X-Men Destiny Review

So, as you know by now, I'm a big sucker for comic-themed video games. We've talked about, we've done that, let's move on.

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting big things out of X-Men Destiny. It looked kind of cool, but wasn't going to be a blockbuster no matter how hard it tried. And that's okay. It didn't have to be. All it had to do was create a fun game, try a few new things, keep me entertained for a weekend.

Did it do that?

Well yeah, I guess it did.

The basic premise of the game is that you are taking control of one of three new characters that are being introduced into the X-Men mythos. Generic Asian girl, generic Jock, and generic...uh...nondescript guy.  You then get to choose one of three powersets. Density control (rock-based tough guy), Shadow Matter (teleporting claw based, like if Nightcrawler and Wolverine had some unholy spawn), and Energy Projection, which as far as I can tell, involves throwing nerf balls at enemies until they get frustrated and leave you alone.

The real meat of the gameplay comes not from your core powersets, but rather by equipping various X-Genes that are littered around the city, combining a severe lack of understanding how genetics work with a sense of dread coming from not knowing why people's genes are laying around the sidewalk. You 'equip' these genes, and get a small taste of the powers of whatever famous mutant you happen to be stealing DNA from. And since you can mix and match these genes however you desire, you are free to make yourself into a true abomination of nature, combing one mutant's speed with another's attack power, and finishing it off with a third's...extra health bar? Is that a mutation? Do mutants have health bars? Is 'extending your health bar' some kind of horrifying innuendo?

Anyways

Once you set aside the obvious silliness that comes from equipping other people's powers, it actually makes for a pretty neat concept for a game. Basically everything you do will reward you with a new gene, and most of these offer you the ability to exchange XP for real quantifiable upgrades to these abilities. For example, if you stumble upon Northstar's utility gene, you will gain the ability of super speed. If you spend some points in it and upgrade, you eventually gain the ability to fly.

However, the game quickly devolves into a fairly basic formula.

Step 1: Go here.

Step 2: Fight this.

Step 3: Return to Step 1, repeat.


When you break it down, the game is little more than combat arenas interspaced with cutscenes. The story is  fairly run-of-the-mill, with good mutants and bad mutants punching each other while the rest of the world decides exactly how long we're going to put up with their crap.  Cameos abound, and anyone with a passing familiarity with the X-Men franchise is going to see their favorite mutant stomping around.

I was pleasantly surprised by the voice acting, most of the characters sounded exactly like I expected them to. Emma Frost was soft and sensual, Magneto was pompous and authoritative, and Quicksilver was a complete tool.

Colossus has been drinking vodka since noon, and perpetually sounds like he wants to fight you about it.

Here's the thing, I said earlier in the review that the game wasn't trying to be a big blockbuster epic, and I actually LOVE that about this game. It knew what it was doing, and it did it well. There's not a ton of meat on these bones, most of this gameplay is just busting up groups of enemies without any clear reason why. But smashing endless waves of enemies is the perfect format when you are given a huge pool of powers to sift through and re-equip at will. There is some focus on moral choices, but most of these are boiled down to their bare essence. (Go with Nightcrawler to fight baddies, or go with Pyro and fight some other baddies). If you pick up this one, don't stress too much about the choices, all roads lead home.

"Give me the canister! Or, you know, don't. It doesn't really matter either way."

At the very least, the game will keep you playing. With all the different character and power possibilities, you aren't getting your money's worth if you don't play it through at least twice. And any game that provides enough incentive to keep going after you've beaten it once deserves some recognition.

In short, it's no epic RPG, and most people will pass it by. But if you enjoy the characters at all, it's worth a look, because there is plenty of fun to be had here for those who are willing to try something new.


That's all for today. Don't forget to hit me up on Twitter, and check out the MikesComicBlog tumblr!

Until next time, do your part and have your mutants spayed or neutered!
~Michael

Cable's Back, and He's Pissed

Weekly Ketchup 9-12 - Deus Ex, Fight for the Light, X-Men First Class, and More

So, its been a busy few weeks for me. Between work and home, I've been running pretty much solid. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I'm back, party people, and we're gonna talk about some stuff that makes Mike happy.

First things first, my son!


Benjamin Reilly Wearden, born 9/4/11 at 9:41am.

That's my little guy. Happy and healthy and kicking all kinds of baby ass.

I got through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Finished the final boss fight this afternoon.  I really enjoyed the game, and I already want to go through on a second playthrough. The game strongly encourages replay, just because there are so many different areas to put your points into in order to progress through the game at different angles. The thing is I don't think the game has as many avenues of attack as it wants you to think it does. I mean, its okay to level up any area of advancement with your character, but there are points in the game that you are shoehorned into a particular style of play (usually combat) and it doesn't matter where you have put your points. If you aren't combat-ready, you are boned. I ran into a problem like this with the final boss. There are one or two specific upgrades that can really get you out of tight spots, but outside of those spots they are pretty much useless. I did not bother with them because I was usually able to work around these solutions without much difficulty, but that final boss...oh man. If you aren't prepared, its gonna make you want to start all over just so you can get those specific upgrades to make the fight easier.

All that being said, I loved the game. It really makes you feel like you can attack a situation however you want and it doesn't really punish you if you decide to mix it up. I started off the game very combat heavy, eventually steered back towards hacking and stealth and non-lethal maneuvers, and then retreated back into very run-and-gun style of play towards the end, and I really didn't experience any problems moving back and forth between playstyles. I highly recommend the game.

So the big DC reboot was this last week. We saw Justice League #1 hit shelves last week and Action Comics #1 this week. We are introduced to these new versions of classic DC characters. My first impressions are mostly positive, I'm not so attached to these characters that it breaks my heart if they get changed. Besides, most of the changes I see are not huge. Superman is a bit more aggressive and cocky, and that's fine. The interaction between Batman and Green Lantern looks like it was lifted straight out of Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin series, with a lot of smirking and bickering and condescension. I haven't gotten through all the new books yet, but from what I am seeing, the New 52 is off to a decent start. O.M.A.C. was a hoot, if a little strange. But it was fun. I still need to catch up on Swamp Thing and a few others, so I'll let you know my thoughts as I come across them.

Fight for the Light was released on DCUO this last week, adding a new powerset and some new missions. We need a lot more updates like this one. For one thing, the pack was free, as opposed to the $9.99 that was advertised, and free content is always a good thing. Secondly, DCUO is woefully limited in its powersets. Most of them feel a lot alike, with specific roles being carried across multiple powers. You don't really get to enter deep power customization until you hit level 9 or 10, after devoting a couple of hours to a character you may or may not like once it is fully realized.

But the light power is pretty neat. The heroes get the Green Lantern rings, while villains are given Yellow. You can always spot a Lantern right away because their fist will glow green or yellow at all times. I've only gotten to devote an hour or two with the new powerset, but the powers I've seen are fun and balanced. It is notoriously difficult to translate unlimited power into a limited control scheme, but the constructs you can make with the rings are fun, if sometimes a little silly.

X-Men: First Class was released for home distribution a few days ago. It took me damn near 20 hours to download the HD movie on my Xbox, but it only cost me about $20 worth of MS points, so it wasn't all bad. I started to watch it last night with dinner but I didn't get to finish it for two reasons. 1) I have three kids that demand a lot of attention. And 2) I had forgotten that it was a 2 and a half hour long movie.

However, re-watching the first hour or so reminded me of my conflicted feelings about the film. Some of it I really loved, and other parts I really hated. Emma Frost in this film was played by January Jones, who is a beautiful and talented actress who is playing a cardboard set of boobs in this film. The character is flat and pointless and completely uninteresting. It feels like she was shoehorned in just to be another big name character, when in reality, the same role could have been given to a lesser known or new character and gotten the same effect. Which is funny because Kevin Bacon is chewing the hell out of every piece of scenery he can get his hands on and is genuinely having a blast while doing it.

However, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr have this on-screen chemistry that really works for the film and is just perfect, if a little homoerotic at times.

But I really enjoy the film, and I may end up writing down some second thoughts after I finish it.


In other news, I've fallen into a real rut with my games. There are so many big games on the horizon (Skyrim, Arkham City, etc) coming up in the next few months that nothing is really holding my interest right now. Deus Ex was fun, but I think I'm done with it. DCUO is great, but it is more of a distraction than a full out pastime at this point. So I'm just kind of treading water at the moment. Not like I have a whole lot of playtime lately, but when I do sit down to play, I find myself unable to settle into anything. I've got about $40 of Gamestop credit burning a whole in my pocket, so I may go try to pick out something used to hold my interest until the next round of games drop. I'm open to taking suggestions, but I've played almost everything under the sun at this point, so I'm having a devil of a time finding something good I haven't already burnt out on.

So, there's a little catchup on what has been going on. Don't forget to check out the MikesComicBlog Tumblr and my Twitter feed for more day to day thoughts and opinions.

~Michael

Sorry for the Unexpected Hiatus

Hey everyone, Mike here. I just wanted to apologize for this unexpected hiatus I've taken over the last month. Life gets in the way, you know?

However, you'll be pleased to know that I will be returning to a more regular writing schedule soon. You see, my son, Benjamin Reilly Wearden, will be born on Sunday, and I've saved up some vacation time at work so I can take some time off once he arrives. So expect to see more content coming your way very soon.

In the meantime, check out tumblr.mikescomicblog.com for random stuff that I encounter in my Internet travels.

This is just a primer, you'll be seeing some new content from me soon, including my thoughts on the new DC relaunch, Hickman's new Ultimates book, and maybe a few games I've been checking out lately.


As always you can find me on Twitter at @MichaelWearden or you can email me at mike@mikescomicblog.com. Feel free to get involved, I'm happy to get some community involvement on the site.

Also, just something I'm entertaining, how do you guys feel about ads on blogs? Too distracting? Hey, if it puts some cash in my pocket to buy some baby food for little Ben Reilly, I'll consider it!

Cheers, people. I'll see you real soon.
~Michael

Captain America: Super Soldier Video Game Review

As you probably know by now, I have a thing for video games based on comic book characters. I tend to be a little more lenient on them, I overlook their faults in favor of shilling the thrill of playing as your favorite superheroes. However, it must be very difficult to translate these characters into a playable form, because we have so few of these games that end up being genuinely GOOD games, without the moniker of 'good for a comic book game' or the dreaded 'better than most movie games.'


Captain America: Super Soldier makes no secrets about what it is, this is a Cap game that is trying to be Arkham Asylum. And boy it is trying SO HARD. Which is not a terrible goal, AA stands out as the best comic book adapted video game of this console generation, and the only thing that stands in its way from being the best comic book game ever is a little title called Hulk: Ultimate Destruction WHICH IS THE BEST COMIC BOOK GAME EVER MADE AND YOU SHUDDUP.






Anyways, the Cap developers were trying to build on a proven winning formula. Like Arkham Asylum, the entire game takes place in a singular location, a decidedly Germanic castle which we assume belongs to Baron Zemo judging by all the diaries the dude apparently left around all over the place. You see, this takes place long before the age of blogging, so the only way ol' Zemo could get people to read his emo poetry was to litter the place with pages from his super secret diary. By the way, the master of the house is apparently on vacation, because I couldn't find that bastard anywhere. He just let his buddies move in for the weekend. Maybe Arnim Zola is an accomplished house-sitter. I don't know. He looks like the kind of guy I'd let into my house.

I digress.

The game drops you on top of the castle and you spend the next 6 or 7 hours attempting to rescue your buddies, bust up some Hydra soldiers and robots, and generally trying to ruin the Red Skull's day. Because...the Red Skull is bad? I guess? That seems to be the primary motivation here. The bad guys are bad, therefore you should stop them. Not the deepest premise I've ever seen, but hey, what did you expect?

Cap has definitely been playing some Batman games in his spare time, because the combat system appears to have been practically copy-pasted into Super Soldier. But don't think you've done this before. The addition of the legendary Shield puts an entirely new spin on combat.

The basics are nothing you haven't seen before. Simple attack commands, a dodge button, counter attacks, all standard fare stuff at this point. But that Shield, holy cow. There is nothing more satisfying that following up a takedown with a shield throw that bounces off several other enemies in the room and returns to your hand just in time to block a bullet fired from behind you. That is one thing about this game that I truly enjoyed, the combat. Wrecking guys with that shield and your fists will not get old, even up to the last fight.

However, for all the good, there is plenty of bad. The environments are boring and uninspired. Expect to find yourself in lots and lots of generic laboratories, hallways, and trudging through the most boring and generic castle in all of Europe. And the collectibles, jeezus.  In many levels you can find up to 7 or 8 dossiers, ceramic eggs (?), briefcases, and film reels all in a single room. The game practically demands that you search every possible nook and cranny looking for these (worthless) items, in an apparent attempt to extend the playtime.

For anyone who plays this game, allow me to save you some time. Don't bother. These collectibles are EVERYWHERE and they don't do you much good. Sure, they give you 'intel points' that can be used to purchase upgrades, but in a tragic failing, the upgrades are crap-useless. Not only are you required to purchase every upgrade on a level of the skill tree before unlocking the next level of skills (thereby completely ruining any chance of customization and putting a serious damper on replay value) but the skills you purchase are either arbitrary, impractical, or downright broken. Several of these upgrades involve special moves that require you to hold a button instead of tapping it, but the game does not seem to recognize the difference. Without fail, every time I attempted to use one of these beefed up moves, the game would default back to the tap move, a less impressive and less powerful attack. Not ONCE in my entire 7 hours of playtime was I able to execute ANY of these upgraded moves and guys, I am no slouch when it comes to these kind of games. You know it, I know it, and these upgrades suck.

The only upgrade that is marginally worth obtaining is the shield bounce, which causes your shield to ricochet off multiple enemies with each throw. But as I stated before, you have to buy ALL the crap upgrades to get to the next level of this skill, and frankly, it's not worth it.  The only special move you need is both the most fun and useful, and is given to you for free at the beginning of the game.  So for all you 100% completeists out there, don't bother putting in the extra time and effort. The abilities I started the game with are the same abilities I used throughout the entirety of the game, including every single boss fight.

This move. Because it's awesome.

Gameplay is broken up into 3 major sections. Combat, which is a blast, collection, which is a time-waster, and platforming, which is not platforming. The idea of that third one is to focus on Cap's legendary agility, but the game is so worried that you'll mess it up that it decides to take the controls from you and give you a single button to work while it does the hard stuff. Comparisons have been drawn between Cap's platforming segments and the agility seen in the Assassin's Creed games, but while AC allowed you an unparalleled amount of control, the platforming in Super Soldier is more akin to a timed button-press sequence. Thankfully, it's not a straight up quicktime event, but only just barely. You press 'A' as Cap lands on one surface to propel him to the next. A greater degree of control during platforming can be seen in the original Super Mario Bros.

Me: 'Wow, that looks fun.'   - Cap: 'Yeah it does.' -takes the controller-

And despite all these claims to agility, we never get to use it for ourselves. In pre-scripted platforming segments, Cap can jump and flip and scurry around corners. But in the core gameplay you can't even hurdle a bench or table. Gameplay keeps you firmly nailed to the floor except when the game decides it wants to show off. On more than one occasion I found myself jumping and flipping around in place trying to climb a ledge that couldn't have been more than a couple of feet high in an attempt to grab one of the approximately 40 billion collectibles that had been strewn about a single room, and I was unable to grab it because Cap apparently only knows how to be agile when it involves swinging from suspiciously evenly spaced horizontal pipes, and NOT ANY OTHER TIME.

Despite all these flaws (of which there are many) I truly did have a blast playing the game. Combat is genuinely fun and... ...well that's really about it. The combat is a lot of fun. The rest of it, meh. It's okay. It's passable. It strides a hair or two above the line of mediocrity.

It's not a total wash. Unlike the tremendous turd that was the Thor game, Captain America: Super Soldier actually does have a lot of really fun moments. You just have to wade through a sea of boring to get there.

It's worth a playthrough. I myself will be kept occupied with the challenge mode (another element lifted straight from Arkham Asylum), as many of the challenges cut out all the boring and just get straight to the combat. I'm also a sucker for alternate costumes, and since nothing is unlocked by chasing down collectibles, I think I'll have a good time with that. I'd recommend the game to anyone who enjoys comic book games, even if they aren't the best. Especially if you are a Marvel fan, Cap is a great character and it truly is fun to run around in his boots. Everyone else? Wait for the price to drop. This game is definitely one you want on your radar, but for the average consumer it won't be worth the $50 out of your wallet.

Old Folks Home *Review*

Nursing homes. Man, those places are the worst.

I know I know, that makes me a bad person to say. But come on, you were all thinking it. There wasn't even any lead-in to that topic, and I still bet some of you were thinking "Man, I know this comes out of nowhere, but aren't nursing homes just the worst?"

I mean, it really is kind of a delicate topic, isn't it? Your beloved parents or grandparents start to get to a point where they can't take care of themselves, and as much as you love them, you can't bend your whole life around caring for them. I mean, it's not like they bent their entire lives around caring for you, is it?  But hey, there's this nice facility that takes these people in and takes care of them. So you don't have to worry about it. Or, you know. Visit. Because these are health care professionals and you can rest easy knowing that your loved ones are taken care of.

I know some of you out there are feeling pretty guilty right now. That's not really my intent. I've had loved ones put into homes before. And for the most part, the staff does a great job of taking care of them.

But MAN those places are the worst.

Anyone who has ever visited knows what I'm talking about. Most of the people there are so lonely that they want desperate to believe that you are their relative, and they want to hug and touch you and


Okay I gotta stop that line of thought now. Gives me the creeps.

Anyways more to the point, I'm sitting here reading this issue that was sent to me by Garry McLaughlin. It is called 'Old Folks Home' and features a cover specifically designed to make me wet myself.

Seriously. Add a beard and that dude could be me.

This issue is part of Laser Age Comics' "Year of Fear" and was written by Jamie McMorrow and illustrated by the aforementioned Garry McLaughlin. For those of you who haven't put the pieces together yet, this is a British Horror comic about pissed off, murderous old people who escaped a nursing home.

That's...pretty much the scariest thing I've ever encountered in my life.

Even more terrifying once you notice this:

That's right. Not only is your Gram-Gram pissed off and coming for you with a giant knife, but apparently she's been doing so for two previous issues already. You are officially out of time, she's at your door RIGHT NOW DON'T LOOK!!

Anyways, enough of my blathering. Let's talk about the book.

This issue has a very art-school deco theme going with it. All black and white, a relatively small cast of characters, most of the book takes place within one or two rooms. The meat here is definitely in the dialogue, so this may be a little too artsy for my 'hurr durr action punching spandex muscles hit 'em again' readers. We have a young man coming home from work to find his elderly parents have come to visit from the nursing home he put them in and subsequently neglected. Understandably a little nervous, (and seriously, who wouldn't be?) he tries to call the home to let them know.

I named this image 'NoThanks.jpg'

And then we find out that the parents have brought some of their old and lonely friends along and isn't that just lovely excuse me while I run as far away as I possibly can.

There is no escape.

It's a creepy tale in the vein of a Hitchcock short that explores all the guilt and secret fear you have about old people. I know that comes off as insensitive but honestly? There hasn't been a single person who put their family in a home and felt good about it.  It is just part of life, and it is such a delicate topic that we don't see that explored very often.

From an art standpoint, we have some real good pencils and inks here, if sometimes a little bare-bones. Not a complaint, just an observation. The book plays out more like a storyboard at times then actual sequential storytelling, but then again, I'm not real fluent in storytelling styles of the UK, so that may be my uncivilized American viewpoint. There is also a small measure of inconsistency with the art. At times certain faces feel photo-referenced while others are clearly drawn in a stylistic manner with exaggerated features and almost cartoonish proportions. There's not a single thing wrong with either of these styles, it's just a little jarring to seem them both used side by side.

Presenting for your viewing pleasure, two panels completely devoid of context.

The book makes good use of its lack of coloring, using shading and the occasional lack of backgrounds to draw our focus to the characters emotions and reactions. The lettering also feels a little inconsistent, and I think that all comes down to size. It's difficult to mask the fact that you are inserting typed text over a pre-drawn speech bubble when the font size has to be reduced in order to make the dialogue fit.

However, that's another little nitpicky thing. The actual quality of the story and art is excellent. Great use of close-ups and reaction shots provide mood for an absolutely terrifying high concept. The book follows a traditional three act layout with an intro, buildup and climax, and reminded me of the black and white short films we used to watch in Film Study.  I'd love to see this adapted to a short film, I almost think that would be a better medium for this kind of story, but as it is, this book fires on all cylinders and delivers exactly what it promises. I enjoyed it, guys. I really did.

So if you are looking for a little variety in your horror books, something self-contained that you can enjoy without needling around with backstory or three part plot lines, give this one a go. I promise you two things, you'll enjoy this comic book, and you won't sleep tonight.

FEED ME YOUR NIGHTMARES

More info and purchase options can be found here.

http://www.laseragecomics.co.uk