Batman Arkham Knight *Possible Spoilers*

What can I say? I'm a huge fan of Batman though really I'm a mega fan of Catwoman and Poison Ivy; anyway recently I got my hands on the delightfully and well anticipated Batman: Arkham Knight and yes my review does appear a bit late but what can you do when you are so into a game your hands near become glued to the controller?

So I will avoid as many spoilers as I can but just in case I can't control myself I'll be slapping a spoiler warning label on this bad boy.

Now to start out I loved the Arkham Asylum and City games but I was a little disappointed with Origins but what I did love was how Arkham Knight stuck to the same controls as City. The graphics certainly got boosted to an outstanding visual that is beauty in every form. The city appeared as gloomy as you'd expect it to be after the evacuation of over 6.3 million Gotham residents. The city was alive with it's famous dark themes and even had some retro look to it with the almost like 1950s posters and other pieces about the city.

The characters themselves move in natural fashion; from Batman's tough guy walk to the way the ladies sashay their hips. The first one of the villains you meet face to face is Poison Ivy and the design they gave her was perfect to her look. Honestly I thought the other look with her hair nearly jutting straight back like she was in some wind tunnel too long looked a bit awkward and funny but with this style she looked much more 'humanoid-plant' and not hurricane victim. Each voice actor played their parts beautifully in capturing the character's mood and position. When you're driving with Poison Ivy as your passenger since the bat mobile is a bit hard to steer, in my opinion, she comes out even questioning who taught Batman how to drive.

Scarecrow himself as we've seen in trailers and now the game looks so creepy now that it certainly fits his scare and fear persona to a point in the beginning when you have that fear scene it made my heat beat fast. And aside from Poison Ivy or Scarecrow the other characters had beautiful upgrades to their look making them appear like I could bump into them on the street they appeared so realistic. The skin had texture, the rain made Batman's suit wet and shiny from the water... there is so much I could go on forever.

Now what I did love most was the integration of the batmobile, and it was very useful too from using it as a fast driving means to get around on the streets to turning that puppy into a badass tank. But with all honesty I'm not too great a driver and at least the driving was not as bad as something like in Watch_Dogs. Don't even get me started on that game... Anyway, as I mentioned before the combat system was just like the Arkham City game which I still have and love. but because they stuck to that it made it far easier for me to get used to the buttons again because they were the same.

With the enemies one I believe is new was the ones who charge at you to tackle you to the ground. They are fairly easy to dodge; just watch for the red warning mark over their head and get out the way. Yet Batman brings in the devastating and brutal attacks we know him to have and I believe I get why the game had to be kicked to an M rating. There is a part where the Batmobile is used and shoots 3 men with bullets. Yes Batman actually killed three men with his car. (I thought he was against bullets and guns or killing people... hmm).

The game is fairly open world and gives you side quests like the others but organized them in a wheel to make it easier to pick from even showing a graphic about what your objective mission is. From Murder mysteries, hostage rescues, and more are there to let you move away from the main story and explore the open world of Gotham City. (Tip: to gain upgrades to your gear try doing some of the training so you become a master of that weapon and gain some points). Of course speaking of quests you also get a loaded arsenal of weapons from different batarangs to the exploding gel, and later a certain upgrade I thought was really nice but I'll avoid spoiling that for you aside from you get it about 3-5 missions into the game. The suit upgrade even leads to new amazing take downs and helps you deal heavier damage while taking less from normal hits. (Didn't seem changed with the bullets really).

The Batman Arkham game is living up to the hype of it, except for the PC launch, which was crashing and bugged so bad that Steam and the company took the game down. I honestly felt bad for the PC players who had to endure such an annoying hassle with the game and if they didn't also have it for console they were stuck to wait until it was fixed up, but the game on the consoles was playing smoothly and it felt like the fact recent PC versions of any game are coming out almost unplayable at times indicates that more work is going into certain aspects or platforms but the same attention to detail is being overlooked.

Either way if you have an Xbox One or Playstation 4, I recommend picking up the game. If you have a PC or are a pure PC gamer then waiting until everything is fixed then buying it would be best so you don't deal with the hassle the launch players had. I give the Arkham Knight game a 9.1/10 now this is because the upgrades at times and certain aspects felt unchanged or they felt in someway a touch clunky or awkward. Yet the game is a good buy if you're a big fan of the series.

[Game Over]

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

On May 19^th, a wonderful and very exciting game was released. Donning two swords, one of Silver and the other made of Steel your quest as a Witcher begins once again but this time you’re at first hunting down your first lover and technically canon lover, Yennefer of Vengerberg. Now one thing I do wish to start off with is a shout out thank you to CD Projekt Red for the lovely DLCs they are bringing out for free. I personally loved the Alternate Outfit for Yen, very detailed and elegant.

One thing I certainly enjoyed about the Witcher was that once I was set to my own devices I was running around doing small contracts, jobs and just killing monsters to get look; some good, some bad. The graphics are actually very good, though still not as splendid as on the PC version I’m sure but the game plays very well and luckily I did not run into a bug that some others were dealing with on the Xbox and PC versions where they couldn’t save.

Speaking of graphics, the fact that the creators took the time to even put environmental changes, wind blowing physics and other aspects makes me appreciate the time and effort they put into it. I for one enjoyed the Qwent Card game, literally I was addicted and began running all over trying to win every card or just buy them. In Qwent the first card you get is Yennefer, she’s the first hero card you get and then you have others like Triss, Geralt, Ciri, and more coming into the mix. Being I’m a strategy type player, I found this game to be a perfect way to relax after killing a contract monster. Sure perhaps some thought it was a waste of time but it was merely an escape put in to get away from hacking off limbs or slicing bandits in two.

I felt it was nice to have returning characters though some I wished didn’t because my previous thoughts on them lingered heavily from Witcher 2. Speaking of previous games one thing I realized was the outstanding graphic scale that made it from bland and a bit boxy in from the first game to being detailed to a point the brows moved, expressions weighted heavily as a factor in this game and despite them saying Witchers don’t have emotions it’s clear to see Geralt still has some humanity in his bones.

Now for a long time I heard people saying the game felt padded and focused too much on ‘Find Ciri’, well perhaps that is true but that’s why you have all the side activities so not to get bored. You wanna branch from the story? Go ahead because some if not all side missions will somehow tie in, like when you’re playing the mission the main one to find Ciri’s trail you have no direct place to go to or follow you pretty much are set to just go explore and find what you want to not immediately be told you must go here, you have no choice. No that mission gives you a choice by letting you see the expansive world before being locked into a mission. 

The Massive map shows how much there is to do in the Witcher.

There is a lot to do here but one thing I couldn’t get off the top of my head was why was leveling up so difficult? The side quests gave me little to near no experience points so it took me forever to get to level 21 which I’m on when I was currently writing this, but I’m getting level 30 missions and armors shoved into my lap unable to use them until I get to a certain level. Oh what a lovely crossbow! Oops that’s level 35 weapon and you’re only level 16, guess you better save that coin and run around like mad to get to that level chap. The leveling system felt entirely more of a burden than anything hindering me from using the better weapons and armor, took forever to get ability points (or were they skill points).

Which the creators had tried to be solved with those ‘Places of Power’; yes let me kneel before a rock for one skill point. And another thing: Why was it so difficult to find certain herbs among the wild that forced me to have to buy it from an expensive herbalist? I wanted to make a potion that required some rarely found herb then had to go pay like 200 coin for it. I felt like I was being cheated there because I wanted coins for a few other things and yes one was the Qwent Cards but the other was to ensure I could always repair my weapons or get new ones, craft armor and swords yet when I’m forced to spend money on an herb which should be found in the wild it makes me scratch my head a bit.

Just saying: Sorceresses Cat fight over Geralt...

But in the end I felt the story was very well done, also another thing I didn’t get. Geralt falls two feet from the ground and loses like a chuck of health, a monster hit him? Tiny dent of health gone; what has Monster hunting made Geralt intolerable to tripping? I feel much safer with a Witcher looking like Peter Griffin with a scuffed knee. I also certainly wanted more Ciri time and felt her parts were a bit short for my liking but they were a nice cut away from Geralt and we got to experience her travels from being chased by the Wild Hunt, and how her bloodline is really not a blessing but a big curse because everyone except Geralt and his friends treat her like nothing more than a weapon or piece of treasure. Perhaps if she had more parts in the game we’d really get the understanding of how her travels made her feel.

From playing this game I certainly say it outshines other RPGs I’ve played recently to a point I’ll probably be playing this over and over until either my Xbox One dies or the CD itself bursts into flames. Though I did appreciate that CD Projekt Red gave us the sound track, map and stickers though the stickers were cheaply made and the wolf image came off in the first hour of me having it. Yikes. I thought the map they gave was very colorful and a delight to put on my wall but what topped it off was the letter each player who bought the game got from them thanking us for buying it and they have every right to thank the people who buy their games because without us they wouldn’t have jobs.

There’s no micro transaction bullcrap, which in my opinion was an outstanding bonus because it’s become some trend with other companies. Yet every game has its issues, and with all honesty being the game was that massive in scale I was expecting a lot of glitches and bugs but really I got none and it played smoothly for me. If I were to rate it I’d say a 9/10 only because the story needed more Ciri to make me understand her side better. I felt a little blocked from her. We see her as a kid then poof, young woman on the run. I didn’t feel very much connected to her until she found Geralt. But I won’t spoil anything for you, go out and get the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt then enjoy killing monsters, romancing hot Sorceresses, and exploring a big open world.

Mortal Kombat X Review

Well on April 14th the users of Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC were graced with the new installment of Mortal Kombat. Most of the story and bits of content was kept truly hush hush but still Netherrealm leaked information by accident by displaying information about the kombat packs showing that some characters were in fact going to be playable. Now keep in mind everyone was apparently supposed to read the comic books before the game. In my opinion though, I feel that was lazy and an excuse to not give us a worthy Storyline that felt rushed, giving the good guys an excuse to be over-powered while the bad guys were weak at best.

I felt in the game there should have been more content to a 3-4hr long storyline. Not everyone has time or money to read the comics and were left feeling empty and like their $60 went to some waste. (I feel worse for people who paid 160+) Now keep in mind the online modes and towers are very fun to play but the factions feel a bit half baked. Something I would have liked was even more playable characters. Sindel, Kabal, Striker and the others who make only a cameo appearance could have been a delight to MK fans to have and play as.

I mean yes each character has a delightful 3 variation variety to pick from; my personal favorite being hard to pick between Ravenous or Piercing variations on Mileena, but I would have loved to seeing the cameo characters making an appearance being playable. What I want to address though is the fact the storyline felt like it was more about the Spec Ops than anything with Outworld or Netherrealm. The Rebellion could have gone on longer and honestly Kotal Kahn was beaten by Kung Jin that shows right there he's a horrible leader to be beaten by a partly egotistical hard head.

Notice also for me I felt the story was predictable. They showed Shinnok in the first chapter, that just says 'Oh and yeah he'll be your final boss'. During Kung Jin's chapter it was painfully easy to see D'Vorah not like Kotal trusting the Earthrealmers (DingDingDing that made her predictable) and tried to make him not trust them. Another thing I noted was how no matter what setting you put the kombat difficulty on it always seemed too hard for newbies playing even on 'Very Easy' I was watching as my friend, who never played MK in his life struggle because in the story mode the opponent was fighting no where near 'Very Easy' but on Medium to Hard.

Leaving a difficult story mode fighting like that for new comers might in turn; turn them off to the series.

But fear not, though the story line was lacking in many aspects the rest of the game makes up for it. I enjoyed the Krypt, even with the minor FNAF attempt jumpscares that you kill the attacker and get koin. The fact I could run around in first person unlocking things, finding items and more was so much more fun than buying the microtransaction of 'Unlock all Krypt Chests' for $16. I loved the graphics on my Xbox one where things felt more realistic as they can get in a weird world like the Mortal Kombat verse.

What I didn't understand though was... why did Netherrealm Studios include the 'Kutie' icons? I felt like each time I opened a chest or something with one my koins were wasted but when I got new Fatalities, and Brutalities I was jumping to cloud nine. I loved how when you first come to the krypt as well that if you aren't used to the jump scares that were rarer in MK9's krypt you'd be sitting there jumping and screaming like a 1940's woman when she saw a mouse. (Eeek!)

Now the towers are fun too, I loved the Living towers, that were daily, premium, and hourly. I spent more hours playing through towers than anything else on the game. By the end of the story mode I wanted to borrow Mileena's sais and perform her Hara Kiri. The hardest tower unless you are one of the top MK players in the universe is the survival tower. You have to fight and remember to block dodge and beat the crap out of your opponent while retaining most of your health because what you're left with is what you take with you.

What else was a great aspect? The new Character models. I loved Mileena's new lips. She looked more like half Tarkatan and Edenian. Male character models didn't look like walking ken dolls with wide chests, and shoulders, while the females didn't look like pixel blow up dolls with too much jiggle effect. And yes I bet most of the fanboys are sobbing that 'I can't see no booty' or 'they scaled down on the female sexiness'. Please children leave the room the adults are talking.

Anyway my over all score for this game is a 8.5/10 only because the story was lacking but what kept it a float was the towers, online and krypt. It's not an 'OMG must have' but I certainly say pick it up if you're a big fan.

Next: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review

Micro-transactions in Games: Corporate Greed

Recently, there have been a few games that have Micro-Transactions. Yes the game company wants you to pay more for content that is most likely already on the disc or in the Downloaded coding. What I wish to inquire is why is this becoming a thing in gaming? Isn't it enough we pay you $60-$200 or more dollars for your games? Apparently not.

One game I mentioned some months ago that started with this was Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Unity. Which was a basic insult to gamers. We were given all this super hype for a broken game that was bugged, glitched and down right creepy at times...

But what I don't get is why is Micro-transactions becoming a thing now? Just recently the Mortal Kombat X came out on April 14th for the Xbox One and Playstation 4 but guess what? If you didn't Preorder you didn't get Goro but then they shove that detail in your face with the 'Press X (or whatever) to purchase Goro'. Then why is there the option for 'Easy Fatalities' started at $0.99 to $4.99?

Netherrealm Studios what are you doing?! Don't go with the Micro-transaction train. Your Mortal Kombat (2011) was amazing, it sold so well especially when you brought out the 'Komplete' edition and you didn't have Micro-Transactions back then hidden away in the back corner for us to discover. I mean look at this:

What is this? Why are companies doing this? Why do they want us to shell out more money? I mean it's hard enough to afford every $60 game and now we have to pay more? I don't care if it's even a penny more this trend has to stop. People were happy as ever when the teaser trailer debuted only to find out this? They the other characters are literally ON THE DISC that they have locked away with some 'lock code' that we are then forced to buy that code for $20-$30 which is basically saying what we bought the very game for was not enough. This is becoming a very gross trend that is honestly is making me and perhaps some other gamers out there wonder what happened to the good old days where there was not DLC, Expansions were mostly for the PC, Micro-Transactions were solely on the Mobile games. What happened to that simpler time? Honestly I miss the Playstation 2 Era which was by far one of; in my opinion, the best of the generations. Games were straight forward, no DLC coding locks; none of that. Now we have company corporate leaders saying they want more money.

They practically want to put a vaccum in your pocketbook, purse or wallet and suck every penny out of it and the more people LET THEM do it the more they will continue. I can't stand how the gaming company is becoming money greedy monsters. I don't like seeing companies say give me more, and we'll give you easy fatalities or pay five dollars to unlock a character already on the disc. Putting the character already on the disc then waving it in our faces that we have to buy him is like waving a steak in a starving lions face and saying he has to fork over his pride lionesses for it. This has got to stop and the only way it will is with the voice of the gamers. WE give them their paychecks, WE keep their lights on, WE need to be heard. No more Micro-Transactions, your DLCs were enough already but this trend is going on too much and it has to end.

Unlock all Krypt items? What happened to actually going through and having fun? You want me to for out $16 (Or what you see on the image) for something I could instead have fun doing? Wow, that slap hurts. Anyone who buys the Easy Fatalities or Unlock all Krypt stuff, you should be ashamed for letting the bad behavior of the gaming companies continue to act greedy. Stop completely fattening their wallets you'll only continue this trend into other games you love. Next thing you know it'll be like the next Mario game you have to pay $20 to play as Luigi. (And no Nintendo I'm not paying you because I don't do the blogs for money, that's another act of greed).

If this continues I'm sure soon enough the gaming company will slowly fall on it's face. You thought that E.T game was what almost killed gaming? Careful Game companies, you might just end it all with your bad choices.

Stop it

Yu-Gi-Oh Pendulum cards

I'm a nerd; I'll admit that with pride but something I can't get my head around is why Yu-Gi-Oh! has Pendulum cards now. The system itself is broken and using a deck like that against the ones before it is like pinning Exodia against Joey Wheelers first deck with nothing but monster cards in it. game over and quick.

See this is how Pendulum works:

The cards are both spells and monster cards. the top effect box is for the spell aspect and the bottom is the monster effect or detail if the monster is 'normal' or with no effect.

now on each card you have a red and blue symbol and say you have on that is a 9 and the other is 1. well if you play them in the pendulum spell zones they become spells and now you have a 1 one the left and the 9 on the right. you are now able to Pendulum summon cards ranging from levels 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Now you're probably wondering 'how's that broken? it seems great,' yeah if you don't like a challenge. I'm serious the system is broken and as much a cheating move as building a Exodia deck. You're summoning 5 monsters to then I don't know fusion, syncro, or XYZ summon others so fast your opponent has absolutely no fighting chance in hell against you. Where's the fun in that? I thought Yu-Gi-Oh! was about having FUN playing cards but recently it's all about money, glory and other crap to a point even the company is making bullshit cards and decks that people are saying they should all be banned.

in my opinion, Pendulums are another version of Exodia and they are broken.

WWE 2K15: Nice try but needs a lot more

I can finally put together my review from extensive playing of this game. now let me start with that this review is for the New Gen; primarily the Xbox one.

One thing I noticed that was a huge disappointment was the Create-a-wrestler sections. The creation tools are minimal at most. I can't pick eye types, teeth and more? Also WHY ARE THERE NO DIVAS?! And really just because 'you can edit the already established superstars and divas' is not an answer. For years WWE games have always made it possible to make Divas as well as superstars. then you have the fact that the amount to create your CAWs are minimal. I want more options than the little bit I was seeing. The hair selections were limited, and my superstars practically look the same because I can't do every last detail I want to their body and face without some odd system that makes 'molding' your superstar very clunky and boring. I mean look at the image below and THAT is how you 'mold' your superstar's body.

What are you supposed to really do with that? I can't do much besides make him a few several ways. while I was using it I barely saw the body shape change. and it's the same way for the eyes, nose and more. What happened to the sliders? I made great superstars with those but theses make me feel like making a superstar is a chore rather than the one aspect we all loved about the game. 2K15 is beautiful in graphics though the skin looks real and I noticed in a match you see the superstars begin to sweat as they fight making it feel much more real rather than looking at WWE action figures in a ring without the kid hands moving them around instead.

Next I didn't really like the entrance creator because it too felt so limited and was plain and simply confusing and another chore. They mostly give you entrances that are on a limited list.

Really if I were to give this a score based on everything I've seen... I'd give it a 5.8/10 sorry but it's something that needs a lot of work. I get it's 2K's first year doing this but they have a lot to work on like Diva creation, bigger creation selections, more match types, Career mode for Divas and more. there's so much missing I'm shocked they even brought it out. it feels like there's a lot needed in the recipe because this is not a complete product.

Assassin's Creed Unity: What is Ubisoft doing?

Let me start off with the game has a kind of complex and almost uninteresting storyline which might get expanded upon in later games. Also I felt Ubisoft pushed this game out just too fast. They released a game KNOWING there was over 300+ glitches and bugs but why did they want it out? Money. The team behind it we can't blame really it's the people who kept hounding them to get it out. Really I think Unity should have come out 2015 giving it more time to be worked out but instead because they were rushed we got a half baked product.

Anyway my experience playing this game was... okay. I did like the whole customization thing where I can pick my own hood, chest, forearm, waist or legs basically armor, bracers, belts and pants as well as a larger variety of colors and all these weapons we can use... most of which are demanding you harshly to unlock them. Companion app? you MUST have an account with Uplay? oh you wanna unlock this early well guess what? you paid us 60$ for the game how about more money to unlock things?

EXCUSE ME?! You want me to pay you 60 for a game only to try and grab more money from me ranging from 5-100$?! I certainly didn't like that aspect of the game. How dare Ubisoft push out a game, glitchy and bugged as ever then DEMAND you pay them more money for a sword, lance, or whatever just because they want your $$$$$. When I saw that I swear my head could have gone through a desk. I get mobile gamers might pay bocu-bucks for the unlockables and whatnot but to do that on your first new gen game? Are you nuts?

That just makes you sound desperate for money and from what I hear made tons of LOYAL ASSASSIN'S CREED FANS walk away from the game because they felt insulted. a slap to the face. Others (like me) ignored the payment things and just gained wealth from the game itself to get things. Hell I was a level 2 with legendary stuff on and a damn good sword because I played he game the right way not paying you to hand me something that should have just been in the game for me anyway.

Now this whole "Dead Kings" thing... when are you putting it out there for us? Ubisoft you already owe it to us for FREE because you know you pushed a half raw steak down our throats knowing we'd probably lash out at you for that crap. I just hope that DLC isn't buggy and glitched like the game. Yes I found it funny to see Arno moonwalking on the rope but when your character gets stuck on a ledge, glitched under the world (free falling into nothing), and so on we get angry.

Any gamer will tell you we want a game that plays smoothly. Not something I'm sitting there fighting with to play properly rather than playing to fight the baddies. Also why are the enemies so perspective? They see you when you aren't even near by them. They seem just far too hostile even for extremist measures. I also would have loved the fact of more co-op missions, maybe more heists. Also there is something I want to see THE MOST in any future assassin's creed game:

You had us 'customize and make your own assassin' in this game. well not really. It was still Arno... Arno... Arno... and did I mention Arno? Yet on your cover art there is four DIFFERENT assassins; FOUR OF THEM. What I wanna see happen in the Assassin's Creed world it a game where we literally make our own assassin/templar. yes you heard me TEMPLAR. A fully customization area where we make our own Assassin from their hair, skin, eyes, teeth, even their name and the clothing they wear as well as the voice and the same for the Templar. Then depending on what side someone picks is the storyline they play make us feel like WE'RE MAKING/LIVING OUR OWN HISTORY.

Not just sitting there making 4 Arno(s) with different clothing and weapons because guess what? It's still Arno. I know it would take you AGES to make a game like that but imagine the amazement if you did and made sure it worked perfectly? That would become one of the greatest Assassin's Creed games.

Now back to Unity, as for the story, I found it fairly complex but towards the end I started piecing things together but only slightly. Though it did flow smoothly in the storytelling I'm wondering how this will all start panning into the next aspects of future games. I wanna know more about the Sages, the Helix; things like that. Will it all be explained? Why is Juno in AC: Rogue a big talk about? Also When are we going to get a female assassin? That's something I've wanted to play on the main consoles is a female character not to be some overly-big-mouthed Feminist because I'm not but that's something I wanna see happen and I feel it would be a good addition to the series. It'd open up a wider range than simply male assassin's because there has to have been females. they have been spoken about in previous games so I'd love them to be utilized in an actual story.

As for the missions in Unity, I do like them but the fact that snipers take out tons of your health with one shot compared to when you shoot them is highly annoying. You can be fighting and BAM! you get a good 1/4th of your health gone because some bastard shot you because you're busy fighting another and can't dodge. Yet when you shoot them most take 2-3 shots, let alone the ones who dodge a point blank range gunshot. The enemies seem to be too hostile at times and see you far too easy. You'd also think a rifle would have further range than a pistol would but... not really. Also I hate that there is one weapon type (name escapes me) that we can't even have until you bring out Dead Kings. Once again we must sit and wait.

All I say is though it was a good game it was rushed, glitched and buggy and felt like you just wanted our money and had no care for us as your fans; the one's who pay your bills by buying your games. a word of advice... don't ever do that stuff again. really that's all I can say. oh yeah and Ubisoft...

STOP KILLING OFF CHARACTERS I LIKE ALL THE TIME.

That is all~