Thursday, 25 August 2022

REVIEW: Train Valley: Console Edition - On PC and Consoles

Although Train Valley has been available on PC for quite a while, the developers have finally released the game on consoles.

The concept is simple. You play on a single screen map and start with a couple of train stations. (You can zoom in and out). The problem is that there is no track. That is your job, connect the Stations, so that the trains can travel from one point to another. But of course, things aren't that easy. For a start you have a strict budget, and you have to pay taxes every in-game year.

When laying tracks across empty areas, they cost just $1000 per piece of track laid, but if there is a tree in the way then the cost doubles, oh and if there is a house in the way that price goes up. The bigger the obstacle the more it costs, so the clever builder will avoid obstacles. And that creates it's own set of problems.

As you play the game and time passes, more train stations will appear. Everything is colour coded, and it needs to be, because now trains will need to go to specific stations, so you not only need to make sure the tracks are laid correctly, but you also have to control switches.

Full Review at


Wednesday, 24 August 2022

REVIEW: DC League of Super-Pets - Starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart

I love Superhero films, I hate Superhero cartoons, I avoid them like the plague, however I thought I would give League of Super-Pets a chance, as I had heard good things about it.

The basic story tells of Superman's pet dog Krypto and shelter dog Ace who work with other animals to rescue the captured superheroes from Lex Luthor (Marc Maron).

With an all-star cast including Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Schwartz, and Keanu Reeves, surely, they can't go wrong!

The film starts off with the classic Superman origin story, but with a slight twist. During the final moments of Krypton before its destruction, Kal-El's parents put baby Supes in a small spaceship pod so he can survive, as the little ship is closing, a Kryptonian Labrador Retriever puppy jumps into the pod too.

Full Review at


Monday, 22 August 2022

REVIEW: Lost in Play on Nintendo Switch

Lost in Play is one of those games you know you are going to love, even after only playing it for 10 minutes. And that is exactly how I felt after a short time after loading it up on my Nintendo Switch Lite.

Similar in style to classic point and click games, this uses a slightly different type of interface to interact with onscreen objects than just pointing and clicking, playing more like an interactive 2D cartoon, you play as a brother and sister Toto and Gal, as they explore their dreams, befriend magical creatures, and of course solve lots of puzzles along the way.

This game is based on the imagination of children, something that as adults we lose, but can still remember those crazy adventures we had as kids, when we didn't have computer games or endless screens to look at, instead we had to use our imagination.

"Between reality and fantasy, the siblings explore the enchanted forest of a horned beast, start a rebellion in a goblin village, and help a team of frogs free a sword from a stone."

Full Review at


Sunday, 21 August 2022

REVIEW: Bullet Proof (2022) aka Death Pursuit - Starring Vinnie Jones, James Clayton and Lina Lecompte

So, there is this film and we want to cast Vinnie Jones.... Yep, you got it, a gritty gangster film!

Ok, to be fair it is a bit more than just a gritty gangster film, it has a lot of car chase scenes too!

We are quickly introduced to a character that we only ever know as The Thief (James Clayton), in fact the one moment in the film where he says his name, there is a hilarious cutaway to a plane propeller, so we never do hear his name spoken. Anyway, The Thief is sneaking about in a drug dealers' hideout which just happens to be in a car scrapyard. The Thief steals millions in cash that just happens to be lying around, while a bunch of gangsters are taking care of "business".

For some bizarre reason after getting the cash and jumping in a car for his easy escape The Thief decides to put some music on, and we quickly have a shoot out, chase scene.

Full Review at


Saturday, 20 August 2022

REVIEW: Orphan: First Kill (2022) - Starring Isabelle Fuhrman and Julia Stiles

Have you ever started watching a film and then instantly thought you had seen it before? Well, I felt that way about Orphan First Kill, so I quickly got on google and realised this is a prequel of a 2009 film, with the same actress in the lead role.

If you have never seen Orphan (2009), it is basically a film about a 9-year-old girl adopted by a family, but the girl is really a 33-year-old psychopath who suffers with a disease which has stunted her growth and left her looking like a child.

Orphan: First Kill is a prequel which covers the years before the first film.

The film starts in Estonia in 2007, Leena Klammer (played by Isabelle Fuhrman) is a psychiatric patient at the Saarne Institute. Although she looks like a child, she is in fact a 31-year woman. One day she seduces a guard, steals his key and then kills him. She hides in the car of a therapist who was visiting the institute and escapes. She then breaks into the therapist's house and kills her. Leena discovers that she has a strong resemblance to a missing girl from the United States called Esther Albright.

Posing as the missing child, a police officer approaches her and she tells him that her parents are in America.

Full Review at


REVIEW: Spinny's Journey on PC (Steam)

Although it's been out for a while, I was asked to check out Spinny's Journey on PC.

You play as "Spinny" an alien explorer the size of a peanut, who has come to visit earth. Due to his small size, and the small size of his spacecraft, he finds himself attacked by a sparrow, which leaves him with just his emergency propellers to go find the lost parts of his ship so he can rebuild it.

General gameplay has you trying to navigate maze like levels with the spinning propellers, bit like a spinning matchstick. You have to dodge traps and navigate the course, all the while using the spin of your propellers to your advantage to pass through the course. This is much harder than it first sounds.

With over 50 challenging levels to master, including the classic 3 stars rating system. (don't hit anything, pass the level as quick as you can), there is enough to keep any puzzle fan busy for a while.

Everything is hand drawn and looks great.

Full Review at


Friday, 19 August 2022

REVIEW: Tower of Fantasy (Mobile Version)

I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in the closed beta test of open-world RPG Tower of Fantasy, and now the game has been officially released I thought I would share my thoughts.

"Set hundreds of years in the future on the distant planet of Aida, the shared open-world MMORPG, anime-infused sci-fi adventure Tower of Fantasy from developer Hotta Studio and publisher Level Infinite, is now available on PC and mobile platforms globally. Players will be able to experience an anime-inspired post-apocalyptic sci-fi art style, freeform character development, and exciting combat through thrilling battles and exciting open-world exploration.

In Tower of Fantasy, dwindling resources and a lack of energy have forced mankind to leave earth and migrate to Aida, a lush and habitable alien world. There, they observed the comet Mara and discovered an unknown but powerful energy called "Omnium" contained in it. They built the Omnium Tower to capture Mara, but due to the influence of Omnium radiation, a catastrophic disaster occurred on their new homeworld."

You play as a newcomer to a small settlement, and since this is the future, we have robots, monsters and all sorts of crazy post-apocalyptic things we all love and enjoy. As you play you quickly learn who your friends are, mainly due to being pulled into battles against those monsters and robots I mentioned earlier.

Full review at


REVIEW: The Moderator (2022) - Starring Irma Lake, Gary Dourdan and Robert Knepper

I thought I would check out new action crime thriller The Moderator on Prime Video, mainly due to the awesome poster, but also because I like a good international thriller, as they often offer something different to the usual rubbish that comes out of Hollywood.

Irma Lake stars as Mya Snik, one day she finds out that two of her Scandinavian friends in Morocco have been killed, and a video of their deaths sent to family. Luckily Snik happens to be a covert assassin, which means she can seek out revenge.

She quickly finds out that the deaths are part of a long line of sadistic murders by an underground crime syndicate, she decides to start hunting them down one by one. We soon learn that Snik is part of a group that are fighting against misogynistic men, and are getting revenge for women targeted by such men, rape victims, murder victims and so on.

Directed by Zhor Fassi-Fihri from a screenplay co-written by producer Hicham Hajji and Jonathan McConnell.

Full Review at


Thursday, 18 August 2022

REVIEW: Black Wood (2022) - Starring Tanajsia Slaughter & Glenn Morshower

Tanajsia Slaughter stars as Dowanhowee, a Native American woman, her family have been murdered and she is traveling through the American Old West. One day she comes across a small town, she is after a horse to ride to help her on her journey. She comes across the Dutch Wilder Gang who are on their own mission to find hidden gold.

When Dowanhowee realises one of the gang members was behind her family's death, she takes revenge by shooting an arrow through his neck and then finishing the job. She then escapes towards the Black Wood Forest.

The gang chase after her, capture her and then force her to guide them through the forest to what they hope will be a fortune of gold.

Full Review at


Wednesday, 17 August 2022

REVIEW: Day Shift (2022) - Starring Jamie Foxx, Meagan Good and Dave Franco

From J. J. Perry in his directorial debut comes Day Shift, a good old fashioned vampire horror comedy

Jamie Foxx stars as "pool cleaner" Bud Jablonski, one night after seeing someone leave a nearby house, Bud breaks in and is confronted by two vampires, one a young man and one an old woman. Of course, he kills the vampires and we quickly learn that Bud is no ordinary pool cleaner, that is just his cover, because by night he is a vampire hunter. After killing the vampires, he takes their fangs.

Back in the normal world and Bud is having family problems, his ex-wife wants to move to Florida, taking their young daughter with her. She can't afford the fees for her daughter's private school, as well as needing money for braces, and as everyone knows, life is cheaper and much better in Florida. Bud promises to find the money if they promise to stay if he does.

Bud tries to sell the fangs at the pawn shop, who also just happens to know all about vampires, but the money on offer is not enough. Bud realises he needs to get back into the vampire hunting union, whereby he will be rewarded much better for his hunts.

Full Review at


REVIEW: Mega Man Battle & Fighters - Nintendo Switch

Mega Man Battle & Fighters is a straightforward port from the NeoGeo Pocket Color release of Mega Man The Power Battle and Mega Man 2 The Power Fighters.

Basically, this is a simple way to just play the boss fights from the Mega Man 1 - 7 games, you can choose to play as a few different characters from the series including Proto Man, Bass, and Duo. Each have their own styles of fighting and weapons to master.

With 40 boss battles to master, there is enough here for fans of the original series to enjoy. As you beat your opponents you collect their character data and fill up your database.

With all this said, as this is a direct port of a super niche release on the Japanese NeoGeo Pocket Color, in game everything is in Japanese, and the trading functions have been disabled. Although the menu is in Japanese, because the trading function is greyed out, it is easy enough to figure out things enough so that you can play the battles.

Full Review at


Tuesday, 16 August 2022

REVIEW: Secret Headquarters (2022) - Starring Owen Wilson, Walker Scobell and Jesse Williams

I am a big Owen Wilson fan, so when I heard about this new film starring Owen Wilson as a super hero, I was very excited to see it.

Unfortunately, Owen Wilson is more of a cameo on the film, and instead this is a kid's film in the style of Spy Kids.

The story starts out with Jack Kincaid (Owen Wilson) coming across a crashed alien ship, an alien ball then chooses him to be "The Guard" and bestows upon him special powers. So far so good.

Full Review at


Sunday, 14 August 2022

REVIEW: Voyage on Nintendo Switch

From Ratalaika Games and Venturous comes a new side scrolling adventure game in Voyage.

You play as two survivors on an unknown planet, with beautiful hand drawn graphics, you must keep moving forward and try to overcome whatever obstacles stand in your way so you can find your way home as well as understand about the world you are on.

Played best as a co-op game, this can also be played solo, whereby you can switch between characters where needed. A bit like "Another Sight" but your characters tend to stay much closer together.

Main gameplay involves pushing and pulling things, using each character to help the other reach places, activating "Statue Scenes" and so on. Communication is basic between the two characters, and you can switch between characters at will. If playing solo, the character you are not controlling will generally just follow you, so you may need to tell them to stay put, or to follow. You can even hug each other which is nice.

Full Review at


Friday, 12 August 2022

REVIEW: Arcade Paradise on Xbox

When I was first asked to review Arcade Paradise, just looking at the press material I assumed this would be something similar to the recent Capcom Arcade Stadium releases, but although sharing elements with that game, this does things a little different.

You play as Ashley, and your job is to run the tedious day to day business of a launderette after your father Gerald, has gone to the Riviera.

Now what has any of this got to do with Arcade games I hear you ask, well in the back of the launderette is a room full of Arcade games. General gameplay starts with you entering the launderette, you will clean up rubbish from the floor, pull chewing gum from seats and when your rubbish bag is full you will take it outside and put in the large trash. Back inside you will pick up dirty clothes, put in washing machines, and then in the dryer. Do this all in quick time and you will get a score based on that.

Doing these tedious tasks earn you money, which in turn you can use on the computer in the office to unlock new arcade games.

Full Review at


Thursday, 11 August 2022

REVIEW: Before We Leave - Nintendo Switch

I originally reviewed Before We Leave for its original PC release, so I was looking forward to seeing how well this game would port to a Nintendo Switch, well wait no longer it is here, and I am checking it out on a Switch Lite.

"Before We Leave is a non-violent city building game set in a cozy corner of the universe."

As with all city builders, your job is to create a society, and help it grow, and expand. Your people are known as "Peeps", and they have spent generations underground, since their civilisation is lost, you will slowly help them grow, expand the settlements, discover new as well as lost ancient technologies and eventually even leave the planet and colonise new and wonderful places.

Everything is very laid back, the mechanics of the game are very simple, the planet your play on is based on hexagonal tiles, each tile represents an area you can build on. You start off with everything very basic, and as you go along, you will find that you can research new ways to do things, everything from the way you build roads, to the buildings and so on.

Full Review at


Wednesday, 10 August 2022

REVIEW: Sweet Transit (Early Access) on PC (Steam)

Sweet Transit is an intricate city builder where the railway is the king and the solution to all your city problems.

 

We have had hundreds if not thousands of city builder games over the years, and quite a few of them have been based around railways, and this is exactly where Sweet Transit sits. Although the railway system is the centre point of the game, it is much more than just about laying tracks, you also have to build a city, you have to create production lines, turn small villages into thriving modern cities.

 

You start off with a simple warehouse, and as you grow your village you will also grow your railway network.

 

As I mentioned earlier this is an intricate city builder, if layman's terms that means this is a detailed simulation. Perhaps a little too detailed and intricate for some hoping for more of an arcade experience.

 

Instead of just jumping straight into the game, you really need to start off with the tutorials, so you can get an understanding of how to get going. If you jump straight into the game, you will quickly get stuck and have no idea what you are doing. The onscreen display is not the best and I hope improves massively as the game further develops.

 

 

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/08/review-sweet-transit-early-access-on-pc.html

 

Tuesday, 9 August 2022

REVIEW: Prey (2022) - Starring Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers and Michelle Thrush

Prey is the fifth film in the Predator franchise and the prequel to the first four films.

Amber Midthunder stars as Naru, a young Comanche warrior, set in 1719 in the Great Plains. Naru has been trained as a healer, but she dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). One day while tracking deer, Naru witnesses a straight sight in the sky. She believes that this is a sign she needs to prove herself.

A cougar has attacked one of the tribe's hunters, Taabe creates a search party to hunt the cougar, and agrees that Naru can accompany them but only to provide medical assistence if needed. They find the injured hunter and leave. On the way back they find strange tracks. Later after finding skinned bison, they are attacked by a grizzly bear, as the bear attacks them, it finds itself in a fight with the Predator alien. Naru escapes while the Predator kills the bear.

Full Review


Sunday, 7 August 2022

REVIEW: Wrong Place (2022) Starring Bruce Willis and Ashley Greene

This will be Bruce Willis' eighth film release of 2022, and officially marks his busiest year for film releases ever. Of course as we all know by now due to health issues this will be his final year of releasing films, but he still has three more to come after this.

You know the routine, Bruce is the big name attached to the film, but the film is often a vehicle for another actor to shine, in Wrong Place that job goes to Ashley Greene, probably best known for her TV role in Rogue as well as her appearances in The Twilight Saga films.

Wrong Place starts off with a robbery gone wrong, Frank (Bruce Willis), a former police chief of a small town, stops a robbery and witnesses a murder, as such he finds himself being hunted down by a methamphetamines cook, who wants to silence Frank before he can give eye witness testimony against the drug family.

The bad guys find Frank's daughter (Ashley Greene) and threaten her as a way to get to Frank.

Full Review at


Friday, 5 August 2022

PREVIEW: Scathe on PC (Steam)

I was lucky enough to be given some hands on time with Scathe, a bullet hell FPS from publisher Kwalee and developer Damage State.

Synopsis
"Scathe is an intense, classic FPS with big guns and even bigger demons. You are Scathe, Enforcer of the Legions of Hell, forged from the earth by the Divine Creator himself. And you, like your fallen kin before you, must prove your worth by navigating a deviously crafted maze, entangled with demonic evil at every twist and turn. So, grab your Hell Hammer and get ready to unleash your almighty fury!

Use Scathe's brute strength and extreme speed to purge your way through Hell's most grotesque abominations, as you search for the Hellstones and defeat the all-powerful Guardians that protect them."

Full Preview at


Thursday, 4 August 2022

Interview with Douglas Henshall on Shetland Series Seven

The seventh series will be Henshall's last outing as DI Perez after nearly a decade in the iconic role. Perez's thrilling final investigation draws him into the secret past of a family new to Shetland, revealing an unimaginable threat to the community.

The last series ended on a cliff-hanger with Perez being read his rights and Duncan handing himself into the police - how does Perez feel about all this?

It just all felt a little like he'd be stitched up to be fair. It's sullied his view of what he does. I think he's getting to that point of his career where he's beginning to doubt whether he has a future doing what he does. Perez is becoming a bit disenchanted with his life the way it is - those little doubts have started to creep in and he's questioning whether he's doing the right thing or not. There are lots of things niggling him.

Case aside, Perez has also met Meg [played by Lucianne McEvoy] and it's in the very early stages of their will-they-won't-they? relationship, his dad's dead and Duncan is in prison - he's a lot going on, as ever.

What case will Perez and his team be investigating this time around?

It seems as though it's a missing person, but then it becomes murkier and murkier as it goes along. I really love that there's no dead body at the start of this new series, and the suspense of that is great.

This series also sees guest stars including Shauna MacDonald, Laurie Brett and Patrick Robinson - what is it like having guests on the show?

One of the great good fortunes of Shetland is we've had so many great guests to come in over the years, and Shauna, Laurie and Patrick have done an amazing job in this new series. They join the list of great actors we've been lucky enough to have in the show over the years including Archie Panjabi, Ciaran Hinds and many, many more.

I don't think there's a lot of shows like ours. It isn't big and shouty, it's subtle and quite nuanced. We've explored lots of things that TV shows don't and I think all of those things are partly what kept our audience loyal to us. It's wonderful.

Perez is often unlucky in love - is happiness on the horizon with nurse Meg?

You never know, but as with anything to do with Perez and the opposite sex, it's never straightforward. Meg's got his head like a washing machine. I think once you get to a certain age there're a lot more questions that you have to ask of yourself, of a significant other. I think the conversations you have are a lot different because there's baggage there. But as long as there's hope, there's a way forward.

It's a big moment for Shetland as you bid farewell to DI Perez, why did you decide to leave now?

I decided to leave a few years ago because I felt that his story was coming to a natural end - it was time to find a resolution to Perez's private life. I never wanted to ruin the things that were unique to him and our series, so it felt like the right time to wrap up his story in a way that would be satisfactory to everybody.

I am aware we're not changing the world in any way, shape or form, but as far as crime shows go, Shetland does really well in that genre. We tell stories that are very good, the characters are great and I wanted to go out on a high.

You've played Perez for nearly a decade now, will you be sad to say goodbye to him?

Yes, I am, actually. But I think it was always going to be sad. It will be nice to play somebody who isn't so irredeemably good as Perez! I'll miss him as a person I crawl into every now and again because I liked him, he's a nice man. I enjoyed playing Perez and exploring the complications of his life. Flawed humans are always the most interesting to play because I feel they are the most truthful.

I'd love to play a baddie again, that would be fun - I used to get asked to be the baddie lots in the past. I don't know what the future holds, I mean, I don't fancy playing a policeman for a while!

Was it hard to keep your exit a secret, and how did you feel filming your last scenes?

The last thing I would want to do was give it away but it feels a bit real and weird now. Once this series is over on TV, it's over [for Douglas Henshall] - I don't think it will feel real until that moment, for me.

My last scenes were filmed in a car park in Kilmacolm, which was very odd. We'd tried to wrap three times, but because of Covid it kept being put back, so it felt a little anticlimactic in the end. I did say a few words of thanks to everyone who was there but it's impossible to encapsulate tem years of work. Shetland has meant a lot to me and it's going to take some time to sink in that I've left the show.

Will Perez always hold a special place for you?

Oh yes, absolutely! He's one of my favourite characters and it's been a real privilege to play him. We got very lucky with lots of things - I even got to dress him for a while, including choosing the pea coat which is now famous. I chose not to keep the coat, though - I kind of figure I can never wear a pea coat again!

I did take a couple of key items from the set including the incident board from the police station. I got it for my daughter. After all the gruesome things that have been up on that board over the years, I thought it was a bit of karma to have a little child drawing pictures of flowers and houses on it. I also took a painting from Jimmy's house which is by a Shetland artist and I'll be hanging it somewhere special in our home.

What makes the Shetland Isles so special?

After going there for nearly ten years, I'm still discovering places to go and see. There are so many nooks and crannies that are absolutely beautiful and the wildflowers in the summer are truly stunning. I loved the pace of the place. I really loved the sea, I loved how stark it could be, I loved the weather in all its glory. I loved the drama of the Shetland Isles. I also met some really nice people there who were fabulous, kind, generous and funny. There aren't many places like Shetland - it's very much of itself. It's unique and I'll miss that.

I think that people were slightly suspicious of us at the beginning, in terms of who we were and what we were going to do, but as time has gone on they have seen we're a force for good, they've really taken to us. They have been incredibly helpful and we couldn't make the show without their help.

Do you have any plans to return?

Absolutely, yes. What I'm looking forward to doing is going back and hopefully staying in the lighthouse at Sumburgh because it's fantastic. It looks right into the ocean and if the wind picks up and a storm comes in, it's the best place in the world to be. I want to take my daughter, show her the beaches and get her into the sea. Just to go and hang out and get to be a tourist would be nice.

And any final words?

My final series has a really great story at its heart and it's very much the Shetland the audience know and love. I hope people have enjoyed watching Perez over the years as much as I've enjoyed playing him. I'm going to miss Jimmy Perez.

Wednesday, 3 August 2022

REVIEW: The Black Phone (2022) - Starring Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke

The Black Phone seemed to be released without much fanfare, but once it was released it has done very well at the box office, so I thought I would check it out.

Set in 1978 there is a serial killer on the loose known as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), he has been prowling the streets of a Denver suburb abducting kids.

Finney (Mason Thames) and his sister Gwen, (Madeleine McGraw) live in that suburb with their alcohol father Terrence (Jeremy Davies) who also regularly hits them. Finney is getting bullied at school, but one day befriends another boy Robin, who gets into a fight with a bully and beats him up, Robin informs the bullies to leave Finney alone.

Gwen seems to be having psychic dreams, which we soon learn her mother also had, but which eventually sent her crazy, Gwen dreams of the kidnapping of another boy Bruce, who was friends with Finney, she sees black balloons in the dream, and when the local detectives find out about her dreams, they are intrigued as the information about the balloons was never released to the public. Although they are sceptical of her claims of the info coming from dreams. There is a great scene where they are talking to Gwen, and she is just being really sarcastic back to them. Highlight of the film for me.

Full Review at


REVIEW: Loopmancer on PC (Steam)

Loopmancer is the latest 2D/3D platformer out there. An action game with incredible graphics and set in a Cyberpunk world, (how sadly unoriginal, but let's give it a chance)

Synopsis
Year 2046 / Dragon City
Neuro-comp interfaces, bionic prosthetics and nano-biotechnology have all become commonplace. Society is highly developed, but the gap between the haves and the have nots has only grown larger.

Xiang Zixu, a brilliant private eye, is killed while investigating the disappearance of a famous female journalist. Immediately after his death, he wakes up with a start in his apartment bedroom. Before he can process what happened, his phone rings and his colleague at the agency tells him of a new case: the disappearance of a famous female journalist.

This game features 7 finely-crafted large stages, including: Dragon Town, which comes alive with holiday spirit in the evening; the bleak and gloomy Shuigou Village; the luxurious Tang Dynasty Hotel; the maritime Bionic Beings' Training Base; and the Biotech Company...

Full Review at


Tuesday, 2 August 2022

REVIEW: The Reef: Stalked - Starring Teressa Liane, Ann Truong and Saskia Archer

The Reef Stalked is the latest shark film to try get you to stay out of the water. As with all Shark attack type films, they will all be compared to Jaws, and as such I happen to have a Jaws soundboard app on my phone, which is always fun to use when watching such a film and seeing if you can judge the music with the attack.

The film starts with Cathy (Bridget Burt), Jodie (Ann Truong), Nic (Teressa Liane) and Lisa (Kate Lister) diving and catching fish, when finished they take a photo together, as they are going back to the care park, Greg (Tim Ross), Cathy's husband appears, despite arranging to go home on her own, she goes back with Greg. Nic sees Greg shouting at Cath by their car. Later in the day Nic receives a text from Cath, and rushes to their house. She finds Greg inside, he tells her that Cathy made him do it, Nic then finds Cathy's lifeless body in the bath, Greg had drowned her.

Full Review at

Sunday, 31 July 2022

REVIEW: Two Hundred Ways - Nintendo Switch



Two Hundred Ways is the latest puzzle game that graces the screens of the Nintendo Switch, for this review I will be playing on the Switch Lite.

The sequel to One Hundred ways, (which I have not played), Two Hundred Ways has a simple concept, you start each level releasing a ball, the ball will then follow gravity and roll along, your job is to place objects that will affect the roll of that ball, and ultimately guide it to the end position.

Of course, things get trick fast and you will have obstacles to overcome, or even use to your advantage.

There are 200 levels as you might have guessed, and these are in blocks of 10 which sees the levels having a certain graphical theme.

Full Review at

Saturday, 30 July 2022

REVIEW: How to Please a Woman (2022) Starring Sally Phillips

Let it be known before I start writing this review that I am a big fan of Sally Phillips and have been probably since her Smack the Pony days, so I might be a little biased.

Sally Phillips plays Gina, a middle-aged woman working in a middle management job, in a middling sexless marriage to a mid-range husband. On her birthday her friends arrange for a male stripper Tom (played by Alexander England) to turn up at her house and give her a show. She turns down the offer of "extras" but instead realising he is booked for 2 hours; she gets him to clean the house.

After being the only one made redundant and hearing that Tom's moving company is about to be closed down by the very same people who fired her, she remembers Tom cleaning her house topless, and the light bulb goes off in her head, turn the moving company into a cleaning company, with the gimmick being that men will clean topless and give frustrated women something to ogle. After Tom has sex with the first client, Gina soon realises that this could be an even better idea, men that will not only clean your house but also take care of those sexual frustrations.

Full Review at

Thursday, 28 July 2022

REVIEW: Avenging Spirit on Nintendo Switch

The great Ratalaika Games are back once again with another classic title. This time it is 90s cabinet arcade game Avenging Spirit by Jaleco.

Originally released in 1991, Avenging Spirit tells the story of a man who was out with his girlfriend Gennifer on a romantic walk, a crime syndicate killed the man and kidnapped his girlfriend. The man rises as a ghost or spirit and joins forces with his girlfriends father who is a paranormal researcher, and he now not only wants to rescue his girlfriend, but also get revenge on those who killed him. Ironically the crime syndicate is researching ghostly energy and their aim is to force Gennifer's father to help them and give them the secrets of the ghostly energy.

For a simple arcade game, that is quite the backstory!

Full Review

Wednesday, 27 July 2022

REVIEW: The Gray Man (2022) - Starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas

I always find it fascinating that Netflix will put down $200m for a movie, then basically keep it only for Netflix subscribers. I guess they have money to burn, as I don't think anyone is specifically subscribing to Netflix to see just one film, and if they did they would probably take advantage of a free trial period.

Anyway, The Gray Man is the newest addition to the Netflix line up, and stars Ryan Gosling as "Sierra Six", a CIA black ops assassin who is forced to go on the run after uncovering incriminating secrets about the agency, and Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen, a psychopathic former CIA agent who is contracted by CIA bosses to capture Six.

The film starts in 2003 with Senior CIA official Donald Fitzroy (played by Billy Bob Thornton) visiting a convicted murderer in prison, the murderer killed his abusive father in 1995, to protect his brother. Fitzroy offers the murderer freedom, but there is a catch, he will have to work as an assassin for the CIA's Sierra program. These assassins work off the books, and take out enemies of the State with no questions asked. The murderer (Ryan Gosling ) agrees and takes the codename Sierra Six. (Basically, known now as Six throughout the film).

Full Review at


Tuesday, 26 July 2022

REVIEW: Pretty Girls Breakout! PLUS on PC (Steam)

ZOO Corporation are back with their latest "Pretty Girls" release, this time it is a reimagining of the all-time classic arcade great brick busting game Breakout.

I am sure just about everyone reading this has at one time played a version of Breakout, either the original, or one of the thousands of clones. Well, we should all know by now that ZOO Corporation really are the masters of taking a classic game and giving it a new twist, so have they managed to do it again with this? Let's find out.

The big twist with the Pretty Girls games are the addition of... well.... erm... Pretty Girls. They are basically the "worlds" and "levels" of the game. Beat the levels, and you unlock the Girl for use in creating your own computer wallpapers, or just for admiring the fantastic Japanese art.

Full Review at


Sunday, 24 July 2022

REVIEW: Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank - Starring Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks and Samuel L. Jackson

Paws of Fury is one of these films that seem to take forever to be released, originally due for 2017! And you can tell as there are a few slightly dated references, a big Gangnam Style number perhaps the most obvious.

Anyway, the film itself is a loose adaptation of the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles, and is full of big-name actors voicing the characters, including Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks, George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou, Michelle Yeoh, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Set in Japan and a land inhabited by talking cats, we are quickly introduced to Ika Chu, a warmongering Somali cat, voiced by Ricky Gervais and based on Hedley LaMarr from Blazing Saddles. Ika Chu is a high ranking official of Shōgun of Kakamucho, Toshi played by Mel Brooks, which is basically a version of Brooks' role as Gov. William J. Le Petomane from Blazing Saddles.

Ika Chu is the baddie in this film, and Ricky Gervais plays the character well, although I always think any time a well-known actor plays the part of a cartoon character, that character needs to look a bit like the actor, sadly in this film no one looks anything like the actor playing them, which is a bit strange, because young kids won't know who these people are, so they should have given adults something to notice.

Any who, Ika Chu has a big palace, and it is perfect, well almost, the problem is right next to the palace is the village of Kakamucho, and basically it spoils the view so Ika Chu wants it wiped out, so sends gangs of thugs to destroy it. The village has a Samurai to protect it, but flees when he sees the invasion.

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Wednesday, 20 July 2022

REVIEW: Pinball Freedom on Nintendo Switch



The pinball table is one of the oldest games around, and almost as soon as computers were invented, we have video game pinball. So whether you are a younger gamer or a more mature gamer like myself, we all know and have played Pinball games.

The latest game to want to grab your attention is Pinball Freedom, this is very much a simulation of real Pinball tables, you can even walk around the room while you choose which table to play next.

There are 5 tables to choose from, each with their own theme. Sci-fi, Fairy-tale, BMX, Skate Park and my favourite Chill Panda's Adventure.

Full Review at

REVIEW: Funko Fusion (2024 Video Game) on Xbox

"Funko Fusion" is an action-adventure game that celebrates pop culture by bringing together over 60 characters from more than 20...