DCember Prologue; Lego DC Supervillains:Well, at least I'm not smelling corporate bias?

It is no secret that I hated Lego Marvel Superheroes 2. I personally found it a slog to go through, the DLC was broken, the over world wasn’t fun to travel through, the levels got shorter as I went through, and even at the 100% mark, I never really felt satisfied with the experience. I got so mad at the experience that I was genuinely considering not getting another one, and became extremely cynical towards DC Super villains. Against my better judgement, I picked up DC Super villains thinking that, at the very least, it would be a good review for this week, seeing as most of, if not all of next month’s content is going to be focused on DC. Was I wrong to be so overly cautious? In a word: No. It’s times like this when I’m glad I don’t do number scores or submit reviews to Metacritic and the like, because I’d probably piss someone off at WB for this, not that it matters, I don’t get review copies, and any ad space they may get here is through Google, not me.

Sonic Forces: Apparently I am doing this alone

Relax, I'm not going to compare it to Super Mario Odyssey. Too many others have, I want to be somewhat original here.

Well, time to see if my thoughts on the game are still as high as they were when it was announced, huh? Back in that awful livestream when Sonic Mania was announced, Sonic Forces was also teased, and I remember saying I was looking forward to it (proof of that being in the Podcast episode with Marcus talking about the event). As time went on though, that excitement was quickly draining. The first big sign was how much of a promotion Mania was getting by comparison, and even after Mania was released, the promotion never really seemed to be there for Forces. In fact, I wasn't seeing any excitement for the game aside from the memes with the Avatar, and the cross promotion with Hooters of all things (I still don't get that either). If anything, most of what I was was negativity and hate, at least from what I saw. Is it really worth it now that the game's out? Well...

To start with the plot and, I know this is going to sound weird, but while the story is awful, the writing is solid overall with some great lines. The overall story is garbage and one of the worst Sonic stories because the tone is all over the place. What do you think of when you get a story that's about a rising revolution to take back the world from evil? Was your answer "anthropromorphic animals saying cheesy one liners that kill the grim tone the story is trying to do"? No? Well too bad as that's what's here. While that isn't a bad thing, as the character writing is some of the best the series has ever had, it just doesn't work in this setting at all. Sonic and co are on point with great writing in their dialogue, but that can lead to bad payoffs. For example, the little promotional material given was trying to build up Infinite as something mysterious. Wanna know his backstory? He was a hired thug that Shadow beat up and got pissed off. "Sonic was being tortured for six months", yet has Sonic act like nothing ever happens once we see him again. Heck, you know how the game was promoting the return of Metal Sonic, Chaos 0 and Shadow as villains along with that red guy for Sonic Lost World? Well, Chaos 0 and Shadow are beaten up in cutscenes, you only fight Metal Sonic, Infinite, Eggman and that reg guy from Lost World. It feels underwhelming by every stretch of the imagination due to the shifting tone.

In terms of gameplay, while I had fun with the levels overall (oh primus that Casino Level as Classic Sonic is awful), it still felt unrewarding, like the levels are just hitting their stride once they end. A lot of the Metropolis (no not that one) levels are really fun to play through along with the ones on the Death Egg for Modern Sonic and the Avatar, but I don't get the satisfaction from them that I got from something like Rooftop Run, Empire City, Starlight Carnival, and more, and that's with all the collectibles as a large chunk of the red rings I was finding without even trying, though there was an unhealthy mix of "ok, how the hell was I supposed to think to do that?" to get them. In terms of a gamplay break up. Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic do still play almost as they did in Generations. However there are some control changes (why is jump and homing attack mapped to the B button?!) and Classic sonic actually feels worse to play here then he does in Generations. I don't know if that's the level design, or an engine change, but I can't even say "No, he doesn't have the same "physics", but he's still playable" because he feels clunky and in levels like "Not Casino Night", I get genuinely angry at the game because I know Pinball physics (I like playing Pinball games ok?), and that felt awful. Shadow plays close enough to Modern Sonic that I think there should be a Shadow mode in boost formula going forward, as for the Avatar, like the Werehog, it was fun, but not needed.

The Avatar plays as a Modern Sonic without the boost and a few extra tricks. Which is fine as the new tricks lead to some interesting level design. The Grapple acts as both your homing attack and a way to use grapple points which sometimes leads you to new paths, while the Whispons let you use Whisps to attack and provide ways to get to new paths and secrets, along with new ways to defeat enemies. Only problem is that there's little reason to swap the weapon around. I just stuck with the Electric Whispon unless I needed to swap. The Character Customization is also solid with lots of combinations, but I found one specific limitation (combining chest and back as just "Body", meaning I couldn't wear a shirt and a backpack as an example) annoying while the UI quickly became a mess. There were times where I wanted to see the brand new stuff I got to quickly add, but lost the item in the mess of gear. I personally didn't notice if there was a way to sort gear into "new acquisitions" either which didn't help. Honestly the only reason why I think the Avatar isn't needed is the Avatar itself. I'd have preferred the gameplay be given to a character with a personality, like Tails. I can say that with some certainty because the Modern Sonic and Avatar levels just scream "Modern Sonic and Modern Tails gameplay".

Presentation is another mixed bag honestly. Visually, the game looks great on the surface, but some individual animations look really stiff, and these animations aren't easy to miss either. Worst offender for me is Shadow in the scene where the two armies clash. Soundtrack is a similar situation where some are good, but nothing's great, and even Fist Bump is just kinda "ehh" at best (I really hate the way its structured honestly). To be honest, overall the soundtrack felt like white noise. It was there, but it just there, it never stood out. I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write this and even on its own, it doesn't stand out, and I wish I didn't have to say that about a Sonic soundtrack.

 In fact, "ehh: is probably the best way to describe the experience overall to be honest. Nothing absolutely stands out, what good bits are in the game finish too soon, and the bad bits are abundant. Forces is not the worst Sonic game. Nowhere close to 06 or Boom. However it is the worst boost formula Sonic game beyond a shadow of a doubt and it shows the biggest problem plaguing Sonic Team right now, a lack of trust in their ideas. While I'm not going to compare the game to Odyssey. I will compare it to Mania. When you break down the differences

Sonic Mania: 2D game that plays like the original games with new levels and older levels getting new geometry, with a story akin to the older games where its there, but not the center of attention.

Sonic Forces: 3D game that plays like Unleashed with the 2D gameplay of Generations, and a avatar that's a watered down of the main 3D gameplay with extra gimmicks, and Shadow who's another slightly watered down of the core 3D game, with a story that feels more like a focus, but with nothing making it crucial to the game.

Notice how Forces sounds more complicated, more scrambled? There's no focus because instead of sticking to one idea, and designing ideas that compliment that one idea, they just threw everything in and hoped for the best. And it didn't work. At all. I get that a part of why this game feels rushed was the development of the new engine. But at the same time I don't see that as an excuse, because Unleashed was the debut of a new engine and that game felt complete, like it wasn't rushed at all. Here, they had to patch in Super Sonic, and even then he's still unobtainable in the game. If the engine was going to take that long to make, why not start making the levels in the old engine and then port them to the new engine to finish them? When a game four years in development still feels rushed, there's a big problem. From where I sit, Sonic Team needs fresh blood, and a focus. I don't care what that focus is. But Sonic needs to find something to stick to, to refine, to improve. Sonic needs an identity in the 3D space, or at least an identity at all. I don't want 3D development on Sonic to stop, but it does feel like a possibility based on how well Mania did, and how badly Forces is doing by comparison. Now, while myself and Marissa play Pokemon Ultra Moon (neither of us started playing Ultra Sun...), some smaller projects in the meantime. Such as Machinima's Combiner Wars, because I'll cash in on that Titans Return cross promo.

Mediaholics Review: Sonic Mania

One big mascot platformer return to form, at least one more to go. Bubsy's... debatable if he counts. And Look! WE'RE DOING A VIDEO REVIEW ON SOMETHING THAT ISN'T POKEMON!!!

Sonic Generations: No this isn't going to review the physics

While people dig into Sonic Mania, I thought it might be a good idea to look at the last anniversary game for the hedgehog, one that got way more leaked and announced then Sonic Forces has been getting, and the game that made me want to get a X-Box 360... and then getting one for free that June, ready for release. Welcome, to Sonic Generations.

Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero: Time to dance

Time to do a follow up to the first impressions post, which you can find here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/opening-impressions-shantae-12-genie.html . This isn't going to be too much longer, mainly because it turned out I was actually further into the game then I thought I was. I haven't gone back yet to do a New game plus run yet, as unlike Fire Emblem fates, I'm letting it simmer a bit before going back to it. So, care to dance through the danger?

Opening Impressions: Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero

Did this literally just come out? Yes. Did I back it on Kickstarter? No. Why am I doing this now? Because I haven't had the time to do the impressions I promised last week, going to do a Christmas review on Sunday, and was playing this on my Vita on the train ride to and from work today, so I have it on the mind. Lets do this!

Pokemon Rising Rainbow: This is the actual spelling of the game this time, I swear

So right before I got to bed last night, I found this on my Twitter feed, now I was a bit skeptical at first. A well made Pokemon fan game, by a large team, with a great visual art style, playable on computer, iOS and 3DS, every region in the main series, fan games and planned dlc for more on top of a new region and Bank support, being released on April fools... surfice to say that yeah, it was skeptical. But I was able to complete it, and I do mean complete it, unlike Zeta. So how is it?

Against all odds, still very good, surprisingly good. Visually it is.. interesting, and its not without its bugs, I unfortunately had missing textures and weird collision detection at times, but with its limited development time, things like that will happen, and might get patched our. The read me was detailed and provided a lot of information about the game, but is limited by the format of .txt, maybe a link to a open reading access Google doc would have been better, to give more structure to the information. The voice acting is well done, and did get some laughs out of me thanks to the writing.

Is it worth playing? Yes if you have the time to spare, but thankfully it is, even though it has so much content, a very short game. It is free though, so if you have the time, check it out. I know I'm being vague, but its better experienced raw, akin to Undertale, though probably not for the same reasons.

Freedom Planet: "What's this? AN INDIE GAME REVIEW?!"

Yes, it's true, contrary to what I've reviewed, I do play other games, and I play indie games. Granted not as much as I'd like for indies, but I am working on it. I was first introduced to this game via an event called SAGE, the Sonic Armature Games Expo back in 2012, where this game was first shown off, and I had a blast playing it. It was a great demo and is one of the kickstarter projects I wish I had the money at the time to endorse. However, it was released to the world recently, and even got a WiiU Port (Which is the version I used for this review, however I do have experience with the PC version, and will be getting said PC version to let's play soon).

Batman: Arkham City: Because clearly the villains need a city and not an island

So what to do with two prisons ruined because of the Joker? You build a wall around a portion of the city and shove all the criminals into there. I can't imagine how much of a brilliant plan that is. Well, let's see how badly Batman comes to wreck this "ingenious plan" with Batman Arkham City.

Batman: Arkham Asylum: I swear there will be no bat gadget jokes in this

This was a long time coming. I was actually planning on doing this during my absence for the Comedy Festival, where I'd also cover Arkham Origins... that never happened. I wanted to do it before Arkham Knight, didn't happen. Then I tried to fit it in before the PC version re release... that didn't happen. So now consider this as the lead up for when WB Games get the PC version up to an actual standard deserving of its price tag. It's time for us to put on the cape and cowl and enter the Madhouse. Welcome, to Arkham Asylum.

First Impressions: Five Nights at Freddy's World: ALREADY?!

I have three theories, concerning the FNAF series franchise. The first: Scott Cawthorn is actually a code name for 13+ people, the second, that he is a robot. The reason I say these is because I thought we wouldn't be seeing this trailer until next year, not a few hours ago. I will say though that the third theory is that this is a very, VERY early build of the game, but based on prior games I'm not buying a 2016 release until January 2nd comes (factoring in timezones, of course). But, we do have a trailer, so its time to look at FNAF World...

So not only have we ditched the Point and click gameplay (I hope as I don't want to direct a RPG party with a mouse), but we've ditched the horror gameplay entirely, "now... they're CUTE." See:

We have a traditional, old school RPG, which on the surface looks fun to play. The mechanics don't look too complicated, but my guess is that its because of the trailer, and hopefully it does have some depth. One problem I'm seeing at the moment, based on what little we know of it, the party members could be very "samey" if that makes sense. When you stop to look at it, there really aren't a lot of Animatronic characters in the series, just different interpretations of them, which could be the biggest problem with the game, "why should I pick Phantom Foxy over regular Foxy?" as an example. It looks like it may not be a problem for the Nightmare forms, but it might with some others.

Visuals wise, it looks nice, but some of the characters look scarier here then they did in the horror games, mainly The Puppet. As I said in my review of the four games last week, I don't find the animatronics scary, but here, there is an Uncanny Vally esque design to these. I can't really describe it based on just this picture, I need to see the characters in action, something I could say about the entire game itself. This is something I need more info on before I can form an opinion. I'll probably play it as I do like old school RPG's, but I will say. Scott, FOR THE LOVE OF PRIMUS, SLOW DOWN! I've seen RPG's rushed and they suffer for it, I'd rather not see this one suffer the same fate. I'll see you all for the Ignition and Battle for Karda Nui arcs tomorrow.

Four games at Freddy's: I solomly swear that there will be no jump scares in this post. Besides, have you tried typing Jump scares?

Five Nights at Freddy's, chances are you've herd of these game if you've spent any time on Youtube this past year, that's what happens when one person puts out four well received horror games in under a year, which bugs me even of itself, as I feel that the quality of the games is diminished as a result. But, I did promise last year that I'd review the first game, and I'm doing one, I may as well do all four. So, here's my review of the four Five Nights at Freddy's games. As a forewarn, I'm reviewing the PC versions of all of these games, but iOS and android versions do exist.

First Impressions: Need for Speed: Welcome back old friend

I know I harp on EA often, and not without good reason mind you. However, there was a time I loved their games... well, two in particular. Burnout 3: Takedown, which I still maintain to be one of the best party games I've ever played (yeah, you herd me Mario Party). And the Need for Speed series, especially Need for Speed Underground 2. One of the best gaming memories I have from when I was a child was when me and my father would boot up Underground 2 on the PS2, spend the afternoon building a car up from scratch and once we were done, sending them to the "City loop" track (I can't remember the name), and racing them to see who was the better driver... let's just say there's a reason why Burnout 3 was a fairer challenge, though I did get better. However, I haven't really followed the Need for Speed series as close as my father has, and even then he doesn't play it that much now. I loved watching him play Most Wanted and Undercover, but that was about it. I was going to do the same with this one... and then I saw E3...

One thing you should know about Need for Speed, no one cares about the plot. The plot's there to give you missions and races. Which is pretty much all you're doing in this game: Going from point A to point B, doing races, outrunning cops, and getting better cars to do the same thing. Its a mix of arcade racing and realistic racing games. Now I don't know how that will hold in this day and age, however it'll still have its audience.

One of the things I enjoyed about Underground 2 was the overworld. I completed races to unlock more areas to drive to more so then anything else, and I'm glad to see that back here. Basically this Need for Speed is a fusion of three others. The car customization from Underground 1 and 2, the pursuit from Most Wanted (and maybe Undercover, I don't know if you can drive Police cars as well) and the overworld of Carbon, one I have no experience playing, but I have seen in action and it looks like it was well designed... at least according to memory. Those alone have sold me on this, if the entire world is unlocked at the start, then I'm sold...

Unless this ends up suffering from some of the problems I have with the industry at the moment, and with it being EA, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I hope not, but I know there's a chance of it happening. I'll see you all soon for another game: Shantae 1/2 genie hero.

Yes, today is literally an experiment, I hope you like the flood of content, but don't expect this to be often, I'm not that crazy.

First Impressions: Transformers Devastation: I'm getting him ready now

Probably about time I covered the games I said I'd cover in the post E3 vid, isn't it? So yeah we got the announcement of a new Transformers game, and it has nothing to do with Bayformers. In fact, not only is it based on Generation 1 for all you Gen 1ers, but its also a prequel for the current line in the toys and IDW comics (something I really need to start reading soon, I'm actually ashamed that I haven't yet), being the Combiner Wars. And with Platnium games as the main Development team... let's just say I have a few words... so what are my thoughts on Devastation? Well, unlike a lot of other people doing posts like this, I don't have nostalgia goggles for Generation 1, as I said during the Transformers Marathon last year. However, that doesn't mean I'm not excited to play this.

Team Fortress 2: "A World war themed hat simulator" - Valve

What is there to say about Team Fortress 2 that hasn’t been said? If you play First person shooters or have Steam, then you know of this game. It’s one of the few FPS games that doesn’t try to take itself seriously and never has. The trailers, the taunts in game, the weapons, the characters, everything about this game is designed to be comical.

First Impressions: Project Spark

Well... who didn't hear of Project Spark, the game that got a lot of hate at E3 (admittedly not as much as Ubisoft's laziness but I'm not going to go into that one). Rare fans were furious with Project Spark, and admittedly for good reason. But before I go into why, lets talk about the rest of the game first.

So what's in Project Spark... I don't know and the developers don't now much either. Its a "Game maker" game, all its content is player created. Imagine Microsoft's Little Big Planet and you have this in a nutshell. Players would be able to create and share content online for other player is use; whether that be to play around in or tinker with. Its a tested concept that does work for games as more and more players want to ease into games development and games like Project Spark help them to do that from a young age. Aesthetic wise, the game looks good. It uses a art style that works well with the amount of assets players can use to make their maps, something that's very hard to do because of how many different assets are in the game. It takes a lot of skill to make medieval assets, futuristic assets and steam punk assets to look good using the same art style (just to name a few that I've seen/ guessing will be in the game.

And now to the controversy behind Project Spark, the elephant in the room. The inclusion of Conker. Conker first appeared in the original Diddy Kong Racing (I'm not sure he was in the remake, because of legal issues) and has appeared in two games of his own. Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live and Reloaded, a remake of the original. Looks can be deceiving with character as he is probably the least qualified cartoon character to be in a kids game. He has a Alcohol issue, Bad Fur Day had a lot of... humor targeted to a specific demographic (take South Park for example but not as smart and multiply it to get Bad Fur Day. Don't believe me, look up The Great Mighty Poo, you can't miss it). Conker, when he became his own stand alone character, was never intended to be in a kids game. Fans of Rare's work were furious because it would mean that, to them, they would never get a new Conker game similar to the first one and its remake because the character will never be the same again. Personally, I think they might be able to pull it off but the game will get a lot of hate from parents (because the last two didn't...) because of the style of writing the series uses. The question will be, would the ends justify the means for the game. As for Project Spark, I'm going to keep my eye on it and I may review it someday because it is getting a PC release (on windows 8...). It will be time for a change of pace with Sonic Boom next.

Impressions of the concluding Knight

It would appear that Rocksteady has been busy during the development of Arkham Origins. Earlier today they announced the conclusion to the Batman Arkham series, Batman Arkham Knight. They have been working on this title since the release of Arkham City and from the trailer, it would appear that their going out with a bang. Scarecrow looks to be the main villain in this game with Two-Face, Penguin and Harley Quinn also working on this plan. The setting is going to be one year after Arkham City and will have a bigger world then Arkham City, but I am not sure about it being bigger then Arkham Origins. One thing that has been confirmed is that you can finally, FINALLY drive the iconic Batmobile, which now has a design resembling several past iterations such as the Animated series and the Tumbler from the Nolan films. A Pre-order bundle was also released which allows you to play as Harley.

While I might not have a next gen console yet (this is being released for PS4, X-Bone X-Box One and PC) I am still very much looking forward to this game and will pick it up as soon as I have a PS4 (but first comes the PS3 for the two Kingdom hearts final mixes, and the WiiU for Smash 4). I do hope that you can play as Robin this time though as he was fun in the Arkham City DLC, Harley Quinn's Revenge.

Also, total number of times Arkham appears in this post: 10