Jehnny Beth: 'Loving someone is imprisoning someone'
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Daily Mirror
13 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Developer Lizardcube talks reinventing SEGA's classic Shinobi series for a new age of players
Speaking to the lead game designer and lead background artist for Shinobi: Art of Vengeance to talk breathing new life into one of Sega's most treasured classic franchises. Having already worked wonders with Streets of Rage 4, we discuss with developer Lizardcube the tall task of trying to make lighting strike twice with a beloved Sega series. How do you follow up successfully reviving (and absolutely nailing) a beloved Sega arcade franchise for the modern era using punchy combat mechanics and a beautiful hand-drawn art style? By doing it again, of course. Such was the task developer Lizardcube faced when first starting out development on Shinobi: Art of Vengeance – the new, upcoming entry in the longstanding series of action-platformers set to launch this August 29, 2025. After playing roughly an hour of the game already and dubbing it a 'stunning and confident retooling' of the series in my preview, I have every reason to believe that the team is stepping up to the challenge and that Shinobi fans won't be disappointed. Sure, Lizardcube had already achieved great adoration for its work on Streets of Rage 4 previously, but sketching out various street-level environments to fight across is one thing, and creating a whole suite off attractive locations set within the Shinobi ninja universe another entirely. The key, says lead background artist Julian Nguyen-You, was to significantly increase the number of art assets created for each level. The hope being to provide players with much higher degrees of detail and variety, which should make living out their kunai-throwing ninja fantasies all the more enjoyable. 'Shinobi has more huge backgrounds,' says Nguyen-You. 'In Streets of Rage 4, it was only a straight area with some diagonals, but in Shinobi you can go everywhere in a stage'. This simple change from making a beat-em-up to a layered, vertically led 2D action-platformer was enough to almost triple the workload of the art department. 'All the assets we needed to create was maybe three times, four times bigger than [those] for Streets of Rage. For that game I was alone to do all the backgrounds, and for this one we were three people'. Purely in terms of scale, then, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance has turned out to be a far more ambitious project than Streets of Rage 4 ever was, even when considering the latter's follow-up DLC. However, for as iconic as Lizardcube's unique hand-drawn art style has quickly become, the goal wasn't simply to include more for more's sake. As Nguyen-You continues, 'We tried to put many memorable things in the background like a golden dragon, or something like this, and it was many, many hours of work drawing'. For as important as Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's art is to the overall game – it's right there in the title – such glorious visuals would mean nothing were it not backed up with tight, satisfying gameplay. A playable demo of the game's first level, Oboro Village, is available to download now for players curious to check out Lizardcube's combat bona fides, but it's been clear since playing through that first stage, plus the Lantern Festival level, months ago for preview, that this isn't your grandma's Shinobi game. No, instead, the team has been careful to sprinkle in all kinds of super abilities and special attacks to make Joe Musashi's moveset more fulfilling than ever. Master of the craft 'We really tried to pay homage to the first game,' explains Frederic Vincent, lead game designer on Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. 'And it's really not easy to find the right balance between what you're going to keep from the ancient games, and what you are going to leave and to keep'. Doing this meant gifting Muasashi with a new suite of moves while being respectful to the ninja idea. 'We wanted to recapture the feeling of playing a ninja using elegant moves, fast combat… that kind of stuff. It was more about what's the meaning of being a shinobi in the modern era'. My most recent time playing what Lizardcube has cooking up took me through two new levels, Fish Market and Neo City, both of which were a great display for Shinobi's combat. Fish Market is a stage just as slimy and grubby as it sounds, but still rendered beautifully using hand-drawn sketches. Using the Shinobi Execution to dart around the stage finishing off foes, unleashing the Fire Ninpo blast attack, and of course using Musashi's iconic kunai to attack enemies from a distance, it all felt great to do while hopping and dancing around the Fish Market's ever-moving containers and slippery streets. Neo City, meanwhile, is just as glamourous as it sounds, presenting totally different enemy types and enemies to tackle using super-responsive ninja attacks. Another way Art of Vengeance aims to set itself apart is by peppering in reasons to comb around levels, with plenty of hidden areas and collectibles to discover. Such inclusions help give this iteration of Shinobi a more, Metroidvania like flavour, as opposed to the simple linear arcade stages seen in previous games. 'For each stage you will have unique challenges you have to overcome,' Vincent continues. 'It's true that there is a lot of stuff happening in the first stage, but we really manage to keep this balance until the end of the game'. From specific combat challenges to ability-enhancing medallions to track down, Lizardcube has included plenty of excuses to let players fight and move through stages their own way. 'We implemented those features because they made a lot of sense for the feeling we wanted to get. The game feel of the combat, the way we ask you to move around the battlefield, manage some resources. Basically, we wanted the player to make some choices during combat, to really pitch what they want to do'. It's now less than a month until Shinobi: Art of Vengeance launches simultaneously on PC and consoles. And although the demo currently available offers players a small glimpse of what this incredibly stylised franchise return has to offer, Vincent and Nguyen-You both hint that there are plenty of surprises left in store. Shinobi does have the unfortunate challenge of releasing shortly after the unbelievably excellent Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, but the truth is that both ninja games are pitching a slightly different twist on the 2D action-platforming template – and there's room for Art of Vengeance to carve out its own identity within that.
New Statesman
3 days ago
- New Statesman
The return of The Naked Gun is a sparkling success
Illustration by Kristian Hammerstad It's common complaint these days that you just can't make the jokes you used to onscreen. Cancel culture and political correctness have killed the comedy. Not only do audiences not want to watch funny movies any more; writers, directors and actors don't seem to know how to make them. The new The Naked Gun, the fourth film in the spoof-comedy franchise which arrives 31 years after the previous instalment, shoves two fingers up at this idea. It's a very, very funny film; so cheerful and light on its feet that it all but erases the outside world for 85 sparkling minutes, replacing it with a better one in which cops fart audibly while they're on patrol and villains end up getting their nuts pummelled. Liam Neeson stars as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr, son of the LA cop so memorably played by Leslie Nielsen in the original films. Staring at his father's portrait in the police station early on in the film, Drebin Jr explains his motivations: 'I want to be just like you,' he murmurs with reverence, 'but at the same time also be completely different and original.' His opportunity to prove himself arises when he is brought in to investigate the murder of a tech worker at a company run by the billionaire Richard Cane (a deliciously evil Danny Huston). Like his late father, Drebin is far from infallible: he initially dismisses the murder as suicide – until the sister of the victim, the sensuous crime author Beth (Pamela Anderson), insists he look into it properly. The jokes come thick and fast. As is traditional, many are visual gags: people getting run over, people falling down stairs, Neeson dressed as a little girl in a kilt. Other jokes draw, with fine comic timing, on misunderstandings. 'Please, take a chair,' Drebin tells Beth when she arrives at his office to discuss her brother's murder. 'No thank you, I have plenty of chairs at home,' she replies tartly, in a cheap-gag format familiar from Drebin senior's earliest iteration in Police Squad!, the 1982 TV show that launched the franchise. Despite the zaniness, the plot is no afterthought. If the jokes were ditched and the baddies made less panto, you could even squeeze a Pierce Brosnan-era Bond film out of it. Cane, we learn, has developed a gizmo that, when turned on, turns normal people into screaming chimps desperate to kill one another. His aim is to use the device to reset a world he considers to be ruined: let most of the population wipe itself out, then build back better with a chosen few. Not everything works. There are ostentatious reminders that all is artifice. In a fight scene, Drebin is shown very obviously punching a stuffed mannequin, and later both Neeson and Anderson are momentarily replaced by body doubles who look only vaguely like them. It's a confident move, displaying the seams of the film in this way, but it does rather pitch the audience out of the story. The comedy falters, too. In one sequence, Drebin and Beth steal away for a romantic weekend, and a snowman they make comes freakily to life. The lift-off from spoof action film to something more surreal and whimsical feels awkward. In other cases, jokes are repeated over and over until they lose their charm. But the film has such a high hit rate, it scarcely matters. You feel grateful that the writers and actors are giving it such a good go. In an interview with You magazine that fed rumours of a romance between himself and Anderson, Neeson has said that that lists of 'alts' were provided on set for jokes that didn't work. This seems key to the film's success: the comedy feels fresh and improvised, appealingly alive. It's a real achievement by the director, Akiva Schaffer: too many films today have just one or two gags that feel like they've been churned out for the sole purpose of pepping up the film's trailer. As for Neeson and Anderson, their chemistry is delightful. It's a joy to find Neeson using his hackle-raising Irish growl for comic ends, and he turns out to be more than capable of the physical buffoonery too. Anderson, meanwhile, seizes the opportunity to be silly with palpable pleasure; she seems to be laughing for real. The original Naked Gun film, made in 1988, is worth revisiting. But this one, with its cultural references brought up to date – there's a relishable gag about OJ Simpson, who starred in the first film – feels miraculously, improbably better. 'The Naked Gun' is in cinemas on 1 August [See also: 'The Bad Guys 2' is the sequel this summer needed] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Daily Record
Phil Collins major health update as star hospitalised amid 'end-of-life care' claims
The Genesis legend is in hospital, it's been confirmed Phil Collins has been hospitalised amid reports he is receiving end-of-life care. The Genesis legend, 74, was at the centre of rumours over the past week, suggesting he is facing a major health battle after a raft of issues caused concern amongst his huge fanbase. The iconic rocker last performed live back in March 2022 and was on stage in a wheelchair. He also recently claimed he believes he's 'used up my air miles' in a documentary and admitted he's 'very sick'. A spokesperson for the drummer, who suffers from type 2 diabetes and ongoing complications which occurred after an operation on his spine in 2007, has now denied reports that Collins' has been admitted to a 'hospice'. But they confirmed he's in hospital, in a medical ward, where he's facing 'knee surgery', it's reported by the Standard. The In the Air Tonight musician has long been dogged by health issues and in last year's Phil Collins: Drummer First documentary, he revealed to fans his active career has 'taken its toll' on his hands and legs and he's no longer able to play the drums. The star, who first picked up the sticks when he was aged just five, opened up on the gruelling physical challenges he's faced because of his job: 'It's still kind of sinking in a bit... I've spent all my life playing drums. "To suddenly not be able to do that is a shock." He went on: 'If I can't do what I did as well as I did it, I'd rather relax and not do anything. "If I wake up one day and I can hold a pair of drumsticks then I'll have a crack at it. But I just feel like I've used up my air miles." The dad-of-five damaged a vertebra in his upper neck as he performed at a gig in 2007 and he was forced to stop playing live shows altogether two years later due to excruciating nerve damage. In 2009 he said: "My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in. It comes from years of playing. I can't even hold the sticks properly without it being painful. "I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through. Don't worry, I can still sing." He made a comeback for a Genesis reunion tour - The Last Domino Tour - from 2021 - 2022, with son Nic, 23, taking his place behind the drums while Phil sang and played piano. In an interview with Mojo magazine last year, he said: "I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens. But I'm not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I've been sick, I mean very sick." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
