PS3 Review:The Last of Us- Left Behind

The Last of Us: Left Behind 
PS3 Review

Last year the PS3 was graced with The Last of Us, a game set in a post apocalyptic world, filled with infected humans by the Cordycep virus. 

There was a little bit of apprehension about the game because of the over-saturation of the zombie genre over the years, but of course this was being developed by Naughty Dog; creators of Crash Bandicoot; Jak and Daxter and Uncharted, absolute cult classics and once again they delivered immensely with a game that wasn't just one of the best of this generation, but one of the best in the history of videogames. 

And so Naughty Dog has now released its first and only piece of single player downloadable content for The Last of Us. 

I'm not one to buy into DLC, but as the full game was so incredible (scoring a perfect 10) I had to check it out. But does it still keep in touch with the atmosphere of the full game? 

Story: 9.5/10

Surprisingly, The Last of Us: Left Behind is not an outright prologue to the main story I anticipated. Instead it fills in the gap during the aftermath of Joel's life threatening injury whilst providing flashbacks to a time in Ellie's life before she became acquainted with characters such as Marlene and Joel.

The prologue tale is of Ellie being reunited with her old friend Riley who had disappeared for 45 days only to return to tell Ellie that she is now a member of the Fireflies rather than the military regime that Ellie is heavily pressured into. 

But instead of being bogged down with all the politics surrounding the antagonism between Fireflies versus the military, the story takes a far more light hearted approach with the two girls going to an abandoned mall, which they used to frequently visit. That's not to say that the story has ultimately become shallow. It was nice to see the two girls interact like normal adolescents, but undercurrents of serious storytelling remained with Ellie's countless questions about Marlene, her mother and more importantly the reason why Riley abandoned her for over a month. 

Gameplay: 8.8/10

Much like its story, Left Behind's gameplay is split into two. 

The prologue in the shopping mall focuses almost entirely on exploration and general wondering. Even though there was no actual action, it was incredibly fun. Personal highlights included: scavenging through an abandoned fancy dress store, trying out different masks and playing around with its little trinkets and messing around in a photo-booth taking silly photo's, pulling faces and posing outrageously. 

As for the present day gameplay, it was almost a carbon copy of the full game. There were a few alterations, some for the better and some for the worse. 

The pleasing new gameplay was the inclusion of creating distractions which had an impact on both the hunters and the infected. For example if Ellie were to throw a brick, both humans and infected would check out where the noise came from, only to encounter each other and attack. It was a great technique to quickly sneak around and move onward to the next objective. It was a small shame that this was only used twice during the run through of the game though.  

Moving on to the disappointing feature was the gunplay. It simply wasn't as fun playing as Ellie rather than Joel. Her aim was poor and with no upgrade options there was no way to alleviate the issue. Additionally the combat was far more forced. On the odd occasion there was no freedom to simply sneak past hunters or the infected but instead all the enemies had to be eliminated. This almost felt like a step backwards for the game. There were a fair amount of unnecessary deaths and it became aggravating. Simple stealth rather than forced combat would have worked better.

Graphics: 9.9/10 

Again Naughty Dog have excelled in creating amazingly realistic graphics. In light of the recent releases of the Xbox One and PS4 it is even more astounding that the Playstation 3 can churn out that amount of graphical fidelity. 

For the most part it even improves on the graphics of the full title. The motion capture is even smoother and more detailed than ever before. A spectacular moment with Ellie in a video game arcade truly emphasizes this with amazing lighting and incredibly realistic facial expressions.

The environments too are so amazingly detailed to the point that it is almost crazy. The segment in the fancy dress store was a sight to behold as I looked at each little fancy dress outfit packet and they all resembled real life costumes, information and everything.

Oddly though the graphics in the present day did not seem as finessed as in the shopping mall. Some moments seemed a lot more jagged and there was a little bit of pop up, even at a close draw distance. But this did not hinder the game at all.

Sound: 10/10 

As with the graphics, ND once more excelled with the dialogue and sound of the game. The dialogue between Ellie and Riley was brilliant as it flowed incredibly naturally. The performances by Ashley Johnson and Yaani King were fantastic. It was utterly believable that these two characters were best friends, particularly in its final moments.

The music was very subtle throughout the game and the licensed music was put to good use and added to the cinematic effect.

Longevity: 7/10

Obviously DLC cannot be placed under the title of a full retail game, and perhaps that as it was my first venture into purchasing DLC that Left Behind felt incredibly short. 

The game ended within two hours, but considering the inclusion of cutscenes it was that much shorter. An extra hour or two worth of gameplay would have left me more satisfied.

Furthermore the price of admission at £12 seemed a little steep, particularly with the full game currently at £20 in stores and on PSN. Even the recent venture playing Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus which was £15, lasting 7 hours in its first play through made me slightly more disappointed. The Last of Us: Left Behind perhaps should be £8-10. It would be a sweeter price point. 

Conclusion:

Despite its small shortcomings in terms of longevity and minor gameplay flaws, again it was the story that fully engrossed me into The Last of Us universe. It was fantastic to gain a more cohesive insight into how Ellie ended up with Marlene and Joel, even though it does not spell it out directly. Although she was already a fully realised character, Left Behind provided a little bit more development of Ellie and the use of Riley to open her up was the perfect way to do so.

9.2/10

HIMYM Review: Unpause

How I Met Your Mother

 'Unpause' Review

After last weeks truly outlandish entry, which unfortunately was also was accused of racism over the last week, How I Met Your Mother returned with a slightly more grounded episode. 
Although there were some silly plot devices in order to get the story going, the tales which developed around them were very well done. 
Interestingly this episode almost felt somewhat of an homage to the first season, with so many references made back to it, particularly that "nothing good happens after 2am." 

Fans of the show have been waiting for the inevitable feud between Marshall and Lily and it finally arrived, but it wasn't without delay.

During the mid-season finale the couple "paused" on the argument. Considering the size of this argument and fearing the worst, Marshall was trying his best for it to remain that way until after the wedding.

This amounted to him attempting to get the group to stay at the bar and intoxicate themselves, but it only ended up being the case for Barney as Lily refused to join in and went to her room.

The next setup with Marshall's plan to give his wife the ultimate satisfaction whilst trying to go for as long as possible to kill more time was somewhat funny but a little bit strange,. This was particularly the case with a scene of him imagining things that would not make him aroused during the process.

But after his supposed "success" his accidental awakening of Lily caused the situation to become unpaused.
This was by far the more interesting part as they both argued about each others selfishness. It was hard to side with Lily as she almost created an ultimatum that they were going to Italy, no questions asked. But it was great that Marshall brought up the situation of San Francisco back into the plot. His theory of what could have been was definitely a great insight into the unknown and definitely a sound reason for Marshall to have taken the judgeship.

As for Ted, Robin and Barney, they were left with a plot that was rather silly at first, as previously mentioned, with Barney being so drunk that he began to tell the truth about everything. 
The initial series of questions weren't all that interesting, nor added much to Barney's character But it was when Ted finally asked the question everyone has been waiting for; "what does Barney Stinson do for a living?", which opened the gates to a more cohesive understanding of Barney's suited up lifestyle.
It was a nice touch at first to find out that all along he had told the group his job, simply saying 'Please' which they only assumed to be a non answer when in fact it was actually an acronym for his job title. 
What was more interesting though was the motive he had created himself to work for GNB. It was great how the story traveled all the way back in time to the moment Barney stopped being a hippy after his break up with Shannon with the audience ultimately finding out that it was a massive revenge play against the manager who stole Shannon away from him.
A small debate between Ted and Robin about their wealth came into play, and how Ted felt cheated by this, but it did not amount to anything. Unless in the unlikely event it somehow develops into a form of sexual tension between Ted and Robin later on, this tiny side element felt incredibly pointless.

Overall 'Unpaused' returned the show to better form. The exciting intro and ending with Ted and the mother was a fantastic flash-forward into their lives. A nice little flip on Ted's "nothing good happens after 2am" theory.
Barney and Robin were left with a cheesy moment with him revealing that there will be in fact a ring "bearer", not a bear (although the final clip at the end begged to differ). This was followed by a fairly touching moment with Barney telling Ted that he is completely ready to marry Robin, which you would hope so with only 15 hours left to go!
A little surprisingly, the argument between Marshall and Lily was in no way resolved, finishing with Lily leaving the Farhampton Inn with someone (let's presume it was Ranjit) driving her to someplace unknown.  
Gladly the show has brought back a lot of the excitement, culminating in a series of questions.
What's going to happen between Marshall and Lily? Will we see more future flashes of Ted and the mother? Is there actually going to be a bear at the ceremony? 
It's nice to finally be looking forward to the next episode.        

8/10

PS3 Review: Ratchet & Clank: Into The Nexus

Ratchet & Clank: Into The Nexus 

Review

The Ratchet & Clank series, created by Insomniac Games, has spanned two home console and handheld generations, providing fans of the series with fantastic single player stories about the adventures of a furry Lombax and his trusty robot companion Clank. 

Over the last few years the series has somewhat wavered with the development teams attempt to add some spice with co-operative play in All-4-One and tower defense in Full Frontal Assault. Unfortunately this led to a bitter taste for most veterans of the series, but thankfully Insomniac went back to their roots and came up with Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus. 

Story: 7/10 

Into the Nexus acts as an epilogue to the Future trilogy (Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty and A Crack in Time) on PS3. 

Ratchet is tasked to escort criminal Vendra Prog to the Vartax Detention Centre for her crimes committed against the galaxy. 

Unfortunately once awakening her from cryo-sleep, she, with the help of her brother Neftin, wreak havoc and destroy the ship, leading to Ratchet and Clank ending up landing on Planet Yerek of the haunted sector at the edge of the galaxy. Ultimately they attempt to recapture Vendra and Neftin.

The story as a whole was slightly different to its predecessors. Even though it housed a few jokes here and there, the overall tone was far more serious and much darker. The antagonist Vendra was much more cunning than the other villains, but she was far more human as well. Her actions were somewhat justifiable, mirroring that of what could have been for Ratchet if he wanted to take the leap. 

The main issue with the story is that it is too short lived. Into the Nexus feels like it begins somewhere in the middle of a story: The original classic R&C games built up the villain and then unleashed their fury. This dives straight into the action, feeling a bit rushed. 

Another minor issue is that the sidekicks such as Talwyn and Captain Qwark have near enough non existent roles. But seeing as this story was more focused on Ratchet and Vendra themselves it isn't too much of an issue.

Gameplay: 9/10     

Into the Nexus makes a well received return to form with its classic action platforming gameplay with additional extras that definitely boost the experience.

+Classic Ratchet gameplay is back

Once again Ratchet is back to his crate breaking, heli-pack hovering, platforming ways. It certainly plays by the rule "If it isn't broken, don't fix it". It is fantastic as it brings in a whole culmination of platforming ideas that have appeared in each installment. 

The upgradable weapons through leveling up, first showcased in R&C2: Going Commando still remains, with its Raritanium upgrading system from Tools of Destruction getting expanded even more. 

Even the hover boots from A Crack in Time eventually return, allowing for more fast paced action platforming.

+Weapons 

The crazy weapons are still as strong as ever with some great new ideas including the Winterizer which turns your enemies into snowmen whilst playing Christmas tunes and the Netherbeast which shoots out the haunted creatures to attack the enemy.

Admittedly the sense of imagination is wavering a little bit with the weapons with a few returns of older weapons and some that are carbon copies of previous entries with a cosmetic overhaul and name change, but it is understandable considering how many Ratchet & Clank games have been made. My favourite by far was the return of Mr Zurkon. The final upgrade is absolutely fantastic. 

Onto the new elements, yhese include: The Grav-Tether, Jet Pack and Clanks side missions.

+Grav Tether 

This device opens specific pink portals located within the different planets, dragging Ratchet to previously unreachable areas. It is great as it acts as a small form of puzzle solving to reach certain checkpoints. It is on the easy side with little room for expanding into more complex puzzles to reach collectibles such as gold bolts. 

+Jet Pack

Although it has been a prominent feature in the previous entries, the jet-pack was used best here out of all of the series. In select areas and one entire planet the player can use the jet-pack to fly across the entire map, creating new ways to attack the enemy with a new sense of verticality. It is also beneficial for finding hidden items. 

Planet Thram was the best example of this as Ratchet can flying across the entire world. It was fantastic as it emphasised the sense of scale of the worlds created. It also provided a great sense of exploration. It would make welcome return to the series if it ever happens to appear on the PS4.   

+Clank in the Netherworld

The third new addition is Clank's side missions. Thanks to an upgrade to Ratchet's torchlight it can detect rifts in the walls, leading to the netherworld. Here Clank enters the world in a gravity based mini game using four directions to alter the force of gravity to find a netherbeast and lure him back to the rift and destroy the obstruction. It is fairly simple, with the puzzles being the likewise too.   

-/+ Control Layout

A personal gripe of mine, being so used to the button layout of the original PS2 games and the initial "Future" trilogy, the new layout took a bit of getting used to. For example having the trigger button mapped out onto R1 instead of "O" was a bit confusing. But eventually after the small learning curve I realised that it was for the better as it was more precise.

Graphics: 7.5/10

Again Ratchet & Clank is a stunning game, with the flair of Disney/Pixar animation. The locations are absolutely gorgeous, filled with amazing detail and and impressive draw distance.

But there is an issue which is a bit of a problem. Oddly the framerate is lower and not as stable. Running at 30fps rather than 60fps like R&C: A Crack in Time, it was immediately noticeable, having compared the two side by side. 

Additionally the game seems to have drops quite heavily when enemies appear on screen. It is not always the case but still is an annoyance, especially considering that this is a shorter entry in the series so you would assume there would not be as much processing pressure.

Sound: 8/10

As per usual the voice acting is still great with the majority of voice actors reprising their roles. Ratchet was still filled with his usual sarcasm. Vendra Prog actually felt like a ruthless villain but with a nice humane touch to her. It was also nice to see Talwyn make a small return after making no appearance in A Crack in Time. She too had some good lines, although one or two emotional set pieces did not work entirely well.

The music was very subtle in this entry, but still had provided a sense of grand adventure when it began to build up.

The sound effects themselves were great with noises culminating from near enough anything from the crates that shatter and the chime when collecting bolts, the simple atmospheric sounds of creatures squawking, to the the torrential downpour of rain.

Conclusion: 

Overall Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus is a fantastic new entry into the saga. Yes the story was incredibly short, clocking in at around 6-7 hours including all my scavenging for every collectible and upgrade during the first play-through, but thankfully there's the trusty challenge mode once you complete the game to double its length. 

The narrative itself was good and surprisingly I would prefer the darker tone to continue if the series moves on to the Playstation 4. The story was more sincere and with the open ended nature of its conclusion it would make a whole lot of sense considering the path it could potentially take.

Insomniac Games have made the right move, reverting back to its original action platforming ways. That is how the R&C universe works best. So fingers crossed that they unveil a PS4 follow up on a much grander scale which could even potentially tie in with the movie releasing next summer.

8/10

  

HIMYM Review: Slapsgiving 3 Slapointment in Slapmarra

How I Met Your Mother 

'Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra' 
Review

(Warning! The word "slap" will be used heavily in this review) 

How I Met Your Mother has finally returned to finish up the second half of its final season. After ending the mid-season with a clip of Marshall ready to slap the bejesus out of Barney there was much anticipation about what was to come. The slap bet countdown website even made a reappearance.

In all honesty, although the hype was good fun, I expected this episode to be fairly mediocre and unfortunately it was just that.

The episode began with the continuation of Marshall about to slap Barney in gloriously detailed slow motion. But of course Ted interjects with a story about how this all came about. Ultimately it results in a flashback of the group at McLaren's with Marshall playfully recounting the tale about how he came to acquire the power of the "slap of a million exploding suns." There Marshall learns the three key components for the ultimate slap.

Each teaching was fairly funny, clearly spoofing martial arts films including Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. 

There was clever little wordplay's with Marshall's interactions with supposed legendary slap masters. Red Bird (Robin), White Flower (Lily) and The Calligrapher (Ted). 

Each lesson was somewhat funny but it was bordering more on the slapstick rather than any proper smart humour. The lessons taught by Red Bird and White Flower were also a little repetitious with their jokes. 

There was a nice little moment within White Flowers lesson with a series a minute guest appearances from Barney's conquests, including Nora and even season one's Shannon, but it was a shame that it was so short lived.

Teds teachings of accuracy to Marshall was the most humorous out of the three. This was purely because Ted's snobbish, almost obsessive compulsive behaviour still remained. Ted's final moments as the Calligrapher was possibly the funniest part of the episode (although it's not saying a lot in it's favour)

Eventually we are brought back to the present day with a little bit of a surprise at first, but then taken to a final scenario which was peculiar and nonsensical at best. There really should have been a more understandable link for this penultimate slap. 

The last moments with Boyz II Men singing about this momentous event at the end was undeniably random, but at least fun. 

Overall Slapsgiving 3 was just a bit odd. Fair enough to make a flashy episode with actual use of CGI and the likes, but it really shows that it is simply trying to hide the lack of good story concepts left in the writing room. 

It would have been nice to have at least seen a quick flashback at the end perhaps to the real life situation of Marshall's teachings from his three friends to bring about a sense of plausibility.

Perhaps it's the case that I watched Season One again before reviewing this episode, but the first series' storytelling was so brilliant with amazingly grounded, believable and relatable tales that I instantly took a dislike to the absurdity of this one. 

But HIMYM really does need to tone it down with the theatricals in order for fans and the wider audience to actually give the show some respect, particularly with its send off edging ever closer on March 31st.

5.2/10

HIMYM Review: Bass Player Wanted

How I Met Your Mother 

'Bass Player Wanted' Review

After a weeks break, HIMYM has returned for its mid season finale. Much hype was made on social networks by the shows creators about the fact that this episode would predominantly focus on the mother. Although it did not fully live up to its exceedingly high expectations, the episode was definitely one of the better showings this season.

This weeks episode did not seem to have an easily classified main story and sub plot as each character had an equal amount of screen time and it was all interwoven into one another.

The story begins with Marshall and Marvin's final five mile walk to the Farhampton Inn. Instantly I feared that , much like 'Bedtime Stories', this episode was going to focus solely on this journey, providing the audience with another filler episode. Once more the cheesy western style music for Marshall and Marvin's journey began, but thankfully it was short lived as the one and only mother picked them up and happily took the two onward to Farhampton. 

This was a far better move by the writers as the audience was able to witness the chemistry between herself and Marshall. It was great how she initially messed with his head, pretending to be a psychic, knowing everything about him, with us the audience knowing full well that Lily had divulged all the information to her on the train ride in the season premiere.

Furthermore, it was great to see the similarities between the two, as both are undeniably polite, avoiding confrontation at all costs, yet ahead of them were some hefty situations which needed to be resolved.

The mothers fear about the looming possible confrontation weaved into Ted, Barney, Robin and Lily's stories as a mysterious man named Darren (Andrew Rannells) became involved with their issues. 

His first encounter with Lily and Robin was rather humourous with their initial confusion whether or not he was a relative of Robins furthered by the two girls telepathic conversation about a possible menage-a-trois with this stranger. Eventually we learn that behind all the niceties, he is in fact a "firestarter", causing rifts between friendships. This led to Lily finding out that Robin was siding with Marshall about the judgeship vs Rome debate, whilst Robin was less than enthusiastic that her thunder was somewhat stolen by Lily's issue. They were not the most serious of issues, somewhat feeling that they were brought to the table simply for the sake of the plot device, but at least they were addressed in some manner. 

Darren's second encounter with Ted and Barney was far more substantial as Barney found out that Ted was moving to Chicago. This eventually had to be found out by someone else within the group and it was best that it was by Barney. What worked so well was that, although he did initially attempt to persuade Ted out of moving, Barney completely understood that the move was not just for the job for Ted, but more so to ease the pain of losing Robin, and he respected that. 

Ted's little escapade to retrieve yet another bottle of Glen McKenna Scotch, resulting in larceny, was also a nice little touch to emphasise to Barney that he would do anything for his best friend. It almost acted as a thank you for Barneys acceptance of Teds future plans.    

Eventually the whole group were back together again with Marshall finally walking through the doors of the Farhampton Inn, to his horror of finding an aggressive Lily, which thankfully for the time being she "paused" on (There will definitely be an episode dedicated to this argument). 

And again there was a nice little tie in between Ted and the mother: Firstly in terms of their behaviour with the mother's monologue commenting about karma, echoing ever so obviously the way in which Ted thinks; secondly with Teds physical actions unknowingly removing the subject of her confrontation. 

Overall Bass Player Wanted was not exactly what I was anticipating. Hoping that this would be the occasion for the mother and Ted to physically meet one another I admit  that I was a little disappointed. But it made complete sense to tie in the mother with Marshall seeing as she has already met Lily and Barney. No doubt there will be an episode of Robin meeting her too. 

The issue of Chicago was also played out well, with no crazy melodramatics, and the tension between Lily and Marshall is now at an all time high.

It is great that everyone is now at the Farhampton Inn, primarily the mother, as the show can now bring a steady stream of excitable intrigue about the moments up until that fateful moment for Ted.     

7.9/10

HIMYM Review: The Rehearsal Dinner

How I Met Your Mother 

'The Rehearsal Dinner' Review 

Last weeks HIMYM decided to move towards a more experimental approach with an episode entirely dedicated to a nursery rhyme motif. 

Despite the bold move, it ultimately remained a little stale, notably because it was one of the most obvious filler episodes to date. 

This week however the show returned back to form, providing a decent episode which was somewhat bogged down by a sense of deja vu.

The main premise began with Barney handcuffed in a laser tag security office seemingly assured that Robin had set up the rehearsal dinner at this venue rather than at the Farhampton hotel itself. Much to Robins annoyance and displeasure Barney recounts the series of events leading up to that moment. From there on, numerous flashbacks ensued. 

The scene at McLarens pub, with Robin asking for the wedding to be held in Canada, was fairly well executed with the whole crew making silly jokes about her country. Teds interjection that the jokes continued for what seemed a lifetime was a nice little touch as a few extras in the background had their entire lives playing out during that scene.

The secondary flashback of Barney retaliation at Robin's bachelor party prank was also particularly funny with Barney's childish behaviour with the puppies whilst Robin remained rather serious about his sadistic prank on her. Her rule to be more like Marshall and Lily, with no surprises in their relationship was crucial for the overall arc of the story.

What worked best with this plot line was that Barney's obsessive behaviour was so typical of him that it was hard to see the bigger picture, which ended up being a really nice surprise. But at the same time, as nice a surprise it was, it was far too reminiscent of his play "The Robin" in terms of its structure and how the events unfolded.  

Additionally there were some curiosities about the practicalities of the final moments and how Robin quite literally did not see this.

As for Ted and Lily they were left on the sidelines with some mediocre gags. 

The reminder of Lily's inability to keep a secret was rather dull, particularly as we have seen this used multiple times before during previous seasons. It was an interesting reminder though that she had still kept the secret of Teds move to Chicago under wraps. The whole secret issue loosely seeped into Lily telling Ted and Robin about Marshall's judgeship and the possibility of the move to Italy being put on hold, but it seemed a weak way for the rest of the gang to find out. 

Ted was once more a caricature of his usual self, with flashbacks of himself attempting to play the piano whilst dressed up like Liberace as a present for Robin and Barney. There was little to care about with this subplot, although his statement during the initial flashback that he was the best at giving wedding presents with Marshall and Lily's instant looks of disgust was a nice little remembrance of their feud in The Poker Game.    

Apart from a few small appearances in the flashbacks, Marshall was not involved in the proceedings of the present events. There wasn't much indication of how far into his five mile walk to the hotel he was in or whether or not this all occurred during his bus travel. 

Regardless of the sub-par side stories, Barney and Robin's main arc was a nice lighthearted tale which goes to show that they will never be the conventional couple, but instead will constantly amaze and surprise one another to illustrate their love. The final moments were a little too familiar but certainly no excuse to complain about it. 

As nice as it was, the show really needs to place Ted back on the forefront, particularly as the series is edging ever so close to its conclusion.

7/10

HIMYM Review: Bedtime Stories

How I Met Your Mother 

'Bedtime Stories' Review

How I Met Your Mother has been somewhat experimental with a handful of its episodes, but Bedtime Stories takes the cake with an episode completely dedicated to rhyming throughout the entire 22 minute run through. But was enjoyable, or simply grating? For the most part it did a decent job but it didn't save it from the obvious fact that the story itself was pure filler.

The episode begins with Marshall desperately attempting to get his son Marvin to sleep on the bus journey back to Farhampton. Realising that he forgot the nursery rhymes book, Marshall decides to tell tales based on his three friends.

The first tale "Mosby at the Bat" recalls Ted making acquaintance with another college professor, Lisa by which he agrees to go out to a restaurant, but is unsure whether to call it a date or not. 

This little subplot was very much akin to the classic HIMYM style with Barney creating clues by which Ted could determine if he was on a date or not. Barneys use of a globe painted over with Date and Not a Date was very reminiscent of his hot/crazy scale which was a nice touch.  

Additionally there was a rather humorous moment at the end of that tale when the passenger commented about how crass Marshall's story was, which then jumped to future Ted apologizing to his kids.  

We then move onto the weaker tale of the three, Robin eating a whole wedding cake. It was good use of a flashback of Robin when times were hard, i'm guessing this occasion was when she broke up with Don as she let herself go, and the guest appearance by James Van Der Beek was a nice little surprise. But apart from that, the remainder of it was rather stupid. The only funny part in this segment was Marshall's fellow bus passenger doing a rap to aid Marshall who couldn't find a word to rhyme with Canada.

Finally on to Barney, his "Player King of New York City" was as equally silly with his mafia meeting with other players of the New York, all played by himself of course. But this sheer craziness is easily associated with Barney so it was a little more acceptable, although there was distinct lack of humour unfortunately. It was also nice that his and Ted's story both linked in with one another ever so loosely. 

As a whole the episode was generally OK, the whole episode rhyming actually worked fairly well as they used pretty simple rhyming verse. Some of the rhyming did falter in places, particularly with Lily during Robin's story, but the rest of the gang did it well.

Although rather silly, each little tale that Marshall told lighthearted and watchable. But the main issue was that this was the biggest filler episode. There was nothing linked to the wedding itself. Hopefully the next episode will reflect on what went on with the rest of the gang in Farhampton during Marshall's journey.

5.8/10

Movie Review: The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring

 Review

Here in the 21st Century young western society seems to aspire to the socialite lifestyles, attempting to emulate the constant impression that we are all having a party hard way of life and that it is better than anyone else's. 

With The Bling Ring, this film hones down on this ideal with a group of teenagers committing multiple burglaries across LA in the homes of the rich and famous in order to recreate that same type of lifestyle for themselves. 

Although the film says that it is based on true events, caution is slightly needed as the film itself is based on the Vanity Fair article " The Suspects wore Louboutins" by Nancy Jo Sales.

The Bling Ring starts off fairly well, introducing the male lead Marc (Israel Broussard), a boy who is constantly paranoid about the way he looks and that he is not good enough to be considered "A-list" material. 

On his first day at school he swiftly meets Rebecca (Katie Chang) and their friendship seems to flourish rather quickly from there on. 

All too easily we begin to realise she's a rebel and that theft is almost a drug for her, with the adrenaline fueling her to keep on wanting to do more, each time the more extravagant. And thus her friends Nicki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julien) and Sam (Taissa Farmiga) get dragged in for the ride. But they all take great pleasure in their criminal offences.

The whole insight into what American adolescents aspire to be is completely understandable for those watching who are also young adults.

The emphasis on the pressures of your social media persona on the likes of Facebook were all very close to home. The scenes of the girls constantly taking photos of themselves, attempting each time to look provocative and sexual, instantly uploading them onto Facebook for recognition and approval was a great illustration of the pressures for girls in western society. 

Additionally the obsession with "news" about celebrities, with their DUI's and the whereabouts of their partying were was also nice little mockery of teens fixated with people who are only famous for their notoriety and not their actual achievements.

The main issue with the film is that the characters were not overly developed. Although perhaps that was Sofia Coppola's aim so that we don't create potential idols of these convicts, there was a definite lack of interest in them. 

This lack of character was particularly the case for all the female leads. They were a collective persona: all rather bitchy and manipulative in order to get what they wanted. There was also no sense of guilt or remorse between them all, but simply reveling in their own notoriety. 

Apart from minor elements such as Nicki's "religious beliefs" based on the book The Secret, the lack of differentiation between the female cast made it rather dull. 

Marc was slightly better in that he provided a more diverse range of emotions, but even then his character was rather bland. 

Additionally the film itself did get quite repetitive and slow with the almost rehashed footage of the group relaxing, playing around and then robbing the houses. 

Overall The Bling Ring is a pretty standard film which ultimately is more interesting for the teenagers and young adults of this generation. The film was playful and the soundtrack was really great, creating the mood of the party hard way of life. 

Two moments towards the end of the movie though put it much higher in my books. 

Marc's comment that we live in a world with a "sick fascination of the Bonnie and Clyde kind of thing" is incredibly true, particularly when he further noted that he received 800 friend requests on Facebook for his criminal offences which he acknowledged that if his actions were for a charitable cause, that wouldn't have been the case. Secondly the final moments with Emma Watson's Nicki was a sly, well placed twist of events. These two moments highlight what a warped, confused society we live in and it was used to great effect.      

6.7/10

HIMYM Review: Mom and Dad

How I Met Your Mother

'Mom and Dad' Review

We were welcomed last week with an episode of HIMYM that was on full form, blending the best of comedy with some very well done underlying drama. Unfortunately this week threw away much of the drama and instead opted for pure slapstick. It worked in places but for the most part it was rather stale.

As the title suggests, the episode focused on Mom and Dad, in this case the return of John Lithgow as Jerome, James' vicar father and Loretta. 

The plot between the Stinson family ran very thin regards to its premise as a whole and the events that followed were, for the most part, equally lacklustre. 

Barney was once more his immature self with his head in the clouds, completely ignorant of any contradictory statement made about his mother and fathers relationship. Fortunately Neil Patrick Harris does it well enough though to still make it enjoyable, It was also nice to see James become a child too and squabble with Barney about the situation. 

What made it a shame was that John Lithgow's performance was incredibly limited. After some fairly tense moments in season 6 between he and Barney it would have been nicer to have had a bit more grounded sincerity between the two.   

All issues aside, there was a fantastic musical number with the whole Stinson family set in a cliched 1950's suburban backdrop. Of course Barney and James were the best of the bunch. It was like watching NPH at the Tony awards with his cheesy lyrics battling it out in song with Wayne Brady. 

On to Ted, he was once more enlisted with best man duties, on this occasion to keep hidden a signed picture of Wayne Gretzky from Robin. 

After later finding it damaged in his room, the plot turned into a detective mystery story and was typically ridiculous with its cheesy 'whodunit' approach of which the three subjects convicted was a poor listing: from a random concierge to Robins estranged cousin and of course The Karate Kid's Billy Zabka.

Admittedly it was funny to watch Ted get fully invested in the situation and go into full on detective mode (although surprisingly no references to The Mosby Boys was made), but the return of the "conflict" between Billy Zabka and himself was simply satisfactory. There was no actual sense of mystery with the proceedings at all. It was clearly pointed out in The Poker Game that Billy wanted to exact his revenge.

Finally we move on to Marshall and Daphne. Aside from some poor gags for the reasoning behind Daphne's abrupt anger it was actually a nice heartfelt short tale. We have come to learn from the previous episodes that Daphne is a big wig in the oil drilling community and has missed out on much of her child's life because of this, but it was never really developed, until now. The story ended with a nice resolution for Marshall and Daphne with them parting ways on friendly terms. 

Granted it was a nice way to end the two's journey together but it was rather pleasing that this arc had come to a close. Now it is time for Marshall to be more invested in the shenanigans between the whole gang.

Overall Moms and Dads was a satisfactory effort which tried a little too hard with the slapstick humour.

 It was a little surprising seeing as this script was written by Carter Bays & Craig Thomas themselves who are usually more akin to writing the more serious episodes. It was also disappointing how flat and one dimensional the characters were portrayed. Although they made small appearances, the lack of Robin and Lily in this episode was also a bit of a downer.

Onwards and upwards they say. Let's hope so for next weeks HIMYM

5/10

HIMYM Review: Platonish

How I Met Your Mother 

"Platonish" Review

Although the episode began with a short continuation of Robins despair over her mother not attending the wedding, Last nights HIMYM ended up a different affair with a full on flashback, six months before the wedding. At this point in time Ted's feelings for Robin were still uncertain and Barney was let loose with a full on girl grabbing spree after his failure to woo Robin for keeps. 

The theme of this episode really began with Barney explaining to Ted and Lily that (apart from Marshall and Robin) no relationship can simply be platonic, there will always remain a sense of sexual tension. 

Teds outright assurance to the gang that Barney's theory was incorrect and that he is simply friends with Robin was ultimately transparent, one which the group could all see. 

This arc was great as we got to witness the more serious side of Mr Mosby, constantly questioning the "what ifs" and his overall hesitancy towards making the leap to go after her. It is a very relatable situation for the audience I'm sure. 

The idea that Marshall was purely pushing Ted to make the move purely due to the bet he made with Lily did make his inclusion seem a little insincere, but this was swiftly overridden, he clearly cares about Ted and his constant assessment of the situation highlighted this.  

Admittedly the whole basketball game setting for Ted and Marshall's interactions felt a little bit random. It could have easily been done at MacLarens or even the apartment, but I suppose it was ample ground for some play on words of which the two hounded down at the coach and referee.  

Additionally the truth about Teds future decision to move to Chicago was somewhat unraveled. Bryan Cranston returned as Hammond Druthers, headhunting for Ted to join the architecture firm he works for in Chicago. 

The guest appearance was short and simple, with Druthers behaviour remaining to be same old egotistical self, grappling firmly his Pete Rose signed baseball. 

Considering the hype of Cranston making a return appearance, particularly after his critically acclaimed participation in Breaking Bad, it was a little bit of a shame that there wasn't more of a fleshed out story. Surprisingly though this tiny element strongly emphasised how much in dire straits Ted must be about his feelings towards Robin, to he point of wanting to flee and work for Druthers, who he publicly despised.   

As for the remaining trio, we were left with an equally strong premise which started off a little silly which developed into a more powerful plot.

Barney's "Challenge Accepted" was put to the test with the girls dishing out various challenges for him.

The garbage bag/ not allowed to use the letter "E" challenge was the best of the three. It was literally lough out loud funny when Barney would accidentally pronounce the "E", get frustrated and leave the girls he was hitting on. 
As for the remaining two, the Ryan Gosling play was fairly funny, particularly with Barneys quick psychoanalysis of the girl, but the introductory Dolphin was rather unbelievable and very much over the top.

But it was the fourth and final challenge that proved to be the best aspect of the show. It was great to see Barney meet the mother in that awkward situation, with her extracting the truth behind Barney's crazy antics and thus revealing the origin story of The Playbook's "The Robin".

Overall Platonish has been the most entertaining episode of season 9 to date. The blend of serious drama with comedy, which for once in a long time running was actually laugh out loud funny, worked extremely well. 
Even though the plots were technically divided, they tied really well into one another. But the final moments fast forwarding in time back to Farhampton, revealing Teds look of distress that he decided to sit back rather than go for the win like Barney was the icing on the cake. 
Yes some of you fans might feel that it's covering old ground yet again, but still there is no denying that there was a strong overall story.
Will more conflict between Ted and Barney return? We'll have to wait and see. Fingers crossed it does.

8.7/10

HIMYM Review: The Lighthouse

How I Met Your Mother 

"The Lighthouse" Review

After last weeks fairly mediocre outing with a feeble attempt to create a slapstick Halloween style episode of HIMYM, which ultimately did not work within season 9's new episode structure, I was not anticipating much. Fortunately last nights The Lighthouse ended up being more akin to the classic HIMYM style.

The main storyline brought up the "raging" warfare between Robin and Loretta. The initial conflict was downright silly with the two debating whether Loretta or Robin's mother could make the best scrambled eggs. 

In some sense it was good in that it brought some intrigue about Robin's mother finally making an appearance on the show. The additional flashbacks containing trickles of information about the mother was also a great touch.

But it wasn't until in the second half of the battle when Robin had to make scrambled eggs in her mothers place that the plot became a lot more interesting. Loretta's quip about Robin being unable to serve her kids breakfast due to her poor cooking skills brought back the harsh reality of Robin's inability to have children. It was really hard hitting to see the poor Robin completely crash at this remark. 

This plot proved to be even stronger with Barney's speech to his mother about his sheer adoration for his fiance, no matter what problems there may be. The flashback scene with Robin telling Barney her problem with his immediate sincere reaction was great. This solidified the notion that these two are in a strong relationship, no matter their constant cold feet in prior episodes.      

Although a shame that it looks like we will never see Robins mother it worked so much more in favour for the eventual heart to heart between Loretta and Robin.

As for dear old Ted, he was once again left with the emotionally unstable Cassie. Simply taking poor advice from Lily in an attempt to visit a nearby lighthouse without being scolded for being single, this plotline was very thin. We as the audience all know that he's never going to be with her, so it felt a bit of waste. 

The moment before the finale with Ted cynicism, complaining that there's only a certain amount of times you can do certain things with Lily's instant rejection of that notion was a great build up

With Lily herself, the anger towards Marshall was fairly funny, breaking her glass anytime an association was made with his judgeship, but I hope that it eventually amounts to something more substantial and grounded. This type of slapstick will get stale if it continues and the show works best when it moves towards a more serious route, just like Loretta and Robin's storyline. 

Yet again Marshall and Daphne's plot was completely uninteresting with the return of Ted's stepfather Clint trying to appease the conflict between the two travelers. It's not a good sign at all when you are literally looking at your watch, waiting for that particular segment to finish.
The only somewhat intriguing part was when Marshall cut loose and unleashed some aggression towards Daphne and played the  classic HIMYM tune "500 Miles". I am hoping that song plays for the rest of their trip.

 Overall The Lighthouse was a pleasant surprise. The Robin/Loretta plot was a little bit unnerving at first, but it flourished into something wonderful. It was also slightly disappointing to see such a small role for Ted for the majority of the episode but the final scene with Ted and the mother literally brought tears of joy to my eyes. It was fantastic! So glad to see Cristin Milioti again.

7.5/10

HIMYM Review: Knight Vision

How I Met Your Mother 

"Knight Vision" Review

Last week's The Poker Game had quite a bit to be desired, remaining in a stalemate position regarding Robin and Barney's fears about marriage. Luckily last nights episode eradicated this really humdrum plot in favour of one of acceptance and pride in their relationship.

Robin and Barney's story begins with their moody Reverend coming to visit. As Maid of Honour, Lily attempts to appease the reverend only to find out that Robin and Barney stole the story of how she and Marshall met for their own benefit to secure the church. 

This worked really well, particularly with the character switch over flashback with Robin and Barney spoofing Marshall and Lily's behaviour. This whole sequence proved to work even better with Lily retelling an altered version of Ted meeting Robin, but with her and Marshall instead. It was a little bitter to say against Robin, but acceptable considering the circumstances. Luckily Ted wasn't around during this retelling as this harsh truth and realisation might have sparked some possible resentment towards Barney.

I was under the assumption that this whole "stolen story" was going to run through the entire episode with Barney and Robin forcing it onto multiple subjects, reassuring themselves that their relationship is solid, whilst diminishing the tie of the dorm room encounter to Marshall and Lily, but thankfully this was not the case. 

Instead we were greeted with the couple finally reaffirming how strong their relationship is, even after all the trials and tribulations along the way. It was nice that that two name dropped certain events throughout the show to emphasize how well they know each other.

As for Marshall, he was put back in place of the road trip to Farhampton with Daphne. But this time things took a turn for the more serious with the two having a discussion about Marshall taking the judgeship job and preparing him for the inevitable confrontation with Lily. 

The practice confrontations were pretty funny with an imaginary flashforward of Marshall telling Lily the news. Lily's miming with Daphne's voice dubbed over was really well done as Alyson Hannigan really exaggerated her lip movements and the voice sync was perfect making it somewhat believable. Marshall's  interruptions of the sequences whilst feeling uncomfortable about Lily talking in Daphne's voice was also fairly funny. 

Finally moving onto Ted, although his plot should be considered to be the main story (especially considering the episode title is named after his antics) it felt more of a side filler piece than anything else.

His attempt to try and hook up with one of three girls for the weekend worked fairly well in line with the introductory "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade" reference, but the knight constantly popping up throughout got a little bit annoying after a while. We all knew what he was going to say to Ted each time. 

It was good though that even with Ted wanting so desperately to hook up with this girl Cassie, he still remained a proper gentleman. 

I was kind of hoping to see the mother wandering around in the background whilst Ted was having to cope with Cassie's hysteria but unfortunately this didn't surface. it would have been a really nice touch.

Overall Knight Vision had a fair amount going for it. Instantly from the introduction scene with Barney's little jab at Ted's dry spell and the Indiana Jones reference I knew this was going to be a more solid episode. 

The silliness of both Ted's and Robin and Barney's plots combined with the seriousness of Marshall's created a nice balance, even if it was in a little bit more in favour of the stupidity (e.g. Barney's imaginary Weekend at Bernie's Reverend scene). 

What becomes of the Reverend was a little bit dramatic, but at least Barney and Robins search for a new one will hopefully remove any need to bring back their questioning of marriage. 

Finally, the cliffhanger was a bit harsh of Daphne to do, but the truth had to be outed eventually. Definitely looking forward to Lily's reaction and probable conflict between her and Marshall.

7.9/10

Speculative Note: Has anyone else realised that The Princess Bride and Indiana Jones have been referenced in both HIMYM and Big Bang Theory over the last few weeks?? Is there a link or reasoning behind this??