MAX PAYNE 3

I bought this game more on the strength of Rockstar's previous games 'L.A.Noire' and 'Red Dead Redemption'. That was my first mistake. The second was actually attempting to play the game. The game starts with a long and boring prologue complete with credits as per a movie - so long that I could nip out to the kitchen and make a cup of coffee and a cheese sandwich. Then 'the game' started with yet another long drawn out part of the storyline followed by a bit of player action that was interupted by another cut scene followed by....well, the whole of Chapter One was more lenghthy cutscenes than game. Chapter Two didn't look much better. BUT....that is not the worst aspect of 'Max Payne 3'. The cut scenes and monologues are delivered in a continuous monotone and accompanied by flashing split screens, supposedly important capitalised words from the dialogue, blurred images that double and triple on themselves in such a flashy way that the developers seem not to understand why games contain an 'epilepsy warning'. After a chapter and a half I was suffering max pain - a headache. Not only that but watching a man wallow in self-pity while downing bottles of Jack Daniels gets a little boring and any attempt to skip it is met by a message 'still loading'. I could see that as Max Payne grabbed another bottle. Still what little gameplay there was was pretty good - pity some decisions are taken out of the players hands with slo-mo cutscenes. XBOX World carried one of those boastful articles about getting their hands on this game a couple of months before it came out. Give them their due their 'hands on' as they admitted was a chance to play the multiplayer parts of the game. However they did say that they had played one level of the solo campaign - one would presume from that that there were no cutscenes added to the demo that they played. Still there is an interesting point in their article and that is that, to my mind, the online multiplayer games now outweigh the the solo campaigns. When a player compares games with others it just amazes me that they have scored on-line achievements but no in-game. I'm not a great fan of the Grand Theft Auto series but I would rate them above this mess. Talking of which isn't it about time the British branch of Rockstar came up with a 'Grand Theft Auto: London'? Surely, an update on the old Playstation One game is well overdue.

THE DEATH OF GRASS by John Christopher (1922 - 2012)

The Summer of 1958 was one long heatwave. The grass on the school playing field had gone from a dazzling green to something resembling a khaki stubble. Even the gardening class were struggling to keep the vegetable plots alive. And, of course, we had been given the freedom of the school fields rather than be restricted to the over heated confines of the school playground. Not only did the boys' have this freedom but so did the girls from the adjoining school. A white line was drawn to indicate that to stray beyond would be a punishable offence. As with a football, so the whole body would have to cross the inch and a half wide barrier. Nothing was said about heads or hands. And so it was that I sat as close to that line as I could so that the fair haired, freckle faced girl who sat on the other could peer over and read the book that I was reading. The book in question was a brand spanking new Penguin edition of 'The Death Of Grass' by John Christopher. It was one of those books that forever marked the where and when I read it. This book was nominated, in 1957, for the International Fantasy Award and ended up as the runner up to Tolkein's 'The Lord Of The Rings'. A quick synopsis of the book is that a virus destroys all types of grass and that includes corn, wheat and barley etc. John Custance and his family watch as anarchy breaks out and decide to make the journey to his brother's farm. The thing that I learned from the Character of John Custance is that heroes are not always the good guys and, sometimes, they have to do somethings that may not seem nice but have to be done in order to survive. Reading the book today there are three things that become apparent. The first is that the virus in the book begins life on the African continent - the same continent that, today, is ravaged with famine. The second is that the society at the time the novel was set was better equipped to deal with survival than modern day society is. The third is just how influential 'The Death Of Grass' became. There are elements of John Wyndham's 'The Day Of The Triffids' and William Golding's 'The Lord Of The Flies' within 'The Death Of Grass' - yet looking beyond to Cormac McCarthy's future vision of 'The Road' and the starkness and barreness of the movie version - then I see John Christopher's novel lurking in the background. It even lies there in the make up of the 'Mad Max' movies. The book was turned into the Cornel Wilde forgetable movie 'No Blade Of Grass' which was the US title. The apocalyptic novel is no longer new but back in the days of Wyndham, Christopher and, later, J G Ballard it was. And, probably, will remain at the top of the list for years to come. So it was sad to hear that John Christopher had died this year at the age of 89. He was born in Lancashire as Samuel Youd and over a long career wrote under several pseudonyms including Stanley Winchester. After school he was conscripted into the Army as a signalman. He wanted to write and on the basis of an unfinished novel he was granted the Atlantic Award from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1947. It opened the door for him to write in several genres under different names. John Christopher may well be remembered for this novel but for a younger generation then it will be 'The Tripod' trilogy and it's prequel. The Death Of Grass has been reissued as a Penguin Classic or, alternatively, there is a Kindle edition.

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Scheduled for release on the 25th December 2012 is a new western written and directed by Quentin Tarantino - sounds like a good Christmas pressie to me. Django Unchained features Jamie Foxx as Django a freed slave who goes hunting for his wife who is held by the sadistic plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo Di Caprio). Along the way he is assisted by former dentist turned bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christopher Waltz). Good to see Leonardo Di Caprio not only play the baddie but appear in another western. Interesting, also, to note that Franco Nero was rumoured to have been offered the role of Candie.

CALL OF DUTY: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

I was curious as I wondered if there was a console game featuring the American Civil War. So I did what comes naturally and Googled the subject. I can tell you that if you put the title above in the search engine there are a number of unexpected results. It appears that there is a section of the gaming community who are tired of fighting in Vietnam and World War 2 and Iraq/Afghanistan like scenarios. They want something differant - American Civil War or anything with a Wild West feel to it tops the list. However, the line is drawn and there is an anti-War Of Independence lobby. This latter does not bode well for the forthcoming Assasin's Creed 3 which has a Revolutionary background to it. Of all the developers around it would be good if Treyarch/Activision created a Call For Duty style game. If not then the Unreal engine from Epic Games would give a differant take - they could come up with a Caleb Thorn influenced storyline. Caleb Thorn was the hero of five books from L.J.Coburn one of the Piccadilly cowboys. On the one hand that gamers are calling for this type of game sounds good to me - on the other it is another media that would enhance the genre. How would the game look? Well, there is a mock up on You Tube - the link is www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp_1q697D7M It looks good.

HELL ON WHEELS - coming soon

If you can't get to see this new western series on TCM - the good news is that the 4 disc dvd of Series 1 of 'Hell On Wheels' will be available to buy for the sum of £26.00 on the 23rd July 2012.

HELL ON WHEELS

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 3

I have to admit that I have never played any of these games before - yet this has a massive following. Well, I assume that this is so as it says on the box 'The BEST-SELLING FRANCHISE in XBox 360 HISTORY is back'. Er - hold on I thought that claim was on the back of Call Of Duty: Black Ops.
Back to reality - this is a game for a laugh.

The story opens with Manhatten in the hands of Russian troops and you are a character called Frost attached to Delta Squad.
Part of the starting narrative sees your commander 'Sandman' in conversation. The moment the other says 'Good to have you on board, Sandman.' it sounds like we are in good hands.
Yeah?
Sandman spends all his time hiding in cover telling Frost to take out snipers, blow up towers, take out the enemy, blow up helicopters and gets narky if his orders aren't obeyed straight away.
I got so fed up with him doing nothing that I couldn't resist lobbing a grenade in his direction. I got the message 'Friendly fire will not be tolerated'.
Really?
Not like in real life, then.
And how about the rest of the team. Now they have - unlike Frost - unlimited ammunition as they wage war against all kinds of inanimate objects like computers, store shelving and anything else that doesn't move.
In short all the hard graft in this first person shooter is the player. Everyone else involved are a waste of space. So, it beats me when a section is labelled 'Mission failed you have lost contact with your team'. What team? I'm in front of them; all opposition has been wiped out and I'm at the objective.

You know, this could have been a good game.

Graphics - brilliant. Destroyed cities - Manhatten, Paris and Berlin. Yet another depiction of the destruction of the Eiffel Tower.
The storyline of a Russian defector trying to take back Russia and take on the world at the same time is quite gripping. You get to play two characters Frost and Yuri, a Russian defector.
Trouble is good graphics and storyline are not enough. For a good story you need characters that can be related to. The potential is there but not used.

To my mind Gears Of War 3 stands head and shoulders about this Call Of Duty offering because it has characters that can be related to and you can trust them to guard your back.
My suggestion to Activision is that they take this on board.

Now having completed the storyline I turn to the online version. There are enough people around that can be read who find that the online maps are giving nothing new.
It seems all anyone has to do is lie up in cover and use sniper scopes to take out the opposition. Reality is that no one understands the principles of attack or defence.

Next up is 'Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2' - if Modern Warfare 3 is anything to go by well it just isn't a great advert for this.