Magicka

 By: Robert Murphy

Hey everybody, while searching through the Steam online store the other day I was introduced to a fun little game called Magicka. It is a role play style game where you play an already aspired magician in his/hers kingdom but now is needed to defend the land from creatures attacking everyone. Players have a mastery of a number of different elemental magic such water, fire, lighting and earth but casting these basic spells is only half the fun. Magicka allows players to combine and chain magic in a vast number of different ways leaving you to do guess work in creating powerful moves and abilities that explode enemies all over the walls.

Much of what makes the game so fun is the mountain of experimentation that comes along with the spell casting and it’s really quite easy to chain and use different abilities too. Each element is assigned to a key such as (F) is Fire and (Q) is Water and you can chain the same or different elements up to five and obviously having the same element queued will be a stronger attack but its more fun to try chaining different elements rather than just one. Once you have your spells queued up you can choose whether or not to self cast, area cast or forward cast your spell and they’re all pretty self explanatory on what they do. Self cast allows you to cast the ability on yourself such as to heal yourself, Area cast is best used if you’re surrounded or if you want to do a cause an area of damage around you and then Forward cast sends your attack forward in the direction you’re facing which is probably best on just one or two enemies. It will take some getting use to like any game with different controls but once you start playing you’ll be throwing ice spikes and causing lighting storms in no time.

Now moving on to the campaign which consists of traveling through chapters and fighting through a variety of different monsters and creatures by yourself or with your friends but this is about it. The story really isn’t much of anything to write home about but there is a high level of nerdy dialogue from things like Star Wars, Star Trek and more which I thought was a funny little perk to the game. But these funny moments are often broken and fractured with frame rate issues, I cant tell you how many times a conversation would end but id be stuck on the screen while an A.I.’s lips stopped moving. This wasn’t the only problem though, enemies sometimes had the nasty habit of getting stuck in the environments or you yourself might glitch into them as well. If you could get through a long enough session without any problems it would be a miracle and would have made Magicka so much better.

The game does come with an online experience for you to try out for the story mode and an arena mode where you can fight and test your skill and power of the spells you learned, if you can get into a match that is. Unfortunately online suffers from more issues than the regular game does with issue in finding and getting into matches and monstrous levels of lag to contend with as well. Another issue is communication in the game which is almost impossible especially seeing as friendly fire is on and you can easily end up killing a teammate. Bottom line is that it’s probably best to avoid online for the game all together.

 Magicka was an extremely fun concept and when I didn’t have any problems to deal with while I was playing it proved to be very enjoyable. It takes some time for you to get the scheme of things when you’re playing because the game involves some reflex work and maneuvering while you fight against harder and harder enemies and bosses. Also the vast experimentation of using your magic and combining to make even more powerful ones is very enjoyable to do. The game though needs a lot of patch work if it wants any hope of improvement and not causing players to get fed up with the issue that can come up while you play. It’s also horribly maddening and fun in the best way to get your friends together (on a local grouping obviously) and see the pure chaos of lighting bolts and aura shots flying all over the place.

Good:

- A fun magic casting system

- A vast array of ways to cast magic and magic spells to figure out and unleash

- Fun cartoony world that fits the nerdy humor and maddening game play

- If you can get your friends in on the action you’ll be sure to have a great time

Bad:

- Needs some more patch work to fix its issues

- Online is broken and is best to be avoided

- Forgettable campaign

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10 

√Bestamvsofalltime ▪ Fracture

Zach Goodier

Here's an AMV to help get you through your Saturday, enjoy.  There are lots of floating things, plus other floating things (in case you thought there weren't enough floaty-things).

Steins;Gate

By: Robert Murphy

As you begin your very first episode of Steins;Gate you may not be able to understand why people revel in its excellence as a great all star of an anime but you start to dig further in and you have an “ah ha” moment like no other. The show is further proof of the Doctor Who principle of a mad man with a genius level intellect being endless amusement to watch; in fact all our main character was missing was a sonic screwdriver. The story follows Rintarou Okabe, a self proclaimed mad scientist and a man who is allegedly being monitored by a secret shady government agency known as the “Organization” who want his information on time travel. Together with his crack team which consists of Mayuri, a young girl with a love of cosplay and Itaru, a chubby otaku and genius hacker, they work on new secret inventions and “fight” the Organizations evil plans.

The show works along the lines of a time travel or adjacent world principle where if you did something in one world it would create a separate world that was affected by your decisions in the first world. Now I know time travel can make some people roll their eyes but much like I said before, Steins;Gate pulls off a Doctor Who style principle with witty banter and quipping along with nonsensical characters that make it all come together. The best moments involve Okabe and his friends making machines like toasters and microwaves into new inventions and having arguments of the madness behind it all. Many of them involve Okabe and Kurisu, who joins the Okabe’s group halfheartedly at first and she is an extremely intelligent young girl who counteracts Okabe’s madness and own self proclaimed genius quite nicely. But when they aren’t arguing they’re usually trying to undue some tragic thing that their invention has caused and created a horrible future. Okabe learns what messing around with time lines or “worldlines” as they’re called in the show and what can happen when you meddle with things trying to make them better but making everything so much worse.

The characters of Steins;Gate are some of the best I’ve seen in a show in a very long time and they all posses incredible chemistry throughout the show. This is important because when the “wordlines” in the show end up getting messed with by the group, Okabe is the only one who remembers anything that happened before. This makes things not only difficult for Okabe but incredibly great for the plot as he must try and get his friends back together to help him in fixing things. Because each character has some underline chemistry and feeling toward one another, it transcends whatever happened to change the world they are in, they know that they know one another somehow and in someway. It’s all handled beautifully as well which is good because you could easily see how it could have not worked out in another circumstance.

Never has a show worried me so much as to why everyone liked it but after wading through the first episode Steins;Gate will hit you like a ton of bricks. The characters are all so incredibly strong and it is rare that I don’t find fault with a character in a series and I love that it’s finally happened. Everything feels essential to the story; there are no ridiculous plot elements or fan service characters, its straight forward show when it comes to delivering its story and everything it has to offer. You may have to avoid rolling your eyes if you’re critical of time travel anime or shows in general but in my opinion it’s done brilliantly.

Good:

A great cast of characters all around with no real weak characters to speak of

A time travel/alternate world principle story that is handled extremely well

The witty bantering and underline chemistry between each character makes the story great to watch

Bad:

Their may be some eye rolling with the time travel concepts and the ability to make them out of household items

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

Bleach 574: Death in Vision

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/574

This week, the fight between our murderous new Sternritter and Kenpachi swings into action, with Kenpachi already testing the limits of his enemy's power.  While this chapter isn't very long, or decisive, it does show that this kid's power is going to be a tough one to cope with, even for Kenpachi.  However, he still hasn't begun fighting in earnest, likely holding out until he knows what his opponent can and can't do.  At the end of this chapter, Kenpachi discovers a potential weakness in his opponent's power, one that might be the deciding factor in the rest of the battle.

I expected something along these lines as a weakness, with imagination being limited by the mind imagining it.  It appears that unless he keeps the visual in his head, the changes don't last.  So he must require an impressive attention span and focus just to fight while using his power.  This might also mean that even people "killed" by his imagination won't stay that way unless he keeps focusing on them, but that might be too much of a stretch to assume it's true.  Still, Kenpachi has his work cut out for him, since this boy can just imagine virtually anything he wants into existence.  But we'll have to see what happens next week to find out what's going to happen.

Naruto 670: The beginning…!!

By: Robert Murphy

Link to the manga here

Hey everybody, we’re back with another chapter of Naruto for you all to enjoy and you know things are getting a little complex. The chapter is entitled “The beginning…!!” and picks up right up after Madara was proceeding to get the tar kicked out of him by Might Gai and changes pace by revealing that Naruto is now awake. Almost immediately though you’ll find that the world Naruto has awoken to is not the real one or the world of where things get sent when Obito uses his kamui. No this is Naruto’s inner world inside of himself and there is yet another visitor to this place but not one that he would of expected to see since he’s neither done battle with them or shared any knowledge of them with. It’s quite an interesting chapter folks so hop in and get on it. 

Game of Thrones Season 4: Trailer #4 - Devil

Zach Goodier

Another epic trailer this week, this one for the new season of Game of Thrones ready to start up April 6th.  Love the song, since it really suits all the characters of this series so well.  We've seen some of the noblest characters in the series fall from grace, either through death or being survivors burdened with the knowledge that their murderers are being left unpunished.  Having read ahead quite a bit, I'm really excited for the new season, and seeing how they will tackle some of the scenes, such and Dany's battles and the Wildling attack in the north.  All in all, there's a lot to be excited for, even if you've already gotten ahead in the books.  

Steins;Gate Opening

By: Robert Murphy

Hello everyone, I've recently started watching Steins;Gate and have fallen in love with it but that's besides the point I'm trying to make here. The opening theme to the show is very catchy and I thought I would share it with you all because I'm a good guy like that. I hope you all enjoy it's entitled "Hacking the Gate" and goes great with this fantastic anime, I should have the review up for you within the week but till then enjoy the tunes, Murphy out. 

X-Men Days of Future Past Second Trailer

By: Robert Murphy

Hey everybody, I had the great pleasure to see the second X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer come up on my news feed this morning and I have got to say I'm getting more and more excited for this movie. The movie is delving into a very interesting moment in the X-Men universe and is looking like it will be handled beautifully. Not only are we seeing the new younger faces of Magneto and Charles Xavier but their older selves as well in the future where mutants are on the verge of extinction as they were hunted and killed/captured by humanity and it left the world war torn and destroyed. Everything about the movie looks impressive and I cannot wait for the release, I hope you all enjoy the trailer and I'll see you all for more reviews later in the week. 

Tiger and Bunny

By: Robert Murphy

In the vast metropolitan city of Sterbild, there are many different people who call this place home but none are more amazing than the superhuman people that live here and have abilities that the people refer to as “NEXT.” These people started to pop up more and more throughout the city over the years and now some of the best of them are featured on a television program called “Hero TV” where they all compete for points earned while they stop various crimes throughout the city. Our story focuses around these heroes but two in particular who become the first ever hero team to be fighting crime, the veteran hero named “Wild Tiger” and his partner who just made his debut Barnaby, doubly named “Bunny” by his partner for the large ear like shapes on his costume. The two are horribly mismatched but must work together to fight crime and save the city from the various crimes that occur, sometimes by other NEXT users like themselves, all in order to be crowned “King of Heroes.”

Now I started watching “Tiger and Bunny” for the pure humor I saw and got by watching commercials for it and got a lot more out of it than just that. The show is one of those animes that does take a little time to break through at the beginning while establishing some ground work for the rest of the show but you’ll be happy once you get through it. The show offers a very interesting concept in which super heroes not only fight to stop crime and save people but they also become incredibly popular television stars as well. But this isn’t what it’s all about for one of the heroes, Wild Tiger who is probably the most deserving of praise and admiration is the least popular among all the heroes which stings a little for him but doesn’t stop him from giving it his all and saving the day more often than not. In fact just one time I’d love for him to rub in the faces of those who criticize his abilities as a hero but he isn’t like that but his actions do affect those around him especially his partner Barnaby and the other heroes. This really good for Barnaby because he is initially a butt munch of a character that I didn’t like but he truly changes being partnered with Wild Tiger.    

For me what really sells the how is the characters themselves, all have their own unique motives for why they became heroes in the first place and the show does an excellent job of telling their stories as they grow throughout the show. The show gets effectively stronger as it goes on and digs into the characters personalities and what they’re all about while throwing in some crime fighting here and there. The crime fighting almost takes a back seat for the most part in some episodes and you know I don’t really mind it because the story I was watching was great. However when there was action it was great to watch as well, each hero has their own unique power except for Barnaby and Wild Tiger who have the same ability which makes their dynamic partnership even better once it finally kicks in. The show builds up right till the end when our heroes and they say their “goodbyes” pretty much which felt a little flat but it was the end after all but it could have been handled a little better.

Overall “Tiger and Bunny” was one of those shows that I received more than I had expected from watching it, I thought it’d be good for a few laughs and maybe some action but it turned out to have more of a story to it than I expected. The characters in the show are really what drive it home, Wild Tiger is such a good main character and he makes all the others even better throughout the show especially his partner Barnaby. The stories idea too was very interesting as characters compete for points as they save the lives of innocent men and woman throughout the city Sterbild with unique powers and big name sponsors on their bodies.

Good:

-Strong characters and character development through the show

-Plenty of laughs along with action

-A story that catches you by surprise

Bad:

-Takes some build up at the start like 5 episodes or so to get into it but you’ll be happy you stuck with it

-The ending could have been done much better

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10 

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Robert Murphy

Polish off your lightsabers gamers, we are going back to a galaxy far far away in the third-person action game “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” which puts a whole the new spin on the story people thought they knew. “The Force Unleashed” is placed in the time between the third and fourth “Star Wars” movies, where you take on the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice who has tremendous potential and powers in the way of the force. The game uses a combo based system for stringing lightsaber attacks together to cause massive damage to your enemies and also allows you to combine lightsaber attacks with various force powers in your arsenal. 

"Something something dark side..."

Players are given the ability to use a wide variety of force powers such as force push, lighting manipulation and the saber throw which combined with the right set of saber attacks creates for a devastating effect. Players also gain experience points by killing the various enemies throughout the game as well as finding artifacts which can be used towards increasing your strength with force powers, saber skills and other abilities. Finding the various artifacts throughout levels also provides and added bonus, some artifacts include various saber crystals, saber abilities and various character outfits. Saber crystals can be used to change the color of your lightsaber to whatever bests suits you, saber crystals allow your lightsaber to cause certain affects to your enemies such as taking health away or causing more combination damage and players can also dawn their favorite outfit whether they want to show their light side off or play the role of an evil Sith is all up to you. 

“The Force Unleashed”  also offers a wide variety of enemies’ that people may know from the “Star Wars” universe as well as some newly designed enemies for the game, such as imperial stormtroopers, shock troopers, AT-KTs, AT-STs, Jawas and even Wookies. Players will be put to the test fighting their way through enemies while traveling world to world the comes right out of the “Star Wars” universe, capturing what fans loved about the movies and franchise and putting the power to wield the force in their own hands.

                

“Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” gives exactly what fans have always wanted, giving players the ability to take up a lightsaber and use the force in any way they see fit all the while taking on a cast of enemies using your tremendous power to take down anything in your way. While the game is highly enjoyable and will be greatly enjoyed by fans, the game doesn’t provide a tremendous lasting appeal do to the hack and slash nature of the game. Even so the game offers a fresh new tale to the “Star Wars” franchise and will bring out your inner Jedi……..or Sith.

Good:

Intriguing and enjoyable new take to the “Star Wars” universe

Unique customizable way to upgrade your character and appearance

Using the force never loses its appeal

Bad:

Hack and slash gameplay

Let’s face it if you don’t like “Star Wars” you won’t like the game 

Scully Rating: 8 out of 10

Naruto AMV

By: Robert Murphy

Credit to Raikage85

Hey it's no secret that I'm a Naruto fan and the other day I stumbled across this clip and it had a catchy beat and a short but interesting fight take place in the Naruto universe so I thought I'd take the time to share it with you all. The fight takes place against Sasuke as he's destroyed Konoha village and now Naruto and Lee must stop him from causing anymore harm. The song too is very interesting and catchy, it's from the band "There for Tomorrow" and the songs called "Sore Winner." Hope you all enjoy the video, Murphy out.

Naruto 669: Hachimon Tonkou no Jin…!!

By: Robert Murphy

Link to the manga here

Hey everybody, well it looks like the back story for Might Gai wasn’t as disappointing as I thought it would be especially when you all dig into this week’s chapter. To recap Might Gai has decided that in order to make any sort of dent into Madara he will release the final gate in the eight inner gates which will most likely leave him dead afterwards. Now as some of you may have guessed by my closing statement last week, I’m not the biggest Might Gai or Lee fan for that matter but when it comes to fighting there are some impressive ones for both of them and this will definitely be one of Gai’s best. But will it finally be enough to put down Madara and the power of the Sage, hop on into this week’s chapter and find out. 

Bleach 573: I am the Edge

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/573

This week is another short chapter, and Kenpachi fires the opening salvo against "The Visionary."  While at first it seemed as though his powers might be too much to fight, Kenpachi quickly showed that his strength is more than enough to fight his enemy, at least at the moment.  But neither has truly showed what they can do yet, so both fighters are currently holding their cards pretty close to the chest to see who makes a move first.

The Quincy powers are still a point of irritation for me, as they are just too overpowered with no real explanation of just how they are able to do half the things they do.  How do you make your imagination into objective reality?  Can you just imagine someone to death? That's a new one.  These things are irritating, and they result in a set of characters that starts a lose me, especially when they just keep coming out of the woodwork to challenge Soul Reapers. 

Part of the challenge with big casts is keeping everyone engaged, and not having a lot of characters hanging around being useless.  Bleach has usually be good about that, but at the price of taking a long time on sideshow fights before you get to the main ones.  While I usually don't mind this, it does result in weeks of waiting for the manga just to get passed one of these fights.  That inevitably becomes the challenge with the "Big 3," and is half the reason why they have the following that they do, because you actually have to follow them as they lead you down 1,000 side-streets before you get to the main road you've been looking for.  In some ways, this builds up suspension and keeps you eager for the next chapter, but I feel like Bleach is starting to reach that point where it's actually losing sight of it's original course, and has overindulged itself in secondary fights.  That isn't to say the manga has gotten bad, but in the first attack on the Soul Society, the Quincy moved with a purpose, and you never really lost sight of where it was all headed.  This was how you were always on the edge of your seat, and how the show kept moving right along without delay.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

By: Robert Murphy

Well it looks like The Walking Dead’s success has decided to pour over from the TV screen and into the hands of the gamers with “The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct,” but we won’t be following the story people have seen from the series like “The Walking Dead: The Game” but we will be seeing a few familiar faces in the game. “Survival Instinct” is a prequel to the story people have been watching along with and lets fans and casual gamers alike take control of and be a part of the zombie killing experience that comes from “The Walking Dead” at a point nobody has experienced so far.

Like they were plucked right from the show

As you all may have guessed by just looking at the cover of the game, players will be taking control of none other than the motorcycling redneck Daryl Dixon as the outbreak spreads and he must do what he has to survive. But that’s not the only thing that will have a smile on your face, Norman Reedus who plays Daryl in the actual show has partnered with the game developers of “Survival Instinct” giving them his voice and likeness to the game, making things that much more realistic. Also along for the ride in the game is Daryl’s brother, who is played by Michael Rooker, has also leant his voice and likeness to the game to add to fans delight as they play the game. The goal of the game itself is pretty much what the title describes, you must survive anyway you can against the zombies such as searching for guns, ammo and other supplies you may need, helping you move ever closer to being rescued. You may have also gleamed from the title is that this is not a run and gun / shoot’em up style game, you are meant to be stealthy and sneak your way around zombies and avoid confrontation to survive or at least that’s what you were expected to do. It quickly becomes a moot point though as you can easily run through most of the levels and ignore a good portion of the un-dead that would like to make you into a snack and for the ones that do, you can make quick work of with a weapon like your handy crossbow.

Good man, right here!

As you progress from area to area however you a choice as to which way you would like to travel, you can either take a back road or you can head along the high way. These two both come with their own inherent risks and it is basically a gambit on which one you want to choose, choosing back roads is beneficial for scavenging things you could really need but it burns a lot of your gas and high ways are quick and easy, good for not using gas but the chances of your car breaking down is higher. This in itself wouldn’t be a problem you would think but if your car breaks down you don’t go outside your car an leg it to the next area or have to look around for a part to fix your car, no you are placed into an outside area and told exactly where to go for your car part using your compass. Almost the same scenario applies for if you run out of gas, when you run out of gas you are placed into a pit stop area and you are left to search high and low for gas cans to refill your tank and let you be on your merry way. This in effect makes searching a previous area for supplies utterly pointless as well seeing as you can continue on after you break down or run out of gas no matter what, leaving you with a lack of the whole “survival” aspect the game goes for.

Lindsey Lohan really let herself go

Now of course along the way you are bound to find other survivors like yourself, looking to be rescued and hoping to just to survive this nightmare in one piece and you can help them do this by having them join you. Each survivor you find comes with a sort of side mission to be completed and in the hopes of them joining you; you can complete these missions and have them help you survive. Once they are a part of your group you have the ability to give them weapons and send them out during missions to collect supplies like gas cans, ammo and whatever they can find. This in itself is a great aspect to the game and would serve to strengthen “Survival Instinct” if these characters were to at all matter in the grand scheme of things. If these nameless characters die, you are not punished or affected by it in any way except for a feeling of anger you get if you leant them a useful weapon that is now lost to you unless you want to brave a zombie mash pit. Also once again it comes up that the supplies these characters collect are useless since if you run out of gas, you end up at the pit stop area where you can find more. Sure it seems heartless to not care for these NPC’s but hey its survival instinct man, get used to it.

Look out, its Justine Beiber fans!!!

What can I say, my hopes are dashed with this one folks, we had the promise of playing from a point of view that was still in “The Walking Dead” universe but yet complete apart from the main story and featured something we hadn’t seen before. Plus it’s Daryl, come on! This enjoyable character is sadly the only main draw to the game, that and being able to wield his legendary crossbow but this can only take a game so far and in this instance, it didn’t go very far at all. “Survival Instinct” had a lot of great concepts and ideas but they all fell very short of expectations and on what the game should have been like but it just didn’t do anything with all the ideas it brought to the table.

Good:

Daryl and his brother both share their voices and likeness to the game, which was very awesome

Bad:

No real story

Scavenging for items is useless outside of finding weapons

Saving survivors is meaningless and they offer nothing to an already absent narrative

Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10 

300: Rise of an Empire

By: Robert Murphy

Hey guys and girls, so this past week I had the opportunity to see the sequel to the honestly spot on historically accurate film 300 with 300: Rise of an Empire. The kidding aside though, we all know these films weren’t meant to be historically accurate we go to them for the action and frankly the epicness of guys hacking and slashing their way across the battlefield. This film I found wasn’t so much of a sequel though but more of a side by side film that plays out events alongside the acts of Leonidas and the three hundred Spartan soldiers he marched with against the Persian army. Although Leonidas (Gerard Butler) doesn’t make a return to his character, he is shown in the film for a few brief moments and shows how the slaughter of the 300 spurred on the coming war with Persian and gave birth to the forming of a whole free and Greek state. This is led on by our new main protagonist in the film Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) and he will lead Greek attack to stop the Persians but will the stubborn Spartans join? Let’s find out.

Themistocles is a very popular Athenian solider who was at the first battle with Persia as they tried to land of Greece’s shores, he led the attack then and was the man allegedly responsible for shooting an arrow the impossible distance from the shore to a moving boat, in a storm, right into the heart of the Persian King, the father of Xerxes, bum bum bah!  This opens the door to our other new character to the film, Artemisia (Eva Green), who plays the leader of the Persian navy and the mastermind behind everything set forth in both films. Artemisia is quite the snake and an unorthodox military leader, she’s cruel, cunning and frankly gorgeous which is what makes her so deadly, she wove the seeds of war against Greece for her own twisted reasons and made Xerxes into the “God-king” that he believes himself to be. This is something that wasn’t so played up in the first film but gets more back story and entertaining in “Rise of an Empire” and makes for one of the faults I have with the film, both have their faults but entertaining and not only giving a back story behind the “God-king” nonsense was really ridiculous. We had a moment of mysticism in the 300 when Leonidas went to see the Oracle for guidance but it can be dismissed as smoke and mirrors as the corrupt oracles are just as such.

The rest of the film goes as about you might expect, Xerxes and the Persian army make their way into Greece, Xerxes on the land against Leonidas and the three hundred and Artemisia by the sea against Themistocles and his rag tag team of ships and united Greek offense. Artemisia develops a hate/love relationship with Themistocles as he best her best men and maneuvers with just the few ships he has at his command. This culminates quite nicely for him later on but I won’t delve into it that too much, I’ll leave that for you all to enjoy. Something about the Rise of an Empire though just wasn’t as engaging as 300 was for me, Themistocles character was interesting but just he felt kind of bland, I don’t know if it was the acting or the fact that I was expecting more but he was no Leonidas. The best the movie has to offer is in the action and the incredible performance of Eva Green as Artemisia, she runs circles around Xerxes playing the perfect puppet master and honestly I feel she should done the same against Themistocles but she somehow fails. That’s the other thing as well, in 300 I rooted for the underdogs, the Persians rightfully were getting their arses handed to them but this time I wanted the Persians to win both because of the strong leadership of Artemisia and the fact that they still had the numbers and strength, they weren’t trampled like Xerxes was on the land.

All in all, 300: Rise of an Empire is what you would of expected if you’ve seen the first the film, every single sword stroke sends blood all across the screen and across half naked warriors like a splash of water at Sea World. Where I think the film failed though is trying to make the story what it’s not, intelligent, characters try to have an intelligent dialogue outside the blood and battle and it just doesn’t work. There’s still the bloodiness and some characters return to the screen as well as some new more interesting ones, especially Artemisia who I really cannot undersell as she leads the movie with her excellent performance. In conclusion don’t write your history papers after watching this movie and if they’re going to make another one let’s hope they stick to their strengths.  

Good:

- Still as bloody as it ever was

- Artemisia is a strong and engaging character, she made the movie worth watching till the end

Bad:

- Not a strong male lead like Leonidas this time around

- The back story on Xerxes was just ridiculous and furthers the nonsense about him being a God

- The movie should have stuck to the blood, gore and guys slashing about not making an intelligent dialogue because it didn’t work

- Nothing quite like the original 300

Scully Rating: 4.5 out of 10 

Titanfall

By: Robert Murphy

Well it looks like I’m finally able to pull myself away from the game to actually write this for all of you so strap in and prepare for titanfall everybody. Titanfall is perhaps the big ticket item many Xbox One players have been waiting to get their hands on or at least it is in my case and it sure was worth the wait. Players take on the role of pilots that run around the battlefield in 6v6 multiplayer or campaign matches but this is much more than just a shooter like Call of Duty, no your little pilots will jump across buildings, wall run and karate kick their way through enemies till they can spawn their monolithic partners called Titans. Titans are gigantic mech suits that spawn into the battlefield and allow you to cause insane amounts of damage with high powered weapons such as missiles, giant chain guns and more making your ego swell to all new levels.

The game almost solely focuses around a multiplayer mechanic but does try to mix in a campaign storyline where players will still face each other against teams of 6, one side being the IMC and the other side taking on the role of the Militia. There’s really not much more to it I’m afraid to say, at the beginning of the matches commanders on each side inform you of a vague objective to stop the other side and it basically turns into either side killing one another. It’s really rather hard to stay focused with just how much is going on in any given match between the gigantic robots walking around and pilots jumping around every which way. There is no single player element to the game, you will spend the entirety of your Titanfall experience with other players except for the quick and optional tutorial that shows you the elements of the game but honestly you can pick it all up incredibly easily.

Perhaps the most enjoyable feature to Titanfall is how balanced, fluid and easy it is to get lost in the maddening fun of every match you will play. Movement for the pilots and titans are very easy to pick up, pilots are equip with jet packs that act as a boost which recharges once you hit any number of walls making it a breeze to climb to rooftops or go from the ground to a nearby second floor window. Pilots also come equipped with a number of handy gadgets to aid you in battle as well and can suit any type of player’s style. Some include cloaking which will camouflage a player although rather crudely if you’re another player but will make you near invisible to a titan. Speaking of titans, they also come with a number of nifty tricks up their sleeves too and are just as easy to maneuver as your pilot although you won’t be parkouring up buildings with them but rather demolishing everything in your path with them. Titans come in three forms, the Ogre which is a heavier and more beastly looking machine that can throw its weighed around, the Stryder which is a skinny and nimble machine that will run circles around other titans and then the Atlas which is more of an all-around mech that is game for just about anything you can think up. All can take a number of weapons and abilities such as electric smoke screens, particle walls and locked on missile guidance systems, I mean you could drool over all the ways to customize and play.

What is great about Titanfall is that even if you lose your titan or haven’t earned yours by killing enemies on the battlefield to make your time go faster, you can still put up a fight against any titan as a pilot. Pilots come equipped with titan weapons that can be used just as effectively against titans as you would in a one on one fight in your own titan, you could take down a titan with the right vantage point and quick feet. There’s also the invigorating ability for pilots to rodeo titans, as a pilot you can jump on any titan variant, pop out a hatch on its head and start peppering bullets straight into its skull causing major damage and probably a pretty big headache as well. This of course can be countered by the titans pilot by any number of ways, either using the electric smoke screen and zap them off you or pop out of your titan and shoot him off yourself. The even footing is absolutely fantastic and are what make Titanfall such as stellar game.

Now before I finish things off I have to note the progression abilities in Titanfall and a few unique features that come along with it. Gaining XP in matches is a very easy thing to do where you can gain it in any number of ways such as killing enemies or killing enemies enough with a certain weapon and completing a challenge or even running a certain distance and beating a challenge that way, you’re doing so much in the game that XP is not at all hard to gain and excel through levels. As you do though you unlock new weapons, abilities and customizable pilot slots to use and experiment with and try out on your pilot or titan. Gaining XP isn’t the only thing you will receive though, you also will be given unique items called burn cards that are one trick items that you can select before a battle and use once you die. These cards can do any number of things such as respawn you right where you last died or allow you to use a weapon you don’t have access to in the game yet, the cards are used for that one life and then disposed of and they can be quite handy and fun to use. Once you reach the level cap of 50, you’re given the chance to “regenerate” effectively starting yourself over from scratch like “prestiging” in Call of Duty but in exchange for all your goodies you get a new tag icon and faster XP gain rate this time around. Honestly though I wouldn’t need it because of all you have access to right from the get go in Titanfall anyways and the massive amount of fun I had just playing the game to begin with.

In many ways Titanfall brought something entirely new to the world of FPS that we have all been accustomed to over the years and it is such an adrenaline ride from your very first match jumping and wall running like a mad man to the first time you hear “incoming titanfall” and you look to the sky in awe. Your campaign experience may not be much different from your multiplayer experience but honestly that is the main and only problem I have with the game. Pilots and titans are very customizable and offer their own unique abilities and still maintain even footing with each other even with the massive difference in size. All around Titanfall was an excellent experience and game to start off a new year in gaming for the new consoles and I can’t wait to get my hands on more.

Good:

-Incredibly well balanced whether you’re a pilot or a titan

-Fluid movement as you jump across maps

-Titan and pilot customization is a fun experience as you can play any number of ways with many different abilities for both

-Gigantic and awe inspiring mechs

Bad:

-A nice try at a campaign but it really ends up being more multiplayer

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

Topics: Subscription based MMO’s

Zach Goodier

As a fan of the Elder Scrolls series, I have been mulling over the new direction of the franchise since the announcement of ESO, and while I definitely think this game has a lot of potential, it also made me wonder why I have failed to jump on board with subscription-based games before now, such as WOW.  While I don’t deny the quality of these games, it has generally been a genre that I’ve avoided.  While I have dabbled in free-to-play MMO’s, they generally fall into a dynamic of “free to play, but pay to win” type of games.  So, here’s a look at why I’ve found subscription-based games difficult to get into.

Paying potentially over a hundred of dollars to play a game.

Alright, first off, let’s break this down a bit.  First, you buy a game, let’s say for $40, but the initial price doesn’t matter.  Sure, it seems like a deal compared to the $60 standard for most games, and they generally come with coupons or codes for at least 1 month of game time, but then it jumps to $15/mo. (the accepted standard now).  Ok, still not too bad, but if you want to reach the level cap, you either have to play non-stop for a couple weeks, or dabble in the game for months, paying $15 for each month just to keep your account active so you can hop on. For some, they can easily get their money’s worth out of these games, and that’s great.  But for gamers who are less than obsessive, this can be a difficulty. 

As new content is released in the months following release, you have to keep paying the subscription fee just to be able to enjoy it.  And sure, most MMO’s end up going free after a while, they can still rack up a hefty bill in the meantime, and you will end up likely spending over $100 before you end up having the game go free, which is a lot higher than the $60 game you thought you were so smart to avoid.

You still often have a lot of items that require money.

Let’s face it, all MMO’s will likely have items you need to pay to have.  However, I will admit that most subscription MMO’s avoid hoarding all the great items for either single-payments or the notorious “VIP” packages and what-not.  In subscription-based games, they usually limit it to cosmetic items, like outfits and appearance packs, but they still make sure the stylish stuff is held back for a nominal fee. 

Want that pet Direwolf (or whatever) pet you've had you eye on, well shell out the dough, amigo.

Closing Thoughts.

I don’t want you to read this and think I detest subscription-based games online.  In fact, I think they’re a great idea, in theory.  If the rate was $10/mo, I might even think about some of them.  However, as a gamer who finds himself without an abundance of time to enjoy his games, I find subscription fees too steep for a person who only has bulk game time on weekends here and there.  This article is mainly an explanation of the weaker points of subscription-based games.  As more and more of my favorite franchises (Elder Scrolls, Knights of the Old Republic) have turned towards MMO’s for the future of their games, I find myself feeling alienated from many of my favorite franchises. However, Elder Scrolls Online might be the game to convert me.  Depending on the pricing of their subscriptions, as well as the reviews on how the game turned out, I might give it a shot.  

I hope ESO is the game to convert me, but subscription fees are a hefty hurdle to overcome in justifying the purchase.