Comic Panel of the Week: Gwen Stacy is the Best

Zelda Week: The Adventure of Link Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

I know what your thinking. Of all the Zelda games to play before the release of A Link Between Worlds why did I chose this one. Well it's complicated. Back when I was a kid my friend brought over his copy of Zelda Collections, at the time I only played Ocarina of Time so It was cool that I was finally going to play some more Zelda games. However since I was still a kid I obviously preferred to play the much more current games so I play Majora's Mask and the Wind Waker Demo.

I eventually got my own copy of the Zelda collections and played through Zelda 1. However everytime I tried to play the second game I just couldn't get into it. Around last week I saw that some Zelda games were on sale to commemorate the release of a Link Between Worlds on the Nintendo Eshop. One of them was Zelda 2. I decided then and there that it was finally time to play trough it, and so I did. So is it really a bad game? Let's find out.

The story of this game takes place after the first game. Impa tells Link that there is another Princess Zelda who is trapped in never ending sleep until someone gains the 3 pieces of the Triforce and uses them to wake her. This Zelda is actually the first Princess of Hyrule named Zelda, after her brother and a mysterious Wizard tried to gain the secrets of the Triforce from her the Wizard cast a sleeping spell which also costed him his life. Distraught the Brother locks her in the highest tower in Hyrule, and declares that every Princess born to the Royal family must be named Zelda in remembrance.

In the timeline the events of the Tragedy of Zelda I must take place somewhere between Skyward Sword and Minish Cap. Although Skyloft had a Zelda, but she wasn't a Princess and at that point there was no Hyrule. This also makes me think the Zelda in this game isn't one of the reincarnations of the Goddess Hylia since I don't think you can continue to reincarnate if your previous life didn't die, and she's been alive for the majority of the Timeline as well as every alternate one. Plus she is a red head, and the majority of the alternate Zeldas which are also reincarnations of Hlyia are blond. Although I do have to wonder why she keeps reincarnating herself as members of the Royal family was she just nostalgic for the name Zelda?

Anyway I got way off topic. In order to break the spell Link must travel far and wide to find the 6 Palaces, and put the special crystals back into there pedestals. Meanwhile some of Ganon's Servants are still around trying to resurrect their Master by using Link's blood, but it's weirdly not that important to the overall plot. After Link put's all the crystals back he goes to the Great Palace  where he faces the Thunderbird who can be really difficult especially if you don't know you have to use the Thunder Spell to even damage him. After defeating the Thunderbird you find an old man who has the Third Piece of the Triforce but before you can get it you have to face Dark Link who is really easy if you know how to exploit him. That's it you beat the game, you use the Triforce to wake up Zelda, and she gives you a kiss as the curtains go down.

The difference between Zelda 1 and 2 is obvious at the first glance. The first game is a top down adventure/dungeon-crawler and the second is a side-scrolling Action RPG. That right you actually have Exp Points and Leveling up in this game. This is why Zelda 2 get's so much hate, it changed up the formula and people didn't like it. However I find it plays fine so I'm all for it. The gameplay feels good for the most part, however it sometimes feels like there's a bit of a delay when your attacking and sometimes Link can be a little bit slippery. This game also get's rid of the items from the first game so no bow, however you do get spells which can be useful like the Shield and Life Spells.

Where this game shines is the presentation. The world is much better designed then in Zelda 1. I didn't get lost nearly as much as I did in Zelda 1, and I only need to look up where to go once or twice. The sprites are pretty good, and very detailed in some places. The townsfolk while still suffering from a bit of NES era dialogue are actually helpful to you, at least more so then the Old Men in the first Game.













The biggest problem however is the difficulty. This game is the definition of Nintendo Hard. Plus new to the Zelda series is lives.Which is good and bad at the same time. If you lose a life you usually start back at the beginning of the room you were in with full health and magic. However if you lose all your lives you get a game over, and you have to start off at the room Zelda is in at the beginning of the game. Meaning you have to back track all the way back to were you left off just to try again. You can get 1-Up's which are scattered across secret areas on the World Map but there very few, and far between.

Overall it's a pretty good game. It changes up the formula, and fix some of the problems the first game had. Sadly the new formula and the overall difficulty of the game will turn a lot of people off, which I think is a shame. In all seriousness if not for the difficulty I would consider this a better game then the first game. But it's still a bit to hard for my tastes.

Zelda Week: Comic Panel of the Week

 

"Find a deep cave to hide in
In a million years they'll find me
Only dust and a plaque
That reads, "Here Lies Poor Old Jack""

Zelda Week: Skyward Sword Prequel Manga Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

I haven't done something like this since Batman Week a year and a half ago. The reason I decided to do this is because Zelda A Link Between Worlds is about to come out, and I'm pretty excited. So to start things off I'm going to the very beginning of the very complicated Zelda Timeline.

This is a 32-page Manga prequel to the Zelda game Skyward Sword that was included in the Hyrule Historia, a encyclopedia/art book of sorts that was released to commemorate Zelda's 25th Anniversary.. It tell's the story of the original Link, a Hylian Knight who the people of Hylia turn to in order to stop the invading forces of the Demon King Demise. They are aided by the Goddess that the land takes it's name from, Hylia, who gives Link the Master Sword.
























They fight back against the Demon Tribe however it is no use once Demise himself shows up. Link try's to ward him off but he is critically hurt in the battle. With his remaining strength he climbs on to the Goddess Hyila's Loftwing, and uses the Master Sword's power to send the Land of Hylia into the sky where it is safe from Demise. However Link didn't make it, and succumbs to his wounds.

Heartbroken the Goddess Hylia sends Demise back from whence he came. She then uses her powers to make Link's spirit live on eternally explaining the various Link's of the series. She then sheds her divinity so she can be reborn as a human like him, meaning that she will be reborn as the various Princess Zeldas. The comic ends Thousands of years later with the Link from Skyward Sword meeting his Loftwing for the first time.

This is pretty good. It gives a good explanation to the various Links and Zeldas, and what the world was like before Hyrule. It also set's up a bunch of things from Skyward Sword that I won't get into right now. The art work is very detailed, and the quality of the the paper is very high. I don't think the Hyrule Historia is worth the price if your just buying it for this short comic but if your a hardcore Zelda fan the Hyrule Historia is a must read! Zelda week is just beginning and I got a couple more things to cover before were through.

Comic Panel of the Week: Let's do the Time Warp Again!

Everyone should go out and read Batman '66. At least it will give you something to read while Deadpool is trapped in the '70's
.

"Attack on Titan (Manga)" First Thoughts

So, Attack on Titan. A series that went under my radar for a really long time. After hearing about how good it was from everyone I decided to check it out. However due to computer problems, and my general dislike of watching things on a computer I kinda delayed it. So instead I just got the manga, which is a good thing since It will allow me to catch up to everyone else in less time then it would take to watch the episodes. However I've only read the first three volumes so far so that's what I going to base my first thoughts off. (For those who only watched the anime from what I can gather the first three volumes of the Manga end around Episode 12)

Attack on Titan is about the last remnants of humanity who are forced to live inside cities surrounded by enormous walls due to the mysterious monsters known as Titans. The Titans resemble humans but they are (obviously) huge, can regenerate, and have the urge to devour humans despite the fact that they do not need to eat anything to survive. Despite the inherent weirdness of the Titans, they are actually very horrifying. Turning what could of been your generic Shonen into a dark Horror series. Especially in Volume 2. The part when Hannah was trying to resuscitate Franz was...just wow. I mean I barely knew anything about the majority of the characters but I really feel sorry that there being slaughtered like this. I mean every time you think things are looking up they drag you back down just to show us how doomed these people are.



But that's what makes the Manga good. The unpredictability of it. I don't know where the plots going, the series could have a happy ending or it could pull an End of Evangelion and kill everyone. But I really hope that it doesn't because once again I care about the characters, there not the teenagers from a slasher movie. But if it's one thing I think the Anime has on the Manga though It's the art. In the Manga the art isn't bad but it isn't really great either. Especially on some of the Titans. However the anime is, well I'll just let the opening speak for itself.

So in closing I think you should all watch/read this. Whatever works for you. But if you even have a mild interest in it you should definitely check it out. The Manga is currently available in English by Kodansha Comics although it is a bit hard to find since (at least where I live) it sells out pretty quickly. But if Manga isn't your thing I believe the Anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll but I think you might need a membership to watch it on that site. Anyway that's all I have to say about Attack on Titan, I'll hopfully be back with a review of Trinity War later this week but I am having computer issues. So I guess I'll see you then, maybe.

(Authors note: Does anyone else think it's weird that the Manga has praise for the Anime instead of praise for the book itself. It would be like Knightfall having praises for the Dark Knight Rises on the back. Also why does everyone think that this is like the Japanese equivalent of the Walking Dead.)

My Opinion on "The Question in the New 52"

---SPOILER WARNING FOR THE NEW 52 #1, JUSTICE LEAGUE #0, PHANTOM STRANGER #7, AND JUSTICE LEAGUE #22---

So the first part of Trinity War has come out today so I thought it was time I talked about it. Specifically the Question. Since it was hinted that the previous Question, Rene Montoya, died sometime between the old continuity and the New 52 we've been without the Question for most of the new continuity. However back in May of last year a new Question was revealed as part of something called the Trinity of Sin, along with the Phantom Stranger and are old friend Pandora that helped create the New 52 back in Flashpoint #6. This Question is an unknown person that did some horrible deed for which he was sentenced to forget who he was and all his facial features were removed. He went off the radar for a couple of months only to reappear at the end of Justice League #0.
 


During which he saves a child. Interesting to note his speech patterns are similar to his appearance in Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Strikes Again." He is looking for the other two members of the Trinity of Sin in order to figure out who he is. Despite his apparent villainous past he is shown here as a vigilante. So I guess he's a good guy now?
























Then he appears at the end of Phantom Stranger #7 were it's revealed that Phantom Stranger knows who he is and knows what he's done. They both hate each other in this issue because of the sins they both committed. However he mostly acts out of character during this issue. The way it's written makes it seem like he knows everything that's happened, and he's acting more like he was before his memory was erased. He made one more appearance so far in Justice League #22.


Now he is more like he was in Issue #0, probably because they were both written by Geoff Johns. From the looks of it he is still trying to find Pandora and the Phantom Stranger. But he has also found out someone is trying to frame Superman for killing Doctor Light, and is trying to find out who it is. So that about covers all his appearances so far. He is going to be a major player in Trinity War though, and I can't wait to see how that turns out. This Question is still a mystery to the point we don't know if he's even good or evil. So the only way to find out is to keep reading. Overall though I like what Geoff Johns is doing with the character, however I really don't want him to turn into a full fledged villain. I guess well just have to wait and see.

NOTE:  I think I covered all his appearances in the New 52 so far but if I missed one feel free to tell me in the comments if I missed one.

Comic Panel of the Week: Sonic Heroes vs. Robot Master

Must be viewed in full size.

Best issue of Sonic in a really long time.

My Opinion on the "New Super Smash Bros." and "Final Fantasy XV"

So E3 has started and I have a lot to talk about. For starters the new Super Smash Bros. trailer has been released. It look great. I like that it's going to be for both the WiiU and 3DS so I don't have to buy a WiiU to play it, which will leave me money to buy another system. But I'll talk about that later. So far it looks like it's going to be good, it has two new character the Villager from Animal Crossing and Megaman!

Capcom. All is forgiven, for now. I can't believe this. I mean it's great seeing Megaman in a Video Game were he's not a fat guy or a alternate skin for Zero. This might be the best video game news I heard in a while. This game is going to be amazing. Now on to the other thing I wanted to talk about today, a game I've been looking forward to for a while.

I was in Grade 8 when I first heard about Final Fantasy Versus XIII, that was six years ago. When Final Fantasy XIII was released I assumed Versus XIII wouldn't be far behind. Then Final Fantasy XIV was announced, It was a bit disheartening but I pressed on. Then Final Fantasy XIII-2 was announced and I thought there is no way Versus XIII wasn't next. THEN Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII was announced and that was the final nail in the coffin. It literally became the new Duke Nukum Forever. However they finally released another trailer but it's no longer going to be Versus XIII it's going to be Final Fantasy XV.
 

Now that the game has become one of the main series I think that they will focus more on development, and it planned to be released on the PS4 and XboxOne. But if your actually considering buying an XboxOne I feel really bad for you. But yeah I'm probably going to buy a PS4 and see what this game is like. It better be good after waiting six years. But yeah that's all I have to say. So far E3 has been good, unless your an Xbox fan. I hope to seen some other great titles announced. If they look interesting I might give my opinion on them, until then this is The Mystery Theatre and I don't have a catchphrase.
 

My Opinion on the "Sonic Lost World Trailer"

Get all the Jurassic Park references out of your system while you can, who keeps naming these games similarly to movies. I mean first Sonic and the Black Knight and now this. It doesn't help when the name is very similar to a very infamous Sonic Hack either. So a new Sonic game was announced a week or two ago, I was litteraly planning to write this yesterday but I got sidetracked. Thankfully, since the trailer only came out today which means I have more to talk about. So what do I think?















It looks good. I don't think it's worth buying a WiiU for but I still think It looks good. Even though I'm not getting the WiiU version, since I don't have a WiiU. I'm probably going to get the 3DS version since it doesn't look half bad, but due to there track record with handheld ports in recent years I'm going to keep a close eye on it. There is also a rumor going around that the Wisps are going to make a return which is interesting but a bit lazy. After all they've been in the last two games.

Now let me address the things some fans are complaining about. First up the game being developed by Nintendo. I understand, but Nintendo and Sega stopped been rivals over a decade ago. Get over it. The 90's were 20 years ago. This leads me to the second complain, the game looks like a mix of Classic Sonic and Super Mario Galaxy. I can see why some people don't like that but personally I still think the game is still worth playing.
 

Which brings me to the last complaint and the thing I'm not really looking forward to, the Deadly Six. The "villains" of the game. I going to call this now their either going to be natives Dr. Eggman tricked into helping him like Knuckles in Sonic 3 or, in the words of Hubert J. Farnsworth, a race of "mutant atomic supermen!" created by Dr.Eggman. Either way they don't really look that interesting, they look like they should be in a Basketball competition with the Looney Tunes. Well then other then that I'm looking forward to the game, and I hopefully be able to share my thoughts when the game comes out.

Comic Panel of the Week: Nekron Returns

"Star Trek: Into Darkness" First Thoughts (SPOILERS)

---SPOILER WARNING--- 

 So I just got back from seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness. I was looking forward to this because the 2009 Star Trek movie was how I was introduced to Star Trek, and since then I've watched some of the Original Series and of course Wrath of Khan. As well as every episode featuring Q, because he's Q. Anyway when this movie was announced I was hyped, not only because It was a sequel but because the Villain was being played by Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame.



However before I get into Cumberbatch's character I will offer one last Spoiler Warning, for now all I'm going to say is Cumberbatch does a great job. Okay if you are still reading this you don't care about spoilers so I'm going to continue. So the character the Cumberbatch play is not-so-shockingly Khan. Now I can see why some people can have problem with this since Benedict Cumberbatch look's absolutely nothing like Ricardo Montalbán however I still think he does a good job. For most of the movie he isn't really the antagonist however he get's there by the end.

Since Khan is in this you can expect some references to "Wrath of Khan," but not the way I was expecting. For example Kirk die's the same way Spock dies in the "Wrath of Khan." Which causes Spock to scream "KHAN!!" like Kirk did. However unlike the "Wrath of Khan" they didn't have the ball's to keep the character dead since they cure death by using Khan's blood. I mean I'm not saying Kirk should of stayed dead but if they were going to do it then do it. It would of been a better dead then the one In Star Trek Generations. Don't have an emotional scene where a character sacrifices themselves for the greater good if your just going to bring them back in the end. I shouldn't have to compare this to Ultima 9. The movie just ends abruptly too Spock knocks out Khan, Kirk wakes up, goes to a memorial, does the "Space. The Final Frontier" thing, and the end.














Despite how I'm sounding I did like the movie The actors did a great job, especially Carl Urban as Doctor McCoy. Seriously he does such a great job that if I had my eyes closed I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between him and DeForest Kelley. The cinematography was good, and the CGI was top notch. It did have a few shots that looked like they were made for 3D though. Overall I really liked it, if your new to Star Trek or a fan I'd say it's a must watch but I still think "Wrath of Khan" or "All Good Things" are better. I would of given this a five but the ending kind of made me change the score. So...

Rating: 4/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Hiimdaisy's Persona 4 Comic

This. Is. AWESOME!! It sucks that it was never finished.

"Iron Man 3" First Thoughts

---SPOILER WARNING---

So earlier today I went to go see Iron Man 3 with a couple of friends from work. I wasn't really looking forward to this however I was actually really surprised with this movie. This movie was really good. I'm not going to say that it's better then the Avengers or Thor but it's definitely better then Iron Man 1 or 2. The actors do a great job especially Ben Kingsley and Robert Downy Jr as always. All the characters have great chemistry, and it makes the whole movie more enjoyable.



There is a big controversy involving the Mandarin. Now before I say what I have to say I suggest you go see the movie because I can't talk about the twist without giving away massive spoilers. So if your not already aware the Mandarin in this movie isn't real. He's an actor Aldrich Killian hired as a way to blame the explosions caused by Extremis on a terrorist. So he is in fact "a dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude." So alot of fans do not like this, and for good reason. However I think the changes they made fit in the movie and I liked the twist. At the end however Killian says he's the Mandarin, which kinda makes sense but I think fans probably wanted the see the Actual Mandarin. Despite this I still liked the twist and if I didn't already know about it before I went into the theater I probably would of never seen it coming.


This movie was just fun to watch. Watching Tony jump from one Iron Man suit to tanother during the climax was amazing, however it did make the armors look really flimsy. I also kind of wish they at least tried to find a way to reference Norman Osborn since in the comics he is the Iron Patriot. I know the Spider-Man Film's are owned by SONY but I'm sure you guys could of come up with some way to reference him, I mean you referenced the Super Friends in the movie. Which leads me to wonder just what is DC Comics in the Marvel Universe. Anyway before I ramble on some more I thought it was a good movie, and a great way to start the Summer Superhero movies.

Rating: 4/5

(NOTE: The after credits scene is funny but it might not be worth sitting threw the whole credits to see. Unless your a big Hulk fan.)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

My history with comic based games is pretty bad. Of course there were good ones like Spider-Man on the N64 but there were also bad ones like Superman 64 and Wolverine's Revenge. Once I realized there were much more bad games then good I just decided to quit playing them. To this day I haven't played Batman Arkham Asylum or Arkham City. This game in particular p*$$ed me off when it was announced.


I hated the concept of all the heroes turning bad. I thought it was just an excuses to give them Fatality's since this is made by the creators of Mortal Kombat and back when Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe was out a lot of the non-comic fans were complaining about them not having Fatalitys. Issue one of the comic tie-in didn't help with matters. However after looking at some footage I decided to give it a try. Thankfully I was completely wrong about this.

See what they forgot to tell me and everyone else is that the world where every hero turns evil is actually a Parallel world. So like in Grant Morrison's Earth Two and the Justice League episode "A Better World" the heroes from the main DC Universe get called to the evil dimension in order to help stop there evil counterparts. If I knew that from the beginning I probably wouldn't of been so quick to judge this.

For those of you who are unaware the story of Injustice is that Superman kills the Joker after he tricked him into killing Lois Lane and blowing up Metropolis. Superman then takes over the world in order to force peace, with all the heroes joining him except Batman. In order to put a stop to Superman, Batman brings over several heroes from the main DC Universe as well as the Joker.

The Story mode is actually pretty good, there were times I wish I could just watch what happens next instead of fight. The strongest point of the story mode however is the character interactions which the actors make so much better. Despite this the story did drag on at times and some parts felt like blatant filler. For example the identity of the evil Nightwing(pictured above) came out of nowhere and doesn't really ad much to the overall story.

The gameplay is great. I was worried that it would control like Mortal Kombat, not that Mortal Kombat controls bad I just prefer much more fluent control when playing a fighting game. Thankfully they also got rid of the block button since I find it much easier to control a fighting game when all I have to do to block is hold back on the control stick. I also like that someone finally used Darkstalkers 3's health system since it makes transitions between rounds much quicker.

Overall Injustice is a solid fighting game. I honestly never had this much fun playing a multiplayer game since Super Smash Bros Brawl came out. This is my new favorite comic based video game, and I recommend it to any DC Comics fan. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get around to playing Arkham City, and I'll see you in a couple of days were I'll give my thoughts on Ironman 3.

Rating: 4/5

Comic Panel of the Week: I've seen this somewhere before...

Archie's Megaman #24 Review

 


---SPOILER WARNING---

I've been waiting A long time for this crossover. I'm sure I say this a lot but Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics are what got me into comics. They have been the only book I regularly buy monthly, and I haven't missed an issue since I started reading them in October of 2005. However this wasn't the only thing I was reading at the time, because just a little later I got into the Megaman NT Warrior manga.

It was at this time me and my friends started to discuss what a crossover between the two would be like. Of course we never actually thought it would ever happen. But here I am 8 years later holding a comic with both Megaman and Sonic on the cover. Will this hold up to my expectations? There's only one way to find out.
 


The comic opens with Megaman and Sonic fighting, after all this is a crossover and rule #1 is there must be a scene of the two heroes fighting each other. We cut to Wily and Eggman celebrating the victory over there long time rivals. We then get a flashback to how the two met. All the way back in Sonic Genesis, Eggman tried to reboot the universe so that he can make it easier to roboticize and take control of the world. In order to do this he needed a Chaos Emerald, however when Sonic undid everything the Emerald he was using mysteriously disappeared.

It turns out it landed in the Megaman universe where it was found by Doctor Wily. The two scientist meet and after some arguing form an alliance to defeat there enemys. They use the Genesis wave to reboot both there universes and steal Sonic's friends to create the Roboticized Masters. A weird combination of Robot Masters and Robians.


The Doctor's send the Roboticized Masters to steal a Chaos Emerald from a bank in Megaman's Universe however Protoman hears them, and the comic ends with him confronting them. This comic is pretty good the art isn't bad, and the story's off to a good start. Where this comic shines is the interactions between Wily and Eggman, it's kinda like the interactions between Past and Present Eggman from Sonic Generations but it's still well written. I did have a problem with the fact that they didn't tell us why Megaman and Sonic are fighting each other at the beginning, and I think some of the designs of the Roboticized Masters look silly. But those are minor complaint. Overall I'd say it's worth a buy if you like Megaman or Sonic.

Ratings: 4/5