Also starring Harold Perrinau (Lost, Matrix Reloaded), Peter Cambor (NCIS Los Angeles) and The US Office’s Melora Hardin the show also boasts fantastic guest appearances from the likes of Megan Fox (Transformers), Wendi McLendon Covey (Bridesmaids) and Joe Lo Truglio (Superbad).

Written by Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle (South Park) and produced by Emmy Award winning Mike Tollin (Smallville, One Tree Hill, Wild Hogs) the show is a comedy drama about the ‘bromance’ between four friends whose weekends are spent playing in Seattle’s premier wedding and events band.

Tommy, Eddie, Barry and Stevie – collectively known as ‘Mother of the Bride’ – all have day jobs, but in living out their dreams of being rock gods they’ve discovered that weddings are the wildest parties in town. The groupies are the bridesmaids, the drinks are free, and they even get paid for it!

We have two copies of the complete first season to giveaway on DVD to coincide with the release. To enter our competition just answer the following question

Editors decision is final closing date is 26th May 2013 – UK Entrants only – Usual terms & conditions apply.
Good Luck!

Wedding Band is released on DVD on 27th May in the UK

And another reason to be cheerful is the current price, with the manufacturer offering the city car at £5,999 until the end of next month (June 2013). A new car for a whisker under six grand … and one with a lot to offer, as I found in my road test week with the Alto SZ. As well as serving up real wallet appeal, the Alto can boast a substantial pedigree.

How many models are entering a fourth decade of sales in their millions?

The first generation, 543cc, three-cylinder Alto was launched in 1979, designed for the Kei Class of the Japanese automobile sector. This allows small vehicles with an engine capacity of up to 660cc to benefit from cheaper tax rates and other incentives, a regulation which still stands today.

A 40bhp, 796cc version of the Alto, again a three-cylinder, was also produced, which proved more popular with export markets, including the UK, where the car went on sale in 1981.
Successful model followed model, and in 2003 the UK saw the arrival of the sixth generation motor, with the following generation going on sale here in 2009, celebrating its 30th anniversary.
The Alto is made in India, at the Maruti Suzuki plant near Delhi, and the country has embraced the little car, with more than four and a half million on the roads there.

With its five-door configuration the Alto is eminently practical, and there’s appealing design for both exterior and interior and the driving experience Is rewarding. With a smooth-changing manual five-speed gearbox and spirited 68bhp petrol engine, the Alto is a treat around town, with comfortable ride, assured handling and great ease-of-use. Parking is a doddle.

The car also holds its own on the motorway. The Alto proved a worthy companion on a day’s 350-mile, mainly three-lane, round trip, and the fuel gauge left me with a smile on my face.
For the little Suzuki has an economy ace up its sleeve. In these straitened times there’s a lot to be said for a car that shuns petrol pumps and is a winner in the road tax stakes, its 99g/km CO2 emissions making it VED exempt. Group 4E insurance is easy on the pocket, too.

The specification includes tilt adjustable steering column, front electric windows, lights-on and key-in reminder, door ajar warning lamp, an accessory socket and an MP3-enabled radio/CD player. Cup holders, bottle holders, storage pockets and a rear single-folding bench seat tick the practicality boxes.

On the safety front, there’s the assurance of anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist.

Commuting, shopping and that long-distance haul … my week with the Alto showed the car’s versatility… and charm.

TECH SPEC
Make-model: Suzuki Alto SZ
Technical: Three-cylinder, 996cc, petrol engine, with five speed manual gearbox.
Performance: 0 to 62mph, 13.5 seconds; top speed, 96mph.
Fuel: 65.7mpg (combined)
Emissions: 99 g/km
Price: £5,999 (until end of June 2013)

For more info visit www.suzuki.co.uk/cars

Having only begun in 2001, we’ve now already reached Fast & Furious 6. But while this might be the sixth wheel of this particular action cycle, it’s the very first movie in the whole series that I’ve watched properly from start to finish (as opposed to catching garbled snippets in ITV2’s coveted post-pub timeslot).

Not that a great deal of catch-up was required. Even if the opening titles hadn’t offered a full-throttle recap of the previous outings, so deeply unoriginal is the DNA of this movie that you’d have to be a just-resurrected Egyptian pharaoh to have not seen every step of Fast & Furious 6’s story played out a dozen times before.

Mind you, the tossed-off attitude towards the narrative is entirely deliberate on the part of screenwriter Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin (helming his fourth and final Fast and the Furious, as he makes way for James Wan).

These two know the F & F fans like Bruce Wayne knows the agreeable feel of a tight rubber codpiece, and inventiveness of plot ranks as highly for them as growing a big bushy moustache does for Scarlett Johansson.

Nope, so long as the cars are sleek, shiny and plentiful, so long as there’s only the shortest of waits before the next sock to the jaw or pointless explosion, and so long as Vin Diesel is present in his lead role as Dominic Toretto, looking like an entire butcher’s window display tipped into a wife-beater and mumbling like a vicar’s son who’s just toked his first doobie, then all is well is this slick, resolutely silly world.

It’s a silliness that keeps the primarily London-set proceedings whizzing off in all manner of random directions – whether it’s Paul Walker’s vapid sap Brian O’Conner jetting back to LA to spend a night in clink, or Ludacris’s Tej needing to buy a fleet of motors from an unfeasibly camp ‘n’ snooty English stereotype, seemingly just wandered in from one of those earlier-mentioned Carry On flicks.

All the while, Fast & Furious 6 keeps jostling you in the ribs and winking at you, like an uncomfortably over-familiar barroom bore, letting you know that it’s in on the gag. Yeah, it chortles, I know I’m unremittingly dreadful, but hey! I’m sure as hell ain’t taking myself seriously. Why should you?

Why? Because this isn’t a full-on lampoon in Airplane! tradition – even if Dwayne Johnson comes over so hilariously dense when delivering his lines as lawman Luke Hobbs that he designates himself the perfect candidate to play the late Leslie Nielsen’s long-lost nephew in a Naked Gun reboot (“Tank” Drebin, anyone?).

And this means that when the movie attempts to be even semi-dramatic and involving, particularly in the scenes dealing with the return of the previously-thought-kaput Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and her subsequent clash of loyalties between Toretto and rasping rat-bag Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), it’s completely ineffectual as anything other than a dynamite cue to exercise your yawning gear.

Contrast this with the sure touch of the third Iron Man, which managed to be bright, breezy and genuinely funny, while still giving its audience a story-world to believe in, and Fast & Furious 6 really does start to look rather shonky.

Owen Shaw, incidentally, along with Luke Hobbs and Brian O’Conner, completes what is surely the dullest trio of character names in any blockbuster movie this side of Last of the Summer Wine Strikes Back. And in the unlikely event of that imagined old-fogeys-in-a-runaway-bathtub epic opening opposite Fast & Furious 7 in 2014, I know which one’ll be getting my ten quid.

Fast & Furious 6 is released in the UK on 17 May

We all fall into the world blissfully unaware (though probably kicking and screaming) of everything that’s going on around us. Most of our parents do a great job of hiding the somewhat harsher realities of the cruel events happening in the world.

But is it really to our benefit? Does such protective blinkering develop blind faith in things that maybe we shouldn’t have?
Are we conditioned to have respect for ‘our elders’ or established institutions (religious/government) because of the historical deliberate indoctrination of our parents and their parents before us? We have established beliefs that seem indelible, yet we’re not even sure where we got these beliefs from.

Have you ever wondered why you have the views you do?

For whatever reason I’ve grown up with a percentage of seemingly Socratic quizzical mind set in my DNA. Because of indoctrination growing up in ‘Catholic’ Ireland, I genuinely believed at a young age that priests could read my mind, such were the powers I was led to believe they had. I was extremely grateful I didn’t have any religious DNA at all, my inner Socrates was having none of it. In a very positive way I pondered (to this day) why things were they way they were, and why folk continued to do and believe seemingly stupid things.

In 2008 a journalist called Nick Davies released a book called ‘Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media’, and for once you could judge a book by it’s cover. You may not be aware that Nick went on to expose the hacking scandal by reporters in the Rupert Murdoch owned New of the World newspaper, it rightly had huge ramifications for many concerned.

Reading ‘Flat Earth News’ was a revelation to me. It exposed the truth behind many many recent extremely stupid human acts, from the mythical Millennium bug to the invasion of Iraq, and by reading it, truth became my religion. It instantly became one of my favourite books of all time, and in no uncertain terms prepared me for reading Jeremy Scahill’s brutally truthful new book ‘Dirty Wars’. Which now sits side by side with Nick’s book in my respect for journalism with integrity.

Jeremy Scahill is an award winning journalist and National Security Correspondent for The Nation magazine. He had previously authored ‘Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army’, who if you haven’t heard of Blackwater, was (they’ve rebranded) a private ‘security’ company who made a very great deal of money from the Iraq invasion. Sort of a tour of duty, it exposed him in no uncertain terms to how the machine of war actually operates, rather than blind faith in the PSYOPS (Psychological operations)/military press releases that are basically regurgitated by main stream media outlets throughout the world. Nick Davies had raised in ‘Flat Earth News’ how this practice of transcribing press releases has developed and surpassed proper investigation over the years, through sometimes deliberate commercial strangulation of the truth.

Very effectively and on the same strata of exemplary journalistic candor, Jeremy pulls no punches as he traces the (d)evolution of US foreign policy prior to 9/11, till literally a few months (2013) ago. On this journey, which is effectively a descent into a blood lust of madness, at the very least on a humanitarian level, by many established institutions. And from that madness was born a whole new level of institutions effectively unanswerable to anyone on the planet. In particular JSOC – Joint Special Forces Command, who under the guise of anti-terrorism have become teams of Special Ops hitmen, with no evident boundaries.

There was a military term used by troops in Vietnam, F.U.B.A.R. (fucked up beyond all recognition/any repair/all reason) which tried to describe the atrocities happening around them on a daily basis at the behest of their leaders. Every time I read the word ‘intelligence’ in ‘Dirty Wars’, F.U.B.A.R. replaced it in my mind. Despite all the technology and assets at the hands of the US government, there’s a palpable faith in the most spurious information which constantly results in the deaths of innocents.

On nearly every page of the book, there was a WTF (what the fuck) moment as I tried to understand the reasoning behind the many choices that were made by seemingly intelligent people. From rewriting the law to enable assassination hit lists, to the attempt of a cover up of the murder of innocent men, women, children at a six day old child’s naming party by US Special Ops, where part of the cover up involved digging the American bullets out of the dead women’s bodies in front of survivors. Army press releases dutifully reprinted by mainstream media told a very different story, if at all. To Guantanamo and multiple other black sites around the World where hundreds (if not thousands) of people are tortured (some by techniques originally used by the Nazis) to this day. And of course the resulting consequences leading to the rise of vengeful hate/insurgency (and ever increasing general support for al Qaeda) towards the US. Mixed into that is the seemingly evident practice of grooming and harassment of individuals by US government groups, resulting in yet more chaos. Incidently on which, The New York Times ran a story (April 28, 2012) on the F.B.I facilitating terrorist suspects.

If that wasn’t enough, there is the proactive suppression of journalists vying to expose the truth, where even Barack Obama himself is on record requesting (made by his personal direct phone call to the President of Yemen) the continual imprisonment of renowned journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye. Also, multiple attempts in various nations trying to bring order to their war torn regions are defeated by apparently American sponsored (directly/indirectly) militia. All supposedly justified by the ‘War on Terror’.

All this is just scraping the bloodied surface in the content of the book. It’s a big book, but the information and journalistic/humane morality involved are exemplary. Every country has the right to defend itself, but when a nation has evolved to the stage where people are being assassinated for precrimes they ‘may’ commit in the future, or by their mere social associations to a particular group of society, intelligence has been replaced by a fairground charlatan looking into a trillion dollar blood splattered glass ball.

Jeremy hosted an excellent (and at times very funny) talk in London this week where he understandably expressed a pessimism towards a positive change in a deteriorating current US foreign policy. This book (and forthcoming award winning documentary film based on the book) however could be that very seed of optimism/awareness that needs to happen to bring a semblance of humanity/reason back to Earth.

This book will make you question your beliefs, which is a great thing. Because our parents beliefs may kill us.

Dirty Wars is published by Serpents Tail and available in the UK now.

Let’s not beat around the Enterprise bridge here, I bloody LOVE Star Trek, always have, always will. I don’t mean lense flare blinded faith in it, there is massive inconsistency in the success of the series various Starfleet Captain’s logs over the years. They most definitely shouldn’t have gone looking for Mr. Spock in the third chapter of the movie series (Star Trek: The Search For Spock, 1984), but having said that, they fact that they did sums up one of the core themes of the Trek ethos, true friendship. I don’t have a military supporting gene in my body, but I’d sign up immediately to serve with J.J. Abrams Starship crew, space warts ‘n all.

Though Starfleet isn’t strictly a military operation, it’s premise is actually a research/discovery vessel wandering the uncharted archipelagos of space, like a future set Darwin. A HMS Beagle in space, warp speeding itself and it’s eclectic crew into interspecies/interplanetary mischief.

It’s such giddy excitement of discovery of the unknown that opens the newest episode of J.J. Abram’s Star Trek Into Darkness’ dropping us Bond like straight into the volcanic depths of danger on a potentially soon to be obsolete planet. Energising us a frantic speeds between moments of tension, beauty and outright hilarity, with a wonderful homage to the Cargo cult tribes (look it up), Abrams has such faith in what he is doing, that he is starting his movie with what would be the climax of someone else’s.

Such faith is totally founded too, as there is so much more to come. Which makes me raise a massive 3D anti-spoiler fire curtain in front of your eyes blocking out the majority of what can/should be said about the movie. Like the best Pixar movies, Star Trek Into Darkness works on many levels. For non Trekkies it is a wonderful/entertaining beautiful looking roller-coaster ride of a movie. And for folk familiar with the Trek world, there’s all that, plus a huge amount of detailing, references/nuances/phrases sprinkled around like red shirted guards to bring lovingly knowing smiles to even a 100% Vulcan heart.

It is however safe enough to say that there are consequences to everything and everybody’s actions, both great and small, recent and historical. Which is a major theme to the movie. Regardless of the reasoning behind any decisions and attempts at validation, it doesn’t mean it can be justified, and many characters in the movie find this out in one way or another.

Such themes are quite topical in regards to various modern nations justification of truly horrific actions in an apparent defence of their lands. The ramifications of said actions are potentially/evidently infinite, and such topics/subtext have been historically referenced in science fiction throughout the decades. Heavy themes admirably dealt with in the likes of Ronald D. Moore’s TV remake of Battlestar Galactica’ reflecting such themes as terrorism and Guantanamo Bay, resetting them amongst the stars.

It’s characters such as John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch in incredible form) which constantly flips our loyalties, questions or reasoning and how we justify things. Benedict truly is amazing in the movie, effectively controlling us with a sinister glance.

But all the rest of the cast reprising their various roles are also outstanding. There’s no more need to give time to give background to everyone now, as they’ve been working together (however briefly) for some time. But still getting to know each others character traits (pros/cons), which is an utter joy to behold, especially the evolving relationship between Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). In support of such moments, the script is as bright and shiny as all the 3D colours filling every scene.

As beautiful looking as it all is, I’m moving ever more away from acceptance of 3D. I really don’t think it added anything to the movie, and actually got distracted by it in the quieter moments, but I’ll be going again to see it in 2D for confirmation.

There is galaxies amount of fun to be had with Trek Into Darkness, and my head was spinning with the possibilities of where the next adventures could be. If there was one slight dent on the hull of the pristine Enterprise, it would be a desire to see it properly enter uncharted waters, with less references to it’s heritage, and to truly go, where no one has gone before.

Er, no. No, we can’t. Not with Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm at the helm. Under this skipper, our ship’s only sailing into choppy waters – in the shape of Somali pirates, nerve-shredding hostage negotiations, and a journey to the absolute limits of human endurance.

A Hijacking has already enjoyed quite a journey of its own, arriving as it does in UK cinemas sagging under the weight of already-accrued garlands.

After debuting in the Orizzonti strand of the 2012 Venice Film Festival, it also played in competition at London and Toronto, and in March it claimed the Best Film prize at Denmark’s answer to the Oscars, the Bodil Awards (matching the achievement of Lindholm’s prior directorial outing, prison drama R).

Put simply, and rather gittishly, wherever this picture plays, it makes waves.

Hardly surprising perhaps, given the pedigree of that man Lindholm. Best-known for his work as co-scripter on Thomas Vinterberg’s acclaimed pair of Submarino and The Hunt, he is also a prime mover behind Scandinavian small screen sensation Borgen.

And it is from that political drama where he has recruited both his A Hijacking leads: Pilou Asbæk, who plays the Rozen’s cook, Mikkel, and Søren Malling, who plays shipping company CEO, Peter.

The opening minutes of the movie are given over to outlining the characters of these two men. Mikkel’s warm, emotional demeanour shines through via his interactions with the ship’s crew and in a call to his wife, Maria (Amalie Ihle Alstrup). Peter’s ironclad self-assurance, meanwhile, is demonstrated as he, without fuss, cleans up a business bodge left for him by subordinate Lars (Dar Salim).

That done, Lindholm duly takes a wrecking ball to the lives of both. First, Mikkel is thrust into the titular crisis which forms the dramatic crucible of the film. Then Peter is ripped from his corporate comfort zone, as he is forced to bargain with capricious pirate spokesman Omar (Abdihakin Asgar) for the lives of his employees.

But if all this is beginning to sound a bit like the recipe for worthy melodrama, like a thinly-veiled excuse for thespian showboating (groan…), then any such notions should be put to bed as swiftly as a naughty child who doesn’t deserve any supper. Rather, A Hijacking finds Lindholm assuming the guise of auteur monk, fasting from clichés, tirelessly seeking every kernel of truth in his scenario.

In service of this objective, the production actually filmed in pirate-patrolled waters on a previously-hijacked freighter, while leading roles in the story are handed to non-professional actors, including Gary Skjoldmose, a former soldier and real-life hostage negotiation expert.

What this scrupulous quest for realism also signals is the excision of many of the expected elements from the movie-making equation. Out, for instance, go histrionics. Out go the kind of cause-and-effect plot points that prop up the how-to screenwriting industry. Out go one-liners so sharp they could slice a steak. And out go any statements likely to prove spookily prescient in the light of later events.

Basically, if Tom Cruise were to wander into this world, he’d be screwed.
The drama is leavened by small moments of fun, such as when Mikkel and ship’s engineer Jan (Roland Møller) show their captors how fearlessly this fishing malarkey is done in Viking country. However, darkness always closely coexists with any glimmers of light – meaning that in the space of scant seconds, Mikkel can go from the joy of hearing his wife’s voice to having a gun barrel cruelly pressed to his neck.

Carried by the combined efforts of the cast, A Hijacking successfully secretes you, the viewer, within its pair of depicted prisons: the claustrophobic cabin where Mikkel, Jan and their captain eat, sleep and piss, and the boardroom bunker where Peter is every second on-edge – this business leader being granted a depth and humanity surprising in a medium where such characters are often stereotypes at best.

The ultimate result is an all-pervading tension which transcends the screen, leaving everyone smart enough to see this excellent thriller on an inexorable collision course with the same emotional juggernaut which so mercilessly rolls right over its characters.

A Hijacking is released in the UK on 10 May

Ever since it was announced in late 2011 amidst the overblown BF3 and COD: MW3 spat (that made it all look like a nonsensical playground fight), the buzz around Rockstar’s next offering hasn’t really come close to subsiding. And with the September 17th release date (as it stands) only getting closer that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

The new character trailers have now gone live with Michael’s shades of Tony Soprano I’m hooked until it hits shelves. Next to this there were also the reveal trailers for the other two main characters; Franklin and Trevor.

The key word thus far with GTA V seems to be ‘heist’, and the narrative inter-woven between the three playable characters follows them as they seek to pull off them off. Of course this is nothing new, much of GTA IV led up to the huge bank robbery towards the very end. Here however the five or so bank robberies are spaced throughout many missions and leave much more to the players hands.

What that quite means I’m not sure, but this is Rockstar so rest assured it will no doubt be smashing. According to them, “Heists in GTA V begin with a planning session that sees our three stars gathering together in a room to work out the logistics. Players will have a range of options to work with: points of entry, equipment requirements, assigned roles, and, for the bigger jobs, hired hands.”

If life has taught me anything it is that I am a terrible decision maker so this is a whole new challenge being thrown at me. On top of this there is also muscle to hire for each job, at a price of course and obviously each talent you chose to help you out will have their own pros and cons.

Evidence of one of the heists can be seen prominently in Michael’s trailer below:

Very Tony Soprano right? The man who has it all, but is still very miserable with his dysfunctional family and addiction to chaos. He even has a therapist, although admittedly not a female one. Michael is also a film obsessive much like Tony Soprano. His obsession even leaks through into his missions, note the boiler suits and hockey mask. Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ anyone?

Elsewhere, well Trevor is clearly a nutter, no two ways about that, and seems to be in his pants a fair bit (Walter White?) and looks to even be in a meth lab at one point in his trailer. See below:

Lastly we have Franklin, and conceivably the best thing about him is he owns a dog called Chop, who looks like he’s up for a fight. Besides this, his story looks rather frantic and adrenaline charged, and it has to be said, very similar to San Andreas.

GTA V has evidently took note from Rockstar’s latest releases, ‘Red Dead Redemption’ brought us animals, and ‘Max Payne 3’ brought us slow-mo gun fights which look to be re-appearing in Los Santos (let’s hope not so much though). It’s also going to be beyond huge and will include a host of real life buildings from California. I’ve already spotted Century City’s Fox Plaza used as the Nakatomi building in the first Die Hard.

Maybe you should start booking that time off work now to avoid disappointment?
For more info visit www.rockstargames.com/V

We have got a pair of tickets go give away (see below)

Since their early days as a Community Music Project, Asian Dub Foundation have been at the forefront of musical innovation and an exhilarating live act. Their forthcoming album ‘Signal and The Noise‘ has been produced by the legendary producer Adrian Sherwood.

The show also marks the return of original member Dr Das, drummer Rocky Singh, Ghetto Priest and will also feature Nathan ‘Flutebox’ Lee. This reunification of Steve Savale and Dr Das means Asian Dub Foundation will be firing on all cylinders.

Dr Das remarks ‘The new albums done. The mixes are identifiably Adrian Sherwood with a new take on old skool ADF vibes. We’re very happy with how its turned out. We are now rehearsing the band and it sounds heavy. We cant wait to get out there and play it live.’

To win a pair of tickets to the show just answer the following question.
*** This competition is now closed and the winner has been notified ***

Following Asian Dub Foundations’ performance at the O2 Indigo Arena, they headline Bearded Theory Festival on May 18th and Knockengorroch World Ceilidh on 25th May.
Tickets for the 02 May 17th show are available from HERE
For more info on the band visit www.asiandubfoundation.com

Prize is for two tickets to the show. You have to make your own way to the venue in Greenwich, London

Editors decision is final, closing date is midnight 15th May. Winner will be notified via email around 12:00pm on Thu (16th May). We don’t do spam.

The cinematography of the jungle is incredible, shot with handheld cameras, you are up close and personal with the chimps. Also amazing are the sounds, and it’s one occasion when surround sound and HD do enhance the experience, the rich green and brown textures of the Park are stunning.

Similar to programmes such as ‘Meerkat Manor’ the documentary is enhanced by a relaxed, but interesting narrative commentary (by Tim Allen) that allows for a creatively interpreted storyline to guide you through.

The young chimp is called Oscar(ahh), and we see him grow and play in an environment that is as hostile as it is beautiful. There are tough lessons to be learned and failing to do so can be a matter of life and death.

Like all good Hollywood thrillers there is a bad guy, and in this movie there is a whole gang of them. I wondered if the group of neighbouring chimpanzees really were actually any more evil than Oscars gang, but they were. Just to prove it their leader had a tough name too, Scar (personally I thought he looked more like a Gerald). Looking to expand their territory, they terrorise Oscar’s family with tragic results.

Chimpanzee is aimed squarely at a family audience so we’re spared some of the more graphic and brutal details of chimp life. the pack hunting of monkeys is seen, but thankfully through rose-tinted glasses. I hope I’m not spoiling it by saying there is a happy ending, and while Oscar’s future is not assured it takes an unusual but positive twist.

If you have young kids and love nature documentaries go and see this film, it will open their minds and they will love the cute chimps. As the credits roll you get a glimpse of some of the lengths the film crew went to in order to make the film and if they made a movie about that too, it definitely looks worth a watch too.. hopefully it will be a DVD extra?

The only strange thing about the movie was that when I came out of the cinema I was dying for a cup of tea. PG Tips anyone?

Chimpanzee is out in UK cinemas now

That pretty much sums up how I felt when Injustice arrived in the post. Now, I know this might make me rather unpopular with Marvel fans, but I sit rather deep into the DC camp. Don’t get me wrong, I like Marvel too, but I just think DC have some of the better heroes. So when I found out that there was a DC beat-em-up being made, I got a little excited.

The thing that made me MOST excited though, was who it was being made by… Ed Boon! Yes! The brilliant man behind my favourite beat-em-up (Mortal Kombat) was now going to be making the DC game! IT WASN’T GOING TO SUCK! So, I’d gotten a bit excited before release… did the game let me down?

NO

Animation is much the same as the most recent MK, minus the blood. Gameplay is similar, but not identical to MK. There are some fresh ideas that I really like. The story is actually interesting!

So, where do I begin?

Story Mode.
OK, this should really be the first thing you approach with a new game. Even if you intend to almost exclusively play the multiplayer (online or vs), remember – someone has worked REALLY hard to create a place where a story will engross and entertain you, as well as give you a good bit of practice before you throw yourself up against some friends.

The story in Injustice takes advantage of the fact that there are multiple universes within the DC universe. The story shows how Batman from universe 2 has pulled the heroes (and for some reason joker) from universe 1 (the separate universes aren’t ever called that, it just makes it easier to explain.) It doesn’t immediately become clear why, but it’s clear something isn’t up. Superman has gone insane. Earth has basically been taken over by heroes who used to protect them. Batman is the only one thinking straight, and he’s been made an outlaw.

It took me a morning to play the story start to finish, I’d say that’s slightly longer than usual for a fighter, but I guess you could do it a lot faster if you skipped all the cut-scenes and didn’t loose any fights.

Battle
This is the standard arcade mode you’d expect to find in any beat-em-up, choose a character and attempt to defeat a selection of enemies at your desired difficulty. This mode allows you to select a difficulty, so I’d say this is probably the place to go after you’ve finished all the tutorials and the campaign for some training before heading online into the unknown.

VS. Mode (offline multiplayer)
Injustice isn’t quite so hard to master as MK. I found that matches were more even between myself and a friend who only plays games on a casual basis than on something where I’d have been able to master all the combos etc. But that may well be different now that I have a few hours under my belt.

It’s certainly not into “button bash” territory, but I think it’s certainly a little easier to pick up than some other fighters. That said, when thrust upon a complete non-gamer, apparently the controls were more frustrating than anything else.

S.T.A.R Labs Mode
This has been an interesting one, there are 240 challenges, each with 3 stars available. This is a single player mode and it’s not really practical training. The missions are, odd. I kinda like it though and it’s an amusing way to pass some time.

Online Multiplayer
This is really what we’re all here for, right? Modern day fighters are all about the online. I’ve gotta say, I like this. Apart from one annoying glitch where you can’t look at your own scorecard (hopefully this will be fixed in an upcoming patch) It runs rather well. There are ranked 1v1 matches as well as “1v1″, “king of the kill” and “survivor” player matches. The problem with these is that a lot of the time, it’s down to you to enjoy it, and if you’re getting beaten a lot, let’s be honest it’s no fun. So before venturing into online too much, make sure you’re at least semi-competent with at least one character.

My overall view of this is that it’s been done well. It’s so easy to disappoint people when you’re making a game about their favourite superheroes. DCUniverseOnline was a prime example here (I know plenty of people still love and play it) I found it too restrictive, I didn’t FEEL like a hero. This however, does. It’s smooth, fast-paced and great fun. Each character has powers which make them fun to use and unique. I’m a happy man right here.

Release: 19th April 2013
Platform: PS3 (tested), Xbox360, iOS, WiiU
Publisher: Warner Bros
Rated: PEGI 16