So I thought I could just swing by the Children's Museum of Manhattan for the special hands-on preview event for LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, play a little bit of the game, get some questions answered, and be on my way. What was I thinking? I'd forgotten how the LEGO games bring out the worst of my videogame OCD...
LEGO Batman 2 starts off with Batman and Robin foiling a bunch of their rogue's gallery, and then a prolonged battle against the Joker again, but then Superman flies by to say hi, and that's when things get interesting. The game will feature over 50 playable characters, and this time, in addition to Batman's cast of allies and enemies, you've got a whole bunch of the Justice League in attendance. You know, folks like Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman (and Hawkgirl), Black Canary, Martian Manhunter... and more! See, Lex Luthor decides to team up with Joker, which means it's going to take a lot more than Batman to get the job done this time!
I basically started out playing the full game from the start, and immediately you'll notice one of the biggest changes in the LEGO franchise: they speak! Yes, there is full voice acting for the characters this time around. (Clancy Brown voices Lex, as he did in the animated series, but don't look for Mark Hamill as the Joker or Kevin Conroy as Batman) It's initially off-putting, but it doesn't change the real appeal of the game, which is (to me, anyway) smashing everything you can and collecting all of those tiny little LEGO pieces! The reason for this change is that while Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Harry Potter have established stories, Batman does not, and with the first Batman, Traveller's Tales worried that the story wasn't entirely clear being told through LEGO gestures. I would argue that it was just fine, but I can't fault them for making sure their storytelling is crystal clear by giving voices to the characters.
I played as Batman and Robin for three story levels, and it was pretty much what you'd expect from a LEGO game. Smash things, solve basic puzzles to get to seemingly unreachable areas, and collect stuff. Lots of stuff. There's some new suits which give them new abilities, but it was mostly the same. Although I will say that the camera angle during a rooftop scene in the second level gave me serious vertigo, something that's never happened in a game before. After dispatching the Joker at the end of the third level, Superman swung by, and I couldn't take it anymore. So they unlocked everything for me. And I mean everything.
The hub level in LEGO Batman 2 isn't the Batcave, it's a wide-open explorable Gotham City, and it's huge (The Batcave is just one small section of it). I flew around it for a while as Hawkman, and it was pretty cool. Although running as The Flash is even cooler, because of the speed lines and blur. Everyone's got their own powers. Hawkman smashes with his mace, Wonder Woman whips her golden lasso and throws her tiara, Black Canary has a couple different canary cries, and Cyborg shoots lasers. It's almost too much fun.
I was suitably impressed by what I saw, and could've stayed there even longer. I mean, I was there for well over an hour playing the game... I wonder how long I would've had to stay before they said something. The event was scheduled to go for four hours... I guess they would've kicked me out when they had to close up shop! But what I saw has me excited, and any fellow DC Comics nerds out there should also get ready to check this one out. (By the way, they're obviously in modern, but still classic costumes — none of this New 52 stuff here!) LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is set ot release June 19 in North America and June 27 in Europe for the PC, PS3, 360, Vita, 3DS, Wii and DS. (So just about all of them, really!)
If you've been reading the site for a while then you're probably already somewhat familiar with Hideo: A Theatrical Concert of Music from Japanese Animation and Video Games, also known simply as Hideo.
This one of a kind show, described by NPR as 'A video game symphony on steroids' is the brainchild of creator Blair Baker who sought to create the ultimate experience for fans. After attending many video games concerts Blair decided that there was a lot more that these shows could be doing, and so she created Four Lights Productions to do just that.
Hideo combines an original play with live music from anime and video games the likes of Final Fantasy, Megaman, Noir, Wolf's Rain, Chrono Cross and many more. Each song is accompanied by animated projections courtesy of artist Dan Howard.
The world of Hideo is one that is ever expanding via smaller performances known as Overtures (that feature new storylines, characters, and music) as well as original graphic novels. By bringing together live music with theatre, art, stage combat, audience participation, and more Hideo becomes more than just a concert: it becomes an experience unlike any other.
What's more the entire show is entirely by fans for fans. Every single person working on the show is a fan themselves, whether of anime, video games, or the music they feature.
Here's a small taste of what Hideo has to offer:
Hideo began in 2010 and has had two major performances, one in Berkeley and one in San Luis Obispo. Beyond the main stage shows Team Hideo has made its way around the anime convention circuit, even performing as the opening act for Fanime's Masquerade in 2011.
While Hideo won't be an official Fanime event this year, the show will be taking place right across the street from the San Jose convention at the Montgomery Theater so whether you're a con attendee or not you'll get a chance to see it.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, will be attending Fanime, or are just a huge fan of live music and theatre then this is one event you won't want to miss. There are four chances to see the show, 2pm and 8pm on both Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th.
So if you're reading this site, you already know about the review I talk about in the beginning. But then I move on to talk about a bargain bin-ish purchase that I sort of kind of regret (though it's okay, because the game was purchased with a GameStop gift card I got for filling out online surveys, so it was technically free). And I conclude with initial impressions of a brand new action RPG that I got a review copy of and some complaining about how publishers always seem to send review copies with only a day or two before the embargo lifts like you can play a massive RPG in that kind of time without having an actual life! Enjoy this week's ramblings!
This felt like a really big week in Narnia, but when I checked my camera, there were hardly any pictures at all! I mean, three of them were of the same thing, mostly, so I just picked the best one. Oh, you'll see what I mean on the next page...
The Augmented Reality features of the Nintendo 3DS are lots of fun to mess around with, but can they really sustain an entire game? That's what Tecmo Koei's Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir hoped to find out, with the latest installment in the popular Fatal Frame series (technically considered a spin-off, I believe). This time, you're using an actual camera to capture the ghosts... but does it work?
Shorter podcast this week as I don't have a major topic. Nope, just playing some new games. One is only natural, considering last week's topic, and the other came as a complete surprise to me. Then there's a minor complaint as well as a skeptical possible future purchase. Still not sold, yet. What am I talking about? Well, you'll just have to watch and find out — I'm not going to put the whole thing in text! It would defeat the purpose of making the dang videos!
Whew! This was one busy week in Narnia! I was rushed off my feet nearly every single day! But I still found time for a trip outside as well as time to scare away another one. Find out who (and who replaced them) on the next page!
Like probably all of you (or at least most!), I saw The Avengers this past weekend. And because of that, I had super heroes on the brain, so this week's podcast is all about super hero videogames. From the highs of Batman: Arkham Asylum to the lows of Superman 64 and everything in between. Well, not everything, obviously. I can't cover every single super hero game ever made in 10 minutes. In fact, after I finished this week's video, I realized that I'd forgotten to mention the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series, which I enjoyed very much on my PSP. So much so, I'm thinking of looking for a used copy and dusting off that old thing once more!
Well, the last couple weeks were kind of quiet, so of course that wasn't going to last. Lots of activity this week, from all sides. For some reason, a couple of my neighbors became obsessed with visitors. Like this Jamazing person. I don't even know who that is, but apparently he swung by Narnia at some point. I haven't had a visitor in ages. Sometimes I feel like Narnia is like the only town in the universe, and outside the gates it's just a void of nothingness... Creepy...
Don't get excited. It's not a real tomahawk. It's not even a realistic-looking replica. No, this is an inflatable one that Ubisoft was giving out to everyone who watched their awesome teaser video presentation for Assassin's Creed III at PAX East 2012. Unfortunately, I can't really show you what it looks like all blown up. Oddly, all the Google imaging I did couldn't find a photo of one out of the packaging. And I wanted to keep this one sealed up for you guys so it would be mint in package. You know, in case you wanted to try and sell it on eBay or something...
Anyway, you've got all weekend to enter to win simply by clicking my E-mail link over on the left hand side of the page and sending me your name and mailing address with "AC3 Tomahawk" as the subject line. The deadline is Monday at 7:00 pm, after which point, I will randomly choose a winner from the entries I've received. I don't expect this one to get nearly as many entries as the Jet Set Radio pin set did, so if you're interested in a rather odd piece of PAX East 2012 swag, you might find this one has better odds! (Even though it's not nearly as awesome as this pins... those were the best.)
So, after ruminating on the Mass Effect 3 ending for a week... yeah, still not happy. But it's okay, because I have an awesome new game to talk about — though I save most of my opinions for the review! Oh, and I'm not entirely sold on Xenoblade Chronicles... though I've only just started. We'll see. Jury's still out on that one.
The Walking Dead comic book was such a success that it spawned a TV series on AMC that was such a success that it spawned even more tie-in product. And since zombie games are already a popular genre, it was only natural that somebody would license the property to do The Walking Dead videogame.
Thankfully, that somebody turned out to be Telltale Games, so instead of a gory shooter, we instead get to enjoy a dramatic and tense zombie adventure game. Episode One of the five-episode serialized game has now been released for download on PC (through Steam), PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and I had a chance to play through the Xbox version. The full review is waiting for you just around the corner in the dark...
• Randy "Dr Randle" Marr on Capcom Causes Street Fighter Fangasms: Now that's how you do a 25th year anniversary. I'll hand it to Capcom, if they know anything, it's collector's...
• Tyler on Teens: Interesting article! I just wanted to add some information. I teach theater to kids age 6-13. This age bracket is...
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