Tag Archives: Batman

Batman: Arkham Origins Review

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The Batman Arkham games have definitely been a blast and so now it’s time to get back in there with another one! Arkham Origins is a great addition to the series and easily has some of the longest cinematic battles within the series. The fights with Deathstroke and Joker were good examples of QTEs mixed in with live combat. It’s all aged incredibly well so this is a game that is very strong on all sides.

The general plot involves Black Mask putting a bounty on Batman’s head. It’s a rather large sum and so now Gotham’s most dangerous villains are all after him. Batman is fairly early in his career and yet he will have to deal with a wide assortment of crazy villains. Finding Black Mask will not be easy, particularly since GCPD is also after him at full speeds. Commissioner Gordan is not exactly impressed with Batman’s approach after all.

Right away the gameplay will feel familiar to Arkham fans. The action is heavily centered around parrying. You want to be dishing out damage but also keeping an eye out for nearby attacks. If you time your parry right, you will block the hit and land a counter. You can also finish off an opponent but it will leave you vulnerable to attack. The benefit is that they will stay down and otherwise they will get up several times during the fight. So there is a lot of strategy here right out of the gate.

You also have an array of gadgets to help you out like smoke bombs and such but honestly they are sometimes more work than they’re worth. I preferred to just jump in each time and start the combos. I did die quite a few times though so perhaps this wasn’t always the right move. The game has a kind of old school level of difficulty. It’s tough enough where you will be dying quite a few times but the checkpoints are fairly close by so you never feel like you have lost a ton of progress. I would say it is really balanced. When you die, it’s always to a very avoidable mistake on your part.

What will really test your creativity are the stealth sections of the game. You often have to find ways to isolate a bunch of the villains and take them down one at a time. At the same time, the game does allow you to go and fight them if you want but the bullets deal massive damage. So this way you have some freedom to challenge the villains in whatever your preferred option is. I like that it’s not the kind of game where you instantly die as soon as the villains see you.

The graphics are really great and have definitely aged well. The art style nails a realistic look without making the mistake of trying to simulate a live action movie. As a result it is still stylistic enough to get the job done. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side though. I would have liked some kind of fast paced battle theme for some of the battles but that wasn’t really going to be the case in this one.

If I have any slight issue with the game, it’s that the loading times can be a bit long. When you boot up the game, there is no way to skip all of the company announcements. Then when you die, you have to watch a fairly extensive cinematic of the villain making fun of you. It’s not ultra long or anything but when you die a lot, it certainly begins to feel that way. It’s a nice touch that the villain mocking you will change based on the level but I’d prefer a quicker restart.

There is a lot of replay value here in getting the PS3 trophies to aim for a Platinum. It seems like a rather difficult set of trophies to get, or at least a very time intensive endeavor. One day I may go for it but this doesn’t seem like the highest one on my list for that reason. You are definitely getting a lot of bang for your buck here though. You can also unlock different costumes for after you beat the game, although low key I would have liked to have had those sooner.

There is also a progression system where you can use your level ups to unlock moves and such. The EXP system is maybe a little too generous though because you will have all of your moves maxed out before the end of the game. There are gadget upgrades you can do next but not without doing some kind of side mission so I never actually got around to that part.

Each of the boss fights have their own unique mechanics so you will be glad to hear that there are no recycled fights. Each one also incorporates some level of QTE into it. It’s not exactly surprising, the games have always been really good at that. Like I said before, this is a very high quality title that clearly had a lot of effort put into it. The main campaign may be fairly short but that is true for most of the games in this series. The replay value helps to counter balance that with how much more content is available.

Overall, Arkham Origins is a great title that really avoided making any big mistakes. You could tell that some of the platforming could be a bit clunky next to Arkham City but just on a relative level. If you look at the game on its own then it is as smooth as it needs to be. If you don’t own this game yet then you definitely ought to change that. This would also make for a pretty good movie one day. Now there is only one Arkham game left in my marathon adventures so we’ll see how that one ends up playing out.

Overall 8/10

Gotham Knights Update

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I’ve now obtained the platinum trophy in Gotham Knights! It’s a game that definitely grew on me a whole lot as I played through it. It may not have combat that is quite as thorough as the Arkham games but the skill tree was nice and you can really feel yourself getting stronger. After obtaining the Gex platinum shortly afterwards, I have finally reached 60 Platinums!

Gotham Knights Review

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Batman has definitely had quite a few top tier titles over the years. When you think of Batman you tend to think of the best level of comic book games. This one didn’t quite get the same acclaim as the big Arkham titles but at the same time I’d say it does hold up. There is a whole lot to do within the game even outside of the story and so the replay value really hits hard. I would say it sacrifices a bit of polish for overall content and of course that won’t always be seen as a positive so I suppose it’s a bit of a case by case kind of thing.

The game starts with Batman taking some heavy injuries against Ra’s and is forced to settle for a draw as he blows up the Batcave. With Batman dead, the rest of Gotham’s heroes have to suit up and defend the city. Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood will have to team up for this one. They find out that Batman was looking into a crazy conspiracy involving an organization that controls Gotham from the shadows. This was such a big secret that it cost the Dark Knight his life, so his successors must solve it or die trying. This won’t be easy, but they understand the risks.

The gameplay is your classic 3D brawler. You have a lot of different attacks up your sleeve and will also be dodging a whole lot in order to counter blows. One thing I was surprised about was the lack of a block button. Dodging is your complete form of counter attacking here which is different from what you’d normally expect. Still, it works pretty well and after not being allowed to dodge like that in God Eater, I was glad to go back to my spamming ways. Most of your super attacks are locked behind side quests so I had to make do with the default ones. They are good enough though. The main story is fairly long even if you are only focused on doing them and not touching the side quests.

Counting the side quests, it feels like there is a very impressive amount of content here. It certainly feels longer than the main Arkham titles at the very least. The fact that the side quests also have a lot of cinematics is also pretty fun. At one point I had skipped so many side quests and such that there were no random mobsters to interrogate which held me back during chapter 6. I had to randomly defeat a few Clayface minions which let me go forward. It’s a pretty decent mechanic though because the heroes should be penalized for not defending enough civilians.

I will say that navigating the city isn’t quite as fun as in Spider-Man since you can’t just leap through the city. Arkham City was much easier in that respect. The motorcycle is cool though, it just does take much longer. Locking the fast travel points behind side quests is diabolical but it does encourage you to at least do a few of them. I ended up doing at least a few of them because it would save time in the long run.

Then you have different forms of currency and materials which you use to get new suits, weapons, and projectiles. You can also get mod chips to put inside of them, although I never had gear good enough to equip any so I had to go with the defaults. The equipment was a nice touch though because it adds further incentive to go exploring. The more you do that, the stronger you get. I always like when a game rewards you for these kinds of things. Yeah there is definitely a whole lot of replay value here so you can bet that you will be adventuring around for a long while. Getting the Platinum looks like it could be rather difficult though.

The graphics are pretty solid. I’m not a huge fan of the art direction at times as a lot of the humans look rather generic but the costumed fighters are good. The game does a good job of making all of the dozens of suits and equipment match the art style as well. It may not be the most colorful game but it still does look good. The soundtrack is definitely more on the dull side though. Not many memorable tunes here so you will end up forgetting them rather quickly.

While the game is definitely centered around having multiplayer, I think they should have added AI allies for when you’re playing solo. It would have been nice to have seen the other characters fighting too since otherwise it doesn’t feel as much like an ensemble game. I mainly played Nightwing the whole time so to me this was basically a Nightwing solo title. Of course I could have switched and such but I already had Nightwing leveled up really well so at that point I didn’t want to switch. The fact that all 4 characters have their own unique fighting styles is cool though.

The game’s only real weakness for me could be that the mechanics are really not explained very well at all. Installing mods is really confusing and likewise the map has way too many icons that look similar. White triangles are mobsters, white upside down triangles are for the freaks, yellow triangles are corrupt cops, etc. Your world map gets real cluttered real fast. There had to be a better way to display all of that information. Again I would point to Spider-Man where the map never feels as imposing. Additionally it’s just easier to do a ton of side missions because of how quick they all are there. This game doesn’t move at quite the same high speed because while the combat gameplay is very smooth, the hub world navigation can be a little rough at times. Get ready to run past buttons when you just meant to walk past them.

Overall, Gotham Knights is a great game, it was better than I expected it to be. The game is definitely very combat heavy so you really need to like the style though. Ultimately I found it to be very rewarding as you actually feel it when you level up and get stronger. It’s a great template for a title and the story is also good. There’s really not much else to say about this one. As long as you enjoy really good action titles then you should have a good time and while you may feel overwhelmed at first, just take it one mission at a time and gradually the main map will become a lot emptier.

Overall 8/10

Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League Review

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It’s time to explore the world of anime Batman once more and it’s still really impressive that the first Batman Ninja got a sequel in general. This one definitely has fun going crazy right from the start and I like how over the top it is. The rule of cool is definitely the highest priority for this movie and you know what? That’s not a bad thing! It’s important to have priorities and this means we get a lot of fun fights so you can’t go wrong with that.

The movie doesn’t waste time as within a few minutes we have Batman confirm that the multiverse is intact but things have changed in the timestream. There are Yakuza cyclones that spawn on top of Gotham and Japan no longer exists. Batman and Robin will have to jump across dimensions once more to fix things but this time they have to deal with an alternate reality version of the Justice League. This will not be easy…or at least that’s what Robin says. Batman is more optimistic and admits that defeating the Justice League will be a piece of cake. Well now it’s time for him to put that bravado to the test.

You can tell that the writers are big Batman fans. Right from the start he is shown to be incredibly confident, knowledgeable, resourceful, and powerful. The fact that he doesn’t bat an eye when going up against the Justice League is impressive. Batman isn’t phased by anything that happens during the movie, if anything he always seems to have expected this in one way or another. This is definitely a Batman portrayal that his fans will enjoy. He can basically do whatever he wants. Now that’s not to say that he’s invincible. He does get saved at different points but his confidence never comes into question.

Batman just appears as a natural leader which is really hype. His assortment of Robins also do pretty well. Red Hood is able to handle the Flash quite easily and then you have the main Robin not falling for any of Ra’s tough talk. Robin knows what side he is on and doesn’t waver. Nightwing and Red Robin get a lot of fun moments too. In general it’s just nice to have all of them showing up like this. The Bat Family is really a tough force for justice and by this point they are proving to be possibly as good as the Justice League.

Now obviously you do have to excuse a ton of power level issues for a fight like this. Obviously Flash should not be losing to a few guys in costumes and Superman should be able to easily end Batman. So you just have to turn your brain off and enjoy all the big action scenes. Fortunately there is a lot to enjoy with these fight scenes so that’s not really a problem. As far as the animation goes, well that part is a bit weak. The CG looks super off putting when you first start the movie. It gets a little more manageable as the movie goes on and you get used to it but yeah this is definitely not a top tier production.

While the character models are really rough, the film does a good job with the speed effects and the shockwaves after each blow. For example, someone like Superman actually does feel very powerful with all of those effects. Naturally it also does make the fights more intense as well. The energy effects look good too so you can really feel how intense this would be if it was hand drawn. Especially with the large amounts of action that this film had. The movie does have fun with different art styles for some gags though. The biggest one was definitely when the artstyle changed to look like the Superfriends and classic anime. That was a really good tribute.

In general there are a lot of good homages to different Japan/anime tropes. You’ve also got the moment where two characters are laughing together and then suddenly a fight starts. That was a really good cut with how fast the battle started. The film is fairly short but still gives you enough time to really know all of the characters. Sometimes the editing could be a little distracting though as you would be in one plot for 5 seconds, then switch to another plot for an instant, only to go back to the first plot. Sometimes it felt like you just didn’t need to switch that often because it was only an instant like that.

As always Gotham PD looks pretty bad here. The fact that the first film just happened but Joker and Harley Quinn are already out of jail is crazy. Definitely some commentary on Arkham going on there, I can feel it. Harley is a true wild card as always with how unpredictable she is. She really comes in handy at different points in the film though. Without her, it’s no exaggeration to say that the heroes would have been doomed. Even Joker really comes through in a pinch.

As for the Justice League themselves, they were mostly likable. Wonder Woman looks the best as she retained her good soul even in the new origin. It shows what a strong character she had as she would continue to be on the side of justice no matter how things changed. Her abilities also get a great deal of respect as she holds her own with the likes of Superman and the others. Definitely not an easy feat. Superman definitely bought into the Yakuza logic wholeheartedly. He made for a fun villain though and I dare say his character had the most fun with the new role.

Some of the others are basically just the same character but evil while he had a completely different personality. It worked really well and made the guy interesting. I also liked the contrast when we got a glimpse of the real Superman. Green Lantern was another fun character here as her abilities are always fun to watch. Somehow Harley Quinn gives her a good fight for a while there but otherwise she should usually crush Harley.

Aquaman is basically the same character. He’s okay but definitely tends to be more on the unreasonable side and never backs down. I did like the way that he controls the water directly instead of having to rely on talking to animals or anything like that. Using water directly is absolutely the best way to go about it. Then for the Flash, he gets the least to do I would say. His loss against the Robins also has to be the cheesiest fight of the film. You just don’t buy that for even half a second. There’s no way that the Flash would lose under any circumstances. He’s just not that guy.

Ra’s doesn’t have a ton to do here but I thought the character was handled well enough. He actually had a bit of humor this time around like how he trolled Robin with the sushi. He’s a guy with a lot of charisma this time who likes fighting for style points. It would help if he could fight a little more though but next to the Yakuza league he comes across as more forgettable. He’s really just a stepping stone for Batman to crush once the league is taken down. They were the ones with the bigger focus and he’s basically just a final boss to fill in the numbers.

Ra’s does make sense as the final boss here with messing with reality but he just needed more time. Finally the soundtrack was pretty fun. Some real fast paced tracks like when Batman fought Green Lantern. The lyrics were more on the weak side but I appreciated the beat. It was a lot faster than anything you would have expected in this time period so that was really appreciated. You should not have to worry about the timeline when coming up with good tracks. A good track is a good track no matter what the context, that’s something you’ll want to remember for future use.

Overall, Batman vs Yakuza League was a pretty good film. It delivered on having loads of action and just got right to it without waiting for any kind of intro. It’s bonkers in all the right ways. The short runtime also works as it could probably get exhausting if it was too long but this was the right amount. I would say I enjoyed it more than the first film and this one definitely has a whole lot of replay value. Just seeing the Justice League running around in their alternate costumes is a lot of fun after all. Id definitely be down with more films in this continuity. I’m guessing it takes a while to prepare the animation with how frantic the pace of the whole thing is but it definitely ends up being worth the wait. As long as you like Batman then you’ll definitely enjoy this adventure.

Overall 7/10

DC Heroes United Review

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Having fun yet? That’s what you’re always supposed to think about when playing a mobile game. A console game can get away with being boring for a few hours but a mobile game needs to click immediately or you’re just gonna uninstall it. There are too many alternatives to find yourself settling for anything. At least if you ask me that would not be worth it. Fortunately this one is really good and easily one of the best mobile games that I’ve played.

DC Heroes United uses the same gameplay style as Vampire Survivor. You have to try and survive for 10 minutes while the field is completely overrun by monsters. Mini bosses show up every 3 minutes while one big boss shows up at the halfway point and at 10 minutes. You have to defeat them in order to clear the stage. Each stage has 3 difficulty levels and 3 missions per level. In order to unlock the next stage you need to beat all 3 missions on the first difficulty level and then just survive 10 minutes on the second level. It’s definitely nothing too crazy in terms of requirements. I would recommend completing as many missions as possible though because the rewards are worth it.

The game feels like a bit of a mystery though because it feels like nobody is playing it. I’ve tried checking online to see any activity and people mainly just talk about the episodes. One guy started writing a guide but then his phone stopped being supported and he vanished. The company itself doesn’t really try to help either in terms of getting the word out. I’m sure they’re busy but showing the game off would help with improving the playerbase. The whole thing just feels like a black box the whole time. There isn’t even any kind of leaderboard system to know how many people are keeping up with you. It just becomes a large scale mystery or if the other players are robots or not. There are technically a lot of people voting on the episode choices since I spend a few hundred picks and still get beaten badly but how legit are those votes? With 0 transparency it’s hard to say.

The ability to watch all of the episodes on the app is pretty cool. I’ve seen all the episodes so far but I’ll go into that on a TV show review once it’s done. For the game, I naturally like the gameplay since I love this style. That said, it does have a bit of a balancing issue. I’ve completed all of the previous levels and almost all of the missions but I die almost instantly on the latest level. This doesn’t make sense because I’m level 90 out of a possible 100. That just seems like a crazy amount of power creep to me. I’ve been wondering how the game will deal with that and it’s finally reached this point. It will be interesting to see what the devs do because they have put themselves into a bit of a hole here.

I think maybe they need more customization and methods of attack to spice things up. Give us more to use our resources on and more stages or modes to play in. The game is seriously lacking in content right now. The fact that I’m already in “Endgame” definitely says a whole lot. I know the show is the main priority which is why the mobile game doesn’t have any kind of a story mode but in theory the money would be made through the game so you need to make it worth your while. The game has some absolutely insane prices for the item packs and gems in the game. I would never even consider it but even the whales will need some reason to buy it.

At the time of writing this review I have already cleared well over half of the game’s entire accomplishments. So not only am I done with all of the stages except the last one, unlocked all the characters, own legendary armor for all types, but even the career accomplishments are nearly done. The game needs to add some things in quick or I might literally 100% the game at some point the way I did with Miraculous Ladybug. It’s fun to complete a game but for mobile titles the point is to usually not have an ending. You’re not supposed to give the player a reason to ever put the game down.

The soundtrack is pretty nonexistent. Definitely not a strength for the title. The graphics are pretty decent. The game isn’t trying to do anything fancy though so the character models are small but I’ll take what I can get. This is really a game about having fun surviving and so you don’t need a whole lot of processing power for that. This title still doesn’t match Vampire Survivor on pretty much anything but I am glad that the genre is getting more games because it really has a whole lot of potential.

Overall, This game is still relatively new. You can bet that they will be adding more characters and stages but I’m hoping they add them sooner than later. A mobile game needs to avoid having large droughts and the fact that this game has already done the same event 3 times is concerning. I don’t think they thought things through here. The two biggest things the game could do would be to start adding content fast and to add some kind of leaderboard system. We need an interactive part to the game to get everyone’s competitive spirits going. Once we all can see who is ahead of us, it’ll be a whole lot more exciting.

Overall 8/10

Batman: Death Mask Review

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Batman is one of those generational heroes who has been beating up on the villains for decades. He’s been in every kind of story there is so it’s fun to see him in manga format. Death Mask throws in a fun plot and it’s all self contained within these 4 issues. No hopping between different titles, looking for tie-ins and all that. You just read it cover to cover and you’re all set. That’s what you like to see here, Batman is really at the top of his game at all times.

The story starts with Batman having another nightmare about how his Bruce Wayne mode is actually a mask. It’s all pretty disturbing but he has places to be. He heads to a big exhibition by a Japanese company that is trying to get big in Gotham and there he meets a nice young lady. Bruce has to keep up the facade of being a lady’s man, but then someone puts on a mask and goes crazy. We also find out there is a mass murderer who is slicing apart people’s faces. This is all rather off and reminds Batman of his childhood where he trained in Japan to become the world’s greatest fighter. At one point he nearly gave into the darkness there. It looks like someone else failed where Batman succeeded.

Such a thing is not uncommon, Batman is on a tier beyond mere mortals. Still, he has to protect Gotham at all costs and gets to work on stopping this guy. It’s a fairly quick one shot volume so we get to the bottom of things right away. It makes for a good fight to see Batman duking it out against this mysterious villain. Since this villain has supernatural abilities, he is a tough match. Batman can take anyone down in hand to hand combat but does that apply to specters? Since a lot of the volume is about dealing with corruption and power, the spirit is in the same kind of theme. You can’t really beat it physically, you have to try and get the host to see the light and stop being so easily manipulated.

It’s all in the midst of a pretty dark conspiracy so things definitely aren’t easy but that’s part of what makes all of this a pretty compelling story all the way. I do have some doubts about Batman even being close to being tainted by the darkness initially though. It just doesn’t feel like him but I’ll grant the manga the fact that it is most believable in his younger days when he was still getting over the death of his parents. So that was a smart writing choice.

Batman nearly getting knocked out by some thugs in a dark alley is a bit more inexcusable though. Fortunately one of the heroines was there to save him but even though the thugs were amped up and it was a surprise attack, I’m just super skeptical. It’s the only real loss Batman has in the volume though.

The main heroine is pretty good. I do tend to mix her up with the girl from the flashback a bit but in this was that was actually intentional. So I’ll give the artist a pass here because one of my mild taboos is when a character looks too close to another one. As an artist you should be able to make everyone look reasonably different even when you have a big cast.

The art is pretty solid here. I think the only character that looks rather awkward at times is Batman himself. The proportions aren’t always perfect but this could just be that I’m too used to him in comic format. Beyond that the fight scenes are all on point and it does nail the atmosphere really well. Dark things are happening with people’s faces being cut off after all. I give the manga credit for not going the ultra dark/violent route on this since you easily could have made this extremely grimacing.

It’s still a violent title but I would say it doesn’t go over the line here. Really my only main complaint is this story should have been longer. I dare say it should have been 3 volumes at least. The first would introduce us to Batman and the mass killings along with introducing the heroine. Then you’d have the second volume be the main flashback with Batman remembering the demon from the old days. Finally the third volume would wrap things up with the big fight.

The series being relegated to just one volume means things have to move extremely fast. I would say the story still holds itself over pretty well but it definitely could have gone into even more detail. They should adapt this into a movie at some point. I’d say it’s very new audience friendly and the whole topic about Bruce Wayne being a mask is something that is talked about often in the real world anyway. Different authors have always had different opinions on this. To me I’ve always been of the opinion that Bruce Wayne and his personality is a complete mask and there is only Batman but the continuities where they’re both him work well too. There are a lot of ways to tell a Batman story after all and Death Mask can be counted among them as another solid one.

Overall, Batman: Death Mask is a pretty good title. We get some solid fights and background for Batman himself. The series tells a good story in both the past and the present. I probably didn’t care about the characters themselves as much as the series was hoping but either way it’s not like that was a huge story emphasis anyway. So in the end it all works out pretty well. I would recommend this to any fan of The Batman.

Overall 7/10

Batman: Return to Arkham Review

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It’s time to return to the world of Batman games. Yes, this collection absolutely lives up to the hype and it’s been great playing so many elite games back to back! It’s really hard to see how DC can top this Batman series in the future because of just how well it nailed the mythos and atmosphere. Not to say we’re done with the Arkham series as there are still two games left to get but this was a fantastic start all around.

The first game in the collection is Arkham Asylum. Batman was undergoing a normal operation where he took down the Joker and arrested him but unfortunately the jail isn’t as secure as it should be. Joker ends up breaking out and takes over Arkham Asylum real quick. The inmates all answer to him now and they are united in their drive to destroy Batman. Batman will really have to call upon all of his knowledge and gadgets in order to take these guys down. Batman is heavily outnumbered by tons of opponents after all so this won’t be easy.

The game does a terrific job of embracing the combat elements of Batman along with his detective’s nature. It’s all really handled quite spectacularly and whenever you lose, you do feel like you deserved the death. The infiltration missions for example are difficult but never unfair. You have to watch the opponents carefully and if you are caught, take down the opponent as soon as possible. Often times I would get into a gunfight and die but sometimes I would pull off the win. The game felt very open with how many options you had and it was ultimately up to you to use them in the right ways. If you made a mistake then the game would punish you quite harshly for it and I didn’t really see any problem with that. It’s all on you after all.

For example the parry system is quite incredible here. The timing is tight but you always have a visual sign that someone is going to make a move. It’s possible to fight whole scores of enemies and not take a hit or you might have your timing thrown off by getting hit and then suddenly you’re panicking and taking a lot of blows. It feels a lot like a real fight due to this which adds a real layer of realism to the whole thing. I was definitely real impressed and it’s not something that you would see in a lower tier game. It’s all these things that add up.

The gameplay is something I could take about for ages. You have tons of gadgets in the game that allow you to strike at an enemy in a variety of ways. You can just keep on going and really overwhelm them by freezing them, stunning, using a batarang, normal blows, etc. The gadgets are mainly the same across both games but do change up a little bit. I liked each variation and they both ultimately do the same kinds of things. The gameplay is incredibly smooth in both titles so I wouldn’t really change anything. I played them back to back and had no complaints. The games have aged extremely well in either case.

Naturally this goes for the graphics as well. It all looks really HD and crisp. They have all of the little things like the cape fluttering and all of the textures. The artstyle is one that will age really well I’d say so even 10 years from now it will look great. The sequel also went all out in allowing you to change into a bunch of different costumes so I really had fun with that. They all work rather seamlessly into the gameplay.

Arkham City has Hugo Strange show up to take over the city. It was pretty cool to be playing as Bruce Wayne temporarily since he doesn’t appear very much in the video games. It was also the natural follow up with having the whole city being taken over this time around. It really helped to change up the scenery as well. I really liked the Asylum and the whole atmosphere there, but being able to be outside with all of the different environments was great! It may have been a bit easier to get lost at times but that’s just how it goes. It was absolutely worth the trade off.

Getting sniped by randoms on the roof could get a little tricky at times but hey…skill issue. Like I said, you are always really in control so if you lose then it’s on you. The only time where it felt like it would be hard for you to reasonable guess what to do was in the boss fight with Mr. Freeze where you have to use every gadget once in order to take out his health. You basically couldn’t injure him the same way twice. Now that was a super hard boss fight to win. It was extremely difficult but still fun. I also thought it was creative how he would foil any follow up attempts.

It goes back to the game feeling really vibrant and alive. The A.I. is years ahead of many other titles around. The grunts will actually team up and come up with plans to stop you. They’re not just wandering around and wondering what to do. They’re getting out there and doing what has to be done. If you make a wrong move they all gang up on you and cover all exits. It’s really fun and the reason I don’t mind dying a ton of times is how many checkpoints there are. You never lose a significant amount of time for dying which I extremely appreciate. These are the quality of life features that I absolutely live for. Nobody’s walking around talking about why check points make a game amazing but boy do they feel good!

It was also cool to actually play as Catwoman for a few levels in the second game. While the majority of gameplay should always be with Batman, I do think switching it up a bit to other fighters is not a bad thing. Emphasis on fighters of course, I don’t want to be playing as any civilians. Next time Robin should be playable as well. It was cool seeing his cameo and everything and I think they could really do a lot with his gameplay options.

Overall, These two Batman games are absolutely elite! The stories are real interesting and while the campaigns aren’t super long, there is a considerable amount of replay value here. Certainly enough to keep you really engaged. They didn’t rush any part of the experience here and so I can easily recommend this to anyone. This is AAA gaming at its finest and definitely one of the best superhero games out there. You owe it to yourself to play through this collection. There’s really nothing bad to say about the game, it is an absolute masterpiece in every sense of the word. The developers clearly knew what they were doing and had a lot of passion for the product.

Overall 9/10

Superman Vs. Meshi Review

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It’s time to look at a great manga. This is a title that has a rather insane plot and just embraces it 100%! That’s exactly what I was hoping for as well. Some manga have a cool premise but just don’t do a lot with it or lose confidence and just switch to full time action. A very respectable option if you have to duck your premise of course but when you announce a manga about Superman fighting against the top foods and you keep it going the whole time? I have to give you some mega props there.

The manga basically starts off by revealing that Superman has a big secret. He actually flies over to Japan every day for lunch because their food is way better than Metropolis’. It’s to the point where he’s actually rather hooked. Even when Ma Kent makes him some food or he’s at a Justice League event, he just wants to get back out there. At first he’s a little embarrassed for anyone to find out but as the series goes on, he gets bolder and bolder about this. He actually wants to share his hobby, but can he convince the rest of the team that Japan’s food is so much better?

Of course it is easier for Superman compared to most people since he can actually fly across the planet and go to Japan within minutes. So he can actually take his lunch there without issue. He gets to see how much fun a classic noodle bowl is, their version of a cheeseburger, etc. It’s to the point where he can barely bring himself to eat in Metropolis anymore because the food quality takes such a dip. If you’re the world’s greatest superhero then you want to eat the best foods right?

The meals he has in Japan are also very humble ones. Usually they’re family type restaurants and Superman explains how everything is done so efficiently. So what I’m getting at here is that the entire manga is about hyping up Japan and how it is the absolute pinnacle of food creation in the whole world. Nothing else is even close to it. Superman is constantly hyping the place up to the point where it gets to be really funny. That’s where the entertainment from the series comes on.

I feel like the only way you won’t enjoy the manga is if you take it really personal to your own area’s style of cooking or something like that which would really be missing the point. I like the idea of the author here being excited to hype up all of his favorite foods through the series. In the manga, Superman points out ways to make each meal better with little tips and tricks the whole time. A lot of them actually looked like good tricks too which is where I have to give the series even more credit.

Superman has a different dynamic with each character that works well. The best one might be with Lex Luthor. So Lex is actually one of those trend setters on social media, an influencer if you will. So whenever Superman orders something, Lex has to order something bigger and fancier than whatever Superman got. It’s purely to try and one up the Man of Steel, but Superman always finds a way to make a comeback. Usually he’s nervous at first but then realizes that even a smaller dish can have things that the bigger companies don’t.

It’s like the Little Engine that could. It’s an inspiring story all the way through but through food. By the end even Lex admits that Superman’s food tastes are really good. Then you have Batman who figures that the 5 star dinners he can get at Gotham are the best but he is absolutely floored by the little noodle spot that Superman brings him too. The Justice League get impressed at one point when frozen Japanese TV dinners turn out to be better than their complete dining experiences at any fancy restaurant.

You might find this the hardest to believe but hey, that’s just how it goes. Japan’s food is that delectable and it’s always inspiring to see Superman convert more of the characters to his cause. When he’s not constantly eating, we do see Superman fighting against foes like Doomsday and Darkseid. There is a little action here, but make no mistake, the food is the primary focus so don’t count on anything big like that happening. There’s also the subplot with Lois where he has to be careful that she doesn’t find out his true identity.

Lois had to be included in some way so this makes sense but you are usually looking forward to the food part a little more. Even Lois admits that it’s the best food of all time though so you know that we’ve got a winner here. Supergirl was also skeptical at first but quickly changed her tune. I think it just goes to show that some places really have tremendous dishes. I was half expecting Superman to move there by the end.

One of the final bosses in the series is a Japanese restaurant with a massive menu. The problem in a sense is that everything on the menu tastes amazing. So what do you do when you have 100+ items that are all absolutely incredible? That is his dilemma and we find out that he has already been “defeated” several times as he didn’t order the items in the right order or picked the wrong dipping sauce. So it still tasted incredible but wasn’t 100/100 the way that it should have been.

I love how seriously he takes all of this. He even gets a bit defensive when everyone tries just ordering whatever they want and eating at their own pace. During a big funeral he uses his super abilities to quiet the crowd and get them to order what he did. When he invites the Justice League members over, he usually insists that they order what he gets as well. A bit controlling perhaps but you can definitely appreciate how their faces light up when they taste the food so it always works out well.

The art is also really good here. It’s super expressive which is always a good thing and it’s got a very simple style which makes each page easy to read. I really didn’t have any issues here and so long as you find the manga funny as well then I think you’ll be in a good spot. Who knows, maybe the series will even inspire you to go and grab some of these dishes. You’ll really feel like you’re missing out if you don’t. There’s not much of an ongoing plot here so it makes for a quick review but there is a good amount of content packed in here with all of the food that Superman tries. It’s also got that silver age feel to it where he puts “Super” in front of just about every ability he uses because it sounds cooler.

Overall, Superman Vs. Meshi is definitely a great title. I had a blast with each volume. It’s really easy to read through the whole time and never loses any team. It helps that I tend to like a lot of the dishes in the series so it would just make me hungrier and hungrier. I’ve been to a few Japanese spots but not really ones like what is presented here. A small dine-in type experience that looks very friendly. I’ve got ideas eventually but yeah this manga really does a perfect job of presenting the food. I highly recommend reading it.

Overall 8/10

Injustice 2 Review

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As with My Hero, I had to buy the sequel to this one right away after completing the first. Injustice was a great title with a really interesting plot and the same is true of the sequel here. It really picks up right where the first one left off but with extra content and a really big character roster. I definitely blasted through this one because you will not want to put the game down.

It starts off after the first game with Superman behind bars and most of his allies running off to bide their time. Batman has the tough mission of protecting the planet while also preventing Superman from being broken out. Meanwhile Wonder Woman and Black Adam are raising Supergirl so that she can help them rescue Superman and bring the world to its knees. A third party is around though in the form of Brainiac. He doesn’t care about the sides that the heroes have split into, he just wants to destroy the world. Will the superheroes be able to stop him or is it all over?

Yeah there’s a lot going on here the whole time and I like the fact that Brainiac was thrown in because it does make sense that villains aren’t going to wait until this civil war is over. They’re just going to jump in and take names. If anything it’s the perfect time to be a villain with how divided the heroes are. It means that there is less opposition to stop them…much less!

It’s fun to be jumping between the two teams in the chapters. Batman’s team is still the heroic one of course but at least most of the folks on Superman’s team have started to be less crazy. The big exceptions to this are Black Adam and Wonder Woman. Adam’s usually evil anyway so that fits but yeah Wonder Woman really went off the deep end in this universe. She is really a far cry from her usual self. Superman is also permanently traumatized at this point. Even when he is playing ball for a little while, he feels a lot edgier than he usually is. Definitely not someone I’d want to trust.

The gameplay is top notch. The 2D movement is very quick so something is constantly happening. At times it feels like watching a fight scene in a movie with how many attacks are being thrown out. It helps that I don’t block much and the same goes for the computer so we’re really trading blows. For the most part the game’s not too hard but I would lose a life on occasion. Sometimes they would just have me beat with the attacks. It happens from time to time. Just keep calm and you’ll take them out. They usually can’t block the final smash so keep that in the back pocket. Also if you absolutely have to, just block a bit. It really throws them off and then you can counter.

I found the easiest thing to do is hit them with a jumping attack and then a 3 hit combo. Almost every character has the ability to do this so just learn what the easy link combos are and get to work. Once you learn those it makes the whole game a lot easier. The story mode’s length is reasonable with around 13-14 chapters and each one has around 3 fights. There are a ton of cutscenes also so it’s not like you’re just fighting and then leaving the game. It goes without saying that there is really unlimited replay value here with the trophies that you can obtain as well as the high quality multiplayer mode that you can play.

This is a fighting game that really plays to its strengths. A ton of time was clearly put into the combat itself and it paid off. This is definitely one of the stronger fighting games that I’ve played in terms of gameplay. In a way it reminds me a lot of Tekken in that it has great gameplay while also keeping up a very compelling story. Definitely impressive all the way around.

The graphics are really solid here of course. As with the last game, I will say that the art style does make all of the characters look a bit on the ugly side. Like they’re all brutes and I suppose that’s just unavoidable with this look. The game could easily look way better with a more vibrant approach but it definitely would clash with the tone of the game a bit. The soundtrack is solid enough although I can’t really think of any stand out tunes here. It was all a bit more on the forgettable side.

I got the Legendary edition so a bunch of bonus characters are playable here. It’s cool to have Hellboy and one of the Ninja Turtles at the ready. Definitely pretty cool I have to say. My mains will tend to be the DC characters but I do like experimenting. In terms of pure gameplay I found Batman and Harley Quinn to be two of the best characters. Their combos are very fast which makes it easy to land a ton of hits. I tend to prefer characters like that than the slow ones. Sure the damage is intense but it can be hard to land hits.

Overall, Injustice 2 is definitely a great game. The gameplay is top notch as always and of course they did not hold anything back on the story either. The whole game is very smooth to play with all of the menus being straight forward and there are no long loading times. I’d definitely be hyped to see them make an Injustice 3 at some point. There’s definitely a whole lot more you can really do with this verse before calling it a day.

Overall 8/10

Joker: One Operation Joker Review

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The title feels a bit redundant. I’m used to just saying One Operation Joker but everyone seems to list it this way so I suppose I’ll follow suit. It’s a fun miniseries, I don’t think it’s quite as good as some of the other superhero mini titles I’ve read like Superman’s food adventures and the Spider-Man Fake Red title but you’ll have fun here. I think there was even a lot of potential here for future developments if they had made this a long running title but not every series is meant to stick around forever. At the end of the day, this one still explored the concept fairly well.

The story starts with Batman and Joker fighting as always but a freak accident happens during the fight and Batman regresses back to being a baby. He has no memories now and Joker can’t let the situation stay like this. He really believes that his role as a villain is pointless without a Batman to fight against and so he vows to raise the baby back into being Batman until he can find a cure. It’ll be difficult since he is such a villain but the Joker is nothing if not determined. He will be the greatest role model that Batman could ever have. Will the baby grow up into the famous crime fighter though or will be turn out differently?

One of the more interesting angles here is of course that this happens in the present. It’s not an AU or any time travel involved so to the rest of the world Batman just vanished randomly. Of course the same is true of Bruce Wayne as well and so we have Alfred and Robin having to wonder what happened. At least in the background, they don’t show up until we near the end of the series. Crime is likely back on the rise as well although with Joker not committing many crimes, it tends to balance itself out a bit.

What will be the make or break point for this manga in terms of how much you enjoy it will of course be the humor. This is really a slice of life title with the main gag being that Joker is super serious but always has to do responsible things. He will be thinking about bombing a bank and then suddenly he has to worry about getting Bruce to daycare instead. He’ll think about beating someone up but instead bows/apologizes to someone. This kind of thing happens a lot to the point where the gag will be appearing in just about every chapter. It’s a core part of the gimmick of the series after all.

I do think the series can be a bit repetitive on this angle mainly because there are only so many ways that you can approach it. That’s how it is in most titles like this though. There’s a Detective Conan spinoff about the world’s worst murderer who wants to be a criminal but never succeeds. That title replays the same gag over and over as well. There are plenty of titles that hitch the wagon to a single gag so it’s not out of the ordinary, it just means that the gag itself ends up becoming super important to how much you enjoy the series.

For me it’s fun enough. The series never gets laugh out loud funny or anything like that but it’s harmless. The series actually avoids the easy crude humor type jokes which I really appreciated. I also think the Joker makes for a good main character. I’d have liked it if he kept a little more of his edge though. Have him still be happy and goofy around Bruce but make it so he still has a scary aura to everyone around him. I think that contrast would probably have made the gags more effective. His transformation into actually being more of a decent person does lead into the climax of the series but I’d just have tweaked that a bit.

As this is more of a comedy title, there aren’t a lot of fights anyway but you sort of wish Joker could have done better near the end. Now while the series is light hearted, there can be some dark moments. I was pretty surprised at how beaten up Robin got once the Riddler showed up. The Riddler is probably the most imposing that I’ve ever seen him. Definitely a far cry from his portrayal in the latest movie. He does really well here and I was glad to have a real villain at the end. That’s the part of the climax that I would have extended though. Also, I’d like to have seen some more actions from the aftermath but I guess we’ll have to just imagine how it would have played out.

Robin looks good here even if he doesn’t do great in the fights. His loyalty is always impressive and the guy did his best in finding a lead. Alfred also looks really impressive here as he connects quite a few dots on his own. Ultimately he overthinks things but his instincts were on point. On the Joker’s side, we naturally had Harley Quinn show up as well. Playing family is something you figure she’d be into, so naturally this situation works for her rather quickly. Even Joker’s minions are okay with this since a lot of them have families too and now they won’t really be in danger of getting murdered so quickly.

The artwork for the series is actually really solid. There’s a lot of detail all the time and whenever they throw together a scary moment, I have to say that it looks really impressive. The artist would clearly be able to really nail a serious action title. You’re not likely to forget the big splash pages that are scattered within the title. The few fights that we do get also end up looking really solid.

There’s a time skip that happens near the end of the series and I would have liked to have seen more from that era. I actually think it lends itself even better to a lot of shenanigans and fun plot scenarios because at that point Bruce is actually old enough to talk and everything. You could have a reverse Spy Family situation set up where the Joker is a responsible parent by day and a villain by night. It would fit in fairly well as a dark humor kind of plot that you would expect here.

Overall, This Joker manga was fun. It can be a bit repetitive so that keeps it from reaching the next level but the series is also fairly short so it’s not like it’s dragging on for a long time or anything like that. There’s certainly more positives than negatives here either way. The core premise is so out there that you’re just curious how it’ll work out and the series gets very wholesome. You naturally have to overlook the fact that the Joker’s still evil but regardless it’s still fun to read. Definitely check this out if you want to see the very surreal image of Joker trying his best to be the best Dad ever.

Overall 6/10