Two New Dark Knight Rises Banners

Two more sweet new character banners from this summer's The Dark Knight Rises were revealed today via Twitter by Warner Bros. India. Check 'em out:

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/two-new-dark-knight-rises-banners

Killing Them Softly Review

“America’s not a country, it’s a business. Now f**king pay me.” These aren’t just stand-out lines from this stark, bitterly funny, savagely cynical crime drama; they’re its mission statement. In 2007’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, producer-star Brad Pitt and writer-director Andrew Dominik took down a national icon; this time, it’s the whole damn nation.

Crime movies from Point Blank to The Godfather to Casino have often proved adept critiques of capitalism: The Firm as the firm, where getting fired is more literal – and terminal – than mere redundancy, but usually it’s subtext. Killing Them Softly, subtle as a Wall Street crash, makes this subtext its actual text. Bar TVs and car radios constantly trumpet reports of the financial crisis and the pieties of politicians on damage limitation. At times Obama and Bush seem to have as many lines as Pitt.

All this commentary does serve a purpose though: as the politicos desperately try to reassure the public that they’re cleaning up the mess, so too is Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) in his own low-rent criminal underworld. Cogan’s a slick enforcer brought in to fix a card game robbery screwed up by a whiny dropout (Scoot McNairy) and Aussie smackhead (Ben Mendlesohn). The game manager (Ray Liotta) is innocent, and yet, due to a former scam, he also needs to be reined in. There’s a major recession. Everybody’s downsizing, only some won’t ever be getting up again. It’s the economy, stupid. With bullets.

Dominik has updated and switched George V Higgins’ 1974 Boston-set novel Cogan’s Trade, to busted flush New Orleans 2008 and it’s a smart trade off: post-Katrina, pre-Obama in the White House and slam bang in the eye of the economic hurricane. What he’s kept is huge swathes of tough guy talk. The film is largely a roundabout series of intense, rambling duologues, a virtually all-male cast bartering back and forth over deals, services rendered, what they’re owed from life – and whether they’re even owed a life at all.

So there’s Pitt vs. James Gandolfini as a killer over the hill and saddled with addictions; Pitt vs. Richard Jenkins, an exasperated middle manager overseeing the hits; McNairy vs. both Mendlesohn and Sopranos alumnus Vincent Curatola’s third hapless thief. The lengthy back-and-forths are an actor’s wet dream, spiked with profane, spiky one-liners and every one of the superb ensemble rises to the occasion.

The film’s title comes from Cogan’s preferred method of dispatching his victims – from a distance, without messy emotions, avoiding suffering as much as possible, for both him and his quarry. Not that Dominik shares this reticence, giving us key scenes of vicious, stylized action. Most notable is a drive-by hit sequence that’s a slow-motion marvel, a symphony of shattered glass, dancing bullet cases and exploding drops of rain and blood.

There’s nothing soft, then, about the muscular filmmaking. From its aggressive, static-warped, cut-up credit sequence onwards, Killing Them Softly’s a film that wants you to know it’s being Directed with a capital D. What’s unusual is where it throws its focus. You’re as liable to get an extended, woozy drug addiction scene, with camera and audio constantly fading in and out alongside Mendlesohn’s floating consciousness, as you are a fleeting glimpse of a supposedly major player (a blink-and-miss-him Sam Shepard). You’ll listen to a major, tortured discussion of a character’s fate, then never see the end results. It both keeps you on your toes and, occasionally, tries your patience.

As does the sledgehammer approach. Many will find the constant economic griping hard to take, though for me, far more irritating is the CAPS LOCK soundtrack. Pitt eventually arrives, dressed in black, to Johnny Cash’s ‘The Man Comes Around’. The aforementioned drug scene is scored to ‘Heroin’ – a move so bleedin’ obvious it should deemed a Class A cinematic offence.

Nobody, though, can deny Dominik, Pitt and co have the courage of their convictions, and ultimately this unapologetic relentlessness powers the film. There were obvious ways to go: a pop culture-soaked Tarantino knock-off; a kinetic, sweeping Scorsese homage to Goodfellas; po-faced Michael Mann-erisms with the weight of the world on its shoulders.

Killing Them Softly neatly sidesteps all of these, suffusing a low-key disorganized crime story with its own brutal poetry, off-kilter rhythms and knockout performances. It’s a film that reflects its characters’ social and economic weariness and uncertainty but bites back, albeit with the blackest humour and bleakest worldview. Nice work if you can get it. And for the Dominik-Pitt merger, at least, business is booming.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/killing-them-softly-review

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock Review

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, a Whovian if you will, which only provided more reason for me to be incredibly excited about the release of The Eternity Clock. Dubbed ‘the first mature Doctor Who video game’ by the BBC, it promised a deep immersive gameplay experience evocative of the show itself. Did it deliver? Well, sort of.

The game starts much like all of the Doctor’s adventures should: - the TARDIS is out of control and crashing down to Earth. Unaware of the reason for the crash, the Doctor must figure out what exactly is going on and save the universe from some form of looming threat (probably Daleks, it’s always Daleks).

To its merit, the story is filled with more psychic paper, perception filters and Sonic devices than you can shake a Dalek eye-stalk at. The vocal talents and motion capture of both Matt Smith and Alex Kingston also add a level of authenticity that has been absent in previous games.

Unfortunately, somewhat uninspired side scrolling gameplay quickly limits this experience; did Gallifrey only exist on a 2D plane? The controls almost seem more suited to a mobile platform than a home console.

In single player, the game regularly switches between control of The Doctor and River Song. Equipped with his trademark Sonic Screwdriver, The Doctor’s portions of the game are heavily focused on puzzle solving and opening locked doors with a fun but somewhat repetitive Sonic lock-picking mini-game. Meanwhile, River does what she does best, utilising both her hallucinogenic lipstick and signature Sonic Blaster to take down any foes that stand in the way of the time-travelling duo.

Gameplay is regularly stunted by the game’s adherence to a single 2D plane, often making it hard to even identify where enemies are in relation to your character – and trust me, no amount of psychic paper or witty remarks is going to save you from having to restart the level once caught by a Cyberman.

Environments are gorgeously designed with heaps of detail, from decaying Dalek remnants to glowing toxic Silurian pipes, though this just makes the limitations on exploration all the more irritating. The game also spans three time periods - sixteenth century London, present-day London and a future Dalek-occupied London - so be sure to expect plenty of variation. You’ll also visit the accurately reconstructed TARDIS inbetween each level, which as you’d hope is full of fun whirring levers and buzzing buttons, all of which you can interact with to hear a fun remark from The Doctor.

Movement is controlled with the left stick while control of the Sonic Screwdriver is mapped to the right, granting you the same level of erratic, wild flailing you’ve seen in the show, which is particularly fun for fans. This also applies to River’s Sonic Blaster, though sadly you can only aim left or right, making it awkward to shoot enemies on different planes.

Even when things get a bit rough gameplay-wise, though, the game consistently redeems itself with its excellent scripting. It features a cast of four different Who enemies: Cybermen, Daleks, Silurians and the recently introduced Silence, and even the most mundane of tasks, such as pushing a crate, is bettered by Smith’s witticisms.

It’s a shame that ever-present technical issues ruin the fun even here. The scripting triggers late sometimes, catching up and playing a whole load of now-irrelevant dialog in one go ten minutes later. This isn’t the only technical issue, either – the game is heavily laden with glitches and bugs, most notably River Song’s A.I., which often stuck her on a ladder or in a doorway, regularly forcing me to restart an entire level to progress.

The difficulty scaling of puzzles is also poorly executed. The switch to Hard simply reduces the time you have to complete a puzzle, which often results in a more frustrating than challenging experience. There are also a lot of ‘puzzles’ that would be better described as mini-games, such as moving a ball through a grid while dodging oncoming orbs, requiring more dexterity than puzzle solving ability.

The game does feature a multiplayer option, allowing you to play co-operatively. This alleviates some of the problems you’ll encounter with the AI in single-player, but you still run into issues along the way when playing with a friend.

Spanning 6-8 hours, the game will keep you entertained for a good while. Collectables are also scattered throughout the levels, taking the form of River’s diary pages – spoilers! – and the Doctor’s infamous hat collection. Fortunately these do provide some fun canon and are often easy enough to spot and collect. Reading through River’s diary will also give you additional insight into both the Doctor Who universe and The Eternity Clock’s plot.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/doctor-who-the-eternity-clock-review

Anarchy Reigns Delayed in the West

Sega has apparently changed the release date of Anarchy Reigns to "TBC".

In a post on its website, Platinum claims Sega has decided to change the release date from 6th July in Europe and 3rd July in the US to TBC, despite the title being finished.  The Japanese release is still expected for 5th July.

The message reads, "Finally, we break the bad news about Anarchy Reigns US/EU release date – Sega has decided to change the date to TBC. While our work on the game is finished, localized, and ready to go, as publisher, Sega gets to make the final decision as to when it is released. The Japanese release date, however, remains unchanged for July 5, 2012."

Platinum's previous titles include Bayonetta, MadWorld and Vanquish, though Anarchy Reigns is their first foray into the Beat 'em Up market.  It's the fifth title in the company's ongoing publishing deal with Sega.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/anarchy-reigns-delayed-in-the-west

Jet Set Radio Announced For Vita

An updated version of Jet Set Radio will be released on Vita this summer.

Sega has confirmed the news, adding that it'll be a faithful adaptation of the Dreamcast classic but with HD visuals, touch screen functionality for graffitiing and Vita camera integration.

Sega's digital business vice president Haruki Satomi said, "The fan reaction to our recent reveal of Jet Set Radio has been incredible.  As Jet Set Radio is focused on creativity, the touch capabilities of the PlayStation Vita are proving to be a perfect fit."

The Vita version of the game will join the ports for PC and the Xbox Live Arcade, and will apparently be out in summer.  It's confirmed that the Vita version will be playable at this year's E3, which kicks off in a couple of weeks, so expect more news soon.

 

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/jet-set-radio-announced-for-vita