Doctor Who - The Trial of a Time Lord Part 1: The Mysterious Planet

OK, so for this next post I figured I would take a look at something new for a change (well sort of!) as I will be reviewing another Doctor Who story but this time I have gone for one from the Colin Baker era of the show, which I have neglected up until now. So, this post and the next ones should hopefully put that to rights.

So, for this post I will be looking at the first part of four serials from the era of the Sixth Doctor (i.e. Colin Baker) which is part of the Trial of a Time Lord series and the first part is the story, The Mysterious Planet.

So, let's take a look at the story and see how it fairs 32 years onward...

And yep the usual warning is coming up....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!!

STORY 

So, the story begins with the Doctor's TARDIS being taken out of time and transported to a large space station where he is brought into a courtroom, which is chaired by the Inquisitor (Lynda Bellingham) who tells the Doctor that he is on trial for conduct unbecoming a Time Lord.  The Doctor is then faced by a court prosecutor, the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) who presents the evidence that shows the Doctor transgressed the first law of time where he shouldn't interfere in the affairs of other planets. The Valeyard then shows his evidence via video screen, which is projected straight from the Gallifreyan neural network called the Matrix.

The evidence shows the Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant) arrive on the planet Ravalox, which shows strong similarities to Earth. And its not long before the Doctor and Peri themselves in big trouble as they get caught up between a power struggle involving a primitive tribe lead by Queen Katryca (Joan Sims) and a robot called Drathro (Roger Brierley) who is known by the tribe as the "Immortal".  And not only that they are also forced to be allied with two mercaneries, Sabalom Glitz (Tony Selby) and Dibber, who are on the planet for reasons of their own....

THOUGHTS

Well, after overlooking the Colin Baker era for so long, looking at the Trial of a Time Lord remains a pleasant surprise, as it is a very enjoyable story and a good solid opener to the series. The story also nicely makes good use of the dynamic of the Doctor's courtroom scenes where he vehemently protests to the Valeyard (and also keeps mocking his name with different variations such as "knackers yard!") and the flashbacks of the story on Ravalox.

PERFORMANCES (Notable scenes this time will be kept to a minimum!)

As for the performances, Colin Baker puts in a very good performance as the Sixth Doctor and its fair to say that he is one of the most underrated versions of the Doctor.

And while you could argue that Baker's portrayal of the Doctor is somewhat arrogant and snooty at times, he still manages to capture the Doc's decent qualities and is still a good guy at heart. Baker also provides a very amusing performance aswell and his courtroom scenes as the Doctor with the Valeyard, whom he continually mocks, are some of the highlights of the serial.

And there is one such scene where the Doctor says to the Valeyard " I always thought Valeyard meant learned court prosecutor" and the Valeyard says "And so it does". But the Doctor refutes the claim and mocks the Valeyard and says to him "Not in your case, sir. Your points of law are spurious, your evidence weak, verging on the irrelevant, and your reasoning quite unsound. In fact, your point of view belongs in quite another place. Perhaps the mantle of Valeyard was a mistake! I would therefore suggest that you change it for the garment of quite another sort of yard! That of the knackers' yard!! For your argument is as tired and warn out as the poor, unfortunate creatures that end up there!!" and he points to the video screen where the evidence against him is shown.

Nicola Bryant also does well in her role as the Doctor's companion, Peri (and she's pretty nice too!) and the two of them enjoy a nice rapport with one another throughout.

And I will mention one of Nicola's scene near the start of the story where the Doctor and Peri arrive on the planet Ravalox but they start to doubt it is that planet when they come across an old sign for the London underground. So, the Doctor suggests that maybe the Earth shifted its position in space but London as Peri knows has been wiped out, which upsets her.

So, Peri emotionally says to the Doctor "So what happened to London, Doctor?" and the Doctor says "Wiped out, if this was London" and Peri concerned says "I know it is. I can feel it". The Doctor then says to Peri "Now, don't get emotional" and Peri upset says "Don't get emotional. This cinder we're standing on is all that's left of my world. Everything I knew!".

The Doctor then tries to reassure Peri "You've been travelling with me long enough to know that none of this really matters. Not to you. Your world is safe". Peri however it still upset "This is still my world, whatever the period, and I care about it. And all you do is talk about it as though we're in a planetarium!". The Doctor tries to rationalise with Peri "I'm sorry. But look at it this way. Planets come and go, stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, reforms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal". Peri realises the Doctor is right but is still uneasy "I know what you mean, and I still want to get away from here".



Michael Jayston is excellent as the Valeyard, the Gallifreyan prosecutor, who puts the Doctor on trial for his life and presents evidence against him.



I will mention one of Jayston's scenes where the Valeyard shows video of the Doctor about to be stoned by the natives on Ravalox and he puts him umbrella to shield himself from the rocks but one catchs him on the cheek. And at this point the Valeyard stops the video and the Doctor protests "I was rather enjoying that!" and the Valeyard says "I'm sure you were" and the Doctor, smugly says "Clever. That trick with the umbrella" and the Valeyard briefly humours him "Most ingenious, Doctor" and the Doctor smiles and says "Oh, I always like to do the unexpected. Takes people by surprise".

The Valeyard however then accuses the Doctor again and says angrily "Hear how the Doctor takes pride in his interference! Hear how he boasts! This is not the reaction of a responsible Time Lord!". The Inquisitor interrupts and says "We are all aware of that, Valeyard. What is the point you are trying to make?". So, the Valeyard with menace says "These proceedings started as a mere enquiry into the Doctor's activities. I'm suggesting now that it becomes a trial. And if he is found guilty, I strongly suggest the termination of his life!".


Tony Selby also provides a good performance as the charismatic mercenary, Sabbalon Glitz, who motives of his own to be on the planet Ravalox along side his sidekick and fellow mercenary, Dibber.



And Selby has his own share of good scenes and I will mention just a couple, such as the one where Glitz attracts the attention of the primitive tribe that live on Ravalox. And in the scene, Glitz sees the tribes people from a distance and says to Dibber "Look at them, primitive screebs!" and Dibber asks "Are they from the village?" and Glitz says "Must be" and Dibber says "Well then, let's make it a few less we have to deal with". Glitz however says "No. All we need is a gesture of strength. Show them they haven't got a chance" and he throws a flash bang at the tribes people and walks over to them and says "Come here, you ignorant, maggot ridden peasant! Somehow I always feel foolish saying this. Take me to your leader!".

Another good scene from Selby is when just after Glitz and Dibber are captured by the tribe and placed in a hut, Peri is captured not long after and pushed in with them. So, Glitz grins as he sees Peri and says "Ah, it seems we have a pretty visitor. I'm beginning to feel better already. Sabalom Glitz, my dear, and this youth with the vacuous expression and single track mind is Dibber". So, Peri explains she is here with the Doctor and that he is a Time Lord and he disappeared down into the subterranean level of the planet. Glitz then says "The Doctor is a Time Lord. So, that's how he knew where to go". Dibber then asks "Sent them did they?" and Peri asks "Who?" and Glitz says "The Time Lords, my dear. As my friend here says, he must be acting on their behalf". Peri says "I don't think the Doctor's acting on anyone's behalf" and Glitz smiles and says "So, he's a freelance like myself. Possibly we can reach an accommodation here, my boy. Two rogues with but a single thought".


As for the other cast members, which I won't quite dialogue for to save time, Lynda Bellingham is also good in her role as the Inquisitor, who oversees the Doctor's trial and at times has to act as a referee of sorts to stop the Doctor and the Valeyard's bickering against each other. Tom Chadbon, does not too badly here in his role as Merdeen, a security agent, who later helps the Doctor but I can't help but feel that Tom was given a rather one-dimensional character here in comparison to his much better role as Duggan in City of Death during the Tom Baker era. Joan Sims however is one of the weaker cast members as the tribe leader, Queen Katryca as her performance is pretty hammy. Glen Murphy on the other hand fares better as Glitz's sidekick, Dibber, a mercenary as the two of them have their own agenda on Ravalox. And last of all is Roger Brierley as Drathro, the robot, who rules on the planet and is known to the tribes people as "the Immortal".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Nicholas Mallett does a fairly good job here with the story as it is well paced and moves at a decent rate and he also does a decent job at balancing the courtroom scenes and the video footage of the Doctor's adventure on Ravalox. Mallett later directed a couple of serials from the Sylvester McCoy era, Paradise Towers and later The Curse of Fenric but sadly, Mallett himself, died in January 1997.

Music wise, the score is by Dominic Glynn and its a pretty good one overall, which is all synthesized and his intro theme for when the Doctor's TARDIS is pulled into the space station where his trial will be held, is excellent. Glynn also provided a new variation of the Doctor Who title theme for this season but it was never again used afterward and its actually not too bad but it does remain one of the weaker ones.

FLAWS (Warning: this section contains spoilers!)

As for flaws....yes The Mysterious Planet isn't perfect.

To start off, I think there is just a bit too much bickering from the Doctor and the Valeyard throughout the story and while some of it is entertaining, the Inquisitor repeatedly has to intervene, which becomes quickly repetitive. So, i.e. its a case of the Doctor says "I object! You're evidence is pathetic, Valeyard!" and the Inquisitor says "All this is pointless! Shall we carry on?!" and we get this over and over.

Another issue I had was to do with the robot, Drathro, who is a pretty weak villain and the robot outfit is a bit cheesy looking as Drathro has a head that shaped like the carving off a giant tooth! Roger Brierley's vocal performance as Drathro is however pretty decent but it has to be said that the character is definitely a poor villain.

Then there is the whole clash between the tribes people and the modern sophisticated people, who live underground, which is a bit of a dull subplot in itself and its nothing new to have two warring factions against each other with both being fed lies about the other.  And the more sophisticated characters are underwritten, particularly Merdeen (played by Tom Chadbon) and they are very one dimensional although the character Balazar (Adam Blackwood) does provide a bit of humour in this regard.

And lastly there is the scene where the Doctor asks Glitz what planet they are on and Glitz tells him that they are on Earth, which Peri had suspected and the Doctor was not convinced of fully. Now, I'm surprised in a way that the Doctor didn't ask anyone about this earlier as he doesn't find out until part three of the story! So, its a bit of a long time not to reveal it but I guess they wanted to build up the surprise, only for not to be much of a surprise in the end.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, The Mysterious Planet is something of a pleasant surprise and an enjoyable, which for the most part is well written (the script was by Robert Holmes, one of the best writers from the original series) and has some good performances from the cast, particularly Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Tony Selby and Michael Jayston.  It isn't perfect of course and has some issues but despite them its a story that is still worth a look and builds some intrigue for the rest of the Trial of a Time Lord season.

OK, so that's it for now and apologies for the lack of posts this month, so I will try and get out a few more for July.

So, until then, its bye for now! 

Cast Away Review Revisited "I have made fire!!"

Right, time for another revisitional post as this one will take a re-look at my original review of the Tom Hanks film, Cast Away, which is essentially a modern day Robinson Crusoe as it deals with one man's struggles after he is stranded on a desert island. 

So after 18 years (wow that long?!) let's take another look at this one and see how it fairs...

And yep the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

Right so the film begins with its main character Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) who is a systems engineer with Fed-ex who travels the world troubleshooting productivity problems at Fedex depots and takes a rather meticulous approach to his work.  Chuck is also in a relationship with Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) and they both want to get married but Chuck's work often get's in the way of their plans to do so.  Chuck whilst spending at Christmas with Kelly and his relatives is interrupted by a call from Fedex to make a trip to Malaysia.

However during the flight, the plane get's caught in a violent storm which causes it to crash into Pacific ocean with Chuck being the only survivor he manages to get himself ashore on an island after using a life-raft but in the chaos, he loses a flight transponder, which would help locate him.  Chuck soon after looks around the island and finds it to be uninhabited.  Chuck also later on finds some of the Fedex parcels that came down from the wreck of the plane and washed ashore, which he opens most of them all except one, which he decides to leave unopened.  Chuck one day also sees a ship in the distance and frantically tries to get its attention and he makes a failed attempt to swim towards it in the life-raft but he finds the waves and the coral reefs are too strong to let him progress.

Afterward Chuck tries to adapt to living on the island and attempts to find food and make fire and during his first attempt he accidentally cuts his hand and throws some objects away in frustration, one of which is a Wilson volleyball, which Chuck later draws a face onto his bloody palm print on the ball and he names the ball "Wilson" and starts talking to it.  Chuck eventually is successful in making fire and he starts to adapt to living off the island and hunts for fish and crab to live off.  Chuck however also starts to suffer from severe toothache and in the end he has to result in performing an emergency surgery by using the blade from a rollerskate which Chuck found in one of the boxes and a stone to knock out of the tooth, which he does successfully (albeit paifully!).

The story then cuts to four years later where Chuck is still on the island and has lost a significant amount of weight having had to live off the marine life on the island and now sprouts long hair and a shaggy beard.  Chuck also shows signs of having lost a few of his marbles after being alone so much he now regularly talks to Wilson, his volleyball for companionship.  One day however part of a portable toilet washes up on the shore, which gives Chuck the idea of using it as a sail.  So Chuck then decides to build himself a raft using tree branches on the island and works out the optimal time to try and make his departure from the island.  And from here once Chuck has built his raft and decided on the right time to depart, he then faces a very dangerous journey ahead to try and make it back to civilisation.....

THOUGHTS

As pretty much a one-man show, Cast Away works really well in what is basically a modern day re-telling of Robinson Crusoe with one man thrown into a harsh situation of having to life off an island and use his wits to survive.  The film itself was shot in location in Monuriki, an island based in Fiji, which later became a popular tourist attraction as a result of the film's success.  Tom Hanks put on alot of weight to play the part as he gained 50 pounds to play Chuck at the start of the film, but the film's production was later stopped for a year to allow for Hanks to lose the weight and grow his hair and beard for the latter half of the film.

PERFORMANCES (Or performance! Warning: spoilers might feature here!)

Which brings me onto performance of the film's lead, Tom Hanks, as Chuck Noland which is excellent and Hanks does really well at playing an everyday guy who on this occasion is thrown into an extreme situation where he is forced to live off an island with virtually no hope whatsoever of rescue. 

Hanks as this is his film primarily has plenty of good scenes in it such as the one where he begins to try and make fire and he cuts himself on a twig and out of rage he throws away several items including the Wilson volleyball.  And later Chuck picks up the ball and draws a face onto his bloody palm print on the ball and he starts to try and make fire again and during it he looks up to the ball and says "Hey you wouldn't by any chance have a match on you, would you?".  And as he starts to get some smoke appear, he starts to blow to try and get the fire ignited but notices something and says "The air got to it! The AIR GOT TO IT!". So, Chuck tries again, frantically rubbing the stick against the branch until the smoke again appears and he blows on it and the flames spark and Chuck laughs in delight and shouts "FIRE!!!!".

And this is followed by Chuck having successfully made a big log fire and he sings The Doors song "Light my fire" while tries to stay back from the flames. So, then he stands back proudly and shouts around him "Look what I have created!  Look what I have created!!! I have made fire!!" and he grabs a palm tree branch and sets it afire and waves it around and says "SOS!".  

Another good scene is where Chuck is in his cave and we see he has done a drawing of Kelly with a bit of broken off stone on the cave wall and he says to Wilson "She looks much prettier in real life!". Then he works out a drawing on the cave walls of the map area of where he is and he says to Wilson "That's a search area of 500,000 square miles. That's twice the size of Texas. They may never find us!". 

Then there is the scene where Chuck starts to argue with Wilson while he prepares his life-raft and he argues with the non-commital volleyball "Well we might just make it!  Didn't that thought ever cross your brain????! Well regardless, I would rather take my chance out there on the ocean than stay here and die on this shithole island, spending the rest of my life talking to a GODDAMN VOLLEYBALL!!!".  And Chuck proceeds to take the ball and kick it out of the cave and into the water, but he quickly panics realising what he has done and yells "WILSON!" and goes after and finds the ball again in the water and says "Never again!  Never again!". 

Then there is the scene where Chuck finally get's his fire going and he cooks crab meat and he says to Wilson "Gotta love crab.  In the the nick of time too.  I couldn't take much more of those coconuts.  Coconut milk is a natural laxative!  That's something Gilligan never told us!".  And as Chuck is about to leave the island he says to Wilson "Don't worry, Wilson, I'll do all the paddling.  You just hang on!".

Tom does also have some poignant moments in the film such as the one (PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD IN THIS PARAGRAPH!!!) where he loses Wilson in the ocean as the volleyball drifts off into the ocean and Chuck can't catch up with it, which leaves him inconsolable on his raft, sobbing away. 

Then there is the scene after Chucks makes it back home he tries to reconcile with Kelly who has moved on with her live and gotten married, but as they feel the same for each other they realise it would never work.  And Chuck is left to sadly reflect on how "I've lost her all over again.  I'm so sad I don't have Kelly.  But I'm so grateful she was with me on that island.  And I know what I have to do now.  I gotta keep breathing.  Because tomorrow the sun will rise and who knows what the tide will bring".

As for the other cast members, Helen Hunt does OK in her role as Chuck's girlfriend, Kelly, who later marries after his disappearance, believing him to be dead. However, I wont' really mention her scenes here just to save time as the main focus of the film is Hanks himself (sorry Helen!).  Nick Searcy also provides a good brief performance as Stan, one of Chuck's friends, who's wife is suffering with cancer.  Chris Noth also does OK in his brief role as Jerry Lovett, Kelly's husband and Noth is of course better known as Mr Big from the hit American sit-com, Sex and the City.  And last of all is Lari White as Bettina, the woman, who Chuck talks at the end of the film and sadly Lari died earlier this year of cancer.     

DIRECTOR, PHOTOGRAPHY AND MUSIC 

As for Bob Zemeckis, the film's director, he did a great job here with Cast Away and despite it being largely a one man show, he keeps the audience fascinated by showing how Chuck adapts to living his life on the island.  Zemeckis also brilliantly directs the film's tense crash scene with the plane going down in the Pacific ocean the crash totally assaults the viewers senses (and ears with its sound effects!). 

The film is also notable for its cinemaphotography by Zemeckis's long time collaborator, Don Burgess, which is absolutely stunning as the Monuriki island (in Fiji) is very easy on the eye and it produces some jaw dropping scenery. 

And lastly Alan Silvestri, Zemeckis's long time composer, provides a pleasant score for the film, which largely resembles his score for Forrest Gump, except it doesn't really come into the film until near its end!

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!) 

So flaws...... well Cast Away isn't totally perfect but then again few films are and it has to be said that the film is really in three acts, and two of those acts aren't that interesting as the film's most fascinating act is of course the middle one where Chuck is stranded on the island (the intro of the film being the first and Chuck's return to civilisation the third). 

So in a way its a film that really depends on its main act to work and for the most part it works so well thanks to its being a one man show for Tom Hanks.  But the scenes outwith the island tend to slow down the film a bit as they don't feel as interesting and you could also argue that the film's denouement is also a bit long and drawn out.  And while its important that we see Chuck make it back to civilisation Zemeckis ultimately could have tighten it up a bit in doing so.  

However to the credit of the beginning and end sequences credit, they do tie in with Chuck's time on the island more than you might realise, as in the first scene we see a parcel with wings on it being delivered to a man (which is presumably returned back to Fed-Ex unwanted). And Chuck when he is on the island, looks at the parcels that washed ashore and he finds that one with the "wings" on it and decides not to open it. And later as he get's back to civilisation, he delivers the parcel back to the sender and later asks the woman, Bettina, for directions and atferward she get's into her jeep and on the back we see the same wing design as on the parcel. So, its actually quite a clever thoughful ending to the film (this shouldn't really be a flaw as such then!).

Another issue is to do with how Chuck managed not to get his leg injury infected and it managed to ultimately heal up fine without proper medical attention (this is when Chuck tries to row his lifeboat out on the rough waters as he saw a flashing light in the distance and ends up gashing his left on a coral). Basically, we are lead to believe that all will be fine with Chuck at this point and he will just let it heal but that may not be the case in real life (well maybe!).

Then there is the issue with Chuck leaving his flashlight on rather than switching it off when he staggers his way into his cave, which certainly scuppers him for light in darkness, until he can make fire. You think he'd be better just switching it off for sure, although at this point to be fair, Chuck is exhausted from his attempts on the ocean, so he would be bound to forget to do so.

And last of all is it does seem very unlikely that Chuck would even be able to survive the plane crash himself when it happens as the other crew members are taken out but somehow Chuck manages to come through. And when the plane goes down in the water and explodes, you would think then that Chuck would be dead for sure as he is in the water pretty much right next to it!  But ah well, it is a Hollywood film after all.

Anyway that is that for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So to sum up, Cast Away is still a very entertaining and at times even fascinating film to watch and as a one man show for Tom Hanks it succeeds very well in showing that one of Hollywood's most lauded stars can take his hand to just about any film he appears in. And if you haven't seen Cast Away yet and decided to not "cast" your eye over it (sorry!) then its definitely worth a look.  

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post as I know I've been a bit late this month in getting the posts out, so I will try and manage a few before the month is out.

So, till the next un, its bye for now!

Dark Souls Remastered Review

Right, well its time for another review on this blog as its almost the middle of June, so I have a bit of catch-up to do. So, this review will be on a game for a change and the game in question has recently been released on the PS4, which is Dark Souls Remastered, which has been hailed as a modern classic and was originally released back in 2011 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. 

So, how does this classic game fair after 7 years from its original release? Well, let's take a look.

And as I will be looking at a bif of the plot, the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

Well, the story itself is fairly minimal and I will for a change quote the plot from Wikipedia (just to save a bit of time!).

"The world was once shrouded by grey fog and ruled by dragons. In this time period, Gwyn happens upon the First Flame and finds a Lord Soul. He and his allies use their power to defeat the dragons, beginning the Age of Fire. Over time, the flames begin to fade with the rise of humans, and Gwyn sacrifices himself and his soul to prolong the Age of Fire. With the flame artificially rekindled, the undead curse begins to plague humanity, causing certain humans to continually resurrect upon death.

The player character is a cursed undead, locked away in an undead asylum. After escaping the asylum, the player travels to Lordran to ring the Bells of Awakening. The bells awaken Kingseeker Frampt, who tells the player to ascend to Anor Londo. In Anor Londo, Gwynevere instructs the player to succeed Lord Gwyn and fulfill the prophecy. To accomplish this, the Lord Souls must be acquired from Gwyn's primordial allies and returned to the flame".

THOUGHTS

Well, even though I am far from having finished the game, I figured I have played enough of it to review it and give my thoughts on how it is so far and it has to be said that the game is definitely worthy of its classic status, as Dark Souls is a gripping, intense and enjoyable experience. It is also however one of the toughest games I've ever played and its difficulty at times can be quite punishing as you face a number of deadly enemies that can swiftly kill your playable character with ease and take quite a bit of strategy and trial and error to defeat them.

However, despite the difficulty level of the game being at times very frustrating, its also part of what makes the game feel quite rewarding as once you pass the tests of one boss, you feel have really accomplished something with the game. And that is certainly one of the things that Dark Souls has going for it, its a challenge but its one that's worth taking on.

GAMEPLAY

As for the actual gameplay, it is fairly linear with the playable character being one of the cursed undead (not a zombie however!) who does not have a name.  The character can take on two different forms, human and hollow and in order to become human, the character has to collect items called "humanity" which will restore them, however if the character is killed, then they will revert to hollow form.

And being human in the game gives the playable character some advantages such as they can receive help form other NPC's (non-playable characters) when taking on boss fights, however it has its downside too as you can encounter other hostile NPC's called invaders, who want to kill you and take your humanity for themselves

And one of the key aspects of the game itself are the souls you collect from foes you have killed, as the smaller enemies give you a smaller amount whereas the bosses will give you a larger amount of souls. The souls can then be used to upgrade your vitality, endurance and strength among other attributes that are key to the game. If however you are killed at any point in the game, your soul count will go back to zero but you can still retrieve your lost souls from the point where you died last, which will be marked by a bloodstain.       

As for the game's combat system is pretty straightforward with the character having access to a large variety of melee weapons such as swords, axes, daggers, spears, halberds aswell as bows and arrows all of which can be upgraded as you progress. The character will also have access to armour and helmets of which these can also be upgraded as the game progresses. The character can carry out a number of moves such as typical forward attacks or backstabs aswell as dodge manoeveurs to avoid enemy attacks.

Moving onto the enemies, this is where Dark Souls is at its most diverse as there are a huge number of enemies for the player to take on all of which vary in terms of their challenge and difficulty. The standard enemies feature hollows, who come with and without armour and can carry a number of weapons such as knives, spears, swords and even use torches and while they are easy to kill, in numbers they can be a threat. There are also other enemies such as numerous skeletons, demons and giants all of which can be made of stone, flesh or indeed bone and have varying levels of difficulty of which plenty of them can leave you chucking your console controller out the window! 

The game also has a very large number of bosses of which quite alot of them provide a very stern challenge and require quite alot of tactics and strategy in defeating them and naturally as the game progresses, the bosses will get tougher and when say tougher I MEAN tougher! Once you have killed the bosses you will usually collect additional items such as keys, swords or other items as well as a larger number of souls than your standard enemies.

And last of all are bonfires, which are essentially the game's checkpoints, which are spread throughout the game and can allow the player to level up their attributes, fill up their health flasks (known as Estus flasks) repair their equipment or restore their humanity. The only snag of course with using a bonfire is that it will respawn all the enemies in the areas that you have just cleared, which is clearly Capcom's way of making sure things are never easy!

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, the game looks stunning in its remastered version on the PS4, as the game's environments are rich and detailed, not to mention very varied in their design as your character can traverse castles, fortresses, sewers, aswell as open lands.  The character models in the game are also pretty good, too even if they do look a bit dated by today's standards and perhaps a bit comical at times. Overall, however the graphics look mightily impressive in their PS4 remaster and its definitely for the most part a treat to look at.


MUSIC 

And regarding the music, it was composed by Motoi Sakuraba and it is a very good score overall with some very impressive orchestrations and its a rich mixture of drama and suspense. Sakuraba also scored the other games in the Dark Souls series and he has also scored plenty of other games too such as the Mario games, so overall its an impressive score that has a real epic feel that suits the game.


FLAWS

As for flaws...yes...Dark Souls does have some worth mentioning. Now to start off, I have to say that I am probably only a quarter of a way through the game, so I still have plenty that I could add to this list that I have not come to yet, however I think this will pretty much give an idea of the game's flaws and frustrations worth mentioning.

But to start off, one of the more frustrating things about the game is to do with the need to make things as difficult as possible, such as when you use a bonfire, it respawns all the enemies you have just killed!  Now, depending on the area of the game you are in, this can be a really frustrating thing to deal with but on the other hand, it does let you "farm" more souls by killing the same enemies you have just killed.

And while the bonfires idea is not a bad one for a checkpoint, it is still a bit frustrating that you can't save your progress as you go, so that way if you are nearing a boss fight, you can just save the point before you are about to face them. However, if you are having to trek from one point to another and get killed enroute, you are forced to go back to square one, which becomes frustrating pretty quickly!

Another issue is of course to do with the game's unforgiving level of difficulty, which at times can be quite infuriating, particularly when it comes to some of the boss fights. As an example, in the gargoyles boss fight, the gargoyles have very large axes and they can easily kill you with them if you are not quick to dodge them. And what it makes it more annoying is the fact that these bosses will continue to hit when you, before you can get a chance to get up again, which invariably ends up with you dead!

The same can also be said for the Capra Demon boss who also two large swords that he can easily cut you down with and also it has to be said that the area for this boss to fight in, is very cramped, which can make life very difficult. So, the close quarters combat can also be a real chore to deal with in the game too at times.  However, both the Gargoyles and the Capra Demon are an absolute picnic in comparison to what lies ahead in the game it has to be said.  This is especially the case when you reach the level Anor Londo and take on the bosses from hell, the duo of Ornstein and Smough, who are undoubtedly the toughest bosses in the whole game! And in this boss fight if you try and take them head on, you will instantly get massacred! 

In fact this raises another issue with the game, which is alot of big enemies in the game have MASSIVE weapons that have unreal reach that can cause them to put the smackdown on your character with great ease! This also becomes mega frustrating very quickly, especially as there are times where you try to roll to avoid them but you still end up getting caught in the line of their weapon.  

I also find it quite bizarre the large number of pick-ups that the player can pick up during the game, don't ever overload his inventory, as they end up with a massive amount of items and weapons, that would realistically be impossible to carry! Its also a pity that you can't trade in these items aswell to any of the traders in the game for souls but obviously the whole soul "payment" process doesn't appear to work like that!  However you do get access to an endless box, which let's you store as many items as you like, so you can lighten your inventory, which is a good idea and makes it easier for weapon/armour selection. 

There are also some other aspects of the game that can be annoying to deal with also such as when a player becomes cursed and they lose half of their health in the process and they then need to find a way to break that curse. This can be achieved usually by either purchasing a purging stone, which will break the curse, or by obtaining a cursebite ring, which will provide the player with a stronger resistance to curses. The second method would of course be the most effective one but its one that is not easy to get a hold of, as it involves the player having to go into another area (New Londo Ruins) where you need to fight off some ghosts and to do this you need another item called a transient curse, so you can attack them.  So, basically you have to yet again do one tough thing to resolve another one!

Then there is an issue to do with the Estus flasks where if you accidentally press the square button (on your PS4 or PS3 that is) and you are already at full health, you will still use up another flask, yet in most other games if you are at full health, the game stops you from wasting another health item, but not here!  And this can especially annoying as you might end up doing it with only a couple of flasks left, while at full health and you might be in dire need of what you have left! This could however be a deliberate choice on the game creators behalf as they may want you to use your items carefully and sparingly. 

And last of all is my biggest gripe with the game, which is the action of the player drinking from their Estus flasks, which is TOO DAMN SLOW!!! And this is particularly the case when you are fighting against a standard enemy or boss, as their reactions tend to be pretty fast. So, by the time you have finished swigging from your Estus flask, the boss may already have beat you down and then will close in for the kill, so it would be better if the action of this was much quicker, so it didn't disrupt the flow to the combat of the game, plus you just might not end up getting killed so often!!!   

Anyway that's it for the flaws (for now!).

SUM UP

So to sum it all up, Dark Souls is indeed an excellent action role play game, which is truly epic with its open world environments, which are vast and expansive. The game is also packed with a large variety of enemies, who become MUCH tougher as the game progresses and its certainly one of the toughest and most challenging games I have played. However, its challenge is also part of its reward in that it is great to get a game that does push and challenge your abilities as a gamer, rather than hand hold you like alot of games tend to do in this day and age.

So, overall Dark Souls is a terrific game and it was actually one that never really appealed to me at first but having given it a go (thanks to following the Youtube gamer, Suzy Lu playing it, which is what got me hooked on it) it has plesantly suprised me in how good it is. 

And if you haven't tried Dark Souls yet, then I would certainly recommend giving it a go, as it really is an extremely challenging, engrossing, gripping, tense and at times creepy experience that is well worth any gamer's time.

Right, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another review of sorts (and I will update this review as I go!).

Till the next one, its bye for now!