CBK Recommends: The Amazing Spider-Man (Video Game)

I was only interested in purchasing this game because I thought it might bring back some memories of me playing the original movie based Spider-Man games when I was a bit younger. I actually found myself to be pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying the game. I own an Xbox 360 so that's all I've played it on. I only mention this because I know there are some extra things exclusive to the PS3 version, but from what I understand they are mainly cosmetic.

I've beaten the game once already at 100% completion and unlocked a plethora of achievements, and awesome alternate costumes for Spidey to wear. You can also unlock a ton of extra content like statues; which is essentially the same thing that Rocksteady's Batman games have done; as well as concept art, and comic books that are readable in game. More on that later. Actually, this game is a lot like Batman: Arkham City in many ways. You play in an open world setting, and there are a bunch of side quests to tackle, although none of them vary too much. Once you have completed one of each type they don't really change as you progress further. This actually doesn't feel like a setback though, because I found myself doing them regardless, and still enjoying it. Also, the combat is heavily influenced by Rocksteady's Batman games. Combat is executed just by pressing the X button, and Spidey will execute various different attacks depending on who you are fighting, or where they are located relative to you. Pressing Y will allow you to dodge and counter hit with the greatest of ease, and while all of this is happening you truly feel like you are Spider-Man, it just seems too easy at times. The B button allows you to shoot webs at enemies and wrap them up and throw them, or trap them in place. This is exciting at first, but whereas Batman has a lot of gadgets he can utilize all Spider-Man has is his webshooters gadget wise so there isn't the same amount of variety as in Arkham Asylum, or Arkham City.

Spidey ain't afraid to take the Rhino head on!

 I have to mention that the magnitude of collectibles in this game are astounding. Indoor pickups, a photo mini game, tech pieces, and 700  comic book pages scattered throughout the free roaming section of the game. This all seems very daunting at first, but if you are a completionist like myself, or you just like to explore, chances are you will come across almost all of them on first play through. The comic pages are different however. Being that they are scattered all about the Manhattan free roam area, you can pick them up whenever you see one whilst web swinging around. 700 may seem like a lot, but the best way to think about them is the orb system in Crackdown. They don't upgrade your character however, but they do unlock digital comics for view withing the games extras menu. These aren't just little portions of comics either, they are real, full length digital comics featuring the first appearance of some of the villains you will come across, or just certain characters from the Spidey mythos.

Now, I am on my second play through on the hardest difficulty, and for the most part still enjoying myself. The story is decent enough, that I don't mind playing it again, and the cutscenes are very beautiful, and showcase Spider-Man in an 'Amazing' way (sorry I had to do it). The unlockable costumes bring an interesting variety to your "closet", so it is cool to try each outfit on at least once. My gripe about the costumes are; one: for some reason developer Beenox decided not to include Miles Morales' black and red Ultimate Spider-Man costume. I understand that they aren't the same person, and are from two different universes in the greater Marvel Universe, but I think this costume would have really worked well. Two: much like the Arkham games Spider-Man's costume gets shredded, and shows visible damage as you take damage. Well, some of the unlockable costumes don't do this for some reason. Maybe Beenox ran out of time to add something like that (it is a movie tie in game after all), or maybe they didn't get permission from Marvel to ruin some of the costumes, I'm not sure. Either way it's upsetting, and slightly pulls me out of the experience. I bring up the costumes because after you attain 100% completion you unlock the black suit. Not the traditional black suit, or the Spider-Man 3 black suit (that costume is in the game however), but you unlock what they are calling the "New Black Suit". This suit looks incredible, and is essentially the suit from the new Amazing Spider-Man but with a black and silver color scheme. It is well worth the effort of 100% completion just to wear this suit around forever. I'm using it on my second playthrough, and I want to add that it does take damage as well, and almost looks better when it is ribbons.

New Black Suit

Multiple good reason why I recommend this game. Sure it isn't technically the best looking game, and it does have gameplay mechanics that don't make sense, or can be frustrating at times. Web swing for example takes a little bit of time to get used to but once you do it's a breeze. On a real quick side note many people have complained that when you web swing the web doesn't attach to anything. Meaning that you can web swing from above every building in the game and the web seemingly attaches to nothing. This was how the previous games had done it, and I thought it was fine. The way this game does it doesn't bother me either that's why I didn't bring it up. I bring it up now because I realized this one thing will make the game a buy, or pass for some people out there. None of that stops this game from being fun however, and I would say it's a must for any fan of Spider-Man, or anybody who is just nostalgic for the web swinging Spider-Man games of the past. That is why Comic Book Korner recommends this game true believers! 'Nuff Said!

Up next, Deadpool finally gets his starring role in a video game. Find out if I think this is good or bad news.

                 

  Author: Dillon B.

Pick of the Week: August 1st

Drum-roll please.....

Hawkeye #1 is my pick of the week! This surprised me a little because I was only curious about the title because Matt Fraction was writing it. I'm not a huge Hawkeye fan, but after the first issue I am already sold on this book, and if it continues on like this it'll be a mainstay of my hold slot, and probably one of my favorite books of the year.

Cover of Hawkeye #1

I can't stress to you how GOOD this book is. Probably the best comic book I have read all year. I only say probably because I read a ton of books every week, which means I read more than a ton of books every year and sometimes it can be hard to keep track of them all. Every once in a while though a book will come along and change everything and I feel Hawkeye is one of those books. Matt Fraction has done a beautiful job of blending a sorta dark, and gritty setting with a fun and upbeat atmosphere. I mean it, Hawkeye is so many things in one; funny, exciting, entertaining, dark, gritty, smart, you name it. Accompanied by David Aja's art the book has a certain feel to it that no other book out there has right now.

Hawkeye #1 isn't your typical first issue either. By deciding to start the series with what appears to be; at the moment at least, a one shot instead of the opening to a larger story arc they give everybody an issue to really get to know what this character is going to be about. In fact, if I'm not mistaken you only see Hawkeye on the first page which is a large splash page. The rest of the book focuses on Clint Barton. You might say, 'Well Hawkeye IS Clint Barton', and you would be correct but what I'm saying is that we really spends some time with the man beneath the mask. In this first issue he even talks about being one of the only Avengers that doesn't have a single super power. He was selected because he trained himself to be the best marksman in the world, and can turn anything into a weapon. We don't actually see him in his Hawkeye costume more than once.

I officially have high hopes for this book, and look forward to it being my pick of the week for many months to come. If you haven't bought yourself a copy already, or you have but just haven't read it yet go do that immediately.


Honorable Mention: 
This week AvX #9 receives my honorable mention award. This issue is written by Jason Aaron, with art by Kubert, and is very focused on Spider-Man. The dialogue is well written, and the action scenes are very subtle, but exciting and interesting. Spider-Man finally gets his chance to shine in the Avengers Vs X-Men story line, and in my opinion he's finally really getting a chance to shine as an Avenger in general. If you're already reading AvX you are most likely going to pick up this issue. If you aren't currently reading Avengers vs X-Men go pick up the series it's been very interesting, albeit a little slow in some parts.

Cover to Avengers Vs X-Men #9

  

The Avengers: Movie Review

I've been holding off on this review for months now, because I was going to wait for the Blu-Ray release and just do it all as one big review, but I've finally decide against that. Screw it! This is my Avengers review.

Basically what you need to know is that this movie is AWESOME! There's so much awesome in this movie that I'm surprised one movie could contain it all. Anyway...on to the actual review. The Avengers is based on the comic book of the same name, that features multiple characters from all over the Marvel Universe. The movie uses Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Thor for obvious reasons. This movie is tied to all the previous Marvel Studios movies before it. Their goal is to create a giant Marvel Cinematic Universe, and each of their movies has been an addition to that. The good thing is you don't have to watch any of the previous films; which include: Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. If you haven't seen any of those films you should though because they are all good in their own way. Iron Man 2 is my least favorite of the bunch.

I digress; The plot of the Avengers is Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is angry about the way thing turned out at the end of Thor, and has decided to obtain the Cosmic Cube (which is called the Teseract in the movie, but I'm going to continue to call it the Cosmic Cube). With the Cosmic Cube he will be able to obtain an army of space aliens that will help him invade, and attempt to conquer the Earth. Who better to stop him then Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

The only problem? Earth's Mightiest Heroes don't get along, and don't really want to. They don't know a whole lot about each other, and have to find a way to come together to stop Loki and his treacherousness. This is where Nick Fury, and S.H.I.E.L.D. come in.

The movie is paced very well, and each actor reprises their role from all the previous movies stated above. Joss Whedon who wrote and directed the movie did a great job of giving each character enough screen time,  as well as enough time for us to feel an emotional bond to each one of the characters and what they going through as individuals. The only exception being Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) we don't get to see a whole lot of him doing his thing until the very end of the film, but it's actually well worth the wait. I guess my only complaint being I wish I got to see more out of him. Black Widow (Scarlet Johannson) does a great job of playing a super bad ass spy turned Avenger, and actually had more screen time then I thought she would. We also get to see a side of her relationship with Clint Barton (Hawkeye) that I didn't expect Whedon to include in the final version of the film.

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) returns with his fan favorite portrayal of the Armored Avenger, and he doesn't disappoint. The fight scene in the woods featuring the "Big Three" is enough to make any fanboy squeel with excitement, and the constant back and forth between Captain America (Chris Evans) throughout a large part of the movie is satisfying. It evokes memories of the Civil War mini series Marvel did a few years ago, but that's not to say the franchise will head in that direction. Which brings me to Captain America who I adore. Chris Evans' portrayal of Cap in this movie is a lot different than in Captain America: The First Avenger. You see him as more of the leader, veteran, combat expert, and overall great character I know and love. Plus he's a man still trying to learn how to cope in a world that he knows nothing about, and basically the only family he has is the Avengers.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) does another great job playing "The Son of Odin". Thor also has a lot of over the top action scenes in the movie which makes sense because he's a god. Point being, he's in a lot of visually stunning scenes that are very entertaining. Now it's time for the Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). The Hulk has a couple scenes in this movie that made me want to jump out of my seat and scream in excitement! I'm not a huge Hulk fan but there's something about him in this movie that just brings him back to his glory days, and just makes you want to be the Hulk again. Joss Whedon should be commended for what he was able to bring to the table with this character. Especially since the supporting cast of super heroes is so strong.

The Big Three

I also want to take a second to talk about Tom Hiddleston playing Loki because it is close to the best performance in this movie. I still haven't decide which performance I enjoyed most yet so it's still up in the air, but he does such a good job at playing just that crazy, evil, comic book bad guy that we all love to hate. If watching Loki in this movie doesn't make you love him for being so mischievous then something is wrong with you!

The thing about The Avengers, is that it has done what no comic book movie ever has before; it makes you feel like you're watching a comic book come to life. Now, there has been great comic book movies, and good comic book movies, and down right bad ones, but none of them have ever had the feel of this movie. Seeing all the Avengers assembled for the first time made the nerd in me want to cry from happiness. There are so many scenes in this movie that feel so much like my Avengers comics have come to life in my hands! The Helicarier scenes, the woods scene I mentioned before, almost every shot in the movie. The dialogue feels like it's ripped straight from the page, some of the angles Whedon uses look like a comic book panel.

The Avengers, just feels so good. When you sit down to watch it you have a smile on your face, and all throughout the movie you'll still have that same smile. I've seen it five times, and each time I had the same smile all the way through. The characters play off each other so well, the action is well choreographed, and spread out enough so that the movie never feels boring. Even when you are watching the characters sit around and talk you are entertained. Everyone has such good chemistry, and the action is over the top which fits so well with these characters and the setting. It's true there are some emotional spots as well, but even those instances still feel just like a classic comic book.

This is everything I've been waiting for in a movie based on a comic property, and I can't wait for the Blu-Ray release. This is my favorite movie of this year, maybe even of all time, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store. Avengers 2 is gonna have some big shoes to fill...

          Author: Dillon

The Dark Knight Rises: Review (Spoilers)

As I'm sure you all know by now "The Dark Knight Rises" has officially hit theaters everywhere, and has broken the record for highest grossing 2D movie. In this review there's going to be many references to the previous two films, and how they all tie together as well as how well the movie stands on its own.

Let me start by saying that "The Dark Knight Rises" is just a solid film in general, let alone Batman film. Christopher Nolan's take on the character has been so refreshing over the last three movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) that it's hard to believe his time with the franchise is finally over. This fact makes this movie such a bittersweet affair.

Throughout the movie there are many references to the previous films that help put this one in perspective. For example, if you remember from "The Dark Knight" Batman takes the blame for killing Harvey Dent/Two Face and becomes the police forces biggest threat. Also, James Gordon is promoted to commissioner at the end of "The Dark Knight" for capturing the Joker. This movie takes place eight years after those events at the end  of that movie, and Batman doesn't exist anymore. Nobody in Gotham has heard from him or seen in those eight years, and Harvey Dent is still praised as a hero, and for once Gotham is a relatively crime  free city.

"I'm Gotham's reckoning."

Enter Bane (Tom Hardy). We see him at the very start of the movie in a very exciting, and well done set piece involving airplanes but I won't spoil it. The point is Nolan introduces Bane early because he wants you to think about this villain, think about what he's capable of, as well as think about what this whole scene means. It's very much like the bank robbery scene from the beginning of "The Dark Knight". From here we discover what has been going on in these eight years, and meet Catwoman played by Ann Hathaway.

For me Ann Hathaway stole the show. I was very skeptical about her Selina Kyle but it was spot on, and felt a lot like the Catwoman that Brubaker and Darwyne Cooke made popular. Another important character is Miranda, and she plays a bigger role than expected, but I secretly knew who she was all along.

"The Dark Knight Rises" has some beautiful cinematography, especially in the Bane-Batman encounters; however I will admit their final showdown is a little bit of a letdown. Bane is unique in the fact that he seems crazy, but in a different way than the Joker. The Joker seemed out of control, just wanted to create chaos. "Some people just want to see the world burn", Alfred says in The Dark Knight, and that's a perfect explanation of the Joker. Bane on the other hand seems more calculated, he has a plan; understands the bigger picture, and will do anything to achieve his end goal. Combined with the fact that he is highly trained, and has brute strength it just makes him more terrifying.

Now, Batman Begins is the movie that really has roots in THIS movie mainly because the League of Shadows is heavily involved, and we didn't even hear from them once in The Dark Knight. Bane has ties to them, and so does Bruce so it makes their conflicts personal, not to mention the fact that the Leagues goals were to destroy Gotham City. It's safe to say they haven't changed.

The story has some plot holes, but they seem pretty easy to get past mainly because some of the set pieces and emotional moments in the movie are so well done. This is only enhanced by the fact that all of the cast is terrific actors that really pull their weight. The addition of Joseph Gordon Levitt's detective John Blake adds a fresh new face, and key character that has a profound effect on the way everything plays out. Tom Hardy is incredible as Bane, and my only complaint is that his voice is a little weird, but I found the more times I saw the movie the more I enjoyed the sillyness/terror that it portrayed. Then throw in Christian Bale's performance which is really getting looked over because of Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway. Bale and Hathaway have a chemistry that just works so well on screen, and it doesn't matter if they are in or out of the costumes. Every moment they have on screen together is a good one, and you'll want more the second it cuts to a new scene.

All that said, I still find myself enjoying The Dark Knight more then The Dark Knight Rises. There's something about The Dark Knight that evokes this certain feeling in me every single time I watch it. I know what's going to happen, I know the outcome but I still get excited, shocked, or sad no matter how many times I see it. I've seen The Dark Knight Rises three times, and found myself enjoying it more each time, and like I said the movie is a great experience. It definitely feels like a conclusion to a terrific trilogy, and I have to add that for me it is the most satisfying end to a movie trilogy in a very long time. The Dark Knight just has "it". It's almost everything I've wanted a Batman movie to be, and The Dark Knight Rises just doesn't overcome that.

Still go see the movie; enjoy it, and see it multiple times even. It's definitely worth it.

At Tide We Sail

This is a buddy of mines band, they are pretty good if you are into contemporary metal, and rock. If not check em' out anyway and maybe they will change your mind! Just thought I'd give them a quick shout out on here.

At Tide We Sail- We are Here to Stay 

At Tide We Sail- In Love I Am






At Tide We Sail- Molotov 

Marvel NOW! Pt. 1

So, Marvel comics has gone all out with this Marvel NOW! "reboot". They aren't calling it a full blown reboot in the vain of DC Comics New 52, but they are making a lot of changes. The most notable of these changes is many books getting a new #1 with new creative teams taking over on them. They (Marvel) have also announced a couple new ongoing series' featuring some of Marvel's top talent.

Also, they are changing the focus on their covers, giving artists the freedom to turn them more into a movie poster style focus. 

So, I'm gonna just post some of the newest announcements in the last couple months, and offer my opinion.

Deadpool: 

Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Tony Moore will be taking over the "Merc with a Mouth" starting November. As you can tell my the teaser image, and the creative team the book will probably have some comedy in it.

I don't mind having a little bit of comedy, but I would much prefer to see Deadpool be the super badass we all know and love. Obviously you can't have Deadpool without comedy, just like you can't have Spider-Man without wisecracks, but I would much rather see a badass Deadpool who cracks some GOOD jokes, and gets put into funny situations that only a highly trained mercenary of his caliber could escape. 

I love Tony Moore's art, and I hope he will stick around for more than five issues, but he usually doesn't. I'm more than happy to be proven wrong though. Also, my worry about having two comedians on the book is that they will try to go overboard with the slapstick comedy. I'll once again reiterate that I would love to see him return to being more focused on over the top action.

I'll probably pick up the first issue, but the story, and overall feel of the books will determine whether I stay on board for a while or not. Also, Tony Moore is crucial for me to stay on board as well. If they get someone decent to follow him, that really compliments his art style I'll stick around.

Captain America: 

Okay, this is the big one for me because I'm a HUGE Captain America fan, HUGE is actually an understatement.

Rick Remender, and John Romita Jr. are gonna take over the Super Soldier, and I'm honestly super excited. Rick Remender has been writing Uncanny X-Force since it's conception two years ago, and is still one of my favorite books. It has been so rewarding reading it over time, and watching all the story threads intertwine, and finally start to come to a head. He also started the latest Venom ongoing series which for me was an incredible success of what the character can, and should be. The issue he (Remender) left is the issue I left because I knew the book just wouldn't be the same (Nothing against Cullen Bunn who took over the writing duties).

Now for John Romita Jr. (JRJr). He is my all time favorite artist. I just love the way he finds the happy medium between cartoony, and realistic. If you are in to comics then you know his Spider-Man is second to none. That being said his Captain America can tend to look a little weird at times, and a little less Super Soldiery than he should but hopefully this doesn't end up being the case.

I currently get this book every month, and that won't change when this new creative team takes over.

Fantastic Four: 

It is going to be very hard to follow up Jonathan Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four. He did such a good job at bringing the book back to being about the "First Family", and not just cosmic battles or constant conflicts with Doctor Doom. This doesn't mean that there hasn't been good stories before Hickman, but he has been on the book so long introducing so many new plot threads, and finally wrapping them all up so nicely. It has been such a rewarding feeling sticking with that book through his entire run. Not to mention the book was very smart, and very calculated throughout.

I also like Matt Fraction's work as well. Salvador Larrocca and him have made Iron Man a top tier Marvel character again (with some help from the movies). Hopefully he can breathe some more new life into the Fantastic Four, and bring them back to the top tier of superheroes as well. People forget that the Fantastic Four used to be the biggest franchise in the Marvel Universe, and in my opinion they have made leaps and bounds to get back there, but just haven't quite made it back to the top yet.

Now, Mark Bagley hasn't done many issues on a Marvel ongoing since his Ultimate Spider-Man days with Brian Michael Bendis. He's currently doing the art for Avengers Assemble; which Bendis also writes; but I think it's safe to assume that once Marvel now starts to get into full force Avengers Assemble is either going to be cancelled, or have a new creative team as well. 

I currently get this book every month, and have been on the fence about dropping it since around June. I'm going to stick with it tell November when this team takes over, but the first issue from this new team will make or break the series for me. 

????:

Not quite sure what this book is going to be, but seeing as how Matt Fraction is doing the writing I assume it is going to be attached to Fantastic Four much like Hickman's FF. This might even be a teaser for FF but Marvel is just trying to throw us off track.

More than likely it is Fantastic Four related, and Michael Allred does good work in the art department so once I find out more I'll determine if it is a book I want or not.

Invincible Iron man:

No surprise here that Kieron Gillen is taking over Invincible Iron Man. I say that because the guy has pretty much only followed Matt Fraction on every book he writes. Fraction took over to write Thor, and Gillen followed him. Fraction did some Uncanny X-Men, Gillen followed him. This isn't to discredit him as a writer, I've actually enjoyed some of his stories, but I dropped Thor (which turned into Journey Into Mystery) for being too boring, and Uncanny X-Men is unfortunately getting canceled in favor of Bendis' two new X-Men books in November.

Greg Land does great art, and I really enjoy it. It's very realistic but at the same time he adds a certain style that just makes any book he's on pop for me.

I currently get this book as well, but as I said previously when talking about Matt Fraction's run on the Invincible Iron Man it's been revolutionary. Along with Salvador Larocca they have brought back new life into the Iron Avenger, and have been doing if for the last three years (maybe more or less, not entirely sure). Their run on this book has resulted in multiple Eisner Award nomination, and Eisner Award wins including best new ongoing series a couple years ago. Much like the Fantastic Four the first couple issues of this book will make or break how I feel about it, and whether I will continue to get it.

Alright, that's it for part one of my impressions of Marvel NOW! I'm gonna keep my ear to the ground because Marvel still hasn't announced what ongoing Ed Brubaker will be writing outside of Winter Soldier, and he is currently one of my favorite authors. Plus: My thoughts on The Mighty Thor which is being taken over by a creative team I completely didn't expect. As well as my extreme excitement for the new team on Incredible Hulk, but my skepticism on how long it will last.

Let us not forget about the major announcements either: The new teams on Avengers, and New Avengers as well. The creative teams launching the new books, and what it might mean! Stay tuned I'll be back with more !

New Direction

Once again, It's been awhile since I have posted, but I was doing some things, and in the meantime decide to change up the blogs title, appearance, and focus.

I'll still be covering comic book offerings, as well as movie, and video game news. Along with all the entertainment pieces that I usually do, but I might also use the site to jot down some short stories. I think this will be a really good way to get peoples opinions, and if I'm any good hopefully get some exposure.

Anyway, tell me what you think!