Double Movie Feature: American Sniper (2014) / Warm Bodies (2013)

American Sniper is based off the story of Chris Kyle, a decorated member of the US SEALS and the most deadly sniper in US history. Played by Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood; the exceptionally long movie (174 minutes) is a very dramatised sequence based off the autobiography written by Chris Kyle before his death in 2013.

Clint Eastwood certainly knows how to direct a good movie and Bradley Cooper played the role very well. It’s a harrowing and gritty story with some rather disturbing scenes, but as a war movie, it has to be taken with a few spoonfuls of salt. Many aspects of the movie are not reflections of the real events and the issue that audiences who haven’t read his book may be led to believe incorrect details is a real concern. For movie purposes, I understand the need to make the movie capture audience’s attention, but I felt more could have been done to distinguish between fact and fiction. It causes the movie to sway very hard towards being a propaganda piece.

Otherwise, the movie is actually very good and despite its marathon length it’s not difficult to sit through.

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Warm Bodies is a new spin on the modern zombie movie. With humans sheltering away behind massive walls, the zombies wander the city, but they are not as dead as we thought. They’re still alive in a dead kind of way, trying to find some sense of place in their new world. Still driven to eat people, a zombie named R departs for the city with a group of other zombies including his closest ‘friend’ played by Rob Corddry. When they attack a group of young scavengers, R sees a girl named Julie and falls in love. He protects her from the others and tries to find a way to make things work, craving the need to try and find his humanity again. Little does he know, the time they spend together is changing everything they know about the world.

On paper, Warm Bodies is probably one of the corniest movie ideas you could think of, but the movie is itself is so unique that it is now right up there with my favourites. It’s not a perfect movie by far, with some mediocre acting, superficial supporting characters and a few inconsistencies. However, the movie just lays on so much charm it becomes sickly sweet with optimism and romance. It’s well paced and was gripping all the way through, with a good lather of humour.

Akin to the quality of Shaun of the Dead, Warm Bodies brings new ‘life’ to the paranormal romantic zombie comedy genre. Did that exist before?

When Surviving is Everything

Just like the undead, the zombie genre doesn’t seem to go away. I’m not complaining, but I would like to see more sandbox zombie apocalypse survival games. We’ve had a few come out in the last few months like State of Decay and Seven Days to Die, but this little corker has popped up on Steam Early Access and I've very much taken a liking too it.

Project Zomboid is an isometric zombie survival sandbox, and an unforgiving one at that. You’ll have to scavenge for food, supplies and stock up on water before the water and electricity go out…for good. Zombies aren’t a pushover either. It could take only one scratch before you join the zombie hoards, and a bite is a sure (un)death sentence. The other enemy is you; keeping yourself fed, hydrated, well slept and trying not to get sick is all on the table. Even preventing yourself from boredom, depression and insanity requires a delicate management of time and resources.

Sneak, Loot and Fight to survive.

Despite all this, the game gives you fantastic sandbox to play in. Although I will admit the towns are a bit bare, the game has invested a lot of time in making everything require strategy. You’ll need to plan how you’ll break into buildings beforehand in case a horde is waiting for you inside. Your food won’t last forever and you’ll need fruit and vegetable crops which require you to plant a garden and keep it watered. You can even go as far as to build your own stronghold with material you loot around the town.

Although it’s still in early development, there is a great deal of customisation for your sandbox ranging from in-game day time from one day per hour to real-time to what kind of zombies you want, shamblers or do you prefer the sprinting undead? There is still much content to be added, including NPCs and story modes, but right now you have a very playable survival sandbox.

You’re walking a very fine line of survival; one slip will usually mean certain death, which makes this game that much more desperate and enjoyable. You can find it on Steam or check out their page.

400 Days Later

The first (and possibly only) DLC for Telltale's 'The Walking Dead' finally hit Steam, a over a year since the initial game's release. 400 Days is a short, chapter-based expansion, with each chapter featuring a new survivor at various periods during the zombie pandemic.

Each chapter will only take about 15 minutes at the most to complete, as well as the final scene. With only a short window to flesh out each character, Telltale did a great job of getting you to feel somewhat responsible and attached to your choices. They also hit you with some hard scenes that really stretch your moral compass.

With that said, it doesn't offer much more than handful of short stories that don't feel to have much impact on the overarching world. There are a few scenes where your choices from the original episodic story are reflected in these short chapters, but it has little effect as they don't impact how each chapter plays out at all, they are little more than set pieces.

400 Days is a great time waster, but the shortness and lack of cause and effect contributes to an underwhelming resolution. That aside, it functions much the same as the original game. It looks good and runs well, and they try out a few game-play features that mix it up a bit. 400 Days is definitely worth the one low price of $4.99 USD.

The Last of Us - Review

The Last of Us is one of those post-apocalyptic games that really gives the feeling that everything went down the toilet a long time ago, and it certainly has. Set 20 years after a mutated version of the real-life Cordyceps fungus effects the human population, transforming them into rabid and violent  creatures. The surviving population has fallen into the regular array of nomadic tribes, heavy-handed military settlements, trigger-happy bandits and the odd surviving settlers.

 
The story follows a man named Joel, who, after his own fair share of loss during the initial spread of the outbreak, works as part of a smuggling operation with his partner Tess. Usually sitting on the wrong side of the fence, Tess and Joel are given the task of escorting a young girl named Ellie to a rebel-like force know as the Fireflies. As their luck continues to dwindle, they find out that Ellie is  immune and the Fireflies intend to find out why to engineer a cure.

Without spoiling too much more of the story, the game itself is the many years of work from developer Naughty Dog. Known for their Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted series, The Last of Us marks a big change in direction for the developer, and their years of work have shown in the sheer amount of polish this game boasts. For the entire length of the game, its design and detail to both the environment and the characters was faultless. The character rendering, especially during cut-scenes, is one of the best I've seen to date. Although it's visuals are top quality, it also doesn't miss a beat to the gripping and enticing story and writing. The ebb and flow of action and exploration is paced perfectly, with many quiet walks interrupted by the sudden appearance of resting infected. The world is filled with character. You'll find signs of life everywhere, each adding to the atmosphere of the world around you, making it very engrossing.

There is also a great deal of emphasis on allowing you to choose how you want to play. While you could go guns blazing, you can also opt for the stealthy approach and often sneak pass an entire squad of bandits and continue on your way. With that said, it does still force you into certain circumstances on occasion. Several areas required you to eliminate all guards or infected in an area, usually so you could safely use an object, such as open a garage door. Infected are sometimes already aware of your presence when you enter a room, and sneaking past agitated infected is quite impossible.

Your companion's AI is quite well done, though it does break realism on several occasions. I had Ellie run around trying to hide and walking right in front of guards or them walking right on top of her with no reaction. Enemies also suffer from patrolling in circles, taking the same path back and forward until you put them out of their misery. Despite the few breaks in realism, the combat AI is aggressive. Enemies take cover, blind fire, try to flank you and assist each other. Your own partner is also very responsive, often stabbing enemies when they're grabbing you, or hurling bricks and bottles to stun  them. Later on, Ellie uses a gun and provides a much greater combat role.

The game is also very forgiving, with frequent check-pointing the game doesn't punish you much for failing, which may feel soft for some, but I was grateful for it on several occasions. Loading times are also quick, aside from the initial load of the game which took up to five minutes one time. It features a Multiplayer mode, but it seemed pretty samey and I did not try it. There is also a New Game + mode so you can go back and try and find all the collectables.

The Last of Us is a real piece of gaming gold and although lacking re-playability (unless you're a collecting freak) the ten to twenty hour journey is quite worth the effort.

The Dayz Cometh

Open world zombie survival. It all kicked off with the Arma 2 mod, DayZ. It set a very different stage for gaming, and also brought up a great many issues when it came to discerning what kind of gamer you are. With the much anticipated DayZ Standalone almost out of Private Alpha and said to be entering a Public Alpha soon, New Bohemia and mod creator, Dean Hall, released some info on what to look forward to.

Although the visuals in the DayZ mod were good when cranked way up, they have been much improved for the standalone. They have introduced many new assets and buildings, and 90% of buildings are now enterable according to New Bohemia. New items, including combinable items such as purifying pills to clean dirty drinking water and the gunplay has been significantly improved. While the game is still running on the Arma 2 engine, it is much improved for DayZ.

There is also some chatter about Sony picking up DayZ for the PS4, assuming the PC launch doesn't collapse. Despite that, there is no announced release date for DayZ, but we've been told it should only cost about $20-$25USD. I'm looking forward to it, DayZ was a great experience, despite the 'human' nature of some players, but the fact that zombies are a real threat, as is cold, heat and illness, it makes the world just that more hostile for everyone.