Mega Drive/MCD Capers: The Terminator (Virgin, 1992)

2029. The war between the machines of Skynet, and the human resistance of Tech-Com, has been raging for decades. As it seems to be tipping in the favor of the resistance, the machines decide to use their new Time Displacement System (a time machine to you and me!) to send their most advanced Terminator, a T800 Cyberdyne Systems model 101, with skin, hair, blood and eyes grown to cover it (and it looks exactly Arnold Schwarzenegger, oddly enough) back to the year 1984, and kill the mother of the leader of the resistance before he's even born: Sarah Conner. But, Tech-Com also send back someone as protector, and a battle of epic proportions ensues in Earth's past, to save Mankind's future.

Comparison alert!: Mega Drive, and still looks good, but...

Yes, The Terminator is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, and a game was eventually made for Sega's Mega Drive (Genesis to our American cousins), Master System, Game Gear, and two years later, a updated, expanded and enhanced version for Sega's doomed Mega CD. Developed by Virgin Games (which had a young programmer on board who would go on to create the fantastic MDK a few years later, Dave Perry), it expanded on the movies plot with extra levels. You play as Kyle Reese, and get stuck into his mission to get to Skynet, plant some explosives at the TDS, and use it himself to back to '84, before it gets blown to Kingdom Come.

And the rather gorgeous Mega CD version with added bits.

To start with, it looked great back then. Your guy against Hunter Killers (and they were huge buggers), Flying HK's, T800's with none of the skin and stuff, and T800's with the works (and they have bloody big guns as well). The Mega CD version even more so, with even better graphics (with added foreground graphics, like added skulls, and in one instance, your guy has a headset!), better music that added to the tense atmosphere, and it also added a gun to your inventory, instead of just using an endless supply of grenades, and made the game much better, and more fluid to play. Plus, it also added footage from the film between levels, which is a bonus. It also added a few more levels as well, and was even more playable than its other console counterparts. But, the game was rock hard. I never even got off the first level, as I managed to set the bombs, but couldn't get the equipment to work. Plus, the T800's seem to just keep on coming. But, who can say no to blowing away loads of Terminators?

Certainly a game worth checking out as, once you get started, you just keep on trying to plow on through, until the end. One of the better film licenses on the console, and certainly better than T2: Judgment Day by LJN (which was utter utter tosh).

Stick around, Mr.Bond: The first 5 best Bond movies

Goodbye, Mr Bond!! Well, hello, actually, as James Bond has been around for 50 years. The brainchild of Ian Fleming, James Bond is a secret agent for Her Majesty, who works in MI5, and is always tasked with saving the world from nefarious schemes, that involve either taking over the world, or destroying mankind to create a new race, or even holding the world to ransom for an insane amount of cash. The films started in 1962, with Sean Connery playing the super spy in Dr.No, and up to recently with Daniel Craig in the yet-to-be-released Skyfall, and do not seem to show any signs of slowing up. So, to celebrate 50 years of the the worlds favorite spy, heres a first top 5 of my favorite Bond movies.

5: Moonraker (1979)

Made at the height of the Star Wars craze, Moonraker is a different kind of Bond movie. Yes, it has all the hallmarks of a Bond adventure: gorgeous Bond Girl, evil Bond Villain, lots of shooty set pieces, and Q. But, it did have another thing up it's sleeve (apart from its arm): a final 25 minute space finale, including a mssive shoot-out between Drax's henchmen, and the USAF, all involving laser guns! Over the top? Far fetched? It's both of those, but it does entertain for all the right reasons.

4: A View To A Kill (1985)

The last Bond outing for Sir Roger Moore, and I think it's also one of his best. Also starring one Christopher Walken as Max Zorin, it's storyline featured genetic tampering, a massive plot to flood Silicon Valley to make a killing in the microchip market, and fight on the very top of the Golden Gate Bridge! Roger Moore has also gone on record, saying this is his least favorite Bond movie, as it contains so much violence, but thinking about it, Zorin is one evil guy, and so violence is basically all he knows.

3: Goldfinger (1964)

Connery's third outing is actually one of the better Connery Bond movies. What other movie has women being painted in gold, a plot to rob Fort Knox, and a fat Korean man who throws a razor-rimmed bowler hat? None, that's what! And it's a very fun movie.

2: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

A bit of an unusual one, this. The first, and last, George Lasenby Bond film, sees Bond having to stop Blofeld (Telly Savalas) from brainwashing women in his 'clinic', to go back into the major cities, and somehow cause infetility to the Male population. Yeah, I thought the plot was a bit askew as well. Still, it is a good movie, and is horribly underrated. Plus, there is a bit of a plot cock up as well, but it's down to the eagle-eyed Bond fans to find that one ;)

1: GoldenEye (1995)

After a hiatus of about 6 years (and many legal problems), the Bond films came back with a fresh, new take on the series. With a new M (replacing the late Bernard Lee), played by Judi Dench, and a new Bond, the film tackled how Bond would react with radical changes since his last outing (the dissolution of the Soviet Union and, effectively, the end of the Cold War), and how he would be seen now. With Pierce Brosnan taking over the role after Timothy Dalton resigned, Brosnan steps up to the mantle with relative ease, marking a return to form for the Bond movie, and one hell of a ride. Right, I'm going into town, anyone fancy jumping on the Tank?

Are you a member of the CULT?: The Thing (Universal, 1982)

The Thing
Universal Pictures
1982
Directed by John Carpenter
Based on the novel "Who Goes There?" by John W.Campbell, Jr.
Screenplay by  Bill Lancaster
Music by Ennio Morricone
Starring Kurt Russell as MacReady, Willford Brimley as Blair, Richard Dysart as Doc Copper, Keith David as Childs, Richard Masur as Clark, Donald Moffat as Garry, T. K Carter as Nauls, Charles Hallahan as Norris, Thomas G. Waites as Windows & Joel Polis as Fuchs

It can take the form of any organism it comes into contact with. It cashed in the Antarctica ice, and lay undiscovered for 10,000 years. Now, it has been found by a group of Norwegian scientists. It thawed and became one of them, and escaped. Now, a group of American scientists have found the same organism, And their worst nightmare will become reality. It could become any one of them at anytime. Man is the warmest place to hide.

In 1981, John Carpenter, fresh from making Escape from New York, decided to remake a 50's classic that went by the name of The Thing From Another World. In this Black & White classic directed by Howard Hawks, the creature could replicate itself limitlessly, as it terrified a research base. Seeing potential in the story, he went back to the novel the film was based on, Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. The monster in the book absorbed its victim and took its shape, mannerisms and would talk exactly like it's victim, blending into it's surroundings like a chameleon. Doing this kind of movie needed some stellar special effects. Enter Rob Botin, who would later lend his excellent talents to the 1987 hit Robocop. He managed to create the most grotesque looking creations ever seen on film. At one point, when MacCready has to set fire to a 'thing' on a table, the concoction of different liquids for the blood, and the material used to make the 'skin' of the puppet, when melted, created toxic fumes that filled the set. The special effects, though, took a back seat to the performances of it's all-male cast

Musicwise, Ennio Morricone was brought on board, and created one of the most minimalistic soundtracks ever. Just using a few notes at the right time, would give a feeling of dread at certain scenes. Carpenter, although uncredited, did some additional music, but it all adds to the suspense and fear the film has.

When the movie was released, it failed at the box office, mainly because it went head to head with another alien movie that Universal had also put out. But this one was a friendly alien who only wanted to go home. Not only that, but it also went up against another sci-fi movie. A little movie about androids who dream of electric sheep, and starred Harrison Ford. It did find it's audience on home video, though, along with Big Trouble in Little China four years later, and has gone on to be a cult movie, even having it's own fan site which covers everything about the movie.

Open wide, and say AAGGGGHHHH!!!

Another thing this film has, and is also used in Big Trouble..., is the ambiguous ending. When I first saw it, i thought 'Is that it?'. But, thinking about it, it's left open for interpretation by the viewer. *SPOILER (if you've not seen it!) Was any of them The Thing? Did they get rescued? Or do they just sit and die? In my view, I think it adds to the overall atmosphere of the movie as a whole. After enduring an hour and forty minutes of not knowing who is, or who isn't, the thing, you still don't know! There was two endings shot, though. One sees MacReady rescued, and has a blood test to show he was human, and another of the morning after, when another Thing, in the shape of another dog, looks at the aftermath of the last nights events, and runs off, but Carpenter didn't want to use them as its open for the viewer to interpret as they like.

I love this film. I think the effects holds up to the day, and is one of the better monster movies of the early 80's. Also check out the prequel, which shows you what happened at the Norwegian base, right before the events of The Thing. It leads into the original nicely, and is pretty good in it's own right.

Crap Game Corner's dribbly aunt: Masters of the Universe: The Movie (1987, Gremlin - ZX Spectrum)

Masters of the Universe is a somewhat cult movie nowadays (at least i think it is). Back then, it was a box office bomb, even though I thought it was a rather good movie. It starred Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, Frank Langella as Skelator and James Tolken as Detective Lubic (complete with his trademark bald head!), and was a 100 minute romp with lots of action and a bit of humour thrown in for good measure. Gremlin picked up the rights to produce one game, whereas US Gold did the another which was based on the cartoon. But that was crap. Whereas Gremlin's one was an action game. And that was also crap. Sigh, here we go again.

The game starts with you controlling a little squat version of He-Man. You have to go around and bash Skelator's troops, whilst finding the chords that are required to make Gwildor's invention, The Cosmic Key, work once more, so you can get back to the planet Eternia, and give Skelator a slap around his boney head. Sigh. It's a shame that the game is actually quite rubbish because the story is quite good. Not once did I get to use He-Man's sword, but a weedy little pop gun instead. The enemies respawn all the time (there's sometimes about 6 enemies onscreen at any one time), and sap your energy like there's no tomorrow, especially when you kill them, as they send 4 bullets going in all directions. The compass at the top of the screen points to where you can find the chords are, and there are roughly 8 to find in total. Only I didn't even get to find one, as I was too busy fighting loads of troops to even get near to one. But when you do find one, it's through sheer blind luck, as the compass is actually quite near pointless. It says, for example, to go up. When you do, you come to a dead end, and have to back track. Through loads of bad guys, before you can even find the right way to go. Yet again.

The graphics aren't too bad, and are clutter free, plus the title screen isn't too bad. There's hardly any colour clash, mainly because the main area is monochrome which changes when you reach the edge of the screen and enter a new one. The only problem is that when you reach the graveyard section, you'll end up getting stuck behind a gravestone most of the time, and get shot like there's no tomorrow by the baddies. At least the status bar is pretty straight forward. Your health is represented by the Sword of Eternia. Skelator's is his staff, with the compass at the top. The timer, that represents how much time is left before sunrise on Eternia, is at the bottom, with your lives status by the side. Simple.

It's not a bad game. But on the other hand, it's not a good one. It's just crap.  I don't know what Gremlin were playing at. After classics like the Monty Mole series, MASK I, II and III, Way of the Tiger and it's sequel, Avenger, it's a shame to see this released by a respected software house like Gremlin. And it's put a tarnish against a damn good movie. Even the PS2 version of the game based on the rebooted cartoon from the '00s is better than this. Play that instead, and wonder what could have been, instead of what is. A bloody big let down!

80's Movie Fest: Die Hard (1987, 20th Century Fox)

It's Christmas Eve. Detective John McClaine (Bruce Willis) is flying in from New York to Los Angeles where his wife Holly Generro (Bonnie Bedelia) is working for the Nakatomi Corporation. Whilst cleaning himself up in a bathroom on the 30th floor, a group of terrorists seize control and capture all the guests, except for McClaine, and hold them hostage. Now, it's up to our vest wearing hero, an unexpected guest in the form of a passing cop (Reginald Veljohnson) and all of McClaine's cunning and training, to save the hostages and take down the terrorists, before they can make off with the money from the building.

Die Hard is a staple of 80's action movies. Along side the likes of Predator, Commando and Rambo III, it has a body count, but it has one thing going for it: it's smart. Very smart. Taken from Roderick Thope's 1979 book, Nothing Lasts Forever, Die Hard was originally envisioned as a sequel to Commando. But, Arnie passed (because of how poor Conan The Destroyer did with the critics), so it was rewritten, and became the movie we know and love today. And, I'm glad he did. The script is sharp, the set pieces are fantastic, and the fight between Alexander Goudinov and Bruce Willis is bone crunching excitement. Even the building that doubles as the Nakatomi Plaza is the actual Fox building, so I suppose that saved on location scouting!

Competantly directed by John McTiernan, it became the hallmark 80's action movie, becoming 20th's biggest hit of 1987, and recently being named as 'the best action movie of all time'. Bruce Willis fits into the role of the cop facing insermountable odds perfectly, and coming from doing comedy, delivers his one-liners with gusto, especially his trademark catchphase "Yippie-ky-ay, Motherf**ker". I can't imagine anyone else being able to pull off the role the way he can. The same can be said for Alan Rickman, who plays Hans Gruber, the German criminal mastermind. He seemed to be born to play that role, and again, cant imagine anyone else playing the role.

Overall, the film is nigh on perfect. The best action/christmas movie ever made. It even spawned 3 sequels, of which 2 are excellent, and one is good (but not great). Plus, there is a 5th one in the works, with Willis returning to the role of McClaine, thats supposed to be being released sometime early next year. Can't wait for that one!