doctor”. But there's been a long list of actors portraying the Doctor, with the likes of Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann and David Tennant, just to name a few. But before this years Doctor, in the form of Peter Capaldi, last year the Doctor had his biggest challenge to date, one that was worthy of the 50-year anniversary.

Out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes the Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition. It's jammed packed full of content, and while some of it may vary in quality, it's a must-own for any Whovian or science fiction fan out there. Here's what's in the box set:

Episodes:

The Name of the Doctor: Written by Steven Moffat, this is the first episode out of the 2013 TV specials that deals with the planet of Trenzalore, the location that has been foreseen as to where the Eleventh Doctor will die. After his friends are kidnapped by The Great Intelligence (a floating digital face played by the always great Richard E. Grant) and deliberately brought to Trenzalore, the Doctor has no other choice but to follow. Featuring some great performances all round, the first appearance by the super creepy “Whisper Men” and some great imagery of the Doctor's future tomb on Trenzalore, this is a fantastic episode that brings a lot of story threads together.

The Day of the Doctor: This is it. This is the reason for the entire box-set. This episode, which is actually feature length, brings together 3 incarnations of the Doctor; the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith, the Tenth Doctor played by David Tennant, and finally the fabled War Doctor; a forgotten past version of the Doctor played by film legend John Hurt. This episode focuses on “The Moment”, the point in which the War Doctor destroyed both the Daleks and Gallifrey in order to stop the Time War. Since Doctor Who's revival in 2005, much of the Doctors personality has been shaped by his actions in the Time War, and his choice to commit genocide on both sides for the greater good. A lot of episodes have been leading up to this, and it doesn't disappoint.

The Time of the Doctor: This is the Eleventh Doctor’s final adventure, and I must admit that I found it lacking in many areas. After such a fantastic adventure in The Day of the Doctor, the entire plot of this episode comes across as clunky and tired. Though I appreciate how it ties up some of the various story threads started since Matt Smith took over the role as the Doctor, casual viewers will just be confused. I've watched every episode of the series since its revival, and even I was pretty stumped at times. Still, its brilliance comes in the form of the various emotional moments in the episode, especially the entire scene that leads up to the Eleventh Doctors regeneration.

Mini-episodes:

The Night of the Doctor: Though Paul McGann only played the Doctor once on screen in the 1996 TV movie of Doctor Who, he is actually the most prolific Doctor thus far. He has played the Eighth Doctor in 70 official BBC audio dramas since 2006, so while some viewers may have forgotten about his involvement in the series, McGann has been there the whole time. The audio drama is pretty fantastic, but there has been one missing piece puzzle in the Doctor's timeline – the Eighth Doctor regenerating into the Ninth Doctor. While he technically regenerates into the War Doctor rather than the Ninth Doctor, it's good to finally see BBC give the Eight Doctor a proper send off, even if it only amounts to a 7-minute runtime. Here's to the best Doctor of them all!

The Last Day: This Doctor-less mini-episode takes place from the point-of-view of a Gallifreyan soldier protecting Arcadia, a place that is considered “the safest place of Gallifrey”. Of course, as expected that may not be the case as Arcadia eventually fell, much like the rest of Galifrey.

Documentaries:

The Ultimate Guide: A two-hour documentary that gives a broad overview of Doctor Who's long history. Through interviewing most of the previous actors who have played the Doctor, as well as current head writer Steven Moffat, this is a must-see for any Whovian or non-fan out there.

Tales from the Tardis: Essentially the same type of documentary as The Ultimate Guide, but this time from BBC America.

Farewell to Matt Smith: Another BBC America documentary that looks back on Matt Smith's 4 years as the Eleventh Doctor.

The Science of Doctor Who: Hosted by baby-faced boffin Brian Cox, this documentary delver into the real world science behind Doctor Who. It's pretty interesting stuff, and it's quite a nice change in pace compared to everything else in the box-set.

Special: 

An Adventure in Space & Time: This is probably my favourite aspect of the box-set, as it's the ultimate celebration of all things Doctor Who. Written by Doctor Who and Sherlock writer Mark Gatiss, this feature length drama focuses on the creation of Doctor Who back in the 1960's, as well as the First Doctor, William Hartnell. David Bradley (Game of Thrones, Broadchurch) plays Hartnell magnificently with both a performance that is truly authentic and incredibly touching. Visually it's also a treat too, as not only will you see classic Doctor Who villains crop up, but also a recreation of the original Tardis interior, as well as scenes from An Unearthly Child.

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot: This half hour comedy spoof focuses on Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker, three past Doctors who never got a look in for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. It's filled with other cameos; it's corny but pretty fun. Though they didn't turn up in any canonical episode over the 50th anniversary, it's nice to see these three Doctors partake in the celebrations. 

BBC Proms 2013: Last July Doctor Who made it to the Proms, the BBC's concert series of orchestral music. Blending wonderful music by series composer Murray Gold and even cameos by the stars of Doctor Who, I was overjoyed that this made into the box-set. The best part of the Proms is when "The Rings of Akhaten" is performed, which amounts to one of the best Doctor Who tributes on offer. Wonderful stuff!

Other:

Other extra content includes deleted scenes, Behind-the-scenes-footage, The Day of the Doctor cinema intros, The Day of the Doctor trailers.

Overall this box-set is a must-buy for any Doctor Who fan out there, whether they consider themselves a hardcore or casual viewer. Packed full of humour, adventure, romance and intrigue, this is certainly an adventure worth taking.

Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition is literally perfect and gets a time-bending 5/5.

[★★★★★]

Denis Murphy

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Madden NFL 15

I remember back in the day playing John Madden Football '92 on my Sega Megadrive. Back then I watched a bit of American football when I could on TV, but never really got into it. Regardless, the name John Madden carried a lot of weight, so this was the only American football game I ever played. Of course, rather than playing it seriously, I always ended up dicking around. My favourite thing to do was to injure a player, wait for the ambulance to drive onto the pitch, and then get a few of my players to run into its path. However, instead of the ambulance stopping and moving out of their way, it would smack directly into them, complete with a delicious Whack!-Whack!-Whack! noise. I loved it, but as transitioned to the PlayStation era, I stopped playing Madden completely, up until last years release. I liked last years Madden 25, but found it lacking in various areas. So when the latest Madden title came up for review, I eagerly decided to give it a go, hoping EA sorted out a few of the problems that plagued Madden 25. The name John Madden may not carry as much weight as it used to in the 90's, but seeing as the series is still meant to be the pinnacle of American football in gaming, well, I expected quite a lot.

Developed by EA Tiburon and out now for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One comes Madden NFL 15, another great entry in EA Sports' worldwide domination of all things sports related. There was a time where EA were really slacking off when it came to their EA Sports titles, but in recent memory they've been doing a much better job. With franchises such as PGA Tour, FIFA, UFC and NHL all at the top of their game, it looks like Madden is following in their footsteps.

First off, visually Madden NFL 15 is superb, and perfectly nails the look and bone crushing power of a real NFL match. Thanks to a great physics engine, tackles feel authentic, whether their small nudges that send your player off balance or heavy, hard hitting knocks that take you out completely. This attention to detail is also apparent through the recreation of some of the more famous NFL stadiums out there, as well as the inclusion of non-scripted celebration moments and Jumbotrons. The commentary included features over 80 hours of recorded dialogue between commentators Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, and despite some pieces of dialogue popping up far too often, it's varied, enjoyable and authentic. Madden NFL 15's blend of awesome visuals, superb sound design and nuanced physics effectively make it the most authentic NFL experience out there, outside of watching a match on TV, of course.

Madden NFL 15 is slick, really slick, in terms of the presentation of its play options. Let me put it this way; I'm more or less a complete newbie when it comes to American Football – I don't play it, watch it or play many of its games. However even for someone like me, choosing a play during gameplay is incredibly easy and simplistic. You can edit plays depending on what you're trying to accomplish, but EA Tiburon have put in place quite an impressive system that suggests plays that cover almost every situation you'll find yourself in.

Though I didn't play much of Madden 25, I found playing in defence to by an incredibly overlooked and often useless element to the game. You had to essentially wait for the opposition to screw up to even get a chance at being useful. EA Tiburon has changed this in Madden NFL 15.  This is mostly down to the new defensive camera angle implemented here, which leads to playing defence now being a true game changer, rather than a position that solely relies on button bashing and smacking opponents. This feeling of being more in control runs throughout Madden NFL 15 when compared to its predecessor. EA have clearly wanted it to make Madden a more hands-on, kinetic and physical experience. They have succeeded.

Overall Madden NFL 15 is an utterly authentic experience. Whether you decide to merely play as a player, a coach hiring and firing players or even an owner managing the money of your selected team, it's a well-rounded entry into the franchise, and most likely EA's best attempt yet at replicating the action of the NFL.

Madden NFL 15 gets a touchdown with a 5/5.

[★★★★★]

Denis Murphy

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Transcendence

When Transcendence was released, critics were not kind to it. In fact they completely destroyed Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer Wally Pfister’s directorial debut. So going into it I was rightly concerned about what I was about to watch. Sure it had a great cast, with such names as Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany and Cillian Murphy appearing in the film but it also has 19% on RottenTomatoes. Well that’s what the critics think; I am of a slightly different opinion.

The film shows the journey of married scientists Will and Evelyn Caster as they try and develop the realm of artificial intelligence by attempting to insert a human consciousness into a computer. After Will is shot by radical eco-terrorists who want the world to ‘unplug’ Evelyn is made to use the technology to ‘upload’ Will’s brain onto a computer before he dies. This portion of the film, shown to death in all the trailers, is the real weak point; we know uploading Will is going to work from the beginning but Pfister seemed determined to spend too much time on it. It’s after this point, when Will is allowed access to the internet, that things start to take a much more interesting and unique turn. Things escalate quickly from there; Will hacks into banks to give his wife money, Evelyn buys a plot of land to make a solar panel farm to power Will, then human/robot hybrids appear and so on. This was all in the trailers but saying more would ruin it. It’s this later stuff, the questionable stuff about Will and what he’s doing, where the film shines. It might take a while to get going but once it does, you start to see that the film is perhaps not all that bad.

With cinematographer turned director Wally Pfistor at the helm the film look much nicer than the trailers would lead you to believe. Shot on film rather than the now almost standard digital, you often forget about some of the films problems simply because it looks so nice. The strongest aspects of the film though, are the stars within it. While it does seem Johnny Depp is the main character, it’s probably best not to think of it as a ‘Johnny Depp film’, rather it’s much more of a showcase for the talents of Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany. Both are much stronger in the film than Depp and actually do halfway decent jobs of making Transcedence seem respectable even when lines like ‘we need to turn off the internet’ are uttered. Lines like these are the real problem as they suggest the viewers are idiots who have no idea how the internet and computers work. I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure you can’t cut off all technology with a thin copper mesh along one wall. I get that some films need you to suspend your disbelief but Transcendence seems to have a lot of these moments and eventually the leaps of logic become too much. By the end you don’t care much what happens to any of the characters, except perhaps Paul Bettany, who somehow manages to come out of the film with his dignity still in check.

Transcendence is also incredibly on-the-nose with its symbolism and messages. For example; after the world is completely electronically shut down (not a spoiler, this scene opens the film) we see a man prop open a door with a useless laptop. Why? Do they not have door stops in the future? I get what their trying to say but the whole thing seems a little too much like a student film. Despite all of this though, I find it hard to award this film with less than 3 stars. The film is over the top, in both themes and suspension of disbelief but it’s not ‘bad’. In fact the actors do a very good job and the finale is awesome, and regardless of problems the whole ‘has man gone too far?’ theme is explored well. While not bad, Transcendence is perhaps more easily recommended to those who are fans of the actors or themes, or to those who just have nothing better to watch.

Transcendence gets a decent 3/5.

[★★★☆☆]

Tom Bumby

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Akiba's Trip 2

You know what I love? Japan, girl’s pants, shopping, iPhones, teen culture, stripping off peoples clothes unexpectedly, vampires that aren’t really vampires and that kinda thing. Thankfully I’ve just discovered a game called Akiba’s Trip 2, or possibly Akiba Strip 2, that is all about pulling off the clothes of teenage vampires to unveil their pants and make them explode in sunlight. It always amazes me how easy it is for something ‘from Japan’ to just leave me confused and flabbergasted at its existence so instantly. It’s also a sequel to a PSP game.

The game starts off in a beautiful cell shaded anime fashion with your main character lying on a table slightly confused. Relatively unanimated images of the characters appear on the screen to ask you questions and you are given the opportunity to choose your responses from a dialogue tree. It’s also possible at this point to say the wrong thing and be killed at this moment. Suddenly a beautiful anime girl comes in and teaches you how to kick peoples asses by dodging and punching and the like. The controls are a wee bit sloppy in my opinion, a more DMC or God of War battle style would of been preferable but it reminded me more of Vice City’s sluggish punches.

At this point it becomes a very odd mixture between a dating game and the kind of game that would normally be designed by a young teenage boy. There’s fan service all over, but it’s not an entirely bad game either. As I said; the control system is a bit wank, but you can tear through the game in no time if that’s what you want or you can upgrade and become awesome, unlock other fan service stuff like being able to change the female characters underwear and having see through clothes, fall in love with most of the female characters in the game, and experience a number of multiple endings.

It didn’t take long for it to discard it’s own mythology though; as the story evolves you learn that you are a parasite of sorts that feeds on the energy and motivation of others but you are a good one like Blade, and everyone else is a bad one. The only way to defeat them is to have their skin be in direct sunlight, the only way to do this is to tear off the clothes of the people you are fighting and watch them explode. The reason I say their mythology dissolves is because there are many girls walking around with very complicated lingerie on that, when you reveal them to the sunlight lingerie intact, explode whereas you’re-not-going-out-dressed-like-that girls who are showing a lot of skin already seem to be immune until you get them down to their little underthings. Also the characters get oddly addicted to this fighting style and when in battle with human beings will also tear off their clothes causing them to run off in embarrassment but having absolutely no reason to justifiably do so.

I took a while playing this one, as the story line was functional at best though quite fun and interesting if you understand all the obscure Japanime references and the like. There’s a lot of Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy style satire constantly on the go. When I play grand theft auto for too long I forget just for a second that it isn’t okay to break into cars, so I was concerned that if I played this too much and I got into a bar fight with my friends I might pull off everyone’s clothes. Which is already an urge. I’m kidding of course. I have no friends, which is why I’m playing anime games that are entirely about pants and boobs.

I would buy this game if you enjoy anime or manga satire or are likely to go to Akiba in real life and can therefore make use of the discounts from the real actual shops fliers that you get tin the game. It’s actually fun, but I can’t tell if I’m being tricked into thinking its fun by the evolutionary urge to get excited by pants.

Who knows?

3/5 for Akibas Trip 2. It’s a bit pants.

[★★★☆☆]

Dave Roberts

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the sequel to the 2012 remake that nobody asked for, The Amazing Spider-Man. The first film was decent, but did little to improve upon the Spider-Man films that came before it. Does the sequel fare any better?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is better than, or at least it fixes some of the problems from the first film. Andrew Garfield is great as Spider-Man; he has enough quips and funny moments and really embodies the comical webslinger. All of the actors do a great job. Emma Stone is a brilliant Gwen Stacy again except this time the dialogue between her and Peter isn’t quite as stilted and awkward. Jamie Foxx blows it out of the water as Electro, or more specifically as his alter ego Max Dillon, the meekest and shyest man imaginable but hiding a creepy obsession with Spider-Man after he saves his life. This initially gives the two rivals a very interesting dynamic but is sadly dropped towards the end of the film. An unexpected surprise was Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin. DeHaan is excellent in everything else he’s been in and he’s great here, and what surprised me was what a great goblin he made. He has the cackle down and everything.

The music in this film, by none other than Hans Zimmer himself, is also really good and used to full effect. For example, when Electro uses his electricity there is a sudden burst of dubstep. You’re probably thinking, “Wow that sounds awful!” just like I was but somehow it works. It may be a bit in your face, but so is this movie with its big action and bright colours and I don’t think it’d be as enjoyable if it wasn’t.

There are problems. First of all, you leave the movie feeling like you’ve seen the majority of it before, due mostly to the trailers; if you’ve seen one you’ve seen about half of the best bits already. That being said, the good bits are really good. This is thanks to the superb special effects. The movie also suffers from being over stuffed with too many plot points and villains; there really wasn’t enough of any of the villains, Green Goblin in particular. Sadly, It feels as if this entry suffers from middle movie syndrome; as if it only exists to set up either the next Spider-Man film or the proposed Sinister Six film. You’d think that the people behind the scenes would have learnt from the mistakes made in the last trilogy and avoid this very thing.

Also, whilst Andrew Garfield makes a good Spider-Man, he makes a horrible Peter Parker. I mean he’s a good actor but he just isn’t a good Peter Parker, he’s way too cool. I suppose it’s not a huge crime, in this film he’s a confident superhero so at least he has an excuse but it’ll probably grate with fans of the comicbook – personally I prefer Peter Parker when he’s more relatable. Also you may have heard Paul Giamatti makes an appearance as Rhino… he does, for all of five minutes! Also he seems to be doing some kind of Russian accent, a horrible, horrible Russian accent; I could only hear the word “Spider” through his terrible, over the top drawl.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a good film but, like the first one, that doesn’t justify it being made. This film is on par with Spider-Man 3, take that as you will and the first two Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi are still much better. If you like superhero films give it a chance, it offers some good action scenes, Electro is a joy to watch, and IT IS a huge improvement on the first in my opinion. But if you are tired of Spider-Man or superhero films in general, and you’re waiting for the right film to rejuvenate your love for them, this film is not it.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 gets 3 out of 5 stars. It’s pretty good. It won’t change the world, but superhero fans will enjoy it for what it is.

[★★★☆☆]

Jack Bumby

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Hyrule Warriors

Sometimes I'm wrong about what I want in a game. The first Legend of Zelda title I ever played was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 1998. You see, before getting my hands on the Nintendo 64, most of my childhood gaming was enjoyed on the Megadrive. Outside of having a Gameboy (and being hunched over it trying to make out what was happening on screen on a sunny day!) I didn't really play many games Nintendo platforms. But I loved Ocarina of Time, played all the Zelda games released since and, through certain methods, all the games I missed out on during my early years. While I'm more protective of other franchises, when I first heard about this Zelda spin-off, it just sounded incredibly wrong. Coming across as a knee-jerk reaction to the Wii U's somewhat dismal sales, I had no hope for it and neither was I looking forward to reviewing it. But the day has come for me to do that, and you know what? It's actually pretty great.

Developed by Omega Force and Team Ninja and out now on the Wii U comes Hyrule Warriors, one of the most unexpectedly great games I have ever played. As I said before, this is a spin-off from the main Zelda series, so while all the expected characters you know and love do make an appearance here, don't expect an open-world, RPG elements or a typical Zelda experience. Hyrule Warriors is a different beast altogether, and though that will instantly put off many Zelda fans out there, its differences are a wonderful, interesting and fun diversion for the series.

Hyrule Warriors is the result of collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Temco, and in the attempt to merge both styles of these developers, the game blends the look, story and characters of the Zelda franchise, with the action-based gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors series. The story focuses on an original version of Link; in response to the return of the evil Ganondorf our green tunic wearing hero unites various heroes across time and space. These heroes come in many different forms, and you'll no doubt remember them from past Zelda titles. They include characters such as Midna and Agitha from Twilight Princess, and Princess Ruto and Darunia from The Ocarina of Time. You can play as all of these different characters during Hyrule Warriors, each one with a different play style and move-set. Overall there are 14 characters to choose from. The game assumes you're a hardcore Zelda fan, and that you already know these characters inside and out.

Compared to titles in the main Zelda series combat is rather basic, and essentially relies on button bashing. Much like Koei Temco's Dynasty Warriors series, the player goes up against massive armies of foes, with levels generally focuses on small array of objectives including defeating an enemy stronghold, wiping out an army of foes, beating a boss or protecting your own base. Beyond being able to target specific enemies like in a traditional Zelda game, combat is very much unlike any Zelda game you've played before. Treading the line between being addictive and tedious, I'm happy to say that despite the endless hordes of enemies sometimes being a chore to cut through, the combat here is fast, fun and frantic. Items and weapons can be picked up throughout the game that will upgrade your character, and this generally extends the lifespan of Hyrule Warriors. Much like the colourful cast of characters here, the levels are mostly recreations of locations you've been to before in previous Zelda titles. From the classic Hyrule field, the chilling Palace of Twilight and the incredibly light hearted Skyloft, the amount of fan service in Hyrule Warriors is truly charming.

The two main game modes available here are Legends mode and Adventure mode. Legends mode follows the plot line of the return of Ganondorf, and while that in of itself is a wonderfully constructed Zelda tale, Adventure mode is quite a nice surprise. Adventure mode essentially merges together both the classic and modern Zelda games. In this mode the Overworld map looks like the original from Legend of Zelda for the NES, complete with 8-bit graphics. You have to make your way through a grid based map system, whereby stepping onto each grid chunk cuts to typical Hyrule Warriors fighting gameplay. Though I would have preferred an Adventure mode that went all out on nostalgia, it's a lovely addition to the game, and ultimately a love letter to both the fans and the series itself.

It's an unlikely combo of two franchises to say the least, and while it was only partially a success with Omega Force's Dynasty Warriors/Gundam mash-up Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn, Hyrule Warriors is a much more balanced, enjoyable and masterful take on the concept. Packed alongside a great Co-op mode (with one player using the TV and the other playing on the Wii U Gamepad), Hyrule Warriors is a celebration of all things Zelda. Now, if you don't mind me, I have 100 Gold Skulltulas to find...

Hyrule Warriors kicks Ganondorf's ass and gets a 5/5.

[★★★★★]

Denis Murphy

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Brick Mansions

There is a common belief that just before a swan dies it sings a most beautiful melody, enough to lay rest to all your fears and sadness if you were to hear it. This belief has caused the phrase ‘swan song’ to be associated with the final, life-defining art created by bands, artists and actors before they die. Here we have Brick Mansions, which is less the song of a swan but the vaginal sting of some thrush. Let’s just hope Fast and Furious 7 can be a more fitting final performance for Paul Walker.

The film is produced and written by Luc Besson and is a remake of the french film, District 13, which is incredible and very well directed. You would be surprised to find out that the same man wrote Brick Mansions and District 13, and both also stars the same parkour legend David Belle. In fact sometimes the scenes are almost identically shot, and yet they still managed to ruin a perfectly good film to the point of hilariousness.

In the not too distant future, a part of Detroit gets sectioned off because it is full of bad people. RZA, from being-terrible-at-acting fame, is in charge of this micro-city and is a force to be reckoned with; he can philosophise lazily while chopping peppers and if that doesn’t scare you he has people who are afraid of him because of the murders he does off camera. He seems, as does everyone else in the film, to have stage fright when it comes to murders, as not a single person receives a direct bullet on camera. Brick Mansions is not just about RZA, oh no; Lino (Belle) has upset some people because of stealing some drugs that RZA had been selling and Damien Collier (Walker) enters Brick Mansions so he can arrest RZA for killing Collier’s father and to disarm a bomb that RZA has accidentally activated.

All the action’s at the start of this film, and it’s awful, they cut so fast that you can’t focus on it despite the fact that we know Belle can actually perform all the moves Delamarre is trying to imply he is doing. They even add in a CGI brick when Walker and Belle throw a brick, which they easily could have done in real life. They slow everything down in an attempt to make uninteresting things interesting but end up making it tedious. The film becomes an absolute farce, to the point of being more ridiculous than a 1960s James Bond film. They actually tie a woman to a rocket, and the rocket has a bomb attached to it. The film is somehow hideously boring and massively over the top at the same time. In the cinema people were actually laughing at what I assume were supposed to be the more serious moments because of how stupid it was.

Belle get’s referred to as a stupid French person constantly, and the women are in the film for no reason other than to have their legs and pants shown off. The script and plot ideas seem to have been penned by a twelve year old while he was masturbating with his good hand and it feels worse than even some of the worst video game dialogue. It borderlines on being so bad it’s good and I would almost encourage you to go and see it entirely because of this.

I’m too uninspired to write anymore properly so here’s a list of other things wrong with the film.

1. Thousands of bullets fired, no one gets injured.
2. RZA pushes buttons ludicrously slowly so to give Damien time to shoot the receiver saving the day.
3. RZA fixes the receiver because Damien only shot a wire in half, leaving everything else intact.
4. RZA, despite having murdered people off camera a lot, is probably going to be the mayor at the end of the film, with full support by Damien and Lino.
5. Loads of stuff, the film was absolutely atrocious.

Buy and watch it if you want, but if you do, you’re an idiot. Brick Mansions doesn’t even deserve a rating.

Dave Roberts

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A Long Way Down

Though it has no doubt personally affected many of our lives, with the sudden and shocking passing of Robin Williams, the subject of suicide was on everyone's lips. It's a tricky subject to deal with, and more often than not it's not handled properly by the media. Be it news, film or even games, it's such a sensitive subject that everyone seems to put their foot in their mouth at some point. So with this in mind I decided to watch A Long Way Down preparing for it to, at the very least, mishandle this complex issue. However, while A Long Way Down isn't perfect, it's a somewhat honest take on depression, suicide and the various reasons that tend to lead many people down that sad path in life. It's a film that offers hope through friendship.

Directed by Pascal Chaumeil and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes A Long Way Down, a film based upon the 2005 Nick Hornby novel of the same name. Horny is the author who wrote About A Boy and Hight Fidelity, both of which were turned into huge movies. Hoping lightning strikes a third time, this latest adaptation of Hornby's work has been written by Jack Thorne. A Long Way Down follows four main characters, all of which inadvertently meet each other at the start of the film. The film opens with Martin Sharp played by Pierce Brosnan, struggling to drag a ladder up a flight of stairs to the roof of Toppers' House in London. Once at the top he creates a makeshift bridge over the barbed wire just off the edge of the building, and then proceeds to walk to the edge. It's then that he's interrupted by Maureen, seemingly another person who, much like Martin, intended on jumping off the Toppers' House. Both of them are further interrupted by Jess and JJ, again two more people who plan on ending it all on New Years Eve. After getting together and talking about it, the group of strangers all take part in a pact, to wait until Valentine's Day to come back to the roof. Between now and then plenty happens, and the film focuses on each of their lives, their pasts and, ultimately, their possible futures, if they choose to have one.

It's an interesting set-up, and while the group do go on holiday and get up to random shenanigans, the best moments of A Long Way Down come from their individual personal stories. These stories not only inform us on what kind of person these characters are, but also reveal the reason behind their suicide attempts. Much like real life, there are many different reasons why these four strangers were on that roof. For instance, Martin is a former TV presenter, disgraced after sleeping with an under-age girl. Maureen is the single mother of a severely disabled child, who believes that he can only receive proper care in the event of her death. Jess has been living under a cloud of depression for years, especially since her older sister went missing. And finally JJ claims to have brain cancer, though there may be more to his story than meets the eye. The film shines when it focuses on the smaller, more intimate moments in these peoples lives. However, the stand-out performance here comes from Toni Colette who plays Maureen. Apart from her incredibly authentic English accent, Colette is just wonderful here, especially when she speaks about her son and her reason for her suicide attempt. It's utterly moving and heartbreaking to say the least.

But though Colette's character is perfectly nuanced and well executed, everyone else seems to be a little muddled. Though I didn't want a typical Hollywood “Oh, this is why I shouldn't kill myself!” epiphany moment, every character apart from Maureen doesn't really change and evolve over the course of the film. It all comes across a little bit disingenuous and stale, especially because of the heavy subject at hand. It doesn't ruin the film, but if the characters of Martin, JJ and Jess were as well written and acted as that of Maureen, this film would be a must watch. Sadly, they're not and it isn't.

Overall A Long Way Down is a mostly good, but not outstanding. While it does make some missteps, it comes across as an honest, moving and personal tale about four strangers who find a reason to live through friendship. I don't get the critical hate it's receiving, as at the end of the day, it's quite a sweet little film.

A Long Way Down finds its feet and gets a 3/5. 

[★★★☆☆]

Denis Murphy

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Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Visual novels. I really can't say they're my cup of tea. They always seemed like a way of reading, you know, without actually properly reading. My first and only dip into the visual novel genre was the Silent Hill: Play Novel. Released in 2001 in Japan, and subsequently translated into English by fans shortly thereafter, this visual novel basically told the events of the original Silent Hill on the PlayStation. Inter-cut with various options and puzzles, it essentially played out like those old Choose Your Own Adventure books. I loved those books when I was a kid and had an obsession with Silent Hill, so it goes without saying that I enjoyed Silent Hill: Play Novel, right? Well, not exactly. It was an interesting experiment, but I found it to be an utterly boring experience, and some horrible unappealing limbo between gaming and reading. So when Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair arrived on my desk I didn't know what to make of it. I always keep an open mind when reviewing for CeX, but I had to force myself to do that. It's a good thing too, as not only is Goodbye Despair a fantastic game, but it also showed me that when it comes to the visual novel genre, I was very, very wrong indeed.

Developed by Spike Chunsoft and out now for PlayStation Vita comes Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, one of the most different and more refreshing gaming experiences I've had in quite awhile. First off, you don't necessarily need to have played the previous Danganronpa title, Trigger Happy Havoc, to enjoy this. Admittedly there are times in which knowledge of it will add an extra layer to the game, but it's not mandatory. The story is pretty over-the-top, but I wouldn't have it any other way. You play as Hajime Hinata, a student at Hope's Peak Academy, the location where the entirety of the first game was set. However, this isn't the case with Goodbye Despair, as the player, alongside 15 other students, are brought to the island of Jabberwock. There's only one way to escape this island too, and that's by committing a murder and getting away it. However, after each murder is committed a trial is held by your fellow students to determine who might be the culprit. Though this is the basic premise to Goodbye Despair, there's a larger and greater story under the surface. I won't spoil it for you, but needless to say the story on offer here is full of surprises.

There are three main elements to Goodbye Despair's gameplay: Exploration, crime scene investigation and trials. Exploring primarily focuses on interacting with the various other students, which helps you build up a profile of them and, well, just simply chat with them. However, when someone commits a murder that's when the game begins to take form. When this happens you'll need to talk to the students to form a chain of events in your mind, possible motives, rivalries, contradictions, etc. Simply put, talking to students and listening to what they have to say is the key here. Also, focusing on the world around you is just as important as the characters that inhabit it, as all of these pieces of evidence you secure will go a long way when the case is finally brought to trial. 

When a murder is brought to trial, this is where Goodbye Despair truly shines. As various students offer theories and accusations, the game lets you agree, disagree and straight up shoot down their ideas by means of various mini-games. It's almost like some bizarre mash-up of Phoenix Wright and Dance Dance Revolution at times! Then, once a number of theories have been dished out, you must present the events of the murder as you think it went. Properly finding the culprit will result in their execution, while failing will lead to the killer being let go while you and everyone else is put to death.

Goodbye Despair tries to pack even more content in with a complete Virtual Pet simulator; a mini-game entitled Magical Girl Miracle Monomi, an alternate mode to the game that focuses on friendship rather than murder, and finally a mode that shows an alternative version of the first game, Trigger Happy Havoc. Some of it works while some doesn’t, but when it comes to giving you your moneys worth, Spike Chunsoft try their best.

Overall, Goodbye Despair is a game I was hesitant about, but found incredible charming, enjoyable and packed full of great surprises. The game is presented from a first-person perspective, and the locations on offer to explore here, while not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, are competent and serve the game well. Characters in the game appear as cardboard cut-outs, which is somewhat deflating. However, beyond its often simplistic and sometimes literally thin visuals, Goodbye Despair is a great example of how a simple concept can go a very long way. It's funny, dark, shocking, intriguing and has proved me wrong about what a visual novel can provide.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair will make you say goodbye to the Nintendo 3DS and gets a 4/5. 

[★★★★☆]

Denis Murphy

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The Sims 4

When the original The Sims came out on PC 14 years ago I was absolutely hooked! Like everyone else on the planet, the amount of customization, choice, detail and humour packed into the game was truly stunning. Much like Morrowind, which was released 2 years later, I pumped hundreds of hours into The Sims. Though my obsession with it eventually died off, it hit me again with The Sims 2, a game I still believe is the best entry in the series. Much like the first game, The Sims 2 was a blend of the serious, fun, weird and, frankly, disturbing. From naming characters based on my own family members, watching the Sims version of myself die a premature death due to a faulty toaster, seeing my child grow up all the while being haunted by me, and witnessing my lineage dry up and literally vanish... I loved it. I didn't play The Sims 3 much, but from what I experienced it pretty much fell in line with what The Sims 2 achieved. So when EA announced The Sims 4 I was genuinely looking forward to it. However, this isn't the sequel I, or I think anyone else, wanted.

Developed by EA Maxis and out now for PC comes The Sims 4, a game that must break Will Wright's heart. You see, Will Wright is the chap who created The Sims way back when, among other games such as SimCity, Spore and the outlandishly overlooked SimAnt. When Wright designed the original Sims title it was an utter breath of fresh air. Giving near unlimited freedom to gamers, The Sims, after his previous successful efforts to the gaming industry, only further hit home how much of a true visionary he truly was. But The Sims 4 undoes this to a certain extent. Instead of unlimited freedom to players, EA Maxis clamp down on choice, cut back on creativity and hold back on many elements that were present in the previous 3 main Sims titles. What we have here is further proof that now and again EA is detrimental to everything you know and love.

On its surface The Sims 4 is business as usual. You'll create your own house, decorate it and populate it with sims; virtual gibberish speaking characters who will live their lives out in front of you. From having a career, hobbies, aspirations, friends and even chores, your sims will feel utterly unique. Much like the rest of the franchise, there's no story present here, instead leaving the player to concoct their own story through the natural progression and successes/failures of their sims. Will you knuckle down at work, get that raise and starting upgrading your house? Will you go right ahead and have kids? Or will you lose all your money, die a premature death due to a faulty toaster and leave your significant other to raise your kid alone? (It still hurts, man). Everything is possible. This time EA Maxis have seemingly focused on the A.I of the sims themselves, and in many ways it has paid off. Now sims will interact with each other far more realistically than ever before, even when in large groups. There's also a fantastic list of dialogue options and interactions you can pick from when chatting to other sims, many of which will help your sim change, grow and evolve. Forging friendships and relationships has always been a focal point of the series, and The Sims 4 arguably bests every entry in the series so far in this regard. On the surface everything seems peachy, but once your sim gets home and you start digging into the options available, the game begins to reveal just how much is missing that was previously available in The Sims 3.

There's no open-world. This was one of the best aspect of The Sims 3 from what I played, as it not only gave you somewhere to explore outside of your own house, but also breathed life and atmosphere into the neighbourhood, world and general lives of your sims. Without the open-world on offer, The Sims 4 feels hollow right from the start, and this isn't the only major feature to not make a return. Other game features to NOT make a return are the toddler life stage, pools, basements, create-a-style mode, terrain tools and law enforcement/medical careers. Some of these missing features killed it for me, especially the loss of the toddler stage for your sims. Kids grow up far too quickly, which essentially ends up sucking a lot of emotional appeal out of the game. I want to see my sims go from the cradle to the grave, not from a baby then BAM! a child! I want to see little Timmy slowly make his first steps... and not do his first drive-by shooting 5 minutes after being birthed. Then there's the little things, aspects of The Sims that directly impact the lives of our sims that just aren't here any more. Some of these features include acne, clothes shopping, food shopping, aliens, ghosts, restaurants, swimming, private school, fears, illnesses, and babysitters. The list of missing features is long, very long, and it amounts to a game that is a massive downgrade compared to its predecessor.

EA Maxis have gone on and on about why The Sims 4 is missing so many features, missing features that total up to over 80 by the way. But frankly none of their excuses are good enough. I completely expect that most of the missing features will turn up soon as paid DLC, as after all this is EA we're talking about! And yeah, The Sims have always gone down the Expansion pack/DLC route before, but The Sims 1, 2 and 3 all felt like complete games before any additional DLC was added. The DLC to those games were just icing on the cake. The Sims 4 feels unfinished. Never before has an entry in a successful series been so lacking, so castrated and so utterly set up for DLC that should be in the game than The Sims 4. While it excels in a few areas and delivers a gorgeous, intuitive and streamlined experience, it ultimately fails to deliver the Sims game we all wanted. EA may not have butchered The Sims like they did Spore, but there's still time for that, my friends.

The Sims 4 needs DLC to be a complete game and gets a 2/5.

[★★☆☆☆]

Denis Murphy

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Frank

Out on DVD and Blu-ray now, and has been for a while but I’ve been quite lazy and haven’t written anything down, is Frank. Frank is the fictional story of a real fictional character (Frank Sidebottom), by a real guy (Chris Sievey), that has nothing to do with what happened. Jon Ronson, who was there to see all the events of the film unfold not exactly the way they do on screen, wrote the screenplay. Frank stars Michael Fassbender as Frank, Domhnall Gleeson as Jon with Maggie Gyllenhaal as Clara, the insane members of a band called ‘Soronprfbs’, and is directed by Lenny Abrahamson.

The film follows Jon, a musician struggling for inspiration who runs into a band on the beach while their keyboardist is going mental in the sea. Ultimately this leads to Jon being asked to play keyboard for Frank, a man wearing a massive papier-mâché face and front man of ‘Soronprfbs’. The band has an intense creative process and they create music so personal, ingenious and creative that it becomes ludicrously unenjoyable for the masses. Not to say it isn’t good, it’s just too intelligent. Imagine the difference between an interesting tweet about how cold it is outside and attending a five-hour lecture on quantum mechanical zero-point energy.

The film is absolutely outstanding, intense and engrossing. Maggie Gyllenhaal is so good at portraying Clara as a love-struck but mental sadist that I went home to cathartically watch her die in the Dark Knight. Domnhall is incredibly talented, with comic timing to envy, making Jon loveable and charming. Ultimately Fassbender’s performance is the most memorable, he manages to force you to worship Frank with every word he speaks like a honey for the ears. You could almost forget he has a face beneath his massive over grown head, so perfect is his embodiment of Frank.

Frank’s character is a brilliant depiction of musicians who love creating and don’t necessarily get accepted by the masses such as Captain Beefheart and Daniel Johnsson. People this creative are often repulsed by anything they’ve ever heard or seen before and can be erratic and unpredictable, I know this because I’ve had to live with one for 20 years. That’s a song, by my mental/genius brother, about a cat meeting Richey Edwards from the Manic Street Preachers in Perth before being brutally murdered by him. I don’t know if it means something or if there is a particular hatred or disturbing love for cats or Richey Edwards but it is what it is.

Jon Ronson has said that the character of Frank was written to be fictitious due to reservations about portraying Chris Sievey (the real life fictitious Frank) as he actually was versus how he viewed himself and to avoid any offence or disrespect. I’d like to think Chris, who passed away in 2010, would have appreciated the film as much as many other people have, but I can’t say to know how or what he thought about how his friends struggled with him eccentricities for most of their lives. Jon Ronson has also released a new book entitled Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie.

Frank is an absolutely outstanding achievement of cinema and documenting something that didn’t actually occur, 5/5.

[★★★★★]

Dave Roberts

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Divergent

In an alternate universe or not too distant future, or after some sort of dystopian apocalyptic nightmare, I may have gone to see Divergent on purpose, and though I am a child of nearly thirty years old I have never, even as a teenager, enjoyed films aimed at this demographic very much. Except for American Pie because penises, boobs and farts are always funny no matter what age you are. Divergent however was a deep story of identity and morality coated in stupid over romanticized bad-boys and innocent but determined teenage girls. Based on the quadrilogy of books by Veronica Roth, Divergent aims to illustrate it’s own brand of dystopia and stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James.

In this particular dystopia, everything is perfectly maintained and everyone is seemingly content. Specialisation, which Robert Heinlein would say is for insects, is encouraged and being multi-talented is considered punishable by death. Which for me, as someone who can write words and play music, is terrifying… though I don’t think I’m good enough at either to be considered multi-talented. I’m more terrified of the possibility of a Logan’s Run dystopia uprising, being that I’m 29.

In this dystopia, society is split into groups; people who are good at needlework, people who are good at giving oral pleasure, people who can open yoghurts without leaving any stuck to the lid, people who have children and make less than five posts about them on Facebook, people who can get off a bed without startling a kitten, people who have seen all the episodes of Dragon Ball Z, people who have never walked into the kitchen and forgotten why they are there, people who can be in a band and simultaneously not be a dick about it, people who can comfortably admit that though they like Star Wars they know that it is a kids film and is essentially sub-standard, and people who can run, jump, not die and not feel fear.

The multi-talented latter group, the ‘Dauntless’, which is full of terrible people who are all very good looking, are the focus of the film, specifically one young woman/teen named Tris (Woodley). They live for freedom and all that gooey stuff and stand in opposition to the government, or the group who ‘think they know everything and are therefore wankers’, who are secretly attempting to cull and control large amounts of people so they can start an army of mindless drones and run the world. But as this is a teen movie, Machiavellian governments and dystopia futures aren’t enough – mixed in with all this is a romance between Four and Tris, who will probably have a kid that I hope they call ‘Fortress’, or at least Rook.

Thankfully Divergent doesn’t suffer from script issues as strongly as other films in this genre; there is a lot less manipulative ‘making you like a character just to take them away from you’ and there’s very little forced exposition. The film is an interesting idea, and I love anything that encourages people to be different, or at least to be who they are without question. It will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games and Twilight but I think the Hunger Games is a closer comparison, and a better film as it fappens… I beg your pardon… happens.

I’m looking forward to the next one as it seems to be a very popular series in book land, and I’m glad it’s getting the cinematic attention, 4/5.

[★★★★☆]

Dave Roberts

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Apple Keynote 2014: What you need to know

1984 is where it all began. That was the year a young Steve Jobs made his way onto a stage and unveiled the Macintosh. Sporting a very 80's hairdo and wearing a suit that looked like it was created for a magician, Jobs presented the Macintosh and all its capabilities to the backdrop of the theme song to Chariots of Fire by Vangelis. It was a standout and marvellous moment in the history of technology, and though Jobs would eventually be fired from Apple, he returned in 1997 and until his death in 2011, was the driving force behind Apple's creativity. Since his return the three biggest pieces of technology he ushered in were the iPod, iPhone and iPad, all of which have made an undeniably massive impact on all our daily lives. In place of Jobs since his passing, the role of Apple CEO went to Tim Cook, and although he has also brought in his fair share of Apple products since 2012, this year he might have just had his Steve Jobs moment in the sun.

Missed the Apple Keynote? Here's what you need to know.

U2 loves Apple, Apple pimps U2 out:

This was at the very end of the keynote. I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself, but it's worth it. As it was widely rumoured for a while, U2 turned up at the Apple conference and, well, sang a song. The track was from their latest album, Songs of Innocence, and it got the crowd fired up. But while the song was catchy in that kind of every-U2-song-sounds-the-same way, what followed came across as painfully forced and kind of hokey. Basically, Bono and Tim Cook pretended to concoct a plan that would result in Songs of Innocence being available on iTunes for free. After such a great show it felt a little like Bono and Cook were stroking their egos a little, even if it was pretty ballsy for Bono and U2 to give away an album like that.

Two versions of the iPhone 6:

At the start of the keynote Tim Cook said, “Today, we are pleased to announce the biggest advancement in iPhone.” It was a pretty big statement considering the impressive advancements the iPhone has made since its creation in 2007. However, after seeing what Apple had on offer this time around, I think his statement just might be true. Say hello to the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, the newest incarnation of the iPhone. Both are lighter and thinner than previous iPhones, but don't let that fool you as both have the biggest display of any iPhone model yet. The 6 is sporting a 4.7-inch screen, while the 6 Plus packs in with a whopping 5.5-inch screen. The 6's screen has 38% more pixels than previous models, while the 6 Plus' has 185% more. This essentially leads to a screen that is clearer and sharper than ever before.

The camera inside the 6 and 6 Plus is an 8MP iSight camera with f/2.2 aperture. This is packed alongside a new piece of Apple tech dubbed “focus sensor”, which essentially picks up on the light of objects around where you're pointing the camera, which leads to some nifty phase detection autofocus on the fly. This easily raises it above what the iPhone 5's camera was capable of, and also continues to slowly blur the line between camera phone and professional DSLR. Both the 6 and 6 Plus are thinner, lighter, more powerful and, above all else, more impressive than any iPhone model that have come before them. When Tim Cook said Apple was going to announce the biggest advancement in the iPhone yet, he wasn't kidding. I don't know about you, but I want one of these. Now. Thankfully we won't have to wait that long as pre-orders start on September 12th with shipping estimated for September 19th.

Your iPhone is now your credit card:

Prepare to be broke. If you thought keeping up-to-date with all things Apple wasn't already breaking the bank, let me introduce you to Apple Pay. Paying for goods over the counter via a mobile device isn't a completely new concept, but as of it yet it hasn't really taken off. Apple want to change that, and that comes in the form of Apple Pay. Apple Pay, an application that, once you've added credit card details to it, can be used to buy goods in any participating shop simply by holding it up against a special device, and merely holding a finger to the fingerprint reader. That's it. The transaction is quick, easy and, according to what Apple claim, incredibly safe.

Tim Cook was adamant on hitting home how out-dated the current system is. He said, “We’re totally reliant on the exposed numbers, and the out-dated and vulnerable magnetic interface, which by the way is five decades old, and the security codes which all of us know aren’t so secure.” He's right, and considering Apple Pay can be used both online and offline, this may be the tipping point that makes tech like Apple Pay a staple of everyday life.

The big reveal - The Apple Watch:

No, it's not an “iWatch”. I know, I would have assumed that they'd call it that, but hey, what do I know? The biggest reveal of the whole keynote was the reveal of the Apple Watch, Apple's attempt at defining what they believe is an out-dated piece of tech, something they previously achieved for both the phone and MP3 player. There isn't just one Apple Watch design though, as at launch there will be a staggering 34 different types of Apple Watch's on offer, each one designed for a certain style. Within this selection there are 3 “collections” - Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition. The wristband comes in various different designs and materials, which are stainless steel, plastic and leather. Each model also comes in two different display sizes, so whether it's the 38mm or 42mm display size, you'll no doubt find the right unique model for you.

There was also a lot of focus on the “digital crown”, the small metallic dial on the side of the Apple Watch that you will use to control the device through scrolling and flicking through screens. Don't worry though, as the device is also touch screen, and it looks like the combination of both touch screen controls and the digital crown make navigating the Apple Watch pretty slick and simple. Right from its 2015 launch it's packed with a whole hosts of built-in applications, many of which focus on health and fitness, such as dishing out various workouts for the day, and even keeping track of how many calories you're burning. There's also room for third party applications too, and while Apple did showcase a few during their presentation, I'm rather interested to see how this piece of tech is approached by developers out there, especially when it comes to applications made solely with the Apple Watch in mind, rather than merely adapting it to the device. There's no talk on the battery life just yet, which has me a little worried, but lets hope Apple can deliver something to us that won't crap out after 4 hours.

Overall I came away from this keynote thinking that Tim Cook had his Steve Jobs moment, the moment where he got on stage and, if the next few months go well, spearheaded Apple into once again revolutionizing our lives. From re-imagining the iPhone, attempting to end the credit card as we know it and redefining what is the watch, Apple are still on the forefront of design, creativity and technological brilliance. Steve Jobs may sadly not be around any more, but Apple is certainly paying a great tribute to his legacy, and long may it continue.

Denis Murphy

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