Grand Theft Auto: From The Beginning - Part 2/2

In Part One of this feature we looked over every GTA game from it's Playstation/PC debut to the underwhelming Grand Theft Auto Advance.
Now, here we are in Part 2 where we'll be going over every game from San Andreas to the upcoming GTA V!

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Year: 2004/2005
Formats: Playstation 2, XBOX, PC

Just days after the very average Grand Theft Auto Advance, San Andreas was released and made everyone forget about the GBA game.
The game was released in October 2004 only on Playstation 2 and got great critical acclaim. It was later ported to XBOX and PC in June 2005.

The game put you in the previously unseen state of San Andreas during the early nineties, and also with three cities to explore. Each city in the game is fictional, but they each had small links with real American cities. Los Santos was linked to Los Angles, San Fierro to San Francisco and Las Venturas to Las Vegas.
The gameplay was largely similar to that of GTA III/GTA: Vice City, only with slight improvements and alterations, e.g. New vehicles, more RPG elements etc.
Following in the footsteps of previous games, in San Andreas there are 11 radio station with a huge amount of songs. If this wasn't impressive enough the XBOX and PC versions supported a 12th station that could be customized with user-imported MP3's.

The game sold by the bucketload, as of 2009 the game had sold 17.5 million copies on PS2 alone making it the best selling PS2 game ever. As if this wasn't enough, across all formats the game has sold a total of 21.5 million copies making it the 3rd best selling game ever!

Controversy was fast becoming a part of this series though, this time in the form of the "Hot Coffee" mod. Sex had been implied in the series before, but this time round you could even play a sex minigame. This was thanks to modder Patrick Wildenborg, also known as PatrickW. He made the Hot Coffee mod and later released it as a patch.
Then came the controversy.
From concerned parents, from American politicians - there was a lot of pressure on Rockstar to do something. Many retailers pulled the game from shelves. The game then lost its MA15+ rating in Australia meaning the game could no longer be sold there.

"Hot Coffee"

In the end Rockstar released a "Cold Coffee" patch, and re-released the game with the Hot Coffee scenes removed.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Year: 2005/2006
Formats: Playstation 2, Playstation Portable (PSP)

Liberty City Stories was GTA's second attempt at going handheld. This time round Rockstar chose a more capable console - Sony's PSP. Due to the added processing power, GTA: LCS was the first portable GTA game to be in 3D. Plus, it was also much better reviewed than GTA Advance, with Liberty City Stories receiving an impressive 88/100 on Metacritic.
Gameplay-wise, LCS was a prequel to GTA III, and so a lot of the city was similar and so was the gameplay - again there were slight tweaks and improvements. Things like motorbikes (that weren't permitted in older games) and a new multiplayer mode allowing up to 6 players to play via WiFi.

As I said before the game was well received, but it also sold quite well - another thing GTA Advance failed to do. By 2007 the PSP version of the game had sold 1.83 million copies!

The game was ported to PS2 the next year (2006), although this version was missing the aforementioned multiplayer and also got less positive reviews, with only a 78/100 on Metacritic - 10 less than the PSP version. But it also still sold well, with 1.32 million copies sold by 2007. And by 2008, Rockstar announced that the game had sold a huge 8 million copies across both formats.

It became clear that when it came to portable GTA, the PSP was the console for the job.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Year: 2006/2007
Formats: PSP, Playstation 2

GTA: Vice City Stories was basically a sequel to LCS. It was first launched on PSP and was another prequel - this time for the original Vice City.
Apart from the different setting the game had very similar gameplay and reception. The single-player in the game had the usual third person action, and this game also had multiplayer for up to 6 people.
The game, like its predecessor got good reviews with a Metascore of 86/100.

Like LCS, the game was ported to PS2 a year later in 2007. Again this version was missing multiplayer and was generally considered not as good as the PSP version with a Metascore of 75/100.
The game sold well on both systems, and by 2008 had sold 4.5 million copies.


Grand Theft Auto IV

Year: 2008
Formats: XBOX 360, PS3, PC

Grand Theft Auto IV left what was known as the GTA III era behind and instead brought GTA into the new generation. It was first released on XBOX 360 and PS3 in April 2008, and then was ported to the PC later in the year. It is also one of the most critically acclaimed GTA games yet, receiving a score of 98/100 on Metacritic!

The core gameplay of GTA IV was largely similar to previous games. Your character (who this time round was Niko Bellic) is viewed in a third-person perspective and left to explore an open-world environment - Liberty City in this case.
Again, there were slight changes made - e.g, a cover system, multiplayer etc, But it was largely the same gameplay.

The music in GTA IV was awesome again, with many popular artists like Kanye West, Ne-Yo and Queen featuring on the games numerous radio stations. There was also the ability to purchase real MP3's to play in game via a deal with amazon.com

GTA IV was also one of the most controversial yet.

Prior to and since the release of the game, it has been subject to a great deal of controversy, as was the case with previous Grand Theft Auto titles. Figures including George Galloway, Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton have criticised the game, as have organizations including New York City officials and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
MADD requested ESRB to change the rating of the game from "M" for ages seventeen and up to "AO", for "adults only" due to the player's ability to drive under the influence of alcohol.

Much like previous games in the series, GTA IV had trouble when it was released in Australia. Like other games in the franchise it had to have content removed to allow the game to meet the requirements of the Australian classification system.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, the game was resubmitted to the New Zealand OFLC by Stan Calif, a 21-year-old student who was unhappy that New Zealand received an edited version of the game as a result of Australian censorship laws. The unedited version was subsequently given an R18 rating and cleared for sale in New Zealand.

VIDEO BREAK!

Here's 2 videos I found that give you one, not-at-all-one-sided, news report from a delightful man called Glenn Beck:

Wasn't that nice? What Glenn and co. don't seem to understand is something they said themselves - 70 million copies of the series had been sold when they aired that show. That number has now gone up to over 124 million. The fact that there have only been a few crimes committed that people like Glenn can link to GTA shows that these people are wrong. GTA IS A GAME. If there are people out there who get obsessive about it, or who can't bridge the gap between a game and reality then that is sad. But to repeat my point: 124 million copies sold - probably less than 100 GTA-related crimes.

Glenn's back in this "insightful" report. Although this time Cheryl K. Olson joins the conversation, and she seems to actually understand videogames - maybe she actually played GTA!

Videogame bloggers are losers? The only loser here is the middle-aged man who believes the world should share his opinions.

Despite Glenn's best efforts GTA IV sold over 22 million copies and won many awards.
There were two major expansion pack's released first as DLC, these were: The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Both were critically acclaimed and were collected in the Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, retail game that was released on X360 in 2009 and then on PS3 and PC in 2010.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Year: 2009/2010
Formats: DS, PSP, iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad

GTA: Chinatown Wars was first released on the Nintendo DS in March 2009 to great critical acclaim, unlike it's distant relative GTA Advance!
The game had a different presentation to previous games in the series. It didn't have a third person view, nor was it top-down. Instead, Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable camera angled down at the action.

But while critics loved it controversy came knocking on the door once more. This time it was because of a drug-dealing minigame which made protesters believe GTA was glamorising the use of drugs/drug-dealing. I think that's a slight over-reaction, but whatever...

The game was ported to PSP later in 2009. This version had updated graphics, and minigames more like QTE's due to the lack of a touchscreen. It also featured extra missions and exclusive radio stations not found in the DS version. This version of the game also received good reviews.

Finally, in 2010 the game was ported to iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad). This version had on-screen controls and a custom radio station that uses your iPod library - as well as the largest amount of radio stations of all versions of the game. It also had good reviews, although people criticised the lack of NPC sounds, leaving many people saying Liberty City sounded "silent."

Despite all the good reviews Chinatown Wars didn't sell as well as Rockstar had hoped. Both the DS and PSP versions failed to make much of an impact.
The combined total sales of the PSP and DS versions are just over 2 million copies - not great.

Grand Theft Auto V

Year: TBC (possibly 2012)
Formats:

And here we are. The recent announcement of GTA V left the gaming world excited for what's to come. If you haven't seen the trailer yet then shame on you. Luckily you can watch it below:

It's been a controversial 14 years for GTA. But whether your a lover (the critics), or a hater (Glenn Beck), you can't deny how successful the series has been, or the things it has accomplished.
With the upcoming 14th game in the franchise looking to be just as great as the others, this series is one that's going to be with us for a while - whether you like it or not.

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Well that's it. 14 years of GTA covered. Phew! If you liked/disliked this feature let us know! We enjoy your feedback - but try to be as constructive!

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Grand Theft Auto: From The Beginning - Part 1/2

With the recent announcement and trailer of Grand Theft Auto V, we thought that it would be a good time to reflect on the series' highs and lows. From it's humble beginnings as an average PS1 title, to it's promising future with more than 124 million copies sold worldwide since the series launched.

In part 1 of From the Beginning we'll be talking about every game from Grand Theft Auto 1 to Grand Theft Auto Advance! So read on to prepare for GTA V and Part 2 of this feature!

Grand Theft Auto

Year: 1997/1998/1999
Platforms: MS-DOS, Windows, Playstation, Gameboy Colour

The original Grand Theft Auto didn't get amazing reviews. I just thought I'd open with that because it seems surprising due to the quality of recent games in the series. Don't get me wrong it didn't get bad reviews but generally its review scores were pretty mixed.

Grand Theft Auto 1 was something new though. It gave players a lot of freedom and possibilities, due to the fact that failing missions could cut things off from you and also that with each mission different routes could be taken to the numerous destinations.

These things may not sound like much, but they were the things that ended up setting GTA apart from other games of the time.

It was first released on MS-DOS and Windows in October 1997 for Europe, February 1998 for North America and finally in Japan in April of 1999!
The ports that followed were the Playstation version released in December 97' for Europe, June 98' for North America and August 98' for Japan.
Finally the game was launched on the Game Boy Colour in 1999, but this port was the worst reviewed version.

Ports were also planned for the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn, but both of these versions were cancelled.

The game had a overhead perspective, unlike newer instalments (with the exception of Chinatown Wars) and had what I think is some pretty terrible box art. They hadn't quite got the recognisable GTA logo yet and the picture in the background, (which may not have been too bad at the time), looks pretty bad by today's standards.

In the end the game did pretty well, and later got a sequel...

Grand Theft Auto 2

Year: 1999/2000
Formats: PC, Playstation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Colour

Grand Theft Auto 2 was released worldwide on October 25th 1999 on PC and Playstation. The game retained the originals overhead perspective and had similar, but expanded gameplay.
The game also became famous for its live-action opening made from the 8 minute short film released to advertise the game pre-release. You can watch that intro below:

The game also received better reviews - still not great - but better, with the Playstation version receiving a metascore of 70/100. It was an all-round improvement of the original, but it would take one more game to make the GTA series a classic.
The box art was also improved, although yet again the classic GTA logo had not yet been discovered.

The game was ported to Sega's Dreamcast and Nintendo's Game Boy Colour the year after in 2000. GTA 2 was another success for DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and in 2001 got another sequel...

Grand Theft Auto III

Year: 2001/2002/2003
Formats: Playstation 2, XBOX, PC

Grand Theft Auto III was where everything changed. GTA went from being a fun but flawed PS1 game, to a critically acclaimed 3D classic. You were now part of a living, breathing city thanks to the use of the then revolutionary RenderWare game engine.
There was even a 24 hour cycle which simulated day, night and different weather effects depending on your time of play.

But with GTA now a lot more realistic, controversy arrived to the series. This was due to the more violent and sexual content e.g. killing policemen, having sex with before killing prostitutes. This controversy led to the game being banned in Australia shortly after its release, as well as more thorough age checks for people buying M rated videogames.
There was even a $246 million court case made by the families of two teens who were shot by two brothers who claimed they got the idea from GTA III. The families took Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, Wal-Mart, and Sony Computer Entertainment America to court but ended up losing the case due to their lawyers lack of firearm knowledge.

The title (which was originally released only on PS2) got a port to the PC on May 21st 2002. The port was a little more criticized due to numerous technical issues but generally was well received.

The XBOX version took slightly longer due to an exclusivity deal Sony had with Take-Two, but it eventually came to Microsoft's console in December 2003.
Also, a 10th Anniversary version of the game is coming to iPhone's an iPad's soon!

The game was a smash-hit and as of 2008 had sold 14.5 million copies.
Plus, they had finally gotten the box art right! Yeah...I've got a thing about box art...

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Year: 2002/2003/2004
Formats: Playstation 2, PC, XBOX

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was the second game in the series in full 3D and also the second to be critically adored.
This edition was set in the fictional Vice City during the 80s and built upon the groundwork GTA III laid down.
It was first released on PS2 in 2002 and upon release became the best selling game of the year. It later got a release on the PC (in 2003), and once again the XBOX got it last in 2004.

Controversy came back to say hello though. Many special interest groups insisted that parental supervision is needed when young people play this game due to the M Rating - or just don't buy violent games for your kid? I guess they didn't think of that.

Vice City's other criticism's came from members of the Cuban and Haitian communities who claimed that the game was inviting people to harm immigrants from those countries. This issue garnered a lot of attention and ended up with Rockstar releasing a new version of the game in 2004 with several lines of dialogue removed.

Despite all this Vice City sold in huge numbers! As of 2008 it had sold a whopping 17.5 million copies - thus making it the fourth highest selling PS2 game ever.
It won many game of the year awards including many videogame BAFTA's.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

Year: 2004
Format: Game Boy Advance

Grand Theft Auto Advance let the series down a bit. After two hugely acclaimed games, Advance had to come in and ruin the winning streak. It was by no means awful, but seemed a lot like a step back to the mediocre GTA 1/2 days - with the game receiving a metascore of just 68/100, unlike the last two which had high 90's.

The game was the first not to be developed by Rockstar Games Studios and instead Digital Eclipse took over the reins. It also went back to the overhead perspective of the first two due to the GBA's limited processing power - although it did incorporate things from the later games (e.g weapons, side-missions). It also no longer had animated cutscenes or pedestrian dialogue.

But I'm making it sound like it was terrible. It did still have a fairly solid story and quite a big city to drive around (at least for something on GBA).

The sales were nowhere near as good though. In fact it was a bit of a flop. This was probably due to so many GBA owners being younger than those who owned PS2/XBOX's.

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That's it for Part 1 of this feature!
Come back for part 2 where we'll be going over every game from San Andreas to Chinatown Wars and the GTA V trailer! Worried you might miss Part 2? Then subscribe to this blog via E-Mail or Google. Or like our Facebook page by clicking here, or follow us on Twitter by clicking here!
See you guys/gals at Part 2!

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The 10 Biggest Box Office Failures of 2011

The year of 2011 has now been banished to the history books! Join us as we take a look at the the movies some film developers would rather forget....

Mars Needs Moms

Made By: Walt Disney Pictures
Released: March 2011
Budget: $150 Million
Box Office Earnings: $39 Million
Loss: $111 Million

Ouch. Mars Needs Moms is not only one of Walt Disney's most horrific failures but also, the 5th biggest box office flop of all time. Something that no doubt racked up its humongous $150 million budget was the use of motion capture technology (much like that used in Tintin). But unlike Tintin, Mars Needs Moms received generally negative reviews and ended up causing the closure of ImageMovers Digital - the company that made it with Disney.

Conan The Barbarian

Made By: Lionsgate/Sony Pictures
Released: August 2011
Budget: $90 Million
Box Office Earnings: $48 Million
Loss: $42 Million

Lionsgate/Sony Pictures' attempts to bring Conan to 21st century audiences fell flat on its face last summer. With a big budget of $90 million (possibly caused by delayed filming, and multiple directors dropping out) it was always going to be difficult to squeeze profit out of. Unfortunately, with it's negative reviews and bad word-of-mouth, it struggled to little over half its production costs. Don't be expecting a sequel anytime soon.

The Big Year

Made By: 20th Century Fox
Released: October 2011
Budget: $41 Million
Box Office Earnings: $7 Million
Loss: $34 Million

This comedy about bird watchers - despite having 3 big comedy names - failed to open the pockets of movie-goers last Autumn. Featuring Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson, it received fairly negative reviews upon release and slipped in under the radar, and ended up making up only $7 million of its $41 million budget. Creating a big loss of $34 million.

The Rum Diary

Made By: FilmDistrict
Released: October 2011
Budget: $50 Million
Box Office Earnings: $21 Million
Loss: $29 Million

Johnny Depp may have found box-office success earlier in 2011 with Pirates 4, but he couldn't make it two-in-a-row when The Rum Diary made a disappointing $21 million - losing $29 million in the meantime.

Your Highness

Made By: Universal Pictures
Released: April 2011
Budget: $50 Million
Box Office Earnings: $26 Million
Loss: $24 Million

This was a surprise for me. Your Highness and similar comedies tend to do OK at the Box Office usually. Not so here. Your Highness made up little over half of its $50 Million production costs - despite established names like, Natalie Portman, James Franco, and Zooey Deschanel all having starring roles. Your Highness lost over $24 million for Universal.

Drive Angry

Made By: Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate
Released: February 2011
Budget: $50 Million
Box Office Earnings: $29 Million
Loss: $21 Million

And another Nicholas Cage film bites the dust! The atrociously named, Drive Angry came out back in February to mixed reviews and a poor opening weekend. It ended up making nearly $30 Million, creating a $20 Million loss for Summit and Lionsgate. Cage drives angry again this year in the unrelated Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Anonymous

Made By: Columbia Pictures
Released: October 2011
Budget: $30 Million
Box Office Earnings: $14 Million
Loss: $16 Million

The controversial film about Shakespeare being a fraud opened in late October to mixed reviews and and a mediocre opening. Surprisingly enough, people weren't too bothered about seeing the latest Shakespeare theory (of hundreds) put on the big screen and so this one came in largely ignored. It brought in just under half of its production costs.

Happy Feet Two

Made By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Released: November 2011
Budget: $135 Million
Box Office Earnings: $122 Million
Loss: $13 Million

This year saw the return of the dancing penguins! Only this time there was a less friendly welcome. It seems the novelty of the all singing, all dancing polar creatures finally wore off - hardly surprising. Especially due to the strong competition from the likes of Puss in Boots, Arthur Christmas and The Muppets. Happy Feet Two earned $13 Million less than it's production costs, and could see the end of the penguins.

The Thing

Made By: Universal Pictures
Released: October 2011
Budget: $35 Million
Box Office Earnings: $28 Million
Loss: $7 Million

Although this movie was actually supposed to be a prequel to the 1982 movie, it was so similar to the original it was essentially a remake - and in a year seeing many remakes (and many more to come) it was clear that some were going to be left behind. The Thing was one of these films. It received mixed reviews from critics upon release and when it opened to the public, nobody seemed to care. What probably didn't help was releasing it at the same time as Paranormal Activity 3 which saw huge success - and was the Halloween movie of choice.

Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer


Made By: Relativity Media
Released: June 2011
Budget: $20 Million
Box Office Earnings: $15 Million
Loss: $5 Million


It's sad to see a film with such a fantastic name fail - then again the film itself was pretty bad, opening to poor reviews and poorer ticket sales. In the end, it made a loss of $5 million - meaning Judy's summer was bummer after all...

So - what are your predictions for 2012? You can comment them below or head over to our forums where we've started a topic for you to post your predictions! The Forums are free to use and open to everyone, so click here to go there NOW!

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Bridesmaids Review

A few weeks ago I reviewed The Hangover: Part II and gave it a 4.5/10 - it just wasn't funny. Bridesmaids has been considered the female equivalent of The Hangover since it came out back in May, but they're actually quite different. First of all, Bridesmaids is funny.

To start, I feel I should say that the cast of Bridesmaids really is brilliant. Kristen Wiig is fantastic as Annie Walker - the best friend that feels replaced when wedding preparations begin - but she wouldn't have been anywhere near as good if she didn't have Rose Byrne acting beside her.
Rose plays the Bride's new best friend, Helen, and the rivalry between the two is portrayed brilliantly. The humour never gets boring, or repetitive - instead it really is just a barrel of laughs watching these two try to outdo each other. The two just have such great chemistry together.

Finally, I've got to mention Melissa McCarthy - in many ways the Alan equivalent of Bridesmaids. She is just brilliant throughout, and delivers some truly hilarious lines. And the rest of the cast also shines throughout.

But it's not all laughs - that's one other thing Bridesmaids has over The Hangover. There's actually emotion in Bridesmaids. You actually feel like the character's are going through some form of emotional distress - that's something you didn't get in The Hangover. But it really does make Bridesmaids a much stronger movie.

The plot of Bridesmaids is also refreshing as it takes the usual true-love wedding story you expect from a chick-flick, and turns it on its head! There's something for both genders here! It centres around the Bridesmaids of Annie's best friend, Lilian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding, and the events leading up to it. But mainly, it focuses on the deteriorating life of Annie. Losing her job, lacking a meaningful relationship - and how the whole thing just gets worse when this wedding gets announced.

Believe me, this isn't the usual film you've seen a thousand times before - this is something new,
something refreshing and it's a must see whether your a man or a woman.

What I'm trying to say is that Bridesmaids has a truly great cast, some hilarious writing and a story that actually has some substance. If you haven't seen it yet, you better - one of the best comedies of 2011.

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Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Captain America: The First Avenger is a fun super-hero movie, but it's not without its flaws.

The movie takes place during World War II, during which the US government are looking into making the world's first Super Soldier - with the help of Howard Stark (Iron Man's dad). This was a nice touch, and reminds you of the neat continuity Marvel has built up with their recent films.
Of course not everything goes smoothly mainly due to Nazi super-villain, The Red Skull (played brilliantly by Hugo Weaving). Another thing to note about The Red Skull in this movie is how well they pulled off his look - almost exactly how he's seen in the comics.

And Weaving isn't the only good actor in the movie - the entire cast is very strong. Chris Evans manages to leave his past as The Human Torch behind, and delivers a much stronger performance here. Tommy Lee Jones delivers some genuinely funny lines as Colonel Chester Phillips, and Hayley Atwell is great as Cap's love interest Peggy Carter.

But as strong as the cast is, I still felt some-what disappointed with the story. The Red Skull's plan seems slightly nonsensical, and for the most part I was left wondering why he was even bothering! What is he actually going to gain from this plan? This was made clearer near the end, but it still ended up making The Red Skull look less awesome.

There was also a hell of a lot of back story in Captain America and while they cover a lot of ground quite quickly, it doesn't feel as well done as Iron Man was back in 2008. This just means that there's a lot of stuff you have to get through before you get to the action.

In the end though, Captain America has paved the way to The Avengers, much like Thor and Iron Man did before it. It's a fun film, with a great cast and some genuinely funny one-liners, but the long back story and slightly silly story keeps it from being the best super-hero film of 2011.

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The Hangover: Part II Review

It's the same as the first one, only nowhere near as funny. That sentence pretty much summarises how I feel about The Hangover Part II. It's basically got the exact same plot as the first. Wedding. Bachelor Party. Spiked. Lost. The End. Only this time round, the laughs have been reduced substantially, leaving you with a dull film that feels like its been done already - mainly because it has.

Nearly the entire cast is back for Part II: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ken Jeong return to play the wolf pack once again. They're all fine as their respective character's, but the problem was, while some are still likeable, funny characters (Chow, Alan and Phil), Stu (Ed Helms) is just not funny and verges on annoying, and Doug has a pointless part in this movie due to the fact he doesn't even join the wolf pack for drinks. WTF?

Plus, I didn't like how funny, interesting character, Jade (Stu's Vegas love interest from the first film) has been forgotten and replaced in the sequel by Lauren - a character with the personality of a brick who has no real part in this movie. I just think it's a missed opportunity. Jade was a three-dimensional character that had a personality and a funny part in the first movie. If she had been in this one along with a slightly different plot it would have made things a lot more interesting.

Maybe I'm slagging this film off too much. It wasn't all bad. There were still some funny moments throughout, but a lot had already been shown in trailers for the movie, and others were just predictable. Again this circles back to the plot being so similar to the first one - if you've seen the first movie you can guess most of the funny moments before they hit - the writer's just failed to do much new.

In the end all this means that The Hangover II is dreadfully average. The cast is full of fine actors, but some of the character's are wearing out their welcome. This isn't helped by the plot being so similar to that of the first movie. Meaning there are no real surprises and a reduced amount of laugh-out-loud moments.

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Review

The first Sherlock Holmes film in this series wasn't amazing in my opinion. There just wasn't much that interested me about it. But, this sequel is an improvement on the first film and I actually quite enjoyed it...but it wasn't perfect.

The first good thing I have to say about this movie is that the cast is brilliant. Robert Downey Jr. does a convincing British accent, and is generally great as Holmes. Jude Law also does well as Watson, and the two have great chemistry throughout the film. I was also impressed by English comedian/actor, Stephen Fry who does a great job playing Holmes' brother Mycroft.


The plot centres around Professor Moriarty - Holmes famous adversary - and his plan to become the most powerful man in the world. It's hard to go into much more detail due to how complicated this story gets. It's a good idea for a plot, but you don't really know much about it until near the end when everything is revealed. This is a little annoying, because I spent a lot of the time just a little confused. At one point I had no idea what was going on.
Thankfully, there does come a point where the story gets back on track but it's still a shame that there was such an area of uncertainty.

Also, the ending comes out un-affected from the weak mid-point. It is an awesome, clever way to end the film and worth sticking around for.

And another thing I liked about the plot though was the many funny moments - and they were laugh-out-loud funny too! It was these moments that kept me going through the dodgy areas of story.


One thing that made me distance myself from the first film a bit, was the action. It's not that I don't like action films, but I just thought turning Sherlock Holmes into an action movie was a bit of a weird decision.
I've come to terms with that fact now, and so was able to enjoy the action here a little more. Although, while the action was fairly good I think they went a little overboard with the special effects - mainly slow-motion. At one bizarre moment, there was around 15 seconds of slow-motion of a guy blowing air out of his mouth. It was a little bit odd, and felt very unnecessary.

There were also times where Holmes actions seemed a little too unbelievable. This wasn't a serious issue, but it did make certain parts feel a little too silly.


But in the end Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a good film. It has a great cast, a funny script, and an awesome ending. Although, it's hindered by a story that can easily confuse, and some over the top action.

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Happy Feet Two Review

I won't lie - I wasn't a huge fan of the original Happy Feet. I just couldn't get into it. But, I'm an open-minded person so when asked to see the sequel, off I went.
So did it convert me?

Not quite. But it is an improvement.

The story of Happy Feet Two is weak. The main plot is that an iceberg has trapped the entire Emperor-Penguin population in a relatively small area, with the exception of Mumble (Elijah Wood), his son Erik and Erik's two friends Boadicia and Atticus. Good names.
Unfortunately, this isn't a very exciting plot. I know this film is aimed at people a lot younger than me, but I think that even kids would get bored of the story quite quickly. Especially if you were to see it in 2D.

Fortunately, I saw it in 3D and so the film managed to keep my attention. Honestly, the 3D here is quite well done. It's not always in your face, but there are some cool moments that impressed me.

These are some of the most annoying penguins you will ever meet

Another thing that really didn't help the story was the fact that the main character's Mumble, Erik, Boadicia, and Atticus are all a bit boring - and verge on annoying for the entire movie. And to be honest, the supporting character's don't do much to change this.
The eccentric Ramon (voiced by Robin Williams), has some funny lines but doesn't bring much to the movie overall. Meanwhile other character's like The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria) have been done before. In fact, this whole movie feels like it's been done before:

Happy Feet 1 + Ice Age + Chicken Run = Happy Feet Two.

It just doesn't feel fresh or original.

Thankfully, the film is saved by two krill. Seriously. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon steal the show as Will and Bill the krill. They've got some of the funniest lines in the movie and are the only two character's that seem original or interesting. Unfortunately, they don't have much of a role in the actual plot. But watching two krill try and become deadly predators is pretty hilarious.

The animation is good enough, but it's nothing special. Like I said before, this film is one to see in 3D, just because you will get bored otherwise.
The voice acting is great. Each actor has put a lot of effort into their roles, but it's hard to appreciate that when there are so few memorable character's. Plus, some of the penguins have some horribly stereotypical lines - seriously, its almost offensive.

But, what Happy Feet is all about is the songs/dancing. It's right there in the title. And they're good enough but at the end of the day watching animated penguins sing and dance got boring in the first film, and so now it really has worn out its welcome.

In the end, Happy Feet Two is very average. The story is weak, the character's are forgettable, and the gimmick of the whole movie - watching penguins sing and dance - gets very dull. On the plus side, there are some funny lines - mostly from Will and Bill the krill - and the 3D is a nice addition.

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In Time Review

With the exception of The Social Network, Justin Timberlake hasn't really been known for his incredible films. But In Time could be a new exception to this rule. It isn't perfect, but it's a fast-paced action film that's definitely worth a look.

In Time is set in the not too distant future, where time is now a currency. Everyone now has a luminous green timer on their wrist - although the movie cops out, and doesn't really explain how these got there. The timer is on your wrist from birth, but only starts ticking when you reach 25 - thus, everyone in In Time's world is (supposed to be) 25 - but I think they might have sneaked in a few actors/actresses slightly older.
At work, instead of earning money, you earn time. People can loan time, give other people time by holding wrists etc. The film does a good job of immersing you into a world where paying with time is normal - 99 second stores instead of 99p/99 cent stores, for example are seen in some scenes.

Justin Timberlake plays Will Salas. A guy living with his mum in a rough "time zone", earning just enough time to make it from day to day. Without spoiling anything, he gets his hands on a large amount of time and with it he plans to move to New Grenwich - the richest of the zones.
One tragedy later, and Will wants not just to move there, but to tear it down.

Timberlake does a good job playing Will, but he still has room to improve. He is joined by Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, Mamma Mia!), about 1/3 of the way through and the two play off of each other very well. Seyfried does a good job playing Sylvia - the "rich" daughter of time-loaning businessman Philippe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser).

Something that ruined the film a bit, was the script which at times was okay, but sometimes seemed a little difficult to take seriously with certain lines that felt out of place - lines that progressed the story as heavy-handedly as possible.

Despite this the story survives intact for the most part, and remains enjoyable and exciting. Watching Will and Sylvia as they are tracked down by not one, but two people was thrilling - even though one of them was Alex Pettyfer, who here shows us that he has the acting skills of a brick.

Timberlake and Seyfried

One thing I didn't like about this movie was the ending, which firstly, seemed a little anti-climatic and secondly, wasn't really what I would call an ending - it was leaving the door open for a sequel, I expect.
Some people like endings like this, so if your one of them you won't have a problem. I, on the other hand, prefer to have as many questions answered and doors closed as possible.

In the end though, In Time is a good film - albeit one that's handicapped by a dodgy script, and an ending that leaves questions unanswered. Fortunately, (with the exception of Pettyfer who disappoints), the acting is great all-round, and the story is exciting enough for these not to be major problems. In Time is definitely a film worth seeing.

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1 Year Old! Woop Woop!

Today, The Entertainment Network, hit it its first birthday. There's been quite a few changes over the years - When we started up on January 25th 2011, we were a Facebook page called DVGN (Daily Videogames News) - to commemorate this occasion we're adding an "About Us" page to this blog, where we'll have a full history of how this blog started.

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