We are back with another installment of our podcast! This week, as we always will, we talked about our movies and games of the week. We spoke about:

• Taxi Driver
• Troll Hunter
• Tales of Earthsea
• Threequals
• I Am Alive
• Borderlands
• Assassins Creed Revelations
• Mass Effect 3
• Project Zomboid

The link I promised Cube World Development Blog

Hope you enjoy it and we will bring you another one soon so keep your eyes peeled.

 Directed by Morten Tyldum

 Ambition can be fatal…

Roger Brown is one of Norway’s most successful Headhunters and he is a man who looks like he has it all; the job, the expensive house and married to the gorgeous Diana who also owns her own art gallery. However, to help maintain his lavish lifestyle, he is also a highly accomplished art thief. At the opening of his wives new art gallery, Roger meets a chief executive of an electronics company and former elite soldier Clas Greve. Not only would Greve be the ideal candidate for Roger’s new recruitment assignment, but he is also in possession of the highly valuable and sort after painting ‘The Calydonian Boar Hunt’ by Rubens. As Roger sets his sights on the biggest heist ever, little does he know that the priceless painting’s owner is a man with secrets of his own and a trap has been set forcing Roger to run for his life in a relentless game of cat and mouse.

Based on Jo Nesbø’s best-selling novel, ‘Headhunters’ is a Norwegian thriller that is an intensely gripping and highly entertaining story that twists and turns into a stylish modern day thriller brilliantly directed by Morten Tyldum. On the heels of the success of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, ‘Troll Hunter’ and ‘Let the Right One in’, ‘Headhunters’ is the latest film from Scandinavia destined for World wide acclaim and will no doubt be remade by Hollywood in the near future.

What really makes the film standout is the character development of Roger Brown. When the film begins, it starts to play out like an intense traditional heist movie, with Roger Brown starting as a slimy, cheating, lying villain and slowly to changes into a genuinely sympathetic character. No doubt the horrendous amount of pain and suffering that he is put through helps with this as we see him shot, stabbed, tortured and mauled by a dog not before being forced to submerge himself into, literally, a pile of shit and rammed off the road by a lorry from the side of a mountain. Aksel Hennie does a fantastic job of playing Roger Brown and Nicolai Coaster-Waldau as Clas Greve is also perfectly cast along with the gorgeous Synnøve Macody Lund in her debut-role. The fact that there is almost a Coen Brothers and Tarantino style of violence that is not only visually graphic but also darkly comic in places making placing this film into one genre particularly difficult but highly entertaining none the less.

When all is said and done this is a truly stunning thriller and a relentlessly entertaining movie that holds you in a vice-like grip right up until the final scenes. Being that the film is Norwegian, it is subtitled, which means it may not be to everyone’s taste, but I guarantee it wont will long before a Hollywood version is made in the same way that ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ was. This film has the perfect marriage of script, direction and performance full of deception, memorable scenes and style sure to be a cult hit in the future.

The Jameson Cult Film Club Experience 

When the Jameson Cult Film club put on a show there really no how to put on a first class event. They took over The Saatchi Gallery, where they treated the audience to a sneak peek of slick crime thriller Jo Nesbo’s Headhunters before it hits UK screens on the 6th of April. London’s iconic Saatchi Gallery provides the perfect setting for the film’s story and style, with the pristine interiors of the white space providing a fantastic contrast to the rustic Nordic setting of the film. Guests will have the chance to roam the gallery, soak up the atmosphere and sip the finest Jameson cocktails before settling down to watch the film.

From the moment we walked in to the Saatchi Gallery, the impressive setting, layout and experience that had been put on blew me away. Several scenes including some live actors (although playing a dead man) and several props were all on show for everyone to see and enjoy. As well as complementary cocktails from Jameson Cult Film Club, there was also a DJ providing ample tunes to keep the night ticking over perfectly. When it was time for the actually screening of the film, we were ushered into one of the galleries which when you considered the content of the film, was very fitting. By having the cast and producer introduce the film themselves, was the icing on the cake. I could not think of a more perfect venue for this film. Once the film had finished to a well-deserved applause from the audience, the cast and crew came out again for a special Q & A hosted but Empire magazines Chris Hewitt. Both Aksel Hennie and Syvonne Macody Lund along with producer Marianne Gray only added to the occasion. Not only did I manage to have a question read out by Chris Hewitt, but was also able to ask a question directly too. Even after the Q & A, I was able to meet and chat to both Aksel and Syvonne who were both charming and insightful. A brilliant film and a perfect night was all thanks to the Jameson Cult Film Club. To get involved with the Jameson Cult Film Club and for more pictures of the event, check out www.jamesoncultfilmclub.com

Directed by Gary Ross

 The World will be watching

The Hunger Games is set in the future where the Capitol selects one boy and one girl from twelve different districts to fight to the death all filmed on live television for the entertainment of the nation known as The Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen knows that if her younger sister is chosen for the Hunger Games it means almost certain death, she won’t stand a chance. Volunteering to take her place, she must compete against 24 that will only have one survivor. How can she and her co-combatant Peeta beat the odds and the rules to survive?

Firstly, I’ll make things clear by saying I haven’t read the books and I am aware of comparisons to this film and Battle Royal, which I am a big fan of, meaning I was always going to be a little sceptical of this film. However, the film itself was good. It was intense and gripping throughout and the lengthy run time flew by. At no point did I feel that I might be missing any important plot or back-story that may or may not have been in the book. The film was paced very well but did come across a little predictable at times especially with the outcome at the end.

Obviously the film was involving 24 people fighting each other in a last one standing ‘Battle Royale’ style death match, which meant there was clearly going to be violence. Despite this film being given a 12A certificate and a great deal has been made of how this violence has been portrayed in the film, I felt that nothing was taken away from it. However, I felt that the films portrayal of violence could have been a bit better at times. The fight scenes were poorly shot using the very shaky ‘in the fight’ style camera angle, which was disorientating, impossible to make out what was happening but also unnecessary. Overall the cinematography style of the film was not particularly good. Quickly cutting from scene to scene and plenty of fast edits dominated the early part of the film and was noticeable throughout. With regards to this films concept being similar to ‘Battle Royale’, its easy to see how comparisons have been drawn between the two. However, ‘The Hunger Games’ gave it that ‘Truman Show’ twist, which I felt worked really well even with the added aspect of romance.

The lack of a musical score in the film gave the sounds of the forest that much more of an impact. It was nice to see a film rely on strong acting and beautiful natural settings to make a scene without relying on the score to add impact, tension or drama. Jennifer Lawrence’s powerful portrayal of Katniss Everdeen was extremely well executed. She was genuinely absorbing to watch and was the driving force of this film. However, the other characters in the film including Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and President Snow (Donald Sutherland) were slightly thin on the ground in terms of character development and were never really given the scene time to shine.

Overall, ‘The Hunger Games’ gives a ‘Truman Show’ twist to ‘Battle Royale’, whilst remaining intense throughout with clearly more to come in this saga. Despite the subject matter, there is an absence of violence but this does not detract from the films impact. This is a good film worthy of a watch and will no doubt urge anyone yet to read the books by Suzanne Collins to do so.

May the odds be ever in your favour

Punks rebuttal to Chris Jericho’s accusations last week was a great heart felt response with a lot of energy. He gave great reasoning as to why he is straight edge and why it is something he believes in, he also made you empathise with him when he revealed that his father had overcome his demons and is now over his alcoholism. He had a venom in his words when he spoke of Jericho, and how he was going to go straight through him at Wrestlemania. Jericho appearing on the screen and saying he will no longer bring up his father, yet his sister was a different matter was a great “oh snap” moment, and the crowds reaction to it was brilliant. I would like to know what Punk said when they bleeped him, I can only assume it wasn’t PG though. I hear rumours that Punk/Jericho may open the show at Wrestlemania, if this is true then I hope they get the time needed to possibly steal the show, as both men have the skills to get that job done.

Once again, oh Miz why?

Just look at my article last week to see my thoughts on the Miz’s situation at the moment. This week did nothing to make the poor guy get his spot on the biggest show of the year, even if that spot is in a crowded six on six tag team match. The WWE now has one week to get the former WWE Champion, and last years Wrestlemania head-liner on the show. I wonder if the Miz thought he would be in this position just one year ago? The one upside was that his match with Sheamus was pretty good.

YES!

Not a lot to say here, other then Daniel Bryan’s counter of the Rough Ryder into the Labell Lock was absolutely sick, it’s just a shame the announcers didn’t make a big deal out of it. They should be pointing out how Bryan can end a match just like that, so as to make the audience believe that he can do the same to Sheamus. Seems like a pretty obvious thing to do but they would rather probably talk about how many tweets they got that night.

I am ready for this.

Hearing that Cena had been involved in a car accident had me shitting a brick. Count me very relieved to hear that he is fine and the main event of Wrestlemania is still going ahead. I don’t know what the WWE’s plans are for next week, but they don’t have to do much more to get me any more excited for Rock vs Cena. Seeing Rocky point to his Boots 2 Asses shirt after having laid out Mark Henry (poor guy) with a Rock Bottom, which was after Cena had already hit him with an AA (once again poor Mark) was pretty much Rock saying “anything you can do I can do better”. They will probably end up having some kind of physical confrontation next week, and I’m fine with that. That is the perfect way to end a year of build up to this epic match.

We all knew HBK was better anyway.

Well at least I did anyway. This three way face to face to face confrontation was not as good as the one these three were involved in last year, but that was pretty awesome so maybe my expectations were just a little bit too high. I like that the bar has been set so high for these three guys, and that there is so much at stake. Basically what we gleamed from this promo was that HHH will have to pretty much kill the Undertaker to win, and visa versa. Obviously this is not going to happen (that would put a real dampener on the show), but you get the idea. Taker dropping the fuck you to HHH by saying HBK was better then him was pretty cool, especially HBK’s little smirk that he immediately wiped away when HHH looked at him, then started smiling again as soon as he looked away. Was that Taker’s way of getting in Shawn’s good books? Or did he say it just to get under HHH’s skin? Or both? Once again I am so ready for this match. Not long now!

There won’t be any Raw Thoughts next week as I will be on my way to Miami for Wrestlemania, I will be sure to write about it when I get back though.

Star Wars: Battlefront

The first time I played Battlefront, I was round a friend’s house, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.  I wandered in and we fired up the Xbox and as it booted up he told me about Battlefront.  I knew nothing of the game going into it but I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to play it.  So we started playing through Galactic Conquest, the game’s campaign mode, and after some time we ended up completing it.  No sooner had this happened, we jumped straight back into the mode again looking to take over the map once more.  Eight hours later the Xbox got a well deserved rest as we stopped playing for a while and I reflected on what just happened.  I knew I had to get a copy as quickly as I could and I had to play more.

The games main mode is Galactic Conquest which consists of an overworld map made up of a number of planets.  Some are allied planets, some are neutral and some are enemy controlled.  The objective of the game is to control all of the planets to ultimately conquer the galaxy.  This is done by waging small scale wars on each planet and if your are victorious you will acquire that planet for your side and along with it, you will receive a bonus power that can be used in subsequent battles to help you gain the upper hand.  These bonuses can range from giving your units better blaster accuracy or having a Jedi fight alongside you.

The action plays out in both first and third person.  When you start a battle you are giving a selection of classes to choose from ranging from your heavies with rocket launchers to a standard blaster wielding grunt.  Each team starts with a number on the screen, let’s say 200 for this example.  That is the number of troops you have at your disposal for the battle ahead.  If you or any of your AI squad mates get taken out by the enemy your number decreases by one until one team hits zero and they are completely wiped out.

There is no story line to speak of past ‘conquer the galaxy’ so if you come into the game hoping for a fresh slice of Star Wars fiction you will be disappointed.  If you come into the game hoping for fast paced, all out action then you most certainly will not be disappointed.  Star Wars: Battlefront has a great campaign that will have you playing through to entirety in one sitting and it also has instant action so if you only have time for one or two skirmishes you can jump in and out with no problem.

At present, not including the PSP offshoots, there are two Battlefront games available.  In my opinion, the first one is the superior game.  The Galactic Conquest mode of the second game introduces space combat which should have made it better, but as you move your ship around the galaxy map you find yourself being constantly attacked by the opponent’s ships.  During my time playing Battlefront 2 it got to the point where I was doing more space combat than I was on the ground.  If an HD remake was on the cards it would most likely come in the form of a double pack including both games, so in order to get the original, I would happily buy both and ignore the second.

Check in again for another game that should adorn our screens once again.  Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this series can be found here, here and here respectively.

Directed by Alexander Payne

A film by Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning Sideways, set in Hawaii, ‘The Descendants’ is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney). Clooney plays a work obsessed husband and father of two girls, who when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki and is left in a coma on life support, is forced to re-examine his past family life and learn how to embrace what his future may hold. With the issue of getting to really know his young daughters Matt also wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty that could net his extended family millions.

With all the hallmarks of an Indie Road Trip movie but with fantastic wit and charm, Clooney gives one of his greatest performances to date with Payne taking us on a journey that is full of humour, warmth and sadness. The constant transition from humour to sadness is something carried out with ease by the filmmaker and his cast. Supporting Clooney in the roles of his daughters in angst are Shailene Woodley, who plays Alexandra a 17 year old with all the usual issues teenagers deal with as well as a secret that could crush her father, and Amara Miller (Scottie) his young impressionable daughter who struggles to deal with the reality of her mother’s condition. Both give great performances and Shailene Woodley is certainly one to watch for the future and other supporting cast members all slot in memorably to the film with the likes of the bum boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause) playing off Clooney to Beau Bridges, Clooney’s money hungry cousin.

I saw this film after the Academy Awards had been distributed and had heard the reviews and accolades given to it, but due to my cynical nature thought once again that this must be an over hyped movie by those reviewers that like to jump on the bandwagon and ride the wave of Oscar popularity. However, for a grateful change I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this film and every award that this film was adorned with (especially those for Clooney and Adapted Screenplay) was justly deserved. Every aspect from the beautiful Hawaiian scenery used as the backdrop for ‘The Descendants’ to the simple gag of an old man punching a teen in the face worked terrifically to leave me thinking that in those 2 hours I had just sat through one of the best cinematic efforts of 2011.

Written by Chris Perrin @cperrin24

It’s always good to see the WWE acknowledge Cena’s roots, and I was always a fan of the thug life gimmick so it was a nice surprise to see Cena come out for his rap in his full on old school wardrobe, including the always fashionable pad lock and chain. It wasn’t so much of a rap as it was a freestyle but whatever no big deal. Michael Cole kept busting out the word attitudinal to describe what Cena had to say, as if because he was back to this gimmick for one night only it was okay for him to say some things that John Cena may not normally say. Thing is he didn’t say anything that was to close to the knuckle so I don’t know why they kept harking on that. Still I liked this segment, Cena came out and handled his business and then left, no smiling to the crowd or slapping peoples hands, just plain old thuganomics.

Dolph Ziggler is the man.

I know I may go on a bit about wrestlers that I think are better than others but you know I think it needs to be mentioned again, Dolph Ziggler is the man. No bones about it if you want to make any wrestler look good you just stick them in the ring with Dolph. Our very own Glenn Sheppard and I agree, no one bumps and sells moves better then Dolph. That is not to say that that is all he is good for, as the man can wrestle a great match as well. He and Sheamus had a decent match with the time they were given on Monday night, and when Sheamus hit Dolph with the Brogue kick it looked like he had been shot out of a cannon! I fear Dolph is going to get lost in the shuffle of the now officially announced Team Teddy Long vs Team John Laurinaitis at Wrestlemania, which is a six on six match, but at least he will get a spot on the card, which I suppose is better then being left of it right? Speaking of which….

Oh Miz, what is happening to you?

You know things are bad when the company are acknowledging how far you have fallen in the space of a year on TV. I am a fan of the Miz, so I don’t like seeing him in the funk which he appears to have gotten himself into. Whether or not it has anything to do with him being in the doghouse for not catching R-Truth a month ago or so, or Survivor Series not doing so great and the blame being placed on him, the dude needs to catch a break. He deserves a lot better, especially as he is the companies go to guy to do media publicity for them, and as he always lets us remember, the man did headline Wrestlemania only one year ago. As with Ziggler, even though he lost his match with Punk to get on Team Johnny, I think he will get in the match somehow.

Anybody want a drink?

I must admit I didn’t see Punk and Jericho going in the direction they went with on Monday night. I’m not entirely sure if Punk having an alcoholic father is true (this is professional wrestling after all folks), but I do remember seeing him mention something similar in a promo he did in Ring of Honour once, but once again this is wrestling so it may not be true. Either way they have attempted to make this a much more personal issue between the two men now, and it should be interesting next week to see what Punk has to say about Jericho’s accusations.

Wrestlemania is on April 1^st right?

I’m a dick I know, but it was pretty awkward hearing Undertaker get the date for the biggest show of the year wrong. I thought he was going to correct himself, or HBK was going to reaffirm the real date afterwards, but nope, they just left it out there to hang. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter, and who the hell is going to tell the Undertaker that he screwed up? I wouldn’t if I ever saw him that’s for sure. Nice job by HBK of keeping everyone on their toes of which way he is going to call the match at Mania, last week he was getting inside HHH’s head, and this week he was doing the same to the Undertaker. I liked his way of thinking that he still could be the one to end the streak, by being the person that counts his shoulders to the mat for the three count. I’m not sure if I’m more excited by this match or Rock and Cena, it changes on a weekly basis but at the moment it’s probably this one.

I would pay to see a Rock concert.

This was more like it from the Rock, he was great from start to finish in his Rock concert, and not even one single mention of Twitter! Praise the lord! (I’m not religious in any way, just trying to get a point across). His songs were funny, got the crowd involved and had some nice little digs at Cena. Sure he probably had his words written down for him but can you blame him? That was a lot to remember…. although saying that the dude is an actor. I myself was wondering if that was the same guitar he had signed by Willie Nelson that Stone Cold smashed him over the head with just before Wrestlemania XIX, because it did look a bit screwed up on the back. This weeks festivities with the Rock and Cena were a bit more comical in tone, but I hope that next week they have some more intense up close and personal confrontations as we edge that little but closer towards Mania.

So it’s arrived, our first ever Podcast. I’m sorry for the delay, as it has been a week since we recorded it.

The Podcast is in a similar vain to this blog, the difference is that we are talking. In the Podcast this week we talk about Drive, The Artist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Assassins Creed 3, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Duck Hunt, a angry rant about Star Wars and much more. So have a listen, I hope you enjoy it and listen again next week, there should be another one.

A link that I promised Prison Architect

You think you know the story

Directed by Drew Goddard

Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. After packing only their teenage naivety and a series of instructions that they have been told to follow, they head off into the unknown. But when the rules start to be broken, they soon find out that ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ was really designed and built for punishment.

With a tagline of ‘You think you know the story, then think again’, this film is set to turn the teen-horror genre to the next level by turning it on its head. ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ is produced by Joss Whedon and directed by Drew Goddard who combine to write the script. The film stars; Kirsten Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Frank Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford.

From watching the trailer, this movie starts out like your typical horror movie about a group of young adults taking a trip into the woods and being set upon by evil forces. However, when we see an eagle fly into what appears to be some kind of giant electrical fence, the movie suddenly transforms from something like ‘The Evil Dead’ and ‘Cabin Fever’ into a twisted version of the ‘Truman Show’ effectively mashing up the horror genre with a sci-fi fantasy twist.

This film is sure to be a firm favourite with fans of horror films especially those looking for something a little different from the usual and I for one cant bloody wait!

Due for release in the UK on 13^th April 2012

‘The Cabin in the Woods’ promotional Website can be found here: http://discoverthecabininthewoods.com

When I first heard about I Am Alive, I had very high hopes for it.  At the time it was slated for a full retail release but unfortunately that idea was scraped and it has been brought out in the form of a downloadable title.  Upon hearing this news, I was a little disappointed as a downloadable version would not be able to match the size and scope of a full release.  Nevertheless, I still wanted to play it and lowered my expectations in line with the smaller scale presented.

The game begins one year after The Event, a catastrophic earthquake that has ravaged the landscape, and your character has arrived back in his hometown to find his wife and child.  That is nearly as much story as you get but it provides an easy motive for your character to wander around the destroyed town.  After the first 30 minutes or so, you reach your home and then the story basically ends.  After this you are sent on fetch quest after fetch quest in order to help other people and any further attempts to search for your family fall by the wayside.

The main focus of I Am Alive is climbing, be it climbing up a road sign or scaling a dilapidated skyscraper.  To make your climbing tasks tougher, you are equipped with a stamina bar meaning if you climb for too long, you will eventually fall, which at the top of a skyscraper is not really advised.  You carry items with you that add stamina so while climbing you will have to keep an eye on your bar and top it up with a fruit cocktail or bottle of water.  While the climbing is by no means terrible, it is flawed and inaccurate at times which can reduce you to pulling your hair out in frustration.  A prime example of this is when you reach a crossroads in some climbing terrain.  If you are climbing upwards and wish to continue going up you would of course push up on the left stick.  But depending on where the camera is positioned, you may find yourself going left or right instead, which considering you are against the clock with your stamina is extremely annoying.

The combat takes a fresh approach and it’s not about shooting as many people as you can in the face.  As long as you do not draw a weapon or run away, enemies will either threaten you until you back away in order to give them a wide berth or they will approach you and try to bully you around.  This gives you a chance to size up the opposition, scout which guys have guns and determine which order you will dispatch your foes.  Also by taking out the stronger enemies first, the weaker ones will yield to you and throw down their weapons allowing you to knock them out rather than wasting a precious bullet on them.  I say precious because the first time you get a bullet, the game tells you they are rare so you need to use them wisely.  The game is lying to you here though because there were very few occasions where I didn’t have any bullets but who knows, maybe the apocalyptic future has a different perception of the word rare.

There were a couple of occasions where I had two enemies to kill and no bullets and this turned out to be a complete pain.  By holding up an empty gun, your foes refuse to attack you because just like real life, they do not know it’s not loaded and they want to survive as much as you.  Lower the gun and they will come at you so you have to deal with them.  You can perform a Struggle Kill by approaching an enemy and initiating a machete fight.  But because you have lowered your gun, the other enemy will attack you and break the animation, meaning you would lose health but still have the two people to kill.  If you have an arrow for your bow you can quickly switch to that, kill one person, bring out your gun again to stop the other in their tracks, go and retrieve your arrow from the dead man’s eye, switch to the bow again and impale the second guy.  It’s a bit of a pain to do and can still result in you being injured but at least you can end the combat.

The combat is rinse and repeat and you do the same sort of thing in every encounter and coupled with the plentiful ‘rare’ ammo, the combat is easy enough to get through.  One example really sticks out in my mind where the game gives you a huge combat help.  Whenever you find a gun in the environment or on a person, the most you will get out of it is two bullets.  Well, at one point I only had one bullet.  I rounded a corner to find a gun on the floor which had four bullets!  Straight away I knew a combat scenario was imminent.  After a few steps, I get approached by five or six guys but I now have more than enough ammo to make this encounter a murder by numbers job and all the tension had been taken out of the moment.

Being that a catastrophic event has occurred, commodities are supposed to be scarce, at least that’s what your lead to believe but, as with the bullets, you never have limited resources at your disposal.  I never worried about using any item because there were plenty of others around to restock your inventory with and they are in fairly convenient places so you can’t really miss them, oh, and they glow just in case you can’t see a bottle of water right in front of you.  As long as you can retrieve your arrow after firing it, you can reuse it which effectively gives you infinite ammo for your bow, making it all too easy to fire it into a guy’s skull, pick it up and kill the next guy.

One last thing on the combat and I’ll leave it there.  Right at the start, your character shows the items he carries with him.  He shows a pistol and says “I’ve never even fired a gun before”.  I never missed when firing, so how can he be that good with a gun if he has never used one.  Even when you quickly aim and fire, you never miss.  Sure, this has no bearing on the gameplay but it just feels weird that a guy with no shooting experience can hit a guy in the head from 50 feet without so much as looking down the sights.  When you aim an empty gun at someone and pull the trigger, the enemies still stand there with their arms up, oblivious to the click that just emanated from your pistol.  Odd.

The town has a distinctive Silent Hill vibe, without the paranormal stuff of course.  As you run along the streets you get different areas that are blocked off and will require you to find alternate routes around and the city is engulfed in a dust storm that affects your ability to see very far in front of you.  This element is also a stumbling block for the game.  When you are in the dust storm it reduces your stamina so you can’t take your sweet time about getting from point to point and you can’t afford to search every inch of pavement for the correct route.  So, because you can’t see where you are going you need to constantly open and close your map to make sure you are going the right way and check which ways are blocked.  This breaks up the action too much and brings you out of the immersion.

As I said before, I tried to lower my expectations for I Am Alive but even with this I am still slightly disappointed with the offering Ubisoft have put forward.  There are some great ideas present but I don’t think they are fully fleshed out which is to the games detriment.  It is a relatively short game, my playthrough clocked in at 3 hours 15 minutes, which may put people off from a value proposition point of view but the length is a credit to the game.  Being a short game, the imperfections and annoyances do not have long enough to really grind you down to the point of hating the next building climb or combat scenario.  When things don’t go right, they do frustrate but the game will be over before you think ‘I can’t continue on with this’.

All in all, the game does not really deliver in its survival aspect, you face the same combat throughout the game and the story is nonexistent but it is still an enjoyable game and should not be passed up.