Submarine Studio: Film4 Publisher: Madman Entertainment Release: 11/01/2012 Price: $34.95 – Available Here
Overview
Adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s 2008 novel of the same name, Submarine is the latest film by British writer/director/actor Richard Ayoade. Most people may be familiar with Ayoade for his role of Moss in the television series The IT Crowd. This time around, Ayoade has firmly planted himself behind the camera as the director and writer. Instead, the film stars newcomer Craig Roberts as 15-year-old Oliver Tate and Yasmin Paige as his classmate and object of affection – Jordana.
Story
Submarine is not your typical coming of age film. 15-year-old Oliver Tate imagines his life as a film, which funnily enough it now is. Oliver falls for this classmate, Jordana, who he believes to be the love of his life. His two primary objectives are to lose his virginity to her and to keep his mothers ex-lover at bay. The film takes us on a journey through Oliver’s life, narrated by Oliver himself in manner absolutely fitting for both a film adaptation of a novel. His parent’s problems, his own shortcomings and his hopes and fears are laid out evenly throughout the film as it progresses. The story may seem fairly typical for the ‘coming of age’ genre, but told through the perspective of the slightly awkward Oliver Tate gives the story that much needed touch of originality.
Visuals
Submarine is a film based on a novel narrated as if there was a film crew following the main character around. Director Richard Ayoade has taken advantage of this narrative device, constructing the film in three acts, making for some beautifully progressive story telling. The film style is what some may describe as ‘quirky’ – that unique blend of vivid colours and symbolism that you only ever see in independent films that seem to have more money then their ‘indie’ tag would suggest. While that may sound somewhat negative, it works well for this film. Throughout the film I am constantly forgetting that the film is set in the 1980’s or in Wales – making it appear to be a timeless tale of adolescence gone wrong. The clothing style, while on reflection may seem dated, does add to the slow and steady narration style of the offbeat Oliver Tate. While the story may at times become monotonous and the characters on the brink of painful, you’ll always be captivated by the wonderful world that the film has allowed you to peek in to. The subtle hint of voyeurism – mostly stemming from the self-referencing wish for a film crew – manages to keep you engaged through out the length of the film without becoming too creepy.
Audio
The audio too plays with Oliver’s want for a bio-picture of his life. Moments of narration are accompanied with upbeat music, which fits the pace of Oliver’s voice. Each narration has music fitting to the topic of the monologue – for example when Oliver discusses his fathers profession as a marine biologist the soundtrack has an ambient underwater sound. For the most part, music is absent from the film, and focuses on the soundtrack of everyday life and dialogue between characters. Trains running past or other everyday noises add a real element of charm to the film and also help differentiate between reality and Oliver’s slight delusions of his own life. There are the odd scenes in the film too, where Oliver and Jordana begin to bond, which are perfectly accompanied by love songs – perhaps from a mix cassette given to Oliver by his father.
Extras
The extra’s are essentially like any other DVD’s – commentary, deleted and extended scenes and also some cast interviews. The interviews have the cast talk about their thoughts on the character and their connections to which they have recently played. It gives a little more insight in to the minds of the characters, which at times are often hard to read in the film. The directors’ commentary is rather monotonous, but for those willing to brave it, you shall be rewarded with incredible insight into the adaptation process from novel to film – having both Joe Dunthorne and Richard Ayoade discussing the film process in a rather casual manner. An interesting note is the fake inspirational video, filmed like it was right out of 1986, of the films character Graham Purvis – Oliver’s’ neighbour and mothers first love and also motivational speaker. There is a somewhat ill fitting message from Ben Stiller who worked as the producer (or caterer according to the Q and A with Richard Ayoade, also a DVD bonus). If you liked the film, getting some background insight into the process of constructing it will be well worth your time.
Overall
Submarine is a wonderful effort by all, but just doesn’t leave that lasting impression. The film does lag on for quite some time, and with many layers of dry subtly it may leave you aching for a conclusion. The visual style – heralding back to what can best be described as a ‘vintage feel’ – is absolutely breath taking, and not at all lost in it’s portrayal of the mundane. It’s a lovely and unique film, yet fails to hook you in for that coveted second or even third viewing.
Not too long ago, GameMill Entertainment announced Country Dance All Stars, which will be launching exclusively for the Kinect. If you are a bit unfamiliar with the franchise that originally started on the Wii though, Country Dance All Stars lets players dance along with on-screen avatars to world-famous country tunes.
After just a short wait, GameMill have came forward with a full setlist for their upcoming boot-scooting title, with plenty more southern hits that aim to please.
The complete soundtrack is as follows:
Alan Jackson – “Good Time”
Ashton Shepherd – “Look It Up”
Billy Currington – “People Are Crazy”
Blake Shelton – “All About Tonight”
Brad Paisley – “Water”
Brooks & Dunn – “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”
Carrie Underwood – “Cowboy Casanova”
Chad Brownlee – “Carried Away”
Chris Heers – “Dirt Rich”
Dierks Bentley – “What Was I Thinkin’”
Easton Corbin – “Roll With It”
Eric Church – “Hell On The Heart”
Gwyneth Paltrow – “Shake That Thing”
Hayley Mclean – “Good Time Bone”
Jake Owen – “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”
Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire”
Josh Kelley – “Georgia Clay”
Josh Thompson – “Beer on the Table”
Josh Turner – “Why Don’t We Just Dance”
Katie Armiger – “Best Song Ever”
Keith Urban – “Better Life”
Kellie Pickler – “Tough”
Lady Antebellum – “Lookin’ For A Good Time”
Laura Bell Bundy – “Giddy On Up”
Little Big Town – “Little White Church”
Luke Bryan – “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)”
Miley Cyrus – “Hoedown Throwdown”
Miranda Lambert – “White Liar”
Rascal Flatts – “Life Is A Highway”
Sugarland – “Stuck Like Glue”
The Last Ride – “Take You Down”
Tim McGraw – “Felt Good on My Lips”
Trace Adkins – “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”
Zac Brown Band – “Chicken Fried”
As you can see, with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Tim McGraw, and Blake Shelton, GameMill seemed to have spared no expense in booking talent, and fans of country music will now be able to celebrate on a whole new platform. You can expect Country Dance All Stars to hit the Kinect in March, but until then, fans can view the new trailer down below to see the game in full display.
An anime adaptation of Black Rock Shooter is currently airing in Japan in the noitaminaA anime block. It has now been announced that the Blu-Ray and DVD box-sets of the series will feature a brand new figma model included in the package.
The DVD and Blu-Ray box-sets are slated for release on June 22nd, 2012, with the Black Rock Shooter figma model included. The model is called ‘figma INSANE BLACK ROCK SHOOTER”‘ and will be exclusive to the box-set releases of the series.
You can check out the Black Rock Shooter figma model above. What do you think of the figma model? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
BigGlobe Japan recently held a survey, asking their fanbase; ‘What do you look for in an Anime series, when deciding what new series to watch?’ The results of which are drawn from the pool of over 2500+ anime fans that visit BigGlobe’s website. So what do Japanese People look for in anime? The results are as follows:
Story (506)
Character (342)
Voice actors (335)
Design (265)
Theme songs, background music (146)
Animation (124)
Direction (100)
Jokes (94)
Images (91)
Moe (64)
Production company (63)
Battles, confrontations (57)
Setting (56)
Staff (55)
Motion (15)
Love between guys and girls (41)
Backgrounds (40)
Broadcast timing (39)
Coloring (34)
Reputation (33)
Girls love (30)
Robots (25)
Broadcast channel (25)
Sound effects (23)
High tension (22)
Tsundere (21)
Boys love (20)
Sales (19)
Mecha (18)
What do you think of these results? I’m personally surprised that ‘Breasts’ did not make this list. What do you look for in anime? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
You all should by now know about PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond, which is set to hit the Wii on February 27th. While the adventure looks perky and enjoyable this time around though, we have heard very little on the roles that Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, and Pikachu will have…that is until now.
Nintendo really went in big this time, releasing four individual trailers, with one for each playable Poke. To add to the characterization, each were also given their own and rather jolly theme songs. Words don’t really do enough justice here, so I think it would be best to let the clips speak for themselves down below.
NeverDead Publisher: Konami Developer: Rebellion Developments Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PlayStation 3 Release Date: January 31, 2012 Price: $59.99 –Available Here
Overview:
Being completely invincible and never being able to die can have plenty of perks and most people would probably wish they could have that exact ability. While this may seem like something amazing, what happens hundreds of years down the line? Obviously a lot can change in that length of time, especially ones perception of life.
I mean, when you figure out that you can simply throw your head around like a bowling ball immortality must be getting quite boring. On the other hand, you could also create a video game focused on using the main character’s immortality as the focus point and built an entire game around that unique mechanic. Such is the case with NeverDead.
Story:
Bryce Boltzmann was once a chivalrous warrior who set out to slay the demon king and save the world from demon invasion over 500 years ago. Unfortunately he was unable to complete this task and has been cursed with immortality. Now he lives in the modern day world with nothing to live for besides the bottom of a beer bottle.
When Bryce isn’t whiling away eternity in a drunken state he works for the NADA, also known as the National Anti-Demon Agency, a branch of the United States government that handles attacks from the supernatural forces that the demons can unleash upon humankind. While usually tasked with defeating small time enemies, the attacks have grown more frequent and the enemies stronger. All of these attacks are beginning to form around an up and coming pop-star named Nikki… What can she mean to these demons and can Bryce finally find revenge against the demon king who cursed him half a millennia ago?
One would expect living for 500 years would leave one with quite a lot of experience with the world… so much in fact that it would turn a person into a jaded bitter shell of a man. In the case of Bryce Boltzmann we don’t quite see a shell of a man, but we do see one who is more than eager to make wisecracks about the people and the world. He is cynical at the best of times; however his personality can tend to be a bit grating at times, usually due his love of repetitious one-liners and can come off as completely unlikable at times.
While Bryce may be immortal, the NADA has seen fit to team him up with a female partner who is not. Her name is Arcadia Maximille and she serves as the cattle-prod to keep Bryce in-line and on-task. Arcadia can provide a decent amount of comedy herself through her interactions with Bryce but can be seen as an odd inclusion for a war where immortals can battle against demons.
As a whole, NeverDead’s storyline will not take hold of any gamer holding the controller. The story development is a bit predictable and nearly the entire story is withheld until near the end of the game, so gamers shouldn’t expect to see too many unexpected twists thrown in here. That being said, it is at least original and can provide plenty of laughs throughout that length.
Visuals:
Now any third person action title requires a multitude of different enemies to face off against to keep the combat interesting and provide challenges for the player. Unfortunately there really isn’t a whole lot of variety to be had in NeverDead. At most you will be facing off against the same enemies hundreds of times with only a couple of new additions throughout the entire game. The character models are a bit better, with each of the characters in the game containing a unique look of their own, though the ragdoll physics of Bryce’s body seem to be greatly exaggerated at times.
Throughout the game you will travel through a number of varied environments but each of these levels feel dull minus the Museum level near the start of the game. One would believe that the potential for immortal flashbacks would also provide plenty of interesting stages to battle on, however that is not the case as there are only a scant few flashbacks and these suffer the same lackluster level design as the rest of the game.
Audio:
Considering this is an action title it should come as no surprise that there is plenty of heavy rock music to go along with the action on screen. The music is at best suitable, but never goes beyond that point and most will simply ignore the fact that it is there altogether as it leaves no lasting impression whatsoever.
For the most part, the characters in NeverDead are given a decent voice acting cast. Arcadia and Nikki’s voices sound suitable enough, though Nikki’s voice isn’t one you would really attach to a pop-star. Bryce’s voice actor provides a suitable job with his personality, which is good because you will be hearing Bryce repeating the same lines over and over again throughout the entire game. This is so bad in fact that there are a number of times you will hear him state the exact same catchphrase three or four times in the matter of a minute.
Gameplay:
The focal point of NeverDead is the fact that you are playing as a man who cannot die. Instead of taking damage and hurting a health meter, Bryce’s body can be quite literally torn to pieces, with his head and limbs coming apart from his body. To top all that off, if he loses a body part forever, even his whole body, he is able to regrow a new one within a matter of seconds.
To avoid being torn apart Bryce will dispatch his demonic foes with a variety of firearms and his trusty sword. Bryce is able to use two guns at any time and these range from your standard pistols, to machine guns to even grenade launchers. These guns are best for long range enemies, however even with upgrades applied through unlocked skills; the guns are very weak and will likely not be used for most combat.
Instead the player will likely be using their sword as their main weapon. Unfortunately, the sword is controlled through an unwieldy combination of holding LT while swinging the sword with the right analog stick. This control system feels very hard to use at times and is very disappointing as fluid control over how you swing your sword would have made the combat much more interesting and simpler to use.
When you do happen to take damage however, and you will, poor Bryce’s body cannot withstand an attack of any kind. In fact even the smallest blow will cause a piece of his body to fly right off of his body or sometimes just shred him into a pile of limbs without too much effort. There seems to be no correlation as to what limb will be severed at any given time, as enemy attacks only need to land for a body part to fly off. This will leave Bryce either hopping around, crawling or rolling around depending on what limbs he has lost, though firearms can still be fired from severed limbs which is an interesting addition.
For simple limb loss the player can perform a dodge roll to re-attach the body part or can grow it back after waiting a few seconds. Unfortunately one of the body parts that will nearly always pop off is your head. When your head has been severed you will be forced to roll around until you can rejoin your body at the neck or wait to regrow the entire body. It is at this time that players can experience one method of game over through a certain enemy known as a Grandbaby. Grandbabies are all over the various levels and they will eat Bryce’s body parts. If one of them happens to eat Bryce’s head the player must perform a quick-time-event or be given a game over screen as they are held within the Grandbaby forever…
The only other way to lose in NeverDead is whenever the player has to protect their A.I. partner Arcadia. Arcadia seems to have very poor artificial intelligence as she will usually provide very little in the way of support and she has practically zero survival instinct, willingly charging large enemies, speeding trains, explosions and more. If the player does not revive her fast enough she will die and the game will end.
Considering the player cannot die and there are only a few ways to Game Over, expect to see quite a lot of hefty combat with a lot of enemies and environmental destruction. Unfortunately destruction seems to happen exceptionally easy, with entire walls and pillars breaking easily with brief combat sequences practically leveling a city block, as if the world itself is held together with the same balsa wood that seems to hold Bryce together. Bryce seems to be dismembered way too easily, leaving it so that players will be spending nearly all of their time rolling around on the floor for their body, which is often positioned in a way to not re-attach your head rather than fighting enemies.
Still, being that Bryce is immortal he has a few ways he can exploit this for his advantage outside of combat. There are a number of various environmental puzzles that Bryce will need to, literally, yank his own head off and throw to interact or reach certain places he couldn’t before. Unfortunately rather than create a large amount of unique puzzles, the same pattern is re-used again and again throughout the title. This is also used heavily for finding collectibles that can be picked up to acquire XP which can then be used on skills.
As players defeat enemies and find the aforementioned collectibles they will gather XP that can unlock skills that range from upgrading damage, allowing Bryce to blow his limbs up, jump higher along with a number of others. However the amount of abilities you can apply at once is restricted with ability slots which seems like a poor choice given the fact that a man who has been around for 500 year should be the ultimate demon slaying machine bar none.
It is also worth noting that NeverDead actually contains an online multiplayer mode. Online players can compete against one another in challenges or take them on cooperatively through a number of little challenges. Unfortunately there are only a few people available online to play against and the modes provided are severely lacking in longevity and enjoy ability.
Overall:
When all is said and done NeverDead has a lot of potential. An immortal main character will certainly pique most gamers’ interest however there are a number of problems with the title that nearly all culminate with two words. Untapped potential. There are a lot of things that could have possibly gone right in NeverDead, however none of it does. With a lacking storyline, extremely repetitive and clunky combat and a character that could probably hold himself together better with duct tape NeverDead can still provide a unique experience, unfortunately it is one marred with so many issues that it is no surprise that Bryce finds himself at the bottom of a bottle every day.
If real diamonds and gems are too expensive, why not go for something more addictive this year? No, not chocolates. We are talking about cold, hard, gems. PopCap have offered up a nice sale on Bejeweled 3 for the PC due to the holiday, with the game dropping $10 in price, down to $9.99 in total.
I could go on and on about how awesome this sequel is and how staring at a screen for hours, watching gems smash upon each-other is pure bliss, but if you have played any Bejeweled title, you should know that by now. You can get in on this sale by downloading the full version here. Happy Bejewelintine’s Day!
It’s crazy to think we are already approaching Valentine’s Day, but the year is moving quickly and publishers everywhere are preparing to show some love to their fans with sales. Sega want to say “I Love You” as well, and have slashed several prices of their own selection on the App Store.
What’s on sale? Here is the full list of details:
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (iPad) – $2.99/£1.99 was $4.99/£2.99
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (iPhone) – $1.99/£1.49 was $3.99/£2.49
Sonic CD -$2.99/£1.99 was $4.99/£2.99
Streets of Rage 2 -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99
Streets of Rage 3 – $0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99
Altered Beast -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99
Golden Axe 2 -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99
Golden Axe 3 -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99
Gunstar Hero -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99
Virtua Fighter 2 – $0.99/£0.69 was $1.99/£1.49
Super Monkey Ball- $0.99/£0.69 was $1.99/£1.49
Super Monkey Ball 2 – $0.99/£0.69 was $1.99/£1.49
Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition – $0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£2.99
Don’t have an iOS device? Sega are also offering up price-cuts on a couple of Android titles as well:
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 – $1.99/£1.28 was $3.99/£2.56
Sonic CD – $2.99/£1.92 was $4.99/£3.20
Sonic, Ai-Ai, and the rest of the Sega Classics crew won’t be on sale for long, so make sure you pick these up before this deal ends on February 14th.
Well, maybe not in those exact words, but the sentiment was definitely implied yesterday while I was urging you all to donate on Kickstarter for Double Fine’s new adventure game project.
The studio had set a target of $400,000, which, if reached by the 13th of March, would fund their game publisher-free.
That goal was exceeded after eight hours. At the time of writing, the budget, entirely donated by fans, stands at over $1.1m.
The donations are still pouring in, and presumably will continue to do so until the cutoff date. $400,000 was the base line, but any additional funds will only improve the production value of the final product. Which by now is destined to be amazing.
Schafer has shown a lot of gratitude to his fans and backers, and is keen to see where the project might go from here.
“We’re getting a lot of attention already and it seems like this little project could have an impact beyond itself,” he wrote. It certainly will be fascinating to see if this sets a new precedent for smaller, creative indie game projects that publishers can’t risk backing.
So get over there and donate anyway. Or donate again. $15 will get you a copy of the game in about October, when they expect it to be finished, plus an inside look at the entire development process.
If you don’t, the almighty Tim Schafer will smite you. Or, ask you nicely.
Namco Bandai have released some new information and screenshots for one of the biggest anime games of the year, One Piece: Pirate Warriors.
The screenshots which can be seen below show off various playable characters (mostly the Straw Hat Pirates) showing their skills in combat against various enemies.
As for the new details revealed, Namco Bandai has given some information away regarding the games Story Mode also known as ‘Main Log’.
The game is set to feature three different Story Mode types; ‘Adventure’ which resembles a platforming style adventure game, with Luffy using his Gum-Gum abilities to traverse the world, ‘Musou’ which is a Dynasty Warriors style game mode, focusing mainly on battling and finally ‘Another Log’ which focuses on the stories of other characters instead of Luffy giving another perspective on the world of One Piece.
Check out the screenshots below and be sure to let us know in the shoutbox and comments section what you think.
