FIFA 18 ★★★★☆

There’s three certainties in life: death, taxes and a new FIFA every year.

It’s fair to say that FIFA 17 was a largely disappointing entry in the franchise, introducing a new game engine that wasn’t as polished as previous years, and innovations such as the story driven ‘The Journey’ mode feeling superficial at best. Despite this, as a fan of the series, it’s hard not to get wrangled into the hype for FIFA 18, and now that it’s out, it’s time to discover if this entry cuts the mustard.

Will FIFA 18 play with the grace of an in form Ronaldo, or huff and puff like Carlton Cole after a buffet? Lace up your boots and let’s find out.

The Good

After playing a handful of games with some of the most popular teams, I’m happy to report that players feel more unique and realistic than ever before. For far too long, there’s been a ‘cookie cutter’ appeal to the players in FIFA, where they all seem to play in a similar way, regardless of whether they’re an international icon or a League Two reserve who picks up a couple of shifts at Sainsbury’s every now and then. However, this year there seems to have been a conscious effort to diversify the style of play, depending on what team you’re playing as: if you play with Burnley, your players will want to park the bus, if you play with West Ham, your strikers will struggle to score and if you play with Arsenal, they’ll always try to walk it in.

What’s more, ‘The Journey’ mode that felt so shallow last year is fleshed out on this occasion, taking me roughly 15 hours to complete. Although some of the decisions you make playing as the fictional Alex Hunter felt a little inconsequential in the narrative of the game, the experience is still enjoyable and you do become emotionally invested. It’s telling that many high profile games today have a shorter playtime than ‘The Journey’ mode; indeed for a ‘mini-game’, it certainly gives you plenty of bang for your buck.

A special mention must also be made for the Switch edition of FIFA 18, which if not as polished and visually impressive as its home console counterparts, offers a mobile football experience like we’ve never seen before. As a lazy teenager, I longed for a time when I’d never have to stop playing FIFA, that day is now a reality. If only pesky nuisances like work didn’t keep getting in the way…

The Bad

While the gameplay in FIFA 18 is much more balanced than in last year’s entry, there’s still a noticeable overemphasis on attack at the detriment of defensive play. This often leads to spectacularly high score lines (my first game against another player finished 6-4), which is a shame if you’re after a realistic, tactical sports simulation.

Finally, although Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) has been the whipping boy of football games for a number of years, it’s hard to argue that this year’s iteration doesn’t offer a more fluid, enjoyable playing experience than EA’s football juggernaut. Yet technical prowess aside, without licensed teams (East London, Hampshire Red… come on), PES will always play second fiddle to FIFA. But if this were to change, I’d wager a sizeable chunk of FIFA players would jump ship to the S.S. Konami.

The Verdict

To those who aren’t ardent fans of football and football video games, it can be hard to tell what really changes from FIFA to FIFA, and this year’s entry won’t buck that trend; it’s definitely another case of evolution rather than revolution. But the slight tweaks to the game have all been to it’s benefit, the result being the most enjoyable entry into the franchise since the heady heights of FIFA 13.

Now if they could only fix those bloody servers....

★★★★☆

Sir Thomas Baker

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Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars ★★★☆☆

Well, I feel old...

It’s been 20 years since Starship Troopers hit theatres, wowing fans with its unique brand of over-the-top machismo spewing heroics and stomach-turning alien attacks. A series of live-action and animated sequels followed to various success, with this year’s Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars being the fifth installment in the franchise.

Could this animated outing rekindle the magic of the late 90s? Grab your Tamagotchi and rollerblades and let’s find out:

The Good

Fans of the ridiculous violence that helped establish the franchise will not be disappointed by this entry, as it was just as intense and visually stunning as its predecessor, something more impressive given the lack of live action set pieces. The battle scenes were at times generally enthralling, and the gore felt as visceral as anything that could come from the makeup department; expect decapitations, explosions and mutilations aplenty.

This is all accentuated by some of the best CG animation I’ve seen in a movie to date. The fluidity of motion often made it easy to forget that the film was essentially a feature-length cartoon, and the character’s faces expressed more emotion than many actors can do in real life. A special mention must also be made about the character model of Johnny Rico, played by franchise veteran Casper Van Dien, who most definitely had some sway in his rugged, handsome presentation. Honestly, he looked more like Metal Gear Solid’s Solid Snake than himself. I too long for the day where I can design an idyllic version of myself in an animated movie…

The Bad

Much like the original Starship Troopers, this installment is not without its flaws, and boy does it have a few. The voice acting is hammy-er than a cheap Christmas dinner, which in of itself isn’t a huge issue (indeed, it’s what made our favourite 80s action flicks so endearing), but the characters are also guilty of being entirely forgettable. Just like celery is little more than a vessel for mayonnaise, the dialogue was little more than a necessary evil to progress to more action. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but makes you wonder how brilliant this film could’ve been with a better script.

The Verdict

Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars was much better than it had any right to be, with all the enjoyable, dumb fun you’d hope from the franchise. It’s the perfect film to make a drinking game of, set logic to one side and revel in some explosive, schlocky fun.

If you’re not a fan of the series, this won’t be for you, however if you’re a certified bug hunter, you’ll find it to be superior to the live action sequels.

★★★☆☆

Sir Thomas Baker

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Observer ★★★★★

It’s the year 2084, and augmentation is commonplace among humans. The nanophage, a deadly virus affecting the augmented, has wiped out thousands, and the remaining survivors live now under Chiron, the overbearing corporation that seems to be involved in everything you do. This is the dystopian future you find yourself in throughout ‘Observer’, Bloober’s latest survival horror game available for Xbox, PS4, and PC, and one of the reason it’s so scary is that it’s not all that unrealistic a prophecy.

You play as Daniel Lazarski, an augmented detective working for Chiron who is also known as a Dream Eater (nothing to do with Drowzee or Haunter) as he has the ability to connect to the minds of others to see what they have experienced. Your main focus is to find out what’s happened to your estranged son, Adam, after a distressing call is received, yet things get more and more grim as you find yourself investigating a series of murders within a creepy apartment complex and trying to track down the ominous killer. 

If you’ve played and enjoyed Bloober’s last game, ‘Layers of Fear’, then this is definitely one to play. Although similar to games like ‘Outlast’ and ‘Resident Evil 7’ in format it contains less enemies and jump scares, but it still has the same level of fear (if not more, at points). There’s no weapon to be found and so your only way of surviving is to hide, which made a refreshing change from the wealth of combat-orientated games out there right now. It also didn’t make the same mistake ‘Resident Evil 7’ did either by making combat more prevalent half-way through, which turned the game into a first-person shooter rather than a survival horror.

‘Observer’ instead uses its chilling environments and compelling storyline to keep the excitement fresh. The first few hours of the game are spent exploring your surroundings and investigating crime scenes with your biological and technological scanners, with a few dream-eating sequences thrown in. As you get deeper into the game the dream scenarios start to merge with reality as your mind begins to unravel, leading you to question everything around you. It certainly keeps you on your toes, as you can’t be sure what’s real and what’s not (and at points, what’s from your memory or the other person). As the title suggests, observing really is the key to succeeding in this game, and it’s actually quite easy to miss stuff – there were several points where I found myself going back to places because I knew there was something I’d missed. The game doesn’t give out too many hints either, meaning that you have to rely on just your case log and your eyes.

The storyline was a really well-done aspect of the game, and was perfect considering the short length of the game (it took me about 8 hours to complete in all). The plot is so immersive that you’ll want to read every document and speak to every neighbour which I think is always a good sign (there’s an achievement for that, too!). You can skip this, of course, but it would be easy to get confused if you don’t read everything you can, and so I’d advise focusing on the details instead of trying to rush through the game. 

At no point did I want to rush, as the environment was just so disturbingly beautiful that I had to stop and admire it all. I’d say graphically the game is on a par with ‘Resident Evil 7’ and, although you spend most of your time in the same apartment complex, the intricate detail of broken walls and holographic disturbances never gets old. In many scenes you’ll find yourself plunged into darkness, meaning you have to really focus to work out where you’re going (top tip: make use of the video settings!). The environment is erratic and distressing, and the way it can completely change from the slightest of movement makes you feel scarily out of control throughout.

I found the tension spot on, but if I had to be picky there could have been even more puzzles and choices – although choice was a big element it was more towards the end of the game where it really kicked in. The framerate could become choppy at points too, but thankfully this wasn’t too big an issue that it got to me. One point that did irritate me slightly though was the case log – at the start of a new scene your case log updates with what needs to happen next, yet I found it would often update you on what you hadn’t quite discovered yet, so that ruined the surprise element for certain things. This wasn’t too big a deal though, and I soon learnt to wait a bit before checking the log. 

As someone who finds it quite easy to lose interest in games, I particularly enjoyed ‘Observer’ as that moment never happened for me. If you’re all about the action then it won’t be the greatest game you’ve ever played, but for someone who’s looking for an immersive experience that focuses on the philosophy and the art of the game then I couldn’t recommend another game more. 

★★★★★

Hannah Read

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CeX @ MCM Scotland Comic Con

Come see us at this weekend's MCM Scotland Comic Con 2017 in Glasgow and check out our awesome pop-up store!

You can drop by to say “Hi!”, check out our treasure trove of goodies, and of course buy, sell & exchange to your heart's content. Check out our photo competition of fans and cosplay aficionados who've visited our store, vote for your favourites from Monday onwards and the top 3 will win a £250, £150 or £50 voucher (voting ends 8th October)! You can also see what's happening via our Instagram feed and Twitter.

The Mummy ★☆☆☆☆

There’s been quite a few films from ‘The Mummy’ so far (7 before now if you count the ‘straight to DVD’ releases), so it’s likely that most people will have seen at least one. I remember the original ‘The Mummy’ quite well as it was one of the first 12-rated films that I watched and, being a child, thought it was awesome. I then watched some of the others later on, but gave up by about the fourth one.

Now however, we’re being treated to yet another unnecessary reboot of a franchise that was thought to be dead and buried, this time directed by Alex Kurtzman, who you may know from ‘Transformers’ and ‘The Amazing Spiderman’. Instead of Brendan Frazer as Rick O’Connell we now follow the story of Nick Morton (Tom Cruise), a treasure hunter mysteriously similar to a certain Ethan Hunt who’s on a mission to recover something of worth from Iraq with fellow treasure hunter Chris Vail (Jake Johnson). After an air strike in a remote village a sinkhole opens up in the ground revealing a mysterious Egyptian tomb, and Nick and Chris are in luck – except archaeologist Jenny (Annabelle Wallis) manages to emerge at the scene before Nick can get his thieving hands inside the tomb, and they all end up going down together to discover what lies beneath. A mysterious sarcophagus is retrieved, believed to contain the mummified body of evil princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) but in classic ‘The Mummy’ style things go a bit pear-shaped when an unfortunate series of events occur and people start to look a bit cursed. 

I don’t really know where to start with this one because it could have been quite enjoyable – the introductory scene from the past was well done, and the backstory behind the main plot was really interesting. There wasn’t much focus on it though, so instead we got two hours of in-your-face action scenes and terrible one-liners from Tom Cruise that really should have been expected yet still made me roll my eyes. There wasn’t enough character development either, and I felt very little towards each of the main characters because we just don’t learn anything about them. Nick Morton was just a rogue, and Jenny just an archaeologist. Even Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll wasn’t good enough, as he was just an angry science guy and not much else. 

However, I did like the parts of the film that were geared towards Ahmanet’s story – these tended to be the most well-filmed, and her story was largely quite interesting. Again though, it was hard to feel much for her as all that could have been was omitted, presumably to fit in more shots of Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallis running away from various threats. I also liked one particular action scene involving a plane – it was exciting as action should be - but sadly the novelty wore off after seeing one too many near-death experiences.

I think the problem was that there was just too much going on – the writers seemed to want to get so much into it that it was just too much deal with. The plot wasn’t even complicated, but with so many archaeological digs and people being cursed all going on at the same time it made it hard to follow completely, and I found myself losing interest. 

Nevertheless, the 2017 version of ‘The Mummy’ is clearly part of the same franchise we all know, and so at least it may bring back some fond memories of the original whilst watching. The storyline was bearable and the action was entertaining in parts, but with a whole bunch of clichés and a frankly terrible start to Universal’s ‘Dark Universe’ series, I can only give this one 1/5.

★☆☆☆☆

Hannah Read

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The Big Sick ★★★★★

‘The Big Sick’, written by Kamail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, depicts a cinematic version of the story of their courtship (the two are now happily married). Kamail, played by himself, is a part-time Uber driver and part-time hopeful comedian, who spends his evenings gigging with his friends in the hopes of making it big (or at least, getting noticed). One evening he finds himself in a conversation with Emily (Zoe Kazan), and the two go back to his afterwards. What was supposed to be just a one-night stand develops quickly into a full-blown relationship, but for Kamail this is a cause for concern as it gets in the way of the traditional Muslim arranged marriage he is supposed to agree to.

The pair have a massive bust-up after Emily finds out about this secret that Kamail is hiding from her, and it looks like it’s all over for the two. That is, of course, until Emily is induced into a coma after an unknown infection develops, and Kamail finds himself by her bedside, along with Emily’s parents (Ray Romano as Terry and Holly Hunter as Beth) who aren’t particularly pleased to find him there.

I rarely watch romantic comedies – there’s a few classics that I love, such as ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Notting Hill’, but generally I’m not all that into them because they just feel too similar. There’s only so many plots that you can keep rehashing within the genre, and I find they just get too predictable. Despite ‘The Big Sick’ being a rom-com, I can honestly say that it felt very original. It’s more than a rom-com, really – yes, the relationship between Kamail and Emily is a big focus, but there’s also a lot within the story looking at culture, honesty, and expectations. It’s really a ‘finding oneself’ type of movie, as we perceive Kamail going along with his religion without much effort (playing video games instead of praying, for example) in an effort to please his strict parents Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff) and Azmat (Anupam Kher). Every family dinner sees a young single Pakistani woman brought into the gathering, yet it’s clear that the idea of arranged marriage is something that Kamail is not buying into.

There’s a lot of cross-cultural themes within the film and they’re highly relevant right now, as the plot really explores cultural traditions and Western lifestyles and what the balance should be between the two. It’s a powerful message – despite key differences between cultures, these cultures can coexist quite happily. It also manages to avoid pointless cultural stereotypes, which only works in the film’s favour.

The cast are all brilliant, but I found Romano and Hunter particularly excellent as Emily’s chalk-and-cheese concerned parents. Their relationship with Kamail and how it grows is the real relationship focus in this story, and it’s dealt with tenderness and subtlety that helps keep the whole thing feeling authentic.

It’s also nice to watch a comedy that’s not all about the comedy (despite being about a comedian); there’s loads of laughs but there’s also lots of emotions flying around. Nanjiani and Gordon have achieved what so many others fail to do, which is strike exactly the right balance between comedy and drama, meaning you’ll be laughing as you watch, but crying at points too. I’m definitely excited to see more from the pair. ‘The Big Sick’ is a light watch with a serious message, executed so well that it’s quite hard to fault anything with it. Even if you’re not overly into this type of film I urge you to give it a go – it might just surprise you.

★★★★★

Hannah Read

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Agents of Mayhem ★☆☆☆☆

Volition has made some of my favourite games over the years. The Red Faction series, The Punisher for PS2 and the Saints Row Series. Sadly, Volition no longer owns the rights to Saints Row so instead made a spin-off game based on a possible ending from Gat out of Hell, where Johnny Gat resets the world and now we have Heroes and Super Villains running a near future Seoul, Korea.
For whatever reason (sales) Johnny Gat is only available as DLC, in Agents of Mayhem.

Agents of Mayhem is that kid at school who was always trying, too hard, to fit in with the "cool" kids... and fails. There's a ton of cheesy jokes and cringy dialogue, as no one shuts up. Characters swear a fair bit (which in general I have no issue with) but it just comes off as unnaturally forced, sounding like Hit-Girl's delivery in the Kickass movie. I'm pretty sure this was just to keep the age rating up as the blood and violence has been toned waaaay down compared with Saints Row. Blood is now a barely visible particle effect and enemies just comically fall to the ground and fade out.
No more running about with ridiculous weapons and beating someone to death with an oversized purple dildo. 

Visually the game takes on a nice Comic book/cartoonish style and looks very much like an open world Overwatch with much worse animation. All of the character animation looks a bit janky and floaty. Hollywood's walk cycle looks like he's trying to moonwalk forwards with something stuck in his brown eye. Characters don't get into cars, they just phase in, like the Twins in The Matrix Reloaded. The driving seems like it's shoehorned in for the sake of ticking off an open world box. All the cars basically handle the same. Future music apparently sucks, judging by the car radio, and is as memorable as a marvel movie soundtrack (score); which put me off getting in any cars from then on. Civilians merely exist in this world and have little interaction with anything seeming pointless and inconsequential.

Not to copy GTA 5 or anything… You now control a squad of three heroes, at any one time, and you can flick between them on the fly. There are a fair few characters to unlock and switch about with your current squad, each one plays just different enough to justify being a separate character and is one of the better things about the game.

That and the upgrade system is pretty decent, if a little overloaded. Everyone has four main skills to upgrade as well as crystal slots which boost character abilities. With each mission you finish, you unlock a new weapon mod. Every character has a triple jump and teleporty dash move from the get-go. They’re not really Super (Anti) Heroes as no one has any real "powers", the variation just comes in the form of guns. Which turns the game into 'go here. shoot this. Repeat.', so they could've just had you unlock guns instead of people. Extra Characters is a nice cover up to make it seem like the game has more to offer than it does. Mostly I stuck with just one or two characters and only changed when my health was low.

Disappointingly, you unlock them by completing boring and repetitive side missions; usually, enter a secret lair that looks the same as every other secret lair in the game with lots of copy and paste rooms and corridors, like they'd never played the Library level in Halo, these are repeated in the main missions, too.

The size of a map is never a fair way to judge a game. Volition would probably like you to believe that 'it's a good size'. Only, it's not. It maybe about the size of two districts in Saints Row 2 but with less to see and do. When you can drive at super speed... that becomes quite small.  Sadly, there's just very little to do except the odd pop-up mission for the fortieth time. At some point, I just got bored and put on GTA 3.

★☆☆☆☆

Bry Wyatt

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Ghost in the Shell ★★★☆☆

Long before anime became easily accessible and predominantly about angsty high schoolers with kawaii mascot characters to sell merch of, we had an era of grim future dystopias, corruption, barbaric civilisations and Cybercrime. While I've come to accept that I'll never own Cyber city, Fist of the North Star, Angel Cop or Battle Angel Alita on DVD/Blu Ray, the likes of Akira and Ghost in the Shell (GitS) get a cleaned up re-released every few years for anniversaries or when someone else acquires the rights.... (just hope that it's never Pioneer).

Imagine a six-year-old trying to explain the plot of Akira or GitS to another six-year-old. That was me at school. The other kids would talk about their favourite Disney films; "Aladdin did a thing and then the magic carpet goes whoosh".
But Disney never quite did anything for me... "Well, The Major dives from the top of a skyscraper, activates her optic camouflage, shoots her way in through a giant window and blows a dude's head up!" To blank looks followed by: "....Does she sing?"

Sadly, I'm not reviewing one of the most important and acclaimed (animated) films in cinema history, I'm doing it's watered-down, live-action Americanisation.
First off, Weta studio did an amazing job visually. From the aerial shots of the cityscape, with all the holographic adverts polluting the skyline, to the dingy alleyways and back streets that look provocatively sketchy. Everything is how you'd imagine the real world location of the fictional Japanese city of Niihama Prefecture, New Port City to be. It was nice that everything wasn't just CGI, Robots (like the geisha-bots taken from the second animated film) had real working versions built as props and costumes are also designed with this level of care to detail.

Given the right people and budget, these films can be made adequately. It's a shame then, after getting all the visuals right, that what should be a movie heavy on the plot about self-identity and cartesian dualism has been substituted for Matrix-esque action scenes. Ironic as half of the ideas in the Matrix are taken from GitS (the other half being from Neuromancer). The plot of the original has been replaced by, a more linear, Robocop with body issues (more so the remake). Major, now being the first of her kind to have a full body swap, questions if she's still human or a Replicant... wrong film…

Certain members of Section 9 are also missing and replaced with needless actors.

None of the changes add any depth to the overall story and aren't really necessary and if anything take away from (choosing to ignore that she’s been renamed Major Mira Killian) Major Motoko Kusanagi’s entire backstory of being way older than she appears thanks to her prosthetic cyborg body, starting Section 9 with Aramaki and recruiting old war pals. All this just diminishes the world created by Masamune Shirow, a bit, in general.

The movie is at its strongest when it's taking its material directly from the '95 anime. Often shot for shot.

It's strange to me that they didn't do this for the duration of the whole movie and leave longtime fans little to grumble over. 

Overall it's not a bad movie, taken on its own merits, just a weak adaptation that misses a few of the key points of its source material. If you're oblivious to the original manga and the 1995 anime, then GitS will likely come off as an okay sci-fi action film. With the recent Blu-ray release of the 1995 Ghost in the Shell being so cheap, do yourself a favour and grab that instead. And if you can find them, Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig (Ignore Arise).
Extra star for visuals.

★★★☆☆

Bry Wyatt

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Check In To Win Is Back This September!

Check In to Win is back!

CeX is back with more awesome prizes to be won!

To be in with a chance of winning, simply grab your mobile device (not a laptop), head to your local CeX store and visit webuy.com/checkin to find out instantly whether you’ve bagged yourself one of our prizes!

Competition runs between 9AM & 9PM on the 16/09/17 - 17/09/17 inclusive and 23/09/17 - 24/09/17 inclusive.

20 £100 vouchers are up for grabs and one lucky winner will grab themselves the grand prize of a £2000 CeX Gadget Haul!

Full Terms & Conditions can be found HERE.

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Wonder Woman ★★★★☆

Please read this review enthusiastically humming the original Wonder Woman theme music.

It’s fair to say that DC has somewhat botched their cinematic universe thus far, with both Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad falling as flat as pancakes with fans and critics alike. Despite this false start to the franchise, a Wonder Woman origin film set in World War One had many intrigued, if nothing else.

Could this be DC’s saving trump card? Grab your Lasso of Truth and let’s find out:

The Good

Straight out of the gate I’ll say that Wonder Woman was an excellent superhero movie. Gal Gadot’s ‘fish out of water’ portrayal of the titular character was sublime; indeed this feels like the character she was born to play, and although Chris Pine and the rest of the supporting cast don’t bring anything revolutionary to the table, they all perform their roles competently. Whilst on the subject of characters, Wonder Woman is unique in the DCEU, in that you route for those you’re meant to like, and don’t support those you’re meant to loathe, a basic concept that was unfortunately lacking at times in the franchise’s previous outings.

What’s more, the dark, heavy cinematography that let down the likes of Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad is employed adeptly on this occasion, complementing the drabness of London in war time (not that the weather in London needs much help looking drab at the best of times). This is particularly effective when contrasted against the equally impressive portrayal of Themyscira, the Amazonian homeland, near the start of the movie, which is a vibrant, lush fantasyscape. 

The Bad

With that being said, Wonder Woman isn’t the perfect superhero movie, despite what some hyperbolic reviews might have you believe. For instance, there’s a few too many pangs of melodrama littered throughout the narrative for my stoic sensibilities, the most blatant example being an extended dance sequence in a village recently liberated by Diana and company. Now I’m all for character and emotional development in cinema, but this scene disrupted the tension of the journey to the villainous Ludendorff’s castle. Perhaps I’m just bitter that without this scene, we might’ve had an extended cut of Diana storming No Man’s Land…

Finally, although this film is exemplary in its own right, some of it’s plot beats and themes bear more than a striking similarity to those found in Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Both are period superhero movies, both include a ragtag, multicultural team of soldier as supporting players, and both culminate with a heroic, suicidal plane crash. I would never say these connections detract from Wonder Woman, but the question will remain, did Cap do it better?

The Verdict

Wonder Woman has more than deserved the initial success that it’s garnered; it’s a lifeline for the DCEU and something to build the franchise on going forward. Ideally without Zack Snyder desaturating the life out of it.

Lastly, whilst I’ve attempted to critique this film without bringing up the already well explored issue of gender roles in superhero movies, if this film inspires children, regardless of gender identity or race to don the cape and cowl and fight for justice then Wonder Woman could be a watershed moment for the genre going forward. That can only be a good thing. 

★★★★☆

Sir Thomas Baker

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Nokia 6 ★★★☆☆

We’ve managed to get our hands on the Nokia 6, let’s find out if customers still love Nokia for their solid build quality or is there something else that the Nokia 6 offers…

The Nokia 6 comes in Blue, Silver, Copper, Black and Matte Black. A charger and earphones are included in the box. Holding the phone gives you a solid and sturdy feel since it’s an Aluminium Unibody design with chamfered edges. The back is slippery and I recommend having a  case (although the one drop that it suffered from the couch, there were hardly any noticeable scratches!). Considering its thickness and 169 gram weight, it isn’t the most compact of 5.5” phones out there and it’s not ergonomic for one handed use, especially If you plan to use it for longer durations. The power and volume buttons are on the right, 3.5mm jack at the top, charging port and dual Dolby Atmos speakers at the bottom, with the hybrid SIM slot is on the left-hand side. The capacitive fingerprint scanner at the bottom of the screen serves as a Home button as well and is flanked by the capacitive backlit Back and Recent apps buttons. The scanner isn’t the quickest but gets the job done. The rear camera with dual LED flash does protrude out a bit and is placed vertically, reminiscing of the Lumia series. Nokia branding is both at the front and back.

The 5.5” IPS LCD screen is as reflective as a mirror and sometimes annoying since you have to keep changing your phone brightness levels in daylight - auto settings don’t help! Funnily enough, the notification LED is missing which the company says was taken out after a market research showing people don’t use it that often (you must be kidding!). The Snapdragon 430 CPU powering the phone along with 3GB of RAM can’t be called cutting-edge but the phone was unveiled early this year to be launched in most markets only now, making it look outdated already. There’s 32GB memory on board with expansion options up to 128GB. The phone has 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.1, FM Radio, and NFC.

HMD Global has promised OTA updates for a year which means it should at least get Android 8.0 Oreo later this year since it runs on Android Nougat 7.1 out of the box. Most Chinese manufacturers don’t promise updates and you see the difference in them once the app gets updated but start to lag and the phone slows down overall. Thankfully HMD has taken care of that. The UI is as close to stock Android and looks exactly like the Pixel/Google Now Launcher. There’s not too much bloatware and most of the pre installed apps can be removed. Long pressing on an app icon gives you shortcuts for that particular app. For example - long pressing the YouTube icon brings up trending, search and subscriptions options. There are a few gesture support options and other app shortcuts as well.

The rear 16MP camera with f/2.0 captures good photos in daylight but is a little slow to focus and the app is a bit slow as well. Shutter speed could’ve been faster. Night photos will come out only average in good lighting conditions, else they are dark and hard to pick out any details. The front camera still clicks decent selfies, good enough for social media uploads. The video recording maxes out at 1080p or Full HD, no 4K support unfortunately!

The advantage of the Nokia 6 lies in the audio output, due to the Dolby Atmos stereo speakers providing a rich multimedia experience. The audio quality from the speaker is loud and crisp. Some games like Asphalt Extreme & FIFA 17 do start off slowly especially, when both of them are running and one is in the background, the switching is slower than expected and sometimes the phone also gets warm though it cools down quickly as well. The 3000 mAh battery lasted for around 18 hours on average usage but less than 15 on heavy usage. 2 hours to a full charge thanks to the missing fast charging!

Decent camera, good audio capability and regular updates on a stock android experience are the advantages for the Nokia 6. For some, the outdated hardware & low battery life can be a concern on an otherwise above average device. You have the Moto G5 Plus or Redmi Note 4 sits at a lower price but still has better hardware.

★★★☆☆

Pritesh Khilnani

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Ash vs Evil Dead ★★★★☆

Listen up you primitive screwheads…

25 years ago Sam Raimi gave us Army of Darkness, the final movie in the Evil Dead trilogy and the last outing of the series’ bumbling hero, Ash Williams. Now Ash returns as a middle aged slacker living alone in a trailer park, still working at Value Stop (formerly S-Mart) but now wrestling with a girdle. That is until he accidentally unleashes a new plague of Deadites. As you do.

Let’s take a look at whether Ash Vs Evil Dead lives up to its cult pedigree.

The Good

When it was announced that Raimi was back to helm a TV adaptation of the Evil Dead franchise with Bruce Campbell returning as the iconic Ash Williams, I have to admit I was more than a little excited. Yet after such a long absence would the magic and originality of the movies still be there and would they transfer to the small screen?

To sum it up in a phrase, Hail to the king baby.

Everything we loved about the previous films is there but it's been cranked up to the next level; some of Ash's one liners are comedy gold, but the gore hounds will be not be disappointed as there’s some truly toe curling moments of unpleasantness in the dispatch of some of the Deadites. Rest assured that all your decapitated granny needs are satiated.

Ash Williams is a character that Bruce Campbell was born to play and he really is the star of the show, although Ray Santiago as Pablo and Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly play their parts as Ash's faithful sidekicks extremely well. The production values are excellent, especially where the makeup and special effects are concerned, and it’s clear that the series is a labour of love for all involved.

The Bad

It's not always easy to find the right balance between comedy and horror and on the whole Ash vs Evil Dead gets it spot on, but just occasionally the humour threatens to become a little bit self indulgent at the expense of tension. To put this in context for fans, think more Army of Darkness than the original Evil Dead.

The Verdict

If you weren’t a fan of the original Evil Dead movies (what’s wrong with you!?), you're not going to be won over by Ash vs Evil Dead. That being said, every other person with a taste for nostalgia and passion for schlocky, classic horror will love seeing Ash rediscover his mojo and be reunited with his chainsaw hand and trusty boomstick.

★★★★☆

Wayne Baker

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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword ★★☆☆☆

Well, let’s get this over with…

When it was announced that Guy Ritchie would be helming King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, it left many excited for a unique twist on the classic tale. What’s more, the preceding trailers helped ramp up expectations for a high-budget, visually stunning popcorn flick. With that in mind, let’s take a look at whether the film lives up to that early promise.

The Good

Truthfully, there wasn’t a lot, however it would be remisced of me not to mention the few things that King Arthur: Legend of the Sword had going for it. 

Firstly, the film’s opening battle is objectively visually stunning; I defy even the most curmudgeonly viewer not to enjoy oversized war elephants wreaking computer generated havoc! In fact, with written plot exposition introducing the scene, one could even draw parallels with the iconic commencement of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Indeed, if this review was based solely upon the first ten minutes of the film, I would consider it nothing short of flawless.

Furthermore, director Guy Ritchie’s take on Arthurian lore had a lot of potential, and on many occasions was executed with great aplomb. His trademark use of humourous British quips added a layer of humanity and relatability that’s vital for an effective bildungsroman, particularly one focusing on such legendary figures.

The Bad

While it can be argued that the Ritchie-esque take on King Arthur is the film’s greatest strength, it could also be considered its most fatal flaw. This is epitomised in the inclusion of none other than David Beckham (a close friend of the director) in a surprisingly prominent acting capacity. Now celebrity cameos can be jarring at the best of times (see Ed Sheeran in the recent series of Game of Thrones), but Beckham’s comes just as Arthur is about to pull Excalibur out of the stone. As a result, rather than watching in awe at this defining moment in the narrative, we’re left reeling/laughing/gagging at ol’ Beck’s failed attempt to act his way out of a paper bag.

However Beckham isn’t the only one at fault in the acting department, as Charlie Hunnam’s portrayal of the titular character is as wooden as they come. It’s never a good sign when you’re left rooting for the antagonist over the hero, but that’s exactly the case with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, as Jude Law’s performance as the villainous Vortigern is infinitely more charming and interesting as a character than Arthur. Moreover, it’s especially damning that I couldn’t recall the name of a single character other than the protagonist, highlighting just how weak and forgettable the majority of the plot and cast were.

The Verdict

Original takes on classic cinematic genres can be fun and refreshing (see Inglorious Basterds), but only when they have the charm, originality and likeability that makes them enjoyable and on occasion revolutionary. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword has none of these things. Even with Excalibur in hand, this was a swing and a miss.

★★☆☆☆

Sir Thomas Baker

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DareDevil (TV Show) ★★★★★

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe making ‘Disney’ ridiculous amounts of money, it was only a matter of time before they'd attempt to dominate the TV market. Agents of Shield was pretty bad though, with its low budget and D-list superheroes cameos. It had no chance of living up to its big screen brethren. Luckily, Marvel realised this and teamed up with Netflix (and chill) to make adaptations of some B-list Heroes that Marvel (and Disney) still held the rights to.

Matt Murdock was blinded, as a kid, by a toxic waste barrel that freakishly fell from a passing truck. The waste seeped into the sewer system, dripping onto four oblivious Turtles. Mutating them into humanoid Turtles with 80’s catchphrases. Meanwhile, Matt's future sensei, Stick, has a brutal and destructive fight with an enemy. His pet rat, Splinter, escapes among the carnage into the same sewers. Splinter raises the Turtles and passes on all that he has learnt from his observation of Stick's years of training. The Turtles training will prove more than useful when fighting against The Foot.

Season one opens with Matt (played by Charlie Cox) and Foggy starting up their own law firm and struggling to take on work. When a kid from a recent case gets kidnapped by the russian mafia, Matt soon realises that the only way to deal with some cases it to deal with them yourself. Conveniently for Matt, and the kid, being blind has heightened all his other senses to a point where being blind is sort of irrelevant and mostly just used as a chat up line.

Daredevil is so well executed that you could recut the whole thing and it would still work as a story about the villain of the show The Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onofrio, Full Metal Jacket). Giving a generous and interesting view on his background and motives. Vincent’s portrayal of Wilson Fisk adds depth to his character and an almost understanding of where he's coming from with his abundantly broken logic. Frank Miller's (Sin City, Dark Knight Returns) work on the Daredevil comics also plays a huge inspiration on the Netflix adaptation. Like his Batman stories before it, his darker take on the characters and the world they live in make it all seem more grounded. The cinematography and lighting, of the show, are often comparable to panels and colour schemes of his phenomenal comic art.

The stunt team headed by Phil Silvera and Chris Brewster (Charlie’s stunt double) are the secret stars of the series. Using a lot of the same team who'd worked on Captain America: Winter Soldier to help choreograph the fight scenes and paying huge homage to movies such as The Raid and Oldboy. Utilising long narrow corridors to build claustrophobic situations and using the illusion of long continuous single takes to make it feel that bit more exhausting.

Season two has, Matt's ex and evil psychotic ninja, Elektra (Élodie Yung, District 13 Ultimatum) show up to get in his way and cause him some grief. As well as everyone's favorite, right winged, antihero Frank Castle. Better known as The Punisher. I was sceptical at first but Jon Bernthal, known for playing Shane in The Walking Dead, could be my favorite portrayal of Frank. (Closely followed by Thomas Jane in the short and unofficial Dirty Laundry, by Phil Joanou). His character arch is mostly based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s run on Punisher Max. Tying his story in with the Kingpin while Matt attempts to discourage Frank from using unnecessary brutality when dealing with criminals... without much luck.

Matt's aforementioned and also blind sensei, Stick, hears about the Devil of Hell's Kitchen and figures it must be Matt, so pays a visit to offer some advice, training and a warning about a secret society of mythical ninjas known as The Hand. Now we can all forget about BatFleck's 2003 attempt.

★★★★★

Bry Wyatt

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Alien: Covenant ★★★☆☆

Any sci-fi fan will have watched Ridley Scott's well-known 'Alien', and you can bet it's high on most of their lists.  It's always been a favourite of mine, having the right combination of action, gore, and scientific/philosophical wondering (and an awesome lead, of course). 'Alien 2' was still good, albeit slightly more focused on the violence than the deeper questions, and then the series did what all film series seem to do - not one further film lived up to the original. 'Prometheus' seemed to bring the standard up again a bit, so I think we were all hoping that 'Alien: Covenant' would be the one.

Set 11 years after the events of 'Prometheus', the Covenant and its crew are on their way to find a habitable planet where they can set up their colonists. Very early on disaster strikes as an unexpected space event occurs, leading to the death of the Captain and further structural damage. However, a seemingly perfect planet comes into view, complete with a human transmission, and new Captain Oram (Billy Crudup) decides to listen to the worries and warnings of the rest of his crew and promptly dismiss them, instead getting ready to land and hopefully colonise the mysterious haven.

In classic 'Alien' style things go from bad to worse very quickly as the crew realise that they are not alone, and many of the action scenes throughout 'Alien: Covenant' play homage to the original. The familiarity to the first film is good (there's nothing worse than an instalment bearing no resemblance to the series you've grown to love) but there's a big issue with this: the film doesn't bring anything new. We already know what happens when someone has an alien grown inside them, and when another person goes near a facehugger egg, so watching the same old content in a different setting somewhat ruins the suspense. There's so much focus on these scenes that there's very little character development - you'll often find yourself forgetting that the crew actually know each other, and that some of them are even married to one another. Deaths happen, and yet I couldn't tell you who those deceased characters happen to be or really what role they played within the crew as they were all just so forgettable.

Despite this, the standard of acting is generally really good, in particular from name (played by Katherine Waterston, who has been seen recently in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'), who again plays a strong female lead that the viewer can identify with. Fassbender is excellent as both Walter and David, this time playing a pivotal role in the main story line and showing just how flexible he can be as an actor.

What really made the film was the use of effects - something that the 'Alien' franchise has always been good at. There's plenty of gore to go around, as you would expect, but the quality of the visuals were wonderful to look at, from stunning landscapes across the new planet to finally being able to witness the xenomorphs in an environment that's not overly dark and cramped.

It's just a shame that the film couldn't have kept up the standard we see during the first hour or so for the whole of the film, as it really did start off well. It was too predictable though, and I found myself clock-watching more than once. The ending definitely hinted that this won't be the last of the 'Alien' franchise so despite feeling a bit disappointed I'll still be watching the next one - Scott needs to bring something a bit different next time round though if he truly wants to resurrect what was once an iconic sci-fi series.

★★★☆☆

Hannah Read

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Splatoon 2 ★★★★☆

Set two years after the events of the first game, you’re hired and sent into the Octo Canyon in search of Callie and the Great Zapfish, who’ve gone missing. The story of Splatoon 2 takes place within Hero Mode. Its level design is reminiscent of Mario Galaxy's, linear, level structure. Each level is broken down into smaller sections and puzzles, to goop past, and then you blast to the next section... until you reach the end.

Boss designs are fairly bizarre and creative. Fighting a stack of bread ovens wasn't something I thought I'd ever write about... but here we are and I’m not complaining. The battles themselves follow all game boss logic. Learn the boss's attack patterns and weakness. Hit it three times and boom, no more boss.

The Switch's Gyro is the recommended default control option. Instinctively I wanted to play using twin stick method, coming in from shooters such as Battlefield, the gyro felt very unnatural to me at first but it didn't take too long to adjust to and fits well with the gameplay style.

Inkopolis Plaza acts as your main hub of the game, from which you have access all the game modes. Other player's Inkling avatars occupy the Plaza as interactive NPCs (non player characters). You can add pictures to your profile which are viewable to other players. A few players have managed to make some crazy artwork.

Turf War functions as the main online mode. This is where you'll spend most of your time.
You're given an allotted amount of time to cover as much of the stage with your teams coloured ink as possible while fighting back the opposing team. Weapon choice plays a big strategic role. You're also very dependant on your team mates, If one of them is idle and not helping out, you're going to lose. Don’t be that guy. Leveling up online unlocks more items and weapons, in the stores, so you're always playing towards something new. Frustratingly, you can't change loadouts between games without leaving the lobby first.

Bizarrely, modes and levels are stuck behind a time lock. You only ever have two stages available to you, to play on, which are on a timed rotation and will be switched out during certain times of day. Annoyingly, Splatoon 2’s new mode Salmon Run, a kind of Horde mode with fish eggs, is also only available during certain times of day. So if you miss it, you've missed out. The good side to this is that it insures there're plenty of people to play with, while it's available.

Nintendo's online service is currently free but they do plan to start charging for it by the end of the year. I had a lot of connection issues while trying to find matches online. It's early days so hopefully this will be fixed in an update sooner rather than later. Voice chat is a bit backwards intuitive. It requires a phone app and an adapter that goes between your phone, the headset and the switch. Everyone would be better off just using something like Discord.

Once you reach level 10 you unlock Ranked Battle, giving you access to new match types.
It's a little odd that these are locked behind a level cap but it does mean that the people playing these modes know what they're doing... but they do get a little funny about it if you don’t play your part “correctly”.

Having never owned a Wii U, like most people, I didn't get to play much of the first Splatoon. Only the small amount at a friends house. The Switch has given the series a second chance, which is good for those of us who missed out. Not so great for those who played the first game as there’s not much new here. Nintendo are good at re-selling you the same games over and over, it's been their business model for the last 20 years. Sometimes that's a good thing. Splatoon 2 is fun and easy to pick up but hard to master... and a nightmare for anyone with OCD.

★★★★☆

Bry Wyatt

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