Today sees the release of the eagerly anticipated third episode of The Wolf Among Us, titled The Crooked Mile.
Brought to us by Telltale Games, creators of the hugely popular The Walking Dead games, The Wolf Among Us is a noir murder mystery following similar game mechanics to The Walking Dead.
Having not seen The Raid, I entered the screening of The Raid 2 with some trepidation. I understand that fundamentally The Raid 2 is a fighting movie, and as I’m not a fan of the genre, perhaps my mind was already made up before the title credits had rolled.
The story, if you can call it that, follows Rama, the main character from the first Raid film, as he sets to uncover corrupt cops within the Jakartan justice system. Going undercover as a heavy working for a local politician, Rama starts his assignment by befriending the son of the kingpin, Uco, in prison which serves as his in with the family.
For me, the plot quickly loses its way, with the film becoming more and more about how much gore and violence it can cram in at the detriment of any plot that had lingered in earlier scenes. Considering Rama’s assignment is to uncover corruption, there seems it be very little of this, and more acting as a bodyguard for Uco.
The fight scenes, which obviously form a large percentage of the film, are well choreographed and slick. I always find it hard to really lose myself in a fight scene, where the only weapons are fists and feet. I cannot dispel the power of disbelief long enough to assume that the downed enemies will stay down from simply being punched, but they do and Rama is able to take down each foe with ease.
There didn’t feel like there was any real threat posed to Rama. As Rama constantly proves that he is more than capable of protecting himself, taking down enemies with ease, the foes that are presented to him are easily dispatched and it’s only in the final moments of the film that you start to fear for Rama’s wellbeing.
The Raid 2 is in UK cinemas from April 11th, and is a must see for fans of the first film and martial arts films. Viewers going in expecting a plot-driven film will be disappointed, but for pure action alone, you would be hard-pressed to find a better suited film.
After nine years on our screens, the final episode of How I Met Your Mother aired this week.
A long time in the making, the show has kept audiences hooked for nine seasons, waiting to find out how Ted did meet the mother.
Full spoilers for the show finale follow. You have been warned.
In true How I Met Your Mother style, the finale pulled a lot of punches and kept me hooked throughout, with plenty of moments which left me gasping, and at one point, crying.
I feel like the finale was a good end to the show, if it had ended with “And that’s how I met your mother.” Unfortunately, it went on and Ted found himself once again at Robin’s window with a blue French horn.
My first real gripe with the episode was something that went on to make a little more sense as the episode progressed. Barney and Robin divorcing. Totally left-field, considering up until that point, season nine had been about them getting married in the first place. All of a sudden it was like those 20 episodes didn’t matter, and it was over with a quick “We got a divorce.” Barney and Robin have always made sense as a couple, they’ve always been on the same page, unlike Ted and Robin, so to see the back of their relationship was a little sad but ultimately makes sense, given the direction of the story as a whole. Case in point, I previously gave them the top position in my list of favourite pop culture couples (see here).
For my next problem, see: goodbye to the apartment. It’s all a bit Friends-eque, really. Yes, adults grow up and they have to move out of their 2 bedroom apartments, but couldn’t they have just done it and transitioned quickly? I get that it was the scene for Lily voicing her fears that Robin wouldn’t be there for any of the “big moments”, but I feel like this big moment could easily have just happened off camera. The move felt a little cliché to me; goodbye to the apartment, goodbye to the show. At least there was no ceremonial key returning.
Whilst we’re on the subject of the apartment-leaving Halloween party, Robin saying Ted was “the guy she should have probably ended up with” was quite infuriating. Hasn’t Robin had enough chances with Ted? Obviously, at this point, I didn’t know where the episode was going but it left a sour taste to think that Ted only seems like a consolation prize to Robin, and she only wants him when someone else has him.
The episode wasn’t all bad, though, and despite my whining, I did like it a lot. I stopped investing in Lily and Marshall as a couple quite a long time ago, but they had some good moments. However, my stand-out moment in the episode goes to Barney, when he holds his daughter for the first time, showing what a talented actor Neil Patrick Harris is as he managed to convey enough emotion in a seconds-long scene to bring tears to my eyes.
After spending all of season nine getting to know the mother, she’s killed off in an instant. The mother, or Tracy, as she’s apparently known, isn’t even given an on-screen death and her rapid health deterioration lasts all of one scene. After nine seasons, I feel like I’ve invested more in Ted than to have him just run back to Robin once he’d had the opportunity to get married and have a couple of kids.
Something that really stood out to me from the finale was when it comes to light that Ted and Tracy haven’t gotten married despite having their children. As an audience, we know that all Ted has ever wanted was to get married and have two children, presumably in that order. We know Ted has the daughter and son he always wanted, so it stands to reason that he would have gotten everything else he wanted too. When it was revealed that Tracy was pregnant, I for one assumed that the wedding would be brought forward, not postponed. The realisation that everything I’d assumed about Ted and Tracy’s relationship was wrong, coupled with the divorce of Barney and Robin perhaps opened my eyes to the fact that I didn’t know where things were going.
I understand that the writers have had the ending planned out from the get-go, but to spend nine years constantly reiterating that Robin isn’t the mother, that Ted and Robin don’t get married, only to have Ted run back to Robin feels like a bit of a let down. Ted isn’t one of my favourite protagonists ever, and probably wouldn’t even make it into a top ten list, but I feel like he deserved his happy-ever-after with his wife and two kids, and I feel like he’s been denied of that.
How I Met Your Dad, constantly billed as a stand-alone spin-off of the original series, has a lot to live up to, and despite the promises that it will be a whole different set of characters telling a different story, it feels like it’s not really the end for the original gang.
My prediction? How Number 31 met Barney.
Point-and-click games are the holy grail of platinum trophies. Posing no real threat, there are no difficult platforming levels, and often no collectibles to concern yourself with. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is really no different to the Back to The Future game in this respect, with it’s most difficult moments lying in puzzles.
As the name suggests, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is based on a Sherlock Holmes adventure. The whole game is one story with smaller mysteries building up to a much larger case, though all are linked and as you solve the mysteries the pieces of the larger puzzle will begin to fit together.
The positives of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes are far outnumbered by the negatives. To try and remain on a positive note for a while longer, the puzzles are challenging without being infuriating, and there are comprehensive guides available online. Though the backgrounds and scenes seem authentic to the Victorian England setting of the game, a below average level of graphics means you’ll never get to enjoy it. The game also suffers from some truly awful voice acting, with the actors playing the children some of the worst I’ve ever heard.
Throughout the course of the game you will control Sherlock Holmes, John Watson and Toby, Holmes’ dog. Each character feels more difficult to control than the last, and at times it feels impossible to get the characters to even look in the direction you want them to. Luckily, the bulk of the game centres around solving puzzles, but the searching for clues often feels very labourious due to the sub-par controls.
Players must be aware that there are a number of missable trophies for this game – six in total. With no chapter select available (the game makes you save your progress manually, I would advise creating multiple save files as a precaution), if you miss one trophy then you’ll have to play right through from the beginning.
Playstation Trophies list the game as a 2/10 difficulty and estimate the game with take around 10 hours to complete. Though I’d agree on difficulty, I’d add that with a guide you can probably complete the game in around 8 hours. Be warned, if you aim to get the platinum on this game, you’ll spend a lot of your time feeling very frustrated!
Alongside my PlayStation and television there is an ever-growing pile of games I refer to as my “to-complete pile.” Each time a new title is released, the pile grows and I feel a little worse about myself.
As pictured below, the games that I’m so heavily avoiding are some of the best games to be released lately, and LEGO Marvel (which I’ve since obtained the platinum in).
Currently, my pile sits in the order I want to complete the games in; of how annoyed I’ll be if the plots I’ve so carefully been avoiding are suddenly spoiled for me. Not playing these games is exhausting. Constantly on the alert for spoilers from podcasts, articles and loose-lipped friends, these are games I am going to go back to, games that I loved playing. That I will love playing again.
“I’m not going to buy any more games until I’ve finished the ones I’ve got” has become a catchphrase of mine, but as release day for a new game rolls around, I get caught up in the hype and want to be instantly involved. I don’t want to work through the pile just to get the new game, I want it now.
I’ve recently managed to restrain myself from buying both Thief and South Park: Stick of Truth on their own release days, and have made an internal promise that I’ll be caught up with my gaming pile by the time Watch Dogs rolls around.
Using new releases as an incentive brings about it’s own issues. If I really do want to make it through these games before I buy anything new, I have to add new titles to my ever-increasing list of spoiler-blocking.
With game developers bringing out so many worthy games in recent months, the urge to buy new games gets stronger and stronger. With each new release that I deprive myself of, I feel like I’m learning a valuable lesson about the perils of spreading myself too thinly across too many games.
As we sit on the precipice of the 86th annual Academy Awards, Culture Shack looks ahead to give you predictions of the top categories. The past year has been a real bumper crop of exceptional films, leading to some really tough decisions to make with my predictions.
Best Picture
Perhaps the category I struggled to predict most, this year’s Best Picture nominees are of an extremely high standard. Nine very different films, both thematically and stylistically, I’m backing 12 Years a Slave to pick up the award.
Best Director
An award which I’d happily see collected by any of it’s nominees, I’ve plumped for Steve McQueen to win for 12 Years a Slave. If found the winner, then McQueen will be the first black recipient of the award.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
In terms of pouring themselves into a role and completely taking on a character, the Academy Award should be given to Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club. Competition is tough for the men this year, with strong performances for very powerful characters from all five actors.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
For sheer performance factor and forcing the viewer to truly believe in and invest in a character, the award in this category should go to Cate Blanchett for her turn as the titular character in Blue Jasmine.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
For this category, I really think there’s only one name worth mentioning; Jared Leto. As Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club, Leto delivers a truly breathtaking, emotional performance.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Having to reign in my inner Jennifer Lawrence fangirl and taking a subjective look at this category is difficult, and a much as I would love Jennifer to win her second Oscar, I think that the deserved winner of the category is Lupita Nyong’o.
NBC have aired a teaser trailer during coverage of the Winter Olympics revealing that they are set to bring it’s cult hit Heroes back to our screens.
Heroes: Reborn will hit our television sets in 2015 with a 13-episode miniseries, set to follow a new story arc with new characters. NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke has, however, released a statement where she advises NBC “won’t rule out the possibility of some of the show’s original cast members popping back in.”
Heroes was cancelled in May 2010, after repeated poor viewing figures.
Hot on the coat-tails of the PS4’s success, Sony has yesterday announced that the PS Vita Slim will be released in the UK on February 7th 2014.
Estimated to cost in the region of £180, the new slim model is 20% thinner and 15% lighter than it’s predecessor, creating a more sleek look and greater emphasis on handheld, compact gaming.
The slim model will come with 1GB of internal memory, just enough to get buyers started, but considering the wide back catalogue of the Vita and the sheer quantity of downloadable games, those pricy Sony exclusive memory cards are the only option for increasing capacity.
The most notable change to the console comes to the screen. Gone is the crisp OLED display, and in with a standard, cheaper LED display. Cutting the price of manufacturing the console, the LCD screen is expected to make the Vita’s battery life go that bit further compared to the OLED screen of now.
Further changes to the console include a smaller rear touchpad, allowing for bigger grip panels, and the start and select buttons have had a redesign. You’ll now be able to charge your Vita using the Dualshock 4 cable, as the port has been changed to match that of the PS4 controller.
Sometimes, I sit down and think, “Time to get serious with this gaming. Time to play GTA V.” Sometimes I’ll think, “Oh sweet! A new LEGO game! I love LEGO games!” And just sometimes the little voice in the back of my head will say, “This LEGO game sure is taking a long time. I want a platinum trophy NOW.” As I sat down to play The Smurfs 2, it’s pretty clear which thought was running through my head.
To add context into my shame, the LEGO Marvel map is huge, and a real effort to do all of the side-quests and is just taking too long for my platinum craving. I am also playing Sound Shapes on PS3, PS4 and Vita, but I need something to break up the mind-altering frustration caused by Death Mode. The lure of the triple platinum is just too much for me to ignore completely.
I’d like to be able to talk about the plot of The Smurfs 2, but the cutscenes are skipable for the most part and I only really took in the non-skippable ones. As a very brief synopsis, Smurfette is kidnapped by Gargamel and the rest of the Smurfs have to save her. I’m sure there’s more too it than that, but I’ve never been a fan of The Smurfs, and frankly, don’t care about the danger they are in now.
Gameplay is divided up into five levels and a boss in six different worlds, with each level taking less than five minutes to complete. No exaggeration. Levels are linear, with no opportunity to stray from the path. In order to complete your first playthrough as quickly as possible, you should look to do a speed-run and play as Clumsy who can tumble forwards, much more quickly than the other Smurfs. Don’t worry about collectables as you’ll be playing through again once you’ve unlocked Smurfs with different abilities anyway.
As far as games go, The Smurfs 2, is probably about as easy as they come. The Playstation Trophies website lists the game as being 1.5 out of 10 difficulty, with a platinum obtainable within 5 to 8 hours, I would agree with this and perhaps go so far as to suggest the game is even easier. There are no troubling trophies, and the only thing that will take some time is collecting the 100 Smurf coins, which can be done without a guide though there is a comprehensive one online.
Billed as The Hangover for pensioners, my first cinema trip this year was to see Last Vegas. With a central cast of Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline, the “Flatbush Four” head to Vegas to celebrate the marriage of Billy (Michael Douglas) and his 31-year-old fiancée (of course), where they meet Diana (Mary Steenburgen), a lounge singer in a casino.
The bulk of the film feels very predictable, with the first 30 minutes introducing the characters and their respective problems. The tone of the film is light, and there doesn’t ever seem a doubt that each problem won’t be left resolved. Some jokes you can see coming a mile off, and in a world where the shock factor seems to be the highest indicator of laughs, a change of pace on that front is not necessarily a bad thing.
Once the foursome arrive in Vegas, the predictability continues with gambling, parties, scantily clad women, and rather creepily, the Flatbush Four judging a bikini contest of girls young enough to be their grandchildren.
One gripe I do have is that what should have been the films biggest laughs, were left a little stale for me as they were featured in the trailer, which by the time the screening rolled around, I had seen more times than I care to count. The average cinema-goer doesn’t go to the cinema quite as often as I do, and judging by the laughs the gags still got, I was perhaps the only person who felt these certain jokes had become over-worn.
With six Academy Awards between the four main actors and Mary Steenburgen, the film is expectedly well-acted. Robert De Niro in particular stands out, stealing most scenes he is in, providing the emotion throughout the film as well as plenty of laughs.
Leaving predictability and perversion aside, Last Vegas is still a pretty good comedy film, more than matching recent comedy films I’ve seen (Anchorman 2 not standing). Whereas some recent comedies have jokes which are few and far between, Last Vegas keeps the jokes coming, and all feel well-timed and at the right level.
Culture Shack 