Latest Entries »

Pullbox #9 – 10/12/11

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
October 14, 2011

This was a difficult Pullbox to put together this week, let me tell you! With X-Men: Regenesis starting it was hard for me to not put an X-Men title on this list, but I’ve been showing the Children of the Atom a lot of love lately and there were a couple of other worthy titles from Marvel that also deserved the limelight. I do recommend though that you read your other monthly X-books before reading the Regenesis one-shot. That’s my tip of the day there. DC did not have as strong a showing as Marvel, but the two I picked there I think more than pick up the slack. And we had a little competition for indie pick of the week, but as I always try to feature new and different books as time goes on, I went with one I’ve been enjoying for a while, but haven’t gotten around to featuring yet. So, without further ado, here is this week’s Pullbox!

1) Marvel – The New Avengers #17: Continuing with the story line started in this monthly’s annual a few weeks ago, we see Norman Osborn back in a position of power. But unlike last time where he was hiding in plain sight of the public, he has taken up arms with AIM, Hydra, and several others of the big bads of the Marvel universe. Setting an Ultimo robot after a Stark Industries laboratory, the New Avengers leap into action. Unbeknownst to them though, this is all just a test as Osborn and several AIM scientists are piloting the robot and collecting as much data, and a very special sample of Wolverine’s blood, from the skirmish. The issue ends with a bang as Osborn’s plan have clearly just begun. What is great about this comic is that along with his entire time as the head of HAMMER, these global threats that Osborn is producing has brought him to a new level of villainy. For a long time he wasn’t even Spider-Man’s greatest threat. Then he moved to the front of that line. Then he was on the bottom rung of the community threat. And now, he’s top dog there, too. Great action and the start of something that is going to be huge, my only complaint with this comic is that they put Daredevil prominently on the cover and he wasn’t in the issue at all. What’s up with that?

2) Marvel – Amazing Spider-Man #671 (Spider-Island Part 5): I’ve been really disappointed with Spider-Island thus far, but aside from a couple of pages early on with Mary Jane finally getting powers, this was a really great chapter in what has been a subpar event to this point. Spidey finally gets to the bottom of everything that’s been going on with the return of the Queen and gets his Spider-Sense back after having it turned off by the psychic bubble placed over Manhattan to keep the spider people locked on the island. We also see the Jackal hopefully meet his fate as I doubt any true Spidey fan has ever liked him as a villain, although I’m sure like Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars, he probably has a bevy of clones of himself waiting in the wings too. As things finally start to come to a head with Spider-Island you hope that it isn’t like many events that Marvel has done in recent history where there is a quick climax and fast let down after this unnecessarily long build-up. As a whole, I have not been impressed though and am still leaning towards returning to my boycott of Amazing Spider-Man once this whole arc is finally done. Maybe I’ll go re-read my Maximum Carnage graphic novel so I can remember when I really cared about Spider-Man as a character.

3) DC – Green Lantern #2: Hal Jordan is forced to make a “Monkey’s Paw” type deal with the newly reinstated into the Green Lantern core Sinestro and he might actually learn a thing or two from the dictator from Korugar. I’m still a bit on the fence about this comic as I still want Hal Jordan to have his ring back, but his dynamic with Sinestro is something to behold. And with what Sinestro plans in order to give Jordan his “ring” back could break Jordan as a character if done improperly. So far so very good though. Seeing what Sinestro could do with a Green Lantern ring makes you start to truly fathom the power they contain and makes you wonder what has held back the four-honor guard Lanterns of Earth that we’ve followed all these years. In one awesome page, Sinestro did more than Jordan has done with that ring in a year and it only looks to make this odd-couple relationship thrive even more in the pags of this book. Like I said, it could turn sour in the end, but right now this is a must read.

4) DC – Deathstroke #2: An explosive first-issue left me curious to see where things would go plot wise with this book, and the plot has led to a lot more explosions and a lot more action. As Deathstroke is on the path of trying to figure out who is setting him up for something much bigger than he realized he was getting into in the first issue, some hired assassins get in the way after an exchange goes bad. Nothing Deathstroke can’t handle though and before you know it you’ve got body parts, blood, bullets, and swords flying in every direction. It’s gory, it’s brutal, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I would like to see Deathstroke with a bit more of a challenge though in future issues because in these first two issues he has just blown through his no name opponents like wet-tissue paper. Let’s see some heroes or something in there to mix it up!

5) Archie – Mega Man #6: If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of the Blue Bomber and this relatively new monthly series starring Mega Man is typically a bright spot for me. The first four issues basically followed Mega Man (or as he is affectionately called by Dr. Light, ‘Rock’) through the first game with Wily taking the six robot masters and sicking them on an unsuspecting public. Now, Wily is off to prison, but in every Mega Man game there has always been eight robot masters beyond that first one. So introducing Oil Man and Time Man, two brand new characters that were “held back” by Wily as they were still further in a prototype phase when he stole them from Dr. Light. Now, Mega Man and the reprogrammed original robot masters have split up into two teams. One to help fix the damage they caused initially and another to find Dr. Wily and put a stop to him once and for all. This comic is everything I would have hoped from it and more. New and old robot masters alike make this comic just as enjoyable as the games and to see Mega Man absorb and use their powers makes me wish Mega Man 11 would be announced. But this comic is fine in place of that and so my only real gripe with it is that I have to wait 30 days between issues. If you are a fan of Mega Man, do yourself a favor and start picking this up every month. It consistently finds a way to balance plot, character development and action and is worth it every time.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Hands-On: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Constantinople, NOT Istanbul

The war between the assassins and the Templars is one that has raged for ages and the adventures we’ve seen with Altair, Ezio, and briefly with Desmond are all but small chapters in this war that started eons ago. Now, we approach the end of Ezio’s involvement, but first we will learn just how vital his life is to the Assassin’s Order and how he serves as the lynchpin for his bloodline between Altair and Desmond. Soon, all will be revealed.

I had a chance to go hands-on with three of the new sequences we’ll see in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations campaign and had a chance to learn about Ezio’s new allies, his new weapons, and just how Altair and Desmond will fit into all of it in the end.

I started in Sequence 2 and was immediately introduced to Constantinople, where most of the game takes place, in ways I never thought imaginable. The graphics have been so refined and sharpened that you could actually pick out every individual strand of hay for the leap of faith points and every vegetable in the marketplace. You could also see that time had not been kind to Ezio as new scars crisscrossed his face and his hair that was once as black as the night had been lightened considerably in many places and went beyond “salt and pepper” in its effect.

As I made my way through the bustling, cramped city streets with Ezio, who also seemed to move a bit slower on the ground now, another clear sign of his age, I proceeded to find the only friendly face I knew at the moment, the head of the local Assassin’s Guild. There I would learn the ways of the Turkish Assassins and acquire my first bombs and hook blade.

The hook blade immediately caught my fancy because although Ezio may have moved half a step slower now on the ground, in terms of his parkour, he was easily moving twice as fast as he had in previous games. Using clotheslines to zip from roof to roof and the extra reach of the hook blade allowed me to scale buildings faster than ever before as I could reach grips that normally I would have missed in previous games, and this easily made up the difference of speed I’d lose on the ground and then some. This also made me want to stay on rooftops more so than usual.

The hook blade also added several new aspects to assassination and taking down enemies. Not only could you drop down on foes from above now while zip lining across rooftops, but in more traditional combat, like when Ezio finds himself surrounded by Templar or Turkish Royal Guards, he could use the hook blade to pull enemies down to vault over them and let him change the direction the battle might be heading in. Or just stab them in the face. Whatever opportunity presented itself first.

The bombs were also fun to play with as they provided several new aspects to Ezio’s possible strategies of getting around Constantinople. The first one we were introduced to was the cherry bomb. Primarily used for distraction, you could throw the bomb in one area to lure guards over to where the sound came from, while you sneak by the new unoccupied pathway or set them up for an easy assassination from behind. There are also more explosive bombs that do damage or stun foes and we also see the return of smoke bombs for those moments where you may need to slip away or to assassinate enemies via eagle vision in the confusion.

Later on in the sequence we also came upon a brand new mini-game element introduced to the series. In Brotherhood, you could take out Templar towers and convert them into Assassin hideaways. Now, in Revelations, you cannot only take out the towers, but the Templars may attempt to reclaim them at various times. When this happens, if you race back to the tower, you begin a tower defense style game where Ezio, no longer young and fit enough to lead men on the front lines, will use his accrued wisdom over his many years of waging this Assassin vs. Templar war to place various assassins on rooftops leading up to the Assassin tower and build barriers to slow down the advance of his enemies. If you defend the tower for so many waves, your foes will retreat and you will remain in control. If you fail…well, let’s just say it isn’t in your best interests to fail.

As we moved on to Sequence 4, we got our first hands on with Altair. Our Crusades era experiences in the finished game will look to entail five missions, but this was the first of two I was able see. It took place immediately after Altair had slain Al Mualim and we see the rift that starts forming in the ranks of the assassins. I immediately felt the difference with handling Altair compared to Ezio as Altair was much lighter and fluid in his movements as he raced to put affairs in order after Al Mualim’s death. Although rather short, the Altair missions explain so much about what happens between the first and second Assassin’s Creed games.

What was most interesting was in Sequence 5, when we took over as Altair again, we saw him as an old man. Still quicker than Ezio, we see that the rift between the assassins has become a chasm and Altair, after settling a threat in another part of the world, returns home unwelcome and surrounded. This change in scenery and time for the same character in such a short period of time game play wise really hammered home just how significant these events were in the grand scheme of things and makes you wonder just where we’ll bounce to next in further Altair missions.

Leading up to the Altair missions as Ezio was also very different. Unlike in previous games where it felt like a very separate experience to go hunt down artifacts of Altair and other assassins, now it felt much more intertwined with the story. One mission had us racing against a group of Templars to reach Altair’s hidden key while another had us simply platforming and parkouring around a collapsing mine, which felt like more of a threat than many of the Templars did. This gives the game a much more fluid experience in terms of the storytelling and clearly shows the importance of locating all of Altair’s keys, as they are the main purpose for Ezio to be in Constantinople after all.

Unfortunately, we did not get to play at all as Desmond, but his levels will definitely be like nothing we’ve ever seen as we were able to confirm from Creative Director Alex Amancio that Desmond is in an Animus induced coma and that he is located somewhere called “Animus Island”. This is also significant as instead of collecting feathers or flags, Ezio will collect Animus data pieces while in Constantinople as the reality Desmond is experiencing begins to blend with the technology that induces it like never before.

All in all, with new weapons at our disposal, a new world to explore, and many questions to finally be answered, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations looks to somehow once again raise the bar for this stunning historical sci-fi franchise and I can’t wait to get my hands on the final product.

Are you folks fans of the historical aspects of Assassin’s Creed? Where do you think the series goes from here? How do you feel about this being Ezio’s final chapter? What about there being a tower defense mini-game aspect now? Let us know your thoughts with comments below!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

ADMIT ONE – Movie Preview Weekend of 10/7/11

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

The Lion Kind 3D slipped from the top spot last weekend only to see another kids movie, Dolphin Tale, take number one while Moneyball continues to wait its turn in the number two hole. Courageous and 50/50 also had very strong showings to round out the top 5. This weekend should be interesting though as only two big movies are coming out and so we only have two previews for you (there was no way in hell I was going to preview Human Centipede 2). Can they shake-up the Top 5 or will all the hype and publicity both these new movies have been getting be all for naught?

1) Real Steel (Buena Vista)

Ten years into the future, the sport of boxing has died and in its place has arisen robot boxing, which allows 10-foot tall metal titans to pummel each other in ways humans never could. One of these former human boxers, not knowing anything but the fight game, finds that he is not nearly as good with a control pad as when he was the one actually in the squared circle. But with a little faith from his son and a bunch of spare parts, this down-on-his-luck scrapper looks to make one last run at glory.

When I first heard of this movie, I admit that I groaned. Loudly. But the more I think about it, the more I admit it has an appeal there that might make it an actual decent movie. Or at the very least, when you describe something as Rock’em Sock’em Robots crossed with Transformers and Rocky, you have something that will interest a good amount of the viewing audience for at least its opening weekend. Starring Hugh Jackman as the down-on-his-luck boxer, this movie has a lot of entertainment potential as long as it doesn’t take itself too seriously in the end. And blows up a lot of robots.

2) The Ides of March (Sony/Columbia)

An idealistic PR man for a new presidential campaign starts to get a taste of the seedy underbelly that is the American political landscape as he and his candidate get closer and closer to election day.

With as much turmoil and debate that surrounds the American political process now, this movie, which looks to poke holes in the process and shed a little light on the flaws of our government, might make a bigger splash that we would initially think and has Oscar nods written all over it. With a star-studded cast including George Clooney as the suave new political candidate and who also co-wrote the screenplay and is directing the movie, this drama could be a sleeper to keep an eye on at the box office and could catapult Ryan Gosling into the Hollywood elite depending on his performance. Throw in dramatic powerhouses Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Jeffrey Wright and this movie has winner written all over it in my book.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Pullbox #8 – 10/5/11

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

With the first month of DC’s universal re-launch behind us, Marvel has decided to start re-launching some more characters of their own in response. Along with Hulk coming out later this month, we see this week the conclusion of the Schism story line in the X-Men to pave way for several new X-Men monthlies featuring two different teams. So, what series are worth continuing in the DC re-launch and what can Marvel do to draw your attention away from it? And there’s a surprisingly good indie that came out this week as well that deserves you attention so without further ado, check out the Pullbox below!

1) Marvel – X-Men: Schism #5 (of 5): As a giant Sentinel came bearing down onto Utopia, Wolverine and Cyclops’ 30-year rivalry has finally come to a head with the two of them duking it out like never before. Meanwhile, while they try to work out their differences with Wolverine stabbing Cyclops several times and Cyclops blasting off Wolverine’s face, it is the young X-Men and Hope’s new recruits who come in and save the day. With a clear moral divide now present on the island, Wolverine decides to leave for good and several various members of the X-Men decide to join him. You need to see this just to see who breaks rank with Cyclops and to set up what looks to be an awesome foreseeable future for the two new X-Men teams. The best part about this mini-series is that it shows everyone how a re-launch should really take place. Marvel has been infamous in the past for screwing them up, but this coupled with the Hulk’s re-launch, both look promising depending on how they come out of the gate with their new respective series. DC has been pretty awful as well including this new universal re-launch. Some characters stayed the same while others were completely re-written or retconned and just had me scratching my head in many cases. It should be interesting to see where the X-Men go from here, but if I were you, start here and get ready for one wild ride.

2) Marvel – Deadpool #44: Moving away from the almost somber tone that the dividing of the X-Men brings, we look to the greatest comic relief character in comics, Deadpool. Still in England, Deadpool is hot on the trail of his would be psychiatrist/stalker when he goes into her apartment and finds a frozen version of…himself. Leaving it for the time being, Deadpool , having grown a small conscience and realizing that it is his fault that his shrink is about to commit murder, for once actually saves someone he dislikes. But in the end, the doc bites the big one and that frozen version of Deadpool? It looks like it’s going to be EVIL DOPPELGANGER time next issue! Yee-haw! Sorry. I, too, begin developing extra voices in my head after reading too much Deadpool. Anyway, Deadpool is always hysterical to read and sees him in the most over-the-top, off-the-wall situations in comics. With everyone else saving the world, Deadpool can barely even save himself most of the time, relying on his healing factor even more than Wolverine does, and it is always entertaining. Again, this issue wraps up a story arc and sets up the next nicely so it would be a solid point to jump in at and the laughs you’ll get from it makes this an easy choice this week.

3) Image – Last of the Greats #1: Earth is under attack and after not heeding the warnings from beings of tremendous power, they must now go to the last one and beg for his help against an invading alien force. Simple in it’s description, but so deep in its writing and art, that this is the most pleasant shock I’ve had in a while from an indie comic. I actually had a chance to speak to the author of this book, Joshua Hale Fialkov and we both agreed that the thing that should first draw people in is the cover, especially this alternate version you see to the left. Beautiful in its simplicity while harking back to a classic in the Watchmen with the smiley face with a drop of blood on it, Last of the Greats could become something that could rival Spawn for Image’s top monthly comic in my opinion because this first issue was just that damn good. It was dark in a way you rarely see in comics and in just the first issue had enough twists and turns that it made your jaw drop and that’s saying something considering these are characters we have no history with. I’m thrilled to hear this is a monthly and that the next three issues are ready for print (again via Fialkov) because I think this is going to be something really special and cannot wait to pick up issue #2.

4) DC – Swamp Thing #2: I admit that my first experiences with Swamp Thing growing up was the movies and later a short-lived cartoon. I never read the comics and so I had a very limited knowledge of the character until later in life and thought that its return at the end of the Brightest Day was one of the worst things DC had done in recent history. But maybe it is that poor rebirth penned by Geoff Johns and my cheesy childhood memories that had limited my expectations for this comic and led to my pleasant surprise that it has been pretty good. We learn more of the history of the Swamp Thing and it almost sounded a bit like the history of Spawn to be honest, but revolving around plant life. Still, Alec Holland having to face this global threat, unknown forces working against him, and the tremendous pressure for him to take back up the mantle of Swamp Thing, makes him a surprisingly deep character only two issues in to this new series. Whether you’re like me and don’t have the history with Swamp Thing or read everything Len Wein and Alan Moore wrote for the character, I think you’d be pleased with how this is going and should definitely pick this up.

5) DC – Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #1 (of 5): With Batman: Arkham City right around the corner and since The Penguin is a main villain in the game, I particularly enjoyed this comic because it gives rare insight into the character of the Penguin himself if you are unfamiliar with Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot’s rough upbringing. The ruthlessness the Penguin portrays as we see his psychological profile through the brilliant art of the book is really something Batman fans old and new will enjoy and it is nice to see this classic villain is another character mainly untouched by DC’s universal re-launch. It’s also a good comic because it is clearly a set-up for a much larger story as no Penguin story would be complete without interference from the Dark Knight. What new scheme is the Penguin working on or what is he covering up that will draw the Caped Crusader’s interest? I think this is an easy pick-up for all the Batman fans out there as true Batman fans know how underrated the Penguin can be at times as a villain and this arc looks like it might help put the Penguin back into the spotlight for a time. Proof positive to never underestimate even the runts in a litter as rotten as that of the Cobblepots.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Spider-Man: Edge of Time

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

One hell of a paradox

Trying to capitalize on their success with last year’s Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Beenox brings us now Spider-Man: Edge of Time. A new villain in the year 2099, Walker Sloan, is at the forefront of time-travel and finally cracking the fourth dimension. Working for Alchemax, Sloan uses the corporation’s mass resources for his own purposes though and constructs a time machine that propels him back into the 1970s. With over 100 years of future knowledge, Sloan pilfers many of the late 20th century’s great ideas years ahead of their conception in order to re-write history and the Alchemax company into his own image. Now, Spider-Men from two ages must work together across space and time in order to put things back the way they once were and close up the wormhole that Sloan has opened up with his time hopping.

There are a lot of good things that Beenox has done with the Spider-Man franchise to date and some of these things continue in Edge of Time. Unfortunately, they get away from two things that I feel are critical to any Spider-Man game dating back to Spider-Man for the N64/PS1: lots of web-slinging and lots of villains. With the entire game taking place inside a single building, you do a decent amount of wall-crawling, but there is not as much room as you’d like to swing and something that has been a staple I feel of all the great Spidey games of the past 10 years has been a fair amount of web-slinging. This lack of web-slinging makes Edge of Time feel more like a generic brawler whose heroes happen to occasionally walk on walls than a genuine Spider-Man game.

Also, Spidey’s Rogues Gallery is one of the most diverse in comics and is only trumped probably by Batman over at DC. So to see Beenox go from over a dozen classic villains in Shattered Dimensions to only a handful of low appeal ones in Edge of Time really felt like a punch to the gut that knocked the wind out of this game. Mind you, without giving anything away, fans of that old-school Spider-Man from the N64/PS1 will likely draw parallels to a new villain who appears in Edge of Time, but besides that fleeting moment of recognition, none of the villains featured in this game got me as excited as those from Shattered Dimensions.

Still, there is a lot of good in this game and fans of Spider-Man will likely walk away pleased with the overall experience. The story, written by original Spider-Man 2099 creator Peter David, is one of the more compelling Spidey tales I’ve seen in a while and has so many twists and turns that you’ll find yourself willingly falling further down the wormhole just to find out what is going to happen next.

Another brilliant aspect of the game is how fresh each chapter feels compared to most other brawlers out there. Bouncing back and forth between Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 feels like a new experience each time as they level up because their fighting styles and special powers are so different from one another.

We also see a huge upgrade with the return of the free-falling levels with Spider-Man 2099 that were introduced in Shattered Dimensions. Although you won’t be fighting any villains this time in elevator shafts and various other vertical corridors, you’ll be dodging a lot more obstacles and a new targeting reticule has been introduced that lets you know exactly where you’ll land on your current path, which makes dodging all those obstacles that much easier. No villains though may make it feel like a mini-game for some, but for me it was one of the most fun mini-games then that I’ve played in a while and are the levels I would replay the most in both Shattered Dimensions and here again in Edge of Time.

Throw in hysterical mid-level dialogue between the two Spider-Men because of a psychic link they have through the wormhole and the relationship between the two becomes a fast growing bond that is enjoyable for the player on a lot of levels. The dialogue is also very strong because Spider-Man 2099 is played by Spider-Man: The Animated Series star and Spider-Man Noir in Shattered Dimensions, Christopher Daniel Barnes, and Amazing Spider-Man is played by Spectacular Spider-Man star and Ultimate Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions, Josh Keaton, which only makes it feel all the more authentic for diehard Spidey fans.

All in all, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a good game with a couple of flaws that keep it from being elite. The game play would have been perfect if Beenox could have shoehorned in some web-slinging and some more villains, but everything else is up there with some of the better Spider-Man games of the past in terms of combat and plot. The game may also be a little short in the grand scheme of things, clocking in at just under 10 hours for me, but with a bevy of collectibles and costumes to unlock, there is enough reason to come back to this a couple more times if you’re a diehard Spidey fan and is worth checking out at least once for the more casual fan.

SUMMARY: A lack of web-slinging and villains knocks this worthy Spider-Man tale down a couple of pegs in terms of a game, but should appease many Spidey fans out there overall.

  • THE GOOD: Great plot, great action
  • THE BAD: Not enough villains or web-slinging
  • THE UGLY: My head exploding after trying to understand time-travel as explained by Spider-Man 2099

SCORE: 7.5

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Hands-On: Need for Speed: The Run

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Baby we were born to run

Your body violently jerks into the side paneling as no seatbelt known to man could hold you down from the G-forces you generate as you whip around hairpin corners while flying down a two-lane mountain road somewhere between Denver and Detroit. All the while you’re trying to control a 750 horsepower monster engine and keep all four tires pinned to the gravel as you try to split the difference between an oncoming tractor-trailer and the Porsche 911 Carrera S that is just ahead of you and weaving back and forth to keep you from passing in your Ford Shelby GT Super Snake. You think you get the timing right. You shift into a higher gear. And then you floor it. As horns blare, sparks fly, and paint is lost forever to the road behind you and the driver side door of your competition, you finally move into 78th place in the race for you life.

Sound pretty exhilarating? Well, that description above is hopefully going to describe nearly every moment of Need for Speed: The Run when it drops in November and from the several stages we got our hands on at an EA event in Vegas, it was all that and more. The Run marks the 18th game in the Need for Speed franchise’s history, but is the first to take place in the real world and the stakes have never been higher. You play as Jack, a street racer down on his luck and who owes a lot of money to a lot of the wrong people. Jack’s last chance to pay everyone off and come out on top is to win “The Run”, an unofficial, illicit, underground street-race that spans the entire length of the USA, starting in San Francisco and ending in New York City, with the winner being awarded 25 million dollars. More than enough to make Jack’s problems go away and maybe enough left over for him to start new. But there are a lot of people who don’t want to see Jack win. From law enforcement in various cities Jack will have to drive through along the way to a bevy of rival drivers including some lovely ladies whose physical appearance were based of Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, Jack will have his work cut out from him.

As in traditional Need for Speed fashion, events will force Jack into many different cars including some classic American muscle cars, refined exotics, and high-tuned street racers. Unlike in previous games though, for the first time you can actually step out of the car for short quicktime segments that bridge the narrative gap of how Jack gets from car to car and continues the race. We did not actually get to play one of these events and remained in our car for our particular demo, but we’ve seen them in action before and as we are constantly reassured that they take up less than 10% of the game, we feel we can live with this device for the sake of what is shaping up to be the deepest and most compelling plot Need for Speed has ever put out there.

Aside from the overall race where you will try to overtake dozens of opponents, there is also some race variety dropped in at various points to try to keep the game fresh, like pitting you one on one against a rival as you try to avoid an avalanche caused by an unknown faction firing a grenade launcher into the mountain you’re driving along, or racing between toll booths in a checkpoint like fashion. Mind you, the overall objective is still to end up in first by the time you reach New York, but the only way you’ll do that is if you pass every race and traverse easily the largest series of tracks a Need for Speed game has ever featured.

And rivals and checkpoints aren’t the only challenge you’ll face as I found out in my demo. My biggest challenge came in oncoming traffic on smaller country roads. Trying to pass a series of exotics while big rigs, mini-vans, and other vehicles are roaring down in the opposite lane provides a challenge of timing that needs to be seen to be believed and may have you racing a bit dirtier than you’d expect as sometimes bumping an opponent out of the way is a lot safer than trying to shoot past them through a gap barely big enough to get a bicycle through never mind your Pagani Huayra.

The overall most satisfying aspect I came away with from our demo of The Run though may be the controls. Although they have less of an arcade feel than Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, they’re still very responsive and easy to pick up and just jump into a race with. And with a “rewind” feature that allows you to pick up at various checkpoints throughout the race should you find yourself more of an expert at crashing and burning than handling tight corners, the game is forgiving enough to make it appeal to even the most casual of race game fans.

But what about replay-ability? Once you finish this massive looking race campaign, what would make you want to do it again if you do fall into that more casual category? Well, one thing that did transition over from Hot Pursuit has been Autolog, the social competition functionality for the Need for Speed franchise. You may finish the campaign first amongst your friends, but by participating in Autolog and uploading your best section times, you can see where your friends smoked you and vice versa and maybe even why they had a better overall time. You can even upload race ghosts so that you can actually see how your friends did it and you can feel like you’re racing directly against them even if you’re in a different time zone, work a different schedule, or just are plain never on when they are.

So, if you like supermodels, fast cars, and you’re looking to get behind the wheel of a super car but are a few hundred thousand dollars short, you might want to look into Need for Speed: The Run and get ready for the race of your life when it drops in mid-November.

PARTING SHOTS: It has been a long time since I’ve been this excited for a racing game and with all these new features, a compelling original story, and a whole new twist on the idea of underground street racing, Need for Speed: The Run looks like it could easily be the most exciting game in the franchise to date.

So what do you guys think? Are you pumped up for The Run or is it just another racing game? Do you think the quicktime events will take away from the game even though they are such a small part of it? And what about Autolog? Will this make you want to come back to this more and compete against your friends’ times, or is it a waste of time? Let us know with comments below!

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

ADMIT ONE – Movie Previews Weekend of 9/30/11

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Amazingly, The Lion Kind 3D has taken the top weekend spot two weeks in a row and last week’s strong favorite, Moneyball, has had to be satisfied with a backseat position. Could this weekend’s newcomers hope to make a dent in the standings and overcome the re-released animated favorite and this instant baseball classic?

1) 50/50 (Summit Entertainment)

Loosely based on the true-story of a 27-year-old diagnosed with cancer and how he coped and overcame his disease with the help and hijinx of his family.

Normally a very dramatic subject, this light-hearted uplifting take on perseverance looks to see Seth Rogan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play off each other like a classic comedy duo with Levitt as your typical straight man and Rogan as the bumbling buffoon with a heart of gold. Quick witted one liners wrapped in this heart-warming tale of family and friends coming to the support of a kid facing his final curtain should be a strong contender for your box office bucks this weekend if you’re looking for a laugh or something more light-hearted to see with your significant other. It also is good to see that Rogan might actually be funny in something for the first time in a couple of years.

2) Courageous (TriStar)

Four police officers give their all for their jobs and protect the streets as best they can. But when tragedy hits close to home and they realize that they may be giving a bit too much to their professional careers, their faith in themselves and each other will be tested.

Although the standard cop drama is not my cup of tea, this one looks to be well made with a lot of lesser known actors to help pull off the gritty real-life feel the movie goes for. Of course, it’s pro-Gospel message could give it a strong appeal in certain regions of the country and turn off large parts of others, but it is easily the least likely to do much at the box office this weekend because of it’s limited release in less than 1200 theatres (most blockbusters are released in 3200-3600 theaters). This sleeper drama could be a good change of pace from your standard action/drama flick, but if you’re against heavy religious overtones, then you’ll likely want to steer clear of this one altogether.

3) Dream House (Universal)

Soon after moving into what they thought would be their dream house, a couple and their kids learn of horrific murders that took place within the walls of their home and that the former residents might not have left when that happened.

Just another in a long line of films with a super-natural evil lurking in the residence, Dream House has mediocre (at best) written all over it. Even with real life married couple and acting powerhouses Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz starring, you have to ask yourself if the only reason they took these roles was so they could work together on a project shortly after their nuptials. There are plenty of better horror movies still out in the theaters or coming out in the coming weeks, so if you’re looking for a scare, you can find something better than this one for sure.

4) What’s Your Number? (Fox)

A woman looks back on her past 20 relationships and wonders if one of them could have been “the one” and if she let him get away.

I look at this and I ask myself, why? Why is Captain America (Chris Evans) doing this movie? Why do horrible rom-coms like this ever get green lit? Why must I bother even looking at this on my list of new releases? WHY? This movie looks beyond generic and has ‘awful’ written all over it. If you have a girlfriend who wants to see this movie, do whatever you can for her to avoid it. Cook her breakfast in bed, give her a foot massage, do whatever you can to escape probably the worst one hour and 46 minutes of your movie going life. Or maybe go rent some more bearable rom-com to appease her, but if you willingly accept going to th

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: X-Men: Destiny

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

A new child of the atom

I think it’s every geek’s dream to develop superpowers in some way. And so like moths to flame we are drawn to games where we can not only play as our favorite heroes but can craft our own personal character in the universes we have come to enjoy through various forms of media. So as a diehard X-Men fan, I was particularly stoked about the release of ­­X-Men Destiny.

Based in the X-Men universe, this is an original story line inspired by, but having no direct tie-in to, the ongoing monthly comics from Marvel. You play as one of three new mutants attending a peace rally in San Francisco as the relationship between human and mutant grows more strained by the day. After an apparent attack on the crowd by Magneto causes panic to spread amongst the crowd, your powers manifest as you attempt to defend yourself. As you learn about your newfound abilities, you’ll uncover a conspiracy that will shake the mutant world to its very core, all the while you make and break alliances with both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

The anticipation I had for this game’s release was soon replaced by disappointment. The best way I could describe how X-Men Destiny was that it felt incomplete. The game is riddled with glitches, has an inconsistent checkpoint save system that sometimes places saves right on top of one another or places them at opposite ends of levels and makes you replay the whole thing over if you die, and the plot, quite simply, is just too damn short for a proper X-Men game, no matter how well written it may be. I beat the entire thing, on the hardest difficulty, in less than eight hours.

I was also displeased with the three character stories and power choices we were forced into. Instead of letting the player truly craft a character they could relate to, you are forced into one of three outlandish protagonists and follow their story as it unfolds. Since many action/adventure games actually do this, it’s not the concept that bothers me, its the fact that the game tries to sell itself as an RPG that gives you a lot of choice and this is simply not the case. And to make matters worse, the few choices you are given are so spread out throughout the game that you never reach your full potential until the very final level of the game. And again, this goes back to the length of the game. Just when you seem to start hitting your stride with whatever powers you were pigeonholed into, it ends.

Mind you, there are some positives to X-Men Destiny. The plot, written by X-Men: Legacy writer Mike Carey, is worthy of the X-Men universe and features cameos or the chance to fight alongside many of your favorite characters while taking on classic X-Men threats. Whether you choose to be good and trade quips with Iceman against the Purifiers or be bad and burn stuff to the ground with Pyro in a U-Men bunker, when the game has you working with your favorite characters on the missions, you actually feel, albeit briefly most of the time, like an X-Man.

The audio was also very good as the music helped set a mood worthy of an action game and the voice acting was superb. Nolan North, better known as Deadpool in most other X-Media, came on to do Cyclops and surprised me as the stoic and steadfast leader of the X-Men. Include other voice over royalty like Phil LaMarr as Gambit and Forge, Yuri Lowenthal as Nightcrawler, Jason Marsden as Iceman, Fred Tatasciore as Juggernaut, and Steve Blum returning to reprise Wolverine and the voice over work in this game is as good as any other cast of X-characters represented in animation or other games.

Still, as good as it felt to fight alongside some of my favorite comic book heroes in this game, there are just too many shortcomings to make X-Men Destiny as special as many of the characters it features. My recommendation is that the game is worth a rental, but is only worthy of purchase by the most diehard of X-Men fans who will play through it several times, despite the glitches, and try to collect the several dozen collectibles featured in the game.

SUMMARY: Short, glitch-riddled, and lacking the choices of a true RPG, X-Men Destiny falls short of the high expectations of most X-Men fans and should only be checked out by the most forgiving of souls.

  • THE GOOD: Fighting alongside many of your favorite heroes from the comics
  • THE BAD: A surprising lack of choice given to the player for an RPG
  • THE UGLY: A lack of polish shows up often considering how short the game is

SCORE: 6.0

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Pullbox #7 – 9/29/11

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Although a lot may have come out this week, much of it wasn’t nearly as strong or enjoyable as I would have preferred. And surprisingly, an indie easily topped my list of everything that came out this week. But once you see what it is, I’m sure most of you will understand. So without further ado, here is this week’s Pullbox!

1) IDW – Ghostbusters #1: Being nearly 20 years since they’ve had their own monthly, Ghostbusters #1 is the response to the huge popularity of inconsistently published one-shots and mini-series featuring the boys in gray by IDW. And now that it is here, this first issue does not disappoint with plenty of references that die-hard fans of the movies, cartoons, or video games will likely understand while still having them face off against some pretty pesky poltergeists. Opening with a dream sequence in which Ray Stantz is having a nightmare about previous adventures, which features a humorous cameo by the ghost of John Belushi that may or may not be hinting at a third movie as well as what could have been as he was originally supposed to play Peter Venkman before his unfortunate passing, this first issue hints at old problems still lurking out there in the shadows, while the Ghostbusters must concentrate on the here and now of other paranormal threats in and around Manhattan. All I can say is that if bustin’ makes you feel good, then this is a clear must have this week.

2) Marvel – New Avengers #16.1: With Fear Itself, Spider-Island, and several other large events going on in the Marvel universe, the long-term fallout of previous events like Norman Osborn’s reign as the world’s top cop have yet to be fully explored. Until now. After rotting on Ryker’s for some time, the backed-up legal system finally has gotten around to Norman Osborn’s trial for his crimes against humanity. Due to the nature of this case and the fact that Osborn’s H.A.M.M.E.R. organization still has cells out there, the Avengers have been called into escort Osborn to his day in court. But even with all the planning the Avengers had set up in terms of a security detail, the crafty Osborn still finds a way to elude them and sets up the Avengers for a world of trouble in the future. With long term ramifications for this Avengers team and a chance for Brian Michael Bendis to really let Spider-Man shine as Osborn is traditionally one of his villains, this looks to be the only book in the “.1” series that is more than just a one-shot adventure as it looks to set up at least the next few issues of the regular monthly series. Punctuated by great art from Neal Adams and any fan of this monthly up this point should pick up this “.1” as we look ahead to the future of the New Avengers.

3) Marvel – X-Men Legacy #256: As Rogue, Gambit, Frenzy, and Magneto try to rescue their comrades, Havoc, Polaris, and Rachel Summers from a space station that is in a deteriorating orbit and ready to crash into a star, their problems are confounded when Rogue loses the teleportation abilities she had temporarily acquired to get her team there. Although the middle of an arc, this is still a decent jumping off point because it reveals a new enemy and establishes new problems for the small band of X-Men it affects. This is also a great issue to pick up because finally, after being trapped on the outskirts of the galaxy, this arc, when resolved, will hopefully bring Havoc, Polaris, and Rachel Summers back into the fold of the main X-Men and end their galaxy gallivanting ways as these powerhouses have been ignored for too long after their war with Vulcan, Havoc and Cyclops’ third and forgotten brother. X-Men Legacy is just another book in the long line of X-books to have been released in past months that has me saying that anything involving the X-Men right now is probably the best thing going in comics right now.

4) DC – Teen Titans #1: Yet another book in DC’s “New 52”, Teen Titans #1 has one of the more interesting dynamics we’ve seen in the new universe as it has characters who have been largely unaffected by the re-launch, like Tim Drake, a.k.a. Red Robin, now teaming up with some of his best friends like Wonder Girl, Superboy, and Kid Flash, that all act like they don’t know each other and have never worked together since they’ve all been re-imagined. It is moments like these that make me really question titles that revolve around teams when doing a re-launch because it loses a lot of the original flavor and changes the characters in ways that are not normally for the better. On the other hand, this book also brings back the men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., a Grant Morrison original who only made several appearances on New Earth before being mostly forgotten about. Their purpose is to destroy all that is considered “unnatural” in the world, including many super-heroes and villains, and they have taken aim now at the team that will become the DCU’s new Teen Titans. Can the re-imagining of these once lesser villains as a bigger threat keep this new Teen Titans in my pullbox for long? Or will my disdain for the re-invented Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Superboy, and others force me to give up on this comic? We’ll have to wait and see, but this first issue is worth picking up just incase.

5) DC – Green Lantern New Guardians #1: Unlike Teen Titans #1 and many of the other books in the DCU, Green Lantern New Guardians #1 spends a couple of pages re-telling Kyle Rayner’s story of how he became a Green Lantern, before throwing him right back into the action from where he left off when the re-launch happened. Patrolling Earth and the rest of Sector 2814, Kyle realizes something has gone terribly wrong when rings from other colors of the spectrum have left their original hosts and all flown to him. Now with the entire emotional spectrum looking to be represented by Kyle, other ringbearers from their respective spectrums are out for blood, as they don’t care why Kyle has those rings, only that they want them back. Although it takes place primarily on Earth, the comic still has that cosmos-exploring feel that makes the Green Lantern comics so exciting. With all the ringslinging that is due to take place in the coming months, I think this has been the most exciting Green Lantern comic so far in the “New 52” and is a must have for fans of the most junior member of Sector 2814’s Honor Lantern Guard.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

ADMIT ONE – Weekend Movie Preview – 9/23/11

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Much like last week, it looks like we have a pair of strong possibilities to come out ahead in terms of being worth your viewing pleasure and we also have a pair of stinkers. So grab your popcorn and a soda, kick back, relax, and check out my movie previews for this upcoming weekend!

1) Moneyball (Sony/Columbia)

Based on the true story of the late 1990s-early 2000s Oakland Athletics, Moneyball follows how General Manager Billy Beane was able to turn one of the cheapest organizations in baseball into a winner for several years while teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers were trying to buy championships.

Living in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area for the past 25 years, I was always aware of how my Yankees were considered the “evil empire” and how everyone rooted for this perennial underdog Oakland team. And they did push us and others to the brink a few times. But always came up short in the end. Still, Billy Beane changed baseball for a time and it was a great story to see these rag tag misfit players come away with AL Western Division Championships. If you’re a fan of baseball and are older than the age of 15, you’ll probably really appreciate this story and to me this is the must see movie of the weekend.

2) Abduction (Lionsgate)

Triggered by seeing his face on a missing persons’ website, a young man will uncover a giant conspiracy on his quest to find out the truth about himself and where he comes from.

This movie seems completely unbelievable and this is coming from a guy that worships Star Wars and Batman. You expect me to believe that this kid from Pittsburgh goes from being a mild mannered nobody to a super-spy in an instant after his home gets invaded? No radioactive bugs, cosmic rays, or being from another planet? And what was with that scene with him at the Pirates game running around a crowded PNC Park? Going back to our first movie, anyone who knows baseball knows that there hasn’t been that many people at a Pirates game in 20 years. It’s really a shame that tremendous supporting cast with Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver will be wasted, but I still can’t believe they’re casting the werewolf kid in other movies now. Are they banking on his teen fan-base following him into other franchises? All in all, Abduction has flop written all over it.

3) Dolphin Tale (Warner Bros.)

Based on the true story of a boy who helps develop a prosthetic tale for an injured dolphin after it was caught in a fishing trap.

Would it be insensitive to say I’m eating a tuna sandwich right now? Anyway, this might appeal to a very young audience as it has Free Willy written all over it and I loved that movie when I was seven. Now, not so much. What kills me the most is this is “based on a true story”. I would love to get the dolphin’s point of view on this whole thing. Seeing it show up to the movie premiere and flop down the red carpet in a nice suit and tie. But you can’t. Because it’s an animal. And at the end of the day, animal stories hold no real value for me in terms of entertainment. This is a 200-word article buried a dozen pages back in the NY Times, not a feature film. I think it’ll do alright this weekend because little kids will eat it up, but I don’t see this as being anything more that a solid kid empowerment movie and so I’m personally steering clear.

4) Killer Elite (Open Road Films)

After his mentor is taken hostage, a retired member of Britain’s Elite Special Air Service will do everything in his power to get him back, including taking down an entire top-of-the-line hit squad, and get to the bottom of the kidnapping.

Although this looks like a somewhat generic action movie, I’m actually very interested to see it because of its all-star cast of Robert DeNiro, Clive Owen, and the current king of the over-the-top action film, Jason Statham. Big explosions, lots of elaborate action sequences, and some cool fight scenes and stunts, has me rather curious to see just what this movie is all about. Although I still expect Moneyball to easily win the weekend, I think this could quietly sneak into a number two or three spot depending on how many guys are looking for their action fix this weekend. It definitely has a lot more potential to be entertaining than Abduction, that’s for sure.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment