First appeared on www.NerdyButFlirty.com

Twenty minutes into Star Trek: Into Darkness, and I knew I wanted to watch this movie again.

I almost hesitated to write this review, wondering if I was extremely biased by my love of Star Trek. This couldn’t possibly be one of the best movies I’ve ever seen; I must just be mistaken. And yet…this movie melted off my little nerdy face.

Could this be one of the best sci-fi movies of our time? Quite possibly. If you love the Star Trek franchise, go see this movie. It’s even better than the reboot. IT’S A SEQUEL THAT’S BETTER THAN THE FIRST. But that’s oddly appropriate, given the history of Star Trek movies.

Plot

When the crew of the Enterprise returns from a “routine” mission, they find that all is not well at Starfleet, as they are under attack by someone within their own ranks. Kirk sets off on a manhunt into a war-zone to capture the bad guy…and then everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

The story was interesting and shocking in some ways, yet predictable and campy in others. I didn’t mind the camp of the main villain too much, because, after all, this is a movie based on an old franchise. As someone very prone to nostalgia, having villains who are a throwback to a bygone age in movies isn’t as big of a deal to me, although I know it will bother some people.

Another big issue with the plot is that it is clearly split into different acts, as opposed to feeling like one cohesive whole. On the other hand, this added to my feeling of having made a journey with the crew, of having been through a lot together. In that way, the movie is set up very much like a game, with quests needing to be completed before moving on to other quests. If that sounds boring or tedious to you, then you might not like this movie. For someone like me, who really enjoys the adventure, it was noted, but didn’t take me out of the film.

Rounding out the negatives are the odd moments of character highlights that seem important but are then never seen or heard from again, and the little movie logic decisions (movie sins, I believe the kids call them) that bug nitpickers about every movie.

But all-in-all, I found this plot compelling, exciting, intriguing, and wonderfully nostalgic. This movie was made for Star Trek fans, through and through.

Cast

The highlight of the movie for me is, of course, the greatest bromance of all time: Spock and Kirk. The interactions between them and the other cast members was just brilliant, especially the relationship between Uhura and Spock, the roles of everyone on the ship, and the wonderful Urban’s spot-on interpretation of Bones.

The only actor I did not really enjoy played the main villain, Benedict Cumberbatch. I found his lines over-delivered and far too Shakesperean compared to the rest of the movie. Sometimes the camera would zoom in on his face and I would laugh, it was that bad.

Chris Pine as Kirk

Zachary Quinto as Spock

Zoe Saldana as Uhura

Karl Urban as Bones

Simon Pegg as Scotty

John Cho as Sulu

Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison

Special Effects

The art direction and special effects were gorgeous, fluid, and epic. Everything was beautiful, and even the 3D was used in a way that made sense. No complaints here!

Music and Audio

Perfectly complimenting the visuals was the sound. Booming and precise, with hints of nostalgia. I enjoyed both the music and the sound direction.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the actors were great and the chemistry between characters was spot on. I loved all the little callbacks to the original series and movies, including little facial expressions, actual quotes, and even tableaus. Star Trek: Into Darkness perfectly captured the excitement I felt when watching the original series, and I can’t wait to watch this crew’s next adventure. I’ve been seeing that some mainstream news sources are saying the movie is disappointing… I’m wondering if they were too busy looking for flaws instead of enjoying the adventure.

First appeared on www.NerdyButFlirty.com

Star Wars: Legacy is the second iteration by that name. The first dealt with Cade Skywalker, the bounty hunter. This new series deals with Ania Solo, a descendent of Han and Leia.

A female Han Solo? Yes please.

The art in this issue is great and feels very reminiscent of Star Wars in general. However, this definitely feels like a “middle” issue, with not a lot going on. #3 is clearly meant to set up circumstances for the next issue, rather than sharing any surprises or intriguing battles.

However, don’t let this stop you from giving the series a try! You can buy the digital copies here.

Plot

Ania Solo and her friends have been chased, blockaded, and shot at, and now they’re stuck on a world of molten sulfur, all because an Imperial Knight wants them dead. Just when things seem bleakest, another Imperial Knight shows up! Is he here to help them, or help destroy them?

Writer:

Corinna Bechko, Gabriel Hardman

Artist:

Gabriel Hardman

Colorist:

Rachelle Rosenberg

Cover Artist:

Dave Wilkins

Dark Horse Comics is joining in on the May the 4th festivities with a very exclusive limited offer to their digital comics readers.

They’re offering two May the 4th MegaBundles! One MegaBundle is for devout comics readers, and the other is for the younger Star Wars fans (or young at heart).

The comic collection places over three thousand pages of Star Wars comics goodness right at your fingertips. It includes some of our most popular Star Wars series, such as Knights of the Old Republic, Blood Ties, Empire, and Dark Times, as well as some of our newest series, such as Dawn of the Jedi, Agent of the Empire, and our smash-hit series simply titled Star Wars, written by comics legend Brian Wood.

The kids’ collection provides over one thousand pages of Star Wars Adventures and The Clone Wars. Hours of summer entertainment for your little Star Wars fan!

Each MegaBundle comes with an exclusive two-page digital preview of the highly anticipated comics adaptation of The Star Wars, George Lucas’s original-draft screenplay. Written three years before the 1977 film, this first vision of the galaxy far, far away introduces us to Jedi Annakin Starkiller and General Luke Skywalker, as well as a six-foot alien named Han Solo. It’s a tale of fantastic adventures, daring escapes, “laser swords,” and monsters, and is sure to read like no Star Wars you’ve known before!

Over 60 percent off the regular listed price for these digital comics? Why, yes! These are the MegaBundles you’re looking for.

Dark Horse Digital is available through all web browsers and as an app in both the Android and iTunes stores.

Stop by Dark Horse Digital and get all the Star Wars comics you want!

First appeared on NerdyButFlirty.com

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a game built on the engine of nostalgia. The Ubisoft team created a love letter to their childhood heroes, and they’ve done it with the incredibly solid and addicting gameplay of Far Cry 3. This game isn’t just a one-trick pony: though it runs the risk of being too over-the-top, FC3: BD is refreshingly self-aware enough to avoid the pitfalls of a (too) repetitive joke.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a game for gamers. What I mean by that is, this is a game that breaks the fourth wall and invites you in on the jokes and tropes of both old-school action movies and the action game genre itself. Helpful loading screen advice includes: “Enemies in range can be shot” and “Use cover to stay behind things” while a tracking symbol and static roll across your screen. This is the first indication that this game might be…a little different.

Whereas Far Cry 3 claimed to be a satire, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is an actual epitome of satire and a delight to play. I mean, the hardest part of writing this review is not quoting almost every line of text and dialogue. It’s that hilarious. They also had a whole section about how violent games don’t cause violence…it was breathtaking. Oh, and you throw dice instead of rocks and the scientists say adorably geeky things and your computer calls you a nerd–

Okay, I’m going to stop making out with the game long enough to tell you all about it.

Plot

You play Rex Power Colt (voiced by the super-legit Michael Biehn), one of the last Mark IV Super Cyber Commandos on the planet. With your buddy Spider and the sultry Dr. Elizabeth Veronica Darling, you have to take down the crazy Colonel Ike Sloan and unravel the mystery of the Blood Dragons. Or something like that. The in-game manual has a completely different plot listed. Have fun with that.

The plot is straight out of an 80s action flick, with over-the-top dialogue, lots of stereotypes (the black sidekick with a potty mouth, the female scientist with the ridiculous name that all the men want, etc.), and implausible situations involving sharks and infiltration.

I had very minor problems with the story, but all were based on issues that existed in movies in the 80s, so I couldn’t actually be mad. The game was just being true to slightly racist and sexist source material. I mean, you can’t fault a game with a training montage: it’s just against the rules of fair play. Even if there is a sassy black best friend yelling “WE NEED TO RECALIBRATE YO ASS!”

Graphics

Chrome, lasers, cyborgs, neon, and smoke: that’s the aesthetic of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. The graphics are technically just as beautiful as Far Cry 3, but the smoke and dark color scheme make it a lot harder to see enemies (hence why they glow red) and harder to appreciate the beauty of the island. On the other hand, it looks pretty cool, and the nice touches like the city-at-war in the background add an interesting layer to the horizon.

Music

The music in this game is fantastic. They capture the rocking spirit of 80s and 90s action movies and also manage to incorporate some sounds from Far Cry 3 as well. The music kept the energy high in enemy encounters and made you feel like a badass during stealthy infiltration missions.

Gameplay

There are a lot of the same elements in FC3: BD as there were in FC3, as is only to be expected in a derivative game. On the other hand, there are plenty of little differences that give the game a spirit of its own.

Your camera has been turned into your Cyber Eye, a device that makes a lot of sense for a cyber commander to have. Your hand is now a cyber hand and you have lovely cyber powers, including the ability to breathe underwater (thanks to your cyber lungs), survive falls from any height,and run really fast.

There are seemingly fewer animals than were present in Far Cry 3, and the animals that make it into this game are a little…different. A little more cyber. Please do yourself a favor and read EVERYTHING in the Research Data section of your Data Console. The writers in this game had a ball.

Missions and Adventures

There are seven missions, each pretty difficult unless you spend a lot of time leveling up. They are all multi-tiered and ultimately insanely rewarding. You’ll get that sentence when you finish a few of them.

Besides the actual missions, your character can also explore the island and complete quests for weapon upgrades. Quest types include hunting/wanted quests, liberating garrisons, and finding collectibles. One of the new mission types involves rescuing hostages before they’re shot to pieces, which was quite fun.

In Far Cry 3, liberating garrisons could involve enlisting a tiger or a group of komodos; now you can lure a giant, insanely over-powered dragon into their midst instead…after knocking down their anti-dragon shields. I loved the new range of choices the generators opened up.

Blood Dragons

Speaking of which, let’s talk about how awesome blood dragons are. You remember that slight bit of fear that struck your heart the first few times you unexpectedly ran into a tiger or bear in Far Cry 3? Remember how they were a little difficult to kill and you had that second of panic before getting into gear and working to dispatch it?

Well now imagine that tiger/bear is waaay bigger, much stronger, and a lot more damage resistant. Imagine that it shakes the ground when it runs towards you, that you can practically feel its eye lasers grazing the back of your neck as you jump down the cliff in an effort to escape.

So much is done right with the blood dragons. Not only do they manage to create a real feeling of danger, but they also add an interesting layer to the strategy of taking down a garrison or group of soldiers. They have three stages: dormant, watchful, and attack mode, as indicated by the colors of a stoplight. You can lure a blood dragon with a cyber heart, something you rip out of the chest of cyber soldiers you after you murder them.

As I sped away from one dragon when I ran out of bullets, I tossed a cyber heart to the left to distract it and snagged a hang glider, narrowly missing eye lasers as I glided to safety…and I remember thinking: this is why you play Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

Combat

Combat is the same as in Far Cry 3, except you start off with a lot of the skills you had to build up in that game. You also no longer have a skill tree: you are simply given certain skills as you level up. You have a shuriken now too, which adds a nice little link to your chained takedowns.

Your favorite weapons are all there, with delightful attachments that might make you crow for joy. The missions can seem punishingly hard at first, until you realize you should head out into the open world and complete some quests to mod out your favorite sniper rifle. Then you become *serious 80s voice* The Punisher.

Negatives

I have very little to complain about, gameplay wise, but there is one complaint, and it is something that annoyed me in the first game as well. Some of the action buttons are a little finicky You have to hold certain buttons for certain actions, such as pilfering and buying things. Sometimes, that prompt just won’t appear. Or sometimes the command to run just won’t work. Or you’ll turn on your Cyber Eye instead of throwing a cyber heart. At least with the 360 controller, this is a game that will have you literally mashing buttons at times to get them to input correctly. It is a very minor problem, but I’m pretty annoyed that I’m still having it in the new game. After the fifth time you move over someone’s body trying to get the prompt to appear, you’ll see what I mean.

Another small negative is the prevalence of escort missions. There are quite a few of them. I just despise escort missions in every game I’ve ever played.

But, in general, it was very hard to find things to dislike in this game. Remember how you hate Jason for constantly saying “disgusting” after his fiftieth animal skinning? Well Rex also says disgusting…just in a completely different way. A way you will love him for. Were we talking about negatives? I can’t remember.

Final Verdict

Have you ever played a game that parodied another game so hard it floated into the sky on a burst of rainbows and laser beams? This game is pure greatness.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon doesn’t waste your time explaining how to play the game. It cuts out all the fat, adds a ton of bullsh*t, and takes you on a nostalgia trip riding on solid gameplay and addictive action.

There are so many amazing moments that I want to share with you, but I won’t because I want you to have that jaw-dropping moment of “no they did not actually put this into the game” that I was able to experience.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is available for $14.99. Go get it.

In the words of Rex: “Sayonara Sushi!”

First appeared on NerdyButFlirty.com

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is the expansion to the Capcom game Dragon’s Dogma. It includes the original Dragon’s Dogma, as well as an all new setting, Bitterblack Isle. The game comes with two discs, one of which is an optional install disc that ups the textures and allows you to select the original Japanese voice acting.

If you don’t have any save data from Dragon’s Dogma, you’ll have to level a bit (to level 45) before you can take on the denizens of the isle. If you do have save data, you’ll be able to export your character and all save data with new skills and augments as well as new weapons and armor sets. You’ll also get 100,000 Rift Crystals, unlimited Ferry stones, and the Gransys Armor Pack, consisting of six brand new costumes. Which was pretty awesome.

To catch you up, Dragon’s Dogma was an action RPG released last May. The setting is open world fantasy, and the combat is hack and slash. Although I didn’t finish the original game, I loved it, and only traded it in to get this one! This new expansion is sure to please those who’ve leveled their characters up past the hundreds, as the challenge is quite substantial.

Plot

“Just off the Gransys mainland is the cursed Bitter black Isle, where gamers will embark on an all-new quest to discover an underground realm, complete with new terrifying foes and incredible treasure.”

Basically, you meet a strange woman who tells you she’s not really there, but she can take you to herself. You hop in the boat and end up on the island, where you will explore, fight insanely hard battles, and then bring back items for her to uncurse. She’s very vague, just like that official plot up there.

You can also continue the plot of the original game, which was to defeat the dragon that is terrorizing your country. The Dark Arisen story is set after the events of the first game, where you will face a new boss in a new area of that world, but if you haven’t played, it will just fold in like part of the original story.

Graphics and Music

The graphics in Dark Arisen are generally quite nice, but once in a while they just get bad. I don’t know what it is (I’m not technical when it comes to graphics issues) but one minute it will look glorious, and then you’re fighting five goblins and you’re half in a barrel and textures look funny. Sounds like my Saturday night. Zing.

Speaking of funny, watch NPCs mouths when they talk. Only the bottom lip moves! Which is better than my pawn, who doesn’t move his mouth at all.

The music is haunting and lovely. I sometimes let the game sit at the start menu just to hear the intro song. The ambiance is perfect for adventuring!

Gameplay

Pawns

Dark Arisen is set up like most Western style RPGs, with one main difference: the Pawn system. Pawns are helper creatures. I say creatures, because it is constantly made clear throughout the game that Pawns are not people. They are expendable – you can always get rid of one and buy a new one to fit the current questline a little better. It’s a very unusual system, especially since most RPGs want you to grow attached to your companions, not consider them, well, pawns.

Your pawns are amazing. Pawns learn skills and communicate with you in the way you teach them to. Netting a high level pawn who knows a lot of skills and quests means having constant tips and advice when you need it…and often when you don’t. They attack based on tactics you lay out, meaning I often had absolutely nothing to do with most battles.

Pawns also gather loot for you and break boxes, which is my favorite thing of all. Do you know how nice it is not to have to do all the looting by myself? You all know about me and my looting habit already though, so moving on.

Menu

In Dark Arisen, the Dragon’s Dogma menu system has been tweaked slightly in hopes of being more intuitive. It didn’t bother me either way, so I can’t say if it’s an improvement or not. I will say that it probably takes some getting used to, as it is a true RPG. You have your inventory, maps, quest area, stats, equipment, tools and curatives (potions). All of that has got to go somewhere, and I can’t really think of a better way to do it than the method Capcom chose.

Combat

There are some new enemies in Dark Arisen, such as the Elder Ogres, Pyre Saurians, and Necorphagous. Oh, and Death. Death is an enemy. And he one-hit kills you, so have fun with that.

Combat in Dragon’s Dogma was already pretty fun, with all the monster climbing reminding me of Shadow of Colossus. In Dark Arisen, combat is no laughing matter. The expansion is meant to be just that: an expansion, so expect a lot of challenging battles. The final boss has a very frustrating attack as well, but I wont spoil it for you. Suffice to say, tactics and pawns are vitally important on the isle.

My main issue with combat is the lack of an enemy lock. It drives me crazy to be in a clump of combatants and to not be able to choose who I fight. The combat also isn’t as satisfying as the combat in the original Dragon Age was to me (I had the same complaint with Skyrim), but maybe it’s just the hack and slash aspect that doesn’t work as well for my play style.

What I do love about the combat is how you interact with the larger or more complex enemies. For example, I can grab a flying monster’s leg while my pawns attack, or my pawn can throw me into the air to grab onto the back of a griffin. Some giant monsters have to be taken down piece by piece by climbing to the appropriate body part. Fighting large monsters is very exciting, and really shows off how well done the AI system is.

But this is just Dark Souls/Skyrim/SotC!

A possible complaint some could have with Dark Arisen is that it isn’t very new or original. It’s obviously influenced by Western-style RPGs, and even seems like a love letter to Dark Souls.

However, a girl like me, who deeply loves these fantasy RPGs, isn’t going to tell you that’s an issue. I don’t need the RPG genre to be rewritten with every new game (lookin’ at you, Dragon Age II and the possibly even more different Dragon Age III). I don’t need to be wowed by how original the game is. To be perfectly honest, I love RPGs for the same reason I love books – escaping into a fantasy world. So bring on the quests and the sweeping meadows and the orc-like creatures and, yes, the dragons. Playing this game was like putting on my favorite hoodie…which tries to murder me in a nice, comfortable way.

Final Verdict

Score: B+

Not mind-blowing or stunningly original, but this is good, solid RPG fun, with an exciting level of challenge. Dragon’s Dogma was one of the forgotten gems of last year, and Dark Arisen just builds on that.

If you’ve played Dragon’s Dogma, you will find the perfect amount of (or maybe too much) challenge for your high level character. If you haven’t played Dragon’s Dogma, this is an excellent value for your money, so get it now! I plan to spend many more hours in this lovely world.

Real Otaku Gamer has partnered with Indie Game Stand to bring you our latest contest: The Three Game Indie Giveaway!

We’re giving away codes to Cognition, Escape Goat and Gimbal on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Enter our giveaway here. You can enter multiple times a day, and complete different entry options to gain even more entries.

The contest goes live Monday at midnight, so hurry and get those entries in!

What is IndieGameStand?

In September, IndieGameStand launched as the first pay-what-you-want site to put a new, hand-picked indie game in the spotlight for a full 96 hours. They feature a new indie game every four days.

First appeared on Nerdy But Flirty

I had the pleasure of getting my hands on a copy of Injustice: Gods Among Us, the new superhero fighting game from NetherRealm Studios, the folks that brought us Mortal Kombat. This game is very much in the vein of the new Mortal Kombat (that isn’t a bad thing at all), with heroes and villains fighting epic battles on a huge scale, with lots of over-the-top sequences. The storyline is very authentic, and was apparently created in collaboration between NetherRealm Studios, DC Entertainment, and writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.

Before diving into the game review, I’d be remiss not to mention the AWESOME comic attached to the game. What? Yeah, I know that sounds like crazy talk! But the Injustice: Gods Among Us comic series is amazing. I intend to write a full review this week, but in the meantime, you should just know that it will add to your game experience in a meaningful way.

Plot

“What if our greatest heroes became our greatest threat? Injustice: Gods Among Us features DC Comics icons such Batman, Cyborg, The Flash, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, and Wonder Woman. This latest title from the award-winning studio presents a deep original story.”

Without spoiling anything, I will just say that they actually mean it when they say a deep story. The comics add even more depth to it, but basically you are given excellent reasons for why you are fighting the heroes and villains you are, as well as a minor explanation for how the lesser heroes and villains are keeping up with the stronger ones.

Characters

There are twenty-four characters, including Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Raven, Killer Frost, Harley, and Catwoman. Three girls for the bad guys and three girls for the good guys. Overall, this was a pretty eclectic mix of DC fighters, and I was happy to see them attempt to be a little different by including characters who normally don’t make it into the big name fighting games.

The characters are split into good and evil, as well as power-based characters and tech-based characters. I found the tech -based characters harder to play, of course (if you know me, this makes sense), but I wouldn’t say the power-based characters are better than the tech ones, they just suited my play style.

Women in Games

My male friend kept muttering to himself every time Harley Quinn was on screen. I asked him what was wrong and he explained that he hated the way each game seemed to want to make Harley more and more naked. I thought it was an interesting point, especially when I was feeling a similar way about Wonder Woman’s breasts. They just looked SO physically impossible. I kept getting distracted by all the logistics of trying to fight with DDs. But hey, this is a fighting game, and they have NEVER made physical sense as far as the female fighters are concerned. Catwoman is pretty covered, and Hawkgirl looks like a total badass, so I guess I’ll take the small wins…even if Killer Frost does stroke herself sensually when you leave her alone for a bit…

Also, this statement happened: “Our Wonder Woman is better looking!” >.<

Graphics

The graphics are solid, realistic, and ugly. Yes I said ugly. I’m sorry, but it’s the same complaint I had with the new Mortal Kombat. This is not a pretty game.

The intro graphics looked beautiful, until the first person showed up. It was kind of obvious what their graphic priorities were in the game. Backgrounds, cutscenes and special moves look awesome, but character rigs and model faces look strange.

Music

What music? That about sums up how I felt about the music. It was appropriate to the scenes, but not spectacular. There were fifteen stages, and I can’t think of any of their music without going and checking. It sounds like an epic battle is raging.

Combat

Stages

Speaking of stages, the stages in this game are a joy to play on. They are varied and interesting, with a great level of interaction. Not only can you smash into and through things into transition stages, but the backgrounds also react to the level of damage being tossed about, with candles jumping in the background, holes appearing in the ceilings, etc. You can also propel yourself off of objects, trigger traps, or hurl objects at your opponents.

The transitions were my favorite – they looked so painful!

Modes

There are quite a few modes to play, which really adds to the re-playability of this game, with or without friends around. There are the multiplayer modes, such as versus and online mode. In online mode, there are multiple ways to play with other folks: ranked matches, private matches, 1v1, Koth, and Survivor modes.

For single player, there is story mode, arcade mode, S.T.A.R. Labs, and a training mode. There is also a Battle Mode, where you can choose to fight only heroes, only villains, while poisoned, or in survival mode.

Story Mode was just excellent. Not only was it deep and involving, but it was also hilarious and fun. Sometimes it would even throw in relevant quick time events that would give you the chance to lower an enemy’s health before a fight. You all know how much I hate QTEs, but these were actually pretty small and not very obnoxious at all, especially since they didn’t really matter and moved so slow only a toddler could miss them. Playing Story Mode was like watching an excellent cartoon or reading a great comic, and that’s pretty amazing to say about a DC superhero fighting game.

S.T.A.R. Labs was pretty cool and is where I spent most of my time after beating story mode. Each character has a set of missions that are like mini-stories with tasks you need to complete. These tasks include more than just defeating enemies: they range from keeping Superman in the sunlight to playing as Catwoman’s cat. You earn stars in missions by accomplishing one or all of the three goals. A certain number of stars opens up the next sets of missions, and so on.

Fighting

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. So how is the fighting? Pretty darn fun. I think this game will be a darling among the fighting game community, actually.

The combos and fighting system is basically the same as Mortal Kombat. You use directional buttons and attack buttons to do light, mid, and high attacks. At your disposal are moves, combos, special moves, stances, the move specific to your character, and the special move specific to your character. There is also a bounce cancel and the ability to juggle characters around like a beach ball. Examples of moves specific to characters include Batman’s remote bats, Hawkgirl’s flight, and Flash’s speed. The full special moves are generally pretty funny because they’re so over the top. You’ll see what I mean; I don’t want to spoil the surprised grin that’s going to flash over your face when some of these happen.

There is also an interesting little system called the clash. Basically, the clash allows the defender the chance to regain some health and the attacker the chance to inflict more damage. It can be initiated once per match per character after revealing the second health bar. During the timed wagering phase, each player has the option of secretly wagering an amount of their super meter against their opponent’s amount. If the defender wins the clash, they will gain an amount of health determined by the difference of how much meter was wagered.

Is the fighting perfect? Not by any means. Depending on what type of fighting game you prefer, you may find the combat repetitive – or certain characters will seem very overpowered. Then there is the sheer nonsense of watching a Joker beat a Superman…it just seems absurd, despite the story-driven reason given for the inconsistency.

However, the good definitely outweighed the bad for me.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think NetherRealm did a great job with this game. The story is deep, plausible, and funny, the fighting is solid, and there are tons of options to hold your attention. Despite the ugly-fied graphics, boring music, and hideous face models, I just can’t dislike this game! Now off I go to defeat more foes in online mode! See you there.

First appeared on Nerdy But Flirty

This game is freakin’ awesome.

What game, you ask? Why, Guacamelee! of course! Guacamelee is an indie, 2-D platformer from DrinkBox Studios that melds features of Metroid, Outland, Castlevania, the cartoons of our childhood, and a healthy dose of The Emperor’s New Groove into one solid, action-packed game.

Inspired, vaguely, by Mexican culture, the game doesn’t take itself too seriously and hopes you don’t either. Players control Juan, a wannabe luchadore. Or, in my case, they play player number 2: Tostada, a luchadora. But I’ll get to that feminist stuff later.

Lovers of old-school platform gaming will delight in the many, many callbacks to other games, from Mario to Zelda, Megaman to Castle Crashers.

Gameplay

The core gameplay revolves around moves used in both combat and platforming. They’re color-coded and have awesome names, including the words derpderp and goat, so you know I was a fan. Enemies include all types of skeletons. Big ones, small ones, giant ones, fishy ones: the undead are out in full force.

Moves involve smashing, grabbing, and pile driving enemies into pieces, along with a dimension switch mechanic similar to that of Outland.

The puzzles and boss fights were actually pretty challenging, which is such a refreshing change of pace from the norm of repetitive battles or constant guidance. Guacamelee! features the Metroid-style open-world, which grows even larger as you gain new powers and backtrack to old areas. Sometimes my mind was just blown by what I was doing. These are the kinds of games I love: the ones that are challenging enough to give you a sense of accomplishment when you play well.

The game was probably about five hours long for a normal person, but I’m a loot maniac and a sucker for treasure hunting, so it took me about seven hours to get 80% completion. I felt that this was a good length for a game with such a thin story, but I’d love to see more levels added as DLC in the future.

The game offers boss fights that are actually challenging in the old-school way: learning to read your opponent, memorizing patterns, and learning by dying repeatedly until you figure something out. I missed this! And it is the perfect kind of game for a handheld like the Vita so that was another excellent decision, especially with the ability to cross save and cross play.

As for combat itself, the game has a surprisingly robust combo system! I got to the final level of combos before I finally walked away, but I managed to impress myself with the length and complexity of combos I was able to learn. And they helped! The further you progress into the game, the more combat tactics will come into play, as wave after wave of enemy, some with shields and some in other, untouchable, dimensions, delivereth the smacketh down on you.

Plot

“But Sarah, you ALWAYS put plot before gameplay in your reviews! What’s up?”

Well, I’m glad you asked.

You see, I want you to understand that this game is amazing and that I loved it, so I put the happy stuff first. The best part of this game truly is the actual gameplay, followed closely by the art and ambiance.

The plot, on the other hand, is the same tired, boring old trope dressed up in its fiesta best: rescue the princess from the bad man.

This is an indie game, so I could go light on the criticism here. Guacamelee! clearly isn’t out to change the world. It’s fun and challenging. So why did I have such a hangup? Well, along with the plot, there’s the way women in the game are portrayed and talked about.

Once again, I want to reiterate that I think this game is fantastic, but this was definitely the sour note in the chorus. I’m still pretty stoked that I get to be Tostada at all, so I’m not taking it out on the studio. This is more like the “I’m complaining because I care about this game and want it to go to college and grow up to be a productive citizen” kind of deal. It’s also just odd, because the hilarious dialogue made it clear that these folks know how to write.

The one interesting thing about the plot has to do with the ending of the game. There is no real resolution or discussion of what happened to Juan, who is treated like a second class citizen because, inexplicably, he is not a luchador. But there is no moral at the end, no need to say, “Hey you guys, it’s not fair that you love me now that I’m a luchadore!” That doesn’t happen. He just revels in it until the end, not seeming to care that he had to conform to their standards to be accepted. It seems especially odd because the beginning of the game had lots of foreshadowing that something’s not quite right with Juan, but it is never looked into – we only get a brief flashback that doesn’t explain much. That, along with a few other choices near the end, were pretty bold, so there was some great potential here for intrigue.

Art and Sound

The art is lush and gorgeous. I spent an inexcusable amount of time checking out the backgrounds and moving slowly through the game to let my eyeballs soak in the bright, beautiful glory that is Guacamelee!‘s art. I especially loved the little touches like Aztec shields and swords on ancient warriors and the motif of the hero holding the woman on a mountain top. The color schemes and little signs in the background were also perfect touches. The details were gorgeous, and I loved finding the HUGE amount of Easter eggs in the game.

The music was very Mexican-sounding, though that doesn’t mean it’s authentic. I found it rather repetitive and annoying after the first thirty minutes or so, which is unfortunate and made me feel bad for not appreciating horns more.

Another interesting choice was the lack of voices as well as the lack of voice or written speech for Juan, the protagonist. I probably wouldn’t have noticed that Juan didn’t speak, except that people kept asking him questions, and sometimes pretended that he had answered…but mostly reacted as if Juan kept silent. It was pretty strange.

On the other hand, putting on ridiculous voices and reading the other character’s lines was immensely entertaining. And, as I mentioned, the dialogue was mostly fantastic, with characters making me laugh out loud at some of the things they said. For example: “Like an orphaned cabbage, you rolled straight into my trap.”

Multiplayer

Playing with friends is fun and natural. There is something supremely satisfying about brawler style fights with friends along for the ride. I also loved solving puzzles cooperatively: that moment when you figure something out and you get the hi-five going – you can’t get that by yourself…easily.

Sharing the screen was the right way to go, and as I’ve mentioned, I was overjoyed that player two is a female character. The only time it gets difficult are with moves that come later in the game, especially with dimension flipping. Fortunately, only one team member needs to make it to the next section, as it will automatically teleport the other player to the beginning of the next area if one person makes it.

In Conclusion: Go Get It!

My hangups with the plot and trope-d out women are nothing compared to the amount of sheer FUN I was having. Guacamelee! is not only eye candy, it’s challenging in a refreshing way. I can’t wait to dive back in with my friends!

Guacamelee! is out now for the PlayStation 3 and Vita for $14.99.

First appeared on Nerdy But Flirty

Amala’s Blade: Kicking Assassin is the newest mini-series written by Steve Horton and illustrated by Michael Dialynas. Look at how well-clothed Amala is! That’s such a refreshing thing to see. In a nutshell: female protagonist, assassins, pirates, ghosts, and steam punk. What more do you need? Issue #0 is available for $2.99 from Dark Horse Comics already, so check it out. You can also find it at your local comic book store.

I recently had the opportunity to attend PAX East for the first time. The event was packed and a riot of colors, games and people.

To give you an idea of how crowded it was (besides these crazy pictures), I really wanted to play The Last of Us demo, but the line was already hours long at 10:20 AM… ten minutes before the show floor actually opened up! Luckily, the line for the DuckTales was much shorter.

PAX East had multiple sections, including a massive table top gaming area, a console and PC gaming area, the expo floor and an Indie game section. The indie games section was my favorite, filled with innovative and experimental games by developers creating games that they themselves actually wanted to play. Some of my favorites were Guacamelee, Transistor and Secret Ponchos.

Secret Ponchos: Indie Gold!

Secret Ponchos stole my heart as a quirky little spaghetti western top-down shooter with awesome music, lush art and a simple premise: this town ain’t big enough for the both of us. The game really gave me the feel of the old Westerns, as I hid behind a wagon and reloaded my gun, praying that the other outlaw was far enough away for my melee to recharge. I spoke with Eduardo Echeverria, the interface developer, who told me that the game will allow you to customize your character as you gain a reputation, essentially allowing you to create your own outlaw. He also revealed that they are developing a female character. Check her out on the far right and check out my preview article for more information on Secret Ponchos.

Saints Row 4: The Darling of PAX East

Of the big name games, Saints Row 4 promises to be the most outrageous, with a gun that allows you to dubstep people to death and the admission that there would have been a dragon you could ride if they’d had enough time to fit it into the game.

Players control the President of the United Saints (which you can import from your old game save) and must battle evil aliens in a computer generated world using only their super powers and wits. And guns. And monster trucks. Etc., etc., etc.

Check out my preview article for more information about the upcoming sequel to Saints Row the Third.

Panels, Parties and More

Besides the show floor and gaming areas there were also more panels than you could shake a stick at! Check :23 seconds in to see my lovely face at the TGS Podcast panel, for example. There were also parties like the one Twitch hosted and fun hangouts like the BioWare Base.

Despite the lack of many big name game releases, I still had a great time at PAX East and can’t wait to return to PAX Prime!