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So, I have the evening off from work and since my gmail is a douchebag and won't let me get emails from Scooter I can't figure out how to chat with the nice people through that. If you aren't Scooter and have a gmail send me an email (Scoot has it) and hook me up on the google chat train. Twitter works. RubyRoses and I've been talking through that. And its been nice. However...
Zortt1's kinda lonely without comment chat. :(
Anyway. I got somethings over the holidays and I'm going to do reviews of them for you now. There shall be Three (no more, no less) reviews: Back to the Future The Game Part 1, Rock Band 3, and quick run through of some comics I like that I've picked up recently.
*in creepy Jigsaw from Saw voice* Oh yes, there will be spoilers.
Review One: BTTF THE GAME, PART 1
The best way I can describe it is that it plays like a point and click adventure game from the early days of computer gaming. I played all the LucasArts games like this so I was right at home. I found out that the TellTale guys made those LucasArts games, so that was pretty awesome. You find items and you put them together to make different items or events to happen. If you don't know what to do in the situation that you are in, there is a hint button that tells you what to do. No penalties are accrued for doing so, but it makes the game go much quicker. I think there's difficulty settings in to turn off the hints if you want. Adventure gaming was never lost for me, so to have something like that using modern technology (I sometimes use a SCUMM emulator and the old discs I have to play Day of the Tentacle or Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis) is pretty awesome.
The graphics in the game are excellent for what they are trying to accomplish. Its plays towards the younger audience that TellTale's games attract. For us BTTF buffs they do throw in some salty language (shit and damns mostly, but for TellTale that's a lot) and some gun play and a Tannen getting thrown into some manure. For the most part I liked it, its easy on the eyes and helps you feel that you are a part of the BTTF world.
Overall I was happy with my purchase of this item, but I felt that it was much too short. This is funny, because its supposed to be short. That's why they did it in an episodic fashion, but still once the action picked up there were only a few choices to be made and then wham, I was watching a trailer for the next episode (its got more of a BTTF 2 theme in the next one.)
My favorite part is someone asks Marty who he is, and since this is a 1930's gangster and prohibition filled Hill Valley, you can pick a name of a famous movie gangster or gunslinger to use as Marty's alias. My choice was Michael Corleone. Very funny.
Review Two: Rock Band 3
I'm a huge fan of this series. I realize that in most games of this genre you play a few songs and then move on to a different game entirely because its the same game over and over. Rock Band for me is the game I go to when I'm really bored and have nothing else to do. I pick up my fake guitar and play Bass on my favorite songs.
Rock Band 3 was a much welcomed addition to my collection of Xbox 360 games. The main difference here is the addition of Vocal Harmonies and the Key-tar. Yes, its a keyboard that you can play across your lap, however, if you get good with it you could very well play it like a Key-tar. Keys are pretty easy to play, there's individually labeled keys for the basic game play. You hit the specific key for the specific color. As you move up into difficulty there are a different set of labels that stretch over more keys and you hit the specific key in the specific color area on the keyboard. All of the songs in Rock Band 3 can play it, but your DLC does not. This is fine, because if you want to key-tar it, you can play the guitar parts or the bass parts on all songs. So you're not really left out when a DLC song comes up, but its better to play the key parts when available. New DLC have this added in already.
The graphic enhancement in the game is pretty amazing. Being the nerd I am, I created in some cases stunning accuracy The Flash's Rouges. My band is made up of Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, The Trickster, and The Golden Glider (she's Cold's sister and has a figure skating theme.) Glider in this case doesn't wear ice skates, instead wearing old school roller skates. Cold looks good, especially his gloved hands which look real at times. Cut scenes in the game feature your characters forming the band, getting ready to go to gigs, leaving gigs, putting up ads for gigs, and bunches of other band related things almost look real to me at parts but its just really good graphics. They've also made the cues you look for to make sure your hitting the right button much brighter so you don't miss a note.
My DLC that I had previously works just fine, just can't use the keyboard. There is a slight twinge when I look and see that some I have to buy again for a key upgrade, but I kind of shrug and say I've invested this much into this game (estimated at a whopping 300 dollars in the games themselves (including all the stupid spin offs like Lego and Green Day) and a shit ton of DLC for the game) what's another few bucks to throw at it. Frankly, Harmonix made a game to print money. That's what they're doing and I'm happy to crank that for them.
If you like Rock Band, then 3 is a welcome and much needed upgrade.
Review Three: Comics Miscellany
A quick and dirty mentioning of comics I'm reading that I love to death. Mostly DC, because I basically dropped Marvel when all the major stories in the Avengers titles came to a close and before new ones started. (When I did buy Marvel, it was only the Avengers titles and Captain America.) I just got tired of the characters and realized I love DC characters a lot more than I do Marvel these days. Its also an effort to save money, an issue that Marvel hasn't really realized because they keep kicking up the prices on their comics while DC's holding fast at 2.99. When I looked at myself and my comics collection, which is mostly DC anyway, I figured I could drop Marvel completely and feel good about it.
Action Comics: Currently there's a story featuring Jimmy Olsen as the back up story. Those are really funny and definately makes me want to read his ongoing that's spinning off of Action Comics. Now, I'm not a Superman fan. I love his villains, but The Man of Steel and I don't really get along. So, currently there is a story going on about Lex Luthor's hunt for orbs containing black lantern energy. He's clashing with DCU's major villains and outsmarting them at every turn. All doing this with a tongue planted in cheek the whole time.
The only low part I have against this is they threw in Neil Gaiman's Death character in there. I don't really understand that, besides the fact that Deadman is not dead anymore. It easily could have been him there doing the chat with Luthor, but since he's not dead they had to fill that void and that's where Teenage version of Death came. It was a good issue, but it was a considerable dip from the previous issue where Luthor outsmarted Grodd (who was seen eating whole brains to get the information within. Gross, but was used for a highly comic effect later on).
Paul Cornell is writing this series and will be at C2E2 this year if anyone is going. I know I am, and I'm going to tell him how much I love this series. And I don't love Superman. So that says a lot.
Green Arrow: Green Arrow is a fugitive, estranged from Black Canary, and lives in a woods that sprung up in the middle of Star City. It was something to do with the white lantern energy, because at one point Arrow is shot in the head with an arrow and is saved due to the white lantern's healing energy.
I like this comic, because I never really cared about Oliver Queen before, but the idea that he's living in the woods in Star City and is essentially Robin Hood there is a natural progression that I would have the character taken to. He's strange, has clear mommy issues, and is still puzzled by the forest popping up, but he's the only protector of Star City and damn anyone who gets in his way.
Jonah Hex: Movie be damned, this is still one of my favorite comics to read. Each story is a small piece of the life of Jonah Hex. Sometimes you get arcs, but mainly you keep getting themes about Jonah where he's a hitman, but at the same time has a great moral compass. The latest issue had him working with a bunch of circus freaks and they end up killing the bearded lady. (A fact that it was the bearded lady shocked the hell out of Hex.) The humor, the violence, and Hex's not caring about much demeanor still makes this book a pick I get every month.
The Flash: Geoff Johns once told me that Flash was his favorite character. So when he started up another volume of the series I was excited. I have most of his original run of the Flash and it continues the same themes, except then it was Wally and now its Barry. Barry's return isn't celebrated as much in his own story. He got his old job back, his bowtie, and is fitting back in nicely with Iris. Not to mention The Rogues have a seething hatred for him and are plotting something that has yet to be seen yet, Flashpoint will unleash that and whatever Reverse Flash is planning.
I'm not one to pay much attention to the art. If its too distracting then I care, but if the story is sound and the pictures match up and flow nice then I don't really pay too much attention to who draws it. However, I love Manapul's artwork in the first arc (Scott Kolins is drawing two stories now for it, featuring Captain Boomerang and The Reverse Flash. Kolins has done some Flash work before and always does a nice job). Its hectic like the Flash, the colors are soft but striking, and it really allows to read the story at a breakneck pace without missing anything.
Its not a lot of people's favorite, but Flash has always been an underdog when it comes to his own comics and that's kind of why I love reading about The Scarlet Speedster.
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So, that's it for my reviews on things. Once again, if you want to read more personal writings by me and general thoughts I have my personal blog is where its at.
Zortt1 out!
