Review of the Week

LEGO Batman: The Videogame



This weeks review is actually the last game I purchased, LEGO Batman. Now I have been a big fan on the LEGO games ever since LEGO Star Wars came out of nowhere to be a smash hit. The formula is simple take a known license and transform everything into plastic brick versions then run around and bash everything you see searching for hidden items as you go. Now Batman is the first LEGO game to not have a storyline to go with it, The story the use is pretty simple all the villains have escaped from Arkham and its up to good ol Batty to put them back

The game plays out in episodes, each episode has 5 chapters and there is a Hero and Villain half. Basically you play through as Batman and Robin thwarting the villains scheme, then you can play through the same story arc as the villain side, its really quite fun and a nice way to mix up the game play. There are also vehicle levels in each episode which also does a nice job of mixing up the game play.

Now the game is not without its faults. The major flaw in the game is that the puzzles are very random and there is often no guidance what so ever as to what you are supposed to do. More than a few times you will find yourself running around randomly trying to figure out what to do, Now this wouldn't be as big of a deal if after you figured it out it made sense, but more often than not it is something totally out of whack. It also can get repetitive at times. The camera is also an issue (as it has been in every LEGO game) it is often difficult to judge jumps and see exactly what you need to do. It does do a lot of things well though. The character selection is huge (again a LEGO staple) The classic LEGO humor is there and its a total blast to play through in co-op mode. Replay value is also a huge plus, going through the levels multiple times in search of all the hidden stuff adds a lot to the game.

All in all LEGO Batman does a good job of being entertaining and fun, I would definitely give this one a try if you like an action platformer, Batman, or want a game that you can play with a friend (or significant other). Now I love the LEGO games but it may be time for the series to move in a different direction, it seems as though they are just turning out the same game with a different licsense each time.

SUGGESTION: BUY IT

(now on the advice of one of many thousands of readers ( :) ) I have revamped the review scale, rather than assigning a numbered/smiley face rating I will simply give my suggestion of Avoid it, Try it, or Buy it)

Wicked

So Sam and I went to see Wicked @ the Fox Theater this weekend, and I have to say I was very impressed. Now for those not in the know, Wicked is the backstory of the Witches from the Wizard of Oz. It was very engaging, quite funny, and a very well rounded musical. I wont ramble on about the story here (if you are interested def. go see it or read the book) but the jist is that Elphaba (the wicked witch) and her sister Nesa (the one crushed by Dorothys house) are sent off to school. Elphaba is an outcast everywhere including her own family and the only reason she is sent to the school is to watch over Nesa who is in a wheelchair. It is there that they meet Galinda (with a Ga....LOL) and through a misshap by her, she becomes Elphaba's roomate. They later actually become friends and it is here where the show has one of its shining moments with Galinda singing to Elphie (as she is now calling her) a song called "Popular", the song is all about how Galinda is going to transform Elhpie to be just like her (only a little less popular) at one she tries to transform her frock into a ball gown after two failed attempts she tosses her wand away saying "nevermind the frock is pretty". Later on in the story we learn that someone is taking away the animals ability to speak and after one of the proffesors (a goat) at the school is taken away, is when Elphaba starts to sort of turn wicked although she is doing things for the right reasons. This is also where Galinda becomes the Glinda that we all know (she changes her name because the aformentioned professor never could pronounce it right) The other truly shining moment is Elphaba singing a song called "defy gravity" where the litterally do make her fly, it was truly amazing as you couldn't see what was making her float and it was a perfect end to the first act.The basic morale of the story is the old "you cant always judge a book by its cover" and that things are all realitive to your point of view. It was really neat to see how the tie things in with the story that we all know, although the timelines dont always sink up so its not perfect but the story is amazing and I HIGHLY recomend it if you get the chance.

Review of the Week

This weeks review is another of my Gamefly rentals....The Simpsons Game

Now the Simpson's have had a very troubled video game past, the old NES games were decent and the arcade game was amazing(nothing beats 4 player co-op) but it was pretty much downhill after that (are there two bigger abominations than Simpsons Skateboarding and Wrestling?) but the have had a nice uptrend recently with both Road Rage (Crazy Taxi simpson's style) and Hit and Run (GTA style open world romp) being worthy of a playthru. The Simpson's first journey on the latest batch of systems may well be their best yet. The Simpson's game is sort of a half open world, half linear story based game. Basically you can explore an open world on your way to your next mission. You get to play as all the Simpson's and each has unique abilities and powers. The game walks you through each characters abilities by going through the first few levels each with different characters, I really like this as it got you acquainted with each character and how to use them. Any fan of the show will love all the show references and video game fans will love Comic Book Guy pointing out all of the video game cliches of which there are many (its actually an achievement on the 360 version to find them all). Its funny how they make it seem like your watching an episode of the show while playing through the game and the characters actually acknowledge that they are inside a game (even using the instruction manual to figure out there powers). This is a great platformer and is best played in co-op mode, many of the puzzles require two characters doing two different things and it can get tedious switching back and fourth in single player. I highly recommend this one for platformer fans or any one looking for a game to play with the significant other (as I always say...The couple who games together, Stays together)

OVERALL RATING

8.7

Cool Thing of The Week: Pandora Radio

Ok so as promised a new feature for the "throngs" out there The Cool Thing Of The Week...

This weeks cool thing is a website, Pandora Radio (http://www.pandora.com/), I was turned onto Pandora about a year or so ago by a coworker. Basically you put in a song or artist you like and Pandora will take the style and play other music similar to it, if you like a song it picks give it a thumbs up and it will find more music like that, if you dont give it a thumbs down and it wont play that song again and will find other music for you. Basically the more you listen to it and rate songs the better it gets at playing stuff you will like. It also will give you a brief description of the Artist, Album, and Song currently playing. You can set up as many different stations as you want so you can taylor them to different styles, and you can also use the Quickmix feature to play a few stations at once and it will rotate them. If you are going to be spending a good amount of time in front of your computer and want some background noise Pandora can become your best friend. My favorite thing to do is throw it on while playing poker online. Here is a link to my profile to give you a taste http://www.pandora.com/people/neoflynn