Originally Published: August 31, 2010, on SportsRev.TV, Lundberg.me, NationalLampoon.com, PlayerAffnity.com, Original-Gamer.com, and Giantbomb.com.
I had a chance to sit down with gaming legend and the head of Lionhead Studios Peter Molyneux to get the low down on the October release of Fable 3 for Xbox 360 and PC. On a completely irrelevant note, I love Roman numerals.
Originally Posted: August 27, 2010 on PlayerAffinity.com
It is a time of the summer when the crack of the bat is replaced by an aluminum ping and the average player goes from being 6′ 5″ to more like 5′ 4″. It is a time when Williamsport, Pennsylvania, plays host to kids from all over the world who care more about getting their homework done than a seven-figure salary as they all vie for a shot at the world title.
In honor of the actual Little League World Series tournament going on (I’m actually watching an elimination game as I write this); I felt it would be prudent to review the corresponding video game. For the first time we see the cartoony graphics and kid-friendly gameplay mechanics leap over to the more adult oriented game systems. That’s right; LLWS 2010 is now available on all systems, including Xbox 360 and PS3 and that alone makes this game deserve a look.
With the leap to the new systems, there are promises of more surprises and content besides just achievements or trophies. Unfortunately, most of the promises of deeper gameplay and a more enthralling experience are false. The addition of being able to compare your stats online is a nice feature and a new season style mode to settle the tournament is a different take on things for sure if you don’t want to go through the traditional tournament. The inclusion of new mini-games such as a Simon-like memory game and a baseball bowling hybrid help flesh out the game, but besides all this it’s really the same experience as the 2009 version.
You select where your team originates from various regions and countries all over the world and can customize the look of your team after choosing a mascot from a previously compiled list. You then play through the deepest regional tournament mode to date to see if you can become the team to represent your region or country (being from Jersey, I always try to represent the hometown Toms River powerhouses in the Mid-Atlantic region). If you continue to win, you continue to advance until you hopefully take home the trophy that serves as the ultimate representation of teamwork and selflessness as Little League World Champs.
In order to help you out, just like in the previous games, you can use cards that you earn by doing well (like in Madden from the late 90s-early 2000s) to bolster your stats for an at-bat, an inning, or an entire game. By also doing well in a particular game, you can earn levels that you can use to have you pitcher throw fire, literally, for an at-bat, or to give your superstar player the ability to hit an instant home run if they make contact.
Brent Musberger and Gary Thorne return to the do the limited play-by-play that stresses “sportsmanship and fair play” and the graphics at least are crisper and cleaner than in previous years, even if all the players are still very anime influenced, showing that developer NOW Productions took advantage of the better processing power of the new systems, even though LLWS 2010 still won’t push the Xbox 360 or PS3 anywhere near to where they are capable of going.
Clearly, this is a game geared towards kids who are still eligible for the LLWS and taking that into consideration, this is a solid experience overall. The game allows you to use a strong A.I. to help with fielding and base-running if necessary, although it does make the wrong decision sometimes in taking one base too few or having the wrong fielder go for the ball. It can be forgiven though because it always works both ways. The graphics are also the best they’ve been for the series, even if they are a little too anime influenced for a simulation game. There is no plot to speak of with a simulation because it all revolves around how you do with your particular team and so it is like you write your own storylines. Add in a brand new season mode and deeper tournament mode and you have a very strong rental experience, but I doubt this will hold any up and coming baseball diehards’ attention for too long.
Overall: 7.0/10
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: August 21, 2010, on PlayerAffinity.com, Original-Gamer.com, NationalLampoon.com, SportsRev.TV, and Lundberg.me
I had a chance to catch up with our old friend John Drake from Harmonix to talk about Rock Band 3 and Kinect launch title Dance Central.
Originally Published: August 20, 2010 on PlayerAffinity.com
It’s a classic story: The good hearted criminals who are looking for that last big score so they can ride off into the sunset comfortably and with a pretty lady in tow. Unfortunately, when you’re hired thugs Kane and Lynch, these situations usually end up going awry before they even get started.
Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days sees our anti-heroes brought together again a few years after the end of the first game. Lynch has fallen into a nice situation as an enforcer for the number two crime lord in Shanghai and has been tasked with a gun running deal that will allow him to walk away from the business for good with his new lady friend Xiu. It’s a situation that is too good to be true and so he reaches out to his old friend Kane in the hopes of getting him a cut of the good life, especially since things have been a little rougher on Kane since last we saw him.
Kane’s daughter, Jenny, who miraculously survived the events around the first game’s ending, refuses to talk to her father, still blaming him for the death of her mother. Kane isn’t thrilled about teaming up with the still psychotic and pill dependant Lynch, but hopes that this last huge score will help him and his daughter make amends. Or at the very least, allow him to help Jenny achieve a semblance of a normal life from here on out.
As soon as Kane lands in Shanghai and is met by Lynch, you can just feel things are going to turn sour. Lynch informs Kane that he has to rough up a small-time hood with a big mouth before escorting him to his hotel and invites him along for the ride on what serves as the obligatory tutorial mission. As soon as Lynch (who you control this go around, instead of Kane like in the first game) kicks down the door, you know there is more going on than was originally alluded to as the small-time hood, who is in the middle of…umm…relations…with his girlfriend at the time, runs out the backdoor, firing a blind hail of bullets towards Kane and Lynch. The two quickly chase him down, while teaching you the basic controls along the way, and corner the hood and the half-naked woman in a dead end alley.
In the heat of the moment, Kane shoots the girl, who the hood was using like a shield, and the hood in turn cuts his own throat. As Lynch now recognizes the woman who Kane shot as the daughter of Shanghai’s largest crime lord, the two soon realize this has now become a mission of pure survival as there will be a bounty on both their heads that would put their arms deal profit to shame.
The most unique aspect of Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days has to be the “real” cam the game features. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads everywhere with sayings like “Real is blood in your teeth”, etc. and then you see our two anti-heroes with Lynch showing a blood-stained grin. The entire reason for this was the new camera system for the game where it is as if a third person was following Kane and Lynch and documenting it with a handy cam. The hope was to make you feel as if you were watching amateur video on YouTube or the nightly news instead of something dreamed up on a Hollywood sound stage. They even go as far as to have the faces of those you beat extra brutally blurred out and to have the sound on the camera go in and out depending on where shots are coming from and who is yelling.
It was a novel idea at first, but after playing through an entire campaign and having the multiplayer locked into that feature as well, I think I actually felt nauseous from motion sickness for the first time in my gaming life. Add in the annoying glare from lights and how it gave the developers the chance to be a little more lazy when it came to environmental details and I appreciate the attempt at something new, but the “real” cam was more irritating that immersive.
Aside from the camera, the game is your standard third-person shooter and doesn’t blow you away with anything in particular. The “sticky” cover used in the first game has been replaced with your standard button prompt cover tactics as seen in Gears of War or Uncharted and you see a typical array of weaponry from pistols to machine guns. The game is also chock full of glitches in both single player and multiplayer. Although I admit I’ve never laughed so hard on headset until I saw a few of the awkward positions my teammates were left in after some of those glitches.
The plot is also very generic and you have a hard time relating to the characters as it seems they bring it all on themselves just to have an excuse to throw more enemies at you and give you a more difficult game experience. I truly believe that Kane and Lynch are two of the unluckiest characters in gaming history and it’s all because they are too stupid to get out of their own way. Next time, they need to include an option to make sure Lynch keeps taking his pills because I actually found myself getting frustrated at how stupid he would act.
One plus to the game is that the voice acting is solid. Everyone gives a good performance with the limited amount of dialogue incorporated. The graphics are not as strong, but again, this goes back to the “real” cam feature and that a handy cam is not going to push an Xbox 360 or PS3 to the limits.
Another mediocre point is the campaign more. You’ll only get your money’s worth if you crank the difficulty up to Extreme mode where one or two hits will kill you, otherwise there is only about eight hours worth of content with no replay value here.
Possibly the strongest point to the entire game is the multiplayer. The campaign is weak to begin with, so co-op does little more for it, but the versus modes are something to behold. Fragile Alliance mode returns and constitutes up to eight players who can work together to pull off a heist, or turn traitor on their teammates to try to collect all the loot for themselves and leaves room for some interesting headset moments when you’re the first victim of a turncoat. The victims though can get revenge as they get one life as a cop to try to take down the criminals and collect a cut of the loot for themselves.
Building on to Fragile Alliance is Undercover Cop mode where you not only have to worry about possible traitors amongst your gang of thieves, but the knowledge that it is one player’s sole purpose to basically turn traitor. The undercover cop’s job is that as soon as a crime has been committed, to take down all the criminals. Not always easy in a full room, but it can be done and can be quite the challenge. The final mode is Cops and Robbers which is a play on your standard six-on-six death match.
Overall, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is solid, but not spectacular. The new gimmicks employed in this game grow tired quickly and seems to be a blatant attempt to just dress up an alarmingly average third-person shooter. Worth a rental over a weekend, I’d only buy it if you fall head over heels for the multiplayer because the story mode doesn’t have enough on its own to make this a keeper.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 6.5: The “real” cam limits the amount of detail this game can go into, but the detail that is there is solid.
Audio: 8.0: Good voice acting with impressive sound effects due to the “real” cam’s built-in microphone makes this one of the game’s stronger points.
Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: Originally I had this as a higher score, but as I kept playing and continued to grow more and more frustrated with the stupidity of the characters, their situation became less and less believable and more and more frustrating and made playing through the rest of the story a chore.
Gameplay: 4.0: Glitches galore knock this down a couple pegs, but it was only mediocre to begin with. Couple the glitches with only standard third-person shooter action and little variety and you have a below average score.
Replay Value: 7.0: The return of the highly original Fragile Alliance mode and the new Undercover Cop mode highlight a tremendous multiplayer, but there is nothing to bring you back to the campaign, even with a co-op option.
Overall (not an average): 6.0: At the end of the day, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is a standard third-person shooter with some bells and whistles that fall flat. The game is nothing spectacular besides the multiplayer, but definitely a nice effort overall. Worth a rental over a long weekend, but I would definitely hold off on a purchase unless you go bonkers for the multiplayer.
Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is available now for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: August 11, 2010 on ClassicGameRoom.com
There was a time when the sports gaming market wasn’t as one-sided as it is nowadays with EA Sports cornering three of the five (football, hockey, soccer) big worldwide sports. The market used to be flooded with would be contenders and fierce competition, especially in the late 90s-early 2000s, between any and every game developer as sports games were seen as low–risk, high reward if a developer was to strike gold and garner a following . One of these contenders for hockey, a sport that EA Sports hands down owns now, was the short-lived Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey series.
Putting the name of superstar athletes and coaches onto video games was a common practice back then what with Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, Kobe Bryant’s NBA Courtside, and the godfather of them all (and the only one to survive) Madden NFL Football. So it only made sense to take “The Great One” and give him his own hockey title. The problem with it compared to those other titles was that it originated as an arcade style game made in the same vein as Midway’s NFL Blitz series. With flaming hockey pucks, a goalie morphing into a net encompassing brick wall, and every hit a bone-crunching one, Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey was not expected to make a heavy splash in the simulation heavy market.
In order to help counteract this, it included the 3-v-3 arcade style that put the brand on the map, but also tried sporting a simulation mode that took a player through an entire 82 game season. Unfortunately, the simulation mode was still heavily arcade influenced and scores of 10-9 were much more common than a 2-1 nail biter. The simulation mode was also faulty for this initial offering in the series in that it did not keep track of player stats beyond position in the standings. This would doom the series in the future as even though it would be fixed in the ’98 version; the fan base had all but jumped ship to the EA brand by this point. I still have fond memories though of replaying every goal I scored in simulation mode in order to mark down goals and assists as I kept my own pen and paper stats for those 1997 New York Rangers. If anything, this was just proof positive that the game was still overly arcade skewed though when I scored my 300th goal as Gretzky himself towards the end of the regular season.
At the time, even with its many faults, Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey was still revolutionary. It was the first N64 game to utilize all four controller ports on the console, having two players on each team. It was also the first hockey game to have the players all be polygonal based instead of using sprites like those seen in old school NES games like Blades of Steel.
With tremendous special effects and the largest cache of commentator lines at the time, Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey at least succeeded in giving you a pretty game that stimulated your senses and was one of the first games to give you a true sense of the speed of the game of hockey. Unfortunately, William’s Entertainment Inc., best known for producing license based pinball and slot machines, should have realized that trying to get high scores in hockey was not the way to go when trying to get into the home console gaming market. For what it was though, Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey was a fun, arcade style hockey game that was good for casual fans of the sport or fans of hat tricks galore.
– Ray Carsillo
Developer: William’s Entertainment Inc.
Publisher: Midway Games (consoles), Atari Games (arcade unit)
Platform(s): Arcade, N64, PlayStation 1
Originally Published: August 10, 2010 on Lundberg.me, Sportsrev.tv, and NationalLampoon.com
I come to you for what will likely be the final time from my mom’s basement. This week I reviewed Little League World Series 2010 and Green Lantern #56. My hot chick pick of the week is Jesikah Maximus.
Originally Published: July 30, 2010, on PlayerAffinity.com
I admit, the first time I heard the title of the first Alan Wake DLC I immediately flashed back to the end of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman starring Michael Keaton where Commissioner Gordon (played by Pat Hingle) and DA Harvey Dent (played by Billy Dee Williams) are having a press conference to comment on Batman’s actions against the Joker. Dent says that Batman gave them a letter saying should evil ever rise again to strike against the good citizens of Gotham, to call him. Alexander Knox (played by Robert Wuhl) immediately asks, “How do we call him?” and Gordon steps in and yells “HE GAVE US THE SIGNAL!”
Okay, so great childhood movie moments aside, Alan Wake’s “The Signal” DLC picks up right where the main game ended. Serving as the seventh “episode” of the game, it opens up refreshing our memories with the “previously seen on” trailer utilized through the main game and explains exactly what happened at the end in case we weren’t too sure. Alan has succeeded in saving his wife Alice by destroying the darkness’ avatar in the long deceased Barbara Jagger, but in the process has trapped himself within the darkness. Now, in a twisted and constantly shifting dark mirror of Bright Falls, Alan must find a way out of the darkness before succumbing to the encroaching madness while also figuring out what new presence Alan is fighting against that is using shadows of his memories to try to steer him off the proper path.
In order to keep Alan from losing his way, a familiar friend from the main game will immediately intervene upon the start of the new episode. BATMAN! No, sorry, couldn’t resist. Thomas Zane, the first writer who fell victim to the temptations of the darkness, returns in his light bulb decorated diving suit warning Alan he is walking a dangerous path and imparts onto him a new flashlight and a cell phone (chock full of Verizon product placement just like in the main game as well). Zane orders Alan to follow the phone’s GPS signal (hence the title of the DLC) to a safe haven in the darkness where they can discuss events up to this point and try to work out a way for Alan to escape. It is here that Alan begins to square off against some familiar foes as well as some new obstacles as he tries to escape the darkness and unravel the mystery of why he became trapped after saving Alice.
If you enjoyed Alan Wake the first time, then this DLC will only prove to suck you back into the enthralling story with another twist ending that will have you counting down the days until the story’s conclusion DLC “The Writer” is released in September. And if you thought the enemies were difficult before, “The Signal” only ramps up the intensity by throwing more at you in this single episode than were probably in the entire main game. Luckily, some of the twisted and unusual areas you stumble across in the dark mirror of Bright Falls have some environmental helps that can even the odds and help you save ammo.
Added into this DLC is a dynamic you saw in the darkness at the end of the main game where typed words were floating in the air and if you shined your light on them, they came into reality. Now though, instead of simple scenery, you’ll need to rely on this dynamic to help find extra ammo, batteries, and maybe trigger a few traps for the possessed shadows looking to drag Alan into eternal darkness. Of course, the words can also be used against Alan as sometimes “enemy” or “possessed” are floating around as well and this can make your life even more difficult if you’re not careful with your flashlight during a fight. Could the words be a way of Thomas Zane and this mysterious new presence battling each other over Alan? Maybe we’ll find out in “The Writer”.
All in all, the only downside to this DLC is that it is only about the same length as any single episode from the main game and should not take most gamers more than 90 minutes to blow through. There is some replay value in that the DLC does include an extra eight achievements worth 250 possible Gamerscore and they will most likely take you two or three playthroughs to collect them all, but aside from that, those just obsessed with the story won’t have a lot to come back to this for. Then again, for a DLC that was free to everyone who bought the game brand new means I can’t really complain about the lack of product. As of now though, “The Writer” looks like it will cost users 560 Microsoft points (about $8) in September so if you want to get the full ending of Alan Wake, it will cost you a few extra bones in the end.
With the same great voice acting and graphics and more of the tremendous story that can’t help but suck you in, I don’t see how anyone could not want to download this free DLC. As for “The Writer”, well, you’ll just have to stay tuned here for our full report. Same Alan Wake time, same Alan Wake channel! I couldn’t help myself.
Originally Published: July 28, 2010, on ESPNNewYork.com and Newsday.com
I previewed All Points Bulletin, the Grand Theft Auto inspired MMORPG from EA, back at PAX East in March and we saw an open-world environment that had our mouths watering from the thought of bringing that much chaos to a constantly evolving MMO style world. With the promise of “no more level grinding” to revolutionize the MMO experience, PC gamers everywhere were keeping a close eye on this title. Now that it has officially launched and is available, could the final product live up to that March demo’s tremendous hype?
First, let me establish the basic story. You are a citizen in the crime ravaged modern city of San Paro and you have a very basic choice at this point in your life. In order to survive you have to join one of two factions, either the criminal faction that feeds on the innocent people of San Paro, or the Enforcers who serve as a vigilante force that feeds on the criminals.
In order to get the most out of my review copy, I set up two separate accounts, one for the criminals and one for the Enforcers to first test the balance since unlike most MMORPGs, these are the only two “classes” you really get to choose from. The difference in difficulty you have playing as an Enforcer compared to the criminal is tremendous, as you must walk a much finer line than the criminals in your “day-to-day” actions. From avoiding killing NPCs to the techniques you must use in trying to apprehend criminals makes you a much better person than me if you choose to be an Enforcer. I found myself gravitating to the much easier criminal faction where your foul actions are rewarded with prestige and money and let’s be honest, it’s a lot more fun causing chaos in video games. Of course, this could just be personal preference though and could be very rewarding for those looking for the challenge of capturing criminals.
As for the gameplay, APB falls truly flat. The promise of “no more grinding” was false as you will find yourself trying to accomplish meaningless graffiti quests in order to level up and unlock bigger and better guns. And you need the better guns in order to advance faster since, just like your typical MMORPG, what weapon you can use depends solely on your level. If APB had made each bullet as powerful as it should be, no matter the gun, instead of me having to pour a 30 bullet clip into a guy like I was playing Gears of War 2 then I would have been impressed. And at least in Gears of War 2 a single grenade was all that was needed to kill an enemy whereas this may take two or three. Add in that it doesn’t matter where you hit the character and your frustration grows very quickly if you’re just starting out. At least the lag is sporadic.
There are some good gameplay elements though. Being able to have impromptu drive-bys is a lot of fun as you cram into a four-door car with your teammates and one guy drives while the other three go to town on your targets. And then if you need to scatter, being able to jump over fences and kick down double doors is a great feeling. Unfortunately, you can feel the game relying on these team building and fighting tactics to get things done. Sometimes you just want to shoot something by yourself.
Aside from the great possible team tactics, the place where APB truly shines is the customization abilities and peripherals for this game. From having your own theme song play whenever you kill someone to logo and decal creation for your clothes, cars, and even whatever you spray paint means you can turn the world into your own little canvas for all other players to see. No other MMO offers you this level of customization for your character and their equipment.
But are great customization features and some random chaos causing elements enough for a buy and then subscription fees? I’m going to lean towards saying no. It is a shame because there were such high hopes for this game from demos and the hype, but in the end it comes off as a water-downed Grand Theft Auto that lacks any real direction or purpose. After devoting a lot of time into APB, I just found myself wishing I was playing a MMORPG that gave me super powers and magical abilities.
APB is available for $49.95 for the install disc and then $9.99 a month after that or for 50-hour blocks of $6.99 each.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 9.0: The game is gorgeous in terms of how much detail you can get on each person with only sporadic lag and the ability to create any and every logo imaginable is a nice touch.
Audio: 9.0: Solid voice acting combined with the ability to mix and assign your own tunes is beyond awesome and I’m surprised no one has thought of it until now.
Plot/Plot Development: 5.0: A nice opening credits cut scene sets up a very simple tale. Will you be a bad guy or a good guy?
Gameplay: 5.0: Being forced to team up with people and having to use 30 bullets and three grenades to take out a single enemy is frustrating beyond belief. I can’t remember the last time I yelled at a game this much. So much for eliminating the level grinding.
Replay Value: 4.0: I’m not a big fan of paying for something that relies on me playing with other people in order to enjoy it.
Overall (not an average): 5.0: It is still early in the life of this MMORPG and so I have hope that many of the problems like weapon balancing and only team driven gameplay will be remedied somehow. As it is, the game might be worth a look for the customization features, but should only be bought if you like the idea of having to level grind in a Grand Theft Auto environment.
All Points Bulletin is available now for the PC.
Also, just for your knowledge, here are the specs for the PC I used:
Windows Home 7 64-bit
Intel Core i7 930 @ 3.2 Ghz
6 GB DDR3 RAM
nVidia GTX 260
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: July 27, 2010, on ESPNNewYork.com
He is a man who has been critical in helping to expand the WWE brand into the video game realm and is one of the premiere authorities on everything that constitutes the WWE empire. By tapping into his vast knowledge and the deep history of the WWE, he also co-authored the New York Times Bestselling WWE Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to World Wrestling Entertainment and will be promoting the book tomorrow night at the Farmingdale Library in Farmingdale, New York, at 7 PM. Of course, I am talking about Brian Shields.
I had a chance to chat with Brian and being the future king of all geek media (who doesn’t happen to have a pencil-neck), it was only natural for me to ask Brian about everything from the WWE Hall of Fame to how the WWE brand has grown in the video game realm over the years. And after checking out my interview with Brian below, be sure to check out his personal website at http://mightypenandsword.com/ ».
CLICK HERE – to hear my interview with Brian Shields, the author of the WWE Encyclopedia!.
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: July 27, 2010, on Collider.com and PlayerAffinity.com
It was one of the most controversial decisions in the history of comics. Back in September of 1988, DC Comics opened up a 24 hour vote where fans would decide the fate of Jason Todd, the second Robin in the famed Batman canon. By less than a 100 votes, fans decided that Batman would not make it in time to save Jason from the clutches of the Joker and thus complete the now legendary “A Death in the Family” story arc. Flash forward 20 years now (about four or five in the actual DC Universe) and DC decided to find a way to bring Jason back. Batman: Under the Red Hood is the story of how Batman’s greatest failure comes back to haunt him in ways he never could have imagined.
The comic story arc was originally written by Judd Winick and so it was only natural for DC Animation to approach Winick to rework his story into a screenplay. That was an easy decision. The difficult part was going to be having Winick actual trim down years of comic pages into something that could be told in a 75 minute movie.
There were some obvious reworks that needed to be had, like the summarization of 20 years of guilt on Batman’s part into a simple monologue in the Bat-Wing, but there were others that fans might come to question. Like the complete removal of Tim Drake as the third Robin and nothing more than a cryptic reference late in the movie to Barbara Gordon (the original Batgirl). Removing Tim Drake took away the great confrontations that the prodigal son Jason Todd had with the latest Boy Wonder and is something that fans would probably have liked to have seen.
Aside from this, many of the reworks were necessary to tell the story of the return of Jason Todd as efficiently as possible. There would have been no way to explain how the events of Infinite Crisis and Superboy Prime were what brought Jason back from the dead without making another new movie, so it was written off as being Ra’s Al Ghul and his Lazarus Pit. Also, to show every hit Jason did against the Black Mask as he began to move up in the underworld ranks would have taken an extra hour, so only showing a couple got the point across as well as moved the story along at a good pace. And for those out there who were not familiar with the “A Death in the Family” arc, there are plenty of flashbacks to fill in the remaining blanks of the Batman canon.
So, the story is about as true to the source material as it could be when being crammed into 75 minutes of animation, but what about the actual movie itself? I say it is absolutely brilliant. I still wish DC Animation would stop adapting raw source material and come up with some original stories again like in the Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond days, but for what it is, Batman: Under the Red Hood is a great telling of a landmark Batman story.
The animation is crisp and really jumps off the screen on Blu-Ray. For the most part, the voice acting is top of the line and although most Batman: The Animated Series fans would wish that Kevin Conroy was voicing the Dark Knight, Bruce Greenwood does an admirable job stepping into the role. Add in voice acting veteran John Dimaggio playing possibly the best Joker since Mark Hamill (a possible future replacement once Hamill permanently hangs up his acid spraying flower?) and Jensen Ackles wonderfully portraying the rage and raw emotion Jason Todd is always emitting, and almost everyone involved did a great job bringing these characters to life for this story. The only character portrayal I question was the Black Mask and how he was made out more to be a stereotypical Italian mafia boss instead of the criminal mastermind and psychopath who has come to haunt Batman time and again. I understand he was more of a plot device here to help set-up the final confrontation, but the character deserved more respect than what it was shown.
As always with these straight to Blu-Ray/DVD movies, there are plenty of bonus features to make the buy even more worthwhile and Batman: Under the Red Hood does not disappoint. Included on the disc are four episodes featuring Robin from Batman: The Animated Series, as well as two short documentaries detailing both the creation of the character of Robin and the infamous 1988 vote that sent Jason Todd to his doom. Throw in a preview of the next DC Animated feature, Batman/Superman Apocalypse, and a short bonus cartoon about Jonah Hex, based on a story by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, that is as brilliantly done as the main feature itself, and you have nearly three hours of bonus content that will make any DC Universe fanboy work a nice groove into their couch to watch this great package.
When all is said and done, any and every Batman fan will enjoy this portrayal of Jason Todd and his story as he has been reworked back into the DC Universe. Great action, superb voice acting, and tremendous storytelling make this a must have for fans of the Dark Knight. Batman: Under the Red Hood is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Batman: Under the Red Hood gets 9 out of 10.
-Ray Carsillo
RayCarsilloWrites.com 