44 ............... Sunday, May 14, 2017 1SM

Fringe gig is cut above

1 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe2 Prey

3 Grand Theft Auto V4 CoD: Iinfinite

Warfare5 Lego Worlds

MUSIC & GAMES

lRACE fans, start yourengines. Slightly Mad

Studios have revealed THREE special editions for Project CARS 2.

They are packed with goodies, ranging from a Sticker Sheet to a Steel-book to exclusive in-game DLC where you can unlock four iconic Japanese cars.

But the Ultra Edition really does steal the show.

You get a 1/12 Resin McLaren 720S clothes in the SMS-R Stealth Satin livery as well as a signed poster, an individually-numbered Snapback cap and a McLaren Sketch-book. Be still my beating heart.

It is all part of the officialcollaboration with McLaren following the development of the 720S.

If that wasn’t enough theUltra Edition is exclusive — just 1,000 will be made.

No Ultra Edition prices yet so keep an eye on pro-jectcarsgame.com/preor-der for more details.

CULT telly hit DaraO Briain’s Go 8 Bit owesits success to the Edin-burgh Fringe and BEER.

The gaming fun fest startsits second series run on Davetomorrow but Steve McNeil,one of the comics behind theshow, has revealed it allreally came about by chance.

McNeil — who shares the tellystage with Dara, Sam Pamphilonand Ellie Gibson — admitted theyhad been forced to improvise atthe Fringe because they had for-gotten to write a new show.

He laughed: “It’s insane. Backin 2013, me and Sam were meantto be going back up to the festi-val with our fourth sketch showbut we hadn’t written anything.

“Go 8 Bit was originally justgoing to be a stupid thing we didat the weekends while we wereup there as a bit of light relieffor us and our comedian friendsbecause it can be a looooooongmonth.

“The plan was just ‘Plug in aNintendo Wii. Get comediansdrunk. Let audience in’.”

But it was an instant hit andhas an army of fans up anddown the country.

McNeil added: “I’d always lovedGames Master as a kid, andthere’s always been these sorts ofone-off ‘late-night’ shows inEdinburgh.

“It’s the only time of the yearthat all the comedians aretogether in the same place, andyour options in Edinburgh areessentially get drunk, watch ashow, or be in a show. We com-bined options one and three.”

The show is back with itsfamiliar mix of celebrity gamers.Pointless geek Richard Osman,Sara Cox, Vernon Kay and EdithBowman are set to star in thenew series and McNeil insists thebanter is a vital part of theappeal.

He said: “All the guests havebeen great — our guest booker,Paul Byrne, has done a great jobin balancing skill and bookingpeople who get the tone of ourshow.

“It’s not a traditional panelshow where you have to shoutover everyone to do your jokes.We just want everyone to have anice chat and have fun playinggames.

“Gaming skill-wise, Ore Odubagave us all a masterclass indefensive play on X Men vsStreet Fighter. He made me earnevery single punch. I don’t thinkthat one will be shown until theautumn though! My dream guests

would, have to be Dominik Dia-mond and Dave Perry, to bringthe whole thing full circle. AndLimmy, because Sam and I usedto do sketch comedy and hemade the best sketch showEVER.”

While the guests get to showthir stuff, there is also plenty ofcompetition between the hosts tosee who is king of a particulartitle.

McNeil insisted:“Best gamer? It’sa toss-up betweenme and Ellie, Iguess.

“Sam’s neverbeen a big gamer,although the morewe do the show,

the better he gets. In one showwe have just done, Ellie got soangry with Sam that she actuallysnatched the controller off him tocomplete a section of a challenge.

“He ended up winning theround but, to be honest, at thatpoint it’d taken so long I wasjust relieved it was over.

“If people want to see Daraplay, they should check out the

spin-off show,where he will reg-ularly humiliatehimself.

“The worst loseris definitely me.

“Sam and Ikeep track of the‘real’ score for Go8 Bit, which

EXCLUSIVEINTERVIEW

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode 1Xbox One, PS4 ,PC and mobile £5.19

A HIT flick is always a good base for a newgame — so it was no surprise to seeGuardians Of The Galaxy: The TelltaleSeries hit the shelves.

But it has actually taken a long time toget the game into the shops — the dealbetween Marvel and Telltale Games wasannounced some time ago.

The first offering follows the standardTelltale formula — an episodic epic talewith heavy dialogue sections and a QTEaction-packed section in the offing.

Episode One — Tangled Up in Blue —sets the stage neatly. The rag-tag band ofheroes are asked to fight Thanos by theNova Corps. There is plenty of action witha light dusting of Telltale point-and-clickgameplay.

The game sits between the movie and

the comic book so fans of both should findsomething to enjoy. The script is prettygood though you occasionally feel like amother hen trying to stop the team fromfighting.

Things start at a hell of a rate until thegame parts kick in, then the speed crashesbut it will take about two hours to complete.

You’ll love the chunky comic book styleand the voice acting is excellent, withNolan North as Rocket and Scott Porter asStar Lord. It is all backed up by a rockingsoundtrack.

HHHHSTUART CULLEN

lTITANFALL fans willbe able to fight on the

run because the futuristic shooter is heading to mobiles.

Titanfall: Assault is being developed by Res-pawn Entertainment along with Nexon and is described as a fast and fluid real-time strategy game.

The core gameplay looks to be built around collecting cards and then building a deck before waging war. There is a strong player versus player element. You are in charge of a mixture of pilots and titans.

Hopefully Titanfall: Assault will fare better than Titanfall: Frontline which was also planned for mobiles but got canned a short while into its development.

Titanfall: Assault is com-ing soon on the iOS and Android marketplace.

GR-8 . . . tomorrow’s teams

ONE2WATCHby CHRIS SWEENEY

DYKEENIESARE BACK FOR GOODTHE DYKEENIES knew they’d made the right decision to return, when their comeback gig sold out in 17 seconds — with fans from Japan and across Europe snapping up tickets.

The Cumbernauld band split in 2012, following seven years in the game. They’d released two albums after bursting onto the scene straight from school. But they weren’t sure if anyone still cared.

Drummer John Kerr said: “Some bands come back massive, some come back and no one gives a s***. We didn’t really know what was best, if we should to do a big gig and maybe

end up with egg on ourfaces.

“So we decided to doa show at King Tut’s inGlasgow and see if any-one was bothered.

“I got a call and theysaid it’d sold out in 17seconds.

“For a split secondwe felt like Justin Bie-ber. We had the butter-flies. So we put asecond one on sale,that went in twentyminutes and then thethird one was sold outby that afternoon. It’ssurreal.”

The group —who’re also the threeHenderson brothersBrian, Alan andAndrew, plus StevenRamsay — will do thelast of that hat-tricktonight.

But they’re backfor good and newmusic is not far away.

John explained:“We’ve got the bestof worlds, it feels likea new band.

“But we’ve got thecomfort of knowinghow each otherworks.

“We’re older andthere’s more maturity,not musically — butwe can speak openlyto each other.

“We have new songsand we’re really excitedabout them. We’ll getthem out before theend of the year.

“The recording ses-sions are half finishedright now — and afterthese shows, we can sitdown and decide it all.”

The guys also want more control this time around. As they felt their true colours weren’t shown to the public before.

John said: “We had that young naivety and you allthink you’re going to be famous.

“In a lot of ways our charisma was taken away from the way we were marketed.

Go to: www.facebook.com/thedykeenies

ONE2HEARINDIE rock isn’t dead and buried.

And that’s due topromising young-sters like Edin-burgh lads Vistas.

They’ve been outsupporting The View and look like having a chance of emulating their chart success.

Single Feel Aliveis a tightly pack-aged foot-stomper, that’s over in under three minutes. Go to facebook.com/vistasband

ONE2SEEKING TUT’S Summer Nights Festival has once again delivered a ripsnorting lineup.They’ve landed aload of top talent to rock the venue for two weeks starting on July 13.On the bill are thelikes of November Lights, Model Aero-planes, Verse Met-rics, Lost in Stereo and Rascalton.For all the infor-mation , go to: www.kingtuts.co.uk

1SM Sunday, May 14, 2017 ............... 45

Watch a video of the band playing at:

www.thescottishsun.co.uk

NEWMUSIC

VIDAWHO: Jamie Pollock (vocals/guitar), Nathan Evans (guitar/vocals), Craig Scobbie (bass/vocals), Greg Ballantyne (key-boards), Jamie Piggott(drums/vocals)WHERE: AlloaFOR FANS OF: Oasis, TheVerve, The Stone RosesJIM SAYS: The first act Icaught at last year’s Tene-ment Trail festival in Glasgow,Vida made an immediateimpression — psychedelicindie pop that sucked me in.

So I was delighted whenthey agreed to play my stageat the Stereofunk Festival atStrathclyde Park last month.

Again, they more than deliv-ered. The big stage is a per-fect platform for them.

Jamie Pollock and NathanEvans first got together earlyin 2013. Drummer Jamie Pig-gott hooked up later that year.Ross McShane came in onbass and soon they were gig-ging across Scotland.

Debut single Fade Awaylanded a year ago, followedby the Masquerade EP inNovember.

By this time Greg Bal-lantyne had joined on keys,but shortly after the EP Rossleft and Craig Scobbiestepped in to complete thecurrent line-up.

They may be a five-piece,but Vida think of managerTom Barnes as a sixth mem-ber. Singer Jamie said:“Tommo’s part of the family.He has done us wonders. He

got our music on Sky Sports,also securing a tour supportwith The Sherlocks.” Theyjoined the Sheffield bandacross Scotland and north-ern England in February.

Tom also introduced Vidato one of their heroes, OceanColour Scene and Paul Wellerguitarist Steve Cradock.

Cradock has produced theband’s new single Where WeCame From.

Jamie said: “Tommo DJ’dalongside him at an event lastyear, and kept in contact withSteve’s personal assistantand lovely wife, Sally.

“She offered us three daysin the studio with her famoushusband. When we walkedinto his home studio we werein awe. We were faced with allthe Ocean Colour Scene golddiscs, plus his collaborationswith McCartney, the Galla-ghers and Weller displayedon the wall. An original copyof Electric Warrior by T Rexwas spinning next to anincense stick burning away.The scene was set, we were inthe zone.”

The band are becomingone of the must-see bands inthe country. Vida are on thelThis Feeling club tour alongwith Kirkcaldy’s Shambolics.It rounds off at Night & Day inManchester on Saturday.MORE: facebook.com/wear-evidalJim presents a weekly show-case of New Music on Amaz-ing Radio Sundays 2-4pm.

amazingradio.comjimgellatly.com

Fringe gig is cut above

Little NightmaresXbox One, PS4 and PC £15.99

WE are all for second chances at GamingTowers.

In 2003, Clayton Kauzlaric tried to make Voo-doo Vince an iconic Xbox character.

The 3D platformer was full of charm but didn’tcut it with fans. Fast forward 14 years to secondchance alley and Voodoo Vince has had aremastering makeover for Xbox One and PC —and it has really done the trick.

Vince is a wisecracking voodoo doll that wasbrought to life after Kosmo the Inscrutable’sthugs broke into a voodoo shop to steal ZombieDust. Cue chaos. You have to find theZombie Dust and rescue the shopkeeper which is no mean feat whenyou are a 10in doll made from burlap.

It keeps the hark back to a past gam-ing era as you platform around theworld collecting magic pages for more

power and finding the Zombie Dust for morehealth. There is a good mix of enemies but com-bat is the weak point in the show as Vince ismore of a pillow puncher than an AnthonyJoshua bomb launcher.

He makes up for it with a few tricks — espe-cially that voodoo classic of hurting himself tocause others pain.

He also has a nasty streak — with attacks likebeing cut in half by a bear trap tobeing eaten by a shark in a bath tub toan incident with laxatives.

Each attack is actually good fun towatch and you can collect differentones as you work your way throughthe eight-hour campaign. This is a

remaster in the purest sense — there is no newcontent. All the work has been done to thegraphics and textures.

There is an almost cartoon look and the NewOrleans setting has a certain charm as you gofrom the French Quarter to Bayou and thesoundtrack backs up the vibe with a good mixof jazzy tracks. The voice acting is also out-standing, with Ken Boynton stealing the showas the wise-cracking Vince.

One of the few let-downs was in the Bayousection where the framerate plummeted. Thatwas a shock given that the game has had ahuge injection of power. But that doesn’t stop itbeing an enjoyable game that harks back to apast era of gaming. Fans will love it and new-comers will pick it up really quickly.

HHHHSTUART CULLEN

Voodoo Vince: RemasteredXbox One and PC £12.49

YOU don’t have to say a sin-gle word to have a monsterstory.

From Limbo to Inside, wehave seen some powerfulgames that leave it up to theplayer to discover what’sreally going on. They oftenstay in the mind long after thecredits have rolled.

Tarsier Studios’ LittleNightmares is the latestmember of the club.

It is set in a dark twistedworld where you have toescape the horrors builtwithin a puzzler platformer.

You are Six — a young rain-coat-wearing girl trapped in asurreal floating resort calledthe Maw. Or is it a prison?

Six wants to breakfree but it’s not as easyas just walking out thedoor. She must scalethe levels of the Mawwhile avoiding thetwisted crew mem-bers and obeseguests in the resort.

Little Nightmares — as thename suggests — is verydark at times and some gam-ers will find it very tough, butit is always egging you on tofind the truth.

It has an incredible impactyet doesn’t quite have thesurprise pay-off like Inside.

Gameplay is broken up bypuzzles which take just theright amount of time to solve.

Then there are platformingsections as you travelthrough the Maw and a num-ber of collectables to find onyour five-hour journey.

Graphically, each locationhas a suitably dark twistedfeel to it. It often seems like

something from Tim Burton’smind — think Beetlejuice orThe Nightmare BeforeChristmas.

That all leads to somestandout moments that justhave to be played.

The dark vibe continues inthe outstanding characterdesign, from the long-armed,blind Janitor to the warpedpig-like twin chiefs.

You don’t need it, but thefear factor is ramped up evenmore by the audio design asthey scream and shriek oncethey spot you. The sound-track also frames each scene

really well addingextra layers to thescare levels.

We found a fewparts of the gamewouldn’t load right —mostly the Janitor —so you just had anempty room. But a cou-ple of reloads later and

he was in the room as well.But the biggest issue for

some gamers will be thelength — it’s a little bit on theshort side given that it’s a fullretailer release.

Tarsier Studios havecrafted a dark twisted tale ina horrible world. It is not theeasiest subject matter but iswell worth your time if you area fan of this style of game.

If you like something tofreak you out, then LittleNightmares is a dream cometrue. Just maybe play withthe lights on.

HHHHúSTUART CULLEN

Nightmare’s a dream gem

includes all 50 live shows we didbefore the move to TV.

“We’ve never fallen out — weenjoy the rivalry but the point ofthe show is that it’s not about ahigh level of professional compet-itive play. We’re trying to recreatethe fun of having a few friendsround to play games on the sofa.”

Games fans will see themtackle some fun titles as well.McNeil said: “We’ve finally man-aged to secure a couple of Mariogames. We’ve got Minecraft too,which is my favourite game ever.The only big one left for me isGrand Theft Auto. Rockstar,please let us play your game!”lDara O Briain’s Go 8 Bit and Go 8 BitDLC start Monday, May 15, (Dave, 10pm).

STUART CULLEN

GO 8 BIT fans will see double whenthe new series starts — a DLC extrais on straight after the main event.

McNeil laughed: “It’s really fun —we’ve tried to make it feel like we allfinished the main show, then wentdown the pub for a chat.”

He added: “There’s more spacefor discussion of games, and there’sseveral weeks where our guest is agames journalist ratherthan a comedian but, aswith everything we do withGo 8 Bit, we’ve tried tomake sure it’s still funnyand accessible for non-

gamers. In the first half we chatabout what we’ve all been playing,and in the second half the guest sug-gests a title that should go into ourhallowed ‘Hall Of Game’. I then sug-gest a worthy opponent and weargue until Ellie’s sick of it.

“Then there’s a bunch of stupidstuff like Dara taking us on at games— because he’s always moaning

about not playing them inthe main show. Sam doesa gaming-based Top 5 andthere’s my favourite bit:‘What Does Ellie’s DadThink?’”

Double dose is Bit special

lTIME to get all revved up — EA andGhost Games have revealed that a

new Need For Speed game will be out “by the end of 2017”.

It doesn’t have a name yet but the

announcement on the Need For Speed site said the new game would have the usual customisation and police pur-suits. But Ghost have said the game will have offline single-player elements

which was something missing in past titles.

A picture in the post shows the dateJune 2 on the sign, so expect more news then and at E3 next month.