JAN 2012 - issue (13)

LOCAL BAND FEATURES - REVIEWS - GIGS - EVENTS - INTERVIEWS - GAMING - MOVIES + MORE JAN 2012 - issue (13)

GAMING

GAMES CHARTS ALIENWARE X51 MAX PAYNE 3 BATMAN : ARKHAM CITY DEAD ISLAND

MOVIES

Cover Photo by Magicamentelena

MUSIC

A TORN MIND THE BARRELS CROSSING GIANTS GIG FLYERS

MOVIE CHART MOVIE QUIZ WAR HORSE CORIOLANUS THE DESCENDANTS

OUT& ABOUT

C a r t i n g, B o w l i n g, Pa i n t b a l l , I n door golf, Skateboarding, BMX , Play areas, museums, fun parks... y a d a yada yada www.goguidemagazine.co.uk

CONTENT Contents

JAN 2012 - issue (13)

Hope everyone had a great xmas and new year - Jan, as usual, is pretty quiet on the games and movie front but here we go for another roundup of what’s going on in the local music scene, your movie roundup, some cool games stuff and some things to get up to during the holidays.... GG

GAME CHART (pg38)

Top 10 games across PS3, Xbox and PC.

- - - - - - - MUSIC - - - - - - A TORN MIND - Band Feature (pg3)

MAX PAYNE 3 - Preview (pg39)

THE BARRELS - Band Feature (pg4)

BATMAN - ARKHAM CITY (pg40)

CROSSING GIANTS - Band Feature (pg4)

DEAD ISLAND (pg44)

One of the best prog rock bands on the local scene.

Indie rockers The Barrels are bringing their brand of indie pop rock to the GOGUIDE pages.

Crossing Giants bring their celtic folk punk charms over for us to have a look see.

Preview of the next Max Payne game coming this year.

Following on from Asylum the caped crusader hits the city.

Simple.... ALL OUT ZOMBIEFEST....!!!!!!!

GAME FLYERS (pg46)

GIG FLYERS (pg5)

All the best shows from local venues and bands playing around the area.

Posters for some great games release.

OUT & ABOUT (pg53)

Some great indoor and outdoor stuff to get up to.

- - - - - - - MOVIES - - - - - - -

CLASSIC MOVIE POSTERS (back page)

We take a look back at some classic movie posters.

MOVIE NEW RELEASES (pg18)

All the new releases in cinemas this month.

Who are GOGUIDE...???

MOVIE QUIZ (pg19)

(Answers on inside back page)

WAR HORSE - Review (pg20)

The latest Spielberg epic gets the once over from our beady eyed reviewers.

THE DESCENDANTS - Review (pg22) Clooney in one of his best roles for years.

GOGUIDE is a local online magazine for the West Lothian area. We are trying to be less focused on local ‘news’ and more a, ‘what’s on’ or ‘happening’ guide to the local area. At the moment we are heavily focused on the whats going on in the local music scene, whats on and good @ the movies and what is happening in the world of PC/Console gaming.

CORIOLANUS - Review (pg23)

We do have a pretty modern approach to GoGuide content and eventually hope to produce articles on subjects outside our usual stuff such as Clubbing, Internet, Lifestyle, Sport and Fitness etc.

MOVIE FLYERS (pg24)

www.goguidemagazine.co.uk www.myspace.com/goguide Facebook Search For: GoGuide

The most unfriendly Shakespeare play gets the hollywood treatment.

Posters for some of the latest movie releases.

- - - - - - - GAMES - - - - - - Alienware X51 - Review (pg38)

The brand new hardware release from ALienware - is is a PC, is it a console... you decide.

With the vast majority of our content sourced from local contributors we are always on the lookout for new people to bring onboard to help us provide input to this content hungry mag so if your keen on writing stuff and getting it published in the mag feel free to drop us a message at content@goguidemagazine. co.uk

Click on the orange page number link to go to that page.

Although we hope to provide much correct information as possible beforer going to print some details on these pages may be subject to change after printing - please check online or with locations directly for fully up to date information.

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MUSIC

Feature

P

rogressive Rock bands are not my strong point but local band A Torn Mind stand as one of the best out there.

Having been around for a while members Grant (Vocals/ Guitar), Chris (Guitar/Keys/ Sax), Ryan (Bass) and Euan (Drums) have crafted some of the most accomplished progressive rock music I’ve head in a while.

They manage to include all the classic elements of their chosen genre but seem to have a canny knack of making it all sound so very new and

A TORN MIND refreshing. One encouraging sign is the blend of a heavier aspect over an aggressive prog structure and style that bodes for an interesting take on things.

The ATM guys are a pretty hands on bunch with recording and production duties very much an in house affair yet they somehow seem to produce stunning quality pieces of music for us to listen to. As is the norm for prog rock 101 each member of the band are technically very, very good with every piece played in astounding passion and ability that it is hard not to appreciate what they do and their excellence in its execution. They have succeeded in creating an epic sound where even the pieces that could maybe be scrimped upon are absolutely beautiful. Song writing and competent arrangement are the hallmarks of ATM’s genre and they don’t fail in this respect either with well-crafted, painstakingly arranged, and layered sections all coming together in one massive melting pot to produce at the other end a product that is to all intense purposes a 10/10.

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Although destined to remain very much a fringe genre (even big new prog ringleaders Biffy had to go pretty pop for people to really start to notice them) I’m sure there is a large fanbase out there for ATM’s kind of polished material and hopefully they can have more than their fair share of those people to buy their stuff and come to their shows as I’m sure they won’t be disappointed.

Checkout the debut EP from ATM “Barriers” out NOW and more info can be found over @ www.atornmind.com PAGE 3

MUSIC

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Feature

Piece indie rock band The Barrels are Michael (Vocals/ Guitar), Liam (Guitar), Joe (Bass) and Dayle (Drums) and were formed at the end of 2008 and clearly heavily influenced by the likes of the big indie bands of the day.

Taking those influenced and turning them into something unique to your band is the hard part. When you listen to some of The Barrels tracks it seems they are doing pretty well in achieving those goals and have a keen eye for picking out a particular element from those varied influences and elaborating on that to produce something new. Tracks like ‘Who are You?‘ Is a classic upbeat indie/rock song if ever I hear one and defo something that would easily slip into the chart scene had it been

The Barrels written by one of the top indie outfits. ‘Through The Door’ struts through with a vibe reminiscent of the laid back Arctic Monkeys or The Last Shadow Puppets and then there is the track ‘Today Is Not Your Day’ which pulls you into another dimension completely with a song in a vein that most bands stay well away from at such a stage in their musical career, It is as close to a classic indie ballad as ‘505’ was for the Arctic Monkeys.

Kick back into high gear with Crooked Eyes and Sold and your back on the good old sweat drenched indie rock that so many love today.

pretty busy playing not just locally but in the big smokies as well and appear to have supported a good few names along the way ala Complete Stone Roses, Jon Windle (Little Man Tate) etc. so get along to see them when you can.

Catch all their latest info @ www.myspace.com/thebarrelsmusic

On the live circuit the guys have been

C R OSSIN G G I ANT S but throw in a good measure of folk and Celtic charm and I’m extremely happy to say that they are a 2 piece acoustic Celtic, Folk, Punk band.

W

ith influences like Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly and The Pogues I wouldn’t necessarily call the Crossing Giants a truly acoustic punk band Page 4

Their music clearly pulls inspiration from those guys mentioned above and more recently people like Frank Turner and The Gaslight Anthem.

Being a 2 piece of Iain Macaulay on vocals and guitar with Dan Brennan on bass and vocals gives the sound a little more depth than just maybe a 2 man acoustic setup so the songs although still at heart very acoustic JAN 2012 - issue (13)

are pretty powerful in themselves.

Although it is difficult to assess completely as the guys only have demos available online.

Crossing Giants are playing regularly in the local scene as well as most other venues throughout the central belt with a keen liking for a little place called the ‘Linen 1906’ in Pollock, Glasgow (think it’s a free bar for them?)

So get along to see them if you can and checkout their web site to catch those demo tunes @ www.myspace.com/570429117 or search Facebook for Crossing Giants.

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MOVIES RELEASES

NEW RELEASES THIS MONTH IN SELECTED CINEMAS NOW !!!!!

Despair (15) / Park Circus Goon (15) / Entertainment One UK The Iron Lady (12A) / Fox/Pathe Mother And Child (15) / Verve Pictures The Darkest Hour (3D) (12A) / 20th Century Fox

Margin Call (15) / Stealth Media Shame (18) / Momentum Pictures Tatsumi (15) / Soda Pictures A Useful Life / Dogwoof War Horse (12A) / Walt Disney Vettai (D) (15) / UTV Motion Pictures Haywire (15) / Paramount/Momentum In Search of Haydn (TBC) / Seventh Art Productions

Coriolanus (15) / Lionsgate UK J. Edgar (15) / Warner Bros.

L’Atalante (R/I) (PG) / bfi Distribution The Nine Muses (PG) / New Wave Films Red Light Revolution (18) / Terracotta Distribution

The Sitter (15) / 20th Century Fox Underworld: Awakening (3D) (15) / Entertainment Film Distributors

W.E (15) / STUDIOCANAL X:Night of Vengeance (18) / Revolver Entertainment

Acts Of Godfrey (TBC) / Guerilla Films Agneepath / Eros International The Descendants (15) / 20th Century Fox The Grey (TBC) / Entertainment Film Distributors

House Of Tolerance (18) / The Works Intruders (15) / Universal Pictures Like Crazy (12A) / Paramount Mercenaries (15) / Kaleidoscope Entertainment

A Monster In Paris (3D) (U)

/ Entertainment One UK

Patience (After Sebald) (12A) / Soda

Pictures Page 18

Some details are subject to change - please check online or with cinema directly for latest information.

JAN 2012 - issue (13)

MOVIES

2

GG Quiz

1

WE HAVE REMOVED THE ACTORS FROM THESE FILM STILLS - CAN YOU GUESS THE MOVIES...???

4

3

5 on Answers ck inside ba page !

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MOVIES Review

Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, David Thewlis, Emily Watson

WAR HORSE W

ar Horse looks glorious with its old-school Hollywood cinemascope style of shooting with Spielberg showing his obvious love of David Lean in probably the most obvious way so far. Scenes in War Horse take us back to the days of the epic and expansive scene-scapes the likes we have not seen since Lawrence of Arabia. The John Williams score throughout the movie adds even more to the senses and assists in transporting you to that golden age in this stylish attempt to pay homage to that epic era.

It is a movie that wants to sweep you up and carry you along in the story without you realising it.

And for the most part it does that with ease and you quickly forget everything except the passion of the moment.

When watching War Horse, a movie adaption of Michael Murpurgo’s children’s novel about a horse enlisted in the cavalry in WWI, I seem to be torn between two completely different elements of the movie which Page 20

don’t really gell and blend well together to be any one particular thing. Not having read the book I’m not sure if that’s a part of the written narrative or not but what I see on one hand is a story written as a kind of uplifting disney’esque feelgood story of a horse helping its brethren regardless of the danger it might face… and then on the other hand we are grimly reminded of the intensity of war, with harrowing battle scenes playing out around us.

In one sequence we are humbled by the destruction of an entire troop of men in one of the typicaly pointless charges carried out so many times in WW1, I find it very difficult to reconcile these to side of the story enough to let me really enjoy this move.

Spielberg has already shown he can make serious war movies and titles such as Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun and Saving Private RyWan certainly show just how good he can be in that genre. So maybe an attempt to produce a cross between a ‘Ryan’ movie, with all its realistic elements, and say a ‘Lassie’ movie isn’t quite going to work as effectively as you might expect.

Screenwriters Lee Hall (Pride and Prejudice, Billy Elliot) and mostly comedy writer Richard Curtis (Love, Actually, The Boat That Rocked, Bridget Jones’s Diary) have done an JAN 2012 - issue (13)

admirable job but can’t seem to successfully port the book to the movie.

Maybe it is because of the number of characters they have written into the script and the large quantity of connections we see the horse making throughout the movie. We start with Albert (Jeremy Irvine), the dirt farmer’s son who looks after the young pony before the war, then there’s a young Cavalry officer (Tom Hiddleston), followed by a pair of German deserters, a French farmer and his granddaughter yada yada yada.

doesn’t seem to offer anything new or anything to make you think anything other than your immediate impression of people. People are exactly who you would expect them to be with no real dimension to them. Even the cast are, well, type cast I suppose with David Thewlis (Harry Potter, London Boulevard) as the egotistical, rich landowner; Peter Mullan (Neds, Trainspotting, Braveheart), is the drunken farmer and Emily Watson (Cemetery Junction, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter) is the long-suffering wife.

The movie physically drops considerably as it moves into the middle stretch after yet another character is killed off and compared to such WW1 movies as Gallipoli or All Quiet on the Western Front this offering is simply too sentimental.

A movie that sums up the ‘never judge a book by its cover’ idiom as it looks a damn site better than it comes across in watching. A capable offering but not really reaching the heights that it promises with its story, cast, writers and director.

The dialogue like the performance of most of the cast is passable but JAN 2012 - issue (13)

GGGG PAGE 21

MOVIES Review

The

Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne.

Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard.

M

att King (George Clooney) has a life changing problem to cope with; his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is in hospital in a deep coma following an accident in which she was launched from a speedboat, he is trying to stay positive but doctors have told him that her condition continues to get worse, and due to a condition of her will, the life support machines keeping her alive will soon be switched off.

screen debut) is a 10-year-old oddity and 17-year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) a rebellious boarding school student with a ropey past.

In The Descendants a workaholic lawyer Matt, is facing the inevitable passing of his better half and now looks to be thrown into the ring as the sole guardian of their kids. Scottie (Amara Miller, making her big

As the story progresses we are treated to one of the most sensitive and commanding scenes in the movie when Matt learns that during the time of the crash his wife Elizabeth was seeing someone else

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Over the movie Matt is forced to reconnect with his children but he also has the added pressure of being the guardian of a piece of land that was handed down to the entire family through a trust by his ancestors. That trust is set to expire and Matt has the task of working out what to do with the land. He has two options, follow the majority’s opinion and sell it to developers, which would mean everyone gets a big pile of money, or just do nothing and cause major uproar between the various family groups who are all struggling for money.

JAN 2012 - issue (13)

and was about to file for divorce.

We see Clooney at his best here with what could be considered as his most seasoned and emotionally raw showings of his career so far. As the conflicted and distressed Matt, Clooney shows a good range as we see him pass through the various stages of his character which are done sometimes with a simple movement or expression.

Acting in her first major film role Woodley, as the troubled teen, portrays a character that nearly all parents of a teen will have a connection with. She plays the part to a T and the intensity she puts across is

simply absorbing. It would be nice to think that Clooney had a part in helping this young actress along the way as I’m sure we will be seeing much, much more of her in the near future.

open up with their weaker sides. You sometimes think you have Payne all figured out, when he decides to throws you a curveball and gets your mind going in a shedload of different directions.

The rest of the supporting cast are also impressive, with Robert Foster as Matt’s grudge-holding father-inlaw, Matthew Lillard as Elizabeth’s secret lover, Nick Krause as Alex’s daft platonic friend and lastly Judy Greer as the wife of Lillard’s Brian Speer.

The Descendants attempts to show just what happens when people are faced with hardship, It does a phenomenal job of it to, and it is not too often that a movie will keep you thinking long after you have gone home and tucked yourself into bed but this might just be one of those movies.

Alexander Payne has adapted this movie from a novel by Kaui Hart

Hemming and wrote the screenplay with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. They have succeeded in producing a script that flows with just enough pace to allow the well written characters to develop without dragging the movie down much. This lets you get a personal connection with them when they face their problems or

GGGG

CORIOLANUS

P

robably the least welcoming of Shakespeare’s pieces is ‘Coriolanus’ but here we have it on the big screen for the first time with an aggressive twenty-first-century rendition which also marks Ralph Fiennes’s directorial debut.

to save the city from Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) and his Volscian forces, although struggling with the political elements of the position.

Coriolanus may be driven by decent and civilized ideals but he regards the public as well below his stature.

As a director, he doesn’t quite pull off the modern urban warfare sequences but he knows when to keep it simple and let the actors do what they do best. Vanessa Redgrave is

astounding as Coriolanus’s shewolf of a mother, Brian Cox easily shines as an underhand politico, and Fiennes himself is in intense form.

A steadfast and worthy modern day version of a play so few of us would really have any exposure to, other than those with a love affair with the bard himself Shakespeare, so well worth a look.

GGG

The original saga tells of political leadership at odds with the populace and is set in Roman times, the movie version is set in a modern city still called Rome and draws on the visual iconography of recent Balkan conflicts. It presents us with grey combat fatigues, suffering civilians and splashes of satellite news feeds.

When these works are transposed into modern day settings the fine line is set between how true to the original you stay and on how far the director and writers push the modernism.

Caius Martius Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes) as the general is just the man JAN 2012 - issue (13)

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NEWS

Alienware unveils small ‘console-like’ PC @ £699 The X51 can run Battlefield 3 at full spec!!!!

A

X5 DDR3 RAM and a 1TB harddrive.

The pricier £999 version includes 8 Gigs of RAM, an Intel Core i7-2600 and Nvidia Geforce GTX 555 graphics card.

Specs wise that could give you up to 77 frames per second from Battlefield 3, according to Dellowned Alienware and all the systems are completely upgradeable.

lienware’s officially unveiled its cheap, ‘console-like’ PC, the Alienware X51.

Sporting a smaller form-factor just larger than an Xbox 360 and capable of running titles such as Battlefield 3 at full spec, the X51 is aimed at “the mass market”, says Alienware.

The base model comes in at £699 and so is only ‘cheap’ compared to the firm’s other systems. It boasts a 3.3 GHz Intel Core i3-2120, Nvidia Geforce GT545 graphics card, 4GB of

“I don’t personally believe you can offer a system that offers a better gaming performance within that form-factor or even that there is anything close,” says Eoin Leyden, Alienware’s senior product consultant.

“I asked one of our designers what cool thing I should be telling people in the briefings and he said, ‘Tell them that we managed to make it all fit in’!”

Sure, you could probably build a PC yourself with the same specs for significantly cheaper, but it wouldn’t look as cool, would it?

Whats do you guys think?

Leyden explained that Alienware is keen to tap into the growing group of gamers that do not have the

GG GAMES CHARTS GG GAMES CHARTS

The Top 10 games for Playstation, Xbox and PC as voted by GoGuide

The Top 10 games for Playstation, Xbox and PC as voted by GoGuide2

PS3

X-BOX

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Need For Speed: The Run Saints Row: The Third Rayman Origins Sonic Generations

Skyrim Need For Speed: The Run Saints Row: The Third Kinect Sports: Season 2 Kinect Sports Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

PC

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Call of Duty:Manager Modern Warfare 3 2012 1 Football Football Manager 2012 Star Wars: Battlefield 3 The Old The Sims 3: Republic Pets The Sims 3 The Sims 3 The Sims 3: Generations Rage Call Of Duty: Modern The Sims 3: Late Night Warfare LA Noire 3

The Sims 3: Pets Battlefield 3 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Sims 3: Generations The Sims 3: Late Night World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm

PS3

X-BOX

1 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 1 2 Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Fifa 12 FifaThe12 3 Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception Battlefield 3 The Elder 3Scrolls V: Battlefield 3 4 Battlefield FIFA 12 5 FIFA 12 Forza Motorsport 4 Skyrim Forza Motorsport 4 6 Batman: Arkham City Batman: Arkham City Battlefield CallKinect Of Sports: Duty:Season Modern 7 Pro Evolution32012 Two 8 F1 2011 Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 9 Sonic Generations Gears of War 3 10 GoldenEye: Warfare 3 Reloaded TheRage Elder Scrolls V:

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1

justification for a huge, powerful gaming machine.

“Desktop as a category has been declining, and the only shining light has been small and ultra-small form factor PCs,” he added. “These PCs have been predominantly digital hubs for the living room that have no regard for the gaming population at all. Some of that has been partly driven by price, but also the heat generated by gaming systems is a problem.”

10

10

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PC

GAMING

GAMING FEATURE

Coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this May.

R

ockstar officially announce today that Max Payne 3, the h i g h l y- a n t i c i p a te d dark and gritty action experience that continues the tale of former New York City detective Max Payne, will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 on May 18, 2012, with the PC version launching on June 1st, 2012 in Europe.

For Max, the tragedies that took his loved ones years ago are wounds that refuse to heal. No longer a cop, close to washed up and addicted to pain killers, he takes a job in São Paulo, Brazil, protecting the family of wealthy real estate mogul Rodrigo Branco, in an effort to finally escape his troubled past. But as events spiral out of his control, Max Payne finds himself alone on the streets of an unfamiliar city, desperately searching for the truth and fighting for a way out.

of Natural Motion’s Euphoria Character Behavior system for lifelike movement and a dark and twisted story, Max Payne 3 is a seamless, highly detailed, cinematic experience.

Featuring cutting edge shooting mechanics for precision gunplay,

advanced new Bullet Time® and Shootdodge™ effects, full integration

In addition to an expansive singleplayer campaign, Max Payne 3’s multiplayer offering brings the game’s cinematic feel, fluid gunplay and kinetic sense of movement into the realm of online multiplayer.

Building on the fiction and signature gameplay elements of the Max Payne universe, Max Payne 3 features a wide range of new and traditional multiplayer modes that play on the themes of paranoia, betrayal and heroism, all delivered with the same epic visual style of the single-player game.

Look for much much more from Max Payne 3 in the weeks and months ahead. h t t p : / / w w w. r o c k s t a r g a m e s . c o m / maxpayne3/

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GAMING

I

Review

n the latest Batman epic you are now free to explore and travel throughout the exhilarating cityscape that is of course the grimly fiendish city of Arkham. In Batman: Arkham City the entire city has become a quarantined prison for Gotham’s worst criminals, our hero, the Caped Crusader struggles to bring justice to the chaotic streets, preventing the plots of super villains and protecting the victims of those who prey on the innocent. AC is one amazing adventure game with its breath-taking scenery, stimulating movement, immensely smooth and satisfying combat as well as plenty of secrets to discover, side quests to complete, and other in game attractions.

The Game begins by showing us Bruce Wayne being arrested and placed inside the super prison a result of a successful plan by one of the games villains Dr Strange. Upon entering the prison Bruce must fight off some of the Penguins henchmen and scale a building to secure his Bat suit, leaving you to freely glide across Arkham City in race to stop whatever Dr Strange is plotting.

The city scale that makes up the super prison isn’t the biggest when it comes to open worlds, but what it lacks in scale, it makes up for in immensely detailed surroundings.

Arkham City contains many ruined structures to explore including a rusty courtroom, an overrun museum and police station, industrial factory turned fortress and a “safehaven” church and all potential homes to some of Batman’s greatest enemies.

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Returning from Arkham Asylum is the games effortless but enjoyable combat system. It mainly consists of a simple one button attack, while the other counter attacks. However the challenge of the combat all comes down to good timing and chaining your attacks together and turning your enemy’s attacks towards one another to form a great fight sequence. It’s also as smooth as it is brutal, making it a joy to leap straight into the fight. The wideranging attack animations make it look like a work of choreographed fight sequences in a movie. In even better timing you can even counter up to 3 enemy attacks at once or take advantage of the environment and slam an enemy’s head against it. As you begin to progress through the game you will then encounter enemies equipped with weapons or shields that make taking them down more complex. For example; enemies with body armour can only be hurt with a rapid punch attack called a beat down, guards equipped with stun batons can be attacked only from behind and enemies with shields can only be taken down an aerial attack. There’s nothing like a feel of accomplishment when defeating large, various groups of enemies which would take a lot of skill and a variety of techniques.

There are still some tweaks that JAN 2012 - issue (13)

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GAMING Review

need mended, for me sometimes I would attack enemies that I didn’t face at especially when performing an aerial attack for taking down an enemy with a shield. This can be annoying when trying to chain moves together then accidently punching a foe with a shield.

The Riddler character has a new set of environmental riddles for you to solve, in addition to his trophies. Some of these take the form of questions or statements, such as “Do you have Strange thoughts? Maybe you should seek help?” and “I am an actor who can transform a film with the final cut.

Who am I?” Answering these requires you to locate significant signs within the environment that contains the answer.

Each of these that you solve unlocks an Arkham City story, which offers some textual background on the people associated with that particular riddle.

The Riddler’s perspective puzzles also make a comeback. These are question marks painted in the environment that need to be viewed from just the right place to appear correctly. Working out the proper vantage point from which to solve these puzzles is as enjoyable as ever.

Catwoman is an enjoyable character to play, with her own unique fighting style and gadgets to make the game experience even more diverse than just using Batman. She can grip to certain ceilings and use her claws to cling and pounce off walls, and her caltrops and bolas can be used in combat to trip and get the upper hand on her enemies.

Even though you only play a short time as her during the main story, after completing the game you can change Page 38

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between Batman and Catwoman at any time, and she has her own objectives and challenges to complete along with her own set of Riddler trophies to collect.

If anything though, it’s the adventure and explorations within the city of Arkham itself that make this game what it is. Rocksteady really have left their mark and seem to be rapidly becoming one of the best super hero game makers around. Arkham City definitely exceeded my expectations and probably a whole lot more people as well, and stands up as one of the best open world action/ adventure games to date.

GGGG

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GAMING

T

Review

hey say you should never judge a book by its cover and Dead Island is probably a game you shouldn’t judge by its cover. Sure, Zombies do overrun the island, but it’s not just a survival horror game. It’s played in firstperson and involves shooting, but it’s not a first-person shooter. And the slow-motion trailer would have you believe it’s an emotional rollercoaster, but it’s not. Dead Island is nothing more than a freeroam action RPG that thrives on gruesome melee combat.

Dead Island’s expansive world spreads all over, from the sunny Palms Resort into a slum city and jungle environments. Its RPG elements are mainly featured in levelling up you character and choosing perks to improve your game through branch trees. It’s also shown when you travel throughout the world and encounter other survivors stranded and in dire help. The majority of your gained experience will come from hacking away at hordes of zombies but a large chunk of it will come from finishing quests. There

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are also countless weapons to be improved, upgraded, and enhanced, and its online system supports a four-player co-op mode in which the game is more enjoyable and fun to play.

The game does have its share of graphical glitches and frame rate issues throughout a lot of the game.

The characters have pretty much no character apart from what you see in the opening trailer, and the story has nothing to do with the vivid dramatic trailer that everyone loved.

Combat is clumsy yet brutal. You can change how you control your weapon by setting the controls to the analogue sticks to try to get a more precise cut or smash and for random moments of shooting human survivors that are barely smarter than the undead, it definitely isn’t pushing towards a top notch first person shooter. The vehicles, to me, are fun at times but not thought through enough as there’s no handbrake turn and basically every obstacle is

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a solid wall, even sand castle will bring your 4x4 to a sudden halt. But all the flaws and missteps amount to a game that is frequently annoying but if you’re playing Dead Island just to have fun then you’ll appreciate its strong desire to entertain us, Dead island isn’t a work of perfection, but how much content is in it will give you a great experience.

Fans of Dead Rising 2 will be pleased as the same weapon system idea is involved. Weapons can be modded for even more brutality for example; spiked baseball bats, electrifying samurai swords and sledgehammers, incendiary ammo and poisoned blades. There are guns to use, though they don’t come till later in the game; melee weapons are the way to go, slicing and smashing you’re zombie foes to a bloody pulp leaving nothing but hacked and broken limbs, decapitated heads and enough gore to make you cringe!

Or want more, whatever floats your boat. Considering there’s probably enough blood to float a boat!

You find basic weapons such as baseball bats, knives and hammers lying around. Weapons do degrade irritatingly fast over time, a strong weapon you’ve upgraded and enhanced to the max might not last too long during a quest, leaving you to improvise with whatever is lying around or to find weapons locked away in trunks. But honestly when worst come to the worst and you have no weapons, you’ll realise that the best weapon you have in your arsenal is your feet, the kick function works tremendously well, better than some weapons to be honest, and delivers some strong attack towards downed enemies or to create some distance or give a jumping kick to the face of an unexpected zombie which it always fun.

When guns finally arrive, they are only second guessed to use as Dead Island doesn’t excel as a shooter.

The guns would be a certain change

of pace in combat especially when it comes to shooting down human enemies with guns, in which case it’s slower. You occasionally face off against groups of smugglers and thugs, but the clashes are mostly tedious, as they all re-spawn at the same area, turning a mainly hack and slash action game into a socalled shoot-em-up.

Dead Island’s multiplayer is the way you should play the game with a system for joining up with up to 4 players online. Being able to play online for hours I’ve unfortunately encountered some connection errors that happens every blue moon but what game doesn’t have that.

If you play alone however the other three characters aren’t there to help you through, though they still appear in cut scenes.

As a free roam action role-playing game based on killing zombies solo or with your friends, even if it is

GGGG

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imperfect Dead Island is a game full with possibilities. If you did read the brochure then expect a thrilling horror experience and have a bloody good time.

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OUTABOUT &

IN WEST LOTHIAN

Funtastic Fantasy Golf Limited

Miniature golf arena but it’s one with a difference it’s BLACK-LIGHT UV which means that not only do the 3D prop’s glow in the dark but also the golf balls and art work on the wall do too. This facility is a fantastic family day out for all ages & abilities with a cafe that sell homemade food made onsite at their cafe ‘Dino Bites’

Mon - Sun: 10:00 am - 10:00 pm 3 St Andrews Way, Livingston, EH54 8HQ 07935 576943

Racing Karts Racing Karts quickly established itself as a force in Indoor Kart Racing due to its attention to safety, cleanliness and customer satisfaction.

They like to call themselves ‘The Friendly Circuit’ www.racingkarts.co.uk Times: Booking required - call to arrange Arrol Square, Deans Industrial Estate, Livingston, EH54 8QZ 01506 410123

Livingston Skate Park

The Livingston Skatepark opened in 1981, at a time when most commercial skateparks were closing and was one of the most important facilities in Britain during a critical period in the development of skateboarding. It is an example of a free, unsupervised facility which achieved international status.

Daylight access all year round FREE 16 Northwood Park, Opposite Almondvale Shopping Centre, Livingston, EH54 6HR

Deer Park Ten Pin Bowling Deer Park Bowling Centre is a 16 Lane Bowling Centre with the capacity to hold 128 bowlers. There is a bar and food served throughout. At ‘Late night Glow Bowling’ the lights are dimmed and the lanes come alive with GLOW IN THE DARK, ULTRA VIOLET lighting effects and music. www.deer-park.co.uk Mon-Thur: 4pm-10pm / Fri: 12pm-midnight / Sat: 10am-midnight / Sun: 10am-10pm Golf Course Road, Livingston, EH54 8AB - 01506 446699 JAN 2012 - issue (13)

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OUTABOUT &

IN WEST LOTHIAN

Delta Force Paintball

Delta Force Paintball provides world class paintballing in Scotland. In addition to the scenery, incredible game zones provide players with an adrenalin-fuelled day of paintball action all year round. www.paintballgames.co.uk Weekends + 1 Weekday - check online for details Off Burnhouse Road, Dechmont, Livingston, EH49 6PL 0844 477 5050

Go Ape - Beecraigs It’s not in the dictionary, but if it was, Go Ape would be described as a ‘tree top adventure’. A dollop of breathtaking scenery; a smattering of tree-top wires, crossings and wind-in-your-face zip wires; finished off with a liberal dose of people in search of their inner Tarzan. www.goape.co.uk Check Web Site for opening times and bookings The Park Centre, Beecraigs Country Park, Linlithgow EH49 6PL 0845 643 9215

Five Sisters Zoo

The Five Sisters Zoo was established in 2005 and is the only wildlife attraction centre in West Lothian. With over 100 different species of animals, birds and reptiles from all around the world your visit will be a fun, enjoyable and educational one - all ages. www.fivesisterszoo.co.uk Open 7 Days a week - 10am - 6pm (5pm Winter half of year) Gavieside, West Calder, EH55 8PT 01506 871 111

Overboard Soft Play Overboard Soft Play is an exciting indoor Soft Play and entertainment venue for kids aged 0-11 yrs. They have it all, from chutes to ball pits to go-karts to ball cannons. With an underwater theme and seperate play zones for different age groups and abilities, your children are sure to have a great time from the minute they arrive until it’s time to go home. www.overboardsoftplay.com Wed - Sun: 10:15 am - 6:00 pm 3 St Andrews Way, Livingston, EH54 8HQ - 01506 873888 Page 50

JAN 2012 - issue (13)

The Bennie Museum

The Bennie Museum opened in 1989 as a museum of Bathgate’s history and life. It is run entirely by volunteers under the management of a Charitable Trust. It has been commended by the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions. www.benniemuseum.org.uk 11am - 4pm (Apr to Sep) & 11am -3.30pm (Oct to Mar) - FREE 9-11 Mansefield Street, Bathgate, EH48 4HU 01506 634944

Almond Valley Heritage Trust, Almond Valley is operated as a popular leisure destination that appeals to a diverse audience and promotes learning through discovery, family interaction and play. We also operate a formal education programme. www.almondvalley.co.uk Millfield, Livingston, EH54 7AR 01506 414957

The Garage Skatepark

Stu Graham and co have decided to open a new skateshop at The Garage Skatepark in Livingston! The shop is still in it’s early stages but should be open for business right now.

FACEBOOK: The Garage Indoor Skate Park Mon - Sat: 10am - 10pm - Sun: 10am - 8pm 5D Grange Road, Houston Industrial Estate, EH54 5DE

Bankhead Mountainball Like many ‘extreme’ sports, Zorbing, Orbing or Sphereing was created in New Zealand back in 1994. The concept is quite simple, you build a human sphere which can accommodate up to two fully grown adults, secure them inside then let them roll down a hill in it (hamsters have been exercised for many years in a very similar way!) www.bankheadmountainball.co.uk Contact for opening hours Bankhead Farm, Dechmont, Broxburn, EH52 6NB 01506 811209

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MOVIES QUIZ

ANSWERS

1

Captain America

2

Zombieland

3

Australia

4

Water For E

lephan ts

5

Underworld Rise of the Lycans

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CLASSIC MOVIE POSTERS 101

Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest’s French Barbarella comics.

The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim’s wife at the time.

After an in-flight anti-gravity striptease (masked by the film’s opening titles), Barbarella, a 41st century astronaut, lands on the planet Lythion and sets out to find the evil Durand Durand in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters such objects as the Exessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an accomplished artist of the keyboard, in this case, Durand Durand himself, can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which, via a poor victim struggling in its glass globe, dispenses Essance of Man. You can’t help but be impressed by the special effects crew and the various ways that were found to tear off what few clothes our heroine seemed to possess. Based on the popular French comic strip.

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