• Beyond: Two Souls (Sony, PS3)

    December 11, 2013 - By 

    It’s fair to say that Heavy Rain, the last outing from development team Quantic Dream, changed the way people think about videogames – and the way they play them. Deeply cinematic in nature, it attempted to weave together multiple storylines into one coherent and engaging whole. A noir murder mystery at heart, it starred the classic archetypes of spent detectives, deadbeats and sinister loners but imbued them with the kind of humanity which rarely appears in this medium. Further, it was at times deeply unsettling: a sequence in which a father searches in vain for his missing son in a crowded…

  • Various Artists – 30 Years of R&S Records

    December 11, 2013 - By 

    The compilation album has historically been a source of contention, usually compounded by the good and the bad and resulting in a scattershot collection of material that never quite satisfies. These glorified mix-tapes exemplify how little some labels actually care about providing good music to the consumer and it’s about time somebody gave the format a bloody good kick up the arse.  It’s with this in mind that we say thank you R&S records for dishing out said arse-kicking and delivering us from mind-numbing banality in the form of the celebratory collection, 30 Years of R&S which marks, funnily enough,…

  • Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    December 5, 2013 - By 

    Why are pirates called pirates? Because they just arrrr. It’s an old joke but, hopefully, a good one. Speaking of old jokes, some have accused Ubisoft of stretching the Assassin’s Creed franchise well past its elastic limit, claiming that its storyline of virtual reality, crackpot historical conspiracies and rival secret societies has become too convoluted to offer any enjoyment. It’s an argument that, in a medium dominated by annual rehashes of FIFA and Call Of Duty, does not hold much water and, to happily mix that metaphor, is blown out of the water byBlack Flag. As with previous outings, we are once again given access to…

  • All Tomorrow’s Parties: End of an Era Part 2

    December 5, 2013 - By 

    All Tomorrow’s Parties is a festival that’s had a place close to my heart across the past four years of my life, since my first foray, lured by a reformation gig by underground heroes Sleep. So perhaps I should have had a sense of sorrow looming over me as I sat on a minibus toiling along a motorway in the south of England, for I was on my way to the final ATP festival, at least in its classic form in an English holiday camp. Truth be told, the mixture of familiarity (not limited to buying three times as much…

  • London Grammar, Go Wolf @ Limelight, Belfast

    December 5, 2013 - By 

    London Grammar are what you’d call a success story. An indie band that had nothing whatsoever in terms of recorded output this time last year now find themselves with a number two debut album, a top 20 single and a near-sell out UK tour under their belts. This kind of instant and successful leap into the collective conscience is, presumably, what we refer to when we talk about bands ‘making it’ – and it just so happens that tonight’s support act is a band from Northern Ireland who have been tipped for big things themselves. Whilst Go Wolf‘s style couldn’t…

  • Batman: Arkham Origins (Warner Bros., Multiformat)

    December 2, 2013 - By 

    You have to feel sorry for the residents of Gotham City. Since the construction of this fearsome metropolis they have contended with a motley crew of sadistic crimelords, drug-addicted luchadores and a seemingly limitless array of mutants. House prices there must be dirt cheap because the city has a death count higher than those of Ramsay Street, Albert Square and Emmerdale combined. It is, as any geek knows, troubled billionaire Bruce Wayne’s burden to protect Gotham from the evil forces threatening to tear it apart. Since the tragic death of his parents he has driven himself to the edge of…

  • Spelunky (Mossmouth, PS3)

    November 28, 2013 - By 

    There are, so the internet viral says, so many dumb ways to die. This way of thinking inspires Spelunky, a shamefully retro platformer with a devious sense of humour that manages to bridge the elusive gap between “oh, just one more go then” and “oh, I want to impale my own eyes with my joypad”. Your character, an intrepid explorer in the Dr. Jones mould, can be crushed by a boulder, bitten by a snake, manhandled by a yeti, gobbled by piranhas, melted by an ancient mummy’s noxious breath, brain-fried by an alien’s gaze… the variety of deaths is almost endless,…

  • Hannah McPhillimy: Freedom Songs @ Crumlin Road Gaol

    November 25, 2013 - By 

    Belfast Music Week has been host to many an interesting gig this year, from bookstores to bars, from balconies to boats, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of quirky or fascinating venues, and now Hannah McPhillimy finds herself playing at The Crumlin Road Gaol. In conjunction with No More Traffik, ‘Freedom Songs’ is less of a traditional performance for the Belfast based singer/songwriter and more of an interactive journey through history. Tonight’s show is down in the depths of the now renovated and rejuvenated jail where Hannah uses all three corners of the triangular room to tell a capella…

  • The Counselor

    November 18, 2013 - By 

    Ridley Scott is not a great director. In the past the man has made great films such as Blade Runner and Alien, which represent some of the strongest efforts Sci-Fi has to offer. But having made eleven films in twelve years, the majority of which toe the line between mediocre and awful, Scott’s lack of  consistency showcases how fundamentally he is not a great director. But he can be. When given the right script, Scott can allow well formed story to transcend itself and become something  much more than the sum of its parts. When the news that Scott’s new…

  • The National @ The Odyssey, Belfast

    November 15, 2013 - By 

    Restraint. A hard quality to achieve in one’s day to day life. Musically, however, it’s very difficult indeed. Amplified by speaker stacks and placed in the glare of spotlights, many bands affect emotion by stomping on a distortion pedal or guldering angst-ridden couplets. In stark contrast, the austere members of The National continually reign in such fits of childish pique. Take, for example, ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, with its spiralling drum patterns, mournful horns and droning guitar. It’s a perfect storm albeit one that never breaks but pulses and throbs towards a climax which never quite arrives. It creates a thrilling tension,…