The Marvel Cinematic Universe is certainly back in full swing these days, with not only the usual movies, but a bunch of Disney+ shows to go along with it. With that in mind, I have this Five Comics installment. THE THEME: My selection of five this time features a variety of heroes who have starred/will star in their own MCU project in Phase Four. I focused more on the movies with my picks, but the Disney+ shows are definitely fair game. THE COMICS: ![]() THOR (2018-2019) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Jason Aaron Artists: Mike Del Mundo, Christian Ward This comic features two stories. One is set in the main timeline, as Thor (who is taking back over after Jane Foster, but still hasn't regained Mjolnir) journeys across Midgard to keep scattered Asgardian weapons from falling into the wrong hands, while also worrying about how to stop Malekith's war across the Ten Realms. He gets to fight Juggernaut here, which is fun. The other story is a The End-style tale set in the far future (or a version of it, at least), as Thor, now an old god with grandchildren, fights desperately against the end of the universe. What comes as a shock is the arrival of a familiar character who's undergone quite a transformation. ![]() THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2018-) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Nick Spencer Artists: Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn In this new series, Parker Luck is once again in full swing, as Peter must deal with shitty roommates to pay for rent, as well as deal with losing his job and the respect of his peers thanks to a glaring issue he neglected during the days of the Superior Spider-Man (the saga that saw Doc Ock's consciousness take over Peter Parker's body). Features a fun appearance by Mysterio and a bit of Mayor Wilson Fisk. ![]() DOCTOR STRANGE (2018-2019) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Mark Waid Artist: Jesus Saiz Strange has once again lost his ability to wield magic, and at the behest of Iron Man, he journeys to space to seek other sources of magic. I was absolutely sold on this series from this issue alone; not only is Doctor Strange exploring the cosmic side of Marvel uncommon, the art here looks amazing. ![]() THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Margaret Stohl Artists: Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Marguerite Sauvage This comic is less about Captain Marvel whooping ass and explores more of the childhood of Carol Danvers, and it's pretty sad. Those unresolved issues catch up with her in present day, and Carol takes a break from being an Avenger to fly back to her hometown to visit her family. Unfortunately, the reunion isn't what it's all cracked up to be. Curiously, Carol also finds items from her father's past, and it seems like there's a big secret there. I would like to know more. ![]() MS. MARVEL (2015-2019) #34 Publisher: Marvel Writer: G. Willow Wilson Artist: Nico Leon Ms. Marvel's powers are going haywire, which is bad news since a) she's fighting Shocker, and b) she keeps getting sent to what appear to be other parts of the timeline (and even outside it). Meanwhile, her friend Bruno has managed to piece together how her polymorph powers work, and it's actually a pretty wild explanation. Also features a surprising appearance from a character I haven't seen much of since their recent comics debut. I keep saying this, but it truly is an exciting time to be a Marvel fan. To see the above characters become beloved household names, and more obscure heroes see the light of day with adaptations makes me quite happy. And as I always say, if you happen to like the movie or TV versions of these characters, there are a ton of stories out there featuring them that you can read, so go exploring! PANEL(s) OF THE WEEK: - end -
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Despite the lack of E3 this year, game companies everywhere have spent the past month sharing news about their upcoming releases. The notable exception of this is Nintendo, who either has forgotten that it's June or just doesn't give a fuck (which is usually what it is). They're coming in clutch, however, since here's a Direct.... Mini.... with only third party games. The monkey's paw curls.
Obligatory sizzle reel:
Despite the obvious lack of first party stuff, this presentation had a lot of interesting stuff to showcase, from high profile ports, more looks at future titles, and even a few things that were completely new to me. I might be in the minority here, but I was quite satisfied with these announcements, and I think I can still handle not having a normal Direct for a few more months.
- end - Here's perhaps the most highly anticipated wrestling events of the year: AEW and NJPW join forces to bring a tandem event featuring talent from both rosters, and of course it's called Forbidden Door. Let's talk matches, shall we?
I finally got to play this game! BACKGROUND:
I have been eyeing Stardew Valley for years ever since I watched streams of the game and heard that friends really enjoyed it. Life sim games like this always have a place in my library, and the overwhelmingly positive response towards it was more than enough reason to put it high on my wish list. Sadly, the game sat in my wish list for five years. My intention was to get the game for Switch, but time and time again, it kept getting sidelined for other games I wanted. It got to the point where I told myself that I should just get the game on PC because I keep putting it off. But a golden opportunity thanks to Switch Online's Game Trials program allowed me to try this game for a week. Oh, hell yes. PLOT: Your player character is working a soul-sucking job at the Joja Corporation, and after the misery of that life finally gets to them, they open a special letter. This letter is the last gift from their grandfather, and in it, they learn that grandpa used to own a farm, and that it's yours now. Taking grandpa's advice, you move to Pelican Town, located in beautiful Stardew Valley. Hopefully, you'll get a fresh start in this new place and forget the worries of modern life. After you get to Stardew Valley, you're free to do as you please, but there is still a sort of main story you can follow. Pelican Town's Community Center has fallen into disarray, and the owner of the Joja Mart in town (who is aggressively competing against the local store) intends to buy out the property to build a warehouse. Mayor Lewis still has some level of attachment to the old place, but states that if even one more person buys a Joja Mart membership, he'll relent and sell the property. You have a choice here: you can sell out to capitalism and let Joja Mart take over, or you can figure out a way to restore the Community Center. If you choose the latter, as I did, you'll find out that there are a few fantastical elements in the game. These are more in the background and aren't really significant in the main conflict, so don't expect the juiciest of lore. I didn't really mind, since this is not what I'm here for. Pelican Town has a couple dozen characters you can get to know as you carve out a new life on the farm. If you simply go by their regular dialogue, you'll get a decent sense of their personality and maybe a bit of their motivations. But through the game's friendship mechanic (more on that later), you can encounter Fire Emblem-style cutscenes where you can learn even more about the characters, and this is available for almost everybody in town. There's not much drama overall, but I liked the whole vibe of simply getting to know your neighbors and making friends in a new town. PRESENTATION: Stardew Valley's pixel art style is immediately noticeable, and the level of detail despite the chosen aesthetic is seriously impressive. While there are numerous elements that look simplistic (like the character sprites and item sprites), most visual elements have a lot of intricacies to them, like the character portraits, elements in the environment, and more. Particularly impressive to me is the fact that even the simplest of elements have pretty smooth animations. A good example of this is how the character sprites convey a lot of personality and express emotions clearly despite not being as finely detailed. The music has exactly the kind of cheery, upbeat vibe I expected from a game all about having a chill time on the farm. It's already an absolute delight to play this game (and we'll get to why later), but the pleasant tunes take it to a whole other level. GAMEPLAY: Stardew Valley is a farm simulation game in the same vein as classics like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons. There's lots to do here, and I ought to break it down per element. Before you start, you must create your character, and I found the customization options to be surprisingly diverse. Most notable to me is how you can choose the type of farm you end up in for your playthrough. As I only had time for one playthrough, I wasn't able to see what the other farm types had to offer, though from what I can tell, I think it changes how frequently you can partake in certain gameplay elements. First, there's farming (obviously). After you fix up the farm and clear some shit out, you can start tilling soil, planting seeds, and watering. There's a wide variety of crops you can raise, each with different properties (e.g. seasonal limitations, time before crops can be harvested). You can then sell your harvest for money, but a lot of crops have alternative uses. At a certain point, you'll be able to expand your farming enterprise to include raising livestock. You'll need the appropriate facility to raise animals, and once you have those on your farm, you have a small assortment you can raise for their products. Goats and cows produce milk, pigs sniff out truffles, rabbits and sheep drop wool, and chickens and ducks lay eggs. You'll need to keep your animals fed regularly, however, otherwise they'll be too upset to yield any products. You can also go the tree route if you want. You have the option to plant fruit trees and make an orchard, but the fruit yield per tree is pretty low (meaning you'll have to plant lots of trees to make it worthwhile), and fruits are seasonal. Alternatively, you can use tappers on wild trees like pine and oak and extract their sap/resin for profit. There are areas in Stardew Valley where you can forage for items. The forests can have wild plants like flowers, unique fruits and vegetables, and even mushrooms. You can also go to the beach to forage for mollusks like clams and mussels. Like crops, the available forage items vary per season, and eventually, you'll be able to unlock a way to produce them on your own farm. It's not the most profitable activity, but I found a certain level of enjoyment from running around and picking up all sorts of neat stuff like berries. Fishing is also an option, and there's an equally impressive variety of fish you can catch. Again, what's available to you is dependent on the current season, and each fish also has a specific habitat (river, lake, or ocean). Eventually, you'll be able to acquire fishing rods that allow you to attach bait and tackle to up your angling game. The fishing minigame is also surprisingly engaging (you actually have to exert effort to catch stuff) but isn't too stressful unless you're up against some rare fish. There's an extension to fishing in the form of crab pots, which are traps you can lay down in bodies of water. Add bait to these traps, and on the next day, there's a chance you'll have snared creatures like snails and crabs. The math doesn't really check out when you think about how many crab pots you'll need to make a decent profit, and the variety of creatures you can catch this way is sadly not as impressive, but I nonetheless thought this feature was neat. Crops, fish, and livestock products can have varying quality levels, starting from no stars, going up all the way to purple stars (called iridium-quality in the game). Higher quality products are worth more on the market, and for stuff that can be refined, are more likely to produce equally high-quality products. You can access Stardew Valley's mines in order to get resources like stone, ore, and coal, which have plenty of uses. Ore is significant, since you can smelt them into ingots, and those ingots are used in a lot of things. The most important of these uses is upgrading your tools, making them more efficient at their respective jobs, and in the case of the axe and the pickaxe, allow you to break tougher trees and rocks respectively. Some of those tougher trees and rocks block off some secret areas in the valley, which made upgrading them feel extra rewarding. When mining, you'll also be able to acquire various minerals and gems that you can sell, as well as geodes that you can give to the town blacksmith. These geodes are loot boxes in a sense, as they can have all sorts of items within them when opened. Odds are you'll just get some common resources, but sometimes you'll get minerals and even artifacts. Both minerals and artifacts can be turned in to the town museum, and the more donations you make, the more rewards you get. Exploring the mines isn't 100% safe, as monsters roam around, and they get tougher the deeper you go. Fighting them is pretty simple (just swipe your sword, occasionally bust out a special move, or use a slingshot), and while the enemy variety in terms of design is solid, there's nothing complex about their behaviors that you have to really worry about. Monsters also have various drops that can either be sold or used in other things. There's crafting in this game as well, and a lot of what you can get can be used to make various things. Some of the most common resources used for crafting are wood from trees, fiber from grass, and stone, which are completely renewable (and in abundance at the start of the game). Even the trash you can occasionally get from fishing can be useful, though you'll have to run them through a recycler first. You can craft all sorts of things, from structures like fences, useful fixtures like sprinklers and scarecrows, consumables like bombs, and more. Most importantly, you can craft various stations that you can use to refine specific resources. These include (but are not limited to): mayonnaise makers for eggs, oil makers, preserves jars, furnaces, kegs for creating beverages, and even ways to duplicate minerals. The only thing I'd deem necessary out of these is the furnace (since ingots are also a frequently used crafting material), but having all these is a great way to make the most of your resources in terms of profit. Cooking is also a thing, and that allows you to take various ingredients to create dishes. Unlocking recipes is strange in that it takes some serious effort, and selling dishes isn't really profitable, but the benefits you get from eating what you cook are valuable. You can get all sorts of buffs such as increased speed or even better stats at something like fishing. The five main aspects of the game (farming, fishing, mining, foraging, and combat) each have a skill proficiency tied to them, and the more you do of the given task, the higher your respective skill level will go. Leveling up adds to your stats like tool proficiency, as well as rewards you with new crafting recipes. At Lv 5, each skill gives you a career choice depending on the skill. For example, you can choose between Tiller (crops-focused) or Rancher (livestock-focused) when your Farming reaches Lv 5, and either skill will give you a permanent benefit for the rest of the game. Getting to Lv 10 with a skill presents you with more career choices based on the initial one you picked. If you picked Tiller in Farming at the start, you'll have the choice of Artisan (increase value of refined goods) or Agriculturist (increase crop growth speed) at Lv 10. I thought this mechanic was really cool, and I found myself leveling up every skill as much as I could so I could see how better they get over time. While the wilderness of Stardew Valley is exciting, Pelican Town itself has a lot to offer, too. There are various facilities you can take advantage of, such as the shop (your main source for seeds), the blacksmith, the museum, Willy's fishing store, Robin's construction service (trade in money and materials to upgrade your house or add buildings like barns and silos to your farm), and Caroline's ranch (the place to buy livestock). These facilities have set operating hours, and you'll have to properly make time in your routine if you want to stop by. I wouldn't find the operating hours of shops inconvenient if it weren't for the fact that fast travel is virtually nonexistent until you're pretty deep into the game. It takes some time to get around the area sometimes, and when you're also juggling your farm routine on top of it, things can get a tiny bit annoying when you arrive to a shop the moment it closes. Fast travel does get introduced eventually, but it takes a while to unlock, and the most accessible solution are consumable warp totems that you have to craft every time you run out. I'd have preferred permanent fast travel, and that does exist, but you have to complete a post-game quest and invest a ton of money and rare resources to even get them. Also, time of day can screw you over another way. Without fail, your character will pass out if you don't go to bed and stay up past 2AM, and not only will the doctor charge you money, you won't be at full energy the following morning. Energy allows you to perform all sorts of tasks (mining, fishing, tilling, watering), and not being at full can affect what you can do during the day (expending all your energy results in you passing out as well). It's certainly one way to have the player not rush things (and I'm cool with that), but you'll find ways to increase your max energy late into the game. And before you think that sleeping is just an annoying hindrance, it's the only way to save your progress in this game. I'm sure there's a moral in there somewhere I need to learn from. There's also a health bar separate to your energy, but this only appears when you're in dungeons. While passing out is only somewhat inconvenient, getting killed in dungeons absolutely sucks. Not only will you incur more expenses, but you'll also drop a bunch of items you were holding, and only one of those drops can be retrieved per death. Combat is not that complex in this game, but you're not absolutely clear from danger. You can get overwhelmed by too many enemies in the more difficult dungeons, and the resulting punishment if you die really stings. It's highly recommended to pack a ton of healing foods with you in these excursions. There are areas outside town that you can travel to, such as Calico Desert (which is home to a difficult dungeon) and Ginger Island (a volcanic island with exclusive resources). I was pleasantly surprised at how much there actually was to explore in terms of locales, and that's not even mentioning various secret areas within Stardew Valley itself. Pelican Town has a colorful cast of residents, and the game tracks your friendship with each and every one of them via hearts. You can increase your friendship by talking to your neighbors everyday as well as giving them gifts every so often (and each person has unique likes/dislikes). As you increase your friendship, you'll occasionally run into cutscenes where you learn more about the character, not unlike Fire Emblem's support conversations. You can also earn their favor by helping out with the requests they post on the town's bulletin board, which are usually some manner of fetch quest (or the occasional combat-related quest). These requests are also a good way to make money, but I didn't really need to rely on them for profit. A specific roster of characters can be courted (and you can court any of them regardless of player gender), and if you max out their hearts, you can even propose to them and get married. Once you get married, they move in with you to your farm and occasionally help out. You can even adopt or have kids if you maintain a close relationship with your spouse. What I found quite adorable about all this is once you're in a relationship with someone, you can walk up to them and press A to give them a hug. How sweet. Seasons affect more than just the available crops/fish and the weather. During certain calendar days, Pelican Town holds various community events like the fair, a Secret Santa holiday thing, an Easter egg hunt, and even a yearly night market for traveling merchants. I liked these not only for the exclusive rewards, but also for how these events made you feel like Pelican Town was a proper community and not just a bunch of NPCs who happen to live in the same town. Restoring the Community Center is your de facto main goal in the game, but you don't necessarily have to pursue it if you don't want to. If you choose to do so, it will require you to turn in items acquired through various means in order to restore the facility per section. Overall, in order to fully restore the Community Center, you'll have to do almost everything the game has to offer, from farming (raising crops, livestock, and fruit trees), foraging (which includes extracting tree sap), fishing (including catching stuff in crab pots), mining, refining resources, and even killing monsters for their drops. I found the journey of restoring the Community Center (yes, I was actually able to do it within the allotted six days of the Game Trial) utterly satisfying. Doing so allowed me to experience as much of the game as possible, and I loved that about it. Plus, I could do it all at my own pace and didn't need to stress about getting everything done as soon as possible. There's more incentive to fixing up the Community Center than just the feeling of a job well done. Completing each item set (called bundles) rewards you with useful items, and restoring entire sections will also restore something else in the valley. For example, fixing the Vault will lead to the bus near town to also be fixed, which will then unlock your ability to travel to the Calico Desert. I put a lot of time into the game, but there is still a ton of secrets I didn't get a chance to explore. Apart from hidden areas, there are also special NPCs that take effort to find, secret notes that provide useful hints, hidden treasure strewn about across the world, and cool rewards for making it past some of the more challenging dungeons of the game. Some random events also occurred during my playthrough (like a meteorite crashing on my farm that I could mine for rare ore), and it's entirely possible that what I encountered only scratches the surface of what the game has to offer. I obviously didn't get a chance to try it, but this game also has co-op. I can see this being a fun, chill time with friends. VERDICT: Stardew Valley was an absolute delight to play from start to finish. It had so much to do, gave me the freedom to choose what I wanted to do, and let me do all of it at my own pace. That's more or less all I can ask for when it comes to farming sim games, and despite a few minor issues I had, Stardew Valley delivered on every front and then some. I found myself absolutely hooked on this game from the very beginning, to the point that I'd drain my fully charged Switch dry of battery with how long I was playing (then I'd just dock the system and continue playing on TV anyway). It was a chill and wholesome time all around, and it's quite easy to see why this game is so beloved. Hell, I'm tempted to straight up buy the game just so I can continue playing. That's how much I enjoyed (and got addicted) to this game. With all the praise this game has gotten over the years from both critics and fans, I'll argue that Stardew Valley is up there as one of the most impactful indie games of the last decade, and that alone merits playing it regardless of genre inclinations. As far as farming sim games go, I think this is the quintessential one that anyone interested should start with. It's 100% casual friendly, it's got a lot to do, there's an end goal you can chase if you find the open-endedness paralyzing, and there's easily hundreds of hours of chill gameplay waiting for you. Go on, get the game, why don't you? - end - I was going to make a statistics pun for the title, but upon further reflection, never mind. THE THEME: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is finally available on streaming, which prompted the idea behind this theme. In both this movie and the Loki Disney+ series, the MCU plays around with the idea of variants, alternate versions of the same person across timelines or universes. With that in mind, I picked out five comics featuring variants of established characters within the Marvel Universe. THE COMICS: ![]() BLACK PANTHER 2099 #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Robert Kirkman Artist: Kyle Hotz This is set in the Marvel Knights 2099 universe (which, confusingly, is distinct from the original Marvel 2099 continuity). Here, a Days of Future Past-style dystopia took place, and with T'Challa's bloodline broken, Wakanda's stability hangs in the balance as people attempt to take the throne. Things escalate when a descendant of Doctor Doom invades Wakanda, but K'Shamba steps up to lead a resistance and becomes the new Black Panther in the process. ![]() COSMIC GHOST RIDER #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Donny Cates Artist: Dylan Burnett In the Thanos Wins arc of the 2016 Thanos comic series (I talk about that here), an alternate reality was shown where Thanos stood as one of the last living beings in the entire universe, having succeeded in his genocidal mission. In this reality, Frank Castle (AKA The Punisher) died, made a deal with Mephisto to become a Ghost Rider, and came back to life. As Thanos's killing spree continued, Frank aligned with Galactus, who then imbued him with the Power Cosmic. Despite the massive power boosts, Cosmic Ghost Rider is stuck serving Thanos until present-day Thanos arrived to kill both him and King Thanos. Dying again sent Frank's soul to Valhalla, which he isn't happy with (much to Odin's chagrin). Odin sends him away to do his own thing, and things get... weird. ![]() LAST PLANET STANDING #1 Publisher: Marvel Writers: Tom DeFalco, Pat Olliffe Artists: Tom DeFalco, Pat Olliffe, Scott Koblish This story is set in the MC2 Universe (designated Earth-982), whose most notable character is Mayday Parker, the daughter of that universe's Peter Parker. In this story, Galactus has come to do his usual planet-snacking, and Earth's Mightiest Heroes are gonna have to do something about it. There's not a lot of wild variants of existing characters in this universe, but there are a lot of new characters descended from or related to familiar faces in the same way as Mayday Parker. ![]() OLD MAN QUILL #10 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Ethan Sacks Artist: Robert Gill Set in the supervillain-ruled dystopia of the Old Man Logan universe (which, in another level of confusing, has two designations: Earth-807128/Earth-21923), this version of Star-Lord has not only aged, but has taken over his father's place as the Emperor of Spartax. By this point in the story, Spartax is already destroyed (causing Quill great trauma), Quill was summoned back to Earth to help mount a resistance against Doctor Doom, and Galactus is apparently back to try and eat Earth again. It's not looking good for our heroes. ![]() ULTIMATE IRON MAN #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Orson Scott Card (yeah, that one) Artist: Andy Kubert This version of Iron Man is from the Ultimates Universe (Earth-1610, most remembered as the home universe of Miles Morales). This issue in particular starts at the very beginning of Tony Stark's origin, as Howard Stark's biotech experiments inadvertently lead to his wife Maria's death, but in the process, affect the unborn Tony in strange ways. It's... definitely weird. I don't think people liked this one, because I read that this entire series was retconned. And I get it. I've already talked about how wild things can get in the comic multiverse in previous blog entries, and it's simultaneously exciting and terrifying to see that slowly creep in the movie side of things. Part of me is rather concerned that the writers might get too ambitious with the multiverse and variants; too much can definitely throw audiences for a loop, and the wider they go, the higher chance there is for more continuity errors to pop up. Don't get me wrong, I love me my convoluted lore and world-building, and alternate versions of characters are always fun to explore, but too much of something is rarely ever good. PANEL OF THE WEEK: - end -
![]() The sporadic drip feed of Switch Online emulator content continues. This time around, I got two Super Nintendo games and one NES game to check out. BACKGROUND:
I knew that Nintendo made a pinball game back in the '80s but I never tried it for some reason. Better late than never? SUMMARY: It's just pinball. Keep the ball aloft with the flippers, rack up score by hitting bumpers. That's it. The stuff on the pinball table is mostly standard pinball scoring elements, like your typical bumpers, various rollover points, as well as special targets, holes, and tunnels to hit the ball into. It's nothing I haven't seen before, though I was amused by the royal flush and slot machine gimmicks. Hitting these things will simply give you points, but some of the trickier elements will reward you with awesome bonuses like stoppers that block the ball from being lost, a ton of extra points, and even a way to hit the ball back into the plunger. What I found interesting is how the pinball table is essentially a top half and a bottom half. Both halves have flippers you can control, and if you fall through the top half, it's not game over since the bottom half is still a valid playfield. Falling here, however, will cause you to lose a ball (lose all three and it's game over). It's difficult to pull off, but it is possible to send the ball back to the top half of the table, and that'll allow you to earn extra points. Most entertaining to me is the bonus stage that you're thrown into should you get the ball into a specific hole on the board. This stage has you control Mario holding up a paddle and bouncing a ball Arkanoid/Breakout-style to activate numbered circles. It's tricky to keep the ball from falling (if this happens, you just get thrown back into the normal pinball game), but if you manage to have a column of circles turn into the same color, the barrier holding Pauline (the princess from the original Donkey Kong) will shrink, and if it gets small enough, she will drop down below. As Mario, you'll have to make sure she lands on the paddle, and then lead her to the side exits for some massive points. VERDICT: Look, I don't know what you want me to say. It's pinball. There are flashier and more exciting pinball video games out there now, so I highly doubt this will capture many people's imaginations in this day and age. But you know what? I expected a straightforward time-killer with no wacky gimmicks out of this game, and that's exactly what I got out of it. Even if the table design isn't anything special and the 8-bit visuals are as simple as it gets, it was more than enough to deliver a humble pinball experience that can consistently keep me occupied on a slow day. Plus, the bonus stage was a pleasant surprise and actually quite challenging. That's good enough for me. Will this pinball game make you shit your pants in excitement? Probably not. But if you just want to play some pinball, this is a decent enough take on it that you'll be content for however few rounds you're in the mood to play for. - end - I initially wanted to save this playthrough for Halloween, but I got more than enough horror games in my backlog. Those will do when October rolls around. BACKGROUND:
I played Limbo (the first game the devs of this one made) around five years ago, and really enjoyed the creepy, atmospheric puzzle platformer experience it presented. I had plans to play this game afterwards, but I just never got around to buying it. PLOT: The game starts with no exposition as a boy appears at the foot of a rocky incline near a forest. As you run along, you'll notice that a bunch of armed men and their attack dogs are hellbent on catching you, and once you get past that, things only get weirder. You'll encounter all manner of bizarre and creepy things, like disgusting parasitic worms, empty husks of people who only move via mind control, derelict factories and labs, and even twisted experiments. Shit goes absolutely bonkers when you get to the ending, and even if I felt like spoiling it, I don't think I could put what happens into words. None of what you witness in the game is explained in any meaningful capacity, and it's up to the player to make sense of what's happening. It might not be fun for some people to have a story that doesn't really clarify itself in any way, but I was personally fine with it. Would I prefer to have known what was going on? Sure, especially for that ending (because what the fuck was that?). But I think the mystery in this case complements the eerie vibe the game is going for; the boy probably doesn't know what's going on, either, and what's more unsettling than being thrown into a harrowing situation with no context? Interestingly, you can get an alternate ending for the game, but it takes some doing to get to (more on that later). This ending is more chilling compared to the wild ride that is the normal ending, though they both have their own little mysteries to them. PRESENTATION: Whereas Limbo was monochromatic and had 2D visuals, Inside uses fully 3D models and environments (but the gameplay operates in 2.5D). The palette is incredibly muted, almost bordering on grayscale at times, but there are occasional hints of color in many places throughout the game. Though the locations you'll find yourself in are proper creepy on their own, the combination of the varied lighting and the color palette add to the atmosphere. I also liked the depth of the environments, as the background stretches pretty far back. This allowed many areas to feel really empty, adding to the feeling of isolation. The game also plays with the foreground occasionally, which I always like. The visuals are also pretty light on intricate details and textures for most models and elements in an environment, but that doesn't mean there isn't any polish. Other subtle visual details are present, like how the boy actually looks like he's drenched whenever he surfaces from underwater. Animations are pretty smooth, too, and despite not having the most detail, the boy's various death animations still look absolutely gruesome or just downright horrifying (warning for that, by the way). The music is minimal, with ambient sounds and eerie, sometimes disturbing noises dominating the audio experience. What little music there is leans towards ominous or pulse-pounding (in the case of chase sequences). All do well to contribute to the game's atmosphere. GAMEPLAY: Inside is a puzzle platformer with a 2.5D perspective (3D environment, 2D movement). The basics of the subgenre hold true here: run and jump to get around, interact with the environment to solve puzzles and unlock the way forward. Simple enough. Games like these live and die by their puzzles, and I was pretty satisfied with the variety present in the game. These range from simple switch-activating and box-pushing, to more inspired mechanics like mind controlling folks to do tasks for you, manipulating water levels to give yourself a path to swim through, and motorized platforms (among other things). Pretty much every puzzle can be solved with little issue (i.e. no solution feels obtuse), and while I had no difficulty figuring everything out, I was still impressed with some of the more creative puzzle solutions. Some sections will require good timing to get through (whether to avoid detection or to make cycles for certain platforming elements), and there are underwater sections that require a bit of optimal pathing to make the most of your oxygen. However, nothing in particular will need Celeste levels of reaction time or precision. All you'll need is to pay good attention to your surroundings and try to identify what you can use, be that puzzle elements like movable platforms or switches, or stuff like ropes and ladders you can climb. You can 100% die in this game, and death can come in many forms. These include (but are not limited to): falling from a great height, drowning, being shot at by armed people, getting mauled by animals, and being eviscerated by spinning propellers. Thankfully, dying isn't a big setback thanks to the frequent checkpoints set by the game, but it's still quite upsetting to see the boy die in such terrible ways. The game has a collectible in the form of these mysterious orbs, and if you collect them all, you can access the game's alternate ending. These are pretty well-hidden, and I only ended up finding one without the aid of a guide. I came into this expecting a straightforward linear experience, so I was pleasantly surprised by the existence of something that requires you to explore a little bit. VERDICT: Inside captured a lot of what I loved about Limbo: it's a short but sweet puzzle platformer experience with solid puzzles, and a memorably foreboding atmosphere with its presentation and mysterious world. I'm very glad I got to finally play this. If a puzzle platformer with horror leanings (but isn't actually horror) is your cup of tea, this game is absolutely worth your time. While you're at it, try Limbo as well. Select your preferred platform, PC players:
- end - I deemed it imperative to put together something like this again for this month, since I've only been able to do it once before. THE THEME: June is Pride Month, and so my selection for this week is naturally five comics featuring LGBTQIA+ characters at the forefront. I made it a point to ensure that each selection is from a unique publisher as well. THE COMICS: ![]() MARVEL'S VOICES (FCBD 2022) Publisher: Marvel Writers: various Artists: various Marvel's Voices is an anthology series all about highlighting Marvel heroes of various ethnicities, cultures, and gender identities. While there are various stories in here featuring the likes of Moon Girl, Miles Morales, Doctor Voodoo, the Watcher (who name-drops several Native American heroes), and even Wave (a Marvel hero from the Philippines), the story to highlight for this Five Comics theme is Prodigy giving an overview of the history of LGBTQIA+ heroes in the Marvel Universe. Many characters are mentioned or shown in this story, from the likes of Northstar, Wiccan and Hulkling, America Chavez, Mystique, Iceman, and even my personal favorite couple (Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean). ![]() SFSX (SAFE SEX) #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Tina Horn Artist: Michael Dowling This comic is set in a dystopia where a ruling party obsessed with "purity" goes as far as to audit sexual acts. A club called The Dirty Mind, a haven for sex workers and once overseen by a queer couple, was taken down by said party. Avory, who used to work there, has spent the past three years begrudgingly working for the oppressors, but a fateful encounter sees her running back to her former coworkers in The Dirty Mind. Turns out, they have been quietly keeping sexual freedom alive in a more secluded club, and it seems like the book is setting up the group becoming a full-scale resistance force. ![]() GALAXY: THE PRETTIEST STAR (FCBD 2022) Publisher: DC Comics Writer: Jadzia Axelrod Artist: Jess Taylor Taylor seems like a regular teenage boy in high school, but the truth is that it's just a disguise for the princess of the alien planet Cyandii. In this comic, she shares an intimate moment with her friend Katherine (who knows her secret), and in the process, becomes more comfortable about being herself out in the open. I love the art. ![]() ONI PRESS PRIDE SPECTACULAR Publisher: Oni Press Writers: Robert Rodi, Sophie Campbell, K. O'Neill Artists: Jackie Lewis, Sophie Campbell, K. O'Neill This special comic contains three previews for three stories featuring LGBTQIA+ characters from Oni Press. First is Merry Men, a retelling of the Robin Hood legend that features a gay couple among his ranks. Second is Wet Moon, a black-and-white comic with a whole cast of queer characters (and seemingly a lot of teen drama). Last, there's the adorable-looking Princess Princess Ever After, which is a twist on the usual damsel-in-distress fairy tale, as it's a princess who saves another princess trapped in a tower. ![]() HOLLOW (FCBD 2022) Publisher: Boom Studios Writers: Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White Artist: Berenice Nelle This comic follows Isabel Crane, who has just moved to Sleepy Hollow, a town seemingly obsessed with the legend it's named after (seriously, the high school mascot is literally named the Horsemen). Izzy spends the first few days weirded out by the obsession, but then she meets Vicky Van Tassel, and she's immediately smitten. The comic hints at an actual supernatural element within the town, but this first look feels very slice of life. My main goal with Five Comics themes like this is to primarily show that comics that represent different kinds of people exist, and that people within comics are taking more and more steps to put out even more stories like this. As always, I hope this dispels the notion that this industry is trying to stifle representation, and that there are plenty of really good stories out there that feature these kinds of characters. - end -
I have a bit of a bonus read for this week in light of some recent news, and I'd like to call it a bit of a twofold celebration. BACKGROUND:
I've talked about how I found Overwatch's story to be interesting (despite the actual game not featuring much of it), and these comics are one of the ways they build the game's lore. I've read a whole bunch of Overwatch comics, but this limited series only came out somewhat recently, so I haven't had a chance to read it yet. With Overwatch 2 finally getting a release date (and a big confirmation that it is going free-to-play), this seemed like the perfect time to give this series a read. In addition, it's Pride Month, and this comic stars Tracer, who is canonically established as a lesbian. For all the horrible shit Activision-Blizzard as a company has allowed (and to be clear, me reading this comic is not an endorsement of them), I must show some level of respect for having the flagship character of one of their most popular franchises represent a gender identity that's not quite normalized in society yet. THE WRITING: While Tracer is in a happy relationship with her girlfriend Emily, the void left by Overwatch disbanding still weighs heavily on her, and she finds herself compensating for it via occasional street-level heroics. One of her heroics has her cross paths with Iggy, a punk-loving Omnic who is stealing tech on behalf of her Omnic community in the Underworld. For a bit of context, the Omnics are robotic beings who once lived alongside humans, but due to the events of the Omnic War, they now face untold persecution from people. This has forced the Omnics of London to retreat to the Underworld to avoid humans, and down there, they're struggling to survive and have to resort to theft. Tracer, ever the hero, vows to help this community of Omnics, but there are cynical Omnics among them who believe all humans are terrible and shun her. Tracer's assistance draws the attention of Mondatta, an Omnic who, after everything, still believes humans and Omnics can coexist and live in peace alongside one another. A fateful encounter with Mondatta, however, escalates tensions between humans and Omnics to a fever pitch. Kace, who has a cynical view of humans and has distrusted Tracer from the start, attempts to lead like-minded Omnics to war, but Tracer takes action before things blow out of proportion. I've always appreciated the parallels one could draw between the circumstances and aftermath of the Omnic War and real-life situations, and its consequences being explored here was cool to me. Some Omnics being distrusting of humans is completely understandable, but as in real life, there exist people who take things too far and become prejudiced themselves. Although Kace's actions end up going to the extremes by the end of the series, his choices and outlook throughout are not unlike stuff I've seen before. On the flip side, Mondatta is as good a contrast to Kace as you can get, and even my usual cynical self can't help but share the slightest bit of hope at Mondatta's message. Iggy is an interesting middle ground between the two Omnic figures. Early on, she and Tracer bond over old-school music, with Iggy believing that such culture can be enjoyed by both sides and serve as a bridge between them. When things go sideways, she becomes disillusioned and leans more towards Kace's side of distrusting humans (including Tracer), but when she realizes what's going on, she sees the merit of her original outlook once again. Iggy's responses to the events of the comic feel completely human, and I appreciate that a lot. Tracer naturally takes center stage in the comic, and it's interesting to explore her longing for purpose with Overwatch being disbanded. She feels the need to help and jumps at the chance to help Iggy's Omnic community, feels guilty when she inadvertently kickstarts the events that escalate Omnic-human tensions, and makes a bold, selfless choice at the end that helps affirm to some of the Omnic characters that humans aren't all bad. Along with that, we get to see her relationship with Emily, which is nice and wholesome. I didn't expect other Overwatch characters to show up, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that a couple of them do make an appearance. One of the appearances hints at a greater conspiracy at play, while the other seems to lead into the events of the first game. THE ART: I quite like the art style, which has a bit of a cute, cartoony look (I find this most apparent in the faces), bold lines, lovely, soft colors, and a dynamic depiction of motion that helps sell the blistering speed at which Tracer travels. It's just a delight all around. VERDICT: Overwatch: Tracer - London Calling does a lot with the backdrop of strained Omnic-human relations and small cast of characters. I thought it managed to deliver a meaningful story about how people respond to prejudice, and I thought Tracer was such a charming and heroic protagonist. Man, I really wish these kinds of stories were front and center in the actual games. This comic does need a bit of prerequisite knowledge regarding the Omnic War (which is the tipping point of why Omnic-human relations are the way they are in the game), but other than that, I think even people not familiar with the game can appreciate the themes of the story at the very least. You're not going to get a lot of the game's diverse roster, however. You can read the entire series via Overwatch's official website: Overwatch Media - Overwatch (playoverwatch.com) - end - Massive shoutout to Francis for lending me this game, which I'm very excited to talk about. BACKGROUND:
This is going to be a long one, and I apologize, but I feel the need to properly set the stage here. To be perfectly honest, I've been burned out on Pokemon for many years now. The last game I was genuinely hyped for (like "preorder the game" excited) was Sun and Moon, and that came out in 2016. While Gen 6 defined my college days (my friends and I would spend so many breaks between classes battling each other), things were getting really stressful by the time Gen 7 rolled around, and we all found ourselves not playing as much as we used to. I still played a good amount beyond completing the story (I did my usual catch 'em all shtick and raised a few competitively viable Pokemon), but once I had my fill, I put the game down. I started to get the sense that I needed a break from the series when Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were announced not long after. Unlike when Black 2/White 2 was announced, I didn't feel like these versions were all that different from the originals (apart from some new Pokemon and probably a remixed story), and for the first time since 2011, I skipped on getting a Pokemon game on release. I simply wasn't interested in going through what seemed to be a mostly similar game, and I was perfectly happy spending my free time on other, different games instead (at this time, I'd been playing a ton of games on my Wii U and PC). The hype came back when Sword and Shield, the first Pokemon games for the Switch, were announced. How could I not be excited? It's the first time we players could enjoy Pokemon on the TV on a proper home console! I was ready to get back into Pokemon upon the reveal.... until E3 came along. See, at E3, it was revealed that Sword and Shield wouldn't have a complete National Pokedex. That means veteran players like me can't fully transfer all our old Pokemon, and only a select number of them can be in the new games. As someone who really loves collecting all the Pokemon (and has been doing so for more than a decade at this point), I was quite disappointed by this development. Part of the fun for me when new Pokemon games come out is sending my old Pokemon over and seeing how they look in new graphics or how they fare with the newest changes to battle mechanics. Learning that I won't get to fully have that was sad in a way, but despite this, I was still interested in playing the game and evaluating it outside of this one gripe. That said, the news made me bump down Sword/Shield as a lower priority purchase when it came to new games. But then I made the mistake of going on the Internet. As you know, hyperbolic outrage is usually the only thing that can be heard online, and oh boy, there was a ton of it when the news broke. Pokemon "discussion" (and I use that word loosely) devolved into two equally annoying and irrational tribes: people who felt betrayed and used the controversy to launch into relentless criticisms of any and every game design decision Game Freak has ever made since 2013, and people who demand everybody be excited and grateful as if their blind loyalty to the brand is worth a damn. Seeing these extremes be both incredibly misguided in their "arguments" drove me mad, and it effectively killed any interest I had in getting the game. I try very hard not to let other people ruin my enjoyment of something, but the heights that this nonsense reached pushed me over the edge. I genuinely couldn't stomach any mention or talk of Pokemon for the rest of that year, and avoided as much of it as I could (apart from conversations with my friends). Eventually, the game came out, and the only people I'd listen to for insights were my friends who bought it. I was naturally curious, but even after the shitstorm online, I still had intentions of playing the game myself down the line, and thus didn't ask too much. As much as possible, I want to go into things without hearing the opinions on others so I can properly formulate my own. Plus, I have a great personal hatred for people who talk about things they clearly haven't taken the time to consume (in the case of media) or understand, and any effort that I can exert in demonstrating that such baseless opinions are not equal to opinions that were thought about is a spiteful effort I find worthwhile. As luck would have it, I would actually get a chance to play the game only a few months after release. My younger brother (who has a Switch of his own) got Pokemon Sword, and I would borrow it whenever he wasn't playing. I played through the whole story, did some post-game stuff, and naturally went to catch 'em all (well, all of the new ones, anyway). After that, I planned on writing a blog entry on the game, but I never bothered finishing the draft due to the still strong feelings of frustration I felt towards the Pokemon online "community". While I know my blog has very little reach outside of people I personally know, I still didn't want any part of the garbage that I witnessed on the Pokemon subreddit and on Twitter, so I left the draft in limbo, where it has remained for the past two years. I went back and forth on continuing it a year later, but at the end, I simply had no interest in doing so. Maybe I'll go back to it one day, but in the very unlikely event that you're interested in what I have to say about Pokemon Sword, don't hold your breath. My feelings of burnout did start to subside not long after then. Pokemon Home became available around the time I was playing Sword, and that allowed me to transfer all my old Pokemon (who were all trapped in my Gen 6 and 7 games) over to the cloud storage service. It still made me sad that I can't bring everyone into the game, and I have my reservations about Home itself (mainly its subscription model and splitting functionality between the Switch app and the mobile app), but seeing everything in one place felt nice. The following months had a fair share of Pokemon news, and I eased myself back into being a fan again. I still wasn't interested in some of the announcements: the Sword/Shield DLC, for instance, while tempting, was a no-go since I don't technically own the base game. The Diamond/Pearl remakes weren't appealing to me, either, since I have played Gen 4 to death and am content not revisiting it unless it was completely different (which it wasn't). But then one name stood above all the rest: Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Everything about Legends: Arceus screamed fresh and new to me. The main gameplay was far removed from the usual 8 Gyms formula, they leaned fully into the "open world" aspect of Gen 8's Wild Area, and the setting was a reimagined Sinnoh region in the distant past. I was still skeptical about Game Freak pulling off the whole concept, but I couldn't help but be excited at the prospect that this game is the shot in the arm that the admittedly stagnating series needs. I wanted to pick up this game on release, but I've been on a tight budget of late and couldn't. But a good friend of mine offered to lend me this game (and five other Switch games to boot), and I couldn't be more grateful. Needless to say, I'm very excited to see what the fuss is all about. PLOT: Your player character (who appears to be from present day) is whisked away to the Hisui region, which was what the Sinnoh region was called in the distant past. Yes, there's time travel now, I guess. Anyway, Professor Laventon finds you after you quite literally fall out of the sky, and after impressing him with your Pokemon catching skills, brings you to Jubilife Village. There, you're recruited to join the Galaxy Expedition Team, who are outsiders to the Hisui region and arrived to study the region. You're specifically part of the Survey Corps, a division of the team tasked to study the local Pokemon and complete the Pokedex. Not long after, the Noble Pokemon (which are somewhat equivalent to Gen 7's Totem Pokemon in that they are revered by the locals) are sent into a frenzy by the same rift in spacetime where you fell out of. The locals who protect these nobles, the Diamond and Pearl Clans, enlist your help to calm these Pokemon down, and as you do, the mystery of what the spacetime rift actually is becomes clear. In the post-game, you'll be able to explore more of Hisui's distant past, and eventually even learn about what caused the rift in the first place. There are a few things I found weird (like the motivations of certain characters), but overall, I enjoyed this interesting new corner of Pokemon lore. This is pretty much the first time we get a period piece in the franchise, and it's awesome to see how locations I'm familiar with in Diamond and Pearl looked in the past (even if the maps of both games aren't 100% congruent). It was also cool to see that a lot of the characters quite clearly appear to be ancestors of characters in Diamond and Pearl, and thankfully, they're their own people here. Also interesting is how the Galaxy Expedition Team (which one can assume eventually became Team Galactic in present day) is a benevolent organization, and that history might be why most people in Diamond/Pearl weren't alarmed by their criminal activities until it was too late. Most fascinating to me in terms of differences to present day Pokemon is how humans view Pokemon themselves. Most of us are used to the concept of Pokemon and humans living alongside and helping one another, but in this past, humans are still afraid of Pokemon. You, as part of the Survey Corps, are tasked to study Pokemon, and with the more you learn about them, the more other people learn, and when that fear of the unknown lessens, people learn to be more accepting of Pokemon. It's a natural reaction to be wary of the unfamiliar, and it's cool to see that tackled and eventually surmounted by studying the unfamiliar. The people of Hisui are even skeptical of you, and given you're a complete stranger who fell out of the sky, that's a little understandable. Instead of a generic villain team with a maniacal leader serving as the conflict, it is this skepticism that leads to some friction between other characters, and I like how more natural that feels as a story. However, I feel like they go back to their usual ways in the big post-game storyline. You can probably guess that the spacetime rift that brought you to Hisui is the doing of a legendary Pokemon. In this game, the legendaries and mythicals are more than just plot devices; people actually worship them, and they feel like incomprehensible forces of nature. What's interesting is that the local clans both worship the same god Pokemon, but argue among one another as to their true nature. The Diamond Clan thinks their god is the ruler of time, while the Pearl Clan believes the god holds dominion over space. Though they rarely get into anything apart from childish squabbles in-game, it's interesting to have cultural differences (and the tensions they can cause) be a big part of the story. There isn't as much of a deep dive into the lore of the legendaries as I would have liked, but there's still enough interesting tidbits, like callbacks to the Gen 4 games and additional details that expand the world a little bit. Perhaps the only thing I would have loved more of was a closer look into the very nature of the Noble Pokemon you help in the campaign, as their backstory is only ever hinted at. PRESENTATION: This game is on par with Sword and Shield in terms of visuals: looks solid and nice for the most part, but certainly has its issues. Most of the 3D models look quite smooth and animate well, the colors and the skies look pretty, but there are instances where you see frame rate issues (usually when faraway objects are moving) and funky-looking textures when you look up close. The Pokemon look pretty good and have really flashy attack animations, and they get a bit more unique animations when doing stuff in the wild or have unique reactions to things like status effects. Characters are slightly more expressive now with their faces, and your character in particular has a lot more idle animations now (impressive to me are how they have animations corresponding to the current weather). Terrain can look funky a lot of the time, and heaven forbid an object go into the water, because it will straight up look like shit. Unlike traditional Pokemon games, you have full control of the camera here, which is great. It's not perfect, however, as it has a tendency to adjust itself on its own in certain moments. In cutscenes, there's some neat camera work that gives certain moments a cinematic feel to it. The UI is solid for the most part, as it doesn't take up too much real estate and allows you to enjoy the environments more. Even in battle, the UI is relegated to the bottom corners, allowing you to have a full view of the action (which has its own dramatic aspect ratio, too). The fact that this takes place in the distant past is quite clear in the architecture of the buildings in the main village, but you don't really go around many settlements in this game. Rather, you spent most of the time out and about in nature, and the locales are as diverse as the original Diamond and Pearl. The characters also wear period-accurate clothing, so to speak, and it's extra cool to see ancestors of Diamond/Pearl characters feel recognizable since they retain a few of the distinct design elements of their descendants. While Pokemon games are usually chock-full of enjoyable music, Legends: Arceus takes the immersive route during the main gameplay and leans much more towards ambient sounds. Not to worry, as there are still plenty of music tracks, from various battle themes and occasional tunes in certain sections of the world. Many of them are remixes of old Diamond/Pearl music (or at least use similar motifs), which is neat. THE POKEMON: Since this is not a new region at all, I expected the game's roster of Pokemon to pretty much just be Diamond/Pearl/Platinum's regional Pokedex. For the most part, I was right, but the game has a few surprises. Continuing the trend set by Gen 7, there are a handful of Hisuian regional variants of old Pokemon, like Growlithe, Electrode, Sneasel, and more. What was most surprising to me was that they were willing to include some post-Gen 4 Pokemon in here, as Pokemon like Braviary, Lilligant, Zorua, and Avalugg also get Hisuian forms. Most notably, all the starters (none of whom are from Gen 4) get Hisuian forms, which is unprecedented since no starters have ever gotten regional variants yet. Design-wise, I'd say it's a decent mix of Pokemon that look close to the original but have an immediately noticeable difference, and Pokemon that look radically different. And in addition to that, the game also takes a page from Gen 8 by introducing unique Hisuian evolutions to old Pokemon. For example, Stantler can now evolve into Wyrdeer, Hisuian Sneasel has a unique evolution called Sneasler, and Ursaring can evolve into Ursaluna. There's not a lot of these completely new Pokemon, but I was still happy that there were any at all, and that most of them have neat designs. Some of them have real weird evolution methods, though (some are tedious and one is straight up impossible to figure out without looking it up), but that's to be expected at this point. GAMEPLAY: The first thing that will stand out about Legends Arceus is how it is pretty much an expansion of Sword and Shield's Wild Area: you explore a vast open area, have full control of the camera, and the Pokemon are all walking around in the overworld (none of that tall grass, random encounter nonsense). This is more or less what all young Pokemon fans wished the series would become, and while the game doesn't feature a fully interconnected open world in the vein of Breath of the Wild (and is more structured like Monster Hunter in that there are a small assortment of decently large maps that you can choose to travel to), it's still pretty impressive. It does suffer from the occasional "lots of empty space" issue, but there's a bit of offset with the Pokemon spawns. There are five unique maps total, each with unique sets of spawns in each section. They're all quite large, and it'll take a while to explore every corner (it's worthwhile to do so, too; you'll never know what Pokemon you'll find). As you progress through the game, you'll unlock convenient fast travel points, which include camps. The camps are where you can rest up and heal your Pokemon, restock on items via the merchant and the item storage, and swap out Pokemon from your "PC" (there are no computers in this time period, so PC boxes are Pastures in this one). Eventually, you'll also unlock Ride Pokemon, which allow you to move across the map faster or traverse otherwise impassable obstacles (like bodies of water or steep cliffs). Pokemon spawns, like before, are affected by weather and time of day. It's expanded like Sword and Shield, with more weather conditions than before (that also affect battles in a minor way), and slightly more expanded time frames (expanding day to morning and midday, and night to evening and nightfall). You unfortunately can't control weather, but you can choose what time of day you wake up when resting in camp, which is convenient. Spacetime distortions can also occur while you're exploring. These are zones that pop up for a limited time, and within them, some super rare Pokemon (like evolved Pokemon, or the Hisuian starters) can spawn, and various items litter the ground (like stuff worth selling at shops or evolution items). These aren't common, however, and going into them is high risk, high reward, as the levels of the Pokemon that spawn scale to match whatever you got. As you explore, you'll notice that there are berry trees, piles of dirt/leaves/snow, and ore deposits your Pokemon can harvest for resources, on top of loose items like plants and shrooms you can pick up. You want to collect as much of these as possible, because there is crafting in this game. You heard me right: you can craft in Pokemon now. I got major Monster Hunter vibes here, gathering stuff in the environment in order to make stuff I can use, and I thought it worked really well in this game. I mostly crafted Poke Balls and healing items, but there are other craftables like lures (more on that later) and Star Pieces (which you sell to merchants). Some of the craftable items are alternatively sold in shops, though I found it more convenient personally to craft since I have a habit of picking up everything I see anyhow. You may also notice in your adventures that there are lost satchels lying around, left by other players like you that perished and dropped their items. You can pick these up and in doing so, return those items to the player (and other players can do the same for you). You're also rewarded with Merit Points for doing so, and you can turn these in for some special items. It's a neat way to incorporate online functionality to the game, I'll say. Inventory management is unfortunately a bit rough, as you only have so many slots and you'll have to go back and forth to base to store items or just discard stuff outright. You can buy extra slots from a certain NPC in Jubilife Village, but it's one slot at a time, and the price skyrockets after a while. It's annoying in the early game, but I mostly got over it by the end since I was able to afford more than enough slots and knew what to keep in my bag and what to stow away. Now for the fun bit: how does catching Pokemon work this time around? Well, for starters, you manually aim and throw Poke Balls now, which not only adds a sense of immersion to the experience, but you can avoid battles outright by just chucking a ball and (hopefully) just catching the Pokemon in a snap. It's seamless, too, as you don't have to sit through unskippable sequences and can keep moving around as you throw balls. I couldn't believe how fun it is to just run around and catch everything in sight and spent a ton of hours doing just that without progressing anything. The Poke Ball types are more than just gimmicks this time around and take advantage of the fact that you actively throw them. You have your regular Poke Balls, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls, but there are also the Heavy Ball variants which can't be thrown very far, but are quite effective if you manage to hit a Pokemon with it. On the flip side, there are Feather Balls (plus stronger variants of it), which fly extremely far and are great at picking off faraway targets. I thought having these options was brilliant and really highlighted how you have full control of your throws. The Pokemon in the overworld feel more alive than ever before, as not only are they walking around where you can see them, they do all sorts of things in the wild. Some Pokemon go to sleep, others play... it really feels like they're creatures just living their lives in nature. Their behaviors when seeing you also vary: some are docile and don't really pay you mind, others are more skittish and run away when they detect you, while others are hostile and attack you. And by that, I mean they attack you directly. Hostile Pokemon will straight up assault you with their moves (some of which affect your character differently, like electric moves occasionally paralyzing you), and if you take enough hits, you black out and end up back at camp. The penalty in this case is losing some of the items in your bag, and you really don't want that to happen if you have good stuff on you. Also, there's fall damage; found that out the hard way.... If you find yourself in a pinch and are attacked by Pokemon, there's one more brand new feature in this game that can help: a dodge roll. That's right, welcome to Dark Souls, motherfucker. It's a crucial mechanic in a gameplay segment that I'll discuss later, but in the main game, I simply found constant amusement in dodge rolling everywhere. Since some Pokemon behaviors make them hard to catch (Poke Balls thrown at Pokemon that notice you and are hostile will not work, for instance), you can try sneaking to avoid detection. You can go into a crouch so you don't draw as much attention, and you can even crawl through tall grass to obscure yourself further. And if you want to take stealth to the extra mile, there is a straight up backstab bonus if you manage to throw a Poke Ball at a Pokemon facing the other way. If you want, you can even take advantage of other throwable items to make catching Pokemon easier. For example, you can throw food to lure a Pokemon closer and distract them, and each Pokemon have different food preferences to make things even more diverse. Alternatively, you can pick up or craft various items that can momentarily stun a Pokemon when you throw it at them (like balls of mud or snowballs) to buy yourself a moment to catch them or run away. I thought it was really cool that such options existed. Occasionally, you'll run into Alpha Pokemon, which are beefed-up variants of regular Pokemon with glowing red eyes. These guys are often at a high level, and can really mess you up if you're not careful. They're definitely not invincible, though, and they're definitely catchable. I found that they're only really terrifying in the early game, as by the late game, your Pokemon should be at a high enough level to be able to go toe-to-toe with any Alphas. The spawns of many Alphas are fixed: specific ones can be found in a specific place every so often, but you can get the occasional random Alpha spawn in other places. Of course, if you want to catch Pokemon the old-fashioned way, you still can: just toggle your controls to throw out your Pokemon, and throw their Poke Ball at the wandering Pokemon. The transition into battle is seamless; you don't get magically transported into a generic battle area, and you fight where you stand. I thought that was awesome. Once the battle resolves (or you run away), it's seamless, too, and you can move around as you were before. It's also really nice to be the one to initiate battles (and be able to choose your lead Pokemon before doing so with a quick button press) instead of getting roped into them. While the more gimmicky battle types like Double/Triple Battles don't exist, it's possible to run into handicap battles during certain Trainer battles or if you happen to piss off more than one wild Pokemon at once. These work a lot like Horde Battles (introduced in Gen 6) in that it's just one Pokemon against many (the max is still five, but you can get as little as two), and that you have to target Pokemon one at a time (there are no multi-target moves like Surf here, unfortunately). These can get pretty rough; some of the Trainer setups have one of the Pokemon throw out debuffs while the others attack. Battling is still a big part of the game despite the traditional structure of conquering Gyms is not present, since you'll still face off against the occasional "Trainer". Most elements are the same as how battles have been since Gen 4, but there are a good amount of changes that make the battling in Legends Arceus its own distinct thing. First, a lot of moves have been changed. Some base power levels have been adjusted, others have had PP count changes, while others are completely unrecognizable from their original incarnations. Stealth Rock is the most noticeable example of this: it's actually a damaging attack instead of an entry hazard. And of course, a bunch of new moves have been added, and some of them are pretty cool (like Hisuian Samurott's signature move Ceaseless Edge). Statuses have been altered as well. Things like Paralysis and Burn still exist, but Sleep has been changed to Drowsy (which acts like Paralysis in that there's still a chance you can act, but the drawback is increased damage intake), and Freeze has been changed to Frostbite (like Burn, but the reduction is for Special Attack). Other statuses include Fixated (which applies to former locked-in moves like Outrage), Obscured (which is just a new name for raising evasion), and Primed (enter a hard-hitting stance to increase damage). It took me a while to figure out the new shit. Typical fixtures of modern Pokemon battles are also absent, like hold items and abilities. The competitive player in me is a little sad I can't theorycraft anything for the new Pokemon this time around, but it's nice to not think about breeding for abilities for once. And yes, breeding is nonexistent here as well. Buffs and debuffs work differently here as well. Instead of raising or lowering a single stat, moves that affect stats raise/lower stats as a whole. For example, Calm Mind raises all offensive and defensive stats instead of just Special Attack and Special Defense. It renders most status moves redundant as a result, so this is one change I'm fine leaving in this game. Additionally, buffs and debuffs as a whole only last a set number of turns, and your stats will reset after those turns pass. This, on the other hand, might be a change worth exploring for traditional battles. Many setup moves are already decently balanced in that you buff/debuff in exchange for a chance to retaliate, but it could help make meta Pokemon that are either setup sweepers or setup tanks/walls less oppressive by having their buffs expire over time. The most radical change in Legends Arceus in terms of battles is how turn order works. Instead of the usual "faster Pokemon moves first", the Speed stat is only one of a number of variables that determine global turn order. It took me an annoyingly long time to realize how completely different turn order works in the game, and once I realized how it works, I'm not sure I'm OK with it being the standard going forward. Basically, the battle system here mirrors other RPGs that rely on action order: certain actions have a "weight" to them that determines how soon you can act next. For example, Quick Attack (instead of having priority, like it does traditionally) modifies your turn order such that you may be able to act sooner in succeeding turns (not necessarily the next one). Not only is this entirely abusable (it's possible for you or your opponent to act several times in a row without the other getting a move in), it also completely messes with things such as switching out (as the incoming Pokemon apparently inherits the previous one's turn order). Sure, it's amusing to attack three times in a row without the opponent doing anything, but in a competitive sense, that doesn't sound fun, and the fact that it messes up switching (which is a central part of competitive single battles) is really frustrating to me personally. Along with this radical change to turn order, all moves, at a certain point, can have an Agile Style or Strong Style that you can toggle. Using either style of a move costs 2 PP, but provide some benefits in exchange. Moves in Agile Style move your turn order up so you may have a chance of moving sooner in the next turns, but at the cost of reduced damage. On the flip side, Strong Style moves jack up the damage, but move you down the turn order, possibly leaving you open to the opponent attacking you twice in a row. While I still don't think the turn order system itself was implemented well, I actually liked Agile/Strong Style in that they're a neat risk/reward mechanic, and can benefit slow Pokemon as well as fast but weak Pokemon in certain situations. If they could adapt this system to work more with the traditional battle system, I could see it being a fun addition. EV management is easier now thanks to Grit items that let you add EVs to a chosen stat. Other items that make raising Pokemon are still around, like Exp Candies, Rare Candies, and Seeds of Mastery (which allows Pokemon to immediately master moves if you give it to a specific NPC in Jubilife Village). Instead of Gym Badges denoting your progress throughout the game, it's actually the completion of your Pokedex that dictates how far along you are. Filling out the Pokedex is more than just simply catching the Pokemon; you also have to complete research tasks involving that Pokemon in order to raise its research level. These tasks range from catching x number of that species, defeating x number in battle, seeing them use certain moves in battle, and evolving them. Each of these tasks increases your research level, and once you reach Lv 10, the Pokedex entry for that Pokemon will be considered complete, and you'll be able to read their entry (written from the perspective of Professor Laventon, which is cool). These research tasks also count towards the overall Pokedex XP. Once you fill the XP bar, your Survey Rank increases, up to a max of 10. Ranking up rewards you with new crafting recipes (mostly for the Poke Ball types), and you'll need to reach certain ranks to unlock new maps to explore. I love all this, since it actually feels like you're studying these Pokemon and learning about them instead of mindlessly catching one and moving on, and instead of playing second fiddle to beating the Elite Four, catching 'em all actually feels important. While you don't need to go and make every Pokedex entry Lv 10, doing so gets you the Shiny Charm. And if you go the extra mile and complete every research task of a Pokemon, that raises their respective Shiny encounter rate. I'm no Shiny hunter, but this is a really cool incentive to go the completionist route. For once, catching everything (no need to raise research levels) in the Pokedex gives you more than just a digital certificate saying "yay, you did it." There is a proper reward for catching them all. I'm not going to spoil it, but all I'll say is that is how you reward a completionist. And since catching is the bigger focus over Trainer battles, catching Pokemon is your primary source of income apart from selling items. The jury's out on which is less tedious to grind (I feel like both catching and battling get old after a while), but I relied more on crafting than I did from buying at shops, so I didn't feel the need to grind for cash anyway. The money I got just by playing the game was enough to get me the inventory upgrades I needed, so that was nice. Main story missions have convenient quest trackers you can follow and a quest menu you can check in case you get lost. Along with that, you'll be able to talk to many NPCs to take on a wide variety of side quests. These range from catching Pokemon for people (helping them be less afraid of them in the process), procuring items, finding collectibles, and more. The rewards come in all sorts of flavors, too, from crafting materials and helpful items. My only gripe with the side quests is that the game doesn't tell you which map the quest markers for them actually are. See, the quest markers are only helpful if you're in the same map where the mission is; otherwise, it just points towards the map exit. Many of the main story missions culminate in an encounter with a Noble Pokemon, and these are proper boss encounters. Instead of a straight Pokemon battle, you have to dodge these frenzied Pokemon's attacks and find openings to throw balms to calm them down (and lower their "HP" bar). The attack patterns can get wild, and I felt like I was in some high-rank Monster Hunter battle against powerful Elder Dragons at times. I loved these Noble Pokemon fights because of how different they are, and how engaging (and intense) they get. Once you finish up with all the Noble Pokemon, the structure changes up where you have to explore to find some special macguffins to move the story forward. You can probably guess how the story ends if you've played enough Pokemon, but it's still a pretty cool way to end things (plus it's just the kind of reward you'd want for this game). The post-game is more of an adventure where you collect more macguffins, and this one feels more like the traditional "battle a bunch of strong opponents to get shit" Pokemon experience. This culminates in one of the toughest battles in the history of the franchise, which is a hell of a reward. Most of the side quests are your typical "do them just for the items" kind of deal, but some of them have neat rewards, such as bonus research level points for certain Pokemon. A few side quests are the only way to get special Pokemon, and while those particular quests take quite a lot of effort, I found them absolutely worth doing. Jubilife Village serves as your hub between adventures into the game's biomes. You have your usual facilities (a place to rest, the Poke Mart equivalent), but there's also a clothing store, a hair salon, a mirror in your room to switch up your look, a few other specialty stores, a training ground where you can spar with other Trainers (and handle things such as learn new moves or master moves), and even a farm where you can raise certain plants and get crafting materials. There are various quality of life changes. The most notable to me are: the ability to manage a Pokemon's moveset from an easily accessible menu anywhere (no more need to go to a move relearner), and the ability to evolve Pokemon on command (you don't have to press B anymore to interrupt; the game just tells you that the Pokemon can evolve, and you can press a button to go through with it). The UI is also solid in this regard, as you can fully see all move info in battle without having to press anything else (you still have to do this for certain battle info, though, like the current weather and such). On the flip side, there's still no option to toggle the forced Exp. All to your liking. I personally don't mind everyone leveling up after battles and catching stuff, but it really should be a player choice since the Exp. All being on or off does have a say in the game's difficulty. VERDICT: I had so much fun with Legends Arceus. The shifted focus on completing the Pokedex and the open world gameplay allowing you to be immersed in a world of Pokemon like never before was such an addictive experience to me. It was awesome to sneak around, throw Poke Balls, and occasionally run away from angry Pokemon, and it felt utterly rewarding to complete Pokedex research tasks and unlock a neat entry that makes it feel like I took the time to study the Pokemon closely. Some elements are still rough around the edges (like the graphics), and the battle system was not my cup of tea (though it did introduce some ideas with potential), but the main gameplay and other aspects (like the interesting new setting in the past, and some amazing quality of life changes) more than make up for it in my eyes. For all the shit Game Freak gets (some deserved), they have my respect for pushing the envelope with this game and trying something radically different. It is my hope that Game Freak takes the most enjoyable elements of this game and apply it to the long-standing formula of the main series; this is the paradigm shift the series has sorely needed for close to a decade now, and they need to capitalize on that. Pokemon fans of all stripes and spots should give Legends Arceus a try. If you're one of the many fans hoping for that open world experience, this may not be necessarily the dream realized, but is a solid showcase of what the series could be in the future. If you're a lapsed fan like me and have been aching for something new to the formula, this is more or less it, and maybe you'll end up like me and be excited about Pokemon again. On the other hand, if you're here looking for a purely competitive experience, I doubt you'll get it here, but I think the rest of the experience is worth checking out regardless. If you're a newcomer to the series, I will reiterate that this is not the usual Pokemon experience. I do think you can easily enjoy this game for what it is without any prerequisite experience, but I feel that a familiarity of the usual formula allows one to really appreciate how different this game is. Plus, one can appreciate the story and setting a lot more if you've played Diamond and Pearl before. - end - The latest MCU Disney+ show is none other than Ms. Marvel, which premiered earlier this week. Who'd I be if I didn't have something prepared for it? THE THEME: In the comics, Ms. Marvel is an Inhuman, a descendant of early humans experimented on by the Kree (the aliens Carol Danvers was aligned with in the beginning of the Captain Marvel movie), and whose powers are activated by the Terrigen Mists (a concept covered prominently in S2 and S3 of Agents of SHIELD). However, it seems the MCU version does not seem to be an Inhuman at all, and does not possess the original polymorph power set to boot. I am personally quite skeptical over the change, but I'm giving it a fair shot, and I do think there's good potential to make the change very interesting from a story perspective based on what the premiere episode hints at. Whether Inhumans will be in the MCU's future in full force remains to be seen. In any case, I intend to honor a major aspect of Kamala Khan's comic origins by reading five comics featuring Inhuman characters. THE COMICS: ![]() MS. MARVEL (2015-2019) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: G. Willow Wilson Artists: Takeshi Miyazawa, Adrian Alphona Well, it only makes sense to headline this edition with a Ms. Marvel comic. This is the start of the 2015 series, and by this point, Kamala's been fighting alongside with the Avengers for a bit. It seems like she's living the dream, but juggling the double life is hard, and what's more, there's some teenage drama between her and her good friend Bruno, plus gentrification in the Jersey City neighborhood raises some red flags. ![]() THE INHUMANS (1975-1977) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Doug Moench Artist: George Perez The Inhuman Royal Family of Attilan first appeared in a Fantastic Four comic, but it took a while until they got their own solo titled series. Here, Black Bolt and co. investigate a mysterious machine that suddenly appeared in Attilan, and it seems to be connected to the incoming arrival of Blastaar, a villain from the Negative Zone. It concludes in a cliffhanger, though, so no resolution. ![]() LOCKJAW (2018) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Daniel Kibblesmith Artists: Carlos Villa, Roberto Poggi One of the most iconic members of the Inhuman Royal Family is none other than their loyal dog Lockjaw, who has the power to teleport. It's an interesting tale that sees Lockjaw teleport across the land to what I assume is reunite with his relatives, and for some reason, Demolition Man (who is apparently going through some rough times) gets dragged into the adventure. ![]() THE UNCANNY INHUMANS (2015-2017) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Charles Soule Artists: Jay Leisten, Steve McNiven Set after the events that spread Terrigen Mist all over the Earth (and incidentally gave Ms. Marvel, among many others, her powers), this comic sees Black Bolt traveling through time in an attempt to rescue his son (whom Kang the Conqueror has taken hostage), and Medusa become the public face of New Attilan and the Inhumans. Beast is also working with Medusa in hopes of figuring out how to protect mutants from the Terrigen Mist (it's lethal to them, and it's the reason Inhumans vs. X-Men happens), and Human Torch also shows up to make things spicy. Also features the Inhuman known as Reader, who has an awesome power: anything he reads (even in Braille) manifests into reality. ![]() BLACK BOLT (2017-2018) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Saladin Ahmed Artist: Christian Ward After having detonated the Terrigen Bomb that scattered the mists all over the world, the king of the Inhumans was naturally distrusted by most people. That led him to abdicate the throne, but he has shockingly ended up as a prisoner in a mysterious place due to the machinations of his brother Maximus the Mad. He finds other prisoners (like Absorbing Man, of all people), and he may have to team up with them to figure a way out. It's a bit of a shame that Agents of SHIELD isn't the most popular show and that the Inhumans show... well, existed, because the Inhuman corner of the Marvel Universe has some pretty interesting and cool characters. I'm still holding out hope that Ms. Marvel will somehow be able to properly reintroduce the Inhumans into the MCU, and if not, I hope they find their way in another way. PANEL OF THE WEEK: - end -
Though I mainly follow AEW these days, I still keep tabs on NXT despite the whole rebrand situation. That means I gotta watch their latest not-Takeover.
Here's another one that's been sitting on the backlog for way too long. BACKGROUND:
I had only played the beta of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle and I wanted to learn about the BlazBlue characters I didn't know about. Thus, I bought this game on a whim during a Steam sale, but never got around to playing it. PLOT: BlazBlue is set in a world that, at one point, was threatened by something called the Black Beast. The Black Beast was vanquished by six heroes with the help of Ars Magus, the fusion of science and magic. This war changed everything, as the Library was formed to oversee the world afterward, and humanity moved skyward to avoid a dangerous substance called seithr, which spread after the defeat of the Black Beast. It's after this whole setup that things get a tad complicated. The way this game handles story is different, as instead of a singular story mode that features most of the cast, each character has their own story mode with a series of fights that cover events in the present day. While this is really neat (because everyone gets to shine in their own story, instead of some characters being sidelined in a singular story mode), what's canon and what's not canon immediately becomes confusing. Not only does every win and loss lead to a different set of dialogue or even lead to branching story paths, you'll also find that there are goddamn time loops in this game. It takes a great effort to piece together what really happens in this game, as you have to see all the possible outcomes in a lot of characters' story modes, and to make sure you have as many details at your disposal, you'll have to play through pretty much everybody's stories. Again, I maintain that this is a cool approach to the story that lets you spend time with the entire cast, but there is admittedly a bit of tedium to running through every single story route possibility, and the lack of clarity as to what's canon made things a bit frustrating to me. Evaluating the stories on their own, there's a good variety of stories that give you a good sense of each character's backstory and motivations. However, you still have to play a bunch of other characters' story modes to get the full picture. For example, Noel Vermillion's story mode is all about finding the deserter Jin Kisaragi and bringing him back in to the Library, but you don't get a real sense of why Jin deserts to begin with unless you play Jin's story mode. I did like this approach, because it incentivized checking out everyone's stories to piece together certain details, but I understand that it's a lot of effort for something you could probably just look up online. There are a variety of tones across each characters' stories. Ragna's, for example, is a super edgy revenge tale, while one of Noel's branching story paths is an absolutely silly reason for a conflict. I must admit that getting emotionally invested in a single character's story is a little difficult since you have to play through multiple characters to have as much context as possible. That said, some characters have pretty compelling stories if you put in the time, like Litchi having a surprisingly tragic tale connected to Arakune's present circumstances. Although a lot of the stories lean more towards the serious end of the scale, there is more than enough goofy shit to go along. Taokaka, for example, is more of a comic relief character who says stupid shit all the time. There's also a weird thing with this game where characters make real inappropriate comments about certain characters' breasts (e.g. Litchi is straight up called "boobie lady" by Taokaka, while Noel is mocked for being less... endowed), and that makes me feel uncomfortable. This game also has an arcade mode, and like most arcade modes, each character has an ending. None of it made much sense to me until I messed around with the story mode, so it's probably best to think of the arcade endings as a supplement to the main story. PRESENTATION: BlazBlue goes full anime with its aesthetic, and it's got some real inspired character designs for its roster. You've got badass-looking edgelords like Ragna and Hakumen, weird robot-looking things, abominations like Arakune, a sex appeal character in Litchi, and even a cutesy anime lady in Rachel. I wouldn't go as far as to say there's something for everyone, but there's something for a bunch of people, I guess. The game goes for the visual novel method of presenting story moments, with static backgrounds, minimal animation for character art, and a whole lot of reading. The art looks impressive, especially the intricate locales that serve as the backgrounds for both cutscenes and the stages. There is some voice acting, but not for all dialogue, and I'd say this department is hit or miss since I found the delivery of some characters a little off. Speaking of stages, there are a small but decent variety of locations that you can fight in. The ones that stand out to me are the Halloween-themed spooky mansion and the Chinatown-inspired Orient Town. The gameplay itself has highly detailed pixel art for its character sprites, which I'll always find impressive since I don't notice it until I look closely. Perhaps the only other thing I can say here is elements of the UI feel overdesigned, as I found some of the detailing rather distracting to look at. There's a solid soundtrack in this game, with most music leaning towards a rock sound that gets your heart pumping during fights. Some of the other tracks lean towards other genres and use notably different instruments for its sound, like one that goes hard on the pipe organ. GAMEPLAY: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is a 2D fighting game, and the basic idea holds true: beat the shit out of your opponent, don't die first. The control scheme has four buttons: light, medium, heavy, and special (called Drive in this game), and for the most part, combos are freeform and you can chain most things together. There are command inputs in this game, but from what I've played, these rarely go beyond the typical quarter-circles, so it's not that tough. Moreover, certain specials can be mapped to their own button (or in the case of a controller, on the right analog stick), which makes combo-ing into them much easier since you don't have to perform the command input. Most of the standard things you can expect from games like this are present. You've got overheads and lows, forward and back throws, and you can tech/ukemi out of hitstun. There's probably a lot of complicated mechanics hidden in here somewhere, but against Normal AI, I got by more than fine with standard LMHS strings. I found this to be a pretty mobile game, since not only do you have grounded dashes, you have a double jump and air dashes to help approach or hang back. I like this a lot, because I have a tendency to play rushdown, and being able to air dash over projectiles or simply to close distance goes really well with such an aggressive play style. One mechanic I find interesting is that there are two different types of blocks in this game. There's your regular block (done by simply holding back), which can be broken based on a gauge in the upper middle portion of the screen. The other requires an additional button input, and holding it consumes the Barrier meter. If that Barrier meter runs out, you actually take more damage, meaning there's incentive to manage it properly. If you're feeling particularly risky, you can use a Barrier Burst, which immediately expends the entire meter to perform a breaker move that gets you out of an opponent's combo. The game also has something called the Heat gauge, which is akin to many similar meter mechanics in other fighters (hit or get hit to charge, use meter for big moves). Some moves use a portion of this Heat gauge, but the most significant of these is the Distortion Drive, which is your flashy super move. Everyone's got a Distortion Drive, each with different properties, and if you manage to win a round with it, you get a Distortion Finish, which feels nice. Despite only having a dozen or so characters, the variety in terms of play style or mechanics is solid. This is highlighted the most in each character's Drive moves, which defines their main gimmick. For example, Carl Clover's Drive has you control Nirvana (his automaton sister) to attack independently, leading to some Noob Saibot-style tag team shit. Another example is Litchi, who is sort of a stance character in that her Drive lets her fight with or without her staff. You have your usual assortment of game modes, from Arcade (ten fights in a row, get a unique ending for each character), Story (one for each character, each with multiple paths), Versus (standard local multiplayer), and Training Mode (where you can test stuff out). Unfortunately, there's no full tutorial (which BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle ended up having), so players new to fighting games will have to mess around quite a bit in Training Mode to figure things out. Aside from the unique ending, beating a character's story mode unlocks their Unlimited Form (which is just them, but stronger) and their Astral Heat move, which is this insanely flashy finishing maneuver that you can only go for if you're close to winning and the opponent's at low health. Though incredibly situational, getting an Astral Finish is extremely satisfying. You can mess around with some game settings like AI difficulty, round counts, and such in the options menu. Always good to have these handy. VERDICT: I thought BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger was a decent 2D anime fighting game that I found easy to grasp, had a few neat mechanics, a small but diverse roster, and was set in an interesting world with a lot of lore behind it. The story being structured the way it is made it difficult to get into, unfortunately, but the stuff I could understand, I did appreciate. I liked this game enough that I'm willing to try its sequels, but I'm really hoping the story is easier to parse there. I haven't played enough 2D anime fighters to say definitively that this is the one to get over other titles, but if any of the character designs speak to you, I'd say you should give this game a shot. I think it's relatively easier to get into mechanics-wise (at least compared to something like Dragon Ball FighterZ, which has a million things going on), and with this being the first game in the series, it's as good as any a jumping point if you're curious about the series as a whole. I will say that figuring out the entire story will take some major effort, since you have to play as everybody to get all the details, so perhaps you should just play who you like and look up the rest online. Get the game on Steam: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - Don't have anything special queued up this week, so I went and picked out something from the backlog that looked interesting. BACKGROUND:
I've read a good amount of Brian Michael Bendis comics at this point, but a lot of his early work is mostly unknown to me. This is one of those books. THE WRITING: Torso is a graphic novel based on the real-life Cleveland Torso Murderer, a serial killer who left more than a dozen or so victims during the 1930s and was never caught or identified. I did some searching after I finished reading, and found that many real-life details of the case hold true in this comic, from the killer's MO, several specific case details (like the names of some identified victims, and even some of the suspects), as well as some of the law enforcement officials who were involved in the case. Most notable of the cops who handled the case is Eliot Ness, who is most famous for his exploits in Prohibition-era Chicago (including taking down notorious mobster Al Capone and leading The Untouchables). Both here and in real life, he moved to Cleveland and was appointed as the city's safety director, and in this position, he made serious strides in cleaning up local law enforcement and improving other sectors such as traffic. At the same time, however, corpses of the Torso Killer's victims started popping up, which capture the city's attention. From what I read, it seemed that the real-life Eliot Ness was only minimally involved with the actual investigation of the murders, but in the comic, he's portrayed as someone consumed with the case. The lack of progress in finding the killer harms his reputation in the city over time, as in the comic, he personally dealt with police corruption and thinned the force's numbers as a result (not sure how much of that happened in real life, though). His inability to catch the murderer also draws the ire of the mayor of Cleveland, who wants the case closed for good political PR (can't find anything on whether or not this is true). Some of the things Eliot Ness does and goes through in the book turned out to be true, I found. His direct involvement in burning down the local shanty towns in hopes of getting potential victims (most of the killer's targets were from this poorer part of the city) out of the area actually did happen, and so was the backlash he received for doing so. He also gets divorced by his wife in the comic, and while I don't think the circumstances for which were ever revealed in real life, this also did happen (and at around the same time frame, too). By the end, he also attempts to run for mayor, which he does in real life. Other details that turned out to be true were the killer allegedly sending him postcards to taunt him, and him being directly involved in the interrogation of one of the suspects. The comic also follows the perspective of the two lead detectives in the case: Simon and Myrlo. They're mostly just along for the ride, reacting to all the messed up shit that happens, but they do get some interesting character moments, like a key reveal about Simon's character, and their reactions to getting to work with the legendary Eliot Ness. THE ART: The style is highly reminiscent of Goldfish, another Brian Michael Bendis comic that I read (I talked about that here): fully black-and-white art with striking contrast to make up for the general lack of fine detail, mixed with embedded scans of actual photographs and written documents. What's even cooler about the latter bit is that the photos and documents used throughout the comic are material directly connected to the real-life murders (these include actual news clippings, police documents, photos of Cleveland from that era, and more). I thought this style was a novel approach in Goldfish, and it works really well here, too. Another thing I found notable about the comic was the very unique panel layouts. Some have the dialogue go in a literal spiral, while some entire pages are divided into several mini panels that divide larger drawings up into sections. Honestly, some of these layouts made reading the dialogue needlessly convoluted, but they're undeniably memorable. VERDICT: Torso was a fascinating read to me, having never heard of the serial killer its story is based on and also never having heard of Eliot Ness's career after Chicago. I learned a lot of interesting details about the real-life case, and I was fully engaged by the whole mystery and hunt for the killer. All this plus the striking art style came together to deliver quite the noir experience. If you're looking for a graphic novel with a true crime conceit, and if anything about the Cleveland Torso Murderer piques a morbid curiosity within you, Torso is absolutely worth checking out. You'll also learn a fair bit about Eliot Ness here, and if you haven't heard the stories of his war on Al Capone in Chicago, that's an interesting rabbit hole you might want to explore. - end - |
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