The Aliens: We’re in the Pipe, Five by Fiveexpansion brings the dropship pilot Ferro and the quartermaster Spunkmeyer to the game, expanding the strategic options available to the colonial marine player. Meanwhile, the xenomorph hive player can now field four new variants of xenomorphs; brute, guard, scout and skulker, which similarly expands the potential strategies for the hive.
Alongside this is an A5 rulebook including seven pages of expanded rules for fire teams of colonial marines, new xenomorph variants and updated missions incorporating the dropship and air ducts.
The accompanying miniatures are incredibly detailed and look amazing. Unfortunately, like the rest of the game, each miniature is in five or more pieces and takes a long time to assemble. This can be frustrating for people with limited free time, as the amount of additional setup time is extensive.
Despite this minor quibble, Aliens: We’re in the Pipe, Five by Five (even if it really should have been called ‘Bug Stomper’, the name of the dropship in Aliens) is an excellent addition to Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps, bringing a key element of the dropship crew to the game as well as some new xenomorph variants to counter them.
Village Rails is a neat tableau creating card game for two to four players. Each player takes on the role of a railway network manager wanting to usher in the age of steam trains by connecting villages together whilst meeting the demands of local residents.
This thematic game is surprisingly challenging. Each player chooses a track card and gradually builds a 3 x 4 cards tableau in front of them. Although the players can essentially place the cards in any order, careful planning is needed in order to maximise the returns of the cards by their placement.
Completing train lines allows players to plan a trip and play a terminus card. These, in turn, generate income, which can be used to choose other cards and purchase extra trips, thus earning points. Balancing income and points necessitates agonisingly careful decision-making: income offers more options within the game, but it is the player with the most points at the end who wins the game. However, points have little impact during play.
There is wonderfully evocative art style throughout Village Rails that portrays the rustic quaintness of rural England at the time the game is set, as well as the exacting traditions of local planning authorities. The themes of the game are baked into the mechanics. As the tagline proclaims, this is a game of locomotives and local motives.
The rulebook is quite small, coming in at only eight pages of A6, but the writing is small and densely packed. The setup is clearly explained, however some of the rules and terminology are not as clear as they should be. Some players may therefore find it helpful to look up tutorial videos in order to fully understand the rules of the game.
One of the big bonuses of Village Rails is that it is small and compact, making it an easy game to take on holiday. Although it would not be suitable for playing whilst traveling, due to the amount of tablespace required to play, its small size means it would be easy to pack.
Overall, Village Rails is a neat little card laying and management game that would be ideal for when shelf or suitcase is limited. However, watching actual-plays or tutorial videos could be worthwhile in advance of playing to ensure a full understanding of the rules.
To know the story of Stray Gods, we must first know the story of David Gaider and how he came to co-found Summerfall Studios in Melbourne, Australia in 2019. Gaiter. Coming from a lengthy career in the video game industry with BioWare, including handing the quill for Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, he was already responsible for writing a number of BioWare’s success stories, such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to The Dragon Age series. He departed the company in January 2016, moving to work as Creative Director at Beamdog, which he would then leave in February 2018.
Why the preamble? Well, Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is Summerfall Studio’s first project, funded by Creative Victoria – a state government body dedicated to supporting Victoria’s Creative industries – and a largely successful crowdfunding campaign on the platform Fig (reaching 115% of its $600,000 goal). Originally named Chorus: An Adventure Musical, the project set out its inspirations from the start, citing musicals like Buffy: Once More With Feeling, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown and Wicked, as well as videogames like the Dragon Age series, Life is Strange, and Dream Daddy. Whilst it never quite managed to smash through its stretch goals, the stage was set for Stray Gods to take the spotlight.
Stray Gods sets out to work as a part interactive musical and part illustrated adventure game, with a dash of character-driven narrative and a dusting of romance. Initially aiming for a PC release, the project managed to successfully launch across a range of platforms including Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo.
The game places you in the shoes of Grace, who must navigate through a treacherous new world with the power of music. Assuming the role of the Muse upon the death of her new friend Calliope, Grace finds herself charged with murder by The Chorus – a group of Greek Gods who still operate beneath the world as we know it as it emerges that perhaps those myths and legends about Greek Gods and monsters might not be so farfetched after all. Driven to discover the truth, Grace gains a stay of execution and a week to uncover the true tale that lies beneath – and so, armed with her newfound ability to draw others into you might just be able to draw characters in just enough to change their mind, perhaps let slip a confession, or even fall in love. It is up to you, and the direction you decide to take.
Meeting the Olympians
But before the plot goes down, the game starts off like your typical visual novel – conversations pause in order to present you with an array of dialogue choices, each allowing you to take the conversation in a particular direction…such as gaining insight into colleague, pressing forwards with the story, or even flirt a little to kickstart a possible romance. However, unlike the dialogue trees of Telltale visual novels or the branching choices of BioWare games, the game also doesn’t hide that music lies at its very heart.
The story starts with auditions for Grace’s band, and once her bandmates leave Grace takes to the stage to sing a personal ballad about feeling adrift – and it is Grace’s heart, laid bare in music, that draws in Calliope and from there we follow Grace’s story. A musical game is a bold direction to take, and the game boasts an impressive cast list who have been known to carry a tune or two to make it work, such as Laura Bailey and Ashley Johnson – our Grace and Calliope – might be known for their work in film and video game voiceover work, but have also carried the tune in ‘Your Turn To Roll’ for the webseries Critical Role.
The versatile cast of Stray Gods…who do you recognise?
The musical numbers which emerge through the course of the game help you steer the flow of the narrative, as time-sensitive choices often emerge during the course of these moments – you can choose to be Charming, Kickass or Clever. In addition to providing some direction to the narrative through conversations, each Trait can also have an impact on the direction of the song too, changing up the tone to be either more delicate or perhaps more rock’n’roll with a distinctly notable beat and lyric change. These can make for some fascinating experimentation with songs as you switch tones, coaxing out different aspects of other characters in which they might let slip or lose themselves to the rhythm.
These natures come with pros and cons, and ultimately some of the responses in the game are limited to certain natures – in order to make that option available to you, you might have to undertake different playthroughs in order to satiate your curiosity. Certain outcomes are not necessarily locked, but are easier to achieve with certain natures, so it’s not as expressly linear as you might expect from a visual novel.
How do you want to do this?
It should also be noted that all this takes place in a gorgeous comic book art style, reminiscent of The Wicked + The Divine which allows for some fantastic hand-drawn visualisations of various icons and recognisable deities. In particular, Grace has an excellent design with a variety of illustrations to convey expressions and emotions that lean on the superb writing that encapsulates her story. This can be notable against some other characters, but for the most part each character is given their own personal style and are decked out in personal accessories that suit the characterisation. Locations are similarly given love and attention to detail, from the opening audition room to best pal Freddy’s apartment to the Olympus office.
God, I could read a comic series based solely on this art style…
If I have one complaint, it’s that the art style makes a choice to stick to the comic book art style by removing a majority of lip animations. This is not uncommon, and is fairly standard for visual novel games – old ‘Ace Attorney’ games stand as a testament to this fact – however, it feels off when songs are the beating heart of what makes your games unique. When you have music and lyrics take the centre stage for your game, there’s an odd, disjointed feeling when you listen to the audio coming from the closed mouths of characters.
Music, as with art, is also a beauty held in the eye of the beholder, and so it is worth noting that this game is a joy to play if you enjoy visual novels and musicals. The two are seamlessly interwoven into one another, and are at the core of this game – its heart beats to a melody of your choosing, but that melody can strike up and take control of the narrative.
Ready to rock?
Despite my minor quibble, I found myself thoroughly invested in the music, the story and gameplay, which I also found to be thoroughly accessible. All these aspects are wrapped around a narrative which drove me not just to uncover the murderer in my own unique way, but to consider how a different playthrough with distinct choices that would still make me feel the weight of some narrative-swaying moments.
The classic roleplaying game Dragonbane, also known as Drakar och Demoner (Dragons & Demons), is to Sweden what Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is to the UK and USA. It has been over forty years since Dragonbane was first released, but it has now been reimagined with a new edition.
Although Dragonbane relies upon classic high-fantasy tropes in a stereotypical medieval-fantasy setting, it has been sufficiently invested with neat twists to make it fresh and interesting. There are the usual fantasy races of elves and dwarves, but there are also wolfkin (humanoid wolves) and mallards (humanoid ducks). Each race possesses a unique characteristic, such as halflings being hard to catch. This mechanic adds a different facet to the each of races, without influencing the choice of character classes, which some character background mechanics – such as racial bonuses – can inadvertently cause.
Dragonbane utilises a simple D20-based system, with any skill/combat test requiring players to roll under a target number on a twenty-sided dice (D20). The system incorporates critical successes (called ‘dragons’ on a 1) and failures (‘demons’ on a 20), as well as the mechanics for benefits and boons, which is similar to the mechanics for advantages and disadvantages in D&D.
Rather than relying on automatic successes for spells, magic is refreshingly skill-based. Just as a fighter needs to successfully hit with their weapon skill, so does a spell caster need to successfully cast their spells. Making the magic skill-based balances the game out wonderfully and introduces a different perspective to character creation within the game.
One thing that soon becomes apparent in Dragonbane is that this is a wonderfully stripped-down rulebook, clocking in at just over 100-pages. When compared to some epic 250-page tomes (Vaesen for example), Dragonbane feels distinctly lightweight.
The rulebook’s comparatively small size makes Dragonbane less time-consuming and overwhelming to read and easier to for players to become familiar with the streamlined rules system. However, there is a feeling that the game is not as well-rounded or as deep as it could be.
The list of magic spells is also comparatively limited, with them being broken down into only three different magic schools (animism/elementalism/mentalism), as well as a few generic spells for all schools of magic. However, this could be easily fixed with a sourcebook expanding the magic rules, as the core mechanics work very well. In the interim, any sufficiently experienced games master should be able to create their own spells and magic schools.
There is a limited amount of information regarding Dragonbane’s setting of Misty Vale within the core rulebook. This can be liberating, as game masters are not beholden to running games that fit within the established background lore. However, those that rely on setting information for developing ideas for running games may be disappointed.
Dragonbane concludes with a GM section that describes the basic structure of a Dragonbane adventure and how a series of adventures form a campaign. An accompanying 120-page adventure book includes over a dozen scenarios, which form the Secret of the Dragon Emperor campaign when played consecutively. Each adventure is increasingly complex and includes everything a GM will need to run the scenario.
The box set includes a series of glorious maps for each of the adventures, as well as a huge full-colour map of the Misty Vale setting of Dragonbane. These add some much-needed texture to the limited background information and serves to orientate the players regarding where their characters are within the world.
There is also the Alone in Deepfall Breach booklet, which offers alternative rules for playing Dragonbane as a solo-experience, using the hex-based maps and monster charts. Whilst solo gaming remains popular, as proven by Fighting Fantasy still going strong, Dragonbane as a solo-experience seems incongruous.
Although the refreshingly compact size of Dragonbane makes it an ideal roleplaying game for newer players, the lack of depth or complexity might not hold the interest of more experienced players. That said, Dragonbane would be an ideal choice for anyone wanting to run a short campaign or looking for a fantasy roleplaying game that is a little bit different.
This isn’t as big as some Art/Making of books, especially when doing double duty, as this one does. This is an enjoyable read, however, and not just for Dungeons & Dragons fans. With a foreword by the filmmakers, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and an afterword by Jeremy Latcham, one of the producers, it splits the rest of its 197 pages into 4 sections:
Creating the characters
Bestiary
Forgotten Realms
The Magic of Filmmaking
The book is full of colourful illustrations from the concept art and storyboards for the film, as well as behind-the-scenes pictures and production art, doing an excellent job of using that art to illustrate the written content.
Each of the main characters, and a few others, get sections talking about their reason for being in the film, both from the film perspective and a D&D party perspective, and there are comments from the actors. The wizards at Legacy Effects get a lot of acknowledgement for their stunning work on producing practical effects for a number of the characters and creatures, so that the actors could act against them, rather than tennis balls on sticks, and both in the film and the behind the scenes images, their work is very impressive.
There is a lot of love for practical effects where possible in the movie that I think paid off very well, and that’s shown here. They also talk through the tricks and the work they used to make those members of the film’s cast that were intended to be different sizes film with the rest of the cast and then have the scenes updated to fit the ‘reality’ of D&D, which made the performances of the actors better. There are several warnings about the impracticality of Xenk Yendar’s costume in combat as an uncomfortable reality – Especially the cloak, as we have often been warned in a number of films!
The Bestiary doesn’t just talk about the creatures they included in the film, and why, but also how they included a number that are included in tapestries, or paintings, for example, to make the setting feel more real. There is also some discussion about a few of the beasts they didn’t include in the film, often because it would have been gratuitous and taken away from the story. When some are iconic Dungeons & Dragons monsters, this may have been a brave move, but maybe in a sequel? We can only wait and see.
In the Forgotten Realms section, they talk about the world of Faerun, and why they chose the areas for the film to take place they did. They also discuss how the film created some locations that would in turn be put into the D&D books by Wizards of the Coast once they agreed to them…. There are now opportunities for our own parties to cross over with the journeys of Edgin, Holda and even Forge! It’s also interesting to see the level of detail they put in, not just in terms of painting and furniture, but also making sure that markets had stalls selling classic adventurer gear like ropes, alchemy ingredients, tools, etc.
They finish the book by talking about the actual making of the film in more detail. They cover the logistics of making some of the scenes work without injuring people, and if possible being able to recreate them for filming at different angles or reshoots. This includes a lot of storyboards to help you to track the thinking and the hard work behind these, sometimes very quick scenes you might just take for granted.
Throughout the book, they make an effort to relate the making of the film to the playing of Dungeons & Dragons itself – The party creating their characters, choosing the setting, the DM interacting with the players to make things happen and even the emergent nature of the storytelling, wherein some parts of the film were better for things NOT working as planned and forcing them to adapt – At one point all hands on deck meant even the producers helped to carry a village 200 yards to shoot a scene from a different direction. If the characters rode uphill, it required the camera dolly’s engine to be running, which drowned out the actors, but letting it roll downhill with them not only allowed us to hear them, and the background noise of the setting, but even made for a better look to the scene they hadn’t considered.
Overall it was an enjoyable and informative read, and the quality throughout is good (Not always the case). If you’re a fan of these books, and the film, it’s a good addition. If you enjoyed the film, and like D&D, it’s interesting to see how they considered and worked with the ties between the game and the film, which was much better than some other efforts. I’d recommend this book.
It has been 27 years since Ethan Hunt dropped onto the big screen. After half a dozen adventures with the Impossible Mission Force, we now have Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One. Action/Adventure, with a dash of Sci-Fi awaits.
From the opening moments of Part One, the story immediately sets the stakes. A submarine appears to have destroyed itself, leaving behind two halves to a vital key. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is then brought into the picture to accept his latest mission, and one that involves what may be his most dangerous adversary yet; an AI known as The Entity.
The assignment involves former ally Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) who may hold one part of the key. Hunt is soon face to face with former IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the man who hires him for the job. Things soon become very personal for Hunt when told by Kittridge that “This mission of yours is going to cost you… dearly”.
The action swiftly moves from the offices of the CIA to Abu Dhabi, where things soon get personal. Ethan reunites with Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) as they locate the other part of the key. In true Mission Impossible fashion, the technology helps keep the IMF one step ahead of the CIA and their target. Everything changes when Grace makes her debut, played to perfection by Hayley Atwell. From the moment Grace is on screen, she steals the show.
There is also the introduction of Gabriel (Esai Morales), the primary antagonist. Without delving too much into his past or motivations, this is possibly the biggest challenge Ethan has encountered. Gabriel is smart and confident, believing himself to be guided by something greater than any being.
Tapping into modern day fears of artificial intelligence, Gabriel is lead by The Entity in almost every move and decision. It can manipulate the world and nobody would ever know. For anyone familiar with the Metal Gear Solid franchise, a big plot point revolves around AI and what it could do under certain control. The 2001 video game sequel is worth a play to understand this point further.
Though Tom Cruise is still the main character, the supporting cast really do shine through the whole picture. Hayley Atwell settles into her role well and I cannot wait to see Grace in the sequel. The later addition of Pom Klementieff‘s Paris and the return of Vanessa Kirby‘s “White Widow” don’t waste a second of screen time.
Then there is Esai Morales, whose Gabriel really is unlike any villain we have encountered before. Also, making his first appearance since the first entry in 1996, Henry Czerny’s Kettridge is more than just a cameo and could potentially be vital to Part Two. This film has so many stars and classic moments, that to discuss them all and praise them would be its own article.
Much like the previous entries, Dead Reckoning – Part One has the action chops which you will remember the most. With an epic car chase in Rome, an intense fight in Venice and that bike stunt. Then there is the train sequence which needs to be experienced in the cinema. Along with these set pieces, is the beautiful locations the film goes to. From the Spanish Steps to the Helsetkopen mountain, every locale is perfectly executed on screen.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One continues to ground the franchise, making these moments more powerful. Whenever the film savours a calm moment, you know the next breathless scene is imminent. This definitely matches with the superb acting throughout the extended runtime. At no point will you feel any drag or stalling.
The continued success of the series is no surprise. Tom Cruise knows Mission Impossible like the back of his hand, it is his crowning achievement. His partnership with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has become one of the most powerful in Hollywood. Whatever the duo get to work on after the sequel, I know it will be spectacular.
Part two will have some big shoes to fill to match up to this masterclass in blockbuster filmmaking. The comedy is at its finest here, and this stems from the writing that is on point throughout. The intensity of each action piece is a highlight. And the conclusion…well, you will need to see it for yourself.
The best Mission Impossible film yet. The best film of 2023 so far. The real impossible mission will be to see how you can top this!
Developed by the team behind Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, Wanted: Dead (currently available in the Steam sale) has all the ingredients of what should be an excellent action-adventure game that combines shooting and close-combat mechanics in a cyberpunk setting.
Players take on the role of Hannah Stone, the commander of an elite anti-terrorism hit squad –basically a SWAT team, but without their restraint – as they investigate a series of incidents that ultimately lead to an explosive conclusion.
Wanted: Dead wears its influences on its sleeve: there are distinct elements of classic action games from early 2000s and anime films like Tokyo Gore Police. The aesthetics and art style are evocative of Parasite Eve 2.
Wanted: Dead sounds like a perfect game, until you start playing and realise that it has fundamental flaws that need to be addressed.
The combined close combat and shooting mechanics work reasonably well. The game is played in the third-person, but switches to first-person when aiming. However, it soon becomes apparent that ranged weapons are hopelessly ineffective, to the point of being redundant, so survival is dependent upon closing in on the opponents as quickly as possible.
Gameplay is also simplistic; quite often it involves rushing to the enemy, to avoid taking too much damage, and then bashing as many attack buttons as possible. Combos are available, with some only being available by spending XP when levelling up.
The core character design and art style between missions has an appropriately grungy cyberpunk feel, but everything else feels generic. Likewise, the types of enemies are also incredibly limited and the gameplay soon descends into killing wave after wave of similar faceless foes.
This is also a hard game, and punishingly hard at that. This becomes frustratingly so, as save points are limited. If players happen to die after a series of pitched battles (and they will), then they will have to restart the entire level. After this has happened several times, having fought the same faceless enemies, what should be a visceral and adrenaline-fueled experience quickly becomes dull.
The tutorial could also have been improved. It covers all the usual combat mechanics (block, dodge, combos, etc) helpfully enough, but fails to tell players how health can be regained – this is only mentioned in the tips on the loading screens.
Whilst the developers have crafted a compelling setting and story, the characterisation feels needlessly misogynistic and the characters seemingly never face any consequences for their actions. That said, the character designs are exceptional and another character, who is mute and communicates using sign language, is presented without any comment and is accepted for who they are.
More than anything else, Wanted: Dead needed more development time in order to create a playable game. With the appropriate patching and DLC, Wanted: Dead has the potential to be a fast-paced action experience, but as the game currently stands, it is poorly designed and implemented.
Sallah: “I miss the desert. I miss the sea. And I miss waking up every morning wondering what wonderful adventure the new day will bring to us.” Indiana: “Those days have come and gone.” Sallah: “Perhaps. Perhaps not…”
Dial of Destiny is a film that has the passing of time firmly embedded within the story. Indiana Jones, like actor Harrison Ford, is in his late 70s; the director James Mangold does not attempt to shy away from this. The film opens with a prologue set during the fall of the Nazi regime in 1944, with a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford, before fast-forwarding 25 years to the moon landings of 1969 and a retiring Indiana Jones. The world has moved on, leaving Jones behind. It is the arrival of Indiana’s goddaughter Helena, searching for the mystical Antikythera mechanism, that rekindles his thirst for adventure.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena makes a suitably feisty foil to Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones. Her character evolves from treasure hunting purely for materialistic reasons to appreciating the historical value of artifacts. Ethann Isidore played Helena’s young sidekick Teddy, echoing Ke Huy Quan’s role of Short Round in Temple of Doom. However, Teddy lacks a sense of wonder at his experiences and the film never fully explores his emotional reactions to the events in the story.
The Nazis return as the villains, providing an uncomplicated foe. This ties in with the actual moon landings, when real Nazis scientists were recruited into US research programs as part of ‘Operation Paperclip’. Also; punching Nazis is always fun. As Helena says, when dropping a cargo hold full of Nazis out of a plane; “Sorry! You’re a Nazi!”
The character of Sallah, played by John Rhys-Davies , is also used to reinforce the passing of time. Now a grandfather, Sallah has emigrated to New York and adapted to life there. This is a marked contrast to the Nazis seeking to regain the power they once had.
One thing that is missing is the horror element. There are no melting faces or death from sudden ageing. Ironically, Dial of Destiny is possibly the most family-friendly of the Indiana Jones films. However, this also means that there is a lack of bite to the film and that none of the villains meet a suitably karmic death, as in the earlier films.
Ironically, for a film about time, Dial of Destiny is also the longest of the Indiana Jones films, but this is to its detriment. Some of the scenes felt overly long and there were a couple of some sub-plots that could have been excised with only a negligible impact on the overall story. Some of the characters felt underused. Shaunette Renée Wilson’s Mason is a fantastic character that I wanted to learn more about, but this did not happen.
Although the dialogue didn’t feel as punchy as Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Last Crusade, there were occasional neat quips. It just didn’t feel as quotable as the earlier films. This is a film that would have benefited from further editing to tighten the story and polish the dialogue. That said, there is a neat twist at the end and the film ended with an emotional beat that landed perfectly.
Overall, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not the best Indiana Jones film, but neither is it the worst. It is a fun film, as well as a fitting end to the adventures of Indiana Jones.
The UK Games Expo is the largest tabletop gaming event in the UK, and this year’s was their biggest event so far, despite the train strikes at the weekend. Approximately 32,000 people descended on Birmingham for three days of tabletop gaming in all its myriad of forms.
The event was held during the first weekend of June and incorporated board gaming, roleplaying, wargames and card games. There were special guests giving readings and talks about their work throughout the event, as well as re-enactors and cosplayers. It was great to see some of the exhibitors entering the spirit of the event by wearing costumes.
Special Guests included John Robertson and his Dark Room show, with both of his shows sold out. Luke Gygax of GaryCon was talking about life with his father Gary. Games Workshop co-founder and Fighting Fantasy co-creator Sir Ian Livingstone had been scheduled to be there all weekend, but unfortunately could only be there on the Friday.
There were a distinct number of exhibitors from America this time, such as Chaosium (creators of Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game) who were impressed with the scale of the UK Games Expo. Some of these commented they hope to attend the event again in the coming years.
The Expo was spread across three halls at the Birmingham NEC, plus the nearby Hilton hotel. This space was used incredibly well, with two exhibition halls for exhibitors and vendors and the other for tournaments and ticket queuing. Meanwhile, the Hilton was set aside for readings, roleplay sessions and board gaming.
Although the inherent format of the UK Games Expo remains unchanged, it never feels like a repeat of previous events. Just as games evolve and trends change, so too are the exhibitors constantly changing. There were lots of new games being previewed and released, such as Zeo Genesis by Andy Chambers and Gav Thorpe, and War on Terra by AWA Games.
It was interesting to note how art in roleplaying games has come to the fore in recent years. Roleplaying games need to have more than just rules: they also need to have a thematic core and portray the intended atmosphere of the game. A prime example of this is the recently-released Stokerverse roleplaying game by Nightfall Games, which uses exceptional artwork throughout the rulebook to convey the themes of the game.
Although the space was used efficiently, the exhibition halls felt crowded on the Saturday, to the point that it became difficult to navigate the event. This might have been overwhelming for some, and would have been difficult for anyone with small children.
Despite the crowds on Saturday, the UK Games Expo has gone from strength to strength to become an incredibly welcoming event that celebrates all forms of tabletop gaming.
“Calling all Autobots, Calling all Autobots, Roll Out!”
With that, I heed the call of the last prime! Following the critical and commercial success of Bumblebee, a sequel was always going to be on the cards. Thus in early 2019 a sequel was greenlit but thanks to the audacity of a global pandemic filming didn’t start till 2021.
Helmed by director Stephen Caple Jnr (Creed 2) Transformers: Rise of the Beasts would cast Anthony Ramos as lead human #1 Noah Diaz, an ex-military electronics expert and Dominique Fishback as Elena, Museum intern with a vast knowledge of ancient history and their artifacts.
Now no live-action Transformers film would be complete without a stellar voice cast to bring our favourite Autobots to life. Leading the way, Peter Cullen returns as Optimus Prime, Pete Davidson as Mirage, Liza Kosy as Arcee, and Cristo Fernández as Wheeljack. Bumblebee making his return and is voiced by all the best hits and flicks of the Era. In this sequel, we get to introduce fan favourite characters from Beast Machines and Beast Wars The Maximals! Lead by Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal, Michelle Yeoh as Air Razor, Tongayi Chirisa as Cheetor, and David Sobolov as Rhinox
The Transformers franchise previously featured other fan favourites like the Dinobots in Age of Extinction, the new installment looks to continue branching out. This brings us to the “BIG” bad of this installment and when I say big I mean planetary!
In the opening scene that echoed the animated movie of the 80s we are introduced to Unicron, we saw a glimpse(a very uninspired glimpse) in The Last knight but it would appear this outing has pulled out all the stops and gave us a Unicron that looks a spitting image of its animated counterpart. With the planetary behemoth comes underlings, enter the Terracons. Scourge voiced by Peter Dinklage, Nightbird voiced by Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Battletrap voiced by David Sobolov.
Rise of the Beasts is filmed in New york and Peru while being set in 1994 and thank Primus we got a ’94 Soundtrack to go with it which made me feel both old and young at the same time. Featuring timeless classics from artists such as Notorious BIG, Wutang Clan, Public Enemy and LL Cool J (whos track “knock you out” makes a stellar entrance) The Cinematography and visually stunning locations in Peru, which included Machu Picchu, were amazing and gave both tranquillity and tense atmosphere to the film. The Maximals being at home in the jungle landscape while the Autobots feeling like a fish out of water.
Unicron being the biggest of the big bads meant we were only going to see him for brief but memorable moments and I knew we would never see him out of his planet form. Though from the way the film ended we’re in for so much more but I’ll get to that later.
The story was an easy-to-follow set up for what can only be a Hasbroverse in the making.
The homeworld of the Maximals comes under attack from Unicron. The Terrorcons, led by Scourge, seek to obtain for their master the Maximals’ greatest piece of technology, the Transwarp Key. The Maximals escape the planet before Unicron devours it. Under the command of Optimus Primal, the Maximals use the key to flee to Earth.
Noah supports his family, and is convinced by his friend Reek to steal a Porsche to sell, only to discover that the car is the Mirage. Concurrently, museum intern Elena studies an ancient statue of a falcon bearing the Maximal symbol, breaking it open to reveal half of the Transwarp key. The key releases an energy pulse that is detected by Optimus who then calls the other Autobots. Mirage is contacted in the middle of Noah’s attempted theft, and Noah winds up being roped into the robots’ mission to recover the key so they can use it to return to their homeworld, Cybertron.
Drawn by the key’s signature, the Terrorcons arrive on Earth, and Elena is caught up in the conflict when the villains attack the Autobots outside the museum. Scourge kills Bumblebee and steals the key half, before Airazor arrives and drives him off. Airazor explains to the Autobots that the Maximals have been hiding on Earth for thousands of years, and split the Transwarp Key in two to keep it out of Unicron’s hands. Basically a giant game of “Keep away”.
In Peru, they meet up with Wheeljack and get introduced to Optimus Primal and the other Maximals, who explain that they moved the second half of the key. Scourge corrupts Airazor and Primal is forced to kill her to save Elena.
In the scuffle, Noah goes to destroy the other half of the key, only for it to be stolen by Scourge, who then reassembles the two halves atop a volcano, opening a portal through which Unicron will soon arrive.
Now if all this wasn’t enough, the battle ontop of the volcano was everything I wanted. I got to hear both Prime and Primal say iconic lines from the animated franchise “Autobots, Roll Out!” and “Maximals MAXIMISE!” to which goosebumps did appear. We also got to see a version of The Cybertronian Exo-Suit but not before Bumblebee made his triumphant Airdrop return accompanied by LL Cool Js “Mama said knock you out” to which when the scene happened the whole screen erupted in cheer and applause!
**MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD**
In the aftermath of the conflict, Elena receives recognition for discovering the temple in Peru, while Noah attends an interview for a security job, but finds he is actually being invited to join the secret government organization. Whats that Organization you ask?
Stick around cause there is a mid-credit scene.
This film was great, and I had such a good time with it. I walked in a little apprehensive as Michael Bay was still attached as producer and his past excursions into the Hasbro title have been less than impressive. Ron Perlman as Primal was a brilliant bit of casting and he brought such heart and strength to the character which beautifully contrasted Cullens’s commanding voice of Optimus Prime. Pete Davidson as Mirage was the scene stealer, funny, caring, protective and also a little rebellious.
Rise of the Beasts held onto the G1 feel of Bumblebee and ran with it and I feel they’ve realised this isn’t a race but a cross country marathon to build something that could be Amazing. With the inclusion of G.I Joe into the universe they’re taking a page direct from the comic book series. This could imply we could see a universe that could include not only Transformers and G.I Joe but also M.A.S.K which made this big kid extremely happy. “Till all are one!”
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