You don't get it, son. This isn't a email service, it's a blog and we're the bloggers! We are the Caped Informers. Here to inform you on all current comic related news.
Yesterday at SDCC, CW's Arrow released the first look of it's third season. First looks at Roy as Arsenal, Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer, and scariest off all a pissed off John Diggle.
Identity seems to be the main theme this of this clip. Can Ollie be both the Arrow and lead a normal life? October cannot come soon enough.
In other Arrow news, Batgirl may be coming to Starling. Well maybe just Barbara Gordon, but a guy can dream can't he? This rumor comes in hot by way of a DC tweet claiming that some episodes this year will have flashbacks specifically focused on Felicity's origin story. Most Arrow viewers should know that Ollie's right hand woman is a graduate of MIT and that is where these flashbacks are to take place. Barbara Gordon also went to MIT. Coincidence? I think not. Because this rumor got really interesting when DC added that one of the episodes will be titled Oracle, Barbara Gordon's codename after she was confined to a wheelchair. So will we see Babs? Maybe its no guarantee. The guys who write Arrow are huge comic fans and love references. The episode title Oracle could just be a nod to how Felicity plays a similar role to Ollie like Babs did to Bats.
Hey guys! its Wednesday we all know what that means. Time to crush on some of the ladies in the super hero world.
Actress: Anna Paquin
This week for my crush, I decided to choose Anna Paquin. Paquin is best known for her role as Sookie on True Blood, but I chose her because of her Rogue in the X-Men franchise. Anna is a great actress and through out all the X-Men movies that she was in, I loved the way she portrayed Rogue. I was very pleased to see her return in Days of Future Past after the time line was reset. She has great looks, and is a fantastic actress, and hopefully we can see more of her in the upcoming X-Men Apocalypse reprising her mutant role.
"The first boy I ever kissed ended up in a coma for three weeks. I can still feel him inside my head. The same for you"
-Brady
Character Crush: Barbara Gordon (Batgirl or Oracle)
Barbara Gordon has had quite a journey over the years. She became a capable crime fighter alongside Batman. During that time engaged in an on-again off-again with Dick Grayson. Then the Joker paralyzed her in the famous storyline The Killing Joke. Most people would wallow in sorrow or give up on the vigilante lifestyle for good. Instead Barbara didn't give up. She used her computer skills to reinvent herself as a guide to the Bat-family known as Oracle. For years Oracle was an essential part of the Batman mythos until current continuity had Babs get her legs back and take back the mantle of Batgirl. No matter what future obstacles Barbara may face, she will always come out a greater hero.
Barbara's Batgirl first showed up in Batman: The Animated Series in the episode Shadow of the Bat Pt. 1+2. An amazing two parter with a great score. Give it a watch sometime.
Arkham Knight E3 Overview
Before I start getting into the coverage from the E3 gameplay trailer, I would like to start off with a little background information about the series and the game for the people that don't know too much of this game series. Arkham Knight is the fourth installment of the latest batman franchise, which also includes Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Origins. These types of games have a sort of Assassin's Creed like game play and combat system going over a wide, explorable map that is riddled with enemies and secrets. The newest installment, Arkham Knight, is the sequel to the Arkham City game and takes place in Gotham City and is voiced by the almighty Kevin Conroy. The original trailer for this game was released in early March and since then, there have been many speculations on the gameplay and the landscape. The best part from that original trailer was the Batmobile and the fact that the player can now officially drive it around Gotham City. Although the game has been pushed back to 2015, it is still one of the most highly anticipated games for the next gen consoles and with the game play footage being released at E3 this year, everyone can now see it in its glory.
With the game play trailer above, lets begin to pick it apart and see what makes this game one of the best games to come out for the next gen consoles.
The Overview
This game takes place one year after the Arkham City game in the City of Gotham. He is helped by James and his daughter Barbara Gordon, as the Oracle, to help rid the city of the criminals that escaped from Arkham Asylum. The main villain, introduced briefly in the first trailer but more so in this one, Scarecrow, enlists the help of many other super-villains to help take out the Batman once and for all. This game also introduces a new villain to the playing field, The Arkham Knight. This villain is like a militarized version of the Batman that wears a coveted 'A' on his chest to symbolize Arkham. The player will have to take down all the super-villains in Gotham to save its citizens and himself from the Scarecrow.
The Suit
One of the first things that is seen in this trailer is Bruce putting on the bat suit. The detail the game designers went into the suit alone makes this game worth while. It's more robotic than the normal cape and cowl, but it makes it more realistic as an armor to protect his body during fights. And the fact that you can see the suit fitting perfectly to his body adds to the game experience to the new and the old fans. If they can get this type of suit into any of the upcoming Batman movies, I think we would all be very happy.
The Landscape
Starting with the Wayne Tower, you can see the amount of details put into the surrounding area. In a small area like the starting place, seeing that much detail can only speculate what Gotham City is going to look like. At first, I thought that if they put that much detail in a small area, the overall map may not be as well done and thank God (or whatever religious deity you thank, if any) I was wrong. The map of Gotham City spans over 5 times the area of Arkham City and every area has so much detail put into it, it probably wouldn't be physically possible for it to work for the previous console systems, such as the 360 and PS3. When Batman first steps out onto the ledge at 0:42, you can see what I mean by a huge landscape. From what is know, everything that is seen from the view is traversable, giving Arkham Knight one of the biggest maps in video game history.
Not to mention how far he drops as well. The closer he gets to the bottom, the more the map expands and you can see the detail put into every little window and door and light etc. Although I still want to keep my old 360, I am glad that this game is a next gen exclusive, just because of the sheer detail put into the design of the game.
The Batmobile
The most anticipated part of this new game, the fully rideable Batmobile. For it being one of the coolest features in the new game, it comes at a cost. The amount of work and detail put into the batmobile made it use up so much data that it would take up an entire 360. How it looks however, it makes a lot of sense in its memory usage. From shown on the game play trailer, the player can summon the batmobile when Batman is nearing the ground and the fabled batmobile appears. The actual driving of the batmobile looks like any other game with cars in it and looks pretty unwieldy. But unlike other games, the batmobile doesn't crash when it hits a lamp post or a blockade, it completely decimates them, not even slowing down. Now the best part of the batmobile starts at 1:52 of the game play trailer; when it gets ready for combat. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the batmobile getting combat ready and I have to say, it is probably the best feature of this game by far. The wheels widening and being put on a pivot point instead of the axle makes the batmobile more mobile and agile, being able to move side-to-side, diagonally, and front-to-back as easy as it is to drive normally. And when the turrets came out of the top, I was ecstatic. The detail put into these guns are just astounding. From the fighting in the batmobile, it looks like you have a rocket, a lock-on missile, and a gatling gun, which I feel is just enough to have, you definitely don't want to go overboard with the amount of weapons, then it would make the game too easy. The last feature that is shown of the batmobile is the ability to rocket yourself out of the batmobile and be able to glide away easily. This, I feel, will be one of the more useful tricks the batmobile can pull off. It makes it easier to dodge enemies while in the batmobile and it makes it so the player can easily start exploring the skies again.
The Combat and Stealth
The combat in this game is just like the other games in the series, where you can gang up on multiple enemies and start combo-ing the crap out of them. One of the newest features added to the combat is called the "Fear Takedown", which is shown at around 2:55 where in the top left corner of the screen, you can see a "Fear Takedown Meter". From what I can understand, the diamonds underneath the Fear Takedown label are the amount of targets acquired. This move can select up to three targets when undetected and slows down the time to be able to take the enemies out quickly and quietly, and all it takes is to look at the target and press one button, easy enough right? This makes the stealth game and combat game a whole lot easier for the player while still making the combat interesting. Like in all the other games, the stealth makes the player essentially invisible to the enemies in the area. We get a good look at the stealth towards the end at around 3:36. I think its cool having the player be able to traverse underneath the enemy in the vent system and then pop out when close enough to the enemy.
The Ending
When I saw the first game play trailer while watching E3, I thought to myself, 'why would they bring in a broken trailer, I feel like they should have checked it out before launching it'. But when Scarecrow was revealed, it took away my sense of shame for the broken trailer and turned it into acting like a giddy little school girl. His reveal as the main enemy for batman, though known from the first trailer, adds a whole new set of questions, like how will his poison be used? or how will he use the Arkham Knight to beat the Batman? All we know for sure is that Scarecrow is enlisting the help of the Penguin, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, and the Riddler to take down the Batman. All in all, I can see this game being one of the best games for the next gen consoles and has a good chance of being "Game of the Year" with all of these added features and superb graphics and game play. All I can say is, I can't wait for this game to come out and be able to see its glory in person.
