Home Blog Page 91

Wondershot Review

James Buckingham
-
0
Wondershot Review

Remember those late-night gaming sessions with your friends where you’d play Mario Kart or Goldeneye, battling it out endlessly until someone relented? Well Leikir Studio‘s Wondershot aims to bring back those days long past.

Wondershot Header

There’s no story to speak of in Wondershot – it’s just an arena battle game in a medieval setting. It uses a collection of weaponry which grants the user different abilities, such as bouncing projectiles off walls, dashing through walls, homing projectiles and more.

Although it’s primarily a competitive local multiplayer battle arena game, there is a single-player and cooperative element to it. You can conquer the challenges of the Adventure mode, where you use the facets of each weapon type to meet the criteria. This can range from hitting 30 targets in under a minute, to surviving a particular length of time.

The game is quick and easy to pick up, and has an easy control system that only uses the shoulder buttons, analogue sticks and the X button (or A button, for you Xboxers). General movement is dealt with by the left analogue stick, and the L2 button allows you to roll. This will let you get through mud quickly, which would otherwise slow you down.

The right analogue stick is used for aiming, and R2 will allow you to lock the direction you’re looking in. The only other additions to the control system involve either tapping or holding the X button, which modify what each weapon does.

Randomly-generated levels make for a fresh experience every time.
Randomly-generated levels make for a fresh experience every time.

The different weapons you can use are the Bow & Arrow, Hammer, Boomerang and Slingshot. With the bow and arrow, you can tap X to fire a homing arrow, or tap and hold X to charge it for a faster shot upon release. When you fire an arrow, if you miss your target, you lose your weapon and have to either go and get it, or pick up another weapon.

With the Hammer, you tap for a quick Hammer smash. However what makes this weapon the best (in my opinion) is that when you tap and hold the Hammer, you can throw it and dash through walls. This can make certain levels really quick and easy, but also lets you surprise your opponents and take them out quickly.

The Boomerang acts much like you’d expect – tap X to throw it a short distance, then it returns to you. If you tap and hold X, the Boomerang will still throw, but will spin in place and get larger. You can then move wherever you like, then when you release X, it returns to you, killing anything in it’s way.

Finally the slingshot fires a projectile a fair distance with it’s normal attack, bouncing off one wall. With the charged attack it bounces off several surfaces.

Thinking with portals. And hammers, slingshots, boomerangs... is there cake at least?
Thinking with portals. And hammers, slingshots, boomerangs… is there cake at least?

One of the other entertaining aspects of the game involves portals. You can throw/fire your respective projectiles through them, but not travel through them yourself. And they will appear at different angles and placements in each randomly-generated level. Along with the pillars and walls that are at specific angles to allow for bouncing slingshot pellets off, it can make for an entertaining gameplay mechanic.

The game’s primary intent is to get you and your mates together to play locally, which does limit it somewhat in terms of replay value. What would really benefit the game is having an online co-op or battle mode as well, but the local multiplayer does end up bringing back memories of nostalgic drunken Goldeneye evenings for me. Having only two controllers at the moment, I’ve done a bit of one-on-one gameplay, but when there’s just two of you, the co-op challenge modes are the best fun. This is prettymuch a continuing survival mode, where you fend off waves of enemies.

Wondershot
Player two appears to be adopting the standard “RUN AWAAAAY!” technique

All in all, I’m enjoying Wondershot quite a bit. I think it’s definitely more fun with a royal-rumble style local multiplayer setup, as it’s easy to drop in and out of. It’s attractive to look at, and the gameplay mechanics with the weapon abililties and portals means that no one game is the same as another. It’s fun, hectic and quite tricky to master with the only thing letting it down is a lack of network play.

Trailer:

“The Dice Cup” Interview – Tabletop Pride

Tom Sorsby
-
0
“The Dice Cup” Interview – Tabletop Pride

I used to be a frequent visitor to the fair city of Nottingham, as my other half was living there for a good while. Now she’s moved up to sunny Sheffield with me, visiting our friends in Nottingham has sadly become a rare trip. On my last visit however, I was fortunate to be taken to a lovely little venue that made the visit all the more special. Turns out, it’d only just opened – it’s called The Dice Cup, and I’ve been in touch with the guys behind it for a little interview.

“Let’s start at the beginning. Who makes up this band of businessmen? Can you tell me a little about your team?”

The team behind it are; myself, Matt. I’ve done many things in my time and could probably be described as a jack of all trades, but a master of boardgames, so when the time was right to make this move, I went for it.

David has been the proprietor of Mondo Comico for about six years and before that he was assistant manager at Travelling Man.

Steve is a maths teacher who introduces his school kids to boardgames as they often require mathematical and/or analytical thought. He is also an ex-pro poker player and regular bridge player as well as being active in the Nottingham boardgame scene.

"I think I just filled the cup..."
A shot at the entrance end of the store, where you’ll find the coffee, comics and other for-sale stock. Head up the ramp behind shot, and that’s where the Magic (The Gathering) happens.

“How did the opening weekend go? Going by the pictures on your Facebook page, you guys have been pretty busy.”

Opening weekend went well. We had a full house on Saturday and even had to break out some extra tables! The cafe itself is founded on principles of inclusion and openness. One of the issues with the boardgame scene had been that although it was thriving, you only saw that from the inside. We wanted to open a venue which really showcases what boardgames are about. Our cafe is fully wheelchair accessible and if you’ve seen our big windows, you know how open it is.

Caption
Glass front and back, its Geek Pride at its finest. These must be the backup tables, because when I was there, it was nothing but top quality GEEKNSON gaming tables.

We get a lot of passers-by popping in and discovering that boardgames have evolved in every possible direction and now have something for everyone. From quick games to fill 5 or 10 minutes, to long strategic epics that will fill the whole day, even with new ways to play like social deduction, cooperative storytelling, pattern matching and reflex games.

“Sounds like you’re bringing in the newcomers – always very welcome and often sorely needed. Anything big going down for those of us who already own too many sets of polyhedral dice?”

We have Some Curse of Strahd D&D Campaigns starting this week and we’re looking forward to Shadows Over Innistrad. We’ll have a midnight release event for that!

Taken from their setup photos, this glass-to-glass space is now full of quality gaming tables. Its Geek Pride at its finest.
Taken from their setup photos – not with some fancy wide-angle lens. The Dice Cup is massive – and I was impressed by the toilet facilities. You can’t say that about a lot of places.

“I take it you’ve plenty of regular events for gamers to sink their teeth into as well?”

Our ongoing Magic events every Wednesday and Friday, as well as Game Days and pre-releases as and when. Other than those, we have a regular board game night on Thursday every week with the FANG gaming group which is open to anyone to come along and play, and on Monday’s we have Star Wars night – anything in the Star Wars universe goes, X-wing, Armada, the LCG, Imperial Assault, etc. Mostly it’s X-wing and Armada so far. As we move forward, we will be adding more regular events as well as one-off events like the Conan RPG Demo we have on this Tuesday night (15th).

“That’s a hell of a lineup. I know you do some damn fine coffee, but what can you tell me about the rest of the café side of The Dice Cup? Some pretty looking cakes on offer when I was in, and I hear it’s all vegan?”

The veganness is my influence. There are a large number of reasons for us to be vegan. Inclusivity, environmental reasons, and compassion. The menu has now got a few extras on, such as wraps and calzones, and there will be quite a few more additions once the work on the kitchen has been completed. We’re planning to have chili, soups, burgers, kebabs, pies and more. All vegan and all delicious.

Play Games. Sell Coffee. Profit.
Play Games. Sell Coffee. Profit. Its just good business.

“I’m not vegan – but I had a few (too many) cookies our Bard at D&D made from a Veganomicon recipe. Eldritch tastiness in every bite. Anyone turning their nose up at vegan food is missing out. For a closing statement then, can you sum up The Dice Cup for us?”

Our mission statement is to promote learning and social cohesion through board gaming, providing a safe place to play for people from any background or age group to come together and interact. Equally important is that we build and maintain a social, ethical, sustainable and environmentally conscious relationship with our customers, suppliers, partners, community and our planet.

“Thanks for talking to us Matt, it’s been a pleasure.”

Head over to The Dice Cup’s Facebook Page or official site to find out more info on current news and events – or take a trip to Nottingham and see the place for yourselves. Now they’re through the opening phase there’s a small charge for access to their insanely varied library of games, but if you were going to a bar you’d pay as much for two games of pool and it wouldn’t last you the whole day – even my ingrained Yorkshire tightness can’t argue with that.

I love this place – and if you read this website, then I guarantee you will too.

Old School, New Twist: A Board Game Preview of “Pegged In”

MrCraiggy
-
0
Old School, New Twist: A Board Game Preview of “Pegged In”

Board games.
Over the years, board games have become so widely varied in their nature that I think it’s safe to say that there is something for everyone.

A friend of mine made the mistake of telling me that they didn’t enjoy board games because they felt outdated and lacked depth (board games, not my friend). I made them play Betrayal at House on the Hill and they were hooked!
But with so many different board games on the market, has the market become so varied that we have forgotten the basics? Why is it that board games have remained a staple form of household entertainment in this digital age of gaming? What, at their very core, makes a board game great?

“Look at my pile of pegs. This means that I am better than you! Muahaha!”

The people over at Connecting Neurons are endeavouring to find out.
With their new venture Pegged In, they are looking to explore the roots of what makes a board game so enjoyable.
With a heavy focus on the elements of social interaction in a board game, Pegged In offers a fun and enjoyable, yet surprisingly tactical game which encourages people to get together and enjoy what it is to play a board game. There are even rules to adapt this as a drinking game, apparently, which we here at Geek Pride can’t possibly comment on in either encouragement or discouragement (please drink responsibly, don’t be a poopnugget, don’t drink underage).

It’s safe to say that this game has me very excited.
Board games were a large part of my childhood and I’ve come to relish the experiences I’m presented with when playing games, whether it was my Mum playing poorly on purpose so her litle Craiglet could win or my Grandad finding new and interesting ways to cheat, teaching the Craiglet that life is hard and not always fair.
Still to this day, when given the opportunity to sit around a table with friends and play a game, I will more often than not jump at the chance, and then usually cry in pain as I was sat at a desk and the jumping made my knees hit said desk…

Did I mentioned each game was tooled out of lovely birch wood?
Did I mentioned each game was tooled out of lovely birch wood?

My pain and embarassment aside, however, Pegged In is live on Kickstarter currently and is, as I write this, around 75% funded, so it’s looking very likely that we will see this game on the shelves in the future but Connecting Neurons needs your helps to make this a possibility. If this is something that you think might be of interest you then please, go and support their Kickstarter here and tell them Craig sent you.

In a world where we have an abundance of board games at our disposal, let’s not forget our roots; let’s take time and appreciate the simple joys of the tabletop game at its core.

Definitely keep your eye out for this one and please, do support the project.

Until next time, I’ve been and will probably stay,

Craig.

Review – The Ones Below (2015), David Farr

Mark Canty
-
0
Review – The Ones Below (2015), David Farr
Justin and Kate
Justin and Kate

“Is that too cold?”

“No, that’s fine.”

And with that surprisingly apt opening exchange, “The Ones Below” begins. Kate and Justin live in a converted Victorian Terrace in London, and Kate’s expecting their first child. They’re a little messy, in an ordinary way, and seem comfortable with where they’re going next. The flat downstairs is vacant after the old man living their passed away, but they get back from a hospital check to find movers there, stacking boxes without the owners. they don’t feel comfortable meeting them until Kate realises they’re expecting a child too, but getting to know them better may not be the right decision.

At first the 2 women get on really well. Kate is a successful career woman, deciding later on that she wants to try for a child, but her confidence in parenthood is damaged by her family. Teresa is young, optimistic about parenthood – Jon’s second wife, because his first wife couldn’t have children – And Jon always gets what he wants…

Teresa and Jon are shiny, well-polished and a little too cold and perfect. Yes, she’s German, and he’s a banker that worked in Germany before they moved to the UK, but there’s so much obvious control in their behaviour, that it’s almost a relief when something snaps and the cover blows off what’s really there, dreadful as that sounds.

The spiral that follows through the film hints at themes of loss, despair and a need for control,and where they need to be villainous, or tortured, scared or confused, the main cast do well, the side actors, including Kate’s mother, not so well.It’s obvious that Kate’s mother is supposed to come across as emotionally distant, but she often just seems a little lost, like she had an extra page of script that she’s waiting for them add into the shoot, but instead they’re all shouting at her or ignoring her.

The Ones Below
Kate and Baby

As for the ending, it’s actually not a badly constructed film, but Farr ensures you can see most of it coming by the 30 or 40 minute mark. I want to like it more for the sheer amount of work they’ve put in, but it mostly acts as a bottle film, tied into the 2 flats and the downstairs garden. This means that the times at Justin’s work, the health club, etc, should help to open it up, but everything is lit so brightly and starkly it’s only the additional extras that really make it seem like a bigger flat.

While 2 of the characters suit the clean, bright, clinical lighting, a more nuanced tone in other parts of the film wight help it feel less detached. The tempers that flare up often pass too quickly on both sides, like everyone is a little embarrassed, apart from Morrissey, who enjoys the opportunity to chew on the scenery, but not too hard – It’s rented!

Overall, “The Ones Below” is a very cold film – As befits 2 of the 4 main characters. Most of the scenes are lit by Farr in a very cold, clinical way to enhance the overall mood of foreboding – This suits a lot of areas in the story, but can make it hard to feel attached to the characters which would make it all hit home harder. Not to say the performances are bad – I thought the 4 main stars do very well, and conveyed the emotions and motivations of their characters effectively, but the lighting and framing just washed things out.

The individual scenes are generally well paced and constructed, short at times and racing through emotionally charged moments, holding you back at others to dwell on loss or dread. There are places, however, where a scene seems maybe 3 or 4 minutes too short, like something is missing that is then caught up in bits and pieces of other scenes. This contrasts with the occasionally heavy handed use of asides, mentions and sound effects to foreshadow upcoming points – Possibly they came in a little longer than they wanted, and had to rearrange a little?

In conclusion

I’d like to see what it was like before the last edit, and with a different lighting director – I can’t help feeling like they washed away a bit too much of the really gritty bits that would have made this more effective and engrossing. I’m still a fan of Morrissey, and I’ll have to look at some of Poésy and Birn’s other work to see how they fare elsewhere. It’s not an awful film, it’s just not as effective, engrossing or traumatic as it wants to be – More because they maybe overthought things

Slow Mo Video: Asahi’s New Video Booth

Andrew Corban
-
0
Slow Mo Video: Asahi’s New Video Booth

Premium Japanese beer brand Asahi is bringing their super-slow motion video booth to an event near you!  On Thursday I got to spend some time trying out this pint glass shaped video booth that brings together the fun of slow motion video and marries it with the Japanese craze for purinto kurabu (print club) booths.

Photo Booth

The booth, which can fit 4 people and took over 300 hours to create, has a couple of cool effects that contribute towards making each video unique. Firstly the booth shoots a jet of malt-infused condensation at you, this is supposed to give you the feeling of being inside a pint of beer. Its second and best effect is that it shoots ping pong balls at you, 100 ping pong balls to be precise, from a secret trapdoor. These I have been told are supposed to mirror the bubbles in a glass of beer. When the video has been taken, it is sent to you so you can post it on social media using the hashtag #AsahiSlowMo.

Asahi UK brand manager Samantha Catford, said: “We wanted to create an experience that’s fun, exciting, shareable but also one that conveys the crisp and refreshing qualities of Asahi Super Dry. The result is a world-first: a branded super slow-mo booth which takes the photo booth concept to the next level while linking to the brand’s unique qualities and reputation for innovation.”

After its unveiling the Asahi Slow-Mo Booth will begin a tour of venues and events all over the UK. I did ask at which events the booth will be appearing at and if there was any potential for the booth to be turning up at any conventions such as hyper japan etc. I was told that there it was something they were looking into, but nothing was finalised as of yet.

Hyper Sensitive

SeanPWallace
-
0
Hyper Sensitive

Hype is a strange marketing tool when you think about it: you build anticipation for a product before it has been released, or even fully reviewed by trusted and not-so-trusted critics, by showing the pieces of it that most excite the potential audience. This serves to get those who were already interested to invest in pre-orders or release day tickets as well as getting said audience to extol the virtues of the product to those around them who may have been on the fence. Without proving the product is any good, or without it ever having been seen by a consumer or critic, you convince people it is great. Or will be great. Or is have going to be great. Whichever past impossible never tense you’re supposed to use.

In terms of efficiency, a teaser trailer is probably the best thing a studio or publisher can release. Short, snappy, it gives enough information to get people talking about it and nothing more. A full trailer ought to follow, solidifying the interest of those snapped up by the teaser, and getting people to put their money where their excited little hearts are.

Strange it may be, but it works immensely well. I still remember the viral marketing for The Dark Knight, with snippets of newspaper taken by the Joker and puzzles that unlocked the first teaser. Brilliant stuff, it was. And then came the full trailer, allowing us to hear a little of Ledger’s portrayal of the iconic villain and enough of Caine’s brilliant speech (Some men just want to watch the world burn… *shivers*). The Dark Knight was a film everyone was going to want to watch following the surprisingly good Batman Begins, but the marketing and hype surrounding another Joker took it to record-breaking levels.

But, and this is key, hype has a limit, a point at which it breaks and settles into worry or disappointment. The Dark Knight kept itself to a few trailers, with much of the same material being shown and only glimpses of new things being released. Roaring successes like Fallout 3 showed snippets of gameplay and relied on atmosphere to sell the product. It is a fine balancing act to get us hyped for a release without spoiling it or drowning us in marketing.

A balancing act that companies are failing to even try any more.

kdtb
Exactly, Vegeta. It’s too damn high.

Look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens, for example. It had about ten trailers before release, each giving little bits more away about the film, and Disney surrounded us with marketing. Just look at this. LOOK AT IT! I don’t know about you all, but I started out very excited by the forthcoming new entry into the Star Wars universe and ended up dodging every possible advert and trailer as soon as winter hit. Overdoing the exposure and marketing almost led me to not go.

I say almost. I’m not an idiot.

There are other very recent examples of this. Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice went from a teaser, to a couple of interesting trailers, to one which spoiled the whole damn film. And then they release another, albeit far superior one! With more teasers since. It’s like they’re vomiting footage at this point.

Bandai Namco are no better with Dark Souls 3. They have had the excellent playable demo doing the rounds for months now, with a handful of trailers to support it, but they decided recently to allow Let’s Players to record and upload the first hour or so of the game recently. Now I have to dodge my favourite subreddits and YouTubers to avoid spoilers, people who would have served to hype me further for the forthcoming game if the publisher had even an ounce of restraint.

In their haste to cement the pre-release sales, publishers are pushing hype culture too far. Not all of them, of course: look at how little we know about Captain America: Civil War so far, with the trailers showing some cool moments and hinting but not giving anything away. But many. It’s as though there are marketing executives who think the law of diminishing returns a fable, a myth told to panic young University students.

Well, it’s not. You can only excite customers so much before they get bored or angry. Less can be more, and companies could save themselves money and griping blog posts like this by just planning their marketing strategies with a little more care and consideration.

But, sadly…

sne0za

… so I’m going to go back into my spoiler-free cave to hide until April 12th…

IO Interactive and Realm Pictures presents Real Life Hitman

Andy Haigh
-
0
IO Interactive and Realm Pictures presents Real Life Hitman

With the imminent release of the latest game in the Hitman franchise from IO Interactive Realm Pictures has created a real life version of the hit game. IO Interactive had seen a previous video Realm Pictures had done (Real Life First Person Shooter) and got in touch to see if they could do something similar with the Hitman game. Coming across like a weird mash up of classic British kids TV show Knightmare and an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, various Youtubers were invited to take part in the real life version of Hitman trying to complete a contract by giving Agent 47 vocal commands and the results are pretty astounding.

Check out the video below.

The Read Pile – The GP Comics blog

Andy Haigh
-
0
The Read Pile – The GP Comics blog

DSCF3484 (2)

Welcome to the latest edition of The Read Pile the GP comics blog where we’ll be talking about what we’ve been reading recently, what was good and what was bad and other randomness. Just like before other contributions are colour coded, whilst mine are black.

Callum –

Main one for me is still just plowing through Batman and Robin Eternal (DC,, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, et al) which continues to sway between really dragging its heels and actually doing some cool stuff. Other than that, issue 5 of I hate fairyland (Image), which is Skottie Young’s , the guy who does a load of the variant covers for Marvel, own project that he writes and draws. It’s kind of weird because the series isn’t technically over but issue five ended the first arc and I think the comic is now taking a break or something. I believe that the second arc isn’t starting straight away which is unusual. Its mostly just irritating though because the series is excellent, being as it is about a girl who has been trapped in fairyland for thirty years but she still looks about eight. She’s murderous and foul mouthed and the art is rather brilliantly done around all that. Also the latest of American Alien (issue 4? I think) which brought Batman into affairs in a pretty cool way and Dick Grayson even more so. Been pretty impressed with the series as a whole because it’s essentially Max Landis putting his money where his mouth is regarding his passion for Superman. He’s taken a good approach as well. Each issue is its own self contained story from different points across Clark’s life. The fact that it focuses on Clark as Clark more than as constantly superman improves it as well.

IHateFairylandVol1TP_CvrI’ve heard good things about I hate Fairyland but I’ve yet to actually see it in any of the shops I go in.

I picked up The Discipline (Image, Peter Milligan, Leandro Fernandez, Cris Peter, Simon Bowland) which is the kind of thing that a certain website is probably writing an angry think piece about given that it features a girl getting involved with what seems to be a time travelling alien sex cult at war with other aliens.

Callum –

I Hate Fairyland is great, I think particularly because young is serving as both writer and artist so you get a very cohesive vision on the page. Very funny series. I wouldn’t know about it in shops, I get my stuff online. The Discipline certainly sounds interesting. Is it all that weird stuff in a good way or a bad one?

Very much a good way, I’m interested to see where it goes. I’ve also been reading the new Serpieri collection books (Lo Scarabeo, Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri) I think Druuna is notorious because it’s full of brutal violence, weirdness and lots of sex in a grim dystopian world, but Serpieri’s art is amazing throughout and you can see how it got better over time because the books took years to finish. The new books are oversized and each feature two of the books published via Heavy Metal in the 90’s. I will say they were bloody hard to get though, I couldn’t find the English editions anywhere on the internet, luckily my shop was able to get them. From what I’ve gathered I’m not the only one who’s had trouble getting them, which is weird for something that was in Previews.

I also picked up the latest volume of Crossed: Badlands (Avatar, Mike Wolfer, Jaymes Reed, Digikore Studios). Crossed has 2016-03-06_2103alwaysstruck me as a good concept executed increasingly poorly since the first series by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows, which was actually good, so I haven’t read Badlands since the first few issues but this was actually pretty good, if disturbing horror comics are your thing ofcourse.

Laura –

My local Forbidden Planet has been selling off a load of Titan-published DC trades for hella cheap, so I picked up Batman: Fortunate Son (DC, Gerard Jones, Gene Ha) (and a whole bunch of others, but this is the best one). So it’s basically Batman vs. rock n roll, and Robin (Dick Grayson Robin! It’s so old!) is in his teenage rebellion faze and SPOILER ALERT the bad guy is Elvis’ twin brother and apparently Sid Vicious was obsessed with Bruce Wayne and he could have stopped Sid killing Nancy but didn’t and now he hates angry music. The plot is essentially a tortured musician gets manipulated into causing countrywide chaos, and Batman takes Robin on tour after this guy to show him how evil music is, and it turns out the only time Batman ever listened to rock and roll was the night his parents died. It’s a whole thing. And the weirdest part is that it’s actually really good. SO GOOD.

Really? That sounds pretty awful. I think I mentioned before I haven’t read any new Batman for a while, like what the hell was going on with that mecha Batman bullshit??

Pete –

2016-03-09_2155I Picked up volume 2 of Superman: Earth One (DC, Shane Davis, Ardian Syaf) and despite not having that much interest in the character, it is damn good (J.M Straczynski’s writing helps a lot).

Rereading Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli’s DMZ at the moment. It is almost prescient in its portrayal of America, especially with the militia in Oregon.

Laura –

If you like Straczynski, Superman: Grounded is fucking brilliant.

   

Pete –

Will give Grounded a try. Seen it a few times, but never picked it up.

Laura –

It’s basically Superman using his powers (and sometimes not even that) to make a small but meaningful difference in people’s lives

DMZ is Vertigo isn’t it? I’ve read a lot Vertigo stuff but not that.

I read The Last Days of American Crime which is a really good neo noir with a bit of near future sci-fi thrown in, it’s really good, I expect a 2016-03-09_2206bad film adaptation at some point, it’s wriiten by Rick Remender, the art is by Greg Tocchini, who is doing Low I think, and it has amazing covers by Alex Maleev.

Pete –

DMZ was by Vertigo and is a great story about the reporters and non-combatants in America’s second civil war.

I think there’s DMZ, 100 Bullets and maybe something else I haven’t read. I’m working my way through Scalped now.

Curious if anybody is reading any of the new Vertigo stuff since I haven’t really checked any of it out and Vertigo seems to very much survive on it’s older titles I think. Clean Room by Gail Simone and Jon Davis Hunt is supposed to be good but I have no idea what it’s about.

Laura –

YOU HAD ME AT NEO NOIR, AND KEPT ME FOREVER AT NEAR FUTURE SCI-FI. Rick Remender makes me so ambivalent though. Like, Deadly Class? Near-literal genius. Uncanny Avengers? Burn it to the ground.

It’s so good and is brilliantly paced too.

I was looking at Deadly Class the other day, I think the only thing that stopped me picking it up was I am almost definitely going to get 2016-03-10_2126crushed to death by an unstable tower of graphic novels falling on me in my sleep.

Pete –

Am I wrong for wanting to read Avengers Arena. For Darkhawk?

I don’t even know what that is,ha,ha. I have not been keeping up with Marvel or DC really.

Laura –

Avengers Arena is the MOTHERFUCKING BOMB. I came for X-23 and the cast of Avengers Academy, I stayed for the Runaways. Also you guys should read Avengers Academy and Runaways.

That the same Runaways that I read what seems like forever ago with Lucy in the Sky?

Laura –

AND GERT!!! Gert was my favorite

I’m not sure how much I read of it, I also now realise it was Brian K Vaughan which explains why it was so good, well what I read was god knows what other writers did to it.

Pete –

Runaways was great. Read the first two volumes in the series. All of the characters were incredibly well-rounded, although my favourite would have to be Molly.

I think it being a Marvel comic kind of ruined it though because it wasn’t creator owned and got assimilated into the Marvel Universe.

Laura –

The whole Runaways series was pretty consistent… There were some gripes with how they (well, specifically Chase) was handled in Runaways_Omnibus_Vol_1_1Arena, and I wasn’t a fan of grown-up evil Molly in X-Men, but that was mind control so that’s something.

I know Vaughan only wrote the first 24 issues or so. I guess I’m more used to finite narratives that have a beginning, a middle and an end, whereas Marvel utterly ignores that approach entirely and just recycles things forever and makes everything narratively redundant.

The best thing about Runaways was it basically ignored the Marvel universe for the first 18 issues or something, same reason Planet Hulk was the best thing Marvel had done in years when it came out, it ignored the Marvel universe and was self contained pretty much.

Laura –

They team up with Avengers Academy and Young Avengers at points, which were good. I think when Vaughn left they brought in Xavin, who was a shapeshifting skrull who did some interesting things with sexual identity, and Clara, who was a Victorian-era nine-year-old who was married to a grown man, and saw nothing really wrong with that but was disgusted by Karolina and Xavin being gay. It was pretty much what you’d expect of someone from that era, rather than having people from 200 years ago with the social morals of a modern-day liberal.

That’s it for this edition of The Read Pile, let us know what you’ve been reading, what was good, what was bad and what would you recommend?

Contributors corner for this edition – Callum, Laura, Peter and myself

It’s the ‘Captain America: The Civil War’ Trailer We’ve all Been Waiting for…

Becca Harper
-
0
It’s the ‘Captain America: The Civil War’ Trailer We’ve all Been Waiting for…

It’s here, it’s here, the Captain America: Civil War trailer we’ve all been anticipating. Featuring more of the build up to the conflict, more Black Panther, a little more Ant-Man but, most importantly, a certain hero that we didn’t see in the first trailer. I screamed, I pretty much wet myself, so without further a do I present to you Civil War trailer #2

WarTile – A Real Time Strategy Game for the PC

jollins
-
0
WarTile – A Real Time Strategy Game for the PC

We review a new up and coming strategy game for the PC, WarTile.

WarTile is a real time strategy game for the PC in which you control a small band of warriors out for blood and loot at they make their way through the battle board. Click play to see how our reviewer got on.

Wartile is currently a Tech Build and currently appearing on Kickstarter.

1...909192...362Page 91 of 362