EB Games Expo 2012

EB Games Expo 2012, what an amazing spectacle.

From the FMX stunt team, to the dancers, to the amazing amount of epic loot available and amazing presentations. I'm one sore reviewer.

The Sydney Olympic Park was packed at all time and game queues had many people waiting in excess of two hours just to get a taste of some of the amazing games heading out to a games store near you, soon.

The only thing I suggest for people next year is: get the Express pass. It's well worth the money.

EB Games really put on a fantastic show and the running of it was executed amazingly.

Also, props go to the Just Dance 4 dancers who danced for days and days and never showed any fatigue at all. Great work.

I personally would like to thank all the EB staff and helpers, game devs and publishers and media for making this the best show we have seen thus far.

What we played and how we felt:

BEST IN SHOW
Assassin's Creed 3:
Although the level we got to play was "more of the same old", the story and the game play seemed much better. The AI of the enemy is a little more forgiving and I can see this being a top seller for sure.

Injustice, Gods Among Us:
Simply amazing, this Mortal Kombat based DC fighting game was nothing short of amazing fun. Kicking ass as some of our fave DC heroes and villains was fantastic, the detail and graphics were amazing and the game play was button spam HEAVEN

Medal of Honor: War Fighter:
I have already stated my love for this game, and it was echoed by fans young and old as they raced around ganking each other in the multiplayer. I also got some time on the single player and for me, this is where this title really shines.

Skylanders: Giants: I was a little disappointed with this sequel as they didn't really add much to the game and it feels even more like a money sink hole than the first.

CoD: Black Ops 2:
More of the same? not exactly. Same game, new maps, better kill streak rewards. It was a lot of fun to play and even more fun to play with a bunch of other gamers. The game feels new and makes me wish I did actually pre-order it.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance:
Blown away. This is the only way to describe the game play and feel of MGR:R. The AR mode we got to try just felt like a new IP, it did not feel like "much the same copy paste bored now" like some of the previous MGS games.

Zombie-U:
If ANYTHING would make me buy a Wii-U, it would be THIS GAME. Look for a review on why, soon.

WORST IN SHOW
Marvel The Avengers: Battle for Earth:
Kinect games always make me wonder why they bother at all, and this game is no different.  The sensor wasn't picking my movements up very well, the game play was chunky and slow and it felt like a turn based game. Not the exciting action we were hoping for. Nothing like the trailers.

Fable The Journey:
Please no, no more Kinect. Just say no. This was for sure one of the worst games of show. If you want a kinect game, go buy Star Wars Kinect, it is actually BETTER than this game has thus far shown.

The Wii-U: still not 100% sold on it as a console.

Borderlands 2 Review: XBox 360

            A BAZILLION GUNS!!

There is something to be said about any game where you lose track of time and play for hours on end and suddenly realize you have been playing for six hours. And it can all be summed up by one simple statement: if you loved borderlands, you will love Borderlands 2.

The story so far:
Handsome Jack, evil CEO of weapons manufacturer Hyperion. Jack takes credit for finding and opening the Vault from the first game and is massively mining the alien substance, Eridian, and looking for an even bigger vault. He's ruthless and takes pleasure in killing anyone that gets in his way. It's now up to you along with a few returning characters and the resistance to defeat Jack before he discovers the new Vault.

BL2 is far superior to the first art wise, with blues, greens, purples just popping out of the game like a comic book. The level design is fantastic, and not the same "mostly brown" that BL1 gave us thanks to the addition of areas filled with ice, grass and volcano surroundings.

The game play is very fun, however at times it gets a little tedious when you run out of ammo. Gearbox Software must have realized from the first game that the ammo vending machines were not getting used much at all, but I can't help but feel that when they decided to reduce the ammo drops, they actually made it a lot harder as you will find yourself with no ammo with your two primary guns and having to run a good five minutes back to an ammo vendor to be able to continue a quest or instance you're doing.

The enemies you face have been upgraded and the AI is much better than the first game, some of you may remember you could pull aggro and run backwards with a conga line of baddies, mercilessly pumping round after round in to them. Now, the enemies roll out of the way, dive for cover and some even try and flank you.
Also there is not just new types of bad guys, some level up if not killed pretty much straight away and this can lead to some fun and challenging kills.

The story line is great, but I haven't felt like it's really epic. More to the point, I feel the focus is still on the loot rather than on the story, and I'm OK with that. Anyone how played the first and will play the second  mainly for the loot and shooting things in the face with a wide variety of weapons.

Skill trees have been vastly improved not only aesthetically pleasing, but the skills have been vastly improved.

Vehicles are still more than anything, horribly useless. Mainly used as transport and still no flying machines for you to use (or so far as I have seen). The vehicles drive better, but you will still find yourself crashing into a raised section of road now and then or trying to steer around something and fail.

Some new features have been added and some completely reformed to better utilize them.

BAD-ASS RANKS: for certain things like killing x of creature type x there are skill points that can be put into things like extra accuracy and shield recharge.

CUSTOMIZATION: Loot drops can some times be skins for your characters outfit, head or vehicle.

SHIFT ACCOUNT CODES: Gearbox have stated you will be able to get codes for Golden Keys, all you need to do is link your BL2 account in the settings/extras menu and keep an eye on Gearbox's twitter. AMAZESAUCE!

MULTIPLAYER LOOT: I have big issues with multiplayer loot, it still comes down to the system of "whats mine is mine and what drops is mine", there is no roll system and I think this does hurt the multiplayer a little, play with your fiends and avoid loot ninjas.

The other issue with loot seems to be that even though you share cash and ammo when picked up, you are unable to trade them, making it feel like a set back when your sniper runs out of ammo and you can't give them more when you don't use that ammo.

All in all, this is still an amazing game and the pros definitely outweigh the cons.You can tell that Randy and his team at Gearbox Software put a lot of time and love into this game.

SCORE:8/10 Claptraps.

Ten Reasons The Dark Knight Rises Was Mediocre (At Best)

10- The film felt like it could have been a 2 part movie and not a full film. Nothing like the story restarting an hour or so in.

It’s worked for other films, such as Harry Potter so there is no reason why they couldn’t do it here and potentially double the box office revenue.

9- If you can understand Bane’s voice through the mask one hundred percent of the time, you either have amazing hearing or started making up conversations in your head.

“Mr Wayne, would you like to come over for a barbeque? We have s-mores and your favourite imported beer.”

8- Teasing at the end that we finally see Robin and yet know that no more films will be made for years?

Especially Batman related films feels like a kick to the you-know-what.

Meanwhile, Marvel races ahead of DC in the movie war making one wonder if DC really care at all, or if they just want to make some money and are no longer interested in the long standing war against Marvel.

7- Bane starts a new revolution, however instead of carrying it through, he is going to blow up Gotham instead? Making himself just another terrorist and not actually enacting any new social movement AT ALL?

In fact, his actions would have made America MORE paranoid than ever. Good job, Nolan. You tried to say so much and it meant nothing at all.

(Stupid sexy Flanders)

6- Bane, what is that you’re wearing on your head? Why does it look like a pair of stretched rubber underpants with a breather mask attached?

5- Batman/Bruce Wayne was absent from the goings on of Gotham for eight years? Wayne would NEVER do such a thing. There will always be crime, and when there will always be crime, there will always be Batman. Anyone who reads/watches Batman knows that there is no way he would distance himself from the city whom he loves so dearly.

4- The film score was not the score we deserved. Recycle that score, boys. It will make it cheaper! Really, the same music (pretty much) again feels like Nolan just didn’t bother.

3-Tahlia Al Ghul states that Bats killed her father, who she hated, and thus she is in Gotham to enact revenge. Wait up crazy lady, you hated your father a whole lot, but have come to Gotham to AVENGE him?

Yeah, that makes about as much sense as LOST DID.

Come to think of it, I need to check the writers, I feel a “dead end story becomes not a dead end that is a dead end that’s not what you think yet is yet isn’t rollfaceonkeyboardhihowareyouimgoodthanksyouyeahgood” writing of lost through the movie.

2- Catwoman, not just another pretty face. Oh, never mind then. They put her in to be a love interest to Bruce/Bats but really, she just felt like the DC answer to Black Widow (The Avengers) only less cleavage.

Much less.  Depressingly less. Horridly less. Sorry Anne, Scarlet just blows you out of the pool.

1- This was not the hero we needed, nor was it the Hero we deserved. The Dark Knight Rises had so much hype that it felt like it was to be THE film that defined a generation, that no other film could even go NEAR, The Avengers already gets that title.

The Dark Knight Rises: Movie Review

Let me start by saying how deeply saddened I am by the Aurora shooting at the Friday night premiere screening in Colorado, senseless gun violence by a very disturbed man. My thoughts are with all the people and families that this tragedy has impacted upon

THE SHORT VERSION:
Is this a good movie? Yes.
Is this an amazing must see movie? No.
Is it as good as The Avengers? Not a chance.
Will it entertain you? It should. 
Batman and Bane's voices are hard to hear, don't take someone talkative with you to see this movie.
The movie has holes, and the story drags a little in the middle, no worse than Spider-man.  
 
WARNING: SPOILERS.

The film starts by going through how Bane comes to be in Gotham, the start of the film made little sense and it was hard to shake the feeling that something important was cut out and left out that actually needed to be there.

Fast forward to Gotham and Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman (who they never one referred to AS Catwoman, only by her real name), who steals Bruce's mothers pearls while at a dinner party in celebration of "Dent Day", A public holiday centered around the death of Harvey "Two Face" Dent and the lie that Batman killed him. They have a scene where they explain and lay it out that not only has Batman vanished 8 years ago, but Bruce Wayne has become a recluse. Not that anyone has been smart enough to put two and two together "Oh, Batman and Bruce both hid away around the same time, wonder if they could be the same guy?".     

OK, that's not entirely true, Bane knows who he is, as does young hot head police officer, Thomas  Blake  (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). 

Gordon carries a speech that he thinks twice about reading, It seems that over the eight years, Gordon's soul has been burdened by the lie. later this is revealed to be the truth of Harvey's death that Bane gets a hold of, but is not really needed for the story and has little impact for such a huge build other than upsetting the young hot head cop, Thomas Blake. Thomas all through out the film is the 2nd lead, constantly trying to get people to believe in Batman.

Sadly enough it took Catwoman to steal Bruce's pearls, Officer Blake's guilt trip and the excitement of facing Bane to get the Bat back in to action. Only after Alfred leaves due to him not wanting to bury another member of the Wayne family.

Bane's voice was pretty garbled and between him and Batman I can imagine some youtube video parody stuff that would be pretty funny between the two. Bane's mask wasn't the only issue, Bane's voice was strong and dominating, then soft and posh and finally excitedly high pitched.

Anne Hathaway did well with the poor dialogue she was given, but her character was void and empty, it felt as though she was there ONLY to be Batman's love interest. At least we didn't have one of those "I need to tell you a secret" moments.

All in all it felt like two movies, after Bruce's back gets snapped he claws his way back to save his beloved Gotham. After doing so he pretends to give his life, doesn't, and runs away with Catwoman.

Before the film ends, Thomas (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) quits the police force and goes off to find the Batcave. and it's revealed his name is "Robin"

Hey DC, why put in the robin scene after announcing no more DC movies after Superman: Man of Steel for three whole years? Joseph could EASILY play a Robin or Nightwing.

All in all, not a bad movie, not as good as the previous two and a bit of a let down as the final in the trilogy.

7/10 Bat Signals.

The Amazing Spider-man Movie Review

Peter Parker (Richard Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone)

Red and Blue, swinging through the streets of Manhattan. Heart and action balanced in almost perfect harmony with a little cheese and brilliant characters. Spine tingling action sequences and "woooo YEAH!" moments, this film was A LOT of fun.

The reboot of Spider-man and an origin story closer to the original comics was much better than I anticipated. A great mix of Stan Lee's original Spider-man and Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-man story lines. A lot of fans (myself included) were a little worried with the reboot idea, I have made a point of stating how much I disliked McGuire as Spider-man, but also I liked how Raimi portrayed Spider-man....Mostly.

The movie does balance out the amazing and fun action scenes and the small emotional character explanations rather well, the only real issue here is that Flash Thompson, Peter's "frenemy", goes from hating Parker, to being all buddy buddy with no explanation what so ever. Gwen Stacy was introduced well and they really showed Parker's adolescent awkwardness well.

The plot was rather predictable, but it was written much better than the Raimi Spider-man, I would almost say it was executed rather beautifully in all of the relationships of the characters, Parker getting his Spider-like abilities and even the hilariousness of Parker discovering how strong he is (I won't spoil it for you, but when you see it you will laugh like a mad person).

The Lizard is animated near perfectly and I'm happy they went with more of a humanoid lizard look, over the comics crocodile humanoid look. This could have had the "make or break" for the movie and it really did make the movie that much better. The only issue with the story of The Lizard is it felt like they dumbed it down for the audience, explaining The Lizard's nefarious plan when we all know what was going on from the start. I can't explain it without a spoiler, so I will leave it at that.

This is no mere re-telling of the story though, rather this is a refitted and upgraded version of what has come before and does not disappoint at all. Parker still has his camera but is not a photographer for the Daily Bugle, the red haired Mary-Jane has been traded in (upgraded IMHO) for the Smart and sexy Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), the web-shooters are no longer genetic, but mechanical (thank goodness) and the new suit make over really worked well.

All in all a solid film that does not focus too much on action, Marvel really left the huge fight scene until the end of the film (just like all the other Marvel movies, really). No Bruce Campbell was a little sad, that guy should be in everything, however Martin Sheen (Ben Parker) and Denis Leary (Captain Stacy) really made up for that a little. Stan Lee' Cameo is fantastic and laugh out loud funny.

Stay until after the credits for a little surprise /winkyface.

I strongly suggest you go see this movie, it's not as good as The Avengers, but man is it a great film.

7.5/10 Spider bites

Top 5 Worst Super Flops

With so many great superhero movies coming out and The Avengers topping the charts, I thought we should explore some....Uhhh....Less than awesome movies.
Some movies that you would probably be embarrassed being seen purchasing at the counter of....Well, anywhere.
So in movie history, what have we learned? Don't ever pirate movies, because the authorities will be laughing at you while they lock you away if it's any of these five.............

5: The Green Lantern.

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of horrible skin tight CGI uniforms, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of cartoon faced badly rendered warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe (eventually), their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before.

Chunky CGI effects, horrible villains and a call from most fans that Ryan Reynolds was "phoning it in". This film made $250,000,000 less than what was expected by the studio. Don't hold your breath for number two, this franchise was dead before it even had time to go anywhere.
The film was visually boring, the ads made it look like the GLC was in more than around ten minutes of the film and the human villain takes an hour to set up, and less than five minutes to kill off.





4: Spiderman 3

Your friendly neighborhood web-slinger is back, only this time, he's EMO. No really, this film was more like a "how not to" for film writers. Just don't. James Franco (green Goblin) was ALMOST a saving grace for the film, Sandman was seemingly impervious and Venom was the weedy kid from That 70's Show (Topher Grace.....)n. This was really just an emo fest. Spiderman was emo, Venom was WHINGY and emo, Green Goblin "waaaa you killed my father" emo.........UGH.










3: Spawn (1997)

One of the most popular independent comic books of it's era, Spawn, Was the mind child of Todd MaCfarlane. A pitty that this self insulgent, toy parade of a movie sucked so bad. It was far too bloody and adult for it's time and the special effects felt like a kid playing with a camcorder and some plasticine, only these kids were well paid and really bad at what they do. The movie had no real saving grace, at least "The Violator" didn't do what he did in the comics....No one wants to see that.


The whole thing is set around demons and evil, but really all it was is another "Darkman" ripoff. Todd dropped the ball and reaally should have held tighter direction on his flag ship comic book movie.

In sayiong that, I really hop Todd tries again, I think it would make from a fantastic break from the comedy of marvel and serious-but-not-too-serious DC comics.








2: Captain America (1992)
Transformed into a superhero during a secret World War II military experiment, Captain America (Matt Salinger) awakens from suspended animation forty years later to face his old enemy, the Nazi warrior Red Skull (Scott Paulin). Someone explain HOW Red Skull is Italian?With terrible special effects, a leading man with the charisma of a wall, a whole section of film shot in blue light like some cheesy 90's prono and more shield throwing than........I don't know, insert something here about a woodchuck chucking wood.
Not only was this a horrible film for it's time (no really, look at Tim Burton's BATMAN!!), it was alsdo terribly low budget.

The film got nothing short of no praise, little advertising and a whole lot of fans saying "WTF?!?!?!", and not in a good way. This is during the time when Marvel had NO idea at all what made a good superhero movie. and it REALLY shows. I decided to go get this movie to make sure I was being fair, as it was some time since I had seen it...Even the Spiderman 1978 "Strikes Back" movie was on par with this, and that was HORRIBLE. The one thing we can safely say now, thank GOODNESS Marvel has picked up their game.








1 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

This is one of those movies that you see because it's part of a major franchise and the previous few movies have been between amazing and passable, and suffers from the inevitable "fourth movie curse". Any franchise that makes it to four, simply drowns itself, and TQfP does just that.

Superman (Christopher Reeve) tries to save the world from nuclear destruction at the hands of Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman). In a speech to the United Nations, Superman declares he will rid the world of all nuclear weapons. Arch-villain Luthor emerges from prison and creates an adversary known as Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). The two engage in a fight to the death blah blah blah.
Not only were the studio who produced it tightwads, they also had NO IDEA what they were doing. You know what killed Reeve? not his disease......Ok, so it did, but if he died of old age, we would say HEART ACHE. The Superman we came to love that he played so very well, was forced into a ludicrous stumbling, ridiculous cartoon. Except live action. It was a hard toss up between this movie and the latest "Lex Luthor walks around for three hours carrying stuff and taking" movie..

Max Payne 3 Review.

Max Payne 3 has been nothing short of amazing. The very few shortfalls of the game are far out weighed by the other factors that really kept me playing.

I have tried other first person shooters for their story modes, but none has really captured me like this game has, most of them I either finish eventually only because online multiplayer servers for that game are down, or I don't finish the story mode at all.

I found a lot of FPS games focus on the multiplayer side, but don't do much to captivate you and pull you in to the story mode much if at all.

In saying that, Max Payne was never a multiplayer FPS to start with and was pur story driven, however more games should support a decent story instead of a focus on mindless blasting of other players.

It was a cold rainy day. I had a cup of hot joe and a mouth full of chocolate.

The story itself dragged me in and made me connect and care for Max, something that most other games these days don't seem to be able to do.

In addition to the attachment, is the gritty gum-shoe detective monologue and the emphases on words (some,  for no reason) when Max is talking, you would see a word flash on the screen and flicker a little, it made for a great experience (OOOOO SHINY!!)

STOP! Bullet Time

The mechanic known as bullet time was excellent in the main story mode, it provided a way to pick off many enemies with head shots and dodge bullets, shoot grenades out of the air as well as rockets and Molotov cocktails.

In the online multiplayer, however, it was more of a hindrance and takes a lot of getting used to, usually I would be killed while it was happening as my reaction time seemed to be laggy and could have been better perhaps if our internet speed in Australia was up to scratch with the USA.

Also, the multiplayer has a loot function that seemed to be a function that does not work well, loot an enemy, get shot by the next passer-by. Not the best mechanic in a shooter, it helps collect funds to unlock weapons.

I have a wager, you’re going to lose.

The wager system in multiplayer means that before a match starts, you can bet on a player to get the first kill, most corpses looted etc, I also found this to be a bit random. Sure you can wager on the guy with the highest kill streak from the last game to get the first kill, but anyone out of 16 players could get that first kill and you’re now out of pocket.

I have all the guns, but I have no ammunition.

Like most FPS games, you have a certain amount of ammunition that is replenished by dead opponents or picking up guns, in the story mode I found this a little frustrating, as when you go from one room to another (an action sequence for some rooms would involve opening a door and then being locked out of the previous room) and you would not have enough ammunition either from shooting people or not changing to a new gun. This would lead to entering a new room and having to try and melee a bad guy, the issue here is melee does not kill them initially and you would have to kick them while they are down over and over, meaning that the other guys in the room would just hammer and wail on you while you tried to get a new gun or extra ammunition.

All in all, a great game, the story mode draws you in and makes a great connection, the story is solid and does not have the usual plot holes, the twist at the end is somewhat expected in a way, but leaves you questioning it until it happens.

If you want a multiplayer online FPA, though, I would still suggest Call of Duty, as the multiplayer in Max Payne 3 is just a pain to get used to. RockStar have really stepped up here though and attempted something that may eventually become a great thing.

My rating: 7/10