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.

Superman Vs The Elite- Review

Should you watch this movie? Yes.
Is it the best animated movie DC has ever done? No.
Can the story be picked apart in the first ten minutes and the ending obvious? Not really.

Jumping right in, the animated movie starts with what I can only say is a throw back to psychadelic 70's feeling with art from the 40's era of the comics. Loud and explosive mono coloured I was at first wondering if the company DC used to package this movie up accidentally put the wrong Bluray in the case. We are so used to a modern credit roll of scenes from other animated series and movies, that this was a real shock to the system.

from here, the movie launches into a "pre-film" cartoon that was drawn like the old Roger Ramjet cartoons, that silly skinny legged big body style, making me think this was going to be a crap-tastic throw back movie where they try and do something they had not done before. Lucky they didn't, or this movie would have sucked worse than trying to hear Bane in TDKR.

The movie itself focuses on a group of super-powered humans from around the world, who have gotten together to "rights wrongs" and in the process, kill super bad guys outright. A no holds barred, screw anyone who gets in the way, collateral damage is acceptable type of story.

And really, it is amazing that DC pulled this off as a PG13 considering the side bad guy, Atomic Skull, starts the movie off by killing a whole heap of people.

The main "good guy" is a Brittish "super hero" named Manchester Black, a psychopathic killer who really from the get go has you thinking "something with this guy just isn't right", even though the writer had tried to mask it as best he could. Eventually when you find out what The Elite is up to, you already know.
Hearing him say "wanker" so many times and also Superman saying it once was also a bit of a shock, a word that used to be considered a swear word, being used as though it was some kind of comical catch phrase.

Louis is featured more heavily in this story, this time around, and she is not the Louis we all know, she is actually on The Elite's side and tells Superman that he is basically outdated for modern times, that he SHOULD take that one step over the line and kill bad guys so they can't escape over and over. Clark seems like he is losing hope with Earth as everyone starts to turn on him and call for him to take life, something he would NEVER do.

I won't spoil the ending, but I will say it is the one thing about this movie that will shock you, the way that the ending is done provides for a huge twitst. DC seemed to be trying to say something about how the world is at the moment, but the message is lost in translation.

All in all, the movie is entertaining, but not anywhere near as great as other animated movies featuring a full cast of the Justice League.

6/10 Red Capes

Also, thank you to Kings Comics in Sydney (AUST) http://www.kingscomics.com/ for the Bluray thanks to a competition they had run. They are an awesome store (and I'm saying this because they actually are) and they have a huge selection of comics and geek related items you should probably check out.

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.

Spider-man to be Amazing in Avengers 2?‏

The last few weeks there has been some major buzz that Andrew Garfield will be play The Amazing Spider-man in The Avengers 2. This rumor is based off a paparazzi shot of Garfield with a “fist full” of Avengers comics.

I’m here to be the sinker to your fishing line, NO. If any of the sites reporting this did some simple research and watched any of the interviews with Garfield for the press events of The Amazing Spider-man, they would have heard Garfield state that he was a huge Spidey fan when he was a child, even learning gymnastics “to be more like Spider-man”.

Now, I’m not ruling it out, however as Sony own the rights to Spider-man, I can’t see them coming to the table with it’s separate property so that The Avengers 2 can be just that little bit more awesome (if that’s possible).

Yes, it would be a win/win for both Sony and Disney/marvel in a way when you consider the box office taking, however I can’t see Sony just handing over the rights to Spider-man (not after the AMAZING showing of the new film), maybe if Marvel/Disney BUY the rights to Spider-man (and if I made all that cash from The Avengers, I would certainly look to buy the rights back if I were Marvel/Disney) however this would not only be very costly, but also Sony would NOT want to sell the rights back considering that Spider-man is printing money for them.

The bigger question now becomes “is the media not paying attention? Do they not do any research at all due to trying to get buzz and hype out before any other publication?”. It gets to the point where I start asking myself if it’s just me and my love of all things geeky, should I care less or should publications care more when doing articles.

The Mail Online article can be found here. 

Also, check out "Agent M Loves Tacos", Executive Editorial Director for Marvel Digital Media Group and Marvel.com. 

who specifically states "If you’ve seen the photo of The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield with a stack of comics, it’s because my Associate Producer Blake Garris gave them to him. Because Andrew’s a comic book fan and Blake’s a nice guy. Nothing else to it."

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

SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING!

The (Not So) Amazing Spider-man Game 


                                                       (Photo credit: theragingnerd.com)

Wow Activision (and Beenox, yeah I'm scowling at you Dee), you really did just copy (albeit badly) Rocksteady's Arkham Asylum and Arkham city games, huh. Two years in the making and you couldn't even deliver on your promise of "brand new, exceptional, fresh" you just used the same old 2004 game template, no kidding. The only new is "web rush" and it's not really that great anyway.


The game is set after the new movie rather than a tie-in and begins with a promotional video from Oscorp introducing Dr. Alistair Smythe, whom is Curt Connor's successor. In it, Smythe explains how the new face of Oscorp will be nano-bot technology, and that "Oscorp is a new company with the same name you trust."

And at this point I have a major jones, this is amazing, this is cool, this IS new. The first cut scene allows you to look around Oscorp's lab even though you are "on tracks", but later during the game you start to realize that it was one of the ONLY cut scenes that allows this and it's the same old game as always.

The combat is boring, it's the same as the 2004 Spider-man game, in fact, just play the 2004 Spider-man game, the graphics won't be as pretty but at least you won't feel ripped off.

Glitches? WE GOT GLITCHES!

Swinging through the streets, up and over a building, go to collect a comic cover and BAM. Stuck.

So far I have has an entire boss fight bug out, gotten stuck in scenery, had a room vanish to blackness in an indoors level, voices continue to clip after rescuing a sick person, had lag in the sound from a boss fight and had to reset my xbox because of in game "lag".

The game feels like it was rushed through to meet the release of the film

All in all, this is NOT the revolutionary video game Activision and Beenox made it out to be.
The combat is simple and boring, the Web Rush mechanic is not well used and it really does feel like a copy of the previous free-roaming games.


Maybe Activision should have just copied Mortal Kombat and made a Spider-man fighting game. That would be worth the $70....
This game obviously has no multilayer, single player only.
6/10 Spider-tracers, wait for it to go to the bargain bin in 4 weeks and get it at $20.

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

Avengers: Battle for Earth

A number of things come to mind when I see any games studio or manufacturer release an online video for a new game and don’t show any game play, usually they come to me as listed below:

1 The video is pretty, what about the ACTUAL game though?

2 Please don’t let it suck

3 Please, please don’t let it suck

4 What consoles will it be available on?

5 What is the story based on?

Avengers: Battle for Earth provides one of these questions with an answer, apparently Wii-U, Xbox 360/kinect.

What throws me off at this stage is the fact that they state xbox 360/Kinnect, I hope it is not a Kinnect game, and instead has the option to use Kinnect.

Kinnect could be a decent way to play games, if only the games thus far brought out were not as buggy and slow to react as they currently are (see the Star Wars dance game fiasco).

Also, they show Spiderman, Wolverine, Venom, Magneto and Storm in the clip. Ok, so we know that it is the Marvel Universe and as such, we would see some other Marvel IP’s in the world/game, but are they playable?

Will I be able to swing through the streets as Spiderman? Claw my way up buildings with Wolverine? Fry the crap out of bad guys with Storm? Throw cars at good guys with Magneto? I have no opinion on the game until I see what they ACTUALLY intend to do, but one thing is certain.....The video is pretty.
 

I would love to see Marvel use the Skylanders system to create a Marvel Universe variant using figures of even Super Hero Squad, it would be great to see them do this, it would stick to the kid theme and should move units.

Market it just the same, you get a great painted figure of your fave characters AND the in game character to use.

Also, you could have it like the Lego: Batman game, where you can play as either Hero or Villain.

Oh the possibilities.

Also, a super smash brothers style game would be excellent, sure it would just be smash brothers, but with Marvel. I would buy it for sure.

Going forward with merchandise, limited edition X-Men xbox? Wolverine controller? I’d buy that. Hell, Imagine if th

rger figures Galactus, Sentinel Prime and the like?

 Amazing.