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Roast of Charlie Sheen Preview

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September 22, 2011

How do you like your warlock roasted?

The Comedy Central roasts, much in the tradition of the old-school New York Friars’ Club ones, have seen some of pop-culture’s biggest names put their sense of humor to the test as they’ve been dragged through the hot coals by some of their closest friends, today’s up and coming comic stars, or washed-up has beens who are looking to get their name back out there. Pam Anderson, David Hasselhoff, Bob Saget, and Donald Trump are just a few of the chosen that have been called upon to be humiliated in front of a live studio audience by their pop culture peers. But never have so many comedians been chomping at the bit to be given a stage to roast so easy a target.

Tonight marks the world broadcast premiere of the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, a man who we’ve seen go from making millions an episode on a mediocre sitcom to living with a pair of goddesses and claiming to be a warlock, a rock star from Mars, and to have tiger blood running through his veins. Yes, Charlie will be an easy target indeed.

Serving as Roastmaster for the third time is Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame and this move has many calling for him to become the official host of these events, although I’m sure Roastmaster General Jeffrey Ross, who is amongst tonight’s panel of roasters (like it was ever in doubt), might have something to say about that. Also on the panel is Jon Lovitz, William Shatner, Mike Tyson, Kate Walsh (Yeah, the one from Grey’s Anatomy. I don’t know why she’s there either), Amy Schumer (who?), Anthony Jeselnik (see previous roaster parentheses), Steve-O from Jackass, and Patrice O’Neal who finally caved in and decided to do a roast.

Suffice to say, like in previous roasts, some people will bring their A-game and others will bomb horribly (although I was there and can attest to the fact that no one bombed as badly as “The Situation” during Trump’s roast, he reached a whole new comedy low that will not be seen again for generations to come). You probably think you can tell from the list of roasters who should do well and who shouldn’t. But you’d be wrong. Trust me when I say that some people will surprise you, or at least they hired really good writers to surprise you, while others will shock you with how little their shock humor works when dealing with a subject like Charlie Sheen.

All in all, for the most part the show is a good, solid laugh so if you’re interested in seeing one of Hollywood’s elite get completely trounced in-between a lot of censored swear words, then be sure to tune in tonight at 10 PM ET/PT to Comedy Central.

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Admit One – Movie Premiere Preview for Weekend of Sept. 16th, 2011

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Channeling my inner Jay Sherman, I look ahead to this weekend’s upcoming potential blockbusters. Winning the top spot at the box office always puts a target on your back, but I don’t know if the disease-oriented thriller Contagion, which took last week’s number one position with it’s over $22 million dollar opening weekend, has much to worry about from any of this week’s new contenders. Let’s take a look.

1) The Lion King 3D (Buena Vista)

In the jungles of Africa is a hierarchy of animals, forever ruled by lions who must maintain the Circle of Life. But the jealous brother, Scar, of the current king, Mufasa, puts plans in motion to usurp the throne by eliminating the king and his son, Simba.

Like all great Disney animated classics, the voice acting is superb, the songs are wonderful, and the animation is priceless. My only concern is pushing this into 3D now, but even so, I saw this as a kid and know enough people my age who have kids now that this is a perfect chance to give their little ones a similar experience to what we all had as children—to see this on the big screen in a movie theatre and spend some quality time with their family. I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see The Lion King 3D do decently well this weekend and if you have kids who are new to the film, I recommend you take them.

2) Straw Dogs (Sony/Screen Gems)

An L.A. screenwriter relocates with his wife to her hometown in the deep south. As their relationship begins to become strained due to the move, both are put in danger by some of the twisted locals and are forced to defend themselves to the bitter end.

Putting aside the premise of your stereotypical southern hillbillies looking to do deranged things to pretty girls, I can’t even begin to take this movie seriously because it has James Marsden in it. Every time I see him, I just keep thinking of the guy who made Cyclops a wuss in the X-Men movies and was the surrogate father of Lois Lane’s bastard son in Superman Returns. I can never see any geek ever taking him seriously in anything he does as long as he’s still best known for those two stains in the world of geekdom and this movie doesn’t look to do him any favors either.

3) I Don’t Know How She Does It (Weinstein Company)

A comedy that centers around the hectic life of one woman who is a finance executive as well as the breadwinner in her family.

I’m still trying to figure out how Sarah Jessica Parker gets roles. The last time she was even remotely relevant was when Family Guy compared her face to a foot (very fitting I might add). This is why when most actors get older, they go into voice acting. Take a cue Sarah. On the other hand, I want more Christina Hendricks! She is amazingly beautiful. Honestly though, even with a star studded comedic cast, this movie has as much fun written on it as an appendectomy. If I wanted to listen to a middle-aged woman complain and make bad jokes about her job, deadbeat husband, and spoiled kids, I’d go back to Jersey and have dinner with my mother. I heard about this movie once a while ago, and thought the producers had come to their senses and buried it after I didn’t hear about it again. So much for that idea.

4) Drive (FilmDistrict)

A Hollywood stuntman is underpaid and underappreciated, so he begins moonlighting as a wheelman for various illegal jobs. When one deal goes wrong though, a hit is put out on his head and he’ll have to use his skills in ways he never thought about before.

I’m actually really intrigued about this movie. It has a great cast of actors who I always enjoy like Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman (who every geek out there worth a damn is a fan of) and it’s a bit of a twist on your standard heist movie which we haven’t seen enough of lately. Not to mention it has Christina Hendricks (see above review). The real question will be how pretty boy Ryan Gosling does in the lead role of an action-oriented movie like this. We know he can do drama, but can he do his own stunts like in the role he’s playing? If you’re going to see anything this weekend and don’t have kids, I think this is the one to go with and is my movie pick of the week.

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Gears of War 3 Epic Edition Detailed

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More gear for your Gears

It’s pretty common knowledge that I’m somewhat of a collector. I even admit as much in this month’s issue of EGM’s roundtable discussion (Issue #251, available now on newsstands). So when it was said that Gears of War 3 would be coming out with an Epic Edition, well, it was a no-brainer what version of the game I’d be getting, and fortunately, I was able to get mine a little early.

So incase you don’t know, or are still on the fence, here is a breakdown with a couple of pictures of what comes in the $149.99 Epic Edition of Gears of War 3.

  • A copy of Gears of War 3 (kind of obvious)
  • The Octus Service Medal of Adam Fenix, Marcus’s father (made of real metal)
  • A code for an Adam Fenix multiplayer skin (look on the actual Octus medal)
  • A code for five special weapon skins (Lancer, Retro Lancer, Hammerburst, Sawed-off Shotgun, and Gnasher Shotgun)
  • Several photos of Adam Fenix in his traditional Gears armor, his last will and testament, blueprints for the Hammer of Dawn, which he helped launch (and fans of the fiction will know later used to wipe out most of Sera with in an attempt to stop the Locust), a personal letter to Marcus, and a certificate for the Octus Medal
  • A COG flag
  • A special book detailing how Gears of War evolved into the powerhouse franchise it is today with foreword by Adam Sessler
  • A model of Marcus resting on some molten rock with imulsion leaking out and surrounded by a diorama featuring Dom, Anya, and several other Gears.

All in all, definitely a good bang for your buck if you are a true Gearhead (which I happen to be). What was especially enjoyable was all the references to the expanded universe novels by Karen Traviss (who also wrote Gears of War 3) in the collection of goodies, showing that this was targeted at the true diehards of this stellar franchise. So if you have the extra cash, as it is a purchase that is worth more than two full retail games to begin with, I’d strongly recommend this addition to any Gears fan’s collection.

So what do you all think of the Epic Edition? Is it worth your cash? Are you planning on getting one? Have you already pre-ordered it? Let us know with comments below!

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Deadshot Revealed as Latest Arkham City Inmate

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World’s Finest Assassin comes to Arkham City

THE BUZZ: Yet another foe in Batman’s lengthy Rogues Gallery has been added to Arkham City. This time, the World’s Finest Assassin, Deadshot, has been revealed by Rocksteady Games and confirmed by GTTV’s Geoff Keighley as being the latest addition within the city’s walls. Interestingly enough though, Batman is not Deadshot’s initial target, but if he gets in the way of the assassin’s hits, I’m sure Batman will make the list soon enough. Expect screens and trailers of The Man Who Never Misses as they become available.

EGM’S TAKE: A surprising choice to say the least as Deadshot’s inconsistent personality over the years depending on who has written him has led him to have a small following at best compared to many of Batman’s more iconic villains. After hearing that a new villain was to be revealed, I personally had predicted the unveiling of the Mad Hatter, especially as Paul Dini’s 5-issue comic mini-series branching Arkham Asylum to Arkham City and published by DC Comics showed classic Hatter henchmen The Carpenter and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in its final pages within the confines of the city. Not to say they won’t be there in the end, but Deadshot was definitely a shock as a diehard Batman fan, especially with his new, toned down design in lieu of his typical body armor and helmet seen in the comics. The simplified look is being played off that Deadshot needed to sneak into Arkham City to complete his hits and so he posed as a more common inmate, but the cockiness of the character rarely puts him out of his traditional body armor for long so this haphazard hand-me-down was a bit disappointing to see, but those wrist cannons look like they can get the job done no matter how second hand they may be.

If curious to know more about Deadshot, check out my full profile of him over at the EGM Geek Now page by clicking here.

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Deadshot Profile

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The Man Who (Almost) Never Misses

Deadshot first appeared back in June of 1950 in Batman #59 and was created by original Batman creator Bob Kane along with fellow writer David Vern Reed and artist Lew Sayre Schwartz. This powerhouse classic creative team makes it even more surprising that Deadshot never really caught on with fans considering he is one of Batman’s oldest villains, coming to life years before many other Batman Rogues Gallery mainstays like Mr. Freeze (1959), Poison Ivy (1966), or Ra’s Al Ghul (1971).

As his origin goes, Deadshot, real name Floyd Lawton, was the younger of two brothers and grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Edward. So as Edward walked around being the hero, Floyd decided to be the villain and was a problem child from an early age because of it. That is until one day the boys’ mother asks the pair of them to kill their father. Edward accepts this request but Floyd refuses to kill his own father and so Edward locks him in the shed behind the house. Floyd breaks out and to save his father, picks up a rifle (that is so conveniently lying around) and climbs a tree. He looks in the window of the house and sees Edward ready to shoot his father. Floyd attempts to shoot the gun out of his brother’s hand but at the last moment the branch upon which Floyd was perched, snaps, and he accidentally shoots and kills his own brother. Floyd has lived, as he sees it, a “meaningless” lifestyle from then on.

Deadshot’s lack of popularity, aside from a rather weak origin story, more often comes from being inconsistently written over the years. Originally created as a “mirror image” style villain, Deadshot posed as another Gotham crime-fighter alongside Batman, but really only had machinations to replace Batman so then no one would get in his way and he could do what he wanted with the city. When the illusion of him being on the side of good fell away, Deadshot turned to the underworld and attempted to become the top dog of Gotham’s underbelly, but he never had the leadership qualities needed to keep that many criminals in line and was easily brought to justice by Batman and Commissioner Gordon.

It wasn’t until his next story line that he took on the mantle of a hired gun, which is what he is best known for, where he joined Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad and the character developed a bit of a conscience, taking several hits that he failed to carry out including another confrontation with Batman who infuriated Lawton by insinuating that he pulls his shots around him. Unable to concentrate after being psychoanalyzed, Batman again defeated Deadshot, but he rejoined Waller’s squad after she pulled some of her many government contact strings.

His next character shift comes after he leaves the Suicide Squad and suddenly he has a family and the loner type who had been crafted for years was shattered, although Deadshot was still infamously precise with his pistol. This would in turn continue to develop Deadshot’s conscience, which would drive the character up to his most recent incarnations in the Secret Six comics.

So if he can’t keep an audience, what keeps causing writers to bring him back? He was even the centerpiece in one of the six animated shorts that were part of the Gotham Knight DVD that took place between Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight films. Probably the fact that he is one of Batman’s most realistic villains and when things get too crazy, as will be the case in Arkham City, Deadshot can give fans a heavy dose of reality. Simply armed with a boat load of guns, expert marksmanship, some sweet armor that makes him almost Boba Fett like in appearance, and a fearless attitude when going out on a hit, Deadshot has just enough appeal to serve as filler between more major arcs with Batman’s more traditionally insane rogues, or to be part of a much larger and over-the-top ensemble, again, like in Arkham City.

It should be interesting to see just how big of a piece of the Arkham City puzzle The World’s Finest Assassin will be. Will he be overshadowed by the other villains? And who will play his voice? What other villains do you hope can be jammed into Arkham City and how do you feel in general about Deadshot? Let us know by commenting below!

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EGM Preview: War of the Worlds

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It’s the end of the world as we know it

Based loosely on the 1898 novel and the 1953 movie (and definitely not on the 2005 piece of trash film), War of the Worlds takes place in 1953 London, where after monitoring the Earth for centuries, aliens have finally decided to attack. Panic quickly spreads as the English first think that somehow the Germans have begun to attack again, being only several years after the end of World War II. Soon though as bodies begin to be vaporized by weaponry beyond anything seen before, even greater panic sets in as this is an enemy not seen before by human eyes.

Moving away from the global scale of the attack, the game follows one man returning to London by train when the attack first starts. His personal quest is to save his family who were in London at the time the attack began and to find a way to get them out alive. Very cinematic in its visual style with many different layers of beautifully painted and rendered textures, the most striking thing about War of the Worlds may actually be the audio. Mood setting orchestrations along with the brilliant choice of the game’s narrator in Sir Patrick Stewart, recalling the levels of the game as he looks back on the invasion now as an older man, helps to give you this feeling of near helplessness as this common man is simply looking to reunite with his family in the midst of a disaster the likes had never been seen up to that point or since.

And the helpless feeling only will continue with the game play as you are truly nothing more than your average human. Set up almost like classic Pitfall, the game is a 2D side-scrolling platformer that centers more on puzzle solving and avoiding instant kill obstacles than on shooting or destroying things. Taking cover to avoid lasers, dodging alien mines, and using your surroundings to your full advantage is the extent of your abilities as the game will likely push your platforming skills to their limits while immersing you in this beautiful looking and near cinematic story-telling experience.

PARTING SHOT: Although the controls felt a little stiff in the early build we saw, if you are a fan of old-school platformers that revolve more around overcoming obstacles than just blowing them up or maybe just like the good ol’ fashioned alien invasion story set in another era than modern times, then you should keep an eye out for when this drops on XBLA and PSN sometime in October.

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The Pullbox Issue #5 – 9/14/11

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DC’s re-launch continues while Marvel’s event based barrage tries to win over the hearts and minds of comic purchasers everywhere. Meanwhile, the Indies are putting a strong fight themselves with a barrage of both new titles starting this week and old stand-bys continuing on. So with all these new comics coming out, what should you pick up? Scroll down to find out!

1) Marvel – New Avengers #16 (Fear Itself Tie-In) – It seems like nowadays almost anyone can be an Avenger as a revolving door of characters have been coming through the Mansion over the past couple of years. So when you see Daredevil on the cover, you can just imagine that this is the moment when The Man Without Fear gets his chance at Avengers membership as Marvel continues his recent re-imagining. But what was interesting was how Brian Michael Bendis bookends this issue with more well-established Avengers talking about what it means to be an Avenger and basically sets up a chance for Daredevil to show off his moves so that even if you’re not as familiar with the character or just haven’t paid attention to him in a long time, you realize just what makes this guy so special and why he keeps coming back any chance Marvel gets. As Fear Itself begins to wind down, this is a great pick-up as we can almost start looking ahead to the Marvel universe after this major event.

2) Marvel – Fear Itself #6 (of 7) – I normally don’t like doing a pair of issues from the same event like this, but Marvel had a weak week in my opinion, even though I picked up several comics from them. Fear Itself though finally seems to really be hitting its stride in terms of impact on the Marvel universe. Unfortunately, it almost feels like its going to be rushed now and that things are going to come to a head much too quickly in next month’s final issue as some crossover arcs are starting to come to a close. Still, this was a pretty awesome comic as we saw Thor get his second wind, Captain America reach his breaking point, and Iron Man prepare for the ultimate leap of faith. Meanwhile, the Serpent is nearly back to one-hundred percent in terms of strength and if he reaches his full potential, it all might be too little, too late. This issue is the set up for what should be a very epic final issue in yet another Marvel event and it I can’t wait to see how this shakes up Asgard in the future.

3) DC – Batman and Robin #1 – Continuing with DC’s universal re-launch we go back to Gotham as another Batman series looks to introduce another new villain, one who isn’t very fond of Batman, Inc. and wants to send a very brutal message to Gotham’s Guardian. What’s great about this book though is that is solidifies Bruce Wayne’s return to the cowl as he now tries to not only be a crime-fighter, but a father to young Damian, his illegitimate son with Talia al Guhl, who has now almost by birthright inherited the mantle of Robin. It gives the dynamic between Batman and Robin a unique twist as Damian doesn’t have just the rebellious nature of Jason Todd or the athletics or Dick Grayson or the intelligence of Tim Drake, he has a bit of all of them and his rebelliousness is specifically tailored to being in his late adolescence and looking to rebel against a father who was never there for him, even arguing that when Dick wore the cowl he got more respect with Bruce responding that he still hasn’t earned it from him yet. Brilliant writing by Peter Tomasi makes the decision easy to keep this as a pick up for me every month.

4) DC – Green Lantern #1 – There were a lot of very good comics out there from DC this week so I decided to go with an old standby in Green Lantern. I was curious to see where they would go with Hal Jordan now being powerless and with Sinestro being a Green Lantern again. Although it was somewhat comical how Hal got around without his ring, almost as if it was more influenced by the movie version of Hal than the comic version we’ve seen for decades, but it actually worked and I liked that they moved away from it quickly as, even though it could be a deal with the devil, Sinestro came to Earth to offer Hal a chance at getting his ring back. The long term plans for Green Lantern have me curious, especially since we haven’t seen much of the rest of the honor guard in Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner, but at least it looks Hal won’t be powerless for long, which pleases me tremendously because I still think he is the first Green Lantern people think of when you think of ring slinging and it would only hurt the character in the long room to keep him de-powered. Also, the comic continued to portray the Guardians in a pretty unsavory light and it should be interesting if and when that aspect of their budding personalities comes to a head.

5) Image – PIGS #1 – As a bit of a history buff, I was curious when I heard about PIGS. It is the story about a fictional sleeper cell of Russians who were left in Cuba after The Bay of Pigs in the early 1960s. Now in the modern day, the family of that sleeper cell has been awakened and kidnapped the president of the United States. Now, the FBI and CIA must get to the root of all this. All I can is that for as much exposition as there was to set everything up, this was a brilliantly written first issue for this new series and I’m excited to see how further issues will develop this very realistic based story. The first thing I thought after reading this was that people who fans of Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Warriors from Marvel or the story behind Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops will more than likely enjoy taking a look at this comic from Nate Cosby and Ben McCool.

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Deadliest Warrior Season Finale Preview: Zombies vs Vampires

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The quintessential monster mash

Season Three of SpikeTV’s hit series, Deadliest Warrior ends tonight with a pair of thrilling one-hour episodes starting at 9PM ET/PT. First, the French Foreign Legion vs the Himalayan warrior Gurkhas will kick things off in your standard Deadliest Warrior fashion by pitting these two historical powerhouses against each other.

But then comes a geek debate for the ages that will scientifically be put to rest as pure numbers will face-off against super-human speed and strength in zombies vs. vampires! Can the sheer numbers of a zombie apocalypse be enough to overcome the brutality of a traditional vampire? If all people become zombified and vampires are forced to resort to lesser food sources, will they be vulnerable enough to a wild pack of flesh mongers? It looks to be a true battle of braaaaaaains vs. blood-pumping heart as this age old discussion will be put the test as finally find out WHO IS DEADLIEST?

What should also be fun to watch with the season finale episode will be the live tweeting and audience interaction given during the episode by the show’s hosts and just what the guys will have to say. How will Dr. Armand Dorian’s human biology knowledge be tested as gel torsos will have yet to be seen types of punishment inflicted upon them? What new gadgets will biomedical engineer Geoff Desmoulin pull out to test these unusual and definitely not human characteristics? And what strategies could Richard “Mack” Machowicz come up with for a pair of creatures that often are depicted as having some sort of hive mind?

Outside of tonight’s season finale though, it should be interesting to see if this begins a slippery slope for the series and could lead to more fictional face-offs in the future, which I for one would be excited about. Could Iron Man vs. Batman be that far away? Or how about Superman vs. The Hulk? Whatever the distant future may hold for this always-compelling TV series, I know that in my personal immediate future, I am going to be sitting down at 9 PM EST with my TV tuned to Spike.

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EGM Review: NHL 12

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Will you hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup?

In many northern latitudes, folks are anticipating that first cool breeze in the fall—the one that signifies that the seasons have finally changed, and with it, the sports landscape. That feeling that tells you that, finally, it’s time for hockey again. But in case you can’t wait another month or so, EA Sports is looking to give you your hockey fix a little early with NHL 12.

As always, this season sees plenty of changes, but what’s interesting is that the little tweaks are probably just as big as the overall additions. Not to say that those should be taken lightly, either, though. New modes like NHL Legends—where you can draft a legendary player like Wayne Gretzky or Ray Bourque to your real-life favorite team and play as them like you would in Be a Pro—is a nice addition if you’ve got a childhood hero you want to take back out on the ice. Of course, it might be a little shocking at first to see someone like Jeremy Roenick on the New York Rangers or Chris Chelios on the Tampa Bay Lightning, but this is your chance to see what might’ve happened if your favorite player had donned your favorite team’s sweater.

And speaking of Be a Pro, that’s seen some additions as well. The inclusion of the Canadian Hockey League allows you to play in the CHL for four seasons if you wish, which adds a bit of an RPG feel as your coach assigns you tasks each game in order to progress through your respective organization. Of course, if you don’t want to put in the time and effort to work your way up the minor-league ranks, Be a Pro features a new wrinkle where you can select your favorite current player and play with them already on your big-league club. They still get tasks from the coach, though, and because they’re already in the pros, more’s expected from them—so doing poorly could get them sent to the minors!

Beyond these new modes, though, I didn’t know a hockey game could feel so good until I got my hands on NHL 12. The puck physics have become so realistic that you’d think you were watching an actual game as shots knuckle, deflect off players, or ricochet around the boards. And with the improved AI of all computer-controlled players, you’ll rarely see someone out of position—everyone plays their role, just like they do in the real game. On top of this, NHL 12 offers the ability to hit and interfere with goalies, giving you more influence in the crease than ever before. And you know what that means: goalie fights! Throw in breaking glass, checking guys into the bench, knocking off helmets after bone-crunching checks, or shrugging off checks from smaller players, retired numbers, and even the ability to stage the Winter Classic, and you can’t help but feel satisfied with most every aspect of NHL 12.

Aside from these tweaks to improve the offline modes, another fan favorite that’s been overhauled is the online Hockey Ultimate League. Multiple lineups, stars of the week based on live player stats, a versus mode featuring you and a buddy’s Hockey League teams, and much more have been added to make this month-by-month feature even more addictive for those wannabe GMs out there.

Really, my only complaints with NHL 12 arose in Season or Be a GM when the game didn’t recognize that the Rangers’ first two regular-season games were in Europe—and that the stats were so skewed that the Rangers’ offense was a 100. I love the Rangers, but even through the Broadway Blue–tinted glasses of a fan, I don’t see how adding Brad Richards and getting some guys healthy propels the team so far past last year’s squad.

When all’s said and done, though, EA Sports has gone above and beyond in this year’s effort to give us the best videogame hockey experience yet, and NHL 12 should be more than enough to keep hockey fans satiated all year round.

Summary: NHL 12 is the most complete hockey sim to date, and the effort shows from the smallest puck bounces to brand-new game modes.

  • The Good: Improved puck physics and AI
  • The Bad: Horribly inaccurate player ratings
  • The Ugly: NHL Legends in uniforms they don’t belong in

SCORE: 9.0

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EGM Review: The Gunstringer

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Originally Published: Sept 13, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Your revenge on Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man awaits!

Marking Twisted Pixel’s first foray into the retail realm, The Gunstringer also serves as the company’s first Kinect title, as they find a way to incorporate their off-the-wall humor with Microsoft’s motion-control device in a way that’s both fun and engaging. The Gunstringer sees players leap into the shoes of the titular Gunstringer, an undead outlaw who’s risen from his grave to exact revenge on his former gang—the ones who put him six feet under to begin with. The kink in the plot, though—in vintage Twisted Pixel fashion—is that our hero’s actually just a marionette. The player’s the puppeteer in front of a “real” audience that applauds your successes and groans at your failures—all while you’re putting on a stage show, with stagehands running in and out of the screen and a “live” narrator. That last element’s similar to Bastion, as The Gunstringer’s disembodied voice reacts dynamically to everything you do—for example, explaining that the Gunstringer doesn’t know where these “mysterious forces” may come from, as long as they don’t get in the way of his main goal: vengeance!

The Gunstringer’s controls are simple and also mark the only Kinect game to date where you can actually play the entire game while seated—a landmark in and of itself. Your left hand controls the marionette strings that move the Gunstringer in its third-person shooter view, swinging him left to right across the screen (the entire adventure’s on rails, so you never have to worry about moving forward) and having him “leap” over obstacles by yanking your hand skyward. Your right hand controls the aiming reticule, where you automatically lock on to up six targets at once. Pulling your arm back like you’re firing a gun causes the Gunstringer to do the same, sending lead hurtling toward whatever his targets may be. And after a quick tutorial that ends with you taking revenge upon the first member of your former gang—the dastardly Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man—you should be a master of the controls.

The remarkable thing about these controls is that even though they’re beyond simple, they leave you feeling very satisfied and rewarded. The lock-on feature allows you to concentrate on the occasional platforming and dodging elements thrown in to give the action variety, and you’ll find that even as you blow through the game on normal in just a few hours, a smile won’t leave your face for most of the game. This is mostly a credit, of course, to the real driving force of the game: the humor-laden writing by the Twisted Pixel guys that propels you to keep going through the game’s levels just to see what absurdity they’ll throw at you next. Whether it’s power-ups that’ll make you flash back to old-school shooters like ­Contra or the corrupt sheriffs, ninjas, or buxom temptresses that will try to get in your way, The Gunstringer’s an adventure game that needs to be seen to be believed.

Still, the game does have a couple of shortcomings. It does feature local co-op where a second player can jump in and pick up a six-shooter, but aside from leaderboards, there’s very little competitive reason to come back to the game. And the action can become somewhat repetitive rather quickly, so once you’ve seen the story and all the cutscenes, you may not be that compelled to jump into the harder difficultly levels to replay the game.

The Gunstringer’s definitely head-and-shoulders above any other Kinect release, though. It’s hilarious, it’s easy to pick up and play, and with a $40 price tag that includes a code for day-one DLC that gives the origins of Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man and a token to download Fruit Ninja Kinect, this is probably the best bang for your buck on the device.

Summary: The simple-yet-satisfying controls combined with classic Twisted Pixel humor makes this easily the best Kinect game yet.

  • The Good: Classic Twisted Pixel humor mixed with simple-yet-satisfying controls
  • The Bad: Repetitive—and not as challenging—as other Twisted Pixel games
  • The Ugly: Undead zombie marionettes

 

SCORE: 8.5

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