Comicbook Mercenaries and Assassins

In both Marvel and DC, the mercenaries and assassins have always been some of my favorite characters. For example, Marvel has Bullseye, and Taskmaster, DC has Deadshot and Onomatopoeia, and Deadpool and Deathstroke are each one of my favorite characters in their respective universes. I love Deadpool's randomness and Deathstroke's sheer toughness and ability to beat anyone if he has time to prepare. I was pretty happy when Deadpool's game was announced, then Deathstroke was announced for Injustice, and now that they've announced Arkham Origins and showed that he'll be in it, I'm a happy man. Especially since they've said that the story of the game is that eight of the world's best assassins have gathered in Gotham to kill the Batman. Now that sounds exactly like the kind of game I want to play. I know that the Penguin and Black Mask are in the game, but they're not part of the assassin squad. Where they're concerned, the only member we know of is Deathstroke, but Deadshot has already been in an Arkham game, so I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up too. I just wish there were more comicbook stories about villains-for-hire. I've read Suicide Squad and The Thunderbolts, but I don't count those. Those are villains being forced by the government to do hero stuff. I want there to be an ongoing series about villains doing some antihero stuff and some villain stuff that ends up working out for the greater good. No government involvement though. They have to choose to do what they're doing or else it's not as good. There are tons of stories with costumed mercenaries in them, but I want them to be the protagonists so they can do what they do, but actually win. Maybe the story could involve some assassins being hired then betrayed by another villain, then seeking revenge. Ir maybe one of thise miniseries type things that take place during a massive crossover event and details what's going on with other characters. Either way, their actions serve the greater good but they're still not trying to be herpes. I am happy though that my two favorite mercs will both be playable in upcoming video games. Deadpool gets his own game, but Deathstroke is playable in Injustice and is a major antagonist in Arkham Origins, so they're both doing pretty well. And that's all for today. Later!

Giant Swords

Many fictional characters use oversized swords, about which I have mixed feelings. Sometimes I think a huge sword looks cool, others it gets a little ridiculous. I'll try to find some pictures as I go to illustrate what I'm saying. Mainly it comes down to who's using the sword. Enormous swords aren't feasible for normal people to use, so there are only some excuses a character can have for using one. For example, Cloud and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy would be normal people if not for artificial genetic enhancements. That just doesn't quite... Cut it for me. Plus I guess I'm biassed since I've never been much of a Final Fantasy fan. And besides looking using weird looking swords, everyone in those games kinda looks like their oversized weapons are compensating for something. Sorry if you're a Final Fantasy fan, but you have to admit that there are manlier looking characters out there. Which brings us to someone else who uses a gigantic sword: War from Darksiders. War uses a large sword, but there's no questioning his masculinity. Especially since he is a horseman of the apocalypse and the living embodiment if war. War being war is also why he can use carry his massive Chaos Eater blade without me questioning it. He's freakin' War, so if he wants to use a huge sword, he gets to use a huge sword! Same with his brother, Death, in the sequel. He can use a variety of really big hammers, axes, etc. but it's ok because he's Death! All horsemen of the apocalypse, gods, demons, and even some half demons can use whatever weapons they want! I mentioned half demons in an attempt to smoothly transition to someone else who can get away with using a pretty big sword: Dante from Devil May Cry (did it work?). Some people like the old games, some like the reboot, some like both, and some aren't fans of any DMC games, but Dante is a pretty cool dude no matter how you... Slice it... Anyone? No...? Okay... So anyway, Dante is the son of a demon, so he can do what he wants. Also his sword isn't quite as big as some others, so it's reasonably sized for a half demon.

The Zombie Apocalypse

I've posted about zombies before, but not about the actual event. I think that obviously it would be very bad, but there would be good parts. Like they say in Walking Dead, a world ruled by the dead would force us to truly start living. Looking for supplies would be a pain, but if my group and I could find a secure place to live, I think it wouldn't be too terrible. Speaking of my group, I have some ideas for who I want to meet up with. I'm not one of those people who chooses group members from lots of unrelated franchises, but I think it's reasonable to go from zombie related things. Dont even get me stryed on who i want in my group if i can choose from anyone. For real though. Don't. You'll be here all day. Anyway, my ideal group includes Leon and Chris from Resident Evil, Frank West and/ or Chuck Greene from Dead Rising, Coach from Left 4 Dead, and Darryl Dixon from Walking Dead. Chris and Leon are just generally tough, Coach is the token black character, Frank and Chuck can use pretty much anything as a weapon, and Darryl is Darryl. 'Nuff said. Plus all of them know not to waste time trying to help zombies or cure them or whatever those clueless hippies always seem to think. I'm inclined to thin I've played enough video games and seen enough movies to know how to survive the apocalypse, which I think luckily would probably be like Walking Dead. No mutant zombies or giant monsters. I wish it would be like Dead Rising, which is pretty much the same except zanies can be killed using whatever is around. (If you can't tell, I like that game). After playing a lot of DR, I think I have a pretty good idea of what common items can be used as surprisingly useful weapons. But I think I would carry a crowbar too, since it's a pretty versatile tool and wielding one in battle would make me one step closer to being Gordon Freeman. Hopefully me and my group would have a few cars (and motorcycles if Darryl and Chuck are present) to transport people and supplies, then find either a prison or something. An island with no zombies would be nice but unlikely. Especially since there's a movie (I don't remember which) that ends with the survivors being ambushed on an island they thought was clean and all being killed, plus the whole Dead Island thing is something I'd rather avoid.

Next Gen Consoles

As a console gamer, the announcement of the next generation of game consoles was a pretty big deal for me. The PS4 is the console that all the news is about, and that doesn't really apply to me since I play Xbox and don't plan on switching and I'm too cheap to buy both, but I assume the next Xbox will be very similar. Some of the features they announced sound pretty nice, like a considerably bigger hard drive, a light bar on the controllers which are charged while the machine sleeps if they're connected, and the ability to record and share game footage for every title, but there are some things I'm less than thrilled about. There's nothing that I think will make it worse, but games will cost more, plus the console itself will be far from cheap, and I don't like being forced to pay for things that I don't necessarily need. For example, the console comes with a headset, which I would probably buy anyway, but I would prefer to choose one that, at risk of sounding like a cheesy commercial, is right for me. There's a fair amount of variety in headsets and I want to choose one without also being forced to buy the one that comes with the console. Especially since I don't play a ton online, and when I do, there always seems to be some kid who sounds way too young to be playing whatever game it is, and who doesn't know how or when to shut up. I pretty much never play Call of Duty, so I avoid the worst of it, but it's still a problem. Also, the graphics on these new consoles are going to be a lot better, which is good, but I don't know if I care enough for it to be worth the extra money for every game. Unless a game's graphics are extremely bad (and I mean extremely), I don't really care that much about them. I play and rate games based on fun gameplay, good story, creativity, originality, music, voice acting, how well it keeps with the series if applicable, loyalty if it's based on something else, THEN graphics. I've always thought that playing a game just for the graphics is like reading a book for the font it's written in. No matter what people try to convince you, video games aren't about looking good. They're about feeling good. Sorry, I kind of went into a rant there. I hate raging and swearing 9 year olds on Xbox Live, and I hate when people think graphics are the most important characteristic of a game, but I think the next consoles will be pretty cool! I said I'm not thrilled about some things, but that wasn't an understatement in order to express unhappiness. I meant that I'm literally not thrilled. I'm happy though. I'll probably wait a while before buying one, and an even longer time before I stop playing 360 if they're not backwards compatible (which they had better be or Imma shank someone), but I have high hopes for next gen consoles.
Until next post!

Retractible Swords

I've always liked strange fictional weapons. Recently, I've been noticing myself really liking retractible swords and wishing I could get one somewhere. There are collapsible ceremonial swords, but those aren't actually useable. This recent interest of mine is probably due to spending large amounts of Dishonored. There are crossbow pistols on the market, which I do like, but Corvo's coolest gadget by far is his sword. It extends out if the handle like a lightsaber, only it's made of metal. It even has a slight curve to it, which makes it more difficult to make in real life, but much cooler looking, plus it has more slicing power that way. There are other examples of cool retractible swords, but besides the one briefly wielded by Sulu in the newest Star Trek movie ( the next one looks pretty great by the way), I can't think of any more right now. It's a fairly simple concept, but as radical as Star Wars was when it came out, now there are so many franchises with characters who wield retracting energy blades that I find myself more impressed by a metal one. I also feel like a retractible metal sword is the best of both worlds since it's extremely easy to hide and carry around, but it has the comfortable weight of a metal blade. As far as I know, hard energy blades have little to no weight and therefore require very different skills from traditional swordsmanship. Not to mention the fact that the weight of the blade can put some extra force behind your strikes. And it would also be a bad idea to twirl an energy blade around like cool people in movies since if your hand slips, it would be much easier to cut yourself in half than with a metal blade. Admittedly, there are some situations where a lightsaber would be more useful, but since I don't plan on getting into any of those situations, I would prefer to have a battle ready retractible metal blade than a lightsaber.

First Person Daredevil Game

Big news, everyone! They've just announced an upcoming first person action game staring Daredevil, the Man Without Fear! Check out these leaked screenshots at the bottom! Just kidding. But a Daredevil game would be pretty nice. Obviously it would have to be mostly third person since seeing through Matt Murdoch's eyes wouldn't be very useful. But I think a sort of first person focus mode would be cool. The screen would have to be all black except for the outlines of things and people detected by his hearing, his radar sense, and any other sense that can be justified. It could be used to either detect objects and places of interest, or hidden enemies. Or it could be used to temporarily slow down time during combat. If the latter, there would have to be a time limit to it. Maybe when a combo meter is filled, focus mode could activate. Or it could just be used as an alternate mode of perceiving the environment and be switched on an off at will. Making this a stealth based game would be a bad idea, but it could borrow a bit from Splinter Cell and have the light sources in the environment be destructible so then Daredevil has the advantage since nothing is different for him when it's dark. When it's completely dark, his senses mode would be activated automatically, but combat would still work normally. And combat skills are what should be used to defeat bosses. NO QUICK TIME EVENTS. I hate boss battles that consist only of dodging attacks until the boss is stunned, then completing an otherwise meaningless sequence of buttons. And no henchmen or environment boss battles where the villain just happens to have some piece of technology or pet monster or army of thugs. As for who the bosses should be, I think it should definitely have Kingpin and Bullseye, and I think Jester would make a cool addition. There's a comicbook issue where Daredevil goes through his maze of doom, then fights him mano a mano, so that could be a cool video game. And that's pretty much all the ideas I have for a Daredevil game. Until my next post, farewell!

A Hawkeye FPS

There have been some good Marvel games, and also a fair amount of bad ones. There are a few though that will probably never be made, but I feel like they would be cool. Like a first person shooter staring Hawkeye. It could benefit from the popularity of the Avengers movie, and be the only fps to my knowledge where your only weapon is a bow, which would make it new and interesting instead of a generic COD clone with a new label on it. I haven't played the newest Crysis yet, but from what I've seen and heard, the bow mechanic works pretty well in that, so a Hawkeye game could have similar bow gameplay. It would have to be a little less overpowered, but I think Clint's different arrow types could fit well into an upgrade system, along with perk trees involving accuracy, attack damage, and things like that. There should be a lot of arrow types, but not too many ammo pickups besides basic broadhead or maybe blunt tip arrows. I don't know about you, but I would totally play this game if it was made (unless it was made by EA, since I can easily see them charging money for additional arrow types... Ok that was a joke, but I still don't feel like EA would be a good fit). As far as traversal goes, one f Barton's most common arrows is the grappling hook arrow, so that could become an important gameplay element. Maybe the player could start the game with unlimited grapple and nonlethal blunt tip arrows and acquire more as the story progresses. I feel like grappling around the map just wouldn't be that fun if you always had to worry about running out of grapples. Rocksteady did a fantastic job with Batman's grappling hook, so something like that would be cool where there are grappleable points marked on the HUD and firing the grapple has its own button so you never have to equip it. Also the camera should move to third person while zipping up to a grapple point. Maybe a little bit of stealth gameplay could be thrown into the action, but definitely not too much. Maybe sneaking to get in position to attack or something like that, but when it comes to taking enemies out, I think this game should be an action packed shooter more than anything else. And that's all I have to say about this genius idea for something I want.