Stopover

Well I’m back in Croydon, but this feels more like a brief stopover on the way to the States as, once I’ve caught my breath, I fly out on Thursday. Which doesn’t leave me much time for settling in. If anyone’s particularly keen on seeing me before I go, that means I need to know now! It also means I’m busily juggling work on The Globalist and vacation scheme applications over the next few days, but I’ll need to take the laptop with me to the States to finish things off which, on the plus side, should mean several site updates for you guys while I’m there. Don’t even think about switching channels.

Having had my appetite whetted by watching Pitch Black a few weeks ago, I picked up a second hand copy of the Riddick game, Escape From Butcher Bay, for the Xbox. I’d given the game a wide berth on its release last year as games based on movies tend to vary between piss poor and criminal travesty, and to be honest The Chronicles of Riddick on which it was based is a pretty mediocre film to begin with, despite its budget and hype. This didn’t exactly inspire confidence. Yet the game was met with a flurry of positive reviews that marked it one of the best looking games on the Xbox and legitimately one of best examples of its genre. By creating a prequel game they avoid the usual restrictiveness of a movie plot and create a believable prison environment that evokes a little of Shawshank and the more recent Prison Break too as Riddick interacts with the other inmates. The new fish in the tank feeling is palpable. It’s greatest offering is its revolutionary close combat system. Punches seem to have real weight. You wince with each hit which feels like being slammed in the face. You know, in a good way. A long time after its release it’s still well worth a look if you’re after something fresh to keep your Xbox ticking over until you can afford/find a 360. Unless you happen to be Toby, who accidentally bid for one on eBay…

Rich’s band, Kiss or Kill, played a gig at The Cartoon on Saturday which unfortunately I couldn’t get to, but Tom G has some photos up.

Last night I also saw Narnia, so there’s a review available now. Unfortunately it resulted in the accidental overwriting of the Mrs. Henderson Presents review and I can’t retrieve it. I may get round to rewriting it, but in the meantime here’s the encapsulated version: very funny, has much more to offer than just (generally attractive) bare flesh, musical numbers are restricted the stage so don’t get in the way, real drama aided by Dench and Hoskins’ great performances, 3/4.