So Interstellar has polarised opinion.
We all know Christopher Nolan is a great director. Some think he dropped the ball this time.
Well, I am going to start by laying my cards on the table straight away. I really liked it. I thought for all its flaws (some of the dialog is mixed badly and is hard to hear) it was a really enjoyable film.
It is a clever idea and one that works nicely to take you through a very enjoyable story.
Like with most films you have to suspend disbelief and some parts you have to let go more than you would normally do for a science fiction film, but for me they did not ruin the film, I just let them wash over me as minor holes in the overall story. One of the big ones people bring up is about how Matthew McConaughey gets involved with the program in the first place (I am trying to avoid spoilers for those who have not yet seen it, all 5 of you). To me this gripe of some, is almost quite a clever look into the eternal chicken and egg question. How can one event influence another situation when it first needs that event to have already happened.
Visually this film, like all of Nolan's work is stunning. The imagining of space, black holes and worm holes is clever, beautiful and if you look around YouTube to some respected scientists, actually pretty accurate.
The use of time and gravity in the film are cleverly played out, making quite a tough concept for people like me, understand some of physics and the laws that it works to.
It is a well crafted film, with some good performances. It has a few moments that are weaker that you would expect from the actors involved, and some of the questions raised by the films own internal logic are questionable but again I suspend my disbelief and look at it with a little less cynicism. I think it tries to show that even great men and women can have internal struggles and wrestle with their own position and ethics. While it may not achieve this in the best way possible, and for some kills what the film was trying to set up in the first place, I try to look past that again put it into the context of the film in general.
I admire Christopher Nolan as a director and love his work, I admire what he tries to do for a film even if I don't always enjoy it. I am one of the few people that did not love Memento when it came out. I may even need to re-watch it to see if I was overly harsh first time around. I did like the concept back then, but found it frustrating to watch, essentially seeing the same scene over and over again, adding a little and losing a little each time. It was clever. I am not disputing that, but did not engage me as a viewer.
Interstellar engaged me as a viewer despite having its own internal issues for either plot or character development.
Most people agree now that Christopher Nolan makes a good film and this blip for some will not stop them going to see his next film, which to me is a good thing. There are few directors today that get to do their own unique take on life, the universe and everything. Whether the attempt is good or bad, until the overwhelming majority of a directors work is bad, I think they should be given the artistic control to try. People like Nolan, Burton and Depp have great and bad work, but you would hope they keep pushing to make great films again.
As a closing thought I would suggest that you watch Interstellar with an open mind, and see it for what it is. The attempt it makes and what I think it does achieve as an enjoyable film. You may want to write it off and that is fine too. Ignore it and wait for the next Christoper Nolan film to see if it is as grand in scale as his past work like this and Inception. It would be a shame to see him neutered for trying to be creative.
Friday, October 02, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Prison Architect - PC - Game Review
This wonderful game has been in development for a good few years. The first Alpha video and blog was the 26th Sept 2012 and I interviewed the guys at Eurogamer expo back in 2012 as well. (The last year I got to go before being a dad!) iTunes Feed
So after all that time and according to Steam the 82 hours I have been able to put into it, it is going from Alpha to Version 1 release.
If you have not had a go with it yet, do not be daunted there is something for you!
Let me explain, as best I can a little about the concept. It's a top down simulation of running a prison. You have to build from a small budget (starting games it's $30,000) a prison that reforms its in mates, and also makes money. To start with the $30,000 is small but you can apply for grants from the government and get an advance of cash to help which then you use to complete the item and get the rest of the cash.
So one of the first grants requires you to build a small holding cell, canteen, kitchen and this pays out a fee. You can then expand on this with Cell block A, 25 cells then more and more. Offering other programs and situations (the food grant and education reform program I have never quite finished).
Once you have had enough of that first prison, don't worry you can sell that and get a lump sum (depending on how lucrative the prison is) to start your next one, your next idea can be bigger and more adventurous and has a sense of wonder to it. Here is where they hook you, now you have more freedom, I can get to this stage quicker, worry less about can I afford something.
The Steam community also has some truly fabulous examples of love and attention spent on prisons that you can download and play through and learn from. I am still struggling to make a prison profitable over time.
I am also not great at precision layouts as you can see (if you have the game) with this prision.
It was my first attempt using the gangs option. So far it was not the gangs causing me problems!! It's my own mismanagement of funds and resources.
One of my first prisons took the idea of making each cell a self contained prison, I may revisit this one day as the game has evolved since I tried this. There is now a prison cell quality gauge and reward scheme for those prisoners that deserve a TV or a book shelf, maybe a window.
The game has evolved from having only a few features, to an in depth look at micromanagement and all the things you can do with it. The number of rooms has increased, you can now have not just a holding cell but a reception for the new intake of prisoners. A spiritual room, a shop to spend their money. The prisoners can trade contraband, which you can track through confidential informants. Guard rotations and happiness plays into this as well, the game is huge if you want it to be. You can also, like myself play at a slightly lower level of setting deployment but not worrying about the schedules of those deployments.
There have been so many revisions, fixes and ideas brought to the game that the only real way to keep up is follow the (now complete) Alpha video series on youtube. They are funny, often heart-warming commissaries from the developers about the development of the game. You can tell they have fun working on this game together. You can tell that they love what they do. It's a strange feeling of getting to know someone through their work (like you would an actor). You think you know Tom Cruise because you have seen his films and interviews, who he really is maybe a complete mystery to you actually, but there is a space in your heart for him. It's the same with these guys, I have no idea how big or small Introversion is as a real company, they seem like they should be massive, but I also know that they are probably Chris, Mark and a handful of other friends making a great game possible.
I used to write and podcast for Sweetffa.com and was lucky enough to get the press passes for a few Eurogamer Expos shows and get a few free demo codes for games. I never realised I could for Prison Architect, but I am gald I payed for it (OK when it was on offer in a Steam sale, but still!). I was given at the same show a copy of Tiny Troopers which is a great game but Steam has me playing it for 4 minutes.
My regular Steam list of games reads like this:
Age of Empires 2 - 7 hours
Banished - 22 hours
Football Manager 2012 - 1232 hours
Game Dev Tycoon - 16 hours
Papers Please - 52 minutes
Prison Architect - 82 hours
Tropico 4 - 16 hours
Uplink - 29 minutes
OK so PA does not quite hit Football Manager levels of addiction, but it is 2nd in my list.
My excuse is FM2012 has been played on my laptop on the arm of the sofa while watching TV, it's harder to do that with Prison Architect (but it can be done!)
This game has evolved but always within the framework of a sandbox game, however for version 1 the sandbox could be quite daunting (even with the first mission you get when you first get the game). So how have they fixed this? Well there is now a fully developed story, broken in to 5 parts that get harder as you progress. I am guessing that they are like Tropico 4 in terms of scenario based problems within a constructed environment. You don't have to build from scratch you play that problem of a prison prone to riots to its logical conclusion of either watching the place burn, or making it a happy place of reform and repentance.
There is also an escape mode, a flip on the game where you take your prisoner and try to escape any number of prisons that can be found on the web. (I am really looking forward to this.)
Once October the 6th has passed and the game is launched I will update you on the new features. I might really try to start recording videos as well.
Until then, all I can say is this game is worth the investment, it is fun, addictive and a genuine product of people who love what they do and love gaming.
So after all that time and according to Steam the 82 hours I have been able to put into it, it is going from Alpha to Version 1 release.
If you have not had a go with it yet, do not be daunted there is something for you!
Let me explain, as best I can a little about the concept. It's a top down simulation of running a prison. You have to build from a small budget (starting games it's $30,000) a prison that reforms its in mates, and also makes money. To start with the $30,000 is small but you can apply for grants from the government and get an advance of cash to help which then you use to complete the item and get the rest of the cash.
So one of the first grants requires you to build a small holding cell, canteen, kitchen and this pays out a fee. You can then expand on this with Cell block A, 25 cells then more and more. Offering other programs and situations (the food grant and education reform program I have never quite finished).
Once you have had enough of that first prison, don't worry you can sell that and get a lump sum (depending on how lucrative the prison is) to start your next one, your next idea can be bigger and more adventurous and has a sense of wonder to it. Here is where they hook you, now you have more freedom, I can get to this stage quicker, worry less about can I afford something.
The Steam community also has some truly fabulous examples of love and attention spent on prisons that you can download and play through and learn from. I am still struggling to make a prison profitable over time.
I am also not great at precision layouts as you can see (if you have the game) with this prision.
It was my first attempt using the gangs option. So far it was not the gangs causing me problems!! It's my own mismanagement of funds and resources.
One of my first prisons took the idea of making each cell a self contained prison, I may revisit this one day as the game has evolved since I tried this. There is now a prison cell quality gauge and reward scheme for those prisoners that deserve a TV or a book shelf, maybe a window.
The game has evolved from having only a few features, to an in depth look at micromanagement and all the things you can do with it. The number of rooms has increased, you can now have not just a holding cell but a reception for the new intake of prisoners. A spiritual room, a shop to spend their money. The prisoners can trade contraband, which you can track through confidential informants. Guard rotations and happiness plays into this as well, the game is huge if you want it to be. You can also, like myself play at a slightly lower level of setting deployment but not worrying about the schedules of those deployments.
There have been so many revisions, fixes and ideas brought to the game that the only real way to keep up is follow the (now complete) Alpha video series on youtube. They are funny, often heart-warming commissaries from the developers about the development of the game. You can tell they have fun working on this game together. You can tell that they love what they do. It's a strange feeling of getting to know someone through their work (like you would an actor). You think you know Tom Cruise because you have seen his films and interviews, who he really is maybe a complete mystery to you actually, but there is a space in your heart for him. It's the same with these guys, I have no idea how big or small Introversion is as a real company, they seem like they should be massive, but I also know that they are probably Chris, Mark and a handful of other friends making a great game possible.
I used to write and podcast for Sweetffa.com and was lucky enough to get the press passes for a few Eurogamer Expos shows and get a few free demo codes for games. I never realised I could for Prison Architect, but I am gald I payed for it (OK when it was on offer in a Steam sale, but still!). I was given at the same show a copy of Tiny Troopers which is a great game but Steam has me playing it for 4 minutes.
My regular Steam list of games reads like this:
Age of Empires 2 - 7 hours
Banished - 22 hours
Football Manager 2012 - 1232 hours
Game Dev Tycoon - 16 hours
Papers Please - 52 minutes
Prison Architect - 82 hours
Tropico 4 - 16 hours
Uplink - 29 minutes
OK so PA does not quite hit Football Manager levels of addiction, but it is 2nd in my list.
My excuse is FM2012 has been played on my laptop on the arm of the sofa while watching TV, it's harder to do that with Prison Architect (but it can be done!)
This game has evolved but always within the framework of a sandbox game, however for version 1 the sandbox could be quite daunting (even with the first mission you get when you first get the game). So how have they fixed this? Well there is now a fully developed story, broken in to 5 parts that get harder as you progress. I am guessing that they are like Tropico 4 in terms of scenario based problems within a constructed environment. You don't have to build from scratch you play that problem of a prison prone to riots to its logical conclusion of either watching the place burn, or making it a happy place of reform and repentance.
There is also an escape mode, a flip on the game where you take your prisoner and try to escape any number of prisons that can be found on the web. (I am really looking forward to this.)
Once October the 6th has passed and the game is launched I will update you on the new features. I might really try to start recording videos as well.
Until then, all I can say is this game is worth the investment, it is fun, addictive and a genuine product of people who love what they do and love gaming.
Monday, July 20, 2015
The Kingsman - Film Review
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/
So at the weekend I got round to watching the 2014 Matthew Vaughn film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
I had heard good things, and I do like Vaughn's' films, but does hype always carry through? Well in this case it's a big YES.
It is a strong story in the vein of classic Bond-esque spy thriller, however it knows just what it is doing and references it's history. As they say "this is not one of those films".
I don't want to spoil the story, I liked going into it knowing it had a good reputation, but not knowing what it was really about, and if you are reading this then and don't know much try to keep it that way. It made the film better. Hype serves a purpose in this digital age, but actually it can give away too much in trying to get you interested.
I will say it has a very strong cast, with some fantastic performances from Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Jack Davenport. Mark Hamill is in it, and my wife would not believe it was him! However the stand out for me was the new lead man Taron Egerton. He was perfect for this and I want to see more. I could watch this film again and again, and see new parts every time.
It is a far fetched (based on a comic book) story that has you gripped and engaged and laughing and crying for each character as the film plays out a classic spy film with just a touch more violence. I guess it is Kick-Ass meets James Bond, which is unsurprising as Vaughn did Kick-Ass and handled that comic transition really well.
The action sequences are like watching a violent ballet, beautifully shot, slick, fluid and enthralling. They are handled with precision and while they don't feel like a real fight such as maybe Paul Greengrass might do, they feel like a perfect over the top spy action adventure that keeps the audience wanting to stay on the roller coaster. The nice thing though is some films like this feel like they are just leading you from one action sequence to the next with "acting" being an aside to the next fight. This is not the case for Kingsman. It has a story that is fun, silly but with heart that has you feeling for each character, almost at times empathising with Samuel L. Jacksons brilliant bad guy.
In conclusion, this film is worth a watch. It is funny, it has heart and is just right for every spy film fan out there.
So at the weekend I got round to watching the 2014 Matthew Vaughn film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
I had heard good things, and I do like Vaughn's' films, but does hype always carry through? Well in this case it's a big YES.
It is a strong story in the vein of classic Bond-esque spy thriller, however it knows just what it is doing and references it's history. As they say "this is not one of those films".
I don't want to spoil the story, I liked going into it knowing it had a good reputation, but not knowing what it was really about, and if you are reading this then and don't know much try to keep it that way. It made the film better. Hype serves a purpose in this digital age, but actually it can give away too much in trying to get you interested.
I will say it has a very strong cast, with some fantastic performances from Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Jack Davenport. Mark Hamill is in it, and my wife would not believe it was him! However the stand out for me was the new lead man Taron Egerton. He was perfect for this and I want to see more. I could watch this film again and again, and see new parts every time.
It is a far fetched (based on a comic book) story that has you gripped and engaged and laughing and crying for each character as the film plays out a classic spy film with just a touch more violence. I guess it is Kick-Ass meets James Bond, which is unsurprising as Vaughn did Kick-Ass and handled that comic transition really well.
The action sequences are like watching a violent ballet, beautifully shot, slick, fluid and enthralling. They are handled with precision and while they don't feel like a real fight such as maybe Paul Greengrass might do, they feel like a perfect over the top spy action adventure that keeps the audience wanting to stay on the roller coaster. The nice thing though is some films like this feel like they are just leading you from one action sequence to the next with "acting" being an aside to the next fight. This is not the case for Kingsman. It has a story that is fun, silly but with heart that has you feeling for each character, almost at times empathising with Samuel L. Jacksons brilliant bad guy.
In conclusion, this film is worth a watch. It is funny, it has heart and is just right for every spy film fan out there.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Football Manager 2012: My first Season in
Well I have not written a review, or article for that mater, for a while. As I am a self funded reviewer, I play new games only when I can afford them. I would love to have the time as well, to look at all the latest releases but alas like most normal gamers out there I write about what I love, and what the bank manager will fund.
So to start my review let me say that places like Play and Amazon have Football Manger 2012 for £14.99. That is a good price (and a testament to the overpriced nature of console games.)
The first thing to notice is the need to register the game through Steam. I am sure the many hackers and coders of the world will devise a work around for the pesky need to pay for it, but as I said, at £14.99 I could afford to treat myself and help keep the developers fed.
I like the fact it registers through Steam. It means I only need the disk the once, hell, I don't even need that but it is cheaper than buying it through Steam itself. I can then install the Steam client on another machine and play the game there. I know I can do this with the disk, but if I am half way around the world and fancy the fix that only FM2012 can provide, then I am good to go.
The next (and I realise I am not even into the game play yet) thing I am impressed with is an idea a friend of mine had. I can't take credit for this so you can all thank this guy for the idea, (I also appreciate this has nothing to do with the actual game!) If you have a dropbox account, then you can make your dropbox folder the location for your saved games. That way you can be around the world and play the game you were playing at home, without the need of a memory stick or the disk to install the game. The web is a wonderful place! (Back off pesky piracy laws....) If you don't know about dropbox, well click here sign up and we both get a little more space to store our web based documents.
However I digress completely from the topic and nature of the review, so without any more distractions, Football Manager 2012.
I downloaded the demo from Steam, which allows you to play up till January of the first season. I chose to start unemployed and made my self an ex-international star with prospects. I turn down a few low level jobs in Germany before landing Aston Villa (and if you think this is unrealistic just wait...) I take charge of the club and am ready to look at the new features of the game. Well as always there are so many it is going to be hard to tell you about them. The good thing about FM is that you can spend as much or as little time in each menu as you want. There is the detail of setting each player on specific training regimes, conditioning and tactics. You can scout staff who will help make this easier, they will suggest the best training for each player depending on how they perform.
Scouting players and staff has become a much nicer interface with easy to use filters and getting reports on how well a player will fit into your team making it easier.
The media section has been developed (although still not perfect) allowing you to add a tone to your voice in the press encounters. You can cautiously praise an oppositions player or passionately praise your own. This also carries over to team talks, allowing you to praise or damn your team. Sometimes either way will lift their spirits and others times they look demotivated. There is a fine line you tread in the backroom with your team. It helps to have good assistant manager who can guide you to what you should say at points.
There is now also a team meeting feature. This allows you to call all your players together and fire them up or let them talk about what is bothering them. This has been quite a useful tool, but after holding a few of these, the team did say we have had a lot of team meetings. I thought that was funny, as you should surely try to bring the team together in football? What do I know?
The tactics are now even easier to use and allow you to chain up a few for the team to learn to play. This helps with consistency as changing your tactics after each match can mean that the team will have no sense of structure. There are plenty of menu items I have missed (or avoided) but I recently found one that analysed your tactics, how many goals you concede and score when playing that formation. You get how many games you have used for that formation and how many minutes that equates to. It is incredibly in-depth and you can lose hours to the pursuit of looking through stats and sheets before you even get to game one of the season.
The actual match plays well on my new (ish) PC. I have yet to try it on an older PC or Mac to see how the animations are coped with. I really like the directors cut of the match that gives you a variety of angles. The players are more realistic in their movement and their roles, it's still got a long way to go before the animations rival the likes of Fifa and Pro Evo, but then this game is not designed with that market in mind, it is a stats-freaks wet dream, it's not reliant on the graphics (although they are more polished throughout the entire game). The game has the normal options of speed, full match, extended, highlights and these are easily customisable to how long you want to spend in a match. I have it set to a reasonable speed and it can still take about 5-10 minutes of play time to get through a match. You have the feature of recording parts of the match allowing you to post them to your favourite social network sites. This is something I have no interest in, however if that is your bag......well it's in their now.
The game now also allows you to add and remove active leagues depending on where you want to actively manage. I did this going from the demo to the full game. I added the main European leagues to my already established UK structure. I started with the demo and enjoyed the changes so I invested in the game, so what happened next?
Well, I was at Aston Villa for about 4 months when Chelsea sacked their manager. I put out a press release stating my interest in the job, and immediately had to issue a public apology or face getting fired. Not that it mattered, I was offered the job at Chelsea, 4 months after starting in football (so 33 years old and just retired from playing) I am hired as the manager for one of the biggest names in football. Reality aside, check me out. (Talking about reality, if you did not see this story from about 6 years ago about a Football Manager fan applying to be the real manager of Middlesbrough, then you should have a look)
I have completed my first season and brought the team to 6th in the Premiership and in that time I have tried not to just splash cash on anyone, I have tried to scout young talent as well as experience. The trouble is with the name "Chelsea" comes the counter offer in the transfer market. A player worth £4.5 million is negotiated to £20million. Generally taking half my usable budget on one player! So far I have bought 2 players and signed about 4 or 5 who were nearing contract end dates or were young enough to tempt to Chelsea and only face a small fee for doing it. Will this work? I have no idea.
I have signed Michael Owen from Man Utd and Owen Hargreeves (both in their late 30's) for backup players, that's right 2 injury prone old players. How can this go wrong?
FM2012 is a great game. I am not a football fan, in fact I can't stand the real game. This is the irony of my gaming life. I love sports games.
I think for FM(any one in the series) I enjoy having 2 PC monitors, one playing a film or TV Series while I wade around the statistics of football. It is enjoyable to be able to take control of every aspect of the game and see the workings of one the worlds richest clubs (and then get fired as you drive the team into debt and the bottom half of the league table).
A few things I miss are the little holes they plugged a few versions ago. Like the fact you could add another human manager and loan a bad reserve to a low league team for £100million and neither board block the process! That was fun.
However they have got so much right in the franchise. More control over every aspect, from how you react to the media and the team talks, better animations in game and easier navigations between menus.
If you love the FM series, then you already own this game. If you are new to management sims and are looking for something to last you, well look no further. The learning curve may be a little steep if this is your first attempt, however you do have the step by step tutorial (which unlocks an achievement, that's the other thing that has been added!!) which guides you nicely through the basics and sure enough when you are hooked, you will keep learning as you play. I am still learning about every thing that you can do in the game, it is a VAST database of information and statistics that you can drop and pick up easily. It is great that it is now through Steam and has provided achievements for those who were starting to miss that Xbox Live feel.
In conclusion, I have to say it is the best FM yet and I am sure they will continue to improve on the forums feedback. This is the only football management game you ever need buy, I haven't tried EA's version, but I don't have time, I am too busy playing on Football Manager 2012.
If we did ratings this would get 4.5 stars. But we don't, so it doesn't.
So to start my review let me say that places like Play and Amazon have Football Manger 2012 for £14.99. That is a good price (and a testament to the overpriced nature of console games.)
The first thing to notice is the need to register the game through Steam. I am sure the many hackers and coders of the world will devise a work around for the pesky need to pay for it, but as I said, at £14.99 I could afford to treat myself and help keep the developers fed.
I like the fact it registers through Steam. It means I only need the disk the once, hell, I don't even need that but it is cheaper than buying it through Steam itself. I can then install the Steam client on another machine and play the game there. I know I can do this with the disk, but if I am half way around the world and fancy the fix that only FM2012 can provide, then I am good to go.
The next (and I realise I am not even into the game play yet) thing I am impressed with is an idea a friend of mine had. I can't take credit for this so you can all thank this guy for the idea, (I also appreciate this has nothing to do with the actual game!) If you have a dropbox account, then you can make your dropbox folder the location for your saved games. That way you can be around the world and play the game you were playing at home, without the need of a memory stick or the disk to install the game. The web is a wonderful place! (Back off pesky piracy laws....) If you don't know about dropbox, well click here sign up and we both get a little more space to store our web based documents.
However I digress completely from the topic and nature of the review, so without any more distractions, Football Manager 2012.
I downloaded the demo from Steam, which allows you to play up till January of the first season. I chose to start unemployed and made my self an ex-international star with prospects. I turn down a few low level jobs in Germany before landing Aston Villa (and if you think this is unrealistic just wait...) I take charge of the club and am ready to look at the new features of the game. Well as always there are so many it is going to be hard to tell you about them. The good thing about FM is that you can spend as much or as little time in each menu as you want. There is the detail of setting each player on specific training regimes, conditioning and tactics. You can scout staff who will help make this easier, they will suggest the best training for each player depending on how they perform.
Scouting players and staff has become a much nicer interface with easy to use filters and getting reports on how well a player will fit into your team making it easier.
The media section has been developed (although still not perfect) allowing you to add a tone to your voice in the press encounters. You can cautiously praise an oppositions player or passionately praise your own. This also carries over to team talks, allowing you to praise or damn your team. Sometimes either way will lift their spirits and others times they look demotivated. There is a fine line you tread in the backroom with your team. It helps to have good assistant manager who can guide you to what you should say at points.
There is now also a team meeting feature. This allows you to call all your players together and fire them up or let them talk about what is bothering them. This has been quite a useful tool, but after holding a few of these, the team did say we have had a lot of team meetings. I thought that was funny, as you should surely try to bring the team together in football? What do I know?
The tactics are now even easier to use and allow you to chain up a few for the team to learn to play. This helps with consistency as changing your tactics after each match can mean that the team will have no sense of structure. There are plenty of menu items I have missed (or avoided) but I recently found one that analysed your tactics, how many goals you concede and score when playing that formation. You get how many games you have used for that formation and how many minutes that equates to. It is incredibly in-depth and you can lose hours to the pursuit of looking through stats and sheets before you even get to game one of the season.
The actual match plays well on my new (ish) PC. I have yet to try it on an older PC or Mac to see how the animations are coped with. I really like the directors cut of the match that gives you a variety of angles. The players are more realistic in their movement and their roles, it's still got a long way to go before the animations rival the likes of Fifa and Pro Evo, but then this game is not designed with that market in mind, it is a stats-freaks wet dream, it's not reliant on the graphics (although they are more polished throughout the entire game). The game has the normal options of speed, full match, extended, highlights and these are easily customisable to how long you want to spend in a match. I have it set to a reasonable speed and it can still take about 5-10 minutes of play time to get through a match. You have the feature of recording parts of the match allowing you to post them to your favourite social network sites. This is something I have no interest in, however if that is your bag......well it's in their now.
The game now also allows you to add and remove active leagues depending on where you want to actively manage. I did this going from the demo to the full game. I added the main European leagues to my already established UK structure. I started with the demo and enjoyed the changes so I invested in the game, so what happened next?
Well, I was at Aston Villa for about 4 months when Chelsea sacked their manager. I put out a press release stating my interest in the job, and immediately had to issue a public apology or face getting fired. Not that it mattered, I was offered the job at Chelsea, 4 months after starting in football (so 33 years old and just retired from playing) I am hired as the manager for one of the biggest names in football. Reality aside, check me out. (Talking about reality, if you did not see this story from about 6 years ago about a Football Manager fan applying to be the real manager of Middlesbrough, then you should have a look)
I have completed my first season and brought the team to 6th in the Premiership and in that time I have tried not to just splash cash on anyone, I have tried to scout young talent as well as experience. The trouble is with the name "Chelsea" comes the counter offer in the transfer market. A player worth £4.5 million is negotiated to £20million. Generally taking half my usable budget on one player! So far I have bought 2 players and signed about 4 or 5 who were nearing contract end dates or were young enough to tempt to Chelsea and only face a small fee for doing it. Will this work? I have no idea.
I have signed Michael Owen from Man Utd and Owen Hargreeves (both in their late 30's) for backup players, that's right 2 injury prone old players. How can this go wrong?
FM2012 is a great game. I am not a football fan, in fact I can't stand the real game. This is the irony of my gaming life. I love sports games.
I think for FM(any one in the series) I enjoy having 2 PC monitors, one playing a film or TV Series while I wade around the statistics of football. It is enjoyable to be able to take control of every aspect of the game and see the workings of one the worlds richest clubs (and then get fired as you drive the team into debt and the bottom half of the league table).
A few things I miss are the little holes they plugged a few versions ago. Like the fact you could add another human manager and loan a bad reserve to a low league team for £100million and neither board block the process! That was fun.
However they have got so much right in the franchise. More control over every aspect, from how you react to the media and the team talks, better animations in game and easier navigations between menus.
If you love the FM series, then you already own this game. If you are new to management sims and are looking for something to last you, well look no further. The learning curve may be a little steep if this is your first attempt, however you do have the step by step tutorial (which unlocks an achievement, that's the other thing that has been added!!) which guides you nicely through the basics and sure enough when you are hooked, you will keep learning as you play. I am still learning about every thing that you can do in the game, it is a VAST database of information and statistics that you can drop and pick up easily. It is great that it is now through Steam and has provided achievements for those who were starting to miss that Xbox Live feel.
In conclusion, I have to say it is the best FM yet and I am sure they will continue to improve on the forums feedback. This is the only football management game you ever need buy, I haven't tried EA's version, but I don't have time, I am too busy playing on Football Manager 2012.
If we did ratings this would get 4.5 stars. But we don't, so it doesn't.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Review 3 - The Mechanic
Thanks for watching. This is my review of the new Jason Statham film, The Mechanic.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Review 2 - Triangle
As this video review is quite short and useless I thought it best to write a better review as well.
Triangle.
This film was made in 2009 and was written and directed by Christopher Smith. You may know him from his film Creep, set in the London underground and is about a creature that lives down there.
Triangle is a much better film than Creep. While Creep sticks to fairly standard horror themes and conventions Triangle plays with them. I am not sure I would even class it as a horror film. It is a psychological thriller with horror tendencies. There is a little blood, and a scary mask (this is not a reference to Scream though and does not even try to be.)
Triangle stars Melissa George who acts the part perfectly. It follows her decent through madness very well.
The trouble with reviewing this film is it is clever. I don't want to ruin the plot and it's twists and turns and eventual conclusion.
I can say that it is crafted beautifully and you really feel for the main character. You are drawn into her anguish and pain and it flows well. It leads you through her experience and out the other side.
Now there are a few "holes" I could mention and a few questions I would like to ask, but with the fact it would spoil the viewing for others, I will leave it.
The story, in it's loosest form is about Melissa Georges character as she leaves her autistic son to go out for the day on a sailing trip. The yacht they are on capsizes and the are rescued by a large cruise liner. It appears deserted and as they explore the ship people start mysteriously dying.
I will leave the story there as I said before any more could ruin what is a great ride through the feelings of one character.
I would recommend this film to horror fans but would also say, if you are not a fan of horror don't think of it as that. It is a thriller. You may jump a few times but I don't think they have made it to be particularly jumpy like a tradition horror.
I would say this film fits with its contemporaries well and it may not have had a huge release or be as known as many films that came out in 2009, but it is one that you should watch.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Football Manager
So I have not been on the Xbox for a few days,
I played some Top Spin 3 on the PS3 and it still frustrates me so that is going soon.
I have however been playing Football Manager 10.
Now I know its an ironic thing as you may have read before, I don't like football!!
However I don't mind playing the games, or actually going outside for it.
So my review of FM10.
It is as good as ever. (That was short)
It is a well thought out and very tactical game and can be played to most skill levels. I only play the game to a small percentage of its capacity. I know that it does more than I understand.
You can choose to manage and nearly any level or any nation but will need to consider that playing lots of leagues will cripple your computer. The more databases it has running and more data it has to crunch the slower it all gets. That doesn't mean you can't still buy players from other leagues you aren't running.
Some nice touches to the new version are the fact that when you set up about you and your age you can choose what reputation you have as a football manager, did you play at international level? Are you as new as you look?
The in match screen is great and lets you see the match really well, but also offers up a range of views and stats should you want to see that.
I was playing as the England Manager and in the World Cup and got to the quater finals against Spain, I played the match 4 times and every time they would win. Last minute equalisers, what ever formation of range of players I played. I felt it a little bit of a fix!
Overall this is a game for people who a) Like football or b) Like Stats games or c) (like me) just have no idea why you like it but find it addictive as hell.
I find I can watch a film on my other monitor and play the game, so I can multi-task.
I play in waves with this game, I get addicted for a while. Then forget it for an age and then some how really get back into it.
I am sure I will have a great weekend, sat around playing games. (I think the wife is away all weekend.....)
I played some Top Spin 3 on the PS3 and it still frustrates me so that is going soon.
I have however been playing Football Manager 10.
Now I know its an ironic thing as you may have read before, I don't like football!!
However I don't mind playing the games, or actually going outside for it.
So my review of FM10.
It is as good as ever. (That was short)
It is a well thought out and very tactical game and can be played to most skill levels. I only play the game to a small percentage of its capacity. I know that it does more than I understand.
You can choose to manage and nearly any level or any nation but will need to consider that playing lots of leagues will cripple your computer. The more databases it has running and more data it has to crunch the slower it all gets. That doesn't mean you can't still buy players from other leagues you aren't running.
Some nice touches to the new version are the fact that when you set up about you and your age you can choose what reputation you have as a football manager, did you play at international level? Are you as new as you look?
The in match screen is great and lets you see the match really well, but also offers up a range of views and stats should you want to see that.
I was playing as the England Manager and in the World Cup and got to the quater finals against Spain, I played the match 4 times and every time they would win. Last minute equalisers, what ever formation of range of players I played. I felt it a little bit of a fix!
Overall this is a game for people who a) Like football or b) Like Stats games or c) (like me) just have no idea why you like it but find it addictive as hell.
I find I can watch a film on my other monitor and play the game, so I can multi-task.
I play in waves with this game, I get addicted for a while. Then forget it for an age and then some how really get back into it.
I am sure I will have a great weekend, sat around playing games. (I think the wife is away all weekend.....)
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