Thursday 2 December 2010

The heavy weight 3 for GoTY

Ok so here it is my final three games from where I think the Game of 2010 will come from:

Starcraft 2 – you know its been 10 years since we saw the first game and its been a pretty dull wasteland for strategy game fans, I mean we had the Command & Conquer series to keep us happy in the mean time with games like Red Alert 2 & 3, and Dawn of War - but really there was nothing that could hold a candle to this series. I mean I was late to the party with the first game (only just), but this has always held a special place in my heart. Now I bought the collectors edition (you know the £70 version which came with the art book, DVD, USB stick etc) and would do it again for this game. I mean I rebuilt my computer JUST to play this game! The graphics – AMAZING, Cutscenes – JAWDROPPING, Music – ATMPOSHERIC. All in all the game leave you wanting more and has so much to offer and is clearly worth its price, one minor (well major) is that the game has no LAN play supposedly to lower piracy levels which is a bummer when you want to play offline. That aside the game is pretty much the package for what you want in an RTS (yes notice I remembered the acronym now) just don’t expect much till 2012 when we get the 1st add on Heart of the Swarm

Heavy Rain – Ok so I bought a PS3 this year and watched a review about this game and thought – “you know what? I think that sounds kind of cool, I’ll give it a go”. So I did. The game is a very immersive experience with you having the standard look and move controls but in set moment you need to use the six axis to carry out a move, like shake left to avoid the oncoming car as you drive down the freeway in the rain, THE WRONG WAY to prove that you’re a worthy father to a psycho-kidnapper. This plays like an interactive movie, and has the score to boot, throw in a story that really does belong on the Silver screen and reward the player with a set of multiple endings you’re in for a treat. This game has a couple of minor flaws, mainly around the camera system (a bit clunky) and the controls need precise movements otherwise it throws a hissy fit and spits the dummy, however over looking this minor issue its a great game and worth a good solid 10 hours gameplay at least 2 or 3 times making those really massive moral choices like Save my child or CHOP OF MY OWN FINGER!!!!

Mass Effect 2 – so this is a sequel to a game that was a good solid first go at a brand new IP from Bioware (legendary RPG makers), it had its faults but it was a good mix of RPG and 3rd person shooter. With the sequel we were teased that the main character, Commander Sheppard (you know the guy / girl from the first one – the very one you made and can import and continue with in this game) is dead, dead as a door nail, bought the farm, currently found orbiting a planet in space after an encounter with an enemy only known as “The Collectors”. Well he / she isn’t dead (not yet) and those bastards that shot at you, well they’re abducting humans for some unknown reason and the only people who are willing to help you are Cerberus (pro-human terrorist group from the 1st game – you know the people who wanted to release the Rachini on the universe again). Anyway off you go to build a crew of suicidal nut-jobs all with specialities (Archangel – the badass merc killer, Jack – biotic psycho, Thane – super cool assassin, Grub – super solider Krogan, Mordin – crazy scientist with a penchants for Gilbert and Sullivan (modified) and Legion – a Geth – go look it up I’m not going there!) to go on this mission to save humanity. The game splits over two disks and transfers well, the music is superb, camera work is good, music is really there, and the voice acting has both humour and seriousness to really drag you in. The more I went into the game the more I wanted Sheppard to live (yes if you don’t do this game the right way Sheppard will die no Lazarus this time!) as well as the rest of rag-tag crew, all of them. I mean I put at least 50 – 60 hours into one save and really enjoyed this. My minor fault, the cover system it just didn’t work right sometimes I’d bump and he’d be like “erm no this isn’t cover I’m not ducking down”. Which became rather annoying in the final rush through the Collectors ship.

So what’s the answer? On innovation and gameplay it would be Heavy Rain, however in my heart Mass Effect 2 grabbed me by the balls and didn’t want to let go until the end. The game just felt complete and what makes it better is the fact that other parts of the background are reference and written by the writing staff so it make the expanded universe all a part of the game experience, even if you don’t realise it

The games of the year - the crowd

So this year has been a pretty epic one for gaming hasn’t it? We’ve seen a sequel to what is the biggest selling non-MMO RPG of all time (finally!!) be released, many, many, MANY more sequels to games be released (Mass Effect 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassins Creed), some reboots (Medal of Honour), and plenty of new innovative Ip’s (Heavy Rain, Dance Central, Naughty Bear). All in all its been a
pretty epic year.

So what takes the crown, and by crown I mean what is truly THE GAME OF THE YEAR. To look at this you need to cast your mind back to January (keep going ....... little further ....... bit more ...... come one tiny bit ..... no too far come back) where we left our Console and PC hero’s battling it out with Modern Warfare 2 in the online world and many people were still thinking – “Will I ever see GT5 in my lifetime?” “I wonder if Duke Nuke’em Forever will ever be ready?” “Is Commander Sheppard really dead?” “Did I leave the oven on?”. Yes it was a simple time when choosing a game would have been easy, now fast forward to December 2010 and its a bit of a traffic jam, here are my highlights:
Now before I run these down I want to make something clear, I’ve not played all of the great games this year (I do have a life you know!) so this is from what I’ve played ok?


Alpha Protocol – ok I’ll be honest I’d never heard of this before I bought the game after seeing some of the adverts for it. A spy RPG? Sounds kind of cool. Well it is kind of cool for about 2 or 3 plays but after this it sort looses what flash it has, you that one trick pony? Well this is it I mean the controls are ok, the story is deluded, while the camera can be frustrating leaving the game enjoyable and yet frustrating wanting more. Its a game I want to hate, but just cant – its a .... a ..... a pug – you know it just does look like a dog but it gives you those eyes and you fall for it like a sap.

Fable 3 – Fable 2 was a fantastic game and was very well polished, the third iteration in this franchise thought it was fun to use copy, paste, and buff – problem is you buff too much the shit comes through. The game has a great sense of humour (very English / Python like) and has a pick up and play mechanic – the shit lies with the story, I mean it just lacks any life what so ever which makes the game slightly dull. To add insult to injury the game is buggy as hell and after a while I’ve sort of given up with finding fault and just got on playing it

Medal of Honour – you know I was excited to hear a new modern age of Medal of Honour was being released. “Finally” I thought “Something to for real shooting fans to play on and we can leave all the dicks in Modern Warfare.” Oh how wrong was I, while the game has a very realistic look and feel to the game it feels hollow. I mean Call of Duty games drag you in kicking and screaming into the action while Medal of Honour sort of leaves you alone with a sign saying “I’m a good game, give me a go”. Best to leave it in the corner of the dance floor for now.

Naughty Bear – ok this one is going to be short. The game is like the Teletubbies on acid! Seriously its all cuddly and fluffy with bright colours everywhere ..... then you take an axe to things, or a sword, or golf club – seriously funny and good to distress with.


Halo Reach – you know I have to admit something here, I’m not a Halo fan (ducks for cover from flying fanboy shit). Yes you heard me right, the story just felt disconnected – “I’m a space marine, he’s an alien we fight blah blah blah blah”. I mean come on its nothing we’ve not heard before right? Well Reach sort of took all of the good points of this series and made this game. The story actually felt like I should care about it, the characters felt engaging (even if their deaths were poor), and the controls finally fit. Multi-player finally added a “No-Dickheads” option which means I can enjoy an online game without the 12 year old screaming how bad I suck down my left ear. All in all a worthy end to what has been the Xbox work horse for the last few years.

Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley – ok I’m now a fan of Twisted Pixel I mean come on this game was funny, it had the humour levels of Conkers Bad Fur Day, simple controls, and references left right and centre to films, tv, and games. Minor issue – its on 11 with the weird stuff all the time and the Manga section just made me feel almost ill with its craziness!

Wednesday 10 November 2010

The truth to how I broke a bone in my foot

Ok so here it is – how it all happened!

For the last 6 weeks I’ve had a broken bone in my foot which as I have told everyone came from me “falling over my own feet”. Well that’s kind of true, and kind of not as I’ve left out some of the details of the tale mainly down to me signing an NDA or non-disclosure agreement as a result of product testing.

So I hear you all cry just what the hell were you testing to break a bone in your foot? Well for the last 2 months I have been taking part in a closed beta session for Kinect – you know the new motion controller for Microsoft? Yeah that!

So I’ve had a unit since the end of August and I’ve been under an NDA since then about the whole topic. Anyway back to the point here, I broke a bone in my foot playing Kinect Sports – more accurately on the 100m running section of the game in a mulitplayer against my brother.

I simply was in free space with no objects (just another person by the side of me) and was running on the spot when my foot went under from me and I felt a sudden sickening pain as I went over and had to pull up (most importantly loosing the race). The worst part is the sadistic thing filmed the entire event and played it back to me almost as if it was laughing at what a prat I’ve been.

The replay showed it clear as day that I simply just had my foot bend underneath me and with all my weight (please no jokes) I went and snapped a bone in my foot. While my younger brother has found this highly hilarious (as well as a few very close friends) it was my own fault and a freak accident of my own making

Now go ahead and laugh!

Tuesday 9 November 2010

A return to action

Right I'm back in the mood as I can begin to write again freely (reasons coming soon) and will start my return to the blog with an answer to a question - just how did I break my foot?

Easy come back later!

Saturday 11 September 2010

A small request

So I don't want to seem like an attention whore but could I ask people something who have a look at this page - please leave comments I always welcome feedback and would like to hear what people think of my writings. Cheers!

PAX talk - part 3 - post PAX talk

Time for the final part of this epic post, so I’m now back home in the UK and it’s been 2 days since I arrived back in the UK (I’ve used these to have some form of recovery since I had a few hours sleep on the plane home but the previous few days had caught up with me and so I slept for 13.5 hours but was SO refreshed afterwards!). Anyhow to finish of the games commentary:

F1 2010 – so this is the game that many F1 fans have been waiting for. This game is unlike any driving sim I’ve ever played since there have not been that many F1 games made. So to start I had a go at the game and one of the people from the booth comes over and this is how the conversation went:
“So what do you think?”
“Yeah it looks great and feels really realistic but this whole auto-brake thing is getting to me as I like to race.”
“Ok so let me just tweak this and this and there you go.”
“Holy crap!! This is a whole new game and so much more realistic.”
“So you thinking of buying it now?”
“Erm yeah I’m into the F1 and now I know it’s so much more I no doubt will when we see it in Europe”

KillZone 3D – so this would be one of the only games to be demoed at the event with both a 2D and 3D version of the game. So people who know me know that I’m not a huge fan of the whole 3D fad (yes I call it a fad as I am sure Hollywood will find a new toy to play with soon) and when it comes to watching movies I tend to prefer to 2D experience. Anyhow back to the game, so it’s on the PS3 and I’m still getting used to the controller but the whole game felt smooth (even though it was an early alpha build) and looked stunning and right away I was into the game (note this is only in the 2D form at the moment while I wait for a 3D station to come free). So the 2D version plays great, now onto the 3D version – while the game loses some of that that HD shine that the 2D version had the added depth to the game was a refreshing change I even found myself beginning to duck (yes physically move into cover) and dive around as I wandered around the level. So basically in 3D is doesn’t have the shine of 2D but it has the imersive experience that what the hardcore gamer craves.

So one thing about walking around the hall floor is that many of the exhibitors have free stuff to hand out to promote their games, and you need a good bag with you to store this during the day. I’ve come back home with twice as many t-shirts than when I left (and I only bought 3 of them). I didn’t manage to collect all of the pieces that were available (there just wasn’t time) but there are so many other things to pick up such as a free Disney sketch at the Nintendo booth to promote Epic Mickey, Duke Nuke’Em t-shirts and mints (disguised as steroids), Assassins Creed Brotherhood shirts (only when you pre-order so useless for us in Europe), Dragon Age 2 shirts (they’d all gone when I got there), Guild wars 2 stuff (so much stuff!!), Marvel vs. Capcom 3 shirts (you had to win 3 games I didn’t manage 1 as I got triple play combed in the fight), the list goes on as this was just on main hall floor as there was a whole 2 / 3 other floors for board games, card games, and RPG games.

One thing I have heard (over the twitter wire) is that some people are experiencing the PAX Plague - not me! I took anti-bacterial gel with me and used it all the time, but mainly after I would play a game or shake hands with someone (and they don’t take offense at it (in fact Wil Wheaton wont shake hands with people to avoid the whole plague)). So if you’re thinking about going then I would advise taking some to help defeat the bugs, oh and another thing that may have helped was showering 2 - 3 times a day (how can people not shower when you’re in a hot room like that - mind you they say that the smell of PAX is eau'd sweaty geek - erugh!)


To summarise the whole trip, the people are awesome and so chatty (weather its being stuck in a queue for a panel or a game or just going into the event), the food is great with many great places to eat out for breakfast, lunch (oh my word there is a place on 7th and Pike which does epic sandwiches – that is all) and evening meals, the event itself is massive and 3 days is just not enough to do it all (and that leaves you wanting more), and as for the city well its fantastic to wander around. In all I’m going back next year since the whole experience was awesome and I met so many people who I want to see again just to catch up with

PAX talk - part 2 - the games and the floor

Afternoon from a very muggy / clammy terminal in NYC. So where was I? That’s right the show floor, so I sort of skipped over the table top and card game areas of the convention as it’s not something that I am into (not saying never but just not this time) and hit the main expo floor. Within the hall contained one (of what I can imagine has caused many a games journalists to chew hat) games which was Duke Nuke’Em Forever (DNF as a joke) of which sadly I missed due to the immense line which surrounded the booth. Also on the show floor (which I didn’t also play) was Medal of Honour, Mortal Kombat, Gears of War 3, Halo Reach (funny point here – this had the longest queue of the Microsoft booth and its only 2 weeks away can some people just not wait?), and both Kinnect and the Sony Play. Now to the games that I managed to get my hands on.

Dragon Age 2 -this was only the first 15 minutes of the game (stuck in a loop and of course I was one of the few to hit the loop) and felt like an early build of the game. So the game now runs a lot smoother and looks better thanks to an improved graphics engine. The story has been tweaked to last longer (in game time only not on play time since the game sits around the 30 hr mark already), and the dialogue seemed to borrow from Mass Effect 2 in the way you selected. Yet by far the biggest improvement was in the combat as you now are able to attack straight away instead of what felt like the roll of a dice – not something you think about till you play 2. All in all a good improvement but I still prefer Mass Effect.

Six Strings – ok this is another music game for console (but only being made in the US for the moment) but this one has a unique twist. It comes with a full band set but the guitar is an actual electric guitar which can be plugged into any amp and you can strum away on the 6 six strings. The game itself has a massive learning curve if like me you’ve never played a guitar in the real world before. Songs we solid and mechanic was slandered.

Fable 3 – yeah so this is all on finished and was a practically finished version. Not much needed changing from 2 anyway since it was already a solid game. Unfortunately none of the new features were shown so it looks and feels better but the new features I can’t pass comment on.

Other games – so while there was also a tonne of games at the show (too many to name) there was some unique MMO takes out there with a 3rd person shooter take, and an RTS take both of which caught my eye.

So PAX games and talks were awesome, and while your their the people are truly awesome as you can stand in line and chat away with very like minded people (hence the convention) of which many of whom are on Twitter – note that at a show like this where everyone is a tech geek wifi and twitter are a must since no phone signal can be obtained.

Right so time to pause again as I need to cool off.

PAX talk - part 1 - the Seattle story

So good morning from Seattle! Well Sea-Tac (Seattle Tacoma airport). So it’s time to fly home now and I have to say that this holiday (I NEARLY put vacation there – need to switch back to English mode) was absolutely epic and I doubt that it could be topped.

So Seattle is such a fantastic city, it’s quite similar to a medium sized European city such as Manchester, in the sense that it is quite compact with what it has within it while at the same time having quite a number of tall buildings within this compact space. The views from the Space Needle were truly epic as you even see as far as Canada in one direction and to Mount St Helens in the other (yeah I know I’m from a place with a similar name sake there). So people thought I was odd for walking from what was one end of Seattle (where the Space Needle and Sci-Fi/Music museums are located) to the other end (where Qwest field is) but then again walking doesn’t bother me.

From exploring the city to exploring PAX or Penny Arcade Expo, where geek culture comes to exchange tales, play games (and transfer bugs it seems as some people found out with the PAX-plague – not me I planned ahead with anti-bacterial gel hand wash). While at the convention I attended many talks including the key note given by Warren Spector (the guy who gave us Deus Ex, Thief, and soon to give us Epic Mickey). The key note speech provided the audience with questions about its future position within society as we move forward in the 21st century, this mainly was around how gamers would have to evolve and accept new forms of gaming such as social media gaming into the fold in order to be accepted into the main stream and taken seriously as an art form such as Movies.

As well as the key note I attended other panels such as the Penny Arcade Q+A (1st session only), Roosterteeth, Major Nelson, Xbox Enforcement, Totally Rad Show Live, and a talk by Wil Wheaton. Many of these are just a panel of people who address the audience around a topic (with some even being recorded) and then having a chance for a Q+A with the panellists. I have to say I never went to a bad panel and I even had the courage to stand up on the microphone and ask a question at the Major Nelson panel (I say courage as the entire show was recorded live, and on listening back to the audio (found at MajorNelson.com) I do sound terribly British and all stiff upper lip – I don’t sound like that do I??). Some of the panellist will hang out after the show for a chance to meet the fans and take photos so I did just that and met all of the presenters from the Revision 3 show The Totally Rad show – all of which are totally rad guys!

Outside of the panels there is the expo hall, and within this there so many areas which cater for different things from table top gaming, to card games, to RPG’s, to video games. There is also a place where many of the fans (like me) can go to buy merchandise of certain things. In my case this was from the Roosterteeth guys who also work on their booth to sell the stuff, but it is also a chance for them to meet their fans and for them to meet the team – so yeah I met most of the team such as Joel, Gus, Brandon, Geoff, and Jack who were all awesome.

Beyond the merch booths there was a small area where many of the bands who were playing at the evening concerts (such as Paul and Storm) would be selling stuff as well as signing it, there was a table where signings could take place and on Saturday I got to meet one of the most awesome dudes in Geek history – Wil Wheaton (you know the dude who played Wesley Crusher in Star trek and is the villain in shows such as The Big Bang Theory and The Guild) and I even had a photo taken with him which was epic and I totally went blank and gibbered but I guess that is to be expected when you meet someone as well respected in the geek community as Wil frigging Wheaton!!!

So going to take a break here as they are calling the flight now – next stop NYC!

The post PAX review

Right so the next few posts will be my post PAX review and have been written at different times so to show you my thoughts as they were at the time I'm going to split them up into 3 parts so bear with me while I try to think of epic titles

Friday 10 September 2010

PAX Warning

Right so at the moment I am in the middle of writing a post-PAX report and just need to find 5 minutes to complete it - so something is coming so bear with me please!

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Hello from JFK over in NYC (beware the ackn are gt'n wrse)!!

Right so I’m going to kill some time while here in at JFK airport over in New York (t-minus 1.45hr’s to boarding as I write this). Flight over this morning / afternoon was interesting since this is the first flight I have ever taken on my own. This in turn led to its own fun when I have my own take on the Al Murray sketch (you know the one I mean – I’m the one guy on the plane going “please god let this plane take off”) this also crept back in when we hit some turbulence over Iceland which we had to fly over (well increase our altitude from 34,000 ft to 38,000 ft).
As for the in flight entertainment well I can only say this – Please can American Airlines get with the 21st sodding century and install custom screens in the back of the seats on international flights? I mean come on – it’s not fair to subject an entire flight to The Bounty Hunter (I’m not going to justify a commentary on it!!!) – I mean come on please let me have some choice to what movies I watch? If this is the case on all of the American Airlines fleet then next time I’m flying on a British carrier!
So JFK is well dull I mean it’s an airport – you’re not meant to hang around here your meant to pass through, so right now I’m sat with American’s all around me wittering on (its funny that word it is rather English, isn’t it?) while I sit here all modern drinking my Mango smoothie (yes I’m drinking a smoothie its a sugar boost) which packs a hell of a kick I have to say and puts the one I have in the cinema to shame. I’ve eaten (not trusting Airline food after earlier on where it was Hawaiian chicken (not bad but I’ve had better) followed by a cheese and ham sandwich (stone cold and what’s the deal with this sandwich can i just get some normal ham sandwiches that I’m unable to bludgeon someone to death with please? I mean is it too much to ask???).
Well that’s killed about 10 minutes, guess I’ll go read Twitter, or Facebook, or even the news (don’t get me started about the US so called news) to pass some more of the time. Oh well there is only this flight between me and Seattle now then 24 hours later its PAX time!

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Scott Pilgrim

I saw the trailer for this film back when I saw Kick Ass in the early part in the year (no doubt targeted marketing?), and thought that the film look kinda fun and would be worth a watch. So fast forward about 4/5 months and I've now watched it.

The whole idea of this film is guy meets girl, guy asks girl out, they date, has to defeat evil ex's, battle ensues and boy and girl learn lesson (ok so that takes it to a sort of caveman level). Right from the first noise / image of the film title sequence people who are over 23 think back to the EARLY days of gaming on Master System, SNES, NES, Game Boy Attari, Commadore ... etc (don't need to go on do I?). From here on in the video game refference so of come at you thick and face from the classics such as Zelda (in my own words the whole film plays like an ode to Ocerina of time) and Mario righ up to modern games such as Rock Band.

While were on the subject of music, the film has both a score and soundtrack which suits it to the ground. On the OST they pick the perfect writing artist in the form of Beck who covers the main band songs from the film (with the oh so blatent game refference band name Sex Ba-Bomb) which works really well.

Overall this film feels like a game being played out and has an out there sense of humor which relates to its target audience. Acting wise the film holds well with Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead both pulling off their roles rather well and the film also has great comic moments with guest slots in the form of (the one time Superman - studio words not mine!) Brandon Rooth and Chris Evans (the former Human Torch of FF fame and now Captain America).

So is it worth watching? YES! But I would say that people who don't really get the comic book / gaming / geek culture no doubt will poo poo the film (รก la Vanity fair) while those who are too into the culuture (yeah I think I belong in the shallow end of that pool) will drool over it, and rest will give it a go.

Monday 16 August 2010

Inception - HAROOMPH!!! The Audience is listening Mr Zimmer


Right so I will honestly say that from watching the trailers for this film I had no frigging clue what the hell was going on here in regards a story I had to read / watch some review just to get an understanding of what I thought looked cool (after all trailers have deceived me before – I’m looking at you Clash of the Titans and Dorian Grey). So Inception comes from Director Chris Nolan (who as the media keeps saying is British by birth and raised in the USA so he’s a Brit doing well in the states who sounds nothing like us but he’s ours so hands off!) the man behind things like The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, and The Illusionist. The easiest way to describe this movie is a reverse heist i.e. it is not the stealing but the planting of an item, in this case an idea. The film progresses in a logical manor and follows the very simple rules of movies such as set the rules, show what can and cannot be broken and what happens when you try to break them. The film does this very well and has some superb action in it (this mainly takes place in a hotel and in Zero-G (sort of)) and while good old Hans Zimmer has an excellent score (even though he throws musical grenades every now and again to make sure the audience hasn’t zone out completely to the plot (that just be my experience on the IMAX screen with 12,000W speakers)) there is something which lacks in this film and it comes from the actors – we call it emotion! Yes I didn’t buy it from Leo he just did nothing for me while Ellen Page ....... sorry I zone out there, Ellen Page ........ Oh damn it!!! Her (got it!) really shows what a good actress she is and can play serious well (unlike Juno where I wanted to kill her for almost the entire movie!). This is a movie that is nothing like the Matrix in the sense of the story / plot but is entirely like the Matrix in the fact that it leaves its interpretation entirely open to the viewer making it a pleasure to watch over and over again (unlike some films – ergh Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions)

Toy Story 3 - Time to retire yet?


You know it’s been 15 years since we first saw Woody and Buzz on the screen and to be honest not much has changed since then.  Disney right on trend releases this film in Disney Digital 3D (DD3D?) so it look beautiful again (but as always the glasses (that’s the 3D ones not my own) add a barrier to the whole film). So this time around we see Andy is off to College (that’s University for us real people) and like most people who go off to this place they have to have a sort out of all of their stuff which include many childhood items. Chaos ensues when Andy’s mum mistakes a bag of toys for donation (on a side note you think she would check this time as previously she has had a habit of throwing things out by accident – see Toy Story 2), so Woody to the rescue or so we think as they toys end up at a sort of retirement home for toys (also known as Day-care or Nursery), which is run by an evil teddy bear – they stay Woody goes, Woody returns, they break out ... blah blah blah – yeah it’s a Pixar movie so you know it’s going to be good. What I thought was spectacular was a scene where all of the toys realise that this is the end and that there is now no way out (at this point ¾ of the audience are in tears while the other ¼ (which includes me) are sitting there going “This is a Disney film isn’t it? So I expect the heroes to live!). Again what could be a fitting end to the series but if Disney wants to spin even more money out of this poor cow then it is possible.

Shrek – Forever After / Shrek - The Final Chapter / Shrek - please can we come up with something better to show this is the last one please (after)


After that nightmare that was Shrek the Third we finally get back on track with this final Shrek film and we go back to that good old story what if I’d never been born story (like we haven’t seen this before!). We start the film with everything being good but we slowly see how life isn’t so green (excuse the pun) when you have to grow up (Me? It’s never going to happen). So he makes a deal with the villain of this film, Rumplestilskin – hilarity ensues as Shrek must convince the world of who he is and show Fiona what true love is. I suppose the story would echo well with the male member of the family who now have kids, while the kids think the whole film is hilarious – me? I thought the film look great and once again 3D proved useless (sorry not a fan of the thing) and only added to the one scene where Puss really was given depth as he jumped (or rather tried to since in this film he is a VERY fat cat) in the air as Donkey jumps into the conversation and poor Puss’s fur is all on end. All in all a good family movie and a fitting end.

3 for 3


So far this year I have seen quite few films but as for the summer blockbusters I’ve see 3 so far (Iron Man 2 doesn’t count in my book due to it being an early launch). When I watch films (as some people will testify to your honour) I tend to sit watch and analyse (I do the same with trailers and it’s why I’m King of the Trailer Game tm!).  So the next few posts will be 3 of the most recent blockbusters that I have seen this summer.

Post 1

Right so here goes nothing!

This is the first (of what might well just be many!) posts. After countless failed experiements with various formats etc I have decided to give this little site a go. Basically I'm going to use this as a way to mind dump whatever the hell I feel like so from the start let me say this: this blog contains my views and my views only on all things concerned and at no point represents the views of anyone I work with / know.

Boring shit out the way this could be kind of fun, thats if I dont get bored - so feedback or comments (if I can figure the things out!) are welcome as always!