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Uploaded my first Video Review. This was my first time working with video/audio software so it is far from perfect. Still I'm happy how it turned out.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Review

Rating 3 out of 5

TITLE: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

DIRECTOR: Mark Nevelidine, Brian Taylor

STAR(S): Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris                  Elba, Fergus Riordan

WRITER(S): Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman

RATING: PG-13

GENRE(S): Action

            As a fan of the comics, I was very disappointed over the 2007 cheese fest that was the film Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage. The dialog was embarrassing, the story was a mess, the villains were uninteresting, and many of the performances ranged from being too over the top to blatantly phoned in at times. So you can imagine that when I first learned a sequel was in the works, my hopes weren’t very high. That all changed though when I saw the trailer for Spirit of Vengeance. It looked darker, grittier, and holy sh!t the action looked intense. Plus when I discovered that this film was being directed by the same guys responsible for the, “Crank” series I figured it was a safe bet that viewers were in for a wild ride.

            While “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” is more of a reboot of the franchise instead of a true sequel, it does still maintain the basic continuity from the first film’s origin story. Cage reprises his role as Johnny Blaze and does a much better job bringing the Rider to the big screen this time around. We learn that he is on the run because the curse that he was so sure he could control at the end of the first film has proven to be too much to handle causing him to avoid human interaction whenever possible. Despite his efforts, he is visited by a stranger named Moreau, (played by Idris Elba) who comes looking for Blaze’s services. He explains that a young boy named Danny; (Fergus Riordan) is being pursued by Blaze’s old Nemesis Roarke (Ciarán Hinds) and is in danger of becoming the anti-christ. At first Blaze is reluctant, but after Moreau promises that he’ll lift his curse of the Rider, Blaze sets off in search leaving nothing but a trail of fire behind him.

Most of the action takes place on desert roads.

I’ll come straight to the point. Spirit of Vengeance’s story fails as a super hero blockbuster but instead triumphs as a road action flick. Most of the story unfolds out on the highways, as battles with convoys rage on through desert roads instantly giving off a sort of Mad Max vibe to it. Despite the fact that this is a story about fighting the devil, monster designs never stray far from human form and seem rather uninspired. With that said, Ghost Rider’s new look is the exception looking simply amazing looking in comparison to the first film. There are many times that the Rider becomes genuinely creepy at times due to the way it moves and stares which is a feeling I never got from the previous film.

The story suffers from some continuity problems still, despite it staying true to the origin story as far as how the Rider affects Blaze. At one point the Spirit of Vengeance gets hit by a missile sending Blaze to the hospital only to later on take rocket after rocket without so much as a scratch, leaving the question if Blaze can die due to the Rider’s wounds unclear. Overall though the story is much more solid this time as the film even manages to have a sense of humor about itself many times throughout. The characters overall are much more likable in this installment especially Moreau, who is just full of charisma and honestly stole the scenes every time he was on. I honestly wanted to learn more about his character and wished there was a spinoff of his back-story somewhere.

Moreau shows that even french brothers can rock the classic leathers.

            Dialog is so much better this time around as well. The script gives Cage the freedom to act crazy as expected without going too overboard. Everyone talks in a believable way and relationships seem a little more real this time. The little boy Danny I found to be an interesting character because despite him being chosen to become the anti-christ, he never feels truly evil. He shows that genetics and destinies don’t guarantee the kind of person you will become personality wise and the relationship he grows with the rider is an interesting concept. The Rider doesn’t talk no where near as much as he did before which is a blessing because last time every time it spoke it resulted in me feeling embarrassed for it due to the cheesiness.

Danny shows that deep down all children can be evil.

            The sound in “Spirit of Vengeance” is what one would expect. It’s a piston busting, gasoline igniting boom fest that keeps you in your seat when the action heats up. The noise that Rider made always got under my skin whenever I heard it, proving that one liners do not make a character intimidating.

            The 3D was mediocre at best as it never blew me away but never made my eyes hurt either. Honestly most of the time I forgot I was watching a 3D film and odds are that’s due to all the night time scenes.

           

Mayhem has nothing on Blaze.

            Overall, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” is not the epic Marvel heroes tale we’ve been hoping for to stack up with the great Avenger movies. It is instead a gripping and entertaining road flick that left me feeling very satisfied. If you liked “Drive Angry” you’ll like this one. It is a phenomenal improvement over the first film, and I hope that another sequel will spawn out of this reboot. Who knows, the next one might be the epic demon fighting tale fans have been waiting for.

Ryan Pierce

First Impressions: Road Rage #1

Title: Road Rage #1

Writer: Stephen King, Joe Hill
Illustrator: Nelson Daniel
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pages: 24

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

One of my favorite comic series is Locke & Key written by Joe Hill. He showed me that when it comes to character writing and depicting horror to a sequential art format that he is among the best in the business. Being the son of renowned author Stephen Kings, (Also no stranger to the comic scene) I wouldn’t expect any less. Now if you put these two minds together on a project you’ll have my attention, but if you have them working on a story paying homage to one of the most iconic thriller films of all time, then the fan boy in me comes out at maximum overdrive. No pun intended. Road Rage is a mini series paying tribute to the classic film Duel, which was Stephen Spielberg’s debut project as a director. It will also adapt to another novella called, “Throttle” which I must admit I never heard of but after reading this, am already hunting it down.

            The story focuses on a band of outlaw bikers who call themselves the Tribe. No fair weather riders or, “Wild Hogs” shenanigans here as these guys are the real deal. They’re rough, violent, and have no qualms killing if you piss them off. We meet them riding through the desert, heading to a place called Show Low to seek retribution for a business deal that went sour, putting them 60k in the negative. Throughout the book we see two of the main characters, Vince and Race are constantly bumping heads as to what the appropriate actions are to take on their current situation with no peaceful agreement looking to show.

            Taking a break at a rest stop the gang prepares to head out again when Vince notices an old vintage tanker truck just looming over them in the lot, but thinks nothing of it after it departs and has everyone get back on the road. Miles rack up and before the gang suspects anything suspicious, the mega rig suddenly attacks them by ruthlessly running over members and grinding both flesh and chrome into the asphalt. It is a high speed fight for survival as one by one the casualties add up and without knowing who the driver is or their reasoning for the carnage unfolding, the men have no clear idea on how to deal with their assailant other then to keep moving.

            The artwork in “Road Rage” is amazing as illustrator Nelson Daniel puts just the right amount of details in the right places. The bike designs are all unique and the character designs all have characteristics that make them stand out from each other. Given the fact that we are dealing with an all male cast wearing their insignia colors riding cruiser style bikes, that couldn’t have been an easy feat. The truck design and scale of it at times really brings out the monster in an otherwise normal mundane machine that we see every day. Just take a look at that mechanical beast towering over the three main characters and you’ll see what I mean. The Exaggerated size is perfect way of depicting the terror you got from watching Duel.

            One of my gripes with the art, (although this could be a story fault) is right from the start we are introduced to nine characters which like that truck on the cover can be intimadating to readers at first. Luckily though by the end of this book that number is cut in half as members become chunks of meat on the roads or stains on the truck's grill, leaving us with a more manageable cast. The other complaint is how the truck is drawn jumping through the air. While some pull off the terror element well, some just look odd as if it’s bucking like a bull. I’m sure was the intention but to me, seeing a truck bend like that, depicts it as crashing not chasing. 

            The dialog and overall story is easy to follow apart from the broken English but given that’s how your average biker talks I wouldn’t have it any other way. The narrator’s dialog always confused me on one aspect because throughout this book, we never learn who he/she is telling the story. It reminded me of the older silver age format of story telling which you don’t see too much today. The revenge plot was a solid enough ground to begin on but since everyone is running for their lives by the end of this first issue, we’ll have to wait and see if it remains the main plot device.

            Overall “Road Rage” was a very satisfying first issue of this mini series. It got a lot of story done in this book and has a cliff hanger that leaves me chomping at the bit for more. It’s clear that this father and son collaboration have a lot of passion for this project and I must say it imitates the atmosphere of Duel well. I can’t wait to read the next issue.

Ryan Pierce

First Impressions: Ferals #1

Title: Ferals

Writer: David Lapham

Illustrator: Gabriel Andrade

Publisher: Avatar Press

Pages: 22

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

I’m always struck with excitement when a new werewolf story comes around so when I saw new release of Ferals at my local comic shop, you can bet your ass that I snatched a copy. The cover on this book just screams for attention for while I was not aware of this new series, out of almost fifty new releases on the wall, this one still managed to catch my eye. It’s easy to suspect that this will be a true horror tale of lycanthropy as we see a poor bloody woman about to meet her demise with the story’s long fanged beast.

Spanning across twenty two pages, this book does manage to create a solid foundation as we learn a little bit about the town involved, and the main character Dale who’s a cop patrolling an area of less then five hundred residents. Brutality shows up on the first page forcing Dale to investigate and soon our hero runs into a female character who I suspect is the main werewolf though it’s not spelled out for us yet. Later on Dale is caught off guard by the murderous animal escaping with his life but not before getting injured foreshadowing the curse falling on him.

At this point and time while the story is interesting, I must say that I have yet to find any of the characters likable. So far all we have going on for the good guys is a coroner who bitches about being called out to a crime scene and Dale, who gets drunk off his ass and uses his badge to prey on skirts in the local tavern managing to score tail twice in one night. That’s a lot of sex for just twenty two pages and makes me ponder if its going to be a constant reoccurring theme in future installments. I know werewolves and sex go hand and hand but when dealing in this medium I hope more actual story takes precedence. Dale even goes as far as to flat out punch a woman when she says something that pisses him off bringing my respect for this guy down to almost zilch.  

The artwork, like the cover remained impressive throughout. Graphically it is not for the faint of heart as gore and genitals on corpses occur here. This is going to be a gritty series holding nothing back which hopefully will drive the horror element up to eleven. The werewolf design here is awesome looking. It walks on two legs but still manages to look more beast than human with a unique muscle structure and intimadating facial features.

           Overall this first issue does a good job of establishing an origin story of the main character. The dialog is easy to follow and understand keeping conversations short and sweet for the most part but sometimes comes off a little forced. It does show right off the line though that this is going to be an adult gore fest and so far seems to be staying close to the classic lycanthropy mythos. I will be giving this one another shot.


Ryan Pierce

Twisted Metal Review

5.5 out of 10

Game Name: Twisted Metal

Platform: Playstation 3

Developer: Eat Sleep Play

Genre: Action

Rating: M

            Twisted Metal has always been ne of those titles I would instantly buy a new system just to play. When I saw the original as a playable demo at KB Toys way back in 1995 I would easily spend time combating other kids to see who the best driver was. Twisted Metal was everything that the thirteen year old me could’ve wanted in a game. It had bad ass vehicles, weapons, explosions, and awesome arenas to play in. After finally saving up my allowance money to purchase my first Playstation, one can only guess how many hours of my youth was wasted in front of that old TV screen playing my personal favorite vehicle Darkside. Ever since then I’ve always followed this series religiously so you can only imagine my excitement when I learned that the original car combat title was making a return on the PS3. Following the dark style of Twisted Metal Black, I couldn’t wait to see what new stories Calypso and the drivers had in store for us this time and with online play being a major selling point this time around, surely this would go down as the best release in the series to date right? Boy was I in for a let down.

           

            Like all the previous titles, this new installment throws players in the driver seats of murderous designed vehicles to compete the famous tournament held by Calypso as he promises to grant the winner any one wish they desire; no matter how impossible it may seem.  Throughout the history of the franchise, this simple plot device has helped create stacks of interesting tales about all the combatants in the tournament and what drove them to commit mass murder in order to get one wish. Believe it or not, stories has always been a big part of the TM name and with the average roster boasting sixteen characters between the previous seven games, you got a ton of replay value trying to see how every person’s tale resolved. Some endings were funny, some horrific, and some were dare I say, twisted. You never knew what scheme Calypso had up his sleeve when the victor arrived to claim their prize and with that said we arrive to the first carnal sin of this game’s design. Twisted metal has only three characters to tell stories about. You’ve read that right all you get in this release is Sweet Tooth, Doll Face, and Mr. Grim this time around. The game advertised four characters with the last being the preacher from Black but he only appears in the backgrounds of the other character’s tales and doesn’t progress the story at all. His one true reason for being here is to be a playable driver online for free-for-all matches and that’s it. The stories that are told with the main three are excellent, but it’s just unacceptable that the developers didn’t go further resulting in the replay value being destroyed for the single player campaign.

References to previous games remind players how much story this release is lacking.

            Gameplay is what you would expect out of a vehicle combat game. The cars have a very loose arcady feel to them with control being very responsive. Almost everything in the worlds are destructible give and take a few gigantic buildings making driving through crowded suburbs and highways a breeze.

Eat Sleep Play did take some initiative in adding some interesting and unique gaming mechanics in an attempt to inject some new life into the series. Unlockable side arms, a new playable helicopter, along with each vehicle having two unique special attacks and limited defense attacks add incredible depth to strategy making on the go. Some matches have players pick three vehicles placing two of them in garages on the battlefield. If the player’s car gets too banged up, they can pull into the garage pick another vehicle and continue to fight as the previous one gets repaired. New modes also include last man standing, Endurance, are also nice additions and add a shot of freshness to an otherwise stale formula.

The last new installment in the single player campaign are the races, and with for lack of a better description THEY F@*KING SUCK. TM’s game engine an physics are great for crazy mayhem but simply transforming the death match battlefields into checkpoint racing does not work here. This new addition single handily sucks all the enjoyment out of the single player campaign. Navigating between checkpoints is near impossible since there are no direction guides in a hub and that the races don’t even follow roads. The levels are insanely unforgiving as one mistake will cost you the entire race. If you fall off a building your vehicle doesn’t reset, you got to back track and work your way up to the roofs again making any efforts a lost cause as your opponents are now miles ahead. Being penalized for missing gates is another slap in the face since the AI drivers obviously play by different set of rules as they constantly ignore them. Doll Face’s race is complete utter bullsh!t and is honestly unplayable since even if you do manage to finish first you can still loose as you’ll have to hunt around to activate a bomb to destroy all the other racers. If a car finishing fifth finds that bomb before you do, guess what, game over. I have no problem with races being added to the franchise but give the games physics, the battle levels simply can’t be recycled to act as a race track. Motor Storm Apocalypse pulled this off perfectly even with the skyscraper tracks and that’s what the races in Twisted Metal should’ve been like. This mode was obviously wrenched in quickly as a half assed attempt to make single player longer.

My reaction to Doll Face's race.

Online gaming is a much better experience but even that couldn’t escape some serious problems. First off the hosting system; it’s crap. Twisted Metal has no set time limit for setting up matches so idle hosts lurk everywhere. Players are extremely pissed off by this as the chat screens are filled with profanities yelling at some inconsiderate AFK douche to start the game. At the moment there is no such thing as a quick game match as odds are you’ll most likely being waiting up to 20 minutes to play a ten minute match as finding an active host is a horrendous endaver. Connection problems are another serious problem where three out of five tries will always result in you getting an error message at the moment. Since TM released a public online beta before release there is no excuse for this issue at all.

If you are able to connect to a game however, this is where this game shines. TM gameplay online is absolute bliss and it becomes absolutely clear that this was the main focus of this title’s development. Hunter mode is fun where players hunt down the opposing team’s marked car and destroy it for points. Nuke is my personal favorite as it plays a lot like capture the flag but with an additional arc. Teams have to capture the opposing team’s leader and sacrifice them into a missile launcher where they have to destroy each other’s giant statues hovering over the battlegrounds. If one is good enough they can shoot down the missiles making every moment of this mode a tension filled nail biting experience. Racing did not make it as an online mode because honestly who the hell would willingly want to play it? As expected, Players earn XP in games which can be used to unlock new cars, perks, side arms, and skins.

Vehicle customizing is another new addition and an impressive one at that. If one has the skills, you can download templates of the vehicles, place them in Photoshop, and create a truly unique ride to drive online. The only problem is with all the explosions and mayhem going on, odds are no one will notice your hard work. If a My Little Pony themed Van doesn’t grant you any comments or homophobic insults, then it’s clear that it’s just not noticeable. So while this is a new and fun addition, be prepared to do this just for yourself instead of trying to impress your online peers.

Skin customizing can be very involved.

Graphically this is without a doubt the best looking Twisted Metal to date but with that said it’s still not going to bring home any rewards. Pop ups are badly noticeable at times and everything has a muddy look to it. That doesn’t mean vehicles aren’t heavily detailed though because they are and like the maps that surround them are highly destructible. The worlds are huge; easily supporting the max sixteen player limit and every level does have its on own unique sets of characteristics.

The cinematic deserve a lot of praise themselves. For the first time since I can remember from the PSX era, Twisted Metal brings back live action actors to play the main characters. It’s so nice to see a company strive to be different where CGI is now the standard in interactive entertainment. The actors give off great performances adding more realism to the games dark atmosphere. This makes that lack of stories in this title all the more disappointing, since having a vast cast of honest human actors would’ve made the single player replay value so much better and memorable but sadly like most games now, online play remains the primary focus.

Live actors are a unique aspect of the story telling.

Sound in Twisted Metal is an all out boom fest. The roar of engines, the blasts of gunfire, the bangs of missiles and screams of terrorized victims makes a sound buffet that Michael Bay would approve. The soundtrack is high octane all the way as it brings back hit Rob Zombie songs from previous games and new appropriate ballads from other artists. The list of tracks though is very limited sadly so even after a good days playing the songs quickly get old and repetitive.

Over all Twisted Metal is an unfortunate wreck of a game. What it does extremely well online is weighed down far too much by a tiny story, lack of character, and some seriously terrible race levels that should’ve never got pass the QA testers. The game just feels rushed to make a deadline as the single player campaign is so short and lacking in attention while the online aspect clearly was the main priority. It’s nice to see the developers bring some new ideas to the table, but if there’s to be another title, the single player needs a total revamp. The online aspect while glorious is plagued by more poor design decisions in the hosting department, and the connection issues should’ve never existed with the beta that released prior to its release. I was really disappointed with the overall outcome of this release and normally I would’ve given this a rating of 6 since the online gameplay is so much fun. Sadly at the time of this review; a week after its release with all the connection problems and hosting issues, I must go lower. Buy this only if you have no interest in single player and strive for multiplayer action because it’s this titles only saving grace. Otherwise avoid this junker of a sequel.

PROS: Best looking Twisted Metal game to date.

              Brings some new interesting gameplay elements to the table.

              Online gameplay is an absolute blast.

              Live actors in cutscenes are a nice change in story telling.

              Highly customizable vehicles if you got the right art tools on your PC

CONS: Telling the story of only three characters is a joke

               Race levels completely suck the fun out of single player.

               Single player is way to short.

               Idle hosts with no set up time limit are a constant problem

               Connection issues are an embarrassment.

Ryan Pierce

Chronicle Review

TITLE: Chronicle

DIRECTOR: Josh Trank

STAR(S): Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan

WRITER: Max Landis

RATING: PG-13

GENRE(S): Action, Sci-fi, Drama

            What would you do if you had super powers? Would you use it for good? Would you spread terror throughout humanity? Would you just take your new found gift and play pranks on unsuspecting people? For the most of us, I suspect the later would be our main choice; at least for a while anyway.

            Chronicle is a story about three seniors in high school that stumble across some unknown object that grants them the power of telekinesis. Andrew Detmer, played by Dane Dehaan (True Blood) is a boy whose life has brought him nothing but misery. With his mother’s health rapidly deteriorating and his alcoholic father always abusing him, school life shows any doesn’t comforts either since he’s socially an outcast among his fellow peers and constantly harassed by bullies. His cousin Matt Garetty, played by Alex Russell, (Halloween Knight) along with friend Steve Montgomery played by Michael B Jordan, (Gears of War 3) join a pact with each other as they strive to improve their new found powers. At first all is fun and games but after awhile it becomes apparent that after all the abuse bestowed on Andrew, he is very angry inside and that his new powers are causing him to dish his hostile feelings in dangerous ways. Anyone who’s familiar with Akira will immediately relate Andrew to Tetsuo as they almost step by step go down the same path. Though Matt and Steve try their best to help fix their emotionally disturbed friend by boosting his popularity and making him feel wanted, life always seems to throw them a curve ball sending Andrew’s psyche into even darker levels of hate and anger. It’s no surprise from the trailer that eventually Andrew’s temper gets the best of him and that things start to get out of hand later on.

           

            Chronicle is another found footage film that in my opinion is the best example of the genre out there. It does suffer from the obvious abnormally that everybody in the city of Seattle carries a video camera recording everything no matter how mundane or crazy things get but it works better here then in any other film of this type. The pacing never gets so slow that it’s boring and holy crap when things get crazy the cinematography is right on par with Cloverfield. I’d even go as far to say that it’s even better. Some of the shots here were masterfully put together showing new and exciting scenarios of blending normal activities in intense situations. I am not one to care about the super bowl but football never looked so fun as it did to me here. Even scenes that couldn’t possibly be recorded by the main characters are cleverly caught by surveillance cameras surrounding them, sending home a message that no matter what you do, odds are you really are being filmed without your knowledge in today’s society.

            The special effects in this film are absolutely jaw dropping. Everything from damage inflicted on buildings to throwing cars and launching people through walls bests the effects of any film in this genre that I can think of. There’s some blatant green screen and CGI to be found but the main climax scene is second to none. Some of special effects are the next best thing to a point-of-view action screen ride in an amusement park.

            Dialog between the main cast and the many supporting characters are very believable and never once forced me out of the movie. Written by Max Landis who wrote both the story and screen play, you really do get a sense of chemistry forming between the three main characters and truly feel for Andrew knowing that he is a time bomb waiting to go off. You can’t help but feel for Matt as he tries to be the voice of reason for the trio while Steve uses his popularity to present Andrew to a fun world that any teen would love to be apart of. You really can’t hate Andrew at the same time though because seeing all the torment and helpless situations he goes through everyday, you can’t help but understand why he acts the way he does when he begins to finally feel invulnerable towards everyday threats. With that said, when the time eventually comes for things to go wrong it really grabs hold of your emotions.

            The sound in Chronicle is what one would expect out of a found footage movie. There is no music to be mentioned except what’s caught on camera in the background thus the film is driven solely on the dialog and acting which is all of good quality. The sounds used for the special effects fits perfectly with the amazing special effects as mentioned earlier.

           

            Overall, Chronicle is not another superhero flick but instead a cleverly put together tragedy piece about what can happen when great power falls into the wrong hands. Not being a fan of the found footage genre I can’t help but make an exception of recommending this one to others. It is a fun look at what superpowers could bring but at same time takes a dark mature look on it as well. It may not be for everyone, but to those who love stories about super powers this is a must see.

Rating 4 out 5

Ryan Pierce

Gotham City Imposters Review

Game Name: Gotham City Imposters

Platform: PS3, XBOX 360

Developer: WB Games

Genre: First Person Shooter Multiplayer

ESRB Rating: Teen

Ah Batman, the Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader. Who hasn’t fantasized about putting on the cowl and fight crime at one time in their life? It would be awesome, evil doers would tremble at the very mention of our name. We would look like absolute tools in the public’s eye. But fear not fellow 90 pound weakling asthmatics and overweight fan boys with neck beards for your time has come. Remember the scene in the Dark Knight where gun totting vigilantes dressed in hockey pads tried to gun down Scarecrow while impersonating Batman? Well Warner Brothers pretty much saw that scene and decided to cash in on those aspiring young superheroes. Gotham City Imposters is downloadable title jumping on the FPS bandwagon to compete against the greats like Call of Duty and Battlefield. With a price tag of only 15.00 it’s already got the attention of the gamer on budget but who does the rest of the game fair out?

            Right from the opening cutscene, it becomes apparently clear that GCI realizes the silliness of the game’s premise and doesn’t take itself seriously in a good way. Goofy humor is everywhere and the cartoony look of the characters only enhances the lighthearted nature of this beast. While not breaking new grounds in the way of graphics, animations are smooth enough looking no hiccups or pop ups worth mentioning. Derezzing issues at distances are very noticeable at times. Still the look of the characters and their surroundings do stir up nostalgic feelings of Team Fortress and I can’t help but wonder if that title was the inspiration for this game. Weapon designs vary from run of the mill rifles and machine guns to clever homemade devices that truly feel like a socially inept fan boys would create if they had the means to. Characters mouths however, do not talk in game while there are voices to be heard is a constant reminder of the game’s cheap price tag.

            It should be noted right from the get go that GSI is strictly a multiplayer game so those looking for a silly single player story this sadly isn’t what you are looking for. The game features five multiplayer maps that feel large enough to support the max twelve player rosters. The game also features three game modes including team death match, fumigation which is equivalent to conquest or territories, and battery which is essentially capture the flag. There is a fourth challenge mode for single player but all that does is help boost XP. As expected from a shooter title, Collecting XP levels up player’s ranks and grants them unlock keys for new weapons, mods, perks, and body types. GCI features five unique body types ranging from thin and tiny to huge and slow. Where other FPS titles use body types as nothing more than a feature to express individualism, GSI uses them as a strategy mechanic for different stats. For example, where a tiny body will be fast and hard to hit, its health is really low compared to its larger and slower counterparts. This does add a new unique form of strategy to the game but it is not without its problems.

            Those unlikely enough to not play the game as soon as it is released will find themselves getting aggravated with how unbalanced the game can feel at first. With health perks being able to be added to even the toughest characters, someone just starting out has little to no hope of bringing more seasoned players down. The fact that head shots and knife attacks don’t guarantee instant kills will make players want to throw their controllers in a fit of rage. That was a strange choice of gaming mechanics on the developer’s part and honestly it’s something that shouldn’t been messed with. Heck you can even unlock a perk that makes head shots harmless to you. What the F@&k. As a result, players are gonna have to take initiation beatings round after round until you reach level 8 or 10. Only then can the playing field begin to feel better balanced. Modern Warfare solved this problem a long time ago with by forcing players to participate in beginner lobbies and later move them out into the main servers where everyone has a fair chance.

           

            A new unique unlocking feature is the amount of costume unlocks. XP doesn’t contribute to pimping out your imposter because after every match players are rewarded costume coins based on their performance. By saving up, players can make their imposter look as cool, goofy, or in the case of female imposters as sexy as they like. However, costumes can consume A LOT of coins so if wanted, GSI will happily take your real world cash in exchange for individual items or even double your reward points for a limited amount of time if you feel the fifteen dollars wasn’t enough to spend. At first I was against this but since it only aids players in elements that don’t effect gameplay I became ok with it; although it does cheapen the boasting rights of rank since it speeds that up as well.

            Controls are pretty cookie cutter for a FPS but there are some clever gadgets that give GSI a unique experience that no other FPS out there offers. The grapple gun which quickly lifts players across vast distances and onto any elevation without any recharging really brings a unique element to the game since one will have to keep a sharp eye out in spots on normally wouldn’t in any other title. Other gadgets like gliders, roller skates, smoke bombs and inflatable, (double jump boots) only further enhance the gameplay mechanics making this title stand out from the pack.

            The voice over work in GCI is gloriously over the top and campy. Players can unlock and mod voices for their imposters creating some pretty funny combinations. If you don’t laugh seeing a three hundred pound man with mutton chops calling himself a bat babe then you must be dead inside. At the same time though, the dialog is very limited and gets repetitive very quickly causing that aspect of the game to lose its flare way sooner then it should. Music is kind of forgettable as far as in game goes but in the match result and options screens it does give off an appropriate atmosphere for the game.

            In the end GSI is a decent shooter that for only fifteen dollars offers quite a bit in the form of replay value and fun. One wouldn’t think that a batman title featuring guns in the player’s hands would work but due to the success of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, it’s no surprised that DC and Warner Brothers decided to take a shot at this genre. Luckily for the most part it works but it is definitely not without its problems. There definitely are unbalanced class issues here and the head shots along with knife attacks not guaranteeing instant kills is a joke that even the Joker himself would find in bad taste. However, the interesting gadgets and loads of unlockables make this title worthy of taking a look; especially if you are a batman fan. If you can bare getting over the frustrating rank level hurtle, you will find an entertaining game here. Plus I can’t express enough that for only fifteen bucks this does bring a lot to the table as far as money goes. So go ahead put on that Halloween adventures batman mask, plug in your headset and give out your best, “MY PARENTS ARE DEAD” impression before grappling off to fight some clown badies. At least here other players will get the joke.

Rating 7 out of 10

Ryan Pierce