Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an American Air Force pilot taking part in a new government program called Source Code, in an effort to prevent a terrorist attack on Chicago, USA. Conveniently, the movie itself is called Source Code. We’ve discussed how we felt about it right here…
Paul:
I love time-travel related stuff. It always confuses people and it gets a lot of them angry when they argue about it (guilty). Source Code is heavily based on an idea about time-travel, but there’s a lot more to it than a simple case of going back to past in order to fix the present. I bloody loved it, and it seems to be getting a fair amount of praise across the board.
Matt:
I really enjoyed it. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who’s (unwillingly?) taking part in an experiment to try to save a trainload of people from a terrorist attack. Tied to a mysterious device known as the Source Code, he’s able to relive the final 8 minutes of one of the passengers on board’s lifespan, right before a bomb destroys the entire train. It’s goofy sci-fi stuff, and highly entertaining to watch.
Paul:
It’s totally goofy, but that’s often the best way! Believable doesn’t always equal fun, and this movie is another great example of a ridiculous idea that is fun from start to finish. With clear inspiration from the TV show Quantum Leap (an old favourite of mine), as well as familiarities to The Matrix, and a concept that even felt quite similar to that of Assassins Creed, there was simply a whole lot to love about Source Code.
Matt:
Left in the hands of another director, It could’ve turned out very different, but Duncan Jones got the pacing exactly right. Considering the very nature of the film means it has to repeat similar scenes, it’s impressive that it never feels tedious. Each time Gyllenhaal re-enters the source code he’s tasked with figuring something new out and this helps to keep you immersed. Revelations are made, and the film moves onto the next puzzle, constantly keeping you engrossed.
Paul:
Absolutely! I never even felt bored once. Every iteration of the 8-minute program the protagonist had to re-live was a completely different experience, despite the Groundhog Day style repetition of events at the beginning of each attempt to succeed. It’s one of those really satisfying ideas that gets me thinking, “What if I knew the future and could change everything?”. Man I would love that ability… lottery numbers would be my top priority.
Matt:
It’s funny how many other films and games spring to mind after watching it, yet it manages to keep its own identity and feel pretty original in its own way. It keeps you guessing throughout, but gives you enough tidbits along the way. The acting was good from everyone involved, the script was solid and the special effects were used sparingly, all of which contributed to a well crafted movie. I haven’t seen Moon, but I can safely say that Jones’ second feature film is a success.
Paul:
Yeah, me too. It’s definitely worth seeing, and I can’t think of any reason why anybody wouldn’t enjoy it. Go now!
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
Doki Doki Literature Club has dug its way into my chest and ripped me apart over the last couple of nights. It’s a free visual novel game where you get to know a bunch of girls in an afterschool book club… except not really. It looks exactly like any other tropey Japanese dating sim type game, but what lurks underneath this cutesy exterior is something really quite sinister and thought-provoking. The game’s tagline does a good job of reminding you that all is not what it seems: “This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.”
I’ve played many versions of Mario Kart, first on the Snes at a friend’s house, followed by my own copy of the N64 version. The Nintendo DS edition got a lot of play during the various anime conventions that I attended between 2006 and 2011, where you could LAN it up via Bluetooth with anyone else in the vicinity. But the version I truly have the fondest memories of has to be Mario Kart Wii.
WoW consumed my life for almost the entirety of 2004/05, when I was studying for my A-levels, and was probably a key contributor to my D-grades. I’m probably not the only person who would admit to daydreaming of roaming through Elwynn Forest, even many years after I stopped playing. I just spent so much time there, and other places of that world, sometimes roleplaying, always questing, but best of all simply exploring an unknown land. Even though I LOVE what Blizzard did in Cataclysm, my favourite memories all come from what they call Vanilla WoW, the original version of the game.
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