Batman v Superman: Gotham's Sneak Peak

     Warner Bros. have officially released the teaser for the next Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer tonight as a special bonus for watchers of Gotham.  The full trailer will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wed. December 2nd.

     There's an unmasking, an angry Superman, and a whole lot of intensity.  Superman is looking extremely unhappy, like he's under some kind of control, especially with the soldiers bowing to him.  Perhaps this is taken from the Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns run, where Superman is essentially a government lackey- though here, he might be doing it out of debt for all the destruction his Kryptonian slug-fest caused in Man of Steel.

     Regardless, each trailer is giving us a little more good material and helping relieve our fears that this'll end up as less than spectacular.  My hopes remain strong that this will still be good.  Probably not Nolan level quality (story wise), but it'll still be the Snyder special- cinematically amazing shots and action.

     Batman v Superman hits theaters March 25th, 2016.

Marvel & Netflix's Jessica Jones: Short Review

     I went into watching Jessica Jones with huge excitement for a gritty take on a noir-ish private detective in with all the true hard-boiled darkness they could muster, but what we got was just a decent show.  I felt it drug out a little too long, with boring subplots and what definitely seemed like at least a couple filler episodes.  Had some of the extraneous material (see a lot of Hogarth's storyline) been cut this could've been a much tighter series.  Daredevil had the same issue, it ran just a little too long.  

     The acting was great for the most part, Tennant's Killgrave was wonderful- much better than I had anticipated.  Mike Colter as Luke Cage was pretty awesome, and Krystin Ritter was amazing in the lead.  Though at times she should be held to account for all the damn deaths that she essentially helped while trying to bring Killgrave in alive.  Honestly, all her failed attempts to bring him in allowed for a larger death toll than if she would've simply tried killing him a few times.  Of course, the show would've been considerably shorter, but that could've been a good thing.  It just seemed a bit weird that she wanted to do the responsible thing by doing irresponsible things.

     In an attempt to prove that the show is still worth watching I have to point out that the supporting cast is superb.  Colter's Cage makes us laugh, we want to cheer for Jone's best friend Trish, and through the course of the season we like, then hate, then really like Eka Darville as Jones' neighbor Malcolm.  He is easily, without a doubt, the best reason to watch this show- his story arc is extremely relatable and meaningful, and as far as I'm concerned he shows more character growth than any two others on the show.

     What the show did absolutely brilliantly was handle the awful relationship with Killgrave and his victims.  He is a sociopath that doesn't give a shit about conquering the world or taking over a city or any of that insanely huge stuff, but rather he's just looking for someone to be with him "on his level" that he doesn't need to control.  He wants someone, Jessica, to choose to be with him.  A huge change over the vast majority of typical Marvel villains, and it was a very welcome change.  He's a villain we hate for his actions and feel sorry for for how he became this way.

     Overall, I thought Jessica Jones was good, but had plenty of room to be better.  With the upcoming Daredevil season 2, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and the eventual Defenders series' we can only hope to see more of Jessica Jones in all her badass glory.

Lara Croft GO: The Shard of Life: A Tiny Tomb Raiding Review

     This holiday week Lara Croft GO got a nice new update with 26 new puzzles to solve in a quest for the titular The Shard of Life the expansion is named after.  The free update also gave players new in game collectibles to find and extra suits for Lara to unlock.  A wonderful small treat just in time for Thanksgiving.

     The levels in The Shard of Life aren't just more of the same.  They've added a couple new mechanics to adapt to and make things a bit more interesting- including new enemies that only temporarily die.  After about 4 turns they return to life to stop you from reaching the shard.  That means that even if you figure out the solution, you may need to restart a puzzle because the only way to finish it has been passed.  But that just adds to the allure of trying to figure out which traps to prime and possibly lure enemies into them, or thwart their regenerative abilities by leaving a pillar on top of them.  These little additions definitely give the extra levels a special boost to gameplay.

     In fact, I found that quite a few of these puzzles we much more difficult than those in the core game.  That isn't a bad thing either, I do appreciate that none of them were hair-pullingly tough, as Square-Enix Montreal has maintained their nice balance between difficulty and fun factor.
     Without being able to play the newest core game in the franchise, Rise of the Tomb Raider, this is a great treat during the time-strapped holiday season, and its high quality entertainment only leaves us wanting more.

     I've said it before, but I continually hope that Square-Enix Montreal keeps up this treatment of the large franchises condensed down to their basic elements and distilled to perfection- and I truly hope to see how they'd handle Square-Enix properties such as Deus Ex, Thief, or even a new take on Murdered: Soul Suspect with the GO franchise's formula.

Captain America: Civil War: Winter Soldier & Cap Beat-down of Iron Man

     I know we've pretty much all seen the new trailer for Captain America: Civil War, and it is epic indeed.  Well, I just felt like making a nice filler post here with my favorite part of it- where Captain America and Bucky Barnes (aka The Winter Soldier) give Iron Man a good roughing up.  So I made this awesome little GIF and sliced out a small chunk so it flows better than the jagged look it has in the trailer.

     This film is going to be great.  I think it'll be much better than the Avengers: Age of Ultron.  They just shot for too big a goal with the whole end of humanity garbage that so many films try to push.  Marvel should learn that the stakes don't need to be that high all the damn time, keep it small and personal- keep it intimate and meaningful to hit hard and leave a real impact- which is what it looks like what the Russo's are doing with Civil War.  Damn, I'm excited for this.

     Captain America: Civil War hits theaters May 6th, 2016.

Lara Croft GO: Free Expansion Update: The Shard of Life

     As a wonderful little Thanksgiving Day treat, Lara Croft GO will be receiving a free expansion pack titled The Shard of Life tomorrow.  It takes place in a new location, the Cave of Fire, and features new artifacts, treasures, 2 new costumes, and 26 more levels.

     In addition the game is being discounted on all systems for a flash sale- dropping the price a whopping 40% off to the nice low cost of $2.99.  For anyone who hasn't played it, I gave it a great review and highly recommend this puzzle-adventure.

     [ Google Play ] [ iOS App Store ]

     Source [ Game Informer ]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Disney Infinity 3.0 Trailer has Arrived

     As a huge fan of both Star Wars and Disney Infinity the official trailer for the upcoming tie in playset for The Force Awakens is a great joy.  It looks like we'll be getting all the main characters featured in the official movie trailer, but we'll have to wait and see if we might get a Captain Phasma or some other as yet unseen characters like an Old Luke Skywalker.

     In the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Play Set, players will travel to a galaxy far, far away alongside new heroes and old friends in search for a much-needed ally. Playable characters include Finn, a soldier on a path to adventure and danger, and Rey, a true survivor who is resourceful and capable. Both will join Poe Dameron, the trusted pilot of the Resistance who uses his expert flying skills to travel the galaxy, and Kylo Ren, an enforcer for the First Order who terrorizes the galaxy with devious acts.

     The previous two Star Wars playsets, Twilight of the Republic and Rise Against the Empire, were both tons of fun with loads of stuff to do.

     Disney Infinity 3.0's The Force Awakens playset will be available Dec. 18th.

Captain America: Civil War Official Trailer Released!

     This trailer is making things look more like the Captain America films instead of the Avengers films, and that is a great thing.  And we finally get to see a couple glimpses of Black Panther in action as well as a sweet Cap and Bucky combo beat down of Iron Man.

     Captain America: Civil War releases in theater in the US on May 6th, 2016.

Batman: Arkham Knight: MASSIVE November Update Trailer

     Today another good bunch of DLC for the Arkham Knight game with a new update.  We get playable Catwoman and Nightwing missions and a slew of other goodies including (for the season pass holders at least) the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice costume and Batmobile skin.

     Catwoman's Revenge is set after the main storyline and has the player seeking revenge upon the Riddler for his actions through the main quest line.  A Flip of the Coin is about Robin attempting to thwart Two-Face's money laundering schemes.  Each episode also includes AR challenges to expand the gameplay.

     Additional DLC available today:

• Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #4: Get this Crime Fighter Challenge Pack to receive various challenge and predator maps featuring Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman and Azrael. This expansive challenge pack allows focused training in FreeFlow Combat and Invisible Predator stealth incursion. 

• WayneTech Track Pack: Test your skills behind the wheel with these two cutting edge WayneTech themed racetracks. 

• Robin and Batmobile Skins Packs: Get this Robin and Batmobile skins pack to don the Original Tim Drake Robin costume and speed through Gotham City with the Robin Themed Batmobile Skin. 

• Riddler Themed Batmobile Skin: Puzzle your enemies with this Riddler themed Batmobile skin. 

• Free Updates: • Character Selection in AR Invisible Predator Challenges. • GCPD Lockdown 2 AR Challenge Rooms

Gravity Rush Remastered: Coming a Week Earlier Than Announced

     Last we heard, Gravity Rush Remastered was going to be arriving on the PS4 as an enhanced bundle port of the PS Vita's best game on February 9th, 2016 including the original game and all its DLC.  Earlier today, Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Nick Accordino Tweeted that we will be getting it an entire week earlier than expected on Feb. 2nd, and we can already pre-order it on Amazon.

Same goes for SCEA! We'll see you Feb 2! https://t.co/8lxgN4CMJi https://t.co/SQZIXHbszl

— Nick Accordino (@Nikoro) November 20, 2015

    Now we can only hope to see the sequel a little earlier than anticipated, with it's some time in 2016 release.  A vague time frame, but it already looks to be worth the wait.

Marvel Heroes 2015: Magik Playable Character Trailer!

     As the only MMO game I play religiously I actually surprised myself that I've never posted anything on the game here.  That fact changes today with IGN releasing the official trailer for the 53rd playable character in the absolutely amazing free-to-play Marvel Heroes 2015- Magik, the sister of famous X-men member Colossus.

     This is the only game I make a purposeful effort to log in and play for at least a half hour a day, and would recommend it to pretty much anyone that plays computer games.  The sheer number of playable characters is staggering, and to top that off, many of them have a slew of additional costumes you can purchase and use.

     To play the game* [ Marvel Heroes 2015 ]

          *Note: The game will be rebranded Marvel Heroes 2016 soon for the coming year.