TL;DR– Bringing the survival gameplay into a world of dinosaurs is a fantastic idea, but for me,the balance is not quite there.
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
If you have read my reviews in the past, you would know that one of the easiest sells for me is to add dinosaurs to something. Movies, TV, Books, you name it and if it has dino’s in it I am there for it. However, when it comes to video games with dinosaurs I am much more hesitant after getting burnt in the past with games like The Stomping Land,and more generally in this genre with Day-Z.So when Ark first came out I was not prepared to invest in another Early-Access survival game, but now it has been out in full release for a year I thought it would be a good time to take the dive into the world of Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, lots of Dodos,and oh the mechanic that lets you know when you pooped.
Civilization Leader: Wilfrid Laurier Civilization Agenda: Civilization Capital: Ottawa Civilization Bonus: Four Faces of Peace – Cannot declare Surprise Wars or be the Target of one, + extra Diplomatic Favour for completing Emergencies (bonus extra based on Tourism) Leader Bonus: The Last Best West – Can build Farms on Tundra, and then latter Tundra Hills, Cost of purchasing Tundra & Snow tiles is reduced, Double extraction of Strategic Resources on Snow & Tundra tiles Unique Unit: Mountie – Light Calvary Unit , Can Create a National Park, Get Combat Bonus being near National Parks Unique Tile Improvement: Icy Hockey Ring – Only can be built on Tundra & Snow, Only one per City, + Appeal & Amenities, + Culture based on adjacent Snow & Tundra tiles (bonus if next to a Stadium), +Tourism, Production & Food from Tech Tree Mountain Ranges:Mackenzie Mountains,
TL;DR – While we get more of those character moments that have been the highlights of the season so far, it just does not quite come together in the end.
Score – 3 out of 5 stars
As we reach the end of the 11th season of the new Doctor Who we have had the highs of Rosa (see review) and Demons of the Punjab (see review) but also the feeling that at times the show just was not quite coming together. It is with this duality that we hit the end of the shorter season than normal and you have to wonder will they stick the landing, and I’m not sure that they did.
TL;DR – While at times this film has moments of technical brilliance, huge issues with tone, and a story we already know to death means that the film ends up being just dull.
Score – 2 out of 5 stars
Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene
Review –
There are warning signs in the industry that happens sometimes that lets you know a studio is not really confident with what they are about to release. This could be not screening it for critiques,or putting an embargo on reviews before release, or in this day and age it is a film suddenly disappearing from the cinema schedule and being sold off to Netflix. Now, this is not always a case of it being a bad film, just a case of the distributors not knowing what they have, see this year’s Annihilation(see review). However,today we look at a film that probably falls squarely into this category.
TL;DR – A masterpiece in animation, in incorporating comics into film,and exploring all the emotions, a must watch.
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene and the credits are a technicolour dream coat
Review –
When I first heard that they were going to do a new Spider-Man animated film outside of the MCU I honestly didn’t have a lot of hope. It felt like a plan of a company that is trying to scramble while not doing anything new with a property that had stagnated for years. Then they announced that the story was from Phil Lord, and that piqued my interest, and then that first trailer dropped and I knew instantly that I was going to have to eat my words. Now that I have seen the movie proper I can honestly say that this is not only one of the best films of the year, but it might be the best superhero film I have seen in a while. This has been a bumper year for Spider-Man with Infinity War, the Spider-Man video game from Insomniac Games, but Into the Spider-Verse is the crown achievement and I have never been so glad to be wrong.
TL;DR – The entire universe is against them, but it is here where the show finds its core drive and so many Janets
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
So far this season, The Good Place has been a bit hit and miss, with a lot of episodes that make you wonder where are they going with this? Add to this, the show started splitting up the group which didn’t fit the tone of the show. The good thing is that even though some episodes were not working, because the show itself is so good it meant that even when an episode didn’t work, it was at least still compelling. Well this week, not only do we come back to form, we get one of the show’s most fascinating episodes to date.
TL;DR – This is a visually impressive film, full of moments that make you go wow, but you can see that they have been held back by fitting the whole first book into the one film
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene
Review –
The Mortal Engines series is one of those books that I have always been meaning to read but just have never gotten around to it. The idea where cities have become mobile and drive around hunting for prey is one of those conceptional ideas that is just genius, and I have a lot of friends that are super excited to see this world brought to life on the big screen. Add to this the fact that you have the minds behind The Lord of the Rings working to bring this to life and I have to say it definitely piqued my interest. Now that I have seen it, I can say I mostly enjoyed it, even if not everything worked.
Civilization Leader: Kupe Civilization Capital: Te Hokianga-nui-a-kupe Civilization Bonus: Mana – Begin the game with Sailing and Shipbuilding unlocked, +Stregth & Movement to Embarked Units, Bonus production to unimproved Woods and Rainforest. Fishing Boats provide +food and culture bomb adjacent tiles, but can not build Great Writers. Leader Bonus: Kupe’s Voyage – Begin the game on an Ocean Tile, first city gets a free builder + 1 population, Palace gets bonus Housing and Amenity, Science and Culture production starts before you settle your first city. Unique Unit: Toa – Enemy units adjacent get – Combat Strength. Can build the Pā – Built on Hills, + Defence Bonus and Healing for units that end their turn on it. Unique Building: Marae – +Culture and Faith to a city tiles with a passable feature. +Tourism after Flight. No Great Art Slots Mountain Ranges: Tiritiri-o-te-moana,
Māori Analysis
Today the Maori join Civilization 6 in the Gathering Storm expansion.
The Maori have appeared before in Civilization 5 as part of the Polynesian Civ, with both Maori Warriors as their unique unit and several locations appeared on the Polynesian City List. However, this is the first time they have been the focus of a civilization in the Civilization series.
Their big bonus is that you can get some time to float around the ocean and pick your best first city site without being penalised, this gives the Māori an incredible flexibility.
Māori First Look
You can check out all the Features in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm HERE and join in the discussions at the Civfanatics Forums
By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.
What Civs would you like to see in Civ 6 Gathering Storm?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.
TL;DR – A very odd episode filled with 80s Technicolor, monsters in the woods, talking frogs, and a sheep rebellion. It didn’t quite get therein the end, but it did have some interesting moments.
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
We are almost at the end of the 11th Season and Jodie Whittaker’s first as The Doctor. When you have a penultimate episode, sometimes you want to use it to give your audience a breather before the end, sometimes you want to build tension for the final episode. Today we went in a completely opposite direction by instead doubling down on the weird that can be Doctor Who, and boy is this a weird one.
TL;DR– When everything is even what system you use to tabulate the votes will have a marked change on the outcome.
Article –
Throughout the year in my other job I have been teaching classes on Political Science, specifically Australian Political Institutions. On the week where we discussed voting systems one of the things that we mention is that how you chose to formulate your electoral systems can have dramatic impacts on the outcome of elections i.e. who gets what seats in parliament. However, while this was clear I didn’t have a good example to show. Well, I had some free time at the end of the year and this question had been bugging me so I decided to work through the data myself to see if there was such a big difference and it does, boy does it ever. Now, for those who are not familiar with Australian Politics, we have presented a little primer next, as well as a general overview of the project, but if you are familiar you can skip down to the data below.
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 