Start The Party PS3 Move

Start The Party: Move PS3

Developed by Sony

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

PlayStation Move launches this week in the UK (17th September) and there are some cool, varied games available right from the start. If you want Sporting fun – there’s SPORTS CHAMPIONS, if you want Kung Fu Craziness – there’s KUNG FU RIDER… But what if you just want to see yourself wielding a big sword, tennis racquet, hammer, pointer, fan, razor, helicopter!? That’s where you need Start The Party.

You know those parties you go to where nothing is really happening, there’s no way to break the ice with the cute girls/guys (delete as appropriate) and you really wish you could be jumping about spearing frantic fish like a caveman, showing your caring side by rescue birds from falling out of their nest or proving how brave you are by hunting for ghosts? Sony know how you feel and Start The Party brings all this and more as augmented reality transforms the PlayStation Move motion controller into everything from a helicopter to a flashlight.

Mini-games are the order of the day, if you remember the PS2 ‘EyeToy’ which was basically doing what the Kinnect will do when it launches in a couple of months – wave those hands suckers… sorry, here is what motion control is all about… Take one PlayStation Eye, synch the cool PlayStation Move controller and then take a photo of yourself, record your voice and take on your family and friends in more than 20 fun mini-games.

But are they fun? Some of those PS2 EyeToy games were a bit lame right, not having a controller is bit crap really – so can PlayStation Move bring the noise and make motion controlled mini-gaming fun??
Well – poke me up the backside with an augmented reality hand… Yes!!

Start The Party is an absolute blast, you get to see yourself onscreen at all times while playing, and the motion controller you’re holding appears as whatever device you need to complete the game… I tried Start The Party both solo (which is ok but can get a bit ‘samey’ pretty quick) then again with a crowd of young players at our church with the PS3 rigged up to a projector and big screen – and that is where it tore the roof off with everyone having a fantastic time!!

"you should see the face she makes when accidentally mashing one of the little birds with her fan!"

The list of games is fun and varied – chop flying fruit with a giant sword, brush the teeth of crocodile with a big toothbrush, shine your virtual torch at ghosts as they try and rush towards you, zap robots with a tazer, spear fish, blow birds, save citizens from dinosaurs with helicopters etc etc… Each game is quick to pick up, although there are brief tutorials for those who really need to told how to squash bugs with a tennis racquet…

Is Start The Party worth buying? Absolutely –if you want to try and beat high scores and put yourself on the world wide leaderboard step up. Mostly though this is a game you’ll put on and play with pals, it gets competitive, it gets messy and it’s brilliant fun!

Darkmatters rating: öööööööö (8 fun augmented realities out of 10)

Check our SPORTS CHAMPIONS MOVE review

Check our KUNG FU RIDER review

Dead Rising 2 hits PS3 on 24th September

Fancy some virtual zombie slaughter?

Dead Rising 2 has you covered...

Several years have passed since Matt Adcock witnessed the Wilamette incident, and while the heroic Frank West was able to save America from a zombie apocalypse, the cause of zombification was not completely contained. This led to continued zombie outbreaks throughout the United States.

Dead Rising 2 shifts the action from the everyday world of mid-West America to the glitz and glamour of Fortune City, America's latest and greatest entertainment playground. People flock to Fortune City from around the globe to escape from reality and the chance to win big.

Enter former national Motocross champion, Chuck Greene. Before he hit the big time with a team and sponsorship behind him Chuck was forced to repair his own bikes, leaving him incredibly resourceful; a real handyman. A single father, Chuck dotes on his daughter Katey who, since the loss of her mother, he will do anything for.

With hundreds of zombies on screen at any one time, the original Dead Rising forced gamers to turn the everyday objects they found in the Mall into improvised weapons capable of fending off attacks. Dead Rising 2 promises to increase the carnage with even more zombies intent on feasting on human flesh and countless new objects with which Chuck can make the undead dead.

Check out this fun zombie killing video:

Darkmatters Review: Resident Evil Afterlife

Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (15)

Dir. Paul W.S. Anderson

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Paul W.S. Anderson is a cinematic legend, he makes films that critics generally hate but lots people go and see – from his joyriding debut ‘Shopping’ through the freaky space horror ‘Event Horizon’ and on to the ‘Resident Evil’ franchise, you can sense that he’s a guy who just likes to let rip with crowd pleasing pulp.

Resident Evil: Afterlife is the 4th film in the series ‘based on a computer game’ which tracks the adventures of Project Alice (Milla Jovovich – who is Anderson’s wife). Alice is a genetically enhanced heroine fighting the sinister Umbrella Corporation who have turned most of the world’s population into zombies thanks to the unscheduled escape of their bioweapon T-Virus. That’s about all you need to know in terms of plot as all four of the Resident Evil films have basically been very similar – slick improbable action as Alice shoots, chops and mashes hundreds of disposable zombie enemies, backed up by Umbrella Corp mercenaries and some freaky money shot ‘boss battles.’

Here we find Alice using an army of clones of herself to attack an Umbrella headquarters in a sequence that might the makers of The Matrix checking their copyright contracts. It looks amazing (especially in 3D) but we’ve seen this done before and better…

From then on Afterlife is a slog of reuniting the surviving cast from 2007’s Resident Evil: Extinction, running from and killing zombie, plus the obligatory boss battle against an giant axe wielding monstrosity who pops up with no back story (except that he was in RE4 and 5 games) simply to have an impressive but ultimately futile fight.

If you’re a fan of the Resident Evil games and films then Afterlife will push the right buttons, and send you home rejoicing in the fact that it is merely an ‘episode’ which has no conclusion – merely setting up the next film. Can take a wild guess if Alice can defeat Albert Wexler (Shawn Roberts), the evil Chairman of the Umbrella Corporation? I saw this with my Resident Evil virgin pal Matt Landsman who was left scratching his head at the plot – especially the supposed ‘bombshell’ ending credit scene.

"Miss Jovovich - nice to see you..."

All of the Resident Evil films have scored on average between 30 and 40% with critics so far and Afterlife is so very much a continuation of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t bother changing it - just with added 3D’. But that’s unlikely to bother survival horror fans the world over who are you can almost hear quoting The Matrix’s Agent Smith by chorusing “Welcome back Mr Anderson, we’ve missed you”…

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

Alice comes out with her confused sexual feelings for Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine and Crystal (mirroring the feelings of the male audience members!) see below...

Darkmatters rating: öööööö (6 3D shootouts out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide: Action 7 / Style 6 / Babes 8 / Comedy 5 / Horror 7 / Spiritual Enlightenment 3

Resident Evil Afterlife Babe-Off:

"Jill Valentine"

"Claire Redfield goes for the wet look with Milla"

"Crystal (Kacey Barnfield) ops for the black undies - zombies hate black undies!"

Kung Fu Rider: Move PS3

Kung Fu Rider: Move PS3

Developed by Sony

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

The PlayStation Move is set to be a phenomenon – the iconic glowing balls on the ends of the comfy and cool Move Controllers enable a whole new set of control options for PS3 gamers. But controls are nothing without games to play and Kung Fu Rider brings office chairs and the Chinese Mafia in a fast-paced, arcade-action package to the PlayStation 3.

You fancy some comically off-the-wall in-game movement mechanics with the motion-control technology of the PlayStation Move system? If you’ve played or seen ‘PAIN’ on the PS3 then you might have some ideas as to just how far Sony are willing to go in terms of brining creative new experiences to gamers.

This is the tale of Toby and his lovely assistant Karin who together run a detective agency… So far so normal-ish, but then due to a case they are working on the two become targets for the mob and their only chance of escape is to take to the streets on their office chairs!?

"Erm, Street Fighter called - they want Chun Li back!?"

You come in here as either Toby or Karin and the Move controls are your way of ‘driving’ his or her office chair – accelerate by waggling the Move up and down, swing left and right to steer, flick upwards to jump… There is a lot of hidden depth in the controls, especially when you add in various button combinations which allow you to Kung Fu your enemies or limbo under cars.

Yep it’s a madcap chase game that will see you bouncing through the mean streets, kicking mafia goons out of the way as you speed past. Choosing from branching routes and taking in crazy stunts such as aerial grinding on railings or pulling off gravity defying jumps are the order of the day.

There will be a lot of trial and error as you learn a course (for anyone who has played games like SSX back in the day Kung Fu Rider evokes a similar sense of speed adrenaline).

There are a limited number of courses though and the learning curve can be unforgiving, plus if you’re not a gamers who can cope with repeatedly replaying areas trying to improve each time then you might find Kung Fu Rider a bit limiting. Sure there is fun to be had in the multiplayer co-op mode, or in comparing scores for bragging rights – there are online rankings too…

Kung Fu Rider is nutty game that is very nearly genius, a good game but also a flawed one. If it were £10 then I’d recommend it whole heartedly, but for a full price release it drops points because you only hit the sweet ‘Kung Fu’ zone every now and then which is a shame.

Darkmatters rating: ööööööö (7 speeding kung fu kicks out of 10)

Check our SPORTS CHAMPIONS MOVE review

Sports Champions: Move PS3

Sports Champions: Move (PS3)

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

The era of Wii Sports comes to an abrupt, high-definition halt as Sony bring their ‘A’ game to the PlayStation 3 with their innovative MOVE controllers. Sports Champions brings six games: Archery, Beach Volleyball, Bocce, Disc Golf, Gladiator Duel, and Table Tennis to the package – which leaves plenty more to come and means that you can bet that there will be a Sports Champions 2 before too long…

Setting up the PlayStation Move is easy and – you stand in the designated area, calibrate the Move controller with a quick routine which goes shoulder, leg and waist (and soon becomes second nature). From then on you’re good to go and this time you are going to need all your reactions, skills and hand / eye coordination – no amount of arm flapping randomness will help you in Sports Champions.

Let’s look at each sport in my order of preference –

"Katy Perry takes on Britney in mortal combat"

Gladiator Duel
Gladiator Duel is brutal combat fun like nothing before, you can use either one PlayStation Move controller or two (but two is better as it feels more natural to wield both your shield and sword in each hand). From the second you step into the ring – as your chosen character (from a roster of players which looks like a sportified Street Fighter selection, with fast nimble chics with swords, heavy set rugby player types with hammers etc), your pulse begins to race as you realise that this is it – no pussying out now. You can dodge left and right with the move buttons, pull the trigger to raise your shield, power up special attacks, leap backwards, thrust, duck, slash, bash (with shield) and of course stab the living daylights out of your opponent in real time 1:1 awesomeness. It is slick and very very satisfying chopping chunks off your opponent’s health bar – two player bouts can get heated, and need some space! Quick thinking combatants can even ‘ring out’ your opponent or just be left with more health when the timer ticks down. It’s seriously addictive and all kinds of awesome,, one can only speculate at how superb this sort of control could be implemented into the next Elder Scrolls game – Bethesda are you listening!?! Which brings me to the next Sports Champions game – Archery (also a RPG staple form of attack).

Archery
Ever wanted to test your sharp shooting skills in your lounge? Robin Hood himself would be forgetting to go out and rob the rich if he’d had Sports Champions Archery to play as this is amazing. Shooting a series of targets, be they robotic zombies shuffling towards you, bags of money being tossed into the air or your more usual round targets with scoring zones. Playing this two PlayStation Move controllers is an absolute joy - reach over your shoulder to pull an arrow from your quiver, then draw the two apart like the bow and string. You’ll quickly pick up the basics but find tons of depth as you perfect your technique and pull off faster, more accurate shots. There are some great modes too try in multiplayer as well such as shooting rolling targets towards each other in an inverse tug of war… This is a show stopping title that will have Wii owners going green with envy.

Table tennis
This is another cracking Sports Champions event for PlayStation Move. If you’ve ever had a laugh playing ping pong, this demonstrates just how far the Move takes racquet sports (and whets the appetite for the coming Virtua Tennis 4). You hold the PlayStation Move controller exactly as you would a table tennis bat, twist your wrist to add spin, leap up to smash – it’s all good. It isn’t easy – as anyone who has tried the real table tennis knows that this isn’t merely a hit it as hard as you can game – but subtle art and high skills are called for. Two player mode is superb, and the tension of a long hard fought rally can be intense.

Disc golf
If you want real golf you can use Move with Tiger Woods PGS Tour 11, but in Sports Champions you get a crazy but fun version of golf where you throw Frisbees down a course – drive from the tee with a heavy long distance disk, chip onto the green with a mid weight ‘iron equivalent’ and then putt for the hole with your accurate short distance disc. It might sound a bit naff but it plays really well and could reignite a Frisbee craze. The discs fly as you’d want them to, arcing depending on how you tilt them – from left or right, up or down. Once you get the hang of this, you’ll find it incredibly hard to stop, and the satisfaction of pulling off an amazing recovery shot out of the rough is every as satisfying as when doing it with a club and ball. Sony must be high-fiving around the 19th hole because this makes the Frisbee event in Wii Sports Resort look very poor in comparison.

Bocce
If you’ve played boules, or lawn bowls then you’ll know what to expect. Throw the jack (the PlayStation Move controller gives you a great deal of control over your throw - with easy to add so that you can place your balls wherever you fancy). Then try and get your main game balls as near to the jack as possible – blasting your opponents out of the way in the process if you can. The more balls you have nearer than your opponent, the more points you score. It isn’t the most exciting game on the planet but it looks good and plays well.

Volleyball
Volleyball on Sports Champions is probably the least fun, unless perhaps you wear a bikini and film yourself playing it!? You know the drill, throw the bouncy ball up to serve, block, smash and pass your way to victory. Repeat… It works well enough but probably won’t be the event that you come back to as much as the others.


The PlayStation Move gets off to a quality start with Sports Champions and as the inferior Wii Sports has sold millions worldwide, if there is any justice or gamers with taste then this should too. Excellent gameplay, top notch HD graphics and seamless quality multiplayer challenges coupled with addictive gameplay make this a true champion amongst sports games.

Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 glorious sporting victories out of 10)

Darkmatters Review: The Last Exorcism

The Last Exorcism (15)

Dir. Daniel Stamm

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“If you are a Christian and you believe in God, then you have to believe also in demons...”

This is the interesting premise put forward by the reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) – a man of the cloth who has somewhat lost his faith but who continues to preach and conduct lucrative exorcisms.

We join rev Marcus as he employs a film crew to follow him on his ‘last exorcism’ where he will give them inside info about his sham tricks that he uses to scare punters. He chooses a letter at random from a farmer in backwater Louisiana where Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum), a serious fundamentalist Christian believes his 16 year old daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) is possessed by a demon.

Before reading the details of the letter, Cotton tells the film crew that there are several things that most suspected possessions have in common – often involving cattle mutilations, and sure enough that is the main thing that farmer Sweetzer talks of in his plea for help.

What follows is the documentary shot of the visit, the exorcism and some very freaky things that occur on the Sweetzer farm. Is Nell actually possessed? Might there be something else sinister going on that could lead a young girl to do strange, seemingly unexplainable acts? Why is her brother so hostile to the preacher and the film crew? What’s the deal with the local minister who hasn’t seen the Sweetzers for the last two years after they fell out?

The Last Exorcism plays it straight for most of the film, building up an engaging sense of wrongness and unease. The characters are well defined and if you’re of a nervous disposition, you might well find yourself getting very on edge as events escalate to the point where even the doubting reverend has to re-evaluate his faith.

"Nell wasn't very keen on being made to watch Hostel pt 2 again"

Unfortunately for viewers, there just aren’t enough pure scares to justify the hype that producer Eli ‘Hostel’ Roth has been working hard to build up. There is also the matter of a rushed and unsatisfying ending sequence that feels like it was ripped from an entirely different film and stitched unconvincingly onto this wannabe spook-em-up. So what starts as a promising battle of belief, ends with an oddball climax that left most of the audience – including my mate Simon – shaking their heads in disbelief at the stupidity we’d just witnessed.

If you’re after exorcism based cinematic thrills – the original Exorcist is still by far your best choice, and even the recent Exorcism of Emily Rose delivers more supernatural bang for your buck than The Last Exorcism.

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

The Last Exorcism's demon is challenged to a battle by the ones from Emily Rose, An American Haunting and The Exorcist etc. The last demon standing wins the rights to appear in the sequel

Darkmatters rating: öööööö (6 freaky occurances out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide: Action 6 / Style 7 / Babes 5 / Comedy 5 / Horror 7 / Spiritual Enlightenment 7

PlayStation Move: PS3

PlayStation Move: PS3

Sony

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

LINK TO NEW MOVE GAME REVIEWS HERE

Controlling video games is changing (again) – ok so Nintendo shook things up when they launched the Wii and arm flapping madness swept the world… Who’d have thought that people would embrace leaping up and down, bingo wings akimbo trying to bowl / putt / drive with nothing but a couple of wireless nun-chucks?

With roughly two Wii’s sold world wide for every one PS3, Sony have decided that enough is enough and have harnessed the power of glowing balls to engineer a fight back which bring high definition graphics and pin point accuracy to the party…

The big question is will ‘Wii’ like this motion control–based gaming from the game changing master creators at Sony?

I got the chance to play PlayStation Move, and report back to you so that you can decide whether to trade in your Wii and join the PlayStation 3 party on September 17 (in the UK).

So what exactly do you need to play PlayStation Move – well there are of two essential parts:

A Sony ‘PlayStation Eye’ camera and at least one wireless, ‘PlayStation Move’ controller which looks like a smooth curved black wand (think Nintendo Wiimote – just with a cool glowing ball at the top).

In addition to these you can add a second Move Controller which can add lots of benefits to your gameplay experience and a PlayStation Move ‘Navigation Controller’, which you use to move around as it had a thumb stick – and all the buttons you find on the left hand side of the standard SixAxis DualShock controller.

Picking up the new kit will set you back £44.91 (all prices taken from Amazon.co.uk) for a starter pack which has a PlayStation Move Controller, PlayStation Eye Camera and a Demo Disc. Adding another Move Controller is £29.99 and an optional Navigation Controller is £17.99 – which makes starting to MOVE a good deal cheaper than a ‘no controller option for Xbox 360 called Kinect’, more satisfying too but that’s another story…
If you’re a PS3 virgin you can get a very cool bundle which gives you the Move starter pack and a PS3 320gb for £284.

"the guys rock their Move..."

Getting Moving…
The good news is that it is very simple to set up PlayStation Move. Charge the controllers (via the PlayStation 3's USB ports or your computer’s USB ports if you fancy), connect the PlayStation Eye camera – either on the PS3 or on your TV, depending on how your room is positioned.

From then on simply load up your chosen Move compatible game and point the Move Controller at the camera, hit the couple of buttons and your Move control will come to ball glowing, throbbing life. The PlayStation Eye camera will recognise the controller and you’re away, you can use the Move controller to navigate menus by holding the trigger (yes the move has sexy triggers on the underside) which is also known as the ‘T button’. You can even use the move to control the XMB menus – hold the T button, move the menu choice up / down or left / right and hit the ‘move’ button to make a selection.

The bad new is, erm, well there isn’t any bad news to report as yet, with rock solid functionality, no loss of signal or tracking, impressive battery life, sleek and very comfy controllers – Sony have delivered a potential death blow to competitor motion control systems.

What is there to play?
Move-enabled games are hitting alongside the hardware in the shape of Sports Champions, Start the Party and Kung Fu Rider (click the title to read the Darkmatters reviews of these). There are also patches coming to make existing games such as EyePet, Heavy Rain, Hustle Kings, Flower and RUSE work with Move. Then there’s The Fight (street fighting brawler), Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, The Shoot (light gun game), SingStar +Dance (free your inner dancer) and big hitters such as Little Big Planet 2 which is like having millions of different games in one box and Killzone 3, SOCOM 4 and MAG which will redefine shooters with Move controls!? This is the start of something very special, it’s time to get very very excited because the PS3 really does now ‘only do everything’!?

Do it - do it now!

I wasn’t expecting the love the PlayStation Move as much as I do. I’ve never been a Wii fan and like to play my games chilling on a sofa not waving my arms in front of a TV… that has changed and after some extended (very addictive) sessions on Sports Champions and Start The Party – I’m a convert.

Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 amazing move-ments out of 10)

If the move was a woman - it would probably be:

"could you handle the curves?"

As a strange little critter from Madagascar once said: “I like to move it, move it!” and if you invest in PlayStation Move – I’m certain you will too!

Read more about the Move here: http://uk.playstation.com/

Does The Devil get all the best trailers?

Devil preview by Matt Adcock

Darkmatters sees five strangers trapped.

One of them is not what they seem.

Devil is a supernatural thriller with M. Night Shyamalan's signature touch.

Check out the trailer below:

Darkmatters Review: Flash Gordon 30th Anniversary

Flash Gordon (PG) – Blu-Ray 30th Anniversary release

Dir: Mike Hodges

Starring: Sam J. Jackson, Melody Anderson, Max Von Sydow, Topol, Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton, Richard O'Brien and Peter Duncan

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“FLASH, Arrgghh-arrrr, he’ll save every one of us!”

Yes, let’s hear it for all American Football player / saviour of the world Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) who, along his cute crush Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) might just be earth’s only hope.

Back in the 80’s Italian Academy Award-winning movie producer Dino De Laurentiis brought Flash Gordon to the screen in a bid to cash in on the Star Wars hype train. Backed up with a cast of heavy hitters including Max Von Sydow, Topol, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde and Timothy Dalton – and the best special effects money could buy (ahem)… Then they delivered the ‘killer’ blow of having Queen do the soundtrack and behold the campest, loudest and cheesiest sci-fi we could wish for was born!

So our hero Flash finds himself whisked off to the planet of Mongo by a freak storm – as you do - where cruel tyrant Ming the Merciless (Max Von Sydow) is planning to destroy Earth. Flash fights evil, unites the warring natives led by Prince Barin (Dalton) and Prince Vultan (Blessed)and gets the girls.

"your punishment for not wearing underware is to be whipped!"

Flash Gordon is a masterpiece of kitsch – packed with memorable scenes such as a young Blue Peter presenter (Duncan) getting to find out the hard way that tree scorpion monsters have a real bad sting… Some great fights such as an aerial battle of hawkmen vs spaceship full of robots, Flash vs Prince with whips on a spiked platform – etc etc. The women of the piece include the iconic Princess Aura (Omella Muti) whose skin tight catsuits and general pulse raising outfits were part of many young men’s formative sexual thoughts… read more about this important topic here: DEN OF GEEK

Everyone on set seems to be having a seriously good time and the joy is infectious as viewers are prepared to put aside disbelief and party on to the riotous overload of bad dialogue and crazy outfits.

"Princess Aura - slips into something even less comfortable than in the film!"

Visual wise, the film has never looked so good, the 1080p transfer handles the primary school coloured worlds well and the image looks a lot cleaner than previous DVD releases. The only downside is that without an expensive CGI make over (a la Star Wars) – the already ropey ‘special’ effects look extra weak in HD.

The 30th Anniversary Blu-Ray release brings all the extras from previous DVD releases and comes in a limited edition 2 disc steel book case and includes the original Queen soundtrack on CD – which is second only to Highlander as the best camp rock soundtrack by the hairy supergroup.

Thanks to Flash, I ain’t sacred o’ no Mongo… All sci-fi fans and anyone who might have somehow managed to live so far without seeing this camp classic, should buy this Blu-Ray version today!! Go Flash!

Darkmatters rating: öööööööö (8 awesome sci-fi cheeseburgers out of 10)

"new flash gordon... not as camp (or as good)"

Darkmatters Review: Scott Pilgrim vs the World

Scott Pilgrim vs the World (12a)

Dir. Edgar Wright

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Prepare for an epic epic of epic epicness…

Meet Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) a 22 year old slacker, he’s trying to
get over a major broken heart, find a job, get his fairly sucky band
together and not pay rent to his cool gay roommate (Kieran Culkin). His
precious little life is fairly un-incredible, on the plus side he does
have a 17year old rebound girlfriend - a high school girl named Knives
Chau (Ellen Wong) who thinks he’s the greatest guy ever. But one day
Scott meets the literal girl of his dreams – the foxy Ramona Flowers
(Mary Elizabeth ‘Die Hard 4.0’ Winstead) roller blading through his
head and from then on he’s absolutely smitten.

So far, so much like so many slacker rom-coms but Scott Pilgrim vs The
World is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Adapted from the
cutting edge cool series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley by Edgar
‘Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead’ Wright, probably the greatest working
British director of our time, this is a super powered mixture of romance,
comic book violence and video game cool. You see, in order to date Ramona,
Scott Pilgrim must fight and defeat her seven evil exes in mortal combat
– each of whom packs a unique super power.

Director Wright makes films that bring a pop culture overload to the
masses, what he did for zombie films with Shaun of the Dead and police
action buddy films with Hot Fuzz, he does here for video games and super
heroes. Anyone who has ever played Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter or
Super Mario Bros. will be tripping from the theme tunes, sound and visual
effects seamlessly incorporated into the film, but you don’t have to be
a gaming geek to enjoy the megaton thrill of such a wonderfully produced
homage to super powered thrills.

The arcade game style battles against the seven evil exes are realised in
hyper real fight scenes - think The Matrix 2.0 mixed with animé
influences such as Dragonball Z or Naruto. The exes themselves are
memorable adversaries, Lucas is an action movie star / skateboard dude
(Chris Evans), Todd (Brandon Routh) is a vegan powered telekinetic badass
and final boss fight Gideon (Jason Schwartzman) is a slimy music producer
who wants Ramona back.

Everything works so well that you’ll be lost in an endorphin buzz of
pure fun, action and self-discovery. Oh, and music, because Scott’s band
‘Sex Bob-omb’ are a wannabe punk outfit (whose tracks are supplied by
Beck) and you don’t need to have played ‘Guitar Hero’ to love their
spiky band contests.

"Scott Pilgrim is a lover and a fighter!"

Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are brilliant in the lead roles
and are ably supported by their cool support cast of friends and rivals.
The special effects are awesome and the central metaphor about the need to
fight for your true love is a universal one that makes Scott Pilgrim vs
The World a text book for dating in the 21st century.

From the moment that an 8-bit version of the Universal logo chugs onto
screen to a MIDI Zelda-esq theme you know that you’re in for a geek’s
paradise of tech enhanced thrills. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is an
un-missable burst of perfect cinematic joy, repeated viewings recommended!

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

Scott Pilgrim gets sucked into a PlayStation 3 remake of Final Fantasy VII and has to battle Cloud Strife who has taken a fancy to Ramona! Huge swords at the ready!!

Darkmatters rating: öööööööööö (10 epic scenes of epicness out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide: Action 9 / Style 9 / Babes 8 / Comedy 10 / Horror 5 / Spiritual Enlightenment 13

PlayStation Game Runners – Next level street gaming

PlayStation Game Runners – Next level street gaming

Matt Adcock takes Darkmatters to the streets with PlayStation Game Runners...

This is an experimental project where PlayStation, members of the public and young people from diverse backgrounds come together to create social games. PlayStation believe the best games are played as a group.
The project has been developed by PlayStation and Hide & Seek with a team of 8 initial Game Runners who PlayStation have picked to train as game designers and work to make the games relevant.
There are three games in development: Flags, Blocks & Hoops. The games are in prototype stage and during August there will be a series of playtests to develop the games.

This week I had the chance to run around the streets of London playing HOOPS and it was major fun. Plus we were victorious as the mighty 'Team Green', because although it's fun taking part, there are no points for second place!!

You can get involved in PlayStation Game Runners at http://www.facebook.com/playstationgamerunners, where you can learn about the different games, meet the Game Runners and get involved. Fans are invited to comment on the games and support The Game Runners.
The most popular game – as decided by the fans – will be selected and put forward into development and then put into action at a live event to be announced, where fans can try out the game for real.

Commenting on PlayStation Game Runners Carl Christopher –Ansari SCEUK states ‘ PlayStation has always been about the fun of playing games. These games are inspired by the need to manoeuvre. PlayStation Game Runners is a experimental vehicle to explore getting fans of PlayStation together - online and in real life – to play, share ideas, and help progress the games. ‘

The three games in development are:

Hoops:
Hoops is an urban adventure that takes the backyard past-time of shooting hoops to an intense new level. Played out across a large area, teams of eight must work together to discover hidden stashes of balls, find shooting points, and then get the ball through the hoop.

There are many hoops hidden around the streets, so be on the look-out... Sometimes the player will be able to shoot the hoop in one throw; sometimes, the team will have to work together to pass the ball from the shooting point to the hoop. Many teams play simultaneously, so there are lots of chances for interceptions. This is a game where teamwork, communication and a good throwing arm are key...

Blocks:
Blocks is a three-dimensional game of strategy and precision movement. Two opposing players take it in turns to place the blocks in a 2 x 2 tower. Every face of the block has a PlayStation symbol on it. When a player places a block, the symbols on all touching faces must match. Here’s the tricky bit: all the blocks are a little bit uneven, and so stacking a high tower gets harder and harder. The player who lets the tower topple, or who runs out of time to make a move, loses the game. You’ll need a logical mind and a steady hand to triumph!

Flags:
Flags is Noughts and Crosses transformed into a fun, social team game. Played on a 3 x 3 grid with a flag in the centre of each square, teams of three compete against one another to make a winning row. Players capture a flag by out-numbering their opponents on the square for a full ten-count. If you don’t get to ten, you don’t raise the flag... Flags begins as a fun and chaotic game. but players soon develop complex tactics to dominate squares. You’ll need great communication, quick thinking and fast movement if you want to succeed...

Team Green - winning the HOOPS game

Want to know more about Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), based in London, is responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of PlayStation®3, PlayStation®2, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®Network software and hardware in 99 territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. SCEE also develops, publishes, markets and distributes entertainment software for these formats, and manages the third party licensing programs for the formats in these territories. Since the launch of PlayStation 3 in November 2006, over 38 million units have been sold globally and continue to be sold at a record level. Maintaining its position as one of the most successful consumer electronic products in history, PlayStation 2 has sold over 146.1 million systems worldwide. Since its launch at the end of 2004, over 62.7 million PSPs have been sold globally, highlighting the importance of the portable entertainment market. With the huge increase in interest and accessibility of network applications and network gaming, over 52 million accounts have registered to PlayStation Network, the free-to-access interactive environment, and over 1 billion items have been downloaded.


More information about PlayStation products can be found at http://www.playstation.com/.

Darkmatters Review: The Expendables

The Expendables (15)

Dir. Sylvester Stallone

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


“We are the shadow, the smoke in your eyes, the ghosts that hide in the night... “

This quote from Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) should go on to say “we are also the ghosts who kick in your door, beat the crap out of your henchmen and take you down with extreme prejudice!?” Yes, in a summer packed with action films – The Expendables stands out because it has assembled possibly the most unique, ball busting, macho drenched cast ever. If you’re an action / violence movie fan and watch only one film this year, you need to choose The Expendables because nowhere else are you going to witness Stallone, Stratham, Li, Austin, Willis and Schwarzenegger all in same film? No where…

The Expendables ups the ante for action movies and will be king of the shoot-and-beat-em-ups for some time! You want tough guys? You got em and these bad boys are the kind who laugh at missions others would deem ‘suicidal’ The Expendables is a full on action movie the like of which we simply have not seen in cinemas for many a year. Born in the 80's, no script can handle such a ‘plot’ infused with pure testosterone, delivered with a rocket launcher to your frontal cortex. There’s action and there’s rubbish, meat head dialogue plus cringe inducing buddy scenes but thankfully the action delivers big time – enough to make The Expendables a ‘must see’.

The Expendables themselves don’t even try to act and yet their male bonding banter somehow delivers sufficient onscreen chemistry to even make you care about Mickey Rourke’s Tool (that’s his character’s name) when he delivers a long monologue about his failing love life… So don’t worry about the plot or the script, just be ready because The Expendables brings so much high adrenalin carnage that it's really not a good time to be a bad guy...

Imagine the most explosive, kick ass action movie ever, then add more insane action, brutal fights and feel good heroics the like of which haven't graced the screen since the '80's when Stallone ruled the box office. That's The Expendables and if you've ever loved action movies - missing this would be like punching yourself in the face!


UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

Arnie (as a Terminator) and Willis (as John McClane) team up to take down The Expendables and an almighty firefight ensues... Who will survive and what will be left of them??

Darkmatters rating: ööööööö (7 awesome action scenes out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide: Action 8 / Style 6 / Babes 5 / Comedy 5 / Horror 5 / Spiritual Enlightenment 3

Darkmatters vs Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim - is the future!!

To win the girl of his dreams, Scott Pilgrim must defeat her seven evil exes.

Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for totally average garage band Sex Bob-omb, the 22-year-old has just met the girl of his dreams...literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him. Genre-smashing filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) tells the amazing story of one romantic slacker’s quest to power up with love in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It’s getting rid of them that proves difficult. From the girl who kicked his heart’s ass—and now is back in town—to the teenage distraction he’s trying to shake when Ramona rollerblades into his world, love hasn’t been easy. He soon discovers, however, his new crush has the most unusual baggage of all: a nefarious league of exes controls her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor.

As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues’ gallery from her past—from infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsomely identical twins. And if Matt Adcock, sorry, Scott, hopes to win his true love, he must vanquish them all before it really is game over.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

PS3 High Stakes: Poker Edition, Add-on 3 years later!

PS3 High Stakes: Poker Edition, Add-on 3 years later!

Was it worth the wait?


For those of you that have been living under a rock for the last 3
years here's a little update regarding Coresofts High
stakes poker on the PS3. Yes it was the first PS3 exclusive poker game
that came out in 2007, available through download on the PS3 Store. No
you can't play poker
online for money using this game, but it's still fun. How did it
play? Well... like real online poker
but without the need for cash. However, back in 2007 the game was
missing some features that have been included in the 3 year-later update.

So what's included in the update?

Straight off the bat they've added 30 trophies to the game, meaning
you can show your friends just how good you are. Also included eight
extra languages for the US edition, this allows the player to select
games by language or region.

New modes include, Double-Flop Hold'em, Deuce to Seven Triple Draw,
Five-Card Triple Draw, and Five-Card Stud, this adds 15 additional
trophies up for grabs.

For fans of poker with a PS3 we could definitely recommend this game
and the add-on.
If you don't have the original and wanna check it out it's only $13
(that's including the add-on). So go on treat yourself or a friend.

Need to touch up you game? Check out this texas holdem poker
page.

Darkmatters Review: The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender (PG)

Dir. M. Night Shyamalan

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

The much maligned M. Night ‘will I ever make another film as good as
The Sixth Sense?’ Shyamalan tries his hand at a more mainstream
directing gig with this big screen adaptation of the popular Manga books /
animation ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’. Dropping the ‘Avatar’
element of the name due to some other film that you might have heard of,
The Last Airbender tells the tale of a strange world divided into four
kingdoms, each represented by an element. So the realms of Water, Air,
Earth, and Fire exist but all is not well as the Fire Nation want to rule
the whole world and decide that they should be the only nation allowed to
have ‘benders’ – people who can control the forces of the elements
e.g. a fire bender can throw fire as a weapon or heat their hands up when
cold…

This bender discrimination leads to war and the Fire Nation launches an
attack to eradicate all members of the Air Kingdom as they are said to be
the national from which the ‘Avatar’ will arise. The Avatar is a
mystical super bender who can control all four elements but it has been
100 years since he was last seen.

Our heroes are Katara (Nicola Peltz), a young girl who can bend water, and
Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) her brother. These two kids from the Water
Kingdom unwittingly stumble upon The Avatar who turns out to be young monk
named Aang (Noah Ringer). Seems he’s been locked in a block of ice for
the last 100 years and although destined to be the saviour of the world,
he didn’t actually complete his bender training and can only bend air.

"who are you calling a bender?"

So the scene is set for a desperate struggle for Aang to master the other
elements and avert a mass bender massacre. The wildcard in the mix is
shamed Fire Nation Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), on a mission to capture Aang
and restore his honour because he was banished by his father, Fire Lord
Ozai (Cliff Curtis).

The Last Airbender is an averagely enjoyable romp, the mystic plot limps
along and is only really enlivened by some nice bender enhanced fights. It
really didn’t need to be in 3D either and would have worked just as well
without the need to wear the 3D goggles. Also the plot is left on a wide
open cliff-hanger for the next film in the series - we can only hope that
they get better as they go along.

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

Aang gives up his quest and takes a job at McDonald's using his air bending powers to flip burgers...

Darkmatters rating: ööööö (5 bending mystics out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide: Action 6 / Style 6 / Babes 5 / Comedy 5 / Horror 5 / Spiritual Enlightenment 4

Check out another review here (The Telegraph)

Medal of Honor brings the Linkin Park to Darkmatters

Medal of Honor / Linkin Park -- "The Catalyst" Trailer

Darkmatters Editor Matt Adcock likes a bit of Linkin Park... And he likes the look of the all-new Medal of Honor for the PS3... So it's not really any surprise that the new gameplay / live action trailer directed by Linkin Park's Joe Hahn has made it onto this site for your viewing pleasure!

The trailer features never-before-seen in-game footage set to the band's first single 'The Catalyst' from their soon to be released album, A Thousand Suns.

For the first time in its 11-year history, Medal of Honor leaves the WWII theatre and enters the modern setting of war-torn Afghanistan. The game is told through the lens of a small band of fictional characters. Medal of Honor introduces players to the Tier 1 Operator, an elite warrior and relatively unknown instrument of the U.S. Military that operates under the National Command Authority to take on missions no one else can handle.

ENJOY:

Darkmatters hearts PlayStation BetaRooms

PlayStation BetaRooms

Experienced by Matt Adcock

Some friends are just great – you know the ones, say for instance the guy who texts you that he’s bagged tickets to the PlayStation BetaRooms – where you’ll get to play Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Dead Nation, Little Big Planet 2 and try the new MOVE with Heavy Rain, Sports Champion, Kung Fu Rider, The Fight…

So last weekend Alan ‘top mate’ Masters and I went on a PS3 road trip to The Custard Factory in Birmingham – there to experience all that PlayStation BetaRooms had to offer.

Here are my quick reviews of the games played:

Killzone 3 Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 awesome jetpack assisted battles out of 10)

The best looking future warfare simulator available just got better. Killzone 2 is a great game, but for the next in the series everything has been refined, polished and upgraded… We got to play through a Helghast infested complex set in an icy area where jet pack assisted leaping across icebergs is the order of the day. Very very satisfying gameplay (even at this stage and the game doesn’t release until Feb ’11) – experiencing KZ3 has set my level of:
Anticipation to ‘OFF THE SCALE’!!

Dead Nation Darkmatters rating: öööööööö (8 zombie clown heads out of 10)


From the quality dudes who made Super Stardust HD comes a zombie game that grabs you in its bloody, cold grip and never lets you go… Think Robotron with glorious, gory zombie enemies and some tasty weaponry with which to send them back to hell and you’ll have some idea of what to expect!? The action is fast, the graphics are excellent – loved the darkness that wraps the levels – a spooky funfair which was all ‘Zombieland’ drips with menace and you’re sure what nasty enemy you’ll find in your trusty torchlight next. Anticipation level: ‘WILL BUY ON DAY 1’!

Gran Turismo 5 (3D) Darkmatters rating: öööööööööö (10 perfect driving experiences out of 10)

GT5 has been a long long time coming… So many screenshots, so many news items about additional features – Top Gear track etc… But now the game is a mere 3 months away and having played it in both 3D and 2D , I can confirm that there is nothing even close to Gran Turismo 5 available – this is a benchmark raising work of art that plays like a dream and look better than you can imagine. The 3D depth of field is beautifully realised, but even in humble 2D this is like having a ‘Being John Malkovich’ tunnel straight into the Stig’s head! The cars look, feel and sound amazing, the handling is pitch perfect and the gameplay is wonderfully varied – the rally stage we tried in a Citroen was slippy as hell, the tarmac circuit a grippy tyre screeching workout. Anticipation level: ‘CAN’T WAIT’, might actually preorder the super collectors edition… seriously, this is going to be a long three months till this baby hits and shows the world that there simply is nothing that can touch the PS3 for racing!!

Motorstorm Apocalypse Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 destruction overloads out of 10)

Hang on a minute – GT5 is truly amazing but even though it has damage, it doesn’t have massive sky scrapers collapsing as you drive through their smoking wreckage… Motorstorm blazed a trail for balls-to-the-wall off road racing with crazy crashes, lovely graphics and frantic multiplayer online races / battles. Now it’s back in a Mad Max like near future – and you are the road warrior! We played Motorstorm Apocalypse not just because it is so fun that it makes grown men giggle and whoop like schoolgirls at a Justin Bieber topless concert, no the lovely people at the PlayStation BetaRooms were offering a massive Sony 3D TV to the fastest time set!? One shot – everything to play for! OK, so we placed 6th on the leaderboard (really should have done some practicing before hitting the timed lap console) so no new TV but a great memory of adrenalin rushing racing that upped my anticipation rating for this from ‘will get’ to ‘MUST BUY’.

Little Big Planet 2 Darkmatters rating: öööööööööö (10 joy inducing creations out of 10)

Joy to the world, a saviour is born, but before we get to Christmas – the second coming of Little Big Planet will happen and this is massive step up from the first game. The new animated customs are great, the grapple dynamic allows for some suphero alike swinging from rooftop to ledge. Then there are the many new mini game options – which from what we experienced are so addictive that there might need to be LBP2 rehab clinics set up!? Everything you liked about the first Little Big Planet has been retained and tweaked, pretty much everything you didn’t like has been improved (no more ‘floaty’ jumping etc). In a word ‘excellent’ – Anticipation rating: ‘CREATION MESSIAH I PLEDGE MYSELF TO YOU’

The Fight Darkmatters rating: öööööööö (8 serious beatings out of 10)

OK so there’s been lots of talk about Sony’s motion sensing MOVE controllers – of which you’ll need one for each hand if you step up for this vicious street fighting, sin city styled fight club! I was a bit dubious as I’m really not a fan of the Wii. But drawn in by the stylish HD graphics I gave The Fight a go… And was impressed! The gameplay is nicely ‘pick up and play’ – your character moves and aims automatically which lets you focus on how best to beat the living daylights out of your opponent. Sure you can duck and weave (the camera tracks you even as the MOVE controllers mimic your punches). It all feels very satisfying and a million miles away from the slap scrappy boxing efforts of Wii that I’ve tried in the past. If you like fighting games, I’d say that MOVE is a much better way to go than even the Kinect – there is something very ‘right’ about holding the ergonomically pleasing controllers than simply ‘acting’ in front of a camera.
Anticipation rating: ‘THE FIRST RULE OF THE FIGHT IS YOU SHOULD TELL EVERYBODY ABOUT THE FIGHT COS IT IS EXCELLENT’!

Sports Champions: Table Tennis Darkmatters rating: ööööööö (7 HD ping pongs out of 10)
The MOVE’s first of many sport simulator packages is ‘Sports Champions’ and we got to ping some serious pongs with Table Tennis. It looks excellent, is very responsive and allows for serious skills to be employed – be it adding spin through wrist posting, slamming a smash or serving an ace. It’s about as good as a table tennis sim could be – alas I’m not a big table tennis fan so it was all a bit lost on me. I’m much more excited about some of the other Sports Champions games that come as part of the package – Golf, Gladiator Duels and Archery to name just a few.
Anticipation level: ‘PROBABLE BUY BUT NOT FOR THE TABLE TENNIS ALONE’

Kung Fu Rider Darkmatters rating: ööööö (5 HD office chair based crazy rollings out of 10)
Everybody was Kung Fu Riding…erm well this is a PAIN-alike racing game where you control a office chair as it speeds down a course trying to avoid obstacles, random enemies in suits and various challenges by flicking the MOVE controller or tilting it. This version is obviously in a pretty raw state as the controls need work, but they get sorted before launch and if this madcap title is a low price PSN download then I’d probably pick it up.
Anticipation rating ‘DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME, YET’


Heavy Rain MOVE Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 hands on dark crimes out of 10)

I loved Heavy Rain when it was simply a ‘press the right button’ interactive movie – and was curious how the MOVE controls would work with it. Now having played it – I can’t wait to go through the whole game again as the MOVE adds to the feeling actually being involved in the story – be it running from and fighting off masked assailants as a babe wearing nothing but her skimpies, or a tough detective trying to squeeze past a garbage container in a gloomy ‘mug me’ ally. The game throws up symbols on screen – you have a certainly amount of time to react and do the correct gesture – it’s immersive and satisfying and the MOVE controls are spot on.
Anticipation rating: ‘MOVE BRINGS THE CRIMESCENE TO LIFE – NEEDS TO BE PLAYED’!


BETAROOMS verdict: Darkmatters rating: öööööööööö (10 gaming experiences out of 10)

Hats off to Sony for bringing some of their big hitting games to the public at stages where feedback can still be incorporated in to the final development. I was seriously impressed with the excellent games coming from Sony in the next 6 months – and these are just the tip of the powerfisted beserker of gaming goodness that will be hitting the PS3 in that timescale. No other games consol has the depth and sheer excitement factor that the PS3 is going to rock this holiday season – the MOVE is a step up from the Wiimote in every way and unless dancing games are all you enjoy – you need a controller with triggers for the more varied stuff like erm, shooting!!

If there are more BetaRooms planned (can you imagine the potential with StarHawk, Last Guardian, Resistance 3, Eight Days, Time Crisis, Agent, Agency etc etc) I can only hope that my mate Alan is on the ball and bags the tickets sharpish!!

Check out these cool write ups of PlayStation BetaRooms:

RobGroove

ps3attitude

Is this man 'The Stig' - or just Alan Masters?

Scott Pilgrim with zombies hits PS3 now, Xbox one day...

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Game preview by Matt Adcock

You want to kick ass with Scott Pilgrim? The game looks to be a superb film spin off - good news if you've got a PS3... If you're an Xbox 360 owner, you'll have to wait as a release date has yet to be announced...

And now - by entering 'Down, Up, Right, Down, Up, Right, Down, Up, Right, Right, Right' you can fight not only evil ex's you can battle ZOMBIES!!



This time next week - Scott Pilgrim hits the PSN!!

More about the film / comic HERE

Darkmatters Review: The A-Team

The A-Team (12A)

Dir. Joe Carnahan

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

One year ago, an elite commando unit was sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security facility. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers for hire. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the A-Team.

Movie goers of a certain age will undoubtedly bring fond memories of Saturday evenings spent watching Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith and his A-Team helping oppressed people, building tanks out of spare parts and generally righting wrongs like modern day Robin Hoods (packing automatic weaponry).

Now the their are back – reincarnated into leader Hannibal (Liam Neeson), charmer Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Cooper), bruiser Bosco B.A. Baracus (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson) and crazy H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley).

The new A-Team aren’t Nam vets, these are guys are straight out of Iraq where they were framed for a crime and promptly banged up. Six months later Hannibal breaks them out and vows revenge on whoever set them up who include a nefarious black ops crew led by boo hiss bad guy Pike (Brian Bloom). The CIA is also after the A-Team and could prove to be an even greater threat thanks to Lynch (Patrick Wilson) who wants to see them go down for their supposed crimes. Jessica Biel is on hand to be the hard nosed military Lieutenant also tasked with finding and bringing in them in but she has a history with Face whose good looks and swagger might just be enough to sway her emotions.

Director Joe ‘Smokin Aces’ Carnahan delivers lots of bang for your buck with some truly audacious action set pieces that include planes, tanks and a stunning cargo transporter ship climax. Sure the plot is fairly feeble but there are more than enough fights, chases, stunts, wise cracks and laugh out loud moments to make up for it.

My two sons proclaimed The A-Team to be the “coolest film of the year so far” so there may soon be a new generation of fans won over. Older watchers should be sure to check out the after credits scene where original series actors Dirk Benedict (Face) and Dwight Schultz (Murdock) make fun cameos.

The A-Team might be stupid and completely over the top but in the end you just have to go with it and say "I love it when a plan comes together".

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

The A-Team are challenged to go up against The Losers and The Expendables (seeing it this week)... utter carnage ensues but the A-Team walk away triumphant - because let's face it - they never get shot!!

Darkmatters rating: ööööööö (7 pity the fools out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide:
Action 8
Style 7
Babes 6
Comedy 7
Horror 4
Spiritual Enlightenment 4