Alternative Magazine Online

by Guest/Previous | 21/11/2009 · 1:00 pm

GAME REVIEW – Halo 3 ODST (Xbox 360)

By Duncan Voice

There’s something quite unnerving walking around a big city on your own at night. It can be a lonely experience, with the fear of coming across a gang of thugs ready to ruin your evening. Overturned vehicles line the streets, corpses strewn along the pavement. No, this isn’t a stroll around Gloucester on a Wednesday evening, this is a night in the life of The Rookie, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

This expansion-cum-full-game pits you as the aforementioned Rookie, as he tries to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of his squad after they were knocked off course by the Prophet of Regrets ship, during a drop into New Mombasa. The game attempts to expand the Halo storyline, and takes place during Halo 2 before The Covenant vitrify the city.

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Tagged as Bungie, Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo 3 ODST Review, Martin O Donnell, ODST, Xbox, XBOX Live

by Martin Mulrooney | 21/11/2009 · 12:00 am

INTERVIEW – In Conversation With Philip Hunt (Studio AKA, Director Of Lost And Found)

By Marty Mulrooney

I recently watched an animated short called Lost and Found with a good friend of mine called Jamie. He is 4 years old. What amazed me was that, although this film is aimed at children (it is based on a children’s book that my little pal Jamie loves) it totally enthralled me as an almost-adult (I don’t think I’m there quite yet!)

I then went and read the aforementioned book and found the artwork and story as equally beautiful as what was shown in the film. I hope people can look beyond any initial preconceptions they may have and just appreciate what is ultimately a fantastic story. This 24 minute film is an absolute treasure.

It is therefore a great pleasure to be able to present a conversation between myself and the director of Lost and Found, Studio AKA’s Philip Hunt, put together exclusively for Alternative Magazine Online.

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Filed under Alternative Musings, Film, Television

Tagged as Jim Broadbent, Lost And Found, Lost And Found DVD, Lost And Found Review, Max Richter, Oliver Jeffers, Philip Hunt, Studio AKA, Varmints

by Martin Mulrooney | 19/11/2009 · 4:30 pm

Book Review – Druids 1: The Ogham Sacrifice (Graphic Novel)

By Marty Mulrooney

Druids The Ogham Sacrifice

Druids 1: The Oghmam Sacrifice is a graphic novel that has just been released by Dalen Books (publishers of Celtic graphic novels in English and Welsh). They describe it as:

The first volume of a gothic thriller set in the Age of the Saints. There is turmoil in the 5th century Celtic periphery of Europe – an age of change at the end of the Roman Empire and an age of conflict between peoples and religions. Oppressed by Saxons to the east, many of the Celts of Britain have colonised Armorica in Gaul. Gwynlan, the last of the Druids, is caught in a mysterious battle for survival against the monks of the church. Accusations of depravity, murder, sacrifice and sorcery are rife, but the old gods are at hand to assist the righteous.

I would describe Druids as a graphic novel that I started to read with some interest, before being totally sucked in and enthralled. This really is a little gem!

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Tagged as Celtic, Dalen Books, Druids, Druids 1: The Ogham Sacrifice, Druids 1: The Ogham Sacrifice Review, Graphic Novel

by Guest/Previous | 19/11/2009 · 12:00 am

GAME REVIEW – Batman: Arkham Asylum Second Opinion (From A Batman Fanboy!)

By Duncan Voice

Batman-Arkham-Asylum

To the left of the desk where I am writing this stands a glass cabinet containing the complete line of Batman Hush action figures, including the Jason Todd as Hush figure, only one of two thousand ever made, pristine in the box of course.

To the right stands a bookcase holding about fifty pieces of Batman literature ranging from Frank Miller masterpieces The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, and the seminal Year One, to Jeph Loeb’s Batman:Hush and The Long Halloween, to the infamous Knightfall series where Bane defeats the Batman.

I left the cinema after both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight feeling particularly underwhelmed. Such is the plight of the fanboy, nothing is good enough. The films seemed to forget that Batman is the ‘Worlds Greatest Detective’. He’s a thinking mans Superhero. If Superman reads Nuts magazine, Batman reads Esquire.

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