The Top 10 Best Video Games Of 2014

I was debating whether I should bother making a list with summaries this year, but some outright disgust at some other websites' choices has caused me to take the plunge. My one rule is that I don't list any remakes or ports of something from previous years. Here are my top 10 Video Games of 2014!

(Also note, I haven't gotten to play Dragon Age: Inquisition, so I can't comment on it yet. I have no doubt in my mind that it would have been part of this list had I played it already though.)

10. Transistor (PC, PS4, Mac, Linux)



The creators of Bastion brought this wonderful project to life. Another awesome action-RPG that pulls you in with it's simple, but fluid gameplay, and a welcome strong female protagonist to boot!

9. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)



If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Some may try to call this a rehash, but I doubt those people have actually played the game. This entry takes many of the best features from past Mario Kart titles and turns it into one of the best sequels yet. You can always count on Nintendo for fun factor.

8. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBOX One, PS3, Xbox 360)



This is easily one of, if not the best game set in Middle Earth to date. Combining some of the best elements of RPGs the Batman Arkham games, with a little Assassin's Creed thrown into the mix, you've got yourself one beast of a game. If Assassin's Creed Unity left you with a bad taste in your mouth, this will do quite nicely.

7. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)



How do you make an already great game even better? Add more of everything! More music, more characters, and more goodies make this the perfect sequel. Rhythm-based games aren't going anywhere, and this is a great sign of that.

6. Dark Souls 2 (PC, PS4, XBOX One, PS3, Xbox 360)



While not quite as polished as the original Dark Souls, this is still an amazing sequel. You'll die a lot, curse a lot, and still keep playing until you hit that next big bossfight... which you'll curse at even more.

5. Five Nights at Freddy's 1 & 2 (PC, Android, iOS, Windows Phone)



Sometimes less can be more, and these games prove that in spades. A point-and-click survival horror series in this day and age? Absolutely! Between the absolute feeling of dread you get despite such a simple setup, and engaging backstory hidden within the lines, these are the must play horror games of the year.

4. Super Smash Bros. (3DS, Wii U)



What even needs to be said about this one? The game causes more people to buy Nintendo systems than any other these days, and is a vast improvement over the last entry on the Wii. This game (just like the others) will hook you in for life with its great mechanics and awesome gameplay modes (multiplayer obviously being the biggest).

3. Bravely Default (3DS)



If you've been having any doubts about the future of JRPGs as of late, your savior is here! Keeping everything you ever loved about classic titles from the RPG "glory days," while also removing all of the conventions that you hate, make this an absolute joy to experience. You'll actually feel spoiled by the time you go back to other JRPGs and realize how much work was put into this game. I for one can't wait for the sequel.

2. Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)



My issues with the blatant sexism in the series aside, this is without a doubt one of the greatest games to come out this year, especially for fans of action titles like Devil May Cry, God of War, and Ninja Gaiden. It has some of the smoothest controls and combat mechanics in any game of its type, and blows just about any other 3D action game out of the water. Every stage and boss fight will leave you feeling like you just climbed a mountain with ease, that's how pumped the action will make you.

1. Shovel Knight (PC, 3DS, Wii U, OSX, Linux)



In an age where a lot of independent games are usually rehashes of classic titles with little bits of personality thrown in (for better or worse), Shovel Knight does just about everything perfectly. From the nostalgic 8-bit music to the odes of gaming's past (Mega Man, Castlevania, Ducktales, etc.), you will not want to stop. Even after you've explored everything and vanquished all foes, there's a New Game + mode just waiting for you jump back into the fray with. If you had an NES in your childhood then this game belongs in your collection without a doubt.

Honorable Mentions:

Wasteland 2
Wolfenstein: The New Order
inFamous: Second Son
Resogun: Heroes
The Banner Saga
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Azure Striker Gunvolt

So what were your thoughts on gaming this year? Agree or disagree? Thanks for reading either way!

Thoughts on Walker Stalker Con 2014 (Saturday, Meadowlands Exposition Center, Secaucus NJ)

I had first begun to read about Walker Stalker Con about a month or two ago. The event was founded by two serious fans of The Walking Dead (James and Eric as they're publicly known) who originally started a podcast after meeting the cast and crew of the show over in Senoia, Georgia. They decided they wanted to create a convention centering around the same experience they had with the cast and crew, and even started a Kickstarter campaign to get the ball rolling Now, they have events in multiple cities across the country. A friend of mine happened to point me to a Groupon that would allow me to get general admission tickets for about half of the price of a normal ticket, so I decided that was enough incentive to give the convention a try. After all, I've been to all kinds of conventions (New York Comic Con, AnimeNEXT, etc.), but never one specifically themed around The Walking Dead and other horror before. Made even more exciting was all of the guest announcements, as there was a seriously big roster of cast members attending, including Norman Reedus (who plays fan-favorite Daryl Dixon in the show). Sure, some crowds are to be expected at events like this, but it couldn't be all bad, right?

So my friend and I drive over and arrive at about 11:00 AM. The doors opened at 10:30, so we were expecting there might be somewhat of a line, but nothing too crazy. Our faces got quite pale as we saw the actual line. It was completely coiled around the convention center, to the point where you couldn't even see the end of it. "Are they even letting people in?" we thought to ourselves. We get into the line with our hands in our pockets due to the cold, wishing we had gotten some coffee beforehand. The line did move, albeit very slowly and we started to wonder if we would even get inside by 1 PM at the rate things were going. Just about the only thing to keep us entertained during this grind was an amazing cosplay of Pennywise the clown from the book/movie "It." He was very funny and actually kept a lot of people in high spirits. About halfway up, the line suddenly stopped moving almost completely, and people were naturally beginning to complain. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I heard a woman shouting at one of the staff members about something, and within about 15 minutes of that, other volunteers suddenly came outside and began handing everyone the bracelets to get in with. The line that went for half a mile suddenly disappeared within mere minutes. I don't know what that woman said to the staff member, but it seemed to have done the trick.

Out of the cold and into the convention hall, we looked around to see who was here and what there was to do. Now, at most conventions, you can expect to see certain things: cosplayers, panels, dealers, artists, activities/games, and then of course autographing and photo ops for guests/celebrities. All of these things were technically there, but... people who frequent other conventions must have immediately noticed how much on the back-burner all of these things were besides the autographing and photo ops. You had a couple of small rows worth of dealers with products to sell, and even less rows of artists to follow it, to the point where you could cover the entire area in a pretty short amount of time (minus the difficulty you would have had moving around, but more on that later). There was a small area in one of the corners of the building where you could play a BB gun game, but that was about it for any games/interaction. The panel area was also very confusing. As someone who's gone to all kinds of large and local conventions, panels have always been presented in closed rooms where you could actually hear what the people on stage would have to say. For some reason, the panel floor was right in the middle of the entire building, with absolutely no type of walls around it to block out the sound from around it. This made our attempt at listening to the Comic Book Men panel a disaster, between the shouting going on all around us, and the fact that we had to sit farther back due to being general admission peasants and the only decent seats being reserved for all of the VIP/Gold/Platinum ticket holders. It also didn't help that there was a total of about seven panels for the entire day (a very low number when compared to most conventions, even local), with one of them being cancelled inexplicably.

Moving around the convention hall was extremely difficult. We were literally shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone in the building and getting from one place to another took alarmingly long amounts of time. My friend and I began wondering if this was a fire hazard, it was getting so bad. Between all of the small and large conventions I've been to, never have I experienced such difficulty with simply moving around the convention floor.

After being shocked that we had already seen the entire show floor within about an hour or so, my friend and I went out to get lunch around 1:30 PM. As we were walking out, we immediately noticed an extremely large line to get back into the building once again, and caution tape around all of the big stairs, with multiple police walking around. After going to one of the nearby restaurants, we were reading updates online and found out that people were being told a fire marshall came and temporarily closed off the building. Why this actually happened is slightly confusing, as I was actually given two different stories on the matter. The first, was that multiple people were told at the door that the building was overbooked and that the show was oversold. The other, which was provided by the facebook page of the convention, stated that there was an issue with the flow of traffic and that the building had to be shut down for 30 minutes to alleviate this. While I can confirm that the latter is true (as multiple chairs from the panel area were removed to create more moving room), I can't help but wonder why so many people were allegedly told that the building was filled to capacity if their official webpage is claiming that was not the case. Thankfully, things were cleared up by the time we came back from lunch, and we were able to head right back inside.

There was definitely more walking room the second time we came back in, but I had also heard that some people complained about the wait to get back in and eventually left, so that may have also played a hand. I had already fronted the price for a photo op with Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) at 7 PM, so I didn't really have any temptation to leave, despite there still not being much to actually do until that time. In the course of the time spent there, I met Emily Kinney (actress who plays Beth Greene) and very briefly shook hands with Chad Coleman (Tyreese) while he started to walk around. Both of them were very nice and polite, great people all around. I also stayed for one more panel near the end of the day, featuring Manu Bennett of Arrow and Sparticus. Thankfully, it was much easier to hear this last panel. I'm not sure if this was due to more people leaving for the day, or the volume of the microphones being raised, but it was a serious improvement to the panels I had heard before, and Manu was an absolute joy to listen to. He even pulled people up on stage with him to act out some funny scenarios.


So the time finally came for people to start lining up for the photo op with Norman Reedus... or so I thought. I'll start this by saying that I am no newbie when it comes to photo ops. You are given a ticket with a timeframe to come and get your picture, as well as a designated line to stand in about 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time. I've done this a few times at New York Comic Con now, and the photo ops this year were run by the same group that also did the photo ops for New York Comic Con, so I had hopes that this process would at least be somewhat similar. Unfortunately, I was wrong; dead wrong. People weren't even able to start lining up until after 7:30, and that was only for the Platinum/Gold VIP pass holders. Another half-hour later, it was the guest and regular VIP pass holders turn. After that, they finally began lining up us general admission peons by about 8:00. Standing around waiting to hear which line was yours, just to have to jump into it nervously was a terrible setup, and it was making everyone in the room extremely anxious. It didn't help that the girl with the microphone who was giving directions couldn't really be heard properly by anyone. Now, I am not ignorant. I know Norman Reedus is the most popular character on The Walking Dead, and naturally, he would also have the longest lines. The actual line to see him wasn't the problem however, but rather the terrible organization of the entire setup. There should have been a much clearer designation of where you were supposed to stand and line up instead of telling everyone to go away and wait, and it should have been done in a much more timely manner. If your ticket says 7:00, it's supposed to MEAN the line starts at 7:00. That is not some spoiled mentality, that is how these things are run, and have been run for years.

While finally getting into my proper line, I couldn't help but think about what could have actually caused the lines to get so bad, even leading up to this current photo op, and then it started to dawn on me more. It was the tier-system of ticketing that likely caused this entire situation. At most conventions, you are either given the choice of a general admission ticket, or possibly a VIP ticket for more money. At this convention, you literally have Platinum VIP, Gold VIP, Guest VIP, regular VIP, and finally us lower-lifeform General Admissions. In the time it took to set up the individual lines, at least 15-20 minutes had to have passed for each. This was a serious amount of time spent just to make sure each line was started up before they could begin the next one. I finally got my picture taken around 8:30. Thankfully, Mr. Reedus was awesome to meet, and very enthusiastic to greet all of the fans and take pictures with them.


Whether the pros of this event are going to outweigh the cons is going to depend heavily on what you are expecting at a convention such as a this. If you've never attended other conventions before, and are going solely for the purpose of trying to meet your favorite actors and actresses from The Walking Dead and other horror franchise classics (for a serious amount of money), then you may very well have a good time (crowds be damned). If you are used to other conventions (particularly Comic Con-style events and others like it), then you will likely be quite disappointed at the lack of things to actually do. Not everyone goes to conventions just for the purpose of meeting celebrities, so if you are in that group, then there is very little reason to attend.

I would like to end this blog and review by giving what I believe are some reasonable suggestions to the convention staff for how to make future years more enjoyable for everyone (as this is still a relatively new convention, despite its multiple locations across the country):

- A bigger venue to better fit the large crowds that are to be expected for events such as this. AnimeNEXT used to be at the same convention center, and they spread the event across multiple hotel buildings to help with the crowds and make the panels and other events more personalized.
- More experienced staff. While the volunteers were all very friendly and as helpful as could be (a major plus), they did not seem to be very well-informed, especially during the fire marshall visit.
- Less tiers of tickets. General admission and VIP passes are fine (maybe even Guest VIP as well), but creating more levels above this actually makes things like photo op lines more difficult and time-consuming, and it only makes everyone with a general admission ticket feel even further left out.
- Give fans more things to do. Not everyone goes to conventions with the purpose of meeting celebrities. More panels and events focusing on the horror genre might be a great way to start.
- Don't delete every negative comment you get on your Facebook page, as this makes you come off as shady, rather than efficient.

I want to recommend this convention to friends; I really do. But the bottom line is that as of right now, it really comes off as nothing more than money-grubbing. I hope the best for this event and the people who run it in the future, but unless there is a serious overhaul and changes like the ones I listed above, I doubt I'll be attending this again. Did you go out to this convention or one like it? I'd like to hear your thoughts as well. Thanks for reading!

Comic Review: All-New Captain America #1 (2014)

It's been a while since I posted a comic book review, and would very much like to get back into that trend. I thought I'd start off by going right into an issue that's got just about everybody talking; All-New Captain America #1! This is a very important issue for Marvel, and for more reason than one.

So by the cover, you can probably tell that you're not looking at Steve Rogers anymore. No, this is Sam Wilson (previously known as The Falcon) we're talking about. To make a long story short, Steve had all of his super soldier serum (what made him super strong in the first place) drained from him in a place called Dimension Z, making him immediately age into an old man. From there, he felt it necessary to give Sam the shield and the mantle.

This decision of the status-quo change immediately screams risky. Putting Steve Rogers out of commission (again!) is one thing, but to also give the title to his former sidekick is something else entirely. It's also a decision that's going to likely confuse many casual fans who are just jumping in from this point. Marvel has already made plenty of other gutsy decisions these last few years (having Spider-Man's mind get swapped with that of Doctor Octopus', a new female Thor, etc.), but this one may stick out to people a little more; and more power to Marvel if it does.

As any fans of Stuart Immonen (pencils) and Wade Von Grawbadger (inker) can tell you to expect great things, and they're right on the money here. This is exactly the kind of high-quality artwork that one would hope to have associated with a title as big as this one. Every page and panel just oozes with style and flows together perfectly.

The majority of this issue focuses on action only, and that's fine for now. We get to immediately see Sam in action, as well as members of Hydra and some other villains thrown in for good measure. But that's not all. Sam also has a new sidekick, in the form of Nomad (Ian Zola). What makes this grouping immediately different is that unlike Steve and Sam, Ian is quite bitter over Sam being chosen over him to take the Captain America title. He makes this known very quickly on, and it will be interesting to see how this dynamic between the two of them plays out as the series continues.

Just about the only negative thing I can even think of when writing this review, is that some of the dialogue felt a little quick and forced, mainly due to the fast-paced story of this issue. It honestly didn't bother me one bit, even if the bits of humor thrown in felt a little stale as well. The last page more than makes up for any flaws you could find in this issue however, and sets things up rather nicely for the rest of this first story arc.

All-New Captain America is off to an excellent start, and it's great to see Sam finally joining the ranks of Marvel's top-tier superheroes. While it's very possible (and likely) that Marvel will eventually find a way to put Steve back into the forefront, I'm very much enjoying this current setup right now. I think any fans of Sam's character will more than agree with me that his rise in the ranks was long overdue.

9 Out Of 10

Deadpool's Head-Explosion Movie Review Of Interstellar (2014) (SPOILER FREE! GET YOUR SPOILER FREE REVIEW HERE!)

Christopher Nolan is one hell of a guy. Whether you've sat through movies like Memento, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, or any one of his other crazy projects, you already know that you're going to be in for one deep and thought-provoking film. Every time you leave the theater after viewing one of his movies, you tend to come out being really quiet and sometimes breathless. Shit's serious, folks.

I'm going to get something out of the way right now. It is physically impossible to talk about this movie and not talk about "2001: A Space Odyssey" in the same discussion. If you don't do this, you're just wrong. It's not even an opinion thing at that point! Nolan obviously wanted to make the next "2001," and while I'm not sure if I'd take it that far, I will say this was certainly one hell of an attempt. I can't even produce a movie about a cat and a seal finding love in all the wrong places, and yet this guy pulls out all the stops every time. I'd love to meet him one day and ask about how to make my cat/seal fic a reality!

The movie's plot is pretty simple... for the first hour at least... kind of. In the future, humankind is dying because the Earth can no longer sustain us. (Huh... More like RIGHT NOW, am I right folks!?) Cooper Toocooltohavealastname is a former test pilot for NASA, now spending his days in the way more exciting lifestyle of farming, with his son, daughter, and father-in-law. His daughter Murphy (no, that's not a typo; that's actually the daughter's name. DEAL WITH IT!) believes their house is being haunted by ghosts when she sees strange messages being planted throughout the house in code. This code actually winds up leading them all to a secret NASA base with a fully-functioning ship intact. The plan? To jump through a wormhole near Saturn and find new means of life for the already-doomed Earth race.

That's about as much as I'm allowed to say without going into ZOMGHOWCOULDHESAYTHAT spoiler territory, so I'll proceed with my thoughts going forward. Wow, did this movie take me for a loop! It starts out a bit slow moving to be sure (and clocking in at almost 3 hours, it can afford to be...), and I admittedly almost fell asleep during a few of those middle-scenes; but when I tell you a movie picks up, you better damn well believe me... because it does!

I imagine people will either love or hate the soundtrack, due to its industrial/20th Century sound that you don't usually hear in movie soundtracks these days. Personally, I thought it all fit in well enough to the point where it didn't take me away from the film, and didn't annoy the hell out of me either, so that's got to be a plus, right?

I also have to give all of the acting talent some serious props. Not one person felt forced or out of place to me, and I believe Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in particular deserve every award they're going to be inevitably nominated for after this. Everyone came off as very genuine and believable, unlike that science tho. But I'm not going into that. That's like another 3 blogs in itself, and frankly, I have too much of a life for that sheet. Maybe that loser Justin who always posts these can help you out there, but I'm sticking to my guns (literally!).

There's pretty much only one way to say this: If you're a science fiction buff, you seriously have to see this. Even if you don't end up liking it, the film and it's WTFOMGBBQ ending are going to be talked about for years, so you might want to get in on what the "cool kids" are watching.

9 References To Relativity Out Of 10

As for me? I'll continue to work on that epic cat/seal crossover film, and we'll see if I can't make that the next Academy Award winner. Catch you on the flipside, nerds!

Am I Trying To Do Too Much At Once?... NAAAAH!

Looking back on these last few months, I've started to take on what some may consider to be an overwhelming number of personal projects as of late; some on my own, and some with small groups of people. They range from all sorts of different things like music, to programming and developing. I work a 9-to-5 job (well, technically an 8:30-to-5 job) with an commute of about an hour and fifteen minutes there and back. I'm usually more than tired by the time I get home, but I've found some ways to counter this and keep up with some of goals. Funny enough, that's also the result of another goal of mine.

First and foremost, my biggest drive as of late has been learning to exercise more. This is the first time in my life I've ever really taken on consistent exercise (with the exception of when I used to do Tae Kwon Do, but I was much younger then). As a type-1 diabetic, I have to make sure that my blood sugar levels are within good ranges every day to keep healthy and prevent any possible internal damage that could come as a result of poor management. While my diet has been generally fine for the most part, my blood sugar numbers have not. I could list a million reasons for why this is (work stress, private life stress, lack of motivation, lack of exercise, poor self-esteem, etc.), but that's not what this post is about. I could also talk about the fact that depression and depressive symptoms have become more common among type-1 diabetics, but again, that's not what this is about. I suppose that eventually, I got so sick of being down on myself, that I knew I had to change things. I just didn't realize what an impact it could possibly have on me if I did.

I began a small exercise routine. A friend of mine at work encouraged me to start taking walks outside of the building during our break time, so I eventually did. Just talking with someone about work and life while stepping outside was one thing, but the walking also changed something in me. It was as if everything suddenly felt less hazy than before, and I couldn't believe it. After all, it was just a small walk outside during the middle of the day, right? Well, I'm not so sure about that. I immediately started to feel more confidence in just about everything I was doing, whether it be work or other goals. I began reflecting on all of the things I wanted (and still want) to do with my life, and realized that the only one who's ever stopped me from doing all of these things is myself, and my lack of confidence. I could point the finger at all the mental bullying I used to experience, my height, or that I was convinced (or maybe just convinced myself) that there were all sorts of things that other people got lucky on; things that someone like me could never and would never accomplish.

I don't know what ever gave me this train of thought, but that's long dead and I will never let it come back.

I started to increase that exercise routine to outside of work as well. As soon as I get home, instead of just sitting down and making myself tired, I do crunches and situps, along with some lifting. I don't do this in some great amount, but again, it's left an impact. Over time doing this, I can definitely see the difference in my appearance and posture. My arms have started to slowly get bigger, and I'm starting to look like I could even reach that "six-pack abs" territory someday. That alone is something I never believed to be possible. There's a million other things I've always wanted to do in my life that I believed I was never cut out for. Instead of thinking I can't, I just think about HOW those things can be done instead; realistically. Below is a list of just some of the things I've got planned to accomplish, and how I've started to go about them:

Game Development - I've been learning with Game Maker and the GML language first. I am also planning to start learning Unity and more C# to use in conjunction with it. I'm familiar with object-oriented programming through Java, C/++, and Visual Basic, so the fundamentals behind all of these are relatively the same.

Music Writing and Composition - While learning the basics of guitar (and still intending to pursue it further), I always felt like the drums were my true calling. I finally saved up enough in order to buy myself a decent starter set, and am now working on saving up for cymbal stands and actual cymbals. I practice in little bits for now (and am mostly practicing motions and timing, before jumping into more complicate fills and signatures).

Web Series (Infinite Lives) - My friend and I have completed 1 episode (which was partially damaged, but we are in the act of recovering), and have almost completed another episode. Once this is complete, we will try to setup a website and a Youtube account to host it. We're very excited to show it and hope others will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Podcast (8-Bit Knights) - My friends and I started this podcast a long time ago, and slowly drifted away from it for multiple reasons (we were all extremely busy and going through some major life changes). We finally began to bring this back, and now have two podcasts recorded. I am working on the new website to host it as we speak. We will all try to record for this podcast every week or two.

Writing (Project Sword) - I've had a storyline in my head for many years (mainly as a game, but also possible as a novel/movie/comic/etc.). I want to finally bring this story out of my head and into words for others to finally experience. I'm done automatically thinking it's "not good enough" in my head. There's no sense in worrying about what could be instead of making it a reality and seeing the results for yourself. I've written about 13 chapters so far, and intend to get back to this more soon.

Science - Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" and Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" absolutely enthralled me. I used to believe I was never smart enough to truly get into sciences (and difficulty with Calculus only furthered that thought process), but over the years, I began asking myself "Why not?" Who the hell says I can't learn everything there is to learn and break out into the world to become the next Sagan, Hawking, Tyson, Einstein, or even Newton? I was the one who said that. No more.

Conventions - It's no secret that I absolutely love going to different conventions every year (AnimeNEXT and New York Comic Con to name the obvious). There's a million different fandoms that you could say I'm a part of, and this also inspires me to one day possibly host of a convention of my own, whether it be a "Comic Con" or something else. I only just started reading about how to make something like that possible, as well as the costs involved (and trust me when I say you just don't want to know those costs!). It's a little more difficult than some of the things I listed above, but still very reachable.

These are just some of the many things I'd like to pursue and move forward with. And I'm sure anyone reading this has just as many great ideas that they can bring to the table. What I'm really learning is that we're the only ones really holding ourselves back from it however. We could point fingers at all kinds of things and say it's because of all of those, but laying blame isn't going to get us anywhere; it's working around those things that hold us back and making the impossible, possible.

To anyone reading this now, I'd like to know what kind of goals you have in your own lives. What dreams would you like to pursue, and what do you believe may hold you back from living them?

As always, I thank everyone for taking the time to read this, and hope to hear from you soon!

Mighty No. 9 Beta Impressions (PC Version)

It seems like only yesterday that Kickstarter exploded when news that Keiji Infafune would be returning to his roots with another game set in the classic Mega Man-style that we all know and love. Upon making so much money, that he literally now has an animated series in the works, gamers who pledged enough in the campaign are now eligible to download the beta of the game, as members of PAX 2014 were able to try out the game themselves. Since the hype around this upcoming game has been so ridiculous, it's hard to believe that it could even live up to it at this point. So just how well is the beta we've all been chomping at the bit to play? Depending on what you already knew about the title, you may be a bit surprised.

One could easily dismiss this as a Mega Man clone, due to its look, the style of the soundtrack, and the level structure. All of these elements do resemble previous entries in the Mega Man series, particularly X, being that Mighty No. 9 can shoot, run, and dash in a similar fashion, and the "boss fight at the end of the level" pattern remains intact. Most would say this isn't really a bad thing (as it's been a winning formula for countless decades now), but all is not exactly as it was either.

The beta only allowed us to play one level for now (though it was confirmed there will be more added in the future, before the full game release), but it was a great level to get us into the swing of things, regardless of whether it actually ends up making the full release or not. While Mighty No. 9 blasts in the same fashion as Mega Man, there is no charge shot mechanic (which classic Mega fans will recall from the earliest couple of NES/Famicom entries). To make up for this, there is a whole new trick to take out your enemies with, and it will take a little getting used to at first. When you shoot any enemy a certain number of times, they will begin to glow. As this happens, you need to dash into it in order to collect its energy (known in the game as a "Xel"). These forms of energy will grant No. 9 different enhancement types, such as increased blaster range and faster speed, if only for a short amount of time. Collecting enough Xels can also allow you to store up energy for healing later on (similar to the way energy tanks were used in the original Mega Man games).

The Xel mechanic adds a bit of depth to each stage, as you can also perform combo attacks, depending on how many enemies are in front of you and begin glowing after being fired at. This will make players want to reconsider how they go about blasting some enemies, if it will lead to more combo chains and points as the level goes on. It's also important to note that you will receive a grade at the end of the mission, and it's fairly obvious that this style of play makes for the bulk of it.

Changing things up even more was the appearance of Mighty No. 2, who appeared in the level as more of a support character. During one scene, multiple enemies were shooting at me in a far away spot that No. 9 could not reach. Before fumbling forward and losing health, Mighty No. 2 suddenly jumped next to these enemies and froze them all so I could continue. I'm very curious to see how else this and other Mighty No.'s will affect the gameplay in future stages.

Some other little nods to the Blue Bomber's past included a helper robot that would drop items for you to take, and the classic doors to the boss fight setup. Speaking of said boss...

Mighty No. 5 was an overall well-made fight. He begins by firing bullets and trying to jump over (and ON) you at every chance he gets. As the fight goes on, you will notice that even bosses can begin to glow and fall victim to the dash attack, sometimes for some major damage. The battle clearly picks up in intensity once No. 5's health hits the halfway mark. Most notable was his explosion attack, taking up more than half of the screen with each blast.

Anyone actually playing the level can tell you that it certainly looks like another Mega Man game, but that the feel is definitely something of its own. The dash and Xel mechanics changed the entire outlook of the stage, and will likely change the entire setup of the entire game if this level was any indication.

My reactions to this beta are definitely positive. I would have been happy even if the game was another Mega Man clone, but since it's not, I find that to be much better as a whole. I really believe this is going to be everything it's been hyped up to be and then some. My hat goes off to Inafune and the team, for coming together to start this new project with all of its fans in mind. Now when can we get those new levels!?

Deadpool's Testosterone-Infused Movie Review Of Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods (2014) (Spoiler Free)

Dragon Ball Z: Considered by many to be the greatest action series of all time (animated or otherwise). It's built up a hell of a reputation. Honestly, if you were to tell me you hadn't heard of it before, I'd question what alien race you've come from to not know about this show, or what rock you've been hiding under for all of these years (as well as if I could borrow said rock with its magical hiding properties). Yeah, it's just that big! With the original Dragon Ball spanning a total of 153 episodes, Dragon Ball Z spanning 291 episodes, the manga spanning over 519 chapters, AND all of the movies and spinoff shows, that's been a hell of a lot of time to make jokes about dragon's nether regions!

It's hard to believe that after all of these years, Akira Toriyama (the famed creator of this action/explosion goldmine) is still keeping the series going some more, and he's doing it in that trend I've seen a lot of popular anime going in lately; movie form! These days, people can't afford to sit down and watch another 200+ episodes of anime to get into the story more. Oh no. AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT! Instead, the creators put all the bulk of the plot and pretty animation into smaller movie chunks. Less time to watch while getting all the payoff, and more time to spend crafting the plots to be the best they can be. While this means you won't be able to binge-watch anymore, you may in fact gain more of a life (something I don't believe many fans of this series are used to, but baby steps my children...).

So Goku and the gang are back in an all new story line, taking place right after the end of the Z series, that pretends Dragon Ball GT never even happened (a decision I think many would agree is for the better!!!). A character called Beerus (known as the GOD OF DESTRUCTION because why not), learns of Goku and how he defeated Freeza on the planet Namek (seriously, it took him THAT long just to get through the Namek saga episodes!? Weak!). Out of curiosity and a desire to fight someone closer to his own level, he sets off with his assistant Whis (I'd make a comment about these names, but Bulma's entire family is named after underwear, so yeah) to find Goku, after hearing of this prophecy of a supposed Super Saiyan god by this thing called an Oracle Fish. That enough plot for you? It's about as detailed as any other season of the show, honestly...

Now, what I'm about to say next may shock people who didn't read up on or see this movie already. If you're going in just to watch a bunch of fight scenes, then you may actually be disappointed. Why? Well, if you count all of the fight scenes in the film and add up the timing, it only comes to about 10 minutes worth of actual fighting in the entire movie.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"
Now now, hold your horses!... and yellow hair. Let's continue by talking more about what this movie DOES have instead of what it DOESN'T, KK? KK. This movie may in fact be the biggest load of fanservice I've ever seen in an anime movie, let alone a DBZ feature. Now, I don't mean fanservice like boobies and skimpy outfits and the like (you can watch the first season of Dragon Ball for all of that!), but rather fanservice like seeing a bunch of the characters you grew up with, drinking, partying, singing, and even picking on each other while referencing stories as old as the series' beginnings! It's really surprising to see so much of this thrown in all at once. It's also really surprising how funny a lot of it is! I'm going to be honest with you all; the humor in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z always came off as a bit bland and juvenile to me (which is ironic, because hi, I'm Deadpool), so I was surprised to have laughs coming straight from my gut, and into the ears of the poor unsuspecting folks who let me sit by them. I can't go into too many details about these things, but let me say that one scene (that I will dub as "The Bingo Dance") will forever change your life and the way you look at a particular badass main character of the series. It's also interesting to note that said badass character is actually more heroic than even Goku in this film. The theater crowd cheered quite loudly for two particular scenes involving him, and that crowd was srs business.

So when we do get to those itty bitty fight scenes, are they worth it? As if you had to ask. F@%K yeah, they're worth it! They may be short, but they got the job DONE! I guess if anything, you could say this movie ran like an entire season of the show would. You get some good scenes to create build up, a dot too much filler in the center (to the point where you almost forget there was a plot going on!), and some awesome punchy-punchy-shooty-shooty to rap it all up and call it a day. I'm not knocking this formula, as it's worked to create the most popular shonen manga/anime of all time. Obviously, Mr. Toriyama knows what he's doing here!

Some final interesting tidbits: Despite what I said above, this movie did not exactly end the way a season of the show normally would. We're definitely getting more of these in the near future, and the majority the movie is probably going to seem like it was just one big setup for the future storylines. That may very well be, but it's hard to deny that you're likely going to come out of this very entertained, even if a little underwhelmed in the projectile fireballs department.

If you grew up with the series like I did, and watched all the episodes and movies more times than you can count, then this movie was made for you. I felt like a 14-year-old kid again in that movie theater, and it takes a lot to get me there these days. If you're a newcomer... Well, I don't even know what to say to you then. You came into a show that spanned over 300 episodes, and were expecting to know what was going on!???... Actually, I guess it's not that hard to figure out with the show's pacing and all, but ANYWAY! GOOD MOVIE! LESS FILLER AND MORE FIGHTING NEXT TIME! KK!? KK!!

8 Cups Of Pudding For Beerus Out Of 10

I keep training every day in the hopes that somehow, I too will be able to fly and grow long yellow hair to represent badassery. Some of you had to have done it before. Any tips? Suggestions? Hair growth formula/dye recommendations???