10 Cloverfield Lane

The last few years have been sequel, remake, reboot, sequel, remake, reboot…Everywhere you look, there’s a Jurassic World or a *gasp* Ghostbusters. It just reeks of unoriginality, doesn’t it? With all the unique and interesting unproduced screenplays out there, Hollywood makes a fucking Ghostbusters remake…But just when it looked like it couldn’t get any worse, 2016 brought us a sad new development to this trend.

Hollywood has done something that has truly made us realise they only care about money – as if we didn’t know that already. Yes, the greedy bastards of tinseltown have taken a unique and original little thriller, The Cellar, and reshot parts of it to sell it as a sequel-thingy to 2008’s surprise smash-hit Cloverfield. Welcome to 10 Cloverfield Lane, a film that could mean the start of a new wave of franchise filmmaking. If anyone out there hasn’t seen the film yet or heard about the ending, avert your eyes now. Mild spoilers lie ahead…

Let’s start at the end. 10 Cloverfield Lane is one of those films that unfortunately lets itself down with its climax, leaving a rather sour taste in the mouth. That is not to say it is a bad film – quite the contrary infact, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a remarkable thriller that would have Hitchcock squealing with delight…for the first hour. But Hollywood’s dirty attempt to change the film’s original ending is highly forced and jarring, and simply does not suit the film’s tense and understated build-up. And unfortunately, this is the only thing that people will remember when discussing 10 Cloverfield Lane.

For those who haven’t seen the film yet – anyone? Bueller? – 10 Cloverfield Lane follows Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a young runaway who wakes up from a car accident in underground captivity. She learns she has been ‘rescued’ by Howard (John Goodman), who tells her the outside world is gone due to an attack and she must learn to live with him and the naïve Emmett (John Gallagher Jr) until the outside world becomes safe again. But as Howard begins to show a dark and violent side to his personality, Michelle wonders if what he’s been saying about the world outside the bunker is in fact a lie…

The first hour is up there with some of the most tense and edge-of-your-seat viewing you can find in a thriller. John Goodman is absolutely phenomenal, giving a career-best performance that makes you fear the sound of his voice in any other film. Monsters Inc is now a completely different experience…As the intense Howard, he steals every scene and makes the film uncomfortable to watch – but difficult to look away from. John Gallagher Jr is great too as the gentle and confused Emmett, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead puts in some fine work too as the increasingly paranoid Michelle.

But that ending…that bloody ending. Maybe I’m being dramatic, it isn’t completely jarring - the whole thing isn’t a dream, nor is Howard actually a shape-shifting alien in disguise. But for such a dark and quiet build-up, the spectacle climax on offer here is just a little over-the-top. I can think of several ways it could’ve ended better and it’s unfortunate to think that one of those endings was probably originally written before Hollywood got its dirty paws on it. For all of the dark twists you imagine throughout the film, the most obvious and Hollywood ending is the one you get. It’s a shame, because a shocking ending would’ve elevated this to one of the best films of the year. But with this mainstream and predictable things-go-boom climax, it leaves a big feeling of disappointment as the end credits roll.

So, is it worth a watch? Yes. It is absolutely still worth your time, the first hour is up there with the best hours of cinema 2016 has brought us so far. John Goodman is an absolute marvel, delivering a performance that is truly deserving of awards. Will ol’ King Ralph finally get an Oscar? Time will tell. The majority of 10 Cloverfield Lane is exceptionally well directed and written, and perfectly executed. The ending is a disappointment but we can only blame the Hollywood bigwigs for that. Yes, it’s a bloody silly climax – but it isn’t enough to ruin what is, in fact, a damn fine film.

For the first hour alone, 10 Cloverfield Lane earns a solid 4/5.

★★★★☆

Sam Love

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Miles Ahead

When I reviewed the recent Ethan Hawke film, Born To Be Blue, I was astounded. I made reference to my theory that waiting for stylised semi-fictional accounts of jazz trumpet legends is like waiting for a bus - nothing for a while, then two come along at once. Why? Because Born To Be Blue was basically the same film as Don Cheadle’s directorial debut, Miles Ahead. It took an equally unorthodox approach to biographical filmmaking, it covered the life of another jazz trumpeter...It just all felt a little too similar. But I wasn’t raging at Born To Be Blue because it was trying to steal Miles Ahead’s thunder; Miles Ahead didn’t have that much thunder in the first place.

Out now on DVD & Blu-ray, it’s clear from every stage of this film’s life – from marketing through to the final product – that this is a Don Cheadle film. It’s no surprise to learn he directed and co-wrote Miles Ahead, having been seriously interested in making a Miles Davis film for many years. Unfortunately though, this passion in the subject is the film’s first flaw. Don Cheadle is an incredible actor and does an amazing job with the role, but you can’t shake the feeling that he’s kissing his own arse for the entire 2 hour runtime. While Cheadle plays Miles as a cocky and arrogant man trying to make a comeback and become relevant again, it’s difficult to see where Cheadle ends and Davis begins. Still, it’s an incredible performance…of a fictional character.

Yes, too much of Miles Ahead is idealised and stylised nonsense. Miles Davis never fired a gun in record label meetings, nor did he get into car chases when other labels tried to steal his demo tapes. Miles Ahead admits that a lot of the film is bollocks; the narrative structure is framed in such a way that Miles is telling his story, but as he puts it, “If you gonna tell a story, come at it with some attitude, man”. Throughout this, we are treated to flashbacks that are slightly more grounded in reality – covering his early years, recording Kind of Blue and other such works. But it’s when the film attempts to cover the largely unknown inactive 70s period of Davis’ life that it gets a little bit silly. I will repeat – there is no evidence of Davis ever firing a gun in a record label office. Why make something like this up? He wasn’t a gangster. That’s like making a film about Gandhi and saying he turned up to a peace campaign with a rocket launcher and took pot-shots at the tree-line.

You’re probably thinking to yourself “didn’t I hear Ewan McGregor was in this?” and yes, for some reason, he is. Playing a completely fictional journalist who goes on a fictional adventure with the, for the most part, fictional Miles Davis - it makes me wonder why this is even a Miles Davis film in the first place. This could just be a story about an unspecific musician plagued by regret and loss trying to get back on stage. This is the same criticism I had of the aforementioned Born To Be Blue, which took so many liberties with Chet Baker’s life it could’ve easily not been a Chet Baker film. And I’m not being snobby, nor am I unable to comprehend the artistic merit of an unconventional biopic. I loved Steve Jobs, Danny Boyle’s semi-fictional account of 3 periods of the iconic techie’s life. And Michael Winterbottom’s hugely fabricated and messy 24 Hour Party People is one of the best biopics out there. But there’s something about Miles Ahead’s cocky attitude that makes it different to those films. Oh, and Ewan McGregor is shit in it. And he has silly hair. That is all.

Miles Ahead has its merits – again, despite the self-arse-kissing, Cheadle does put in a mesmerising performance as Davis. And it is perfect casting, even earning the seal of approval from some of Davis’ surviving family who said Cheadle was the only man who could do it. And the film is lucky in the sense it had permission to use Davis’ elegant works throughout, giving it one of the year’s best soundtracks. But despite this, there’s not enough to elevate the film above the countless other B-list biopics that don’t do enough to elevate them to A.

Miles Ahead takes a hugely interesting subject and mixes it up, fictionalises sections and generally fucks with it until it is no longer interesting. An underwhelming disappointment, but worth a look for Cheadle’s performance and the beautiful soundtrack.

I give it a 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Sam Love

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Heart&Slash

There are times when a game comes along that can make you smile and then curse at it moments later. There’s a certain charm found in Heart&Slash. From the robot you control with a television for a head that periodically shows a heart on the screen to the colours of the world and quirky combat that unleashes words from your attacks like the comic books of old, it definitely put a smile on my face. For all that charm however, the camera and controls of the main character can definitely make you want to break something. Funnily enough the name of the game reflects how I feel about the game: It’s charm goes to my heart and the frustrations makes me want to slash something.

Developed by BadLand Games and out now on PlayStation 4, Heart&Slash is an unusual but charming hack and slash Rogue-like game. Every game starts with you picking up three random weapons. Combat is used on the Square and Triangle buttons with Circle acts as your dodge and, of course, X being your jump and double jump.  The three weapons that are spawned at the beginning of each run are random but are dictated by unlocking them. This is usually done by killing X number of enemy robots.

The gameplay itself is surprisingly satisfying. Each weapon has their own traits and stats and pulling off flashy combos is easy but it all feels good too. Your robot protagonist moves with a swift pace as it navigates around the procedurally generated dungeons.

Your little robot buddy isn’t incredibly durable as a few hits will usually result in death so one room can destroy a great run. As you defeat enemies you receive bolts which is used to upgrade your weapons as well as the robot himself. Depending on how well you did the run before, you will earn boxes of bolts which is used to upgrade you character as well as weapons. One neat feature is the fact you can sacrifice a weapon in return for hearts. This can become a balancing act to stay alive while possibly making combat much tougher for yourself.

Despite all of the good, there are some bad points at the core that inherently detract from the experience at all times.  The camera is quite a mess. You can adjust it (something that wasn't initially there) but even with the options, there just aren't enough so it goes from swinging wildly to crawling along with very little in between. Also, because the rooms you fight in can be rather small, you can have your view obstructed by object or enemies.Couple that with some frustrating traversal and it can be grounds for disaster.

There are over 100 weapons to unlock and use and dozens of enemy types meaning there's plenty of content to keep things interesting. The problem is there are only two locations and the art style of them is rather bland. The voxel graphics definitely grab your attention but art itself is not well implemented.

A fund hack and slash held back by its controls. 3/5

★★★☆☆

Jason Redmond

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Guess the Game @ CeX Instagram, Win a Prize!

Are you a gamer? Do you like prizes? Want to win some CeX booty? If you answered YES to all of those questions, then you could be winning some lovely CeX prizes pretty soon!

Every Thursday at our official CeX Instagram page, we've giving away a CeX crate, which is jam packed full of CeX goodies. To win one of these CeX crates, simply swing by our CeX Instagram every Thursday and play "Guess the Game", where you'll need to guess which recent videogame box-art is being teased. Simply FOLLOW us on Instagram and drop us a comment with what game you think we're teasing.

It's as simple as that. Good luck!

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season 3

The hardest thing with any comedy is to keep it, well… funny. ‘Brooklyn 99’ is now on its third season, yet it’s still got that same appeal that it did when it first came out.

A lot happened at the end of the last season – Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) admitted their feelings for one another, Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) and Gina (Chelsea Peretti) are now step-siblings, and Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) had to say an emotional goodbye to the team after being transferred over to the PR department by “talking raisin” Deputy Chief Madeline Wuntch (Kyra Sedgwick).

To keep it from going stale, it seems that the writers have added a lot more to this season – it’s always nerve-wracking when new things are added to a TV show that already seems to be working so well, but a lot more risks have been taken this time. It pays off, however, with excellent comedy and an incredibly strong cast still very apparent. Season 3 really builds on the strengths of season 2, with a lot more elaborate, built-up jokes through the storytelling, rather than just the one-liners that we experienced in season 1. If you think about it there are definitely less laughs than the previous two seasons, but this isn’t a bad thing – ‘Brooklyn 99’ is now starting to feel like a drama as well as a comedy, and it’s adding some serious dimension to the characters and the storyline.

Relationships are moving forward a lot better now, and we’re still surprised with insights to characters that we thought we knew a long time ago. Even Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) get explored in more depth, which really adds something. There’s also a lot more focus on the relationship between Captain Holt and Gina, and an entirely new character added towards the end unveils a different side to a main character that we all know and love.

The storytelling is brilliant, but the cast really do make ‘Brooklyn 99’. They’ve all gelled from the very beginning to a point where it’s hard to believe that they’re not actually all running a precinct together. If I’m honest, I’d say that ‘Brooklyn 99’ has the strongest set of characters that I’ve seen in a televised comedy since the original characters of ‘Scrubs’ back in the early 2000s. I’m surprised that some of them haven’t been seen in more comedies – Terry Crews is definitely making more appearances now, but I’d definitely like to see more of Joe Lo Truglio and Stephanie Beatriz.

There isn’t a flat episode in season 3, which is rare. Each episode varies in quality, of course, but a standard seems to have been set which each one hits the whole way through. There also doesn’t seem to be any obvious fillers either, with each episode either being fully essential to the plot, or enlightening us to new information and perspectives. The final episode is particularly brilliant, and will be particularly appreciated by avid viewers of American drama ‘24’.

With on-point storytelling and a fantastic range of characters and situations (as always), ‘Brooklyn 99’ has yet again delivered laugh out loud comedy that you can’t help but look forward to. If you’re not already watching it, then you’re seriously missing out.

I give it a 5/5.

★★★★★

Hannah Read

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7 Days to Die

For PC fans, open-world survival games are almost a dime a dozen but console players haven’t had many experiences in this genre. Out of all the games on PC to make its way to console, I don’t know if 7 Days to Die would be one I would expect to come out. This isn’t because the game isn’t good enough or that the mechanics wouldn’t appeal to the console market but simply that the game still isn’t finished or in a state that should be considered playable.

Developed by The Fun Pimps and out now on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, 7 Days to Die is a survival sandbox game infested with zombies. On the surface, the game looks like every other open-world survival game as you move from area to area gathering resources, but 7 Days to Die is a voxel-based world that allows you to alter every single part of the world. What makes its setup much more enjoyable is in the sense that the emphasis on running from zombies, gathering resources, and using those resources to build add-ons to structures and reinforce is required to thrive. Once the sun goes down in the game’s day-night cycle, the zombies become more aggressive and are a true force to be reckoned with. This means you are always on the defensive making it a different experience to a lot of other open-world games of this genre.

What makes the game stand out is that no matter what you do, how much you scavenge and build up your fortifications, you will always feel vulnerable. Zombies can always outnumber you and in force, they are almost unbeatable. It is a survival game that truly feels like that is the main feature.

This building and reinforcing brings the best moments of the game but all the surrounding features detract from it. Simply put: This is a PC game that’s been horribly optimised for consoles and it clearly shows. When you want to build in the world, the interface on a controller is clunky and a hassle. The layout of the UI is still very much modelled on its PC counterpart and therefore navigating them is a chore on a controller.

7 days to Die was one of the first big survival games that really captured player’s attention. This originally came out as an Early Access title in 2013 and has remained there since and ultimately is the reason why I cannot recommend this game: It still isn’t finished. There are no warnings but the game is incomplete and it looks and feels it. It doesn’t look good, performance isn’t great, and there is a distinct lack of polish throughout. When you buy a game on disc, especially on console, you expect the game you play to be in a complete state but 7 Days to Die is not.

There are some great ideas and mechanics at play in 7 Days to Die. However, the ugly visuals and the janky animation takes away from the experience. Should they have not rushed this game to console,  I might have recommended this title but the myriad of flaws and overall bad presentation means that any decent mechanics just don’t feel worth it.

A shambling mess. 2/5

★★☆☆☆

Jason Redmond

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Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

There are many types of visually magnificent games available on any system, usually stemming from an excellent collaboration between the art team and those who work on the game's engine. When technical and art come together perfectly it’s sometimes enough to get your attention and even play it. I say this because Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is possibly the most beautiful game you will see on any system this year, but it’s not what you might think when you hear “best looking game”.

Developed by Vanillaware and out now on PlayStation 4, Odin Sphere is a painting in motion with colours dancing round the screen and detail found in the greatest paintings. What might be surprising is that this is a game that originally released on PlayStation 2 and it proves that some art styles are timeless. The 1080p resolution and silky 60fps makes every frame a work of art and every movement a dream.

If that wasn’t good enough, the gameplay is like a hyperactive kid who decided to down a can of Monster of energy drink while it’s parents weren’t looking and is now vibrating. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir looks frantic but it’s simplistic enough gameplay means you are the one pulling off magnificent displays of swooshing colours and effects all across the screen, eliminating multiple enemies at a time. You move around any combat scenario at a blistering pace but you never lose your place or momentum. It’s simply poetry in motion.

To keep the combat moving flawlessly I was expecting not much depth but Odin Sphere is incredibly deep and well-realised. There are plenty of areas on the map that offer loot to upgrade equipment which is essential when the game starts throwing incredibly tough enemies your way. You have a great selection of abilities which can be mapped to a series of directions and buttons. These can be improved by earning Photons in battle while brand new abilities can be obtained by exploring the map and finding Photon Prisms. There is a surprisingly deep and customisable gameplay experience to be found in Odin Sphere Leifthrasir.

This isn’t a very short experience either. This is a full-fledged Role Playing Game that has a deep story that will last around forty hours and the dialogue itself is decent enough and has enough enjoyable moments to never feel like it gets in the way and actually enhances the overall experience which is a nice surprise given just how impressive the actual game is to play. I was always looking forward to getting back into the action but never felt frustrated that I had to wait sometimes.

There are very few games that you could claim look like perfection but this is one of them. One of the most visually arresting games I have ever witnessed that’s also backed up with deep RPG elements and a decent story. There’s honestly very little I can find a fault with. I don't know, the frame rate dipped slightly a couple of times but only lasted seconds and was barely noticeable. That's the only negative I could find.

A masterpiece in so many ways 5/5

★★★★★

Jason Redmond

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Where to Invade Next

Although Michael Moore is extremely controversial in his political bias, there’s a reason he’s one of the most famous documentary filmmakers working – agree or disagree with his views, his films are bloody good. There’s nothing like a Michael Moore film to make you realise just how wrong a lot of the world does things. Although Moore predominantly points his finger at the US and criticises their every move – such as his harrowing study on US gun control, Bowling for Columbine, or his US health system-damning Sicko - his latest film could easily apply to other places, even such as here in the UK.

Where to Invade Next, which is out now on DVD & Blu-ray, is easily one of Moore’s best films to date. The premise is simple – Moore supposes the US leaders have asked him where they’re going wrong with the country, and he must go on a mission to find out. He says he will invade countries populated by people with names he ‘can mostly pronounce’ – and steal their great ideas and policies. The film is essentially a travelogue – think Bill Bryson with more of a political agenda. He visits Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal, Norway, Tunisia and Iceland in his quest to improve the US. Moore’s first film in 6 years, it was produced in secret with a small crew. And it might just be his masterpiece.

As usual with Moore’s films, this is essentially a farcical comedy. The humour here comes from just how much better other countries have it – Moore laughs in disbelief as he learns of Italy’s amazing workers’ rights, Slovenia’s tuition-free education and the culinary delights of France’s school cafeterias. The humour is also self-deprecating from a US point of view; one sequence discusses how only 2 countries in the world don’t offer paid maternity leave as they’re ‘too poor to afford it’. The first is Papua New Guinea, and we see a bleak shot of a shanty town. The second? The US. At this point, we’re treated to an explosive display of a monster truck flying over a pile of smashed cars. Moore often laments the US throughout it, in an almost Bill Hicks style.

But despite the humour, Where To Invade Next is quite a moving experience. Moore is clearly emotionally invested in the subject, often stunned into a sad silence by his findings. On multiple occasions he is even choked up by what he hears, in particular an interview in which an ex-US teacher tells him that children being told ‘they can be anything they want’ is a lie in the US, because there are so few opportunities due to a far poorer education system. This is why I like Moore – he genuinely seems interested in his subjects. Some documentary filmmakers are just looking at the big picture of trying to make a good film – Moore is also interested in the people.

Where to Invade Next is an excellent piece of work. Visually, the film is very strong – although occasionally (understandably) leaning on shaky archive footage, new interviews and on-location shooting is crisp and clear. The film’s pace and editing is one of is strongest features, making the 2 hour runtime fly by. But it’s the charismatic Moore himself who makes the film so watchable, continuing to prove himself a strong interviewer and social/political commentator. And although his personal views trickle through occasionally, Where To Invade Next is not weighed down by Moore’s usual bias – on the contrary, this film is accessible to anyone of any belief or view.

It’s hard to say any more about the film without getting into the nitty-gritty of the policies Moore discovers on his travels, and reviewing these policies themselves. All I can say is this – Where To Invade Next is a film that will make you think, and perhaps even feel embarrassed if you live in a country that is too silly to take some of these excellent ideas forward. Watch it with a friend or family member, because this is a film to discuss.

Wondering what to watch next? This is your answer. 5/5

★★★★★

Sam Love

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Rock The Kasbah

Back in the day, Bill Murray’s name was enough to sell anything. Throughout the 80s and 90s, everything Bill touched turned to box office gold – although not always critical gold. Still, he brought in the crowds and left the majority of audiences with smiles on their faces. However, in 2015 Bill Murray’s biggest mistake was released. A box-office bomb, the film grossed $3.5 million against a $15 million budget – and has the unlucky title of ‘the 5th worst opening of all-time for a film playing in over 2,000 theatres’. This is ‘Rock The Kasbah’.

Richie Lanz (Bill Murray) is a has-been rock manager taking his last remaining client on a USO tour of Afghanistan. When Richie finds himself in Kabul, abandoned, penniless and without his U.S. passport, he discovers a young Afghan girl named Salima with an extraordinary voice and manages her through Afghanistan's version of American Idol; Afghan Star. The story is very loosely based on true events covered in the 2009 documentary Afghan Star, and is dedicated to one of the stars of that film - Setara Hussainzada. But while Afghan Star has a 100% approval rating on RottenTomatoes, Rock The Kasbah walked away with 8%. Yes, 8%. So, why is this film so shit?

One IMDb review states “it’s not as good as the song”, and that’s a good way to begin. While The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’ is a classic, this Rock The Kasbah is a forgettable mess. Let’s start off with the positives. Firstly, Bill Murray is in it. Bill Murray can make even the worst material bearable, and he does that to a certain extent here. He’s his usual dry self, and if you’re a Bill Murray fan, you’ll find his scenes watchable. If you’re not a Bill Murray fan, I don’t want to know you. And the second positive of this film is that, while he was originally cast in it, Shia LaBeouf dropped out. That’s a positive of any film. Shia LaBeouf is not in it. Rejoice!

And now it’s onto the negatives. Firstly, and most importantly, Rock The Kasbah just doesn’t know what it is - or why it exists. The film feels like a big aimless missed opportunity. The jokes are few-and-far-between, and the film’s attempts to send some sort of political/cultural message are a misfire. Rock The Kasbah plays fast and loose with the culture it portrays and could arguably come off as offensive, but not offensive in a risqué and humorous way. No, just offensive in a grossly incompetent way. Secondly, Rock The Kasbah boats a pretty strong cast around Murray. Bruce Willis, Danny McBride, Zooey Deschanel, Kate Hudson…And yet, by the time the film is finished, you forget they were even in it. They’re wasted.

But then again, when you consider how much of a legend Bill Murray is, he’s wasted too. The film’s main problem is the clueless screenplay from Mitch Glazer and Barry Levinson putting the ‘dire’ in ‘direction’. And for those of you who don’t know, Levinson directed ‘Rain Man’ and ‘Good Morning Vietnam’...I guess no hot streak lasts forever. But I truly hope this isn’t the beginning of a bad final chapter of Murray’s career. Nobody wants to see him go the way of Pacino and De Niro, taking absolutely any film he’s offered and making a fool of himself – unintentionally. Bill Murray is a God and, hopefully, this is just a little blip. Hell, he was perfect in The Jungle Book this year.

Rock The Kasbah is a mixed bag of confusion and mediocrity. Why is it here? Why does it exist? Why did so much talent create such a waste-of-space film? Who is to blame? These are questions we may never be able to answer. But even if we could, we will have moved on before we work it out. Rock The Kasbah is destined to be forgotten and ignored alongside Murray’s other mistakes, like Garfield and…Garfield 2.

There is very little to recommend with Rock The Kasbah. But, anything with Bill Murray gets a couple of stars, because y’know…Bill Murray. 2/5

★★☆☆☆

Sam Love

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No Man's Sky

Developed by Hello Games and out now for PS4 and PC, No Man’s Sky is surely the most ambitious videogame ever made. It gives you an entire procedurally generated universe to explore, and the promise of essentially an infinite number of flora and fauna to discover. Heck, you can even name anything you discover and have these names appear in other people’s games if/when they come across these things after you. It was an almost inconceivable goal, but they’ve pulled it off… to an extent.

You’ve seen the trailers and the gameplay footage, right? Surely one of the most iconic sequences is exploring a planet, jumping in your ship, leaving the planet’s atmosphere, then finding and landing on another planet; all without loading screens. Yes, you can totally do that. And you will, many times. But what will you be doing on all these planets and in space? The bottom line is that No Man’s Sky isn’t about a start, a middle, and an end. Yes there’s a story going on in the background, and there’s also (in theory) an ultimate destination for you to reach. But really, it’s all about exploring.

Everything about the art design – the colour palette, the aliens, the HUD, and the shading gives the impression of a 50s sci-fi book cover brought to life. This serves only to enhance the sense of wonder you feel as you explore oddly-coloured caves, get caught in a storm out in the open, or perhaps look up at a warm yellow sky to see spaceships and strange flying creatures circle overhead. Now and again you’ll come across one of the aforementioned aliens, usually for trade (you can even buy a new ship off many if you have enough credits). There are two races, each with their own initially indecipherable language. You can learn the lingo one word at a time though, through a combination of alien encounters and interaction with ancient alien monoliths scattered amongst the planets. Translation comes in handy in specific instances, where understanding how to react to a question or proposition correctly can reap tangible rewards.

I played No Man’s Sky intensely for about a week, to the point where if all my other games had spontaneously combusted, I wouldn’t have been too bothered. Once the honeymoon period was over though, the flaws in the experience became more and more apparent. Even ignoring the notorious disaster of a PC version, the game’s far from flawless on PS4. I suffered a couple of crashes that threw me back to the dashboard. There’s also a frustrating recurring bug where, while flying within a planet’s atmosphere, some waypoints will actually move away from you as you approach them, meaning it takes you a ridiculous amount of time to arrive, or you do the sensible thing and give up completely. There also comes a point where you start to notice that every galaxy has depressingly similar flora and fauna (despite the Mr-Potato-Head-style random body part generation), with the greatest difference being colours.

The survival element I don’t have a problem with, as mining elements to power your support systems is pretty painless. The mining and crafting aspect in general, though, is a double-edged sword. It can be great to get your hands on a couple of rare blueprints that (for example) majorly beef up your ship’s shield and weapons, then finally craft the upgrades themselves. On the other hand, on the rare occasions that one of your most basic (and therefore important) pieces of equipment becomes damaged, you may well find that at least one of the elements required to fix it is frustratingly difficult to get your hands on. Combine varying rarities of materials with very limited inventory space, and you can probably see all the potential frustrations.

Space combat is disappointing, the concept of intelligent alien races is underused, I’ve yet to find anything somebody else has named, and it can at times feel like little more than a grind for materials. Nonetheless I’m far from finished with No Man’s Sky, and I won’t be surprised if I’m still playing it at the end of the year. Just nowhere near as often as I did that first week.

They reached for the stars, and nearly got there. 4/5

★★★★☆

Luke Kemp

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In the Heart of the Sea

In 1851, Herman Melville published the now-iconic Moby-Dick (or The Whale). It told the story of the obsessive quest of Captain Ahab to exact revenge on his fishy foe, the eponymous Moby Dick, a whale who destroyed his ship on a previous voyage and took his leg. Back in 1851, the novel was what we would now call a ‘flop’, and was completely out-of-print by Melville’s death in 1891. People were probably meeting at the pub and saying “You read Moby Dick? It’s shit, mate”. But during the 20th century, it grew a reputation as one of the greatest American novels, with William Faulkner and D.H. Lawrence among its fans. And even now, not a lot of people know it’s based on fact. In the Heart of the Sea, which is out now on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D, shows us the true story.

Based on the factual book of the same name by Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea is a star-studded swashbuckling adventure of mediocrity. Chris Hemsworth plays Owen Chase, first mate of the Essex whaling ship under Captain George Pollard Jr. (Benjamin Walker). For the first hour of the film, nothing hugely exciting goes down. There’s a few inconsequential sequences of attempted tension with storms and whale-hunting, mixed with an utterly uninteresting strained relationship between Hemsworth’s Chase and his captain. This is all framed by Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) telling the story to Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw), who has paid handsomely for this information as research for his novel. It’s rather nice to look at, despite a stylised seaweed green-tint, but there’s just nothing going on. The lights are on, but nobody is home.

Then the big bastard whale shows up. Smashing up the Essex ship, killing a few crew-members and splitting the survivors across two lifeboats, this whale saves the film by putting something resembling a story into the action. For the next hour, In the Heart of the Sea becomes a much different and darker film. As the survivors begin to starve, it’s only a matter of time before cannibalism and madness takes over their increasingly unstable minds. The acting is stronger in this second act and the direction by Ron Howard is a little more professional than the amateurish first half. But it’s still not anywhere near perfect. Underdeveloped characters’ death scenes have no dramatic weight, while the coloured tints become more distracting – although arguably more fitting, as we enter the sun-scorched open seas with our starving heroes.

But on the whole, In the Heart of the Sea has very little in it that elevates it any higher than totally average. Hemsworth isn’t on particularly good form, struggling with his accent and generally being reduced to a pretty-boy hero with no depth – at least, for the first half. His performance in the second half increases drastically in quality, if for no reason other than his stunning weight loss – Google it. But on the bad side of things his co-stars don’t fare much better, with Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson (coincidentally both stars of Peaky Blinders) criminally underused, along with Fear The Walking Dead’s Frank Dillane who draws the shortest straw and walks away with the most underdeveloped character of the lot. Fun fact: Frank Dillane is the son of Stephen Dillane, Game of Thrones’ Stannis – the rightful king of Westeros. There, I said it.

Anyway…In the Heart of the Sea’s biggest flaw is underdevelopment! The characters are all paper-thin, which removes any tension and drama out of the tale. We don’t care who dies, we don’t care about their struggle, and we don’t care when the surviving crew-members make it home to their families in the big triumphant climax. It’s far less immersive than it clearly wants to be, making it completely forgotten by the time you switch it off. But hey, maybe this is what you want. A visually decent 2-hour romp with whales and ships and shit. If you’re a fan of this genre, you might find something to like. But for the most part, In the Heart of the Sea will leave you disappointed.

In the Heart of the Sea sails away with an underwhelming 2/5.

★★☆☆☆

Sam Love

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Carmageddon: Max Damage

The trailers for Carmageddon: Max Damage were things that make you go “hmmm”, and not in a good way. They were all like “Hey, hahaha, look, you can drive through nuns! And penguins, too! Aren’t we just fucking CRAZY and CONTROVERSIAL?!?”. What you may have found yourself thinking, though, was more along the lines of “Those graphics look a bit crap. These trailers aren’t showing me much in the way of actual gameplay; is there a reason for that?”.

Yes. Yes there is.

Developed by Stainless Games and out now for Xbox One and PS4, the new Carmageddon only exists thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. I always feel bad when giving a game a kicking – there’s no such thing as a developer that intentionally makes a bad game, and even the worst ones have an incredible amount of hours of hard work and overtime behind them – but Jesus Christ is this a bad game. The low RRP is something of a warning klaxon, but I was fully prepared to give this game the benefit of the doubt.

Then I played it.

For the benefit of those under a certain age, the industry has seen Carmageddon games before, a favourite with the tabloids at one point for the fact that you are rewarded for running over pedestrians. Who die very messily. One criticism that can not be levelled at this game is that it leans lazily on its infamous history for sales. Oh, each area has “peds” – fat ones, thin ones, old ones, ones on bicycles and even wheelchairs, etc. etc. – and if you hit them at any speed, they pretty much explode. And you are indeed rewarded with points, and there’s a multiplier to build up. There are even awards for killing them in certain ways. It’s handled in a very silly throwaway fashion though, with no attempt to make things disturbingly realistic. Which wouldn’t be possible with these graphics, anyway. There’s been a real effort to make the game about more than just this but, well… the whole thing is just far too shoddy.

The theory is sound. Each area is littered with barrels to drive through, which reward you with points, weapons, or a time-limited ability such as invincibility. There are also tokens to collect for buying upgrades to your car. Sometimes, a specific opponent is identified as having their car up for grabs if you destroy it. The general idea, apart from events with specific goals, is that you can win a race in one of three ways: Finish all laps first, wreck all your opponents, or kill all “peds” in the area. There are, unfortunately, problems with all three options.

One problem that pervades the entire game is that handling is absolutely abysmal. It’s not even consistently abysmal. Your default car’s handling may be bloody terrible, but the handling of the next car that I unlocked can only be described as ‘completely broken’. Trying to keep this thing in a straight line meant fighting my own car much harder than anybody else’s. Speaking of which, wrecking your opponents’ rides is made much harder than it needs to be by these terrible controls. For similar reasons, the thought of completing an entire race the traditional way is enough to reduce a grown man to tears.

There are literally hundreds of pedestrians in a race, spread across the map, meaning that winning by killing them all is only feasible if/when playing solo, and if the AI is broken enough to prevent them from finishing the race (which it often is). I did it once, but only by spending an unhealthy amount of time scouring the map for stragglers. It’s not even particularly fun to play against AI. They’re aggressive, but very stupid. They’ll keep driving into you at very low speeds, achieving little more than annoyance, and sometimes damage themselves in their efforts to avoid you. Whether or not they make any attempt to win seems entirely random. Playing against real people online is a little better, but who would want to subject themselves to this for any length of time?

Carmageddon: Max Damage to the series’ reputation. 1/5

★☆☆☆☆

Luke Kemp

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High Rise

‘High Rise’, directed by Ben Wheatley, is a two hour psychedelic trip that you’ll find you just don’t want to come down from. Set in the 70s, this adaptation of the book by the same name (JG Ballard), follows Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) as he moves into a wealthy London skyscraper where the rich live on the lower floors and the fabulously wealthy live at the top. The entirety of the higher-end of society has been encapsulated into this one tower block, with each balcony looking down on the floor below. All seems fine and dandy until the lesser of the rich want to climb the wealthier floors, and suddenly the place is chaos.

It takes a special sort of director and writer to together create a film that produces the highest feelings of anxiety within the viewer, yet also keep eyes glued to the screen. That’s pretty much how I felt throughout the whole thing – both the characters and the scenes were so unpredictable that I couldn’t help but feel majorly unsettled by the whole thing. Luke Evans plays the aggressively primal Richard Wilder, a character so energised and erratic that he made me feel particularly unnerved. The first person to come to mind was Freud, and there are some very clear Freudian elements hidden within the surreal that give quite an interesting take on this dystopian future.

All of the characters are highly unusual, from the mysterious Charlotte Melville (Sienna Miller) on the balcony above, to the architect of the building and penthouse owner Anthony Royals (Jeremy Irons) who is a disturbing representation of the super-ego. Laing is the man who learns to silently adapt to each situation, and is because of this is portrayed as the most dangerous of all.

Having such high-profile names involved, I wasn’t expecting quite such a surreal experience. It’s arty and bizarre from the start, with not one scene that can be taken literally. Every part is a metaphor for something else, and some scenes felt almost dreamlike. It’s as if someone put Lynch, Kubrick, Burton, and perhaps the director of Genesis’ music videos together in a room and just left them to their own devices, without any rules. It was a massive risk to take, but frankly it worked. Aside from the fantastic acting and clever concept, there was just so much that really made it. The script was witty and dark, filled with a morbid humour that never failed to disappoint. Some of the best lines came from Melville’s son Toby, whose disturbing view of this dystopian future is what we are also seeing.

The music was also beautiful, ranging from the disorientating, dramatic score from Clive Mansell to the eerie cover of Abba’s ‘SOS’ by Portishead (hands down the best Abba cover I’ve ever heard). The mood of the music changes so rapidly that it really adds to that unsettling feeling – one minute it’s classical melodrama, and the next we’re back to atmospheric industrial. The visuals are also stunning, with some really clever shots that, although perhaps had sometimes been overused, still worked perfectly to convey that muddled orgy of anarchy that grows and grows as the film goes on.

I’ve got to admit that I spent the whole film asking myself what the hell I was watching. It really is one of those films that will lure your attention away from reality for two hours, and then make you wonder if perhaps you’d taken something you shouldn’t have earlier on the in the day. It’s so in-depth and captivating that you can’t help but over-analyse it – when I was studying film I would have been all over this one. It’s dizzying, thought-provoking, and will no doubt leave an imprint on your mind – somehow though, you’ll want to watch the whole thing all over again.

I give High Rise a 5/5.

★★★★★

Hannah Read

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Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

There was a time when the Japanese Role Playing Game genre dominated the console gaming. Following the massive successes of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, so many companies wanted to get on board to replicate their success. Unfortunately for fans of those games, those times no longer exist. We now must wait for games of this ilk and when they do come along, it’s a massive event. After nearly a decade away, Star Ocean is back and it feels very much like the last game in the series, for better and worse.

Developed by Tri-Ace and out now on PlayStation 4, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness seems like an almost copy and paste from the team’s last effort “The Last Hope”. While this would normally be detrimental to any game series to have not much change, the simple fact that it was so long between the games and that very little like it came out in that time, it almost feels fresh again, or at least it does for the first few hours. This doesn’t mean though that Integrity and Faithlessness isn’t worth playing but fans of the series will feel very familiar with everything quite early on.

The game’s storyline takes place between The Second Story and Till the End of Time and you play as Fidel on an undeveloped world who comes into first contact with a more advanced space traveling race. The village which he protects was first attacked by a neighbouring village and he must first protect his own. It is then he encounters a quite amnesiac girl called Relia with his best friend Miki and they must try to uncover who she is or where she is from.

The story itself isn’t that impactful. Dialogue and cut-scenes even are delivered in-engine, and a lot of the time still in-game which is a departure from most other games in the genre. This was clearly done to cut costs for the development but it then means that there is no sense of major moments or character development. While there is some development of the protagonists, they fall into cliché, like the rest of the story.
Gameplay though has always been the game’s selling point and expect a very similar structure to previous games in the series. The combat takes place in real-time as you control one member of your team at a time. You can freely switch between them at any point so should you need to mix tactics up, you can do so both in combat and by setting roles for each character.

While the gameplay itself feels fine, the camera does not. Quite often, when a battle gets hectic, you simply cannot see your characters as other parts of the battle get in the way. It is placed too low and the lack of control means that it may not always be where you want it to be and wrestling it is one extra thing you don’t want to be dealing with in a major battle.

Visually, the game is a mixed-bag. Some assets like the protagonists, enemies, and some locations look incredible. While not a technical showpiece, there are some moments that are worth pausing for and embracing the surroundings. Unfortunately, the textures on show range from detailed to PlayStation 2 level of detail with blurry and very little details applied to them. One of the clearest places to see this is on the doors in the starting village, they simply look awful.

For a JRPG, Star Ocean Faithlessness and Integrity isn’t very long. It clocks in at around 20 hours and no outcome feels truly satisfying. While there are multiple endings, the journey to get there might not be good enough to see them all through. It’s great to have a JRPG again and the recurring aspects still feel fine but the bad camera and lacklustre story keep it form being a truly great tale in the Star Ocean Universe.

A decent tale among the stars. 3/5

★★★☆☆

Jason Redmond

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Sing Street

Ah, the 1980s. Legwarmers, Rubik’s cubes, Miami Vice…and some damn fine music. Yes, some of it hasn’t exactly aged well, with some pretty aggressive synth-use getting right up in your face. But on the whole, the 80s was a hugely influential time for music and people being inspired to express themselves – knowing it was okay to be different. Stars like David Bowie, Prince and Robert Smith were, and continue to be, heroes for many people. Director/writer John Carney’s latest, Sing Street, is a love letter to this period. And it is bloody brilliant.

After his parents fall on hard times, the shy Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) is pulled out of private school and put into a rough public one. He meets a beautiful girl (Lucy Boynton) and, in an attempt to impress her, tells her he’s in a band. There’s a slight problem with his plan…He isn’t in a band. So, with his outcast friends, he starts the futurist ‘Sing Street’ – and along the way, finally finds a way to express himself and learn who he really is. He isn’t Conor…He is Cosmo!

Sing Street is a fantastic little coming-of-age film. It’s painstakingly well-observed in its period setting, surely evoking strong feelings of nostalgia in anyone who grew up in the 1980s – and if you weren’t around to see the decade for real, this film is the next best thing. Never has a decade, and a generation of people, been captured so accurately and passionately. The soundtrack is brilliant, full of hits by iconic bands of the period including Duran Duran, The Cure and Hall & Oates – but it’s hard to separate them from the music of Sing Street themselves, who sound so 80s it’s no surprise that 80s veteran composer Gary Clark had a hand in the soundtrack. Songs like ‘Riddle of the Model’ and ‘A Beautiful Sea’ are perfectly crafted little songs that could easily pass for 80s hits.

The cast are incredible. Newcomer Ferdia Walsh-Peelo is remarkable as Conor, who transforms throughout the film in response to the 80s’ ever-changing culture. Mark McKenna is great as his rabbit-loving co-writer Eamon and Lucy Boynton is superb as the troubled love interest, Raphina. Jack Reynor, one of the film’s few familiar faces, puts in a touching performance as Conor’s caring older brother Brendan. And look out for a Game of Thrones icon as Conor’s father, Robert. And visually, the film is beautiful. Yaron Orbach’s cinematography makes the 80s iconography pop off the screen, creating an immersive travel back in time.

Director/writer John Carney continues to prove himself as a man who understands music with this semi-autobiographical tale. After 2007’s Once and 2013’s Begin Again, he has truly established himself as a modern-day musical film maestro. These 3 films have one thing in common – they focus on the power of music, and how it can save us. This is a wonderful sentiment, and one that I could not agree with more. I cannot wait to see what Carney comes up with next.

Although Sing Street is firmly anchored in its 1980s setting, the themes are timeless. Films like this will be around forever, because while technology and art might change, people will not. We’ve all felt lost, and we’ve all felt love. And through both of these emotions, music has always been there. Music truly is an antidote to many problems, and we’re lucky there’s such a strong history to the art-form. But now, young people can also find comfort in films like this and Submarine - films that make heroes of the shy and socially-awkward. Always be yourself, and you can always be the hero. That’s a little slice of wisdom for you…you can have that for free!

Sing Street is funny, sweet and inspiring…it is an unforgettable feel-good romp that will have you dusting off your old 80s LPs before the end credits have finished rolling. Perfect. 5/5.

★★★★★

Sam Love

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London Film and Comic Con Photo Contest Winners

Congratulations & celebrations to our London Film and Comic Con Photo Contest winners! We will be emailing you your sweet CeX vouchers to enjoy in store or online. Thanks to all who entered.

Want to enter & give us your best blue steel? Catch us at the next Comic Con near you!

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HTC 10

HTC has launched it's 2016 flagship the HTC 10 last month , some might say it's a bit late than usual but we don't mind as long as it's coming out with something extraordinary (think Vive) ...or is it ? Let's find out.

Design & Hardware

The HTC 10 is one of the best looking devices in the market thanks to HTC maintaining its aesthetics since HTC One's days and continuing with the single Aluminium block design.The finish is smooth and slippery with curved edges at the back. It's got a 5.2” Super LCD 5 panel with Quad HD resolution & Gorilla Glass protection.It's one of the finest displays you'll see on a phone with the option to chose between Vivid or sRGB colour profiles . There's a home button that acts as the fingerprint sensor and backlit keys on either side . At the top is 5MP OIS enabled front camera.

On the right edge is the slot of the Nano SIM card while left edge has the slot to insert Micro SD card upto 2TB . Below it , is the volume rocker and the Power button with ridges for easy identification. The USB Type C port is at the bottom while the 3.5mm audio jack is at the top edge.

The 12 UltraPixel 2 camera with dual tone LED flash is at the back.

In terms of overall hardware, the soul of the HTC 10 is the Snapdragon 820 Quad Core SoC with 4GB RAM & 32GB ROM ( 64 GB variant available as well) , bluetooth 4.2 , NFC, Dual band WI-FI , OTG . No FM Radio ( Don't care anymore !). It also acts as a power supply / power bank for any of your other devices and can charge if it's a USB input. Considering the battery is only 3000 mAh this is more of a show off feature than something that's practical. Give me a 5000 mAh pack and then we'll talk! In the box you'll find the Quick charge 3.0 compatible charger & a headset.

Software

Android Marshmallow 6.0 overlaid with HTC Sense UI now moves to a minimalistic design and feels light and zippy.Blinkfeed still makes it presence felt when you swipe right from the home screen though it can be turned off . For those who don't know, it's like an All in One for your social network news feeds, calendar events, nearby places etc. A new addition is called the Freestyle theme which can be activated by long pressing the home button . It replaces your default home theme with more funky stickers which can be linked to apps or just used to make your lock screen look cool! There's also a Boost+ app similar to CCleaner / RAM booster apps available in the Play store to clear junk files etc. Some old HTC apps like Gallery & Music are replaced by Google's own but the Zoe Video editor still survives to make short videos from your favorite pics.

Gaming & Multimedia

There aren't any heating issues associated with the Snapdragon 820 even when recording videos or playing graphic intensive games. AnTuTU scored 115275 which is pretty impressive & amongst the highest scores you can get. In terms of sound , Boom Sound is aided with Dolby Audio & you have a dual – speaker set up each powered by it's own Amp! If you have high quality FLAC files for your music, you're in for a treat! You can also create audio profiles specific to how you want and it considers how you hear sound in your left & right ear separately. Talk about Attention to Detail!

Disappointed with the 3000 mAh battery esp when you're giving an option to use the phone as a power bank for other devices. Min 3500 is what we needed just for the phone & 5000 mAh to be sued as a power bank! Continuous testing and usage over 4G, Wi-FI, Mortal Kombat, 4K recording definitely drained the phone quicker than a normal 12-14 hr run. Thankfully the Quick charge 3.0 can charge it up to 50% in just over 30 mins.

Camera

HTC has been maintaining that Megapixels are a myth and continued with its UltraPixel technology that has now moved to version 2.0.The rear 12MP camera now has a larger pixel size of 1.55um along with a larger f/1.8 aperture , OIS & Laser Auto Focus. In Bright daylight this camera is perhaps the closest you can get to the S7 Edge and definitely better than the iPhone 6S. It's could've been better in the low light conditions which is the true test of a camera but then there are very few who succeed there!

The Camera app has all settings on the left which has modes like Zoe Camera ( to capture a few secs of video befor the photo) , Hyperlapse, Panorama, Pro etc. Video can be recorded in 4K & audio can go upto 24-bit as well.Hyperlapse & slow – mo look amazing as well. The HTC 10 is the first phone to feature OIS in the front camera department . It's 5MP with larger 1.34um pixels & f/1.8 aperture give you good wide angle selfies.

Conclusion

The most impressive HTC phone till date and the most expensive as well. It beats the S7 edge at the launch price and it's a very hefty price tag for a flagship device that could have been made better or priced lower. HTC fanboys would jump at this one but if you just want a great flagship look at the S7 edge with much better overall specs and close to a 9/10 device than this at 8/10. There's also LG G5 & the cheapest flagship One Plus 3 but they have their own pros & cons.

I'd give the HTC 10 - 4/5.

 ★★★★☆

Pritesh Khilnani

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