Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Robert Murphy


Whether it is riding horseback across the deserts of Afghanistan or zooming across the marshy wet lands of South Africa, I could proudly place the Punished "Venom" Snake on a high vantage point and look down on an outpost with a smirk on my face from the pleasure I was about to have taking it for my own. Not even 10% of the way through the game, players can confidentially come across a random outpost and think about the many different ways of going about taking all the guards out and making their resources, your resources. I personally may have gone a little evil minded with the whole situation as I built my army of guns, gadgets and men/women ready to lay down their lives for me but that's the thing, Metal Gear Solid 5 is devilishly fun with it's approach to re-establishing yourself into the world with Snake at it's helm once more. The world is literally yours for the taking.

After the introduction sequence that catches you up with what happened to Snake all those years ago, you stand over and Afghan wasteland and told to make the Diamond Dogs a powerful group once again. How you do this is entirely up to you and the sheer amount of free will that you are left with is staggering. The old Metal Gear Solid games featured a much more linear world to be explored than it's latest title, before you would go on missions and complete the assignments with deadly stealth but now you're running the show and will take whatever missions you want and do them the way you want. At first you may be a bit overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge that is crammed down your throat, I know I stood out over the desert landscape for a moment and asked myself, "What the heck do I do?" Once the ball got rolling however, everything began to flow together seamlessly as you build your "Mother Base," gain new soldiers for your organization and work on tracking down the agency responsible for your new shrapnel horn jutting out of your head. 

While the story behind Snake's efforts to track down the group known as "Cipher" turned out to be the underwhelming aspect for the game, it was in no way a detraction from it. The lengthy but enjoyable opening sequences is by in large the biggest story portion to the game you will see as all other cutscenes from this point onward are brief and to the point. This again proves to be a departure from what players have seen before from the Metal Gear series but the fact that little is said doesn't mean not a lot gets accomplished. The main story moves along quite smoothly as you complete main missions and garner more information and attention from your old enemy. I felt genuine urges to press forward with each encounter I faced with the leader of Cipher, Skull Face, and was wrapped up in the very Ghost in the Shell/anime styling to which the story now presented itself with between the robotic hand, electronic cigars and iDroid device on hand that basically controls your every operation in-game (wow, that's scary to think about actually).

This was all capped off by the stunning level of animation work that is placed on the characters and the world. I cannot tell you how beautiful even the dreariest rain storms can be as move across the various environments and outposts throughout the story. The same goes for each and every character for the game who are not only pleasant to look at but behave and act like real flesh and blood people. Perhaps the moment that I truly noticed the degree of work placed on the game was when I met my second companion D-Dog. You find this companion as a puppy somewhere in Afghanistan and he will quickly grow to be one of your most valuable assets once he grows to full size. At the home base I found myself looking at him through my binoculars and noticing just how much like a real dog he looks and behaves as, I felt I could almost reach out and pet him myself. 

Outside of the main story missions are a myriad of other side portions to MGS5 that fill in any down time you could possible conceive of having. The concept behind "Mother Base" has already been previously established in another Metal Gear Solid game but was never done to such a degree. Thanks to the Fulton device system players can extract just about anything they want from the playable world which includes, people, vehicles, mounted weapons and cargo crates filled with valuable resources. These all are used to further the development of your Mother Base forces which can be upgraded through in-game materials and GMP earned from jobs. As you get further into the game, your base can be upgraded and changed however you'd like and will expand in a number of areas like R&D and Combat Units. R&D will probably be the most useful as it serves to develop new weapons, clothes and items to aid you in your missions. 

Things are even taken another step further by allowing you to customize and change anything about your base or command your people in whatever way you see fit. Staff members that you hire will succeed better in different areas and while the game will often assign the best position for your men you can freely change where they work. Certain staff members will also help you develop better and new weapons as well as allow you to have better intel in the field. Having interpreters on hand at your base helps with language barriers and understanding new intel from certain areas, while others such as gunsmiths can allow you to augment your weapons. There's also firing of "transgressor" soldiers to improve moral and a baffling amount of other features such as independent assignments for your combat units and much much more. The degree to which you can customize and command every aspect of your base is simply staggering and while you may question why someone would go to such a degree with all of this, it quickly becomes the heart and soul of your gameplay experience.

This same level of care and flexibility transfers over to the time you will spend performing your missions. Again, how you go about your situations is entirely up to you and is not scripted. I could enter any situation such a prisoner rescue and wonder whether I should take every single soldier out or get in and out without anyone or anything being disturbed. It was entirely up to me and I took advantage of everything I had handed to me especially since I spent very little time avoiding outposts and bases to gain their resources. Movements are smooth and easy to pick up, the stealth mechanic is fairly straight forward as you move crouched and his behind objects and move slower near enemies to get the drop on them. Players can also extract information out of subdued enemies in order to find objectives or hidden elements like weapons blueprints within the mission area.

Even in the moments where you do get caught or a situation doesn't go your way, you can quickly turn the situation back around. In situations where you get caught by that enemy you missed, a reflex mode is activated in order for you to quickly take out the person who spotted you before things turn sour. There are also your mission companions like D-Dog and Quiet who can aide you in taking down anyone who comes to pester you. This is capped off by the other features like air strikes, calling in a mechanized walker unit or even phone in a gunship to make sure the situation doesn't get too dicey. There is simply no end to the amount of action to be taken in whatever situation you end up in so it is never dull to roll up on a base and experimented with all the tools at your disposal. 

The Phantom Pain is the pinnacle of what it means to have an open world style of game at your fingertips. Almost everything you can possible think to do or not even consider doing is possible to take command off and is done like no game ever has before. Things are not inspiring everywhere, there were moments of dialogue (or lack there of with Snake) and again, some story issues that will hopefully be resolved with the upcoming DLC but this did not detract from the sheer pleasure that I had playing MGS5. The ability to which I could adapt, customize and forge my own path has set the bar for every other sandbox title that has come before and will come down the line. In many ways though, I just don't know how anyone will be able to top it.

Good:

- A true open world experience like no other

- Expansive customization capabilities that expand to almost every aspect in-game

- Flexibility to play in anyway you see fit

- Overwhelming number of gadgets, tools and abilities

Bad:

- The story is still missing it's critical pieces

Scully Rating: 10 out of 10

Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy


The old saying goes that true rockstars never die but we all know that some of them should have turned in their leather pants and guitar picks long ago. Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll tells the story of one those bands that had their big break but of course things when downhill due to drinking, drugs and typical band squabbling. Years later not much has changed for Johnny Rock (Denis Leary) and his group "The Heathens" except for the fact that they're all a lot older and their 80's hair band vibe just isn't cutting in today's rock world. Enter Johnny's long lost daughter Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) whose come to him looking to start her own career in music. She has all the talent of her father with the fresh look and style that is just what "The Heathens" need to finally make it big or rather she has what "The Assassins" need to finally make it big.

At this point in media history people have experienced the mockery of rock and roll cliches like rockers getting black out drunk or having giant orgies before and after their shows. Then, they all fall apart and slowly melt into obscurity whether it's due to band infighting or what have you and from there you either get a bad TV show, looking at you Rock of Love, or end up in a "Where are they now" style story featured on late night TV. So, if audiences have seen and heard all these jokes and stories before then you need a show that does the old jokes better than you've ever seen them before or feature some of the classic rockstar lifestyle to keep our interests peeked. Sadly, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll's first season does neither of those things and realize on the tired cliches that I just explained a moment ago. 

There really is no ground breaking developments in terms of band dynamics here, Johnny still is the selfish guy he was back in the day in a lot of ways so the problems that broke the band up the first time around are still there. Fellow band mate Flash (John Corbett) is also about as cocky and arrogant as Johnny is and in effort to get back at him for all the years of torment and sleeping with his wife, Flash ends up in a relationship with Gigi. It's fun for a couple of episodes but you realize that there isn't any depth to the situation and that it's just a quick laugh that continues for most of the season. Drummer Bam Bam (Robert Kelly) is nothing more than some questionable homosexual and fat jokes and bass guitarist Rehab (John Ales) seems to be an out of place character who still is a heavy drug user but doesn't fit in with the rest of the group with his aging Hall & Oates look.

In terms of fantastic characters the true star for not just the band but the entire show is Gigi. Elizabeth Gillies plays the perfect modern youth role and gives a great deal of sass and leadership to her role, often eclipsing Denis Leary. This isn't to say the two don't work well together as Leary brings a good deal of heart to yet another show and the two play a very believable father-daughter duo which in many ways kept me watching. The family moments spent on Johnny getting back in touch with those around him led to some heart warming moments. The episode where his mother gets remarried is especially good as it reveals not only the relationship of Johnny and her but also the relationship with his father and how fantastic a musician he use to be. It all runs in the family, it's just a shame that the family bonds don't translate better for the band themselves. 

Perhaps the biggest praise I could give to Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll it's appreciation for rock music. Not many big names make their appearance on the show, Dave Grohl gives a brief testimonial during a reunion episode that Johnny watches in the first episode but you don't need big rock names to make a good rock show, you just need epic tunes. This is once again a shining moment for Gigi who lends amazing vocals as the bands lead singer and literally gave me chills when she sang. Every single song was catchy and it felt like the true rock experience when this aspect to the show shined through. Johnny became the bands song writer since Gigi is the lead singer and seeing Leary sit down with paper and a acoustic guitar to write songs was great. Add on top of this the sound studio scenes where the group is rocking out and the music is killing it, I felt like "The Assassins" were really making a debut album and trying to rise to fame. 

Incredible music aside, the premiere season of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll has the right idea of what it's like to make music but it doesn't get the band dynamic down quite so well. Characters outside of Johnny and Gigi just don't seem to play off of one another and I never found myself being invested in any of them because of it. So, maybe it's best of "The Heathens" fade from the limelight for good this time and not come back for an encore. 

Good:

- Gillies as Gigi

- Exceptional tunes and album making experience

Bad:

- The other band members garner very little attention

- Same cliche rock and roll tropes we've seen before

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10

Mr. Robot (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy


In today's world, people rely on electronics for just about everything, we use it for our jobs, to keep track of our money, we trust it to keep us safe but in many ways it makes us more vulnerable than ever. Everyone is tweeting, Facebooking and letting out their inner most personal information and for some all it takes is a few moments and they have your entire life in the palm of their hand. For hacker Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) all it takes is a few clicks and a little clever manipulation and he has all the information he needs but he typically uses anything he finds for the greater good. This holds especially true as he and a group of other high level hackers attempt to free the world from technologies hold on everyone and hack the world. 

Okay, I may have dramatized all that a bit but that doesn't make Elliot's story any less interesting to follow once you start to get to know him. Elliot suffers from many different quirks and not all of them are minor such as his issues with human contact like hugging or touching. No, Elliot has many more disturbing issues that lie beneath the surface such as the belief that he is being followed by men in black suits or his talking to an imaginary friend. The engaging part about that is that we're the imaginary friend. There is a fair chunk of internal monologue throughout the story as Elliot bounces ideas off of himself as well as those of us who are watching. His character invites us in, says hello to us and even made me feel like answering his questions like some bizarre Dora the Explorer episode. 

This is due in large part to Rami Malek who just got done playing a similar psychologically disturbed character with his voice over role in Until Dawn and while they both share a fractured state, Malek's role in Mr. Robot shows his skills as an actor much more thoroughly. His performance is so much dead pan as it is unwavering and precise in what it is his character is going through in each scene, moments of genuine confusion occur for Elliot more than once throughout the show and when he feels it he makes the audience feel it too. Every emotion is displayed perfectly and in a manor that made a character like Elliot insanely likable which is rare considering the type of person he is wouldn't usually make a great main character but Malek makes Elliot a great main character to watch.

Moments where Elliot's character may have appeared to light of a punch are complimented by the other lead for Mr. Robot by Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) himself. Founder of the FSociety group that Elliot now finds himself in, Mr. Robot was a say what he wants type of character which would make you think that he and Elliot would not get along whatsoever but the two work wonderfully together. The reasons behind this proves to be a big twist for the first season later on but nevertheless he serves to bring Elliot out of his shell and bring to light many of the hard hitting issues for the series like big corporate corruption, specifically when it came to a group known as E Corp.

E Corp or Evil Corp as it becomes aptly named thanks to Elliot's mind filtering out their actual name to the audience is the group that FSociety and mainly Mr. Robot wants to take down. Their's was a group that had their name and image on just about everything you could think of across the world and the way the show presents the group makes you really want them to be crushed as they ruthlessly lord their power over everyone. Elliot's main reasons for wanting to take down this group don't get revealed till later on but this journey he embarks on with FSociety also serves to deepen the enjoyment of him as a character. Right from the get go you knew Elliot wasn't your normal main character as I've said but by the end of all of the first seasons twists and turns you don't need him to be anymore.

It is easier to understand some of the other side characters for the show due to the fact that they're meant to be more of the average sort of person, the people who are forced to go along with things like Evil Corp and are enslaved by the hold of money and technology. Elliot's childhood friend Angela (Portia Doubleday) was perhaps the most watchable among these characters. She suffered from immense debt due to student loans and fell into a later role that I never would have expected from her to end up in but it certainly spells interesting points for her and Elliot's relationship. Not all the side characters proved to be so relatable though as Elliot's dealings with Evil Corp grew so did his connections to Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallstrom) who you could never get a read on. One minute he was a corporate climbing sleazeball like the rest and then the next minute he's going off an punching homeless guys. His performance was all over the map and while I saw and interesting correlation between him and Mr. Robot, I never saw the point or appeal in his off the wall character.

Mr. Robot's first season held nothing back and on so many levels I am grateful for that. There weren't too many lighthearted or softer moments to the series and the showrunners never shied away from that fact but I feel if they had tried to make things softer in their approach than everything wouldn't have been delivered so well. For a USA series this is all especially shocking but whatever the case things wrapped up quite interestingly for the first season. The effects of what FSociety does has already begun to show signs that there will be some even darker clouds in the second season but as to what will happen to Elliot and the rest of the cast, I am left here eagerly waiting. 

Good:

- Rami Malek as Elliot

- The dialogue is something new and bizarre but handled well

- A much more realistic view on hacking and today's society

Bad:

- Some side characters don't pan out especially Tyrell Wellick

Scully Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Bleach 644: Baby, Hold Your Hand 7

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/644/?ref=email

Looks like Kurotsuchi's battle with Pernida is finally over, and while Kurotsuchi, Kenpachi, and what's left of Nemu are placed in recovery chambers, the de-zombified Hitsuguya and Matsumoto emerge from the chambers to take their place on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Kyoraku's group has finally located the deadly sniper: Lille Borro. With a surprise attack, Kyoraku cuts the barrel off Lille's rifle. Does this mean the deadly sniper is out of weapons? Not likely, but we'll have to wait until next week to find out what other tricks he has.

Black Mass

By: Robert Murphy

I don't know how many kids have ever had that classic bully moment from TV shows where you're on the playground and the school house thug comes over to you to pick a fight. You're the resident weakling and have no chance of winning the fight so as you lay there getting the beating of the century, you wish for someone to come and help you. That someone was James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp). But, Black Mass isn't about the kid who came to save your skin all those years ago, it's about the scrawny kid that grew up to be a big time FBI agent with a hero complex from that one good deed Bulger did for you back when you were young. That kids name is John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) who is a native South Boston or "Southie" son who is now a big name in the FBI agent and seeks to repay the good nature of the man who saved his skin all those years ago. South Boston was a tight knit community and no matter where you end up, you don't forget what people did for you. Although John may have gone above in beyond for his childhood hero.

Now, I am from the country and yes we all are pretty close to one another around here because of it being a small area/community but I still won't pretend to understand the type of bond that the people of South Boston apparently shared. Right from the very first scene of Black Mass there is an underlined bond and understanding among everyone who lives in this area and so it is understandable why Whitey Bulger hates the Italian mob ruling over the predominantly Irish community that he and others grew up in and are so close to one another in as well. Knowing this, Connolly forms an alliance with Bulger so they can work together to remove the Italian mob from Southie once and for all, one believing he is serving justice as well as repaying a debt while the other uses this connection to take control of South Boston for himself. This would lead to what is known as the FBI's biggest blunders of all time as Bulger runs amok for twenty years, killing, running drugs and becoming the underground ruler for the area while the FBI covered it up. 

Whitey Bulger and to a larger extent Johnny Depp gave a haunting presence on screen. The first moment you meet him you know that he is a force to be reckoned with before he even utters one word. His is a character that is cold and decisive with every move he makes and it is wrong to underestimate him as the Italian mob often seemed to do. Most of the time we see Bulger punishing his own subordinates more than we see him taking down his enemies but that's because he didn't need to raise a finger while the FBI took out his competition. Nonetheless, the way his character weeded out any type of deception or dissension in his ranks further proved how dangerous a man he was and why he garnered so much respect as a feared crime lord. 

Outside of this, the first portion of the movie shows the lighter years of Bulgers life as he spends time with his son and mother in between all the violence and bloodshed. These were the moments that depicted the bonds that people in this area shared and how they were all about family and friends. Also, it shows why such a successful FBI agent with a promising future might go so far for someone he hadn't seen in years. Whatever the case, these lighter moments were a nice touch to the overall story especially when they included Bulger's brother William Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) who rose to fame in a different way. William was a big name in the Senate and was a well respected man for the area in a much more legal way. The movie does make a point of separating the two though in terms of Whitey's illegal activities and even though the relationship between the two is quite a good one, it made me skeptical of how involved the two were with one another. 

Now, in the very beginning of this review I said that this story was not about Whitey Bulger and in many ways it isn't meant to be, it is however suppose to be about John Connolly's rise and fall to fame. The reason I have left him out for the greater portion of the review is because his was the least appealing character of all, rivaling the stifled performance of David Harbour as John's co-conspirator in all of this, John Morris. Connolly's role starts off on a somewhat good note as he is introduced as this upcoming star for the agency and it even continues to be great as Bulger helps him take down the Italian mob and they all get what they want. This however is where Bulger and Connolly's relationship should have ended, it is insanely obvious that Bulger is just using Connolly to get what he wants but he continues to support and protect him. There are later scenes that depict Connolly going so far as to forge information about Bulger's intel to the FBI but why exactly he does it is beyond me. After the Italian mob is taken down the two's relationship should have ended but instead it continues to be dragged out until the chickens finally come home to roost and Connolly is arrested.

The entire ordeal is done quite poorly as John never quite figures out what type of character he wants to be, does he want to be a good guy and clean up Boston or does he want to role around town with Bulger and his crew? This goes back to the underline "bond" that is supposedly present and in many regards Black Mass does a great job of pointing this out but for everyone else besides Bulger and Connolly. Other characters in the movie also point this out, the head of the FBI Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon) has some less than tasteful ways to describe Connolly's affection for Bulger but his wife also makes a point to question why exactly he cares so much for this deranged mad man.

All of this aside, Black Mass was a wonderfully dark drama. It is not the same as what I expected it to be when I thought of a mobster movie and in many ways it does not play out like a traditional mobster movie does but rather it goes into a personal examination of how people act and behave in closely tied communities. There is plenty of gritty and pulse pounding moments that are handled by Depp's Whitey Bulger but there is a much closer look into people's behavior than you might expect. There are the bonds between Bulger and his community, his family but especially the bond he made all those years ago with Connolly that affect everyone in the story. If handled better, I think the relationship between Bulger and Connolly could have been an interesting portion to the movie but really Connolly becomes a back seat performer to a Bulger performance.

Good:

- Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger 

- Huge star studded cast of great actors and actresses

- Insight into the behavior of people in this era and community

Bad:

- Edgerton's entire role and the hero worship he has for Bulger

- Could have bigger moments for Bulger since he stole the show

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10

The Transporter Refueled

By: Robert Murphy

It's often hard to tell just what makes a movie work when it comes to the category of action since they can often be seen as nothing more than nonstop adrenaline fueled rampages, but for some reason they end up being great. When it comes to The Transporter series, I always felt that it was leading man Jason Statham that brought the certain charm that the films needed to be worth while. Now though a new leading man aims to take his place and continue forward without him at the helm of the classic Audi and introduce a fresh young face to the game with Ed Skrein (former Game of Thrones actor for Daario Naharis). But, whether or not he has the chops to knock the big guy off of the throne that started Statham's early action career was something I was determined to find out. 

The story starts off with a brief introduction to the main villains that you will be "hating" throughout the majority of the film. In a hail of bullets three men usurp themselves as the top dogs of the French Riviera by killing of their competition and replacing them with their very own call girls. Flash forward some fifteen odd years later and an odd plot for revenge begins to take place with one of the downtrodden girls from the beginning of the film. Where Frank Martin (Skrein) comes into play is with the first phase of the operation doing what he does best which is drive and drive really well. This along with the fighting scenes are the only true moments that continue to transfer over from Statham's day as the illustrious transporter. We see a fast paced chase scene through the streets of France with cops hot on Frank's tail but with some excellent maneuvers and a clever use of fire hydrants, he makes his escape with the former call girl and her two partners in the back seat.

This made for a wonderful turn of events as the first half hour of Refueled left little to no resemblance of the former series left to be enjoyed. Ed Skrein failed to pull off the same dead pan style of delivery that his counterpart had given in the earlier films but he did have what it took to make some enjoyable action sequences. The first and by far the best of which was during the night club scene where Frank took down three goons that were ten times his size with some rope and clever use of some drawers down a narrow corridor. Then it was outside to knock some guys out while the car enters some sort of auto pilot mode. When it came to revamping things, the car was what benefited the most from some fine tuning. The resident favorite Audi makes it's return with all new gadgets to show off such as self opening doors, interchangeable license plats and finger print recognition on the wheel to name a few. Not that The Transporter car ever needed these James Bond spy tools before or to such a degree but they were nonetheless an appealing on to be sure.  

In terms of overall appeal however these moments of action and excitement were short lived as things pushed forward. Outside of Ed Skrein, dialogue for the story moved along at a snails pace and was never worth the reward of not knowing what exactly our former call girls were up to. The ringleader of the four girls, Anna (Loan Chabanol), put together this payback scheme against her now former bosses for tormenting her for years and sentencing her to a life of prostitution. Her group oddly is modeled after some deranged version of The Three Musketeers (they even say, "All for one and one for all at," one point) and without Frank it would all fall apart. This leads to them kidnapping Frank's retired father Frank Sr. (Ray Stevenson) in order to make sure "Junior" stays with them to the end. 

Excluding the various junior jokes, Frank Senior was perhaps the most engaging among the cast and even made Ed Skrein shine for his role too. The two had great chemistry with one another as they both secretly know that there is more to the other than meets the eye. Frank Senior was supposedly a former retail salesman that just so happened to go to the most dangerous parts of the world for work. The fall of the Berlin wall and the Korean war to name just a few that were mentioned. His obvious history as some sort of spy though does not explain why he gets kidnapped not once but twice throughout the story. After Frank finally gets away with his father in one piece, the main bad guy finally shows some gumption and decides to kidnap Frank's father to get the money that Anna and her friends had stolen.

Arkady Karasov (Radivoje Bukvic) Arkady Karasovplays another lack luster cast member who never seems to have any real drive to catch the people responsible for stealing from his partners. Every portion of on screen time the actor had was spent silently brooding over each scene that Anna and her team left for him to find. There was a decent attempt to try and make his role more prominent as it turns out that Frank has some sort of history with Arkady but this to leads nowhere, even when the two meet face to face and confront one another, it amounts to them basically growling at one another. There was no build up at all to the films final concluding moment where the two battle on top of a rock with their fists like something out of Highlander where Frank is left standing victorious at the top saying "There can be only one!!"

The Transporter Refueled should have stayed in the garage where Statham left it in the concluding trilogy to the original series. This new revamped story doesn't do much of anything in expanding upon the work of the original films and in many ways it is a step backwards when it comes to image of the gruff and fearless transporter that people have seen before. There were some excellent action sequences and fight scenes, seeing Frank drive his car through a boarding platform and through an airport was perhaps one of the best car scenes I've seen this year. But, outside of the sparingly placed action moments, Refueled is not the successor or the retooled film it should have been. 

Good:

- Ray Stevenson as Frank Senior

- Fighting sequences

- The Audi's new look and wonderful gadgets

Bad:

- Poor acting across the board

- A flimsy story that somehow realize on an unreliable lead actor

- Dialogue is flat and you can hardly believe this people act or behave as they do

Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10

Party Hard

By: Robert Murphy

It may sound a bit dark but when I watch a crummy horror movie I often think that it's more fun to root for the killer rather than the survivors as the movie is only enjoyable when they are on screen, excluding the gratuitous sex scenes of course. In Party Hard I was now able to take up the role of a psycho killer as he goes on a murder spree across the United States. Okay, psycho might be a little bit of a stretch considering all your main character wanted was to get a pleasant nights sleep but a rowdy party next door was ruining it, so he put on a mask, grabbed a knife and went to kill them all. Never mind, he definitely was a psycho.

As bleak as the game is, Party Hard is one of those games where it's good to be bad. Your character must maneuver himself, or herself as you unlock other characters, through the party and kill all those in attendants. But, this isn't just a simple slasher game where you stab someone and hide their bodies, there are a number of ways you can go about your fun fueled rampage. You can go around silently plotting your kills and wait until the opportune moment to strike and stash the body in a nearby dumpster or you can get creative and use your environment to your advantage. There are a number of hidden gems throughout each level that will aid you in your quest for peace and quiet such a rampaging bull that can charge through a crowd of people, knocking over a tree into a nearby room or even poisoning the kegger so everyone gets sick or in some cases zombified.  

These delightful set pieces ramp up the amount of carnage you can get yourself into, I once sent a Lamborghini into a line of people and watched as the number of people I had to take out dwindle drastically. While these are great fun, they typically don't last long and you have to be clever with how you use each of them. If there aren't people by the punch bowl then the poison will run out, if you explode the dance floor with no one on it then you've wasted a potential killing spree. So despite the catchy and upbeat tempo to Party Hard's soundtrack, you have to take your time and plan out your attack or you will end up busted by the cops. 

This is perhaps the fault that can be had as you play through the brightly colored parties in each state. Early levels of the game feature a variety of different ways to take out your victims and there are admittedly a number of well designed parties to go along with them. But, in an effort to ratchet up the difficulty as you progress the game decides to decrease the number of environmental hazards making it increasingly hard to progress. The boat party level in particular was a drag for me as there was a limited amount of ways to take everyone out and not a lot of places to hide. The challenge was a good idea but ultimately it turned into a grind that decreased my interest. There are a number of moments like this outside the later levels such as moments where you have to take out your last ten party goers, at this point there's no hazards left to use and you basically just wait to silently take them out. 

Small pick up items do help dull this monotony for a short time but just like the environment hazards they are limited. Suitcases and shifty salesman can sometimes be found in the various levels that will give you smoke grenades, bombs, samurai swords and a spare change of clothes to aide in your night of terror. Smoke grenades though can only be used twice, bombs are a one and done use and will also lead to a SWAT team raiding the party, samurai swords which are just a glorified knife and then the spare change of clothes which is also a one and done use but it does help when you want to escape from the cops. None of the items really quicken the down time moments when you're trying to make your way through a particularly tough level but they do add to the games overall charm. 

Party Hard does have plenty of this charm to go around too. The style of the game and most of the levels is set in the 80's and perhaps the early 90's so it's to be expected that many characters would bare some resemblance to important people during this era. I saw Michael Jackson, Slash and a blonde haired beauty from Baywatch to name a few. There were also some more anarchistic types thrown here and there as well, such a vehicles supped up with metal spears jutting out, punk rocker chicks thrashing to the sounds of rock metal and big burly bikers threatening to squash you like a bug. There is a huge number of hidden gems and characters strewn throughout the story and they mix together to make an enjoyable concoction to say the least, but by the end of the twelve episode game you're left wanting a little bit more than what you got.  

Despite Party Hard baring many similarities to one of my favorite top down games, Hotline Miami, it doesn't carry the same dark and satirical appeal as it's counter part. The catchy level design and unique methods of killing were all a blast to use and experiment with but once you whittle down the party goers things become a bit of a drag till you get to the end. There were also increasing levels of difficulty that made playing certain levels quite frustrating and for a game such as this you want a more even flowing experience throughout your play time and that was the real killer for Party Hard. 

Good:

- Finding and experimenting with the different killing methods

- Bright and interesting party levels

- Catchy soundtrack

Bad:

- Difficulty on later levels were unnecessary 

- Short supply of hazards for levels and one use items 

- Killing everyone at the party can be an exceedingly lengthy experience at times

Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10

Expelled from Paradise

Zach Goodier

Expelled from Paradise is a feature-length anime film that follows the story of Angela Balzac, who serves as a security agent for DEVA: a virtual reality where most of the world’s population lives following a cataclysm that nearly killed off all of humanity. Angela is forced to leave her VR “paradise” to go down the ruins of earth, where one of the survivors on the surface has learned how to bypass DEVA’s security and gain access to the virtual world, and is believed to be an imminent threat to the Eden that they enjoy. On her mission, she is helped by one of DEVA’s contacts on the surface: Dingo. Dingo scratches out a life alongside many others on the surface in the ruins of the old world. He helps the pampered Angela cope with a life outside her paradise, where reality can be harsh and unyielding.

The story is very thematic, with most of the film’s central conflict centering around the hacker: Frontier Setter, who is hacking DEVA to ask the residents to join them on a journey to explore the cosmos. While there is that mystery, there is also a few scenes with mecha-style action to keep the excitement going, especially during the climax. However, this is mainly a character-driven story, and Angela and Dingo are squarely in the center. Their relationship never turns into a major love subplot, but they do challenge each other, especially when they discuss DEVA, and whether it is really the promised land that its inhabitants think it is.

I supposed you could say this has some dystopian themes, but it doesn’t play them off like most stories. DEVA is very rarely cast as a sinister empire, but merely as a personal story of Angela as she must adapt to the real world, and what changes that brings about for her, and how it changes her perception of what it means to be human at all. The world isn’t ending (again), there isn’t some evil scheme afoot to exterminate all humanity, it’s just a focused narrative that involves a journey of self-discovery and adventure, that touches on a lot of deeper themes without trying to force a particular perspective. As I said, some discussions challenge Angela’s belief that DEVA is a paradise for humanity, mostly by citing that even in the virtual world, reality has a way of following them, and influencing their lives.

The only major weak point to this movie are the clunky animation, that is computer generated, and the voice acting didn’t seem overly moving, despite all the important discussions that take place throughout. Action scenes are fast and exciting, but they don’t always look as smooth as you might expect after watching the big mecha series, like Gundam Wing or Code Geass.

Overall, this was an enjoyable movie that refreshes by not trying to make itself into some massive epic, but just taking an hour and 45 minutes to take the viewer on an enjoyable journey to try to discover what being human is all about, and just what it means to “evolve” to the next stage of humanity in a world that has already forsaken us.

Good:

-Interesting premise and conflict.

-Some interesting themes throughout.

-Doesn’t try to make itself too epic.

Bad:

-Animation is rather unimpressive, with some unimpressive models and movements.

Scully Rating: 8 out of 10 

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Sean Dibble

Aliens have landed and nations of the world have gathered to start a new organization to stop the alien threat. They have decided and your lack of army knowledge and tactical expertise means nothing to them, YOU, are the commander. Do what you can to stop the alien invasion by sending your troops out to fight and capture these aliens. Many will die under your control and nations will be taken over but hey, you tried right? 

Ok, so my opening for this review was a little dark but the first time I sat down to play this game that is exactly what happened. I was overwhelmed with what was going on and I didn't understand that half the cover wasn't good enough as the game went on and the aliens got tougher but I didn't seem to get any stronger and was out classed in seconds. But, with my second gameplay I learned a bit more and continued to grow knowing what technologies to develop. It is a game that now that I have gone through twice (still not beating it) will go through and try to win in my third gameplay.

With all that said above, lets get into the meat of the game. Like I said earlier the game starts out with an alien invasion. The council has elected you the commander of the "XCOM" force and given you advisers to help with research and engineering. The game has two distinct styles, the first is base building and researching and even though this may not seem like an important part of the game and just fodder for between missions but, IT IS EXTREMELY important! Without a solid home base your soldiers would die almost instantly during their missions. The second part is the actual missions themselves which are turn based. Early on you have a squad of 4 men and women that go out to missions to hunt down aliens or escort a VIP depending on your missions and there are parameters that you must follow. When it comes to the actual battles I highly recommend that you try your best to keep all of your soldiers in full cover as much as you can because it will help keep them from getting wounded or even killed. If a soldier is wounded in battle it will take anywhere from 8 to 15 days to recover and if they die, they are dead for good.

There is a bit of customization in the game, pending on if you purchased the DLC for it that is, this includes renaming your soldiers to anything that you want as well as their armor and armor color. This is a great addition to the game because you can feel more connected to the people you are sending out to their death and makes it so when someone dies you feel worse about them being killed off, to a certain degree. 

The graphics and soundtrack keep you engaged on top of all of this as well. It has been a long time since I have played a Turn Based Strategy game that I actually said, "Wow, these graphics are great," since most of the time TBS have had sub par 16 bit graphics due to the fact that you don't need to see all that much in terms of gameplay. All of the soundtracks are pleasant to play along with too and will keep you engaged in missions as the music changes when you find your enemy.

The downfall to the game though is the difficulty settings. Enemy Unknown comes with four difficulty settings Easy, Normal, Classic and Insane which you would think that Easy and Normal would be easy to handle but you would be dead wrong. Normal will keep you on your toes begging for a break. I have not had the chance to move on to higher difficulties because I am still struggling to get by on Normal difficulty. 

All in all the game is great, the story is immersive, the gameplay is fun and challenging which is something that I myself have not had in a long time. The little customizations in the game keeps me happy and makes me more diligent when sending my best friends on a mission plus the ranking system works well as your men get higher ranks they learn a new skills. The difficulty settings can get annoying as you try to beat the game without too much of a challenge but where is the fun in a cake walk game? All in all, I highly recommend you consider buying the game as it will keep you busy for hours on end. 

Good:

- Customization

- Soundtrack and Graphics

- Story

- Difficulty

Bad:

- Difficult settings

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10