Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009, Third-Person Action Adventure, PS3 exclusive) – 10/10 review

Game Director: Bruce Straley Creative Director: Amy Hennig Lead Programmer: Pål-Kristian Engstad Lead Programmer: Travis McIntosh Lead Programmer: Dan Liebgold Music: Greg Edmonson Nolan North: Nathan Drake Emily Rose: Elena Fisher Claudia Black: Chloe Frazer Richard McGonagle: Sully Steve Valentine: Harry Flynn Rene Auberjonois: Karl Schafer

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009) Drake joins up with former colleague Harry Flynn to try and find the lost treasure of Marco Polo but when you’re among thieves, you really can trust no-one. 10/10 While Drake’s still got completely broken ankles, this is a fun, highly thrilling action game that you just want to play through in one sitting. There are some moments that are absolutely staggering such as battles being played on the floor of a collapsing building, on a speeding train, the chapter with Jeff and post-Jeff and a Tibetan truck chase. There are sequences here that would be awesome if they were in a movie or cut-scene but in a game, with you playing it, it’s awesome on toast. Additionally, there are lots of lovely touches including Drake being highly personable in swimming pools, petting yaks and introducing himself to Tibetan villagers and it’s even actually funny ("There’s a guy below you, there’s a guy below you.") and genuinely charming. Then you’ve got the goodness that is one of the best multiplayer co-op experiences available. This is one of those games that people always start to describe by saying "it’s not perfect, but…" Of course, nothing is, but Uncharted 2 is the PS3’s best game and one of the all-time greats. This game contains frequent mild swear words, mild adult dialogue and gory scenes, frequent gun violence, frequent melee violence, knife violence and sensuality. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Links 1920×1080 and 1920×1200 HD widescreen wallpapers Previous: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Superman (1978, Movie) – 10/10 review

Producer (Presents credit): Alexander Salkind Marlon Brando: Jor-El Gene Hackman: Lex Luthor Director: Richard Donner Christopher Reeve: Superman / Clark Kent Ned Beatty: Otis Jackie Cooper: Perry White Glenn Ford: Pa Kent Trevor Howard: 1st Elder Margot Kidder: Lois Lane Composer: John Williams Writer (Characters’ Creator) Superman: Jerry Siegel Writer (Characters’ Creator) Superman: Joe Shuster Writer (Story): Mario Puzo Writer (Screenplay): Mario Puzo Writer (Screenplay): David Newman Writer (Screenplay): Leslie Newman Writer (Screenplay): Robert Benton Creative Consultant: Tom Mankiewicz Associate Producer: Charles F. Greenlaw Executive Producer: Ilya Salkind Producer: Pierre Spengler Writer (Additional Script Material): Norman Enfield

Superman (1978) Kryptonite baby Kal’el is sent to planet Earth to save his life before the planet Krypton itself is destroyed by a nearby Sun.The baby is discovered by the Kent family and brought up as a ‘normal’ human but here on Earth he has extraordinary talents and strengths. After the death of his adopted father, the now Clark Kent is impelled to go North and learns about his real identity. He decides to use his powers for good and is given the tag Superman by love interest Lois Lane. However, super criminal Lex Luthor has plans to destroy all of California in a landscam deal and has discovered a way to prevent Superman stopping him. 10/10 Superlative fantasy action adventure; easily my favourite movie. Even thirty years on, this is the greatest superhero movie ever made and, yes, you will still believe a man can fly. It’s greatest achievement, however, is that the movie has such a clean, good core; Christopher Reeve’s brilliant performance has an innocence with no darkness, no dishonesty, no possibility of corruption. Even Gene Hackman’s villain is effective and fun without being horrible or graphically violent. Thirty years on, filmmakers and writers have simply forgotten how to make superhero movies without extreme violence (see Superman Returns). That said, they also appear to have forgotten how to edit action sequences, how to portray character, how to tell a story, and how to have a point to your movie aside from generating money. The fact that this movie can never be matched for it’s heart due to the deterioration of the world’s morality and ‘movie violence solves everything’ ethos makes Superman even more special. This movie contains mild adult dialogue and scary scenes (being buried alive). Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.

Bioshock (2007, Game, 360) – 10/10 review

Writer (Story): Ken Levine Writer: Ken Levine Creative Director: Ken Levine Director of Product Development: Jonathan Chey Project Lead: Alyssa Finley

Bioshock (2007) 1960, Mid-Atlantic: Your plane crashes into the ocean but a beacon of hope towers over the water. You enter and find a once-remarkable undersea city but the crash was only the start of your trauma. Welcome to Rapture, and the world of Andrew Ryan. 10/10 When reviewers talk about atmosphere in a game, this is what they are talking about (see also the Half-Life series). This is the best-looking non-Epic Unreal Engine game; it shows that it isn’t the engine’s fault that so many games built in it look kinda ugly but that the developers are not getting the best out of it. However, Bioshock isn’t quite perfect. The main problem is the staggering gameplay decision that pulling your Plasmid or Weapon trigger does not always fire it; you have to press it twice if switching from one to the other or you have to press a button then the trigger. Every other problem is rather minor (the Big Daddy boots make a quickly tiresome noise) and are more than compensated for by the incredible production design, wonderful sound, interesting gameplay and surprisingly well-told story (there are almost no cut-scenes) with a reveal in the second-act climax that will really tickle the grey cells especially if someone reminds you what Vita-Chambers do. This game contains sexual swear words and substance abuse (plasmids) and extended extremely unpleasant and extremely gory scenes, extended extreme and gory gun violence, extended extreme and gory melee violence, extended graphic fantasy violence. Classified 18 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 18 years and over.

Pinocchio (1940, Movie) – 10/10 review

Producer (Presents credit): Walt Disney Writer (Original Story): Collodi Supervising Director: Ben Sharpsteen Supervising Director: Hamilton Luske Composer: Leigh Harline Composer: Ned Washington Composer: Paul Smith

Pinocchio (1940) When toy maker Gepetto ‘wishes upon a star’ for a real boy, he is delighted when the Blue Fairy comes down and grants his wish making his latest creation Pinocchio come alive. Appointed Jiminy Cricket as his conscience, the live puppet is informed that he needs to prove himself brave, true & unselfish in order to become a real boy. Of course, events conspire against him resulting in him being sent to Pleasure Isle to make a jackass out of himself while Gepetto is swallowed by Monstro, a huge whale, in his fruitless search for his lost Pinocchio . Will Pinocchio ever be able to become a real boy? 10/10 This is the greatest animated film ever made and one of the all-time classic motion pictures. Pinocchio is an amazingly animated film with every sequence worthy of the endless lauding and studying since. Story telling through animation has never been done better and the plot is interesting, valuable, surprising and even frightening. Memorable music, classic characters, breath-taking animation and crisp direction make this film one of the greatest ever made. Always moving, this film rubber stamps memorable images on your mind. For example, the nose growing when Pinnochio tells a lie (remarkably, it only happens once) or the bad boys turning into jack-asses. Endlessly stunning. This movie contains some scary scenes and extreme violence. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

The Rock: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1996, Music) – 10/10 review

Music Composer: Hans Zimmer

Rock, The Rock, The: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1996) 10/10 Thrilling and memorable, this is as bombastically brilliant as action movie soundtracks get. From this point on, all action movie soundtracks endeavoured to sound like this. It’s entertaining and stirring even without the pretty pictures of Michael Bay’s movie. That said, it’s not perfect and, in some ways, not even good. The same music is used for heroes and villains and there are no peaks and troughs that help tell the tale of the movie. If you are a bit of a musical snob, you might be rather offended when it still makes you feel like a hero despite these, arguably, fundamental flaws.

Sleeping Beauty (1958, Movie) – 10/10 review

Mary Costa: Princess Aurora Music Adaptation: George Bruns Composer (Original Ballet) "Sleeping Beauty Ballet": Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky Writer (Adaptation): Erdman Penner Writer (Original Story): Charles Perrault Writer (Additional Story): Joe Kinaldi Writer (Additional Story): Winston Hibler Writer (Additional Story): Bill Peet Writer (Additional Story): Ted Sears Writer (Additional Story): Ralph Wright Writer (Additional Story): Milt Banta Color Styling: Eyvind Earle Directing Animator: John Lounsbery Supervising Director: Clyde Geronimi Sequence Director: Eric Larson Sequence Director: Wolfgang Reitherman Sequence Director: Les Clark Producer: Walt Disney Writer (Original Story): The Brothers Grimm

Sleeping Beauty (1958) When evil sorceress Queen Maleficent is not invited to the christening of King Stephan’s daughter, she casts a spell upon the young infant, dooming her to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die before her sixteenth birthday. Three good fairies take the young Princess Aurora and hide her away but their powers are no match for Maleficent. 10/10 I’m not saying there’s no point in making a fairy tale romance ever again but this is how you do ‘em. It is virtually perfect. Technically and stylistically Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is one of the greatest animations ever (visually designed almost exclusively by Eyvind Earl, here credited as Color Stylist) and the music, by some guy called Tchaikovsky (though, surprisingly, not Disney’s first choice), isn’t bad either. These are, however, just the headlines and every detail in every point of the production is absolutely wonderful. Cartoon animated characters have never looked so good, before or since, as this was the final ‘unlimited’ budget (six years of production at a cost of $6 million) Disney film before financial problems set in. The animation is so clean and so characterful that it takes the breath away. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Mulan (1998, Disney Movie) – 10/10 review

Director: Barry Cook Director: Tony Bancroft Writer (Original Story): Robert D. San Souci Writer (Screenplay): Rita Hsiao Writer (Screenplay): Christopher Sanders Writer (Screenplay): Philip LaZebnik Writer (Screenplay): Raymond Singer Writer (Screenplay): Eugenia Bostwick-Singer Composer (Songs): Matthew Wilder Composer (Songs): David Zippel Ming-Na Wen: Voice of Mulan Lea Salonga: Singing Voice of Mulan Soon-Teck Oh: Voice of Fa Zhou B.D. Wong: Voice of Shang Donny Osmond: Singing Voice of Shang Freda Foh Shen: Voice of Fa Li Eddie Murphy: Voice of Mushu

Mulan (1998) Based on an ancient Chinese folk tale. A young girl disguises herself as a boy and joins the army so that her frail father won’t have to serve. The ghosts of her all-seeing ancestors call up their mightiest dragon to help her but Mushu, a demoted mini-dragon, ends up going instead… 10/10 Spectacular animated masterpiece showing once more that by sticking to the ‘confines’ of the formula set by Walt Disney some 60 years earlier, the medium can achieve what almost no live-action movie can. Whoever thought there would be a Disney film featuring martial arts fighting, cross-dressing and a teenage girl killing people and blowing stuff up? Well, here it is, and jolly good it is too. The displays of selflessness and sense of duty also make for a positive moral message. This movie contains violence, mild gore. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Superman: The Music (1978-1988) "Blue Box" (2008, Music) – 10/10 review

Superman: The Music (1978-1988) "Blue Box" (2008) Film Score Monthly’s second box set (FSMBOX02 available worldwide exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment) sees complete movie scores for the Christopher Reeve films joined by the songs from Superman’s III and IV and the score composed for the 1988 animated television series presented in a tidy blue box with a comprehensive hardcover book of history and annotation. 10/10 While it’s worth the money and 10/10 just for the best ever version of the best ever movie score (Superman: The Movie, by the way) this box set delights with the previously unavailable Superman IV score by John Williams and Alexander Courage which is surprisingly and genuinely very good indeed.

Gran Turismo: Real Driving Simulator 2, The (1999, PS1) – 10/10

Gran Turismo: The Real Driving Simulator 2 (1999) 1 player GT mode offline, 1 or 2 player Arcade mode offline. Starting with lowly production cars, win races of all classes and disciplines to earn money to enhance your car and expand your garage, ultimately getting your hands on limited edition, ultra-rare full-on sportscars with outrageous performance. 10/10 The most comprehensive driving simulator by far at the time, Gran Turismo 2 has astounding breadth and is instantly brilliant in nearly every department. It’s one and only weakness – it is too easy, a fact concealed only by its length – is not enough to prevent it getting the full ten. Polyphony Digital once again provide a wonderful showcase of brilliantly designed and rendered environments for their exemplary driving experience that is convincing, challenging and, crucially, fun.

Gran Turismo (1998, PS1) – 10/10

Gran Turismo (1998) 10/10 Genre-defining racing game classic. I’ve taken another look at it almost ten years on now and the driving is as good as ever. Using a PC emulator, I had it set up with a high resolution display and analogue steering and analogue brake and accelerate on the Xbox 360 Controller shoulder triggers. Worked like a charm (aside from an humungous ePSXe-introduced dead-zone in the steering which has be got used to). Ridiculously, a lot of sim-slanted driving games since do not match this great game for that feel of being in control of a vehicle and knowing what it is doing from the vibration and screen feedback.

Doctor Slimm gets shot (a lot) in PlayStation 3’s Call of Duty 4

 

Doctor Slimm attempts to diagnose small tweaks that would have improved the playing experience, sometimes imperceptibly. They are presented in no particular order. This is not a sequel wish list or a bug list but tweaks to what is already there. 

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) Single player: tackle terrorism in a contemporary battlefield as the world’s armed forces unite to remove a common enemy in a politically unstable country. Multiplayer: employ all your guile, skill and persistence and work your way up from a lowly private with stock weapons by partaking in various wargames against other people from around the world. 10/10 As good as first person shooters get whose only minor fault is that it sometimes feels like the action happens with or without you. This is utterly spectacular, beautifully paced, gorgeous to look at and listen to and, critically, features pitch-perfect controls and instant all-enveloping atmosphere. And who knew that being able to shoot through certain materials would be so rewarding? Even when the game is over, the goodness doesn’t end with a wry rap stressing the fact that Call of Duty 3 isn’t an Infinity Ward game, a bonus level set on an airplane (“Don’t call me Shirley.”) and a never-ending and worthwhile multiplayer component. This videogame contains a single sexual swear word, mild swear words and extended graphic war violence. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Classified 16+ by PEGI. The game is only suitable for persons who have reached the age of 16 or over.. Classified Violence by PEGI. Game contains depictions of violence.. Classified Bad Language by PEGI. Game contains bad language.. Available on Xbox 360. Available on PC. Available on PS3. Available on Special Edition Xbox 360.

User-defined controls. In common with many console shooters, you cannot define your own controls in Call of Duty 4. You can choose one of the predefined control layouts which, impressively, include a few left-handed sets. However, the specific control I really wanted to change was Sprint which is assigned to L3 on all control schemes. I find it very difficult to sprint effectively in the game. Given the choice I would assign Sprint to Circle and Change Stance to L3. But I’m not given the choice.

Doctor Slimm found nothing else worth tweaking with the game. It’s that good.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007, PlayStation 3) – 10/10

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) Single player: tackle terrorism in a contemporary battlefield as the world’s armed forces unite to remove a common enemy in a politically unstable country. Multiplayer: employ all your guile, skill and persistence and work your way up from a lowly private with stock weapons by partaking in various wargames against other people from around the world. 10/10 As good as first person shooters get whose only minor fault is that it sometimes feels like the action happens with or without you. This is utterly spectacular, beautifully paced, gorgeous to look at and listen to and, critically, features pitch-perfect controls and instant all-enveloping atmosphere. And who knew that being able to shoot through certain materials would be so rewarding? Even when the game is over, the goodness doesn’t end with a wry rap stressing the fact that Call of Duty 3 isn’t an Infinity Ward game, a bonus level set on an airplane (“Don’t call me Shirley.”) and a never-ending and worthwhile multiplayer component. This game contains a single sexual swear word, mild swear words and extended graphic war violence. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Classified 16+ by PEGI. The game is only suitable for persons who have reached the age of 16 or over.. Classified Violence by PEGI. Game contains depictions of violence. Classified Bad Language by PEGI. Game contains bad language. Available on Xbox 360. Available on PC. Available on PS3. Available on Special Edition Xbox 360. Links gamedoctor

Ico (2002, Game, PS2 on PS3) – 10/10 review

Game Designer: Fumito Ueda Director: Fumito Ueda Kazuhiro Shindou: Ico

Ico (2002) Ico’s fate had been sealed since his birth, since that fateful day when he emerged with horn’s protruding from his tiny head. Now twelve-years-old, his family offer no resistance and weep none when the mysterious horsemen come and take him away to be imprisoned in an ancient fortress. The horsemen seal him inside a stone casket and Ico is sentenced to spend eternity in silent torment… 10/10 Without question, one of the most remarkable videogames ever made. Expressively animated and atmospherically presented, this gentle puzzle action game is full of gameplay goodness that would become touchstones in modern gaming (God of War is highly reminiscent of this). It also supplies one of the single most brilliant moments in videogame history when you take the hand of your companion Yorda and realise that you will be protecting this delicate, ethereal girl and tackling this adventure together literally hand-in-hand. Genius. This game contains fantasy violence, mild gory and unpleasant scenes. Classified OK 3+ by ELSPA. Content OK 3+. Available on PlayStation 2.