WolfCop

Without knowing anything about the movie before seeing it, and judging entirely based on the title and the movie poster itself, you can and do expect a fair amount of cheese. And you get it, in spades. I certainly sat down and started watching this with the full expectation of a terrible movie and yet again, not so surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie opens on Leo Fafard playing Lou, our soon to be titular wolf cop, waking up, hungover with a woman by his side in bed. The first thing you notice is that this film is not going to be subtle: Lou's an alcoholic to an extreme. And he's a cop, so seeing him drink on the job forces you to detest him, of course, but after the film continues to drive home his alcoholism, you can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

It's no spoiler that he becomes a werewolf, as suggested by the title of the movie. And it is brilliant. Just brilliant. I love these werewolf films, and love that the film spends so much time on his initial transformation. It's disgusting. As it should be. They selectively choose what we see, to let our imaginations run just a bit wild with horror before the full reveal and give the film makers credit for their achievement in fantastic makeup and special effects with such a modest budget. With his new found abilities, Lou takes the high road and decides to make up for his lackluster human morals by fighting crime in his wolf form.

WolfCop answers all the questions that we didn't know we were asking: What part of you transforms to wolf first? Can werewolves eat anything other than people? How long can a person survive without a face? Can werewolves have sex? Or more importantly, make love?

We're treated to a delicious montage of gore, action and humour with scene after scene of ridiculousness. Of course, the movie can't take itself too seriously, and maintains a short run time. It's not going to overstay its welcome nor linger on any poor scenes before advancing onto the next: this movie knows what its doing and it gets the job done well.

We're left wanting more, and the movie promises a return. The sooner the better!

A Loop Adventure

Many moons ago, in the year 1997, a young Ryebone turned sixteen years old. A true milestone of greatness, celebrated across the country as a rite of passage for teenagers who will now take to the road in their parent's cars to cause vehicular mayhem. My sister is four years older than me, and in her time, getting a license in Ontario was looking pretty simple: go and write your test, here's your certificate and off you go. In the time she received her license and when I was going for mine, the provincial government instituted a graduated license program - still in place today - that would see you go through various steps before they deemed you road worthy. As part of this process, it financially beneficial to go through a registered driver's training course. Not only will it reduce your insurance cost, but it will also allow you to advance to the second stage in your license a few months early. It's also extremely beneficial as it teaches you how to drive. The time came, during this training, to go out with my instructor. I logged a few parking lot hours with my parents, but it was now time to tackle the roads with real traffic.

Destiny

It pains me almost - but not completely - by how much I was dismayed and on the fence about Bungie's latest epic, Destiny, just a short two weeks ago. The game didn't sell me initially, but I persevered. Persevered mainly by my friends who were well advanced into the game: they confirmed some of my complaints, but they also intrigued me to continue onward. So I did, putting a few hours in over the course of a few days, then the flood gates opened and I was pouring myself in - all the way in.

First off, is the story, or lack thereof. Yes, I know that it's not necessarily the focus here, but I've quite enjoyed playing through the campaign mode of these first person shooters, especially the Halo series. The story is here, but it feels like it's officially in the backseat here, with the focus being on the "open world" concept that they've built here. The world is impressive, and I'll talk about it more later. It just doesn't feel like anything is happening on the main story campaigns, perhaps because I'm encouraged to go into the overworld and do side-missions and patrols to help level my character so that I can, in fact, progress through the story without it being overly difficult. In those patrols, I would revisit areas over and over, then again (or previously) in story missions. The big open world feels a bit smaller when I've gone there a few times already. This is exactly what happened on the Moon, where I performed the first mission, then did a dozen or so patrol missions with my friend. We went all over the place and yes, it was great fun. The next day I would start a story mission that took me into the exact places I had just explored, but they were now filled with different enemies, narrative and cut scenes. The oomph of the story - of the reveal - was diminished.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

The setup of the game is simple, but don't let that deceive you: we open on a small boy mourning
over a grave, then a cut scene that tells us the grave belongs to his mother, who was lost at sea. He was there: he tried to help, but couldn't save her. The boy is interrupted by his older brother, who is with their father. The father has fallen ill, and now it's your first task to bring him home in a cart that requires the two brothers to work together to operate. This is where you're introduced to the game's core, innovative control scheme. The left side of the controller (that is, the left stick and left shoulder trigger button) control the older brother, and the right side of the controller belongs to the little brother. Your viewpoint is akin to a bird's eye view, but will zoom in and out as necessary and to always display the two brothers on screen at once.

I must say, I don't think I ever fully got used to the controls. There were many, many moments though when the control scheme synergized and felt incredibly natural and fluid, allowing me to solve puzzles and claim a sense of accomplishment. Other times, I was acutely aware that my brain wouldn't allow the little brother to run left unless he was behind the big brother - like the left stick had to be "first" on the screen. The opposite holds true: when moving the two brothers right, the little brother (the right control stick) had to be on the right of the screen. But you could move them completely independently, and often times I would. There are many moments - many puzzles - that has one of the brothers staying put while the other throws a switch. The puzzles get more complex, and involve timely use of the action triggers. Swinging the two from point to point in later levels required concentration and thought.

As a result, I became conscious of how careful I would become with various puzzles. This is in stark contrast to other games, where typically you're rewarded with going through things as quickly as possible, or you just feel the need to do so on your own anyway. Patience was abundant while playing this game. You're rewarded with beautiful vistas, incredible environments and wonderful small touches throughout. As the brothers begin their journey for medicine, you run through the town and can interact with people and things, including a small girl with a ball. You can throw the ball around, play "monkey in the middle" and even throw that ball down a well, if you're so inclined. There are benches all over the world, representing an opportunity to view the world you're about to enter, or give you a break from adventuring to appreciate the beauty of the landscape.

All the characters speak in gibberish, so it's up to you to identify the subtleties in their mannerisms and their interactions with the environment to progress. It's not a difficult game by any means: clocking in at around three hours, the game is more of an experience than anything else, one which I highly recommend. And from here, there will be spoilers. If you plan on playing, I recommend leaving the article now.