The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The final instalment is a good addition to the trilogy, but it has its flaws.

Director: Peter Jackson
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 141 minutes

We're finally there, 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is the final instalment in the prequel series to the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, and boy does it feel like a long time coming. I thought 'An Unexpected Journey' was long winded, but a good movie overall, and the follow up was an improvement. It was obvious from the start that 'The Hobbit' should never have been a trilogy, and watching this has not changed that, in many ways it has cemented it.

The film starts off where 'The Desolation of Smaug' left off. With the dragon Smaug setting aflame Lake-town, and the opening of the movie is amazing, and there is a lot of satisfaction in seeing Smaug come to his death. But it does feel like it should be at the end of a movie rather than the beginning.

From then on, the movie spends about forty five minutes building up to the final battle, as all of the different sides want to lay claim to the treasure in Erebor, that was left dormant by Smaug. We watch as Thorin (Richard Armitage) becomes paranoid and corrupted by his new power as the King, and in his search for the Arkenstone. Until he eventually redeems himself.

When the battle plays out, it is relentless, as one army after another enters to fight the Orcs. The battle is epic and thoroughly entertaining, and the final fight scenes between the main protagonists and villains is a joy to watch. However, for all its size and scope, the battle never reaches the level of greatness of the battle of Helm's Deep in 'The Two Towers' or the last battle in 'Return of the King'.

One of the reasons for this is that there was real tension in the lead up to those battles, it also helped that the Orcs were not computer generated characters, they were real people in practical make up and costumes. It made them so much more intimidating, the Orcs are now so much more disposable, as one by one they get slayed so effortlessly. There is also far too much overhead shots swooping by as the battle goes on, making the whole thing look and feel like a video game cutscene.

The cast is a positive for the film, the majority of the casting throughout the whole trilogy has been stellar, Martin Freeman has really nailed down the part of Bilbo Baggins, and Luke Evans really shines in this movie as Bard. But there is one negative, the character Alfrid (assistant to the master of Lake-town) is there for comic relief, but he just ends up being a huge distraction, it really is jarring when you consider that this is a really dark movie, for the most part.

Things get a little emotional as the movie comes to its conclusion, which is satisfyingly good, and it also links well with the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. But, I can't help but feel the Hobbit trilogy is a massive climbdown from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It might be unfair to compare the two, but they both exist in the same universe and have the same director, so I think it's fair game.

The original Lord of the Rings trilogy set the benchmark for Fantasy cinema, and it will forever be hard to live up to. But with the original trilogy, they were films intended to be more than just the sum of their parts, they weren't just blockbuster movies. In other words, they were not made just for the sake of money making. Which I do not believe is the case with 'The Hobbit' trilogy, but they have just felt kind of like by the numbers blockbuster movies, and not much else.

Verdict- 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is a pleasing conclusion, and well worth your time and money. I would rank it on equal footing as 'An Unexpected Journey', but not quite as thrilling as 'The Desolation of Smaug.

3.5/5

Sonic Generations: Review

One of the best Sonic games ever!!

I, like so many staunch Sonic the Hedgehog fans, for the most part has had to put up with in terms of quality, inconsistent games in the blue hedgehog's catalogue over the last decade or so. Some missed opportunities (Sonic 06) and some good/average games (Sonic Unleashed). Before those there was the two Adventure games, which have both dated badly since their initial releases. 

So a couple of weeks ago I came across 'Sonic Generations' (XBOX 360) for £10 in a second hand video game shop. I wasn't too sure at first, but I bought it, and I'm glad I did. For those who don't know, Generations was released in 2011 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first ever Sonic the Hedgehog release. The game kind of bypassed me when it was initially released.

There isn't much of a story, the game starts with Sonic and his friends celebrating his birthday, before a monster simply known as 'The Time Eater' appears and scatters them across different time portals. Eventually leading to two Sonic's appearing with one another, the classic, slightly chubby one from the old 16 bit days. And the new, much thinner, and sleeker modern Sonic.

In truth the story is very weak, but hey, this is a Sonic game after all, and it isn't the heart of the game.


There are nine stages in total, each of them with two acts split between the classic and modern Sonic. The stages are all remakes of Sonic stages from previous games, ranging from The Green Hill Zone in the first Sonic to Rooftop run from 'Unleashed'.

The classic Sonic's levels play in a similar vein to the old 2D Genesis games, with the combination of speed runs and platform to platform sections, but in a much more frantic way. The modern Sonic levels are by and large 3D, it plays in a similar way to the Adventures and Unleashed games, with some brief moments where it changes to 2D. Both have the trademark loop the loop sections.

They progressively get more challenging the further you advance, but by and large they are all very fun, and like the classic games, you'll be returning to them over and over, they never get boring. My personal favourite is City Escape, which was taken from 'Sonic Adventure 2'. The soundtrack, the San Francisco setting, the stampede truck, it is without doubt my favourite level in the entire franchise. You simply have to play it to really understand how great it is.

I personally prefer the classic Sonic gameplay, not only does it require a little more skill, but it perfectly encapsulates the best memories of Sonic so perfectly. The environments can also be taken in more, and it's the environments in the game that are truly breathtaking, and some of the best I have ever seen. The colour palette is strikingly colourful and very cartoony, this is what a Sonic game should have always looked like. The stages are also packed full of breakable objects and power up items, everything feels so alive and busy.

Sonic games have always been known for their excellent music, and Generations doesn't disappoint, for example, reliving the theme from Green Hill Zone will bring tingles down your spine. Sonic controls well, even when you play as modern Sonic in the 3D stages, on the whole it's easy to control the character. Playing the classic Sonic stages can be jarring at first, with the screen so colourful and busy at times, it can be hard to adjust when to jump at certain points, and it can also be hard to see enemies on screen. But these are only minor negatives that you'll overcome.

Other slight negatives are the stages themselves, the latter three stages are a mixed bag, partly because they are remastered from the most recent Sonic games, which were not all very good. Considering that this is essentially a greatest hits game, I was surprised at some of the stages picked for the game, largelbecause so many of them are urban/city themed. Take Crisis City from 'Sonic 06', which I never played but is regarded as one of the worst ever in the spiky hedgehog's catalogue, surely they could have diversified it a little.


Overall the game is relatively easy, it's only the last couple of stages that will leave you losing consecutive lives at once. The main game is also pretty short, but there is plenty of replay value, the stages are fun so you'll want to re-play them many times over. As well as that, once you've completed the two acts of each stage, challenge portals are opened up where you have to do different tasks within the stage (such as completing the level in a certain amount of time, collecting a certain amount of rings, etc).

It's easy to forget that platform games were usually THE marquee games back in the day. Outside of Mario and Sonic, they're few and far between now. Not only is 'Sonic Generations' a reminder of the blue hedgehog's golden days, but also a reminder of how much fun video games should be, and what platform games ought to be.

If you're a Sonic fan and like me, this game bypassed you when it was originally released, then this is an essential purchase. If you love video games which are just fun and easy to pick up and play, then 'Generations is for you'.

Verdict- 8.5/10

       

Resient Evil 0: retrospective review

* Along with Sonic the Hedgehog, Resident Evil is my favourite video game franchise, so not that long ago I wrote two overviews of the Resident Evil series, I have already written full reviews of number 6 and Revelations. But looking back, I don't think an overview really justifies the series. So starting with Resident Evil 0, I will review all of the main canonical games that I have completed, not necessarily in canonical order. All of these games I own on the Gamecube.
As I stated earlier, you can read my Resident Evil 6, and Revelations reviews in old posts on my blog.

Resident Evil 0



Originally an exclusive for the Nintendo 64, until it was pushed back for a November 2002 release on the Nintendo Gamecube. RE0 came out at a time when the franchise was beginning to feel a little tired, and in need of re-imagining.

Plot: 

Set before the Spencer Mansion incident in the first Resident Evil. Bravo team of the STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) are sent to investigate the cannibalistic murders in the Arklay mountains outside of Raccoon city. Their helicopter's engine fails on their way, where they find themselves stranded in a dark forest. While investigating their surroundings they come across a crashed military police transporter, where everyone is dead except for missing convict Billy Coen. They go in search of him, which leads Rebecca Chambers to the inside of an abandoned train infested with zombies.

Gameplay: 

With a few added dynamics, the gameplay uses the same engine as the classic Resident Evil games, with the CCTVesque camera angles and the tank controls. A number of these changes are the disappearance of the item box, which allows you to leave items where ever you want, and switching between two characters at one time.

Some of these changes work better than others, I don't think getting rid of the item box was a good one, it takes away a charming essence to the Resident Evil franchise for no good reason. A fair point could be made that no item box is needed now that you have two characters you can control, with their own separate item slots, but it only causes unnecessary backtracking.
However, the co-op element to the game works really well between the lead characters Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen, it adds a unique twist to the gameplay compared with the Resident Evil games that came before it, without making the experience unfamiliar.

Locations: 

The game begins on a train, which is still one of the best locations in the entire franchise, and at the time of the game's release, it was a setting which hadn't really been seen either. But it doesn't last for long enough, and in the end it feels a little underwhelming. Which is the best way to describe most of the game's locations. The train aside, the rest of the locations are bland and unoriginal, and all look familiar. You have labs, a church, and a mansion. There's nothing wrong with these locations if you make them different but this game doesn't.
Although a revisit to a RE2 location is nice for nostalgic purposes.



Enemies:

The infected zombies return, not only do they look good in the train section but they're also challenging due to the narrow layout. The boss battles are pretty special, the final Queen Leech is up there as one of the best all time, and you have to strategically kill it, unlike most boss battles in the early RE games. The rest of the enemies in the game, like the locations, are pretty bland and generic, the creators seemed to have gone down the realistic route, with the enemies based on animals such as a giant bats, dogs and various insects. Which is understandable when you consider that this is the beginning of the virus outbreaks, when the effect of the T-virus was in its early stages, and before it infected Raccoon city, and beyond.

However, one new enemy is a delight, the eliminators (monkeys) lunge at you mid air, and they attack you in packs. But one blast of the shotgun does the trick.

Weapons:

The usual RE weapons are in the game, the magnum and the shotgun are still the most affective. With the new Molotov cocktails a useful addition, but are only affective and designed to kill one specific enemy. But for some reason Capcom decided to make the Shotgun and the Grenade launcher take up two blocks on your item select menu, which means that you really do have to prioritise the items you carry around with you, so expect a lot of backtracking.


Difficulty:

RE0, on the whole, is one of the easiest in the franchise, I would say that it's harder than 3 but easier than 2. None of the enemies are particularly difficult, with two discs, the length of the game clocks in at the usual 3-5 hours for an RE game, depending on how experienced you are. There are a couple of puzzles which are hard, and require a little bit of thinking, but that's about it.

Replay value:

To its credit, RE0 has plenty of extra replay value, when you complete the game you get the 'leech Hunter' mode. In which you have to collect as many leeches as possible under a certain time frame, without dying from the monsters you come across. The rewards you receive depend on how many you're able to collect.
Of all the central Resident Evil story modes, along with 6, this is the one I return to the least. In part due to it being one of the weakest, but also because it lacks anything that makes it really stand-out. it's not scary, the design is generic, it all just feels a bit 'meh'.

Verdict:

While it was a good idea to explore what happened before the mansion experience, RE0 feels like a missed opportunity, although you get to play as Rebecca Chambers, the rest of Bravo team could have been included in the story much better. Although this is only a nitpicking point, it's also hard to believe that the monster killing Rebecca Chambers in this game is the same docile Rebecca we see in RE1 (remake).

If you love Resident Evil, the chances are you'll at least like this game, and it is certainly worth having in your collection. But if you're not a fan, then there is nothing new here that will convert you.

Despite its few flaws, RE0 is a good game and one I would have certainly gave a better score if I'd wrote this review when it first came out. But compared to other games in the franchise, it's up there as one of the weakest.

7/10















     

Guardians of the Galaxy: Review

Director: James Gunn
Running time: 2 hours and 2 minutes
Certificate: 12A


Guardians of the Galaxy was supposed to have been a big risk for Marvel, outside of the hardcore comic book circles, it was largely unknown, not even me a casual Marvel fan had ever heard of it. But with an opening North America box office of $94 million, it looks like the risk has paid off big time.

There is a lot to admire in the film, and although there is obvious tonal similarities in its final act, it is certainly different to any other film adapted from the Marvel catalogue.

After visiting his dying mother, a young Peter Quill is abducted by Space Pirates called the 'Ravagers', led by Yondu. Twenty six years later, Quill (Chris Patt) gets his hands on a powerful and mysterious orb, because of this he is now the target of the main Villain Ronan the Accuser, who sends assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve it. And with a bounty on his head, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) see it as too high a price to turn down. Through various scenarios in the story, they meet up with Drax (Dave Bautista) in a prison, and from there they team up to stop Ronan from destroying the world.

From the moment you see Chris Pratt dancing to Redbone's 'come and get your love' on the planet Morag, you know this film is going to be fun, and to its credit, it does try its very best to be fun and colourful. In a very retro way, it's a reminder that Science Fiction films can be fun, when so few modern ones are.

Let's begin with the good stuff. The visuals in the film are beautiful, the galaxy in which the film takes place is certainly breathtaking, and every inch of it oozes off of the screen.

The characters are unique and work well, because of their own personal flaws they all begin as anti-heroes, so they are a little bit more relatable compared with your typical superheroes.. Chris Pratt plays the everyday out of luck, charming rogue, satisfyingly. Bautista is surprisingly okay as Drax when you consider that he has very little on-screen acting experience. But the star of the show is Rocket, the sharp tongued little raccoon has been superbly animated, and brought to life by Bradley Cooper. Without his electric presence the film wouldn't be anywhere near as good.
The chemistry between the four of them is sublime, in both the moments of comedy and the more dramatic/serious scenes.

The action scenes are entertaining, at least the shooting and hand to hand combat scenes are. The best example of this is a prison escape plot point. Not only is it exciting but we get to see all of the individual qualities that each character brings to the team.

I love the mix of 70s and 80s soundtrack, certainly my kind of music. Gives the film a nostalgic but fun feel to it.

But the film does have problems, which I think have been kind of brushed over by the mainstream critics.

The film is very contrived, and yes I know this is based on a comic book. But the story progresses by stuff just happening, action scenes prodded in from nowhere, and locations are visited and left far too quickly. There really isn't much of a narrative structure at all.

Some of the action scenes are too busy and tipping on the edge of boringness. This isn't helped when the editing can be very choppy, too often the camera would too hastily change from one character's scene to another, this is only ever noticeable in the last act of the film.

From his introduction you would have been fooled to think that Ronan was going to be a powerful and intimidating villain, but he quickly becomes cliched and forgettable. While his motivations are explained, they're never really explored. And because Thanos (one of the most bad arse villains in the Marvel universe, for those who didn't know), is lurking in the background, his stature is further diminished because it becomes obvious that he is just a piece of meat waiting to be slaughtered.

Verdict

Guardians of the Galaxy is not only a fun blockbuster, but on the whole, a technically well made film. It continues Marvel's consistently good library of films that its made over the last six years or so. The positives far outweigh the negatives, which aren't themselves too drastic. I would put this in the top five of my Marvel studios films.

3.5/5

  

An overview of the Megadrive/Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games

In all my years as a video gamer there is one series that has a special place for me, and that is the Sonic the Hedgehog games that were released on the Sega Meagadrive/Genesis. Over recent weekends I've been playing all of these classic games on my 'Sonic mega collection' for the Gamecube. I love the games because they remind me a lot of my childhood, and Sonic 2 was the first game that I really fell in love with, It was also when the Sonic series was both critically and to some extent commercially at its most successful. Sonic's transition from 2D to 3D has been very mixed, (you can read a review of Sonic Adventure in an earlier blog post that I wrote, and the second one will be up very soon), none of them have the replay value or the charm of the 2D games. The speed of the blue hedgehog has found it hard to transfer into a coherent 3D environment, I will go into the details on another occasion but it hasn't helped that in many of these games, too many characters have come and gone along the way.

Now I'll get on with brief review of five of the games, I have deliberately ignored Sonic Spinball and Dr Robotnik's Mean bean machine.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)



The first ever Sonic game and an instant classic, Sonic was an awesome character and a perfect mascot for Sega, it certainly shifted a lot consoles which otherwise wouldn't have been sold, and for a moment it helped the Megadrive match up against Nintendo's SNES. What's remarkable and often overlooked about the game is the fact that it relies less on speed with each passing level. Of all the games in this list I'd rank it second, but only narrowly to Sonic 2.

Pros:
* Green Hill Zone- the most iconic level in the entire franchise, past and present. And I'm not just talking about the music
* It''s challenging without ever being too hard, less focus on speed the more you progress into the game, and believe me the Labrynth Zone will leave you pulling your hair (I haven't got any so I'm lucky), and the boss fights require different strategies to defeat them
* Addictive soundtrack
* Great replay value- you can complete it in one sitting but it's so good you'll want to go back

Cons:
* The levels vary in quality, the middle section can be a bit bland, visually and in terms of structure
* There are three acts to each zone, I've always preferred two, as is the case in all of the other Sonic games

Overall score 9/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)




My favourite game of all time and the essential Sonic game. It brings back happy memories of my childhood, I used to wake up every morning before school just to complete this game. In my opinion it does everything the first one does, but only better. The visuals are easier on the eye and the levels more imaginative and colourful. There is also the introduction of Tails (who is albeit a little useless in this game).

Pros:
* Visually immersive and pretty to look at, even to this day
* Many levels, ten in total and all of them are diverse in terms of themes, from a casino to a chemical plant to an underground cave
* The difficulty is reasonably even, the levels begin pretty straight forward but get a little more difficult towards the end
* The introduction of the spin dash move, which allows you to break through walls for short cuts and hidden places. Added an extra element to the gameplay mechanics
* Again the soundtrack is beautiful, especially the Sky Chase Zone

Cons:
* The boss battles at the end of each level are easy, until the final one, which is very hard
* Some of the early levels are too straightforward, on occasions it can feel as though you're speeding through them just by holding the run button

Overall score 10/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: (1994)



The levels in this game are certainly longer and there is far less focus on speed compared with the previous two. The graphics are also better than the previous two as the Megadrive was really pushed to the limit, the Sonic sprite has also changed (I prefer the older one), there is also a save feature for the first time. The game also sees the introduction of Knuckles the Echinda, making his first ever appearance, although he's the villain and not playable. There is also the possibility that Michael Jackson contributed to the soundtrack, none of it has ever been fully established but it's worth looking into. Although I still enjoy this game and while the gameplay doesn't deviate too much from the previous two, it lacks the charm.

Pros:
* The graphics are impressive
* The gameplay is essentially the same as ever
* There are far more new power ups in this game
* The game has the best special stages ever, collecting the blue spheres and avoiding the red ones is challenging but fun
* You can play as Super Sonic, but you'll have to collect the seven chaos emerald first (you do this by completing the special stages)
* Save feature- it's good because unlike the first game this one doesn't have the lasting endurance like the first two
* The Ice Cap Zone is a particular stand out level, and one of the best 2D Sonic levels ever

Cons:
* There's only six stages
* The design of Sonic has changed for the worst, more slick but less cartoony
* The inclusion of an unnecessary save feature, although more difficult compared with the previous two games, the game can still be completed in one sitting. The save feature can be used as an excuse for someone to stop playing because there are times when you will lose your patience with the game's difficulty
* The moments of speeding through levels are far less then the previous two games

Overall score 7.5/10

Sonic and Knuckles:



This is basically the second part to Sonic 3, the story follows on from the end of 3, they were originally intended to be the same game in one. Of all the 2D Sonic games this is the hardest one, the levels are a lot longer and the boss battles genuinely difficult and require real strategy. It is also the one I enjoy the least but feel the need to go back to every so often simply because of the challenge. The game does have two playable characters for the first time which adds a lot of replay value.

Pros:
* Two playable characters, both of which have clear differences from one another. Which also adds replay value
* Gorgeous graphics, the best on the Megadrive system
* The levels are unique, the likes of the Sandopolis and the Hidden Palace Zone look different to the usual Sonic levels from the previous three games
* Lock on technology- this would only count for the time that the game was released. The hatch on top of the game's cartridge opened so that you could attach the Sonic 2 and 3's cartridge, and pass over data from one game to the other. For example, you could play as Knuckles in Sonic 2.

Negatives:
* The most difficult of all the Sonic 2D games, aside from the first level, every single one will cause the gamer some problems. There really is no run through level like the first two.
* Bad level structure- Linked with my first point, some of the level structure is very contrived and too challenging, but in a very frustrating way. The best example of this is the against the clock dark and light sections of the Sandopolis Zone.
* Less enjoyment- linked with my second point. In the first two games, and to a lesser extent number three. The levels in those games were always enjoyable no matter how long and how difficult they were, but in this game, many of the levels just become chores the longer they last.

7.5/10

Sonic 3D: Flickie's Island



Unlike most hardcore Sonic fans, I have a soft spot for this game. It is by no means a good game and I fully understand why so many people hate it. But I actually enjoy a lot of it, sure the controls are awful and the graphics a bit clunky. But at least it's different, the game plays from an isometric viewpoint with 3D sprites, the objective is to collect seven flickies inside an assortment of robots within the levels. This game was also different because it was Travelers Tales who developed it, not Sonic Team.

Pros:
* Take away the bad controls, the isometric overhead worked well, the presentation of the levels was actually pretty decent, and the colour pallet is very nice to look at.
* Different gameplay- collecting the flickies through each of the levels is fun and a breakaway from the usual Sonic game which was being made at that time.
* The boss battles are very inventive and challenging, without ever being too difficult
* The special stages are fun, if a little easy

Negative:
* The controls are bad, this is a big problem when you have to kill an enemy, first you have to set yourself up and then time your attack with perfection. It also makes exploration a chore in each of the levels
* The Sonic sprite moves like a truck, very slow and clunky
* In my opinion the soundtrack is very unmemorable for a Sonic game, and very annoying in some levels
* Aside from collecting the flickies there's not much else to the gameplay

Overall score 5.5/10