X-Men First Class Review

X-Men, the longest running Marvel movie series yet, with the 5th one in theaters now. The Other day, Adam, a few others and myself went in to see it. Here's my take on it.

X-Men first class is the second prequel to the original X men trilogy, following the early parts of Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lensher as they form the foundations of Mutant acadamy. The movie opens up with a brilliant Nazi Poland vibe as we see a young Erik lose his mothers to the Nazis and is forced into joining Dr. Sebastian Shaw, who is the villain of the piece and has the power to control energy. Meanwhile we see a 12 year old oxford bound Charles Xavier who meets Mystique/Raven for the first time. The two quickly become close friends and the story slingshots forward 20 years, Charles is being educated in Oxford, Erik is on a revenge trip, looking for Shaw to avenge his mothers death. The two meet together as they plan to get Shaw and thus begins the forming of X-Men.

From L to R: Magneto, Moira Mactaggart, Emma Frost, Azaezal, Beast, Havok, Angel, Mystique and Professor X

This movie was a brilliant prequel with an all star cast with James McAvoy as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. The only problem I had with the cast was Kelsey Grammer was no longer playing Beast :'( (I'm a huge Fraiser and Cheers fan). The characters melded together perfectly and combined with the script, it made for a brilliant movie. The script delivered a high paced action adventure with various jokes thrown in making it very enjoyable. There was even a cameo appearance by someone who has been in ALL the movies, no not Stan Lee who for once I didn't think was in this film at all sadly, was Hugh Jackman as Wolverine who appears as Professor X and Magneto are recruiting various mutants.

Michael Fassbender as Magneto

I'm a big fan of X-Men. I've loved all the movies and thought they were all great instead of say Spiderman which I only thought that the first from that series was good. This film is easily the best of the X-Men. It has sort of left me hoping for some form of reboot, as there's no decent characters left to do it on that you could get an hour and a half plus story from. If we were to go back to present day I don't see how they could continue it there either,

A) Professor Xavier is Dead/ in the body of a brain-dead black man

B) Cyclops,Pyro and Jean/Pheonix are gone

C) Magneto, Rogue and Mystique have lost their powers, Although we do see Magneto move a chest piece slightly in the credits.

It's sort of sad seeing as this is my favourite series and I see no way for them to continue it now.

Raven (Mystique) and Beast

I loved all the new mutants who i've never seen in the few comics I've read such as Havok, Riptide, Banshee, Angel and so on. I liked seeing all the struggles of each of the mutants who were hiding inside "the mutant closet" such as Mystique and Beast. The setting was great as well and the production company made great use of the fact that it was set in the 1960's Cuban missiles crisis by including real footage of JFK speaking about the events.

From L to R : Banshee, Magneto, Raven, Moira, Beast, Prof. X and Havok

So in conclusion, what did I think.

I thought this was an amazing flick packed with the perfect amount of action and comedy that is needed by a superhero film. The actors were amazing by playing their parts perfectly, getting the mood right, showing just the right amount of emotion and not overacting. If this film doesn't get or at least nominated for any rewards, i'd be VERY surprised. People have different opinions as to who is the best super hero series, for me it goes from Thor being my third favourite to Iron Man and X-Men at the top so my view may be a bit biased but this film is probably my favourite super hero movie yet.

Shaw and Emma Frost

I'd give this a 9.5/10

One of the reasons is the plotholes that I noticed, a very large plot hole was but it may not be Canon but you may recall the end of X men: Wolverine where a large amount of mutants were freed then taken into Xaviers care and he was standing and bald. However in the final battle none of them are to be found.

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Tomb Raiders Debut Trailer Makes Uncharted Look Like A Pushover!

Sadly she's the biggest sex icon in the gaming industry but developers Crystal Dynamics wish to change the ridiculous sex symbol she is. Lets face it, the films and the theme rides don't necessarily bring justice to character of Lara Croft, basically just been known as "that sexy chick in video game's". The thing that makes it downright sad is that gamers take her seriously (or used to) as a character, she wasn't created as a sex symbol originally. Its ok to make females with massive tits in video games once the developers know that they're taking the piss, the likes of Bayonetta and Taki from Soul Calibar come to mind when developers just don't give a flying fuck for characterization of females. Its an interesting topic no doubt but it's one I don't wish to talk about in this post, if people are looking for such a debate I recommend you go here for female and video games debate.

I like the new look for Lara young and filthy, for some strange reason the look focus's a hell of a lot less on her beauty though this is just a personal opinion, what do you think? 

The debut trailer is awesome! I'm definitely digging this epic story of survival, it's a good theme for Tomb Raider. 

It does however look like Uncharted just with a female lead. It's annoying the way people think this as Lara was here long before Drake. And in fairness Lara's new game looks far more original, don't get me wrong Uncharted is a great game but if I wanted to watch a Indiana Jones movie well......id watch an Indiana Jones movie. Lara seems to be going for as I said earlier a survival theme, a more realistic experience than some epic action scenes (there is nothing wrong with this). 

Just saying maybe women have a respectable leading female character in video games now? No? Yea, it'll take sometime to remake the image of Lara but here's for a first. 

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Playstation Network back 100% With our goodies :P

Well playstation network is finally back to 100% working capacity, along with out free things. I personally can scoop over €200 from them because of my Multiple accounts on the ps3 but my main account is the only account I signed onto a psp on so I can only get LBP and Modnation Racers on that.

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Metal Gear 3D, Best handheld game in a good while?

Now I'm a huge fan of Metal Gear Solid, I've bought all the games bar Metal Gear Acid so when I heard about MGS 3- 3D, I was very excited. Now? I may have to buy new pants after watching this trailer :

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E3 2011: My Top 5 Anticipated Games

E3 is just around the corner and its coming fast! For those of you who don't know E3 is the biggest gaming convention there is. Its a place where publishers look for the public's eye and for studio's to impress. This year without a doubt must be the best. Here is the top 5 games I am dying to see: 

1. BioShock Infinite

This game has already knocked my socks off from that crazy 10 minute demo Irrational Games showed a few months back. BioShock is a game I hold close to my heart and in saying that I find Infinite a challenge by measuring it up to the first game. But by just looking at Infinite I know it's definitely going to make a lot of jaws drop.

2. Warhammer 40k: Space Marine

Its undoubtedly one of the greatest sci-fi universes ever created and its probably the only one I cant get enough of. Growing up with the table top game made me always wonder if there will ever be a great video game about a Space Marine, a good 10 years later and here we are with Relic's new third person shooter. It looks gritty, violent and just downright badass. Looking forward to this one! 

3. Metro: Last Light

Metro 2033 was a flawed game which THQ agreed and went on to say "A flawed masterpiece", which I thoroughly agree. But sequels, for a video game, aim to fix where things went wrong and give more of what the player wanted in the original. In an announcement for Last Light THQ confirmed that they aim to fix and deliver another full Metro experience. Here's me excited. 

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I dont know about you guys, but I have been watching Game Of Thrones on Sky Atlantic lately and I am in need of good fantasy game! I want dragons, dragon hunters, wizards, horses the whole fucking nine yards that make a fantasy epic. The only game that ticks off that list is Skyrim, which looks like the best RPG at this whole event. 

5. Gears Of War 3

I couldn't give a flying fuck about what you think about this choice, I'm a Gears fanboy. I am a Gearsaholic, if Gears was the new slang to crack cocaine I'd be dead. I love the books, comics and obviously the games. I will be eyeing this like a motherfucker to see if new characters get announced and new gameplay especially the new Horde mode which they have to reveal here at E3. 

Tags: GameTrailers.com, SpikeTV - E3 2011: Gears of War Promo, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Hope you like my top 5 games, what games are you looking forward to? 

Watch all the presss confrences at Gametrailers.com. 

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Metro Last Light Announced The Sequel to Metro 2033! Video + Screenshots

One of my favourite - first person shooter/survival horror/some RPG elements/post apocalyptic/Russian- video game of 2010, Metro 2033, is getting a sequel called Metro: Last Light. Bet you cant find those features on the box of your typical FPS's! 

Sounds bizarre but yet the game works, or at least some of it works. You see the game had some rough edges throughout the game mainly due to its clunky shooting mechanics and its wonky as fuck AI. It was a pretty linear game that followed the journey of Artyom. A young man that is immune to the power of the Dark Ones, radioactive mutants.

To some people it surprisingly got a Metacritic score of 77, which is a pretty fair score in my opinion. Personally I loved the game it was dark, gritty and was haunting from start to finish. The only question I have about the single player is which ending Last Light will take up from 2033. I'm not going to spoil it for y'all, but there pretty different from each other. 

Teaser: 

Its also been confirmed that Last Light has multiplayer nothing has been specified as of yet, but we'll see by E3 this year about any details. 

Here's me looking forward to this at E3, expect me to cover this over the course of the expo and others also!

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Gears Of War 3: "Epic" Game Deserves an "EPIC" TRAILER!

Last week we were given a teaser for a trailer that was going to be aired during the Champions League final, to sum the match up Barcelona played their usual way of playing and Manchester United just couldnt out play them (no one can). 

So it left for a pretty boring match when Messi scored (it was well game over by then) and the only thing I was looking forward to was the Gears 3 trailer. To summarise it's pretty awesome, lots of actions scenes but the main thing for me was the Lambent Leviathan. I just got to the point in the book where the fight like three of these bastards and, my, they are big motherfuckers. They look awesome by the way, check it here: 

War Pigs! Awesome song! Can't wait to finish it on September 20th! 

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Driver Parallel Lines: Review

Driver, the driving game series that I have spent the majority of my virtual street racing life playing. The game normally puts you under control of Tanner, an under-cover cop. However this game decided to break with the trend and bring out a new driver ,T.K. Set in 1970's and 2000's New York you better fasten your seatbelts.

Story:

If you're a fan of Driver, you should already know that story is a minimal feature in the games and that VERY little is placed on it and in fact what draws a lot of people to the game itself is it's LEGENDARY take a ride mode where you travel around cities you like. The story in Driver Parallel lines is...well... possibly the worst story i've ever encountered in my life. It makes no sense about making no sense (See it's rubbed off on me as well). The game opens pleasently enough with T.K doing a mission in '70's "New York" with some Blondie music blaring in the background. Then it does mini mission after mini mission and then suddenly i'm in New York 30 years later. I personally don't get it. I was playing through the game normally enough went away and the games yellow hud has changed to an ugly blue and my character is in his 60s. Maybe the PC version was missing missions but I personally don't understand how I could miss such a HUGE leap in the story.

Gameplay:

Driver has always been known for it's amazing driving engine, although not known well, it was nearly always better than the driving in GTA. The whole car system has been completly revolutionized with changing tires, suspension and such allowing for experiments to get the car that's perfect for you easily... as long as you have the cash. Any car you pick up and store in a garage can later be used, repaired, cleared of felony or customized. However I strongly disliked the whole custom body kits, which gave some bitching bodies to cars but covered them with hideous paint job. The cars as usual have excellent precision and driving capabilities with the engine being even more accurate it can allow even a new player to quickly master the controls and being timing jumps right and making use of the hand brake to avoid the police, who have greatly evolved since the cops of Driv3r who made me see what it would be like if a mentally deranged squirell were behind the wheel. Also cop chases are now more expansive in terms of more frequent road blocks, more cars in a chase and helicopters in the sky. The Felony system has had it's sensitivity reduced, now when you crash a car into a wall the police won't go red alert on your ass.

Violence has nearly always been kept to a minimum in Driver. In the early drivers you just couldn't hit peds with your car. In driver 3 they drought in guns which were awful all around, however it was their first time so it was passable in terms of that. Driver PL changes the weapons set around and introduced auto targeting to the mix. However they share the same buttons no matter what so it makes it impossible to do my favourite move to police ( Do a 180 turn and shoot out their wheels while reversing). It always locks onto the enemies themselves and if you're unlucky they can wreck themselves into a nice impenetrable package. Jumping was removed as well for no reason that I can see. It wasn't that good in Driv3r but it was handy. There have been so many times that my character has been bested by a tiny 2 foot wall. It's my Runescape days all over again....

Swimming, another key point of Driv3r was stolen as well and if you have played Driv3r i'm pretty sure that you can work out your self that means NO boats. While the boats weren't something I used often and WERE something that was horrifically bugged such as the lack of police boats ever appearing on my PS2 and PC versions it still would've been nice to take a poat out around the Hudson Bay.

Take a ride has been removed and so have driving games and have been rolled together with the campaign for one big super open world.

Graphics and Music:

The graphics in this game have taken a huge leap up from what was in Driv3r. New textures were brought in, windows didn't keep the same animation when smashed, more detail but into simple things. These new graphics did make a good change and made the slo-mo car jumps over roads, ditches or rivers all the more enjoyable. The music was barely passable. For once Driver got with the times and put in a radio station instead of crappy OST in each game. The music in the 70's was alright with a few songs getting my nerve. The music in the 2000's made me want to cut myself. Seriously when did driving music become trance and dance music? There was only one song I liked which is the alternate rock song, Oh My God by the Kaiser Chiefs. If I recall, people use Powered Rock Ballads from bands like Motley Crue, AC/DC and White Snake. Sure it is meant to be the 2000's so those wouldn't be really fitting seeing as AC/DC are the only ones still writing new tunes but their new stuff would be suitable, Bands like Motorhead, Disturbed, Foo Fighters, Kiss and so on would've been so much better. I've found myself muting the music in the game and turning on either the Brutal Legend soundtrack or some general rock songs to keep my sanity.

So in conclusion

What I liked:

Improved Graphics

Setting of 1970s New York

Better car customization and driving engine.

Open world with missions

Better police

What I disliked

Seeming irregular story,

Music

Guns

Boats missing

Jumping Missing

Glitches

So what did I think overall? This game gets a

4.5 /10

This game is barely even worth pirating, which i'm glad I did first because it definitly isn't worth any price north of €5,00. A lot of the good features of it were removed making it generally un-enjoyable or just plain irritating.

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I'm Buying This! + Leaked Video of Gears 3 Campaign!

So yea see that crazy weapon in the picture? Its gonna cost around $100 so that's about €80 or if you pick it up from Gamestop it'll be $80 so thats about €60 so add that on to the Epic Edition of Gears Of War 3 I mentioned earlier, which is about $150 or €120, and you get $250 or €200. Sucks to be my wallet. 

Yea I'm totally buying this, I knew Epic Games where gonna make this even before Gears Of War 3 was announced the only thing I didn't expect was the Epic Edition, which I'm totally getting. Love this beauty.

So this has been confirmed in US only and NECA (The manufacturer's) are still yet to distribute news about where they're going to sell this beast! They expect something soon, so first word I get I am placing my order on this beaut. 

+

So speaking of Gears Of War 3 and my plans of buying ridiculous swag I came across a short cutscene focussing on Baird, one of the four protagonists of Gears, and ironically he's talking about my wallet....

You see kids, the Locust are the dick heads at Microsoft, Epic Game and NECA who develop "shit" that goes way over any persons expectations for their wallet. 

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It may be the end of the world as we know it, But i'm feeling fine with playing video games, What are you playing?

Well seeing as tomorrow could well be our last day on the Old planet earth as rapture is meant to begin tomorrow. No the world isn't going to turn into this epic under water city with only 50's music and Justin Bieber, Axel Rose and the Gallagher brothers (My 3/4 most hated celebrities) Don't exist and where quoting R.E.M. Songs is forever gone. Well in my Final hours I want to spend my FINAL gaming minutes playing some FINAL games. Is it catching on yet? Well no i'm not really going that crazy over Final Fantasy games in my FIIIIIINALLLLLLLLLLLLLL hours alive... really. I'm actually spending my Final Hours playing the following at the moment :

• Metal Gear Solid 4- Hideo Kojima truly is a God at making this game and hopefully THIS god will help save us in Rapture,
• 
• Final Fantasy VI- I've been meaning to play this game again for a while, It may be one of the early Sprite games but some of those are better than the modern ones.

• Driver 4: Parallel Lines- This game is relativly unknown but it's basically a ps2 GTA game with better graphics, less violence and MUCH BETTER DRIVING. It's also set in 70's New York which always helps :P

1. 

So what are you playing readers?

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