Show us your most creative re-use of a CeX bag. Flying it as a flag at the top of the Eiffel tower? Sporting a CeXy bikini (or mankini…*shudder*) on the beach? It's up to YOU!
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From the 5 entries with the most votes we'll pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner to receive CeX vouchers. Voters will also be entered into a prize draw for £100 (or equivalent) in CeX vouchers, so get voting ;)
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Show us your most creative re-use of a CeX bag. Flying it as a flag at the top of the Eiffel tower? Sporting a CeXy bikini (or mankini…*shudder*) on the beach? It's up to YOU!
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You can submit photos or pictures and vote for your favourites every day until the 31st of October 2014.
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1st Prize - $900 in CeX vouchers.
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3rd Prize - $200 in CeX vouchers
From the 5 entries with the most votes we'll pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner to receive CeX vouchers. Voters will also be entered into a prize draw for $160 in CeX vouchers, so get voting ;)
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To enter you must be awesome!
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Only submit an image that is your own work.
Votes can be placed once a day.
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CeX’s decision is final on everything.
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Show us your most creative re-use of a CeX bag. Flying it as a flag at the top of the Eiffel tower? Sporting a CeXy bikini (or mankini…*shudder*) on the beach? It's up to YOU!
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1st Prize - $1000 in CeX vouchers.
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3rd Prize - $200 in CeX vouchers
From the 5 entries with the most votes we'll pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner to receive CeX vouchers. Voters will also be entered into a prize draw for $180 in CeX vouchers, so get voting ;)
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To enter you must be awesome!
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Only submit an image that is your own work.
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CeX’s decision is final on everything.
All entries become property of CeX and may be used by CeX as it wishes.
Show us your most creative re-use of a CeX bag. Flying it as a flag at the top of the Eiffel tower? Sporting a CeXy bikini (or mankini…*shudder*) on the beach? It's up to YOU!
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You can submit photos or pictures and vote for your favourites every day until the 31st of October 2014. To enter, head to our photo contest on our Facebook page, using your Facebook photos or images uploaded from your computer or mobile. You can also enter through Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #CeXbag
-THE PRIZE-
1st Prize - ₹50,000 in CeX vouchers.
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From the 5 entries with the most votes we'll pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner to receive CeX vouchers. Voters will also be entered into a prize draw for ₹9900 in CeX vouchers, so get voting ;)
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To enter you must be awesome!
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Only submit an image that is your own work.
Votes can be placed once a day.
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CeX’s decision is final on everything.
All entries become property of CeX and may be used by CeX as it wishes.
Show us your most creative re-use of a CeX bag. Flying it as a flag at the top of the Eiffel tower? Sporting a CeXy bikini (or mankini…*shudder*) on the beach? It's up to YOU!
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Enter through our Facebook page, using your Facebook photos or images uploaded from your computer or mobile. You can also enter through Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #CeXbag
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1st Prize - €700 in CeX vouchers.
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From the 5 entries with the most votes we'll pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner to receive CeX vouchers. Voters will also be entered into a prize draw for €125 in CeX vouchers, so get voting ;)
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CeX’s decision is final on everything.
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The scariest game I played during my early years of gaming was Resident Evil back in 1996. From the moment the Stars team entered the creepy old mansion, Wesker going missing, the dog jumping through the window, and the part in which you're locked in a room while the ceiling is slowly coming down on top of you, Resident Evil scared the crap out of me. Much like Silent Hill, Resident Evil was a stunning survival horror series that started during the Playstation era. Sadly both franchises were eventually milked beyond recognition, and no longer hold the power they once had back in the day. While the Resident Evil franchise may be dead in the water, a new franchise by the genius behind Resident Evil has arisen to the call of survival horror fans out there. For far too long have we seen countless bland titles paraded around under the guise of the survival horror genre. This latest offering delivers true horror, and delivers the kind of scares that brought me back to my nights playing Resident Evil seconds away from crapping myself.
Developed by Tango Gameworks and out now on Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC comes The Evil Within, the best survival horror I've played in years. Helmed by mastermind of terror Shinji Mikami, the game places you in the stoic shoes of Sebastian Castellanos, a hard-boiled detective that is pulled into a hellish world of monsters and demons. The game starts where all the best horror tales begin- a creepy mental hospital! Arriving after reports of a gruesome murder at the facility, Sebastian and his partner watch CCTV footage of officers being attacked by a mysterious figure that has the ability to move at an incredible speed. Sebastian is ambushed and knocked out shortly afterwards, and after waking up he finds that the city itself has been overrun with demonic beings, monsters and maniacs. With a loaded gun in his hand and nothing better to do on a Friday night, Sebastian must seek out the source of these demonic goings on and, if he can, stop it.
Gameplay can be boiled down to being described as pure survival, but to do that you'll need to run, hide, solve puzzles, avoid traps and, of course, kill your foes. While you can often take of enemies using stealth, the game truly shines when you bring out the big guns. Whether it's a well placed pistol shot to the forehead, or a spray of a shotgun that literally obliterates an enemies face, gunplay here is robust, vicious and glorious. Weapons and abilities can be upgraded in various ways using Green Gel, a commodity that, like ammo, doesn't exactly growing on trees. When upgrading your character, choosing to either, say, increase pistol damage or extend your stamina is a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. Upgrading your character properly is incredibly vital to survival here, so use that Green Gel wisely!
The Evil Within is a game that gets back to basics about what makes horror games truly terrifying. It doesn't hold your hand or give you tips, nor does it offer up a generic cast of bad guys to slaughter. Instead the enemies you'll go up against in The Evil Within are diverse in terms of strategy and utterly unrelenting in their pursuit of killing you. If an enemy manges to get a hold of you, you won't exactly last lost. From being stabbed to death, beheaded or even smashed to a bloody pulp, the game is incredibly violent, and the shock you'll receive from the many gruesome deaths you'll endure is something that never really wears off. Ammo isn't plentiful here either, as while in most games you always end up with too much ammo, The Evil Within forces you to heavily conserve it. This inherently pushes the player away from the randomly-shoot-everything approach, and more down the path of taking your time, solely aiming for head-shots and generally always thinking ahead. The game isn't as punishing to the player as Dark Souls was, but just expect to be killed quite a bit throughout your time playing it.
In terms of visuals, The Evil Within is literally perfect. From the detailed Gothic locations you'll find yourself sheepishly creeping around, to the bloody, shocking and nightmare fuel designs of the enemies you'll encounter, it looks like a blend of Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2. It's twisted, unique and unleashes a hellish world that, despite how grim it looks, is hard not to adore. This wonderful aesthetic is all topped off by a soundtrack by Masafumi Takada that induces an extra layer of uneasiness and tension throughout the game. From tracks that are heavy, hard and almost torture your ears, to ones that are bitter sweet and beautiful, The Evil Within has it all.
Overall I came away from The Evil Within with a new found love for the survival horror genre. Resident Evil and Silent Hill may have been the big dogs back in the day, but with their first game Tango Gameworks have just made their lasting mark on the genre. While it's not cerebral like a modern classic such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, it's the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of gaming- up close and personal, unrelenting, loud and utterly horrific.
The Evil Within takes the survival horror crown with 5/5.
Aww yea, today is a fantastic day to announce our brand spanking new CeX Maroubra store. Nice!
Come on down to sell and exchange your unwanted phones, games, computers and gadgets, and pick up something new and shiny or just to chat with us about all the techy things you love.
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It's that time of year again, folks. The time of year to throw on a horribly put together costume, shuffle around a party for a few hours, then make your way back home to pretend you're not in when the trick-or-treaters come ringing. But it wouldn't be Halloween without some movies to scare you shitless, right? As I sit here no more than a 15 minute walk from Bram Stoker's birthplace here in Ireland, I give you 6 awesome horror movies to watch this Halloween. From vampires, ghosts, aliens, chainsaw wielding rednecks and otherworldly beings, CeX has you covered!
Bram Stoker's Dracula
OK, for some reason this movie is torn apart by most people, and I think it's purely based on Keanu Reeves' horrible English accent. Make no mistake, his take on the English accent is literally a crime against humanity. It sounds like he's doing an impression of Richard E. Grant from Withnail & I, from the scene where Withnail is drunk in the car and trying to explain it away to the police: “Honestly, I've only had a few ales”. Hell, even Reeves himself later apologised for his work on Bram Stoker's Dracula. That said, lets not beat a dead horse here, as beyond Reeves' obvious miscasting Bram Stoker's Dracula is actually pretty great.
Dracula himself is the unofficial mascot of Halloween, and while there have been many good adaptations of Bram Stoker's classic novel over the years, the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola directed Dracula adaptation is utterly fantastic. It has everything you could want in a movie- action, romance, Dracula's back-story, Anthony motherf*cking Hopkins as the vampire hunter Van Helsing, a tense and creepy atmosphere throughout, some of the greatest costume and set designs I've ever seen in a movie, and an absolute powerhouse performance by Gary Oldman as Count Dracula himself. Oldman is the centrepiece of the movie with his superb portrayal of Dracula, and he appears in this movie in various different forms and ages, with some not even resembling a human, or even a vampire for that matter. Plus, it's all capped off by Annie Lennox's “Love Song For A Vampire” playing over the credits. Brilliant!
The Shining
Like most of Stanley Kubrick's other work, The Shining is a movie that will endlessly be enjoyed, debated and broken down among its viewers. Though The Shining is often seen as the pinnacle of horror in film, Stephen King, acclaimed writer of the book it was based on, pretty much hates it. Why? King thinks it's “too cold” and also has some misgivings about the changes Kubrick implemented for the 1980 feature film adaptation. Though Kubrick's movie is indeed cold and vastly different from Kings novel, I think King may be too close to the original story to form a non-biased opinion. The Shining was, is and will always be one of the best horror movies of all time.
Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, The Shining focuses on Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy and son Danny staying in the empty Overlook Hotel during the winter. Essentially taking care of maintaining the hotel between seasons, Jack attempts to finish a book he's been writing with the promise of all the quiet time he needs. However, evil spirits within the Overlook Hotel have their eyes set on Jack and they plan on using him as a means to murdering his family. Everyone knows the set-up, right? Regardless, The Shining is still just an incredibly scary and uneasy horror movie. It doesn't use jump scares. It isn't filled with shaky-cam. It avoids using lashings of blood outside of that key scene. Instead of relying on the usual methods of terrifying the viewer, The Shining relies of unsettling pacing, an incredible script, chilling sound design and a completely batshit insane performance by Jack Nicholson. Terrifying!
The story is simple and has since been done to death. A bunch of young people are travelling across America when they encounter Leatherface, a chainsaw wielding maniac, and his demented cannibalistic family. None of the horror here is cerebral. Instead it hits you head-on and it remains unrelenting until the movies final closing scene. From the scene in which Leatherface is chasing our heroine Sally and her wheelchair bound brother through a dark woods, to the chilling moment in which Sally “meets” Leatherface's extended family, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic that has not aged one day. Awesome!
The Thing
When growing up my parents didn't put any restrictions on what movies I watched. I sat there watching the likes of Predator, Robocop and Die Hard without any complaints. However, one movie I wasn't allowed to see was The Thing. What did I do considering my parents respected my ability to see any other movie I wanted? I waited until they went to sleep, went behind their backs, and watched it on Channel 4 in the middle of the night, of course! What I saw that night not only scared the shit out of me, but also cemented the fact that personally The Thing is the greatest horror movie ever made.
The Thing focuses on an isolated research team in the Antarctic. Because they're so cut off from the rest of the world, they either spend their downtime playing pool, drinking, smoking weed or anything that helps the time pass quickly. After a dog from a nearby Norwegian research camp enters their station, it soon becomes apparent that some type of intelligent, malicious and shape-shifting organism is taking them out one by one. With the realisation that any one of them come be the Thing, they begin to turn against each other. Blending a superb score, wonderful performances from the entire case and some of the most gut churning, blood splattering and puke worthy gore I've ever witnessed in a movie, The Thing is director John Carpenter's masterpiece. If you have to choose one movie from the list, make it The Thing. Deliciously gory!
The Mothman Prophecies
Here's one movie that I never see mentioned online, but I found it to be a fantastic hidden gem. For those of you who aren't familiar with legend of the “Mothman”, it all allegedly went down back in 1966 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in America. Over the course of a year, residents of Point Pleasant reported sightings of a giant mother-like creature, lights in the sky and mysterious men in black throughout the town and its surrounding areas. It was brought to mainstream attention by John Keel's book, The Mothman Prophecies, which focused on his time in Point Pleasant during these bizarre occurrences were happening. This movie is loosely based upon Keel's book.
Of course, whether your enjoy The Mothman Prophecies or not doesn't depend on your belief of giant moths, aliens and the paranormal. Instead The Mothman Prophecies takes the basis of what made Keel's tale so chilling, and just runs with it. Starring Richard Gere as a reporter who happens by Point Pleasant during the height of the sightings of the Mothman, The Mothman Prophecies does the unexpected in the fact that, despite what you may assume from the title, the movie doesn't feature the Mothman, a moth man or, hell, even a moth! Instead the movie brings up the idea that the Mothman is some kind of age old angel of darkness, some eternal kind of doom bringer. The fact that you never see the Mothman makes this movie even creepier too. Packed alongside some truly outstanding audio design that gives the movie a feeling of extreme uneasiness, The Mothman Prophecies is the best horror movie you've never seen. Spooky!
Poltergeist
For as long as I came remember I've always loved Poltergeist. However, I remember it as a Steven Spielberg directed movie, even though it really isn't. It's directed by Tobe Hooper, while Spielberg only produced it. But it always felt like a Spielberg movie to me and after looking into it, it seems that many of the cast and crew have said that Spielberg was on set daily, and even directed a vast amount of the movie. So while Tobe Hoopers name may be on the credits, personally this is a Spielberg movie through-and-through. It has humour, heart and more than a fair share of scares.
The plot is simple, and revolves around the Freeling family and their encounter with, well, a poltergeist. Though it only manages to move furniture around at first, the force within the house soon decides to claim their daughter, Carol Anne. There have been many, many imitations of Poltergeist since its release, but never before has the presence of something unnatural and otherworldly been done so creepily well. Though there are many great scenes to choose from, the one that stands out in my mind is when the ghost is coming down the stairs at night. It's not a guy with bedsheets over his head. It's not a giant grotesque monster. Instead, it looks like a collection of lights, lanterns and strings of long flowing silk. It moves as if it's gliding through water, and this scene alone makes it stand out against its imitators. It treats its subject matter with complete seriousness, instead of with its tongue placed firmly in its cheek. This is no slasher movie, it's real horror and for the Freeling family, it's in their home. Creepy!
This Halloween not all of us will be going out partying. Instead many of us will be locking ourselves into our little gaming caves, and scarring the shit out of ourselves with the best horror games. But while there are many, many great games out there that are worthy of your time, I come to you with a selection of 6 games that I think cover just about every type of horror you could want. These games cover sub-genres of horror such as psychological horror, body horror, slasher horror, comedy horror and, of course, zombie horror. It's impossible to play all of these games on Halloween, I'm sure you'll find something that's right for you. Enjoy!
Resident Evil 4
The first Resident Evil was terrifying. Though there were many scary moments throughout, the overall feeling of tension came from the knowledge that everything inside the mansion was against you, hunting you down and desperately wanted you dead. Apart from your partner with whom you interacted with very rarely, it was a very lonely, isolating and chilling experience. This was expanded on in later games, but by Resident Evil: Code Veronica the series was beginning to lose its way. Code Veronica was a fantastic game in its own right, but it wasn't until 5 years later when the series once again properly made its mark on the horror genre. That game was Resident Evil 4, arguably the best entry in the entire series.
Resident Evil 4 shook up the usual Resident Evil concept. It took the action away from all previously visited locations and planted the player in Spain of all places. Instead of featuring a classic zombie threat, Resident Evil 4's enemies were infected by an unrelated virus, a virus that made its victims powerful, smart and unrelenting. The best moments in Resident Evil 4 come early in the game when your fighting for survival within a small Spanish town. Enemies opens doors, climb through windows and chase you up stairs, which for a Resident Evil game is both new and shocking. If you're looking for the best zombie game ever created, look no further than Resident Evil 4.
Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth
I've always loved the works of H.P. Lovecraft, the author who is considered the master of horror fiction. From works such as At The Mountain of Madness, The Call of Cthulu and Shadow out of Time, his material has been the basis and inspiration for some of the best horror films since his death. However, one medium that has rarely delved into Lovrcraft is gaming. There have been a few games based upon his work, but nothing really worth mentioning. That said, one game released back in 2005 is the perfect Lovecraftian tale that doesn't (at least at first) give the player an arsenal of weapons to take out foes. Instead, most of this game heavily relies on tension, a feeling of helplessness and utter paranoia.
Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a truly excellent game. Based mainly upon Lovecrafts novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the game puts the player in the shoes of private investigator Jack Walters who is looking into the case of a missing person. Set amid the backdrop of 1922, Walters ventures to the coastal town of Innsmouth, a town that offers far more intrigue, disturbances and sheer horror than a simple case of a missing person. Dark Corners of the Earth has many brilliant parts throughout, but the best comes about in the level “Attack of the Fishmen”, where as Walters you need to escape a building with enemies hot on your tail. You have no weapons, and you need to solely rely on locking doors behind you, pushing bookcases up against the doors and generally looking for any way to stop them from getting to you. Any screw up and you're dead! Dark Corners of the Earth blends an incredible sense of tension, dark atmosphere and lovecraftian terror. Play it.
The Evil Within
Though some of the games I'm mentioning on this list aren't new releases, there still haven't been a massive amount of great horror games within the last decade. Back in the day the big dogs in terms of horror gaming were Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Where are they now? Since Team Silent stopping developing Silent Hill titles the series has been milked, ruined and is now solely a product of the West. Resident Evil suffered a similar fate, but while the Silent Hill series has tried to remain true to what came before it, Resident Evil's latest entry was more like Call of Duty than the Resident Evil we all know and love.
However, it's not all doom and gloom as Shinji Mikami -the horror genius who brought us Resident Evil- has created a new horror franchise. Released quite recently for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC, The Evil Within gets back to the basics of survival horror, and offers up an experience that is long overdue. Falling very much in line with what Mikami achieved with Resident Evil 4, The Evil Within's scares never come in the form of slow psychological horror, but rather take the violent, in-your-face, gruesome and utterly shocking approach. It works in The Evil Within, and it makes for one of the best horror games in the past decade.
Siren: Blood Curse
In 2003 two of the best horror games were ever released: Silent Hill 3 and Siren. While Silent Hill 3 has its fair share of dedicated fans, the Siren series didn't gain the same traction. It was popular enough to warrant a sequel, sure, but it never reached Silent Hill status. Helmed by Keiichiro Toyama, a designer who was formerly the writer and director of the original Silent Hill, Siren and its sequel were both a terrifying breath of fresh air in the genre. Though the series may no longer continue due to Project Siren now developing the Gravity Rush series, the Playstation 3 did see the release of Siren: Blood Curse; a re-imagining of the original Siren game.
The game revolves around various characters exploring Hanuda Village in Japan, a village that was said to have entirely vanished in 1976. As expected from the eerie set-up, everything doesn't exactly go to plan as they find that the village's inhabitants are now violent, blood thirsty and act as if they're almost possessed by some evil force. The best part about Siren: Blood Curse is that a certain character is able to tap into the vision of these villagers. This leads to some truly heart pounding scenarios. Recently when playing it I was being chased by a possessed woman. I ran into an old Japanese house and quickly hid inside a closet. As she entered the room I tapped into her vision. The game then cut to her point of view. Somewhat obstructed by a hazy white noise effect, I watched from her point-of-view as she frantically searched for me, all the while mumbling, “Help me! Help! Please!!”. Needless to say, I almost dropped a brick or two. Incredible stuff!
Silent Hill 2
I loved the first Silent Hill, but I was generally left unsatisfied by its story. This led to me skipping Silent Hill 2 and going directly onto Silent Hill 3 when it was released. Though I do regret that now, it wasn't that bad as Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the original. However, word started to get through to me that Silent Hill 2 was the crown jewel of the series. Shortly after I delved into the twisted world that is Silent Hill 2, and oh boy is it twisted!
In Silent Hill 2 you take on the role of James Sunderland, a man who receives a letter from his wife urging him to come to the town of Silent Hill. However, there's only one problem- James' wife has been dead for 3 years. Upon arriving at Silent Hill, James comes into contact with various bizarre characters, one of which looks almost identical to his late wife. On a bid to find out if his wife is truly alive, James' journey gets incredibly dark, bleak and makes for one of the most unnerving and chilling games to date. Everything from the location of Silent Hill, the many f*cked up monsters within the town, and ultimately its shocking conclusion easily makes Silent Hill 2 the best of the franchise.
Deadly Premonition
I can't wait for the new season of Twin Peaks! Seriously. After first watching it in around 2004, I was only left wanting more. But before the latest season was announced, something else eased my Twin Peaks withdrawal. However, what eased the pain wasn't officially Twin Peaks related. Bearing massive resemblances in all but name, Deadly Premonition is a game that features a quirky cop, a dead high-school girl, a homely north-western town in America, bizarre locals, an old woman who speaks to an inanimate object, and a “red room”. So yeah, it's basically Twin Peaks!!
Deadly Premonition is scary, but like Twin Peaks much of its enjoyment is through its humour, weird dialogue and atmosphere, and it has all of that by the bucket load. Though the gameplay may be a bit shaky at times, Deadly Premonition offers up a great open-world, superb RPG elements and one of the best Whodunit stories in gaming for a very long time. If you're looking for a Halloween game with a bit of charm, humour and fun, go for Deadly Premonition.
Directed by Doug Liman and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Edge of Tomorrow, possibly one of the best action films I’ve seen in years, and yet one of the most underrated films to come out this year. The poster was full of 5 star and 4 star ratings, yet I struggled to find people who had seen it while it was in the cinema, and everyone who has seen it since has seen it because I made them. Starring Tom Cruise this film is an adaptation of the Japanese light novel ‘All you need is kill’, and it's worth watching again, and again, and again.
Edge of Tomorrow has just been released and it's about Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), a public relations officer who has absolutely no experience in fighting terrifying aliens that want to tear his body into confetti, but ends up having to do exactly that. The poster girl of war propaganda is Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), an unbelievably powerful warrior. Major Cage gets drafted for seemingly no reason. He ends up confused and terrified getting forced into an exoskeleton and dropped from a ship into a war, where he almost instantly gets murdered after shooting a big blue thing in the face. However, this strangely causes his life to instantly reset to the morning of his drafting.
Edge of Tomorrow has just been released and William Cage soon realises that Rita Vrataski is the only other person to experience this respawning effect. The film from about here starts to feel like a video game that you aren’t playing, but that looks incredible. Cage and Rita discover that there is a central hub that needs to be destroyed to save the world, and the only way to do that is to make use of his ability to never really die. I’d like to think that sometimes Cage would die in battle then immediately run away and go and spend a few hours in a brothel, or in an arcade or perhaps watching Mrs. Brown’s Boys Live and publicly shooting himself in the head as a protest. I wonder to myself if the other lives that he lived continue on as a parallel universe where everyone has a different story of how Cage died.
Edge of Tomorrow has just been released and it’s an amazingly paced film, and one that deserves to be held as a classic but will probably be overlooked and forgotten in time. Legend has it that there is a sequel in the making, though I can’t imagine how that would work given the premise. I can’t imagine Hollywood wanting to throw loads of money at a film that was so derivative, one that would possibly ruin the feeling you had of the original simply just to make a profit. Surely they have more integrity than that. Surely Hollywood would never ruin a perfectly good stand alone film just to make it into a half hearted trilogy that is complete shit.
Edge of Tomorrow has just been released and you should definitely buy it, it made me want to fight aliens, and die a lot - 4/5.
Held at ExCel centre, MCM London Comic Con is the UK's biggest festival of popular culture and all things delightfully nerdy. It's the perfect place to indulge your inner geek!
Aww yea! We've just opened another brand-spanking-new store. Allow us to introduce your new CeX on Westmoreland Street in Central Dublin. Nice!
Come on down to sell and exchange your unwanted phones, games, computers and gadgets, and pick up something new and shiny or just to chat with us about all the techy things you love.
Check us out for all your buy, sell, exchange and geeky needs. Find us at:
No matter where you are, we wish you a fantastic festival of lights and hope the year ahead lots much fortune and good times. Don't forget that all CeX locations Worldwide will be open today, so you can sell the gifts you don't want for games and gadgets you do, or get the best cash prices for them instantly. Find you nearest CeX.
My first experience with a Smash Bros title was back in 1999, with the release of the first entry in the series, Super Smash Bros. However, I didn't come to the series knowing every character on the roster. As some of you may know, when growing up I only had a Mega Drive, and sadly an additional gaming console in the house just wasn't an option financially. So while the entire roster of characters in Super Smash Bros should have looked like a list of old familiar friends, to be quite honest I didn't recognise anyone outside of the Mario and Zelda franchises. But don't burn me at the stake yet, as since then I've become more than familiar with them all. But while I played Super Smash Bros as someone who wasn't a huge Nintendo fan, I came to this latest instalment with a much better idea of who's who and what's what. So, is it worth your money? Yes, but do read on...
Developed by Sora and out now comes Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, which is easily the best Smash Bros game to date. First off, I'm covering Super Smash Bros 3DS but will touch on the Wii U as well. As both games are technically identical, most of this review will focus on both games combined, with their slight differences being explained a little later. There's no story here, no reason for this Nintendo brawl to happen, but there doesn't need to be. If you've been living under a rock and don't know, Super Smash Bros. 3DS pits Nintendo's most iconic heroes and villains against each other, in what I consider to be the best and most successfully piece of fan service ever.
Much like previous instalments, Super Smash Bros. 3DS plays like a twisted version of Sumo Wrestling, in the fact that beyond having to deal damage upon a foe, you also need to knock them out of the designated playing area. Boasting a roster of 49 characters, 15 of which are newcomers to the Smash Bros series, the level of choice on offer here is astounding. Whether you want to recreate battles such as Link vs Ganondorf or Mario vs Bowser, or even your own dream match like Samus Aran vs Palutena, anything is possible. Each character has a move-set of around 20 attacks each, and these range from simple dash attacks to grabs, throws and even in-air attacks. Each characters move-set is pretty easy to get the hang of, and though it sounds simple enough on paper to master, besting some of Nintendo's most well known mascots is no cake walk. The beauty about combat is that because of the fact that there are up to four players allowed to fight among themselves here, it literally makes for matches that look complicated and messy to someone who isn't playing, while whoever is playing, these confusing collections of flashes, grunts and explosions perfectly makes sense. From kicking your opponent into the air, hurling them across the stage and then drop kicking them into the ground in one fluid motion, Super Smash Bros. 3DS is fluid and fun. Of course, this wouldn't be Smash Bros without those great power-ups first introduced in Super Smash Bros Brawl, namely the Assist Trophies and the Smash Ball power-ups, which summon other gaming icons to help you out in battle and lets your character unleash vicious final attacks, respectively. Super Smash Bros. 3DS is a powerhouse of sheer spectacle, and the kind of game that proves that a good fighting game can be based upon a simple concept, backed up by a relatively small move-set per character.
A new addition to the series is the inclusion of the Mii's as fighters, Nintendo's in-game avatars first introduced alongside the Wii. This time you can kit out your Mii with various different attacks and power-ups, which adds a nice extra bit of flavour and individuality to the roster. There's nothing quite like seeing Denis the Mii lay the smack-down on the Villager from Animal Crossing, personally. Then there's also the Nintendo's decision to implement Amiibo figurines into the game. It's a very similar concept as to what I've seen before used in Disney Infinity and Skylanders, but instead of using them yourself, these characters will aid your during battle, fight other characters while you watch on and also, hopefully, kick your friends asses too. It's an interesting concept, and while having a few Amiibo's certainly isn't vital to enjoying or excelling in Super Smash Bros. 3DS, it does expand the experience somewhat.
Wii U/3DS differences: As I said before, the games are technically identical. However, there are some differences here. Though at its heart it remains the very same experience, some assist trophies, stages and trophies are exclusive to each game. For instance when it comes to stages, the Wii U has Pikmin and Wii Fit Studio stages, while the 3DS version has Golden Plains and Green Hill Zone stages. If you're a hardcore Smash Bros fan you'll most likely buy it for both platforms, but for most out there the changes aren't enough to warrant another purchase. Three big differences with the 3DS version is the inclusion of Smash Run, Trophy Rush and Street Smash modes. While Street Smash and Trophy Rush modes aren't really anything to rave about, Smash Run is actually pretty great. It contains the usual Smash Bros gameplay we all know and love, but instead of playing within a small arena, Smash Run lets you explore large open levels, find loot and beat enemies and bosses. It kind of feels like an old school Mario title, with a little extra peril thrown in for good measure.
Overall Super Smash Bros. 3DS is the best Smash Bros title yet, no question. However, the decision you need to make is which platform to buy it for. I played both and found that the Wii U was my preferred platform, as I personally feel Smash Bros belongs on the big screen. That said, the 3DS version has some nice extras thrown in there, and despite all the action now being miniaturized, it's a Smash Bros game through and through. Good luck with your decision, as it's going to be a hard one.
Super Smash Bros for the 3DS and Wii U smashes the competition and gets a 5/5.
We’re coming to October's MCM London Comic Con 2014!
Come say “Hi!” at our Pop Up CeX-Shop at Stand 721, next to the lovely folks from Ubisoft and Sony. You can't miss us.
“Pop Up CeX-Shop?,” you say. Never fear, you’ll be able to buy, sell & exchange as usual in our Aladdin’s cave of goodies.
Held at ExCel London on 24-26th October, MCM London Comic Con is Britain’s biggest festival of popular culture. The perfect place to unleash your inner geek, the show gives you the chance to preview the hottest new videogames, with confirmed publishers including Konami; Namco Bandai; 2K Games; Koei Tecmo; Ubisoft; Warner Brother Games; NIS and Koch Media.
Show goers will also get to meet top stars, including Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe and anime superstar Shinichiro Watanabe; explore the country’s largest gathering of comic creators, learn about Asian food, culture fashion and music, enjoy the VidFestUK zone, watch live esports and check out the EuroCosplay 2014 Championships - MCM London Comic Con has got it all!
MCM London Comic Con tickets are available at here.
I’ve never been this excited yet worried for a game in my entire life. After the absolute pile of shit that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, my expectations for Alien: Isolation were never going to be huge. But surely it couldn’t be any worse, could it? No. This is simply one of THE best games I’ve ever played.
Developed by the Creative Assembly andout now for Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC comes Alien: Isolation. The game is set in 2137, 15 years after the first film in the franchise. The game follows Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley. You are transferred to Sevastopol to find the flight recorder of the Nostromo, only to discover an Alien is on board. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I basically tensed up when I saw an enemy for the first time. That’s how I felt when I encountered the Xenomorph.
After you first encounter the Xenomorph, it’s everywhere. If you run or make a noise, trust me before you know it’ll you’ll let out a squeal while frantically trying to sprint, and you'll often end up getting impaled by its tail. It’s like when you’re trying to sneak downstairs at 3am while your parents are asleep. Dropping a piece of cutlery sounds like there’s a brass band in your kitchen, and that pretty much sums up what sprinting in this game is like to the Xenomorph. Not only is it everywhere, but also when it’s hunting you, you need to keep moving slowly. If it notices an open door/vent, it’ll hunt for who opened it. This could work to your advantage as you can trick it into thinking you walked through an area, but if it’s a genuine escape route, it’ll be on your tail without a doubt. You can also listen to the sounds the Alien makes, which is another key factor in surviving, as they’ll determine whether it’s coming to kill you or retreating.
The Xenomorph isn’t the only enemy you’ll come across either. You’ll come across some human enemies with guns, but they are nothing compared to the Working Joe androids. If they detect you, they’ll constantly remind you that you’re in the wrong area and won’t stop in their attempt to kill you unless you kill them first. Being in an area filled with Working Joes and knowing you can’t sprint is a very tense situation to say the least.
The sound in this game is absolutely perfect. It sets the tone and really does get your heart racing. There’ll be parts when you’re just walking around then the music will all of a sudden kicks in with a crescendo. The first thought to run through my head was always “Oh god, oh god, where the f*ck is it!?”, for it ultimately not to be anywhere near me. The game music really messes with you, and that atmosphere is prominent from start to finish. Unbelievable.
The overall gameplay can feel quite clunky to start with as the general movement does feel slow, but that’s something you’ll get used to quickly. That's how you should probably play the game – slowly. You can also crouch behind cover, which will obviously break the enemies line of sight, but being able to peek around the corners you’re hiding behind is once again a fantastic feature and key to surviving. The visuals are gorgeous too, with touches like lights constantly flickering and dynamic shadows adding an extra level of Alien authenticity.
The only problem I did come across with the game was minor graphical hiccups. The cut-scenes lagged (although I’ve heard this does not happen on PC), and I honestly thought that it was going to be like Colonial Marines all over again. However, this is something they’re creating a patch for, so not to worry. Another instance was that Ripley glitched, and when I looked down I could see inside her body (invisible of course), the same way you do when you crawl into dead bodies on Call of Duty.
Overall, Sega had one chance to save the Alien game franchise and excuse my French, but f*ck me they nailed it. The Creative Assembly have done a fantastic job here, and this is probably the best game I’ve played on PS4 to date. The graphics are brilliant, the atmosphere is even better, and it is the epitome of the stealth survival horror genre.
Alien: Isolation receives a 5/5, not only because it’s the best game I’ve played in quite some time, but because it’s made me forget about Colonial Marines!
When I was younger I read a bit of manga from time to time. Not much, but I enjoyed a few different ones. My first was Akira, 6 volumes which I managed to read in just two days. At that point I had already seen the film and loved it, but the manga took its time, fleshed out more characters and themes the film simply could not, and was/is generally a better version of the cyberpunk tale. Another manga I loved was Appleseed. Created by Masamune Shirow, who would eventually go on to do Ghost in the Shell, the manga ran for 4 years and became a huge hit in Japan. Like a lot of his work, Appleseed covers familiar ground such as artificial intelligence, post-apocalyptic wastelands, futurism and a literal “ghost in the machine”, in the form of Briareos Hecatonchire.
Though the manga itself didn't drag on for too long, since its 1985 beginnings there has be a few film and TV adaptations. It can get quite muddled for any non-fans of the series. The original manga has been technically adapted three times thus far. First it was brought to our screens in the 1988 OVA, then again in the 2004 film and finally, once more in the 2012 series Appleseed XIII. 2007 saw a sequel to the 2004 Appleseed film adaptation, and this latest entry into the series serves as a prequel to both of those films. Directed by Shinji Aramaki and out now on Blu-Ray (in the US/Australia, next week if you live in the UK/IE) comes Appleseed Alpha, a disappointing prequel to the events that lead up to the Appleseed we all know and love.
Set amid a post-World War 3 world, Appleseed Alpha focuses on the typical series' protagonists Deunan Knute and Briareos. Deunan is a badass female solider, while as mentioned before, Briareos is a little less human and a little more robotic. Burnt in an explosion prior to the vents of Appleseed Alpha, Briareos had his entire body replaced by cybernetics, giving him the appearance of a huge, metallic mech-looking creature. This prequel mainly focuses on that of Deunan and Briareo's journey to find Olympus; a thriving human city that has built itself back up after the events of the war. Amid deathly city ruins, the duo team up with two survivors called Iris and Olson, and together they try and find the safe haven of Olympus, even though they are not sure it even exists.
The first problem with Appleseed Alpha is the fact that newcomers may be slightly lost. You'd think with it being a prequel the creators would try and establish the beginnings of the Appleseed world, especially to newbies. Sadly, this isn't really the case, as here both Deunan and Briareos aren't really that fleshed out as characters. Instead Appleseed Alpha falls down the pit of compensating for a lack of character arcs and narrative with action, action and even more action. Don't get me wrong, the series has never been a stranger to action (it stars a huge robot after all), but after endless scenes of Deunan and Briareos chucking grenades, dropping for cover and unloading clip after clip, it just gets a little boring. While a lot of their past has been dished out before in other adaptations, Appleseed Alpha doesn't even try and refresh the viewers memory. Instead, Shinji Aramaki throws too much at the screen to a tedious effect.
While it has been praised visually many times over, as a fan of the original manga Appleseed Alpha just felt, well, bland. Compared to the first two entries in this trilogy, gone are the rich colours and the anime-esque designs. Instead we get something that, while technically looking gorgeous, feels more like Gears of War than Appleseed. With a basic colour pallet of black, grey and brown at hand, Appleseed Alpha just looks like the all too typical military shooter videogame.
Overall Appleseed Alpha is a disappointment. As someone who enjoyed the original anime and all subsequent adaptations, it doesn't really serve a purpose in the chronology of the series. It's not awful, and hardcore fans of the series may strongly disagree with me, but it's a painfully generic take on what could have been a great film.
