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Swarm – XBLA Review

March 27, 2011

Game Name: Swarm
Platforms: XBLA, PSN
Publisher(s): Ignition Entertainment, Ltd
Developer(s): Hothead Games, Inc.
Genre(s): Platformer
Release Date: 3/23/2011
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Price: 1200MSP ($15USD)
Demo: Add the demo to your Download Queue

“An action-platformer where you take direct control of 50 pudgy blue morons and drive them through an intense and suicidal gauntlet of destruction. Run, bash, huddle, boost, stack, jump, push and throw your way through a ridiculously dangerous world in your attempt to collect valuable DNA and ensure at least one swarmite survives. Swarm features fast-paced platformer action and includes death medals, boss fights and a scoring system that encourages heated competition with your friends.” [Via Xbox.com]

Gameplay
Swarm has a nice combination of platforming and speed running elements in it. The first time you progress through the game it lets you take your time and collect as many points as possible, but you have to keep your multiplier up in order to hit the required points needed to progress to the next level. Once you complete a level you can then return to the level and this time there will be a time multiplier and now you need to find the best balance between speed and getting all the points in a level possible. Leaderboards are built in that let you compare stats with people around the world for extended fun.

During the game you take direct control of 50 little swarmites as you charge through the levels attempting to get a good score while at the same time trying to kill off as many of your swarmites while not losing all of them. That is correct, in Swarm you actually want to kill off your swarmites whenever possible while holding onto enough to attain the best score possible. The perfect balance is different for every level and may take some player a while to find the perfect balance, but when you hit it and see that hi-score at the end it makes it all worthwhile.

Throughout the game there is DNA to collect and death medals to kill yourself for. Some of the DNA is required to progress through the game, but not all of it is and some of them are hidden quite well. The second series of collectibles consist of the death medals, and these are essentially collected by dying; dying a lot! Many of the death medals will come after time, but if you want them all you will need to play a lot and die a lot. On the bright side, dying in the game is incredibly fun. The little swarmites have so many ways of dying that you will enjoy their deaths and occasionally won’t even notice if one little guy falls as you progress through the level. After you beat the game going back to collect the DNA and the death medals will extend the length of the game.

My main gripe about the game is the control scheme. The basic controls are incredibly straight forward and easy to master; however, the more advanced techniques take time to master doing at fast speeds. Sometimes you may want to create a tall pillar of swarmites to collect the DNA, but instead of making the pillar you instead jump in the wrong direction and kill yourself. The camera angles and the explosions occurring on the screen also sometimes make it hard to tell where all your little swarmites are located at and even harder to hit the boxes for more points while keeping your multiplier up.

Audio & Graphics
The graphics are intriguing, with dark themed levels that all look sinister. To go along with the sinister feel there are tons of ways to kill your swarmites as you progress through a level, and tons of tiny little death animations as you chop up your swarmites, burn them, electrocute them, throw them off a cliff, or do any other number of sadistic harmful deeds to your swarmites. A nice touch is a “do not press” button on the main menu screen. By pressing this button you essentially sentence the swarmite on screen to an excruciatingly painful death. It is like watching the 100 ways to kill a sprite animation, and you can sit there for quite a while just killing the swarmite on screen. I wasted around 5 to 10 minutes in the main menu just killing the poor swarmites and another one would unknowingly walk back into the screen waiting for me to kill him as well.

The audio isn’t anything impressive, and there isn’t much to say about it. While the death sound effects are nice, the rest of the audio is simply there and isn’t very memorable. Simply put, while playing the game instead of saying “ooh, this is a catchy theme song for this level”, you will instead be saying “OOOH! That sounded painful… let’s do it again!”

Achievements
The achievements in Swarm is a nice rounded list. There are quite a few easy ones that won’t require a lot of effort, but then the rest will require you to continue playing the game after you beat it in order to get them. The hiscore ones may be difficult for some, and then death medals just take time to get. Luckily dying is swarm is actually quite fun and it will be hard to complain about killing yourself in different ways while playing it. By the time you are done beating the game, unless you are really good at not dying; you will have probably finished a majority of the death medal requirements. The rest of the achievements are pretty much throw always that are quite easy to get. Overall the achievement list is a simple yet fun batch.

There are also two avatar awards but both are incredibly easy to get but they are also not that cool of an award either. The swarmite simply walks around you and then disappears, and the Swarm hat looks too normal.
Below is the achievement list:

Replay – 10 – Replayed levels 1, 2 and 3 after level 4 is unlocked.
In A Hurry10 – Achieved a 2X time bonus
The Answer10 – Achieved a high score of 42,000,000
Sacrificial Lambs5 – Killed 50 Swarmites
The first million10 – High scores add up to more than 1,000,000
Medals of Honor10 – Unlocked 9 Death Medals
Genetic Blueprint25 – Collected all DNA
Multiplicator25 – Reached a 70X multiplier
Death Becomes You50 – Unlocked all Death Medals and turn all Progressive Death Medals to gold
You Are On Fire5 – Lit your mutliplier on fire.
King of the Hill20 – Killed the 1st boss
Hat For Momma20 – Killed the final boss

Avatar Awards –

Swarmite – Buy the game
Swarm Hat – Beat the first boss

Overview
Essentially Swarm is all about dying, but dying skillfully. Rush through the levels as you attempt to beat a previous Hi-score or your friend’s score. Collect the DNA and kill yourself to accumulate deaths toward the death medals. While there aren’t many stages, it still takes some time to master each stage so that you can continue to the next stage. What could make a game more fun, then actually being required to kill yourself? The only thing that may harm this game for most players is the controls that take a while to expertly get used too, and the fact that the game is primarily dependent on the player wanting to get a new hi-score. If you just want to beat the game, there isn’t much here for you; but if you want to dominate the game then be prepared to die and die fast as you struggle your way to the top of the leaderboards.

I give swarm

Angry Birds: The Movie – Trailer by Rooster Teeth

Michael Irving

March 27, 2011

With the ridiculous success of Angry Birds, and it’s propulsion beyond a simple iPhone app into the forefront of pop culture, developer Rovio Mobile has mentioned that they are looking to expand the brand. Already you can get T-shirts and plush birds, but there has been talk of a television series and even a film in the future.

While the CEO of Rovio, Mikael Hed, acknowledges that an Angry Birds movie would be years away, Rooster Teeth – the guys behind Red vs. Blue – have produced a mock trailer that shows their interpretation of what such a film would be like.

Hell, I’d see it!

Check out the trailer below.

And check out our review of the latest instalment in the franchise, Angry Birds Rio.

Angry Birds Rio Review

Michael Irving

March 27, 2011

Angry Birds Rio
Platform: iPhone (reviewed)/iPad/iPod Touch
Publisher: Rovio Mobile
Developer: Rovio Mobile
Genre: Arcade
Release Date: 23rd March 2011
Price: $1.19AU, .99c US Buy Now

Hi, my name is Michael, and I’m here because I’m a recovering addict.

Yes, like many of you, I was once addicted to Angry Birds on the iPhone. I’ve been 26 days clean, until… well, I’m not proud of it, but a couple days ago, Angry Birds Rio came out, and I had a relapse. I was up to step nine of the program – apologising to all the games I’d neglected while playing Angry Birds – but now, I’m back at square one.

Aaanyway, enough of that analogy. Initially I was a little sceptical about this bizarre crossover, but if you’re an Angry Birds fan/recovering addict – and I know that you are – there is very little about this pseudo-sequel that you won’t like.

“Perfect” is a strong word, and one that reviewers should be hesitant to use. But the classic Angry Birds on iPhone is as close to perfect as any app can get. It’s simple to understand and play, yet can pose a real challenge if you intend to master it. It’s clinically addictive, and the length of a play session is variable, playable during a five minute wait at the dentist, or a four-hour session before bed, disregarding an early start the next morning. It has a cute and simple art style, and a catchy theme song. Slap on an almost too-cheap price tag and it’s everything app developers should strive for.

But I don’t need to tell you how good it is. You’ve played it. Everyone has. And if you haven’t, don’t tell anyone, get yourself to the nearest iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch and play it now, before someone finds out.

Angry Birds Rio may basically just be an ad for Fox’s upcoming film Rio, but how good is it as a game?

Story:

The story is almost irrelevant in games like this. No one is here to experience a well-told plot; a simple context for why birds are knocking down structures will suffice. In AB Rio, the story is where Fox Studios gets their money’s worth, by replacing the old “pigs stole our eggs” with what I assume is part of the film’s plot. In the first episode, the birds are launching themselves at parrots trapped in cages, in elaborate piles of crates in a storeroom. In the second, the aim is to squash monkeys in the jungle. I don’t quite get the logic, but who cares?! Story isn’t why I’m here.

Gameplay:

The important thing is how well this maintains the addictive nature of the original iPhone classic, and what it adds to the formula. And I’m pleased to report that the near-perfect gameplay synonymous with the Angry Birds brand is left intact, and even expanded upon.

With AB Rio, we are given two episodes containing thirty levels each, with slots for additional episodes promised during the year. The first is due in May, with another every two months or so after that. Hopefully they will be free updates for the software, but honestly, if they charge for them, I’ll still buy them.

While you may be trying to rescue parrots instead of squashing pigs, this has no effect on gameplay whatsoever. You are still given a limited range of birds to fire upon a structure of wood, glass and cardboard and are aiming to destroy targets either by a direct hit or by knocking debris onto them. You progress to the next level when all targets are destroyed, but perfectionists won’t be finished with each level until you reach a three-star rating on them all. This is achieved by destroying as much as you can, and using as few birds as possible. And this is where the game becomes a real time-sink. Apart from a few of the later ones, on most levels it’s easy to finish the basics, but a challenge to get the three stars.

But none of this is new. AB Rio adds a few extra elements to the mix, but nothing that drastically changes the formula. Unfortunately, there are no new birds, which would be the most impactful addition the game could make, creating new strategies and subsequently new types of levels to test them out. And with the Rio license comes a range of bird characters who could be potential weapons. This possibility is hinted at only in the final level, when the film’s two main characters are available to use, but they’re fairly ineffective anyway. I would have loved to have seen more of this, and more use for them.

There are new elements in the structures that will shake up your strategies; life rings and mushrooms will bounce your birds or debris around, allowing you to cause more damage from below. Generally they aren’t very useful, but they are used in interesting ways in some levels, to change the direction of your birds to hit otherwise unreachable targets.

Some elements are now tethered together, so a structure may not collapse the way you anticipated, and chains, strong but thin, can hold things up until a direct hit breaks them. In the second episode, destroying the monkeys can require new strategies, as they can cling to the underside of surfaces or vertical edges in ways the rotund little piggies never could.

There are also now special objects to hit, such as fruit and flowers which net you extra points for the level. The decision of whether to focus on the targets and gain the “fewer birds” bonus, or aim for the optional targets for extra points, is an interesting new trade-off that will be decided according to each level.

The most formula-changing new gameplay feature is the end of episode boss, a cockatoo I assume is the bad guy from the film (a quick wiki search tells me yes, he is. And he’s voiced by Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords. Sweet!) As he flies around, you need to constantly readjust your aim to ensure a hit, using the lines representing your previous attacks as a guide. It’s an interesting variation on the classic gameplay, and it’s a shame it’s only used once.

Graphics:

Perhaps the most noteworthy upgrade over the original game is in the visual presentation. To say that the art style of vanilla Angry Birds wasn’t up to scratch is a dirty lie, but when compared to that of AB Rio, it is almost true. Almost.

The art department is clearly where Fox’s presumably large budget went. Colours are more dynamic, as opposed to the flat textures of the original game. The elements of the structures now look more like wood, crates and cardboard boxes they represent, and despite being a 2D game, backgrounds have a tinge of three-dimensionality to them, as they zoom in and out as you scroll across the environment. The design of the caged birds expertly combines the bright parroty colours of the film with the shape and personality of the birds in the game. And my personal favourite, the monkeys, are much more animated than the comparatively-boring pigs of old, as they yell and jump around while waiting for your move, and panic as the structure topples over.

The interface has also had a facelift, with your score post-level delivered with exciting animations, or failure accompanied by a cute, distraught bird in a cage that makes you feel bad for not saving them all. All up, it’s an improvement on something that we didn’t think needed improving.

Audio:

Sound is probably the least developed area of the Angry Birds franchise. The theme song is fantastically catchy and recognisable, but there is little else audio-wise. Apart from the happy little riff on completion of a level, there is no music in-game. The sounds are kind of entertaining, as the birds will squawk, and the monkeys will chatter, but really, there’s not much of anything. Sound could have been improved in this version of the game, but it’s such a minor issue that most players probably won’t even notice.

That said, the salsa-fied version of the main theme will have you bopping on the train or wherever you are, if you leave the menu open long enough to hear it.

Overall:

Giving us more of the same is the smartest move Rovio could have done with Angry Birds Rio. After all, the simple gameplay lends itself to millions of different puzzles and levels. Each of the Seasons packages only change the appearance of the characters and settings, leaving the core mechanics untouched, but each finds new things to do with those mechanics. AB Rio does the same, with a major graphical overhaul and some minor new additions.

Unfortunately, these new gameplay elements don’t add a whole lot to the game, and their potential seems untapped. Perhaps in the later episodes these will be explored in more depth, but for now, that slight disappointment is more than made up for by the sheer fun of the gameplay.

Angry Birds Rio loses points for essentially being just an ad for an upcoming film, but it gains the points back for being so damn good. And besides, if a mere iPhone app can attract the attention of the huge Hollywood machine, the video game industry may have taken another step in the direction of complete social acceptance.

The Nintendo 3DS Hits U.S. Stores Today!

Dustin Spencer

March 27, 2011

I am sure I didn’t have to remind anyone that the 3DS is out today, but for that one person who may have been living in a cave, now you know! Nintendo’s brand new console is now out in every part of the world except for Australia, in which it will release this coming Thursday, on March 31st. Nintendo World in New York along with retailers all over the country have been hosting midnight launches (sadly none near the small town I live in), and the buzz for the new handheld is just about everywhere.

If you have one at this very moment, please let us know what you think about it. How is the 3D? What launch titles did you grab? You get the idea. If you haven’t got a 3DS yet, let us know when you plan on picking one up and what games you will be grabbing to go along with it. The whole crew at Capsule Computers are going to be working overtime now to get out some reviews for this launch line-up, so keep an eye out for that as there will be plenty of unboxings and happenings of all sorts to come. Stay Tuned!

Pokémon Black & White Sell 2 Million Copies in just two weeks…

Dustin Spencer

March 27, 2011

Pokémon seems to still be the huge property it has always been as Nintendo have released an official statement on their twitter boasting that the two titles have now exceeded 2 million copies sold in just two weeks time. This news isn’t really shocking though as this new generation of titles also shattered records in Japan as well when it was released last year.

With the future Global Link coming into play sometime later this year if all goes right, who knows what the end of year numbers could be for the series, but I can say after spending plenty of time with the titles this feat is well earned from both Nintendo and Game Freak as both titles were fantastic entries and felt like a fresh reboot for the series. I guess now we just wait and see just what will be the next title from Nintendo to capitalize on Black & White’s success.

Gameloft and Square Enix iPhone Sale

Kyle Moore

March 27, 2011

For a limited time Gameloft and Square Enix are offering a games sale on the iTunes App store. Be sure to take advantage of this offer over the next few days. Gameloft are offering sales on game titles such as Starfront – Collision, a real time strategy, and Sacred Odyssey – Rise of Ayden, an action based adventure and Eternal Legacy, another role-playing game. These titles are all currently only $1.19AU/$0.99US. If this isn’t enough to tie you over, Square Enix have kindly brought the price on some of their classic games down for the next few days, with a huge 56% off both Final Fantasy the original and Final Fantasy II, as well as similar titles such as Secret of Mana. This is a massive discount on some pretty iconic games for the iPhone, leaving them at only $4.99AU each! Move fast though because the sales are only for a few days and will be ending on March 31st.

Link to all Square Enix Games on iTunes

Link to All Gameloft Games on iTunes

Type Type Train Review

Kyle Moore

March 27, 2011

Type Type Train
Platform(s): iPhone(reviewed)/iPod Touch/iPad
Publisher(s):Clickgamer
Developer(s): Ivannovich Games
Genre(s): Arcade/Action
Release Date: 17/03/2011
Price: $1.19 AU/$0.99US (Buy Now)

Overview

Type Type Train is exactly what it sounds like, it has trains, and it has typing. Wait a minute. Take a step back and double the amount of typing! As the trains with words on them progress along the track, you need to type the words as quick as you can to blow the trains up. This happens for two reasons; firstly, the little prairie dogs that live in the desert need help getting rid of the trains! Secondly, to finish the level and progress to the new one, earning cool bonuses along the way.

Gameplay

As I said, the basic premise of the game is to type. Personally I find the whole typing process on the iDevice screen a little difficult because there isn’t an actual button to hit, just a sensor on a flat screen. As the trains come past on the screen, the goal is to type the words that appear on the trains before time runs out. The time is measured on a little red bar to the bottom left of the screen. On some of the harder levels the timer moves way too quickly and it makes it really really difficult to type in such a panic as the screen flashes red! Due to the difficulty, I have mostly just stuck to the easier levels, but have found myself branching off into the most difficult set of levels purely because you are able to earn more bonuses.

There are three sets of difficulty in Type Type Train, easy, normal and insane. Within these three difficulty settings there are twelve levels. Each of the levels are the same at least in terms of appearance, the only difference is that the insane levels are truthfully rather insane. Way too many trains appear at one time and the timer moves so fast it is really difficult to keep up. Thankfully there are a few tricks you can pick up along the track to help you through the difficult task of destroying trains!

Throughout the levels there are bonus levels where you earn golden spikes. These levels have ten trains to blow up, which grants a certain number of spikes if you complete it on different levels. The easier levels get you one spike per bonus completion and the insane levels get you three per bonus. After collecting five spikes, you are granted a new bonus to help in the game. The majority of these are pretty helpful, ranging from different types of animals who set off bombs, such as chickens or cows strapped to rockets, to the ability to stop time or set off bombs instantaneously. The first mentioned set of bonuses are randomly generated, they appear on the screen and are activated with key words that need to be typed such as “eggs” or “corn”. The second set of bonuses are called weapons, and are set off by pressing a button near the keyboard. At first you can only use one weapon, but after collecting thirty spikes you are given a keyboard upgrade and can use two. These are pretty entertaining in short bursts, and do add to the playability of the game by making it a little more interesting and less difficult. Overall these elements don’t take away from the game itself, which is primarily just a typing game.

Graphics and Audio

The graphics for Type Type Train are a little disappointing. The characters are a little off model in design at times during loading screens and level select. However, during the game all the elements work together and have their place. The whole western meets train theme is sound and presented coherently. My favourite design element is in fact the upgraded keyboard. The first one is just some square bits of wood and it was a little disappointing. After reaching the thirty golden spikes my keyboard was upgraded to an old western looking typewriter that looked as if it had been invented by Dr. Emmet Brown in Back to the Future part 3. For me, this is a nice little nostalgic bridge between steam train technology and the modern technology of the smart phone. Unfortunately the audio didn’t have a real hook for me. Like most games for the iPhone the sound design is fine and suits the game thematically and contextually, but doesn’t really have any nice little touches.

Conclusion

It is an odd decision to make a typing game for iOS. The interface of the different iDevices doesn’t really support something that requires so much precision and often takes away from the game. Type Type Train isn’t a bad game, it perhaps just isn’t suited to this platform. Ideally, Type Type Train would work best as a PC game, or at least benefit from a keyboard input and would be best presented as a spelling game for kids, or even just a touch-typing game. It has some good qualities for educational purposes but as a source of entertainment it is a bit lacking.

A Town Called Panic (Panique au Village) Review

Kelly Teng

March 27, 2011

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy
Produced by: La Parti Production & Coproduction Office/Beast Productions
Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Voice actors: Stéphane Aubier, Jeanne Balibar, Bruce Ellison, Vincent Patar, Benoît Poelvoorde
Tag Line: “They came…they saw…they panicked.”
Running Time: 75 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles
Available for purchase at: Madman Online Store ($29.95), Amazon US ($21.49), Amazon UK (£5.49)

Overview

With the improvement of special effects in cinema, directors are constantly trying to make their films look more lifelike, and transport their audiences into a fantasy world which looks like it could really exist somewhere. In all of this, it’s hard to forget that sometimes the simplest things can still be the most entertaining and innovative of all.

A Town Called Panic was released in Belgium in 2009 (it’s what many would describe as a cult classic amongst the rest of us), and doesn’t use the latest in CGI and motion technology. It doesn’t feature the world’s most famous voice actors, the best animation studios, and a poetic, poignant storyline…but it is precisely because it doesn’t use any of this that it works and is one of those films with eternal universal appeal.

Plot

The storyline centres around three characters who live together in the town called Panic: Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier), Indian (Bruce Ellison), and Horse (Vincent Patar). One day, Cowboy and Indian realise they have forgotten Horse’s birthday. They quickly brainstorm ideas and decide on a present, but their present backfires and sends them on a journey to the most inconceivable of places. Along the way, other villagers from the town have their own small stories including Steven the farmer and Madame Longray, Horse’s crush.

Let’s put it this way: Panic is basically Toy Story 3 on really, really, really strong crack.

The trailer claims the film is “more terrifying than Psycho, more romantic than Casablanca, and more spectacular than Journey to the Centre of the Earth”, and the only way that Panic managed to put elements from all of those films is with a world where the imagination rules.

To say that the storyline of A Town Called Panic is impossible is to say the Pope is Christian. From the start, Cowboy, Indian, and Horse live in a world where anything can happen – and everything does happen: the hilarious, the sweet, and the downright odd. However, it’s this impossible storyline which brings to life the world that we as kids dreamed was possible; the world isn’t limited by anything but the depths of the creator’s imaginations. Aubier and Patar took the most mundane routine of life and transformed it into a world where imagination reigns supreme over logic, and the outrageous just becomes normal.

The story is a journey you have to take yourself. It will remind even the most logical audiences of a day where they used to believe their figurines were real and the world was filled with endless possibilities.

Characters

The reason the town is called Panic is because everyone in this town really does panic at even the slightest of things. A morning shower can be entertaining simply because the characters get so worked up over who gets to go first.

In Panic, the main characters are Horse, the father-figure in the house who has a crush on the local music teacher Madame Longray, Cowboy, the guy who always carries around a rifle, and Indian, the dude with the feathers and bow and arrow. Both Cowboy and Indian are extremely ADD, and will randomly disappear from a task to start playing ping pong or watch TV. The village only has a few other recurring characters aside from these three: Madame Longray, a soft-spoken lady horse, Simon, the cleaner of the music school, Steven the farmer and his wife Janine, the Postman, the Policeman, and a bunch of farm animals.

While Horse is probably more normal (if you can call it that), Cowboy and Indian have a strange charm in how little attention span or attention to responsibility they have. It takes us back to the time where not cleaning your room wasn’t as important as having fun, and that is their main focus: fun. The underlying love story between Horse and Madame Longray is very sweet, and all of the other characters have their own little nuances which make you love them.

Animation and Set Design

Aubier and Patar use claymation similar to that of Wallace and Gromit, but the characters don’t have changing facial expressions. Instead, when the characters talk it’s the body language which signals exactly how someone is feeling. The set is fully designed using materials such as clay and papier-mache and the time of day is shown using painted backdrops and lighting.

While the character designs are simple, their animation is effortlessly charming and really shows how Aubier and Patar can be innovative without needing a big budget. The detail in the character’s movements – again, makes them look like they’re on crack – does really get across their emotions without needing to show facial expressions. Most of the characters even have their own style of walking – take Horse and Madame Longray. Horse has a slightly more masculine way of walking while Madame Longray’s movements are slightly more petite. The sets also show an incredible attention to detail: in one room, there was even a small fire extinguisher and in the music school there was a portrait of Mozart hanging on the wall.

The movements aren’t perfect all the time, but they don’t need to be. The storyline, SFX, and sets really give audiences an entire fantasy world to get absorbed into. Half of the time, I wasn’t even looking at the character movements so much as I was trying to absorb in the world of Cowboy, Horse, and Indian.

Voice Acting, SFX and Soundtrack

As I mentioned earlier, A Town Called Panic gets its name from the characters who literally panic at the smallest things. Steven, the farmer, in particular panics at every single thing from his chickens to greeting his wife. The over exaggerated voice acting really does suit the story and provides plenty of comedic relief when you realise that two figurines are yelling at each other because of an envelope. They also speak in French, which is even funnier as French is supposed to be the “language of love”.

The SFX, like everything else in this film, are also detailed and really match what’s happening in the storyline. Considering that all the sound was added in, Panic’s sound effects really do seem like they were there from day one. The film uses so many different SFX: characters walking or bouncing around, fires starting, water drops, and brushing teeth. Aubier and Patar clearly put a lot of effort into selecting the right sounds for the right situations, and then went to the even bigger effort of syncing movement on screen to these sounds.

A Town Called Panic is not one of those films which use thousands of different soundtracks to make the audience feel a certain way. The soundtrack here is really very minimalist, with music only featuring when it’s absolutely necessary, but the few songs which are used are definitely used appropriately and well. The music school where Madame Longray teaches utilises a lot of musical instruments and occasionally features a few songs, and at the parties in the film there is plenty of music to be enjoyed. In spite of this, the opening theme is by far the standout track for me: it really made me love the film straight from the get-go. For the most part though, Panic lets the characters, voice acting, and SFX do the talking.

DVD Extras

The DVD has a few hours of extras, which is great because it really lets you into the inside world of the film. If nothing else, The Making of Panic is definitely something which needs to be watched because it makes you appreciate the film that much more. I found that as soon as I finished watching Panic, I jumped straight to the ‘making of’ and before I knew it that was ending too. Also, the trailer is included in the extras and is definitely worth having a look at if you haven’t already.

The other extras are nice to have, but some are a bit of a hit-and-miss. The Interview with the Directors feature was good for anyone who is extremely curious about the film but I found most of the information they talked about was already in the Making of Panic. The interview wasn’t filmed with a high quality camera which makes it difficult to watch. Extra Scenes was a bit disappointing; I was expecting funny gags but it was mostly one second clips which had been cut out, and Test Shot Comparison was really the one more worth watching between the two.

There’s also a short film thrown in called Obsessive Compulsive, which was made by a 17 year old girl as an entry to a competition. It’s pretty cute, but I don’t think I would have missed it if it weren’t there.

Final Comments

Overall, A Town Called Panic was a charming and funny film which took the world of the mundane and turned it into a world I only imagined was possible when I was a child. Anyone who played Cowboys and Indians as a kid or anyone who has a spark of a child still left in them should watch this because it’ll awaken that side of you once again. Even sceptics of claymation or fanboys-and-girls of CGI will find something to love in this film, and it is definitely worth watching at least once. This film is hilarious, imaginative, and unforgettable.

I give A Town Called Panic

Ridge Racer 3D Revs out a Launch Trailer…

Dustin Spencer

March 26, 2011

It seems to be more of the norm now to see Ridge Racer launching with new consoles. After well over 20 different releases on many different platforms in the past 18 years, this age old series is finally ready to debut with the 3DS. Namco also seem to be pretty pumped up about Ridge Racer 3D as well as today they released a new launch trailer today to show off just what wild ride gamers will be in for with the new 3D elements in tow.

The trailer (which you can view below) shows a bit of the gameplay as well as some nice eye candy such as a car jumping out of the screen as well as Reiko tossing her sunglasses at the player. Now as with all 3DS trailers, I am sure this is better in person but this clip certainly does a better job at showing the actual game than other 3DS trailers that have come forth. In my honest opinion if you are trying to decide just which racer to go with out of this or Asphalt, I would say due to past history and the name alone, Ridge Racer 3D is top choice for the genre at launch and is looking to be one of the better titles in this line up period at the moment. Ridge Racer 3D is also available now wherever video games are sold.

Katarina lets her guns do the talking in Dungeon Siege 3 reveal

Travis Bruno

March 26, 2011

There are many different ways that you can explore a dungeon, with swords, magic or guns apparently. But don’t worry the guns are magical and shoot magic bullets. Katarina joins the cast of playable characters in Dungeon Siege III alongside previous character reveals of Lucas and Anjali. Except rather than the standard medieval fantasy weapons we see usually in a game like this we see her wielding a rifle for long range attacks and double pistols for anyone close to her.

Of course she also ends up getting to summon a hound to help separate herself from any enemies that get to close. Now Dungeon Siege III was said to have four playable characters total so that means there is only one left to be revealed before the game comes out on May 31st. After Katarina’s weapon specialty it’ll be interesting to see what this last fighter uses.

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