Monday 17 February 2014

The LEGO Movie Review

Bursting with colour, creativity, and of course bricks, this pop-culture cashgrab is as smart as it is stunning.

 
 
The iconic Danish brand alone guarenteed this film's financial success - but what could have been your typical dumbed down kid's movie is actually a masterful construction of wit, satire, and nostalgia that the whole family can enjoy.
 
In fact, The LEGO Movie is perhaps moreso written for adults than children. It's a movie that is very self aware, and the majority of the film's gags revolve around the limitations of the brand in question. For a film that is essentially an hour and a half long commercial, it surprisingly has a lot of social commentary, even poking fun at the consumerism it's based upon. There's several little nods throughout the narrative that can make anyone who's ever played with those iconic bricks feel like a kid again.
 
That's not to say that The LEGO Movie is without a plot - considering the brand has hundreds of licenses under their studded belts, it's actually admirable to see the writers haven't let their game down; the band of minifigure misfits are perfectly cast and, dare I say, hilarious to see interact with one another (Liam Neeson as a police officer with an unusual case of bipolar disorder takes the cake) and the inclusion of multiple third party characters makes this universe even more imaginative and similar to that of many children's experiances with LEGO. The third act is nothing short of breathtaking - after a year with so few good animated films, who'd have thought a movie based on colourful pieces of plastic could actually be incredibly touching? It's a moral that can identify with millions of LEGO users across the world, and one that is perfectly bittersweet; for both the young and young at heart.
 
The animation is also top-notch, with the stop motion indistinguisable from it's computer generated counterpart. It's a feast for the eyes, though can be overwhelming at times - the second act feeling like a mass of multicoloured bricks sprawled across your carpet. If you can recover from this seizure of creativity however, the rest of the film is incredible to look at, and you can see the craftsmenship that went into creating each individual world. From an ocean made out of translucent blue studs to every alarm clock reading 7:00AM, it's a "Master Builder" paradise.
 
Far from following the instruction manual of children's films, The LEGO Movie is a creation that is made with true precision in both writing and visuals. Despite the ocassional overwhelming nature of it's detailed setpieces, the mass is constructed into an ending you can't help but marvel at, and builds the foundations for many brand-based, family friendly films to come.
 
Score: 9/10

Monday 10 February 2014

The Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 Review

The second instalment of TellTale's five-part Fables tribute lacks the full moon of its predecessor.

 

'Smoke and Mirrors' picks up practically minutes after the cliffhanger of Chapter 1, and we're immediately transported back into the beautifully stylised world of The Wolf Among Us. Having waited over four months for this next instalment to the franchise, Episode 2's long awaited release is only somewhat justified by it's actual content.
 
This chapter is much slower in pace, with very little actual story progression. Episode 2's plot is similar to a jigsaw puzzle, in that the majority of gameplay is based solely on detective work - from analysing a crime scene to interrogating a suspect. However, playing 'Smoke and Mirrors' is essentially like completing a jigsaw that came with specific instructions. When analysing evidence, the correct response seems the most obvious out of the four options, making your job as Sheriff feel like child's play, and the game's climax is unsurprising thanks to a sporadic change of one character's mannerisms. Most players will have the intellect to work these things out for themselves, making Bigby's investigation less mysterious and therefore less interesting.
 
In addition, the player's choices are limited to minor decisions in comparison to Episode 1's, where you felt as if everything you did had a huge impact on your case. Here, we have your quint essential good cop bad cop - play Bigby nice, or play him as the Big Bad Wolf he was born to be. These black-and-white decisions literally come to the point where an entire scene revolves around provoking your suspect through either mild intimidation or by brutally destroying his possessions. In this case then, the game is very bland to play out in some sections, in that you're limited to only develop Bigby's character down one of two paths.
 
 
Despite these flaws, the episode still holds up well and features many new characters who you'll just love to hate. Georgie Porgie is no longer an innocent little boy, but the owner of Fabletown's sleazy strip club The Pudding 'n' Pie, and early on we meet the kind hearted but obnoxious Jack of beanstalk-climbing fame, who doesn't quite know when to keep his mouth shut. These new additions to the game's universe add yet another layer of depth and dimension to a franchise that is already so rich in detail and well thought out. The gorgeous neon colour palette is shown off in all of it's glory in the strip club scene; paired with the game's brooding soundtrack, it's just stunning to experience.
 
Existing characters aren't left out though, with your choices from the previous episode playing a big part of several scenes in the episode. The suspect you arrested in the former's climax will give you entirely different information to what the other criminal would have said, allowing both you and Bigby to slowly solve the mystery in a unique way. Characters will interact with you based on how you treated them previously, and Bigby himself is developed fantastically over the course of the narrative. Adam Harrington's voice work shines through, perfectly delivering each line with such emotion - you BECOME the Wolf, with the player's choices parallelling the mood of the protagonist. Why wouldn't you hit that person when Bigby scowled at them like that?
 
 
With a story that's grim, gruesome, and everything in between, 'Smoke and Mirrors' is a satisfying addition to the The Wolf Among Us' evergrowing Fable universe, but lacks the proper story progression or diverse choices that would make it surpass Episode 1. Let's hope then that this is the only slimy hairball we'll see in the series.
 
Score: 7/10

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate Review

The Arkhamverse's first venture into handheld gaming is a solid entry to the series' near perfect mythos.


Whilst Warner Bros. latest console addition to the franchise didn't bare as well as its predecessors, Batman: Arkham Origins was undeniably the best written and best looking entry to the trilogy. However along with the release of this perculiar prequel came the addition of a game unique to the PSVita and 3DS platforms - I'm of course refering to Blackgate.
 
Set three months after the events of Origins, Blackgate follows Batman's journey into Blackgate Prison in order to take out the three gang leaders - Joker, Black Mask and Penguin - who are holding the facility hostage after a suspicious riot breaks out. Working alongside The Dark Knight is Catwoman, in her first canon appearence of the franchise, whos motives seem uncertain to her caped counterpart. The story is the main focus of the game as it should be, with the same stellar voice acting and the same stellar writing behind the series that we've come to expect. Troy Baker in particular steals the show again as the Clown Prince of Crime, and the game actually manages to be pretty dark at times. Without giving too much away, Blackgate's loose plot and unneeded cameos in the form of boss fights ties up nicely at its climax, alluding to a much anticipated WB project in the works. In all honesty, many faults cannot be pointed out within the story itself, and the game is certainly a worthy entry into the Arkham universe. Although one must bode the question - haven't we seen this all before in Batman: Arkham Asylum?
 
What's particularly interesting about this game is it's platforming style, modelled after Metriod and the such like, in contrast to the sandbox enviroment of its console equivalents. In every sense then, Blackgate was designed to be handheld, and not a mere copy and paste job.
 
Playing on a 3DS though, it's hard to say many traditions of the franchise have transitioned all that smoothly. Keeping up a combo in combat is near impossible thanks to the device's tiny buttons in comparison to console controllers, meaning that the now iconic Freeflow Focus system developed in previous games is lost entirely to clunky, slow fight scenes. This can be particularly difficult for some of the boss fights, in which you have to multitask evading and using gadgets without the ability to quickfire them like in the game's predecessors. I specifically mention that I played the game on a 3DS as I feel the experiance may have been slightly different should I have played on a PSVita. In fact, I would say the game is designed even more so to the Vita's advantage; the collectables throughout the game don't feel that rewarding to gather unless you're earning a trophy for them, and similarly so for unlocking each ending (which we'll get into a bit later).
 
 
As far as Detective Mode goes, again the limitations of being a handheld game restricts overall enjoyment of playment. Each predator sequence feels laid out for you, not making it much of a challenge if you know the basics of any Arkham game. Of course there are the odd encounters that require you to think more than usual, but the new ability of analysing your environment is really what seals the deal.
 
Although briefly touched upon in Arkham Origins, the new feature of being able to analyse your surroundings using Detective Mode makes an emmersive gaming experiance where you truly feel like the World's Greatest Detective, and rightly so takes up the majority of gameplay. I actually found myself really liking this new feature after initial skepticism, and it isn't as tedious as it looks. Blackgate is very much a puzzle based game, with this new feature being the core of it. I'd love to see something similar introduced into the future console entries to the franchise, as it makes the Caped Crusader's journey that little bit more interesting.
 
Also unique to the game is the ability to backtrack. Each boss holds out a specific area of the prison, and once you've explored around half of each facility, you'll be required to travel to another via a secret entrance to obtain a gadget upgrade in order for you to move on. Admittedly this can be a bit tedious, but the structure works out OK for the most part, and the great set designs are good enough to occupy you otherwise. This also allows the player to complete the main story in different orders, making it great for replay value if you want to unlock all the villain's secret (all be it short) cutscenes and a slightly alternate climax - note the word slightly.
 
If anything however, the games biggest fault lies in its atrocious character models. Although only noticeable up close, by slapping a texture onto a character model rather than designing them more carefully is in all honesty a disgrace to a system that has had the likes of the beautiful Uncharted and Forza on their resume. Again, this may differ from console to console, but the 3D was certainly not doing the character models any justice.
 
 
What is gorgeous to look at however is the motion comic cutscenes. With a stunning blend of hand drawn animation and realistic textures, these drive the story forward and look fantastic in 3D. Bar some characters being drawn slightly off, it's a neat addition that delivers on what TMNT: Out of The Shadows failed to do so. As I mentioned earlier, the backdrops are also extremely well designed and laid out, whilst also being easy to navigate over time, allowing the platforming experience to be as entertaining as it should be.
 
In conclusion, Arkham Origins: Blackgate is similar to its prequel twin in that both have technical flaws and don't deliver 100% of the time. Despite these problems though, both also give us a great story, and the new features added are really what make them worth checking out.
 
Score: 7/10