Author Archives: Junior Smart

Don’t Touch My Locs Clothing Line

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dtml luke trpLast week I reported on my visit to Camden and why it has deserved its reputation as ‘quaint fashion capital of London’. Even better, I wrote about Fashion Meets Music (FMM) a social enterprise determined to make the fashion business more accessible for new designers. Hopefully you took my advice and headed over there and got yourself a bargain.

This week I am writing about DTML, a unique brand with a distinct and special statement, and I get talking to the one very exceptional lady behind it to find out why her brand is not only distinctly urban but carries an underlying message which people can relate to.

Ms Kinky Locs is founder and creator of ‘Don’t Touch My Locs’ a brand that has been over a year in the making. The big question I had to ask of her was knowing what challenges exist in the fashion industry what made her decide to start up her own unique brand and go at it alone? Looking at her she pauses for almost a serene moment before pointing to her hair where lustrous natural locks flow without a hint of extensions. “I got fed up of strangers so intrigued by my locs touching them without permission, I felt they were coming into my ‘private space’ as I wouldn’t go up to a stranger and say ‘Oh, I love your bottom and touch it!’” We both laugh; she has a point.

dont touch myLooking at the logo, you can see that the ‘O’ in Locs is changed; to some people it almost looks like the letter ‘E’ to the point where you could be forgiven for thinking the logo reads ‘Don’t Touch My Legs’. It is only when you look closely you realise that it is in fact the ‘Gye Nyame’ character which is from the Akan symbol, meaning for ‘except God’ this is entwined with African heritage / UK roots. “I wanted something that represents me and feel the logo is a strong statement. I hope it’s something that everyone can connect with in one way or another…to some the ‘Gye Nyame is a pretty or clever image used in place of the letter ‘O’ to some it is a deeper meaning that they should not feel awkward in telling others ‘Don’t touch My Locs!’”

“I have not seen anybody utilising the Akan symbol(s) in the same way i.e. on the high street incorporated into Urban wear.” She explains. I have met people with Locs that said they wish they had a t-shirt that said what they really wanted about warding people away from touching their locs! I love the fact that this is an abundantly clear statement. A young boy came into the pop-up store in Camden & was of Ghanaian heritage, he saw one of the snapbacks (baseball caps) and wanted one. His Father went on to tell me his Son was keen to have the cap because he’d never seen a baseball cap with something he could relate to that wasn’t ‘Americanised’ for example with New York labelled on it! This young boy pointed out the brand is unique!

dtml boy thangSo who is the brand ultimately targeted at? “It’s for every body and anybody that simply likes it! Fashion is what the individual perceives or makes it for their own pleasure. The brand is very much unique and I hope it gives people that ‘extra’ pep in their step, clothing that provides that ‘feel good’ factor. My aim is to provide you the customer with quality clothing and I purposefully want to make it accessible to all.

So what does the clothing range consist of? Well looking at the stock I saw a range of Heavy duty quality Cotton T-shirts for Men, Women, Unisex Varsity Jackets, Baseball caps, long sleeved tops and Strong Canvas bags. However, pointed out the aim is not limit the range to Urban wear only…

What is next for you I ask her, I was told that this brand exists solely online and is in effect ‘made to order’. Kinky Locs explains “I aim to hit Natural Hair exhibition at The Westminster College on the 6th April 10am till 5 pm.”

So there you have it, if you are tantalised by the style, if you want to wear clothing that is not only fashionable but carries a message – drop Kinky Locs a line at:

dtml96@yahoo.co.uk

For more info on the clothing email:
dtml96@yahoo.co.uk

Photography by Active 8 Images
www.active8images.com

and Julie Vaccalluzzo

Models:

Anastasia May

Luke Yohn

INFECTA – Alika

Max Bennett

 

Want  to see more – check out the showreel below

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Computer Game Experiment – Sound without Sound

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Make no bones about it computer companies of today invest serious amounts of money on ensuring the sound quality is as fantastic as it possibly can be. It may seem hard to imagine now but back in 1990 when the Sega Megadrive was released it had just 6 channels of stereo sound. imagine that by comparison the Dolby 5.1 surround sound of today has almost ten times as much.

I was invited to take part in an ‘experiment’ by Amplifon which involved me playing a game that I had never played before to see what kind of difference it would make to the gaming experience if there was no sound. Before I begin it is worth pointing out that although this was a fun experiment to be part of, there are some very real issues underlying this; I don’t think many people stop to consider just how many young people are hard of hearing of which National Statistics suggest stands at around 25,000 for children aged 0-15 years. I feel fewer of us stop to appreciate just what an impact this can have on just day to day living let alone playing computer games and what a different experience that must be.

tombraiderThe game I chose was Tomb Raider Definitive Edition for the Playstation 4. Why? Well for a number of reasons. Firstly to be honest I haven’t played that game since the age of the PS1 days and I haven’t reviewed it previously so it means there is no comparison to base it against, so that is reasonably fair. Secondly I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the next generation hardware before Christmas and like many gamers I have been frustrated by the lack of games for the machine thus far, so this way I get to experience new hardware and a new game from a fresh perspective.

Tools of the Trade and Rules of the Game

The game Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on the PS4 obviously – the conditions were set that it must be played ‘as is’ that is, no setting adjustments could be made other than difficulty level and brightness. I had to play this game ‘raw’. For a full comparison I made the decision to play the game for a full 4 hours without sound and then again with sound and document my experience and progress.

The other tool was a pair of JVC Noise Cancelling Headphones – these babies are stated to have up to 75% noise cancellation and no, they were not plugged into the controller – that would be cheating.

So with the tools and the rules set in motion I put the headphones on and fired up the console.

Experiences

The first thing that stood out for me, even just upon firing up the console is that of awareness.  Even on the basic screen for the PS4 it dawned on me just how dependent we are on sound for even basic things such as cursor movement and game selection. It occurred to me very quickly that I had to be very alert and could not take my eyes of the screen even for a few moments; as the game proceeded to do its update and then restart I had become distracted and when I turned my eyes to the screen and it was blank and I could honestly not say what was going on.

Ease of Gameplay

3.-Tomb-Raider-2013In the game this was even more so. It is perhaps a tragedy that Tomb Raider does not have the subtitles set to ‘on’ as default. Watching the intro I could see the young Lara Croft on a boat, about to drown and then running to what seemed to be her father and falling from his grasp. But I could hear absolutely nothing, without subtitles you can be at a loss. Praise has to be given to the developers I was surprised at the level of detail put into the game; Lara looks better than she ever has, but despite this when the characters are speaking I doubt that the mouth movements are lip-synced. Now I am no lip reader but I certainly could not tell one word from another. I could tell expressions – sadness, anger, fear but little else. By hour two of gameplay I realised just how dependent on all my other senses I had to be and whilst this was great as an experience I felt a great empathy for those that have to deal with far more complex tasks than finding arrows, shooting wolves and solving puzzles.

O.k so without speech and without language can there be a plot? Well yes and no, thankfully a few things show up on the screen as you are playing explaining what you should do and what you can look for. Another great thing of the modern day console is the use of vibration, although similarly to speech it is far from accurate you at least can tell and have some immersion with what is taking place on the screen. Firing weapons, turning cogs all would have had far more dissidence had there not been vibration as some kind of feedback on the senses. However it was really hard to tell what was happening and this was especially true when Lara looks back on her video camera, I could get a gist but certainly couldn’t work out who was who. I ended up bumbling through, trial and error becoming my best friend and I realised by hour three that I had missed a couple of caves because it flashed up on screen: ‘When you hear this sound a cave of treasure is nearby’ I was thinking all good and well you telling me but if I can’t hear it what difference does it make.

Unconsidered factors

There are parts of the game too where it takes voice recognition and I am sure whilst this is a novel idea, I had no idea how loud or quiet my voice was, the first few times this didn’t work so in the end I had to shout everything. I am sure my next door neighbours thought I was losing my mind shouting out words like “Map” “Gun” “Stealth” at opportune moments like I had Tourettes. I am just glad they didn’t call the police because with the headphones on I wouldn’t have heard the door.

Comparison with sound

Playing the game a second time with sound was a different experience altogether. The first thing that surprised me was just how much voiceover there is; Lara reflects on practically everything and every situation she finds herself in and there is a great deal of interaction between her on screen and you as the player trying to figure out the puzzles. Obviously the graphics are just as good but you can tell what is going on because you can hear what people are saying and the style of mood in the soundtrack changes to reflect whether it is a stealth situation or if you have been spotted.

Also worthy of note is the sound immersion. The PS4 has a speaker on the controller and this game fully utilises it. This ps4 speakermeans gun shots ring out from the controller, audio diaries are read to you and you can hear those jungle drums when you are near a hidden cave. The experience is completely different and this means the engagement is different. By the end of hour four I was much further ahead than in my previous attempts without sound.

In conclusion computer companies spend serious amounts of money on ensuring the sound quality is as fantastic as it possibly can be, they do this for good reason, the engagement from the player is tantamount to the game’s success. Do they consider those with less ability in areas such as hearing? I doubt it; the numbers just wouldn’t tally up in terms of investment, but what I think can and should be done is greater player options, it really would not hurt in making gaming more inclusive than exclusive. Lets be honest this experiment is far from scientific but one thing it certainly achieved is in raising my awareness of those less fortunate. It also made me realise just how many things we take for granted.

Clothing with a Conscience

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3 of a kindIf most people are honest the words Unique, Quality and Fashion don’t necessarily sit well with the words Social Enterprise. If history is anything to go by then even when the prices have been sky high those people at the front line, those doing the labour rarely receive a just reward for their work. Furthermore, up and coming designers have been consistently undermined in their efforts to get a foot through the door.

However, a change is coming and over the past number of years there has been a growing movement of people; social enterprises that are determined to give quality clothing designers a space where they need it. The result has been a continued entering of new and even radical styles and, if you know where to look you can get your hands on a few quality pieces that few others will own.
IMG_0071

Ms Dennica Abdo is founder and creator of Fashion Meets Music (FMM); a Social Enterprise showcasing designers, artists and talent in the form of pop-up-shops, events and workshops. Established in 2013 after their events in LA meshing fashion shows, artist performances and vendors, Fashion Meets Music is on a mission to bridge the gap between the Indie and Mainstream worlds and provide opportunity for previously unrecognized talent. The FMM team seeks out extraordinarily talented fresh faces, creating a link to movers and shakers, decision makers and industry professionals. Its aim is to give upcoming designers and artists a place to be seen and heard, a platform to excel.

For many designers FMM is an essential crucial step on the retail ladder in a shop setting where they can test their brands to the public. gain exposure, have a chance to be involved in creative workshops, events, involvement in fashion shows and gain many images for their portfolio/social media platforms.

FMM Event“Our pop up shops have ranged from 10 days to 5 months and our designers are usually with us for the whole duration of the pop up.” Dennica explained “We have been really lucky here in terms of getting a decent length of lease property. Our goal is to find a permanent venue that will house numerous the emerging designers and also serve as an event space for performers, artists, talent and creative and business workshops…”

So what of the stock? Well the Camden Store boasts a strong line up of designer’s brands and from what I could see it was flying off the shelves but they include:

This Lil ole thing (Designer vintage wear, sales to charity)
The Faraway Tree (Reconstructed bags, denim, hessian and accessories)
CTAM (scarves)
ME Clothing (clothing, hats)
House of Loulee (Adult, childrens wear, African fusion)
UP CKLD (Recycled, upcycled)
Fashion Cosmetics (Beauty Products)
Don’t Touch My Locs (Printed Tees)
Ricalyce (Snapbacks, Beanies)
FaeFae (Printed wear, Beanies)
Nadia & Zehr (Clothing, Accessories)
Denim Recon (Our instore tailor, Denim wear)
Fly Girl (Printed wear)
Dirty Stag (Printed wear)
Modu Designs (Printed wear, snapbacks, beanies)
Jaime (art, sculptures)
Les 2 Coquettes (Printed wear)
Funk E Angels (Bags)
T & T (Jewellery)
Lola (Clothing and Jewellery)
Cherie Love Angel (Clothing)

Each sale not only creates profit for the designer it has diffused benefits by providing encouragement and builds drive to further create more items in this way FMM is as consumer driven as the fashion market it is a part of.

So what is the future for Fashion Meets Music Dennica? “Well…we plan on holding more events, running more pop ups and we are constantly on the look for new, unique talent and always looking for establishments that we can collaborate with. We are also currently on the lookout for permanent premises that can house retail, events and workshops. In the remit of Fashion and Music – what we do is very much needed.” No one can say that Dennica doesn’t say it how it is.
At the moment Fashion Meets Music is located at 69 Camden High Street – but you better get your groove on before they move on. Check them out too online:

www.fashionmeetsmusic.com
www.facebook.com/fashionmeetsmusicpopup
www.twitter.com/fmmpopup

Big Thanks to Active 8 Images (active8images.com) for the shots

Next week we are covering DTML – A fashion brand in the making.

Keep your Search Bar on Frost – it’s going to be hot.

 

Lone Survivor – Film Review

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lone_survivor_poster__spanNow I might be a man – actually scratch that. Now I might be an alpha male, no, scratch that again. I am an alpha male but call it what you will I have had my full of all those macho ‘Saving Private Ryan’ type flicks. The sort where everyone just dies in front of you and the director just relishes putting you in the thick heart of brutal battle. It is little wonder then that I was more than a little pessimistic about this film; let’s face it the title says it all.

However this Peter Berg film; director of blockbuster movie Battleship, in which the US Navy drove off an alien invasion opened with a much different kind of flavour than I was used to. Lone Survivor, opens by focussing on the inner endurance battles of these men as they go through training and the bonding they forge as a team, a brotherhood. In the opening montage we see them taught to handle pain, inhospitable conditions (sometimes naked), what’s more we see many people quit. It comes across as an insatiable drive to reconnect the audience with reality. It is this understanding and a mixture of top class acting and proficient story-telling that makes this film different to the run of the mill films we have seen.

It is little wonder actually, the film’s plot comes from the real life account of Marcus Luttrell, a former US Navy SEAL, and describes an operation in the mountains of Afghanistan in 2005, in which four American soldiers found themselves caught on the prongs of a moral dilemma.

Sent to assassinate a Taliban warlord, they unexpectedly encounter three goat herds; an elderly man, a young boy and a scowling teenager. They have three choices, each one with its own type of consequence. They can kill them, tie them up or let them go. After a lengthy discussion about the ethics and morals as well as what could happen to them they decide they are not animals and decide on the latter and that is where things go wrong.
The Taliban are as merciless as you would expect, and in as many ways as some may argue we are led to believe but what they don’t lack is in numbers and resources.

Where this film really succeeds is bringing the reality and the injustice of war to your eyes. The Marines, played by Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster carry the film well and although the film becomes very frantic it remains coherent in its set up; we know who the men are, who’s married, who has kids and what each man stands to lose. I thought it was very brave too that the soldiers were not portrayed as superheroes. In one scene, cornered by the enemy they decide to fling themselves down a cliff to escape and we see their bodies smashed and ground by both rocks and bullets. It was very unnerving to see such a common scene shown for the reality it is.

The film doesn’t let up even at the last chapter and although some scenes are clichéd, based on the reality it is founded upon is something you can forgive. There are some real touching scenes there too which are executed very well.

So, how does one rate this film, do you rate it on the entertainment, the quality of the action and acting? do you rate the reality or just the horror of it? I guess I will praise it for the account it portrays about the men and women who put themselves in the position where such an account could be wrote. As a film it is not exceptional and is far from stylish, but I don’t think it was meant to be. However, the story it tells is certainly worthy.

Xbox 720 finally unveiled as Xbox One

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It really was an incredible moment even for a PS fanboy such as myself to witness the online launch of the eagerly-awaited Xbox One just a mere hour ago.

“It’s time for technology to step behind the curtain,” said Don Mattrick, President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft as he stepped aside to announce Xbox One – “All your entertainment – in one!”

This is the power of Microsoft’s well-oiled publicity machine. Unlike the PS4 launch earlier this year, Xbox One’s architecture was there for all to behold – a glossy, fantastic looking machine with a new pad. And again, unlike the PS4 launch, this one ran to time and wasn’t overplayed. This time, the launch of the Xbox One was clearly designed to set the stage and tell the tale of the next generation of console warfare.

To be completely honest, the stats kept coming – the console boasts an eight-core CPU, next generation USB 3.0, WiFi direct, a Blu-ray drive for the first time, 500GB HDD, HDMI input and output, and 802.11n wireless. If you didn’t get all that, It’s good – trust me.

Xbox Live is also getting a major update, with 300,000 servers backing up the service. “Your content is available and it’s stored in the cloud,” Microsoft’s Marc Whitten said. “That includes a DVR-like service for capturing game developers, and offloading processing”.

In terms of features, full voice-activated control was shown through the Kinect which is now embedded as part of the system. And, we’re told, not only would voice activation control games, but the TV and Skype functions tool. There was instant switching from the Xbox One dashboard to live television and back again with admittedly impressive speeds. They also demonstrated gesture controls for the console’s UI, quickly snapping back to the dashboard with a pinch command.

However, it was the games that were perhaps the most shocking. It seems as if Microsoft has lined up a number of developers tol produce exclusive content for the Xbox One. First up, EA Games with the usual Madden and UFC titles powered by EA Sports Ignite – a brand new engine build for the next generation hardware. Then they drop the bombshell – Fifa 13 will be exclusively for Xbox One.

While the room recovered, the usual demos followed along with talk of a Halo television series on Xbox TV, directed by none other than Spielberg. However, the biggest bang was the trailer for new Call of Duty: Ghosts. The graphics were better than imagined, with the new engine producing more detail, dynamic shadows and so much more. We are promised dynamic multiplayer maps, earthquakes and trapdoors will change the environment and even little things like better smoke and AI for fish as you swim past them. But, the big issue again is that this too is an Xbox One exclusive title. I can’t imagine many PS owners being happy about that.

Of course, the big place to check out all the new releases will be at the E3 which happens 11th-13th June this year. This will be the time when all the new technology will go head to head. It is going to be an incredible ride, so stay tuned to Frost Magazine to stay ahead of the game!

Playstation 4 – Finally Announced

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So it’s finally going to be here – On Wednesday night at 23.15 GMT Sony officially announced the Playstation 4 which will be available “holiday season 2013”.

In a live online broadcast viewed by over 16 million Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Andrew House took to the stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios in New York to reveal the name of Sony’s next-generation console.

The exec said Sony’s “most powerful platform ever” will allow “worlds to come alive with greater fidelity and intensity than ever before”.

House also noted that “ease of access regardless of location or device has been a priority” in the system’s development”.

“Our vision for the future is consumer centric and developer inspired,” he added, stressing that Sony is keen to enable developers to utilise “new business models that enable more flexibility including episodic and free-to-play”.

Lead PS4 system architect Mark Cerny was up on stage next. “We wanted to make sure nothing would come between the player, the platform and play,” he said. “Our main goal was to architect the system so as to support a breadth of experiences.”

Boasting 8GB of unified system memory, PS4 houses a “highly enhanced” PC GPU “containing a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two”.

It is also “centred around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor”.

Cerny then showed off the new Dual Shock 4 which will include many new features such as enhanced rumble, a touchpad, a headphone jack and a new Share button, which will allow players to record gameplay or screenshots and share them instantly. “Our goal is to make the sharing of video on PS4 as popular as the sharing of screenshots is today,” he said. PS4 will also support cross-game chat.

Then came the games. Games of note included Killzone: Shadow Fall was first; a First Person shooter which showed the main character in an epic shoot out in what seemed to be a shopping mall only to leap on to a wire being dragged along by a helicopter matrix style shooting out both adversaries on the ground and in the copter only to land on a building where the action cut and the share button was used.

This was followed Sucker Punch’s Infamous: Second Son. The demo showed a heavily-militarised city where citizens are closely monitored. However, people have started developing superpowers and revolting against big brother. There was no sign of series protagonist Cole.

Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono appeared on stage to demo Capcom’s new engine, Panta Rhei, which is being used to develop a new IP for the PS4 called Deep Down. There was raw response though when he said he was not there to talk about the next Street-Fighter game or the eagerly awaited Tekken vs Streetfigher – Missed opportunity I thought!

Unfortunately in the whole event the actual machine was not shown which lead to speculation that there would not be a physical machine at all as the majority of the software would be accessible via cloud gaming platform Gaikai. However since the launch this has been dismissed as the console’s actual specs have been announced.

This is really exciting news I think, if games players are truly honest games have been getting stale – although there have been original ideas and the PS3 has had a terrific run, it simply needs more power open to developers. You can always tell after a while because games tend to look the same across the genre.

Every life cycle of the Playstation has brought something new – for the PS1 it was games on CDs – its amazing to think now that a measly 700mb could power a game but it was the case back then and Ridge Racer was one such favourite. With PS2 it was games on DVDs. It is arguable now that the PS2 brought DVD media into the family home. Then we had the PS3 and with it not only did Blue Ray Dual layer Discs enter the home but HD TVs and gaming. They didn’t just arrive but was there to stay because now with the right TV you could watch HD Films and play the games without forking out on the expensive players. It doing so it beat the Microsoft brand in establishing itself as the High Definition disc brand of choice. Lets not also forget about 3D gaming that really the PS3 became a reason to don the specs outside of the frankly rubbish channels and over-expensive Blue-Ray players and 3D movies available.

I for one am really excited about what is yet to come. The price of the new console has been placed £400 (cheaper than the PS3 at launch but more expensive than the PS2 was). Even without a physical machine to view, it is already on pre-order from most stockists. Have a look at the trailers and view for yourself. I think the leap in technology is not as shocking as the transition from PS1 to PS2 but if you look closely the devil is in the detail. Not only that but as every gamer knows, it takes time for the best games to surface and it is still very early days yet.

Enjoy!

 

Drive Club

Watch Dogs

Bond Legends – Game Review

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‘Do you expect me to be a great game Mr Goldfinger…?’

‘No Mr Bond, I expect you to be a crap Movie tie in and destroy your own fanbase…hahaha!’

If everyone was to be completely honest James Bond’s history in video games is a bit of a mixed bunch, on one hand you have got gaming classics like GoldenEye, a decent enough gaming experience with Everything or Nothing, average entries like Agent Under Fire, then you have crap titles like GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. Where would I put 007 Legends? Hmmm – the bottom. Sorry to say it fans but it’s true.

It’s a game I really looked forward to and wanted to enjoy. Hand on my heart I am an avid bond fan and I’ve been enjoying every single one of the films since I was a child. So seeing the trailers for this game, having been told it was the best bits of all the Bond movies I was eager with anticipation on how they were going to do it. Receiving the game early for review ahead of the forthcoming Skyfall film made all of those child-like instincts come out. Yes, Christmas was going to arrive early for me. There it was, sealed in front of me and even though it was 12pm at night I just had to play it. I soon wished I hadn’t. It soon dawned on me that it was one mess of a title that felt untested, incomplete, and well, boring. What happens to children’s dreams eh? Where’s Father Christmas or even Ms Christmas when you need them?

The concept is pretty sound, and one that even I could get my head around. At the beginning of 007 Legends there is a scene showcased from the trailer for the film Skyfall. Daniel Craig as 007 is mistakenly shot by a sniper and falls off a speeding train. Hitting the river below, (in this game at least) causes Bond’s life to flash before his eyes. We can make a fair assumption that he is perhaps thinking or seeing key moments from his life. Next thing you know you are walking into a room where a deceased young girl is sprawled out over a bed covered in gold. A mobile phone rings, the camera turns, you see Daniel Craig answer it and then it cuts to the intro sequence. You get the idea, this is going to be the best missions of Bond but what would have happened if it was Daniel Craig’s iteration. Fair enough I thought – great. The intro sequence was typical Bond style with elements of Goldfinger’s soundtrack, sexy saxaphones, and building orchestral crescendos. Alas, introductions alone do not make a game and once the game actually started I soon realised I was in a poor iteration of Modern Warfare.

Each section plays out in the game’s five missions each based on a different Bond classic Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Die Another Day, License to Kill, and Moonraker. Skyfall we are assured will be downloadable after the movie release. 007 is a straight faced FPS (First Person Shooter) and like Modern Warfare there are sections where you will be driving and shooting either trying to catch up with someone or trying to escape. There are times where the shooter element in Legends works – some fire fights are genuinely intense and when you first start playing you don’t realise the lack of attention to game structure or even gameplay. But when this game doesn’t work, it really doesn’t; that’s when you realise that despite the change in levels, each game within the game is essentially the same.

To be fair the graphics are of high quality and the rendering of beloved Bond enemies such as Goldfinger, Odd Job and Pussy Galore is gorgeous to see. It’s just a shame that the attention to detail couldn’t be extended to the voice acting. Fine – the actors might not have wanted to put their voices to their onscreen counterparts but they should have at least got people that sounded like them. At one point Pussy Galore asks Bond his name and he just says casual as you like ‘James Bond’; no build up, no nothing, he might as well have been Soap Mactavish. It gets to a point where even the major set-piece battles end up remarkably dull. It really annoys me that the developers failed to capitalise more on the films they sought to use, after all, the film franchise has so many memorable moments and villains, they should have had the pick of the bunch. It’s such a shame that they did not lavish greater attention on them instead of just coating them over.

At some points Bond needs to do little more than follow onscreen indicators that make even taking on Odd Job a walk in the park and every Bond villain receives the same terrible fate. I’ve heard some people talk about stealth sections being a major selling point, but even this was not thought through properly. You see, enemies become alerted when they see dead bodies however as Bond you cannot carry or hide bodies. This means that although you can incapacitate an enemy and get passed them the alarm will nearly always be raised and you end up having a shoot-out anyway. What is the point? On other stages the difficulty level becomes impeccably ramped up causing you to die and restart the entire stage again because the game has failed to save. One would think that problems like these would have been raised and ironed out at the play-testing stage, surely?

My Verdict

Im not going to go on about this game any further because I think you get the picture. Everything about my experience of this game points towards a rushed development, one that was focused on releasing the game as close as possible to Skyfall’s cinematic release which is a shame because they could have developed a higher quality game based on Skyfall instead and released it later and no one would have blinked a golden eye. As it is, this game is below par. Its such a shame because the world of James Bond is almost custom-built for an awesome gaming experience, but Activision deserves a slap on the wrist and should be sent to their room early for putting out this poor excuse for gaming in 007 Legends.

4.5/10

Dishonoured – Game Review

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I begin this review with an apology – it is to my own regret that it took me so long to sufficiently play this game before I was capable of writing this review. I have always prided myself on never writing a review until I have at least completed the game a satisfactory number of times. I feel that only then can I put a reasonable perspective and objective view to a title. The only exception to this is when a game is crap and a second or third play through is unwarranted. However, with Dishonoured I felt like it was too much of a good thing, like going into a sweet shop as a child, being told that I could have everything I wanted and then being perplexed by nothing other than abundance of choice.

Choice in itself is one of the main appealing factors of Dishonoured; a game which isn’t afraid to demand that you think for yourself, that you make choices and reap either the rewards or consequences. In a world of FPS (First Person Shooters), Open world sandbox games, linear game plays, and storylines that essentially make choices for you it is refreshingly different. But this is not entirely not to be expected, its creative team includes alumni from PC favourites System Shock, Deus Ex, Half-Life 2 and Arx Fatalis; games that prided themselves on open world exploration.

For those unaware of the concept behind Dishonored, it’s a first-person stealth and/or action title. But to merit the game solely on this premise takes away from Dishonoured’s real pleasure which is providing the player with a dynamic open world experience. Taking place in the noir-esque plague ridden city of Dunwall, you take on the role of Corvo Attano, a former bodyguard of the Empress – a woman who is desperately trying to save a ruined city from further destruction. Finding yourself wrongly framed for her murder, Corvo is given to opportunity to take revenge on the corrupt officials who were behind her death.

The game kicks off with a short level swiftly introducing you to the basic controls as Corvo is accused of the Empress’ murder and linked with the disappearance of her daughter Emily. Jailed, tortured and with an execution on the horizon, it’s at this point that an ally offers you the chance to make an escape. From here on in Dishonoured is all about thinking on your feet, choice, variety and surviving. To give you an example of what this means in actual play there are no maps, no objective markers and to pick up food or items you have to actually look at it with your reticule and press the ‘take’ button. For some this might be a tad bit overwhelming; after all for many of us we are used to simply ‘stepping on’ food to pick it up and replenish our health – not so here; in a fight scenario you will have to consistently turn to face your enemy even if there is more than one of them. What’s more you will be required to both block and defend before attacking if you want to survive.

Cast as part-assassin, part supernatural superhero, Dishonored’s levels sets up an undesirable target of wealth of power before allowing you to go about executing them in whatever way you are able or your health and / or supernatural abilities will allow. Even though you are blessed with special abilities the enemies are powerful and numerous enough to warrant the need for stealth for most situations. The AI (artificial intelligence) used in the game is clever; Dunwall’s guards are far from stupid and can be ruthless – they will find bodies, call for reinforcements, send in dogs to sniff you out and once they have you in their sights they have no hesitation in taking you on. This means that you will have to resort to tactics such as creeping across the rooftops, squeezing underneath dilapidated constructions or rewiring security mechanisms.

Corvo’s abilities are split between his left and right hand, allowing you to either dual-wield a sword and crossbow or pistol, or to use a supernatural ability. This is all accessed via a radial menu, and your skills are upgraded by finding runes found in secret places dotted around each level.

Weaponry is a crucial part of Dishonored and is once again, all about choice. There’s a range of weapons that suit your playing style. Sleep darts are great if you want a non-lethal approach as is ‘Blink’ a nifty teleporting ability. But hey, if you’re not too fussed use your gun, sword or grenades; just be ready to take on the enemies as they come to investigate the ensuing noise. It has to be said that the voice acting in this game is truly superb and helps bring the game to life.

When it comes to supernatural abilities, Corvo has a basic arsenal for which more can be accessed in exchange for artefacts known as Runes which are scattered throughout the city. Each have their uses for example ‘Dark Vision’ shows enemies and their fields of vision through walls. ‘Devouring Swarm’ summons a pack of rats to devour enemies whereas ‘Possession’ allows you to take control of animals and people for a short duration; useful for getting into hidden areas or sneaking into rooms unseen.

At the end of each mission an overview will reveal your ‘Chaos Level’ which ranks you on the amount of times you were spotted, amount of times alarms raised and amount of dead bodies found. A ‘High’ level will result not only in fewer points but in raised defences by that city, more advanced level security systems implemented, a higher number of rats and plagues and an overall darker ending for the city. I’m not going to lie, the first time I played Dishonored I was like ‘whatever’ as I brutally took on guards left and right, however it was just a matter of time before that attitude faded as I realised my actions always had consequences especially towards the end of the game.

There are some areas Dishonoured falls short. The difficulty seems to jump from low to high and back again very quickly. Saving also seems to be sporadic when left to its own devices so I wholeheartedly recommend players to save whenever they can. Graphically Dishonoured does not disappoint but is far from what I was expecting. When you hear some reviewers saying that ‘it looks like a painting…only it moves’ and ‘Graphics that will make your eyes cry…’ one cannot help but build up expectations which lead to let down. I came away thinking these are reviews written by individuals that have been locked under the stairs for far too long. I’m sorry but no, the graphics are nothing special. Granted, they may look nice and moody and there is little in terms of gaudy shading that you tend to see in open world titles but no, my eyes did not cry and no, it did not look like any piece of artwork I have ever seen. I would say that graphically the game is both great and functional but not of a higher finesse than say Uncharted 3. Finally my last gripe is that there is no online multiplayer options which would have taken this game to the next level, it would have been incredible to play with or against friends in teams or even as part of the story – it is a huge shame that this is missing from the game.

The Verdict
Dishonored has one of those rare things in a game and that is choice, repercussions and consequences. Developer Arkane Studios had a tough order but they delivered with a game that is great fun and that rightfully deserves all the awards it has merited. Whilst the game is not without issues, it is a title I definitely think of as one of the best of the year – an enjoyable free roam experience that players can visit and revisit over and over again.

9.3 /10