Tag Archives: Review

Call of Duty – Black Ops {Gaming Review}

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Call of Duty – Black Ops exploded into computer games stores all over the country last night with as much with build up and lengthy queues as would be expected at a premiere release of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Considering the build up to this much eagerly awaited title who could blame people joining in line from as early as 5pm? This was of course for a game being released at midnight. Stapelines such as ‘are you ready’, trailers featuring soundtracks such as “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones got games players all over the world excited.

Do you think it was just a little bit more than by chance that the game was released just days before Remembrance Sunday the day that many war heroes are remembered? What about the infamous release date 9/11/ a date that brings to mind one of the world’s biggest tragedies and the start on ‘the war on terror’? Indeed this is Call of Duty, probably the most eagerly anticipated game of the year. The latest in a multi million pound franchise and they are intent on handling every aspect from publicity to the product with military precision.

From the get go everything about Call of duty – Black Ops just screams attention. This is a call to arms. For the first time in the new call of duty franchise for the majority of the game you play Alex Mason, a man who knows much more than he originally lets on to and the game opens with him strapped to a chair in an interrogation room endlessly grilled about a mysterious series of numbers that only he can apparently decode.

Through Flashback sequences we get to uncover more about the numbers and more about Alex Mason and the roles he played in several missions all over the world during the cold war era. This is all I can say because to reveal too much more about the game is like revealing a storyline to a movie; and a movie is just what you are playing; because at times this game is very reminiscent of those all too well remembered movies such as platoon Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter; topless soldiers with bandanas laying out body bags in the sun to the Good Morning Vietnam type deep south soundtrack

Developer Treyarch has done a terrific job in incorporating a movie experience into a game, which in many ways supersedes Modern Warfare 2.  The game play at times is too tight for it’s own good. For example when you are knee deep in the jungle (and trust me the graphics are gorgeous) often you want to go off and explore within the wider range than the game permits, in a way this highlights the faults as some of the levels are almost too compacted for their own good and way too short lived. They are however well-signposted and highly-scripted. But like a one night stand – wham bam and it is over. I completed a game that I waited almost a year for in just over 6 hours – shame

Black Ops though was never meant to be put in any type of league that offers exploration – It is a high intensity First person shooter and it delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Its slick, polished highly cinematic, and it throws every type of war experience from that era as fast as it can. Online game play is where this game was meant to shine – The multiplayer component is beautifully constructed and breathtaking. 14 maps greeted me, designed to explore and on my first play I was already looking at places I could sniper opponents from. “Jungle”, with its winding paths, tree houses and hanging vines, to the brilliant, “Nuketown”, designed to resemble one of those simulated neighbourhoods constructed by the US to test the effects of nuclear hardware. These are aspects that show a lot of thought has gone into the design.

The frame rate remains fast – 60 frames-per-second and the basic shooting mechanics remain as good and refined as they did in modern warfare 2. which was never going to be a bad thing.

My only gripe with these types of games is that often when you have played one you have played them all, I mean c’mon you know you are just going to be shooting; from cover, from a helicopter, from within a team. The principality of it rarely changes. But this said Black Ops does bring something new to the market in the terms of enough varying challenges and online multiplayer action to keep most games players busy.

Well worth a shot.

Where is the Best Site to Play Online Poker?

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 A Review of All the Major Online Poker Sites.

I’ve now been playing online poker for many years and I’ve played at all the major sites at some point or another. For many years I’ve been trying to find the perfect site to play at. There are so many now that it can be very difficult to find the right one. The problem with the current poker site review sites is that they are rarely independent, even if they give the facade that they are, most of them are paid some sort of fee when they get people to sign up to a certain site. So here is a genuinely independent guide from someone who knows what you really want.

The first point to start with is that wherever you play you should be looking for rakeback. What is rakeback? Poker sites take a small amount of money usually 5% out of every pot you play online. This is known as rake. If you sign up to a poker site through a rakeback scheme you will receive some of the rake you pay to the poker site back. If you go direct to a poker sites own site and download the software you won’t get rakeback. It may not sound like much but rakeback adds up very quickly, even a casual player should look to take advantage of it. You should also note that if you have signed up to a poker site before you will not be able to receive rakeback from them.

Unfortunately some of the main poker sites don’t offer rakeback. Most notably the ipoker network and pokerstars do not. Pokerstars does however offer a very good VIP system which if you play enough comes to a similar amount to rakeback. In most cases it is not quite as good as other sites rakeback schemes but some players may feel the other benefits of the site outweigh this. One very large site which does offer rakeback is FullTilt. See the table at the bottom of the article for details on other poker rooms.

So what else do you want from your pokersite. Well I would put my priorities in this order.

  1. Safety and Security
  2. Player Traffic
  3. Good Software
  4. A Good Bonus Scheme
  5. Good player support and withdrawals
  6. Weaker Players

Safety and Security

You will find most safety with a large respected site. There is almost no chance they will go bust. Moreover the larger sites invest a fortune on security. For this reason I would not recommend putting money on one of the smaller sites. Very secure sites are Pokerstars, FullTilt, the Ipoker network and party poker. Avoid the Cereus network comprising Absolute and Ultimate Bet poker. Both sites have been involved in major scandals in the past. They are both owned by the same company.

Player Traffic

Having enough players, tournaments and games of the type you want is vital for any poker room. You don’t want to be waiting around for an hour for the tournament you want to play in to begin or for a cash game place to become available. Once again bigger is better. The larger the poker site the more different types of poker and tournaments are available. In my experience both poker stars and full tilt are excellent in this regard. You will find more games and players on poker stars than anywhere else. Full Tilt is also very good and experienced players may want to play on their new rush poker games which allows players to play very quickly. For all information on poker traffic see this excellent website. http://www.pokerscout.com/

Good Software

Sorry to sound repetitive but once again I would argue that both Full Tilt and Poker Stars have the best software of all the poker sites. Poker Stars is very clean and easy to navigate, the layout of the tables is simple and effective. Personally however I rate the Full Tilt software far above any other site. You can tell the site was designed by poker players. Everything has been thought of from the position of the button to the way you drag in the chips when you win a pot. I also really enjoy the fun and numerous avatars available. Casual players may enjoy the unique PKR site. Players take control of a Sims style 3d character whilst they play. You can perform chip tricks, customize your character and display various attitudes towards the other players. It won’t be for everyone, particularly those players who wish to play multiple tables at once. Personally I do not particularly enjoy the ipoker or party poker software (although party poker is much better since it was updated a while ago). I would still argue it is the consensus amongst most players that these sites and other sites lag behind the main two when it comes to software.

Bonuses   

Unfortunately bonuses can be very complicated. Whilst the headline figure may look good one often has to be careful of the small print. Things to be aware of are the number of days you have available to work off the bonus. Casual players need to be careful of this or you may end up losing your bonus if you don’t play for a month or so. The other thing to be aware of is how quickly your bonus gets paid back. You can’t go wrong with the Full Tilt 100% bonus up to $600. I have done this successfully in the past. I see poker stars have now brought in a similar bonus scheme. If you look a little further out you will tend to find some better deals but again be careful of the small print. There are some good deals to be had on the boss media network through the likes of poker heaven and paradise poker (200% up to €1000). I see PKR also has an attractive bonus on at the moment (up to 100% on $2000).

Good Support and Withdrawals

Without any doubt the best support amongst all the poker sites is to be found with pokerstars. In the few times I have needed to contact them they have been phenomenally quick and helpful. Friends of mine have had very similar experiences. With all the sites I have dealt with I have never had any problems with withdrawals. I have usually used moneybookers to withdraw which I have always found fairly easy. It can sometimes be difficult to withdraw large amounts. However this tends to be the same across every site. In most case you can come to an agreement with a site or just withdraw in stages.

Weaker Players

In my experience the most difficult site to play on is Full Tilt. It tends to play a level above other sites. The very best players tend to end up on Full Tilt and this tends to ultimately filter down to the lower levels. Poker Stars also tends to be a much harder site than the average particularly for cash games, although I have always found tournaments to be reasonably soft. For some reason the European sites (ongamenet and party poker have always tended to be softer in my and others experience.) PKR is also especially soft since it is made up of mostly casual players.

Conclusion

Which poker site is right for you will depend very much on what you rank as your priorities. As I mentioned at the start you should be looking for rakeback and good bonus to start with whatever you want.

Remember: US Players can only play on pokerstars, full tilt, cereus, cake and some smaller sites I wouldn’t recommend.

For the casual player perhaps just starting a bit of online poker I would recommend FullTilt you can get a decent rakeback and bonus as well as their great software, strong support and a wide range of different games to play. The slight downside is the tougher players, but if you’re playing casually at the lower limits this won’t be very noticeable. Moreover casual players are probably more likely to play more tournaments in which case I wouldn’t worry too much about player skill levels as they will always be reasonably weak. Some casual players may prefer PKR which also has decent rakeback and bonus schemes. You will struggle to play multiple tables but the players will be weaker.

If safety and support are your top priorities the best site is definitely pokerstars. The only real problem I have with poker stars is that you lose out a bit on the rakeback.

For the regular player looking to make a decent profit I’m going to recommend a site on the boss media network. The combination of weak players, decent traffic and good rakeback and bonuses make it a great place to rack up the profits. The only problem for me is the software. A similarly decent option is the entraction network where you may achieve slightly higher rakeback. If software is really crucial for you then stars or full tilt are still excellent options. Whilst you won’t be as profitable on these sites you will learn faster against tougher opponents.

Thanks for reading the article and I hope you found it helpful. Please note that the scores in the table below don’t include a rakeback score and I have played on all the sites in the table below. Please leave any of your own experiences in the comments below.

This site is one of the best for rakeback and bonuses but don’t be afraid to look around.

http://www.raketherake.com

Boss Media – Paradise Poker, Poker Heaven, InterPoker, Fortune Poker, Virgin Poker, Parabet, OPoker

Cake Poker Network- Cake, Doyles Room, Juicy Stakes, Victory Poker, Power, Red Star

Cereus Poker Network – Absolute, Ultimate Bet

Entraction Network – NoiQ Poker, Devilfish Poker, PokerMambo

OnGame Network – Betfair, EuroBet, Betsafe, Hollywood, Tower Gaming, Red Kings

Ipoker Network – WilliamHill, Titan, VC

Column1 Rakeback Software Support Traffic Safety Weaker Players Bonuses Total
Poker Stars VIP 9 10 10 10 5 8 52
FullTiltPoker 27% 10 8 9 10 4 8 49
PKR 33% 7 7 6 8 10 9 47
Boss Media Network 30% 5 6 6 9 9 10 45
Party Poker VIP 6 7 8 9 8 7 45
OnGameNetwork 30% 6 7 7 8 8 8 44
Ipoker network VIP 5 7 8 9 6 8 43
Entraction Network 30-45% 6 7 5 8 7 9 42
Cake Network 30% 4 6 4 7 7 6 34
Cereus Network VIP N/A N/A N/A 0 N/A N/A 0

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. {Film Review}

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When the original Wall Street film came out in 1987, only two months after the Black Monday stock market crash, it was very apt. It was as much a damning indictment of the yuppie generation as it was Hollywood entertainment. As history repeats itself, so has the timing of the second film. With fears of double dip recessions, crashing house prices in America and massive unemployment, Oliver Stone once again holds up a mirror to the financial world – it looks as ugly as it did last time.

Whilst the original glamourised the industry it sought to shame, Wall Street 2 makes the industry seem much more brutal. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko is more grizzled and world weary. Coming out of prison after decades for insider trading.

I can’t separate the actors life from the character. This may seem strange, but during filming Douglas’s son, Cameron, went to prison for 5 years for dealing drugs. In the film, Gekko has a son who died from a drug overdose. In a speech near the end about his son, the speech is so truthful I could barely watch, the pain was so visible.

Wall Street 2 is a good film. Shia LaBeouf is spot on as the hier broker engaged to Gekko’s daughter. Josh Brolin is as good as ever as Bretton James. An unscrupulous billionaire who’s callous actions cause Shia LaBeouf’s character, Jake Moore, to seek revenge. To incredibly watchable effect.

The other thing this things reminds you of is how amazing Michael Douglas is as an actor. I really hope he has a speedy recovery from cancer soon. The loss to cinema would be too great.

Throw in a cameo no-one was expecting and you have a brilliant film. Well worth a watch.

By Catherine Balavage

The Fighter's Ballad Preview {Film}

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Films set in London can’t help but resonate with it’s residents and ‘The Fighter’s Ballad’ opens with various shots of London and it’s landmarks so from the start I expected it to portray some of the characteristics and problems of present day London. And I wasn’t disappointed. Set and filmed in St Leonard’s Shoreditch Church, round the corner from the hedonistic playground of the youthful and trendy that is Hoxton, a world weary Reverend (Clive Russell) carries out his mundane day to day duties to a dwindling congregation.
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St Leonard’s is also the setting for the television show ‘Rev’ and has been described as “one of the country’s most bleakly beautiful buildings.” It’s name might be familiar from the nursary rhyme ‘Oranges and Lemons’ and Shakespeare is said to have worshipped there but these days the flock is the homeless and drug addicts.
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The plot continues when a violent, desperate man breaks into the Church bringing with him the anxiety and anger of contemporary society. This is The Fighter (Peter Cadwell) and as his name suggests he’s violent. He’s also a soul in turmoil, seeking meaning in life, faith and redemption.
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The Fighter’s Ballad is an adaptation of an original stage play written by Peter Cadwell who plays The Fighter. Although film is very dialogue heavy, the performances were strong enough to carry it off. Russell’s portrayal of Reverend John was natural, utterly convincing and at times very moving. Russell’s grand stature (6’6″) didn’t prevent him from coming across as a vulnerable character. Cadwell, more used to the stage, brought an energy to the nameless fighter that’s not often seen on a screen. The Fighter’s dialogue being lyrical and almost rap-like, the extra energy came in handy bringing the angry, troubled character to life.
The film is superbly shot, if a little dark in places, on digital SLR cameras. They make full use of the dereliction of the building and the features inside.  A grand piano covered in water stained dustsheet says everything about this supposed sanctuary surrounded by gritty inner London.
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The Fighter’s Ballad was screened at Bafta on 30th September and will continue to go on to bigger and better things.

Stefan Reviews: Four Lions

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Chris Morris has always skipped merrily down his own road of good intentions hand in hand with his friend controversy and this has led to him being both admired and detested. With shows like The Day Today and Brass Eye to his name, he has been known to tackle and take the mick out of pretty serious issues (the outstanding BrassEye Special that warned us all of a Paedogeddon springs to mind) and after his comparatively tame appearances in The IT Crowd or his Shoreditch wanker ribbing sitcom Nathan Barley his new Islamic suicide bombing comedy Four Lions certainly lives up to his ‘Media Terrorist’ label.

The film centres around five would be martyrs as they plan to show the Western World what is it is to be (in their ill conceived notion filled minds) a true follower of Islam. It’s easy to feel hatred for someone who would take the lives of innocent people in the name of a belief, but somehow, while the Lions are plotting a horrific event and along with all the laughs, sympathy washes over you from the screen. The audience seem to forget what the characters true intentions are as they watch Omar (played by Riz Ahmed as the obvious brains in the group) display a happy and playful home life with his wife and son or hearing Fessal (Adeel Akhtar) speak lovingly about his dad. Although sympathetic and very funny, there is still a vein of unease running throughout Four Lions, watching parents tell their young child about the glory of martyrdom or seeing Omar knowingly brainwash his dim-witted but pleasant brother, Wej (Kayvan Novak), into ignoring his feelings and look forward to an eternity that can only be compared to the greatness of the Rubber Dinghy Rapids at Alton Towers, makes you wonder if you should really be laughing.

The same can be said for Barry (Nigel Lindsay) who comes across as being a British convert purely as release for his racism towards Jews, anything that goes wrong for him and it’s the Jews fault (even when his car breaks down he blames the Jewish parts). While still a truly horrible person, Barry brings so much humour through his ineptness, stupidity and anger when the others of the group happily insult him to his face while speaking in Urdu. As an outsider, Barry adds an element of hostility in an otherwise close knit team who are able to share jokes while planning destruction and dance along to Toploaders awful song ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ together. Using this closeness as an ongoing theme, Four Lions fails to ask the question why? Why do these young men who don’t seem to be suffering that much and are not oppressed at all want to blow themselves up. The only answer we seem to get is because of all the ‘Jews and slags an that’ but seeing as this film isn’t a political thriller it doesn’t really need to answer those questions and is happy to stay in the Secret Flat arseing about with explosives!

Judging by Morris’ past efforts Four Lions doesn’t court controversy quite as much as some expected, and would perhaps have worked better a few years ago, but it is still very very funny and should be seen before it ends its cinema run.

Four Lions is rated (15) and is still playing at most cinemas.

Stefan Reviews; Nightmare on Elm Street.

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From the Eighties to the early Noughties the horror genre has been dominated by two names; Jason Vorhees and probably the little more known….Freddy Kruger.
With nine films, a TV series and a smorgasbord of (sometimes parody) guest appearances in TV under his belt, Freddy has certainly made his quadruple bladed glove mark in the world of celluloid.
What started out as a very scary character played horrifically menacingly by Robert Englund, Kruger sadly became one of mischief and comedy rather than a to-scared-to-turn-the-lights-out-after-watching monster that he once was. This however was rumoured to all change when Freddy was taken on by Jackie Earl Haley.
Best known for his sinister portrayal of Rorschach in last years Watchmen, Haley was an eagerly awaited choice for the role by the majority of Kruger fans wanting to see the darker side of an already pretty pitch character.
The before the title opening scene gives a nice quick introduction to the main players in the film and ends in a way that seems to promise as much blood as you would expect from the old franchise and a lot more scares. Unfortunately it doesn’t deliver, there are a couple of gallons of blood and a few actual scary moments that make squeals and screams erupt from a jumping audience (I cant remember the last time a new horror film did that) but they are few and far between so fail to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, although this could not be said for the girl sitting behind me who I think must have lost most of her popcorn!
The mostly unknown in movies cast (mainly American TV an small film roles) are good at keeping out the horror shlock thus once again making this an altogether different route for Nightmare, but only Rooney Mara stands out from the rest (strange considering it also co-starred Clancy Brown). Her portrayal of troubled heroine Nancy Thompson is believable and pulls in the sympathy and could easily be carried over into sequels if they choose to remake the rest of the Nightmare stories (I’m hoping they don’t for fear they would go the same way as the 80’s/90’s lot and end up with a rapping Haley arsing about with a prop guitar). Joy turns to disappointment with Jackie Earle Haley, as promised, he is a lot more menacing and frightening than Englund ever was, but for some odd unexplainable reason during the finale fight he starts spouting rubbish one liner quips. Threatening with the promise of violence and abuse throughout the entire film, resorting to crappy puns very nearly ruins the re-imagining of the character.
A film that promised much and delivered a bit Nightmare on Elm Street has too few scares and fails to build suspense, and if you can ignore the image of Freddy wearing Rorschach’s mask (it seems Haley has adopted that voice to express malevolence and inspire fear) I suggest you wait for the DVD.

Nightmare on Elm Street is still playing at most cinemas and is rated 18.

Frost Film Review: Cemetery Junction

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Frost Rating ****

A group of 20 something’s living in the early 70’s in the isolated Cemetary Junction, a sleepy suburb near Reading. Their days consist of mundane jobs, chasing girls, drinking and drawing bits and bobs on billboards.

So far it doesn’t sound like a premise for a hilarious Gervais-Merchant film but underneath the gushy-feel-good-coming-of-age premise is an observant and clever comedy.

I don’t want to give too much away but the story follows three friends living in sleepy Cemetary Junction; Freddie (Christian Cooke), Bruce (Tom Hughes), and Snork (Jack Doolan); who’s lives are transformed by the reappearance of Freddie’s childhood sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones).
Gervais and Merchant manage to get away with some incredibly politically incorect jokes but it’s set in the 70’s so the audience forgives them. What really makes this film keep you laughing is the brilliant script.

So my advice, if you want to be entertained by a warm, funny, easy on the brain-film…definately go watch it!!!
15 cert (94 mins)

Cemetery Junction Official Site – Sony Pictures

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYDeHIszUqA