Blog Update - 17/06/12 [DAILY DOSE]

SUNDAY 17TH JUNE 2012 - DAILY DOSE

Hello, you.

Seems that it's been a little while since I posted any new content - 3 weeks in fact.

Basically I was writing up my last bunch of reviews, which are to follow in the near future, and found that they were being rushed out rather than thought out.

I wasn't really happy with them and so decided to give myself a week or so to write something better - then things got pretty busy. Between people coming to visit and various exams, work has been non-stop for the past 6 weeks now - so I've just not been able to give them any of my time.

I'm off work for a couple of weeks starting this Thursday and I'm planning on taking it a bit easy. The first full reviews will be posted on here at the end of my holiday - which is the 5th of July. I'll then start trickling out the dozens of half-written reviews that I'm tinkering with at the moment. 

They range from albums to apps, games to books, TV shows to films, and everything else in between. 

Hopefully the wait will be worth it.

At the same time, I'm toying with ideas for extra features like some sort of "rating" system, some guides and additional materials on here. Reviews will hopefully involve more multimedia content, such as video reviews, voice overs and plenty more screen caps. If anyone has any suggestions for things that could improve the experience, please feel free to comment below.

Otherwise, things will be back up to speed in a few weeks. 

Bear with me. See you soon.

Radiant Defense [ANDROID REVIEW]

COLOURFUL SCI-FI STRATEGY GAME IS COMPLEX ENOUGH FOR A FEW PLAYTRHOUGHS - BUT EXPECT A HARD RIDE IF YOU'RE PLAYING THE FREE VERSION.

So What's It All About Then?
Free-to-play sci-fi tower defence (TD) game that has you defending humanity from waves of increasingly tough alien jelly thingies. The Radiant name has been used for a colourful side-scrolling shooter in the past and the developers, Hexage, have now made the action a bit more strategic but still  just as visually-awesome.


The story goes that a series of "vortexes" have opened up in space. Through these vortexes lurks an alien warlord - the Supercreep - who has his evil eyes set on Earth! You play each level by placing walls to guide the alien hordes through the level - keeping them away from your base for as long as possible. You can then place and upgrade a whole bunch of offensive towers (gun, laser, rocket, missile, flamer), a number of support towers (damage-boosting spotlights, cash-boosting tower) and other defences (such as mines and "power blades" to place in the baddies' path).


A limited version of the game can be play for free - this allows you to play through all levels using a very small selection of the available weapons. I have played this version for a while before upgrading to premium weapons - the four weapon packs cost 69p each - so £2.76 for a fully-unlocked version. I will outline how I found each version below.


+++ Colourful Fun +++
The game is full of bright colours and charming humour - each enemy, weapon and environment has a distinctive colour and visual effects to clearly distinguish what exactly is going on during big battles. I really love it when developers take advantage of the range of colours available to them - too often do games only use a flushed-out pallete of different shades of brown. Not here - Radiant Defense makes good use of the entire rainbow - meaning that your phone's screen will light up with face-melting prettiness. 


The game is also filled with moments of brilliant humour - most of the conversations between the alien boss and the human defenders genuinely funny - breaking up the waves of action to reduce the likelihood of the game becoming stale. Take a look at the conversation snapshots below for a little example of this - mild but still worth a giggle.

+++ Strategic Variety +++
Plenty of ways to wear down tough enemies - and plenty of different enemies to test out your strategies. The enemy offensives include huge armoured beasts that take major damage before dying, mass cannon fodder bombardment, shielded enemies that need energy weapons to expose and speedy buggers that have regenerative health.


This means that you need a good arrangement of towers to beat all of these types of enemies - and it takes a bit of practice to know where to place your towers and walls. Knowing when to save your cash, when to buy brand new towers and when to upgrade existing ones all have to be factored in - perhaps try each level a couple of times to see what works best for each situation.


The walls add another dimension too - you set these up at the start of each wave to guide the enemies along and can be used to form very long paths for those tough enemies or to make shorter routes of concentrated fire if facing enemies with regenerative health. This is one of my favourite types of TD game - I find having the power to sculpt the route that the enemies take much more enjoyable.


When combined with the VAST number of towers and tools at your disposal in the premium version - over 15 towers to tinker with and upgrade to your heart's content - there should be many hours of play available here. 


Along with the weapons already mentioned, there are also "superweapons", which cost a great deal but can mean the difference between an overpowering alien invasion and large piles of dead space jelly. These are an extra little thrill to play with - finally getting the Omega Cannon after saving up for ten waves led to several cries of "Oh yes, Supercreep! Time to die!".

--- Unbalanced Difficulty ---
O.K. - let's make this clear - the free-to-play version is hard. Really bloody hard. The number of towers available is very small (only the gun, rocket and laser towers plus some support units), so only a near-perfect array of towers will stop the hordes from getting through. 


If you make a mistake in your set-up in earlier waves, it is near impossible to rectify it later, meaning that you have to restart the mission entirely. The developers were good enough to let you retry a wave if you fail it - but realising that your strategy just isn't going to work on wave 37 out of 40 is still horrendously infuriating. The screenshot below shows the level that I gave up on (mission 3 out of 9), as I could not save up the resources to kill the final boss when the time came.

The harsh difficulty level isn't much of a problem in itself - many TD games make it their business to be as challenging as possible. The real issue is that when I finally caved in and paid for the upgraded weapon packs, the whole game became much too easy! There are even cash boosters - so you can earn extra cash along with having vastly more useful weaponry!


Using the mines and power blades to take down the harder enemies - plus the sheer range of offensive tools - meant that no enemy posed much of a challenge from that point onwards! In fact, I haven't lost a single life on almost all of the later missions thanks to the premium weaponry. 


Perhaps if the mines and power blades could only be placed prior to battle - so once a power blade wears out, it cannot be replaced and so that you can't use mines as ad-hoc explosives placed in the middle of huge groups of baddies - then maybe there would be more of a challenge.


So, in summary:

• if you like a really difficult TD game - get the free version.
• if you like an easier TD game - fork out for the upgrades - it's still great fun but won't cause hair loss.

Oh, and if you were able to beat the game on the free version - I would love to know how. Seriously, just "how"?


Conclusions

IN MANY WAYS, RADIANT DEFENSE IS A MASTERCLASS IN "FREEMIUM" ANDROID GAMING - PLAYABLE FOR NOWT BUT WITH CLEAR BENEFITS IN UPGRADING.

IT'S WELL WORTH A PLAYTHROUGH TOO - IF YOU LIKE FUNNY, COLOURFUL STRATEGY THEN THIS SHOULD BE RIGHT UP YOUR STREET.

HOWEVER TO GET THE MOST OUT OF IT, YOU WILL HAVE TO CONSIDER PAYING A FEW QUID AND ACCEPT THAT IT MAY OFFER LESS OF A CHALLENGE.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any stock images in this review are subject to relevant copyrights and are kindly provided by: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.hexage.defense&hl=en
All in-game screenshots were taken by Brighton Games Trader.

St. Ann's Well Gardens Spring Festival [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

FANTASTIC FAMILY FUN DAY OUT.


ENOUGH SOUNDS, SHOWS AND STALLS TO KEEP MOST PEOPLE HAPPY FOR AN AFTERNOON.

What's It All About Then?

Free festival held on Saturday 19th May at St. Ann's Well Gardens as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival 2012. 


The festival took over most of the park for the day, with a large variety of dance, music and activities on offer. Big thanks to Friends of St. Ann's Well Gardens for helping to put together such a fine assortment for the Spring Festival.

So Was It Any Good?

+++ Family Variety +++

Kids and families were clearly worked into the equation from the start - there was plenty to keep young children and adult children happy all day. With a "Kid's Rave" playing hits from the likes of Michael Jackson, a skate park with a few ramps to show off your skillz, a play park complete with climbing frames, plus plenty of stalls with face painting and kids toys.

All of the performances in the festival were child-friendly too - plenty of bright colours and cheery sounds to keep the young ones entertained. This left parents free to take in the glorious sunshine and the fine food and drink that was available.

+++ A Big Song and Dance +++
The music and dance at the festival were all brilliant. The majority of the photos in this post are of the Brighton School of Samba, who danced and paraded around to a drum company's beats. Both the wonderfully-colourful dancing and the pounding drums were amazing - I couldn't get enough of their vibrant energetic performance which lit up the park for around half an hour. 




Towards the back of the park, there was a stage set up where several bands played. I was only able to stay and watch the band shown in the picture on the left - who had a slightly prog/rock sound that was very enjoyable. The singer had a nice voice too - except when she felt the need to scream wildly and flail around for a while. It seemed a bit noisy for the serene park atmosphere, but the rest of their set was good. To add to this, Brighton's resident dancing dude added some visuals to the music (see bottom picture).

+++ Stalls A-Plenty +++

The stalls and stands that dotted around the park were a credit as well. With foods ranging from falafel to waffles, from pakoras to pancakes, there was something for everyone. Veggies were catered for in the curries, stir fries, cakes and snacks - and meaties had some local cooked meats to be getting on with. 


On top of that were plenty of things to buy - arts and crafts, books, clothes, cosmetic and loads more - I didn't have enough money on me to get all the stuff I wanted!


Then there were stands set up for fitness and martial arts - with some demonstrations that you could get involved with if you fancied running an assault course or getting in the ring with a karate expert! I didn't try these myself (strangely enough) but it was great to see so much going on - and the public certainly seemed to love it too.

This dancing dude really rounded off the festival nicely.

Conclusions

The Spring Festival was a bright and fun
day out - made even better by the wonderful sunshine!


With so much going on, my only complaint would be that I didn't have the time or money to enjoy it all!


Can't wait until next year!

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review were taken by Brighton Games Trader.

Barricade [BRIGHTON FESTIVAL 2012]

BIZARRE AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE 

ACROBATIC PERFORMANCE

FILLED WITH CRAZY STUNTS, 

MADCAP HUMOUR AND SOME 

INVENTIVE USES OF STAGING.

Image sourced from http://brightonfestival.org/event/584/barricade/

What's It All About Then?

Free dramatic performance held on Saturday 5th May at Hove Park as part of the Brighton Festival 2012. Barricade was created by NoFit State - a company that has performed in previous years at the Brighton Festival.


Description by the creators: "Two trucks block Hove Park. They disgorge their contents, creating an obstacle to normal paths and daily routines. Suddenly, the wind is rising. People are constructing defences to protect themselves from the storm. They hurry to bring tyres, ladders and other objects in impossible volumes. The barricade they build, a spectacular aerial playground, sets the scene for a maelstrom of breathtaking circus. Barricade invokes a glorious spirit of resistance to empower its people to fight for freedom. A freedom from their own fear, doubt and suspicion".

The stage used in Barricade was awesome in its own right.

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Big Thrills and Skills +++

The show was full of huge set pieces, with the entire stage turned into a giant playground for these very talented performers. They used the main floor, the wings, the rigging - and even had room to fit a full band in for musical accompaniment! 


The action that took place was jaw-dropping - seeing the performers lifted into the air on ladders that are hoisted and lowered in alarmingly swift movements (see very bad picture - right). Later on, there was a terrifying trapeze section that included stunts which seemed virtually impossible - and ended up requiring the safety rope to keep the artist from falling to the floor! Fair play to that woman though, she got straight back into it and tried again - this time pulling off a violent swinging spin while raised 20 feet into the air.


It was clear that these were top-quality performers showing off some of the more creative uses of their talents - the whole show was a whirlwind of jumps, spins and flips - all showcasing some of the finest circus skills that Brighton has seen.

+++ Variety Show +++
Small segments of the show diverted our attention to specific areas - the section badly photographed here involved a guy stuck on a perch above the stage with another performer coaxing him down. Every time he jumped down though, he would land on a trampoline and bounce straight back up! The guy down below then joined in, so the two were leaping between perch and stage in all sorts of acrobatic fashions. It was some nice light relief to the tense,  large-scale action in other parts of the show.


Then there was a middle "fight" scene that involved use of pyrotechnics - including flame staffs twirling through the night and bursts of flame shot into the air. This sensational spectacle lit up the entire park, leading to many "oohs" and "aahs" from the audience. The majority, myself included, were captivated by the brilliant visual drama that unfolded - I don't think my eyes turned from the stage once during the hour-long set.

--- Hard To Follow ---

The main problem I found with the show was the "story". There seemed to be a tale about an authoritarian regime and  people rising up against it - but that was guesswork based on costumes really. The dialogue consisted of some guys with European accents shouting "We must fight!" before cartwheeling across the stage in crazed fashion.


Other sections had a multitude of performers talking about being "sorry for their sins" - with one woman seemingly repeating this in French. I wasn't quite sure why they were doing this and it was quite bewildering for everyone watching - all of the conversations I overheard on the way out of the Park generally went "That was good! No idea what was going on!". "Yep, same here. Looked great but was very confusing".


So the hard-to-understand story detract from the fantastic action being shown - it's just that no-one knew what it was all about. A small issue with a dazzling performance.

Conclusions

This show was very impressive -
each of the performers was showing off spectacular skills throughout.


The variety in scale and mood for the action was good to see - quiet, humorous sections broke up the big action.


If only I knew what the show was all about!
Looking forward to next year's production.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
All images in this review are taken by Brighton Games Trader (except otherwise stated).

Brighton Must-Sees [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

JUST A QUICK RUNDOWN OF THREE COMEDY ACTS THAT WERE SHOWN FOR FREE AS PART OF THE BRIGHTON FRINGE.

Host - Dec Munro
The Thursday 17th performance was warmed up by Dec from Test Tube Comedy, who tried to get the audience in the right mood by informing us that the plan for the night was to "Say 'Hi', high five and then start with the public sex". As I turned up for this event with my mum and brother, you would imagine that this would lead to embarrassment. Thankfully, my family aren't too shocked by humorous insinuations of incest - so a bit of incestuous banter made the room chuckle uncomfortably. 


Dec got the audience is a cheeky, positive mood and made us feel engaged in proceedings - setting the stage for the first act to really knock us out, yeah? Hmmm...


Mike Sheer
The first act was a young Canadian guy who begun with more crude and controversial jokes to make the audience a little uncomfortable. These focused on hatred of Jewish people (the comedian describing himself as Jewish - and hating Jewish people too), jokes about Canadians and Americans and hints at darker jokes as well.


Sadly, the room didn't warm to these themes - I don't think anyone was happy laughing along too much about Jew hatred and the Canadian/American stuff was a little lost on us (is there some sort of tension there?).


The set wasn't helped by a Brightonian heckler with an Irish accent - so the comedian tried to make jokes based on his accent - to which the heckler kept knocking him back with "I'm from Brighton, you jack ass". Yeesh.


Nick Purves
The second comedian described himself as a boarding school kid and sported a very posh accent. Luckily, he was able to joke about his upbringing in a way that made the crowd laugh - his anecdote about a schoolyard disagreement over "Lord of the Flies" that turned to fisticuffs made the majority of the tough room giggle.


He managed to hold his own through the fifteen minute set, going through other events in his life in a lighthearted fashion - including overcoming his speech impediment which he described in humorous scenes which were very amusing to watch. A good performance. 


Sajeela Kershi
The final comedian was a woman who described herself as coming from a posh town in Surrey but was raised with Asian Muslim traditional values. Her humour was quite centred on issues surrounding the Islam faith, such as her dirty fantasies about Allah sucking on a pork sausage and her experiences as a child... with Elton John.


Sajeela was a confident and talented performer - she took charge of the room as she walked on and got plenty of laughs with her outrageous humour. Getting the audience involved too - she accused one gentleman of coming to her home town solely for dogging purposes. Niiiiice. 


She was possibly the most popular act of the show - providing laughs throughout and showing off her skills as a great comedy storyteller. Highly entertaining.

A nice sneak preview of some of the acts who have bigger shows during the Fringe - I'm not sure how many of the audience would have paid to go and see the full acts but they were certainly a good laugh in fifteen minute slots.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!

Eccentronic: We Won't Rock You [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

CHEESY SPECTACULAR WITH 
BUNDLES OF CREATIVITY AND 
TONS OF GEEKY CHARM.


ALTHOUGH NOT THE HIGHEST QUALITY
PRODUCTION YOU'LL EVER SEE
THE ABSURD ENERGY CARRIED IT OFF.

This is John making and handing out cheese toasties during the show. Yes he did.

What's It All About Then?

Free comedy show held on Saturday 19th May at the Caroline of Brunswick pub as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival 2012. Eccentronic are made up of John Callaghan and Ms Hypnotique.


Described as "a zesty melee of electronic musical mash-ups and oddball humour" featuring songs about "...time-wasting, socks and visiting the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch".

They moved around so much that it was very difficult to get any decent photos of them!

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Geeky Thrills +++

This was an exceptionally geeky show - and that is meant as a MASSIVE compliment. Starring a guy who quotes one of his biggest influences as Timmy Mallett and a gal who rocks out in a corset playing the theremin, this show is a stadium-filling show-stopping musical masterpiece... condensed into an hour-long slightly-corny pub-back-room show.


Featuring musical nods to Queen (obvs), N.W.A., Electric Light Orchestra, Pet Shop Boys, Sisqo, Pulp and Black Lace - all worked into songs concerning cheffing, coming "Straight Outta Trumpton" and the overwhelming desire to make cheese toasties. Which they then did while on stage. And passed round to the audience. Totally awesome.


The song about the Welsh town - Llanfair-whatsit - was equally brilliant. While sounding like a gimmick, they did actually manage to write a chorus that featured the name broken up into chunks in a sort of Kraftwerk fashion (something like Llan, Llanfair, Llanfairpwyllgwyngyll etc.). To round that off, there was a Welsh guy in the audience who gave us a fluid demonstration of how the name sounds in the native accent - to a huge round of cheers from everyone else!

The subtitles for the song about that Welsh town - maybe as a prompt for the band?

+++ Fun-Filled Blitz +++

The show was energetic from start to finish - the performers "bigged themselves up" in such a humorous and bombastic fashion that the audience came round to them very quickly. They then broke into a song about frying that involved a frying pan to the face (nice!). Before the show was finished, there had been several costume changes, a variety of styles and instruments, an in-depth analysis of the workings of musical comedy and just the right level of audience participation so as to make it enjoyable inclusive.


They had down moments, the slow-tempo version of Thong Song played with a minuature hand barrel piano added a nice change in pace while still being hilariously funny. The last few songs were a middle class rap - with some very bad ("bad" bad - not "good" bad) street dance moves - and a audience-based version of Agadoo/Itsy-Bitsy-Teeny-Weeny-Yellow-Polka-Dot-Bikini that rounded off the evening well. 


We were then asked what final number we would like: a cleverly worded piece by John that artistically wraps up the show or a Queen-based number from Ms Hypnotique that has a grand-finale feel to it?


We actually went for the first one - obviously the audience was like me - they actually really got into the witty, geeky parody writing and wanted one last cheeky, cheesy tune to close things. It was indeed satisfactorily cheesy and it was fun to watch as they performed a fairly complicated canon piece...  fairly badly. We all laughed our socks off because of that though.

--- Slightly Quality Issues ---

So just to offer some constructive feedback on where I think it could have been improved - the volume in the room was a bit offset so that the electronic backing tracks often drowned out whatever jokes were being made by the performers. People near the front laughed a lot but maybe they could hear the performers directly. Further back you could hear faint mumbling and a lot of synth for some numbers. 


Another point is that some of the singing and theremin playing was a little too crap to be funny at points - big long notes wailed off-key and theremin floating loosely near the tune they were trying to emulate (so during one song I had to guess where we were in the tune because it was nowhere near). When they asked a member of the audience to try the theremin - and a randomer just fancied giving it a go - the noise produced was actually slightly better! Ah well, this may have been that on the tracks where Ms Hypnotique was playing the theremin that the speakers setup made it difficult to hear her part - but it was often distinctly wobbly at points.

The rap numbers were good... I think.... but very hard to hear.

Conclusions

This show was great fun -
 they cheated me out of my entry fee though:
they did, in fact, rock me.

The atmosphere was spot-on but perhaps the sound system could be improved upon. 

The show didn't take itself seriously and the guys just went all out to provide a jolly good laugh. Nice work.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review are taken by Brighton Games Trader.

Push [BRIGHTON FESTIVAL 2012]

A CAPTIVATING DANCE PERFORMANCE
WITH NOTHING EXCEPT 
TWO GUYS PUSHING EACH OTHER.


THIS NEAR-VIOLENT LOOK AT
THE COMPLEX DYNAMICS OF RELATIONSHIPS 
WAS A TRULY INTENSE SPECTACLE.

What's It All About Then?

Free performance held in Marina Square, Brighton Marina on Saturday 19th May as part of the Brighton Festival 2012. Choreographed and performed by Company Chameleon, also known as Kevin Edward Turner and Anthony Missen.

With no props or staging, minimal musical input and not a word of dialogue, this piece is described by the creators as "....look[ing] at the different stances we take when we relate to one another, and how the complex nature of our psychology means at times we push to exert our dominance and control, and at others we submit and yield".

So Was It Any Good?

+++ Powerful Expression +++

With such stripped back tools at their disposal, these guys manage to convey a vast and deep set of feelings. 


To begin with, one actor will take control. He will grab the other - quite violently at times - and positions his counter into a pose. He may then force the pose to change. He may step back for a second and look at how the other is positioned. They will then come back together into an embrace before finally control is balanced - the other actor moves freely again.


After this the other actor may take the lead, again moving his counter to his will and directing the flow of motion. The serene expression of one is matched with a fierce glare from the other - and at times they gaze at each other as if in love.


The piece for me invoked the ebb and flow of a dysfunctional relationship - I couldn't pinpoint if the guys were showing a romantic relationship or something akin to a broken sibling relationship - but the trademark signs were there. They would be together for a while, make peaceful collaborative efforts before a tense, sinister scene ensues - a fight - an argument - or maybe just a confrontation - where both will come away separately, injured and upset. This won't last long however - sooner or later they will rejoin, intertwine their lives and start the whole hostile cycle once more.

+++ Such Strength +++

The positions held by these two guys - for ten seconds at a time or more - are feats of incredible strength. Their bodies held rigid and still even while in the most awkward of poses. At times, the crowd gasped in incredulity at the impressive lifts and rolls shown by these talented performers.










They were well timed, well executed and gobsmacking to see in real life. The pictures shown here are just a small selection of the dozens of carefully woven holds that they showed during their thirty minute show. There was no need for acrobatic flips or equipment - just these two slowly floating around the stage, spinning and holding each other beautifully. 

--- Noise Complaints ---

My only real gripe with the performance was the sound. The music which accompanied was fairly minimal - light electronic chords chimed in and out with the movement.


It worked very well - in principle - and helped convey the troubled and jagged emotions behind the scenes.


The problem was that the discordant notes that emphasised key points were slightly unpleasant on the ears - this would have been a bit of a negative point on its own - but in addition to this the small speaker set was turned up way too high.


It couldn't handle the high notes along with the low bass notes and so came out as a screeching noise during these peaks. If the performance has taken more account of the speakers that were being used - and made sure to turn them down slightly or edit the music so that these parts were less painfully amplified - then I wouldn't have been distracted from the utterly amazing visuals. A small issue with a great performance.

Conclusions

Push was a fantastic display of what these two guys can do - create a powerful, moving piece that is both carefully acted and skilfully danced.


The visuals were absolutely spot on -
the sound was a minor issue that I may not have experienced if I was sitting much further away from the speakers - 
but I wanted the best view for this beautiful artistic performance.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review were taken by Brighton Games Trader.

Homeland - Series 1 [TV REVIEW]

Shocking, thought-provoking and genuinely gripping television - this is one of the best things to have been beamed across the airwaves in years.

What's It All About Then?

One of the biggest series on television at the moment - Homeland follows an American prisoner of war, Nicholas  Brody (Damian Lewis), who has been held by Al-Qaeda for eight years. During his capture, Brody is tortured, beaten and isolated for long periods of time - so when a rescue operation frees him, he is obviously quite seriously traumatised. 

The American people see the freed marine as a hero and begin to lay out celebratory parades for him. One CIA agent believes differently - Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) - who has received reliable intelligence that an American POW has been turned by Al-Qaeda.

Mathison has to go against the CIA to secretly spy on Brody when he returns, looking for that vital evidence that Brody is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on US soil. She lets her feelings get caught up in the moment though, and ends up becoming closely involved with Brody. This does not help Carrie's existing mental health problems - and as she gets sucked into the case she neglects her mental health more and more.

Slowly, the details of what is really going on here come to light - and the revelations in store are truly shocking.

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Big, Tense Plot +++

Outlined briefly above, the plot is very tense and hugely  controversial. As you get drawn into the story by the big and gripping concepts (the possibility of a turned US marine carrying out a terrorist attack is always fun) but then you start to get caught up in the sub-plots.

Brody's family life is a complex and difficult affair - his wife and children believed him to be dead for the eight years he was captured. Although not admitting it publicly, Brody's wife and his best friend - another marine - have been sleeping with each other for several years. His friend, Mike Faber, has almost started to take over the "father" role for Brody's son - then in walks Brody again.

On finding out about this, Brody's inhibition about his behaviour seems to slip - he drinks, messes around with Carrie and ends up punching Faber in the face while they are at a house party.

This is just an overview of this thread running through Brody's life - he has already been brought back in for questioning by the CIA about his knowledge and seems to know that Carrie is suspicious of him. 

Then we also look at things from Carrie's perspective - through the use of secret video cameras around his house and tracking him down at both social and professional meetings. Her absolute insistence that Brody has defected is her only motivator - there is nothing to suspect that Brody has been corrupted, he has just come back from years of abuse and so will need some time to re-adjust. But she keeps at it.

Finally we have the lives of the secondary characters - other CIA agents and members of Brody's family - and their actions play a key part in goings on and have motivations that take some time to understand.

+++ Perfect Performances +++

So the crucial thing if you have something that needs to be moving, gripping and believable if you are trying to write something so controversial is to have perfect acting. This is spot on.

Really, really good - mainly Lewis and Danes - who are present in most scenes and whose fluctuating mood, state of mental health and anxiety come across in the acting absolutely perfectly - right up to the nail-biting finale. The twitches in their face, gritting of teeth, hands, sweaty brow, neat appearance or lax appearance - all performed beautifully.

These just have to be seen to be appreciated - never overplayed, always intense but realistic - truly sensational. The whole series was an absolute joy to watch - I was desperate for the next instalment right after the last one aired. The way the details are played out as the series progresses onwards to the mind-blowing climax is just extraordinary. You make guesses about what is going on - but then by the next episode you start to believe that someone's not telling the truth and that we're being made to think something else.

It's gripping, amazing television and some of the best I've seen in years.

-+- The End? -+-

Then I just want to add a little bit about the finale - which does not disappoint - but I'll avoid any spoilers so everyone else can try it out.

It didn't pan out how I thought - at all. Not just that I thought the characters would have done something different - and moreover that I thought the series was being geared up to end in a much different way. The last half an hour was radically different from what I expected - and I suppose it was very good all the same - but it was a bit odd, and not how I thought the characters would have ended things. Particularly what Carrie agrees to have done - still very real and I know people who have done that - but it was harsh and unsettling to watch. It does set up the next series well though - so maybe it is just that it shocked me quite a lot rather than being in any way "bad". 


It's just shocking, OK?
I'm a sensitive soul.

Conclusions

Top-quality entertainment that has enough depth to captivate for many hours at a time. The 12 part series was a thrilling ride from start to finish - I loved it.

On top of that, the performances delivered by Lewis and Danes are some of the best I have seen on television - complex, confused, emotional and utterly absorbing. 

Really stands out above most other TV out there - and I may even enjoy the second series.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review are subject to relevant copyrights and are kindly provided by: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/homeland

Temple Run [ANDROID REVIEW]

The big mobile action sensation is great for a bit of fun - if only the control issues didn't prevent me from getting my teeth into it.

What's It All About?

Action game based on that scene from Indiana Jones - you know, where he's running out of that temple - only this time it's not a big boulder and instead you're being chased by a pack of demon monkeys. 

While escaping these satanic simians, you have to dodge various obstacles. Swipe up to jump over tree roots, swipe down to slide under fallen trees, swipe left/right to turn. Tilt your phone left and right to fine aim where you are running.

As you speed away through an increasingly-cluttered environment, you can pick up bonuses which make things a bit easier. These have effects such as boosting through a section of the level or removing all obstacles.

If your reflexes are about you, there is the opportunity to collect floating coins - these unlock extra characters or can improve your bonuses - and it'll take quite a few runs to earn enough to make a difference.

The levels you run through each time are randomly-generated, meaning that every run is slightly different - there's plenty of challenge and playability on offer here.

Bolting out of the temple at top speed - here's the ginger hero.

So Is It Any Good Then?

+++ Intense +++

I'm not sure exactly what it is - whether I find the crazed monkeys genuinely scary, or whether the action is just really intense - but I am really running for my life when I pick up Temple Run. The feeling of non-stop danger is really quite a motivator - when you start a game you see your explorer guy running out of the temple with the monkeys hot on his heels - and that's it. There doesn't need to be a big backstory - no need to characterise the character or the villains - just a simple task: run for your fucking life.

When I got to the youlater stages, with obstacles coming thick and fast, the pressure to keep going and beat my previous highscore meant that I was really getting into the action. I let out a loud sigh of disappointment every time I collided with a sneaky tree (so often that the neighbours must have thought it was fairly downbeat sex) - and that goes to show how successful the game is. When you unconsciously vocalise your annoyance with a game - just because you were 1000 points off your top score - then the addiction has very much set in. Well done, Temple Run.

Your path starts off simple - as shown above - but soon gets really tough.

+++ Lots of Appeal +++

The game wasn't just built for a few intense bursts though - the random landscape and real challenge on offer means that perfecting your Indy act can be a real time-sink. Beating your best score is good - beating your best distance run is another bit of fun - but upgrading the bonuses and going for that MASSIVE run is the big dream.

When you spend coins on the bonuses, you normally just get to boost a few hundred metres further or to unlock bigger coin pick-ups - but in making use of them while playing, you can turn a quick jog into a big-scoring marathon.

There's also some extra character models to unlock (and wallpapers and shit) but really it's improving the run that matters in the game - and that was my main motivator throughout. Just as it should be.

There's very little time between jumping, turning and sliding when you get to later levels -
but that's where I get stuck :-(

--- Lack of Control ---

But then at later stages in the game I found a gameplay barrier that I could not get past. When I got to about 2000 metres, the lack of sensitivity in my phone's touch screen changed from being " a bit annoying" to actually stopping me from getting any further.

The problem is this - as my phone's screen is slightly insensitive (it needs a bit of pressure in order to register a press) then to get the character to move I need to give a big, hard swipe right across the screen. At slower speeds, this isn't a problem - I just casually swipe left/right/up/down to progress. When it gets to the later stages, where you need to jump, dodge and slide a couple of times a second - then it gets to the point where I just can't make those exaggerated movements and I quickly lose.

Small nudges to jump etc. (which I have seen other people using to beat the game) just do not work on older/crapper touchscreens. Now that could be used as a reason to look for a new phone - so really, as not all phones are brand new/top-of-the-range, this should have been planned for. When you make a game for mobiles, it should suit all mobiles. 

Perhaps some extra control settings to tailor the experience for older phones (NOT the "sensitivity" setting as this only  changes the motion-sensitive controls).

Really, with some small tweaks then this would have been a near-perfect action game. As it stands, I can only get around 2,500 metres and no further - so I stopped playing. Shame.

Conclusions

Without a doubt - one of the most intense experiences on a handheld.

I accept that some of my complaints relate to issues with my phone - but as that is the hardware the game was built for the developers really should have accounted for that.

With a few tweaks to the control system - or maybe a new phone - then this could easily have kept me going for many weeks.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any stock images in this review are subject to relevant copyrights and are kindly provided by: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imangi.templerun&hl=en 
All game screenshots were taken in-game using a HTC Nexus One and were taken by Brighton Games Trader.