When last we saw our heroes, they had just killed Special Ed a.k.a. Dark horse and liberated a small frontier town. It's then that I realize that Steve isn’t his mother’s brightest neither. A bar maid comes flying out of the local bar, eating dirt as she plows the sidewalk with her face. Steve rushes to her side and glibly inquires, “You alright ma’am?” And she says, “Oh, those terrible men. Please help.” Not, “Dear lord, I can taste horse manure in my lungs!” or “My eyes are in my spleen!” - just “Please help”. Steve then reassures her by saying “Alright ma’am. Don’t worry about it.” in the tone that you or I would use to say: “Oy, not this crap again.” They were real women/men/horses/other in them thar days! Upon entering the saloon, we meet The Smith Brothers... They’re British. And Cockney. One says “We’re gonna blow you away!” - “Cheers! Cheers!” the other chimes in. And then… SPOILERS! You kill them. Having fought off the molotov and dynamite-throwing Smith Brothers, you are treated to a can-can show by the three bar tarts you just rescued. Because when you’ve just been brutalized, you can always dance the pain away. The one from outside doesn’t join in because methinks she’s still picking grit out of her eyes. After the dance, you get given your next mission. Yup, someone else needs to be shot. You have to battle Sir Richard Rose - Dick to people that wanted to get shot often - and his three sidekicks. They are El Greco (The Greek, which doesn’t explain why he’s dressed as a Mexican down to the sombrero Cormano gets when you frag him); Paco Loco (Little Crazy) and a native American named… *sigh*… Chief Scalpem… Why not go the whole eagle and call him Big Chief Generokee? El Greco brings a whip and shield to your gun fight making me think he was the last picked in every gun fight ever. Sir Richard probably keeps him around to make the rest of the crew feel clever. That said, he starts his fight with “Die gringo. (gringo - non-Spanish/Latino/Mexican)” and ends it with “Adios amigo (Goodbye friend)”. With behaviour like that, this guy was always going to be a butt-kicking away from a friendship bracelet. After wiping out the entire Apache Nation - who live in the mountains and have a trolley system that makes the one on Table Mountain look like amateur hour - you fight the knife swinging/throwing Chief *sigh* Scalpem… on an Indian burial ground. He says “Me ready for pow wow”, meaning he’s there for a ceremony involving feasting and dancing or a conference or meeting for discussion, especially among friends or colleagues… So this poor fellow was just defending his funeral party from three rednecks and a Mexican? Nice guys! This is why you need to learn a language other than bullets! However, upon his near death, he says “Me pow wowed out.” The Apache party scene can be brutal. Then his sister runs up and says “Please, please don’t shoot my brother. He was only following orders.” What? He’s German now. And where was she for the last bullet storm? Did she think it was thunder? So the lads don’t kill her brother but get paid anyway… Which makes you wonder why all the fighting happened at all? After another horse ride, you meet the very big, fat and bald Paco Loco. And he’s paco-ing a machine gun… because of course he is. After you kill him, he falls out of his tree fort and sprays the sky with lead, shouting “Hasta la bye bye!” El Greco, all is forgiven, I’ve just met Dark Horse’s pen pal. After blasting your way through a mining camp that changes from crappy, craggy paths to a sumptuous rose-covered mansion in the blink of a pixel, you meet Sir Richard Rose. “Cheerio, old chap” he says and away we go! This is a boss fight! He dodges, spins, tumbles, shoots like you and… wears a bulletproof vest? Richard… You really are a… Richard. He even dies like a British Western stereotype… “I say, bit of bad luck” he quips as a lone red rose glides effortlessly through the air, bursting into dust as his villainous life draws to a close. *sigh* They don’t make them POMS like that anymore. With no desperadoes left to round up and the sun drawing low, Steve, Billy, Bob and Cormano take their bounties, mount up and ride off into the sunset, thus the name of the game. The red sun sets on the horizon as our heroes ride off into the mythical middle distance of The Old West. Classic huge western titles fly at the screen announcing “THE END”. But fear not, for adventure is only another credit away. On a side note, one player could easily rack up $530 000 in bounties in one play-through. Considering that’s 17 million dollars or 238 million rand in today’s money, I can see fair reason why these guys went into the business. Stetsons and sombreros off to ya, boys. Sunset Riders was one of the great games of arcade history, made at a time when Konami made games instead of enemies. Great graphics, an epic soundtrack, hilarious dialogue and animations ensured that this game could hold its head high in any small dusty town in the old west, back east or even some sleepy Free State mining town far away.

I often find myself standing in the corner at parties with a drink in my hand, occasionally chatting to the odd passer by about their relation to the host, and if I’m feeling daring, ask them what their name is and how they got there (you’d be surprised how many people can honestly answer this question after a certain time). However, most parties seem to set up their massive sound systems conveniently in these corners where I usually stand – massive subwoofers that drown out any verbal communication. I normally leave within 15 minutes before the next bass-banging dubstep track assaults my senses. However, I recently got the chance to try out a portable speaker that gave me the satisfaction of having that conversation, all the while enjoying the music in absolute clarity. Enter LG’s XBOOM Go PK7; a speaker that brings the party to you. The XBOOM Go PK7 touts Meridian Technology confidently in its branding on the front of the frame; a fruitful partnership between Meridian Audio and LG, which has ensured quality audio. And quality audio, it has certainly delivered. Upon booting up the PK7 for the first time, what immediately caught my attention was how crisp the sound felt. I use the word “felt” and not only “heard” because the bass exuded a punchy quality that reverberated through my body. Keep in mind, this is a portable speaker no larger than a briefcase, yet it managed to catch me completely off-guard like I was sitting in a car with built-in subwoofers. Granted, it doesn’t take its bass to some of those extremes, but for a simple speaker resting on my desk, I absolutely loved the reverb and general impact of the bassline. Upon booting up the PK7 for the first time, what immediately caught my attention was how crisp the sound felt. Connecting the speaker to my phone was a delightfully simple task. The PK7 comes with Bluetooth connectivity, so it was simply a case of switching on the devices Bluetooth and pairing it with my phone, to which I could control the volume as well. Subsequently, adjusting the volume on the speaker also comes with the added benefit of lowering the volume on your phone too, meaning your friend doesn’t have to conspicuously ask you for your phone to turn it down. Sadly, the speaker only allowed one device to be connected to it at a time. I experimented with several phones, but only ever managed to connect one before the others completely disconnected. It’s not a huge issue, but it would’ve been nice to allow multiple phones or devices to be connected simultaneously, and switching between them would just be a matter of which device took priority, or fading out the volume on one for another. As far as negatives go, though, this is where it mostly ends. The speaker’s purpose is to ultimately showcase the best on-the-go audio experience, and it delivers wholeheartedly on that front. ...the PK7 attracted the attention of onlookers and listeners. This is down to a few factors: it’s elegant design, superb RGB lighting, and crystal clear audio. I spent a good deal of time with the PK7 over the festive season, mainly taking it to Christmas parties and New Year’s Eve gatherings. Surprisingly, the speaker managed to stand out as I received plenty of questions from curious guests. This is more than you can say about other sound systems on the market, which usually fill the duty of background equipment to play music through. Instead, the PK7 attracted the attention of onlookers and listeners. This is down to a few factors: it’s elegant design, superb RGB lighting, and crystal clear audio. The PK7’s design was clearly given plenty of thought as it sports a sleek matte finish, and accentuates the portable nature of the system by having handlebars cleverly placed on its frame. From a purely visual aesthetic, the bars aren’t intrusive at all as it comfortably blends in with the overall design. It would not look out of place sitting on your kitchen countertop or living room. It’s only when you get up to move the speaker do you realize that you can actually pick it up by the handlebars and easily carry it to another location. It’s surprisingly light, meaning you wouldn’t have a problem simply carrying it during a leisurely walk. I was shocked to see how well [the lighting] kept up with the beat; even something as taxing as The Prodigy made the lighting lose its mind, sure, but it felt like I was instigating a sweet rave party in the dark. Another fantastic addition to the speaker – and probably my favourite aspect – is the RGB lighting present around the rims of the dual speakers and on the upper and lower frame. The lighting was designed to sync to the beat of music, picking up reverberations from the song. I had plenty of fun just playing through a wide variety of music genres to see how well it could keep up with the beats – sometimes toning it down with slow house music (Daft Punk and local talent Black Coffee), before taking it up a notch with faster tempos and BPMs (The Prodigy and Tiesto). I was shocked to see how well it kept up with the beat; even something as taxing as The Prodigy made the lighting lose its mind, sure, but it felt like I was instigating a sweet rave party in the dark. The only time the gleeful lighting came under pressure was with heavy metal, but can you really blame it? The LG XBOOM Go PK7 is a fantastic portable speaker that provides comfort, mobility and fun RGB times in its design, but also pushes superb sound quality thanks to Meridian Technology. Currently, the speaker will set you back around R3500-R4000, though distinguishes itself thanks to all of the above factors. You’re truly getting quality for your investment; a portable speaker that is easy to use, easy to manage, and easy to move - with only the Bluetooth pairing issue being its minor setback. However, if you’re in the market for a portable speaker that’s equal parts attractive and punchy in its execution, look no further.

Ever since the Uncharted live-action movie, which stars Tom Holland, lost its director, Shawn Levy, last year, Sony have scrambled to find a new filmmaker to replace him. Now, it seems like they've finally struck a deal with Dan Trachtenberg, the director of the critically acclaimed film (and quasi-sequel to Cloverfield), 10 Cloverfield Lane. Variety reports that Trachtenberg will helm Sony's Uncharted film, following Levy's exit from the project in order to focus his attention on another video game movie, Free Guy. Trachtenberg reportedly impressed Sony so much with his work on 10 Cloverfield Lane, that they've been eager to work with him since. Screenwriter Joe Carnahan, who wrote the screenplay for The Grey (an excellent survival film where Liam Neeson takes on grey wolves), will reportedly pen the script for the Uncharted film. This talent working behind the scenes does instill confidence as they have a good reputation, and might turn out to be a decent video game adaptation. However, even with the talent of Duncan Jones helming 2016's Warcraft movie, it's not always a reassurance that the film will end up being great. That is unfortunately the stigma with video game to film adaptations, with only last year's Rampage standing out in my mind as a fun, mindless blockbuster that was semi-decent this decade. The Uncharted film does not have a release date yet.

Anthem is a game in which its mystery is slowly being uncovered with each and every bit of gameplay that is revealed. While it may not be showcasing the entire game, we get to see a detailed look at Fort Tarsis and some of its residents. According to Anthem's latest gameplay video, Fort Tarsis is an area in which players will have their solo story experience, with NPCs giving them quests, learning new lore, and unravel the game's narrative. In typical BioWare fashion, the game will offer dialogue options that impact the relationships with other characters. Fort Tarsis houses codex items that are scattered around and give context to the game and its plot. The Fort lives as a vault for Freelancers to store their weapons, objects and gear that players can take on the game's various missions. The gameplay showcases how the Fort is a living world that has NPCs constantly doing things, and offering new objectives for you within the area itself. It is worth noting that squadmates cannot come with you when you enter Fort Tarsis, but there is plenty to see and do. Graphically, this is still an alpha build so character textures are yet to be fully added in. The gameplay highlights the fact that there have been changes since the last time we saw Fort Tarsis and things could still change by the time we get the released product. Think of Fort Tarsis as your hub; it offers daily, weekly, and monthly challenges that will reward players upon completion. That being said, BioWare has said that the space within the hub will evolve over time as you progress through the story, which means there will be a lot more differences from the footage we have seen. Nevertheless, fans don't have to wait much longer for Anthem to release. Anthem is scheduled to release on February 22, 2019 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.