Civ 5- far too civilised

Game review for you this week: Civilisation V. Anyone with ears will know how much I liked Civilisation IV, and how little I think of its shiny new younger brother.

The Civ games allow you to create a civilization from scratch, building farms, mines and factories to generate gold. You interact with other civilisations, trading with them or crushing them in nuclear war. The whole thing is very pleasant and reassuring, and a terrific ego boost for anyone who isn’t an emperor.

Civilisation IV blew my mind. It allows you to do all kinds of things, and yes, the user interface looks a little as if, with a weekend and the right know-how you could do it yourself, but it made me feel, for the first time in my life, that I knew something about games.

Civ 4 gives the player an enormous amount of control about the type of empire they want to create. For example, picking Genghis Khan as the face of your empire will give you advantages in both war and philosophy. Researching different technologies give you different advantages, such as sailing or the ability to build the UN.

A typical game for me would include founding at least two major religions, allowing them to spread both within and outside my empire. Then, I would research weaponry that far outstripped that of my enemies. I’d take some cities, expand my civilisation to ridiculous proportions and claim a well-earned victory.

See, the only way I can illustrate that a Civ 5 is actually rather lacklustre is by telling you about all of the colour and depth it misses out on. Diplomacy, though better representing that in the real-world, has been oversimplified. There is less distinction between different leaders, and let’s not forget, an awful lot less leaders to choose from.

Religion is dead and war is costly, which makes my style of gameplay somewhat redundant. What’s more, the world is littered with city-states, who make unreasonable demands and take unfeasibly large amounts of gold to keep quiet.

Civ 4 had a variety of different ways to win, but in Civ 5, you are shackled by the fact that world wonders give the player a ridiculous advantage.

To be honest, the jury’s still out in some respects, but the fact that Civ 4 appears to have captured my heart the first time I played it bodes ill for the sequel. It’s probably too nostalgic of me, but... it’s just not the same. Provisionally, 3 stars.

LS Radio, or How to Launch Something Properly

Since the launch of Artstastic several weeks ago, very little has happened. What didn't help was starting my second year of university immediately after launching.

Also, I didn't have an amazing launch party at Baa Bar. LS Radio did though.

Emerging from the ashes of Icon Radio with style with free shots on the door and amateur DJ sets, it was, quite honestly, the best party I have been to all year. If the actual radio station can live up to the launch, then pure awesome is going to be broadcast.

But what made that party so great? I have some theories.

1- The venue - Baa Bar has brilliant decor and drinks in all the colours of the rainbow. It has a good atmosphere, particularly when it's not full of 16-year-olds who think they're badass. Drinks deals also look pretty cheap, and the prospect of a go on the Wheel of Misfortune is terribly exciting.

2- The food - On each table were little bowls of lollies and popcorn. Yes, we're not five. But things were easier when we were. Popcorn is also surprisingly difficult to throw at people, as we discovered.

3- The music - Amateur by name, but not by nature. The music was largely played by amateur DJs who just happened to be friends of the attendees. If a crowd can't be pleased by their friends, who can they be pleased by?

If you didn't go, feel jealous. And yes, I have just reviewed a party in an arts blog. Five stars.

A quick hello, then on with the show

Welcome to Artstastic, your home-made view on the arts. From news to reviews and beyond, Sachtastic will aim to bring you everything you wanted or needed to know about creative goings-on. The launch, I'm afraid was mildly delayed, but I hope to be posting every Tuesday.

A film review, then, for starters. Four Lions. It's a film I've been wanting to see for ages, since I looked up Benedict Cumberbatch after he stunned me so in BBC's Sherlock. Cumberbatch, incidentally, does not feature excessively in the film.

On paper, Four Lions was a recipe for a terrible film. It's about suicide bombers, yet it's a comedy. There are few less funny subjects than suicide bombing, but they still thought this was a viable topic. It could have gone so horribly wrong.

Then again, it really didn't. It worked perfectly. The motivations of the would-be Jihadists are well-presented; though the characters are daft, they're fully formed. Their stupidity seems to originate from stupidity rather than from poor scriptwriting. It's hard to explain without spoiling it really, but though the characters were often stupid, they were only as stupid as it is possible to be within the realms of human experience. Also, the fact that incompetence was rife on all sides -the Jihadists, the politicians, the police - made it somehow fair. As long as the police were too incompetent to notice the terrorists, it was perfectly acceptable that the terrorists were too incompetent to disguise the nature of their activities.

It didn't just work, either. It was bloody hilarious in a way that just makes me want to tell you to watch it. The beginning of the film is made up of "bloopers" of the group making Jihadi video wills, which sets the pace for the rest of the film. It's a clever film about idiots.

For me, a key thing which made this film not only funny, but good, is the fact that the central character, aside from wanting to be a suicide bomber, is a perfectly balanced, perfectly human person. The film also looks at his family life, along with the differences between his and his brother's interpretations of Islam.

This film was made to a budget, and occasionally that shows, but not often enough to detract from it in any way. It is absolutely a 5 star film, and the only truly original piece of cinema I have seen in a long time. I hope people realise how good it is. Watch or... well, the alternative is unthinkable.