In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost
definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile
games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a
mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the
biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since
1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You
see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like
myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a
keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are
difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller
support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it
for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll
be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and
frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to
whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile
Game Reviews.
Today's game is once again something I saw advertised on the Google Play store, Prizefighters. Prizefighters is a Punch Out! inspired game where you create a custom fighter, level them up and take them through a career mode, an arcade mode, and an online mode to determine who is the best fighter on the leader boards.
Control: Prizefighters is built for touch screen controls, though I would advise you to swap from the full touch screen experience to the virtual buttons as soon as the tutorial is over, because like its biggest influence, this game requires precision. You don't want to throw a punch when you're trying to block, for example. And if you've got a blue tooth controller, which it does support, that offers even more precision for a game that has you controlling a boxer in a Punch Out! style experience.
Graphical Fidelity: Prize Fighter looks like a Sega Master System style Punch Out!. It's got full color capability that a modern smartphone can display, but it has the pixelated look of an 8-bit game. All text is large and easy to read, and it looks good, if small, in landscape mode instead of the portrait mode it defaults to.
Sound: Prizefighters offers a retro sound design; all the music is chip tune inspired, punches sound as realistic as those from a boxing movie, and the voice clips for the referee sound like they were created with the same digitized techniques that were available in the 90s.
Ads: When it comes to ads, they're very unobtrusive; occasional ads after fights, and a clickable ad if you want 150 extra coins every six minutes.
Fun Factor: Prizefighters is a very enjoyable game. It takes all the elements that make Punch Out! Wii great, and ads in a leveling system that makes your fighter stronger to compensate for the lack of precision inherent in a touchscreen approach. It feels like a Punch Out! game, but with just enough to make it unique.
Final Analysis: If you like Punch Out! Wii, you'll like Prizefighters. It is a great homage to its inspiration, and a great game for mobile devices, especially if you've got a bluetooth controller.
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Monday, June 3, 2019
Mobile Game Review: Pac Man 256
In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost
definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile
games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a
mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the
biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's game is something that I saw on advertised on the Google Play store in the popular games tab; Pac Man 256. The idea for Pac Man 256 is that it's based on the infamous 256 glitch; basically, if you reach level 256, a bug is caused by the calculation of the number of fruit to draw rolling over to zero. The code attempts to draw 256 fruit–236 more than it was designed for–resulting in the maze being corrupted.And that's what Pac Man 256 is designed around; the glitch is chasing you, and if it touches you, it kills you. It is your task to avoid the encroaching glitch and still gather dots, fruits, power pellets and any power ups you can and achieve the highest score possible before you die.
Control: Pac Man 256 is built around around touch screen controls. You're swiping up down, left and right to move, and tapping for menus. It's as accurate as any mobile game can get and any mistake made feels like your fault, which is a hard thing for even some console or PC game to hammer out.
Graphical Fidelity: Pac Man 256 has a faux retro style; everything's in 3D, but it's done in a way that's befitting of a Pac Man game. You can earn themes for the game, which changes the graphics from the basic pixelated design for Pac Man, to something more smoothed out, to the Pac Mania style, to Pac Man CEDX's style, and more.
Sound: Pac Man 256 sounds like a Pac Man game. All the sounds and music sound like a remixed version of their original sounds from the arcade games and all the successful ports.
Ads: Pac Man 256 only has ads if you want to see them. However, seeing them gives you extra coin rewards you can use to purchase new skins for your game, upgrades to your power ups, etc, but you can also spend real money on those things, so ads don't have to be a thing at all for you.
Fun Factor: Pac Man 256 takes the classic Pac Man formula and ads in the "glitch wall chasing you" mechanic, creating a very fun experience. However, there are loads of power ups in addition to the basic power pellet that lets you eat ghosts in your arsenal. You can get things a laser to blast ghosts in front of you, a stealth ability that lets you slip past them, a giant upgrade to crush the ghosts, and many more. There's so many options for you to make your way to the high score, and new power ups are unlocked over time.
Final Analysis: Pac Man 256 is easy to learn, but difficult to master, just like the original game. But it's a great time waster if you've got a few minutes to an hour to kill while waiting on something else. A great mobile experience, overall.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's game is something that I saw on advertised on the Google Play store in the popular games tab; Pac Man 256. The idea for Pac Man 256 is that it's based on the infamous 256 glitch; basically, if you reach level 256, a bug is caused by the calculation of the number of fruit to draw rolling over to zero. The code attempts to draw 256 fruit–236 more than it was designed for–resulting in the maze being corrupted.And that's what Pac Man 256 is designed around; the glitch is chasing you, and if it touches you, it kills you. It is your task to avoid the encroaching glitch and still gather dots, fruits, power pellets and any power ups you can and achieve the highest score possible before you die.
Control: Pac Man 256 is built around around touch screen controls. You're swiping up down, left and right to move, and tapping for menus. It's as accurate as any mobile game can get and any mistake made feels like your fault, which is a hard thing for even some console or PC game to hammer out.
Graphical Fidelity: Pac Man 256 has a faux retro style; everything's in 3D, but it's done in a way that's befitting of a Pac Man game. You can earn themes for the game, which changes the graphics from the basic pixelated design for Pac Man, to something more smoothed out, to the Pac Mania style, to Pac Man CEDX's style, and more.
Sound: Pac Man 256 sounds like a Pac Man game. All the sounds and music sound like a remixed version of their original sounds from the arcade games and all the successful ports.
Ads: Pac Man 256 only has ads if you want to see them. However, seeing them gives you extra coin rewards you can use to purchase new skins for your game, upgrades to your power ups, etc, but you can also spend real money on those things, so ads don't have to be a thing at all for you.
Fun Factor: Pac Man 256 takes the classic Pac Man formula and ads in the "glitch wall chasing you" mechanic, creating a very fun experience. However, there are loads of power ups in addition to the basic power pellet that lets you eat ghosts in your arsenal. You can get things a laser to blast ghosts in front of you, a stealth ability that lets you slip past them, a giant upgrade to crush the ghosts, and many more. There's so many options for you to make your way to the high score, and new power ups are unlocked over time.
Final Analysis: Pac Man 256 is easy to learn, but difficult to master, just like the original game. But it's a great time waster if you've got a few minutes to an hour to kill while waiting on something else. A great mobile experience, overall.
Friday, May 24, 2019
Mobile Game Review: Slayin'
In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost
definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile
games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a
mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the
biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's review is on a game that I saw on youtube, Slayin'. Slayin' is a game built around a touchscreen control scheme, with a left button, a right button, a pause button and an action button. The action button is determinant on which of 6 classes you can choose for combat. Each class has something different to bring to the table; the Knight, for example, has a one directional weapon, but has the most defense, but the Knave has a bidirectional weapon, and the highest luck, and the mage has the highest attack, but can't jump, and so on for the other three classes. All bring something distinct to the gameplay in your attempt to last long enough to face the dragon at the end. It has a retro aesthetic in sound, and music; it would have fit in perfectly on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.
This game has plenty of unlocks, and all can be bought with in game currency, fame. All the characters, different background music, interface borders, gravestone styles for to display your high score, all of it purchased with in game currency. Yes, you can buy the currency with real money, but you don't have to; fame is easy to get so long as you know what you're doing.
Control: Slayin' is built around around touch screen controls. Things are precise, and when you hit a button, it does what you tell it to. Though, if you're like me and used to a controller with this kind of game, you may find yourself taking damage unintentionally when you try to rock the dpad, since touchscreens don't work that way.
Graphical Fidelity: Slayin' looks like it came right out of the 90s in terms of graphics, and it fits the screen perfectly. Sprites are colorful and easy to make out against the backgrounds, so you're never confusing your character with an enemy.
Sound: Slayin' sounds like a game for the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. Sound effects and music are sound like they were made with a 16 bit sound chip.
Ads: Slayin' is very good about ads. When you boot up the game, you get a static ad, and if you want to revive after your character dies, you can watch an additional ad.
Fun Factor: Slayin' is mindless fun for when you've got nothing else to do. It's simple, easy to understand, and can fill up a few minutes here and there when you're waiting on something.
Final Analysis: Slayin' is fun. It's simple to learn, but difficult to master. There's plenty of challenges for you to complete with each character, some more fun than others, but Slayin' can be a game you play for a LONG time.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's review is on a game that I saw on youtube, Slayin'. Slayin' is a game built around a touchscreen control scheme, with a left button, a right button, a pause button and an action button. The action button is determinant on which of 6 classes you can choose for combat. Each class has something different to bring to the table; the Knight, for example, has a one directional weapon, but has the most defense, but the Knave has a bidirectional weapon, and the highest luck, and the mage has the highest attack, but can't jump, and so on for the other three classes. All bring something distinct to the gameplay in your attempt to last long enough to face the dragon at the end. It has a retro aesthetic in sound, and music; it would have fit in perfectly on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.
This game has plenty of unlocks, and all can be bought with in game currency, fame. All the characters, different background music, interface borders, gravestone styles for to display your high score, all of it purchased with in game currency. Yes, you can buy the currency with real money, but you don't have to; fame is easy to get so long as you know what you're doing.
Control: Slayin' is built around around touch screen controls. Things are precise, and when you hit a button, it does what you tell it to. Though, if you're like me and used to a controller with this kind of game, you may find yourself taking damage unintentionally when you try to rock the dpad, since touchscreens don't work that way.
Graphical Fidelity: Slayin' looks like it came right out of the 90s in terms of graphics, and it fits the screen perfectly. Sprites are colorful and easy to make out against the backgrounds, so you're never confusing your character with an enemy.
Sound: Slayin' sounds like a game for the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. Sound effects and music are sound like they were made with a 16 bit sound chip.
Ads: Slayin' is very good about ads. When you boot up the game, you get a static ad, and if you want to revive after your character dies, you can watch an additional ad.
Fun Factor: Slayin' is mindless fun for when you've got nothing else to do. It's simple, easy to understand, and can fill up a few minutes here and there when you're waiting on something.
Final Analysis: Slayin' is fun. It's simple to learn, but difficult to master. There's plenty of challenges for you to complete with each character, some more fun than others, but Slayin' can be a game you play for a LONG time.
Monday, May 20, 2019
Mobile Game Review: Sonic Dash
In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost
definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile
games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a
mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the
biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's review is on a game that I picked up when my brother started pushing me into mobile games, Sonic Dash. Sonic Dash is a game where you run endlessly forward, collecting rings and power ups, dodging obstacles and destroying enemies, with a couple of boss fights thrown in for good measure. You have a total of 16 characters from the Sonic console games, though a few require you to pay real money to get access. You have seven stages to run through, though 6 of them have requirements to unlock them. And you unlock them through gathering little animals from the robot enemies, and paying them gems, one of the three currencies this game has, to complete objectives and unlock new stages and characters. You also have a multiplier that determines how quickly you accumulate points for your high score.
Control: Sonic Dash is perfect for a mobile device; swipe up, swipe down, swipe left and right, and tap to choose things. Tap to dash, tap to use stage starting power ups. No precision required.
Graphical Fidelity: Sonic Dash looks like a modern Sonic game. All the characters look like they're supposed to, all the stages look like they were taken right out of a modern Sonic title. All the text is large and easy to read.
Sound: Sonic Dash sounds like a Sonic game. The music feels like it was taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and this is no more evident than in both the Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary zones. They sound like an updated version of their original stage music.
Ads: This is the first game that I'm reviewing that has unavoidable ads. You get them after every stage before they bring you back to the title screen, and you can get extra ads for things like a revive, doubling your end of run ring count, and for an extra spin on the prize wheel. But there is no way to avoid the ads so long as your device is connected to the internet. Unfortunately, I've had instances where the ads crash the entire game, freezing it up and not letting me do anything else and forcing me to quit the game entirely.
Fun Factor: Sonic Dash is mindless fun for when you've got nothing else to do. It's simple, easy to understand, and can fill up a few minutes here and there when you're waiting on something.
Final Analysis: Sonic Dash is a great game that is unfortunately held back by the ad policy. If they would let you pay for a way to remove them, I'd say this is a must download for any Sonic fan, but if you find in game advertising intrusive, especially when the ads have a tendency to crash the game, you might want to look elsewhere. But if ads don't bother you, you'll have a good time. I know I do, despite my issues with the ad policy.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's review is on a game that I picked up when my brother started pushing me into mobile games, Sonic Dash. Sonic Dash is a game where you run endlessly forward, collecting rings and power ups, dodging obstacles and destroying enemies, with a couple of boss fights thrown in for good measure. You have a total of 16 characters from the Sonic console games, though a few require you to pay real money to get access. You have seven stages to run through, though 6 of them have requirements to unlock them. And you unlock them through gathering little animals from the robot enemies, and paying them gems, one of the three currencies this game has, to complete objectives and unlock new stages and characters. You also have a multiplier that determines how quickly you accumulate points for your high score.
Control: Sonic Dash is perfect for a mobile device; swipe up, swipe down, swipe left and right, and tap to choose things. Tap to dash, tap to use stage starting power ups. No precision required.
Graphical Fidelity: Sonic Dash looks like a modern Sonic game. All the characters look like they're supposed to, all the stages look like they were taken right out of a modern Sonic title. All the text is large and easy to read.
Sound: Sonic Dash sounds like a Sonic game. The music feels like it was taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and this is no more evident than in both the Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary zones. They sound like an updated version of their original stage music.
Ads: This is the first game that I'm reviewing that has unavoidable ads. You get them after every stage before they bring you back to the title screen, and you can get extra ads for things like a revive, doubling your end of run ring count, and for an extra spin on the prize wheel. But there is no way to avoid the ads so long as your device is connected to the internet. Unfortunately, I've had instances where the ads crash the entire game, freezing it up and not letting me do anything else and forcing me to quit the game entirely.
Fun Factor: Sonic Dash is mindless fun for when you've got nothing else to do. It's simple, easy to understand, and can fill up a few minutes here and there when you're waiting on something.
Final Analysis: Sonic Dash is a great game that is unfortunately held back by the ad policy. If they would let you pay for a way to remove them, I'd say this is a must download for any Sonic fan, but if you find in game advertising intrusive, especially when the ads have a tendency to crash the game, you might want to look elsewhere. But if ads don't bother you, you'll have a good time. I know I do, despite my issues with the ad policy.
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Mobile Game Review: Plague Inc
In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's review is on a game that I've had on my phones for a while, Plague Inc. The premise of Plague Inc. is simple; you take control of a pathogen in an attempt to eradicate humanity, though it's far tamer than the premise makes it, I promise. You play as one of 7 plagues, plus 4 additional plagues that modify the premise of the game. It is your job to modify your plague to protect itself from humanity's efforts to eradicate you, create means of infection, and finally, use symptoms in order to kill your targets. You win by eradicating humanity (or achieving another objective, if you're playing as one of the special plagues), and you lose if there are any humans left alive or otherwise not under your control.
Control: Plague Inc is perfect for touchscreen controls. It is built around taping the screen to pop bubbles in order to gain currency to spend on upgrades. Sometimes, you need to tap and drag, and that can be iffy, but thankfully, Plague Inc now has the ability to zoom in on the map, giving you precision to get to small countries easier.
Graphical Fidelity: Plague Inc is basic; they use a basic Equirectangular projection of a map, without any real detail, but they don't need any. The bubbles are easy to easily what they are; whether it's a cure bubble or currency bubble, and which type of currency bubble, it's easy to see and know right from the bad. All text is legible, and all symbols are easy to recognize.
Sound: Plague Inc has an appropriately depressing sound design; the music is depressing, cries of the people, which are done for comedic effect, are depressing, and the sounds of the popping bubbles are appropriate for what they are; a breaking glass sound for a cure bubble and a pop for a currency bubble. Everything works.
Ads: There are no ads in Plague Inc. All money they make are from micro-transactions, none of which are necessary to progress.
Fun Factor: Plague Inc offers a lot of content. It is the full PC game, complete with scenerios and special plagues. You can download custom scenerios from fans, too. There's a lot of fun to be had with Plague Inc.
Final Analysis: Plague Inc is a near perfect mobile game. There's a lot there for a low price, and it is well suited for the mobile market.
However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason. You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.
And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time. I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.
Today's review is on a game that I've had on my phones for a while, Plague Inc. The premise of Plague Inc. is simple; you take control of a pathogen in an attempt to eradicate humanity, though it's far tamer than the premise makes it, I promise. You play as one of 7 plagues, plus 4 additional plagues that modify the premise of the game. It is your job to modify your plague to protect itself from humanity's efforts to eradicate you, create means of infection, and finally, use symptoms in order to kill your targets. You win by eradicating humanity (or achieving another objective, if you're playing as one of the special plagues), and you lose if there are any humans left alive or otherwise not under your control.
Control: Plague Inc is perfect for touchscreen controls. It is built around taping the screen to pop bubbles in order to gain currency to spend on upgrades. Sometimes, you need to tap and drag, and that can be iffy, but thankfully, Plague Inc now has the ability to zoom in on the map, giving you precision to get to small countries easier.
Graphical Fidelity: Plague Inc is basic; they use a basic Equirectangular projection of a map, without any real detail, but they don't need any. The bubbles are easy to easily what they are; whether it's a cure bubble or currency bubble, and which type of currency bubble, it's easy to see and know right from the bad. All text is legible, and all symbols are easy to recognize.
Sound: Plague Inc has an appropriately depressing sound design; the music is depressing, cries of the people, which are done for comedic effect, are depressing, and the sounds of the popping bubbles are appropriate for what they are; a breaking glass sound for a cure bubble and a pop for a currency bubble. Everything works.
Ads: There are no ads in Plague Inc. All money they make are from micro-transactions, none of which are necessary to progress.
Fun Factor: Plague Inc offers a lot of content. It is the full PC game, complete with scenerios and special plagues. You can download custom scenerios from fans, too. There's a lot of fun to be had with Plague Inc.
Final Analysis: Plague Inc is a near perfect mobile game. There's a lot there for a low price, and it is well suited for the mobile market.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Guide to the Current DC Landscape: So you want to read DC Comics
So, you’ve seen the good DC movies like Wonder Woman, Aqua
Man and Shazam, and you’re thinking “Wow, I’d like to read the comics about
these characters!”, but soon realize that some of them have been around since
the 1930s, and several have confusing histories! Well, today, I’m going to
give you a beginner’s guide to getting into DC comic.
First off, start with 2011’s New 52 reboot. It was intended
as a line wide reboot to open things to new readers, current landscape
notwithstanding. The New 52 is a great place to see the origins of these
characters you’re seeing on the screen. Once
there, the Justice League is the place that carries the main storyline of the
DC Universe and introduces 6 of the major players of the DC Landscape, and,
during many of the Justice League books, Shazam is a back up feature.
From there, you’re going to want to pick one or two
characters out of the Justice League and follow their books. You don’t need to
follow ALL the stories of the League members, and if you’re curious, there are
resources like Comicstorian,
Comics Explained, and
many other places to help you catch up with certain characters and storylines
when they perform crossovers and tie into Justice League storylines. However,
beware of a couple of characters, since they require more reading than you may
desire to do.
When it comes to characters, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, Superman, and the Flash are all easy
to get into.They are full reboots into the New 52, although Superman has a
caveat that I’ll get into later. Batman
gets a partial New 52 reboot, but a few stories that came before are not retold
into the New 52. Those stories are the origin story of Damian Wayne, the
current Robin, Under the Red Hood, which are both retold in the New 52 movies,
The Killing Joke and Tower of Babel, which are not retold as movies. These all happen between Batman Zero Year and
the five-year time skip that happens after the first story arc told in Justice
League, save for Tower of Babel, which is just a character piece for Batman.
As for Green Lantern? Well, that series treats the New 52
reboot like it never happened. It just continues on with the storyline started
with Green Lantern Rebirth from October 2004 to May 2005. Don’t get me wrong, the Geoff Johns Green
Lantern Mythos is really, REALLY good, and if you still want to get into it,
you can. But there’s a faster way to get caught up on the mythos that I’ll get
to momentarily.
Now, the New 52 ran from August 2011 to June 2016. In June 2016, they revealed that, in
universe, the New 52 reboot wasn’t a reboot at all. In universe, what happened was that time was stolen
from these characters caused by the events of the Flashpoint storyline that
kicked off the New 52, which, like the Batman stories that I previously mentioned,
is retold in an animated movie, so you don’t need to hunt down the books for it. More importantly, the
Flashpoint event becomes a plot point in the DC Rebirth issue.
With that in mind, there are a couple of books that you
should pick up from the end of the New 52 run to help ease you into a few plot points. First is Superman: Lois
and Clark from 2016. This series
introduces the Superman we’re going forward with from Rebirth onward. This is the classic Superman, who happened to
be outside space and time at the moment of the Flashpoint, the man who married
Lois Lane and had a child with her, and who experienced all the events from
Crisis on Infinite Earths(the first linewide DC reboot from 1985, I might add) onward. This
is the Superman that we think of when we think of Superman.
The next book is Titans Hunt. Long story short, the New 52 version of the
Teen Titans wasn’t well liked, and this is the introduction of the original
Teen Titans, who had their memories removed of their time as the Teen Titans. They’re
full grown at this point and are facing down the ghosts of their past. This team is where another important
character, the original Wally West, will make his home for the first phase of
the DC Rebirth.
Now, the DC Rebirth initiative is the desire to bring back
aspects of the pre-52 continuity into the current one. So, events like Crisis
on Infinite Earths from 1985, Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, Infinite Crisis, Final
Crisis, Blackest Night, and the Death and Return of Superman all happened, but
many of the heroes and villains don’t remember them. In fact, save for the Blackest Night, only
the Pre-52 Superman remembers these events happening, thanks to the stolen
memories. Rebirth is kicked off with the
named “DC Rebirth” issue, which introduces relationships and characters that
have been gone, like the Aquaman and Mera relationship, Green Arrow and Black
Canary relationship, and the original, red haired Wally West that was in the
Justice League cartoon back in the early 2000s.
Now, remember how I said that there was an easy way to get
into the Green Lantern mythos? Well, that’s what the Green Lanterns Rebirth is
all about; the protagonists are brand new, barely trained Green Lanterns, and
they’re learning about the Corp and mythos as the audience is. It is a great crash course in the Green
Lantern landscape without having to go back and read 12 years of comics,
although I would still recommend going back and reading the Geoff Johns run,
which is continued into Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns series from his Green
Lantern Rebirth in 2004-2005. It is THAT good.
And that’s the thing about the rest of Rebirth too. Yes, going back and reading these crossovers
is rewarding in and of itself, but you don’t have to. All of the Rebirth
books do a very good blending of pre-52 continuity and New 52 continuity. For example, the first arc of Action Comics
Rebirth has the reintroduction of Superman’s relationship with Doomsday, the
being who killed him during the Death of Superman arc. And all of the series are like that, blending the past with the New 52 continuity.
Now, the time has come where I’ve got to talk about the
books to avoid. First off, Lobo. The Lobo introduced isn’t the Lobo fans of the
character liked, nor is he even the current one. He went from the parody of guys like
Wolverine to a leather daddy stereotype, and at some point, between when his
book was cancelled and when the classic Lobo returned, he was apparently
captured and jarred up by the villain Brainiac.
And that’s where the New 52 Lobo sits, put on the shelf, never to
return.
Next book that’s not very good is the New 52 Teen
Titans. This was not well liked by the
fans, and two of the New 52 versions of old characters, Conner Kent Superboy
and Bart Allen Impulse/Kid Flash, were not well received. Skip this and go with Titans Hunt if you want
to see the Teen Titans.
Third book that’s not considered good by fans is Red Hood
and the Outlaws. Like the New 52 Teen
Titans, this versions of the characters, save for the Red Hood himself, were not
well received by the fans, Starfire being the most glaring; she is NOTHING like the Starfire from the Cartoon Network Teen Titans series. though DC Rebirth treats her FAR better. If you really want to follow Red Hood, just
skip this and go with the Rebirth version of the team.
And furthermore, since these books weren’t well received,
none of them factor all that much into the greater Rebirth storylines. That Lobo, those Teen Titans and that Outlaws
team don’t really come up, save for a small cameo in Rebirth Outlaws book from
Roy Harper and a Starfire AI.
However, I do have a bit of recommended reading. First is
Shazam Rebirth. If you liked the movie, you’ll like this series. Second, is
Wonder Woman Rebirth. This helps introduce her current version of her origin
story, tying it in better with her depiction in the movie. Third is Superman Rebirth. Through his
interactions with his son, you get to know the kind of man that this version of
Clark Kent is. Fourth, is Super Sons,
the adventures of Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, both in and out of their
costumes. And finally, Dark Knights
Metal. The whole thing. Dark Knights
Metal does a LOT of important stuff for the future of DC, including making
Final Crisis better, explains away the confusing history of Hawkman and
Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman, and does a great job of explaining the DC Multiverse.
Don’t think that you can’t continue with the books of
characters you’ve been reading since the New 52’s beginning, though. Feel free.
These are just a few stand out series that I highly recommend.
Well, that’s it for my primer on DC comics. Check out the
resources below for more information on some of the things I referenced and
check out the youtube channels of some comic focused youtubers to help you get
up to date on characters you’re not familiar with.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
What a Green Lantern game needs to have to be good.
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
Now, I was watching a stream from Fabian of Gamerthumb TV, and we got into a brief conversation about a super hero team we both like, the Green Lanterns. And because it was a gaming channel, someone brought up what was needed to make a good Green Lantern game. And me being me, that got me thinking about how to make a good one.
First off, we take a page from DC Rebirth's Green Lanterns book and start you as a brand new Green Lantern. In fact, if we pull a page from the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, we can start your neophyte Green Lantern as an alien species, choose their gender, and choose their initial combat focus.
Now, doing things this way allows for a couple of things; first off, you're not messing with established characters, so you're not having to nerf someone like Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner to allow for a progression system; you get to build a brand new Green Lantern from the ground up the way you want to play them.
This also allows for an easy integration of gameplay and story; you've just got your Green Lantern ring, so you're entering basic training, which gives a natural way to put you into a tutorial as well as giving new players a natural exposition dump. In this way, you the player would be learning the ropes of being a Lantern at the same time the character you created is.
Now, the role of the Green Lantern in the DC universe is to police their individual sector and provide backup for other Lanterns when they are in need. Higher level Green Lanterns can be "promoted" from that job and perform other tasks, like Honor Guard, drill sergeant and a mission focused Lantern. This allows for two types of gameplay; open world and mission based. Now, you can have an open world within your sector (but not the whole universe, since the universe is VAST), and mission based, both within the sector and outside it. For example, you could be patrolling your sector as you fly through space and hear a distress call from a planet, go do your job and then go back to patrol, calling for backup if you need it. You can also provide backup if you get a distress call from another Lantern. However, once you get enough levels under your belt, you get promoted toward a mission focused Lantern, which pushes the story along.
As for gameplay, we'd need a couple of important things. We'd need dogfighting mechanics, of course, since a Green Lantern can fly through space and shoot lasers from their ring, so they'd be able to perform aerial combat without problem. We'd also need a mechanic for combating groups and mechanics for one on one combat, since this, is of course, a superhero game. And of course, since all Lanterns can fly, all combat has to function in both the air and on the ground.
You'd also need to have a mechanic on the Ring needing to be recharged. You see, a Lantern ring can get a full day's use out of a single charge, depending on the usage of it. A day of heavy conflict is going to run out of power faster, so you could implement your charge as a sort of health bar. Basically, you could use your ring's power for battle for a certain amount of time before you start to dip into the charge reserved for health. The reason for this is because one of the functions of the ring is to project a protective energy shield around a Lantern's body, so you're using the charge to both fight a battle and protect yourself at the same time. However, you can use your combat ability meter to recharge your health and vice versa in a pinch. However, when both run out, you're out of power and need a recharge.
And that's the important part; the recharge. You should be able to recharge your ring at any time, since a good Lantern has access to their personal power battery at all times, usually by creating a pocket dimension to keep it. But beware; if you're on a terrestrial planet, you could drop to the ground and hide so you've got a place to recharge. However, if you're out in space, and you run out of power, your protective energy field that keeps you alive in space fails, and you're going to run out of air real quick.
This also allows for a hub world of sorts; Mogo. Mogo is a Green Lantern who just so happens to also be a living planet, and is the current home base of the Green Lantern Corps. And after their original home base, Oa, was destroyed, the Central Power Battery was relocated to Mogo. The Central Power Battery presents a constant full charge for the rings, thus, allowing you to fly, train and level up your abilities at home base easily.
Now, for the hardest part; constructs. For those reading this who don't know, the Green Lantern Corps are able to create solid objects out of light utilizing only their willpower and imagination, and those constructs are able to do exactly what the Lantern things they should be able to do. The problem with constructs is that they're all unique to the individual Lantern based on their background and imagination. However, there is a way around this, and by simply remembering that you're a brand new Green Lantern, and not Kyle Rayner or Jon Stewart. Those two are special in terms of their constructs; Kyle's a comic book artist, so his constructs are the most creative, and Jon Stewart is a former Marine and architect, so his constructs are created as having all the parts the thing is supposed to have. But as a brand new Lantern, you'd be more focused on utility of your constructs, rather than intricacy. A construct sword is going to look like a basic sword of light, and not have all the details you'd see on a real one. However, you could implement the ability to add detail to your constructs after you've leveled this character for a while.
As for story? Well, that would be up to the writers of the game to handle that, but based on the setup I created, it would be built around the concept of rebuilding the Corps, doing the job, and the conflicts with the other Corps that you get via Green Lantern mythos.
And now, the important part for a modern game; multiplayer. This is easier to implement here than other super hero games that aren't fighting games; wars. The Green Lantern Corps sometimes fight the Red Lantern Corps and the Sinestro Corps, in addition to other conflicts. You could use your custom character to join in a conflict against them. You could also use a custom character to join other Corps in these wars to fight on either side. There would have to be a couple of exceptions, of course; you couldn't be an Orange Lantern, since there is only one, and if you're playing a male character, you can't be a Star Sapphire, since they don't recruit men. The devs could throw in events in the multiplayer wars, to illustrate the ongoing conflict in the galaxy.
But, that's my take on how to make a good Green Lantern game. If you've got any other ideas, drop a comment, but until then, stay beautiful freaks!
Now, I was watching a stream from Fabian of Gamerthumb TV, and we got into a brief conversation about a super hero team we both like, the Green Lanterns. And because it was a gaming channel, someone brought up what was needed to make a good Green Lantern game. And me being me, that got me thinking about how to make a good one.
First off, we take a page from DC Rebirth's Green Lanterns book and start you as a brand new Green Lantern. In fact, if we pull a page from the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, we can start your neophyte Green Lantern as an alien species, choose their gender, and choose their initial combat focus.
Now, doing things this way allows for a couple of things; first off, you're not messing with established characters, so you're not having to nerf someone like Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner to allow for a progression system; you get to build a brand new Green Lantern from the ground up the way you want to play them.
This also allows for an easy integration of gameplay and story; you've just got your Green Lantern ring, so you're entering basic training, which gives a natural way to put you into a tutorial as well as giving new players a natural exposition dump. In this way, you the player would be learning the ropes of being a Lantern at the same time the character you created is.
Now, the role of the Green Lantern in the DC universe is to police their individual sector and provide backup for other Lanterns when they are in need. Higher level Green Lanterns can be "promoted" from that job and perform other tasks, like Honor Guard, drill sergeant and a mission focused Lantern. This allows for two types of gameplay; open world and mission based. Now, you can have an open world within your sector (but not the whole universe, since the universe is VAST), and mission based, both within the sector and outside it. For example, you could be patrolling your sector as you fly through space and hear a distress call from a planet, go do your job and then go back to patrol, calling for backup if you need it. You can also provide backup if you get a distress call from another Lantern. However, once you get enough levels under your belt, you get promoted toward a mission focused Lantern, which pushes the story along.
As for gameplay, we'd need a couple of important things. We'd need dogfighting mechanics, of course, since a Green Lantern can fly through space and shoot lasers from their ring, so they'd be able to perform aerial combat without problem. We'd also need a mechanic for combating groups and mechanics for one on one combat, since this, is of course, a superhero game. And of course, since all Lanterns can fly, all combat has to function in both the air and on the ground.
You'd also need to have a mechanic on the Ring needing to be recharged. You see, a Lantern ring can get a full day's use out of a single charge, depending on the usage of it. A day of heavy conflict is going to run out of power faster, so you could implement your charge as a sort of health bar. Basically, you could use your ring's power for battle for a certain amount of time before you start to dip into the charge reserved for health. The reason for this is because one of the functions of the ring is to project a protective energy shield around a Lantern's body, so you're using the charge to both fight a battle and protect yourself at the same time. However, you can use your combat ability meter to recharge your health and vice versa in a pinch. However, when both run out, you're out of power and need a recharge.
And that's the important part; the recharge. You should be able to recharge your ring at any time, since a good Lantern has access to their personal power battery at all times, usually by creating a pocket dimension to keep it. But beware; if you're on a terrestrial planet, you could drop to the ground and hide so you've got a place to recharge. However, if you're out in space, and you run out of power, your protective energy field that keeps you alive in space fails, and you're going to run out of air real quick.
This also allows for a hub world of sorts; Mogo. Mogo is a Green Lantern who just so happens to also be a living planet, and is the current home base of the Green Lantern Corps. And after their original home base, Oa, was destroyed, the Central Power Battery was relocated to Mogo. The Central Power Battery presents a constant full charge for the rings, thus, allowing you to fly, train and level up your abilities at home base easily.
Now, for the hardest part; constructs. For those reading this who don't know, the Green Lantern Corps are able to create solid objects out of light utilizing only their willpower and imagination, and those constructs are able to do exactly what the Lantern things they should be able to do. The problem with constructs is that they're all unique to the individual Lantern based on their background and imagination. However, there is a way around this, and by simply remembering that you're a brand new Green Lantern, and not Kyle Rayner or Jon Stewart. Those two are special in terms of their constructs; Kyle's a comic book artist, so his constructs are the most creative, and Jon Stewart is a former Marine and architect, so his constructs are created as having all the parts the thing is supposed to have. But as a brand new Lantern, you'd be more focused on utility of your constructs, rather than intricacy. A construct sword is going to look like a basic sword of light, and not have all the details you'd see on a real one. However, you could implement the ability to add detail to your constructs after you've leveled this character for a while.
As for story? Well, that would be up to the writers of the game to handle that, but based on the setup I created, it would be built around the concept of rebuilding the Corps, doing the job, and the conflicts with the other Corps that you get via Green Lantern mythos.
And now, the important part for a modern game; multiplayer. This is easier to implement here than other super hero games that aren't fighting games; wars. The Green Lantern Corps sometimes fight the Red Lantern Corps and the Sinestro Corps, in addition to other conflicts. You could use your custom character to join in a conflict against them. You could also use a custom character to join other Corps in these wars to fight on either side. There would have to be a couple of exceptions, of course; you couldn't be an Orange Lantern, since there is only one, and if you're playing a male character, you can't be a Star Sapphire, since they don't recruit men. The devs could throw in events in the multiplayer wars, to illustrate the ongoing conflict in the galaxy.
But, that's my take on how to make a good Green Lantern game. If you've got any other ideas, drop a comment, but until then, stay beautiful freaks!
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