Ant-Man - Movie Review

Ant-Man Review

Ant-Man is the last movie of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's going out with a bang. Ant-Man delivers the same thrills that we got from The Avengers, with a little more humor. Paul Rudd immediately convinces the audience that he is the perfect casting choice, and is probably the most relatable superhero I've seen.

 Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) comes right out of prison at the start of the movie, and is motivated to start becoming part of his daughters life. His hilarious criminal roommates try to persuade him to go back to crime, but he doesn't budge. Finally, he does, and it turns out that Hank Pym, the creator of the Pym particle and the Ant-Man suit has set the task up for him, to give him a chance to prove himself. He then dons the suit, after taking it for a test and then trains to take down the main bad guy, Darren Cross. Darren Cross is trying to figure out how to replicate the Pym particle, and ends up going crazy in the midst of doing so. Once he finally figures out how to replicate it, he becomes the Yellowjacket. His motivations for doing this are pretty unclear, and he makes for a pretty transparent villain that's not fleshed out enough. When Ant-Man shrinks down to ant size, it makes the entire world around him colossal, and the CGI makes it look like this entirely different world.

The dialogue in Ant-Man is by far the funniest in any Marvel movie to date, and the script fits Paul Rudd perfectly. The action is very clever and unique, with Ant-Man shrinking and then growing back to full size in swift movements to take his enemies down, which was really entertaining to watch. There is also a couple of nods and references to other Marvel movies, which is always fun.

Ant-Man is action packed, and pretty loosely scripted, but it's one of the more fun superhero movies. It's nice and refreshing to have a solo superhero movie fresh off of the Avengers, that is nearly as thrilling.

8.4/10

Batman: Arkham Knight - Game Review

Batman: Arkham Knight Review

Batman: Arkham Knight is the final installment in the Batman: Arkham series, one of my favorite game series ever. Batman is back for the last time to save Gotham from Scarecrow covering all of Gotham City in a huge fear gas cloud. I thought that I had already seen that plotline similar in Batman Begins, so that was something that sort of bothered me. This game has been delayed so many times. So many, that I wonder if the only reason was to build up more hype. But, does Batman: Arkham Knight live up to the hype? The short answer, absolutely NOT. 

I'm not entirely sure, but I'm pretty sure that Rocksteady had the same screenwriters for Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, but different writers for Batman: Arkham Knight. This is mostly where Arkham Knight let me down. As you progress through the story, you don't really see any of the any of the evolution to the characters or plot that you did in Asylum and City. Asylum and City were amazing examples of games that had excellent gameplay and exploration of the map, while still maintaining focus and a tightly scripted plot. Batman: Arkham Knight suffers from a narrative that is way too loose. Much like Arkham Origins, Arkham Knight carries the burden of shoving so many characters and villains into one game, and pushing them into side missions that have no relevance to the story. I came into this game expecting to see how all the villains would tie in with Scarecrow and The Arkham Knight, who are the main villains in the game.

Another big thing that let me down were the characters. They were the second biggest disappointment in regards to the other games. In Arkham Asylum and City, the main villains and Batman himself are so life-like and well acted, and the script just enhanced the voice actors talents. In this game, the script just doesn't do that for me and doesn't have that same feel. Kevin Conroy (Batman), Johnathan Banks (Commissioner Gordon) and John Noble (Scarecrow) all stole the show at once and suited their corresponding characters perfectly. It's just that there's nothing all that new brought to the table for them. The Scarecrow is an awesome villain and isn't seen enough. The Arkham Knight is a whiny brat who has a grudge against Batman for whatever reason and is seen TOO much. The Arkham Knight never felt menacing or scary at all, he just seemed like an annoyance to Batman that needed to be taken care of.

There are a couple [meaning exactly 2] of new things introduced to the plot that I had not really seen before, which I enjoyed a lot. The Arkham Knight's real identity is a mystery, but all you know is that he has a big grudge against Batman. Trying to piece his identity together with everything he says, trying to look for hints to his past and personality when he talks to Batman was so much fun. But then, around halfway through the game, they start throwing not-so-subtle clues and hints to his identity, just in case there were people out there who didn't have any clue up to that point. It made it all too easy to guess his identity, and when his identity was revealed to me it was no surprise at all. Rocksteady had the perfect opportunity to surprise us with this plotline and ruined it for me. Another thing that was new is the psychological trauma that Batman goes through the entire game. Batman has hallucinations and sees things that aren't there, but are much scaled down than the Scarecrow's nightmare stages in Arkham Asylum, but hallucinations nonetheless. This made Batman a more vulnerable and interesting protagonist, as you get to see his greatest fears and play them out for him. But that was the peak of the story for me, along with the end. There's not enough twists and turns that dramatically change the end goal or plot like in Arkham City, which was  a major step backward.

Playing as Batman is a whole different story. New things have been added and tweaked in the combat and stealth to add more variety. The freeflow combat in Arkham Knight is the best in the entire series, with a bunch of cool new moves and animations. However, the stealth has been tweaked too much. All these new gadgets that are introduced to you make stealth too easy. One of the biggest problems with the stealth was the newest fear multi-takedown, which then allow you to take out multiple people at once, making it unchallenging. Arkham City had much more challenge to the stealth, giving you fewer opportunities to put your gadgets to use. The stealth sections/areas are also way too big and open, whereas Arkham Asylum was all about being in a confined space with your enemies, and the claustrophobia involved in that. In addition to this, there are no boss battles! Awesome boss battles from Asylum and City are not present in this game, and the only thing close to being called boss battles are involved with the batmobile.

I didn't have hopes that high for the batmobile, so it wasn't as much of a disappointment as the underdeveloped plot. Granted, it does handle very well and is pretty fun to drive, but if you want to explore the huge open city of Gotham, you're better off gliding over rooftops, as it is MUCH faster. The batmobile was used in every single way I hoped it wouldn't. Rocksteady obviously wanted to show it off as much as possible, so they gave the batmobile a tank mode. What then follows is hours of tank battles, where you fight other tank drones in repetitive and boring fashion. I was hoping for awesome villains being fleshed out in this game, and instead, I'm left with tons of insanely tedious batmobile missions, which include, batmobile car chases, tank battles, batmobile PLATFORMING (Yes, I'm serious) and racetracks the Riddler made for you. Later in the game, they introduce tank stealth missions to you. As if the list wasn't bad enough. The tank stealth missions are incredibly boring and annoying, so much so that they make you want to scream. You know, maybe I wouldn't care so much if it didn't absorb over half the actual gameplay. So now I guess the core gameplay of Batman: Arkham is the batmobile. And the batmobile sucks, by the way. What a bitter way to end a great trilogy, with the coolest vehicle in the DC universe.

The exploration is pretty good though. Riddler is at it again, scattering around a bunch of trophies for you to collect, and rage inducing, god awful underground batmobile racetracks. I want to find the person who thought that would be a good idea and give him a good smack on the face. Seriously, Riddler racetracks don't really count as riddles. The Riddler trophies though, are not as fun as they once used to be, as most of them don't require puzzle solving and are just hidden, while some require the batmobile to solve. The side missions are great though. I loved seeing all the villains, even though I was under the impression they would play bigger roles than just being in side missions. I loved solving mysteries and scanning dead bodies for clues and all that kind of stuff. To unlock the full ending to the game, you actually have to complete all the side missions and collect all of the Riddler trophies. I already had completed all the side missions, and I didn't think that gliding around, looking for the 200+ Riddler trophies was worth my time, so I ended up just watching it on YouTube.

Overall, Batman: Arkham Knight was more disappointing than I ever wanted it to be. I had enormous expectations for this game. I thought it was so not cool to make the batmobile the core gameplay, and force it into every single aspect of the game. If only they just toned down the batmobile and put a little more thought into the script, this could have been the best Batman: Arkham game.

+ Biggest game yet with most content                 - Not enough twists and turns

+ Great variety added to combat/stealth              - No boss battles!

                                                                             - Stealth is too easy

                                                                             -Not enough evolution to characters/plot

                                                                              - Batmobile crammed into EVERYTHING

6.7/10                             



The Last of Us Remastered - Game Review

The Last of Us Remastered Review

The Last of Us Remastered is a port of the original PS3 exclusive to the PS4. Nothing too outstanding was added to the re-release, which is absolutely fine. Nothing needed to be added anyway. The last of us is the perfect example of what every great story-driven action game should be. Everything is executed with so much thought behind it, to create the most immersive experience you can get.  

The Last of Us hooks and reels you in with it's well scripted plot, and all-star voice cast. No other game has made me care so much about these characters I hardly even know. The amazing graphics (probably the best on console games to date) and motion capture bring out the raw emotions in the protagonists. You go on an emotional journey with Joel, as he travels the post-apocalyptic U.S. with a disgruntled and curious teenager named Ellie. They gradually bond, even though they have almost alternate personalities. The protagonists are so interesting, and there's so much to learn about them, which actually gives you some motivation to keep them alive.

You will have two main enemies in this game, humans and infected zombie-like mutant humans. To fight these enemies you will pick up weapons throughout the course of the game, which in turn will let you upgrade them by scavenging for supplies. You can craft things with supplies too, in a fairly basic crafting system. Scavenging for supplies feels so rewarding, and sometimes supplies will be thinly spread throughout the map, forcing you to make choices on what you craft and what you don't. The level design is also phenomenal, and everything placed in the map works so well with the combat and stealth to make it feel organic.

This game can get pretty intense at times, and the tension that builds up makes it feel so atmospheric. There can be large stealth sections with infected humans that makes your stomach knot into a ball. There's actually a unique twist on the stealth, which was a great idea. Some of the infected (Clickers) use echolocation to see around them. So you have to be quiet around them, even if they can't see you. They could comically walk right past you if you didn't move. You usually have the option to go stealthily or guns ablaze. Sometimes combat will be forced unexpectedly on you and catch you off guard. Some of the best moments of the game wait, and when everything seems calm they spring it on you. The combat works very well and the controls are extremely responsive. Unlike Call of Duty, where ammunition is infinite, you will be forced to use your bullets wisely. The stealth is the way to go if your low on bullets, and mastering stealth is so satisfying. Something that can occasionally bring the combat/stealth down is the buggy and very stupid A.I. Sometimes reactions from the A.I. were bad enough to make me laugh. Sometimes enemies can be caught in endless loops of running around in circles until you do something like throw a brick to cut it off. These occasions definitely get rid of the immersion that the Last of Us tries so hard to build. Thankfully these were only limited and they didn't hinder my experience.

Another unimpressive aspect was the multiplayer. It was kind of unnecessary in a very heavily story driven game. It works well and all, but it has nothing unique to it and feels kind of crammed in there.

The Last of Us is everything I want from an action game and more. It gives you a reason to fight and leaves you with satisfying gameplay with some pretty intense and hectic moments. This is a pretty short review, but I have nothing that negative to say about this game, and if I gave away any more of the story I would probably spoil it. This is one of the best games out there.

-Buggy A.I.                                       +Core Gameplay fantastic
-Multiplayer's nothing special           + Satisfying on every level
                                                           + Great story and characters
9.8/10