Crazy Taxi 2 - It's... Crazy Taxi...

Full disclosure, I had no idea Crazy Taxi 2 even existed for a very, very long time. After playing it, there seems to be a very good reason for this. It boasts new features, but the more you play this title, the more you'll see why it was barely even a blip on the Dreamcast radar. One very big problem is that Crazy Taxi 2 came out very late in the DC's lifespan, and that obviously did not help it when it comes to noteriety. That's the biggest problem here, there is so little to note here because I already have a review for the first one. Beyond that, finding talking points for this title is a bit like describing a cat. Yeah, it's cool, but you basically already know.

It's Crazy Taxi, that's all it really is. It gives us a few new maps with some new drivers and slightly shinier graphics. That's all well and good, but that doesn't help the fact that they all play very similarly. Some of them have better speed, some have better control, there are different stats, but we all know that it's more about the character you like playing as. They're all very unique and different in that sort of old school anime sense. However, adding more and thinking that will affect much of anything was not their smartest move. 

You are driving around and picking up customers. Then, you see that there are multiple passengers in one spot. You have the option to drive multiple passengers for bigger rewards. Yes, they changed up the gameplay. The rest of the game is basically picking up passengers and driving around as a driver with mental illness. There's no real problem with the mechanics and it controls fine, just like the original, but it does not differentiate itself enough at all. 

The real point is that it is not worth buying Crazy Taxi all over again, which this basically is. It's got the clone syndrome when it comes to sequelitis. With a few more innovations, maybe attempting flying cars or bigger trucks or something more to make it more distant from its predecessor. If you can't find Crazy Taxi on a shelf but find Crazy Taxi 2, at least you'll be getting what you wanted. After such a versatile, free-roaming game, it was really hard to believe that they were basically just one trick ponies with the material. This calls into question whether it's worth seeking out Crazy Taxi 3 and the only console that was released for was the Xbox. If it's just got 3 or 4 new features pasted onto yet another sequel, it may not be worth the effort. Just remember to drive safe and drink plenty of water.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PS3) - The Real Hack and Slash, Bub

 If you want the real Wolverine experience, far more rewarding and challenging than some other titles that may or may not have come out today, you go to this very unexpected gem. Not only do you have a better Logan vs Sabretooth fight, but you also get an experience we should have had in theaters. Wolverine is the real deal in this one. He follows orders, but he also goes off on a rampage at a moment's notice. Activision, who is ALWAYS known for A+ grade products WITHOUT fail, accidentally made a game that outclassed the movie it was a tie-in for AND retroactively made a far better game than certain other titles that tried almost everything from this game and made it all worse. That's right, once again, AAA have failed to compare against the greatest title of the franchise. 

There was literally an entire storyboard for X-men Origins, and they somehow made all of it worse, stripped it of substance and rushed it to an obscene degree. Somehow, X-men Origins Wolverine took the scene where Wolverine got his metal bones, and toned it down to like two people getting sliced and him jumping off a waterfall. In the comic book, he bagged a body count that still lives in infamy to this day. The blood and the violence on display was not for children's eyes, but we ate it all up anyway. How on Earth did a video game get it right all of the sudden?

Now, there was still a bit of a hold back on his rage and bloodlust, but once you get the metal claws in this game, you slice and dice through soldiers upon guards upon soldiers. It is magnificent! That detail alone makes this gaming experience worth it. Figuring out these puzzles and killing piles upon mountains of NPC's comes in great detail and an arsenal of special moves at your fingertips. You have the drill claw, the whirlwind, the RAGE and a flipping claw, all of it turns thugs into body parts. The gore on display is amazing and the limbs go flying like you really are a walking blender. 

The story is, of course, the weakest element of it, but they still even made THAT better than the movie. Stryker actually has a decent direction in his voice and character movements, and the stories he makes up actually make him more convincing. You know he's lying his ass off because of course you do. You've seen X2 and the film for this game, I can only assume. Either way, Sabretooth is another great place this game succeeds. 

You don't get very long fights with him, which is a bit of a shame. They could have lengthened those fights and they are a bit challenging but that only makes it more satisfying when you slash his face! Of course, then he beats you in the cut scene, but that's just how it is. There are also some different characters from across Marvel that he runs into, including Mystique. She is a lot different from the FOX Marvel Universe, but that's a good thing. She's still hot in her later comic accurate design, though I wish they'd stuck with the Desert Eagles, but what are you going to do?

Finding your way through the levels and getting all of the puzzles down can be a bit of a headache here and there, but it never gets too terrible in those regards. If you get too lost, you can switch to the hyper sense mode, which makes use of Wolverine's feral powers. With this, you can see invisible enemies and see trails that you need to follow. Sometimes, you need to figure things out for yourself and it is very rewarding when your poking around pays off. There are certain other games that gives you every signal in the world while people instruct you on what to do. Just thought I'd note that.

There is one mechanic in this game that is a bit questionable in its execution. Sometimes, it's done very right, but other times, the long lunge can be a bit of a hassle to pull off. It's really cool the first few lunges you do. It's even a little satisfying to plunge it into a guy who was otherwise unreachable and keeps shooting at you with either an assault rifle or a missile launcher. Then there are the moments when they are on a platform, moving away from you very fast. In those instances, you can only lunge at them in a very small window of time before you need to restart checkpoints and go again. 

Then there are the QTE's... and yes, they can be rather annoying. This is especially true in a segment of the game where you are destroying sentinels in the factory. There's even a really cool part where you're just moving a giant arm cannon around and shooting henchmen, killing them by the fives and sixes. Then you bring it up to destroy a pesky sentinel head that won't let you pass a part of the factory. After it's down, though, now you need to deal with a fully complete sentinel, now you need to find several ways to destroy it from the ground up. That portion of this game was awesome, as you dodge being stomped on as you slice and dice his metal feet and even cut down both of his hands into wrist nubs. 

So, now you're chasing him across the sky and destroying the sentinel as you go until you finally get to the power source in his chest. For some reason, you need to get to that button press ad nauseum. You need to be fast fast fast fast before that stupid battery finally comes off. It took a tremendous effort to finally pull it off and that has never happened if I really put my mind to it. Not a huge knock against the game, but that was an enormous amount of awesome to bog down with a stupid QTE section that tests the Virtua thumb to its limits. 

Who is that coming to stomp in? Why, it's the other mini-bosses! Apparently Weapon X is also making giant boil rock lava mutants that you need to jump onto and claw. Just like when you claw your way through those assault copters and decapitate the occupants. The spectacle is awesome, but the button pressing gets a bit excessive at times. At least you can fail them, though. OOOHHHHH!!!!!

Somehow, they created an Arkham-esque game for Wolverine while giving him his own style and moves. It stays true to the movie for the most part, but it also mixes in its own sauce like Ghost in his more comic friendly form. They even did something way different with the Blob boss fight. It's a tad unique in its own right, especially compared to how they could have stuck to the boxing ring in the movie. The real problem comes about when we start to talk about Gambit. 

Okay, so, he looks literally nothing like his film counterpart. I have a feeling Taylor Kitsch either didn't want his likeness in his game, or they just tattooed his face into the coding all wrong and it just kind of stuck. That's not the problem, though. The problem is that there is simply too much of him in this game. He has an extended, gigantic segment through a chapter of this game and it gets a little old having to chase him. He's not hard to keep up with, you just do entirely too much of it. You fight him, he runs, then you fight through some henchmen then you fight him once again and rinse and repeat. Yes, it does introduce a new henchman out of nowhere... with four arms and some halberds... Look, they went a little eccentric with this title at times. It happens when you're in the creative room at 3 am. This is understandable. 

Glitches are always a fun little story, and this is where the largest glitch came in for this game. There's the climbing invisible ladders beside the ladder and the glitching through objects like any other game. It's a PS3 game and did fairly decent on the glitches through this entire playthrough. The biggest one, however, was when I fought Gambit and he ran away. I ran after him, and I guess he was supposed to disappear from existence or go into some hole or whatever, but he didn't do it. Instead, I found him standing in front of me out of nowhere. So, I slice him. He does nothing. I kill him. He dies. 

....

Yeah, I thought this was a bit of an anticlimax. No, it was a glitch. I almost thought I had broken the game and couldn't continue because Gambit no longer spawned after I made him go splat. Nope, he's right back up, bright as a daisy in the next area. He doesn't mention the glitch and I don't ask questions. We play more reflecting with his cards and my claws, making those glowy explody things go back at him like nothing happened at all. Thankfully, the projectile reflection mechanic isn't overly used, but it sure doesn't seem to know how its own controls work for it. Throughout the game, it's a bit of a coin-toss whether you get blasted or make them get blasted. 

The final boss... isn't great. Both for who he is and how the boss fight works. It's one of those things we like to pretend didn't happen and was undone in Deadpool 2. Still, this game is beyond awesome. Even when it has you doing stealth or a section without the healing factor, it really shows its stripes in how it carries through a fairly decently lengthed game. It's around seven hours, which isn't terrible, but it's still a good bunch of fun. That's really what it needed and I'm just astounded, still, that this is a film tie-in title. Like Spider-man 2 for the PS2 and 007 GoldenEye before it, this game has transcended the movie tie-in curse and become a hidden gem that you should definitely seek out to play. It may be a tad expensive, but chances are you can find it for cheaper than 80 space clams for an overhyped game that gives you training wheels and gets Wolverine all wrong. So, they can go play with their wannabe from Insomniac if they want, but we'll be with Raven bumping fists with Hugh Jackman AAAAAAAAAAOOOOOWWWWWW!!!! Those claws Virtua Stab!!!   

Crash Storm #4 - Playstation Cancel Kojima's Game, Bring Live Service Instead

This game was revealed three years ago and we have not heard a single peep about it since. Now, all of the sudden, Playstation has released a new trailer and made the announcement that they are about to dazzle us with absolute garbage. Seriously, nothing about this trailer looks even remotely good enough to play for free. It doesn't matter if they sell this with gold coins, it's not going to make its money back and the aura around it is absolutely stale. For some reason, it's not even called Fair Game$ anymore. The names "Break In" and "Project Espresso" seem to be roaming around the zeitgeist of this... game now. 

What makes this signifigant is two fold: Hideo Kojima just got cancelled by Sony and the big fat lie they told is still dangling like egg on their face. Not only that, but the next big thing is Concord, High Guard, Marathon, the promised Horizon Gutters Sadder. They start putting all of this out in their advertising for a game where people rob banks. All of them are people of color and all of them find it morally correct to rob banks because you are stealing from millionaires. Okay, well it was clear from the first reveal of Fair Game Dollar Sign that there was no interest in this game. It was victim to a very hard spanking from gamers around the internet. 

Well, the new game trailer looks... better? Now, they are all racially ambiguous because their heads are completely covered. Instead of the initial nonlethal weapons they used in the first reveal, it looks like they just took off the mittens and went full submachine guns. Okay, wonderful. It looks better. That just means it will look better when it fails. I'm sorry, but I have no hope for any of this, especially if you need to pay for it. There is no released space buck amount for this game, but whatever it is, it had better at least be free. You're still having to rival Pay Day, which is already a very popular series, especially the second one, which is still going pretty strong. 

Then there is the problem of the entire graveyard of games that have already failed in the market very, very recently. Seriously, more and more Live Service games with no single player options that require internet connection, it's been done. Extraction shooters are a single mode in some games, ones with far better gameplay. Even with worse graphics in older games, this has all been done and done to death. This is all just too bland to make a dent anywhere. Where is the hook? Concord had the exact same problem, people saw it for what it was and they noticed how bland everything looked. The playtesting for Project Decaff was a disaster, with people cited very boring gameplay and ended up quitting in the middle of matches after only a few minutes. 

On top of all of this, the CEO developer for this game up and quit! Either they quit or they were fired, it's very unclear, but that is also a very hard scar across the face of this already very flawed looking game. Why should we trust Playstation in the first place? They're already in water so hot it's turning into a lobster fest, it's very unlikely that this game would even make a dollar more than its development and marketing cost. If that happened, we here at Planet Virtua would be utterly shocked. They've decided to retool Horizon Zero Players after an absolutely atrocious playtest. Whether that will keep its Live Service status is yet to be seen, but if they are sticking with that cartoony character style with Butch the legless wonder, their future also looks especially bleek. 

Every single one of these games can be replaced several hundred times over. There are far better games that scratch the itch that these games claim to scratch and they can and will be cast to the wayside. When game publishers clearly don't care what games they make, they just crunch the numbers while crunching their developers to make games that have been put through the slop mill. Their labors go unappreciated, their direction was always obscured in the wrong direction and gamers go ignored while the lunch lady gives them more sprouts and tofu when all they want is a school pizza or burger. Gamers were once served steaks, burgers, fine cuisine and fine soups for appetizers. Now, we're lucky if we can get salsberry steak from a TV dinner. We once had Tim Curry and Peter Stormare in a Command and Conquer game, there is no way we could perceive just how good we had it. Now, women turned Wolverine into a soft boy, Spider-man gets sidelined in his own game and the gaming industry is trying to take away our rights to own games. The crash continues, friends. All we can do is move on to the next campfire. Keep hope alive, friends and keep drinking water.

Thor (2011) - Another One!

There were a variety of superheroes that I have loved over the course of my life and Thor happens to not really be one of them. He was cool and all, but for some reason, my eye caught to Thunderstrike. He was literally a Thor replacement, but he came with his own roster of baddies like Blood Axe, and he had cool interactions with cameo guest appearances like Spider-man. Thor was just never really on my radar, though I respected the character and his Norse origins. The movie is a decent amount of good but just not great. The humor in it bats from left to right, but the love interest is actually quite strong... here in this film. 

I love Natalie Portman, especially in Leon the Professional and Black Swan. She is an amazing actress, but only when she really puts her mind to something. Here, we can see there is plenty of her beaming talent. Sadly, though, her enthusiasm for the role would eventually dry up, leading to her turning down several appearances throughout the series. Her chemistry with Chris Hemsworth is actually quite great, as she seems interested in him, but also very perplexed by his mannerisms. 

Thor is a man of battle and glory, but he is also a pampered prince who does not know how the world works. He is to be crowned king of Asgard, but that ceremony was interrupted. We are introduced to Loki, where Tom Hiddleston would be so popular that he'd spawn his own lackluster Disney+ series. Here, though, he is manipulative, and in such a subtle way that you may actually need to view it again to see how he talks to his brother and his father. Throughout the whole film, he is gaining control little by little, by having his brother banished for his hubris, losing his powers and getting rid of an obstacle in his way. 

Somehow, they got the great Anthony Hopkins for the role of Odin and it couldn't have been more perfect. He is fair, but he is also very harsh in his punishment. He strips Thor of everything and lands him on Earth to make him learn humility. It is very much an ancient tale, but they tell it so well here in this movie. While not every character and actor is as great as Odin, we still get Stellan Skarsgard and he is magnificent as the scientist. While he would be relegated to a joke in Thor 2, he's still awesome here. The scene where he challenges Thor to a drinking match just shows how he has some pride along with his brilliance and he is very personable with Thor, even knowing who he is. 

Jane Foster is a highly underrated character. She has doubts, but she also seems to have guts and chooses to believe that Thor is who he says he is. Even though he gets zapped with electricity and goes down in a fidgeting mess. He still has a very strange speech pattern, and she recognizes that he isn't like a normal human being, no matter how long she stays with him through out the movie. When things get tough, she stays with him and even helps him when he needs her. 

The standout, however, is a then unknown Idris Elba who would take up the screen and take our hearts right out of our chests. He is absolutely brilliant, once again, this time as Heimdall. He doesn't do a great deal in terms of action in this movie, but his presence is very well known and he puts on a magnificent performance. This, thankfully, jumpstarted Elba to a household name. 

Now, this movie isn't without its faults. Loki does get a little dramatic and those scenes aren't really all that convincing that they would put him in the Odin sleep. Yes, he played it up like he was very angry that he found out he was adopted, but really, he seemed like a wiser ruler than that. Still, it gets them where they need to go. They also do spend a lot of time on Earth and those scenes can drag on at times. 

Thor does stick to its mythical elements rather well, but that kind of comes crashing down when the rest of his team from Asgard come to Earth. Seriously, when their costumes are out in a normal everyday setting, it clashes so hard that they kind of look silly. These characters are hardly ever seen again, even changing actors at random points before just flat out going away in the third movie. We'll get to that one. The mini villain in this movie is one of the most random in the entire Marvel universe. Who in their right minds thought that the Destroyer was a good idea for a random cameo fight? Sure, it links them to SHIELD because it's big and noticeable so that's all well and good, but I really feel like they could have done better.

In the end, it's a good movie. It is fun to watch in theaters and lighthearted enough to leave you feeling pretty good. The ending is a slight bummer and the conclusion to it is rather awful, but this movie stands by itself. It introduced a very relateable character with flaws that he needs to overcome. He brings himself back in style and the ending fight between him and Loki is pretty damn good, even ending in a bit of sacrifice. It solidified Thor's place in the MCU, even if the movie was considered middling by comparison.After this movie, we're just one movie away from a blatant Virtua Fangasm! 

Crash Storm #3 - Kojima Booted from PS, says Hello Xbox!

 Well, look at that, consequences. Sit on down by the fire, friend. Have some beans and some coffee while I tell you a story about a man that has made his career on some... eccentric games. Metal Gear Solid shot him through the stars in popularity, and his part cannot be underplayed in what could have been Silent Hills. Hideo Kojima is a legend and a wonder for gamers and his name carries a great deal of weight. Just thinking about his exit from Konami is enough of a reminder of just how much he can change. Metal Gear Survive was garbage inside and out because they just didn't have the sauce that this man possesses. 

Now he is booted from Playstation and seems to be happily taking up his mantle to Xbox because they are just all about discs and physical media. To say that this is a loss on every level is no exaggeration. His new gaming company is supposed to be cooking up something huge and we can only hope it's better than Death Stranding. At this point, though, that is enough to get people hyped for a game. If it's new, has Kojima onboard and is being released as a real life disc, it looks like that is the new hot commodity. So, not only did he get turned away, but Play Station literally just lied about how he left. They painted it as a mutual decision, but Kojima says that this was not the case. Why would they lie about this? To save face? Oh, well, it worked great! Thumbs up, fellas. 

As the gaming crash continues, Star Citizen just showed itself to be a gigantic waste of money. There's 15 years well spent. With that bit of wasted potential, GTA 6 is going straight up in stock as far as Sony is concerned. They are holding onto that safety blanket with white knuckles and it is showing. They know that the sales are already going to take a hit, but still be in the stratosphere in the beginning. In the beginning. Yes, the launch will be a huge success. Well, after that, though, there will be refunds. Whether it be in the thousands or in the millions is yet to be seen, but we have seen fake gameplay before, we have seen showcases that were greased in the wheels. This could be a repeat of Cyberpunk, who knows?

Then the Wolverine reviews start pouring in and it is not looking good to say the very least. The gameplay looks so easy as to be on training wheels, Logan himself doesn't even look like himself, act like himself or even look good when he runs! Seriously, he looks terrible in every way. Even his Wolverine suit looks like it was pasted together with chewing gum. Planet Virtua will not be officially playing or reviewing this title, we have other plans for the launch, so we're going off of some very clear game footage that looks... really really terrible. The fighting looks like a streamline of nothing but slicing and jumping and slicing and jumping. Enemies look like paper containers of digitized hot sauce. Seriously, the blood looks like B-movie life juice digitized by MS Paint. 

So, now you've burned your bridge from Kojima, the Wolverine reviews and gameplay footage are all showing gigantic signs of it not succeeding the way you want it to. GTA 6 will get you all of that wonderful money, but after Concord, Marathon, Star Wars: Outlaws, Assassins Creed Shadows, Skull and Bones, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and any number of other flops and cancelled projects that already wasted millions upon millions of dollars, that big fat paycheck is looking less and less valuable. Each game listed here cost them mountains of money and time. Maybe Horizon Hunters Gathering will save you! Maybe that will change your fortunes... no it won't and GTA 6 will not come close to touching the red that Playstation is already in. Financially, it might make a dent, but Playstation is already in a ton of hot water and gamers will not be so forgiving after all of this. They can only live on that little island for so long before it melts. It's getting smaller, Sony. Hope you can swim.

Iron Man 2 - A Rough Metal Start

The MCU was a landmark of cinema because of the way it serialized entire movies and brought them all to a breath-taking conclusion. This was a journey that was marred with certain complications. Enter Iron Man 2, where they seemed to not know where they wanted to take Tony Stark's story. While Iron Man 3 would prove to be just as unhelpful, it seemed that after the initial Iron Man movie, Tony Stark shined a lot brighter in the Avengers movies or other movies that were not his. 

For starters, the villain in this movie was rather forgettable. Mickey Rourke gives a good performance as Whiplash, and Sam Rockwell is always good for an entertaining villain, but they just didn't mix well. There seemed to be too much conflict without enough actual story between them to make Hammer and Whiplash's interactions really click. They could be funny in the same scene, and they even pulled off a few good gags here and there. Overall, though, they both ended up just fizzling out of the series all together, both in person and memory.

One thing I did not hit on in the first review was the part of Thomas Howard. I have always loved him in pretty much any movie he is in and Iron Man is no different. This is why I was a little heartbroken that he was not returning as War Machine for the sequel. Apparently, he got top billing for the first movie and he wanted that again. When the studio refused, he walked and we got Don Cheadle instead. Cheadle has sat in that position comfortably ever since and we are all good for it. He brought some of his own personality and charm to the character and it worked like a perfectly fitted puzzle piece. A bit of a shame, but hey, who doesn't love Captain Planet, am I right?

The story, however, is not wrapped up with a very tight bow. In fact, there are some plot holes you could drive a semi through. For some reason, they decided that the fuel source for his power generator that was surgically implanted in his chest is now killing him. So, thinking he has no more time to live, he decides to go on a bender. This brings up conflict with Rhodes and the two of them go on and off while Whiplash is in the background, trying to kill Tony for his father ruining his father. This whole plot was a mess from the start. 

The biggest plothole lies within the sickness that is killing Tony. Bringing it into the story from the start painted them into a corner that they needed to get out of. So, what do they do? Make it to where his father made a new power source, made needless clues and difficulty to get to it and told Tony through a secret recording. His father somehow knew he would need this new power source and put the code for it in a secret message in a miniature Stark Industries display. It even miraculously cures Tony's illness immediately! To say this was nonsensical would be a grievous understatement. 

They handled some scenes with grace, obviously. They had a ball with Tony and Hammer going head to head in the courtroom at the very beginning. Some interactions with Tony and Nick Fury are quite comedic, but Fury basically is just a downer through the majority of the film. They also did very well with War Machine and Iron Man teaming up at the end to defeat all of the Whiplash drones, as well as the man himself. The battle was done well enough, but it's not going to be in any history books. While their teamwork was fun to watch, they're still just robot drones along with Mickey Rourke in a knockoff Iron Man suit. 

One of the biggest points in this movie's favor, though, is the introduction of Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson makes her debut as Natasha Romanova and does such a spectacular job, that the fanbase welcomed her to the Avengers with open arms. Her scenes of kicking ass did make it to the Marvel history books, especially mixed with some comedy from John Favreau. It's kind of sad that people actually liked her more than they liked this movie, thinking she deserved a better first appearance.

It's a mix and match of good and bad, but it's also not especially favorable around campfires. With how well the Avengers series did, this is seen as sort of a black sheep among the herd. It has its definite pros, but the cons kind of weigh it down to mediocrity. Iron Man would go on to become one of the most beloved characters in the MCU, but it most certainly wasn't due to his solo series in the franchise. As well as Robert Downey Jr plays him, it's still going to boil down to the script and what it provides to the series. This may have been an early entry, but it still did very little for the MCU as a whole. Black Widow and shiny new suits will only get you so far when you know what menace is over the horizon. That storyline is about to begin and it will shake this series to its very foundations. Virtua Snap.  

Crash Storm #2 - They Think Gamers Are Stupid

It really is marvelous how terribly gamers have been treated through all of this. They're wondering why game sales are down, while also pulling crap like going fully digital, trying to take legal action against people talking bad about games, trying to make live service games out of everything for microtransactions, bowing down to D.E.I. "consultants" who end up ruining their games on purpose and a myriad of other garbage practices. So, gaming sales are down, are they? Is it hard to figure out why? You turn around, yell at "bigots" and "chuds", flip them off and then turn around, scratching your head at the line graph cratering. 

Playstation is feeling the pressure of their actions right now. They gives not a single care about the customers, obviously, but it's from the smaller companies where the problems are coming. They are threatening to go to Xbox, or anyone else who is not getting killed in sales because they're getting out of physical media. The gamers are shouting at them from the highest peaks they can, demanding that they do not go full digital, but it's Xbox's bid to save physical media that is making them sweat. 

I'm sorry, what happened here? I am having the biggest case of reverse de ja vu, were we not here in the exact opposite circumstances just 12 years ago? When Xbox was making their bid to basically get rid of the overall use of discs, other than to reload it to the same machine, it was Playstation that came out and said "Hey! Share some games! See?" They even made a joke out of it! Now, Xbox is coming out and saying that they are all about discs. They even love discs! They're planning to get married, I guess. This is bonkers! It's good that they're feeling the heat for their actions, but it sure would be nice if it was because the people were not happy. 

Playstation is going to have a lot of ass kissing in their near future if they want to save the very concept of PS6. They may have been shoving monetization systems into games, going to ridiculous heights, even selling players stuff to lessen the gameplay, having the game play itself to increase leveling and make it more... normy friendly? It was scummy. The attempted murder of the physical media gaming industry has caused a shockwave that placed a lot of people against them. These are not only gamers, but developers and other gaming companies. Hell, even entire countries are sour with them. This is going to hurt them in more ways than one. 

It really looks like they're going to go back on their proclamation to stop production of physical media. There has been enough of a push back to show them that it is a very bad idea. There has already been several signs from smaller developers that they are not happy with the decision either. All of this pressure on them should be telling enough, and it's clear that this will be far from the end of it. It really just doesn't occur to them that the majority of their customers are strangleholding their payments and it's getting very bad. 

They threaten our digital media, they issue warnings about calling in with complaints. When the public tells them that their prices are too high or their games aren't worth it, they ignore all of it and continue the same trends. Will they stop the live-service games? That's hard to tell. Microtransations are still rank in some of their games, and they continue to plan games centered around the monetization programs. This crash continues, and there are still people who continuously deny it even exists. With stocks plummetting, layoffs continuing and big publishers going broke, maybe they'll listen at some point. Either way, don't buy GTA 6 until the real reviews come out. Don't trust IGN and don't listen to anyone that says it's perfect as it is. Listen to the people who criticize fairly and show what's wrong with it, because there will be things wrong with it. Once the dust settles, those who diversify their collections with old school and new consoles and PC games will ride this out with less to worry about. Stay with the people giving the real news and keep drinking water.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - The Resemblance is Justice!

 These are where DC truly shined. Even above the Marvel Animated Universe, the DC Animated Movies were a grand success and it is clear why. Not all of them were part of the same universe, such as this one, but there is an actual reason for this. Crisis on Two Earths is one of the movies, such as Doomed, that was originally going to be part of the DCAU, but was scrapped. It would bridge the gap between Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. So, instead, we are given a masterful iteration of the Justice League.The voice acting, the action and the dialogue, all of it rings true with a real story behind it. 

While the idea of an evil Justice League dates way back to the early days of comics, this movie brings it to a real conflict of ideas having to do with existance itself. James Wood voices Owlman, Earth 2's version of Batman, and he deserves an award for this performance. He is serious, he is calculating, and he is a strategist bent on destroying existance itself. He is part of the Crime Syndicate, an evil version of the Justice League. Ultra Man, the evil Superman, leads them like a gang and has several different lieutenant on the field who also have super powers. The heroes of this universe are all but dead, wiped out by the Crime Syndicate, all down to their last man, Lex Luthor. 

Luthor of Earth 2 is the only one who is in this movie, while Earth 1's Luthor is seen to be in prison, reading a book. He goes to Earth 1 to enlist the help of the Justice League, saying that his team is dead and Ultra Man is planning something that will make his ownership of the world all but a certainty. The only thing standing in their way is the American president threat of nuclear retaliation. To gain the advantage, the Crime Syndicate needs a device that will allow them to destroy the entire planet. Owlman, however, decides he wants to destroy Earth Prime, the first planet and the only one that truly matters in the grand scheme of things. If Earth Prime is destroyed, reality is destroyed. 

The real fun of this movie starts when the Justice League come to Earth 2 and meet the Crime Syndicate's smaller gang members with lesser super powers. The fight between them is very charming and very large nods toward actual super villains and heroes of DC. There is even a lesser Wonder Woman besides Super Woman later in the film and Wonder Woman's conviction to defeat her is very telling of her character and shows that they understood her to a deeper level. 

It is not just a slug fest of two super powered opposites, while there is a good bit of that. It is always fun to see Superman take on Ultra Man and the two of them show which one is stronger and how they get the upper hand. Lex Luthor shows that he is also quite resourceful for the fight, though, and he is seen as the ultimate good in Earth 2 with his genius being able to match the powers of his opponents. It is good to see that they understood that he needed to be the seen as the one who claimed victory, as it would call heroes to his aid and ensure its continued prosperity. 

There are so many elements of DC represented in this movie, it's really hard to not just go straight into the entire plot beat by beat. The scenes with the Flash being hynotized, Martian Manhunter's rescue of the President's daughter, and Green Lantern's game of paper, rock, scissors, it all just added charm and little touches to this movie's entertainment value. However, there is one element that stands out above all else, and I only touched on the surface of it. 

Owlman is the hidden ultimate evil in this film. While Ultra Man is the leader of the evil gang, Owlman is the one who is even undermining him with his efforts. Destroying the Earth was already an evil enough plan, destroying Earth Prime would erase literally everything, but that is what Owlman believes is the only thing that would matter. He is an empty shell of Batman, as he gave into the abyss and believed that nothing truly mattered. The big problem is, when Batman fights him, Owlman is superior in both technology and hand-to-hand combat. It's one of this movie's little faults that Batman didn't put up a better fight, but in the end, he proved to be the winning strategist. 

When the Crime Syndicate invade the Justice League's base in order to gain the device for the bomb, this is when they decide to expand their roster. They call upon prospective members of the league and they fight the Crime Syndicate's strongest lieutenants and Super Woman. Batman is able to subdue her and bring her back to Earth 2, which is also another one of this film's greatest scenes.  

Crisis on Two Earths is my favorite movie in the DC Universe, and that's up against Batman vs Robin and Justice League The New Frontier. This animated series of DC movies would prove to be far more popular and profitable for WB and it was clear that they let them write their own movies. It's just such a shame that the DCEU couldn't be a similar success. Which movies I review will be up in the air, because I plan to touch on both. There is a lot to say about the entire run, and even if I haven't watched all of them, they're not hard to find. There shall be plenty of animated DC, though, these movies are just too good to pass on. Get ready for some exploring of the quality spectrum, from Son of Batman to Joss Whedon's Justice League... Virtua Help Us...

Spider-man: Brand New Day - Webheaded Disappointment

Spider-man is still the most marketable superhero there is. His toys, video games, comic books, and various other merch sells far better than the second, Batman. This may be part of why I started the series of Batman or Spider-man? The big problem with his marketability is that once the well really starts to run dry in the finances, they tend to lean on properties that show more returns. As a result, it feels like they rushed this movie out the door. They needed this success quickly, so story took a backseat to spectacle and fanservice. Whether a lot of it made any sense is apparently just not an issue. SPIDER SPOILERS!

How this needs to happen is going by the plotlines. Each of these plotlines go along the movie for as long as they need to be there. Once they have outlived their usefulness, they are discarded and never mentioned again. These can be storylines with severe repercussions on the characters and it can come and go as if it were nothing. This even goes into the territory of MCU's current state of affairs. Whether Tom Holland's Spider-man is a part of the Avengers at this point is very sketchy, but that's not really the movie's fault. The MCU itself is rather sketchy on such details in general.

The core of the problem with this movie lies with Jean Grey. A great deal of the faults in the story's morality and shifting focus boils down to the fact that Grey's overall plan was absolutely terrible. What she is after is her sister, as she was kidnapped by Damage Control and taken to a facility. The guy who is covering this up is not subtle, nor is his villainous intent. How Jean constantly attempts to break into Damage Control makes her out to be even worse than him. The first one that we see, which was her fourth attempt, is her taking control of some old lady's mind in order to drive a tank into the building to... break out... Scorpion. 

Look, I understand that you need to keep a villain's true motive secret in order to make the plot unveil nearer the end, but this subversion adds nothing and wastes time. Scorpion becomes the most important character for the first few scenes of the movie only for him to be dropped from the plot like a sack of bricks. Peter has a spider DNA problem taking him over and makes him turn angry with less control over his power. So, he hospitalizes Scorpion and starts to think that, maybe something is wrong.

It's all just anxiety ridden for the audience, and not in a good way. Even with all of this technology in his apartment, Jean invades his home. Even when the movie tries to make her sympathetic, she invade's MJ's mind only to taunt him. Her over-powered abilities don't even make sense for Jean Grey in the first place. She was only an average telepath, leaning more on her telekinetic powers. Yet, when unleashed fully, Jean can apparently hold entire crowds of people in mental stasis for several square miles in every direction. Even at his most powerful, Professor X has shown that a feat like this would tax him terribly, yet Grey is doing it here while also in the primary climax with Spider-man. They have a sit down about their feelings... Seriously, it's as lame as it sounds. Then, Peter gets shot!!! 

This is just the core problem with the movie. Not only are we supposed to show empathy for a girl who has shown no empathy for a single soul around her, taking over their minds like jumping through hoolah hoops, but now we need to see Peter obsess over his former life. MJ is caught up in all of this because Jean gleams his affections for her so now she's in terrible danger. Ned is a decent laugh every once in a while, but then we're reminded of his part in the script when he fangasms over "Black Widow" while she talks to Peter over video feed. I'm sorry, but no, I will never accept her as Black Widow and pulling me out of the experience of watching a movie to pass that over the audience really just shows what they're trying to concentrate on. 

So, these concentrated powers seem to come from his ineptitude to cope with the fact that MJ no longer has him in her life. Alright, well, this is probably not helped when MJ remembers Peter and still rebukes him. All of his fawning over her is not paid off, and we're left with the consolation prize of him reuniting with Ned instead. The powers? Oh, they just work themselves out. All of the biologically created webbing, new strength and stronger senses, he just learns to deal with it while fighting ninjas. The Hand's inclusion in this was... Yeah, it was dumb. The powers worked themselves out, giving hard questions as to whether it really needed so much screen time at all. 

Oh, yeah! The Punisher! The Hulk! Who else can we cram into this movie? While the Frank's scenes were good because his chemistry with Spider-man is fun to watch, the Hulk was a severely mixed bag. Jean puts far more people in terrible danger as she takes over the Hulk's mind. His mind is supposed to be excruciatingly difficult to control, both for Banner's brilliance and the Hulk's raw, terrible anger making anyone attempting control recoil in terror. Here, though, total control. He even comes very close killing both Frank Castle and Peter in a rage. Then he gets back to normal and is carted away, once again, out of the movie for good.

This story is exhausting and terribly written. There is no pacing and it feels like there is no story in the first place. It takes forever for us to get into Jean's story and once we're in it, we want out! Her morals are so twisted and the fact that she got away scott free just makes this movie feel unfinished. The climax is marred with overdramatized near-death scenes. Tom Holland is good as Spidey, as usual, but it's just another film that loves to stomp on his face throughout the runtime. It really feels like this life didn't get a whole lot better by the end of it. Watching him fail upward gets old after a while, and it'd be nice if he got a few actual wins every so often. Bring in Mary Jane or Black Cat, give him someone to be happy with that isn't dragged from his past life. Sure, the movie was successful in the box office, but it's pretty obvious that this was a film that was meant to be forgotten. It's in that stale area where it's not quite as bad as Far From Home, but still wagging on the tale-end of the tier list. It'll rest with the mediocre likes of Across the Spider-verse and Amazing Spider-man. Virtua Web Dud.

Top 10 Consoles Still Worth Buying

 While writing this article, we are now in the vortex of a gaming industry crash. This is not a drill and it is not entirely a bad thing. Yes, it does mean that games will probably continue to be garbage, and with the advent of total digital games in 2028, it is important that you get the games on disc and cartridge. The best thing to do is scour the internet and find which games are still fun to play for what system. Choosing the correct generation, you could hit a jackpot in games, and we're here to see that happens. If you were thinking about getting a new old system, now is the time! The games still exist in real form, and those are the ones you need to get so that you can game as freely as possible. 

Playstation 5

Yes, I know what I said, and there is a very good reason for it. Not only does the PS5 have a decent HD conversion, but you can play any PS4 game. That's a small opening library combined with a library that gestated over the course of over a decade. One great thing that comes of this is the collections that it possesses. It has the Bioshock series, Batman Arkham Series, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, and Kingdom Hearts, just to name a few. Playstation 5 can play a decent amount of physical games, and that should be taken advantage of. You don't need a PS+ subscription, nor do you need to buy a firsthand PS5. You could also wait until this console gets cheaper. It's bound to happen sooner or later.

Nintendo 64

If you haven't played GoldenEye 007, Star Fox 64 or Gauntlet 64, you need to seek out these games immediately, in any of their forms. The N64 gave the most visceral experience, though. It had a not-so-great controller, but it did have four ports with which to play three of your friends in a 2 on 2 or Free For All game. Quake is on this list of games, so that's always a plus, even though it's only 2 player Deathmatch. Either way, you've got Mario Kart 64, Mario 64, Duke Nukem 64 and Doom 64, and no, that is not even close to how many games they slapped the 64 label on. There really is no measure of how many games are still more than playable on this system. Blocky polygons abound, this system is still worth its weight in gold for Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time alone!  

Xbox 360

This system has a library that will keep you sated for a very, very long time. With such amazing games like Bioshock, the Saints Row series, Oblivion and Skyrim, this game was a Godsend of its time. Some of the best games for this system are extremely cheap to this day, and even if you ever.... for whatever reason, wanted to upgrade to the XBox ONE, it is backwards compatible to some degree. Gears of War is always a staple for this system, as well as the Halo series. No matter what genre you are looking for, the 360 will deliver on some level. The graphics really started to shine in this era, even if not every game had it. 

Super Nintendo

One of Nintendo's absolute highlights of a system, the Super Nintendo has such amazing gems as Pokemon Stadium, and the Super Gameboy which let's you play Gameboy games on it, like Pokemon Red, Blue, Gold and Silver. Super Nintendo came with upgrades from the Nintendo era, like Super Punchout, Trying to go through the great games, like Super Mario World, Super Mario All-Star, Donkey Kong Country and Legend of Zelda Link to the Past, would take all day. Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy VI, all of these things can bring you hours upon hours of fun. That's not even mentioning Super Metroid! 

Sega Dreamcast

There's no telling you just how underrated this system is. The games are usually super cheap and the graphics are out-of-this-world beautiful! Virtual On was beautifully ported to this system and there are games here that will go down in legend. Crazy Taxi and Soul Calibur 2 are a good start, but then you move on to Jet Set Radio (or Jet Grind Radio for America) and Marvel vs Capcom 2. House of the Dead 2 and so many other games can be hours upon hours of fun, especially if you're looking for a great RPG in Skies of Arcadia. This is a fantastic system, just be sure not to pirate too many games for it.

GameCube

While the games may be more expensive, Smash Brothers Melee and Metroid Prime are essential to gaming with the cube. This system was a gem of the mid-2000's and we were graced with a myriad of games that went up and down the spectrum of awesome! Resident Evil 4 premiered on the system, even though it was supposed to be exclusive, but then Star Fox Assault came out and that was a pretty awesome experience jumping off of the 64. Super Mario Sunshine is more according to taste. Some people were a little putoff by the water game mechanic but that's all subjective and worth at least an attempt. If you haven't noticed, this system has some of the peak games of its age. 

Sega Saturn

Ah, what can be said about my outspoken favorite system? This baby contains Virtua Cop 1 & 2, Virtua Fighter 1 & 2, The Panzer Dragoon series, Nights Into Dreams, D, X-men vs Street Fighter, and so many more, it's really hard to count. This is where 3D really hit the high gear and brought us experiences we'll never forget. Sonic R will always be on my list of favorites, even if it is a diamond in the very very rough. Do yourself a favor, get this system and pick up House of the Dead with a Light Gun. You'll be glad you did. 

Playstation 3

You'll notice that I am not mentioning the Playstation's first system on this list, and if you get the properly equipped PS3, you will be able to play them on that system. Not only does it have a ridiculous library of legendary cutting edge games for its time, but it can also play such classics as Twisted Metal or Crash Bandicoot. You even get a complimentary Bluray player, one of the best in the industry. Then you can prattle off such titles as the entire God of War series, Wolfenstein, Mortal Kombat 9, The Call of Duty series, Batman Arkham Series, Saints Row Series; this list can go on for miles! The Playstation 3 is especially valuable as a nice little media hub that didn't smash it in your face *cough*Xboxone*cough* but also had an innovation that should definitely be considered today. Despite a rocky launch, it aged like a fine wine. Katamari Forever. 

WiiU

The WiiU? Pee-yuuu! That system is stinky! No, no it is not. The WiiU is one of the most underrated systems on the market. There is a reason that the Switch is so popular, and that's because it leapt off of the WiiU's new style that didn't quite catch on. It still plays Wii games and has a fairly great library of its own, if anyone really cared to look at the titles. Super Mario Maker and Mario Kart 8 both hit this system like steam engines, and that's not even to mention the criminally underrated Nintendo Land. While Star Fox Zero may have been a bit of a zero, this system still debuted the brilliant Breath of the Wild. If anyone really gave this system a chance, they would see that it far exceeds the Wii in every respect, even with some games requiring the gamepad. The gamepad wasn't really the crutch that everyone made it out to be. Because of that thing, Call of Duty: Back Ops 2 multiplayer was awesome! Mario has an insane collection that can be played on this system, and you will not regret giving it a chance.

Playstation 2

The console that still has outsold every single one on this list, did so for a very good reason. The titles that came out for this and the Gamecube can be fairly interchangeable, but the Playstation has a much broader scope. With power such as this, they were able to make a DVD Player that also had games such as The Simpsons Hit and Run, Spider-man 2, Dragon Quest 8, Tony Hawk Underground 2, Silent Hill 1 & 2, Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City and San Andreas. You couldn't believe this library unless you saw it for yourself, but it spanned a huge variety of much more graphically inclined games than people give it credit for. The PS2 and the Dreamcast were marvels of their time and the fact that we got two such amazing systems is a luxury we have officially taken for granted. 

Support your local retro gaming stores and make sure you trade in any systems or games that you are not playing or plan to play in the future. This is no time to just keep it all to ourselves, especially if you're spent for cash. Give it to a friend who wants to play it and give it a good home where it's not just collecting dust on a shelf. It's true, you can't play every system you have all the time, just remember that there is no shame in admitting "I'm not going to play this". Now that physical media is on the downgrade, we need to up the circulation. If there's a game you want to play and you need to find it, it's easier than ever now, and giving that game a good home to enter into local stores for more games in the pipes is a good thing. Remember, if we want to change things, we need to show what we want and stop just compromising with companies that do not have our best interest in mind. The choice is yours, and we hope you make it with a clear head. It always helps to make the decision after you've had some water.