3D has got to stop!!!

Since the Avengers has come out, I've gone to see it twice more, only to find myself not able to get into the regular showing as it was sold out. The second time, it wasn't sold out, but it was so full, I couldn't sit next to my friend and then it sold out about 5 minutes later (after I got my refund). While getting my refund, the girl at the theatre counter informed me that I could go see the 3D version which was under half full, which sends me a pretty clear message. If one theatre is overflowing, and the somewhat larger 3D showing theatre is under half full, perhaps it's time give more showings of the non 3d version. Not to mention the fact that there are two showings in regular (I refuse to call it 2D...because we never had to call it that before this 3D gimmick), while we have 3 3D showings. The latest of our regular showings is at 7:30pm...which for me personally is impractical, as every movie here in town is usually 9-9:40.

The point I'm trying to make, is that we are being strong armed into watching the movie in 3D, whether we want to or not. The midnight showing of the Avengers, here in Fredericton, was in two theatres, both doing 3D showings. The kicker is that the 3D in all of these movies is considered to be at it's best when it's unobtrusive. Meaning that 3D is literally making movies worse, and the best 3D movies are the ones that are ruining the movie the least. It's not fun to wear plastic sunglasses in a dark theatre. It adds nothing to the movie, and anything short of Avatar and computer generated movies have not improved at all from these so called upgrades. Essentially, we all know that we are getting screwed into paying more money, without the slightest concern about what we're paying extra for.

Why is it that only now do I stand on my soap box about this issue? I do this because I read this. Now whether you care about G.I. Joe or not, to take a movie out of the theatres a month before it's release to tack 3D on to it so it will make more money by scamming the ticket cost up is unethical, and I wouldn't be surprised if the studios use this idea more times in the future.

For all of my complaints about Nolan's Batman movies (which again, I like as movies, but am not impressed with as Batman movies), I gotta give Nolan props for flat out telling the studios NO to 3D. He was very proud to tell the media this fact, and he had every right to be.

So what do we do about it? Vote with our dollars. I'm seriously telling you to go out of your way to see a regular screening of the movie you want to see, and if they only have a 3D showing, don't see it (or don't pay to see it). The irony is that the 3D thing is to make it so that movies won't be cammed as easily and thus can help stop piracy, but for me, a person who's given so much money to the film industry, I'm done with 3D and am seriously considering going that route. The only way to kill it is to prevent it from being the money making machine that it is. I'd rather pay more for regular screenings than pay anything for 'so called' 3D.

The Avengers (2012) *Non Spoiler*

I may gush a little about this movie, but I'm not blind. This poster is absolute shit!

*DON'T LEAVE THE MOVIE BEFORE THE CREDITS HAVE COMPLETELY FINISHED!!! TWO SCENES!*

First I want to give you a huge tip for enjoying this movie properly. In my theatre, it was preceded by a trailer for Tim (One trick pony) Burton's new movie, 'Frankenweenie'. If you want to not hear someone hyperventilating and squealing with chalkboard scratch sounding bliss through the whole movie, don't sit near any remotely emo dressed girls. Trust me on this. Life is too short.

It's been a long time since I've connected to a movie to the point where I've wanted to write something about it.  Of course, I've obviously been pretty heavily invested into this movie for quite some time, based on the last few of my game write ups. Avengers was hugely hyped in my mind to be the best superhero movie ever made, and I have to say for me, it totally lived up to it.

The comparisons with the Transformers movies have been unavoidable with the movie trailers, but I can happily say that this makes none of the mistakes that Michael Bay made. This movie takes what we already know from Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger and merges it together in a believable way that makes old comic geeks like myself feel giddy inside. Also, it's very easy to see all of the action as opposed to close up shots of what can only be assumed to a giant scrap heap rolling down hill, inter-cut with Shia Lebeouf (if I spelled it wrong, I don't respect him enough to figure out the right way) running away. Another thing this movie does really well that Transformers tries way too hard at and fails every time, is the comedy. This has to have some of the funniest movie moments that I've ever seen in an appropriate way. See it, you'll know what I mean.

The fight scenes in this movie get progressively more entertaining, and when we reach our final climax I actually felt satisfied, which is something I haven't felt with the end of any superhero movie to this point, with the exception of Batman Begins. As far as villains go, Loki is pretty top notch. Tom Hiddleston is genuinely enjoying himself with his belief that humans should all bow down to him. He's always several steps ahead of everyone and is fully capable of taking over the planet to finally be the king he believes he was supposed to be. His only flaw of course is obvious based on the last sentence that I wrote though, as his arrogance is as limitless as his potential (which really makes him a Marvel character through and through).

One complaint that I have is that I feel Thor was a little bit under used compared to the others, whom all very clearly had their place in the greater scale of things. The team dynamic is obviously important as they go out of there way to show that every member has their place. Captain America isn't nearly as strong as most of the other Avengers, but he's a great leader. Iron Man is brilliant and  able to fix tech like it's nobodies business. Hulk is the big gun, in that he probably could destroy anything in the blink of an eye. This is the issue for Thor. He's not the leader the tech guy or the big gun, he's just the villain's overly naive brother. Though, it is touching to see how much Thor obviously loves Loki and wants to help him get things back to how they used to be.

Marvel Studios took a huge gamble when they started this whole thing. If even one of their movies bombed this movie may never have happened, and even still the odds of this movie actually working were even lower. This movie genuinely puts any movie with a higher budget to shame, for having better action, better effects and about 20 minutes more of it than any other movie I've ever seen. It also completely shuts me up about every other Marvel movie always having a crappy final battle (especially Iron Man 2 with it's stupid beam high five). The whole thing is a bloody miracle.

What some may consider to be a slower bit, is during the first 20 minutes when SHIELD is going around to recruit all team members, wherever they may be. However for myself, I felt these scenes were exciting, fun and necessary. Everything in this movie felt so connected to the proper Marvel Universe and the crowd was loving it as much as I was. To me, that meant it worked. Perhaps it's time some other people in the film industry realize this and allow certain characters to be used closer to the way they are in the comics. It seems to work, as most of these characters who other studios are 'making relevant for movies' have already stayed relevant for the past 50+ years just fine.

That's how I see it at least.

I give it 5 end credit scenes out of 5!

Iron Man 2 (PS3/x360, 2010)

I honestly never thought I'd be able to beat and platinum Iron Man 2 in time for the Avengers to hit the theatre, but to my surprise I found myself eager to finish this game as quickly as possible. The platinum came in one evening of non stop playing, which I'm not going to lie, is a long time for the average person out there. In 7 hours, I was able to beat the game twice and then grind out level specific trophies. This is a classic sign of a crappy movie cash in. Where Thor and Captain America were both somewhat below the line of what I would consider being good games, at least there was obvious effort put into certain things, but ol' shell head got shafted hard.

First off, you may notice that Tony Stark/Iron Man is voiced by some guy doing a Robert Downey Jr. impression. It seems to take a lot of effort to do, as he is never able to sound engaged at all and talks too slow to really feel right. The cast however isn't entirely a wash out, as they oddly enough got Don Cheadle to be War Machine and Samuel L. Jackson to be Nick Fury. They both did fine, but the dialogue didn't flow anything like it does in the movies, so the whole 'Iron Man 2 feeling' was nowhere to be found.

The story takes place after Iron Man 2...I think. Someone attacks one of Stark's reactors, he goes after them with War Machine and SHIELD. The villain is potentially interesting in that it is a man who merges with a highly powerful giant robot that was created by Stark Industries before Stark swore off weapons. This allows for Tony to have a moment of grief over having to clean up all of the terrible things that he has brought into the world. If nothing else, there is a nice scene where Stark tries to talk down the iron giant (Ultimo) by saying he is sorry that this living machine has been given such a negative view on human kind by evil men, but of course it just goes right back to cookie cutter DESTROY YOU dialogue right after.

Crimson Dynamo!!! This is what Vanko's suit should have looked like at the end of the movie!

The shock here is that the story is apparently written by current Invincible Iron Man scribe, Matt Fraction, who seriously put no effort into this. I have a suspicion that what they mean by written is that it was handed to Sega on a crumpled up napkin. Either that, or they just ignored his script and credited him anyway.

An interesting part of this game, that I found somewhat surprising is that the soundtrack is entirely heavy metal music. Honestly, it's pretty unique, and I see why you would go with metal for Iron Man but...it is trying to tie itself to a movie and then avoiding the feeling of that movie at all costs.

Truth be told, the reason that movie tie in games have a bad name, is because of games like this. The final boss fight was a nightmare as I was trying over and over again to fly to a specific spot but the camera kept "adjusting" me to a completely different spot than I needed to get to. This is a really garbage game and I don't recommend it to anyone really. Go download the demo and play it if you are curious. That is 1/8th of the entire game and the rest only gets worse.

Oh well, Avenger's month is over, and I have two little fanboy sleeps to go!

Now, I'm gonna get back to my quest to figure out the best game of last year. I'm almost finished believe it or not.

Thor: God of Thunder (PS3/x360, 2011)

I'm running out of time, as the Avengers movie is almost here and I've made it my mission to play Captain America: Super Soldier, Thor: God of Thunder and Iron Man 2 (and earn their platinum trophies) before this Thursday's midnight showing. The pinch is on as I've only just finished Thor: God of Thunder last night.

First up, I need to drop a disclaimer for this review. I can't lie. I have a huge man-crush on Chris Hemsworth. It's not sexual, but I would love to hang out, eat a burger and talk about his hammer....ahem. Anyway, for Odin!

Thor: God of War....or rather, that's the title they clearly wish they were going by, is a pretty weak knock-off of Santa Monica Studios' epic masterpiece God of War. Seriously, it even looks like the PS2 God of War games. Right away, you notice the graphics are terrible, but as I often try to advocate, as a gamer from the old age, graphics aren't everything. So let's move past that. This game is flawed in so many ways that it's pretty easy to bash.

The story honestly works with the 'movie Thor' universe, taking place before the movie, where Loki works out a plan to trick Thor into going on an epic journey and waking up a super powerful being called Mangog to attack Asgard. This all works out well and good, but when Mangog get's to Asgard, Loki's big plan to look like a hero and defeat him doesn't work out. Mangog is a badass, and a really tough one at that. Ultimately, he needs to get Thor and help guide him back from his mission to clean up the mess that he has made, while Odin is trying to stand toe to toe with the force that he created many years before. Overall, this story, while definitely not breathtaking, fits the characters well and brings me great joy!

While I like the story, there are very few good character moments, minus the loving but scolding talks that Thor gives to his brother Loki...who is a huge f**k up, but still family. Thankfully, Thor is voiced by Chris Hemsworth and Loki is Tom Hiddleston, so they both know what they are doing very well, and put a great effort forth.

Where this game falters however is the atrociously inaccurate controls. Oh man, I almost flipped out so many times when I would tap the jump button and forward in an effort to jump forward, but instead just walk off an edge. In fact, so much of this game consists of delays. I recall one battle where I was fighting the douchebag pictured below, when it cut to a cut scene of him jumping to the platform that I was on, when suddenly I just heard the sound of Thor die. Apparently, I took a hit before the cutscene started, but the game was too busy checking it's fantasy football to notice. Stuff like this happened a lot.

In fact, that was both the worst and the best thing about this game. The game is pretty easy, but like I said, I like to go for the Platinum trophy, which meant that I had to play through on Valhalla difficulty. Valhalla is the equivalent to VERY HARD mode, 'cause Hard mode is for sissies! The final boss, ol' Mangog on Valhalla is legendary for being so ungodly hard, it's amazing. The fight can last about 20 minutes and does not have any checkpoints despite consisting of 3 different phases. This means starting over from scratch over and over again. I tried several time before realizing I have a girlfriend and she didn't want to watch me fight a big glowing asshole in armor over and over again. Finally, I found some time to take him on and it took me 2.5 hours of trying and trying to take him down, but oh man, was it satisfying. This is why I love Demon's Souls so much. You will really have to push yourself to not give up, but when you do finally win, you feel damn good.

Above is a picture of Thor and Mangog, which actually ends up having both Odin and Loki helping you too, which makes it seem like that much more of a big deal.

Overall, this game is not very good, but in no way shape or form do I accept the claims that it is the "worst game ever" and that "no one should ever play it". If it's the worst game you've ever played, you haven't played many games, and you're very fortunate. I kind of enjoyed it despite it's flaws and recommend it, very cautiously, to people who like the Thor movie and God of War and understand that it's nowhere near as good as God of War. Sometimes, just playing as a character that you love makes you enjoy it. If that makes sense to you, you know whether or not this game is worth a play, otherwise don't bother.

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse (PS3/iOS/PC/Mac, 2010)

I remember the show Sam & Max: Freelance Police being on TV when I was a kid. I honestly don't remember much about the tone or even what specifically happened on it, but I know I liked it. So, a while back, Sony's Playstation Plus membership gave out this game in 5 episodes for free, and I ended up with them sitting on my hard drive for about a year. Historically speaking, when Telltale Games makes a game, I don't bother with it, as my brain just doesn't usually work that way.

Basically, the method of these games is that you walk around, observe items, pick up things and talk to people. That's basically the entire game. The trick is, you need to use a twisted, borderline psychotic sense of logic to get around obstacles. For example, a giant is attacking the city. First thing you need to know is that this particular giant loves corn dogs, and after talking to people, you realize that if you get into his mouth, you may be able to stop him. Naturally, that means that you have to fill a giant pothole with water, by convincing the giant to throw a water tower at it, then have him throw your car into it too and then have him pick up a conveniently placed truck filled with corn dog mix and shake it over the mixture to turn your car into a giant corn dog.  It's nuts.

Where this game shines is by having one of the best senses of comedy that I have EVER seen. The characters are so funny and the gags are so clever. Sam is a pretty serious detective dog character who, I'm not gonna lie, is freaking cute! Max is a lunatic rabbit who truly embraces the art of madness and random thoughts. Max also somehow got super powers out of nowhere, which the game keeps making fun of how out of nowhere this is. These guys are the best!

I really like Telltale Games' release strategy. Basically, how it tends to work, is that you play $19.99 for the season. The seasons tend to be divided up into 5 episodes and every month you get a new one. They usually average in length at about 2-3 hours a piece and always end up with a brilliantly shocking and funny cliffhanger to make you need to play the next one. The sense of humor is ever present and the stories are some of the best that you can find. Since finishing this, I have gone on to download Back to the Future, which acts as a 4th back to the future movie. As of this writing, I have finished the first 2 of 5 episodes, and have become a fan of Telltale's methods.

Overall, I have tried many times to play Secret of Monkey Island (an old classic which is probably the best known example of this game type), but my brain just never worked that way, until Sam and Max trained me on how to think outside the box. I'm gonna go back for Monkey Island soon. Give this a shot. Even if you need to use a guide online while playing it, you won't regret it for the story and comedy within.

Captain America: Super Soldier (PS3/x360, 2011)

I am so super stoked for the Avengers movie, that it's a little bit unhealthy. The thought of seeing several of my favorite superheroes on screen together and fighting a villain that I can actually respect (Loki...not the stupid aliens) has me giddy with anticipation. To celebrate this absurd excitement, I have decided that I will play and write a review for 3 of the Avenger's solo games, consisting of Iron Man 2, Captain America: Super Soldier and Thor: God of Thunder. I am fully aware of how terrible this can turn out as most movie licensed games are beyond shit...but every now and again, a great game will sneak out (like X-men Origins: Wolverine, which was so awesome despite it's shitty movie).

First off, I decided to go with Captain America, cause playing as him sounded the most exciting to me. Here's how that went.

 For those of you who have seen the Captain America movie, this storyline seems to take place in the middle of the sequence where you see Cap kickin Hydra ass. The story is about Cap going in to a Hydra facility to stop the mad Dr. Zola and save several trapped soldiers of the good ol' U.S. of A. from his sinister experiments. Obviously, the plot isn't really the important part here as it's essentially your typical save A. from the evil B. The only really special thing about it is that even more-so than the movie, this game shows off how important Dumdum Dugan and Bucky are in the Captain America story. Both of whom help in their own ways, by saving the hostages. A great Captain America moment is when he goes into a specific battle, expecting to die and hoping to buy the others enough time to stop the enemy in a different way. Of course, he's Captain America, and selflessness is his thing.

This game is barely about the story though. You only play this game because you want to play as Captain America, and this doesn't disappoint. The combat is very similar to Batman Arkham Asylum, in the respect that you are able to fight large crowds all at once, while countering from all directions. It's pretty fun. The shield comes into play too, in that you can bounce bullets back at snipers who are far away from you and take them down. It's impressive to see Cap taking on 6 guys at once and then turning to bounce a bullet at a sniper before effortlessly getting back to kicking the remaining guys around again. It is all very smooth and very enjoyable.

From a graphical point of view, the game is very nice to look at, but in a more stylistic way than a graphically strong way. I would say it's like a very impressive PS3 launch title. Which is satisfactory, but nothing to write home about. Really, the whole thing is very impressive for a movie tie in from Sega, who fails on a regular basis at these things.

It is also worth noting that the music, while a little bit generic at times has moments of brilliance. I actually was left wondering if it was the movie's score, which would make sense, but I really couldn't tell. Either way, the music works.

So lets rank this up... the music works, the story is good enough, the graphics are alright and the gameplay is pretty good. This is a good start to Avengers month. I expected apocalyptically awful. There is one problem that I feel must be addressed though. The game is way too easy. In a way I loved that, after Deus Ex, it was nice to have a game I could just chill out with and play effortlessly, but if you are looking for a challenging experience, it's not likely gonna be here. Perhaps it's because Captain America is a bad dude, but I don't know. I didn't try hard mode, so that may have been the perfect fix. I recommend it for people who love Cap and Arkham Asylum, and just want to play something that isn't stressful at all for about 8-10 odd hours.

Oh, and by the way...you totally can throw the shield and it's wonderful!!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3/x360, 2011)

There are many games that do style well, then there are games that do substance well. It's a rare occurrence that you get both. Tron Legacy has a remarkably cool look and an amazing soundtrack, but it lacks in story and it rarely gets you thinking. Still, I love Tron Legacy, entirely because it gives you a feeling that is unique. I would call it my favorite music video, and in that respect it serves it's purpose. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is pure style, and it really connects you to the world that you are roaming in, and it comes very close to mastering the story part of it too. It has a lot of character development, and a lot of interesting thought provoking ideas, mixed with the look of Blade Runner and the music of Michael McCann (which puts you in mind of the Dark Knight score, except significantly better).

When you land in a new location, be it China, or Detroit, or Montreal, you feel the mood change from wherever you were before. You walk the city streets, and see billboards on the buildings above advertising unique things that kind of subconsciously tell you what that individual place is like. I can honestly say, I don't remember the last time a world was so fleshed out for me and in that respect, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a masterpiece.

I  need to mention that on a graphical scale, this game wasn't terribly impressive, but I am not taking that as a negative, so much as a positive, which is what I believe Eidos Montreal did when making it. They decided to not make everything look super realistic and instead stylize everything...and I mean extreme style. The cyberpunk setting has never looked so good, at least, not that my eyes have seen.

Anyway, while I could talk about the stylistic visuals all day, and the overwhelming commitment to the main character's coolness, this game is a storyline game, so how does it hold up? The story starts off with you playing as all around badass Adam Jensen, who is the head of Security for a company called Sarif Industries. He is going through the security details of a very important press conference that is going to be showing the world great new advances in the field of cybernetic implants, which are already taking place in this world, but they are far from perfect. Suddenly the labs are under attack and before anyone can figure out how, Adam rushes into action to try and stop them and to save the lead scientist, his ex, Megan. It's important to note that Adam is just a man, and if you are playing on the highest difficulty (awesomely called Give me Deus Ex), you will get the most engrossing experience out of this game, as you will be very stressed every time you see a guy with a gun (which you will a lot). When Adam finally finds Megan, he gets beaten badly by some heavily augmented mercenaries and ends up nearly dead. This is where the game starts. 

At this point, Adam is now rebuilt from head to toe, without his consent. He's disappointed in himself, because he wasn't able to save Megan and the scientists who died in the attack, and worst of all, the details just aren't adding up as to what happened that night. Even though he is on a much needed medical leave, he is called in to deal with a terrorist attack on one of Sarif Industries' factories. It is at this point that he get's involved with something that leads him to a global conspiracy. That's what this series is all about.

Good sci fi to me is all about presenting morally grey issues in a specialized setting where it can make the viewer really think about it. In this story people are divided on augmentations as some think it's an abomination, while others think it's amazing. There are a lot of comparisons in the storyline to Icarus from Greek mythology, which I think is really applicable here and gives a message, which very few games bother to do.

Earlier, I mentioned that it was almost perfect for story. Where is the flaw? There are a few things wrong with the game, but to me, the biggest one is the ending. I'm not going to spoil anything but I will say there are multiple endings and the execution of picking which ending you get and the endings themselves are the laziest things I've seen in modern gaming.

There are a few things that this game did that really felt fresh in today's gaming climate. First off, so many games go with a morality system, where if are good you get good points and if you are bad you get bad points, and those effect you in some way or another. In Deus Ex, you really don't get the sense of that. It feels like the game puts you into spots where you can do a good thing, or a bad thing, or choose between two bad things, or two good things, or any other combination of that. The game just throws it's hands up and says, it's your call, and to be honest, it makes making decisions a lot harder and meaningful. Another thing I would be crazy not to mention is the augmentation system. As you play you will occasionally acquire enough experience to upgrade your body parts, and unlike a lot of games where you upgrade things that you'll never use, you'll find yourself playing differently than you were up to that point. Enemies will kill you super fast on the highest difficulty, so you need to get enhancements to know where they are. You can see through walls, or walk quietly, or you can detect which way they are looking, and all of these things, make it so that you can strategically deal with situations, without ever making the game easy.

Seriously, this game made me feel more like Batman than Batman Arkham City did. In fact, this is Metal Gear Batman. I snuck through the whole game and killed no one, unlocking the Foxiest of the Hounds trophy. If you are a fan of Metal Gear Solid, you can see that the guys who made this game were too. This is a worthy successor to the original Deus Ex, and I couldn't be happier with it. Hopefully if another one comes out they will put a little more effort into the endings, and the boss fights (which ultimately are shoot em up bits after sneaking and killing no one for a few hours), but they have created something amazing and I want more of it!