X-Ray Vision

I don’t know if I’ve said this yet, but Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a fun game. Sure, some of the plot points from the Civil War storyline are lost in the video game translation, but the story is still enjoyable and the action is great. Deadpool has even better lines than he did in the first one!

One thing that I’m not very happy about is the way Activision is going about the extra characters. There is the Juggernaut for those of us who pre-ordered, which I have no problem with, but Activision has announced three new characters they will be releasing. These characters are Cable, Psylocke, and Carnage. They will definitely provide some great playing alternatives, I just don’t like the fact that Activision will be charging an as of yet undisclosed amount for these new characters. I already paid $60 for the game, stop nickel and diming me. It’s annoying. I know a company that released extra content for free would gain me as a loyal customer, but alas, it is not to be. Plus we all know I will shell out the extra money to play as Cable, Psylocke, Carnage, and whatever other characters they end up releasing.

I kid you not, Thor will be appearing in his very own video game. Sega is currently working on a Thor game to go along with the Thor movie. This game has a lot of potential, but I also see some potential difficulties.

Thor is not as straightforward as Hulk and Iron Man in terms of gameplay. Hulk, of course, simply smashes everything in his way, and Iron Man flies around shooting repulsor rays. Thor, on the other hand, can summon lightning or smash the crap out of something with a hammer or his bare hands. That is what is known as depth. The Thor game will also have to address Asgard and Earth, which realms will be playable? Will we get to fight other Asgardians, or team up with them? Will we be able to vanquish frost giants along with bank robbers? There are so many directions this game could go, I just hope Sega picks a good one. Hopefully Sega takes its time between now and the 2011 release of the Thor movie to develop a quality game.

I got this game right at midnight and as you could probably guess got very little sleep. This is because Batman: Arkham Asylum is an awesome game. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but Paul Dini has crafted a dark Batman tale that draws you in, making it next to impossible to put down the controller.

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill bring back fond memories of Batman the Animated Series with their superb voice acting, and a majority of the villains Batman has faced are in Arkham Asylum to take down again. Some of my favorite features include Riddler’s Challenge and the detective mode. Riddler’s Challenge goes on throughout the game, with Riddler leaving clues for objects Batman can find. Detective mode allows Batman to see enemies through walls, see their heart rates, analyze clues at crime scenes, and identify areas he can swing to. It is by far the most helpful feature in the game.

The only thing I am kind of disappointed with is that the batarang I got with the Collector’s Edition is plastic and attached to the stand. That makes it difficult to fight crime with. The Collector’s Edition did come with a nifty journal with Dr. Penelope Young’s diagnoses on various Arkham patients. That was a very nice touch and made for a good read. Well I have been away from the game too long so it’s time to wrap this up. Buy Batman: Arkham Asylum, it is amazing.

Today is the day! Well technically tomorrow is the day but the festivities start tonight. Yesterday I received the call that Batman Arkham Asylum will be ready to pick up at midnight tonight. Not only that, but there will be a pre-release party at GameStop starting around 10:00 to celebrate all things Batman.

The trailers have made this game look amazing, and after months of the agonizing wait I cannot tell you how great it is to be so close. I will be picking up my copy at midnight and spend the next possibly 72 hours exploring the gameplay. Don’t worry, I will find time to take a break and let you all know how amazing the game is at some point tomorrow.

Another thing you can look forward to is a picture. A picture of me with a Batman mask riding the Bat-Chappy and getting ready to throw a batarang. That’s right, tomorrow at midnight I will have a batarang thanks to the Collector’s Edition of Arkham Asylum. Today will be a glorious day.

I recently played Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe for about a week straight. I will admit it is not a great game, even with my bias towards anything to do with Batman and Green Lantern, but overall I found it pretty enjoyable. That could mainly be attributed to the fact everyone I played against was terrible and made me look amazing. The one thing I was really disappointed with was the special characters. Unfortunately I was so disappointed it ruined the entire game for me.

First off, you had to play through essentially the same story twice to unlock both special characters, Shao Kahn for Mortal Kombat and Darkseid for DC. The story wasn’t very good, I couldn’t skip a lot of the cut-scenes, and Wonder Woman never took her top off. The greatest disappointment, however, came after I unlocked these characters. I realized they were possibly the two worst guys in the game. Their moves were just atrocious. Darkseid in particular reeked of terribleness, and I quickly gave up using him at all. What is the point of making secret characters that are worse than the regular characters? Damn you Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, you tricked me into wasting my time.

Recently revealed at Comic Con was some game footage of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. This game looks absolutely amazing, the graphics are definitely an improvement from the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and those graphics weren’t too shabby. I am very anxious for this game to come out, I think I might even be able to pry myself away from Batman: Arkham Asylum to play this one.

The story for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is also quite appealing, following the events of the Civil War story where super humans had to register with the government. I of course will be siding with Captain America and everyone else anti-registration act. Chances are I will be playing through this game multiple times to unlock all the characters and see how the story differs, so there should be many hours of entertainment from this game.

Well it has been widely agreed upon that the first Iron Man game was not very good. In fact some even called it atrocious. While I did in fact enjoy playing it for a while, I have to admit it got repetitive fairly quick. It seems that the creators of the second Iron Man game have taken all the complaints to heart and have given the new Iron Man game a complete overhaul.

They promise that the new game will have more intuitive controls, the difficulty level will not be as erratic, and tons more destructible environments. An option to customize armor will also be available so you can deck out your Iron Man suit however you want. I will definitely be going the War Machine route with this one. I hope Sega lives up to their claims of vast improvement, an Iron Man game that is well done will definitely make it onto my buy list.

I will start this off by saying that I am a Playstation 3 guy, I have always enjoyed it more than the X-Box 360. I am now very happy about that since the new Batman: Arkham Asylum game for the PS3 features Joker as a playable character. The best part is that the Joker has entirely different gameplay than Batman, so it’s basically two games in one.

As I said previously, I have already reserved my copy of this game, the collector’s edition just because it comes with a batarang. There are so many trailers out for this game now that I could spend all day watching new ones. Suffice to say I cannot wait for August. The only question I have is which character will be more fun to play, Joker or Batman?

The Incredible Hulk games have been some of the most entertaining games I’ve played. They’re simplistic and violent, fitting the starring character perfectly. Many people have complained that the Hulk games are simply about smashing stuff and that they get repetitive. What else would you expect from the Hulk?

It might just be that I am easily amused, but I love roaming around as the Hulk and flinging busses at innocent bystanders. I don’t need a great story or a lot of puzzles to solve when I sit down to play a Hulk game. I just want to be the strongest one there is and smash. As long as I don’t have to play as Bruce Banner, I will pretty much love any Hulk game. I will admit it is mindless fun that you have to be in the mood for, but there is nothing quite like destroying so much property that the government sends their elite soldiers and huge guns after you, which you then proceed to smash.

- Gonzo

Marvel Ultimate Alliance, you were so fun. Why can’t you hurry up and get the sequel finished? This might be the best comic book game to play with friends and after exhausting every character (yes, even Dr. Strange) I need a new storyline to play.

The original Ultimate Alliance was a great game that offered plenty of hidden items, unlockable characters, and customized teams. For example, if you used the Thing, Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, and Invisible Woman, you would get a bonus to your stats for using all the members of the Fantastic Four. Which brings me to the leveling system. As you killed baddies with various heroes, they got experience, leading to better moves and better stats. You could also customize your own superhero team with specific stat upgrades.

This game could be played alone, but the best was playing it with friends. Making a team with War Machine (an alternate Iron Man costume), spiky version of Iceman, feral Wolverine, and Weapon X Deadpool was amazing. I can honestly not wait until Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 comes out. If it is anything like the first one I predict a smashing success.

               - Gonzo