Monday Musings

By @hmsbeefnuts

As one weekly blog changes hands, another rises up to take Wednesday Whimsy’s place in my writing list. I’m not sure at this point whether this will be a regular blog, or if I will just use the title once in a while, but we shall see how it goes. As I have written elsewhere, my day job no longer allows for me to write whilst at work, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to find time to get any writing done at all, but I shall endure. I am still trying very hard to fit in all sorts of geeky activities, from movies, comics, books and even the occasional video game. In fact, it is about that very subject that I wish to talk about today.

Now I haven’t played a game properly since Skyrim. That was the last time a game fully had my attention, and as one of the greatest games ever made, nothing had really held my attention. But as October rolled into November, and the big Christmas releases began to storm out of the gates, my interest returned. In the last two weeks I have bought 3 Xbox games, that’s more games than I have bought all year, and there are a few more I want before the year is done, as long as my wallet allows. But lets not get ahead of things, the first game I purchased, and the one I have played the most thus far, is Forza Horizon. I do love racing games, and I’ve had a lot of fun with all the Forza series, although I have always been a bit of a Burnout man myself. Forza Horizon is like a wonderful blend of Forza and a more arcadey racer, along the lines of Need For Speed or Burnout, and thus, I am very happy playing it. The graphics are beautiful, all wonderous landscapes, The Rocky Mountains and the surrounding areas are great to drive around. The cars are fantastic looking, and everything visually is stellar. The gameplay which I thought may cause me some problems at first, has proved me wrong. Much like Burnout Paradise, Horizon is based around a huge open world, which you have to drive around to different races etc. I wasn’t in love with this system in Paradise, but in Horizon, I found just driving around a great, and at times quite relaxing experience, with the races adding the thrills and spills in between. I have spent far too many hours racing around Colorado, but I’m loving every second, I literally had to drag myself off it to write this. Forza Horizon is fully recommended to those with a racing bent, absolutely my favourite game so far this year.

The next game I purchased, and it was only last Friday, is WWE 13. I’m loving my wrestling at the moment, and had a lot of fun with WWE 12. I have to say that WWE 13 improves on last years game in every way. The graphics are improved, with the character models simply amazing, especially in the cut scenes, which are used with audio footage of past events, I can actually remember watching the scenes that play out during the campaign, the models are that good. Of course, the big draw this year has to be the Attitude Era mode, which replaces the Road To Wrestlemania mode from last year. Attitude Era takes the player through the greatest era of wrestling, with stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Mankind, and of course, the villainous owner of WWE himself Vince McMahon. The roster includes a huge number of Attitude Era legends, and a full roster of current superstars, but it is most fun reliving classic moments like Undertaker vs Mankind in Hell in a Cell, or the Montreal Screwjob. I was surprised that the game is so honest with it’s handling of the Monday Night Wars, with WCW, WWE’s big rival at the time, being given it’s due, and even when something extremely painful happens to a wrestler, the crowd chant ‘ECW’, very surprising and very cool to hear. I would definitely recommend this to any wrestling fan, and make that a must buy if you were a fan during the Monday Night War period. My only criticism would be that sometimes, the events that have to take place during the Attitude Era mode matches are a little vague, it took me a few times to work out what the game wanted me to do at times, but apart from that, this game is most enjoyable.

The last game I purchased, on the same day as WWE 13, hey big spender, was Assassins Creed III. I have been a big fan of all the Assassins Creed games thus far, although I haven’t yet finished Revelations. This is the game I have played the least so far. I think I’ve put in around 2 hours so far, and I have to say, I’m enjoying it. It is very similar to Assassins Creed games past, but if you likes them, I’m sure you will like this. The graphics have had a big overhaul, and everything looks much crisper and prettier. New character Conner plays a bit differently to Ezio or Altair. He is a bigger stronger guy, and his fighting style is more robust and violent, I even DDT’d someone, the developers based his fighting on wrestlers and MMA fighters. The setting of revolutionary America is great so far, and although I have read that some gamers are reporting glitches, as yet, I have not experienced them. I am looking forward to getting further into the game, and with a pretty open social life, at least until mid week, I am expecting I’ll get at least a few more hours in this week.

That’s it for the inaugural Monday Musings. I’ll be back Thursday, and don’t forget Wednesday Whimsy is still around, just written by Caelrona, and not myself. Have a great start to the week.

SUMMER KNIGHTS: BEST BAT VIDEO GAMES

By @hmsbeefnuts

 Lets face it, video games based on licensed properties are usually a big bag of dog vomit. There are exceptions of course, for every piece of shit like Superman 64, we have a Goldeneye 007. As we are knee deep in the glory that is AGTM’s Summer Knights, it falls to me to write about the greatest Batman video games of all time. Obviously there are two that I could not fail to mention, and don’t worry, they are included, but there are also 3 more on the list, so lets check them out immediately shall we?

BATMAN – NES

 

A  fun  little platformer that I can barely remember, except to say that it was mega fun to play. I never owned this game for some reason, but played it over a friends house a lot. OK so the graphics are nothing to write home about, but nothing looks good on the NES these days. Joker was the main bad guy to take down, and I seem to remember the game reminded me of Castlevania, which can not be a bad thing really, can it?

BATMAN RETURNS – SNES

 

The kind of beat em up that they just don’t make any more. The graphics were beautiful, and unbelievable at the time. The fighting which was fun, especially the grab two bad guys and smash their heads together, was spread out between fun mode 7 batmobile sections. Good use of the grapple gun as well. I don’t care for the movie, but the game is awesome, and I would play it all through right this instant.

LEGO BATMAN

 

You either love or hate the Lego games, as they are all pretty similar, no matter what property they are representing. Batman Lego drew me back to Lego Games after I had had enough of Star Wars Lego. They are basically collect em ups, sometimes are very frustrating, but for some reason, they are quite addictive. I’m currently playing through Lego Batman 2, and the added Justice League members have made it a little bit more exciting. At the very least, these games are dripping with Batman-ness.

BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM

 

The best Batman game released at the time, Arkham Asylum wasn’t just a great Batman Game, but a fantastic game in its own right. What Rocksteady managed to do was finally get Batman right. The combat was awesome, but they also got Batman’s brain. As the worlds greatest detective, Batman isn’t just a meat head who punches people, this game got it so right. Just bashing bad guys with fists won’t do you much good anyway, even Batman can be shot, or overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Luckily then that Arkham Asylum got the fear of Batman right, keep to the shadows, take out bad guys stealthily and sneak around being a stealthy ninja, and Arkham Asylum was simply the best Batman thing outside of comics, well until the sequel arrived.

BATMAN ARKHAM CITY

Arkham Asylum was great, I liked the fact it was kept in the sprawling grounds of the Asylum, but how to make it better? How about turning a large section of Gotham into an open prison? That’s a start. The open world of Gotham was stunning, there was so much freedom, yet things were kept tight by Rocksteady’s brilliant story telling ability, thanks Paul Dini. What the Arkham games have got so right is the mix of Batman elements that they used. The realism of Nolan, the voice cast of Batman: The Animated series, a whole host of villains and a story that escalates to brilliance. If you haven’t played this game, you must, you really must. It is the closet thing to being Batman, without having to have your parents killed, leaving you millions of pounds/dollars in order for you to disappear for a few years, learning to become the ultimate badass, and then swearing revenge on crime, dressed as a flying rodent. Probably easier you just play the game really.