Thunderbirds Are Go Unplugged review

Here's what you need to know; While en route to London, Thunderbird 2 gets hit and crippled by an EMP that wipes out all power in London, now grounded with no equipment, Virgil must save the day alone while Penelope and Parker hunt down the source of the EMP.

This episode, like Crosscut, doesn't have much Thunderbirds action, instead focusing more on Virgil and grandma Tracy and Penelope and Parker, while this is an interesting approach, it ultimately isn't as entertaining as it could be, mainly because of the episode's somewhat preachy nature, that peachiness comes in form of the episode's insistent message that you can still be a hero without all the fancy gear that the Thunderbirds use. I hate it when children's shows force in these messages, because they often compromise the story. And the lack of Thunderbirds, while interesting in this context, is a bit lacking. Something that is more interesting is the Penelope and Parker story as they unravel another sinister plan involving the Hood, and a more ridiculous plan with the Technology hating Luddites cutting the power to London, and it allows for some funny Parker moments. Also, an issue I have with the story is that the episode deals with a city wide power out, something that would have consequences, consequences that are not explored, while this isn't as big a plot hole as the same hole in Ring of Fire, it is worse in this episode because of the episode's focus on the EMP, I understand that these consequences wouldn't be addressed in a children's show, but consequences is something that is very important. And finally, one little question I have is how did Virgil manage to crash land Thunderbird 2 in the centre of London without causing any damage at all, no crushed cars, no damage to infrastructure, nothing, that is impossible. This episode carry's on a trend that Crosscut seems to have started, with less interesting, les fun episodes that lack the energy and excitement of pervious episodes, and I am not terribly fond of this episode, I want to see more Thunderbirds in this show called Thunderbirds.

Vivid toy group Ltd. Thunderbirds Are Go vehicle super set review

Bearing the mantle once again, Vivid brings us toy versions of the new machines from Thunderbirds Are Go, and I just went and bought them, and now I will subject you to my thoughts on them. Because they are also sold separately, I will review them individually, and I promise I will be honest.

Thunderbird 1 looks really cool as a toy, the toy gets the look of the redesigned machine very right, this is notable in the paint and sculpt. Where the sculpt is best is on the engines and underneath, the back of the craft has a very good amount of detail in it's main engine, 8 boosters, and the various pipes that go into them, all in a very nice in my opinion dark grey colour, with blue accenting and the white TB1 symbols. I can't go without mentioning the brilliant hexagonal pattern sculpted in the blue bit I don't know the name of, this is a little detail in the show that I didn't expect in the toy, and I really like that. Sculpted into the underside of Thunderbird 1 is the viewing port on the nose and the doors, though these are not functional, obviously, it's a cool little sculpted detail. Something missing in the sculpt is Thunderbird 1's VTOL jets, they are admittedly a tiny  detail, but they are still a detail that is absent. Paint is very high standard for a children's toy, with a mainly light grey and dark grey body with red, yellow, black, white and of course blue detailing, though I personally think a bit more of a shine wouldn't have gone amiss on the light grey body, it's something I won't complain about. additional playability come with sound effects activated with a button on the blue bit, and extendable wings that are extended by rotating the engines, though not the biggest quality control concern I have with this set, I do think that this has potential to be an issue in the future, say for instance if the mechanism was damaged. but overall, I do like Thunderbird 1, the little worry I have about the mechanism aside, it's a very nice little thing.

Thunderbird 2 is the coolest looking of the 4 in the set, and in terms of sculpt, puts Thunderbird 1 to shame; the whole body is covered in little grooves and panels, with sculpt highlights in the engines and air intakes ,the view ports are also very nice little details, and the sculpt hides the various function buttons well enough so they don't compromise the look. And unlike Thunderbird 1, Thunderbird 2 has it's VTOL jets, though they don't move like they do in the show. Paint is also extremely nice, with the body being a dark green with white, red, yellow, black and grey detailing. Playability incudes sound effects activated with a button on the top of the cockpit, deployable landing struts activated with buttons on either side of the transport module, wings that can be folded up like they do in the show, and of course the deployable transport module, activated with a button just behind the module. The module can be opened up and used to store the tiny little Thunderbird 4, Which, while devoid of functionality, is easily he most detailed of the 4 vehicles, with sculpted grooves similar to Thunderbird 2, and paint detail including blue view ports and back hatch, grey on the engines and even on the dry tubes, and red accents throughout the body. Unfortunately though I do have quality control issues with Thunderbird 2. Firstly, I'm worried about how loose the folding wings are, and the struts; again I'm fearful of the mechanism but what's more worrying is mine came out of the box with some noticeable stress marks on one of the struts, and I'm worried about how easily broken they might be, and more so about why it was damaged like this in it's box.

Unfortunately Thunderbird 3 actually had a broken mechanism in the box; by pushing a button on the main engine you can deploy the grasping arms, something new to the new series, but one of the arms doesn't deploy on mine, which is no doubt the cause of my fear about broken mechanisms with these toys, and it is very disappointing. Other than that though Thunderbird 3 is solid, red being my favourite colour, I love the red colour of the body, and additional detail includes white, yellow, grey, and black. Sculpt is nearly on the same level as Thunderbird 2, with very nice sculpting around the engines, on the grasping arm and on the nose, and finally the sculpting on the view port is really cool too. As well as the grasping arms, the toy also has sounds activated by turning the centre.

I do have a problem with this set, and that is quality control, which isn't to say the toys are poorly made, but it does mean that they may be subject to damage in time, other than that though I really like these Thunderbirds toys, they're nicely sculpted and painted, and have a decent amount of functionality and playability between them. I got them because I'm a collector and I love Thunderbirds, but I know these things will make for a very nice Christmas present, and if I'm honest, I might just do that, assuming they're not sold out, which they will be. So I'd say pick them up, just be warned; know why you're buying them or who for, because they might not last.

Sci fi Legends

I tried to find a picture of him that wasn't from 1954 or 2014, but I just couldn't help it. First dropping in Japan in 1954, just 9 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his name was forged from a combination of Gorira; Japanese for gorilla, and Kujira; Japanese for whale, and with a roar that is in fact a Violin. It is Godzilla. My love for the big lizard has been a part of me for my entire life, I don't know exactly when it started, but I am told that it began when I was a baby, and I saw Godzilla vs Hedorah on TV, as unsure as I am of this myself, I have proof that it is probably true, since I still have the shitty video my mum and dad taped for me of the film from the TV, and the first Godzilla film I remember watching is indeed Godzilla vs Hedorah. Since then I have had frequent phases of being obsessed with Godzilla, and each time I have been more and more in love with him.

Godzilla is a fascinating creature, there are many different versions of events in which he was or could have been created. But the one that is most generally accepted is that he was an ancient prehistoric sea monster that was awoken by the American nuclear tests in the 1950's. Something that was brought up in 1954 and I hope will be brought up in the 2018 film is that to some, Godzilla is a god; the Godzilla franchise isn't shy of the idea of gods, after all, one of his greatest allies/enemies is literally a god. But it's interesting to look at the big lizard in the same way, given his age, size, power, etc, it wouldn't be surprising that, just like in the 54 film, talk of a giant sea monster had been passed from father to son for generations, and had spawned a legend, or that the people of the small fishing community that worships Godzilla have always worshiped him, even to the point of performing ritual sacrifice to keep his rage and hunger for mankind at bay.

What Godzilla actually is is an interesting subject. He is considered to be a metaphor for the destruction caused during the atomic bombings on Japan, and Japan's fear of atomic power, which is why his timing of only 9 years after the bombings is so relevant. He is an embodiment of the fear that gripped Japan after the bombings. But in the 2014 film he became more than that; director Gareth Edwards wanted Godzilla to be as grounded as possible, and he tried his hardest to portray Godzilla not as a monster that can be fought ad killed, but as a force of nature. Like what Charlie Hunnam said in Pacific Rim; "There are things you can't fight, acts of god, you see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way." Godzilla is the act of god, and there are no Jeagers to fight him, until they make that Godzilla Pacific Rim crossover, please please please.

Godzilla is appealing for several notable reasons. The first and most basic is people like watching things get destroyed and that is what Godzilla does, people like seeing giant monsters going head to head, and I do like seeing that too. But there are more complex reasons for the appeal. For example; Godzilla is a metaphor, as I said in the previous paragraph, it's possible that some of his appeal comes from what he stands for; which is unimaginable destruction and a nation gripped with fear. We can keep going with this, he may be a metaphor for the arrogance of man; with the American nuclear tests, not giving a thought to what kind of effect their scientific advancements could have, and how big of a threat said effect could pose, this is something the 2014 movie dabbles with a lot. Finally there is the appearance, he's enormous, which is both awe inspiring and terrifying; going back to my fearfully interesting post, monsters can be many things, and giants are one of those things, the fear of something that could squish us like ants is a very natural fear, as it's something we cannot fight or escape from, an "act of god". Alternatively, he's a dinosaur, and dinosaurs are cool.

I've called this post sci fi legends because I want to do this regularly, single out something I like from Science fiction and  talk about what I find cool about it and whatever deeper meanings can be squeezed from it if any. I hope this post was at least kind of interesting, as ever, apologies if you were bored by it.

Holy shit

So, I am packing, and I was digging around in my draws for the various charger cables I'll need and look what I found. This puppy is old, I don't know exactly how old, but I remember getting it as a present when I was in Primary school. This is my PSP, and god damn, the memories I have of this thing; countless monsters slain in God of War and Resistance, countless laps around Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2. Countless awesome racing and dogfighting memories from a little game you've probably never heard of called M.A.C.H. And as it so happens, many of those memories are from when I was in Tenby, so no doubt this is coming with me. I don't even know if it works, it's probably a good 8 or 9 years old. And I wouldn't really blame it for not working, not just because of it's age, but because of how awesome a run we've had. And besides, these PSPs are relics now, obsolete in the wake of mobile gaming, but I'm not forgetting it, sadly though, I just wish I remember where I put the games for it.

This is a short, and admittedly random post, but just look at the damn thing, I couldn't not give this thing a little bit of respect when I found it. And it really deserves more respect, I think, so; a toast to the PSP.

The Order 1886 game review

Here's what you need to know; it's an alternate 1886, Sir Grayson is a member of the Order, an ancient organisation sworn to carry the legacy of Arthur and his knights and protect humanity from  evil, but as the evil grows in strength, Grayson discovers a more dangerous threat that is much closer to home, and threatens the entire world.

I will, as usual, start with the positives in this game. This game is beautiful, genuinely beautiful; everything from the textures to the lighting to the character models and animation is absolutely jaw dropping, by far the best on console. And it portrays the aesthetic of it's alternate 19th century London perfectly, the City is grey, dark, smoggy, but has zeppelins flying overhead and werewolves crawling it's poverty stricken streets. As I said before, the character models also look superb, and they are accompanied very nicely by very good voice acting. it's also worth noting that the soundtrack is stunning too, a must truly be heard to be appreciated. The Order also does an excellent job of setting the mood, with the dark, spooky streets and tunnels of London, buried under the product of the accelerated industrial revolution, and lit only by candle and lantern. This alternate 1886 is also really cool, still retaining what is to be expected of the time and place, only with the addition of Zeppelins, radios and crazy sci fi weapons like the lightning gun and thermite gun. Though, this game only offers a very narrow view of this wold, which is the first negative I can say plagues this game. this is a world that begs to be explored, both with the story and with the world itself, but the game doesn't allow that, instead taking a look-don't-touch approach that is disappointing to no end and immensely boring. Story is also a mixed bag, being interesting enough to carry you through it's laughable 6 hour campaign, but again failing to explore the setting and ending on a disappointing and hollow note.

Here's where the tone  of this review changes, because it's gameplay where this game goes from a decent but forgettable adventure to a misery and a grind. The elephant in the room that must be addressed is the QTE's, of which there are far, far too many. The very first thing you do in the game is a series of QTE's, and the 2 biggest boss fights of the game, including the final boss, are nothing but QTE's, they're even in the stealth sections, with the 'clean kill' being an instant fail QTE, instead of an easy takedown that every other game with stealth mechanics has. Speaking of stealth, this game has terrible instant fail stealth sequences that will make you want to tear your hair out, this is why in games that aren't exclusively stealth games, stealth should strictly be optional, because it isn't fair when an enemy I can't see somehow sees me and instantly kills me with no warning or chance of escape, and it is fucking infuriating. The majority of gameplay is passable but  unremarkable 3rd person shooting. The combat is serviceable, but it is flawed as hell. First off, with the exception of the Lightning and Thermite guns, the guns in the game are boring, and the chances to use the more interesting guns are few and far between. A big hindrance is the aspect ratio, that, while very nice in cut scenes, is an issue in gameplay when you can't see over walls because of that pesky black bar at the top of the screen. While there is fun to be had in it's simple 3rd person cover shooting, all of that potential fun is crushed the instant one of your AI buddies yells "Shotgunner". The AI in this game is not inept, but still lacks competence.none are as annoying as the fucking shotgunners, who charge at you  full speed, then pump a shell right into your face, almost certainly killing you. The number of times I have got stuck in a death loop because of these dickheads, it too is fucking infuriating, and it's even worse that in a game with vampires and werewolves, the scariest thing you fight is a shotgunner.

This game is a tragedy, while by far the best looking game on consoles, with outstanding music and great voice acting, it is hindered by an intriguing but underexplored universe, a cool but ultimately underwhelming story, and completely crushed by frustrating gameplay, that only gets more frustrating when you get to the end of the crap 6 hour campaign and learn that your struggle has amounted to nothing. I'd only say give this game a try if you want to see what your PS4 can do, but there is nothing else this game does that I can recommend, just buy the soundtrack, much better value and it won't make you want to punch yourself in the balls for wasting your money on this mediocre mess of a game.

Let packing commence

 And In a matter of days I will be hundreds of miles away, no doubt roaming nomadically armed only with my camera, as I explore the uncharted wilderness of wales. Just kidding, I'm not going to the wilderness of wales, though roaming nomadically with the camera is what I will be doing. This does mean that my blog will be quiet for a few days, probably around 2 weeks. To keep up with my regular content, I will be doing my Saturday content a few days early this week, and next week's Saturday content will be later the following week. So expect reviews of the next episode of Thunderbirds and Doctor Who probably on Thursday. Now I must prepare for my holiday; since I plan to get as much done as I can while I'm there, I must go prepared. And by get as much done as possible, I mean take many many many photographs, and explore as much of Tenby and the surrounding area as I can; as well as the usual touristy things, though not sunbathing, sunbathing's boring. I really hope I won't be disappointed by whatever I find, given how long I will be spending walking up long beaches in search of interesting shit to take photos of. even if don't find shit though, I real miss walking up long beaches, I just miss Tenby, I haven't been in 2 years and apparently the old cinema is now a poundland, god damn, the place was falling apart anyway, but a poundland, that is depressing as shit. I watched Thunderbirds in there 11 years ago, and now I think of it, that is a much more depressing thought. But that gives me an idea, I should review that movie, that will be fun, tearing that movie apart. This is somewhat of a ramble, but it's just to say basically that my blog will be quiet for about 2 weeks. and when I return with a stream of content, so brace for impact.

Doctor Who series 1 The End of the World review

Here's what you need to know; The Doctor and Rose travel all the way into the future, and infiltrate a party of rich aliens gathered to watch the destruction of Earth, what they don't realize is someone in their midst has more villainous intentions.

I'll actually start with a negative in this episode first, which is I feel that this episode went a bit overboard with it's aliens. I get why they did this, this series promises aliens, so aliens you shall get, and Rose needs to be shocked, given her enthusiasm at the promise of time travel. But, this episode has tree aliens, blue aliens, bird aliens, fish tank head aliens, national stereotype aliens and talking canvas aliens; Rose sums it up very nicely when she describes the aliens as "so alien." I for one think they were trying little too hard. Let's get back on track, the turmoil with Rose is really cool to see, as she is taken back by all the aliens, and struggles to deal with the scale of her situation. Watching her interaction with the Doctor as she realizes her naivety and her complete lack of knowledge about the Doctor is really important from a character standpoint. And the Doctor gets some important development here too, as we learn more about his past and who he actually is, as well as seeing more of his darker, more merciless nature. As for the more villainous intentions, that's really cool too, as it is revealed to be a plot of greed, and it makes for cool moments with giant fans and little robot spiders. This episode is also rather funny, for example, "strictly prohibits the use of teleportation, weapons and religion," this episode has a few little funny bits, an odd inclusion to that is the music, which is all very alieny. I think that this was a solid episode, even with my criticism of kooky alien overload, this is a good character episode for both main  characters, and tells an interesting and intense story with little sprinkles of heart and humour thrown in for good measure. If Rose got you interested, then this is a sound follow-up.

Thunderbirds Are Go Fireflash review

Here's what you need to know; Fireflash, a brand new hypersonic aircraft has vanished off the radar, and all contact is lost with the crew and Kayo, International Rescue steps in to find and rescue the stricken plane, only to find a sinister plan involving the Hood.

This episode is a revision of an episode from the old series; Trapped in the Sky. For obvious reasons, this episode was a risk. I'll start with the good. I like the Hood story in this episode, with his plan to steal the plane to get it's new hypersonic engines. and there is a cool scene in the Fireflash cargo hold with Kayo and the Hood. Where this plan goes wrong though is where the episode takes a dumb blow, as he makes his 'daring' getaway that is just so sodding goofy. It being a revision of Trapped in the Sky, it has to have the iconic crashing landing scene, which is in my opinion the best part of this episode. Though the landing goes in a direction I didn't expect, and a direction I didn't like as much, I felt the attempt with the elevator cars was really well done, especially bearing the music in mind, which is a great revision of the classic music. I do think however that, like Crosscut, this episode lacks the interest or intensity of Space Race or Ring of Fire, and with it being a remake of a classic episode, it suffers from my attachment to that episode, which is precisely why I felt this episode was so risky, and I have to say, both from a critical and nostalgic point of view, this episode fails to live up to the original. Where Trapped in the Sky ramped up the tension as Fireflash came in for it's final approach, this episode lacks that tension, something I knew it would do. A little detail I thought wasn't an improvement was the design of the Fireflash, which really wasn't as cool or as pretty as the one from the 60's. While this episode has a few good moments, they don't relieve it of it's failing of simply being inferior to Trapped in the Sky, and while normally I can keep nostalgia out of the way, I just can't here. This is a step down from what this series started as, and I hope it gets back on track next week.

Rocket League first impressions

So today a friend introduced me to a little game called Rocket League, and I didn't really know what to think. On one hand, I've never liked football, but on the other hand, I thought it looked fun. So we went on the PlayStation store and grabbed it. And after initially being disappointed by the lack of offline multiplayer, we dove into the online multiplayer, and spent easily the next hour playing it.

Rocket League is a physics-based vehicular football game; where 2 teams of players try to score goals using tiny rocket powered racers. I hope that sounds like fun, because it's actually a lot of fun.  The brunt of the fun is the racer itself, which is A adorable, B customisable with unlockable bodies, afterburner colours, and hats, yes, hats, mine also has a Union Jack flag on the back. On the pitch gameplay consists of trying to ram the ball into the enemy goal, where it gets nuts is with rocket burners for extra speed, jumping and double jumping, driving on walls and even ceilings (though not for long), all at your disposal to get the upper hand on the enemy. Performing moves nets you points, which stack up to unlock various customisation items as you level up your racer, though I don't yet know how much there is in the way of unlocks, so we'll see how good that is. Players are split into blue and orange teams, and from there is a go ahead for insane stunts and crazy scores, with tiny racers shooting around everywhere, leaving trails of smoke, bubbles and even rainbows in their wake, it's chaos, beautiful chaos. I haven't tried any mode other  than the normal team football, that is assuming there are more modes, I really think I need to play this game more, not just to see if there is more than what I've seen, but because it's fun. more fun than The Order 1886, which I will review, when I buck up and play it again, that gam is a fucking grind.

I haven't played much of this game, but I've really liked what I've played, I might do a full review of this game, because I really am surprised by how much I like it, and for some reason this game reminds me of Monday Night Combat, don't know why, probably the colours.

Deadpool Comic con trailer thoughts

Well, this was a something. Like the Suicide Squad trailer it was shown at comic con and wasn't going to be released to the public, unlike Warner though, when the Deadpool trailer leaked all over the web, Fox stuck to their guns and withheld the High definition version, a real shame, because this movie looks fucking awesome.

For the longest time Deadpool has deserved his own movie, a character who is infectiously self aware, constantly breaking the 4th wall, a movie would be perfect for a character like that, and a movie that's completely self aware is a movie I want to see whenever one arises, because that stuff is funny. And when Deadpool, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead look ready for battle and Deadpool gestures to the camera and says "queue the music", I was sold. This movie pokes fun at Green Lantern, which cracked me up, Stan Lee is a strip club MC, which cracked me up, and finally, when Deadpool breathes in the gunsmoke and says "I'm touching myself tonight" I lost it. This trailer is funny as shit, and I hope the movie is as funny as this, be really sad if it wasn't. The action in this film also looks really fun, with that slow mo shot of deadpool spinning through the air shooting and the bullet takes three guys out like dominos, with blood and brain splattering everywhere, it's just so beautiful. It's nice to see a film like this, since mic book movies have all become dark and mature, and then you have Deadpool which is a complete pisser, it's refreshing. The film also appears to delve into Deadpool's past, which is handled seemingly in the same comedic way, at least I hope so.

This is a short post I know, but it's a low def  leaked trailer, I don't know what I can say, it looks funny, it looks like it has fun action, and I kind of want Fox to release the high def version so everyone can see it, because I really am looking forward to watching this movie.

McFarlane toys Halo 4 Didact figure review

HA HAHAHAHAHAHA I found him, I fucking found him. And now I own him and now I'm going to review this illusive fucker. Here we have the McFarlane toys Deluxe Halo 4 Didact figure.

This box includes 1 Didact, 1 helmeted Didact head, and 1 fancy DLC code for the Refractive skin for Spartan armour and the Suppressor weapon. The thing I'm gong to mention first is this guy's size, he's enormous, standing about 9 and a half inches tall, easily dwarfing the puny 5 inch master chief. and, with his size, McFarlane toys saw fit to cram every inch of his body with detail, both in sculpt and paint. This is particularly evident in the head and torso, with very nice greys and vibrant oranges and yellows on the armour, not just on the torso but throughout his body, all with a very cool rounded design. Similar to the Knight figure, he has separate floating pieces on his armour, which in toy form are attached to the figure with transparent plastic. This is an area where he improves on the Knight, while the Knight had ridged plastic that could easily be broke, Didact has softer, bendy plastic, which is less clear, but thankfully much harder to break, the floating armour itself is also softer plastic. The sculpt is phenomenal, again with the smooth, rounded armour, the muscly jumpsuit underneath, the little grooves and panels on both the armour and the jumpsuit, and of course the head, which aside from a surprisingly poor job painting his hair, looks incredible, and captures the Didact's likeness very well. His alternate helmeted head is also very game accurate and nicely painted and  sculpted, particularly around the eyes. more on that head later.

The figure is very articulated; double ball-jointed head, ball-jointed torso, hips and feet, ball-hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles, all with ratchet joints, and finally individually articulated fingers. Yes, that maybe a lot of moving parts, a problem is that even with that long list of articulated parts, a few of them, mainly arms and legs, are limited by the sculpt. While this guy will never move anyway on my display shelf, it is a bummer that he has all that articulation and he can't really move much. A real bummer is in the head though. As I said, he has 2 heads, but I can't get the head off. It's held on with the ball-joint, but it's on there really tight, and I'm not the only person who's tried; my sister's boyfriend, who regularly goes to the gym, also couldn't get the head off. I find it funny that on the box it says ages 8+, yet there is no hope of an 8 year old getting the heads switched. McFarlane has done helmets in the past, or maybe a simpler way of getting the head off, but not simply having to yank it off the joint, not only is it tough as shit, but I fear that doing that could damage the figure very badly, and  I do not like the idea of that.

As a collector's piece this figure is amazing, it has an outstanding sculpt and paint job, and looks great on a shelf with other, smaller halo figures, or just on it's own. but with all it's moving parts, it's articulation is stiff and limited, and I'm worried that the head is going to be a real issue in the future thanks to its stubbornness. The issues I expected are worse than I thought, and as sexy as the figure looks, those issues do sadly detract from it's quality. I'd say get this if you want a Didact for your collection like I did, but if you're not fussed about the Didact, he's not exactly a must buy.

Five Nights at Freddy's game review

Here's what you need to know; you play as a night guard doing his night shift at Freddy fazbear's pizza, a place of laughter and joy by day, but a place of horror and evil by night, as the various animatronic animals come to life and seek to kill you.

That sounds like a very simple premise, but that's the first praise I can give this game. It's story isn't so much told as it is eluded to, hinted at by the phone guy's recorded messages and newspaper clippings and such. This is a great way of telling the story, since you have to find and piece the evidence together yourself, rather than following a conventional narrative. And without going into spoilers, this game's story is much deeper, darker and more twisted than you'd first think. But when you're on your shift you have more important things to worry about, like not getting murdered by robotic children's mascots. Gameplay breaks down into you are stuck in the security office, armed with your security camera feed, and doors. You can use the cameras to monitor animatronics, and should one appear at the office door, you can close it. The catch is everything you do eats up power, and when you run out of power you're screwed, so you need to be as conservative as possible with your power usage. This can be seen as a problem, when on the harder nights the animatronic aren't playing fair and you get trapped eating up your precious power, this game can get frustrating on the harder nights. This frustration can be made worse by the lack of variety; I know, it's an indie game, but it is something that can wear on you when the jumpscares stop scaring you. Speaking of jumpscares, this game does a very sound job at being creepy; with it's dark, dirty environments, the animatronics that wait until you look away, then make their move, ominous sounds of the mascots moving around. And the constant threat that 1 lapse in concentration and  a mascot could be right in your face, leading to a very unpleasant game over screen.

Five Nights at Freddy's is an interesting game, with a very interesting story and a cool and unconventional method of story telling, a sound grasp of how to creep you out, but a habit of getting annoying as you get into the later nights. It's a perfect game to play with a group of friends, like me and my friends do, and if you're alone and want to be spooked. But it's not some horror masterpiece, instead it's more of a playful little indie game that happens to be smart and well designed. it's worth a try anyway.

Photos and stuff

Here we have some more photos I have taken in the past few months. These are up more out of a feeling of stupidity that I never take my camera with me when I might actually find something to photograph. that isn't going to be a problem in  a few weeks, but for now, I'm an idiot.

Suicide Squad Comic con trailer thoughts

Well, first we got a new Batman V Superman trailer, and now we get a first look at Suicide Squad, and here are my thoughts. First off, I love Batman, but I am not that much into comic books, which I suppose is a good thing here, because it means when I see these DC comics films I can see them without the prior knowledge of a DC comics fan, and thus see them as movies, and Suicide Squad looks like a cool movie.

The trailer opens with someone who, after a bit of research, I learned is Amanda Waller, at a dinner talking about the Suicide Squad,it cuts to and from more of this dinner and the Suicide Squad members in their cells. Similar to the Dawn of Justice trailer this trailer is very secretive with the plot, which is always good. The Suicide Squad themselves look really cool, especially Deadshot, Harley and Killer Croc, and this trailer makes me really excited to see what kind of mission they're sent on and the relationship between them. just like the Batman V superman trailer, this trailer makes me think the film will focus heavily on the characters' pasts, I get this from a shot of Deadshot hugging a little kid, probably someone who he is very close to. And the trailer also heavily features Harley Quinn, no surprise there, so it looks like Deadshot and Harley Quinn will be the most relevant people, which I don't mind. finally, at the end of trailer Joker is talking to someone an operating table about how he isn't going to kill them but he is going to hurt them; I know some people who will theorise that the person on the table is Jason Todd, tying into the Batman V Superman trailer with the graffiti covered Robin suit, or just some poor bastard Joker's going to torture.

I think that the person on the table is Harley Quinn, because there's a shot in the trailer of a woman who looks a lot like Margot Robbie tied to a table, and Joker is standing over her, you can tell it's Joker from the so so controversial tattoos. This makes me think that relation between these 2 characters in this film will be more than a simple love story, and actually has a much, much darker origin with Joker torturing Harley. I also think this because she looks really mad in the trailer, licking and slamming her head into the prison bars, something must have really, really fucked her up in the head, and that something has to be the Joker.  On the subject of Joker, I think my comment in my Batman V Superman post about Joker has been disproven, this is a very different Joker to the Jokers I know; seeming much less funny and much more twisted, similar to Heath Ledger, only while Ledger had method to his madness and seemed to have a purpose; bringing anarchy and chaos to Gotham, Leto looks less purposeful in his madness. While I'm still unsure on things like the tattoos and the teeth, I do have hope that Leto can still be respectful to the character, while bringing something unique and new to him, something all great Jokers have done.

A little thing I picked up on was someone wearing a Batman mask, which makes me have a similar idea to the Batman V Superman trailer, that while Superman has inspired some kind of religious militia, Batman has inspired an army of copycat crime fighters, like in The Dark Knight, with the gun wielding copybats taking on Scarecrow. Another little thing is I think that least part of this film  will be set in Arkham Asylum, since an operating table is seen 3 times and Joker is present all 3 times, my understanding I that Harley was a doctor at Arkham Asylum before being committed as a patient, and she is also present in 2 of these instances with the table, assuming the blond tied to the table is her, I could be wrong there, but it's an idea I got from this trailer.

These 2 trailers have got me really excited for these films, and I think I will become a lot more of a Dc comics fan as a result of these films, hopefully DC has a marvellous future (pun intended) ahead of them with these shared universe films.

Doctor Who series 1 Rose review

I think I need more regular content on my blog, and with Doctor Who coming back in about 10 weeks, if my maths is right that's just enough time to review series 1 of Doctor Who, so I shall do just that.
Here's what you need to know; Rose Tyler is a perfectly ordinary 19 year old from London who's life is turned on it's head when she meets a mysterious man named the Doctor, and gets swept up in an invisible alien invasion that only they can stop.

What I liked immediately was the introduction of Rose, as it shows her living in a flat with her mum, hanging out with her boyfriend and working as a shop assistant, perfectly setting up her ordinariness, before throwing her into the shit. This intro also makes her relatable, again due to how normal she is. Then she meets the Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, who is brilliant; in his very first appearance he oozes coolness, he's fast, he's smart, he's witty, he's just cool, but at the same time he's ominous and mysterious, which only adds to the coolness and the dangerousness that attracts Rose to him. Rose is also very good, being unsure and sceptical about the Doctor and naturally somewhat spooked, while at the same time being smart and capable on her own. Side characters like Mickey and Jackie are less interesting, Mickey specifically, who's a bit too goofy and dopey in this episode, and makes for a very creepy Auton clone. Speaking of Autons, they're not the coolest Doctor Who aliens, but they serve as a passable reason for Rose to team up with the Doctor, and, depending on how weak willed you are, will make you even more afraid of shop window dummies. Apart from supporting roles, I do have few more issues; when I watched it recently on DVD, this series as a whole really showed it's age and made-for-TVness. Just like The Thing, this isn't the series' fault, but out of date special effects do distract from the quality of the production, that is sadly undeniable. However, it distracts, not detracts, and this episode and series as a whole still has a lot going for it. Overall I think this was a solid introduction to Doctor Who, it does a good job introducing the characters, and has a cool sci fi story about Rose and the Doctor meeting and stopping the Auton invasion. While some of it's characters are a little flat and, it being a 10 year old TV episode, has some pretty out of date effects, this is still a good place to start for anyone interesting in Doctor Who that hasn't actually watched it yet.

From now on in addition to Thunderbirds reviews I'll be doing weekly reviews of Doctor Who. And by request of a friend, I will do some negative reviews, starting with a game review; the Order 1886, which will come sometime this week. It will also no doubt be followed by a bunch of requests by R, he loves really bad movies and games, and knows that I really don't. so much joy to come, I guess.

Batman V Superman comic con trailer thoughts

So, for the more observant readers, I like Batman, quite a bit. Superman on the other hand, I'm not really that fussed. But after the 2 trailers I've seen for Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice, I am sold, this movie looks awesome.

 

The trailer opens with Superman answering for the destruction he caused in Man of Steel, which from what I've heard is a big part of this film. We saw this in the first trailer; the people of earth not sure what to make of Superman; is he a hero or is he a threat? I think this is a really good angle to look at Superman from, it's just realistic that humans would feel a bit on edge about a being with the might of a god living among them. It shows some of the destruction, but from Bruce Wayne's perspective, since we learn that a Wayne building was destroyed in the fight between Superman and Zod, which now gives Batman a reason to hate Superman. It looks like this film will focus on both heroes, since this trailer has a lot of Clark Kent and a lot of Bruce Wayne, that is something they should be careful with, because they run the risk of either having stretched out characters or making a really bloated film, this is however a risk I feel they need to take, because they're both heroes, being biased to one or the other won't make as fair a fight. Something I'm certain will be stretched is Wonder Woman; she's hardly the same level of well known as Batman or Superman, meaning many people, myself included, who don't read the comics, will be unfamiliar with the character. Her relatively minimal presence in this trailer makes me think her presence in the film will also be minimal, I really think Warner brothers should have held back with Wonder Woman and given her her own film first.

 

Something I have mixed feelings about is that this trailer shows the Wayne murder. Obviously this will tie into what Bruce was saying about the good people in Gotham, and be used to flesh out his character. The problem I have is that everyone already knows what happened to Bruce's parents, and how that motivated him to become Batman. That's an  example of what I'm worried will  bloat the film, but maybe I'm wrong, and the Wayne murder will have a more important role.

 

I tell you what I did find awesome, this image...

This has to be Jason Todd's Robin suit, I get that from the fact that it's a Robin suit, and of course the green "HAHAHA Joke's on you BATMAN" painted onto it. This is no doubt going to be used to motivate Bruce, but I think this has more significance than that, probably because of Arkham Knight. This makes me really hope that Jared Leto will be a good Joker, because I love this image, and I really hope the guy behind it is every bit as awesome as the Jokers before him, it  would be really disappointing if he wasn't. on the subject of villains, I really don't know what to make of Lex Luthor, though I do now understand why people were pissed about the Jesse Eisenberg casting, he's not very frightening, and I know he plays a big part in the film, but this trailer gives very little in that regard, which is a good thing. I am completely fine with secrecy in films, lets hope this film doesn't do a Terminator Genisys and get completely ruined by the trailers.

 So yeah, I am looking forward to this movie. It looks like it's going to be awesome, it looks very character driven, which is only bad if it's done wrong, and it does as a result run the risk of being bloated, but my hopes are high that they can avoid that, and I want to see God vs Man, who the hell doesn't.

There was booze

I guess it's yesterday now, but my mum and dad held another one of their annual house parties. And now, with a room full of children next door, my drunk dad stumbling around the landing and L out cold on my floor breathing like a zombie from Walking Dead, I write.

It started as one would expect, me and dad rushing to put up the gazebo and set everything up outside, while mum slaved away in the kitchen rushing to get all the food ready. After a week of short bursts of cleaning in my room, the place was finally ready, and I did get some guests seeing my room for the first time, as much as I want to feel a bit dumb because of it,  I do enjoy the look on their faces when they see it. R was the first guest to arrive, he stayed about 2 and a half hours, he's not that good with large groups of people, especially people he's never met before, so I'm really proud of him. As more people showed up the house got very packed. But rather than doing anything practical I just hovered around the densest hubs of people; under the gazebo in the kitchen, often getting involved in conversations, and making sure that my contributions to the music selection got the most air time. It's not like anyone other than sister's boyfriend was complaining, the guests were particularly fond of the Guardians of the Galaxy mix tape, not so much the Frank Sinatra.

Past a point I just retired to my room and waited for Dad to come around giving the tour, meanwhile I pissed away time on Arkham Knight. At this point was when the party atmosphere changed; less people were here, the conversations were much more subdued, I was getting frequent guests from the kid infested living room watching me play Batman. And L had his head in a toilet, he hasn't said how many drinks he had, I really doubt he even knows, but he does know he had Sambuca, whatever the cause, he was in a bad way for easily an hour. Now it's 4 in the morning, I'm probably the only one still awake, and even then barely. I think though that last night went well, I got to be a little extravert for a few hours, and even if L is hungover on my bedroom floor, I think most people had fun, so success. I think I'll leave mum and dad to do clean up on their own, I need sleep.

Must dreams be dreams

This morning I was woken up from an awesome dream. My sister was looking for a power cable, and so disturbed me from my battle with snow monsters and quest for mystery. In the dream, I was in a snowy hillside, surrounded my farmland, rolling hills and dense patches of forest, the snow was thick on the ground and a thick fog covered everything. The dream started with me finding a page that told me I needed to solve a mystery, and that the other pages would lead me to solving the mystery, I was told this by the announcer, who did nothing but tell   me what I needed to do and announced the presence of monsters. Speaking of monsters, there were 3 kinds, the smallest I didn't see, but the announcer called them crawlers. the second, which I did fight, were these humanoid beings with grey skin and ragged clothing, while the announcer was quiet, I decided to call them nomads. the last kind I saw out in the fog, but never approached, a massive creature that resembled a gorilla, had a completely hairless black body and bulbous white eyes that glowed in the fog. I had to fight these monsters and find the answer to the mystery, and I fought in hand to hand combat with the nomads, I was having a blast. And I wanted to know the answer to the mystery,  but then darling sister went and woke me up because of a power cable. Thanks sis, I'll never do battle with the snow monsters again in all likelihood, shame, it was so much fun.

Thunderbirds Are Go Crosscut review

Here's what you need to know; Thunderbird 1 and 2 are sent in to investigate a mysterious radiation spike in Africa, and find a dire threat to the local population that they now have to stop.

of the 3 episodes that had already aired, this is the closest in tone and pace to the original series, which is to say this episode is much slower than for example Space Race. This episode also has much less machines than it does people, which is a big part of that slower pace and closer resemblance to the old series. The problem with this is an increased emphasis on story, which I felt kind of went flat when a plot involving the Hood was introduced, even if it's a tiny part of the episode, also this plot is just less interesting than Space Race, and less  tense, and with a decreased emphasis on the Thunderbird machines, there is less fun to be had here. Speaking of machines, this episode features the Mole, sort of. Replacing all the specialised machines from the old series are now little yellow pods that can be fitted with various attachments to suit different situations and environments. while at first I didn't like this, it does make more sense than the specialised machines, and opens the doors new options that the writers can play with. That doesn't save the episode from having a plot that isn't very interesting and doesn't allow for much machine action, which in this new Thunderbirds series is a bigger hindrance than it sounds. While it introduces new ideas to the series, and better captures what the old series was, this still isn't a terribly good episode, not even close to Space Race in tension, and with a plot that's  not as interesting as Ring of Fire or space race. This is the weakest episode of the series so far, but this is also only the 3rd episode, so I still want to see how the rest of the series goes.

Doctor Who Character Group Plc. Dalek figure review

Lets look at something from my past, I was a huge fan of Doctor Who in my younger years, and like most things I loved as a child, every now and again I have relapses, I think I'm going into a Doctor Who relapse. Now, on to the review, lets look at a toy Dalek.

The Dalek you see in the photo is about 9 years old, and was part of the original line of toys from the Doctor Who revival in 2005, hence his colour and design, which I will talk about first. The revival Daleks were awesome on TV, and they're awesome as toys too, with a nice gold and brass colour throughout the body and silver detail on the rivets along the base and armour plating, as well as on the eye piece and arms. additional detail includes of course the bright blue eye, black on the eye piece, arm and in the vents. The only colour I'm not fond of is the colour of the base, which has almost a greenish tone to it, instead of the solid black seen in the show. Like I said earlier, this design has armour plating and rivets, Giving a very Armoured look Which I still love 10 years later, and this is a detail captured very nicely in the toy. The Dalek is riddled with detail in sculpting, for example on the dome, in the vents, in the armour, etc.

The toy is, as you would expect, somewhat limited in articulation; ball jointed arms, up down movement in the eye piece, and a swivel dome. The Dalek also has 2 fixed wheels and a 3rd wheel under the base to allow for movement. While that sounds very simple, and is very simple, you can't really do much with a Dalek in turns of articulation, and I really don't mind. However, in the show the Dalek can look down, and it's midsection can rotate, again, these are things I don't mind, but they are absent in the toy, if I must find a flaw. Something else to note; the limbs are all removable and compatible with the Genesis ark set; meaning that you can store this guy inside the ark if you're so inclined, a nice little bit of added playability there. Said removable limbs can also be interchanged, assuming you can get your hands on a claw arm or something.

Not just coming from nostalgia, this is genuinely a good toy; not only is it's design very cool, but it's articulation is decent enough, given that it's a Dalek. complete with all the playability of being compatible with the Genesis ark, and simply being a Dalek, this is a great toy for the kids, and been as how it's a Dalek, I love it.

other worldly interesting

There's a lot of debate as to the existence of aliens, and weather or not earth has been visited by beings from another world. I as it turns out have my own thoughts on the matter. There's a reason I used a photo of a Zealot from Halo, and that is I would love it if we lived in a galaxy of civilised, advanced beings. A problem with the Elites is that they are hyper religious, which is something that is definitely interesting and worth thinking about. I could do an entire ramble about the alien races in Halo, or for that matter religion, and it's relevance now vs. it's relevance long ago, but not now.

My point is the Elites are a very advanced race, having reverse engineered and mastered forerunner technology and having a culture of honour and hierarchy. This is the kind of Alien species I am more doubtful of the existence of. There are reasons for this, first, these aliens wouldn't come to Earth for any reason other than conquest. Let me use a simile; these really advanced aliens are like arse holes in the upper years, who only mess with the lower years when they want their lunch money. We are primitive compared to these aliens, so we would have nothing to offer them, alternatively, earth is rich with resources, resources these aliens would like to steal, and the simple explanation of my doubts is we haven't been invaded yet. A simpler reason is if they didn't want to steal our resources, we would still have nothing to offer them, so why would they bother.

While I don't completely rule out the existence of advanced alien life, It's more likely that aliens more like us or below exist, beings that are civilised, but haven't mastered such a technology as interplanetary or intergalactic travel. Or beings of a world that hasn't yet evolved with civilised life, similar to when earth was ruled by dinosaurs. the last alternative is simply an early earth scenario, where life hasn't even climbed out of the sea yet. These alternatives are more likely, given, again, that we haven't been invaded by a higher life form. Also, bare in mind that under certain conditions, evolution of other worlds would go a similar way to evolution on earth. Thing is that, like the circumstances that created life, that is very hard to find naturally, but my logic is simply that it happened once, and in an ever growing universe with trillions of planets, it is just impossible to me that the circumstance couldn't repeat.

I might do more rambles, specifically on religion and the aliens from halo. Though I think the religion one would be more interesting, and I hope my thoughts on alien life were interesting. Any other topics of debate anyone wants my thoughts on, do ask. Because I like going on these rambles.

scary scary science

Having been effectively crippled by an act or pure stupidity yesterday, I decided to use my time trapped in the house to do some research. As I said in a previous post, I love learning about weapons  science and technology, and I have found something really fucking cool, and really fucking scary.

I didn't like Call of Duty Ghosts, but that's not exactly a rare opinion. Something I found cool in it was the idea of America no longer being a super power, having been crushed and occupied by a foreign force. The crushing came in the form of an orbital bombardment, so I did some research in the ODIN  bombardment system from the game and found some sciency stuff. The ODIN station uses a hypothetical weapon whereby inert projectiles are dropped above the target, gain massive amounts of momentum in their decent, and impact with extreme destructive force, simply from kinetic energy generated in their fall from orbit. Similar to the railgun, this is technology that exists, and in fact has existed since the cold war, the Russians wanted to build this thing but a treaty was signed that didn't let them, thank god. The proposed Kinetic Bombardment system would drop 6 metre long, 1 foot wide rods of tungsten from orbit, here's where the science comes in; Tungsten is used because of it's density, it's shape is used to reduce drag once it enters the atmosphere, by the time it makes impact, it will be traveling 10 times the speed of sound and deliver the destructive force of 100 tons of TNT. That is big, very big, and very cool. This weapon is very common in science fiction, and Ghosts isn't even the first CoD it's been in, I can see why sci fi writers like this weapon, it's just so sciency and cool and really unsettling, for obvious reasons. I don't know if I should add a new label for science, given that I don't know how frequent these science posts will be. I hope I have been informative though.

Building in Minecraft

I've built a little thing in Minecraft. Me and a friend have a shared world, where he knows I was planning to do something big. I hope he's surprised when he's next on and see's that I've built a Thunderbird 1. To the best scale I could build it; this Thunderbird 1 also comes with a little detail on the back with a glass view port, like the 2015 redesign. This isn't the first Thunderbird 1 I've built in Minecraft, and it isn't finished either; when it's done it's going to have glowstone underneath for vertical thrust, and the floor underneath it will be all black, still, the ship itself is done. And here it is. I've begun collecting materials for Thunderbird 2, but when I started building this I didn't have enough material, and Thunderbird 2 is much bigger, so it will take a while, it's going to be fun regardless.

More varied photography

I haven't been on a photo excursion for a while, good thing that I have a well of some 4000 photos to fall back on, and I am going on a photo excursion in 3 weeks, I'll probably return with easily another 500 photos, while we wait, here's some I took and used in my A2 exam. This was the same exam project where I trespassed in a scotched church school, happy times.

Batman Arkham Origins game review

Here's what you need to know, many Christmases before the events of Arkham Asylum, Black Mask puts a $50 million bounty on Batman, bringing in 8 of the world's deadliest assassins to kill the Bat. Not prepared for anything like this, Batman must save himself and Gotham on the toughest night of his career so far.

Let's address the elephant in the room, this game isn't developed by Rocksteady; the company that developed the first 2 Arkham games. I don't really have that big of a problem with that, but it is evident when playing the game; the game just lacks the same amount of detail as the Rocksteady Arkham games, the game is sorely lacking all the cute little easter eggs present in the previous Arkhams. And The world is not very interesting. The open world is split into 2 islands connected by a bridge, 1 island is just ripped straight from Arkham City and the other is just the other island, neither of these are particularly interesting to explore, and feel lifeless and empty thanks to the boring snowy environments and the lack of civilians. There are Riddler trophies, now called Inigma data packs, and random crimes to stop, but they don't keep you busy for long, and the Riddler trophies aren't as challenging as the were in Arkham City.

If you want things to do, this game has a decently sized story with a host of side quests, so a typical open world game. The story of Arkham Origins is actually extremely good. Batman hasn't been Batman for very long, and hasn't ever dealt with super villains like this before. A big part of the game is Batman's insistence on working alone, and how this is ultimately detrimental to his cause and harmful to those he loves. The game also explores how far Batman is willing to go to avoid taking a life, which I thought was really awesome to see. The assassins were all really cool as well, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Bane, etc. More on them later though. Something a lot of people weren't fond of was that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill did not return to voice Batman and the Joker. The Batman replacement does a fine job though, still managing to keep the spirit of the Arkham Asylum and City Batman. And then there's Joker, who this time is voiced by Troy Baker, and holy fucking shit, he's magnificent as Joker, I might actually prefer him to Mark Hamill, I'm serious, he does such a fantastic job that he is easily on par with Hamill. Arkham Origins is pretty much the Origins of Joker, dealing with him and Batman meeting for the first time, the psychological torment Joker inflicts on Batman, and Joker's infatuation with Batman. Arkham Origins has a really strong story, and I love it for that.

Gameplay very closely resembles Arkham City gameplay, with the same combat and stealth systems. Gadgets are as ever very important, but the gadgets aren't new or shiny, Batman only has a couple of new toys, and what returns from Arkham City is just copy paste, the Glue grenade is the worst example, that does everything the ice grenade does in Arkham City. New gadgets like the remote claw and shock gloves are somewhat overpowered, this is something I personally don't mind, but I understand why gamers looking for more of a challenge wouldn't like this. An area where gameplay is improved on previous Arkhams is boss fights, each boss fight is unique, and each requires different strategies to beat, some are more skill and time based while others require a more tactical approach. What at first was a fight I found unfair and annoying; the Deathstroke fight, quickly became my favourite fight in the game once I realised what I needed to do. The Deadshot and Firefly bosses are also favourites of mine. When exploring the dull open world you are given the option of fast travel, which is good given how A the world isn't that fun to explore and B the grapple gun is much less useful here than in previous Arkhams, the list of things you can grapple on to is somewhat short.

All in all this game has a lot of merit, having inherited an excellent combat ad stealth system from Arkham City, and telling an excellent Batman story that goes to pleasantly surprising depths with it's characters, complete with a beautiful performance from Troy Baker. That said, the game is far from perfect, with a lack of innovation from Arkham City, and a boring and not worth exploring open world with none of the love or detail found in the Rocksteady games. This is still worth the time of any Batman Arkham fan, and it's still a very well made game, just don't expect he same greatness as in Arkham Asylum or City.

science and other stuff

Last night we had a big thunderstorm right above us, I got a 3 minute video that I tried to upload but the upload failed, I got it when it was moving away and I was able to point a camera at it without worrying about rain. The video is very dark, but when the flashes of lightning hit, the whole sky was lit up, it was amazing, and I am not exaggerating, nor am I when I say it was purple, so fucking cool. This is the kind of science I like, not light bulbs powered by lemons or whatever high school science, more like sudden and violent electrostatic discharges that illuminate the sky and roar and make the ground shudder. 100 million volts of energy, neutralising in a fraction of a second. I like lightning, it's big, it's loud, it's flashy, literally, it's my kind of science, the kind of science that inspires, that awes, that terrifies.

Introducing the UNSC ARC 920; most know it as the Railgun. Halo is science fiction, a shooter set in the 26th century. But the Railgun is not science fiction, and that is cool. A Railgun works by running an electromagnetic current along a rail to push a projectile at crazy speed, similar to the expansion of gas pushing projectiles in powder weapons, but with magnets. You're likely to find one in science fiction, but this technology exists, if only in the experimental stage. To some, this is a bad thing, but I am fascinated by military technology, I just love seeing and learning about this stuff; laddish, I know, but I like guns and tanks and shit, and I am intrigued by how it works, the inner mechanisms of machines of war. this post makes me sound a lot more psychopathic than I am, an interest in weapons technology doesn't not equate to an interest in using said technology, similar to history enthusiasts with an interest in the Nazis, an interest in the history of the Nazis doesn't me you a Nazi. sorry that this post got a bit charged, pun intended. but it's 10 to 4 in the morning and I'm bored, so random blog post it is, and I wanted to put up a more sciency post anyway.

on a random note, it might be a bit late, but happy birthday America. I'm not American, so I don't really care, but still, happy birthday.

Thunderbirds Are Go Space Race review

Here's what you need to know; while on debris clearing duty, Thunderbird 3 comes across and accidentally activates a space mine. With only 30 minutes before the mine explodes, International rescue has to act fast to disarm it.

I really like this episode, I think it has a few flaws, but I still like it. first off, it's a fun story, with Alan in Thunderbird 3 constantly on the run and Penelope and Parker on the ground hunting down the kill code in a classified military archive. What really works is that the episode takes place over half an hour, which fits nicely with the shorter 20 minute run time of the newer series, you can call it cheap, but this episode's pacing is much better than Ring of Fire's. This episode is also more intense than Ring of Fire, specifically the finale and a scene where Alan must draw the mine away from a fleet of civilian ships. On the ground is a bit less cool, with Parker breaking into the archive to find the kill code playing out like a spoof spy film, with the added absurdity of  Parker climbing around and running along beams. That doesn't take away from how cool I found stuff with Alan and Thunderbird 3, and that's what I think of when I think of what I like in this episode. Ultimately my biggest gripe is the story on the ground not being as cool as the story in space.

This is a very good episode of Thunderbirds in my opinion. It has a cool and fun story, some good pacing, some good intense moments; it's a cool chase, and I had fun with this episode, and it's worth a watch if you're interested in Thunderbirds.

Things things things

5 posts in a row about Batman, I think I need to break up the monotony with some idiocy, so here we have a picture of the current state of my chest of drawers, where my materialism is at it's strongest.

This display really says a lot about what I like; the only thing missing is Godzilla, and that's because he has his own display. This display also has some value to it. as I will explain.

Let's go from left to right. Bottom left we have 2 hot wheels Batmobiles, The 1960's batmobile and the Arkham Asylum batmobile, I think there is also Tim Burton and Arkham Knight batmobiles, so I keep an eye out for them. I like one more than the other for pretty blatant reasons, buts I still like them both. the problem with them is to stop them rolling off the drawers I have used tac, and it doesn't look very tidy. Above them and to the right of them we have Halo, mega bloks, McFarlane and Joy Ride figures and vehicles. at the bottom end we obviously have mega bloks. 2 Cortanas, 2 chiefs, an Arbiter, a Tartarus, a Didact, 1 Promethean Knight, a ghost with 1 elite zealot, a mongoose with 2 marines, a warthog with 2 Spartans, and finally a micro-fleet Falcon. Something I don't consider part of the halo section is the mini-figures on the black display stands, which are my reds and blues; I really love Red vs Blue, so I have a collection of halo mini-figures to represent them. And even though they're not actually RVB characters, they are still some of my favourite mini-figures, because to me, they are the red team and the blue team.

Above them we have McFarlane and Joy Ride. 1 Cortana, 1 Arbiter, 1 Promethean Knight, 1 Prophet of Truth, and the best part, 5 Master Chiefs. The 2 bigger Master Chiefs and the Prophet are Joy Ride, the company that originally made halo toys before going bust, the darker green Halo CE Chief is the oldest one there from 2003, and I actually have 2 of him; one unboxed, and another still in it's packaging. These Joy Ride figures are not only really cool, but they're pretty sort after by halo collectors, making them decently valuable. I got the 5 I own for £30 a pop. In there there is also a few other figures that ride solo; a NECA Bioshock Infinite Elizabeth figure, a little batman figure, a Gandalf figure, a LEGO Joker key chain, a Dalek, and finally a Nathan Hale figure from Resistance 2. Probably the least recognisable of all of them, along with Elizabeth, but of the solos he and the Dalek have probably the most sentimental value, since Resistance is possibly the Franchise that got me fully into gaming. and the Dalek is actually from my childhood, his name is Thay, and he's a member of the cult of Skaro. yep, like most kids that grew up in the 2000's I was mad for Doctor Who. 

I'm sure many things about my blog will tell you, the weekly reviews, the banner, the profile picture, the name, I am a bit of a Thunderbirds freak. So of course I have Thunderbirds toys. The Thunderbirds toys from the Powertech Tracy island and DX 2004 Tracy island, the Vivid Imaginations soundtech Thunderbird 1 and 3 and FAB 1, and of course the massive Thunderbird 2. these toys are my childhood, I've had them as long as I can remember and I haven't let them go. Damn good thing too, they're valuable as shit, these ones though probably not so much though; they do bare the scars of about 13 years of playing. I tried to design this display as best I could to represent my loves, my obsessions, and today I've bored you with a tour of it. don't worry, Arkham Origins review is coming soon, I just thought I'd break the chain.

Batman Arkham City game review

My Batman Arkham binge continues with Batman Arkham City, and this time Arkham Origins can wait. Let's look at this mother.

Here's what you need to know; a section of Gotham city has been walled off and turned into a super  prison. With Batman trapped in it's walls, he must defeat the villainous Hugo Strange and unravel the mystery of protocol 10. Meanwhile, he also must contend with joker, who has fallen gravely ill and is on death's door. It's yet another long night to the caped crusader.

If you felt Arkham Asylum was lacking in Villains, you will like this game, which has a shit ton more villains; Joker, Strange, Ra's, Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler, Bane, Freeze, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Zsasz, Solomon Grundy, Clayface, etc, etc. If you can think of a Batman villain, there's a good chance they're in this game. I actually don't like this though; it's cool to have all of these villains, but half of them could be a villain in their own game, instead they're put in supporting roles, and are not fleshed out in the way they really deserve, Freeze in particular I feel is a bit wasted. You can't talk villains without talking about joker, who not only is the most gripping part of the game for me, but comes with a show stealing performance from Mark Hamill, and I really do mean show stealing. The game's main story with Strange is interesting too, but just less so. That said; it's still a very interesting and engaging story with some really awesome moments. And without spoiling anything, this game's ending is something you will not expect, as is the opening, with I again won't spoil.

If you buy this game new you get the Catwoman missions, I bring this up because the combat in Arkham City is much faster and more free-flowing than in Arkham Asylum, and Catwoman is faster than Batman, so prepare to be amazed by the lightning fast Catwoman combat. Batman in Arkham City still has all his toys from Arkham Asylum, as well as a few new ones to mix things up. He also has some sick new abilities and moves like the ability to dive bomb while gliding to gain altitude, and an unlockable ability allows him to launch into the air like a rocket when grappling, these tricks are useful given the world's size, which makes Arkham island from the last game look kind of pathetic. This open world is also completely packed with little details to really make it feel alive, like overhearing 2 inmates complaining about the weather on the radio, or stumbling across assaults, murder victims and mysterious ringing phones. The game also has enough side quests to keep you busy for hours, in addition to the 10 or so hour story, and of course, Riddler trophies are back, but this time you really have to work for them, good luck with that.

You can, as I said just, play as Catwoman. Something I love is that she doesn't play the same as Batman; in combat she is weaker, taking less hits and dealing less damage, but she's lightning fast, and still able to take down a room of 20 thugs no problem, once the simple but brilliant combat system has been mastered. Her collection of gadgets is vastly smaller than Batman's, but what she has is really cool. and she has a completely different movement system to Batman; climbing up walls, crawling on ceilings. My point is she isn't just a Batman re-skin, she's her own gal, and that is impressive, good job rocksteady. Finally, the boss fights in this game are much more creative, making much better use of Batman's Gadgets and requiring a bit more brain power to beat.   The Freeze boss fight really stands out, as he adapts and learns your tactics, forcing you to constantly change your strategy, and introducing new ideas for combat.

Arkham City does exactly what a sequel should do, improve on the original. And with a faster combat system, more gadgets, an expanded list of villains, and expanded world, and the balls to tread places you won't expect with it's story, this game is an improvement on Arkham Asylum. Though I think the villains are a bit to numerous for the game's good, I really like the Hugo Strange story, and I love the Joker story. This game reminds me of Uncharted 2 and Mass Effect 2, sure the first games are good, but shit really gets real in 2, 2 is just better. If it isn't already there, I'm sure you can make one more space on your shelf for Arkham City.

Batman Arkham Asylum game review

Yep, I'm on a Batman Arkham binge. I literally beat Arkham Knight, put up my 2 reviews of it, then went into Arkham Asylum, I haven't waited with this review though, I'm already a good 2 hours into Arkham City. So lets review the game that started the Arkham game series.

Here's what you need to know, after Batman returns Joker to Arkham Asylum, Joker escapes and takes the place over, releasing all the inmates and preparing for his big party, to which Batman is invited. Trapped on the island, Batman doesn't have a choice but to play the Joker's games in order to survive and defeat him.

Arkham Asylum is a game that is crafted with a great amount of love for Batman, the island is crammed full of detail and little Easter eggs, and the low lighting and gothic architecture do a great job of setting the mood. That said, the game isn't a technical wonder, screen tearing and texture pop in are frequent and characters have bug eyes and really poor lip syncing, however, the cinematics look good, and the Batman and various villains are all designed really nicely, and you can admire them with the trophies you unlock in the game, which is really sweet. The game sounds cool too, with a decent soundtrack, and brilliant voice performances from Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, reprising their roles from the animated series.

Gameplay is very good, with a simple to use combat system, 4 buttons; hit, counter, stun and jump. This sounds easy, but the combat system is surprisingly difficult to master. once you master it though, and take out a room of 20 thugs without getting touched, you feel like a badass. alternatively, the game's predator sequences are really funny, when you sneak around taking out thugs one by one, and the last guy is completely terrified and shooting at nothing, it's so much fun  to just take out all but one, and then fuck with  the last guy. You can fuck with him using the host of gadgets at Batman's disposal, batarangs, batclaws, smoke bombs, explosive gel, etc, these gadgets can also be used to hunt down the hidden riddler trophies and patient interviews  scattered around the  island. You also solve riddles and investigate things using detective mode, which highlights things of interest and shows you evidence trails. One thing I didn't know about but that I really really liked was the scarecrow nightmare sequences, which I won't ruin, because they're awesome.

There's a lot to like in Arkham Asylum, for the Batman fans there is plenty of little easter eggs to giggle at in addition to the really good and really mature batman tale on offer, for the none batman fans, this game  has fun combat and stealth, and for the completionists there are hours to be wasted hunting down the riddles, trophies and interview tapes. Give Arkham Asylum a shot if you haven't already.