Of masses and effects - Plastic, DLC and the long wait.

If 2012 is our final year on this planet then I hope we get some great games before those pesky Mayans come and scratch all our discs, erase all our hard-drives and plough all our girlfriends. Wait though! Before you go and try to convince all the people you can to join your end-of-the-world orgy cult or website linking 2012 to the illuminati via the sinking of the Titanic, take heed. The Mayans were talking about something altogether quite different: The end of the world for Commander Shepard. In a couple of months we will be able to try and save the entire milky way from destruction at the hands of space fleas that we dismissed all claims of.

...but before I get into talking about Mass Effect 3, we need to go over a few things here for the fake drama. 

Firstly, you probably remember me talking about the early releases in Kotobukiya's "bishoujo" line of collectible statues a year or so back. The concept was that, Shunya Yamashita would take an important (generally) western character from the pages of Marvel's comics and transform them using his style into a "bishoujo" interpretation. The line is as much about the artist as it is about the western license conversion though. It was successful enough that later, DC comics added themselves to the books, which Kotobukiya used as an excuse to introduce a new larger scale. Then, production ramped up and we started seeing a lot more releases from both publishing giants and then, seemingly out of nowhere, "Lucy".

Careful. Wouldn't want ectoplasm everywhere again.

Now Lucy is someone that I don't remember hanging out with Dan Akroyd and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. Well, no. She's representative of the logical conclusion of converting a franchise wholesale into bishoujo form. The cultural invasiveness of Ghostbusters is so that even with little in the way of media in the last twenty years, people will recognise the use of its iconography and our friend Lucy here, hopes that you buy into that.

Funnily enough, it's probably one of the better rendered of the entire line. The face in particular retains much of the original illustration - something that is often lacking in the line. While it's sexualised, the people buying in know what they are getting and I have seen greater numbers of women buying into or reviewing these things than I have men in all honesty.

I brought up Lucy though because this is where the Bishoujo line opened the floodgates. From being mostly comic book ladies seeing the treatment, Kotobukiya expanded to Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Tekken, Street Fighter and apparently Bioware last year. 

Have Kotobukiya jumped the shark with the popularity of these "entry-level" collectible statues? Well, the fans of Bioware's Mass Effect certainly seemed to have missed the point in the most delicious of ways. You see, there was a point to me talking about plastic for a moment. About the same time that we got announcements regarding the first Tekken bishoujo statues, Bioware and Kotobukiya announced the addition of their IPs to the mix with Liara T'soni.

Knowing Bioware she will come with special DLC for ME3 that is a satellite laser Liara can only equip every other Wednesday... but only when there's nothing on TV.

Admittedly, it is kind of weird for Liara. I suppose she was picked because she is the most easily-identified of the Mass Effect ladies to a general audience, being "blue and that". Still, better to get such impulses out of the way before the Matriarch kicks in and you're stuck doing ads for talcum powder, garlic and whatnot.

The amount of hate it has been getting is immense. She looks young but that's arguably the point of "bishoujo". The way the people over at the Bioware social network were going off, you'd think it was a four-year-old chained naked to Rorschach. Which of course it isn't. Guess what? It's a different take on your character. You don't have to like it. You don't own the IP. I know, it sucks... but you will live. Is it really worth so much rage? We're in a global community now. Let's all be a little more fluid.

Never have two panels been more relevant.

While there is a lot of complaining from the masses (As if the Mass Effect anime wasn't enough to ruin their lives), it looks like Shunya Yamashita has actually had less control over this particular character than he usually does (Liara doesn't tend to have the wardrobe he touches). While it's positively tame by his standards, the more vocal denizens of the Bioware fanbase are easily alienated by non-manly things such as this and don't seem to grasp the concept of ignoring merchandise that holds no appeal to them. Instead wasting everyone's time, bellowing about it whenever they catch glimpse of an image. 

Yamashita always does large assets and a particular kind of face. The faces often do not convert well to the final product either but they have been getting better recently. Herein lies the problem. Bioware shared a prototype gallery with their facebook fans. Most are not the target demographic. There will be a large percentage that are unaware of Shunya Yamashita and Kotobukiya, let alone the statue collecting business. Well, turns out they didn't like Japanese retellings of their favourite information broker. As it turns out, this Asari biotic did have implants. Though they were not of the L2 variety. Those breasts just had to go (They were silly)!

In a first for the series, the statue was remodelled by people that probably weren't going to buy it anyway. Hell, I may not even buy it and I bought all the others because I think the line is getting a touch out of control with its releases. It's a shame Bioware don't take such notice when their fanbase complains about some of the things they get wrong with their games. Looking at you, Dragon Age 2.

Still, it's right there on the tin: Mass Effect bishoujo statue. It's about 9 inches high and made of plastic. It sounds about as useful as it is. Buy it, don't buy it. The rest of the line consistently sells out. This one may but it has competition from some big hitters in the line (If priced the same as its kin, buying in bulk is rather offputting) like Harley Quinn, Storm and a rebel pilot from one of the Star Wars novels. It does seem to be over-saturating itself from the 3-releases-a-year-model.

Here's an M8 assault rifle to help you get your man back on:

Is it back on? Good.

Mass Effect 3 is set to be an explosive finale for your Commander Shepard very soon. The demo will be launching "when it's ready" and while, hopefully that isn't some Duke Nukem type trolling, should be soon. Because it's a new release from post-EA Bioware, we also get the annual DLC treasure hunt as the pre-order locations are announced, crossover armour is shown off and DLC codes are dropped into random merch they know few people would buy of their own volition such as Chantry medallions and Seeker chains... whoops, sorry, wrong game: allegedly there are codes inside the packaging of the second wave of Mass Effect action figures.

Yep, these things. They will be re-branded as Mass Effect 3 figures to help hawk units to people who don't follow things religiously despite the fact that these characters have mostly been sidelined in the sequel. Garrus is the only confirmed squad member and Miranda - one would assume - retains her status as love interest if you could put up with her nattering about being perfect in the last game. Mordin there may not even have the same voice actor, removing one of his most beloved features. Will "exclusive DLC" be enough to shift these? Probably. Though I'm left wondering what the DLC could be when these characters probably don't play a huge role in the sequel. I mean really... all four of them could well be dead. Will they even show up at all if one starts a "new game"? Going on the PS3 version of ME2, which seemed to act as though Shepard had done the worst s/he could in the first game, I would say not. They probably have a generic placeholder like Wrex had with his "brother" Wreav.

Still, I'm cautiously excited for Mass Effect 3. I haven't been majorly disappointed by the series yet and thankfully it doesn't seem to want to force me to play some shitty Facebook micro-transaction fest to unlock some useless in-game trinkets that the completionist in me hates me missing. While the digital PC version seems to sadly be EA Origin exclusive, the addition of multiplayer could be fun too and it might be nice to play with people who don't stand up into gunfire like Garrus seems to love doing courtesy of the AI. Playing as a race other than Human could also be refreshing, especially if they capitalise on that with racial traits to make the differences more than aesthetic. The combat promises to be more intense in the new game with more powers and running to be had for all too. The Vanguard I am sounds mightily happy with that. 

Keep an eye out for the demo and have fun with whatever you are currently playing!

Just a short one today. Still waiting patiently to kill some Reapers. 

Andy out.

It's that time again~

If you're seeing this on the facebook, it's probably better viewed on my blog at enterthedrewniverse as that is where the formatting was done.

Whilst 2011 has been a terrible year for me on a personal level, the same cannot be said for gaming. This is the year that finally gave us Duke Nukem Forever for example but everyone really wishes it hadn't. While I haven't updated anything in over a year, here are my top games of the year that was as we gear up for entering 2012 and possibly even prepare to begin adapting to a new set of consoles.

Sadly, I haven't yet played any games with the word "sky" in them. So they will be absent. I also haven't gotten around to playing Mario Kart 7 or 3D Land or whatever yet, so don't shoot me for ignoring those because I can imagine they could be in here... eh, onto the unconventional. If we had gotten Mass Effect 3 and Valkyria Chronicles 3, it probably would have been a very different list indeed.

10 - Dead Space 2 (360/PS3/PC)

It's hard to believe that Dead Space 2 came out this year. It feels so long since I made my way through severing the limbs from weird alien-inhabited corpses with my trusty engineering tools-turned weapons. What we had here was a survival horror game that is legitimately creepy. You're being hunted much more so in this one than in the previous game. Isaac has been promoted from silent protagonist to man-with-serious issues this time around. It leaves you questioning yourself and who you should trust and when playing on any serious difficulty, you will die. A lot.

Welcome to the Sprawl and hurry back to the Ishimura, Isaac

This is seriously one of those games that, even when you are just watching someone else play, can be creepy. There are always sounds of things crawling through vents to get you and the enemy AI will flank and ambush you mercilessly unless you know exactly what is coming. Add to that, the low lighting and genuine loneliness of it all and you have a game that relies on its atmosphere. It isn't a game where you can just blast away at opponents either because slicing off the monster's limbs is the quickest way to dispatch them. Body shots will waste your ammo and said ammo is usually very scarce. Each weapon takes up space in your slowly growing inventory but so does the ammo. So you will constantly have to swap around your inventory to make sure that you are never without ammo or a strong weapon. Without those, our boy Isaac is going to be half the man he used to be. Quite literally.

Because in the future, Engineering tools can double as guns  and look like space staplers.

It's also notable for being a game that uses Space well as an environment. Not only is it a weapon to suck monsters out into via conveniently placed airlocks but when you do get to spacewalk they are some of the most memorable sections. There's the novelty of being free to float around without gravity but firstly, you are in the vacuum of space, so unlike most fiction, you hear nothing besides Isaac's own breathing as a constant reminder of your finite oxygen supply. This takes away your main weapon and is a massive handicap as the creatures are more than at home floating around out there and without sound, disturbingly easily sneak up on you. you will be on edge when you see an airlock. You will remember it.

These memorable moments elevate this into my top ten this year. I never tried to complete this game on its hardest difficulty because it restricts you to 3 saves through the whole game and I figured that I'd never be able to handle the rage at hours lost due to a slight mistake getting me cut in half.

9 - Back to the Future: The Game (PS3/PC)

Great Scott! They got Christopher Lloyd back to play the Doc. Well, sadly the voice talent matching the originals ends there but the stand-ins do a reasonable job at replicating the films. Marty is pretty much spot-on and while Telltale have been gradually making their point-and-click games easier and less pointy and clicky, this one is ok and since Telltale didn't do a Sam and Max or Monkey island game this year, this one will have to do.

True to Telltale form, the "game" is actually episodic in nature and all of these episodes will take a decent amount of time to plough through on your own. You never really feel like you just want it to end and it's good to have Doc Brown back in any facility. In the US you can buy them all on one disc for PS3 now. Not over here in the UK though yet.

The "game" picks up after Back to the Future 3 in 1986, with the Doc missing in action he is presumed dead and George McFly sets about tagging up his belongings to be sold with the aid of the recently placated-but-still-a-douchebag, Biff Tannen. Marty isn't too happy about this and not wanting to spoil, he somehow winds up finding his way to a Delorean that isn't too disimilar to the one destroyed at the climax of the third movie. The Doc tries to explain these plot holes away in-universe though and there's even a trophy for seeing these explanations in the Playstation 3 version.

Also true to Telltale form, the game introduces a large cast of their own new characters for the prohibition-era that most of the game is set in. We meet a young Emmet Brown, a new member of the Strickland family (Hooligans, not slackers) and several new incarnations of Hill Valley pop up along the way. The people at Telltale obviously love the source material and it's really the duty of any fan of the film franchise to give it a good look over before it hits that magic 88 and vanishes in a trail of flames.

If you're wondering, here's some of the gameplay:

Serious shit, indeed.

8 - Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (360/PS3)

The Dead Rising 2 that should have been featuring everyone's most FAN-TAST-IC coverer of wars... you know. While I hate to include an enhanced re-release on this here list, I really did enjoy playing it through. Frank is older, more out of shape and angrier than last time out and he wants to get "back in the game" - his excuse for entering Terror is Reality over Chuck.

The game's loading times are reduced quite a lot and there is a new theme park area where some pretty weird story editing takes place. Otherwise it's a tweaked Dead Rising 2 and you'll know what to expect. However, there are tweaks and unlike Capcom's usual minimal additions, the whole story is rewritten to include Frank and focuses on his relationship with Rebecca Chang which is more in the spotlight due to him not being the brooder that Chuck was.

You still need to find Zombrex and the missions and rescues are all strictly timed. I'm not sure if it's a reference to the first Dead Rising or if Frank just has an aura that makes his allies stupid but the AI on survivors is less Clark Kentish and more Frank Spencer than it was for Chuck, meaning that guiding a large team of survivors can be much more irritating than it was in the base game.

But then again, he wrestles zombies. So all is forgiven. The whole game is less serious than its counterpart and really when you are flinging zombies into lawnmowers and lacerating everything up with rotor blades attached to a Servbot with a constipated face, you need the tone to be low. Otherwise you are just contrasting "oh no my daughter is dying" with "lol i kik zombie thru head wiv dildo haha".

There's a new sandbox mode that allows you to just do whatever you like without any time limits. It's here that you can earn more money to transfer to your main save file and complete challenges. All of this is available in online multiplayer too.

Erotica Bonus! Fantastic!

7 - Dead or Alive Dimensions (3DS)

Back in 2004/5 Dead or Alive ultimate was released on the original Xbox. It combined all the elements of the series that the fans loved into one whole and for the longest time, felt like the most complete Dead or Alive experience available. An excellent addition to what has been a fairly solid 3D fighting game since the mid 90s, ignoring those silly Volleyball games and terrible movie.

Then Itagaki left the company... and suddenly the entire female cast found themselves with free breast reductions and the back pain was finally gone. The titillation is still there, of course but it is noticeably toned down.

Cue Dead or Alive Dimensions on Nintendo's 3DS. Being new to the Nintendo audience, Team Ninja have decided to lay it all out. The story mode allows you to play through a freshly retconned and adapted version of each of the previous games stories, mainly focusing on the "main" Ninja characters that won the previous tournaments, Helena and her assassin hangers-on. For the first time in the series, the story feels like it's actually there and it even attempts to tie Dead or Alive back in with both the new and 80s Ninja Gaiden series by reintroducing Irene Lew as the character we were introduced to in Ninja gaiden 2 and its sigma reissue. Whether it succeeds or not is a matter of debate though as it can be jumpy and weird in places.

The presentation is sleek with a mix of stylised, motion-comic-like cutscenes, old FMV sequences and scenes clipped from the original games (Without the Aerosmith however - which makes the "Amazing" sequence look odd as it is clearly animated along with the song... and not the song that has been applied over the top in this version) and an actual English cast that isn't ear-bleedingly terrible that for the most part apply the character's accents in a subtle enough fashion.

The combat itself returns to its roots. Feeling more in keeping with the pre-DOA4 games than the newer title and restoring the broken counter/parry system to its more easily used and less random forebear. The 3D effects add some depth to your attacks as you launch the opponent into the screen. Though it does take a hit on the old FPS. Add to all of this some of the features of the 3DS like online fighting, downloadable costumes and challenges and other bonuses and you have a pretty solid DoA here. It even has a stage cameo from Metroid but sadly, no playable Samus.

How crazy are you? I don't know but this one is more worthy of the ba-da-ba than usual.

If you haven't played much Dead or Alive before, this is a perfect route in and I highly recommend it.

Unless you're Scandinavian of course. Then it's banned.

6 - Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (PSP)

The original Dissidia wasn't bad. It was a crossover fighting game that allowed you to finally see whether Squall or Cloud would come out on top in a fight. It highlighted the oft-ignored characters of Final Fantasy XI with the inclusion of the greatly feared Shantotto and it was an enjoyable handheld game.

This year, 012 expanded on this.

I don't hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate this one.

The game expands on the story present in the previous game by setting itself as a prequel. Lightning leads her band of characters that were almost in the previous game but were cut out into the previous cycle (the cycle element, of course, taken from the first Final Fantasy game) and explains why they were absent in the previous game. The previous game's story has also been included in the middle of the game with many new epilogue cutscenes added on the end too and because of this you can import your save file, including character levels from the first Dissidia game, meaning less work for you in completing all the old characters stories. The disadvantage is that you will have seen all the scenes already.

The game can feel a little misguided at times though. It insists that Lightning is the main character and forces her on you quite a lot in the early parts of the game. Some of the ranged characters that have been added can be quite broken at times. Most notably with Laguna and his seemingly endless machine gun attack so you'd better learn to dodge a lot.

Wins for the inclusion of everyone's favourite Black Mage that isn't Vivi though.

"Stupidity. Impossible to gauge!"

It may be on the hand-cramping PSP and it might not make much sense narratively to have all these characters together but for old fans of Final Fantasy that hate that the series is going down the shitter and lacks the pull it once had, it's a taste of nostalgia. Take a decent bite out of it and you'll be rewarded by this unconventional fighter, Kupo.

5 - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)

Another year, another Naughty Dog classic. Another game with Nolan North Nathan Drake doing some adventuring with an old man, Morrigan from Dragon Age Origins and his journalist girlfriend. Though this time they are joined by many British types as the plot incorporates elements from T.E Lawrence. Yes, that Lawrence of Arabia.

I guess we found our bad guy...

Building on the Tomb Raider with wave combat and hand-holding hints of its predecessors, Deception's combat feels much the same in that it's engaging and intuitive but unlike a lot of games, Uncharted makes you really care about the things the characters go through. This one ramps up the emotional investment by going deeper into the backstory for certain characters that we haven't seen before. The actors also seem to really invest themselves into the characters in this series with nothing too hammy or obnoxious popping up too often and the graphics as expected from the series are some of the best in this generation. Making the many set pieces all the more engaging (you run away from stuff... a lot).

Try charting these waters sometime and you will likely not be unhappy. Smooth sailing this way. Oh and yes, the trophy list is almost identical again (with certain game-specific addenda) because that's how they roll. They love making you do whatever "in a row".

4 - Rayman Origins (360/Wii/PS3)

Oh, Rayman. It has been a while since you graced us with your limbless platforming skills. Dethroned by Ubisoft's extraterrestrial rabbity things this generation, Rayman kind of fell into irrelevance. Luckily, someone at Ubisoft trusted Michel Ancel enough to get another of his imaginative titles out.

Sadly, nobody bought it.

First announced as a handheld and downloadable title, the press and fan reaction to the look and feel of the game in early promotional material seemed to crank up the production to full retail. In these days of massively multiplayer shooters and Xbox live parties, can an old-school game that harks back to the days of the Atari Jaguar (It never had one, sorry. Replace with Playstation) and the original Rayman really stand-out in this climate?

Well it should. Just look at the game, it's positively beautiful. Especially on a HDTV running local multiplayer with whomever you happen to have on-hand. It's a hectic platformer that you really, really, really should give a go. There's a lot of replayability and it's deceptively difficult for its "cutesy graphics". All the old moves you expect from Rayman are here. Obviously jumping and throwing his punches but also the mosquito riding and other more obscure features of the original come back into play. The overall look however is a kind of mash up between the first and second Rayman games (Rayman 2 is one of my favourite games - the Dreamcast and PC versions anyway) with the Teensies playing the same role as the "Toads" in New Super Mario Bros Wii and joining old friends Rayman and Globox on their adventure as players 3 and 4.

Hardcore take note. Did I mention you should try this?

3 - Batman: Arkham City (360/PS3/PC)

SWEAR TO MEEEE!

Licensed games suck. Licensed super hero games suck. So what the hell did Rocksteady do right with Arkham Asylum? Answer is, pretty much everything. So much so that they were almost immediately snapped up by Warner who actually own Batman to make more.

Rest assured that everything you loved about the first game has been expanded in this one. The Batman universe itself has been plucked of many of its characters this time out and the game focuses on, besides Joker and The Riddler, villains that weren't in the spotlight last time like Two-face, The Penguin and even Solomon Grundy. Bane, Ivy and the ones from last time are still here, they're just sitting back a little bit.

Gliding and grappling feel better and you have a whole walled-off district of Gotham as your playground (conveniently, a district filled with very important landmarks like Crime Alley and Ace Chemicals) with things that take a decent amount of time to do. If you get bored of the Bat, you can also swap to the Cat who is no less adept at getting around the rooftops and has a very different handling during combat and her own collectibles. If she is installed, the game will swap to her during the storyline so that you know why certain things are happening to Batman first-hand. Including a non-standard game over if you make a wrong decision during a mission critical choice.

The Question is (and The Question probably would also like to know) can Rocksteady break the curse and make a good Superman game? Or would it be a cold day in Kal-El?

2 - Pokémon Black and White (NDS)

Any year that has a new Pokémon game must be a good year for games. Especially when you consider Black and White. Generations III and IV were a middling period but the Gold and Silver remakes were excellent but after the looking back, we get a new beginning in Black and White.

Rather confusingly released at the back-end of the life of the DS just before the launch of the 3DS, we start in a new region based off New York City with a pair of slightly older main characters and a boatload of new Pokémon. Which, as all new sets of Pokémon bring - some good ones, some crappy ones.

The newest Trainers

The biggest changes are graphical, with much larger towns and much more use of the ability of the DS to render polygons (Gen IV had introduced models but it wasn't as complex as here). The cities may be made of models but the battles still utilise sprites. This time around however, the sprites are animated at all times and battles can contain up to six Pokémon using the new triple battle system that tries to make it feel like an old party-based RPG. The strategy in these battles is to switch your three Pokémon around to avoid attacks from the opponents as only the Pokémon in the middle on either side had the option to hit all the opposing Pokémon at will. Meaning hitting a Ledian on the left with flamethrower requires you to move Charmander from the right to the left or middle.

What we get is arguably the best Pokémon game since Gold and Silver all those years ago.

It's super effective!

1 - Sonic Generations (PS3/360/PC)

If this doesn't make you feel all warm inside, you are clearly not alive.

Something like this was a long time coming. Sonic was 20 this year and to celebrate SEGA actually remembered that people used to like them when they cared about their fans more. So not only did they let a fan make a port of Sonic CD on XBLA, iOS and PSN but they wrote this little love letter to the blue blur himself and pressed it onto disc for us to relive our childhood.

Back in 1991, you could enjoy shit like "Sonic the Hedgehog" or the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" without teenagers calling you a "furry" and almost everyone played Sonic. In Europe, Sega were on top. In the US, they gave Nintendo a really hard time thanks to this guy but he was never the biggest thing in Japan like he was in the west.

Nowadays most know Sonic as a former killer app. Until recently, his games were misses more often than hits and he even missed out on the Saturn era completely (discounting spin-offs). In Generations however, Sonic, now retconned as a younger version of the stretched modern character handles just like he did in Sonic 3 and Knuckles but the stages aren't copies of what you have played before but re-imagined areas. Modern Sonic plays similarly to how he does in the more recent Sonic Unleashed and Colours games and the two alternate styles work really well in tandem. Sure the game could be longer but this is the Sonic we've really been waiting since 1994 for. It's heads over Sonic 4 episode 1 and its odd physics.

It's my Game of the year because it embraces its legacy while nurturing its current growth. It probably won't happen again anytime soon and honestly, I'll probably not like the next game as much if it doesn't include "classic" gameplay because that is my Sonic. That's too old now though.

The story is a rather throwaway excuse for fanservice and there is for whatever reason, significantly less character interaction and cutscenes than there are in Sonic Colours but what you do get is humourously self-referential enough to pass. The classic Sonic doesn't talk at all, which is weird. It would have been funny to have had Roger Craig Smith and Jaleel White riffing off each other but the "younger" Sonic's attitude doesn't seem to have developed much in this game.

If you were ever a Sonic fan - regardless of how "grown-up" you think you are, you owe it to yourself to play with this pair of Hedgehogs. Period. I would have loved for it to have been longer.

(and now for something different)

This year's biggest disappointment - Dragon Age 2 (360/PC/PS3) 

Welcome to Dragon Age: Kirkwall

This one is going to be an exception to the others. A lot of this game was disappointing after the epic of Dragon Age Origins. While Origins could and was legitimately considered game of the year material when it launched back in 2009, Dragon Age 2 strips back a lot of the things that made the first so interesting. There are a lot of really good games that deserve to go on this list this year over this one but I either missed the chance to play them or feel too attached because of my Warden.

There is very little Grey Warden here. The story shifts to a city in the Free Marches for the whole game with very little in the way of exploration. Then it does the worst thing possible and repeats the same three dungeons for the rest of the game with the only differences between quests being that certain doors are closed.

Seriously...

It could however, have been a lot more. The story about your Shepard Ethan Hawke was your standard rags to riches via ancient expensive artifact deal. The characters however were different and interesting enough to carry it. Though fans of Awakening may have been more than a little annoyed by the seemingly much more angry Anders.

The combat is faster and there are neat new features like the ability to hit multiple enemies at once with certain weapons and attacks though it was at the cost of companion customisation. Importing your save obviously didn't have as much of an impact as in Mass Effect either.

Indeed.

In the DLC, it seems Bioware have been at least trying to not have so many corners cut by making large new areas outside of Kirkwall and while Legacy wasn't too amazing, Mark of the Assassin was closer to what we had in Origins.

It's not an awful game but it isn't amazing either. It could have been much higher up here but it didn't make the sweet spot. If I'd played some of the more recent November releases (Skyward Sword, Skyrim, Saints Row?), it probably wouldn't have gotten on here in the first place and that is nasty after the GOTY first game (That had a notoriously large development time).

--------------------------------------------------

Well, there we are then. Took longer than I thought to do that...

On the whatever. Just a little thing.

It's Halloween and close to a year since I updated any of my stuff (in actual terms, it's been around a year since I last did a video and that was a teeny, tiny one). With January as my last post here illustrating my breakdown quite vividly. My mind hasn't been in it, obviously and at the end of the day that means dropping off the planet faster and altogether more completely than Laika ever did. She never did find Planet Gravy either, those lying no-goodniks.

I have been writing the odd thing but nothing that I was happy with and happiness is something that is at quite the premium in 2011 seemingly. Might not see any videos soon but maybe some little signs of life. I don't want to make any promises though. Regardless, I'm hoping that I can calm down and get back into stuff for whatever it is worth. More inane rambling about the popular culture and movies... gaming... all that sort of crap.

Well, maybe.


Oh and I was forced to make a Twitter. Follow or whatever it is one does on such things if you so choose.

Crossing over with Andrew Albacia

People are suckers for crossovers. Think about it. You love one thing and you love another and you hope for a crossover. Spaghetti with bolognese sauce and macaroni with cheese are two very popular crossovers but if there are places where crossing over is vogue these days, it's comics and (more recently) gaming.

With Marvel vs Capcom 3 on the horizon (launching this Feb) and the recent announcement of Deadpool nemesis, Taskmaster and yet another bloody Street Fighter veteran in the tanned form of the murderous Akuma I've been coming down all crossover-y. Not quite to the DC level of crossovers. For example, I'm not going to start causing some cataclysm that will effect everyone who reads this while deleting several of you that seem stupid or extreme (Like Ace the Bat-Dog). I'm not into crises.

What is the ultimate crossover though? I mean, Batman and Super Man teaming up to make the former seem ineffectual has been happening for decades and when we have crossing-over all over the place with the likes of the Teen Titans, The Avengers or the JLA it all seems a little boring and the norm.The ultimate crossover is the Amalgamation of two IPs that you really struggle to see. None of that internal company bollocks... we love some cross-company love.

So this here will be dedicated to a few things that are currently up in the air, it's been a while since my last post or my last anything and so, I'm fixing that right now. Let's talk comics, games and movies instead of word limits and such.

MvsC3 is due in mid-Feb

Firstly, Marvel vs Capcom 3 is two characters away from its final on-the-disc roster with last night's reveals. Who is up for the last two slots? Well, it will be one character from Marvel and one from Capcom as you would expect but who could fill that role? Could we be seeing Frank West or Chuck Greene stepping up to the plate again? Fresh from Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Dead Rising 2: Case West, hands filled newly obtained combo cards? It would be great but our final roster is also down Mega Man, instead opting to send his ally Zero into the breach - which is odd considering Mega Man's standing that he would be dropped in favour of adding more Street Fighter stars but Zero does have a considerable fanbase.

On Marvel's side of the road we have a fair few fresh faces already, including the bizarre M.O.D.O.K and the arse-kicking Canadian that isn't Wolverine Deadpool. While we also have some characters that seem a touch underwhelming like X-23 (who is essentially James Howlett with an exposed midriff) we have some interesting characters creeping in like Phoenix (Not Wright) and Dormammu. However, Marvel's side for the most part, plays it safe with very well-known characters returning. What could change that? Howard the Duck?

Just to clarify, here's a list so far:

Capcom side

Akuma (From Street Fighter)
Albert Wesker (Resident Evil/Biohazard)
Amaterasu (Okami)
Sir Arthur (Ghosts and Goblins/Ghouls and Ghosts)
Chris Redfield (Resident Evil)
Chun-Li (Street Fighter)
Crimson Viper (Street Fighter)
Dante (Devil May Cry)
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil) - As DLC
Mike Haggar (Final Fight) \O/!
Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers)
Nathan Spencer (Bionic Commando)
Ryu (Street Fighter)
Trish (Devil May Cry) - Also, THE LIIIIGHT.
Tron Bonne (Mega Man Legends)
Viewtiful Joe (Viewtiful Joe)
Zero (Mega Man/Mega Man Zero)

Marvel:

Captain America
Deadpool
Doctor Doom
Dormammu
Hulk
Iron Man
Magneto
M.O.D.O.K
Phoenix
She-Hulk
Shuma Gorath - As DLC
Spider-Man
Storm
Super-Skrull
Taskmaster
Thor
Wolverine
X-23 (See Wolverine)

Looking a decent and rounded enough line-up at the moment. Though the smattering of character announcements stretched out over a large period of time as a tool of advertising is becoming increasingly common. Marvel vs Capcom is also offering DLC characters in the future, starting with Jill and Shuma who will be released after the discs ship. Why aren't they on the game? Well... that's becoming increasingly common also.

In Marvel vs Capcom 2, I used Jill Valentine, Cammy White and Captain America but from the lists currently, I'll be swapping the Cap for Deadpool and Cammy (as she isn't present) with somebody else entirely.

Kotobukiya have also begun bulking up their comic book merchandise with a severe increase in their Marvel x Bishoujo line. These PVC figurines feature familiar characters from Marvel's comic books reimagined in the stylings of Shunya Yamashita (former Square-Enix designer amongst other plaudits). If you need to catch up, here are the first three girls that opened the line in 2009.

The girls that started the line

While the line was initially mostly members of the X-men family, this year sees the line expand to incorporate some of the other comic houses in the Marvel Universe. The most notable being the upcoming Ms. Marvel (There's an image of the Ms. Marvel in my last blog post from November) and Susan Storm.

Not content with letting Marvel have their runaway success though, another high-profile company decided that they too would allow their characters to join the ladies of Marvel on your shelf with the release of the first in the DC x Bishoujo line: Bat Girl. This will not cover up the disaster of DC's own AmiComi line of character statues but they are certainly of better quality and Yamashita's artwork is just great for these characters.

Barbara Gordon is due this January and is responsible for not only launching the new DCU line-up but also an increase in scale for the whole series - including Marvel's released after January 2011. This is a mixed blessing however because while big is always better, the scale difference between them and the previous figures could be jarring or awkward for display purposes.

The Marvel characters available as of now are:

Kara El - Cousin of Superman

#1 Black Widow
#2 Rogue
#3 Scarlet Witch
#4 Psylocke
#5 Phoenix
#6 Emma Frost
#7 Black Cat
#8 Ms. Marvel
#9 Invisible Woman

Announced for the new DCU line:

#1 Batgirl
#2 Cat Woman
#3 Wonder Woman
#4 Supergirl

Thoughts? Your favourites there or not? I know my girlfriend is hanging on for the DC line to incorporate more of the Batman family. Most importantly Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy because she has a thing for Harlequins and itchy plants. Even her xbox live avatar is draped in a hellequin outfit - her murderous character of choice in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's online multiplayer.

They would probably be stupid to not include Bruce Timm's sidekick to the Joker in the line honestly though as she is ridiculously popular. So popular that the comics rolled her into ther continuity from the cartoon series. Something that you would never imagine happening most of the time.

Preferably with her hammer or an oversized comedy gun. Just what you'd expect from the Joker's girlfriend.

So who's up for Watchmen vs Teletubbies?

If you're into gaming, then you are probably looking forward to March. Several things are due to launch then. Firstly, the western versions of Pokémon Black and White arrive then and they are supposed to be the best games in the series so far going on Japanese reviews but we shall see how they are recieved here later. Dragon Age 2 also lands in March which will follow the exploits of a Commander Shepard-like character named Hawke who will be customisable in the typical Bioware fashion and enter a world shaped by your actions in the previous game. The issue people are having is that Hawke is racially restricted to be Human to aid the storytelling while the previous game offered numerous races to play as with its "Warden" lead character. March also hides the launch of the 3DS and its pricepoint is due for release soon. Expect something a bit more expensive than the DS was at launch though...

Andy out, for now!

Backwards and Forwards or thereabouts

Christmas is coming up and the Games industry is sending out the usual surge before that overweight old man with the comical means of transportation alledgedly and entirely illegally trespasses on your property and attempts to give things to your children finally arrives on that frosty morning.

You are the controller (assuming you like to dance)

Did you manage to get hold of Kinect? Did you succumb to Playstation Move? Did you get that labotomy you promised yourself all those years ago? Do you have a mint copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga?

No?

...


If you fall into any of those categories then you are buying into what Microsoft and Sony hope to extend their format's lifespan by a slider of years. They believe that adding the option to become what are essentially HD and (arguably more precise) Wii will allow them to extend their market value. Personally, for what is currently available on Kinect, it is a tad overpriced. Somewhere around £100 would be better but at the moment Dance Central and possibly Kinectimals are the only ones pulling my interest. Sonic the Hedgehog? Nah, not worth the £40 from the review aggregate and footage I've been seeing.

Well, if none of those questions apply to you then you'll probably be playing Call of Duty: Black Ops until Activision drop next years rinse-repeat. While I don't mind you all getting Fidel Castro's knickers in a twist over one of his many attempted assassinations, I do wish you would sample a larger palette on the gaming smorgasboard. One would - if not correctly informed - believe steadfast that shooting games were the only titles being produced and to an extent, you would be correct. We live in a climate where online multiplayer shooters have taken over; from children who are technically not supposed to be playing but feel a need to just so they can call people older than them "fags" when they put a slug in their virtual brain to your elderly grandfather who just realised that games are actually quite fun and not - as the television told him - morally degrading.

...and hold it. I'm not saying that Call of Duty is a horrible franchise. I'm saying that to the people that read the tabloids, it is ridiculously popular. The same kind of people who wouldn't play Star Fox because the protagonist is a cartoon canid or they think that Super Mario is for five year olds. The same kind of people that wouldn't know their Shigeru Miyamoto from their Walt Disney or their Sid Meir from their Virginia Woolf. We all know these people and we all ignore them as hard as we can hoping that they will leave us to our consoles.

Oh and if you do happen to have that mint copy of Panza Dragoon Saga, you can send it to me and I'll promise not to shoot you and bury you under a patio in the suburbs of Liverpool, alright?

1935? We know what you are getting at with this picture, Walt XD

Epic Mickey is also out soon. It's a game that I have been monitoring for a while because I remember when Mickey Mouse made video games his bitch. These days, however he is almost entirely marketed to young children and it's about time Disney changed that. The most exciting thing to an avid Video gamer and animation enthusiast? Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is back.

After the simple cartoon studio in Kansas, after the Alice comedies (and the first incarnation of the Bear/Dog/Cat Pete) and before Mickey Mouse graced us was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney lost the rights to this character however after he was refused a pay rise by Charles Mintz' back in the 20s. This caused the creation of a very famous mouse and Oswald was handed over to another Walter famous for a certain maniacal Woodpecker - Walter Lantz - which resulted in some pretty boring Universal-backed cartoons.
 

Capcom and Sega did right by Mickey

...but now Oswald is back under Disney and a Video game is the first medium in over eighty years to portray him in his creator's shadow. It's certainly the first time you are going to see him interacting with the upstart rodent that replaced him. You'd have to wonder what Disney would think about this. I'm sure he would have appreciated the interactivity in gaming. He was always looking for the next new thing in storytelling afterall and if Star Trek teaches you anything, it's that being the controller is definitely the future of storytelling. Remember Back to the Future 2? "You have to use your hands?" the kids scream. Think McFly, think.

Will Mickey return to being a legitimate gaming hero like he was in the 8 and 16-bit worlds? I hope so.

However, I digress. Next year is almost upon us and we have a lot to look forward to. The 3DS is very close on the horizon and it promises a strong opening night in the shape of some lovely exclusives. While these gems are mostly from who you would expect, including Nintendo's legendary banner flyer's like the previously touted Star Fox or the remake of the game of the twentieth century in the shape of the three-dimensional Ocarina of Time or Capcom's stable of strong intellectual properties like Street Fighter, Megaman and Resident Evil we also have some suprising showings such as Konami's Metal Gear Solid.

The PSP2 is also rumoured to be lanching next year with several improvements or refinements, including a touchpad and dual analogue sticks. Though, it will apparently be going commando without a UMD drive and be forced digital download only. While the UMD drive did drain the batteries quickly due to its moving parts and was roughly the volume of a man with a megaphone in the company of the Spanish Inquisition. Will Sony be able to launch this without physical media and succeed? Or will it go the way of the PSP Go? What do you think? Can you go without? Do you like having the boxes and paper manuals? Perhaps you trade in your games frequently?

Next year will also bring us Marvel vs Capcom 3. There are high hopes for this follow-up that took ten years to berserker claw its way back through all those licencing lawyers in Mephisto's domain. Maverick Hunter Zero and the She-Hulk were announced recently along with two characters making a return from the previous games - Jill "I'm a member of S.T.A.R.S!" Valentine and Doctor Strange (and bizarrely Conan the Barbarian) Cthullu wannabe, Shuma Gorath. This pair however will be DLC with Shuma most likely playing like his previous incarnations and Jill, now sporting her bleached hair and purple jumpsuit from Resident Evil 5 will most likely have an entirely new moveset due to Chris Redfield borrowing most of her munitions-based powers this time out.

Rogue learned to fly from Ms. Marvel

I'm still hoping for Ms. Marvel aka Carol Danvers. Already have Deadpool.

Which characters would you like to see appear in Marvel vs Capcom? Which games are you most waiting for next year or even this one if it somehow hasn't realeased yet?

In the meantime, enjoy yourselves killing insurgents in the 1960s, smacking down hollowmen with slightly choppy animation and the vocal talents of Britain, Assassinating allies to the Pope whilst rebuilding Roma, replaying GoldenEye without Sean Bean or whatever else takes your fancy this winter. This year has been a damn fine one for us.

Oh yeah, also I uploaded the full blip version of the Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver review I did to youtube. All 13 minutes reunited at last. As Blackadder might say "get it here".

See you in 2002

Andy out

New episodes soon with any luck and University again

Well, quite. As luck would always have it where I am concerned, I managed to pass a bloody exam while being capped at 40%. That's nothing unusual, it's just how things tend to run off. Can't really say why, I stress when there is a paper in front of me. However, what this means is that I never have to look at that black, souless piece of shit module again and have re-enrolled into the second year.

Second year already? As they would say in California, "I know, right?"

The second year of course, means that I have to work out what I'm doing properly. Was difficult to do the daybook development thing when you are using characters that are older than some of your peers. I cannot remember the details about how, say a character that I have been using since 1992 came to be. Well anyways, I don't work like that. Mark me down. I don't give a shite. The characters I am using take a lot from me to talk about. It's slightly embarrassing to me. They grew up with me. There has never been a day in my life since I was six or so when one of them hasn't invaded my mind. This is a long ass time and makes showing "development" difficult. Maybe I should develop something new but with a revised, stripped-down count of about thirty active continuitys, I'm running out of space.

...oh and not knowing what jazz hands are, does not a bad haiku make.

Now, disregarding that and some imminent classroom politics related to this fresh year (People are being mixed up. We're getting it on more with the English people - or as I like to say, those who endure examinations) I will hopefully be getting some new gear and writing up some more videos. There's a possibility that I will take a look at:

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within - Certainly was my Final thought on the subject of Fantasy, Miss Aki Ross.

Advent Children: Final Fantasy VII - If this really holds up as a watertight movie to you... you have a case of the fanboy and need to be put down.

Postal - This one has been hovering around for a while. I'm ashamed to have watched it in order to review it, honestly and I'm really not sure if anything would come from it. The comedy is so poor and Uwe Boll is so easy to make fun of I don't think it would be great.

Hitman - Agent 47 played by Smallville's rendition of Lex Luthor. There's pointless violence and some weird sado-nudity thrown in there from his russian love interest... hang on. Love interest? Agent 47? I don't think so love.

So yeah, have multiple movies on the cards right now but no games. I really need to get back into making those. Last year, Uni prevented me from really getting anything out and, well, that has to change this time. I can't take another hiatus (It could however have been that FFVII review I did draining me). I've had some attention from the pros on my youtube channel and my blip has made me about 6 cents in advertising revenue. Sure, it's nothing... but it's a start. More than I ever made on youtube from 2008 anyways.

If you haven't seen my ongoing series, check them out here.

Here's my youtube.

This thing will probably upload itself to Facebook in about three days time when I have forgotten that I'd written it. Go team internet!

Schedule for today? More Final Fantasy XI (the overlooked but hard as nails/actually one of the most engaging in the series) and pizza tonight. Going to be a good day, I think.

Andy

Video Game Adaptation Hell: DOA - Dead or Alive Review [Part One]

Click to Play

Into the second part of the wonderful world of Dead or Alive...

Have fun and pull up a chair as we see if breasts can sell a movie as much as they think they can.

Dead or Alive is owned by Tecmo.