Geekly Review #3

Another week over, another weekend to Geek out, What did we get up to this weekend…

I had a rather quiet weekend in terms of gaming, In fact I believe about 2 hours of FIFA 14 was all the gaming that I got in this weekend. That will be rectified in the week commencing however as I’m now on annual leave for a week and have positioned the Xbox360 and TV in the bedroom for maximum comfort gaming from bed.

Another Friday means more Walking Dead & Shield. Let’s start with Shield. After a great episode last week I thought this weekend’s went right back down to mediocre. This show is now feeling like a chore to watch and I feel that the only reason I’m viewing is due to my affliction with the Marvel cinematic universe. I don’t want to miss out anything that will potentially refer to future movies but I get the impression  this won’t be the case. The major plus is that Tahiti is still being referenced, some truly magical shit must have gone down there, hope we learn more soon. I know soon an episode that takes place after the events of Thor is going to air as reported on our forum, so hopefully this episode will pick the series up.
Walking Dead however, This season is turning out to be the best season so far, each episode gets better and this one was just ridiculously tense, Definitely brought out the feels too. Glen I genuinely thought was a goner, and when Hershel breaks down into tears… well damn, must have been some dust or something in my eyes.
And finally to Homeland, this is another show in which the current season is better than the previous. I was glad to have an episode with no Brody family values, and learn more about the Langley bombing/bomber. Also loved Saul’s gamble and his big fuck you to the Senator Lockheart. He’s getting as annoying as Dana (did I really say that?)

Aside from the TV catch up’s it was also another weekend of sport. Unfortunately for England not one to remember. The football was quite terrible, and unfortunately Alexis Sanchez who shot us down in the press conference prior to the game, proved his point in a comfortable 2-0 win for Chilie. For the rugby that was a little more respectable and we can hold our heads high after the effort that was put in. In the Formula one we had another race weekend win from Vettel which inevitably meant another record was broken. 8 wins in a row in a season, these are records that I can’t see being touched for years to come. And finally in the NFL was the matchup of the greatest offence this season in Bronco’s vs greatest defence in Chiefs. The game did not disappoint, and happily neither did my team the Giants. 4 win’s on the bounce…Playoff’s? Maybe just maybe.

Well a week of gaming for me awaits… huzzah!

– Murr

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I was meant to be going out Friday night for friends birthday but wasn’t feeling to well, and therefore ended up staying in and watching the football whilst playing Football Manager. My god England were dire…

Saturday I caught up with The Legend of Korra, all 4 remaining episodes were aired over the weekend, and now season 2 is over. The finale was a bit mental, lots of crazy stuff was going on, Dark Avatars were fighting light Avatars in scene that was reminiscent of Godzilla meets Pacific Rim turned Anime. I felt like the final showdown was a little underwhelming, there was no real a big epic fight with lots of cool bending going on, but overall I did enjoy it. I wonder where they will go with season 3 now? War between humans and spirits?

I also managed to watch a film that I have been meaning to watch since it came out. Elysium, the sci-fi romp from District 9’s Neill Blomkamp. The plot is roughly as follows. Rich people have abandoned earth to live on Halo…. I mean Elysium. This leaves Earths remaining population living in poverty being policed by some badass super shiny robots. Loads of people on Earth are sick but can’t get the proper treatment, Matt Damon being one of them, after an unfortunate work accident. He wants to get to Elysium so he can be healed and heal others, Jodie Foster say “Hell no!” and calls in Kruger, the mental mercenary, played by Sharlto Copley (District 9), and she also plans a coup so that she can take over, basically because the current president is too soft. They all end up having a big Sci-Fi fight, and it looks really good.

The story was pretty run of the mill, not terrible but nothing to get you really caring all that much. Copley was probably the stand out performance for the film, whilst the rest just kind of ‘did what was needed’.
Overall I did enjoy the film. And if you like Sci-fi films, but aren’t looking for a totalling engrossing plot, and just want to see some really nice looking tech, and have a bit fun. Then you should watch it.

Sunday I picked up Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons from XBLA, so far I’ve played about 3 hours maybe a bit more, and its a really good game. The controls can take a little getting used to. You control one brother with one analogue stick and the other brother with the other stick. But that’s pretty much the only controls there are, apart from ‘interact’.

The game sees you trying to save your father who is ill for some unknown reason, so you go off on a quest to look for a tree, I’m guessing its a tree of life. On your travels you have to solve various puzzles and help various people with ‘minor’ things. The game is pretty linear, but that doesn’t really matter, most puzzle platformers are.
The game looks amazing and the art style is great, the scenery is really breath taking at times, and the puzzles make you think just enough to challenge you whilst not getting frustrated.

Its joint top in the PC metacritic charts, so it must be doing something right! Give it a try.

Oh, and my car broke down…. BOOOO!!!

– Will