While the name doesn’t roll off the tongue, there’s something I particularly like about Courtney: she’s a typical child who has rich parents but wants to be normal. They move in with her creepy great, great, great uncle or something like that. The first issue seems pretty average, and you start thinking about putting it down until strange things start happening. She discovers a spellbook and things under her bed at night. A little gremlin creature steals the baby boy she is supposed to babysit. She gets sent off to another world, and her uncle saves her. It’s what she sees and how she deals with it all that make her such a unique character.
The art style is fantastic. I highly recommend the color versions because black and white don’t do it justice. The creatures are drawn very strangely, and they are like nothing else—not gory and horror-like, yet still childish in a way. The spidery art style is similar to maybe Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, but with its own twist. Towards the end, Courtney sees what kind of powers she has and how dangerous they are. It’s nice to see her want to go back to being her normal self instead of being power-hungry, but you get to go deep into her head because the whole narrative is her thoughts. That’s something very different and unique about this comic compared to most.
The four-part series feels like a mini-adventure, and it will have you hooked and coming back for more. Courtney may be the only main character, but the writers made Uncle Aloysius so mysterious that you really want to know more about him. He seems like the cool and mysterious old uncle that everyone wants, but you’re not quite sure. The only issue with this series is that it seemed to hit a few dry spots here and there, but at least they didn’t last long. Night Things is an amazing comic for people who want something that’s not full of scantily clad women and superheroes.
Some video game comics are a bit iffy. The Fall is a whole new storyline set in Russia, and there’s no Desmond Miles this time around. Daniel Cross ends up losing his memory, but he can also see visions of his ancestors from the late 1800s. Nikolai Orelov is tasked with killing the Tsar of Russia and getting the Golden Staff. In the present, Daniel gets taken away to a secret Assassin camp and finds out his true identity.
Daniel himself is a raging drug addict and alcoholic. He has a court order to take psych meds but won’t do it. I loved how they introduced him, but he’s not a very memorable character. The comic series wasn’t long enough to allow this. During the first issue, you are just introduced to everyone and what their common goal is. During the second issue, Daniel finds out who he truly is and why he has these visions. It all comes to an end during the third issue when you find out the major plot twist and how shocking it is.
There is a special edition 4th issue that shows several years later where Daniel has cleaned up and finally meets the mentor that he has searched for for 2 years. There’s another shocking twist at the end, and without this final issue, the other three don’t seem so great. The art is really nice, and the series is pretty gory and bloody. There’s a decent amount of fight scenes, and the art holds true to the game. I just wish it were longer so we could get to know these characters more; there’s a lot that could have been done.
One thing that video game comics tend to have is a lack of intelligent dialogue. The Fall has great writing, and there’s actually reading to be done rather than a sentence or two on each page. Fans will enjoy The Fall, and the separate storyline is a welcome change. I just wish it were longer.
The Walking Dead has been a gripping and highly entertaining adventure game thus far, so now that the season finale is here we can see how every choice you made stacks up. Thankfully choices have impacted things throughout the series instead of stacking them up for the end. A few from each episode will affect this episode, but I have to say that this episode is extremely heart-wrenching and the most shocking of them all, not to mention the shortest.
Lee and your surviving gang are on their way to save Clem from a mysterious man who snatched her up. They leave their boat behind for a bit to go find her, but things go completely downhill because the zombies are in the thousands and not to mention all the shocking moments that lead up to the end. Something happens every 20 minutes or so that will make you set your controller down and take a breather and say, “How did that happen?!” That’s how great this series is. Each character is memorable and you will either love them or hate them depending on your choices. The system Telltale set up is so organic and smooth that you don’t really notice your choice caused this until you really think. That is excellent game design, but I will take some time to address issues that I have held off until now.
Firstly, the graphics are pretty dated which I mentioned in the first episode. The art style looks like the comics, but the graphics are about 7 years old. There are hitches and stuttering often which never got addressed. Each episode is extremely short, but this one clocks in at just a measly hour. Why this is a stand-alone episode is beyond me, they could have just made this series four episodes. The pacing is also all over the place. Episode 2 was probably the most disappointing of them all, and Episode 4 was lacking in the shocking moment department. There’s also no challenge in the game with this just being an interactive experience. This is one of my favorite adventure games of all time, but I would like to see some serious upgrades in Season 2.
With all that said Episode 5 ends on a cliffhanger and who knows when we will find out what’s happened next. After seeing how successful this series is I’m sure Season 2 will start pouring out through next year starting in spring. Episode 5 is very touching and after you finish the game you will realize that Season 2 will start with a whole new cast of characters. As it stands Episode 5 delivers a great ending and you really feel satisfied with your journey through Savannah and will sit back and wait for Season 2.
Marvel vs. Capcom has been a fan favorite for a decade. This version is an excellent portable fighter with a huge cast of AAA characters, tight controls, and a good number of modes. Online play is what will keep you coming back for more, but the fighting engine has a few issues that most hardcore fans will hesitate to admit.
The story is pretty much a dead throw away. Galactus is a supergiant trying to destroy the universe, but Marvel’s and Capcom’s are colliding, and that’s about it. It sounds kind of like Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, right? Ignoring the lame story, you will probably dive right into arcade mode, and the first thing you will notice is the 40 odd characters. They are all here! On Capcom, you have Frank West, Phoenix Wright, Amaterasu, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, Tron, and tons of others. Marvel’s side has Dr. Strange, Electro, Spider-Man, Wolverine, X-23, Thor, Hulk, She-Hulk, and more. These are all awesome characters, each with their own unique moves, hypers, and combos. The game is built off a 3-on-3 engine, so the game gets really hectic. I wish I could only use one character, but you can’t do it. Pick three of your best because each works off the other in tandem.
The way the game uses all three characters is pretty crazy at first. Newcomers will be overwhelmed by the overly complicated combos and controls. I had more fun with the simple control scheme because, no matter how much I practiced, I just couldn’t truly master any character. Even if you go into mission mode, you will probably get stuck on every character somewhere. The button combinations are just ridiculously complicated, and this goes for most Japanese fighters like Soul Calibur. The simple controls shrink everything down to special moves on one button, combos on another, etc. This was more fun because I could pull off crazy combos without much effort. The Vita version has a third control option, and this is using the touchscreen. This is probably for children because you just tap away at the enemy, and your character automatically pulls off combos and hypers, but it is usually the same combo over and over again.
Hypers are both cool to pull off and to look at, but not so fun on the receiving end. Some combos can go in the 50+ range if you pull off a hyper. Depending on how many of the 5 levels your hypermeter is, you can do some serious damage. Have it high enough, and you can pull off a super hyper that uses all three characters. These will almost wipe out your entire health bar. There are a lot of technical terms in the game that will take a few hours to get used to. There are jump cancels, super jumps, and all sorts of lingo that only hardcore fans will take to heart.
After you spend some time button mashing in the arcade mode, there is a whole Heroes and Heralds mode that is kind of like a campaign mode where you slowly conquer areas. You get a hit list sheet, and if you get five in a row, you get an A rank card. These cards have abilities that will be equipped with your fighters. The cards take a while to learn to read and understand what each ability does. Some will let your character auto-block, or at level 2, hyper, you can jump-cancel automatically at the cost of a bar. It’s all pretty in-depth and complicated, but with some tinkering around, you will get used to it.
The online mode is where all the fun is, and it is just as fun on the Vita as on the consoles. There is not much to say here but that it is online. Watch out because you will get your butt handed to you by most players. In terms of other modes, the game doesn’t really have any, but the online mode should keep you busy for quite some time. The visuals are pretty stunning, with lots of effects and great-looking character models, and I didn’t experience any frame rate hits.
Overall, UMvC3 is a great package on the Vita, especially with Cross-Play on the PS3. The graphics are great, and the controls are tight and responsive, but the touchscreen controls are disappointing. I would have liked to have seen some mini-games or maybe a few extra modes just for the Vita, but as it stands, this is a pretty good PS3 port. If you love hectic, in-depth, and complicated fighters, then look no further.
Witchblade appears as a manga but is presented in an American comic book format. This version follows the events of Takeru, a high school student who is drawn to the Witchblade. Her best friend, Kou, is a demon hunter whose family has had a demon hunter’s sword for generations. It’s interesting to see average students suddenly having to slay demons, but the story is so short that their personalities aren’t developed, and you don’t really care for anyone in the story.
Kou himself is weak and can’t find himself to kill anything. Instead, he spends his time screaming at Takeru to not give in to the hunger for death that the Witchblade is forcing on Takeru. The whole story is almost the same as the anime, in which the US government tried replicating demons (instead of witchblades), and they want Takeru to hunt them all down. The story has a rushed and abrupt ending, and I would have liked to see some more day-to-day stuff go on in the comics. There are only a few fights, and Takeru seems way too powerful in this story and doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses.
The main reason to get this is to enjoy the amazing art. The female characters are very sexy, and some images are borderline softcore porn. Not that I am complaining, but it’s nice that the artist stuck to the art style that Witchblade fans love. Overall, for $20, this book is a great read for fans of the anime, but it is seriously lacking in a more detailed story and characters you care about, and the ending is too predictable and comes around too easily for Takeru.
Arkham City is the successor to the critically acclaimed Arkham Asylum, which is considered the best superhero video game ever made. That’s a true fact because it made you feel like you were Batman, both in character and in the atmosphere. Arkham City captures this atmosphere but adds a ton of new features to make this game even better.
The story continues from the last game, where the Joker is infected with the Titan virus but also infects Batman. He is rushing to get a cure, but if the Joker dies, then so does Batman. The story has a satisfying ending and plays out like a great comic book would. As you go through the main story, you run into new faces in this series, such as Penguin, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, and Dr. Hugo Strange. All the characters in the game are excellent portrayals of their comic book form, and every character is masterfully voiced. Mark Hamel does an amazing job as The Joker (he has since said that this was his last role as the Clown Prince). You truly feel like you are in a comic book, and this is probably the best comic game made so far.
Exploration is upgraded tenfold here, with a large open area to explore. As the name implies, you are in a city where hundreds of criminals, kingpins, and thugs were thrown to kill each other off. It just so happens that Batman’s cure is in here, along with the Joker. The game may seem smaller than Asylum, but there are fewer interior areas and more outdoor areas, so this does become an issue. There seems to be less to do with the main story because there are fewer epic set pieces, and a lot of the game is filled with getting from point A to B. Sure, it’s fun using your grapple hook to swing around the city like Spider-Man (I know, wrong universe). You can use your cape to glide around town and do some pretty tricky maneuvers like jumping off walls, dive-bombing, and then pulling up and weaving around corners. Hell, they even give you some physical challenges based on this enhanced and well-put-together exploration system.
Don’t worry too much about being bored because there is a lot of variety in the story, and the indoor areas differ. The majority of the game is actually the Riddler stuff, of which there are over 400. There are trophies to find, solutions to puzzles, cameras to destroy, and Tyger computers, and this also includes having specific ones for Catwoman. There is enough here to keep you entrained for 30+ hours easily, but people who aren’t completionists may actually be bored quickly.
My favorite part about Arkham City is the new gadgets and the updated free-form combat system, which is the best one ever created since God of War. The combat is silky smooth, with Batman leaping and bounding on enemies with the push of the analog stick in a direction and the attack button. As long as you are in the combat area, Batman will jump to an enemy, no matter how far away, to keep your combo up. You can counter when an enemy has a symbol flash above their head, but you can also break through shields and knives and even use gadgets in combat. The system is so fluid with smooth animations that it looks and feels like a perfectly choreographed fight scene from a movie. Some of the new gadgets are a remote-controlled batarang, freeze blast bombs, and a weapon disruptor.
In Arkham City, you can play as Catwoman as well, but she only has a few segments in single player, but she’s just as fun. Her combat is just as fluid, but she’s faster and more nimble. She only has a couple of gadgets, but you won’t play here long enough to get disappointed. She has the ability to crawl on grates on ceilings and use her whip to move around buildings. I found this to be slower than Batman because you can whip something far away but have to climb the building with the press of A, so it takes twice as long to move the same distance.
The visuals are also stunning, even in DirectX 9. High-resolution textures, awesome lighting effects, and a dark, moody atmosphere that makes you feel like you are in the Batman universe. If you have the monster rig (at least an ATI 6xxx series card is needed for high FPS), you can run the game in DirectX 11, but it is extremely tessellation heavy and probably the most advanced use of the technology since Crysis 2. Even my rig had FPS drops in the single digits sometimes.
Overall, Batman: Arkham City is a huge game with excellent production values. This is how a comic book game should be made, and all other developers need to take note. With a silky-smooth free-flow combat system, tons of hidden secrets, and a very engaging story with state-of-the-art graphics, you will not be disappointed. With added challenge maps to hone your skills, DLC costumes, and even new characters, this is one meaty package. I just wish the game had more epic set pieces and didn’t rely on the open world so much as to use it for filler.
You all know Astro Boy, right? Well, probably not, since he is a lesser-known comic superhero. A boy is caught in a scientific experiment. This game is based on a 3D movie that will come out soon. The best Astro Boy game is by far Omega Factor on the GBA, and I have to say, from looking at the screenshots for this game, I thought it would be much like that aforementioned, but it’s just another movie tie-in cash cow.
Everything starts off great with Toby flying through the air using his laser, guns, and various other weapons. Killing enemies gives you orange orbs that charge your special meter, and these can be stacked up to ten. Using the latter moves using one of those bars, even healing. That sounds great and all, but the game relies on this way too much, and you deplete your special bars way too fast. Most of the enemies are hard to kill, even from the start, so what do you do? Use your laser or punch them. The problem with punching is that it’s slow and unresponsive since you can’t punch while moving. Once you hit the button, Toby stops dead, and you have to wait for the whole animation to play out. Not a very good thing in a fast-paced game at all. If you think that breaks the game, the jumping is even worse. Using a double jump makes Toby fly in one direction instead of just double jumping. Single-jumping is slow and pathetic, like you’re on the moon or something. This makes instadeaths constant and very frustrating.
While the story has potential and the game looks and sounds good, the game is killed by the terrible controls and badly thought-out design. You can upgrade your powers, but you probably won’t get far enough to do that before hurling the game out the window. Astro Boy is supposed to be fast-paced and fun, but all we get is a sluggish, hard, unresponsive borefest. Think of a delicious-looking piece of candy. It looks yummy, has a great color, and shines on it, and when you bite down, it tastes like vomit. That’s Astro Boy in a nutshell. If you really liked the movie, just go play Omega Factor on GBA or even the other mediocre Astro Boy that came out a few years ago on the PS2.
Afro-Samurai is just one of those comics or cartoons that you never really hear of until it’s a video game. Afro Samurai is about a samurai named Afro who is trying to find the #1 headband from the person who killed his father. Anyone who holds the #1 headband becomes a god, and only the #2 bearer can challenge #1. While the story has interesting developments and great characters, the game is mainly focused on combat. Afro and Ninja Ninja are voiced by Samual L. Jackson (you may have heard him as Officer Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas), along with Justice, voiced by Ron Perlman (of Hellboy fame).
There are a lot of elements to the combat in AS, but the whole thing becomes very monotonous after a few levels. You have three basic attacks: light, heavy, and kick (along with jumping). You also have focus attacks (which slow downtime), and if you hold either heavy or light, you instantly slice the enemy to bits. Not all enemies can easily succumb to the focus, so some will have to be weakened before using it. There is also a parry technique in which you can “mount” an enemy and slice their head off. Parry is essential to most boss fights (more on those later) and to staying alive.
While the combat is very satisfying only because of the sheer amounts of gore that are spilled, it does become very repetitive. There are combos you can learn, but they aren’t really necessary since you can just button-mash most of the time. I particularly loved the gore since it isn’t canned and any part you slice off will come off. If you slice just the toe that comes off, slice a piece of a guy’s skin, it comes off. The whole theme is very mature, with lots of cursing, sexual innuendos, and nude polecats. Yes, nude female samurais—nothing’s hotter than that. Anyways, there are some platforming sections, but this part of the game is somewhat flawed since Afro likes to stick to things a lot, and the controls for this can be somewhat unresponsive. Controls for combat are spot on, but they seem to become sluggish and sticky when you’re platforming.
Another great aspect (that I’m glad more developers are doing) is that there is no HUD. Just like in games such as Dead Space, everything depends on your main character to tell what’s going on. The more Afro glows red, the closer you are to dying when your focus is charged up. Afro’s pendant sparkles, and that’s pretty much all you need. You do level up and learn new focus moves such as bullet slice (reflect and slice bullets in slow-mo), mounting, etc. There are some different enemy types, but there could have been more. You’ll see a lot of the same ones halfway through the game, and it tends to add to the monotony.
Enemy AI is actually pretty good, and you will have a challenge fighting off enemies by the dozens. Thankfully, Afro is fully equipped to take on all these baddies. Combat doesn’t tend to get too frustrating until you get to bosses, since the windows for attacking are so small that it takes so much patience to kill them. While your character does level up, it doesn’t really make a difference since it’s all set on auto. The game is fairly short, clocking in at about 4-6 hours, depending on how you play the game and your skill level. There is zero replay value since there are no extra modes you unlock or anything. I just highly recommend Afro Samurai as a fun weekend rental.
If no one knows much about Conan, there are a few things you should know. He is not a comic superhero (he does have comics, but that’s not his origin), and second, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the best Conan ever. The story is not exactly great, but it revolves around Conan mythology, where he seeks the four pieces of armor to defeat Graven, who has put the Black Death upon the world. The game’s story is nothing special or interesting, and the only thing that keeps you hooked is acquiring new abilities and seeing the cool levels.
The main focus of the game is the combat, which is pretty satisfying and fun. You have heavy and light attacks, a grab, the ability to throw weapons, and the ability to use magic. You can have different fighting styles by picking up different weapons, such as double-handed weapons, dual-wield swords and shields, or single swords. Each of these has its own set of attacks you can acquire by upgrading. There are tons of attacks, and you may not even acquire all of them by the end of the game. The combat, ironically, is also the most flawed part of the game because there is no counter-attack button; enemies will wail at you and kill you without having some sort of shock wave-type attack to knock them away, plus the heavy enemies can be really cheap. You try to attack them, and they’ll block, but there are no block-breaker attacks that are effective. You can grab small enemies and do as you wish with them, such as take their weapon and slice them in half, take their shield, etc.
The magic system is only used when you’re in dire need of help. You have four attacks over the course of the game, yet they seem to use too much energy, so you’re left dry after a few attacks. You can increase your health and magic by finding three circles on the ground and stabbing them. These can sometimes be hard to find, so hopefully you have enough health to survive through the course of the game. While the combat is fun, it still has its frustrations, as I pointed out, but it’s nothing you can’t handle.
Now that we have the core of the game put aside, let’s talk about visuals. The game has great graphics, yet they look like plastic. The characters have low-res textures, and everything just looks like it’s made of plastic. The game has pre-set camera angles, like in God of War, so you don’t have to worry about fighting the camera. The game has lots and lots of buckets of blood and guts and lots of…mammaries. Yes, there are nude women in the game, and these come in the form of helpless maidens. Conan must find them chained up in places and free them. They yell things like “Crush me with your love!” “I didn’t think my savior would be so…strong.” and “My clothes! Where are my clothes?”. While this may be corny, it’s still hot, and you’ve got to love it.
Speaking of God of War, the game has a lot of similarities to that game, such as a giant dragon fight inside a building (think of the first boss fight in Chains of Olympus (PSP), a giant squid on a boat (think of the Hydra in God of War (PS2)), the fixed sweeping camera angles, lots of blood and guts, nude women, a buff overaggressive hero, a sexy heroine he has to save, wow, the list just goes on and on. I think a certain developer tried making a God of War clone, and it’s written all over Conan’s Neanderthalian face!
No matter, the game is pretty fun, and you’ll appreciate these similarities. The achievements are easy to unlock, and there is an incentive to play through them again thanks to those, but the game is extremely short, with a playtime of 6–8 hours, depending on how slow or fast you are. I highly recommend Conan if you can look past the many bugs (collision detection issues, invisible walls), combat flaws (no counter-attack, wailing enemies), and nude women (well, I’m sure you can handle that). Plus, did I mention the long load times? Every time you die!!!
I’m not really a comic book person, but when a good game comes along, I won’t pass it up. UD is probably the only game ever made that lets you jump 300 feet in the air. Jump over skyscrapers, grab cars and use them as steel fists, battle giant mechs, grab on the copters, and bring them to the ground. UD pulls this off superbly, but not perfectly. The main problem with UD is the extreme difficulty. The difficulty is unbalanced, so you’ll get an easier mission than an impossible one. The enemies just won’t let up at all. You’ll have 10 mechs come after you, shooting missiles and whatnot, and after a few minutes, you’re dead. This will make some people just give up (such as myself).
The game has a pretty decent story, but it’s nothing too special. You are Bruce Banner, who tries to tame the Hulk inside of him by partnering up with a scientist and getting various parts to build the machine to do the latter. Some missions have you protecting things, some have you destroying things, and some have you fetching things. That is pretty much all the missions are about. The combat is really rewarding and awesome. You have to use a basic attack, but combos with these will do massive damage, along with grabs and slams. You can buy new upgrades after you unlock each chapter.
There are 50+ moves, and they are all different. Some vary from being able to grab and throw things while running to jumping on copters and bringing them to the ground. This would be even more fun if there was some sort of block or counter button. You have to take all the damage that is sent at you unless you purchase moves that send missiles flying back and whatnot. You can run up buildings and fly over them to get healthy, but you’ll be doing this more than fighting, and it’s so annoying. While the initial introduction of flying all over the place, jumping as high as a plane, and being able to utterly destroy a whole city is fun, it gets old kind of fast because that’s all you do in this game.
You do have mini-games you can play, but they are pretty lame and boring. You can use a pole to smack enemies as far as you can in one, race, float and land in the middle of a giant ring, rescue people, etc., but they just aren’t as fun as they sound. Hulk fans will be able to unlock artwork and whatnot through pickups in the game, but this still doesn’t save you from fighting the difficulty. The graphics are nothing special. This is a 2003 game, so it looks pretty bad compared to today. If you can stomach the high difficulty, then pick this up. If only this game were easier, I would have been able to finish it.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Yep! The fact that I forgot about this game until you made a comment proves that.