Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Injustice Has Risen Again!

Injustice 2 has finally arrived after being highly anticipated by gamers and fans of DC comics. Injustice follows the saga of Superman when he turns to the dark side after being tricked into killing his pregnant wife, Lois Lane. The once great champion of Earth would go on to kill everyone who didn’t see things his way along with several other members of the Justice League under a new faction called The Regime. Batman from that Earth would later bring in the Justice League from another Earth to ultimately defeat them and the man of steel is last seen rotten inside a cell. The game was revolutionary with introducing fans a much darker side of the superheroes and giving fans the chance to put their favorite superheroes against each other.
This game takes off several years after the events of the first game and starts off with one of the new characters, Supergirl. Her origin story gives you a brief glimpse of the same evil that’s coming to Earth to destroy it. Once that evil arrives, Batman is left with a terrible choice to either accept the help of his former best friend, or try to face the evil on his own. Through a series of events, things begin to unravel and heroes who were once villains get the chance to redeem themselves for their past deeds. It’s a well written story that gives players an option to decide how the story will end.
Injustice 2 has major upgrades as far as character selection and customization goes. Each character has tons of gear to choose from, but that depends on how quickly you earn it. You can achieve gear by winning matches, playing through the storyline, and even buying motherboxes. Motherboxes in DC comics are these boxes of advanced technology and great power that gave Victor Stone his cyborg body. In the game, they’re designed to contain different level gear that you buy or earn depending on the kind of box you get.
There are different kinds of boxes and there is a different kind of currency, coins and source crystals. Coins are used to buy the motherboxes and crystals are used in case you get a high-level gear, but you don’t like the look of it and you can use the crystals to change it. There are also different shaders to change the color of your hero or villain as you choose. Quick note for those that have the ultimate pass and downloaded the extra characters John Stewart, Reverse Flash, and Powergirl. You can access them by going into customizations and click the shaders with their names under the characters Green Lantern, Flash, and Supergirl.
The best improvement of this game has to be its multiverse mode which gives players an overwhelming amount of options. For those who are familiar with Mortal Kombat, this is how you’re going to go to tournaments and find out the special ending for each character. First you play three tutorials, then you have access to different Earths and one battle simulation, that’s your tournament to get the endings. The rest of the planets recycle various stories for you to decide to take. The bigger the planet, the better rewards will follow, and that offers hours of play time for fans of this franchise.  
While this game has surpassed the previous one, there are some let downs in the game that may disappoint some fans. One is the control system which is virtually the same for all the characters who were in the previous game. If you were looking for new powers to use, then you’re only going to get them in the new characters. There’s plenty of environmental damage, but the transitions aren’t anything spectacular. The Super Moves are about par compared to the ones seen in the first game.

Other than that, this game is virtually perfect and I give Injustice 2 a 9 out of 10. There are countless hours of playtime in this game with endless possibilities of the multiverse, the roster and storyline. The graphics are good, the gameplay is simple and easy, and there will no doubt be a sequel on the way. The flaws are minor at best and fans of Injustice will not be disappointed when they put out that sixty bucks, but personally, I go ahead and pay the hundred and get the ultimate edition. Injustice 2 has been well worth the wait and I’m already waiting for the next installment. 

Monday, May 8, 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2


The Guardians returned last week to marvelous number when it became Marvel Studio’s 15th film to become the number one opening movie of the week. This was the film to kick off the summer with the return of the galaxy’s favorite band of knuckle heads who went off on another beautiful adventure. The scenes involving planets were beautiful and vibrant, while the story was filled with repetitive comedy throughout a moderate storyline. I wouldn’t say that this film was better than its predecessor, but it was just as good. Worth the price for primetime, but not the price for an Imax ticket.



The Guardians of the Galaxy is a sci-fi franchise of Marvel Comics that’s based around certain characters such as Peter Quill or Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Batista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel). Once misfits, assassins, thieves and warriors; now heroes for hire that go around to protect the galaxy after word spreads of their heroic deeds. This sequel takes off after the events of the first film which is some time after when Groot is now a baby, Drax has more words in his vocabulary, and Star-Lord has become the solid leader he’s meant to be. After coming to the aid of a certain planet, the gang is thrown into the void after the arrival of a celestial being (Kurt Russell), who claims to be Peter’s father.



It was revealed in the last film that Peter was only have human and the other half is a powerful mystery since he was able to withstand the power of an infinity stone. For those that don’t follow, it’s a stone that could kill you with a touch because it’s overwhelming with power. You need a special glove to contain the power and manipulate it to your benefit. Peter and others decide to humor this claim and leave with this being to investigate while others stay behind due to rising tensions within the group. The subplot in this film is centered around Peter’s former mentor Yondu (Michael Rooker). His performance was spot on with providing a mixture of depression, anger and search for redemption after receiving devastating news.



Michael Rooker, in my opinion, is the unsung hero in this film that provides a surprising twist in the film that will leave the audience crying. Kurt Russell plays an excellent villain, even though I thought some of his dialogue could’ve been altered. The story was virtually obvious because you can tell most of the time what’s going to happen. While the action was solid and the comedy keeps people laughing, it started to almost disrupt the seriousness of certain situations. In the main fight, something happens that makes you laugh, but makes you ask in the back of your mind, “Why?”



Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 is filled with action and comedy that makes this a family friendly film that’s expected from Marvel Studios. The retro soundtrack is filled with new oldies from the golden age of music and baby Groot steals the show in many scenes. There are five surprises throughout the credits, but only one of them seems relevant and the others were put in for comedic purposes. I have to give this film an 8 out of 10 because of the minor tweaks involving the overuse of comedy and obvious storyline. This film has set the standard for this year’s summer movie line-up, so let’s hope Wonder Woman meets that bar or surpasses.