A Green Mushroom

After being hit and miss with the last four or five Telltale game series that I've played I was very apprehensive going into Batman.  I picked up the season pass while it was on Steam sale for cheap but I waited until all the episodes came out before I even started playing.  I've learned that having momentum really helps on these games. I played through all five episodes over the course of four consecutive nights.  I actually ended up loving this game.  It's probably my favorite Telltale game so far.  While I liked Game of Thrones for putting me in that world, Walking Dead for leaving such an impact, Tales from the Borderlands for being so funny... I love this game for letting me be Bruce Wayne and Batman. And that's an important distinction to make.  This game truly lets you choose either Bruce or Batman to play.  While you will be forced into situations where you need to show up as one or the other you are often given a choice whether to conf...

I finally got around to watching this movie now that it's out of theaters and wow, I'm super glad I didn't spend the money and time on a theater trip for it. I can't believe this is the movie they came up with from the Batman v Superman source material.  I see why everyone railed against it while it was in theaters. I actually spent a solid two days after watching it sending texts to my friend as I deconstructed it in my mind and found more and more things wrong with the movie. At this point I could either dive into all those points or just warn you away from this one.  I think I'll do the later since this movie doesn't deserve any more of my time than it's already gotten.  Be warned, Batman v Superman is bad.

Another Geek to Geek podcast is out for your listening pleasure!  This week we're talking DC Superheroes just in time for the latest superhero movie! DC Superheroes In this episode: We discuss DC comics and how every single person in the world loves Batman: The Animated Series. Anyone who says they don’t is a robot or lying. Or Both. Arrow, the Flash, and the current slew of DC comics TV shows. DC’s take on a cinematic universe (or is this take 2, given the Nolanverse?). The grimdark feel is here to stay--but is that a good thing? In related stories, this low-budget, low-hype movie called Batman v Superman releases today. Have you heard of it? DC’s video games, namely the Batman: Arkham series. Void and Beej give their Weekly Geekery recommendations about what they’ve been geeking out on all week long. Void: Daredevil Season 2 on Netflix Beej: The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances Health Hack: You can bake Quest protein bars and turn them into...

BATMAN! ... um... so... batman.  He's still cool. That is to say, I'm still having fun with Arkham Knight even though I beat the game.  I basically did a critical path run through of the game and didn't touch any of the side missions. Now that the game is complete I've moved on to all the various side missions and I'm finding them really fun. There's a great variety of activities to experience and it feels like there's always something different to jump to if I get bored of an activity.  This has turned into the perfect game to play while I'm exercising on my stationary bike.  I can put on a podcast and just work through side missions while exercising. Chances are high that I'll beat all the side missions this way.  Well, except for the 100+ Riddler puzzles.  Those are kinda bullshit filler.

I caved in.  There were too many good reviews of Arkham Knight, I loved the other two games in the Arkham series that were done by this developer, and I just couldn't resist. I picked up Arkham Knight for the PS4. The real inciting incident was when my brother asked, "Have you played the new Batman yet?"  He had never really played the others, but he knew I liked the series and he had just picked up Arkham Knight.  I would much rather play a game at the same time as him and be able to talk about it. And I'm so glad I did.  It's a fantastic game.  Every step of the way I feel like the most badass incarnation of Batman ever.  It's amazing.  Everything the developer has built up to in the last two games comes to full fruition here. All the systems are still in place and more has been added on top of it.  The range of options for everything is staggering.  So many Bat gizmos, attack options, stealth gameplay, driving sections, batmobi...

It finally happen.  For the first time, a game has stopped me from buying it with it's stupid pre-order bullshit. I loved the first two Batman Arkham games that were developed by Rocksteady and I was planning on picking up Arkham Knight on day one. (Ignore Arkham Origins, it was a different developer... and really bad). But then I started seeing exclusive content packs for certain retailers.  And then different DLC content for the digital versions.  Then some Harley Quin stuff that looked really fun to play.  And Red Hood as a playable character that looks badass. I did my research and found the only way to get everything is to buy a bunch of different versions of the game, or buy the $99 super crazy premium edition.  As someone who only buys games digitally  it was never an option to buy multiple versions from different retailers.  And no, I'm not going to pay $99 to get a "complete" edition of a game.  At worst it makes me feel scammed...

Continuing with the handheld gaming backlog I sampled while traveling, it's Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate! This is an interesting game because it's an attempt to take a 3D free roaming game and translate it to a 2.5D platformer/beat-em-up. The problem I had while playing this game is that it's so close to the 3D Arkham console games that I love... but it's not a 3D game.  The controls and the structure simply aren't as strong as they are in a 3D world.  I played the game a bunch and it's not really bad but it's not really good either.  It's middling. The biggest thing this game has done is make me appreciate the other Batman Arkham games more than I did before.  I'm really excited for the next console Arkham game to release later this month with Batman Arkham Knight. I probably won't be coming back to the handheld game, but if you're a super die hard Batman fan you might find something here for you.

Superheroes!  Link-up!  Superheroes Link-up! Feel free to drop any of your favorite links from the last week into the link-up below. But today, our theme for discussion is Superheroes!  I've never been a big comic book guy, so I don't have a huge encyclopedic knowledge of Superheros.  Most of my Superhero knowledge comes from the 90s Superhero TV shows I grew up with, videogames, and friends who know more about them than I do. That being said, I love a good Superhero movie.  Marvel has been knocking it out of the park lately and I've been eating it up.  They've had some misses along with their hits, but movies like The Avengers and Captain America: Winter Soldier show that they're on the right path.  I'm super excited for the next Avengers movie and I'm really curious to see what they do with Ant Man.  The Marvel movies are helping me get a new appreciation for superheroes as a genre. I've been less impressed with the DC movies, except...

Batman: Arkham City is an achiever's delight.  It's a great action/exploration game filled to the brim with hidden Riddler trophies and mysteries to solve.  The whole game appealed to the explorer and achiever in me.  I even went on to do a 100% complete run of the game.  That meant completing over 400 Riddler challenges and I loved every minute. But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Arkham City is the follow up to Arkham Asylum, a game I also loved.  It takes everything from Arkham Asylum and builds on it.  The combat has more diverse options and the controls feel tighter. The exploration is faster and far ranging thanks to the grappling hook, cape glide, and a full city to explore.  The cast of villains has been expanded to the point where some of the lesser known evil doers get their time to shine. Overall, it's a bigger badass Batman game. All together I only had a couple of gripes.  By expanding the cast of villains the game actually e...