Punisher #14

Written By: Rick Remender

Artwork By: Daniel Brereton & Tony Moore

Published By: Marvel Comics

***SPOILER ALERT***

Starting in Dark Reign The List: Punisher, in which Norman Osborn, the current head honcho in the Marvel Universe, comes up with a list of people he wants dead, sends Wolverine's demented son Daken to kill Frank Castle, The Punisher.

In a bloody fight on a rooftop, Daken literally tears The Punisher to pieces, dropping the remains of Frank Castle in a darkened, disgusting alley way.

Starting in Punisher #11, we learn that the Legion of Monsters has gathered the remains of Frank Castle and has been able to bring him back to life. But Frank is not exactly alive or human, but a true Frankenstien, in this case a FrankenCastle.
(Haha, get the play on words there? I didn't come up with it.)

In the next two issues we learn that Frank is not happy at all having been brought back to life, there is a monster hunter who has an entire army of monster hunters that wants to destroy the Legion of Monsters, and the Legion of Monsters are having a really tough time trying to convince Frank to help them.

***END SPOILER***

In Punisher #14, Frank learns who this head monster hunter is and there is a little twist to the guy.

Having read around the internet and the letters to the editor in the Punisher comics, I know that some people are not happy with the direction that the Punisher is being taken.

I, for one, think it is great. I think I have always liked the idea of reading horror comics and now the new Punisher arc allows me to do so.

I am very interested to see how they are going to bring Frank Castle back, or even if they are!

Punisher #14: 9 out of 10

BioShock

Developed By: 2K Boston/2K Australia

Playable On: XBox 360, Playstation 3, & Windows Operating System

Released in 2007, Bioshock tells the story of a city that was built under the Atlantic Ocean named Rapture. Rapture was built by a man named Andrew Ryan who believed that artists should not have to worry about censorship and scientists should not be held back by what is "morally right." Another man, Frank Fontaine, creator of plasmids, the ability to throw fire, electricity, and more from your hand, wants to be able to control the city. Soon, a power struggle commences between Ryan and Fontaine. You play as Jack, the lone survivor of a plane crash, that crashed over the Atlantic Ocean. You head down into Rapture only to learn that you are only a pawn in the ever growing war between Ryan and Fontaine.

Out of order, I played through BioShock 2 before I played through part 1. But having played through them both now, it was very easy to spot the differences between the two games and decide which one, in my opinion, is better.

BioShock is quite a lengthy, lengthy game. I probably put in somewhere between 13 and 15 hours before I actually beat it. The objectives that fill the story line in BioShock, I thought were so grand and epic, I always thought I was just around the corner from beating it. But I would actually end up putting in another two hours or so. I realize now that at those times, I was actually no where near beating the game.

The biggest difference, I believe, between part one and two is the combat system. If you read my review for part two, then you already know that BioShock is a first person shooter that allows you to have guns as well as plasmids, the ability to throw fire, electricity, use telekinesis, and more from your left hand. The major difference here is in part one. In part one, you can only have either one of your guns or one of your plasmid abililites out and ready for combat. You actually have to pull out either your gun or hand, not both, choosing which one would be more effective during a fight. In part 2, you can have your choice of which gun and plasmid you want out at the same time. A combo, such as stunning an opponent with electricity and then killing them by shooting them, is much more fluid in part 2 because both your gun and plasmid are out at the same time.

In addition to the combat system in part one, you can only melee with one weapon, the wrench! In part two, you can melee with every weapon, giving the combat system in part two another reason to be better. In part one, I hated not being able to shoot a splicer (enemies in BioShock) with a shot-gun (a close range weapon) and melee the splicer for the kill. In BioShock 2, this little combo would have resulted in instant death for a splicer.

As in BioShock one and part two, you have a EVE meter. Once you drain your EVE meter, you can no longer use your plasmids. However, throughout both games you can find EVE hypodermic needles and once you deplete your EVE meter, you can fill it back up if you have a EVE needle. With this system my complaint lies in part one. Once you drain your EVE meter, if you switch to a gun, your EVE meter will not refill. In part two, if you have a EVE needle and your EVE meter runs out, it will automatically refill. I found it to be very frustrating in part one to be in a fight with a bunch of splicers only to have my EVE meter drain and not refill because I had switched to a gun to continue the fight. In part one, when you do fill your EVE meter back up a squence on-screen commences in which you see Jack shoot-up with a EVE needle, which is cool like the first 10 times you see it, but then it gets pretty old when you have already put in about five hours into the game.

In both BioShocks, you have the ability to hack machines. Some of the machines that can be hacked in the BioShocks are vending machines that sell ammo and even gatling gun turrets that will fire at enemies once you have hacked them. In part one, when you go to hack a machine, the game pauses and goes into a mini-game in which you have to place a tube in correct order for a metalic liquid to go throw it. If you are too slow, the machine will shock you, causing you to lose life and have to start your hack over again. Some machines will set off an alarm when you don't successfully hack them, causing flying gatling gun turrets to chase you. In part two, the developers made the hacking system a little cooler. When you start a hack in part two, the game does not pause and you have to stop a needle, that is going back and forth, into small green areas, trying to aviod red areas, that will cause an unsuccessful hack and sometimes set off alarms. In addition to the hacking system in part two, you can hack machines from a distance using hack darts. That certainly beats having to walk up to a gatling gun turret or security camera to hack it as you have to do in part one.


The mini game that commences when you start a hack in BioShock

One type of machine that made an apperance in part one, but not in part two is the U-Invent machine. Throughout the game you find things such as glue, empty shell casings, kersone, and other random objects. When you take these random objects to a U-Invent machine, you can create new types of bullets and other items. This actually brings me to another complaint about part one. Throughout the story, you are forced to find objects to create something that is necessary for you to be able to proceed. I reason I don't like that is because it causes you to have to back track through the levels to find the items that are needed for whatever you are trying to make. The U-Invent machines and this system did not appear in part 2.

There are plenty of differences between BioShock one and two. But obviously part one paved the way for part two. And I am sure I am in the minority when I say this, but I liked part two more than part one. I will probably play through part 2 again, before I play through part one again.

I give Bioshock: 9 out of 10

Trailer for Bioshock:

BioShock 2 "We Will Be Reborn"

Developer: 2K Marin & Irrational Games

Playable On: XBox 360, Playstation 3, & Windows Operating System

The game is set in fictional dystopian city Rapture, in a steampunk alternative history 1968, eight years after the events of BioShock. The protagonist and player-controlled character is a Big Daddy, a being that has had its organs and skin grafted into an atmospheric diving suit. Among the first of its kind, the player-controlled Big Daddy reactivates with no recollection of the past decade's events, and scours the city in an attempt to relocate the Little Sister that he was paired with. When it becomes obvious that Rapture's leader Sofia Lamb will become responsible for the city's destruction, the Big Daddy attempts to overthrow Lamb and her army of Big Sisters.

(The above was taken from wikipedia.com)

The gimmick of Bioshock is that it is a first person shooter and you are able to upgrade your character by obtaining plasmids. With your left hand, plasmids allow you to throw electricity, fire, use telekinesis, and much more while still having a gun in your right hand. One of my favorite combos to use was stunning a opponent ("Splicers" as they are called in Bioshock for having used to many plasmids on themselves) with electricity and then finishing them off by shooting them with a double barreled shotgun.

In addition to all of the crazy guns your character can use, a giant drill, a rivet gun, shot-gun, rocket launcher, to name a few, you can get different types of ammunation for each gun. For example, with the shot-gun, why use regular shells when you can use phosphorus shells, shells that will ignite an enemy into a giant ball of flames after you shoot them.

In addition to the different types of ammo, you can even up grade your weapons. For example, with the gatling gun, you can upgrade it to reduce recoiling every time you fire it.

The environment, although gritty and dark, is still very inviting. With most games, I just want to run through them as quick as possible, but with Bioshock 2, I wanted to investigate every room and see what I could find, even if it had nothing to do with whatever my current objective was.

Aside from the gameplay and the great art direction found in Bioshock 2, probably my most favorite feature is the checkpoint system that is used. Through out the levels there are "Vita-Chambers." Every time you die, you respawn at the nearest Vita-Chamber. But what is so cool about Vita-Chambers is that you do not lose any progess that you have made after you die. For example, say you are in a boss battle and you take down half of the boss's life and then die. After you come out of a Vita-Chamber the boss's life will still be half down. You never, technically I guess, have to start over even after you have died.

One new addition to Bioshock 2 that part one didn't have is online multiplayer. The multiplayer uses a fairly common upgrade and ranking system that allows you to choose which weapons, plasmids, and tonics you spawn with. The more you play, you are given access to better weapons, plasmids, and tonics that you can choose to use in a match. And although I do think the multiplayer is cool, I'd rather just play Halo 3 or Modern Warfare 2 if I am going to be doing some online gaming.

The score is also way good. It certainly makes moments that need to be tense, such as preparing for a boss fight, tense. And the music that was used during load screens, sounding like 1950ish jazz music, I thought also really set the mood for the game. I know the special edition on Bioshock 2 came with a vinyl and I am assuming it is that music. I am sure it is cool to have.

Beleive it or not, as of this writing, I have never played through the first Bioshock. But after beating Bioshock 2, I have already gone and bought a copy of Bioshock 1 to play through.

I really don't think I found anything wrong with this game.

I give it: 10 out of 10 stars.

Trailer for Bioshock 2:

Zombieland "This Place Is So Dead"

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg & Woody Harrelson

So I decided to keep this review very brief.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray, playing himself, get stoned, dress up like Ghostbusters, and start reciting lines from "Ghostbusters."

***END SPOILER***

And the gore was gnarly.

"Zombieland" may be my new favorite zombie movie.

9 out of 10
Trailer for Zombieland:

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Developed by: Eidos

System: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC

The story involves Batman taking Joker to Arkham Asylum, only for Joker to escape in Arkham and quickly take it over. Batman soon discovers that Joker has a sinister plot, so he chases after Joker deep into Arkham.

The first thing I noticed when I started playing AA, were the graphics. This may be the most beautiful game I have ever played and I didn't even play it on an HDTV. I can only imagine that AA is much more prettier on a Hi-Def TV. In edition to the graphics, the design of all the characters were so cool. Batman with his five o'clock shadow, Scarecrow with his syringe fingers, and Harley Quinn with a skirt, I thought were some of the smallest details on the characters, but it made them look so good.

The voice acting was also very impressive. Mark Hamill (of Luke Skywalker fame) voices the Joker and is just spot on. I felt he gave the character of the Joker such life, I actually enjoyed hearing the joker when he would talk crap and make bad jokes. Some of the other stand out voice actors, I think, is the dude who played Commissioner Gordon, and the girl who played Harley Quinn. However, I have always had a bit of a problem with Kevin Conroy, the man who voices Batman. Conroy comes off as kind of cheesy to me. I have always felt this way, even when I saw Batman: Mask of the Phantasm forever ago.

The game play is great. One of the stand out features of AA, I thought was the ability to use all of Batman's devices and gadgets. I didn't feel like anything really lagged and the game play never really got repetitive. The combat system was awesome. It just felt so fluid and was so cool taking on like 10 goons at one time. The stealth missions were also really cool, but again, because of the cool things Batman can use and can do to incapacitate goons.

I really can't find any real flaw in this game. If I had to, it would be Kevin Conroy's voice acting, and thinking the story mode was a little short. It only took me about nine or ten hours to beat the story mode. However, there is still a ton I can do, such as solving all of The Riddler's riddles. The game says I have only beaten 65% of it!

I definitely recommend buying Batman: Arkham Asylum
9 out of 10
Trailer for Batman: Arkham Asylum:

Inglourious Basterds "Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..."

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Brad Pitt & Christoph Waltz

"Inglourious Basterds" tells the story of Shosanna Dreyfus, played by Mélanie Laurent, whose family is murdered by Col. Hans Landa, nicknamed the "The Jew Hunter," and his group of men. Shosanna manages to escape and four years later runs a small theater in France.

Shosanna meets a young man named Fredrick Zoller, who managed to kill close to 300 American soldiers, fighting from a bell tower. Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich's Minister of Propaganda and one of Hitler's right hand men, has just made a new movie entitled "Nation's Pride" about Zoller's story and Zoller wants the premiere to take place at Shosanna's theater.

Shosanna agrees, partially out of fear and for revenge. She plans to trap everyone inside and then set the theater on fire.

"The Basterds" are a group of American Jewish soldiers, led by Lt. Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, that have a reputation for terrorizing Nazi soldiers and when they discover Hitler is going to be at the premiere of "Nation's Pride," they decide to crash the party.

If you are hoping for another "Saving Private Ryan," "Inglourious Basterds" may let you down. Not only was there not a single battle scene, "Inglourious Basterds" is not even historically accurate.

But neither of those, I believe, make "Basterds" less enjoyable. In fact, I think it enhances the quality of the film. We have all taken history classes and know the outcome of World War II, but what "Basterds" allows us to do is temporarily throw away what we learned in school and make a make believe WWII story a lot of fun.

Tarantino's dialogue is, of course, top notch in "Basterds." Before I got to watch the film I was discussing with my buddies if they thought Tarantino's always amusing pop culture dialogue was going to be in "Basterds." I guessed it may not, due to the time period and the nature of the story, but sure enough it was.

I did feel, however, that every scene was just stretched out as long as it could have been, but not one scene let me down. Every scene just had a great climax and conclusion.

I think my only complaint with "Basterds" was Eli Roth's acting, who played Sgt. Donny Donowitz, nicknamed "The Bear Jew". But before I start criticizing Roth, I would like it to be known that I love Roth. "Cabin Fever (Roth's directorial debut), "Hostel," and "Hostel II" are some of my favortie horror films. But I felt Roth was trying to hard. He went from being a small indie horror film director to acting right next to Brad Pitt in "Basterds." I'm sure that's not an easy job.

But watch "Basterds" and have fun. Try to catch it while it is still in theaters!

8 out of 10

Boogie Nights "Everyone Has One Special Thing"

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Mark Wahlberg & Burt Reynolds

Backed by an amazing cast, "Boogie Nights" tells the story of Eddie Adams (Wahlberg), who becomes a popular adult film star, but eventually hits a downward spiral filled with drug use and complexes.

The first half the film shows the rise of Wahlberg's character, who changes his name to Dirk Diggler, and although interesting, it almost can't compare to the stellar and intense second half of the film.

P.T. Anderson's choice of photography is nothing less than extraordinary, showcasing that other film's do not have to have a million different cuts in a single scene. The music in the film fits perfectly and is just so much fun. The supporting cast is also worth mentioning with such stars as John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, and William H. Macy.


9 out of 10
Trailer for "Boogie Nights:"