What the Caped Crusader Did for Videogames

Today's guest post comes from fellow GameCola staff writer Daniel Castro, who has successfully captured two of our favorite topics on this blog: videogames and Batman. And it's actually more relevant to modern society than most of the games we talk about! Note that this post uses slightly stronger language than you might be used to seeing here, so feel free to put the kiddos to bed before proceeding.

 

Possibly many of you already know this, but I’ll say it again, the latest Batman games developed by Rocksteady are truly awesome. For those still unaware of this, you don’t have to take my word for granted, there are plenty reviews over the ‘net, and most of them will tell you just that.

But still, every now and then I get to talk about videogames with some of my students. Everyone has played Battlefield or Call of Duty, and the conversation always veers toward the latest Halo, Grand Theft Auto, or whichever other sequel is coming out this year, but anytime I mention Batman: Arkham Asylum/City, I always hear the same old, “I’ve heard it’s great, but I haven’t tried it yet.”

Part of the blame is probably this multiplayer-obsessed era of gaming we’re currently living in (we can discuss that later), but still I know there’s a lot of people not trying any of these games just because they're based on a superhero character, and licensed games have a tendency for sucking.

And while both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City aren’t exactly underrated or unappreciated, I still want to talk about the things these games do great, because I consider them to be a great contribution to this gaming generation, and they’re already influencing the way some games are shaping up to be.

A licensed game done right

Since the early days of videogames, licensed titles have mostly sucked, and those based on a superhero license have been some of the worst offenders. This seems almost a general rule, since licensed games are commonly rushed and underdeveloped in order to meet an irrational deadline.

I can see why there are still some people not trying Arkham Asylum/City; many of them must have grown skeptical about superhero games; I know I did, and I know that I was a hell of a lot more skeptical the first time I tried Batman: Arkham Asylum.

And thanks to you, guys.

Batman: Arkham Asylum wasn’t being developed in order to be released during the hype surrounding the newest blockbuster movie; it was created and conceived in order to serve as Rocksteady’s interpretation on how a Batman game should be experienced. Speaking of which…

A game done right

Rocksteady actually worked their minds to create these titles; as the game industry is actually going, they could’ve just reskinned the game on top of something already made. While it takes some obvious inspiration from other games and genres, the final result feels like a game utterly different from anything this generation has thrown at us.

It just doesn’t look and sound awesome; way more importantly, it plays awesome, and that’s the part where these games really stand out.

I hate to say it this bluntly, but they did everything right! While the game is focused to be played in a stealthy approach, it also gives you freedom to tackle every situation any in way you want, and it works that way too!

That’s my biggest issue concerning sneaky games, like Splinter Cell, Tenchu or the previous Hitman titles; they play perfectly while you remain undetected, but the games utterly break down the moment you’re caught; then is when you realize every single fault their control scheme has.

But it doesn’t go that way for Batman. In fact, your enemies eventually will realize they’re being pinned down and will react accordingly, growing more desperate as their numbers start growing thin.

And when you have to fight your enemies in a face-to-face situation, the game actually feels more awesome. I can’t help but admit that the combat mechanics in these titles are the thing that really got me all over them. I can play these fights over and over and still amaze myself of all the crazy stunts Batman is capable of doing in order to beat an always more numerous foe.

By the way, it brings me odd memories of the old Adam West’s series.

An exclusive plot for the game

Now this is the thing that truly marks how different the Arkham games are compared to the rest of the crowd. Every superhero game being made has always been tied in to the events of the newest movie or loosely based on another publication.

Rocksteady’s take on the Batman franchise tells a story that, while based on the lore of the series, is also not afraid to create and go further than any videogame ever has. Up until now, every superhero game has played safe and sticks really close to the material it tries to represent. But after the events of Arkham City, we all know that these games just don’t walk the same way; they have the nerve of killing some major characters of the series, creating a whole new continuity exclusive to videogames.

Do the Batman!

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, and maybe time will prove me right or wrong, but I’ll say it anyway: I think Batman: Arkham Asylum has created a new milestone in videogames, the same way Ocarina of Time did for adventure games and Halo: Combat Evolved did for first-person shooters.

Batman: Arkham Asylum has set a new standard for new games to come; superhero games especially are trying to be like Batman, and you can’t really blame them… I mean, who wouldn’t want to be The Batman?!

The comparison bar is now higher than ever before, new superhero games can’t stumble into our consoles and expect to make a dent into the industry now that Old Bats has shown everyone how it’s done.

Captain America: Super Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man games feel heavily influenced by Batman’s fighting and general gameplay; they’re both not that good, but they’re not as bad as superhero games usually are, their main flaw remain being tied-up to the newest movie and rushed in order to meet a crippling deadline.

Now here we are, while there is a Deadpool movie in the works booked for a still unspecified release date on 2014, next year there’ll be a Deadpool game hopefully not tied-in to the movie, but being crafted only because someone had the great idea that the character deserves to live on videogame glory, and people are possibly working on a plot and a gameplay tailored specifically for the “merc with a mouth.”

I know that trailers are not always accurate... but so far, it looks awesome.

Of course, the game that I’m really waiting for next year is the sequel to Batman: Arkham City, because this game not only had a lot of momentum going on its own, but it managed to let us know that it wasn’t quite the end of the story; if you’ve investigated enough into Arkham’s world, you’ll know there’s something huge coming to Gotham.

See you next year, you creepy bastard.

Sunday Spotlight: Gurren Lagann

I've seen a number of anime series that build and build toward a satisfying climax, only to go totally weird in the last two episodes and ruin everything. I've seen shows that hold my attention for a while before steadily becoming less interesting as time goes on. Gurren Lagann introduced to me a new category of anime that falls short somewhere: shows that are totally rad except for a string of episodes in the middle that make you very, very angry.

Gurren Lagann is the first anime series I've seen that plays out like an ongoing D&D campaign: characters of humble origin are driven together by chance and circumstance; they embark on a grand adventure against increasingly impossible odds, becoming stronger and more heroic along the way; and no matter whether they achieve victory or taste bitter defeat, the story continues and new adventures arise as a direct result of what the heroes have been through. It's almost like four different series starring most of the same characters, fit neatly into the span of 27 episodes.

You've got Kamina, the irrepressibly and even foolishly gung-ho leader of the group. There's Simon, the cowardly digger who unearths the Gunmen (note the intentional pun on Gundam) called Lagann that sets their adventure into motion. You meet Yoko, the sharpshooter with a heart so warm that she barely needs any clothing to keep out the cold (that clothing restricts her movement is the completely reasonable rationalization given for her skimpy attire).

Along the way, the group meets up with a host of other characters, who range from a fabulous technology wizard, to a quartet of black-clad siblings, to a crewman whose only function is to excitedly press buttons, to a heroically comedic pig mole. They pick up team members from a sheltered, impoverished village just as easily as from the enemy palace. The team is even able to capture enemy Gunmen, changing their situation from being oppressed humans living underground to being powerful humans who roam freely across Earth's surface in their giant mechs.

Gurren Lagann is just as much a show about the characters as it is a show about big robots smashing up other big robots. At times it's a tongue-in-cheek parody, and at other times it's a serious and heartfelt tale of these characters fighting against fate, but more than anything else it's just plain fun. Gonzo action sequences, creative character designs, larger-than-life friends and foes, and smile-inducing dialogue make for a show that is just plain entertaining. The fact the characters are real characters who grow and change through their experiences, and whose actions directly impact the direction of the story, gives the show depth and a meaningful weight that's often absent in action-heavy anime.

That's why I got angry at Gurren Lagann: Following the conclusion of the major story arc that comprises more than half the series, we fast-forward to a point in the story that destroys both the fun and the meaning by having a few key characters shut off their brains to manufacture the conflict of the next story arc.

My wife and I have been watching the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and we've been noticing an unfortunate trend: everything is going well until one character shuts off his or her brain, triggering an unnecessary conflict that gives the characters involved a reason to fight, get captured, and/or die pointlessly. Conflict is not flowing naturally from the circumstances--it's more like the writers want to have a big battle between some clone troopers and the local aliens, so they introduce a character supposedly on the side of the good guys whose only goal in life is to kill all the local aliens. The writers have him shut off his brain when people try to reason with him, and have everyone else shut off their brains when he orders them to stop talking and kill the local aliens. This results in the viewer hating the character driving the conflict and calling everyone else an idiot, effectively severing any real investment he or she had in the episode. At least, if this viewer is like me.

My anger toward Gurren Lagann--like my distaste for the last several episodes of The Clone Wars--is not directed so much at the conflicts themselves as it is toward the presentation of those conflicts. Don't allow the viewer to get so angry at the avoidable situations and boneheaded characters that they begin to hate the show itself--temper the viewer's temper with a reason to pity or sympathize with the boneheaded characters, or forgo the emotional investment in people and places that'll make it hurt more when bad things happen to them.

There's a string of five consecutive episodes in Gurren Lagann where several of the heroes are turned into villains, either in the eyes of the viewer or in the eyes of their comrades. After fifteen episodes of natural story progression and logical character interactions, bad things just happen. Characters go off the deep end in pursuit of their beliefs, people stop thinking rationally about the actions and motives of other characters, and the writers--in true Dungeon Master fashion--develop the romantic relationships between characters just enough to be used against them.

If you ask my wife, she'll tell you that everything terrible that happens here is because of how the characters' histories and personalities are shaping their interactions with others and affecting their ability to adapt to their new situation. I don't entirely disagree. The problem is that the writers fail to show the viewer any of the humanizing factors that put these characters' actions into context until too late in the story.

It's one gut punch after another as the characters you once cared for are villanized and their world falls apart...but there's no glimmer of hope that things will get better; no feel-good successes in the face of disaster; no flickers of remorse from the offending parties; nothing to suggest that the good guys who think they're doing the right thing really are doing the right thing. I simply stopped caring at one point--let their world fall apart, because I'd rather see it burn than suffer through another half-dozen episodes of unchecked angst and despair.

By the end of the series, most of the events that had made me angry had been softened with further explanation and perspective, but that doesn't change my drastically unfavorable reaction to the episodes where all I could see were manufactured conflicts and emotionally manipulative situations. Did Gurren Lagann redeem itself? Yes. Once they finally started acting like heroes again, the show quickly went from bearable to downright fun once more. The sour taste in my mouth persists only because of how much I like everything surrounding that string of infuriating and disheartening episodes--Clone Wars is disappointing when it resorts to artificial conflict, but the show so far hasn't done enough to invest me in the characters and raise my expectations of the writing to make it feel like all that much of a letdown.

Overall, Gurren Lagann is one of the most entertaining anime series I've seen in a while, with at least one or two of the best action sequences I've ever had the pleasure of watching in an anime. There are great, memorable characters and a dynamic story that becomes almost absurd in its scope, though delightfully so. Even with my complaints against the way the second major story arc was handled (and your feelings on the matter certainly may vary, as my wife can attest to), I respect the show for its ability to continually build on itself without overstaying its welcome or losing track of its roots. It's a good series that comes recommended to any anime fan, and first-timers with no prior exposure to anime are all but guaranteed to find something they like, whether it's comedy or plot continuity or big robots punching each other with drills.

As a side note, viewers in search of fan service a more complete Gurren Lagann experience should be advised that the English dub of Episode 6, the infamous hot springs episode, is considerably different from the original Japanese cut. It's a near-mandatory anime tradition to have an episode (frequently the sixth one, for some reason) take place at a hot spring, opening the door for scantily clad shenanigans in even the most serious and conservative series. Gurren Lagann is no exception, but the censors obscured some of the racier content with fog clouds, and excised the rest of it altogether, replacing it instead with a clever-but-obtrusive recap of the first five episodes.

As a result, the story feels somewhat disjointed, and most of the humor of the episode is lost, along with some worthwhile character development and even a little foreshadowing. The uncut and subtitled Japanese version is out there for free on the Internet if you poke around a bit, and there are plenty of synopses that go over the version differences if you'd prefer to pass on watching/rewatching the episode with its questionable content intact.

Anypigmole, that's Gurren Lagann for you.

[Images from gurrenlagann.wikia.com and Wookieepedia.]

The Avengers Have Arrived!

After surviving a Dragon Age and petitioning to be a Trekkie, my brother-in-law has returned to address a topic that has been shockingly absent from this blog so far.
 

IT IS HERE!!!

The movie I have been waiting on for 5 years now. The AVENGERS HAVE ARRIVED…and I could not have been more pleased!

If you recall an earlier post I explained the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a Horizontal Universe that includes The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 1 & 2, Captain America, and Thor. These movies have not only done a successful job at creating wonderful stories on their own, but they have been building up to the moment at hand!

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its spin-off Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse (all wonderful TV shows), was the brilliant mind behind the direction of The Avengers. Joss Whedon not only did this movie justice, but no movie has ever catered to its fan base better than this one! There is currently no better movie in existence!

How many people have ever gone to a movie and clapped aloud, almost every 10 minutes? The theater erupted in a sea of colliding hands and a roar of laughter almost constantly throughout the movie. Movies have always been an enjoyable time for me, but this movie will be remembered as one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life.

This may seem like a very weighted statement, fueled with the euphoria of just seeing a wonderful movie, but hear me out. The superheroes featured in this movie are as follows: Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, and The Black Widow. Whedon did a wonderful job of showing Iron Man fans exactly what they were expecting to see from Iron Man. In addition, he did a wonderful job of showing Hulk fans exactly what they wanted to see from the Hulk. This was the case for every hero shown. Even more so, no one hero was featured above the rest.

Now, many of you remember how this all started. A teaser was placed at the end of every movie, leading into the next movie. Marvel has done such a wonderful job of building up the anticipation for this movie that at the end, one was left satisfied. It was if the era was over and it could not have been better. But wait…stay to the end…

It is unbelievable that although it all seemed to be building to this, more is yet to come! Iron Man 3, Captain America 2 and Thor 2 are already in production and the Avengers 2 was announced. Not sure my body could physically handle the geek-spasm I had in the theater!

All in all, go see The Avengers. I recommend seeing the other 5 MCU movies first, but do yourself a favor and enjoy one of the best movies of all time!

Exfanding Review: SCAM #1

The ComixTribe press release describes it as "X-Men meets Oceans 11"; while a description like that usually means something to the effect of, "we're trying to piggyback off of the popularity of these two things by blending our favorite elements from them," I can't think of any other comparison that would describe as accurately and earnestly what Joe Mulvey's SCAM is: a comic that plays out as though the cast of X-Men were living the plot of Ocean's 11.

I admit I'm stepping into unknown territory here; indie/creator-owned comics are usually the sole domain of this blog's resident Wednesday Warrior, my blogging compadre Alex. I'll also tell you up front that neither I nor Alex was head-over-heels in love with SCAM #1...but the first installment of a series isn't always an indicator of where the story and style are headed.

What we liked:

- The story wastes no time bringing in both action and exposition. By the end of the first page, we've met all the characters and are beginning to get a feel for how they play into a heist that's about to occur. By the end of the second page, we know the important details of the heist and have a conflict spurring the characters into action. By the end of the third page, we're understanding some of the relationships between these characters. By the end of the fourth page, a few twists reveal some critical details about the characters and make the conflict a whole lot worse.

- The characters have superpowers (or, "freakishly unexplainable killer skills," as one character puts it) that offer a lot of interesting possibilities for this kind of story. My personal favorites are the ability to remember everything you've ever experienced and the ability to make anything you touch invisible--maybe I don't read enough comics, but those seem pretty cool, especially in this context.

- There's enough variety in the locations and coloring to keep the comic visually interesting, and a few of the panels really "pop" with an almost cinematic quality.


What we didn't care for:

- There's a big disconnect between the introduction and the rest of the story, which takes place two years later. Whereas the introduction throws the reader right into the action and keeps the pacing fairly tight, the rest of the story feels like a mostly unrelated tale that's gradually warming up, and it doesn't help that the characters aren't immediately recognizable as the thieves from the first few pages.

- Often times it's difficult to tell what's going on. Sometimes it's because of how the panels are arranged; sometimes it feels like there's a key panel or line of dialogue missing; sometimes there's there's a little too much fluff in the dialogue to properly process what's actually important to the story and the character development. I had to stop myself multiple times and re-read entire pages to make sure I didn't miss something in the illustrations or the text; that's something that very rarely happens to me even once in an issue, let alone more than once.

Overall:

The writer says in the afterword, "...I hope you stick around and give me the chance to tell you some more of the story. It's just getting started." SCAM #1 starts to lose cohesion and luster after the first few pages, but those first few pages--and a handful of small moments throughout the rest of the comic--hint at what might be a more enjoyable and compelling story in the long run.

If SCAM #2 can smooth out the flow of the panels, clarify the most important dialogue, downplay the nonessential dialogue, expand on the character relationships, and continue putting all those cool superpowers to good use, SCAM might end up being a series we're eager to recommend. In the meantime, you can visit the official SCAM website and the ComixTribe store to see if SCAM #1 is more up your alley.


[A free digital copy of SCAM #1 was provided by publisher ComixTribe for this review.]

Total Studs and Total Duds: A Review of the LEGO Movie Games

Today's post comes from none other than returning guest writer Neko-chan, who is also engaged to half of the writers of this blog.

As readers will know, Nathaniel and I have been playing through the various LEGO Movie games as a couple. Now, LEGOs are something that he and I both cherish. We both have our respective collections, we both get excited every time we pass by a LEGO store, and he even proposed with LEGOs, so of course we were going to buy and play through each LEGO video game together, especially since these games are based around some of our most-loved fandoms.

To date, we have completed Star Wars I+II, slogged through all of Indiana Jones, and have played a few hours' worth of Batman. You would think that each game would improve upon the last, keeping the things that worked, and touching up the things what needed fixing, but unfortunately that has not been the case.


LEGO Star Wars I+II

Plot: Broken into two sagas (on the GameCube; combined into one complete saga on the Wii), the Star Wars games follow a condensed and oh-my-gosh-kids-can’t-see-violence-let’s-make-it-funny-instead version of each movie from the original epic through the less-than-satisfying third prequel.

Characters: Fans get to play as all of their favorite characters, and even the secondary characters are unique and interesting to look at. Sure, there are a few more Stormtroopers than necessary, but the fact you can play as a Jedi with force powers, an evil Sith Lord, a crossbow-shooting Wookiee, a bomb-throwing bounty hunter, or a robot that can fly, totally makes up for any extraneous characters. You can also use the character editor to customize your own character using costume parts and weapons from any character you have unlocked thus far.

Gameplay: This is a very family-friendly game. Level designs are just interesting enough to offer multiple pathways, exploration, and a decent challenge, but not so confusing that you are often at a loss for where to go. Aside from the usual running around and attacking enemies, there are simple puzzles, a little bit of minor platform jumping, some swerve-and-dodge podracing scenes, and a few chances to blow up starships with other starships. As you play, you can attack plants and other destructible background items to earn “studs” (coins), which can be spent to unlock characters, hints, and game modifications that either make playing the game easier or sillier.

Most moderately-okay gamers should have no problems with the difficulty level, and even the worst players can join in and have fun. You are granted infinite lives, so if your character dies you just respawn in place, losing nothing but studs and pride. Also, the game gives hints in the form of arrows if you are unsure what to do with a particular object you have picked up.

As with all of the LEGO Movie games, there are two modes–“Story Mode” and “Free Play.” In story mode, you get humorous cut-scenes, and can only play through levels with the characters indigenous to that scenario. In Free Play mode, you can replay through levels with characters of your choosing in order to unlock secrets and bonus areas that were inaccessible, or that you missed, on the first playthrough. In effect, this gives you infinite “do-overs” and the ability to keep racking up in-game currency, so eventually players of any skill level will be able to beat the game, having unlocked and collected every secret.

The game is allegedly designed for two-players. Certain puzzles need two characters to simultaneously pull switches or attack targets, and certain boss battles require cooperative strategies to win. Both players have independent control of their characters, so each player has the free ability to attack, interact with objects, or collect studs. However, due to screen limitations, the characters can only run so far apart. This means that if one player decides to explore the far side of the screen, and the other is standing on a platform, the second character will be dragged along and most likely fall into a pit of despair.

Also, the camera angles on two-player mode are awful. For certain levels, the camera is not only skewed, but is zoomed out so far that it is almost impossible to accurately judge platform edges or to distinguish objects from one another. Players must alternately drop in and out of one-player mode to zoom the camera far enough in for detail, and for many sections of the game it is simply easier for the second player to drop out entirely.

Gimmicks: In these games, each character has a specific weapon or ability; for instance, some characters can use Force powers, and others can high-jump or use specialty weapons or computer terminals. The abilities are built-in and inherent to that type of character. Certain secrets require a specific ability to unlock, so if you see a control console in story mode, and don’t have a droid in your party, you know you will have to come back later in free play to get in.

There are also hat disguises that you can get from random hat dispensers, which allow you to sneak through enemy territory and bypass checkpoints. In Free Play mode you will have characters that are automatically equipped with these disguises, but in story mode it can be a pain because a single hit from an enemy removes the disguise, and then you have to wander halfway back through the level to re-equip one.

Bonuses: There are numerous secrets to unlock as you play and replay through levels. Some secrets involve unlocking game modifications, some unlock bonus missions or cut-scenes, and some are merely for fun or decoration. There is a percentage counter that lets you know how much of the game you have unlocked, and you can see at the start of each level which bonuses you have yet to clear. Almost every secret is worth going for, and the rewards you get, either in awesomeness or in laughs, are proportional to the effort you put in.


LEGO Indiana Jones

Plot: I don’t know many American children who didn’t at one point run around the house pretending to be Indiana Jones. He is an iconic figure, and I was super-excited for this game to come out, if only for the chance to play as him and destroy everything on the screen with a whip. However, this game somehow managed to capture the events of the movies while removing any sense of excitement or adventure.

Characters: There are really only a handful of characters in the game. Besides Indy, Short Round, Sallah, Indy’s dad, the female love interest du jour, and the guy with the yak on his head, every other character in the game was a generic thug, a generic thuggee, a guy in a uniform, or a screaming female. There were far more palette-swaps than original characters, and it wasn’t worth raising the in-game currency to unlock them, as they did not add any new abilities or visual interest.

Gameplay: This game had the same problems with camera angles that the first games had, and compounded those issues with non-coherent level pathways that made it difficult to figure out not only where we were supposed to go, but how to get from point A to point B in the first place. This game was also heavily glitched, crashing at random points that caused you to lose an entire level’s worth of gameplay, having places where you could literally fall of the map of the level or fall into areas you shouldn’t have been able to get to...and then there was the infamous “elephant drop.” [Editor's note: Don't ask.]

Additionally, certain sections popped you directly into a cut-scene if your timing was off, making it nearly impossible to collect a few of the secrets. Furthermore, a couple of the boss battles are illogical to the point where Nathaniel and I had to use a walkthrough to figure out what in tarnation we were supposed to be doing. Moreover, it was difficult to determine which of the secrets we could get in story mode, and which we would have to go back and get in free play, because it so often looked like we should be able to make a jump or get to an area when in fact the bounding boxes made it impossible. Finally, this is a poorly designed game that will result in fights and one of you sleeping on the couch.

Gimmicks: LEGO Indy uses a tool system. A character can carry one tool at a time, and certain characters are always equipped with a specific tool such as a wrench or a shovel. During story mode, you must bribe monkeys with bananas in exchange for tools, and sometimes you will find a tool randomly on the ground; however, whatever tool you procure will not be necessary until more than halfway through the level, so if you accidentally drop it, or decide to take your chances by picking up a different tool instead, you must then run all the way back to the beginning to get another one, but most of the time it is no longer available and you are out of luck. Free Play is more tolerable because you can choose to have the proper tool-bearer with you if you know in advance which tool the level requires.

They also added torches, which usually burn themselves out in-between when you pick one up and when you find what you are supposed to use it on, so you have to go back and wait for the flame to respawn. This is a joyful process in battles than require fire, especially when you try to throw your torch and miss.

Oh, and they kept the hat system, but took away the dispensers, because a whole level built around scrambling through piles of random drops that disappear within 10 seconds of hitting the ground is fun.

Bonuses: Most of the useful bonuses require you to beat story mode, go back through each level in free play, find a random block, run to and fro through the level looking for a hidden postal box, mail the block, complete the level, run back to the in-game store, realize you don’t have enough money to unlock it, and cry. Almost all of the other bonuses are not worth getting. There are a few cameos that make you pine for the first two games, there is one cameo that is just strange (and glitched), and the bonus missions are simply not fun to the point that we gave up on achieving 100% completion.

LEGO Batman

Plot: Seeing as there is so much source material to draw from, this game does not seem to be following any particular movie, TV plot, or comic, but rather is extrapolating a plot in accordance with the spirit of the characters and the setting of Gotham.

Characters: You play as Batman and Robin. If you play far enough, you can unlock a few of the villains, but otherwise, you play as Batman and Robin. This should feel limiting, but somehow it wouldn’t feel right to play as anyone else. [Editor's note: Except Batgirl! Maybe we haven't met her yet.]

Gameplay: The camera angles continue to be a problem, and in fact, I think they got worse. Also, the designers made each level dark and foggy to fit in with the feel and aesthetic of Gotham, which is nice in theory, but makes it less playable when you are trying to see the edge of a tiny platform stretching between rooftops. However, this game seems to be easier and more straightforward than the first three as far as level design paths and boss battles go, and ::cross our fingers:: so far it has not been glitchy. It is also really fun and satisfying to wave the Wiimote around and Batarang everything on the screen, which I guess makes up for not being able to see what you are Bataranging.

Gimmicks: Instead of special abilities or tools, Batman and Robin have special suits. Scattered throughout the levels are teleporter platforms that allow you to switch suits, gaining new abilities like gliding, tech panel control, magnetic metal-walking, and janitorial dustbustering. Most of them are fun, and it is incredibly obvious where you are supposed to use each one, but Robin’s dustbuster suit can be annoying when you have to backtrack through the level picking up random blocks, and then backtrack even further to find the machine to dump them into, so you can then build a vehicle that you have to ride halfway across the level with, just to unlock one secret.

We have not unlocked all of the villains yet, but it seems like each one has some sort of ability related to their superpowers, as is to be expected. The Riddler is actually quite fun to play as because they gave him Yoda’s staff-physics in addition to mind-control powers. Good times.

Bonuses: It seems as if there are almost too many things to simultaneously unlock. I’m not sure what the rewards will be for our efforts, but so far we have unlocked a few bonus missions, have access to the villains’ lair, have a couple of less-than-but-not-equal-to-good game modifications, and have picked up a couple of different suits and vehicles. We have also collected a few different styles of LEGO minikit components, but at this point it remains to see what they will build.


Right now, LEGO Star Wars I+II are still reigning supreme. We genuinely had fun on each and every level, despite some bad camera angles. LEGO Indiana Jones had some enjoyable moments strung together by many moments of pain and frustration and boredom, but I’m still glad we stuck with it and gave it a chance, even if it didn’t really deserve one. LEGO Batman is shaping up to be mindlessly fun in that, “I want to satisfyingly smash something after a long day” kind of way, but it doesn’t have the presence or the atmosphere that Star Wars did. I think that is part of it.

As much as LEGO Indy and LEGO Batman try, neither one has really captured the feel of being in the world of its subject, neither one fully engages the imagination. Hopefully we’ll have better luck with LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, and LEGO Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but it seems the more I play through LEGO Batman, the more I want to go back and replay the Star Wars I+II.

In Case You Stop Reading When You See the Name "Mega Man" in the Title...

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I'm a fan of Mega Man, but it may be obnoxious or difficult to follow along if you're not a fan yourself.

Well, here's a sampler platter of links to all sorts of Mega Man-related entertainment, which might help to give you a clearer picture of why I'm such a nut and/or get you caught up on some essential viewing/playing/reading.

Enjoy! OR ELSE.

The obvious place to start, if you've got the time and interest, is with my video playthroughs of the various Mega Man games. The completionist in me wants to tell you to start with the first video and work your way down the line, but my practical side recognizes that casual viewers might prefer to try out a later video, after I've started to hit my stride with the commentary and playing style. Either way, even a few minutes should give you a feel for what this series is, and why I'm so passionate about it.

Alternately (or, additionally), there's a wealth of writing by yours truly, posted both here at Exfanding Your Horizons and on videogame humor website GameCola.net. The links that follow are what I consider to be the most significant Mega Man articles and posts I've written so far.

This is great for catching up on things you've missed, and for selectively reading up on this fandom I'm obviously so fond of. I encourage you to honestly rate all the GameCola articles using the tiny stars at the bottom of each post, but I won't mind if you're dishonest and give me five stars anyhow. ;)

1.) Review of Mega Man (NES):
http://gamecola.net/2009/01/mega-man-nes/

2.) Review of Mega Man 2 (NES):
http://gamecola.net/2009/02/mega-man-2-nes/

3.) A fictitious letter written to the villainous Dr. Wily by a safety committee:
http://gamecola.net/2010/10/formal-warning-to-dr-albert-wily/

4.) Review of Mega Man 4 (NES)
http://gamecola.net/2009/03/mega-man-4-nes/

5.) Sprite comic regarding Mega Man 4 (no real knowledge of the game required):
http://gamecola.net/2010/02/sprite-flicker-mega-man-is-falling-for-you/

6.) Review of Mega Man 8 (PS1):
http://gamecola.net/2009/04/mega-man-8-ps1/

7.) Review of Mega Man & Bass (GBA):
http://gamecola.net/2009/05/mega-man-bass-gba/

8.) Flash Flood column reviewing Flash games and animations involving Mega Man versus everyone else:
http://gamecola.net/2009/07/flash-flood-mega-man-versus-everyone-else/

9.) Review of Mega Man 9:
http://www.exfanding.com/2009/02/exfanding-review-mega-man-9.html

10.) Review of Mega Man 9's DLC:
http://www.exfanding.com/2009/02/downloadable-discontent.html

11.) Review of Mega Man 10:
http://gamecola.net/2010/04/mega-man-10-wii-ww/

12.) Review of Mega Man 10's DLC:
http://gamecola.net/2010/04/mega-man-10s-downloadable-discontent/

13.) Review of Mega Man (the PC game!):
http://gamecola.net/2011/09/mega-man-pc/

14.) Preparations for my Mega Man Marathon:
http://www.exfanding.com/2010/06/mega-weekend-plans.html

15.) Recap of my Mega Man Marathon (strictly gameplay):
http://www.exfanding.com/2010/07/mega-man-marathon-1-10-in-2010.html

16.) Reflections on my Mega Man Marathon (more philosophical):
http://www.exfanding.com/2010/07/mega-man-marathon-reflection.html

17.) My big list of changes that I'd make to all the games in the Mega Man series:
http://www.exfanding.com/2009/10/mega-man-is-broken.html

18.) My thoughts about Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune leaving Capcom:
http://www.exfanding.com/2010/11/inafking-and-i.html

19.) Finally, a review of the Mega Man fan movie, with a link to the movie (which you should watch as your last hurrah to celebrate having survived this post):
http://www.exfanding.com/2010/05/exfanding-review-megaman.html

Comics Cooldown

When I started my foray into comics some two years ago, my plan was to sample a little of everything, starting with as many origin stories and issue #1's that I could find. I started with Marvel and DC, intending get enough of a feel for the characters and histories to read through a few of the pivotal universe-spanning events such as Civil War and Crisis on Multiple Trade Paperbacks. In the beginning, my self-education was quite rapid and effective.

I gobbled up Batman: Year One and consumed one trade after another in single sittings. I already knew I liked Batman, so I eagerly digested Alex's copies of The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and Hush, and I added a few more of my own purchases to the pile. Around this time, I hopped into the Ultimate Marvel universe--selected for its seemingly easier-to-follow continuity--and slowly plodded through the teen-focused Ultimate X-Men before picking up and burning through a few trades of Ultimate Fantastic Four.

A strange divide began to occur: I collected anything and everything with "Ultimate" in the title, leading to a shelf with complete runs of a few different series; meantime, another shelf was filled with a single Jonah Hex trade next to a single Wonder Woman trade next to a single Eclipso trade. Marvel was for continuing storylines; DC was for trying out new characters. As a result, collecting DC comics became much more interesting and fun.

Very few DC characters had the honor of multiple trades appearing on my shelf (as I refuse to buy single issues except in the case of very specific one-shots). I grabbed a few different Superman comics that showcased the unlikely fact that Lex Luthor is not the only villain in Superman's world. Green Lantern was sci-fi enough to catch my attention. Blue Beetle with Jaime Reyez became an unexpected favorite. Green Arrow will fill up a lot more shelf space as soon as I find a collection of older comics, predating Kevin Smith's Quiver.

On the DC side, I started prepping myself for the first Crisis story by scaling back on the heroes I knew I liked and focusing on the complete strangers. On the Marvel side, I gradually made my way through the Ultimate universe, slowing down whenever things got too angsty or heavy. For a while, especially when the video games I was playing at the time were getting to be frequently frustrating, I sat down to read comics on a regular basis.

Comics pretty much came to a halt when I found some video games that were truly relaxing, and some comics that were difficult to finish. Specifically, Dragon Warrior IV became exactly the blend of strategy and mindless repetition that I had been craving, and JLA: Year One turned into a pseudo-horror story where (minor spoiler) the heroes fought against an army of creatures comprised of other people's stolen body parts. For me, this was a little gross and definitely not what I signed up for when I picked up the book.

That's about when my interest in comics tapered off. Or, more specifically, my interest in superhero comics. I'm still reading through a black-and-white trade of the first several Booster Gold comics, but I missed a big event with Manhunters a few issues back, and all of a sudden things are getting a little more fantastical than I prefer. I was never really interested in the Justice League or any of their equivalents, and the story arc detour I mentioned made the trade even less appealing. Ultimate Spider-Man wasn't helping, either, because I got to the part where there's romantic drama and Peter Parker gets all angsty.

Oh, wait.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited Shepherd Book Serenity comic just came out, and I can't wait to stop writing this and read it. I mean, uh, I'm excited. I recently polished off an Alien trade in preparation for my introductory post on the Alien movies, and it was pretty good. I've picked up a few original Star Trek comics that I'll turn to once I'm done watching the last bit of the original Star Trek that I haven't seen in full (The Animated Series). I'm sure I'll still need my fix; there's no questioning that.

Bottom line? I'm reveling in the sci-fi stories and growing weary of the superhero ones. I've mostly determined which characters and series I want to follow, and most of them aren't with Marvel or DC. I'll still read everything that's on my shelf eventually, but I'll need to return to Ultimate Fantastic Four or crack open The Atom (who endeared himself to me in The Dark Knight Strikes Again) before being enthusiastic about tights again. And capes.

It's not just the superheroes. I've picked up maybe one indie comic that I'd never heard of in the past...ever. I left The Goon in Chinatown, and am still patiently awaiting his grand return when Alex brings me the next installment (hint hint). Yet, I haven't clamored for more; I've just brought it up in passing a few times.

I seem to have lost my enthusiasm for comics as a thing; most of the reason I'm keeping up with comics at all right now is because the continuing voyages of the fandoms I enjoy are available in that medium. The allure of sprawling out on a couch to read comics isn't as strong now that I've been doing that more often with regular books and non-motion-controlled video games. I can't remember the last time I stopped to stare at the artwork.

I had grand plans of being "in the know" with Blackest Night and Secret Invasion, of being able to tell the difference between Brainiac and Krang...but I've already had enough of a comics education to stay afloat in most comics-centric conversations I've heard. One of the reasons I got into comics so quickly was because of how neat it was to be exposed to so many different fandoms in such a short span of time. There's still enjoyment to be found in trying out new comics, but I find myself settling on a few different characters and stories, and paying less attention to my broader mission. For right now, and maybe for the long run, that's good enough for me.

Exfanding Review: Crystalis (GBC)

In honor of the 13th (!) anniversary of The END DAY, I found myself playing Crystalis, as I do every year on October 1st. Except this time, I wasn't playing Crystalis--I was playing Crystalis. For the Game Boy Color. Note the difference in intonation in my voice.

Ten years after the relase of the NES cult classic, the GBC introduced Crystalis to a brand-new audience...and disgusted most of the longtime fans.

As a standalone game, Crystalis for the GBC is pretty good--on the surface, it's just a direct port from the NES with new dialogue, different music, and a few graphical tweaks here and there. You know; the kind of port that's totally acceptable to play if you can't get a copy of the original. But don't you be deceived.

The trouble begins with the introduction. The very first screen of the NES game--that ominous declaration of 1997, October 1 The END DAY--is one of the most eye-catching beginnings to any game I've ever played. The introduction that follows is grim, mysterious, and ultimately hopeful, with music that perfectly captures what the text and pictures are going for. This sets the tone for the entire game.

The GBC version starts out DUH NUH NUH NUH NAAAAH GENERIC FANTASY ADVENTURE NAAAAH!!! Gone is the mystique of this strange new world you're about to enter; all of the details of the entire game are fed to you at once in a way that feels more like a summary than a story. The music is now a cacophanous explosion of alternating low pitches and high pitches that scream, "LISTEN! THIS IS WHAT DRAMA SOUNDS LIKE!"

But hey, it's just the introduction. As long as they don't mess with the actual gameplay too much, I can just shrug it off as a different presentation.

The very beginning of the game starts off harmlessly enough. Everything plays out the same way, though the dialogue is a little different, and you no longer are able to accidentally start talking to people just by bumping into them. The menu interface has been reorganized to better fit the smaller GBC screen and, in theory, it's a little more organized. There's a few random, innocuous objects strewn about to give the place a smidge more flavor than the original.

No big deal. Some of the dialogue helps to flesh out a game world that hasn't gotten any deeper in the past decade. Pressing a button to talk makes sense. The new menu system is more logical than the old one. The little graphical tweaks make the game feel a little more modern. Nothing wrong with any of this.

Then I get my first weapon, the Sword of Wind. The village elder is suddenly a far more important person than he used to be. When I pick up the sword and hold it over my head for everyone in the tiny hut to see, a slightly garbled digitized voice blurts out, "SWORD OF WIND!" (Or, more accurately, "SGURG OB MEND!")

This doesn't feel right. It's not flat-out wrong, but it indicates that the game may be trying to deviate from its predecessor rather than simply improve upon it or update it for a more modern audience. Still too early to pass judgment, though.

I head out to the killing fields to hack up some slimes and tiger men. I recoil at the ear-piercing wannabe arcade game sound that has replaced the boppin' overworld theme from the NES. I charge headlong into monsters that never used to get anywhere close to me, thanks to the reduced screen size. Suddenly, there's no trace of the Alarm Flute I need to proceed to the next area--it's just...gone!

Oh, wait. There's a random tiny dungeon that wasn't here before, and that's where the Alarm Flute went. I guess I can live with that.

The first several areas of the game are virtually identical to those on the NES, but the music is already grating on me. For as much as I fancy myself a more objective observer than the average person, I absolutely cannot determine whether the music is so atrocious because it's decidedly not the Crystalis music I grew up with, or because it really is just plain bad. I suspect it's a little (or a lot) of both.

I begin to notice some strangeness with the level designs around the time I'm scaling Mt. Sabre; there should definitely be another room at the end of this tunnel, and the shortcut back to the village of Leaf is noticeably absent. I also notice some enemies that are showing up where they've never shown up before, some bosses are missing a special attack, and one or two enemies that have disappeared entirely from the game.

I can live with this. It's just different, and the developers no doubt had to cut out or change a few things to make everything fit on the smaller cartridge. At least the gameplay is the same, right?

Oh, no. That sword isn't supposed to hurt that monster. Each and every monster is supposed to have its own immunities and vulnerabilities to the four swords. Are you telling me that I can use whatever sword I want?

Yes, yes you are telling me that. And after extensive testing, you don't need any more weapons after obtaining a Level 2 Sword of Fire. Sure, you need to make ice bridges and blast apart iron walls, but as far as fighting random enemies is concerned, nothing else is as good.

Even the magic-guzzling Level 3 powers aren't as helpful this time around--the Sword of Water's most powerful attack is particulary sad, as the whirling barrage of snowflakes is now a multidirectional snowflake boomerang that NEVER hits your target.

Playing around with multiple weapons is a big part of why I love Mega Man so much, and it's one of the reasons I love Crystalis so much. Take away the distinctions between weapons, and Crystalis loses that little bit of strategy that keeps it from being a mindless hack'n'slash adventure.

I could prattle on about the rest of the game in fierce detail, but the central problems are easy enough to sum up at this juncture: (1) the limitations of the GBC keep any developer from doing full justice to Crystalis; (2) the major changes that were made change the fundamental feel of the game; and (3) too many of the little touches have been lost.

The GBC port of Crystalis may address a few minor issues that hinder the NES game. It may make the game more accessible (I.e. easier) for a younger or more casual audience. It's still got plenty of problems, and the problems are made worse once you realize what you could be playing instead. The original Crystalis is a game that, even with its technical flaws, is charming because of the developers' obvious attention to detail.

Even when the Sword of Wind becomes all but obsolete a third of the way through the game, there's a monster in the penultimate dungeon that can only be felled with the power of air. When you use magic to transform yourself into other people, you get unique reactions from townsfolk depending on what you look like--especially when you talk to the person you've transformed into!

The original Crystalis truly feels like the people who designed the game were also the people who wanted to play the game. The GBC port feels like the game was repackaged for a different audience, one that wouldn't appreciate the atmosphere, challenges, and nuances of the original. Much of what made the game worth playing in the first place was lost in the transition.

Crystalis for the Game Boy Color is a decent game, but for those who've played the original, it's the difference between fantastic sparkling cider and really bad champagne. Or something along those lines.

Yeah, I almost hurled a few times, too.

Revisiting GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007 is one of the rare first-person shooter games that I own for a console system. Oh, wow, I just made a pun and didn't realize it. How clever I am.

...But I digress. I am traditionally terrible at playing FPS games on console systems because my beautiful aim is hampered by holding down a button to go into targeting mode or needing to use two control sticks at once to move and look around (or in my case, spin around in circles and shoot my feet).

I almost won't play an FPS game unless I've got a keyboard and mouse in front of me, but GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 has the perfect combination of elements for which I'll allow an exception.

GoldenEye is perhaps my favorite (and possibly first) James Bond movie. The N64 adaptation offers a wide variety of memorable weapons, gadgets, challenges, locations, enemies, destructable objects, ways to goof around, and bonus cheats. Who hasn't enjoyed decorating the walls with paintball splatters or mowing down thugs in the Facility with dual RC-P90s? And the multiplayer mode is legendary.

I'm horrific at the harder difficulty modes due to my lack of precision with console FPS games, but the game is otherwise so brilliant that I can't help but love it.

When I saw that GoldenEye 007 is being revamped for the Wii, I felt a surge of geek excitement that I haven't felt since at least the announcement of Mega Man 9. Strange, considering I'm not the world's biggest Bond fan and GoldenEye isn't a game I've ever thought of as one of my all-time favorites. However, seeing that one picture made my heart leap:

I've always been the kind of gamer to focus on the gameplay first and graphics last, but seeing that sweeping view of the first level brought back a flood of fond memories and helped me to instantly appreciate just how much I do love the game, even if I rarely dust it off anymore. The screenshot also, in some strange way, fulfilled a wish I've had since I first picked up Perfect Dark, another N64 game of the same ilk.

I always believed that Perfect Dark had the potential to blow away GoldenEye's multiplayer, if for no other reason than the incredible level of customizability. The one thing that held the game back was that the graphics were so complex for the time that the multiplayer was occasionally sluggish, and being able to identify friend from foe from ammo crate was often difficult, especially with 4-player split-screen action on a modest-sized television.

GoldenEye seldom suffered from that problem with its comparatively simpler graphics, but I wondered how great Perfect Dark could have been on a more powerful console. Seeing that one screenshot of the new GoldenEye gave me a pretty good idea.

Now I was excited. With all the multiplayer options that come standard with any given modern game, GoldenEye's stellar multiplayer could potentially gain all the stabilizability of Perfect Dark with none of the technological drawbacks. And it would look darn pretty, too. Equally exciting was the prospect of an improved control scheme.

It may shock you to know that I look forward to trying out this game with a Wii remote. Seriously. Unlike Metroid Prime 3, I feel that motion control would enhance the experience because GoldenEye is all about aiming and shooting, period. Platforming really lends itself better to a traditional controller.

Even if the Wiimote idea turns out to be a terrible one, I could still play with the limited-edition golden Classic Controller that you can apparently buy with the game. Amazing how you can paint anything gold and make it that much more appealing to Nintendo fans (myself included).

Whoa. I've got chills.

The most interesting part about this is that the game will be a retelling of the original, starring the voice talent of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace's Daniel Craig as James Bond. I've heard of remakes, but this sounds like Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban playing Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a re-release of Wrath of Khan with snazzier special effects.

That's the closest comparison I can come up with--I can't think of anything else that's ever been done before like it. I still prefer Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig as bond, but I'm very interested to see how this will turn out. I just hope the design of Bond's character model grows on me a little more--the closer to totally realistic the graphics become, the more critical I am.

Who knows? Maybe there will be a reskin option to look like any of the different actors who've ever played Bond. Imagine Peter Sellers coming at you with a grenade launcher. Multiplayer gold, right there.

Take a gander at the official GoldenEye website. I'm not yet convinced this'll be as good as or better than the original, but good Gustav Graves, does this game have potential.

Oh, and before you go, make sure you've looked at our super-easy contest!