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Will Leaks Spoil ‘The Dark Knight Rises’?

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
September 13, 2011

Originally Published: September 6, 2011, on EGMNOW.com

Same Bat-Time, Very Different Bat-Channel?

I remember the year or so leading up to the release of The Dark Knight. The cast had been revealed and immediately people, admittedly myself included, started to freak out that Heath Ledger would be the Joker (a role he’d win a posthumous Oscar for). The ‘Broke-bat Mountain’ jokes were numerous and very few of us had the faith that Christopher Nolan could catch lightning in a bottle twice as he did with Batman Begins. Then the movie was released and Ledger is now talked about in geek circles as possibly the best Joker ever (not by me, but he did do a great job). So when casting was announced for The Dark Knight Rises, people definitely raised on eyebrow, but Nolan and his crew had earned the respect of us from the previous movie to have faith in that they knew what they’re doing.

Now for the past several weeks, on an almost daily basis, a few clever people from Pittsburgh (I know how oxymoronic that sounds) have snuck in camera phones or flip cams to the set where The Dark Knight Rises is being filmed. As locked down as the set of The Dark Knight was, the set of The Dark Knight Rises seems to be as porous. We have confirmation of several tumbler Batmobiles, the Bat-Pod, a breakout from Blackgate, an invaded football stadium converted from the Steelers’ Heinz Field before the NFL pre-season began, a fight between Bane and Batman on the steps of City Hall, Catwoman riding out of City Hall on the Bat-Pod, a blooper of Anne Hathaway’s stunt double smashing an IMAX camera, a Batwing more reminiscent of a UFO, and there are still months of filming left if we are to believe the six month anticipated shooting schedule.

All this leads me to several questions. If Nolan was able to run such a tight ship with The Dark Knight, what has changed, if anything? Or is this all a ploy to throw detail hungry fanboys off the trail of the movie’s bigger picture and to help build up all the hype, much like the release of the first six minutes of the movie did at San Diego Comic Con before The Dark Knight? But even if this is some clever plot to keep us all distracted and away from whatever secrets Nolan is trying to protect, could these images actually do damage to the film instead?

Although Anne Hathaway looks phenomenal in her Catwoman outfit, there has already been fan outrage that she lacks Catwoman staples like a bullwhip and cat-ears. I’m not saying she has to be in bright purple spandex, but some small odes to the comic costumes would be a nice touch. And many are saying Bane looks absolutely abysmal, looking more like a common thug crossed with a young Hannibal Lecter than the mastermind behind the Knightfall comic book story arc of two decades ago. Could these quick to judge fan opinions from leaked footage and stills do anything to the powerhouse audiences this movie is sure to draw next July? Not likely, but if too much of the plot can be determined from this footage, you might start to see the comic community find less and less reason to go see this in theatres, or try harder to procure leaked scripts and film reels like with X-Men Origins: Wolverine a couple of years ago.

Then, of course, there is also the option that Nolan is purposely trying to bring people’s opinion of the movie down. When trying to aspire to great expectations like this movie is, it will be much harder to reach that brass ring with audiences than to surprise audiences who are expecting less. This may be part of the reason that Ledger’s Joker was so successful because many of us going in were filled with doubt about whether or not he could pull it off so that when he gave the performance he did, we immediately put his portrayal onto a previously unthinkable pedestal.

No matter what happens, I’m sure The Dark Knight Rises will draw a ton of bank, but it should be interesting to see how all this leaked footage affects people’s opinions before and after seeing the movie and whether or not it hurts or helps it in the end.

The Dark Knight Rises will hit movie theaters mid-July of 2012 and conclude Christopher Nolan’s celebrated (so far) trilogy of the Caped Crusader. What do you expect from this final movie? Are you disappointed by what members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery were featured? Should Nolan and Bale come back for a fourth? Sound off below!

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The Pullbox – 8/31/11

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Originally Published: August 31, 2011 on EGMNOW.com

August is coming to a close and with it is an incredible run by Greg Pak on The Incredible Hulk that will lead into an all new monthly for “he who likes to smash” over at Marvel and of course the universe altering Flashpoint for DC. With all these changes going on, let’s jump right into this week’s comics and get our hands on my five must haves for the week.

1) DC – Flashpoint #5 (of 5): As mentioned in the open, this is where the entire DCU will be reset from. Although not following Flashpoint as closely as many other events over the past few years, partially due to my disappointment in the ending of Brightest Day by Geoff Johns, who is one of the main guys behind this re-launch, this issue actually left me feeling rather satisfied with how everything has drawn to a close with some tremendously heart-felt moments for many of the DCU’s powerhouses. Even if you haven’t been reading Flashpoint, if you have any interest in the DCU, you should pick this up just to have a solid idea of where things will go from here and so you can have a solid gauge of just what changes are taking place. If for some reason you’ve been staying off the DC bandwagon, then this is the perfect time to get on board with a fresh start and not as much of the weight that comes with some of publisher’s main characters’ 70-plus year histories.

2) DC – Justice League #1: The only other DC comic to be released this week, which not only made it very easy to pick my pair of DC must haves, but also is the starting off point for the new vision of the DC Universe. A part of me really wanted to hate this issue, I admit. The whole idea of a universal re-launch kind of turned my stomach when I first heard about it, and I’m still unsure of how things will turn out, but if everything ends up like this comic, then DC will be just fine and this could mark the beginning of a newly celebrated age in comics. Starting off in a flashback to five years ago before the Justice League had formed (in comics time of course), the issue has a lot of classic crowd pleasing elements like the heroes fighting each other at first until a new threat they can’t handle alone rears its head (which I won’t spoil, but DC fans will be thrilled about what it is). My only problem from this comic comes in the Superman redesign. The all blue-suit and more toned musculature really makes me think I’m looking at Superboy and not Superman. Overall though, aside from possibly being worth something as a new #1, I can see this easily becoming one of my monthly pick up depending on where this opening arc goes.

3) Marvel – The Incredible Hulks #635 – Again, as mentioned above, Greg Pak’s run with Hulk is coming to an end. With it, Marvel will hand over the reigns to a new creative team, with a brand new Hulk monthly, in writer Jason Aaron and legendary artist Marc Silvestri as Marvel will make sure what would otherwise be a monumental gap in their lineup stays occupied. Not surprising to see a new team come in after seeing Hulk’s main comic go through more changes in the past few years than Banner does purple pants, but the idea of ANOTHER re-launch has me shaking my head. Pak’s run was spectacular though and he added as much depth to the character than most any other writer in the Hulk’s history. So if you’re a fan of the big green gamma-irradiated monster known as The Hulk, you should pick this up to see where the character may just be going and who he’ll take with him when his new landmark monthly in October hits as this run draws to a fitting close.

4) Marvel – Herc #6.1 – Mind you, it’s not like Greg Pak will be out of work as he will continue now with the monthly he started a short while ago since he is probably the sole reason as to why this character has seen a renaissance in recent years. Hercules, one time Avenger, now stripped of his powers, must try to find his way in the world and figures what better place than…Brooklyn? Not quite Mount Olympus, Herc decides that this New York borough is in need of a hero and so after raiding Ares’ armory, he uses some godly weapons and his god-sized heart to try to dish out a little justice. Continuing the “.1” series for Marvel, which is really just an excuse to dish out more one-shots and make some more cash, this adventure may not be as epic as the main monthly for Herc, but it does a fine job of catching you up incase you missed the first six issues and are looking for something new and fun as the Herc series has done a great job of mixing humor and action to be one of the more overall entertaining reads to launch this year.

5) IDW – Locke and Key: Clockworks #2 – Continuing Joe Hill’s twisted story of how the Locke family are using mystical keys to keep the demon world at bay, Clockworks #2 mixes humor with some very dark and disturbing imagery that could only come from the mind of Stephen King’s son (Joe Hill is a pen name). The evil demon Dodge, who is trying to unleash his demon brethren into our realm, has possessed the youngest of the Locke children and is using his body to get close to his ultimate prize. Unwittingly, he also releases Kinsey’s tears and fears, emotions that using the Head Key she had locked away in order to do what was necessary in order to protect her family and our world. Mayhem runs abound in this issue as the countdown to the amazing conclusion to the Locke and Key series is in full swing now. If you haven’t been reading Locke and Key, go find collections of the previous story arcs and get on board while you still can with this phenomenally dark series.

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A Fan’s Reluctant Return – First Thoughts on Spider-Island

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Originally Published: August 24, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Ever want to do whatever a spider can?

Growing up there were always two superheroes I gravitated to the most, Batman from DC and Spider-Man from Marvel. The distinct advantage that these two heroes had was that when I was just getting into comics, they had some of the most epic storylines in comics history, which are still referenced to this day. Batman had Knightfall and Spidey had Maximum Carnage. Batman also had movies and Adam West TV reruns, and Spidey had video games where he fought the Sinister Six, teamed up with the X-Men, and did whatever else a spider can and they both later had awesome mid-90s cartoons. With that kind of media bombardment, it wasn’t hard for those two to rise above the rest in my young geeky life.

As the years progressed, these two remained my favorites, even after learning as much as I could about Green Lantern, Flash, Superman, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk and many others. That is until a fateful story arc called One More Day in 2007-2008 cast Spidey in a shadow from which I thought he could never return for me. Marvel had re-launched Spider-Man in one of the most ridiculous ways imaginable when Spidey sold his marriage to Mary Jane to Mephisto to save Aunt May. I understand comics are all about the unimaginable overcoming the unimaginable, but this felt like a slap in the face for someone who had devoted the better part of 20 years to this character. I hate that arc so much that I don’t even want to put a representative image of any of those four covers in this story because they all make me so sick to my stomach. Spidey had some mistakes before like The Clone Saga and what not, but this had felt like Marvel had painted themselves into a corner with the Civil War fallout and basically copped out of trying to fix it. I had tried to continue to read Amazing Spider-Man after this, but after only a couple of issues, I could not stand the new direction the comic had taken and so I imposed a boycott to never buy anything revolving around Spider-Man again. This meant I could still read Avengers related comics and crossovers, but Amazing Spider-Man was dead to me. The core character of who Spider-Man was had been drastically changed and I could never look at him the same way ever again.

Fast-forward to the present day. I had successfully maintained my boycott comic book-wise for over three years. I had played the video games (Web of Shadows was so-so, but I loved Shattered Dimensions), but much like the media bombardment from my childhood, I would have to have been living under a rock to have not noticed the Spider-Island push, especially as I still read a lot of Marvel comics. So here I was, with a jumping off point that could take me back into the Spider-Man universe and with a lot of distance from the arc that had pushed me away from Spidey to begin with. So I picked up Amazing Spider-Man #667, the first part of Spider-Island, as well as the Venom and Cloak and Dagger crossovers.

Honestly, I wasn’t impressed. Coming back into the character now, I still see a lot of the shortcomings from the direction he took back in 2008 and the character has become completely un-relatable to me. I think part of the lasting appeal of comic characters is how much one could imagine themselves in the shoes of the hero and I think that Spider-Man has stagnated, possibly even devolved in those regards. I will finish following at least the Spider-Island story arc though to give Spidey a chance to win me back, especially because the Venom and Cloak and Dagger crossovers started off brilliantly. And you might say that giving him only five or six issues to win me back may seem fickle, but it only took four issues to turn me away from him for three years. If this is supposed to be the ground-breaking “Spider-Event of the Decade” arc that it has been hyped to be, then there should be no problem in hooking me back in. But this arc seems more like “The Clone Saga Part 2″ than anything Spider-Man fans old or new should be excited about, and at this rate the boycott will start again in November when this event ends.

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Pullbox #2 – 8/24/11

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Originally Published: August 24, 2011, on EGMNOW.com

With the DC Universe re-launch right around the corner, we saw a lot of concluding storylines and one-shots from DC, but Marvel has some re-launches of their own going on and other relatively new storylines dominating their line-up. With that in mind, here are my top five comics released on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011.

1) DC – Batman: Gates of Gotham #5 (of 5): With Batman being the least affected character by the upcoming universe re-launch, DC needed an arc that would help push Dick Grayson out of the role of the Dark Knight and allow Bruce to re-claim the mantle full-time. Gates of Gotham is an arc that helps do that. While still continuing the recent new villain push with the story’s main antagonist, the Architect, the ending also reveals Bruce’s return to Gotham after sowing the seeds of Batman, Inc. around the world. To make the transition back to Bruce a smooth one, this arc pushed Dick to his limits as a person and as a crime-fighter. This makes it easy to write that his confidence has been marred after the carnage caused by Architect and that Bruce recognizes that by Dick returning to his role as Nightwing, where he’ll have less pressure on him to perform and fill Bruce’s all encompassing shadow, he can re-find his groove. The idea seems to be positively embraced by most, if not all, fans of the Dark Knight. Now it’s just a matter of the new #1s to start rolling out. If you haven’t been following this mini-series, then you might want to wait for it to be collected before jumping on this issue, but if you followed it to this point, this concluding chapter will not disappoint.

2) DC – Superman Beyond #0: A one-shot that follows a future Superman set in the Batman Beyond universe, this interesting comic still finds a way to encompass everything the Man of Steel represents while giving him new and creative threats, and even more new and creative allies. Hoping to ride on the coat tails of the Batman Beyond series’ popularity, which has been put on hold for the time being for the DCU re-launch, Superman Beyond #0 is written by legend Tom DeFalco and drawn by one of his favorite partners in crime, Ron Frenz, who are both hoping that the one-shot will be popular enough to ensure a monthly spin-off once “The New 52” expands into something more like the “The New 75” later this year. Much like what happened with the original 100+ issues of Spider-Girl that spawned off after another one-shot they had done for Marvel back in the day. If you are a fan of either the Batman Beyond comic or the late 90s cartoon, this one-shot is something you’ll want to take a look at, whether it spawns a monthly or not.

3) Marvel – Uncanny X-Force #13 – Rick Remender continues his brilliant run on this young series as we look at Part 3 of “The Dark Angel Saga”. Wolverine and the rest of X-Force have traveled to the Age of Apocalypse universe to try to acquire a life-seed in order to save their universe’s Archangel. Things go wrong though when they are un-surprisingly betrayed by Dark Beast and must confront the new AoA Apocalypse, who is really that universe’s Wolverine. Although successful in acquiring a life-seed, it comes at a great price as AoA’s Nightcrawler is killed and AoA’s Jean Grey is captured before Wolverine and X-Force are thrown back into their universe. Wolverine has little time to grieve over old wounds that have been ripped open though as Archangel has been busy without Psylocke to keep his Death persona in check. Now, even the life-seed may not be enough to save their universe as Archangel has awoken Onslaught and with the aid of Dark Beast, Ozymandias, and the new Four Horsemen, looks to rise up as the new Apocalypse. Brilliantly written and chock full of action, Uncanny X-Force has been a rare series that does not disappoint month in and month out. Try to gather the first two issues of this arc if you can, but if not, definitely jump on now as the X-Men universe is likely never to be the same when this is done.

4) Marvel – The Ultimates #1 – Although not re-launching all their titles, Marvel did decide to re-launch their “Ultimate” universe with the recent announcement of the new Spider-Man Miles Morales and now a new The Ultimates, which follows that universe’s Avengers. Clearly a ploy to help capitalize on their movie franchises, people who had followed the original Ultimates will see clear similarities between those characters and those that will be seen in next summer’s blockbuster movie and have been already introduced on the big screen. For those who never got into the series the first time around, this could be an interesting new jumping off point though. This could irritate some comics’ fans just as much as excite them so the biggest reason why I’m recommending this is it’s polybagged because Stan Lee signed a handful as they went out into the circulation so its like buying a ticket in the comic book lottery if you buy one.

5) IDW – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 – After a long absence from the comic book scene, the four turtles in the half-shell have come back to their comic book roots with this stellar return to form by original co-creator Kevin Eastman writing it. Although in color and not black and white like the original 1984 comics, the TMNT definitely reek of nostalgia with this opening issue as it both begins to explain an updated origin story featuring Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones, and April O’Neil, sow seeds of their personalities including Raph’s rebellious nature, and features them all wearing the same red colored bandanas, just like the originals. Including alternate covers all featuring a different turtle so you can pick your favorite (I got mine in Donatello), this issue looks to kick off a triumphant return for the lean, green, fighting machines and is a must have for anyone who has ever been a fan of TMNT at some point in their lives.

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Pullbox #1 – 8/17/11

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Originally Published: August 17, 2011, on EGMNOW.com

With so much going on in the comics world right now, it’s hard to limit myself to just the five best, but if you’re reading on a budget, then this is the best place to come to for your comic book recommendations. Here are my top five comics released on Wednesday, August 17th, 2011.

1) Marvel – Venom #6: Rick Remender continues to wow us and remind us why between Uncanny X-Force and Venom he is one of the hottest writers in the comics industry right now. Continuing the events of the just launched “Spider-Island” event, Remender forwards the trend started by Nick Spencer’s Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1 (of 3) last week in that the ancillary titles of this event may actually be better than the main story arc itself. Venom, a.k.a. Flash Thompson, is in for the fight of his life as a budding super-hero and will have his hands full with The Jackal’s number one mutated henchman, Tarantula. A startling revelation at the end makes you question Marvel’s continuity once again with the “Fear Itself” event still going on as well, but this is a sure-fire can’t miss otherwise.

 

2) Marvel – Avengers Academy #18 (Fear Itself Tie-In): The possessed Titania and Absorbing Man continue their relentless assault against the infinite Avengers Mansion. With the members of the Academy cut off from the real world, they are trapped in every sense of the word with these two powerhouse villains and are outmatched in every way power wise. Even in the most action packed of sequences, Avengers Academy writer Christos Gage does a terrific job of continuing to evolve the depth of character of this first Academy class and all it does is leave you wanting more so you can see how these kids can get out of crazy situation after crazy situation. If you haven’t been reading Avengers Academy, what is wrong with you?

 

3) DC – Batman #713: This landmark series will see it’s first re-launch in its 70+ year history next month and so this final issue carries a lot of weight with it. The DC Universe will be scaled back to only 52 books a month, including some new and old DC titles, starting in September. Never fear Bat-fans as 11 of them will revolve around the Bat-family. Although this issue isn’t anything particularly special, it could be worth something to a collector being the last issue of what will be known now as “Batman Vol. 1” as well as it serves as a great point for new fans because it sums up a lot of the Batman history to this point through the eyes of Damian, the new Robin and also Batman’s illegitimate son with Talia al’ Guhl.

 

4) DC – Batman: 1990s Retroactive (One-Shot): Continuing the series of one-shots that look back on DC’s history and that were done to help build up to next month’s universal re-launch, Batman: 1990s Retroactive pits the Dark Knight against a villain who gained a lot of his notoriety in the 90s due to Batman: The Animated Series, the Ventriloquist. Drawn in a style to invokes the memories of those great early 90s cartoons, this one-shot sees the Caped Crusader lured into a trap at the Gotham Museum of Natural History, but things go awry when a very unnatural visitor interrupts and the Dark Knight is left to with more opponents than even he might be able to handle! Throw in a classic mobster tale from the 90s Batman where even Gotham’s Guardian isn’t fast enough to save the day and you have a great 2-for-1 here as we get ready to launch the new DCU.

5) Dark Horse – Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge #1 (of 5):Starting a new 5-issue arc for wandering Jedi Kerra Holt, this is technically the sixth comic in the Knight Errant series. Our young Jedi Knight who has made protecting the downtrodden her own personal cause, returns to what was once her home world deep in the space controlled by Sith Lord Damian. Unbeknownst to young Kerra though, a threat just as dangerous as the Sith have decided to reveal themselves in the form of the galaxy known crime lords, the Hutts. In particular one called Zodoh, who has a propensity to technology including a jet pack that helps him get around and a weather manipulator that looks to spell trouble for Kerra. If you enjoy adventures set in the time of the Old Republic, then this tale, which takes place a millennia before the movies should be a fine arc to add to your expanded universe library starting with this issue.

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EGM Review: Rise of Nightmares

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Originally Published: September 6, 2011, on EGMMAG.com

The Good: The first real “hardcore” game on the Kinect
The Bad: The lack of ever feeling in real danger, fatigue from playing too long
The Ugly: The macabre clockwork zombies you’ll face by the dozens

Rise of Nightmares is being touted as the first “hardcore” game for the Kinect as it focuses more on a single player narrative experience instead of the party or fitness games we’ve seen to date. You play as Josh, an American tourist on vacation in Romania, trying to put his marriage back together with his wife. While taking a train through the countryside, you and your wife get into another argument and she storms off towards the dining car. After some time, you pursue her, but when you finally catch up, the unimaginable is waiting for him. A Frankenstein like-monster has your wife in his arms and as you begin to give chase, the train derails and is flung into a river. When you come to, you and the other survivors come across a mansion in the woods and your instincts say that whatever that thing was, it took your wife here.

Rise of Nightmares may break ground as the first “hardcore” Kinect game, but I feel it is more limited by the technology than empowered by it. If you really want to set the mood and try to give yourself a scare by turning off the lights while playing, you can’t because then the Kinect can’t see you and you can’t progress so whether you like it or not, all the lights in the room have to stay on.

Then comes the combat. There are no guns in the game so you have to get up close and personal with nearly every foe you face. And while it does feel satisfying to punch a zombie out with brass knuckles, bash what’s left of their brains in with a lead pipe, or dismember them with a bloody chainsaw, because of all the movement that is involved with setting yourself up for the kill, the game’s A.I. is beyond simple to prevent frustration with the Kinect controls. In turn, this nullifies the fear factor because you never feel like your character is in any real danger most of the time when the zombies shuffle onto the screen. Many zombies will simply shamble right into the path of whatever weapon you are wielding and the larger challenge comes in keeping your real-life stamina up than in mowing down the constant stream of proverbial cannon fodder.

And this leads us to the fatigue factor. Although the movement and combat controls are simplified and picked up rather well for the most part once you get used to them, like shifting your shoulders to turn around, sticking one leg out to walk, and various quick time inspired events like ducking or climbing, you may become too tired to devote a long amount of time to the game per play session. I played for three hours the first time I put the disc in and didn’t realize till afterward that since movement is only controlled by one leg, that what became my pivot leg’s knee had locked up from putting my weight on it constantly for much of the game as I explored the castle grounds.

Despite what are really just minor annoyances though, the game is actually a solid experience overall. You could write off the “shambling” of the zombies to their uniquely written macabre clockwork origins, even if they aren’t that threatening, and the plot is engaging enough, with just enough cheesy B-horror movie voice acting, to make you want to push on with the story and find out the mysteries lurking in the castle. There are also some very satisfying moments sprinkled in like digging through a fresh cadaver or fishing through a blood filled toilet for items, or luring zombies into some of the mansion’s traps like giant rotating blades or electrified water. It’s just at the end of the day, although different from any other gaming experience I’ve ever had because of the Kinect controls, I can’t help but feel that I would have preferred having a traditional controller in my hand during a lot of it. Still, if you’re looking to get some more use out of your Kinect, this is a fine example of the potential for this device if developers turn themselves away from the cheesy party and exercise games and really focus on giving you a gaming experience.

Score: 7.0

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EGM Buzz: Halo 4 Warthog Easter Egg in Forza 4

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Originally Published: September 6, 2011, on EGMMAG.com

THE BUZZ: Turn 10, the developer for Microsoft’s Forza franchise, has teamed up with 343 Industries to provide a unique experience in Forza 4. A special Halo 4 Warthog Easter egg will be featured in Forza 4’s brand new Autovista mode, which allows gamers to get a detailed look at some of the game’s super cars, and will provide fans of both franchises a chance to get up close and personal with the iconic all-terrain vehicle like never before.

WHAT WE KNOW: Turn 10 head Dan Greenawalt made sure to point out that this was an Easter egg meaning only the most hardcore of Forza 4 drivers would likely have a shot at unlocking the Warthog in the Kinect compatible Autovista mode. And considering you can’t drive the vehicle in the game (it would get smoked off the line as its top speed is only 78 MPH, but I wonder if a Ferrari could out run the bullets from its mini-turret), only the mightiest of mechanics might even be interested in going for it. An extra special addition to the Warthog Easter egg will be Cortana providing never before heard commentary as you explore the inner and outer workings of the vehicle.

WHAT IT MEANS: It’s not unheard of for a company to cross-promote with exclusive franchises, but I think it is actually a plus that the Warthog is not a drivable vehicle because when you cross promote too much, you might turn off the audience that is only interested in the primary franchise, in this case Forza 4, to begin with.

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EGM Review: Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

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September 6, 2011

Originally Published: August 30, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Publisher: 345 Games
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Platforms: XBLA, PSN

Release: 08.30.11

Players: Single Player, 2-4-player local and online co-op

ESRB Rating: M – Mature

The Good: Fans of the show will be laughing from the opening cut scene to the end credits
The Bad: Camera angle makes aiming difficult, game play can be repetitive
The Ugly: Huge steaming piles of manbird droppings

Based on Comedy Central’s hit TV show, Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is an original adventure featuring all your favorite characters from the cartoon. You choose to play as series protagonist Mark Lilly, his girlfriend Callie Maggotbone, bumbling wizard Leonard Powers, or the D.O.I.’s top cop, Frank Grimes. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, but the game features an RPG leveling-up system that can help balance them all out or really stress those advantages depending on your play style. After making your character decision, you’ll grab yourself a BSU 2000 (Blow Sh*t Up 2000, Frank’s newest toy that allows you to stick whatever isn’t bolted down into the chamber and fire it as a projectile) and start getting down to the bottom of all the trouble in New York City.

The first thing you’ll immediately notice is the game went with a less traditional side-scrolling view instead of the ceiling down view seen in most other dual joystick arcade style shooters. This was meant to try to give the gamer more of a sense as if they were watching an episode of the TV show, but it is a little difficult to get used to at first, especially in terms of aiming your BSU 2000 at the various manbirds, zombies, and demons you’ll come across. Some items have a spray effect where the aiming difficulty doesn’t seem as obvious, but with a lot of other projectiles, like the boomeranging hammer or arcing crystal ball, misjudging the aim can get tedious fast.

The game does do a lot of things right though, especially in the presentation. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll love the fact that all the voice actors reprise their roles in the game and there is more than 20 minutes of original animation and dialogue in cut scenes, meaning that the game is just dripping with the humor that makes the show itself great and has enough animation for a stand alone episode by itself. The best part probably comes from being able to play the game with friends locally or online though as it helps to break up the redundancy that is typical of most arcade shooters.

All in all, the question you have to ask yourself is ‘are a fan of the show or not’. If so, the writing and animation will outshine the minor game play annoyances and is definitely worth your $10. If not, you may want to avoid this as knowing the show seems critical to your overall enjoyment of the game.

Score: 7.5

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EGM Buzz: I, Computer

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Originally Published: August 30, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

THE BUZZ: IBM’s working on a new type of “cognitive computer chip” that not only performs preprogrammed functions, but can also learn and recognize elements in its environment and react to them—including play videogames—in a way similar to the human brain.

WHAT WE KNOW: IBM says their research team set up two prototype chips that “successfully demonstrated simple applications like navigation, machine vision, pattern recognition, associative memory, and classification.” One of the highlights came when they pointed out one chip in particular “taught itself how to play Pong,” which served as one of their first tests for cognitive recognition.

EGM’S TAKE: In terms of real-world applications, these chips could provide “smart” traffic signals, water-supply monitoring, or natural-disaster prediction. On a more personal note, imagine these chips in your iPad—or even your videogames—as they learn from your daily interaction. Developers could guarantee that no two gamers would have the same experience, as these smartchips could change a given game to challenge you specifically. Personally, I’d like to be the first to welcome our new computer overlords, as this is how a lot of apocalyptic science-fiction novels start: Computers that can think like humans then start to out-think humans. In all seriousness, I don’t know if it will ever get to that, but the applications for a chip like this are intriguing…if a bit frightening.

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EGM Buzz: Debit-Card Disaster

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Originally Published: August 30, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

THE BUZZ: Customer Ryan Graves, citing improper charges to many of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold Member accounts, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for “an award of appropriate equitable relief.”

WHAT WE KNOW: Graves claims that he let his Xbox Live Gold Membership expire in January; in March, he renewed his subscription with a different debit card. When he received his bank statements the following month, he found that Microsoft had double-charged him for Xbox Live. When he called Microsoft to have one of the charges removed, believing it to be a mistake, he was told that both charges were legitimate. One was for his new subscription, while the other was for the original he’d let expire—and Microsoft refused him a refund. Graves’ class-action suit demands retribution for himself and others who’ve been double-charged, and it further states that Microsoft is in breach of contract with its users and in violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act.

EGM’S TAKE: There’s no way to know exactly how many customers have been affected beyond Graves—or who may be joining him in this lawsuit. But if Microsoft’s forced to refund money to these individuals at $60 a person, with over 30 million Xbox Live users as of January 2011, it would only take 0.1% of the current Xbox Live audience to cost Microsoft millions—never mind the legal fees.

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