• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (EA, PS3 / PS4)

    The original Plants Vs. Zombies became a genuine phenomenon after being ported to nearly every handheld device and console on the market. One of the original tower defence games, it combined easy to learn, hard to master strategy with a deliciously gonzo sense of humour. Whereas so many other games featuring the shambling undead were morose affairs, PvZ was brightly coloured, cartoonish and genuinely funny. However, when developers PopCap Games announced that they were making a third-person shooter in the same well-tapped vein as Gears Of War (Epic, Multi), more than a few eyebrows were raised. How exactly would the off-the-wall (lack of) sensibilities of the…

  • The Guest

    Interrupting the end-of-summer plainness like an ice bucket over the head is The Guest, a fun, nasty little slice of nuclear family devastation. It’s a tight, black domestic thriller from the seasoned horror partnership of Adam Winberg and Simon Barrett. Like the duo’s previous film, the rudimentary but spirited slasher You’re Next, it’s a genre piece about home invasion and family dysfunction. Here the threat isn’t a gang of animal-mask mercenaries, but a wolf in ship’s clothing. If the sheep shopped at Abercrombie and Finch. The Peterson family, still reeling from the death of son/brother Caleb in the Afghanistan conflict,…

  • Stream: The Wood Burning Savages – Boom

    Ahead of setting off on their first UK at the end of the week, Derry quartet The Wood Burning Savages are streaming their brilliantly urgent new single ‘Boom’. Something of a stand-out from their live shows, the Motorik-driven release is a heady three-minutes, evoking the likes of Patti Smith, Can and Mission of Burma, whilst retaining the band’s own increasingly-distinctive brand of alt-rock.  See below for the band’s forthcoming UK dates and a stream of ‘Boom’, officially released on September 29.