Super Smash Brothers - Every Toy in the Box!

If there is one thing that gamers have grown accustomed to, especially Nintendo Gamers, it is that Super Smash Brothers will find a way to include any character. It started off modestly enough on the N64, and even with a limited character selection, the game was a gigantic hit. The games, it seemed, only got more and more awesome as they went through each generation of Nintendo game consoles. After the 64, the Gamecube took up the mantle, and Smash Brothers Melee became the favorite for a lot of fans, even today! 

The concept is ridiculously simple. You fight one to three opponents in a match where it's either limited by time or by falls. You fight them to knock them out of the arena once they've reached a percentage of damage. Honestly, the percentage of damage has been a bit of a point of confusion for a lot of fans, because sometimes you can get mega hit when you're at 110% damage and not get knocked out, but the same hit will send someone with 59% out of the ballfield. Each character has their own unique (ish) set of skills with which to fight each other. Some of them are amazing to the point of being over powered, like Marth or Link. Some of them are just terrible moves with a long span and very little damage like Cloud or Sonic. 

It really depends on your playstyle. A lot of people say that Ganondorf is way too difficult to use, but yet there are tournament winners who mained Ganondorf from the start. There has been character rosters that reach ridiculous heights. Smash Brothers Ultimate from the Switch was a huge success, having the biggest roster in the series but when you look at the unlockable characters (or DLC characters), it was lacking in the wanted challenge. All of that, and the fact that Cloud was one of the final characters to get made it a lackluster experience in the long run. 

The main gameplay we all know and love is the Free For All or 2v2 but there were also plenty of platformer levels or bonus levels where you jump and run around to find bullseye targets. Some of these even come in the form of a makeshift boardgame where you find levels to fight enemies, go on platformer levels and even have some boss battles. Boss battles can come in the form of multiple forms of Kirby or even metal mario characters. The biggest one everyone remembers is the Master Hand. Your basically a toy fighting the hand that controls you in the form of a kid or something. I can only imagine the little kid wearing bandaids and having scratches all over his hand once you beat the entire single player campaign. 

This is also one of the few game titles that brings Sonic and Mario into the same game. Many fans loved this little feature, especially the trailer where Sonic smashes his fist into Mario and knocks him out of the arena. Then again, that's the fun of the game in a nutshell. Many of these characters have never met before this whole thing. Even when Mario and Sonic had the Olympic games, they didn't have a smash down knockdown dragout fight like in Smash Bros. Now, you can bring in Cloud from FFVII, Kirby, StarFox, Pikachu, Mr. Game  & Watch, Ryu from Street Fighter, Samus from Metroid in several forms and even Isabelle from Animal Crossing! There are so many games that are not even in the Nintendo library, they just wanted a piece of the pie! 

Sony also wanted a piece of the pie. They wanted it so badly that they created an entirely "different" game that had a lot of the same... "ideas". Playstation All-Star Battle Royale was already a terrible title to begin with. I literally had to look it up by typing in "Sony Smash Bros Knock-off" and Google knew exactly what I was talking about. This game was abysmal in more ways than one. Not only did it have the second-hand characters from other franchises that Sony owned, but its gameplay was so complicated, it ruined the entire experience. Dante from Devil May Cry was already in Smash Brothers, so they couldn't even use their own character. So what do they do? They use the emo knockoff from DmC, which was rather fitting when you step back and look at the forest for the trees. 

You've got the Big Daddy, Sly Cooper and Jak from some interesting Sony properties, but there was no real draw from any of them. They had Raiden!... from Metal Gear Solid.... Yeah, there wasn't much to see here at all. It already had the problem of being two or three generations too late to the party, but now they're putting in complicated gameplay on what should be a simple concept. There is a sequence you need to follow to knock someone out of the ring, instead of just smashing them to a certain damage point and knocking them out with a well-placed strike. No, you actually need to build up Action Points and then execute a proper special move in order to actually knock someone out of the ring. Rinse and repeat. So, you've got a knockoff game with half the roster star power and an over-complicated fighting mechanic that makes the game take longer and become more monotonous. Nothing strange there! 

That's not to say there weren't more knockoffs of Super Smash Brothers, but this one was the most glaringly obvious and highest budget attempt. The idea of having a character stew of several intellectual properties all mashed together is not even close to being an original one. The Marvel vs DC or X-men vs Street Fighter crowd has always gravitated toward these types of games and for very good reason. Sometimes, the character roster can be really daunting, but there are plenty of characters for everyone with fandoms and fighting styles that you're more accustomed to. 

As fighting games go, it has a solid set of mechanics. Sometimes, the screen can get overly busy and your characters can get overly small to where you lose them. That has happened more than once and it can screw up the gameplay. It's still a perfect game to get some friends over and beat the snot out of each other. Whether you have current game consoles or retro game consoles, Smash Brothers is a great fit for you. The Wii and the Wii-U versions are no slouch when it comes to solid gameplay, and it was the Wii version that was still available when the Sony Battle Royale was released, so it still romper-stompered that whole idea into the earth, never to be seen again. When it comes to fighting entire groups and absolute carnage in the fighting arena, Super Smash is as good as it gets. Looney Tunes has tried it, Cartoon Network has tried it but none of them even come close to the greatness of Smash. Remember to Smash responsibly and knock your opponent into the water!! They need a little drink.

Virtua Akuma #1 - Street Fighter Series Beginnings

 When you look at the Street Fighter series, you see that it has had a long, brilliant career. While it started at a low point, it came back with a game that deserves its own Top 10 list. This series has taken the fighting game genre and flipped it every which way. This, along with Mortal Kombat, are the original juggernauts that have remained relevant throughout the entire video game community. While MK was more for the adult crowd with all of the hyper violence and gore, but Street Fighter was much less vulgar. This was a game series that didn't indulge in the blood, but the colorful cast of characters and superior controls. Street Fighter II was still a gigantic hit in both the arcade and home video game consoles. 

Street Fighter 

This game is the one that aged the poorest in the entire series. Not only were the controls far inferior to its successors, but the limitations of only Ryu or Ken to play was seen as a drawback. For its time, though, it was still a success because it was one of the first fighting games ever marketed. The simplistic gameplay was said to be the quarter munching between two players needing to prove their worth by beating their faces in. This was a novelty, but no one can deny that it was a very crude start to the genre. The graphics, the sluggish movement speed and the controls were all left wanting. 

Street Fighter II

This is a game that requires its own article if we were wanting to go into real detail with every iteration. This was the sequel to a mediocre title that outdid it in every conceivable way. Even with a rather slim roster in the first game, it was still a huge upgrade from the first title. Along with the return of Ryu and Ken, there was E. Honda, Blanka, Zangief, Dhalsim and an entire slew of diverse and interesting characters. Each of these fighters are different in both control and style of playing. With Chun-li becoming one of the fan favorites as did Guile. 

At first, only the PC crowd got Vega, Balrog and M. Bison. Funny story with these characters, each of them had to trade names because of the implementation of Mike Tyson that they wanted to take back. So, Vega was now M. Bison, the main villain of the series and M. Bison was now Balrog, while Balrog was named Vega. The only reason I figured this out was in their Japanese version of Capcom vs SNK. I thought it was a mistake or a glitch at first. Oh and let's not forget Sagat. All of these became available to all consoles upon the first update, Champion Edition.

In subsequent versions of the game, though, there came those characters and more. Turbo, which was my version, had the same roster as Champion Edition but offered a sped up rule set that allowed some serious gameplay speed boosts. 

The New Challenger brought in staples of the series, T. Hawk, Cammy, Fei Long along with characters you'll see in several subsequent sequels and crossovers. Deejay's kick technique also offered a very different styles of fighting with a faster control all around. With such a high quality game with a loyal fanbase, Street Fighter II was a tough act to follow, and Capcom may have tripped up just a bit on this milestone. 

Street Fighter III

This was a game of catchup from the start. Instead of having great amounts of characters returning for an Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 character roster, the third title had a couple of returning, while putting in a whole gang of brand new characters to the group. This game aged like fine wine, even if the initial sales were lackluster, it still grew a strong fanbase and more and more people see it for its superior control and fighting styles that were under appreciated in their time. 

This game didn't have as many upgrades as the second title, but its roster did see a jump in number, adding new staples to the series. Second Impact and Third Strike had beautiful graphics in 2D while maintaining that hard standard in controls. Elena and Dudley were noteable for being so different in style, but both were highly played in the competitive community. Everyone had their main and this game became an underground success thanks to its very unyielding integrity in gameplay. Sadly, Street Fighter III was released when home game consoles were growing in power, and now Dreamcast could easily play the title, hitting the arcade scene hard in sales. 

Street Fighter IV

This was a peak in the series. Through upgrades of character roster and graphics, this title brought about the dream roster that anyone could have asked for. This was the Mortal Kombat Armageddon level roster the fans were looking for and it brought the series into the 3D era, though it was rather late as it arrived on the PS3 and XBox 360. It brought Street Fighter on top of the arcades, as declining as they were at the time, and it is actually my favorite game in the series. Considering its origins, it's rather unbelievable that it brought about the red man, Hakan, who pours oil on himself in order to slip and slide toward he opponent to change the physics and catch the enemy fighter off guard. 

Akuma was brought to the front of the game, where he started out as a secret character in the final iteration of Super Street Fighter II. Also brought to the roster was Ryu and Ken's teacher, Gouken and Chun-li's sensei, Gen. Out of all of these amazing fighters and even a super natural main boss of the game, Seth, it was Juri who came out the victor. The real crazy part of this is Juri being my main character to play. Her kick technique is even superior to that of Deejay, mostly because of her super technique. 

The roster was now vast, and now characters from other Capcom properties came into the mix, namely Final Fight with Mike Haggar, Poison and Hugo. Street Fighter IV was fantastic in every iteration and it brought an entire army of possibilities. Of course, Street Fighter V brought about the same quality and quant---yeah no it didn't.

The release date for Street Fighter V came and the launch game came with a scrawny amount of characters, with the microtransactions fully active as characters were meant to be paid DLC. Along with the in-game adverts coming about, this drew an extreme amount of controversy. Not only were loyal fans paying full price for the presales, but we now need to spend more money to even come close to a character roster like IV's. 

By the time Champion Edition came out for the fifth title, I was completely checked out of the series. Later, and I mean much later, I did end up buying the game in its full form and it was refreshing to see such a gigantic roster as 40 characters, along with a full story mode. This did a lot to improve the game over all, and it became a very high quality title. The problem was that this hurt Capcom's credibility with many fans. 

We'll be getting into the next slew of Street Fighter titles, as there are several other series such as EX and its many sequels. Then, let's not even think about the crossovers that need to get covered.     

The Superman Video Game Conundrum

Superman is a double-edged sword, no matter how you look at him. One edge, he is kind, uses his strength to save the innocent civilians and does as little damage to the city as possible when he has very large fights. On the other edge, Superman is overpowered, his storyline has been booted and rebooted to the point where a "true canon" is nearly non-existant, and he is just a very hard character to write for. No matter how you look at it, being the first superhero comic book ever made Superman the equivalent to unmolded clay. He didn't even fly at first, he just jumped long distances. It was a later comic book writer who finally just said that he could fly. Then he got every single power known to man. He is powered by the yellow sun, almost completely indestructible, with super speed, super strength, X-ray vision and laser eyes. Some of his powers were brought from even more obscure places, like being able to hear from across the entire world, materializing brick from his "Brick Vision" on top of having a photographic memory, the ability to slow his pulse to make it look like he was dead while he healed and the list goes on and on and on. 

From a writer's standpoint, Superman was a ticking timebomb. It is nearly impossible to stay loyal to such a wide and expanding source material when not even the original company can't seem to get such a laundry list of powers right. It got to the point where they were pulling any power out of thin air in order to give Superman the edge, then his powers get rebooted and he either gains a new power or loses one of his powers he once had. 

With all of that in mind, try thinking up game mechanics around such a broad spectrum. Think about what would be considered thugs that could bring him down. The NES Superman game made him vulnerable to bullets. Maybe they were kryptonite bullets? There really needed to be some nonsensicle terms in order to get Superman on board without him flying into space and laserbeaming his opponent from orbit. Here was a superhero that can literally take down armies within seconds and you are now tasked to make a game that would be considered challenging with such a character. 

Superman for the Nintendo 64 came up with the very stupid idea of having Superman sent into a virtual world that looked like Metropolis (?) and the air is filled with kryptonite so you can't... do... powers.... Look, no one bought it when they devs said it. The real problem with this whole scenario is that Superman for the 64 is considered the worst game on the system, but there is a game of similar quality for the XBox/PS2, Superman Shadow of Apokolips. 

You fight robots but you can't use any attacks except for the attacks that hurt certain minions. They can't be bothered to come up with any reason to explain why Superman can't scrap this entire army of bots, it just gives you the jankiest controls with which to make the attempt. This game is a meaningless waste of time with the worst game mechanics and 3D cut scenes known to the Playstation 2. It really seems like one of the worst problems with Superman games is his flight. Where Nights Into Dreams and Mario 64 who seemed to get the flying mechanics down to a science years before, Superman games just can't seem to get them right. 

While there haven't been any stand-alone Superman games to reach critical or commercial success, the Justice League games involving him usually turn out pretty decent. Nether Realm Studio's Injustice games actually use him to much more of his potential. They just come up with the plot device of people taking super pills and being able to actually hurt him with their bare fists. Yes, this is the lengths they need to go to to sidestep that little problem of him being able to liquify them with a backhand. 

What needs to be done to create a Superman game that actually works, obviously there needs to be a good story, but there also needs to be an enemy that can hurt him while also being able to keep up with his speed and universally overpowered strength. Pulling off such dangerous opponents would be very tricky to write around without getting too violent. The whole idea is not to nerf Superman's powers to an inconsiderate rate. Using his powers that make sense while also having the power to demolish entire structures with a punch is what every Superman fan has dreamed about. Giving him short distant super speed and ice breath would also be a great bonus in this mechanic.

Bringing on Doomsday as a final opponent, or even Darkseid would be preferable after a long storyline, using them as a climax. Batman v Superman the movie could have worked as a video game if you added in some more main line DC villains. Brainiac has been a little over used as of late, but he could also be executed brilliantly in terms for a Superman adventure game. Without a very deep understanding of video games or a deeper understanding of the comic book super hero character, you're not going to go far with the fans. Mixing and matching storylines for a video game is acceptable, so long as you keep it fun. 

That's the key detail, whether the game is fun or not. If we don't feel like Superman, then the game takes a terrible hit. Perfecting Superman's power level in comparison to the villains is paramount but perfecting his character is equally as important. It's these huge, mounting details that befuddles video game developers to no end. This would require an entire team with a solid gameplan and a considerable budget to accomplish. It's this reason that makes it seem like you just can't get Superman right in a game while Batman has ever growing potential, given his brilliant and strong mortal status. It's Superman's own power that destroys him, ultimately, and the free wielding way comic book writers treated him like a literal god in terms of his infinite number of powers. Come up with a solid formula for him and you might be able to release something that will surprise everyone who said it couldn't happen. Until then, he still has an awesome animated series and a good number of comic book storylines. There's a ton of things that make Superman great already, I guess video games are just too magical a concept.

Virtua Kombat #2 - The Lore Breaking Mortal Kombat 11

The Mortal Kombat lore has always been a bit of a mess. Well, that's being too generous. It's been a disaster. At first, it started pretty simple, Scorpion wanted revenge on Sub-Zero, everyone wanted to win the tournament and Raiden wanted to have a party for the gods that destroy the Earth (realm). Okay that last one was retconned for good reason, but you get the idea. One big running theme, though, are the elder gods that enforce the rules unless you're evil. If you're evil, you get a free ride to do whatever you want until it's conveniant for the plot to say otherwise.

(Spoiler Alert for MK9 through MK1)

The story has been hard reset. The Playstation 2 3D games ended with Armageddon and were given a new beginning through Mortal Kombat 9. Now, it's not like they did a great job with the hard reset, because they ended up killing off 80% of the characters throughout the story... again. There was a horrific cut scene of Sindel just walking through, bonking everyone on the head and killing them easily before being killed by Night Wolf sacrificing himself. The death toll was taken to another level through MKX. 

Many characters had an undead evil counterpart called revanents. Through these forms, they can use magical mumbo jumbo to bring them back to life and the entire concept just makes things more grimey to get through. Now we have a way to die and come back to life. This is not a good corner to crawl out of, story-wise and they do not use it well in the slightest. The failure to MKX's story is nothing compared to the can of worms they release in the next title, though. 

We've gone through resurrections, now we're going through multiverses! Call it time travel all you like, but multiverses come in droves and bring about new versions of characters. MK11 decides it wants to get rid of the new slightly more evil Raiden that came about thanks to Shinnok's amulet corrupting him. We spend the entire game of MK9 and MKX following this Raiden, only for him to be literally erased and replaced with the one from MK9. 

So now the entire story is made into a stew. Old characters are meeting new characters and apparently Kotal Kahn hooked up with Jade, so there's a weird shipping decision. Either way, this story has pushed the crazy button already and that's not even considering how D'Vorah killed the new version of Scorpion and had him replaced with Scorpion from MK9. 

Are you realizing a pattern here? It seems that these people at Nether Realm Studios just can't seem to handle death, as ironic as that sounds for this series. Every single time they kill a main character, it seems that they are forced to give into some sort of backlash or realization that the character they just offed is too marketable to truly let go. Now, they need to come up with some way to kill them in some form while having a replacement for them ready on hand. 

The lack of stakes is one of the reasons why this new storyline is wasted in potential. Once they introduce Kronika into the story, she becomes their biggest excuse to bring characters back and/or kill them off without any risk to their sales. Because of this, they start changing literally everything. Not only does it invade this story, but it also screws up the ending by giving Shang Tsung the crown and the ability to change reality to his own liking. Let's go with: I do not consider the DLC even remotely canon. It changes the entire story for the worse and wastes everyone's time because Liu Kang still gets his god powers and restarts reality anyway. 

Yes, Liu Kang was caught up in all of this too. It's still a great thing to put into the series, given that Liu Kang and Raiden do continuously fight throughout MK history. Putting in a timeline where they join powers together in order to defeat the villain is a very good way to do this. The timeline is so screwed up before everything in Shang's DLC story that he was going to do the restart anyway. 

All of this could have been avoided if they just had a better plan from the very beginning. All of this was brought on because they ended up killing so many main characters in MK9 to begin with. Even when they have the way to bring them all back to life, half of them become resurrected while the others remain as revenants. It was pretty obvious that they were planning to bring more new characters in to replace the old one, mimicking what Transformers did, and this series received a similar backlash. Once that didn't work out, it was all about the writers trying hard to keep all of the characters in the game. MKX does this while also slamming more and more new characters, making it feel bloated. 

This article won't even go into how the multiverse plot affected MK1 (2023), but it's pretty obvious they kept pushing the multiverse once again just for the excuse to bring more and more legacy characters and mix them with the other action figures in the toy box. While this multiverse stuff does come out with some interesting interactions between characters, it's an overall hollow experience. When anything and everything can happen in a story, it stops being all that interesting. There needs to be something to reign it n before it trips all over itself. 

Mortal Kombat needs to drop this stupid idea that killing characters and bringing out more and more powerful people can sustain the story in any meaningful way. Much like the Dragon Ball franchise, this just ends up building a garbage story with enormous plotholes you could drive a truck through. No amount of nostalgia or fan pandering can cover up writers who don't know what to do. Trying to offer new DLC content behind a paywall or making your characters only available through real money, is just proving people right when they say your story is just a vehicle for extra pay content. Also, get some real writers and have an actual plan! 

There's always a good bit of entertainment to be had in Mortal Kombat's Lore. Sometimes they don't take full advantage of their position. Sometimes they make characters who do next to nothing and only exist to look cool. It's a fun ride through the story from a gameplay perspective, but when you step back and think for two seconds, immediately finding plot holes and uncharacterized moments, there is something wrong. When your cut scene literally makes people rage quit your game, then it's time to think of another strategy. Now, go get some water before your next fight and don't slip on the blood.

Virtuamehameha #3 - When Should Dragon Ball have Ended?

Dragon Ball has been going on since the manga was released in 1984, and it has garnered a fanbase that is still alive today. Whether it is alive and well or not is up to interpretation. The thing is, Dragon Ball ruled the internet for a brief period in the later 90's and early 2000's. Despite a luke warm reception at first, where Dragon Ball was cancelled in the United States, Dragon Ball Z was much better received. Once it came onto Cartoon Network's new Toonami time slot, it exploded into a mainstream phenomenon. Dragon Ball Z merchantdise became a staple to so many children and so many of them needed to run home from school to make sure their VCR recorded the episode at the proper time. 

Since its hayday, and once the Dragon Ball community found itself all over the information super highway, something happened to the fans. There came a period of Dragon Ball Z where a lot of fans began to splinter into smaller groups. Once the dust actually settled and the hype died down, there came a clear segregation of fans and what they considered true Dragon Ball lore. This was not helped at all by the revival of the series as Dragon Ball Super. Many considered it far better than GT, some considered it worse. Some people even considered it Z, even when it was so clearly derivative of it. 

Dragon Ball was, sadly, not made with a complete creative freedom of its creator, the late great Akira Toriyama. Many fans did not see it as it was happening, but soon we began to notice the cracks in the preverbial mirror. When it was initially created, Akira Toriyama was not going to go nearly as far with the series. After the Cell Games, he was planning to end the series, but once the studio caught wind of this, they told him no, the show must go on. 

Enter Buu. Many will cite Cell as the greatest villain and highest peak of the series, and Buu is often seen as a very low point. There are many, many reasons for this. For one thing, the Buu Saga is entirely too long, Buu is entirely too powerful and the storyline for the entire Saga sees the death of major characters, the Earth itself, and Buu himself is just flat as a character. This was only the beginning, though, as Dragon Ball GT was flat out of decanonized by fans.

After GT ended, the series went radio silent, so of course, after nearly 20 years of nothing but a couple specials, the fans were more than ready! Of course it was going to be better than GT, how could it possibly be any worse? Was it worse? Yes and no. The real problem with Dragon Ball Super was that it borrowed so heavily from Dragon Ball/Z that it may as well have been wearing its skin. Not only did it keep stealing scenes and ideas, but it kept making more and more transformations for Goku to reach so he could defeat enemies. It kept reaching milestones like the first female Super Saiyan, Vegeta reaching forms he never had before and on and on. There was even an episode that teased bringing Kaiosama back to life, which never happened that I'm aware. 

Meta jokes, bringing in characters from Dr. Slump, it really seemed like nothing was off the table for Super. It descended into the same problems of late Dragon Ball Z and GT, too many ideas while feeling the need to bring back old ideas. Much like Hollywood, it really seems like the studio has no intentions of letting this cash cow die. It has grown to ridiculous levels and what was once Dragon Ball lore has become confused and lopsided. 

A huge example of the lore becoming muddled and convoluted is the Black Goku Saga bouncing back and forth between the Trunks future and the present. In the name of making a horribly contrived arc in this new show, they destroyed everything that they fixed in the Cell Saga. Everything that Future Trunks did was undone and the future continued to be garbage. 

With continued repeated arcs, like tournaments, new gods descending on Earth to destroy it for more and more contrived reasons, someone should really start to look at the forest for the trees to see how far we've fallen off the rails. Son Goku was once a child prodigy fighter who travelled across the world to search for the Dragon Balls and do good in the world along the way. It was comedic, it delved into themes like friends, family, loyalty and learning to be part of new worlds. It became more popular with the fighting, but it never lost its comedic element, though it was not seen as often in Dragon Ball Z. 

Now, it doesn't seem like the show knows anything about where it's going and if it does, it doesn't seem to know how to execute these ideas. Bringing back Freeza, making Freeza an ally, bringing back Captain Ginyu only to kill him off almost immediately after, nothing really seems to be off the table anymore and that sort of chaos is not very good for a show while the real brains is no longer at the helm. Toriyama had very little to do with Dragon Ball Super, other than a consultant. 

The answer to this question is fairly clear. Dragon Ball Z stopped being fun and imaginative when Akira Toriyama started to lose his gusto for the series. He was very happy with how popular it became, but he was still a mangaka with other ideas. When he was forced to make the Buu Saga, he did his best, but it was clear that he was lacking focus or any good ideas for things to do. 

Now with the passing of the master himself, Dragon Ball should be laid to rest as well. It's obvious that whoever they have holding the reigns or the people at the writing table just can't come up with anything real or concrete. The show is nowhere near as popular as it was during its hayday and that has to do with many things, but the quality has to be one of them. Dragon Ball Super may be better than GT, but only just so. Toriyama didn't have all of the best ideas, but he obviously had better things planned for his characters than dragging them through endless amounts of mud and making them get higher power levels with new forms. They're not going to end it officially anytime soon, but I really hope they at least give it another long rest at some point.

Now, ending this on a high note, I will say that Dragon Ball Daima looks pretty good. It at least looks like a fresher start than Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT combined. I'll more than likely give it a look at some point and present my findings in the future. Until then, keep classic Dragon Ball alive and keep drinking water.   

Saints Row Series: The High and Low

 If anyone could point to a franchise that has had the greatest peaks and valleys in gaming history, Saints Row would rank among the highest. This was a game that came out in the height of Grand Theft Auto's popularity, during the fourth entry's close advent, and surprised everyone. Those who looked at it for just a moment merely passed it off as a GTA clone, but it had a great deal to offer in terms of story, gameplay and interesting characters from the very beginning. From ever changing gameplay to a finish that crashed and burned so spectacularly, this sweeps the spectrum of quality in every facet. 

Saints Row 

The first game came out in the era of the Xbox 360, as a PS3 port was never released. This game had you starting as a nameless man who was caught in the middle of a gang war by chance. When you help a gangster survive a deadly encounter, they take you under their wing and bring you on as a prospect. Through various different activities and crimes you need to commit, you start to rise the ranks of the Saints and you eventually become the gang leader. With characters like Johnny Gat, Julius Little and other gangster leaders stirring the pot, the story is actually quite engaging. While some of it is played tongue-in-cheek, there are still some very heart-felt moments where the game goes quite hard and is surprising it its depths. 

The game is a lot of fun, and while it didn't really bring its A game quite yet, the first installment can be seen as a good time all around. There are a lot of glitches here and there. Through my first playthrough of this, there were times when I couldn't proceed because the obstacles became impossible. One mission where we're destroying homeless people's stations in a building, the little stations became indestructible here and there. Though, a quick restart of the level fixed the problem. 

While the first one did not really blow Grand Theft Auto 3 out of the water in terms of style and gameplay, it showed that the franchise was not infallible. It was passed off as a fluke of its time, but it still holds a special place in gaming history. I was never able to play the online version, but it was said to be something of an experience all its own. If you have a chance to get this game, it's not a terrible idea to give it a try. 

Saints Row 2

Often considered the highest peak of the series for a myriad of reasons. The action is more bombastic, the missions are crazier and the story gets rather ridiculous while sticking to the core of the first one. The first thing people usually notice about this game is that the character maker is better in every way. You can choose your own gender and the customization has reached a lot of new heights. 

The action and the fighting in this entry is on point, and the missions involve everything from screwing over rival gang leaders to covering entire buildings in crap! You can get gatling guns, kill anyone that stands in your way and even activate some cheats that are miles of fun. This game introduces characters that become staples of the series and it is even more free-roaming than before as Steelport is a vast area of a metropolis that can be explored. The easter eggs and mini-games you encounter are just icings on a very delicious cake. Even the story becomes more engaging because you feel like you already know the characters that survived the first game and you yourself must bring the Saints back to their former glory. 

As you dominate more and more of the city and cast the other gangs out, you can clearly see the influence you have on the streets. Your gangs clash over and over again until you bring down your enemies and complete their coinciding missions to undermine their operations. As you do, your gang starts to conquer the streets and you can visibly see how you grow in power. You can steal cars, keep them in your garage for later use and customize them to be stronger and more advanced. There are hours of content to enjoy and elongate your playthrough if you don't want to go through the story too fast. 

There is a reason why this is widely considered the top of the series. Even for its time and limitations on the X360, this is still widely considered one of the greatest games. The world is massive and the characters are very well rounded. There are a few things that the third installment does better, but the overall feel and scope of this game still shines through in many ways. 

Saints Row the Third

The Third Street Saints come back in a much more insane and comical way with this ridiculous entry. While some will consider it a steer away from the core greatest of the series, there is a lot to enjoy. Your character customization takes another leap in quality and they crank the madness up to a million! You're fighting mascots, taking part in death game shows, death wrestling matches and taking down titanic gangster clones! This game goes hard and does not stop going hard as you're calling in air strikes and firing some of the most ridiculous weapons ever known! 

This entry does deviate from the first two in many ways, and yes, it can be seen as a bit tedious if you want to conquer every activity and take complete control. It brings back old favorite games like insurance fraud, which is just running yourself into cars to get money. It also goes even crazier when you get all of the DLC's and star in a science fiction movie and need to take down aliens. Aliens? In a sandbox gangster game? Surely not!

In terms of story, it does take a bit of a hit because it doesn't take itself quite so seriously anymore. Characters have changed, and not always for the better, and they stupidly kill off one of the main characters in the first of the game, only to retcon it later. At the end of the game, you also have a choice of whether you want to take down the main badguy or save your own friend from being executed. Of course, they go back on that very quickly as well. There's also an annoying zombie plot that has you going through part of the city to knock machines into the bay while also dodging annoying zombie hordes. At the end, you're even taking down a gangster leader that got away in a very tacked on good ending that the devs apparently felt they needed to put in. It's kind of a mess in terms of plot. 

Still, with so much gameplay and extra gameplay, it's a great time. The car customization is awesome because you can still keep the cars. Obviously, it's far from perfect but there is a lot to love. Does it beat Saints Row 2? Not really, but it's not a far cry from it either. It's still got the style, even if its a bit overblown and bloated in some places. Though, believe it or not, this game seems tamed by comparison to the fourth and final true entry to the franchise. 

Saints Row 4

Yes, we're all well aware of how far off the rails this title went. Not only did the entire planet get destroyed by aliens, but you spend the vast majority of this entire game inside a simulation. Being inside the simulation turned out to be an interesting twist because it enabled the player to gain super powers inside the computer program and was able to fight the system from within. It basically takes from the Matrix franchise and puts the Saints Row spin on it. This also enabled you to fight inside cyber simulations, glitches, wormholes and vast amounts of other, very strange settings. 

This game has its ups and downs, I'm not going to lie. You became the President of the United States and you only were able to do anything with it at the very beginning, where you made maybe three decisions as such and then everything went straight to hell. After that, it's all about fighting the evil alien overlord and defeating him from inside his own simulated world. It goes completely catastrophic in its own gags and that is also a good and bad thing. This made the mayhem portions a lot more fun, but then it also was a crap shoot whether they were going to let you go into battles or missions with your super powers or they would take them away from you. 

The way that they brought back characters and then replayed missions from the original games was interesting, but sometimes it was just a blatant slogfest. Sometimes, the missions are nothing but finishing random mini-games in it and acting like it's preparing you for the final battle or making your crewmates happy by performing these tasks. It's kind of a copout when all you're trying to do is get to the good ending rather than the "lonely leader" ending. The happy ending is just a weird part where you can create your own timeline with better people and then there's a dance number along with a few other strange parts where you win the hearts of the alien race. 

When you remove it from the series as a whole, it stands a lot better on its own legs. When compared to its roots, it can get a little overly crazy. In a vaccuum, it's a solid game with some funny parts along with some cool collectathon missions. You get powerups by going and getting glitches in the system and you get new abilities through main story mode along with new homies and gang members on top of everything. It's a fun game all around, and it kind of helps that it's so far removed from the first two games. It's a large leap in craziness, for certain, but it's nothing compared to its expansion.

Gat Out of Hell

This game is not good. That's a very subjective view, but it's also very true in certain objective ways. The game itself was very glitchy and a broken mess upon release, and even after all of the fixes, it didn't get much better. You play Gat going through Hell to marry the devil's daughter and defeat the devil himself to take over the whole place. The gameplay is just mission after mission of fetch quests on top of everything that's already in every other game. It's so far removed to even Saints Row 4, and it sucked the life out of the franchise in every single way. The story was a joke, although the songs were rather catchy, and the devil's daughter is actually a decent character. Aside from a few fun segments here and there, this game was a drag to get through. 

The sound continuously cut out, including the music, far more than once. Even with the core gameplay, it feels like an entirely different experience. Hell is an interesting backdrop, but it's pretty much nothing like Hell, other than a few lava pits and some backdrops. Gaining the wings and learning how to use them was some of the most dismal parts of the games... Finding the "Soul Clusters" is far worse than finding the glitches in SR4. You can get stupid powerful and awesome, but it makes the game entirely too easy. By the time you get to the devil, you may as well be Doomguy with how easily you spank him. 

The glitches go far beyond the sound. You glitch through walls and the unfinished content is on display for everything. The fighting goes through floors and there are times getting hit doesn't do any damage to you. It's so easy that you basically go through entire armies of demons and you take minimal to no damage at all. This is also true for boss fights. The game is repetitive and it is a slog to get through. This was supposed to be nothing but a DLC and it should have been free but they ended up making it its own game that can be bought separately. Even when it's included with Saints Row 4 on PS4, it's really not worth your time. 

The cut scenes, the song numbers and everything involving the story just serve to elongate the time. This title never should have been created, but that's where this takes another turn for the worse. As bad as this game is, it still pales in comparison to what came after it. The Saints Row franchise basically ended with this as a trip at the finishline, but then Volition decided, after some lackluster titles, that it couldn't live without some iteration of the Saints being put on the screen. I didn't play Agents of Mayhem. 

There is another title in this franchise that has already basically been decanonized. When I review that game is up in the air but I do plan to review it at some point. Agents of Mayhem was nothing and is not worth the effort, but the game that killed the franchise and Volition needs to be further examined. That will be done at a later time, though. For now, let's be happy with the four titles of the main series that we all know and love, even the ones that were more divisive can be looked at as being better than the later titles that did nothing but harm to our beloved game titles. Until then, though, keep the Saints alive for as long as you can and remember to keep an eye on your turf. You don't want super powered plush cats to ruin it, believe that! Virtua Filibuster!

American Mcgee's Alice Series - The Nightmare Niche

The story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has existed in mainstream media for well over a hundred years and it is still considered one of the more popular tales. American Mcgee was obviously a huge fan of the story, and he decided to tell the story in his own very... unique way. While the story can get very excessively dark to an almost detrimental level, the atmosphere and the creativity on display cannot be ignored. After his departure from ID Software, Mcgee set out to fulfill one of his dreams. Alice was released in 2000 to extremely mixed reviews, but the game went on to be a very beloved cult classic. 

It tells the story of Alice after her house was burned down (the cause was retconned in the sequel for story reasons) and she was admitted to a mental institution. This is a very dark sequel to the original tale and it showed a very somber Wonderland as a result. The original characters from the book were made into very twisted versions through both nonplayer characters and boss battles. You're given a knife that is none other than the Vorpal Blade and you're also given several other types of weapons that have their own advantages such as throwing cards, a croquet mallet and even dice. 

While the graphics are quite crude by today's standards, it still served to show off the technology of the time. The ID Tech 3 is shown in great potential with such imaginative backdrops and very dynamic terrains, even water physics. This is also a very graphically violent game. Even if the characters aren't technically human, they still bleed quite a bit. You're able to sever limbs and even see some heads explode. 

Alice was a very difficult game. There are swimming sections and platforming that can be a little difficult, especially if you're using a keyboard rather than a controller. While the first installment was originally on the PC, it is far better with a controller, especially with some of the harder platforming sections where you have to fight both the enemies and some of the physics. 

Where the game really thrives, aside from the surrealistic atmosphere, is in its boss battles. While some of them have mechanics that can be hard to figure out, you are up against some of the more nightmarish creatures reimagined in very dark images. The Duchess is probably one of the more graphic reimagining through her extreme allergy to pepper which causes very violent repercussions. Nightmarish enemies can be seen through Tweedledee and Tweedledum in very uncanny proportions and even a chess piece in the Red King is eerie in his character design. 

The Queen of Hearts is the most infamous from this game, as she is seen with a mask on where the lips don't move when she speaks, giving her a bit more nightmare fuel with an already gruesome visage. She is the main antagonist and is rightfully the most difficult but also one of the more fun and fulfilling to defeat as a result. 

The first game was divisive among the public, but it garnered a very loyal following and was a brilliant precursor to an arguably more solid game in Alice: Madness Returns. With a much more powerful engine, Wonderland is brought back with a much broader appeal and more gruesome outlook. Alice returns to Wonderland, still feeling very guilty in having survived the fire while her family perished. The real problem that I had with this installment was the retconning it did in not only changing how the fire occurred, but also some of the darker themes it detailed in human trafficking and the implications it introduced in its main antagonist. 

The story aside, Alice is fleshed out a lot better as a character. While she is rather bitter toward the rest of the world, she still holds to a great integrity in holding onto what little of her child-like grace she still possesses in her midteens. She takes to the task of reviving Wonderland and taking up the Vorpal Blade once again when a dark, mysterious steam engine train rolls through the world, causing it to further decay along with Alice's sanity. 

While the first level details Wonderland in a more traditional sense with its corruption, the later levels also bring about different themes. There is a horrific rendition of Feudal Japan, complete with praying mantis samurais and cherry blossoms. There is also a very horrific world of dollhouses and an undersea levels where you need to bring oysters to a play for the Walrus and the Carpenter. Among these levels is the most beautiful of them in the Kingdom of Hearts, where you meet the new Queen. The card guards are zombified and there is a giant one who is nigh indestructible. 

The game is much more polished and graphically superior to the first title, but one very large gaping problem with the sequels that many agree are the lack of boss battles. The game seems to know this, as it attempts to tease one with a giant mech constructed by the Doormouse and Marsh Hare, but it breaks down before you even get any gameplay out of it. There is only one boss battle in the final level and that really is a shame. There are mini-bosses here and there in the form of the doll-headed enemies, which require a few extra maneuvers and breaking their shields.  

One element to the second game that is lauded by fans is the level progression in the form of teeth. Yes, collecting teeth allows you to upgrade your weaponry. You find more of these through secrets hidden within small doorways that require you grow small and explore more of the levels in secrets and out of the way paths that require extra perception on your part. The puzzles and some of the sidescrolling sections can be rather frustrating at times, especially in the Dollhouse and Asian themed sections.  

The dark themes of American Mcgee's Alice games can get to be a bit cumbersome, especially if you are not partial to child abuse and things that it entails. Sometimes, the game can lean a little heavily into these themes, especially when you start finding some of the darker memories and further into the plot. These have been cited as a detriment to the series, but they are not so heavily depicted. The game can get heavy handed with its story, but it also casts a deeper light on Alice's psychological trauma that she has had to endure. 

Where the game has always shined was its imaginative level design and very dark creatures born from the original story. The Cheshire Cat is also seen as an ally who offers you advice and clues as to how to progress. Many of the characters from the original tale can be seen throughout and while many of them meet gruesome deaths in the first game, many of them return for the sequel. The game makes you want to progress and stop the corruption of Alice's mental illness and repair what remains of her beautiful dream world. 

Sadly, the planned third installment, Alice Asylum, never came about aside from a great deal of lore elements and images made by American Mcgee himself. Throughout the 2010's, he attempted to regain the rights to the games in order to bring this to fruition, but he was unsuccessful and decided that it simply was not worth it. The games' followers tried very hard to help him regain the copyright to the title, but E.A. Games denied him and decided it was more important to sit on the property while it wasted away into obscurity because that's the gaming industry for you. If they weren't making any money off of it, then no one was going to enjoy it. Do I sound a little bitter? Yeah, I might be a bit. This was American Mcgee's creation and it just goes to show you that greed can be a true detriment to creativity. 

It would have been nice to see a spiritual successor to the series, much like Mega Man with Mighty Number N--- you know what, that's a bad example. Castlevania had Bloodstained and it brought about much of the same themes as the original series. Alice could have been made into a different character with a different type of world, but in the end, I can also understand why American became somewhat disolutioned with the notion after so long of fighting those greedy beaurocrats of the industry. It's really no wonder the gaming industry is in the state it's in with corporations having such a stranglehold on beloved franchises they're willing to let go to the wayside in favor of live service looter shooters with predatory loot crate systems. Creativity can birth monetary value much better than microtransactions and gambling addictions, but it also requires a lot more work and patience in order to do so. 

Alice is a sad tale in many respects and it would be nice to see a resurgence of the franchise, but it is also good that it went out on a high note with two very solid entries. You could do a lot worse than trying to find these two gems, but they are also part of a bygone era, so you'll need some old school systems like the Playstation 3 just for the second entry. The first entry is extensively hard to find now, even when it was coupled with Madness Returns in many of its iterations. These editions are expensive now, but if you're a big collector, they are worth a look if you're even mildly curious. It's a very dark story, but the game mechanics and creativity of the games themselves are worth a closer look. Walk into the dream world or look upon them with the looking glass. Virtua Cheshire Grin. 

The Deadpool Franchise - The Price of Parody

When you make a character, you bring that character new life. This is always true. What you do with that life is obviously up to you, until you sell it or you give it away. Whatever the case may be, characters can be brought to life for any purpose. Deadpool was brought to life as Wade Wilson, instead of Slade Wilson, AKA, Deathstroke. Marvel, for some reason, felt it prudent to create a parody of a well known DC villain and put him in with the X-Force as a one off mercenary assassin. He was defeated, the end. 

He did not really look all that dashing in his first appearance. In fact, he was pretty mundane, all things considered. Why he was given a comicbook mini-series, Marvel trading cards, full comic series and an entire franchise is anyone's guess. This character came a long way from being someone that a lot of people thought stole Spider-man's costume (which was comically proven partially right). Deadpool took on a strange life of his own and that led to more and more and more wacky antics, 4th wall breaking, along with some strangely gory and angsty storylines. 

Deadpool is literally an entire spectrum of his own. If there is anything that has ruined him over the years, it is an over anxious and psychotic fanbase. There are normal Deadpool fans who just like to watch him and his zany appearances in media, then there are people who cosplay as him and use that as an excuse to be a complete ass. Do not approach these people, please, they are usually not very stable individuals. 

X-men Origins: Wolverine

Then there came Ryan Reynolds, who is outspoken in his love for the character. When the time for casting the character came, Ryan was first in line. The only problem was that he was cast first in X-men Origins: Wolverine. Yes, he was part of the Weapon X Program and yes, much of his insanity comes from that experimentation. His healing factor is better than Wolverine's because of his cancer and guess how much of that backstory was in this Wolverine story! Zero! They ruined the character and it looked very deliberate. Baraka Pool, as he was so lovingly called, was one of the worst ideas ever put to Marvel (Pre-Phase 4) and that only made Deadpool 2 all the sweeter an experience.

Here, though, they apparently had no idea what kind of fire they were playing with. Not only did they show a distinct lack of any knowledge for the character, despite having a fanatic playing him, but they outright can him from 90% of the movie, only to bring him back with butterknives poking out from his hands and making laser eyes while teleporting. When Ryan was able to make his jokes and crack his gags, it was actually some of the better parts of the film. 

So, Fox took the character, saw how lot's of people liked him, and thought they could take away the mercenary's mouth, giving him lot's of different powers and he would be even cooler. It had the exact opposite effect. Not only did "Baraka Pool" enrage fans, but people downright decanonized him. This was on top of the fact that the guy heading Weapon X gave him a DOS interface with commands like "Attack" typed on a keyboard. This is some of the most laughably maniacal thinking there is. I get it, this was back in the past when computers weren't all that great, but at least some villains would make buttons for this. What happens if you make a typo and try to say "Stop attacking" but type "Stomp attacking"?! Not only did you undo what you wanted to do but now you've made it messier! 

In a way, this version of Deadpool did bring about some very lavish memes and everyone put a clown nose on him after a while. He was a great punchline for later iterations of the character, but when you take in the fact that it wasn't Reynolds in the "Weapon 11" outfit, it's much easier to separate them. They obviously learned from this mistake very quickly. 

Deadpool The Movie

Ryan Reynolds put his own ass on the line at Fox Studios and swore up and down that he needed creative control and Deadpool needed to be rated R. To prove his point, he put together a "leaked footage" trailer that made the internet go ballistic! This made the studios see that there was profit to be had and it made Ryan a hero to all comic book nerds.. The movie is no masterpiece but it was a very fun experience at the box office. This was the movie we needed. It parodied, not only Baraka Pool, but even Ryan's other flop at the theaters, Green Lantern. This had the backstory, the character, and it had a limited amount of X-men but cashed it in on an awesome Colossus. 

The movie's pacing is good, though the backstory being interwoven through the main narrative did make it a little unbalanced. The awesomeness, though, comes from the humor and the action combined. There are some low brow, high brow and 5th and 6th wall destroying. The taxi driver parts were surprisingly hilarious, though the relatively low budget of the movie did suck when it came to the final showdown. They couldn't use "ALL OF THE GUNS!" like he wanted because the driver had them in his car, but even that was handled with a lot of laughs. 

The man himself, Stan Lee makes a cameo when he didn't normally make cameos in the darker Marvel movies. He's awesome, as always, and this entire movie really spoke for the fans and to the fans.

Deadpool 2

This movie was a shocking mixed bag. There were some very high points, but then there were some points that really shouldn't have been put in the movie at all. There was a very large, well kept secret in this movie when it was initially released with its trailer. We all thought that there was going to be an actual X-Force because there was going to be Josh Brolin as Cable. This was a ruse, and all of the ones they get for the team are killed off except for Domino. 

Domino and Cable are the two elements of the film that they get right in just about every way. Domino, while the character model is a little eye-rolling, is very beautiful and actually quite charming. Zazie Beates looks like she's having a little too much fun and her smile is actually quite infectious. I just really wish they could have just done away with the white eye ring. It was an alright gag but it took away from her initially. Cable is just an all around badass and I wish they used him more. Brolin brings his A-Game, no matter what. They give him the awesome guns and the awesome tech along with a strong sense of moral fibre. He is determined and Deadpool is sure as hell not going to get in his way. 

What they did not get right is the villain and a lot of their darker gags. Ripping Deadpool in half, randomly killing people and the truly disgusting parts of this movie make it a very hard movie to rewatch. There is acid vomit and other bodily fluids on display that do not land. Juggernaut is a great example of a misused character. The concept of his involvement is good, but making him totally CGI was questionable, because that limited his time on screen a great deal, along with Colossus. The fight between them was decent, if not a little disappointing. It turned into another gag, this time involving Juggernaut's ass and that didn't help. 

The time travel at the end of the movie was another mixed bag. The Hitler joke was a hair too far, but the Baraka Pool gag made me stand up in the middle of the theater and shout "YEEEEEESSSSS!!!!" Ever since X-Men Origins, this has needed to happen. This was actually parodied and the fans dreamed it would happen. Deadpool 2 made it happen and that made the movie worth it just a little more. It's a good movie, but it felt it needed to outdo the first one on every front. We could have been happy with the same maximum effort, I think, with a bit more story instead of extreme gags that push the limit of both time and shock value. 

Deadpool and Wolverine (Spoilers)

This movie brought gags and gags that push the limit of both time and shock value ad nauseum. It was clear that there were several other entities at work here. It is worth noting that this was when Disney had grabbed the rights to Deadpool from Fox and decided to finally use this movie as a desperate attempt at profits. It was an attempt to give the fans what they wanted in every form. Deadpool 3 became a cashgrab and an opportunity for both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to write their own checks. 

It took everything terrible from the second movie, dipped it in nostalgia and fanservice, then fast tracked it into theaters, hardly looking at it. This movie goes off the rails and when you think it might get back on those rails, new rails form and it goes off of those as well. To say that this was a dizzying experience is barely even scraping the iceberg's tip. The story took a backseat to absolute chaos and Deadpool/Wolverine hate banter. Reynolds and Jackman were the stars of this movie in every sense of the concept. 

It was great to see Jackman not only come back as Wolverine, but also don the colors was a great breath of fresh air. The gags where Deadpool is looking for a new Logan is very funny and I did know all of them other than the Wolverine on the X Cross, wasn't familiar with that one. The fan service is good and I did enjoy seeing Blade, X-23 and a lot of the smaller cameos here and there. 

The gags took it way too far on way too many occasions. Whoever thought bringing in the entire Deadpool Corps in a huge crowd was a good idea was very wrong. That was a grotesque example of way too much all at once. The plot needed more time sit and simmer, and the audience needed more time to breathe before the story decided to hit the haywire button again. This was all brought to a head with a very horrible villain. She looks like and probably is a fan character that someone decided to drag up out of nowhere. Professor X's sister with HORRIBLY OVERPOWERED telekinesis? Are you kidding me? An entire UNIVERSE of badguys from both MCU and Fox to play with and you roll a zero? Disney? Do you ever want to make money again? Because you're not acting like it! 

This woman was probably one of the worst parts about the entire film. Her power gets intolerably incoherent as to how it actually works. How in the hell can she possibly just laugh off being impaled by Wolverine's claws and then just bat them away? Johnny Storm's death was just unnecessarily gory and the gag just hollow.

As you can see from this review, this movie is a shoddy mess, but it was also a fun ride. It certainly beat the stuffing out of anything Disney is pumping out of their sewage duct lately. The worst part about it was it was supposed to be a swansong for the Fox Marvel Universe and it did more to damage its legacy than celebrate it. It was nice to finally see these two in one movie the way they should have been in the first place. It just would have been nice to have a better story and villain rather than the choppy dimension hopping mess we received. Oh, and maybe stop with the Logan movie jokes at the first of your films. Seriously, try new things.

Deadpool the Video Game

If you thought this was a good idea, yeah, it really is! Deadpool's game actually has some innovation to it and there are some genuinely decent ideas put into this title. Then there are the many moments where it thinks it is more of a hoot than it actually is. There are some jokes here that go on for entirely too long, and there are some jokes that are in very poor taste. Then there was the "joke" gameplay that only serves to slow down the pace and make the game more irritating. 

In the beginning, the jokes are actually hitting pretty hard with how Deadpool decided to jump up and make a game. Through the first half, these different touches where they want to "spice up" the gameplay with gameplay like Zelda and other retro callbacks, the jokes land pretty well. The moment it started pulling characters out of nowhere and making them die in stupid, off-putting ways, this title becomes more cringeworthy and juvenile than anything else. Mr. Sinister is not one of my favorite badguys, but the disservice they do to his character would be enough to make any creator a bit miffed to say the least.

Then the game has the gall to actually add in a stealth section with the most jank controls imaginable. It does this with tongue planted firmly in cheek and seems to giggle with every step you take in this miserable experience. This wouldn't be so bad if you didn't already have some of the most monotonous repitition in hack-and-slash mechanics. Then there are a plethora of 3D platforming sections. You get some variety with upgrades to shotguns and assault rifles, but really, it's more of the same at the end of the day. If this is your thing, that's fine, but this game still does it to a horrific degree. The relief you feel with different game segments with the gags and gimmicks save this game from being a solid brick of a slog. 

Deadpool's humor, overall, is fine. He has some excessive moments that are not great and some of his jokes take it a little far, but there are many writers who can do him a lot of justice. It doesn't matter how much justice you can do Deadpool. His type of humor is errosive and very intrusive to the brain. Playing this game for long periods of time can be a very anxiety driven experience and it is not recommended. The sudden deaths, the gory jokes and the grossout humor was not meant for a game that lasts around seven or eight hours. It's a good way to get oversensory. 

The story seems to go on forever, and this is not a good thing, given its chaotic nature. It is exhausting to get through this script and hearing the same jokes over and over again. The cut scenes are funny for the most part, but when it takes the piss out of Wolverine and some of the older characters that are meant to be more serious, things just feel grimy. 

Deadpool the Lunchbox

Deadpool, as a character, has massive storytelling potential, but many do not seem interested in seeing that part of it. Many Deadpool fans seem to think that his jokes and gags are all we really need, so long as he can cut people up and regenerate. The fact that he talks to himself in multiple voices, will openly react to situations from and outside point of view while making snark, and ride a unicorn seems to make some of the more surface-level fans happy. 

The real problem is that he has been hyped up so much and given so much notice that his joke tends to lose steam the more you take in his products. He is a spoonful character; someone who is best in moderation, and the media is giving him to you in the truckloads. You can tell when someone has clearly had too much of him when they call you excessive names at the smallest notion that Deadpool should spend any duration off the screen. 

Sometimes, it is good to laugh at the screen, but Deadpool seems to prefer this instead of real storytelling. Sometimes, we want a comicbook story. Somtimes, we want him to act as an anti-hero and fight an anti-villain. When you read the comics, this happens a lot less. A lot of the time, it's Deadpool being a snarky asshole who is only out for himself and yeah it's funny some of the time, but they make it keep going and going. 

This is not an anti-Deadpool article in the slightest. It may seem down on the Merc with the Mouth, but this is a fan speaking from a fan's perspective. The chaos and the laughs are fun, but when you really look at what he has done in the comics, it is over-glorified because of his popularity. Deadpool gaining ultimate power and fighting a cosmic entity just doesn't feel right. Him being inserted into storyline after storyline that shouldn't involve him should not be the premise just to hear writers think they're clever. The unicorn riding joke is funny, but when you see him trotting along on the unicorn, there should really be something going off in the mind saying "Wait, where in the hell have we gone?" 

Now, do writers still get Deadpool right? Oh, of course they do. There are several occasions when we get episodes like Ultimate Spider-man or specials like The Hulk vs Wolverine, he is showcased in pure animated bliss. On occasion, too, there are still some decent comic book storylines for him. He's Deadpool, afterall, and he became popular for a reason. His sarcastic humor is a great relief from all of the over-serious hobnobbery. Deadpool has his place in Marvel and that's poking fun at its stupidity and shortcomings.Yes, he makes fun of his own shortcomings too and we like to do that here at Planet Virtua. We're not trying to take Deadpool gags for our own. We must maintain our dignity to some degree. Virtua Chimichanga.