I’ve been waiting an eternity to play Predator vs Jeremy Clarkson; a first-person shooter seen from the perspective of a vindictive alien who hunts down a tubby, opinionated, petrol-wasting boomer. Unfortunately, PvJC is in development limbo, so I’ll just have to settle for decapitating marines in Sega’s latest extraterrestrial killfest, Aliens vs Predator.
Based on the film franchise that took the intellectual property of two sci-fi classics, combined the basic elements then ruined them, Aliens vs Predator has a lot to live up to.
Its creator, British gaming house Rebellion, is responsible for the AvP released back in 1999. In fact, the company told Tone that this latest iteration actually runs on an engine first designed for the earlier game, so it’s lucky it was pretty good.
Like the Old AvP, the New AvP features three individual campaigns, each concentrating on a particular species. The Predator section, in which the player employs stealth tactics to hunt and brutally mangle hapless marines, is the strongest by a long shot. Anyone familiar with the original Predator film will love stalking through the jungle kitted out with cloaking devices and infrared vision, and Rebellion ...full story
Posted by
Tone on May 21st, 2010 in
Game reviews,
Reviews | | Tags:
Alien vs Predator,
FPS,
review,
Xbox,
Xbox 360
Chrysler came out with the EVA system in 1983. Pretty ahead of its time.
Posted by
Tone on May 21st, 2010 in
Videos | | Tags:
1986,
Chrysler,
New Yorker
Che isn’t for the faint-hearted. Steven Soderbergh’s ambitious biopic of the Argentinean revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, stretches out over two films and four hours. Although it’s a slog, the two instalments are best watched in a single sitting, perhaps with a brief intermission for a cigar.
Divided into two sections, The Argentine and Guerrilla, Che respectively chronicles Guevara’s part in the extraordinary overthrow of the US-backed Batista regime in Cuba, and his failed attempt to bring about revolution in Bolivia.
Each instalment is distinct from the other not only in theme but also in execution: The Argentine is crisply rendered in silvery-green anamorphic 16mm film while Guerrilla is shot in digital blue (note for nerds: Che was one of the first flicks to use the eagerly-awaited RedOne cameras).
While Che works best when viewed as a whole, the Argentine section is a little easier to like. It’s framed with an interview made at the height of Guevara’s notoriety during an unbending appearance before the UN in New York. The device provides a welcome insight into his character in a film that’s generally unwilling to spell things out.
Sound design is brilliant throughout: ...full story
Posted by
Tone on May 20th, 2010 in
DVD reviews,
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Che,
DVD
Several people I spoke to while auditioning the Luna 5 said something along these lines: “Oh, Edifier, they started out making really crappy computer speakers.” If that’s the case, congratulations are in order for the Beijing-based company, because the Luna 5 is one of the best-sounding iPod docks I’ve yet encountered.
Of course, when you’re talking about sound quality and iPod docks, you’re always dealing in relativities. There isn’t a dock on the market that perfectly replicates audiophile-grade hi-fi systems, and the reason is obvious: these are miniaturised components configured to deal with often poor-sounding files in which a lot of the grain, guts and texture have been stripped from the original recording.
So instead of attempting to sound authentic, a good-sounding iPod dock will work its own tricks in order to sound good to the human ear.
The Luna 5 is an odd-looking thing, and its aesthetic (judging by the reaction of staff at Tone Central) is either love or hate at first sight. So here’s a message to its design detractors: The Luna 5 has just won the prestigious 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovations Honour Award.
But ...full story
Posted by
Tone on May 19th, 2010 in
Hi-Fi,
Reviews | | Tags:
Edifier,
iPod dock,
Luna 5,
review,
test
Timing is everything. Surrogates appeared in US theatres last year but the DVD is only coming out here now. That’s unfortunate, because the big ‘wow, isn’t that clever’ bit of Surrogates is that humans have developed personal robots; while your body is at home in bed, your avatar – sorry, we mean your surrogate – is out living the life you always dreamt for yourself. See the problem Surrogates faces?
It doesn’t really do itself any favours in the comparison stakes. The thin plot runs head first into the welcoming arms of cliché when grizzled cop with a past Bruce Willis abandons his surrogate to, like, feel real again, man, and uncover who’s behind a series of murders. And yes, his maverick ways do get him suspended from the force.
Despite the robots and plenty of (fairly average) CGI, the movie soon morphs into a straightforward whodunnit. It’s either the military industrial complex or an evil genius, of course, but by the end you’ll have ceased to care.
FORMAT: DVD
FROM: Sony
SOUND: 3.5
VISION: 3.5
MOVIE: 2
The meagre bonuses comprise an audio commentary and a music video by the band Breaking Benjamin – no, ...full story
Posted by
Tone on May 19th, 2010 in
DVD reviews,
Reviews | | Tags:
Bruce Willis,
DVD
Forza 3 DLC Trailer – Exotic Car Pack
Posted by
Tone on May 19th, 2010 in
Videos | | Tags:
Forza 3,
trailer,
Xbox
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