STACK New Zealand December Issue 69

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visit BEST OF REVIEWS
star wars battlefront
Last night I got to play as Slave 1 in Fighter
Squadron for the first time. I yelled out in
glee – my wife looked at me like I was an
idiot. This is what Star Wars: Battlefront
means to a fan of the greatest science fiction
franchise ever created. DICE wisely made the
decision to concentrate – like most Star Wars
aficionados – on the original Lucas trilogy.
From the first crunch of snow underfoot on
Hoth, to the first time you hear the scream
of a TIE Fighter, it immediately becomes
apparent that the studio’s unprecedented
access to the Lucas archives and location
visits has paid massive dividends; the
attention to detail is unbelievable. Yes, the
game lacks the depth of your quintessential
contemporary shooter, but that is by no
means a bad thing. Designed to jump in and
play for as little or as long as you want, time
poor gamers will appreciate the accessibility.
Whether you choose to fight online, or in the
offline missions mode, if you’re a Star Wars
fanatic – and we are here at STACK – there
has never been a game where the aesthetic
and audio representation of this much-loved
series has been so adroitly captured. If
you haven’t picked it up yet, put Star Wars
Battlefront right to the top of your ‘to do’ list –
it will keep you company in the countdown to
The Force Awakens. Paul Jones
ADELE 25
Yessir, it’s as titanic as you imagined. Adele
seems to traipse along every corridor love
has ever opened to her throughout 25’s
11 tracks; it can be dramatic, but its grace
and dignity are undeniable. The truth about
25 is, the chordal progressions aren’t very
original – but who cares when you have
Adele’s innate knack for melody? Her
vocal lines could elevate Twinkle Twinkle’s
base skeleton to a transcendental plane,
because her choices are inherently beautiful
and draw emotion out as smoothly as
toothpaste from a fresh tube. Producers
Greg Kurstin et al have done well not to
spruce the naturalism up too much with
electronic gongs and chrome; there’s a
gospel feel to many of the tracks, but of
course a thick slathering of reverb which
makes everything consistently cinematic
– any of these could be a Skyfall, to be
honest. The subtle Remedy – which is
driven by little more than a piano and
Adele’s voice – is especially fantastic.
Some tracks fall into a dour default (All I
Ask is pretty unnecessary), but there are
a couple of surprises: you can hear the
syncopated Lorde vibe in Send My Love (To
Your New Lover), while Million Years Ago
evokes Amy Winehouse’s Love Is A Losing
Game with a gentle flamenco tremor, and
Sweetest Devotion is an excellent closer;
its lovely, slow-motion 6/8 gallop is the
perfect domain for a song about Adele’s
child, whose sweet chatter we can hear at
the track’s edges. While 25 is excessively
nostalgic, you’ll likely find yourself swept
along its moody river regardless. Just go
with it. Zoë Radas
MR. HOLMES
Now retired and in fear of his brilliant mind
eroding away, Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen)
decides to pen a memoir reflecting truth rather
than the embellished tales he’s famous for. Yet
his housekeeper’s young son has other ideas. As
Holmes warms to the inquisitive young Roger
(Milo Parker), he also begins to challenge his
own flickering memory of his last case – one that
broke his spirit, and indeed heart. McKellen, born
to play Holmes as we all know, floats like velvet
on glass in this clever and engaging examination
of aging, death, regret and old dogs learning
new tricks. Dripping with visual grandeur and a
quiet, rich and deep quality of pace we seldom
see in a feature, Mr. Holmes is a powerful – and
powerfully simple – slice of filmmaking.
Scott Hocking
G
M
AL
32 DECEMBER 2015