issue 09 / volume 41

—

» ‘ca$h 'n Guns 9

Ed Appleby
illustrator
Miillustrator
@theotherpress.ca

 

S ometimes you just want to
take out your friends and
steal their stuff. Luckily, there’s
a game for that.

Cash ‘n Gung is a risk
management game for four to
six players designed by Ludovic
Maublanc and published by
Repos Production in 2005 with
illustrations by Gérard Mathieu.
The second edition (as Cash
’n Guns), for up to eight
players, came out in 2014 with
illustrations by John Kovalic.

In the game, each of

: the players takes the role

: of a gangster. You have just

: completed the heist and now

: it’s time to “negotiate” for your
: share of the loot.

There are eight rounds

: during which a section of the

: loot is up for grabs. You then

: load your gun with a bullet

: card—which can be blanks,

: live rounds, or trigger happy

: rounds—and then you proceed
: to chose which other player to

: intimidate by pointing your gun :
: at them. Players then have the
: option to back out before the

: bullets begin to fly.

Players who remain in the

: round uninjured then split
: the loot. The player with the
: highest valued loot wins.

 

Though some of the initial

: setup and rule clarifications

: can drag ona bit, the gameplay
: is simple and fun. The game

: provides actual foam guns,

: which are surprisingly satisfying
: to point at your friends. As all

: player actions need to be made
: at the same time, the game

: goes pretty fast. There are also

: a lot of opportunities to really

: get into character and have fun
: with the game.

I would recommend Cash

: ’n Guns for tight groups of

: players, friends who are looking
: for something fun and aren't

: put off bya little direct player-

: versus-player action. Also, if

: you want to level up the fun of

: the game, try using Nerf guns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

©2015 Goblins. All Rights Reserved.

  

arts // 9

Rel ee

‘. *
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

A I. robot lives thug life in
latest Neill Blomkamp film

» ‘Chappie’ movie review

=

Cazzy Lewchuk
Staff Writer

 

rom Neill Blomkamp,
director of District 9 and
Elysium, comes Chappie,
the story of the world’s first
sentient artificial intelligence

misfortunes of his life.

The movie is set in 2016
in South Africa, where the
world’s first police force of 100
robots has been implemented.
Down-on-their-luck gangsters
Ninja and Yolandi (played by
musicians of the same names
from Die Antwoord) kidnap
Deon Wilson (Dev Patel),
inventor of the robots and a
new form of sentient artificial
intelligence. They’ve also
accidentally kidnapped his
A.I. robot Chappie (Sharlto
Copley), who quickly develops
and learns the emotions of
crime, love, and thug life.

The performances and
character arcs are moving,
captivating, and make the
audience think. However,
the number of plot arcs,
unresolved questions, and

the quality down considerably.
It almost seemed to have no
true message or lesson, with

questions being thrown at
the audience too fast. It all
ultimately leads to a badly
paced, confusing ending that
doesn’t address some of the
most prominent parts of the
film, such as the flash-forward
at the very beginning.

After seeing Chappie,
I found out Blomkamp

: envisioned the movie as the

: first part of a trilogy. This

: makes all the unresolved

: things somewhat more

: forgivable, but does not excuse
: having a story feel incomplete

Oo Oo Qo o Qo : characters are given sendoffs
: that are clearly supposed to

: be endings, yet not satisfying
: ones.

or hastily wrapped. The

By far the best part of the

: movie is the performances.
robot and the implications and : Almost every character was

: fun to watch and acted with

: interest. Die Antwoord are

: basically playing criminal

: versions of themselves, but

: they’re entertaining and serve

: agreat contrast from Chappie’s
: nerdy, law-abiding creator.

: They have a companion known
: as Yankie (Jose Pablo Cantillo),
: who serves no purpose to

: advance the story other than

: being another gangster to steal
: cars or shoot people.

Even the soundtrack seems

convoluted. It features several
: songs from Die Antwoord

: that make the movie seem

: bizarre, contrasted, or even

: funny, in a story and scenes

: that are not meant to be funny.
: It almost seems like the band

: only agreed to do this movie

: if it was as self-promoting as

: possible. Ninja is even wearing
: a Die Antwoord T-shirt in one

complicated concepts, brought :
: scene.

Fans of science fiction—

particularly the kind that deals
: : with questions of artificial

the philosophy and technology intelligence and the future—

: will probably find themselves

: disappointed with the concepts
: presented. Instead Chappie

: isa movie that delivers lots

: of gunshots, explosions, and

: robots. The characters are

: good, the style is alright, but

: the plot leaves us with too

: many questions about the story
: during and after.