Batman Arkham Asylum

I had very limited time playing the game. It wasn't so short that you can't have a formulated opinion, but just enough to have a good opinion about it.

The beginning of the game takes your through the Asylums dark halls. The Joker is making constant comments and jokes as the credits role, it gets a bit boring after a while and you just want to play the game, but don't worry it's only about 5 minutes. Waiting 5 minutes is well worth, you go through the usual how to play like any other game.

The combot in the game is spot on, it's an easy task, but is a very fun one. You simply press X to attack, Y to counter enemies, and B to do this weird thing with your cape that stuns them for a short period of time. Tapping LT will throw a baterang and and holding it will take you into an aiming mode where you can make more precise shots, this is used more when sneaking or breaking control panels. As easy as the combat is, it gets a bit difficult when there are 8 thugs on your back and you don't notice that you should counter and you get smacked in the back of the head with a lead pipe. You can counter enemy attacks when little waves come from the top their heads, it looks alot like the spidey sense in the spiderman games.

Combat when your enemies have guns turn into a whole new situation. You'll find yourself dead if you approach enemies with guns the same way you approach enemies without guns. Because of this you'll need to use stealth to take down your enemies, this can be done in a variety of ways. There are always conveniently located gargoyles you can hang from where the enemies you can't see you. Holding RT will take you into a crouch which is used when sneaking behind enemies. Fighting enemies with stealth adds a fun, different level of enjoyment and difficulty whether you are using a glide kick or an inverted take down.

Combat aside, when you're not fighting you are going from point A to point B or tracking someone down, like trying to find Comissioner Gordon. While getting to certain areas you probably have to rip open air vents or use your grapple gun to get up to high places and glide to lower platforms, you may sometimes experience a Zelda or Metroid kind of situation where you know where you're supposed to go but you don't exactly know how to get there. And you run around for a while thinking of the most obscure ways to get there, and then you look and or down and there is a place you can grapple up to, though it may just be me, you rarely ever come across a situation like this. Exploration and making your way to destinations reminds me alot of the Metroid Prime series, especially the third Metroid Prime game where destinations and objective points are alot more linear and less open ended. While there is still room for exploration, there is generally only one way to go, you may come across a dead end but you will never be frustrated while trying to get to a destination. Despite feeling a little bit like Metroid Prime, the exploration and platforming is all original and is absolutely solid.

There's a light RPG element in this game as well, just very light though. Every time you rescue someone, kill a thug or complete and objective you are rewarded with experience. As soon as this experience bar is filled up you can access an upgrade screen where you can improve anything from your armor, get better comboes, get stronger baterangs, and even be able to throw multiple baterangs at once. (My personal favorite is the inverted take down)

Batman: Arkham Asylum is spot on, every aspect of the game has been finely executed from combat to exploration. You constantly feel like a bad ass and you feel like a total beast when you pull of a huge combo or glide down from a gargoyle and knock out an enemy. Even when sneaking around you feel like a ninja. You are Batman.

The only gripe I really have with the game, is that if you are talking to a guard, a doctor, etc. It just looks incredibly awkward; the people are completely still except for their lips that are moving when they talk. When Batman responds to their remarks the camera goes into this weird view from behind the person you are talking to's shoulder. Batman is just as awkward talking as everyone else, completely motionless except for his mouth. This is just a personal gripe, but the awkward conversation only comes up every once in a while and is easily pushed aside and you'll soon forget it ever took place.

(Despite how little of a gripe it is, it's my only gripe so you know. It leaves alot of space to elaborate on.)

This game is definately worth your money. Used or new, you will get your moneys worth.*

Gameplay: 9

Presentation: 9

Lasting Appeal: ? (not enough time with game to know)

Overall: 18/20

*I don't really know too much about replay value since I only got a few hours with the game.

Inspiration has struck me

After hours of mindless doodling while I should have been doing my homework I've finally worked out a design for the next Guitar Hero Faceplate I am doing for my cousin DDRsensation (check out his youtube, he's a pretty intense Guitar Hero player) 

In about a week I'll be finished, there will be rainbows and colors and lots of win going on.  

Big crunch

This was written with the big crunch theory in mind.  Where the world is fated to become one, tiny single being, a black hole.  

We were so close

We were almost one

The world was you

The world was I

That’s all there was

 

My grip loosened from you

And in a time much too short

And the world grew so large

Larger than it ever was before

And I’m so far away from you

 

Miles apart

And worlds apart

Galaxies away

Across the universe

And everything in between

 

You are always on my mind

As I travel across this world

It’s only a matter of time

When I reach the other side

And I see you once again

 

When we can be together again

Where the world is you

Where the world is I

Where there is nothing else

But you, and me.

The world in the first dimension.

Oh gosh.  You know those tag pictures on facebook where you tag your friends as "the funny one," "the cute one," etc?   They are possibly the most one sided ways of looking people.  Ever. Period.  End of story.  To describe a person in one word is incredibly close minded.  It feels like it takes away individuality and complex personality, the problem I have with it, is that I am not just "the funny guy" and this girl isn't just "the cute one."  

Despite the fact these tag photos are all in good fun and are never meant to be serious.  It sets a one dimensional perspective on people and life.  

Capes are such a distraction.

I don't know how the super heroes do it.  They must have spent hours designing their capes so they could look like a bad ass and fight crime easily.  I made a cape for homecoming, while dancing it got EVERYWHERE.  

There is a lesson to be learned.  We overlook the cape SOOO much, next time you watch Batman or something think about how much time it took to make an awesome cape.

Battle Bears

Cuddly pink bears are trying to hug you to death, what do you do? Shoot their heads off as rainbows shoot to out of their decapitated heads of course. Battle Bears is a shooting defense game for the iTouch/iPhone made by SkyVu Pictures. In a matter of the weeks the the game has quickly risen from the bottom to the top, and there is a good reason why.

You play as Oliver a robotic bear running on a carriage full of gold and treasure pulled by unicorns that soon trip and impale each other with their own horns. You are stuck and lost, and over the horizon a horde of pink bears trying to hug you to death, your goal is to fend off these pink bears called huggables until you help arrives. In between levels you enjoy brief cut scenes that will actually make you laugh and will also introduce you to your newest weapon you can add to your arsenal.

The game plays much like Metal Gear Touch where you stand behind a barrier shooting enemies. What sets Battle Bears apart from Metal Gear is that you must fight off hordes of enemies that are constantly advancing towards you. You have a barrier that your enemies must break through first in order to actually hurt you, while playing early on in the game this might seem easy, but as you progress to higher levels you will soon find yourself overwhelmed with pink freaks. But you are not left alone with just a gun, you are given special weapons such as a unicorn horn crossbow allowing you to shoot through enemies or a swear microphone immobilizing the on coming enemies.

In Metal Gear Touch, you need to zoom with a scope in to pick off far away enemies. This is not the case in Battle Bears where there is no zoom. If you ever have the need to snipe on coming huggables (they come to you so there's no need, but still) the aiming is very precise and you can manage to pull off a head shot given your aiming is good enough. The aiming works perfectly close range as it does far. The shooting mechanics work like a charm and flow like water.

All in all Battle Bears is a great game with great value. It is easy to pick up and play and you'll find yourself hooked once you start. With a price of only $.99 it is seriously worth your money if you are looking for a good game to play on your iTouch/iPhone. The satisfaction of seeing the rainbows blasting out of the huggables' heads when you kill them never gets old and always manages to put a smile on your face.

Gameplay: 8

Good aiming and shooting minus the occasional frame rate issue

Presentation: 7

Charming, though cut scenes are a bit cheap.

Lasting Appeal: 7

Survival mode will keep you busy after camaign

Over All: 22/30

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Shoes!

A while back someone asked me to color a pair of shoes for her daughter's birthday.  I say, ok.  Let's do this, it took me a only a few hours to do this, and I am pretty satisfied with what I did.  

I free hand by the way with a little bit of preparation.  

Comissions have been slow lately, being in high school you tend to not have too much money, neither do the kids that pay you to do this stuff.  Despite me just being a teenager, I'm kinda feeling the burn of the recession.  

No I'm not.  XD 

Oreos in background are no sublime messages to go get oreos, I was just eating oreos while I was doing this.  

Ponyo!

Ok.  Hayao Miyazaki, his movies are legendary.  He  is legendary, and he keeps on churning out legends, his latest is called Ponyo.  This isn't the most action packed movie in the world, but is simply adorable.  The introduction looks like it was ripped straight out of a drawing you made with crayons as a kid.  

Anyone who has seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie will instantly recognize his easily distinguished art style, it's as spectacular as ever.  Despite a lack of action, that's fine, the sheer creativity of the movie more than makes up for that.  I particularly liked how the waves took the form of a swarm of giant fish worked out, because you could still think they're vicious waves; but they are also fish.  The color in some of the scenes, like the first scene after the introduction catches your eye and instantly makes you want to say, "Woah."

Beautiful animation aside, I couldn't help but notice the story was a little bit The Little Mermaid-esk.  Now it's not a total rip off, the conflict is basically the same, water dweller falls in love with human and wants to be human.  Anything that is not that is all Ponyo.  What makes me love them movie so much, is that every waking moment of the movie it makes you want to:

a) smile

b) go "AAAAAAW!!!"

c) both

Words can't describe this movie, mainly because I think this movie delves deep into your mind and reminds you of your own childhood.  No one's childhood is the same, and Ponyo reminds you of the best memories of your childhood and when you walk out of that movie theater you will think to yourself, "I love that movie."