From Dust review

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, XBOX Live

Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier

Publisher: Ubisoft

Genre: God Game/Puzzler

Release Date: 27^th of August 2011

If required to summarise From Dust in one sentence it would be best described as The Sims: Nature Edition. For although at its core it is a God Game, similar to Black & White from a few years back, you are giving far less omnipotence with which to shape your world. Instead you are given almost complete control over the earth, water and even magma that populates the game world and little over the people who worship you as their God.

The game begins with a broken civilisation who have forgotten all the things that once helped to make them great, you play as The Breath a deity of sorts who is tasked with making the world they inhabit hospitable enough for your subjects to thrive again.

The main focus of the game is to erect a series of villages around ancient totems across a number of maps that make up the overall game world. You do this by manipulating the environment around you, if a totem is located across a vast lake you can scoop up large amounts of earth to create a land bridge or simply drain the water and relocate it to the sea. As the game progresses things get trickier, tsunamis become a regular occurrence, trees that spit out fire will begin to crop up near villages and volcano’s will erupt sending hot lava spewing forth burning everything in its path.

To combat this, as you progress you are able to gain additional powers such as the ability to jellify water for a short period of time, which become invaluable for staving off destruction from the relentless onslaught of the tsunamis and the ability to uproot and replant trees that spew water when fire approaches them to prevent your villages from burning to the ground. The world in From Dust is remarkably complex, reacting just as you would expect real life nature to, magma will cool and form rock, rock will eventually erode away and waterfalls will form lakes and rivers if left unchecked. This makes the game particularly challenging in parts, a strategy that served you well on a previous level may not necessarily have the same result on another due to its individual characteristics.

Visually From Dust is beautiful, with the water effects in particular standing out above the rest, but all its components react with each other in a way that is extremely pleasing on the eye.

Verdict.

From Dust is a practically unique experience in gaming combining the God Game genre and Puzzler seamlessly. Couple this with its unusual story and great visuals and what you’re left with is a very, very good game which although becomes frustratingly difficult toward the end really should be played by a great deal of people.

4/5

30 Minutes or Less Review

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria, Bianca Kajlich, Michael Pena and Fred Ward.
Length: 83 minutes.
Reviewed by: Vincent Harte.

Coming from the director and the star of 2009’s excellent Zombieland, hopes were high for 30 Minutes or Less but unfortunately the legacy of that previous work may just have weighed down this venture a bit too much.

30 Minutes or Less tells the story of Nick (played by Zombieland and The Social Networks Jesse Eisenberg) a slacking pizza delivery guy who has trouble meeting the rigorous demands of his job, namely to deliver his pizza within a half hour. Nick and his best friend Chet (TV’s Aziz Ansari) are having a rough patch in their relationship, with Chet trying to grow up and become a career man and feeling held back by his immature friend. Things come to a head between the two when it is revealed that Nick slept with Chet’s twin sister (Vadsaria) and the two part ways.

Running parallel to this is the story of Dwayne (Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express star McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson) two immature thirty-something’s who spend their time watching movies and playing with explosives, this lifestyle is paid for by Dwayne’s father who, some years previous, won a large amount of money playing the lottery and uses this windfall to support his unproductive son. After being berated by his father Dwayne is convinced by a scheming stripper (Bianca Kajlich from TV’s sitcom Rules of Engagement) to hire an assassin to kill his father and claim his inheritance.

Needing $100,000 to fund this plan, the dim-witted duo order a pizza from Nick’s place of work assaulting him when he arrives and using their knowledge of explosives to build a bomb, which they strap to Nick’s person and inform him he has ten hours to rob a bank and deliver the money to them or they will detonate the bomb. Having nowhere else to turn Nick enlists the help Chet in order to carry out the heist.

On the face of it 30 Minutes or Less has it all, a top notch cast of fine comedic actors with a strong pedigree in this sort of picture, a crazy plot which has the potential for a whole host of memorable scenes and a director hot on the heels of a stunning debut effort. Yet somehow the ingredients never really blend together in the way that one would hope.

Pacing is also a serious issue with this film, with a pretty short run time of 83 minutes. This in itself is not a problem, in fact it should work in the films favour with the laughs coming thick and fast but the film feels a slight bit lopsided with an excellent closing act but slightly slow start, it would have been better to make the film longer and even out the two halves.

Verdict.

Come into this film looking at the previous work of its cast and creator and disappointment will be the only thing that will meet you inside the theatre, however if viewed with a clean slate it can be enjoyed for what it is, a screwball comedy that offers an agreeable cinematic experience but one that will not linger too long in the memory.

6/10

Contagion Film Review

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.

Starring: Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne , Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle and Anna Jacoby-Heron.

Length: 106mins.

Reviewed by: Vincent Harte.

Just as the weather has started to take a much colder turn for the worse, Contagion hits our cinema screens and is sure to have everyone who sees it nearly convinced that every case of the sniffles is a potentially fatal epidemic waiting to happen.

Using a large ensemble cast Contagion tells the story of a worldwide outbreak of a fatal disease which threatens to wipe out a large percentage of the world’s population, it does this by not only following various organisations attempts to find an effective cure but also the general public whose lives are turned upside down and indeed are in danger of being extinguished.

The film begins with Beth Emhoff played by Gwyneth Paltrow, an employee of a large multi-national conglomerate who is returning home to Minneapolis from a business trip in Japan, after stopping briefly in Chicago to have a rendezvous with an old boyfriend she reunites with her husband Mitch (Damon) and step-daughter Jory played by newcomer Anna Jacoby-Heron. Their reunion is short lived however as Beth quickly begins to develop a mystery sickness and dies soon thereafter.

During Beth’s autopsy it becomes frighteningly apparent that something is seriously wrong, the narrative then switches to three World Health Organisation doctors, Dr. Ellis Cheever (Fishburne) head of the disease research department, Dr. Leonora Orantes (Cotillard, Inception, La Vie en Rose) an expert on disease pathology and Dr. Erin Mears (Winslet) the newest member of the team. They each begin to fight the disease in their own way; Cheever is tasked with alerting a world who after SARS and Bird Flu scares which came to nothing wishes not to be inconvenienced, Orantes is sent to Japan to trace the origins of the new disease while Mears is sent to Minneapolis in an attempt to curtail the diseases spread in the continental US.

Contagion does a lot of things well; it explains quite complex concepts such as the way a disease evolves and is transferred from person to person to the need to be able to artificially recreate a virus in a lab before a cure can be found simply but never patronisingly so. As well as this, Contagion’s take on how it deals with its premise on both a personal and a global scale is refreshing and enjoyable as this could have easily been turned into a Michael Bay-esque disaster movie.

Unfortunately what it does well also hinders it in some way or another, its ambitious no main protagonist style sometimes leads to far too many story threads to follow. Marion Cotillard in particular is criminally underused and even though all parts are well casted and acted you will sometimes find yourself wishing for more of one character and less of another. Contagion also attempts to make a good deal of social commentary, from Jude Laws portrayal of a disgraced doctor trying to boost his blog hits and his bank balance with false promises of a cure, to widespread rioting when it becomes apparent that no vaccination is forthcoming. These plot points are great ideas, so much so in fact that they may have justified an entire movie on their own merit, instead here they feel like afterthought and are never truly developed to a satisfactory level.

Verdict.

Contagion is a very enjoyable movie, it has heart in that you truly feel for the characters plight whether it be the loss of a loved one or the intense pressure they now find themselves under. As well as this, as mentioned above it is very well acted with solid performances throughout and quite a few heart wrenching scenes. In the end the only major criticism is that it attempts too much, which in a time of bland remakes and endless sequels it should also be somewhat commended for.

7/10

Crisis at LFC?

Good, but could be better. That would be what most Koppites would say of LFC’s steady, if unspectacular, start to the season. Eight points dropped at home already, with two draws in a row against newly promoted teams; hardly top four from never mind the title challenging some deluded fans predicted pre-season. So, with November being a crucial month with Liverpool facing off against Manchester City and Chelsea twice I decided to use the International break as a time to reflect on the season so far and look toward what lies ahead.

Signings

One of the main criticisms of Rafa Benitez’s reign was the amount of flop signings he brought in while at the helm, however I would argue that Rafa spent much of his time shifting through the bargain basement of the football world trying to find a diamonds in the rough. And that whenever given the chance to flex his financial muscle he brought in a winner or a player who was sold at a profit, Torres, Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt, Reina, Crouch, Sissoko, Reira, Bellamy, Agger, Lucas, Johnson, Garcia and Benayoun all fall into at least one of these categories with only Keane, Aquilani, Babel, Dossena, Pennant and Morientes failing to impress after being brought in for any serious amount of money.

The same bargain basement argument cannot be said of the current LFC manager Kenny Dalglish, who has been given a large amount of financial backing even if a large portion was generated through player sales, so let’s take a look at his signings so far.

Luis Suarez

A great addition to the LFC family; skilful, full of pace, and eye for goal and with a child like passion for the game. The signing of Suarez was already long mooted before KK took back the helm and as such I feel cannot be attributed to him.

Andy Carroll

The most expensive British player ever, a title that may just crush the young man under its weight of expectancy. Carroll has shown glimpses of his massive talent but will most likely only ever mature to a steady 10-15 goal a season striker; something that the media and fans will not accept given the amount he was brought in for. Had he been brought in during the summer for a fee of roughly £15 million it could all have been very different.

Charlie Adam

A tidy player who some fans and people in the media wrongly compared to the departed Alonso; Adam will never be as polished a player as the Spanish Maestro but given his dead ball ability and undoubted eye for a pass he is exactly what was need at Anfield this summer, an improvement on current players for a relatively small price who may continue to develop. Some sections of fans have called into doubt his ability and performances of late, ignore them as they were fooled by the hype surrounding him during last season and the summer. Adam has performed as expected.

Jose Enrique.

I must admit I had worries about Enrique; these lasted around ten minutes into his debut, good on the ball, attack minded while taking care of his defensive duties and skilful to boot Enrique looks at home in the LFC back four and if he can add goals to his game will have a place there for years to come.

Jordan Henderson

I feel a great deal of pity for Henderson: England U21 captain with a good season behind him, gets a transfer to LFC during the summer and is invariably played wide right a position which is not his natural best and he is unsuited to. The argument goes that young players need game time to develop but this is flawed; you don’t play a keeper up front to keep him sharp so it should also go you don’t play centre midfield players as wingers.

It must be hard on the boy getting criticised when asked to do a job for the team, couple this with the large transfer fee and the expectation that brings and this young man’s career may be being needlessly hampered. Henderson has however looked a very accomplished player when given the chance to play in centre midfield. More of this please.

Stuart Downing.

A natural English left winger who can barely get into a England Squad, this sums up Stuart Downing. How anyone thought he would be a success at Anfield is baffling to me and the fee paid is extortionate, Chelsea purchased Mata for roughly the same.

Everyone knows what Bellamy can do and is all about and it is too early to comment on Coates but the evidence is clear, thus far, Dalglish’s signings working out when paying above the £15 million pound mark stand as one out of four.

I am aware it is early days in many of their careers especially Henderson and Carroll but for many years LFC’s problem was wasting money at the high end of the table, Collymore, Diouf, Heskey and Cisse were all once our most expensive players and in quick succession, none really worked out as planned. Rafa seemed to sort this for a time making sure more often than not when we parted with serious money we got something of value, will the same be said of Dalglish?

Liverpool; making the same mistakes all over again?

Now that all the euphoria of Kenny Dalgish’s permanent appointment as LFC manager has passed and the serious business of the summer transfer market has begun, a frighteningly familiar picture is beginning to emerge for the Anfield Road faithful.

This is namely Liverpool seeming to pursue all the wrong types of players for what the team actually needs in order to be successful. If reports of the last few days are to be believed Sunderland player Jordan Henderson and Blackpool’s Charlie Adam are on their way to Anfield for a combined fee of nearly £30 million, that’s two central midfield players when a truly great winger hasn’t been seen in a Liverpool shirt in years and the club already having five central midfield players in Gerrard, Meireles, Lucas, Spearing and Shelvy and struggling to offload another in Alberto Aquilani.

Worryingly a lot of talk is being made of Henderson’s ability to play out wide but what is not needed is another player shifted out of position to do a job when a specialist could be brought in, unless the Academy is suddenly going to produce another McManaman or two the acquisition of Andy Carroll will be wasted as he will not have the quality service needed to score goals.

All the while Manchester United have snapped up Phil Jones a truly promising central defender, a position that Liverpool sorely need to invest in with Martin Skrtel, despite playing every minute of every match last season not being up to scratch, Daniel Agger being too injury prone to be relied upon and Jamie Carrragher on his last legs and in all honestly, while being an excellent defender, is a tactical liability with his insistence on hitting long inaccurate balls up field whenever in possession causing his team to lose control of the ball more often than not.

FSG strategy of buying young English talent with high re-sale value is to be commended in many ways but it should not be put before buying the right kinds of players in order to bring winning way’s back to Liverpool Football Club.