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its_game_time) wrote2012-06-15 05:16 pm
its_game_time) wrote2012-06-15 05:16 pm
Good Spidey, bad Spidey~
Just finished Spider-Man: Edge of Time!
In short, the graphics were gorgeous, the battle system was interesting (if a button masher), the story made me sadfais several times, and OMG CHRIS BARNES + JOSH KEATON = BEST VA DUO EVER ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ It was already awesome enough that they're my two top favorite Spidey VAs, but they just mesh so well and play off each other so freakin' hilariously (and touchingly, during the more dramatic parts) and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I want a sequel, if only to hear them together again. So much Spidey love and throwbacks to the fans and lskdjflksdfs yay. <333
Warning: SPOILERS beyond this point~
Dude, I loved how the game managed to totally blindside you with The True Villain, because I never saw it coming; and pffft, Peter: "Oh, lemme guess, this is where you do the Big Reveal and I'm supposed to be surprised, right? 'Oh! It's Norman Osborn! Or the Kingpin! Or Jameson--' please let it be Jameson!"
But HOLY CRAP IT TURNS OUT PETER IS THE BAD GUY. Future!Peter, BUT STILL, OMG, THE SHOCK FACTOR, I DON'T EVEN KNOW. 8| Which... just made for hilarious dialogue later:
Miguel: "Still hiding behind your metal bodyguards? You've gone soft in your old age! You're nothing but a coward, Peter Parker!"
Present!Peter: [makes the equivalent of a verbal keyboard smashing, sounding TOTALLY TICKED AND OFFENDED] "What -- DUDE! What the hell??"
Miguel: "Not you, Parker! The other Parker!"
X'D
As I was coming up to the end as Miguel, I made the remark to my sisters, "Wait. If I have to face future!Peter, won't he still have his spider powers? :| And kick my butt with them?" And then thirty seconds later, Peter advises "OH HEY MIGUEL HE'S GONNA HAVE HIS SPIDER POWERS SO HERE'S A LIST OF MY WEAKNESSES K"
And then I say out loud, "I'm totally expecting future!Peter to have designed some kind of... super crazy, upgraded Iron Spider outfit from the future or something." Aaaaand then SURE ENOUGH, he's in some kind of armor, and Miguel tells present!Peter, "It looks like he stole some ideas from Iron Man -- he's in some kind of... upgraded Iron Spider suit!"
...
Pfffft.
And then Anti-Venom beingP30'd mind-controlled by a red device on his chest that Miguel ripped off to free him was just plain hilarious, all right.
BUT YEAH, overall, I loved it. :'D
And SPEAKING of Spidey, I finally got around to watching some episodes of the new Spider-Man cartoon on Disney, Ultimate Spider-Man.
...
......
...Well... it's not... bad, but... it... definitely needs some work. Like, a ton of work. 8|
It doesn't help that the last Spidey show I watched was Spectacular Spider-Man, which was easily the best Marvel cartoon (if not THE best cartoon, period) that I've ever seen -- so living up to its reputation would be difficult for any show, but Disney... well. It dropped the ball on this one.
I'll start off by saying that it is pretty -- the art style reminds me a bit of X-Men Evolution -- and it's got some pretty good VAs, and it makes a lot of attempts to mention other Marvel casts (the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, a variety of villains, etc.). Plus it's funny, and some of the fight scenes have been kind of cool. The plot's also a bit unique, as it's about Spidey joining S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of a team with other teenage heroes: Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Nova, and White Tiger.
As for the cons, well. This is Disney, so I shouldn't be surprised that its number one target is probably little boys under the age of ten -- and in that regard, I think the show's been extremely simplified to their level (or lower, depending on how smart kids are these days, idk). Firstly, the show is based more or less on the Ultimate comics -- but in a much friendlier version, e.g., S.H.I.E.L.D. is still government-run, but in a nutshell, it's pretty much "OH HEY KID YOU WANNA COME JOIN OUR AWESOME CLUB AND BE AWESOME? WE'LL GIVE YOU FREE HIGH-TECH GEAR! 8DDDD BUT WE'RE NOT FORCING YOU OR ANYTHING."
Which. Uh. Considering that, in Ultimate canon, S.H.I.E.L.D. is portrayed kind of darkly, and there's a pretty emotional scene when Fury tells Peter "WE OWN YOU WHEN YOU'RE LEGAL K," that's... yeaaaaaaah. Big change there.
Still, I was willing to overlook that -- but it didn't end there. S.H.I.E.L.D. is, simply put, absolutely useless. Fury's portrayed as a total BA, but when a Doombot infiltrates the helicarrier, he and two hundred or so other men, ALL armed, can't do a thing to even slow it down. They just stand there shooting at it despite that those guns haven't been having an effect for the past ten minutes. Not to mention S.H.I.E.L.D. can't even begin to keep an eye on Spidey's group and doesn't even realize when five of its ships go missing.
In that regard, Spidey and his teammates are morons. Not even in the "oh, well, they're just inexperienced superheroes, so they're bound to make mistakes" idiocy. No, in the third episode, ONE episode after they've been made a team, they come up with the stupid idea of "LET'S PROVE HOW AWESOME WE ARE TO S.H.I.E.L.D. BY HUNTING DOWN DOCTOR DOOM AND BRINGING HIM IN!"
...
/rubs forehead
Oooookay.
1) I don't care if you kids lived in a cardboard box your entire lives. Everyone knows that Doom, despite how often people make fun of him, is a total BA and one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
2) Even if you didn't know that, he is still NUMBER ONE on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s MOST WANTED list. Why the heck would it cross anyone's mind, even Nova's, that you could even begin to take him on?
3) UH. DID IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU THAT LAUNCHING AN ATTACK ON LATVERIA COULD HAVE REAAAAALLY BAD CONSEQUENCES, POLITICALLY SPEAKING? READ: YOU COULD JUMPSTART THE CIVIL WAR LONG BEFORE IT'S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. PERHAPS YOU NEED TO GO WATCH AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES, BECAUSE IN THERE, TONY WAS SMART ENOUGH TO STOP JOHNNY STORM FROM ATTACKING LATVERIA FOR THAT VERY REASON.
4) TBH, I was rooting for Doom (rather, the Doombot) when he was fighting you guys. 'B| That's how irked I was by your stupid.
And yet, despite how stupid they are, they manage to be the ONLY ONES who can save the helicarrier from the Doombots, largely because Fury and all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel are completely incompetent and useless.
And that... was just one episode.
8|
I won't go into it as deeply, but after that was the Venom episode, which. Yeah. Basically, Venom is just Ultimate!Carnage renamed; rather than an alien symbiote, it was created from Spidey's DNA by Doc Ock to be used by Norman (and AUGH THERE WERE SO MANY RIDICULOUS PLOTHOLES AND WTF MOMENTS WITH DOC OCK, I WAS INSULTED AND HURT T^T;) and it has the power to leap from host to host at will and possess them forcefully -- and it looks like Harry is going to end up being the next Venom, what.
WHY, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST MAKE IT CARNAGE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD? SPRAY PAINT IT RED AND RENAME IT AND THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE GOT.
SO, overall, the show is just very... simplified. They waste time on pointless scenes rather than putting real thought and explanation into the scenes that matter, all the characters are idiots, I don't understand some of the changes that were made, and it sometimes REALLY feels like Spidey's just being used as a billboard to share the limelight with lesser known characters (White Tiger?? I HAVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF HER). Not to mention the show is really heavy on humor -- and I know Spidey is all about humor, but every 'verse I've seen him in, cartoons included, his personal problems are a HUGE part of the plot and there's a lot of drama and angst. Granted, I've only watched four episodes, but this show doesn't hesitate to toss in unnecessary jokes and fourth-wall-breaking at the most unexpected times. Really, the whole thing often feels more like a kiddie comedy than anything else.
I was hoping Disney would do well with Marvel after buying the rights, buuuut apparently I was too optimistic. Again, this show isn't bad, it's just... not that good. Doesn't even have a theme song, wtf Either way, I think Spidey saw the peak of cartoon awesome in Spectacular Spider-Man, so I'll continue to watch old streaming episodes and hail it as the Best Thing Ever.
And thus, the recent announcement of a new Avengers cartoon, also by Disney -- which will undoubtedly result in the cancellation of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the second best Marvel cartoon ever -- has broken what bit of my heart that the loss of Spectacular Spidey didn't. 8'((( I DON'T EVEN WATCH THAT MUCH TV, DISNEY, SO WHY MUST YOU TAKE AWAY THE FEW THINGS THAT I ENJOY?? >|
On a separate note, I just started my free trial at Gamefly. First up, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, finally. I'm half-considering renting Operation Raccoon City again towards the end of the trial, just so I can get some more achievements and at least see all the cutscenes (since they are pretty, even if Nicholai and Jill and Carlos look rather... eh.), buuuut idk yet. I got so frustrated with that game at times that I'm not sure it's worth it when I could rent something new instead; not to mention I'm irked that I keep seeing more and more DLC for it, making it come off as One Of Those Games that purposely puts very little content in the actual game just to force players to buy more of it.
IDK, but aside from AC, I'm hoping to get my hands on Fatal Frame (ffff WISH ME LUCK GUYS IT WILL PROBABLY GIVE ME NIGHTMARES WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF) and Portal 2. Uhhhh what else... probably some multiplayer games for me and my sisters to co-op, maybe Mario Tennis Open, and OH some dance games for the Wii, since my self-esteem knows no injury and I am totally cool with dancing around like an idiot. Maybe I'll finally give Mass Effect a try, even.
In short, the graphics were gorgeous, the battle system was interesting (if a button masher), the story made me sadfais several times, and OMG CHRIS BARNES + JOSH KEATON = BEST VA DUO EVER ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ It was already awesome enough that they're my two top favorite Spidey VAs, but they just mesh so well and play off each other so freakin' hilariously (and touchingly, during the more dramatic parts) and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I want a sequel, if only to hear them together again. So much Spidey love and throwbacks to the fans and lskdjflksdfs yay. <333
Warning: SPOILERS beyond this point~
Dude, I loved how the game managed to totally blindside you with The True Villain, because I never saw it coming; and pffft, Peter: "Oh, lemme guess, this is where you do the Big Reveal and I'm supposed to be surprised, right? 'Oh! It's Norman Osborn! Or the Kingpin! Or Jameson--' please let it be Jameson!"
But HOLY CRAP IT TURNS OUT PETER IS THE BAD GUY. Future!Peter, BUT STILL, OMG, THE SHOCK FACTOR, I DON'T EVEN KNOW. 8| Which... just made for hilarious dialogue later:
Miguel: "Still hiding behind your metal bodyguards? You've gone soft in your old age! You're nothing but a coward, Peter Parker!"
Present!Peter: [makes the equivalent of a verbal keyboard smashing, sounding TOTALLY TICKED AND OFFENDED] "What -- DUDE! What the hell??"
Miguel: "Not you, Parker! The other Parker!"
X'D
As I was coming up to the end as Miguel, I made the remark to my sisters, "Wait. If I have to face future!Peter, won't he still have his spider powers? :| And kick my butt with them?" And then thirty seconds later, Peter advises "OH HEY MIGUEL HE'S GONNA HAVE HIS SPIDER POWERS SO HERE'S A LIST OF MY WEAKNESSES K"
And then I say out loud, "I'm totally expecting future!Peter to have designed some kind of... super crazy, upgraded Iron Spider outfit from the future or something." Aaaaand then SURE ENOUGH, he's in some kind of armor, and Miguel tells present!Peter, "It looks like he stole some ideas from Iron Man -- he's in some kind of... upgraded Iron Spider suit!"
...
Pfffft.
And then Anti-Venom being
BUT YEAH, overall, I loved it. :'D
And SPEAKING of Spidey, I finally got around to watching some episodes of the new Spider-Man cartoon on Disney, Ultimate Spider-Man.
...
......
...Well... it's not... bad, but... it... definitely needs some work. Like, a ton of work. 8|
It doesn't help that the last Spidey show I watched was Spectacular Spider-Man, which was easily the best Marvel cartoon (if not THE best cartoon, period) that I've ever seen -- so living up to its reputation would be difficult for any show, but Disney... well. It dropped the ball on this one.
I'll start off by saying that it is pretty -- the art style reminds me a bit of X-Men Evolution -- and it's got some pretty good VAs, and it makes a lot of attempts to mention other Marvel casts (the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, a variety of villains, etc.). Plus it's funny, and some of the fight scenes have been kind of cool. The plot's also a bit unique, as it's about Spidey joining S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of a team with other teenage heroes: Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Nova, and White Tiger.
As for the cons, well. This is Disney, so I shouldn't be surprised that its number one target is probably little boys under the age of ten -- and in that regard, I think the show's been extremely simplified to their level (or lower, depending on how smart kids are these days, idk). Firstly, the show is based more or less on the Ultimate comics -- but in a much friendlier version, e.g., S.H.I.E.L.D. is still government-run, but in a nutshell, it's pretty much "OH HEY KID YOU WANNA COME JOIN OUR AWESOME CLUB AND BE AWESOME? WE'LL GIVE YOU FREE HIGH-TECH GEAR! 8DDDD BUT WE'RE NOT FORCING YOU OR ANYTHING."
Which. Uh. Considering that, in Ultimate canon, S.H.I.E.L.D. is portrayed kind of darkly, and there's a pretty emotional scene when Fury tells Peter "WE OWN YOU WHEN YOU'RE LEGAL K," that's... yeaaaaaaah. Big change there.
Still, I was willing to overlook that -- but it didn't end there. S.H.I.E.L.D. is, simply put, absolutely useless. Fury's portrayed as a total BA, but when a Doombot infiltrates the helicarrier, he and two hundred or so other men, ALL armed, can't do a thing to even slow it down. They just stand there shooting at it despite that those guns haven't been having an effect for the past ten minutes. Not to mention S.H.I.E.L.D. can't even begin to keep an eye on Spidey's group and doesn't even realize when five of its ships go missing.
In that regard, Spidey and his teammates are morons. Not even in the "oh, well, they're just inexperienced superheroes, so they're bound to make mistakes" idiocy. No, in the third episode, ONE episode after they've been made a team, they come up with the stupid idea of "LET'S PROVE HOW AWESOME WE ARE TO S.H.I.E.L.D. BY HUNTING DOWN DOCTOR DOOM AND BRINGING HIM IN!"
...
/rubs forehead
Oooookay.
1) I don't care if you kids lived in a cardboard box your entire lives. Everyone knows that Doom, despite how often people make fun of him, is a total BA and one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
2) Even if you didn't know that, he is still NUMBER ONE on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s MOST WANTED list. Why the heck would it cross anyone's mind, even Nova's, that you could even begin to take him on?
3) UH. DID IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU THAT LAUNCHING AN ATTACK ON LATVERIA COULD HAVE REAAAAALLY BAD CONSEQUENCES, POLITICALLY SPEAKING? READ: YOU COULD JUMPSTART THE CIVIL WAR LONG BEFORE IT'S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. PERHAPS YOU NEED TO GO WATCH AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES, BECAUSE IN THERE, TONY WAS SMART ENOUGH TO STOP JOHNNY STORM FROM ATTACKING LATVERIA FOR THAT VERY REASON.
4) TBH, I was rooting for Doom (rather, the Doombot) when he was fighting you guys. 'B| That's how irked I was by your stupid.
And yet, despite how stupid they are, they manage to be the ONLY ONES who can save the helicarrier from the Doombots, largely because Fury and all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel are completely incompetent and useless.
And that... was just one episode.
8|
I won't go into it as deeply, but after that was the Venom episode, which. Yeah. Basically, Venom is just Ultimate!Carnage renamed; rather than an alien symbiote, it was created from Spidey's DNA by Doc Ock to be used by Norman (and AUGH THERE WERE SO MANY RIDICULOUS PLOTHOLES AND WTF MOMENTS WITH DOC OCK, I WAS INSULTED AND HURT T^T;) and it has the power to leap from host to host at will and possess them forcefully -- and it looks like Harry is going to end up being the next Venom, what.
WHY, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST MAKE IT CARNAGE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD? SPRAY PAINT IT RED AND RENAME IT AND THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE GOT.
SO, overall, the show is just very... simplified. They waste time on pointless scenes rather than putting real thought and explanation into the scenes that matter, all the characters are idiots, I don't understand some of the changes that were made, and it sometimes REALLY feels like Spidey's just being used as a billboard to share the limelight with lesser known characters (White Tiger?? I HAVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF HER). Not to mention the show is really heavy on humor -- and I know Spidey is all about humor, but every 'verse I've seen him in, cartoons included, his personal problems are a HUGE part of the plot and there's a lot of drama and angst. Granted, I've only watched four episodes, but this show doesn't hesitate to toss in unnecessary jokes and fourth-wall-breaking at the most unexpected times. Really, the whole thing often feels more like a kiddie comedy than anything else.
I was hoping Disney would do well with Marvel after buying the rights, buuuut apparently I was too optimistic. Again, this show isn't bad, it's just... not that good. Doesn't even have a theme song, wtf Either way, I think Spidey saw the peak of cartoon awesome in Spectacular Spider-Man, so I'll continue to watch old streaming episodes and hail it as the Best Thing Ever.
And thus, the recent announcement of a new Avengers cartoon, also by Disney -- which will undoubtedly result in the cancellation of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the second best Marvel cartoon ever -- has broken what bit of my heart that the loss of Spectacular Spidey didn't. 8'((( I DON'T EVEN WATCH THAT MUCH TV, DISNEY, SO WHY MUST YOU TAKE AWAY THE FEW THINGS THAT I ENJOY?? >|
On a separate note, I just started my free trial at Gamefly. First up, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, finally. I'm half-considering renting Operation Raccoon City again towards the end of the trial, just so I can get some more achievements and at least see all the cutscenes (since they are pretty, even if Nicholai and Jill and Carlos look rather... eh.), buuuut idk yet. I got so frustrated with that game at times that I'm not sure it's worth it when I could rent something new instead; not to mention I'm irked that I keep seeing more and more DLC for it, making it come off as One Of Those Games that purposely puts very little content in the actual game just to force players to buy more of it.
IDK, but aside from AC, I'm hoping to get my hands on Fatal Frame (ffff WISH ME LUCK GUYS IT WILL PROBABLY GIVE ME NIGHTMARES WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF) and Portal 2. Uhhhh what else... probably some multiplayer games for me and my sisters to co-op, maybe Mario Tennis Open, and OH some dance games for the Wii, since my self-esteem knows no injury and I am totally cool with dancing around like an idiot. Maybe I'll finally give Mass Effect a try, even.