As such, I'll be leaving this blog for a bit to pursue other goals in my life. For now, please enjoy what posts I have created here, as well as feel free to post any suggestions of video games you would like me to look at.
Until next time...
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Temporary Hiatus
Life does weird things to people (that goes without saying) and some things need to be dropped off before others can be picked up.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us
Welcome back to another review on 'Stories of Entertainment'!
Well, time to kick back and relax with the latest fighting game to come out of the corridors of Netherealm Studios: Injustice: Gods Among Us!
Well, time to kick back and relax with the latest fighting game to come out of the corridors of Netherealm Studios: Injustice: Gods Among Us!
(Greatest heroes turned vilest villains!)
When universes collide, only fighting can solve their problems. When one dimension's Joker destroys Metropolis, along with Superman's wife and child, the Man of Steel takes a dark turn and subjugates the planet under the rule of the New Regime. Only the heroes of another Earth, as well as some help from the Regime Earth, can set the world right again, but what would be the cost?
Gameplay is pretty similar to Mortal Kombat (2011) while adding a few new twists to the genre. Interactive stage items and level transitions that make the T-rated game very 'over-the-top', which fits well with the superhero genre nicely. Each of the characters have special abilities unique to their own, as well as a mechanic tailored to their play style, like summoning bats for Batman or switching between a sword and lasso for Wonder Woman. There is a bit of a learning curve to it all and extra missions in the S.T.A.R. labs can have conditions that drive you nuts (not to mention the usual moments of the computer being a cheating bastard). Thankfully, the good overwhelms the bad in this case.
What about the story, though? Is this a case where crappy storytelling prevails or does it fit the superhero genre like a well-made cape? Lets find out.
The game starts out in the aftermath, with Metropolis reduced to rubble and Batman interrogating Joker on how he got the bomb. Before he can go anywhere, Superman barges in to take care of Joker himself. The Man of Steel tries to restrain himself, but Joker keeps pushing his buttons, calling out how everything he loves tend to blow up. The last straw occurs when Joker explains how naive Superman is, thinking he can simply be locked away and get reformed. When Joker makes a crack on how he might let Superman's next family live, Superman has enough and punches straight through Joker, killing the villain.
Soon, at 'Elsewhere', the Justice League is in battle with several villains led by Lex Luthor. Superman has Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Shazam, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, and the Flash on earth, taking on Ares, Black Adam, Sinestro, and Doomsday. On the Watchtower, heroes Nightwing, Cyborg and Raven do their best against Bane, Catwoman, Solomon Grundy, and Lex Luthor himself. As the heroes do their best to hold their own, Batman checks Arkham Asylum to make sure that the Joker hasn't escaped. When Batman finds Joker gone, he gets ambushed by Deathstroke. The two fight, yet Batman wins, teleporting back to the Watchtower to help the other heroes. He fights off Bane and Lex, capturing the mad villain. Back on Earth, the rest of the Justice League is successful, with Superman taking Doomsday into deep space.
However, a red alert sounds out and Batman discovers that Joker and Harley Quinn are setting up a bomb in Metropolis (another plan by Luthor) Batman teleports down to confront Joker, but the bomb is already armed. As Batman tries to stall his archenemy, the other heroes make haste. Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Shazam flank from one side, with Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Green Arrow from another, with Flash coming down straight the middle. As Joker starts to press the button, a strange blue light surrounds Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Aquaman. As the four heroes get closer to the Joker and Batman, the whole area envelopes in bright light. As it dissipates Batman and the Joker find themselves in a different Metropolis. Not wanting to leave Joker loose, Batman disables the Joker, but finds himself surrounded by soldiers bearing the mark of the New Regime. With some quick thinking and clever gadgets, Batman makes an escape, but loses the Joker in the process.
Meanwhile, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Green Arrow find themselves in this universe's Gotham. The decide to split up a bit to figure out just what the heck happened. Aquaman heads to Atlantis to study from the archives, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman snoop around a bit in Gotham and Green Lantern goes to find the nearest power battery to recharge. He finds it at Ferris Airfields, where he also discovers alternate versions of Cyborg and Raven torturing their Deathstroke. Green Lantern intervenes, taking the two out and freeing Deathstroke. However, when he gets distracted by a distress call from Wonder Woman, Deathstroke disappears.
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow are barely holding their own against an alternative Sinestro, with Green Lantern arriving on the scene and stopping his arch nemesis. However, he soon meets his alternative known as the Yellow Lantern (lame, but it works for this case). Green Lantern manages to beat his double, with Wonder Woman and Green Arrow recovering. The trio leave, trying to figure out just what the heck happened to this world, running into an alternative Batman along the way.
Back in the home universe (which isn't where Joker died at the hands of Superman) Cyborg, Flash and Superman try to figure out how to retrieve their lost comrades from the other universe. They aren't too sure of what to expect and are taking special care to figure out the best way to solve the problem at hand.
Back in the alternate universe, Aquaman arrives that world's Atlantis, running into a scholar of sorts. The scholar tells him about a treaty negotiation happening with diplomats, which Aquaman lies about knowing. He asks about information regarding the rise to the New Regime, pretending it would help with the treaty. He learns about the destruction of Metropolis, Superman killing Joker, and the construction of the New Regime. He soon gets called away to meet with the AU Shazam and Flash. When Aquaman reads the treaty and finds out that Atlantis would be given to Superman, he fights off both the Flash and Shazam.
Soon, the AU Aquaman appears and confronts his counterpart, with our Aquaman calling him out for giving up his rule of Atlantis. The two fight, with our Aquaman winning out. As Atlantean soldiers start to swarm him, they all freeze in mid combat. The AU Ares appears, saying he stoked the fires of violence a bit to feed on it. Aquaman fights him, thinking he was the one who brought them here. After the fight, Ares reveals how Superman has almost entirely eliminated warfare, greatly reducing Ares' powers. The War God tells Aquaman how the Insurgency fights against the Regime, which is composed of heroes and villains working for Superman. Ares then teleports Aquaman to the Insurgency's HQ, reuniting back with his friends.
At the HQ, the leader of the Insurgency, AU Batman, gives a durability enchancer known as 5-U-93-R (which explains how unpowered superheroes can survive incredible blows without dying) and talks about a plan to stop Superman. Enter AU Lex Luthor, who is actually a good guy in this reality. He pretends to be Superman's friend while also funding the Insurgency. They group discusses a weapon designed to incapacitate Superman, but requires the help of our Earth's group of heroes. Lex and Batman reveal how they were watching our Earth and picked the heroes out to help them.
In the Fortress of Solitude, AU Superman is working on a device that would control his Doomsday, while AU Wonder Woman tries to get Superman to relax. It doesn't work, but at least she does so in a nice dress. Yellow Lantern arrives and talks about seeing the doubles of heroes, both living and dead. Surprised, Superman orders the doubles to be captured asap.
Back in Gotham, the Joker has been driving around with a dead Regime soldier, taking a stop to observe his surroundings. Eventually, our Batman gets the jump on him (literally), but suffers a sprain after Joker kicks him mid-jump. Injured, Batman is defeated by the Joker. Before the Clown Prince can do anymore harm, he flees when he sees Regime heroes dropping by. Hiding away in safety, Joker watches Batman get taken away by Yellow Lantern and Hawkgirl. After they leave, Joker finds himself down the barely of a gun wielded by AU Harley Quinn (now going by Harleen). She threatens to kill him for mocking the Joker in her reality, but a swift asskicking from the clown himself disproves her. She returns to her normal self (if you can call it normal) and takes him to where the Joker Clan is hiding out.
Back with the New Regime, Superman and Wonder Woman check up on the captured Batman at Stryker's Island, a prison of sorts. While they first think its their Batman, a quick x-ray from Superman disproves otherwise. He threatens Batman by asking where the other doubles are.
Switching over the Arkham Asylum, now run by the Joker clan, our Joker takes the 5-U-93-R pill (that the clan got from the Insurgency) and goes on about how much chaos and havoc they would inflict on the New Regime. However, they get interrupted by the Regime soldiers themselves, lead by Nightwing and Hawkgirl. A scuffle breaks out between the groups, with Harleen sending out an alert for the Insurgency. With the new durability enhancer, Joker manages to beat both heroes by himself. Soon, AU Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Green Arrow arrive to help, forcing the Regime soldiers, as well as Nightwing and Hawkgirl, to flee. The heroes wisely decide to lock up the Joker, knowing how dangerous he is to the upcoming plan, as well as learning about the capture of our Batman.
Back in our world, Cyborg and Flash come up with a device that should bring back our heroes to our earth without needing to send anyone over. Switching over to the Insurgency back in the AU, Deathstroke and Luthor have a little chat, with Deathstroke deciding to join the Insurgency to get back at the Regime for his torture.
Meanwhile, the AU Batman leads the group of heroes to Wayne Mansion, which is under guard by the Regime. Batman explains how his identity as Bruce Wayne was revealed and all assets from Wayne Industries were shut off from him. He also explains how Superman lost Lois, his unborn son, and Metropolis thanks to the Joker. After killing the clown, he soon formed the New Regime, though others tried to talk him out of it. Most of them ended up dying, with Green Arrow being amongst the first casualties. They soon split up, with Batman and Aquaman going one route into the mansion and Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman go another. As the trio of heroes move through the mansion, they soon encounter a pair of villains working for the New Regime: Solomon Grundy and Killer Frost. The trio manage to defeat them, with Green Arrow getting some good hits against the villains (though Green Lantern manages to disable Grundy by launching him into space. "[He's] a zombie. He'll be fine")
Around the same time, AU Superman meats with Good Guy Lex, showing how the two are pretty tight friends and Superman asking for Lex's help in searching for the doubles. Lex obliges, but says it would take weeks to make a device to track them down. As Superman leaves, he asks if there would be a double of Lois Lane in the other universe, though Lex only answers with "There is only one Lois Lane". Not sure if this was a dick move on his part, or how no alternative Lois would be able to replace the one Superman lost.
Back at Wayne Mansion, the heroes travel to the Batcave, which has seen better days thanks to the New Regime. Here, Batman goes on about the device built to stop Superman requiring genetics from four specific heroes, as well as himself, to open its case. With his world's Green Arrow dead and the others part of the New Regime, Batman had to look for other universes with the same kind of people. They manage to recover the device, but get discovered by the New Regime's Wonder Woman and Black Adam. The heroes manage to fight and win, but an electric blast from Black Adam caused the device to be destroyed, though the kryptonite for the device is still intact. Now they need to figure out how to fix the device in order to use it against the New Regime's Superman.
Meanwhile, on our Earth of sorts, Flash, Cyborg and Superman got the teleportation device up and running. They get ready to bring their fellow heroes back, but a glitch in the system caused Cyborg to get teleported to the other universe. He lands in the Insurgency HQ, running into and fighting Lex Luthor and Deathstroke, thinking they are the same from his universe. Afterwards, he meets their Batman as well as the heroes who got teleported in the first place to explain the whole situation to Cyborg.
Back in the Bat Cave, AU Wonder Woman and Superman check out the area to figure out what Batman took. Superman manages to pick out some kryptonite and gets scared at what the Insurgency might do (after all, kryptonite bad for Superman).
Around the same time, the Insurgency figures that they could teleport to our home universe to fix the device, but AU Batman brings up a worldwide message from Superman, who says that the Batman they captured will be executed soon. The Insurgency figures out its a trap, but still need to rescue their Batman. They come up with the idea to teleport Batman out with the Watchtower teleporter, so long as he is outside Stryker's Island's walls. Most of the heroes would provide a distraction to keep the New Regime occupied, while Green Arrow and AU Batman go in for rescue. Cyborg and Deathstroke get paired up to get access to the teleporter (with Cyborg using a hologram to look like the Regime Cyborg).
Once at the Hall of Justice (the only known site they can access the Watchtower teleporter), we learn how Deathstroke isn't too dissimilar to the ones Cyborg and the heroes know, just that he wants revenge against the New Regime for the torture. As Deathstroke works on hacking the computer at one end, Cyborg tries accessing the teleporter from the main panel. He runs into Catwoman, who manages to see through his disguise, but overcomes the feline. However, he gets hacked by his counterpart Cyborg, who tries to send a message out to Wonder Woman, but its revealed to have not worked. We get a cool hacking bit between the two robotic heroes before they just decide to fight with their fists. Our Cyborg comes out on time as Deathstroke soon arrives.
The two teleport to the Watchtower, with Cyborg busy accessing the tower's main functions (thanks to swiping the password from his double during the fight). Deathstroke scouts out a bit, wanting to settle his revenge in some way. He sees Shazam and the Flash, both talking a bit about how it seems like Superman is going too far. They both spot Deathstroke and try to stop him, but some well-placed explosives managed to disorient them for a bit. As Deathstroke is fighting the two, he manages to overload the main reactor for the tower, giving it about 90 minutes before it explodes (the time, I'm guessing, so that the tower could still be used for other jobs until then)/ When he meets back with Cyborg (and gets called out for his revenge), a message from Luthor orders Deathstroke to pick up some experimental equipment to help finish the laser. Luthor explains how he needs to be the one to fire the laser and that Batman must survive to lead the Insurgency.
Back in our universe, Superman and the Flash try to figure out how to get in contact with their friends again, especially since they are having difficulty using their device due to mostly running on Cyborg mechanics. Meanwhile, Batman orders everyone to be ready, with Harleen opening up the Joker's cell to free him, but he doesn't exactly return the warm and fuzzies right back to her.
Cutting to Ferris Aircraft once more, Killer Frost is explaining to Wonder Woman about the dimensional energies she has found at different locations, with one location having a greater amount than the others. Before they could prove this theory, Deathstroke shows up and fights the two (along with calling Wonder Woman 'Superman's rebound girl'). The merc wins, finding the technology and getting teleported back to Luthor so he can use it.
Meanwhile, the big attack on Stryker's Island is about to being. A lot of New Regime soldiers are present, including Sinestro, Black Adam, Yellow Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Superman himself. Aquaman launches the first attack himself, summoning a large group of giant crab-like creatures. Batman and Green Arrow infiltrate the compound, but get attacked by Nightwing and Catwoman. While Green Arrow deals with Nightwing, Catwoman tries to coerce Batman to leave with her and get out of the New Regime's hair. He refuses, resulting in a fight between the two with Batman winning. Green Arrow calls Nightwing out for being an asshole, thinking he is Dick Grayson. However, Batman reveals that its actually his son, Damian Wayne, who killed Dick Grayson before joining the New Regime. Batman fights his own son and wins, continuing the mission alongside Green Arrow.
The assault on Stryker's Island continues on the outside, with Wonder Woman and Green Lantern showing up to help Aquaman fight Superman. Back in the complex, Batman and Green Arrow find our Batman in a containment unit. However, Raven possesses Green Arrow to fight Batman. After winning, Batman gets attacked by Raven herself, but she ends up getting knocked out by out Batman. The trio try to leave, but Yellow Lantern drops in (literally) and the AU Batman stays behind a bit to fight him. He wins and not a moment too soon.
Superman is tearing through the three heroes, but soon hears an explosion on the island and finds the other heroes trying to leave (they are still within the teleportation dampeners at the time). AU Batman verbally stalls Superman, calling him out for his oppressive ways and how it wasn't his fault that Metropolis was lost. However, Superman has gone too far at this point and before he could make a move, our three heroes get teleported out of there. Realizing that they were using the Watchtower, Superman quickly flies to the Watchtower to try and stop them, but it ends up exploding on him before he could enter. Surrounded by the remaining pieces of Watchtower space debris, he hears a familiar voice calling out against his oppression.
Flashback to about 3 hours ago (which doesn't really mash up with the time tables when you look at it closely) of Lex Luthor preparing to fight Superman himself. As he is flying over to Stryker's Island, he gets blasted out of the sky by Joker and Harleen. Joker, being the asshole that he is, demands Luthor's mechanical suit and sends Harleen to get it for him. She fails and before the Joker can kill her for failure, Luthor steps him and swats him down as well. Having been fed up by him, Harleen prepares to kill the Joker herself but again, Luthor steps in to tell her she is better than him and she relents. Once Joker is put away for good this time, Luthor continues his flight to Stryker's Island.
Its mid battle here, with Green Lantern flattening Yellow Lantern with a plane construct (cool for mythos gag and leading into Yellow Lantern vs Batman fight). He soon gets double-teamed by Hawkgirl and Black Adam. However, Luthor arrives and gives the duo a merry chase in the city, allowing Green Lantern time to help Wonder Woman with Superman. During the flight, Luthor launches several missiles and takes the two villains out, though goes to Hawkgirl to retrieve her special Nth metal. She doesn't let him have it and another fight breaks out, though Luthor wins that one. However, he gets attacked by Shazam, needing to beat him down too and telling him how 'no good comes from hero worship'. He hears the explosion of the Watchtower (which is pretty loud considering it came from space) and gets information on Superman's current whereabouts. He calls the big guy out and prepares to kill him, but Shazam intervenes at the last second and Luthor is stopped. Superman, now extremely angry, demands why Luthor did what he did, with Luthor calling his 'peace' a joke before being choked to death. Superman, shocked at the betrayal of a close friend, listens to all the voices of the citizens questioning Superman's actions before screaming and leaving for the Fortress of Solitude.
After the Stryker's Island debacle, the New Regime tries to regroup and figure out how to properly combat the Insurgency. Superman, having been driven even more mad than before, thinks that the populous don't like his protection and decides to have both Metropolis and Gotham City leveled. Shazam, shocked by this idea, tries to talk Superman out of doing it. Unfortunately, when Shazam brings up how Lois wouldn't approve, Superman grabs him by the throat, freezes his mouth so he wouldn't shout out 'SHAZAM' and use the lighting, then uses his heat vision to burn right through Shazam's skull. Considering that Shazam is really a kid turned into a superhero through magic...yeah, Superman has crossed the horizon faster than a speeding bullet. So as most of the New Regime leaves to carry out new missions, Yellow Lantern and Flash stay behind along with Solomon Grundy to prepare the mind-controlled Doomsday and bury Shazam. Flash, deciding that enough is enough, fights off both Yellow Lantern and Solomon Grundy, swearing off the New Regime and joining the Insurgency.
As the Flash speeds towards Gotham City (managing to find the Insurgency's location here), he takes a side trip to stop Sinestro and New Regime forces from executing soldiers who quit the Regime. After that fight, he finally finds the Insurgency and meets up with our Green Arrow, though the meeting isn't too friendly to start with. After Flash beats Green Arrow, he explains how he isn't here to fight for the New Regime, but instead to stop their mad agenda.
After the Flash explains everything to the Regime, the AU Batman decides to send all the heroes back to our universe. However, our Batman thinks we could instead bring their Superman to fight. Before an agreement could be reached, members of the Regime launch a surprise attack. They end up fighting, with Wonder Woman taking down Bane before getting teleported to Themyscira. Apparently, Ares did it and, given the animosity Wonder Woman has to the Ares in her universe, fights him. Before the fight goes on for too long, Ares explains how the New Regime intends to use the Amazons as part of the destruction of Metropolis and Gotham City. Ares brought Wonder Woman to stop them, though the conflict would spur back his powers, it would only be temporarily if the New Regime succeeds. He leaves Wonder Woman to stop the Amazons, but Raven appears to fight her as well. Realizing that Raven is serving not only Superman, but also the demonic Trigon (interdimensional monster on grand scale...as well as father), she beats Raven before confronting the Amazons.
Down in the harbors of Themyscira, the two Wonder Women meet and fight, exchanging blows and words on how to properly deal with 'the world of man'. The Wonder Woman of our universe succeeds and manages to convince the other Amazons to stop the New Regime once and for all. However, the plan is already underway, with Superman and Doomsday dealing with Metropolis and the rest of the New Regime tackling Gotham City. At the Batcave, the AU Batman tries to have the other heroes teleported out of his universe to try and save them, but some words of wisdom (as well as a good ol' fight between the two) makes him relent and bring in the Superman from our universe.
Once there, Superman and Batman get a plan together to help stop the violence in Gotham City before heading out to Metropolis. Despite initial worry, AU Batman says he is glad to see a more noble Superman once more. Back in Gotham City, the heroes are getting their asses kicked, but Superman's arrival turns the tide. He manages to ground Black Adam and depower Sinestro, even convincing Yellow Lantern to remove his own ring without a fight.
Swithcing over to Metropolis, the Atlantean army is helping with the destruction, with AU Aquaman leading the charge. Of course, Superman arrives on the scene as well, this time with Wonder Woman and the Amazons beside him. The Amazons take care of the Atlanteans (Flashpoint reference FTW), while Superman stops AU Aquaman. However, Doomsday sideswipes the Kryptonian and the two get into a fierce scuffle. Rather than endanger the lives of others, Superman flies himself and Doomsday to the Fortress of Solitude, defeating the monster and trapping him in the Phantom Zone.
No rest of the wicked, apparently, as Regime Superman appears to his counterpart. Our Superman calls him out for his evil behavior, but he doesn't bite, saying how he is 'ruling with fear' and 'Lois would appreciate this' or the like. Our Superman knows that he has gone too far and must be stopped. One climactic battle later, Regime Superman is finally stopped. The other heroes arrive and arrest the dictator right on the spot.
The aftermath has the evil members of the Regime captured and put to jail (including the Flash for his part, but it seems like he will get a lessened sentence), Joker is sent back to our reality, and AU Lex Luthor gets a memorial for his sacrifice. Regime Superman is put in a jail with red solar radiation, weakening his powers dramatically. Our Superman and AU Batman talk a bit, saying how easy it could be for Superman to turn evil, but Batman is sure that Superman wouldn't fall down that path. Otherwise, Batman would personally come to our universe to kick his ass. The story ends with a closing shot of Regime Superman, revealing that he still has a bit of his power left. SEQUEL HOOK!
And that is it for the story of Injustice: Gods Among Us. Alternate realities may seem like the easy way out for most stories that involve canon, but it definitely works out here. There are some parts here that genuinely caught me off guard on what would happen, but in a good way. The characters were pretty fleshed out (though the more screentime they got, the more likely there would be more to their character). My only complaint is the focus of Batman. I know, he is basically the 'Wolverine' of the DC Universe: incredibly popular, so he would need to be featured with a major role in just about everything. If maybe they had someone like Hawkgirl or Shazam take one of the Batmen's places in the story mode, it could've been pretty different and cool. Still, it was a fun romp.
That's it for this review. Until next time...
Injustice: Gods Among Us is owned by Warner Bros Interactive and Netherrealm Studios.
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow are barely holding their own against an alternative Sinestro, with Green Lantern arriving on the scene and stopping his arch nemesis. However, he soon meets his alternative known as the Yellow Lantern (lame, but it works for this case). Green Lantern manages to beat his double, with Wonder Woman and Green Arrow recovering. The trio leave, trying to figure out just what the heck happened to this world, running into an alternative Batman along the way.
Back in the home universe (which isn't where Joker died at the hands of Superman) Cyborg, Flash and Superman try to figure out how to retrieve their lost comrades from the other universe. They aren't too sure of what to expect and are taking special care to figure out the best way to solve the problem at hand.
Back in the alternate universe, Aquaman arrives that world's Atlantis, running into a scholar of sorts. The scholar tells him about a treaty negotiation happening with diplomats, which Aquaman lies about knowing. He asks about information regarding the rise to the New Regime, pretending it would help with the treaty. He learns about the destruction of Metropolis, Superman killing Joker, and the construction of the New Regime. He soon gets called away to meet with the AU Shazam and Flash. When Aquaman reads the treaty and finds out that Atlantis would be given to Superman, he fights off both the Flash and Shazam.
Soon, the AU Aquaman appears and confronts his counterpart, with our Aquaman calling him out for giving up his rule of Atlantis. The two fight, with our Aquaman winning out. As Atlantean soldiers start to swarm him, they all freeze in mid combat. The AU Ares appears, saying he stoked the fires of violence a bit to feed on it. Aquaman fights him, thinking he was the one who brought them here. After the fight, Ares reveals how Superman has almost entirely eliminated warfare, greatly reducing Ares' powers. The War God tells Aquaman how the Insurgency fights against the Regime, which is composed of heroes and villains working for Superman. Ares then teleports Aquaman to the Insurgency's HQ, reuniting back with his friends.
At the HQ, the leader of the Insurgency, AU Batman, gives a durability enchancer known as 5-U-93-R (which explains how unpowered superheroes can survive incredible blows without dying) and talks about a plan to stop Superman. Enter AU Lex Luthor, who is actually a good guy in this reality. He pretends to be Superman's friend while also funding the Insurgency. They group discusses a weapon designed to incapacitate Superman, but requires the help of our Earth's group of heroes. Lex and Batman reveal how they were watching our Earth and picked the heroes out to help them.
In the Fortress of Solitude, AU Superman is working on a device that would control his Doomsday, while AU Wonder Woman tries to get Superman to relax. It doesn't work, but at least she does so in a nice dress. Yellow Lantern arrives and talks about seeing the doubles of heroes, both living and dead. Surprised, Superman orders the doubles to be captured asap.
Back in Gotham, the Joker has been driving around with a dead Regime soldier, taking a stop to observe his surroundings. Eventually, our Batman gets the jump on him (literally), but suffers a sprain after Joker kicks him mid-jump. Injured, Batman is defeated by the Joker. Before the Clown Prince can do anymore harm, he flees when he sees Regime heroes dropping by. Hiding away in safety, Joker watches Batman get taken away by Yellow Lantern and Hawkgirl. After they leave, Joker finds himself down the barely of a gun wielded by AU Harley Quinn (now going by Harleen). She threatens to kill him for mocking the Joker in her reality, but a swift asskicking from the clown himself disproves her. She returns to her normal self (if you can call it normal) and takes him to where the Joker Clan is hiding out.
Back with the New Regime, Superman and Wonder Woman check up on the captured Batman at Stryker's Island, a prison of sorts. While they first think its their Batman, a quick x-ray from Superman disproves otherwise. He threatens Batman by asking where the other doubles are.
Switching over the Arkham Asylum, now run by the Joker clan, our Joker takes the 5-U-93-R pill (that the clan got from the Insurgency) and goes on about how much chaos and havoc they would inflict on the New Regime. However, they get interrupted by the Regime soldiers themselves, lead by Nightwing and Hawkgirl. A scuffle breaks out between the groups, with Harleen sending out an alert for the Insurgency. With the new durability enhancer, Joker manages to beat both heroes by himself. Soon, AU Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Green Arrow arrive to help, forcing the Regime soldiers, as well as Nightwing and Hawkgirl, to flee. The heroes wisely decide to lock up the Joker, knowing how dangerous he is to the upcoming plan, as well as learning about the capture of our Batman.
Back in our world, Cyborg and Flash come up with a device that should bring back our heroes to our earth without needing to send anyone over. Switching over to the Insurgency back in the AU, Deathstroke and Luthor have a little chat, with Deathstroke deciding to join the Insurgency to get back at the Regime for his torture.
Meanwhile, the AU Batman leads the group of heroes to Wayne Mansion, which is under guard by the Regime. Batman explains how his identity as Bruce Wayne was revealed and all assets from Wayne Industries were shut off from him. He also explains how Superman lost Lois, his unborn son, and Metropolis thanks to the Joker. After killing the clown, he soon formed the New Regime, though others tried to talk him out of it. Most of them ended up dying, with Green Arrow being amongst the first casualties. They soon split up, with Batman and Aquaman going one route into the mansion and Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman go another. As the trio of heroes move through the mansion, they soon encounter a pair of villains working for the New Regime: Solomon Grundy and Killer Frost. The trio manage to defeat them, with Green Arrow getting some good hits against the villains (though Green Lantern manages to disable Grundy by launching him into space. "[He's] a zombie. He'll be fine")
Around the same time, AU Superman meats with Good Guy Lex, showing how the two are pretty tight friends and Superman asking for Lex's help in searching for the doubles. Lex obliges, but says it would take weeks to make a device to track them down. As Superman leaves, he asks if there would be a double of Lois Lane in the other universe, though Lex only answers with "There is only one Lois Lane". Not sure if this was a dick move on his part, or how no alternative Lois would be able to replace the one Superman lost.
Back at Wayne Mansion, the heroes travel to the Batcave, which has seen better days thanks to the New Regime. Here, Batman goes on about the device built to stop Superman requiring genetics from four specific heroes, as well as himself, to open its case. With his world's Green Arrow dead and the others part of the New Regime, Batman had to look for other universes with the same kind of people. They manage to recover the device, but get discovered by the New Regime's Wonder Woman and Black Adam. The heroes manage to fight and win, but an electric blast from Black Adam caused the device to be destroyed, though the kryptonite for the device is still intact. Now they need to figure out how to fix the device in order to use it against the New Regime's Superman.
Meanwhile, on our Earth of sorts, Flash, Cyborg and Superman got the teleportation device up and running. They get ready to bring their fellow heroes back, but a glitch in the system caused Cyborg to get teleported to the other universe. He lands in the Insurgency HQ, running into and fighting Lex Luthor and Deathstroke, thinking they are the same from his universe. Afterwards, he meets their Batman as well as the heroes who got teleported in the first place to explain the whole situation to Cyborg.
Back in the Bat Cave, AU Wonder Woman and Superman check out the area to figure out what Batman took. Superman manages to pick out some kryptonite and gets scared at what the Insurgency might do (after all, kryptonite bad for Superman).
Around the same time, the Insurgency figures that they could teleport to our home universe to fix the device, but AU Batman brings up a worldwide message from Superman, who says that the Batman they captured will be executed soon. The Insurgency figures out its a trap, but still need to rescue their Batman. They come up with the idea to teleport Batman out with the Watchtower teleporter, so long as he is outside Stryker's Island's walls. Most of the heroes would provide a distraction to keep the New Regime occupied, while Green Arrow and AU Batman go in for rescue. Cyborg and Deathstroke get paired up to get access to the teleporter (with Cyborg using a hologram to look like the Regime Cyborg).
Once at the Hall of Justice (the only known site they can access the Watchtower teleporter), we learn how Deathstroke isn't too dissimilar to the ones Cyborg and the heroes know, just that he wants revenge against the New Regime for the torture. As Deathstroke works on hacking the computer at one end, Cyborg tries accessing the teleporter from the main panel. He runs into Catwoman, who manages to see through his disguise, but overcomes the feline. However, he gets hacked by his counterpart Cyborg, who tries to send a message out to Wonder Woman, but its revealed to have not worked. We get a cool hacking bit between the two robotic heroes before they just decide to fight with their fists. Our Cyborg comes out on time as Deathstroke soon arrives.
The two teleport to the Watchtower, with Cyborg busy accessing the tower's main functions (thanks to swiping the password from his double during the fight). Deathstroke scouts out a bit, wanting to settle his revenge in some way. He sees Shazam and the Flash, both talking a bit about how it seems like Superman is going too far. They both spot Deathstroke and try to stop him, but some well-placed explosives managed to disorient them for a bit. As Deathstroke is fighting the two, he manages to overload the main reactor for the tower, giving it about 90 minutes before it explodes (the time, I'm guessing, so that the tower could still be used for other jobs until then)/ When he meets back with Cyborg (and gets called out for his revenge), a message from Luthor orders Deathstroke to pick up some experimental equipment to help finish the laser. Luthor explains how he needs to be the one to fire the laser and that Batman must survive to lead the Insurgency.
Back in our universe, Superman and the Flash try to figure out how to get in contact with their friends again, especially since they are having difficulty using their device due to mostly running on Cyborg mechanics. Meanwhile, Batman orders everyone to be ready, with Harleen opening up the Joker's cell to free him, but he doesn't exactly return the warm and fuzzies right back to her.
Cutting to Ferris Aircraft once more, Killer Frost is explaining to Wonder Woman about the dimensional energies she has found at different locations, with one location having a greater amount than the others. Before they could prove this theory, Deathstroke shows up and fights the two (along with calling Wonder Woman 'Superman's rebound girl'). The merc wins, finding the technology and getting teleported back to Luthor so he can use it.
Meanwhile, the big attack on Stryker's Island is about to being. A lot of New Regime soldiers are present, including Sinestro, Black Adam, Yellow Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Superman himself. Aquaman launches the first attack himself, summoning a large group of giant crab-like creatures. Batman and Green Arrow infiltrate the compound, but get attacked by Nightwing and Catwoman. While Green Arrow deals with Nightwing, Catwoman tries to coerce Batman to leave with her and get out of the New Regime's hair. He refuses, resulting in a fight between the two with Batman winning. Green Arrow calls Nightwing out for being an asshole, thinking he is Dick Grayson. However, Batman reveals that its actually his son, Damian Wayne, who killed Dick Grayson before joining the New Regime. Batman fights his own son and wins, continuing the mission alongside Green Arrow.
The assault on Stryker's Island continues on the outside, with Wonder Woman and Green Lantern showing up to help Aquaman fight Superman. Back in the complex, Batman and Green Arrow find our Batman in a containment unit. However, Raven possesses Green Arrow to fight Batman. After winning, Batman gets attacked by Raven herself, but she ends up getting knocked out by out Batman. The trio try to leave, but Yellow Lantern drops in (literally) and the AU Batman stays behind a bit to fight him. He wins and not a moment too soon.
Superman is tearing through the three heroes, but soon hears an explosion on the island and finds the other heroes trying to leave (they are still within the teleportation dampeners at the time). AU Batman verbally stalls Superman, calling him out for his oppressive ways and how it wasn't his fault that Metropolis was lost. However, Superman has gone too far at this point and before he could make a move, our three heroes get teleported out of there. Realizing that they were using the Watchtower, Superman quickly flies to the Watchtower to try and stop them, but it ends up exploding on him before he could enter. Surrounded by the remaining pieces of Watchtower space debris, he hears a familiar voice calling out against his oppression.
Flashback to about 3 hours ago (which doesn't really mash up with the time tables when you look at it closely) of Lex Luthor preparing to fight Superman himself. As he is flying over to Stryker's Island, he gets blasted out of the sky by Joker and Harleen. Joker, being the asshole that he is, demands Luthor's mechanical suit and sends Harleen to get it for him. She fails and before the Joker can kill her for failure, Luthor steps him and swats him down as well. Having been fed up by him, Harleen prepares to kill the Joker herself but again, Luthor steps in to tell her she is better than him and she relents. Once Joker is put away for good this time, Luthor continues his flight to Stryker's Island.
Its mid battle here, with Green Lantern flattening Yellow Lantern with a plane construct (cool for mythos gag and leading into Yellow Lantern vs Batman fight). He soon gets double-teamed by Hawkgirl and Black Adam. However, Luthor arrives and gives the duo a merry chase in the city, allowing Green Lantern time to help Wonder Woman with Superman. During the flight, Luthor launches several missiles and takes the two villains out, though goes to Hawkgirl to retrieve her special Nth metal. She doesn't let him have it and another fight breaks out, though Luthor wins that one. However, he gets attacked by Shazam, needing to beat him down too and telling him how 'no good comes from hero worship'. He hears the explosion of the Watchtower (which is pretty loud considering it came from space) and gets information on Superman's current whereabouts. He calls the big guy out and prepares to kill him, but Shazam intervenes at the last second and Luthor is stopped. Superman, now extremely angry, demands why Luthor did what he did, with Luthor calling his 'peace' a joke before being choked to death. Superman, shocked at the betrayal of a close friend, listens to all the voices of the citizens questioning Superman's actions before screaming and leaving for the Fortress of Solitude.
After the Stryker's Island debacle, the New Regime tries to regroup and figure out how to properly combat the Insurgency. Superman, having been driven even more mad than before, thinks that the populous don't like his protection and decides to have both Metropolis and Gotham City leveled. Shazam, shocked by this idea, tries to talk Superman out of doing it. Unfortunately, when Shazam brings up how Lois wouldn't approve, Superman grabs him by the throat, freezes his mouth so he wouldn't shout out 'SHAZAM' and use the lighting, then uses his heat vision to burn right through Shazam's skull. Considering that Shazam is really a kid turned into a superhero through magic...yeah, Superman has crossed the horizon faster than a speeding bullet. So as most of the New Regime leaves to carry out new missions, Yellow Lantern and Flash stay behind along with Solomon Grundy to prepare the mind-controlled Doomsday and bury Shazam. Flash, deciding that enough is enough, fights off both Yellow Lantern and Solomon Grundy, swearing off the New Regime and joining the Insurgency.
As the Flash speeds towards Gotham City (managing to find the Insurgency's location here), he takes a side trip to stop Sinestro and New Regime forces from executing soldiers who quit the Regime. After that fight, he finally finds the Insurgency and meets up with our Green Arrow, though the meeting isn't too friendly to start with. After Flash beats Green Arrow, he explains how he isn't here to fight for the New Regime, but instead to stop their mad agenda.
After the Flash explains everything to the Regime, the AU Batman decides to send all the heroes back to our universe. However, our Batman thinks we could instead bring their Superman to fight. Before an agreement could be reached, members of the Regime launch a surprise attack. They end up fighting, with Wonder Woman taking down Bane before getting teleported to Themyscira. Apparently, Ares did it and, given the animosity Wonder Woman has to the Ares in her universe, fights him. Before the fight goes on for too long, Ares explains how the New Regime intends to use the Amazons as part of the destruction of Metropolis and Gotham City. Ares brought Wonder Woman to stop them, though the conflict would spur back his powers, it would only be temporarily if the New Regime succeeds. He leaves Wonder Woman to stop the Amazons, but Raven appears to fight her as well. Realizing that Raven is serving not only Superman, but also the demonic Trigon (interdimensional monster on grand scale...as well as father), she beats Raven before confronting the Amazons.
Down in the harbors of Themyscira, the two Wonder Women meet and fight, exchanging blows and words on how to properly deal with 'the world of man'. The Wonder Woman of our universe succeeds and manages to convince the other Amazons to stop the New Regime once and for all. However, the plan is already underway, with Superman and Doomsday dealing with Metropolis and the rest of the New Regime tackling Gotham City. At the Batcave, the AU Batman tries to have the other heroes teleported out of his universe to try and save them, but some words of wisdom (as well as a good ol' fight between the two) makes him relent and bring in the Superman from our universe.
Once there, Superman and Batman get a plan together to help stop the violence in Gotham City before heading out to Metropolis. Despite initial worry, AU Batman says he is glad to see a more noble Superman once more. Back in Gotham City, the heroes are getting their asses kicked, but Superman's arrival turns the tide. He manages to ground Black Adam and depower Sinestro, even convincing Yellow Lantern to remove his own ring without a fight.
Swithcing over to Metropolis, the Atlantean army is helping with the destruction, with AU Aquaman leading the charge. Of course, Superman arrives on the scene as well, this time with Wonder Woman and the Amazons beside him. The Amazons take care of the Atlanteans (Flashpoint reference FTW), while Superman stops AU Aquaman. However, Doomsday sideswipes the Kryptonian and the two get into a fierce scuffle. Rather than endanger the lives of others, Superman flies himself and Doomsday to the Fortress of Solitude, defeating the monster and trapping him in the Phantom Zone.
No rest of the wicked, apparently, as Regime Superman appears to his counterpart. Our Superman calls him out for his evil behavior, but he doesn't bite, saying how he is 'ruling with fear' and 'Lois would appreciate this' or the like. Our Superman knows that he has gone too far and must be stopped. One climactic battle later, Regime Superman is finally stopped. The other heroes arrive and arrest the dictator right on the spot.
The aftermath has the evil members of the Regime captured and put to jail (including the Flash for his part, but it seems like he will get a lessened sentence), Joker is sent back to our reality, and AU Lex Luthor gets a memorial for his sacrifice. Regime Superman is put in a jail with red solar radiation, weakening his powers dramatically. Our Superman and AU Batman talk a bit, saying how easy it could be for Superman to turn evil, but Batman is sure that Superman wouldn't fall down that path. Otherwise, Batman would personally come to our universe to kick his ass. The story ends with a closing shot of Regime Superman, revealing that he still has a bit of his power left. SEQUEL HOOK!
And that is it for the story of Injustice: Gods Among Us. Alternate realities may seem like the easy way out for most stories that involve canon, but it definitely works out here. There are some parts here that genuinely caught me off guard on what would happen, but in a good way. The characters were pretty fleshed out (though the more screentime they got, the more likely there would be more to their character). My only complaint is the focus of Batman. I know, he is basically the 'Wolverine' of the DC Universe: incredibly popular, so he would need to be featured with a major role in just about everything. If maybe they had someone like Hawkgirl or Shazam take one of the Batmen's places in the story mode, it could've been pretty different and cool. Still, it was a fun romp.
That's it for this review. Until next time...
Injustice: Gods Among Us is owned by Warner Bros Interactive and Netherrealm Studios.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
No new post for April 20th
Unfortunately, real life has gotten the better of me at this time, so no new posts for this week.
However, expect a story on Injsutice: Gods Among Us on May 4th!
However, expect a story on Injsutice: Gods Among Us on May 4th!
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Skullgirls: Characters
Anyway, I've been interested in this game for some time now and even donated some money to get some cool stuff, mostly some music, background wallpaper and a code that will allow me to play the game on Steam. So, to get myself into the mood, as well as anybody else who decided to read this post, I'll be giving some short descriptions on the playable characters of this game, as well as the upcoming DLC characters confirmed to be playable
.
The story itself takes place in a world with humans, parasites, cyborgs, animal hybrids and the dangerous creature known as the Skullgirl. In short, mass destruction ensued and the Skullgirl disappeared. It was born of the Skull Heart, an artifact that can grant anyone their wish, but if they weren't pure of heart, they would become a Skullgirl as well. That's not even getting into the fact that there is a mafia who wants to control everything and an Anti-Skullgirl facility who use children to try and combat the Skullgirl. So yeah, their world kinda sucks to an extent.
Right off the bat we have Filia, who you can consider to be the default protagonist of the game. Once an ordinary school girl, she awoke one day with amensia and a parasite attached to her head (you know, the usual stuff). This parasite, known as Samson, acts as a somewhat selfish aide to help Filia get her memories back, most likely through means of the Skull Heart. Until that time, he's hanging out in her hair. Good times right there.
Anyway, from what I've gathered, she plays very much like Ryu from Street Fighter, though lacking a proper projectile move. She is definitely the easiest character to get a hold on compared to the others and can dominate in a fight rather handily if played smart. Still, she can be pretty forgettable and is often overlooked.
Cerebella is what you can get when you cross a Playboy bunny with acrobatic skills fit for the circus and a super-strong hat. Aside from being a headliner for her circus troupe, she also serves as a leg-breaker for the Medici mob family, specifically Vitale Medici. He served as a father figure of sorts to her, having her do certain jobs to help the Medicis. She follows mainly out of love and doesn't really see the suffering the family has caused.
Gameplay-wise, definitely a power character, kinda like Zangief from Street Fighter or Potemkin from Guilty Gear. She doesn't need to be fast, just hit the character enough times to get a win. This is the kind of character I myself would be most comfortable with, if that I would rather use a few simple moves than elaborate combos to try and defeat a person. Course, that kinda extends beyond just a single character.
Oh boy, talk about opening up a fake peanut can of spring-loaded worms. A war orphan who had her eyes gouged out, Peacock was transformed by the members of the Anti-Skullgirls science group into a weapon to combat the Skullgirl itself. The technology implanted in her body, as well as a mindset now obsessed with old school cartoons, granted Peacock untold power which can pretty much be borderline reality warping. It doesn't help that a mock movie poster involves the phrase 'The Murder-Go-Round broke Down'.
Thanks to that love of black and white cartoons, most of Peacock's moves are random to watch, but dangerous when on the receiving end. This includes, but not limited too: a knife gun (that stabs more than shoots), a pirate cannon, a set of bombs named Lenny and George, a burlap sack that can capture opponents, and a terrifying beam of energy through her hat. Yeah, Peacock doesn't mess around.
Fitting for a princess bred for war, Parasoul has some useful tools (and soldiers) on standby to win a fight. With the technological umbrella known as Krieg and a Mauser pistol, she has a mix of 'swordplay' and 'gunplay' to keep an enemy off balance. Black Egret soldiers will aide in different ways, like protecting her from an attack or using a sniper riffle to hit from afar. Still, Parasoul is a tricky character to use, with a difficulty curve that can get you frustrated quickly if you're not too careful.
Thanks to the Life Gem infused, its pretty hard to kill Ms. Fortune. At the very least, you can knock her out. She puts that gem's power to use, being able to use her limbs for long range attacks, entrap her enemies in her own veins, and even decapitate herself and continue fighting without her head. Just be glad she isn't the most disgusting fighter in the game, cause it can get much worse than you think.
As can be expected, Painwheel is equipped with some nasty stuff thanks to Lab Zero. With a synthetic parasite and a drive system, she is a berzerker ready to be unleashed. Large blades pop out of her body, mostly from the legs and arms, and that large blade hanging from her back is nothing to sneeze at as well. Compared to Peacock, who also became an Anti-Skullgirl weapon, Painwheel doesn't joke around, either in or outside of a match.
As expected, she plays much as you would expect from a doctor who moonlights as a ninja. Scalpel knives, a hacksaw for a sword, even using syringes to poison her opponent in different ways. There are also some ninja techniques as well, such as a doppleganger trick which allows you to counter and attack and avoid damage, as well as something called an 'Izuna Drop'. In short, grab enemy, launch into air, then drop them onto the ground like they were nothing.
Her moveset is equally strange, as she doesn't necessarily fight as herself. In actuality, she takes the form of other characters that use her moves instead, like punching as Cerebella or summoning Ms. Fortune heads to attack her opponent. Really, its a kind of fighting style that needs to be seen in action to believe.
There hasn't been too much in terms of gameplay I've seen of Squigly, mostly just talked about. From what I could find, it seems that Squigly and Leviathan have a more cooperative relationship with one another compared to Filia and Samson. While Samson is more dominating and aggressive, Leviathan does his best working along with Squigly, like dance partners would. Expect some long range attacks and sound-based maneuvers that compliment the opera singer and parasite combo.
Considering his musical equipment and great size, Big Band is a tough but slow fighter. Expect him to be busting out some musical notes through either that giant sax on his back or from some equipment tucked beneath his coat (not like that). Also remember the fact that he is injured and needs that iron lung to survive. So when the big guy is kicking your ass in the game, its pretty fair to say he is barely fighting at full strength.
There is also this DLC character named Robo-Fortune, but 3 guesses says you got a good idea what to expect from the character.
..and that about wraps it up here. Hope you find this info interesting enough to give Skullgirls a chance. Until next time...
Skullgirls belongs to Lab Zero Games.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
'Young Justice/Green Lantern Animated Series: CANCELLED' Rant
Even though both of the series have ended last week and the flame from fans of both series have died down a bit, its rather important to talk about them as a means to show what kind of direction future animated series might go towards.
Both 'Green Lantern' and 'Young Justice' were part of the 'DC Nation'. a TV program on Cartoon Network dedicated to all things DC comics. They've been tossed around in terms of broadcasting, often taking months at a time to release a new episode (even though said episode has been done for quite some time at that point). Despite being very popular among younger and older fans, with Young Justice even winning an award for an episode, it was still canceled with new shows in its place 'Beware the Batman' and 'Teen Titans Go!'.
So really, what caused this cancellation? Best to look at the heads of Cartoon Network for that information, as they have the say so on what shows to continue or cancel. For one thing or another, certain series tend to get the axe and cut down before their time (these shows for instance) and others continue even though they are complete garbage ( Johnny Test ) or well past their welcome point ( Ben 10 ). There is also concern when it comes to making a profit, which some animated series get by getting companies to make toys of their characters and such.
Any way its sliced, it seems like really crappy management. Canceling a TV show due to poor toy sales is about as logical as closing down a burger joint because the local butcher can barely sell any cow meat. Odd analogy notwithstanding, its clear that the heads of Cartoon Network have their heads up their asses for such a decision, especially since this could've extended the popular 'DC Nation' programming by another hour or so and just have 'Beware the Batman' and 'Teen Titans Go!' air along with the others. Still, what do I know? Its not like I learn from other people's mistakes as well as my own.
Still, this isn't the first time good animated series have been canceled. 'Spectacular Spider-Man' and 'Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' have been very good successes for Marvel (though Spider-Man was owned by Sony at the time due to animated rights). Like their DC counterparts, these shows had a rather fleshed out cast of characters and engaging storyline, even if a few episodes weren't up to par as much as others. Still, they were at least enjoyable, but still got canned.
When Marvel got the rights back for Spider-Man, the 'Spectacular Spider-Man' was discontinued and replaced with 'Ultimate Spider-Man' which can barely hold a candle to its predecessor. Honestly, after seeing the entire first season, its easy to see which series can deliver more. As for 'Avengers', that was canceled so Marvel Animation can do 'Avengers Assemble', which is rather stupid in the long run.
Lets face it: cancelling very good series due to bad toy sales or replacing it with a bad knockoff is a slap in the face for viewers, myself included. Making decisions based purely on greed will no doubt bite you in the ass. There are honest-to-goodness people who put in a lot of effort to make animated shows and it feels insulting just to cancel them after a very good run.
Its rather a cautionary tale for those hoping to make an animated series. The network heads are the ones with the final say and there is always that chance where even if it gets to air, it'll be screwed around with. This primarily deals with behind-the-scenes dealings, like scheduling, executive meddling, or cancellation for some stupid reasoning. Course, that doesn't mean you should give up on the subject and push on it the best you can until something comes up that won't let you continue.
Both 'Green Lantern' and 'Young Justice' were part of the 'DC Nation'. a TV program on Cartoon Network dedicated to all things DC comics. They've been tossed around in terms of broadcasting, often taking months at a time to release a new episode (even though said episode has been done for quite some time at that point). Despite being very popular among younger and older fans, with Young Justice even winning an award for an episode, it was still canceled with new shows in its place 'Beware the Batman' and 'Teen Titans Go!'.
So really, what caused this cancellation? Best to look at the heads of Cartoon Network for that information, as they have the say so on what shows to continue or cancel. For one thing or another, certain series tend to get the axe and cut down before their time (these shows for instance) and others continue even though they are complete garbage ( Johnny Test ) or well past their welcome point ( Ben 10 ). There is also concern when it comes to making a profit, which some animated series get by getting companies to make toys of their characters and such.
Any way its sliced, it seems like really crappy management. Canceling a TV show due to poor toy sales is about as logical as closing down a burger joint because the local butcher can barely sell any cow meat. Odd analogy notwithstanding, its clear that the heads of Cartoon Network have their heads up their asses for such a decision, especially since this could've extended the popular 'DC Nation' programming by another hour or so and just have 'Beware the Batman' and 'Teen Titans Go!' air along with the others. Still, what do I know? Its not like I learn from other people's mistakes as well as my own.
Still, this isn't the first time good animated series have been canceled. 'Spectacular Spider-Man' and 'Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' have been very good successes for Marvel (though Spider-Man was owned by Sony at the time due to animated rights). Like their DC counterparts, these shows had a rather fleshed out cast of characters and engaging storyline, even if a few episodes weren't up to par as much as others. Still, they were at least enjoyable, but still got canned.
When Marvel got the rights back for Spider-Man, the 'Spectacular Spider-Man' was discontinued and replaced with 'Ultimate Spider-Man' which can barely hold a candle to its predecessor. Honestly, after seeing the entire first season, its easy to see which series can deliver more. As for 'Avengers', that was canceled so Marvel Animation can do 'Avengers Assemble', which is rather stupid in the long run.
Lets face it: cancelling very good series due to bad toy sales or replacing it with a bad knockoff is a slap in the face for viewers, myself included. Making decisions based purely on greed will no doubt bite you in the ass. There are honest-to-goodness people who put in a lot of effort to make animated shows and it feels insulting just to cancel them after a very good run.
Its rather a cautionary tale for those hoping to make an animated series. The network heads are the ones with the final say and there is always that chance where even if it gets to air, it'll be screwed around with. This primarily deals with behind-the-scenes dealings, like scheduling, executive meddling, or cancellation for some stupid reasoning. Course, that doesn't mean you should give up on the subject and push on it the best you can until something comes up that won't let you continue.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Review: Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
Hello and welcome to another review on 'Stories of Entertainment'!
Felt like I should continue something I left off awhile back with the Lego Batman review. A sequel to the game came out last year under the title of Lego Batman 2: Dc Super Heroes. You'll never guess who'll be featured in this game:
Felt like I should continue something I left off awhile back with the Lego Batman review. A sequel to the game came out last year under the title of Lego Batman 2: Dc Super Heroes. You'll never guess who'll be featured in this game:
(A team-up of DC's greatest heroes...in a Lego video game. At least its something.)
Simply put, its a step up from its predecessar. The gameplay, graphics, and story have improved, with the inclusion of actually voice actors (rather than just the grunts and groans we got in previous Lego games). Time to see if they got a good story to start.
The game starts with Gotham City holding a 'Man of the Year' award between two moguls: the evil Lex Luthor and the sophisticated Bruce Wayne. No surprise to Bruce Wayne being the winner of the whole even, but even less of a shock is the Joker making a surprise appearance to steal a whole lot of stuff from people. The fact that he came with the likes of Two-Face, Riddler, and Penguin can get you a bit surprised. Anyway, most of the people flee, except for Luthor, who just sits and watches with interest, and Bruce Wayne, who actually hid out to change suits. When Joke gives a speech on how much of a cool guy he is, Batman and Robin arrive to foil his schemes.
Naturally, the Dynamic Duo manage to beat the other villains and give chase to Joker, who has taken to using a boat to get away with the goods. Eventually, the Joker is caught and defeated, with Superman soon making an appearance right after the villain is caught ('faster than a speeding bullet', my ass). They try to make small talk, but Batman keeps brushing Superman off before the Man of Steel leaves to help other people.
After awhile, Joker is back in his cell in Arkham Asylum, but gets broken out by Luthor thanks to a new device called the Deconstructor. It allows Luthor to take apart indestructible black bricks from each other, enabling Joker's escape. The two partner up, since Luthor needs Joker's gas to help him run for president. Joker agrees and even uses the Deconstructor to free several other Arkham inmates to distract Batman and Robin. They manage to round up a few of the inmates, but get news of a break-in at Ace Chemicals.
At the Ace Chemicals factory, Batman and Robin notice different chemicals have been stolen for some reason. Before they can contemplate what the combined chemicals can create, some canisters explode and start a massive fire. As the Dynamic Duo try to escape, Superman comes and puts out the fire. Batman doesn't enjoy Superman's company too much and brushes him off once the big guy saves their behinds. Batman goes through the Batcomputer to find out the chemicals would make something very similar to Kryptonite. Batman tracks down where Kryptonite might be stored and finds a moving source in Gotham City, which he and Robin promptly track down.
On a moving, heavily-fortified truck, Luthor and Joker manage to make the synthetic Kryptonite. Batman and Robin soon catch up and jump onboard, collecting said Kryptonite for themselves. However, both get knocked off by the Joker's Joy Buzzer and the Batmobile gets taken out by the Deconstructor in the process. Still, the Dynamic Duo has the Kryptonite and manage to bring to the Batcave. Oddly enough, the Kryptonite wouldn't be able to affect Kryptonians like Superman, but Batman doesn't take any chances and stores it with the rest of the Kryptonite.
It turned out to be a trick, as Luthor and Joker had the Kryptonite designed as a decoy and led them to the Batcave and the real Kryptonite. They start tearing apart the Batcave as they recover the Kryptonite, forcing Batman and Robin to flee. Its funny to see Luthor and Joker leaving, commenting on the fact that the Batcave was under Wayne Manor, with Luthor only stating, "I really despite that man." Superman appears to save the day (of course or we would have a shorter game) and helps clean up, even though Batman resents the Man of Steel with great passion. He decides to ask Superman for help and the Man of Steel agrees, eager to help the Dark Knight.
The pair manage to track down Luthor and Joker in a flying ship, but one trap forces Superman to rescue Batman from falling several stories. However, they both know they should be able to find them both at the LexCorp tower. They fight through several robot guards before reaching the villains, who have now appeared in a giant, Joker-esque robot. Both of the heroes are quickly defeated, with Superman exposed to Kryptonite and Batman squashed under a heavy weight. As the villains leave, its revealed that Superman and Batman switched costumes and give pursuit.
The superheroes try to fight off Luthor and Joker, but the mech is too much for Batman and Superman, with the Kryptonite significantly hurting Superman and Batman's gadgets aren't doing as much as he thought. Robin soon appears on the scene, with some vehicles that are unaffected by the Deconstructor. Batman joins his partner and manages to put the Joker-mech on a merry chase in Gotham City. With the Kryptonite exposed and leaking out of the mech, Batman manages to make a giant Joker portrait in the city streets, bright enough that it can be seen from space. This gets the attention of the Justice League (though as members of the team, why didn't Batman and Superman call them earlier) and with their help, thwart the plans of Luthor and Joker. The mech is destroyed and the city is safe once more.
...or for now at least, with the Braniac cameo at the end.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was definitely a step in the right direction for the Lego video games, both in game-play, visuals, and story. Here's hoping to some bright future for the game series.
Until next time...
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was developed by Traveler's Tales and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.
The game starts with Gotham City holding a 'Man of the Year' award between two moguls: the evil Lex Luthor and the sophisticated Bruce Wayne. No surprise to Bruce Wayne being the winner of the whole even, but even less of a shock is the Joker making a surprise appearance to steal a whole lot of stuff from people. The fact that he came with the likes of Two-Face, Riddler, and Penguin can get you a bit surprised. Anyway, most of the people flee, except for Luthor, who just sits and watches with interest, and Bruce Wayne, who actually hid out to change suits. When Joke gives a speech on how much of a cool guy he is, Batman and Robin arrive to foil his schemes.
Naturally, the Dynamic Duo manage to beat the other villains and give chase to Joker, who has taken to using a boat to get away with the goods. Eventually, the Joker is caught and defeated, with Superman soon making an appearance right after the villain is caught ('faster than a speeding bullet', my ass). They try to make small talk, but Batman keeps brushing Superman off before the Man of Steel leaves to help other people.
After awhile, Joker is back in his cell in Arkham Asylum, but gets broken out by Luthor thanks to a new device called the Deconstructor. It allows Luthor to take apart indestructible black bricks from each other, enabling Joker's escape. The two partner up, since Luthor needs Joker's gas to help him run for president. Joker agrees and even uses the Deconstructor to free several other Arkham inmates to distract Batman and Robin. They manage to round up a few of the inmates, but get news of a break-in at Ace Chemicals.
At the Ace Chemicals factory, Batman and Robin notice different chemicals have been stolen for some reason. Before they can contemplate what the combined chemicals can create, some canisters explode and start a massive fire. As the Dynamic Duo try to escape, Superman comes and puts out the fire. Batman doesn't enjoy Superman's company too much and brushes him off once the big guy saves their behinds. Batman goes through the Batcomputer to find out the chemicals would make something very similar to Kryptonite. Batman tracks down where Kryptonite might be stored and finds a moving source in Gotham City, which he and Robin promptly track down.
On a moving, heavily-fortified truck, Luthor and Joker manage to make the synthetic Kryptonite. Batman and Robin soon catch up and jump onboard, collecting said Kryptonite for themselves. However, both get knocked off by the Joker's Joy Buzzer and the Batmobile gets taken out by the Deconstructor in the process. Still, the Dynamic Duo has the Kryptonite and manage to bring to the Batcave. Oddly enough, the Kryptonite wouldn't be able to affect Kryptonians like Superman, but Batman doesn't take any chances and stores it with the rest of the Kryptonite.
It turned out to be a trick, as Luthor and Joker had the Kryptonite designed as a decoy and led them to the Batcave and the real Kryptonite. They start tearing apart the Batcave as they recover the Kryptonite, forcing Batman and Robin to flee. Its funny to see Luthor and Joker leaving, commenting on the fact that the Batcave was under Wayne Manor, with Luthor only stating, "I really despite that man." Superman appears to save the day (of course or we would have a shorter game) and helps clean up, even though Batman resents the Man of Steel with great passion. He decides to ask Superman for help and the Man of Steel agrees, eager to help the Dark Knight.
The pair manage to track down Luthor and Joker in a flying ship, but one trap forces Superman to rescue Batman from falling several stories. However, they both know they should be able to find them both at the LexCorp tower. They fight through several robot guards before reaching the villains, who have now appeared in a giant, Joker-esque robot. Both of the heroes are quickly defeated, with Superman exposed to Kryptonite and Batman squashed under a heavy weight. As the villains leave, its revealed that Superman and Batman switched costumes and give pursuit.
The superheroes try to fight off Luthor and Joker, but the mech is too much for Batman and Superman, with the Kryptonite significantly hurting Superman and Batman's gadgets aren't doing as much as he thought. Robin soon appears on the scene, with some vehicles that are unaffected by the Deconstructor. Batman joins his partner and manages to put the Joker-mech on a merry chase in Gotham City. With the Kryptonite exposed and leaking out of the mech, Batman manages to make a giant Joker portrait in the city streets, bright enough that it can be seen from space. This gets the attention of the Justice League (though as members of the team, why didn't Batman and Superman call them earlier) and with their help, thwart the plans of Luthor and Joker. The mech is destroyed and the city is safe once more.
...or for now at least, with the Braniac cameo at the end.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was definitely a step in the right direction for the Lego video games, both in game-play, visuals, and story. Here's hoping to some bright future for the game series.
Until next time...
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was developed by Traveler's Tales and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Top 10: Injustice Playable Characters
Welcome back to another review on 'Stories of Entertainment'.
Time for another Top 10 list with characters, though I'll be changing a few things up here. As of now, we're under two months away from the release of 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' for the Xbox 360 and PS3. As a DC fighting game, its expected to have a lot of recognizable characters be brought to the forefront. Still, there are some characters that I wouldn't mind having as part of the game. I've got a list of 10 characters that I would like to be playable in the game. Here are the ground rules:
Time for another Top 10 list with characters, though I'll be changing a few things up here. As of now, we're under two months away from the release of 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' for the Xbox 360 and PS3. As a DC fighting game, its expected to have a lot of recognizable characters be brought to the forefront. Still, there are some characters that I wouldn't mind having as part of the game. I've got a list of 10 characters that I would like to be playable in the game. Here are the ground rules:
- The current cast of playable characters (by this date) are: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Lex Luthor, Bane, Solomon Grundy, Doomsday, Green Arrow, Deathstroke, Catwoman, Cyborg, Nightwing, Shazam, Aquaman.
- I will be including characters that are suggested to appear, but not sure of what capacity (either as a cameo or playable).
- This is purely within the DC universe, not guest characters from other franchises like Watchmen or Judge Dredd
- This list is on characters that I personally want to be part of the playable roster, with #1 being my top pick.
Okay, with the rules out of the way, enjoy the trailer before jumping right into my Top 10 Injustice Characters I want Playable.
(Shit is hitting the proverbial fan here)
10. Caitlin Fairchild
Kicking off the list is the beautiful bombshell of the Wildstorm universe, Caitlin Fairchild. Considering that DC has officially merged the Wildstorm universe into the main DC universe, I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of Wildstorm heroes as playable characters. Caitlin would be interesting to say the least, since I haven't see too many fighting games where there was such a physically dominate female fighter on par with super heavyweights (in this case, Solomon Grundy and Bane) while still being very attractive. This may turn some people off, which I can understand to a point, but its something to at least try.
In any case, I would have a bit of difficulty trying to figure out which side she would fit in, either New Regime or the Resistance. Gameplay should be interesting, considering she is supposed to be incredibly strong and intelligent. I wouldn't know what to do with it myself, so she gets a bit lower on the list because of it.
9. Captain Atom
In any case, I would have a bit of difficulty trying to figure out which side she would fit in, either New Regime or the Resistance. Gameplay should be interesting, considering she is supposed to be incredibly strong and intelligent. I wouldn't know what to do with it myself, so she gets a bit lower on the list because of it.
9. Captain Atom
I could see the good captain being a part of the roster pretty easily, especially concerning his flight, super strength, and atomic energy. As part of the story, he could be serving alongside the New Regime as one of its top enforcers, since he is a soldier and would dutifully serve his leader as best as possible. While he does put his orders first and foremost, I wouldn't find it unbelievable to have him work for the resistance, especially considering how tyrannical the regime is and the fact that he was trained to fight against such terror.
Gameplay-wise, I don't think it would be too hard to incorporate his atomic powers, especially since he can adjust the wavelengths for different effects. He could temporarily slow done his opponent through some atomic punches or hit them with a blast that knocks them over. For his supermove, he might unleash enough energy at close range to mimic a nuclear explosion, minus the radiation effects, of course.
8. Magog
Magog was originally designed as everything bad about the Nineties anti-hero genre, all wrapped up inside one golden package. As much hate that gets thrown around thanks to this guy, you can't help but feel sorry for him at times. In his first appearance as part of the Kingdom Come Elseworlds tale, he was the new representative for heroes during a time by killing the Joker, who at the time killed everyone in the Daily Planet (not too far of from this game's story now, right?) Dubbed 'The New Man of Tomorrow', he started a new age of more violent superheroing, leading to the destruction of Kansas in one fight.
If DC wants to reboot this guy and make him more enjoyable, start here. Have him be sorta like the new poster boy of the New Regime, but get tired of it and start listening to the people for a change. He would end up joining the Resistance with Batman and taking the fight straight to Superman. I wouldn't mind seeing him wielding his power staff along with some heavy equipment like a gatling gun. It would make for an interesting shout-out to the Nineties.
7. Sinestro
Sinestro has been rather synonymous with the Green Lantern lore and if a Green Lantern is going to be duking it out in Injustice, so should Sinestro. This is especially since the Green Lantern would be Hal Jordan, who was previously trained by Sinestro and both have been enemies of the other. While Green Lantern has his green ring of willpower, Sinetro wields the yellow ring of fear. This could make for some interesting constructs for Sinetro, considering his alien origin and several years of experience as a Green Lantern.
This would be especially interesting since recent videos and screens have Hal Jordan sporting the yellow ring of fear instead of his trademark green ring. We can assume that he's switched corps, but Sinestro probably wouldn't be too happy seeing Hal as part of his corps. Maybe Hal would beat him out of it and force Sinestro to don the green ring once more? A bit far-fetched, but I could hear worse reasons.
6. Raven
We already have former Teen Titan members Nightwing and Cyborg, so why not Raven? Being the daughter of a demonic conqueror makes a good character and her portrayal in the Teen Titans animated series has earned her plenty of fans, so it seems like a good choice. Since she would be doing her best to prevent her evil father from taking over the world, she could easily join the side of the New Regime if it meant for safety and stability.
Raven is sort of an interesting character in the game, since her comic book powers mostly have her as an empath. That wouldn't really translate well into a video game unless you take into account of her abilities in the animated series. She had some telekinesis, flight, and some useful magic at her finger tips, which would help her greatly in a fighting game. Here's hoping she is more than just a cameo appearance.
5. Zatanna
Zatanna has kinda been one of the best representations of magic in the DC universe. The daughter of the magician Zatara, Zatanna uses magic by speaking backwards (most of the time, as she is capable of non-verbal spells as well). She is ranked on par with the likes of Captain Marvel (or 'Shazam' in the Injustice Game), so she should make for an interesting character. she would probably stick with Batman and the Resistance, serving as the magical equivalent to 'Shazam' on the Regime side.
Combat-wise, I expect her to be partially trained in some combat, using gestures for some simple attacks and using her backwards magic for more powerful special abilities. She could really get a kick out of her supermove if she utilized her full magical potential.
4. Black Adam
Black Adam is a pretty interesting villain, and I'm not even sure if I can say that about him. His behavior and actions have been rather complex at times, before just wanting all the power of SHAZAM. In recent history, he has gotten a good backstory about wanting to protect his past homeland, albeit rather aggressively and without mercy. Still, he did have some good reasons to do so and his people did seem better off with him than their dictator (whom Black Adam killed) and as such, view him as their personal hero.
While his powers are quite similar to Captain Marvel, they come from the Egyptian Gods, so it might add for some interesting visuals in terms of his fighting style and abilities. Story-wise, if Captain Marvel joined the New Regime, then Black Adam would be joining the Resistance, either to get the powers of SHAZAM once more or to protect his homeland from the New Regime's power. Either way should work fine.
3. Power Girl
This needs to go beyond simply Reasons #1 and #2. I think she could have been a pretty good role model for girls if some of the writers did a good job in her stories. She is one of the few superheroes I've seen who has most of their shit together both in their superhero and civilian identity. While most people would view her as a sexual superhero icon (her and several others), I still think she hasn't gotten everything that she has deserved.
So, what do I think she can bring into the game? Again, a different variation on Superman's moveset, sorta like what they did with Frost to Sub-Zero. Maybe focus on more of her physical power and speed rather than heat vision and ice breath or the like. Story-wise, she has kind of deviated from the idea of 'ends justify the means' sort of shtick, and would probably end up on the Resistance side to oppose Superman. A bit flimsy, but I'm sure there are others who could put up a better idea than myself.
2. Grifter
I'm just glad he is actually part of the DC universe now and, thinking about how popular he is around this time, it would be a good idea to include him into the roster. Sure, we have some characters who rely on guns as part of their repertoire, all Grifter needs is a pair of handguns and some minor telekinetic abilities. His look makes him standout quite a bit among the rest of the cast and can be opened to be tweaked slightly while keeping the overall look intact.
Normally, you can expect Grifter to be working for the government in some manner, especially for the New Regime. Still, I wouldn't put it past them if it was decided to have him be a part of the Resistance with Batman. A toss-up, really, but again, nothing I'm too bothered with...
and the number one character I want to be playable in "Injustice" is...
1. Manchester Black
This is a bit obscure, at least for those who haven't heard of 'Superman VS the Elite' or 'What's so Funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way?'. Manchester Black is a telepath and telekinetic who played ball with Superman and his ideas, becoming an extreme anti-hero of sorts who was willing to kill by any means necessary to keep the bad guys down. Its a pretty interesting character, to say the least, and I'm kinda bummed out that we don't see him as often, even with the new reboot. Still, I think he would fit right into the 'Injustice' game.
While you can debate whether he would join the New Regime to take it to the bad guys or work for the Resistance to oppose Superman as the dictator he kinda is, Manchester Black's moveset would be very reflective of his 'no holds' use of telekinetic might. Smashing an opponent on the ground, twisting them around like a pretzel: think of him as the answer to MK's Ermac. It helps that he is pretty recognizable and distinguishable from the rest of the heroes and villains (especially with that Union Jack tattooed to his chest).
So yeah, this is my Top 10 list of Characters I want Playable in the 'Injustice' game. Hope you enjoy it and be looking forward to posting my review for the game itself awhile after it comes out.
Until next time...
Injustice: Gods Among Us is owned by Netherrealm Studios and Warner Bros Interactive.
If DC wants to reboot this guy and make him more enjoyable, start here. Have him be sorta like the new poster boy of the New Regime, but get tired of it and start listening to the people for a change. He would end up joining the Resistance with Batman and taking the fight straight to Superman. I wouldn't mind seeing him wielding his power staff along with some heavy equipment like a gatling gun. It would make for an interesting shout-out to the Nineties.
7. Sinestro
This would be especially interesting since recent videos and screens have Hal Jordan sporting the yellow ring of fear instead of his trademark green ring. We can assume that he's switched corps, but Sinestro probably wouldn't be too happy seeing Hal as part of his corps. Maybe Hal would beat him out of it and force Sinestro to don the green ring once more? A bit far-fetched, but I could hear worse reasons.
6. Raven
Raven is sort of an interesting character in the game, since her comic book powers mostly have her as an empath. That wouldn't really translate well into a video game unless you take into account of her abilities in the animated series. She had some telekinesis, flight, and some useful magic at her finger tips, which would help her greatly in a fighting game. Here's hoping she is more than just a cameo appearance.
5. Zatanna
Combat-wise, I expect her to be partially trained in some combat, using gestures for some simple attacks and using her backwards magic for more powerful special abilities. She could really get a kick out of her supermove if she utilized her full magical potential.
4. Black Adam
While his powers are quite similar to Captain Marvel, they come from the Egyptian Gods, so it might add for some interesting visuals in terms of his fighting style and abilities. Story-wise, if Captain Marvel joined the New Regime, then Black Adam would be joining the Resistance, either to get the powers of SHAZAM once more or to protect his homeland from the New Regime's power. Either way should work fine.
3. Power Girl
So, what do I think she can bring into the game? Again, a different variation on Superman's moveset, sorta like what they did with Frost to Sub-Zero. Maybe focus on more of her physical power and speed rather than heat vision and ice breath or the like. Story-wise, she has kind of deviated from the idea of 'ends justify the means' sort of shtick, and would probably end up on the Resistance side to oppose Superman. A bit flimsy, but I'm sure there are others who could put up a better idea than myself.
2. Grifter
Normally, you can expect Grifter to be working for the government in some manner, especially for the New Regime. Still, I wouldn't put it past them if it was decided to have him be a part of the Resistance with Batman. A toss-up, really, but again, nothing I'm too bothered with...
and the number one character I want to be playable in "Injustice" is...
1. Manchester Black
While you can debate whether he would join the New Regime to take it to the bad guys or work for the Resistance to oppose Superman as the dictator he kinda is, Manchester Black's moveset would be very reflective of his 'no holds' use of telekinetic might. Smashing an opponent on the ground, twisting them around like a pretzel: think of him as the answer to MK's Ermac. It helps that he is pretty recognizable and distinguishable from the rest of the heroes and villains (especially with that Union Jack tattooed to his chest).
So yeah, this is my Top 10 list of Characters I want Playable in the 'Injustice' game. Hope you enjoy it and be looking forward to posting my review for the game itself awhile after it comes out.
Until next time...
Injustice: Gods Among Us is owned by Netherrealm Studios and Warner Bros Interactive.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Review: Lego Batman
Welcome to another review on 'Stories of Entertainment'.
What can you really say about Legos? Couple things actually:
1. Good chance you had them growing up and had a lot of them.
2. Choking hazard and bane to all bare feet.
3. There are actually video games about it.
Naturally, that last one catches my mind a bit, since there have been a lot of Lego video games that have been coming out for years now, ranging from 'Lego Island', 'Lego Chess', 'Lego Racers', 'Lego Creator', and much more. Normally, these games have been made by the company 'The Lego Group', which has made a good chuck of the Lego video games. However, there are some that use other series, like Harry Potter or Star Wars, and makes action/platformer games as well. In this case: Lego Batman!
What can you really say about Legos? Couple things actually:
1. Good chance you had them growing up and had a lot of them.
2. Choking hazard and bane to all bare feet.
3. There are actually video games about it.
Naturally, that last one catches my mind a bit, since there have been a lot of Lego video games that have been coming out for years now, ranging from 'Lego Island', 'Lego Chess', 'Lego Racers', 'Lego Creator', and much more. Normally, these games have been made by the company 'The Lego Group', which has made a good chuck of the Lego video games. However, there are some that use other series, like Harry Potter or Star Wars, and makes action/platformer games as well. In this case: Lego Batman!
(With more Batman villains than you can shake a stick at)
Published by Warner Bros Interactive and developed by Traveler's Tales, 'Lego Batman' is another in a series of Lego-themed games revolving around action, platforming, and taking characters and settings from other series. Here, the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin take on various villains who want to take over Gotham in their own way.
Gameplay-wise, if you ever played 'Lego Star Wars' or 'Lego Indiana Jones', the principles are still the same. You can run, jump, attack, and certain characters have special abilities. You are also capable of designing your own character through the main hub area, as well as plenty of Easter Eggs to search through the different levels.
The story for this game is interesting, as you get to play the heroes and the villains depending on the missions. For the purposes of this review, I'll be looking at a compilation of both the villains and heroes sides of the story and trying to piece both of them together in some way.
The story begins when several supervillains break out of Arkham Asylum and split off into different groups. First, the Riddler groups up with Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and Clayface (A rather interesting set-up, at least in terms of intelligence and firepower). Next, the Penguin gets Catwoman, Man-Bat, Killer Croc, and Bane (technically, Catwoman and Bane shouldn't be in Arkham since they aren't actually insane, though it might be different in this universe. Also, Bane combo-broke Penguin's group for not being an animal). Finally, we have the Joker with Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Killer Moth, and Mad Hatter (a nutty team for a nutty villain). They all run amuck when Batman and Robin finally get onto the scene and with that, our first series of missions beings, with the Riddler's group being up to bat (lol) first.
We learn that the Riddler is planning a big heist at the Gotham Gold Reserves, requiring several different items in order to pull it off. He has his partners in crime slip up in order to tackle each item: Mr. Freeze gets the massively mobile freeze ray ('natch), Poison Ivy gets the plant that can grow several stories high (also 'natch), Two-Face gets the high-powered laser (...'kay), and Clayface gets the giant golden key. Good idea to send one of the strongest villains to get something as simple as a key (then again, this Clayface ain't all there in the head). When they do get the key, the big lug gets distracted by the large amount of gold that was with the key (it was locked in a cell of all things). When Batman and Robin show up, they beat down Clayface, but the Riddler gets away with the giant key. However, since he can't help himself, he leaves a clue for Batman and Robin to have them try and figure out what his next plan is.
With the giant key in hand, the Riddler moves on to acquire the giant freeze ray, with the assistance of Mr. Freeze (naturally). They arrive at the building where it is stored, blasting their way through and acquiring it. When Batman and Robin arrive on the scene, Mr. Freeze does his best to hold them off, but ultimately fails. The Riddler escapes with the freeze ray, as well as leaving another Riddler clue, and meets up with Two-Face. The Dymanic Duo manages to give them a good chase that ends with the freeze ray heading back to the Riddler's lair, Two-Face's truck getting dismantled, and the Riddler escaping thanks to Poison Ivy and leaving another Riddler clue (much to Poison Ivy's confusion).
Anyway, Riddler and Poison Ivy head to the place storing those plants that the Riddler needs. Poison Ivy gets caught up with all the plantlife, until Batman and Robin arrive to fight her. They win, Riddler escapes after the battle and leaves behind another clue. While the Dynamic Duo try to figure out what the Riddler is planning, the villain teams up with Two-Face once more and manages to steal the ray gun without interference from Batman and Robin. With all the items in place, the pair of villains break into the Gotham Gold Reserves, but naturally, the Dynamic Duo appear and arrest the villains once and for all.
...and we're only a third of the way done with this game, folks.
Now onto the Penguin and his master plan. Inside one of the Penguin's subs, Bane, Killer Croc, Catwoman, and Manbat are waiting on the Penguin (good nod to Bane and Killer Croc arm-wrestling, hinting at their violent history in the comic books between one another). Anyway, Penguin arrives and shows his master plan: an army of remote controlled penguin robots (ingenuis!). The villains spread them all across Gotham in boxes, with Penguin taking Bane to acquire a satellite dish to transmit his commands to the penguins over a longer distance. They succeed, but Penguin ditches Bane to the authorities with the dish in hand. Bane throws a hissy fit and manages to knock himself out. Shame they left out Bane's intelligence (and maybe some of Penguin's) but then again, Catwoman acts more like a cat in this one, so its all even?
Anyway, back in the sub, Penguin goes with Catwoman to recover a gem needed to power the machine to control the penguins (apparently). Catwoman succeeds, but gets caught by Batman and Robin. She tries to flirt her way out of it, but fails and gets handed over to the police while the Dynamic Duo go after Penguin and Killer Croc. However, the gem gets taken by a cat amid the chase, with Batman and Robin unable to catch either of the villains.
Sometime later, Catwoman is freed from prison by Killer Croc and Penguin, revealing that she got the gem back thanks to a visit from the cat. Penguin reveals more of his plan, with the machine hiding in the Gotham Zoo. When the police arrive, Killer Croc holds them off while Catwoman and Penguin escape into the sewers. However, Killer Croc gets beaten by Batman and Robin, where they discover where Penguin and Catwoman left to.
Over at the zoo, Penguin, Catwoman and Man-Bat start to infiltrate the complex, which is now guarded by police. When Batman and Robin arrive, Man-Bat does his best to slow them down, but gets captured in the end. However, he manages to stall long enough for Catwoman and Penguin to activate the machine and send the penguins on a rampage. Batman and Robin corner the two and manage to destroy the machine, effectively taking out the penguin army and saving Gotham once more.
That just leaves the Joker and his mad associates: Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, and Killer Moth. Joker, naturally, wants to destroy the city via Joker gas and explosives (like you do), but has run out of materials for both and needs to steal them. Batman and Robin hear about the break-in at a chemical factory, where they find Mad Hatter. While that villain is stopped, Joker gets away with his supplies and leaves the Dynamic Duo in the dust.
Joker, in a bit of foresight, manages to trick Commissioner Gordon and capture him, prompting Batman and Robin to rescue him from Harley Quinn. They succeed, Harley Quinn is captured by the police, but Joker escapes via his helicopter thanks to Scarecrow and his plane. Both engage in an airbattle with Batman and Robin, destroying the aircraft and forcing the villains on foot. Scarecrow gets captured by the police during the run, but Joker escapes once more and joins up with Killer Moth.
The two manage to find Harley Quinn being held under Commissioner Gordon's care, but it doesn't last long. Joker escapes with Harley Quinn while Killer Moth deals with the police force. The Dynamic Duo arrive on the scene and take down Killer Moth. The two find the villains at an old cathedral, where Joker plans to detonate his explosives and drown Gotham City in his toxic Joker gas. The two fight Harley Quinn and the Joker, taking out the devices and capturing the pair, saving the day once more.
...and that's it for both the Hero and Villain story modes. Its not too complicated and some of the characters are pretty much exaggerations of their comic book counterparts (i.e. Catwoman) but its still a nice and easy story to follow. Course, the gameplay is the main focus here so it shouldn't be too looked down on. Simply put, if you're interested in a lego game with Batman, consider this a buy.
Until next time...
Lego Batman is owned by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.
We learn that the Riddler is planning a big heist at the Gotham Gold Reserves, requiring several different items in order to pull it off. He has his partners in crime slip up in order to tackle each item: Mr. Freeze gets the massively mobile freeze ray ('natch), Poison Ivy gets the plant that can grow several stories high (also 'natch), Two-Face gets the high-powered laser (...'kay), and Clayface gets the giant golden key. Good idea to send one of the strongest villains to get something as simple as a key (then again, this Clayface ain't all there in the head). When they do get the key, the big lug gets distracted by the large amount of gold that was with the key (it was locked in a cell of all things). When Batman and Robin show up, they beat down Clayface, but the Riddler gets away with the giant key. However, since he can't help himself, he leaves a clue for Batman and Robin to have them try and figure out what his next plan is.
With the giant key in hand, the Riddler moves on to acquire the giant freeze ray, with the assistance of Mr. Freeze (naturally). They arrive at the building where it is stored, blasting their way through and acquiring it. When Batman and Robin arrive on the scene, Mr. Freeze does his best to hold them off, but ultimately fails. The Riddler escapes with the freeze ray, as well as leaving another Riddler clue, and meets up with Two-Face. The Dymanic Duo manages to give them a good chase that ends with the freeze ray heading back to the Riddler's lair, Two-Face's truck getting dismantled, and the Riddler escaping thanks to Poison Ivy and leaving another Riddler clue (much to Poison Ivy's confusion).
Anyway, Riddler and Poison Ivy head to the place storing those plants that the Riddler needs. Poison Ivy gets caught up with all the plantlife, until Batman and Robin arrive to fight her. They win, Riddler escapes after the battle and leaves behind another clue. While the Dynamic Duo try to figure out what the Riddler is planning, the villain teams up with Two-Face once more and manages to steal the ray gun without interference from Batman and Robin. With all the items in place, the pair of villains break into the Gotham Gold Reserves, but naturally, the Dynamic Duo appear and arrest the villains once and for all.
...and we're only a third of the way done with this game, folks.
Now onto the Penguin and his master plan. Inside one of the Penguin's subs, Bane, Killer Croc, Catwoman, and Manbat are waiting on the Penguin (good nod to Bane and Killer Croc arm-wrestling, hinting at their violent history in the comic books between one another). Anyway, Penguin arrives and shows his master plan: an army of remote controlled penguin robots (ingenuis!). The villains spread them all across Gotham in boxes, with Penguin taking Bane to acquire a satellite dish to transmit his commands to the penguins over a longer distance. They succeed, but Penguin ditches Bane to the authorities with the dish in hand. Bane throws a hissy fit and manages to knock himself out. Shame they left out Bane's intelligence (and maybe some of Penguin's) but then again, Catwoman acts more like a cat in this one, so its all even?
Anyway, back in the sub, Penguin goes with Catwoman to recover a gem needed to power the machine to control the penguins (apparently). Catwoman succeeds, but gets caught by Batman and Robin. She tries to flirt her way out of it, but fails and gets handed over to the police while the Dynamic Duo go after Penguin and Killer Croc. However, the gem gets taken by a cat amid the chase, with Batman and Robin unable to catch either of the villains.
Sometime later, Catwoman is freed from prison by Killer Croc and Penguin, revealing that she got the gem back thanks to a visit from the cat. Penguin reveals more of his plan, with the machine hiding in the Gotham Zoo. When the police arrive, Killer Croc holds them off while Catwoman and Penguin escape into the sewers. However, Killer Croc gets beaten by Batman and Robin, where they discover where Penguin and Catwoman left to.
Over at the zoo, Penguin, Catwoman and Man-Bat start to infiltrate the complex, which is now guarded by police. When Batman and Robin arrive, Man-Bat does his best to slow them down, but gets captured in the end. However, he manages to stall long enough for Catwoman and Penguin to activate the machine and send the penguins on a rampage. Batman and Robin corner the two and manage to destroy the machine, effectively taking out the penguin army and saving Gotham once more.
That just leaves the Joker and his mad associates: Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, and Killer Moth. Joker, naturally, wants to destroy the city via Joker gas and explosives (like you do), but has run out of materials for both and needs to steal them. Batman and Robin hear about the break-in at a chemical factory, where they find Mad Hatter. While that villain is stopped, Joker gets away with his supplies and leaves the Dynamic Duo in the dust.
Joker, in a bit of foresight, manages to trick Commissioner Gordon and capture him, prompting Batman and Robin to rescue him from Harley Quinn. They succeed, Harley Quinn is captured by the police, but Joker escapes via his helicopter thanks to Scarecrow and his plane. Both engage in an airbattle with Batman and Robin, destroying the aircraft and forcing the villains on foot. Scarecrow gets captured by the police during the run, but Joker escapes once more and joins up with Killer Moth.
The two manage to find Harley Quinn being held under Commissioner Gordon's care, but it doesn't last long. Joker escapes with Harley Quinn while Killer Moth deals with the police force. The Dynamic Duo arrive on the scene and take down Killer Moth. The two find the villains at an old cathedral, where Joker plans to detonate his explosives and drown Gotham City in his toxic Joker gas. The two fight Harley Quinn and the Joker, taking out the devices and capturing the pair, saving the day once more.
...and that's it for both the Hero and Villain story modes. Its not too complicated and some of the characters are pretty much exaggerations of their comic book counterparts (i.e. Catwoman) but its still a nice and easy story to follow. Course, the gameplay is the main focus here so it shouldn't be too looked down on. Simply put, if you're interested in a lego game with Batman, consider this a buy.
Until next time...
Lego Batman is owned by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Review: ModNation Racers
Welcome to another review on 'Stories of Entertainment'.
This review actually came up through nostalgia, mainly when the Xbox360 and PS3 first came out. Some of the first games on those platforms blew us away in the beginning, but now we don't really view them most of the time as a hurdle for improving gaming graphics, design and whatnot. That kinda leads me into this game: ModNation Racers!
This review actually came up through nostalgia, mainly when the Xbox360 and PS3 first came out. Some of the first games on those platforms blew us away in the beginning, but now we don't really view them most of the time as a hurdle for improving gaming graphics, design and whatnot. That kinda leads me into this game: ModNation Racers!
(The 'LittleBig Planet' of Racing...not counting 'LittleBig Planet Karting')
Tons of customization options ranging from characters, cars and tracks, 'ModNation Racers' is one of the deepest games when it comes to customization. Aside form that, it does play similar to most racing games, with a few exceptions. Players can purposely hit their opponents with sideswipes, items you pick up on the track to use can be upgraded if picked up repeatedly (to a certain point), and performing tricks like air spins and drifting can rack up points to use to defend oneself or speed down a track.
Naturally, you're expecting me to talk about the story which this game does have. As little as it may be, it does have a good story for the game. Lets drive into it, shall we?
The game opens with the MRC, or Modnation Racing Championship, title screen, with characters Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons as co-hosts for the event taking place. They serve as the storytellers or sorts, going over the details of reach race and the racers themselves. For pair dynamics, we have Biff constantly mocking and insulting Gary throughout the story (though its more funny than how I'm writing it. Besides, Gary gets his revenge in the end).
The story begins with the character Tag (or whichever character you made that takes his place during cutscenes) joining the MRC with the support of his Mom, who runs a car paintshop, and Crew Chief, a former racer who suffered an accident that has kept him from racing for years. It works out well, though a guy named Uncle Richard from Conservative Motors (who have very bland, boring cars) tries to sign Tag onto his group, but to no avail. We also get introduced to the champion of the MRC, an offensive Italian driver named Expresso. After several races, Tag's car gets pretty banged up form the hits its taken, but Mom manages to get her car shop up and running with new business to pay for a new car.
During the Mayhem Tour, where Tag races against some of the best MRC drivers, Uncle Richard tries to make Tag sign up with CM once more, but to no avail. Everything is going well until the Range Tour, where Crew Chief finds out that Tag's BoomBox (which supports the kart itself as well as serve as a weapons system) is near the verge of destruction. Its too expensive just to afford another one, even though they were supposed to be made indestructible. Mom suggests using the BoomBox from Crew Chief's car, but he states that it got wrecked in the...wreck. Once Tag finishes the Range Tour, someone sabotages his kart and puts Crew Chief in a coma. With no kart and down one crew chief, Tag is forced to sign with Conservative Motors despite his Mom's idea to just sell the shop for another BoomBox.
Tag is basically used for his image more than is racing, losing lots of fans after just a few races. Thankfully, Crew Chief wakes up from his coma (apparently, its not his first one) and offers Tag his BoomBox instead. Mom states how he said his was wrecked, but Crew Chief lied about it, saying he was too scared to race after what happened to him and is giving Tag another chance to be himself once more. With his old look back, Tag completes the Grim Tour racetracks to qualify for the Grand Tour, where the last race would be against the reigning champion Expresso.
During the Grand Tour, Crew Chief reveals how Expresso was the one who wrecked his car so many years go. With Tag racing so well, Crew Chief finally believes that Expresso will get beaten once and for all. In the final race, Tag manages to win and become the new MRC champion, getting Crew Chief over his personal demons and making his mom proud. However, Uncle Richard (I don't think he's really his uncle) tries to get the glory himself, saying how Tag is still signed with CM and how its a victory for the both of them. However, he gets arrested when the police discover that his prints on the bomb that took out Tag's second kart.
In the final scene, Gary manages to knock out Biff twice with a nerve pinch and Expresso gets his just reward as Crew Chief punches him for trying to steal the championship. Gary closes out the game by wishing us better good luck in next year's race (which really didn't happen, but it does have a nice note to it).
I personally liked the story mode. Its pretty simple and you could probably guess what a few ideas might come up before it happens and yet still manages to throw a curveball or two your way. Characters are basic, yet have enough personality in both mannerisms and looks that make them stand out and enjoyable (well, except for maybe Uncle Richard, but I think that's just me personally.)
Overall, the game is an enjoyable past time when you're looking for something simpler, I suppose. Until next time...
Naturally, you're expecting me to talk about the story which this game does have. As little as it may be, it does have a good story for the game. Lets drive into it, shall we?
The game opens with the MRC, or Modnation Racing Championship, title screen, with characters Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons as co-hosts for the event taking place. They serve as the storytellers or sorts, going over the details of reach race and the racers themselves. For pair dynamics, we have Biff constantly mocking and insulting Gary throughout the story (though its more funny than how I'm writing it. Besides, Gary gets his revenge in the end).
The story begins with the character Tag (or whichever character you made that takes his place during cutscenes) joining the MRC with the support of his Mom, who runs a car paintshop, and Crew Chief, a former racer who suffered an accident that has kept him from racing for years. It works out well, though a guy named Uncle Richard from Conservative Motors (who have very bland, boring cars) tries to sign Tag onto his group, but to no avail. We also get introduced to the champion of the MRC, an offensive Italian driver named Expresso. After several races, Tag's car gets pretty banged up form the hits its taken, but Mom manages to get her car shop up and running with new business to pay for a new car.
During the Mayhem Tour, where Tag races against some of the best MRC drivers, Uncle Richard tries to make Tag sign up with CM once more, but to no avail. Everything is going well until the Range Tour, where Crew Chief finds out that Tag's BoomBox (which supports the kart itself as well as serve as a weapons system) is near the verge of destruction. Its too expensive just to afford another one, even though they were supposed to be made indestructible. Mom suggests using the BoomBox from Crew Chief's car, but he states that it got wrecked in the...wreck. Once Tag finishes the Range Tour, someone sabotages his kart and puts Crew Chief in a coma. With no kart and down one crew chief, Tag is forced to sign with Conservative Motors despite his Mom's idea to just sell the shop for another BoomBox.
Tag is basically used for his image more than is racing, losing lots of fans after just a few races. Thankfully, Crew Chief wakes up from his coma (apparently, its not his first one) and offers Tag his BoomBox instead. Mom states how he said his was wrecked, but Crew Chief lied about it, saying he was too scared to race after what happened to him and is giving Tag another chance to be himself once more. With his old look back, Tag completes the Grim Tour racetracks to qualify for the Grand Tour, where the last race would be against the reigning champion Expresso.
During the Grand Tour, Crew Chief reveals how Expresso was the one who wrecked his car so many years go. With Tag racing so well, Crew Chief finally believes that Expresso will get beaten once and for all. In the final race, Tag manages to win and become the new MRC champion, getting Crew Chief over his personal demons and making his mom proud. However, Uncle Richard (I don't think he's really his uncle) tries to get the glory himself, saying how Tag is still signed with CM and how its a victory for the both of them. However, he gets arrested when the police discover that his prints on the bomb that took out Tag's second kart.
In the final scene, Gary manages to knock out Biff twice with a nerve pinch and Expresso gets his just reward as Crew Chief punches him for trying to steal the championship. Gary closes out the game by wishing us better good luck in next year's race (which really didn't happen, but it does have a nice note to it).
I personally liked the story mode. Its pretty simple and you could probably guess what a few ideas might come up before it happens and yet still manages to throw a curveball or two your way. Characters are basic, yet have enough personality in both mannerisms and looks that make them stand out and enjoyable (well, except for maybe Uncle Richard, but I think that's just me personally.)
Overall, the game is an enjoyable past time when you're looking for something simpler, I suppose. Until next time...
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Review: Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Welcome to another review on 'Stories of Entertainment'.
I'm still getting a bit of a 'Lord of the Rings' buzz after watching 'The Hobbit' movie (at least the first of the planned trilogy) and I feel like doing something related to the series. Since plenty of the games were connected to the movie's story, I figured one of them would be a good choice. With that said, its time to look into 'Lord of the Rings: The Third Age'!
I'm still getting a bit of a 'Lord of the Rings' buzz after watching 'The Hobbit' movie (at least the first of the planned trilogy) and I feel like doing something related to the series. Since plenty of the games were connected to the movie's story, I figured one of them would be a good choice. With that said, its time to look into 'Lord of the Rings: The Third Age'!
(What, did you really think you would play heroes from the original trilogy?)
Developed by EA Games, 'Lord of the Rings: The Third Age' is a role-playing, turn-based strategy game similar to those of 'Final Fantasy'. You play as a group of characters (who bear slight resemblances to characters in the original story) as they trail behind the Fellowship of the Ring and try to save the world from Sauron. Its very much like a 'Final Fantasty' game with 'Lord of the Rings' as a new skin, so take that as you will when it comes to gameplay. The story, on the other hand, is an interesting bit that needs to be looked into.
Anyway, you begin with the Gondor soldier, Berethor (Boromir expy) who is out Boromir (weird, eh) when he gets attacked by Ringwraiths (weirder, eh). He gets saved by Idrial (Arwen expy) who joins him in getting Boromir back. Guided by visions from Gandalf (I think, its a bit fuzzy at the moment), the pair head to the Mines of Moria. They pick up two other people, a ranger named Elgost (Aragon expy) and a dwarf named Hadhod (Gimli expy). Apparently, the heroes have been trailing behind the Fellowship just barely, since they encounter the Watcher in the Water (twice!) and come across Balin's Tomb. They just barely miss them, until they come across Gandalf fighting the Balrog. Going against movie continuity, they fight alongside Gandalf against the Balrog, which they win, but Gandalf still needs to go through his revival and such, so he gets dragged by the Balrog in the end.
After leaving the Mines of Moria, the heroes discover that Boromir has died and that their goal has changed into helping the Fellowship of the Ring. They reach Rohan, where they battle Grima Wormtongue with the help of Morwen (Eowyn expy) and later recruit a Rohirrim named Eaoden (Eomer expy) as they venture to Helm's Deep. Fighting alongside Gimli, Legolas, and Aragon, the heroes manage to hold Helm's Deep to route the armies of Saruman and save the day. Eventually, they make their way to Ogsiliath, apparently in search of Frodo now.
When Idrial gets captured and the heroes mount a rescue to get her while in Ogsiliath, its revealed that Berethor was being manipulated by Sauron for sometime now. So, with Faramir's help, the heroes rescue Idrial, defeating several Ringwraiths and the orc commander Gothmag. They make their way to the big Gondor city, Minas Tirith. They participate in the battle alongside Gandalf the White and eventually take the fight from the city and into the open land outside of it. They join the Rohirrim, especially the Shield Maiden Eowyn, in fighting off the orc horde and defeating the Witch King. With all the Nazgul slain, the heroes go fight the Eye of Sauron (no really, this actually happens) and win the day.
...and that's it. You beat the game. Disappointing, ain't it?
Its basically an abridged story of the trilogy with just different characters. While it does have some exciting moments, it drags during the fight scenes and even uses clips from the movies themselves in place of 3d modeling and designing they could've done. Still, the combat is pretty familiar to those who've played Final Fantasy and could be enjoyable. The characters stand out a bit, though a still a bit bland compared to their counterparts. Thing is, if you wanted Final Fantasy to be more, well, fantasy, then you can shell out a bit of money to pick up a used copy. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with it.
Until next time...
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is owned by EA Games.
After leaving the Mines of Moria, the heroes discover that Boromir has died and that their goal has changed into helping the Fellowship of the Ring. They reach Rohan, where they battle Grima Wormtongue with the help of Morwen (Eowyn expy) and later recruit a Rohirrim named Eaoden (Eomer expy) as they venture to Helm's Deep. Fighting alongside Gimli, Legolas, and Aragon, the heroes manage to hold Helm's Deep to route the armies of Saruman and save the day. Eventually, they make their way to Ogsiliath, apparently in search of Frodo now.
When Idrial gets captured and the heroes mount a rescue to get her while in Ogsiliath, its revealed that Berethor was being manipulated by Sauron for sometime now. So, with Faramir's help, the heroes rescue Idrial, defeating several Ringwraiths and the orc commander Gothmag. They make their way to the big Gondor city, Minas Tirith. They participate in the battle alongside Gandalf the White and eventually take the fight from the city and into the open land outside of it. They join the Rohirrim, especially the Shield Maiden Eowyn, in fighting off the orc horde and defeating the Witch King. With all the Nazgul slain, the heroes go fight the Eye of Sauron (no really, this actually happens) and win the day.
...and that's it. You beat the game. Disappointing, ain't it?
Its basically an abridged story of the trilogy with just different characters. While it does have some exciting moments, it drags during the fight scenes and even uses clips from the movies themselves in place of 3d modeling and designing they could've done. Still, the combat is pretty familiar to those who've played Final Fantasy and could be enjoyable. The characters stand out a bit, though a still a bit bland compared to their counterparts. Thing is, if you wanted Final Fantasy to be more, well, fantasy, then you can shell out a bit of money to pick up a used copy. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with it.
Until next time...
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is owned by EA Games.
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