Film Review #95

Man of Steel (2013)
Director: Zack Snyder Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe

Certificate: 12 Running Time: 143 Minutes

Tagline: "You Are Not Alone"

I think we can safely say by now that Marvel's shared 'cinematic universe' of films has been a success so it was inevitable that DC would follow suit at some point. What I didn't realise at the time of its release, however, is that Man of Steel was the first of their own series. I had thought it simply (another) reboot of Superman but no, it was actually meant to be DC's equivalent of Iron Man - the one to get the ball rolling. To that end, it's an origins story in the truest sense of the word - the first since Christopher Reeve's film of 1978 if I'm not mistaken - and like that film it begins on the planet Krypton which is on the brink of annihilation. Shortly before it blows up in a highly spectacular fashion, Jor-El (Crowe), who for years had warned of the impending disaster, manages to launch his newborn son into space aboard a small craft.

Splendid Arcade Music #1

After Burner / After Burner II (1987)

Considering a great many retro games originated in the arcades, I have perhaps been a bit neglectful of the motherland with these Game Music posts. Spurred on by my recent review of the stonking After Burner, however, here is the very first such post.

As mentioned in the full review, my favourite of Hiroshi Miyauchi's compositions is Red Out and I was going to feature that ace choon here, but while listening to it on YouTube at work, that stupid autoplay feature played more After Burner tracks, and after a couple of these it came to a rather cool fan rendition of the intro theme.

I'm not sure who the performer is beyond his YT username of 'haibanhunterk' but he's clearly a very talented guitarist - his channel features a number of other guitar-based renditions of popular game music - but I can't see any of the others being more awesome than this one. Check it out along with the original:

Puzzle Games #21

Binary Land (1985)
By: Hudson Soft Genre: Puzzle / Maze Players: 1Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo NES First Day Score: 153,400
Also Available For: MSX, Fujitsu FM-7, NEC PC-6001, NEC PC-8801

I don't get game-related gifts for Christmas that often but this year my wife bought me a cool little clone handheld thingy. It looks like a PSP but is actually filled with NES games along with an emulator, and the first one I've spent much time with is Binary Land, an early Hudson Soft puzzle/action game which tasks you with reuniting two penguin lovers. This is done over a series of single-screen stages, each formed from a grid of 15x10 blocks and viewed from overhead, in which both penguins - Gurin (male) and Malon (female) - are dropped in separate locations. Your job is to bring them together at their special meeting point - a heart at the top of each stage which grows cold and diseased in a harsh metal cage until their combined splendour liberates it. The twist is, in an unusual and initially-confusing move, you control both of the stumbling flappers simultaneously, with the movements of one mirroring those of the other!

TV Shows #13

Beyond (2017)
Developed By: Adam Nussdorf Starring: Burkely Duffield, Dilan Gwyn, Jeff Pierre, Jonathan Whitesell, Peter Kelamis, Michael McGrady, Romy Rosemont, Alex Diakun, Jordan Calloway

Certificate: 12A? Running Time: 45-50 Minutes per Episode, 10 Episodes

There really are more TV shows right now than ever before, with new ones appearing every day, or so it seems. The first new show of 2017 that I've tried is this one and surprisingly it's not a Netflix offering either, arriving instead courtesy of ABC, and is another one of those mystery/conspiracy shows that are so popular lately. This one starts off by showing us two friends - Holden and Kevin (Duffield/Calloway), both 12 - hanging out one summer evening when Kevin's bullying older brother Jeff shows up, resulting in a chase that ends with Holden unconscious in a spooky wood. Moving forward 12 years we find that Holden has spent the intervening time in a coma - a coma that he is just now waking from, apparently with no ill effects. News of Holden's recovery spreads fast and he finds himself a celebrity in the small American town in which he and his bewildered family live. Or possibly a small Canadian town since the show is filmed there.

Games of the Year - 2016

I'm a bit late with this but finally I've gotten around to the now-traditional 'Games of the Year' post! As mentioned in another recent post, it's been an eventful year for me, and one that's seen a few changes too, not all of which were welcome, and as a result, what was looking like a good, productive year blog-wise actually ended up fizzling out in a largely unspectacular and somewhat frustrating way.

I'll be back though, hopefully with a vengeance as there are still tons of things I want to write about here. As always, whether you are chance visitors or long-term readers of my page, I hope you continue to enjoy my various posts. Feedback is always welcome, positive or negative - what would you like to see more of or less of? In the meantime, here are the Top Ten Best Games I reviewed during 2016:

10. Wonder Boy by Sega (1986) - Arcade

This Sega classic was actually supposed to be the first game I ever reviewed here at Red Parsley, I'm not sure why it took me so long. Oh well, least I got to it, even if it did take me 6 years! It was worth the wait too - the runny leapy action might be a bit unforgiving but it's great fun, and it still plays really well. (full review here)

Sega Super Scaler Games #5 - Part 1

After Burner (1987)
By: Sega Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 24,000
Also Available For: PlayStation 2, 32X, X68000, FM Towns, Master System, Game Boy Advance, NES, Amiga, Atari ST, PC, MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

Games such as Hang On and Space Harrier were big hits for Sega and helped cement their reputation as purveyors of technically impressive arcade games that were also great fun to play, but few games would ever equal the impact that OutRun had. It is still fondly remembered today as one of the true greats but in the mid-80's it was simply jaw-dropping, so the game Sega followed it up with would have to be truly spectacular. It came just over a year later and saw players leave the tarmac behind and return to the skies. This time, however, they weren't colourful skies filled with peculiar alien creatures but were our own skies here on earth. That game was of course After Burner and it would go on to huge success itself. Some players, perhaps improbably, even preferred it to its predecessor.

Film Review #94

Passengers (2016)
Director: Morten Tyldum Starring: Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne

Certificate: 12A Running Time: 116 Minutes

Tagline: "There is a reason they woke up"

The wonderful world of science fiction has given us many possible solutions to the problematic nature of interstellar travel over the years but generally they tend to fall into one of two categories. Firstly we have faster than light propulsion as featured in various forms in films and shows, notably stuff like Star Trek, and secondly we have cryo-sleep or suspended animation or whatever else you might want to call it, which involves effectively 'freezing' someone for the lengthy duration of a slower than light speed trip. It is the latter that Jon Spaihts, the writer of Passengers, has gone for with his story which was written back in 2007 and features an enormous ship called the Avalon. On board are a number of crew members and 5,000 passengers who are all on a one-way trip to colonise a planet dubbed Homestead II. A trip that is set to take some 120 years.

Gaming Flashbacks #2

As a gamer I've been more or less exclusively playing retro stuff for years now. The last 'current' console I was genuinely excited about was the Dreamcast and its quick demise made me sad. Even then, though, I still spent a lot of time with my many older systems. Since then, I've dabbled with the odd newer game of course - a few original Xbox and PS3 games for example - but even then there is one aspect of gaming I have practically no experience in: online gaming.

I'm sure at least most of you reading this, even those who think of yourselves as hardcore retroheads, probably still play modern games as well, and these days that generally means at least some degree of online tomfoolery. Some games like Titanfall and Destiny give you no other option, but I have somehow avoided doing this almost entirely. I'm not quite sure why if I'm honest, I don't hate the idea or anything like that, it's just something I've never gotten around to trying properly.

MegaDrive Shmups #9

Granada (1991)
By: Wolf Team / Telenet Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 496,784
Also Available For: X68000

The MegaDrive is justifiably famed the world over for its ultra-splendid selection of shooters but most of these are of the usual horizontal and vertical scrolling varieties. One game that bucked that trend by offering more ground-based, free-roaming action was Granada (not 'XGranadaX' as it's often called, understandably). It wasn't a well known game over here in the UK, largely on account of the fact that it wasn't released here, but it was a game that intrigued me enough to seek it out at my friendly local import emporium, and I had a lot of fun with it. And how could I not? After all, we're not just in control of a mere tank here but a 'Hyper Cannon Tank' brimming with advanced weaponry which you must guide through some sort of unspecified battle being waged on 'the peaceful streets of Tobora' (though maybe not right now) where you'll face 'the giant flying battleship Astarsha' as well as Valsic, another HCT.

TV Shows #12

Extant (2014-15)
Developed By: Mickey Fisher Starring: Halle Berry, Goran Visnjic, Pierce Gagnon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Hiroyuki Sanada, Grace Gummer, Michael O'Neill, Tyler Hilton, Camryn Manheim, David Morrissey, Brad Beyer, Jeannetta Arnette

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 40-44 Minutes (per episode)

One trend I've noticed in the last ten years or so is that a lot of film actors/actresses have moved on to the small screen as stars of new TV shows. One of the first instances of this I remember is Kiefer Sutherland in the super-awesome 24 - a casting choice that surprised me a bit in the day, even if Mr. Sutherland was no longer the draw he had once been - but it must have worked as the show was a smash hit with his performances regularly singled out. Soon, other former and current movie actors were doing the same, but one recent example that still surprised me a little when I first saw it advertised was Extant. How on earth did they manage to get an Oscar winning actress like Halle Berry to appear in what was apparently a sci-fi TV show? By giving her an executive producer credit? I'm not sure if that's what did the trick but who cares? It's never exactly a hardship to see the lovely Ms. Berry again, and a new sci-fi show is always welcome around these parts. Surely the two combined will result in a show of true majesty?

Merry Christmas!

Okay, I'm a bit late this year - I think I usually am actually - but this is just a quick post to wish all my readers, whether occasional or regular, a very Merry Christmas! If you celebrate it, that is, obviously. It's been a challenging year here in RKS Land, and one that has regrettably seen the fewest posts at RP since I started the page back in 2010. I was hoping to at least hit the 100 mark but I have recently started (another) new job which has resulted in quite a bit less free time than before.

Nonetheless, I have a huge backlog of game and film reviews in mind so there will be plenty of new posts here over the coming months - once I get around to writing them of course! So please, continue to drop by and leave comments and feedback, either here or on the various social media platforms I spam my new posts. In the meantime, I hope you have all had a wonderful festive period and year in general. May the next prove as good or perhaps even better. Happy Holidays one and all! :)

 

Top Five Atari 2600 Shmups

When you think of shoot 'em ups, the Atari VCS/2600 probably isn't the first system to enter your mind, but a surprising number of its games tasked you with shooting things. I suppose most videogames did generally back then but even so, I thought it was high time I took a look at some of the best examples available for Atari's iconic console. Many of them were clones of popular arcade machines of the time such as Space Invaders and Galaxians, naturally, but I think I've ended up with a nicely varied list in the end. Here are my choices - did I leave out your favourite?

Games-Related Top Fives Disclaimer: I've traditionally stuck to the games I know and love so far, and these game-related top fives reflect that. One of the purposes of this blog is diversify my gaming experiences, to play games I haven't played before, so I will do new game-related top fives in a few years to see how different they are!

5. Mega Mania (1982)

There are loads of Space Invaders clones on the VCS as you might expect but this one is my favourite I think. As normal, rows of enemies appear above you and your job is to shoot them all down. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. What I like about it, though, is that the enemies move across the screen looping from one side to the next, but even more that you can angle your shots as well. That makes it quite a bit easier to take out moving enemies as you might imagine, but it's still not easy as they can move pretty quickly and change direction regularly. Each stage has a different type of enemy too, with their own movements. Some even loop from the bottom to the top of the screen as well as left or right so it's necessary to dodge them as well as their shots, and you don't get long to take them out as your energy level is slowly falling as well. It is a little repetitive and a background would've been nice, but it's also good fun and very addictive.

Steam / GOG Downloads #3

Colin McRae Rally (2013)
By: Code Masters Genre: Driving Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: Android, iOS

Since the age of the PS1, not only have driving games been far more prevalent but a sizeable portion of them have also been rally games. You might think the title that kick-started this was Sega Rally but as far as I'm concerned it was Colin McRae Rally. The series debuted in 1998 and was a more realistic take on the popular motorsport which in the years prior to the game's release had been dominated by Mr. McRae in his iconic blue Subaru Impreza. It was justifiably a smash hit and led to many sequels which gradually changed names to 'Dirt', presumably due to the tragic and untimely death of the star after whom the series was originally named. But now that original name returns. Does that mean we're in reboot territory? That's what I had assumed prior to playing it at least, but let's see.

TV Shows #11 - Part 1

Sons of Anarchy (2008-14)
Developed By: Kurt Sutter Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Lewis, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, Ryan Hurst, William Lucking, Theo Rossi, Dayton Callie, Jimmy Smits, Drea De Matteo, David Labrava, Niko Nicotera

Certificate: 18 Running Time: Typically around 50 minutes per episode but ranges from 39-90 minutes

Much like many of you I'm sure, the list of shows on my watch list is long. Netflix alone features tons but recently removed from that particular list is this one. It's about a motorcycle gang and is well regarded but that was about the extent of my knowledge prior to watching. Fortunately, that was sufficient. The gang (or 'club', as they apparently prefer) is known as SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) and is based in the small fictional Northern Californian town of Charming. There they are involved in various rackets, mostly illegal, but the bulk of their business comes from running guns, supplied by the 'True IRA' based in Belfast and sold to other criminal gangs around the NorCal area. The club was founded in 1967 by John Teller and some of his friends who became know as the 'First 9' but at the start of the show, only club president Clay Morrow (Perlman) and Piney Winstone (Lucking) are left.

Indie Games News/Previews #9

Xydonia by Breaking Bytes (2017) - PC

If there is one type of doujin game that's always guaranteed to grab my attention it's a side-scrolling shooter so you can imagine how pleased I was to stumble upon this one a while ago on Facebook. It's the work of three self-proclaimed arcade junkies from Italy known as Breaking Bytes and has recently been the subject of a Kickstarter campaign which I'm pleased to say was successful. The game is still under development but the alpha has been made freely available and does a great job of showcasing what they've included so far. In fact, it looks more or less finished to my eyes - the presentation is superb, featuring an intro sequence, lots of options, the choice of three pilots, three weapon set-ups, and even assist characters, and the whole thing is really polished already. It isn't quite finished yet though of course - only the first two stages are included here, and they are quite brief, but they're sufficiently splendid to make the game look very promising.