Well, despite the fact that there were no comics that I wanted to check out this week, I am still here to talk about…
Don’t worry, I didn’t forget this time. I just wanted to wait a day before I gave my thoughts, since this is not a comic or movie, it’s a video game. Let’s take a look at Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure for the Nintendo 3DS!
So the game begins with two siblings, Maxwell and Lily, who are the main protagonists of the game. They’re currently engaged in a dispute comic book fans always seem to have at one point or another: Who is the better superhero, Superman or Batman? Well, they decide to find out, as both have very unique powers that can find the answer: Maxwell has a sketchbook that can make whatever he sketches real, and Lily has a globe that lets her and whoever she wants travel wherever she wants. So, Maxwell tears a page from his sketchbook, writes ‘Gotham City‘ on it, and slaps it onto the globe, thus making the DC Universe real. However, in his excitement, Maxwell made a terrible mistake, as it seems the page he tore had something on the back: Doppelgänger, his evil twin, who aligns himself with the villains of the Justice League and goes on a rampage in Gotham, Metropolis, Oa, Atlantis, and more. Thus, the goal is to try to undo the chaos that Doppelgänger and the Injustice League creates.
The game works as many Scribblenauts games do: You control Maxwell and use his powers to solve different puzzles and scenarios, only this time, they’re spread across several iconic locations in the DC Universe. There are a lot of ways to go about solving these, by creating items, summoning heroes, adjusting pre-existing objects and people, and more. Sometimes you’ll have to do something very specific, while others can have multiple options with varying levels of reward. Many puzzles are non-mandatory, for the most part, but the only way to move on to new levels is to complete these puzzles and earn reward points. Fortunately, the non-mandatory ones are randomized, so if you don’t like the ones presented, you can just leave the level and come back. Also, Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk will occasionally present optional challenges when you enter a level that will limit what you can and can’t do while there for that trip, but if you take him up on his challenges and succeed at solving the scenarios, they’ll grant you additional reward.
So, given that this is a crossover game with DC heroes, who all shows up? Just about EVERYBODY. Not only are there the major A List superheroes, like Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern, with multiple variations for many (although usually defaulted to their New 52 versions), but there are so many others in the game as well, and each with summaries of who these characters are for anyone who isn’t familiar with them. And yes, the roster includes Stephanie Brown as Spoiler, Robin and Batgirl. Yes, it includes Wally West, Donna Troy, Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain, Renée Montoya, both Aqualads, and so many more. Everyone should have at least one favourite hero in this game. Heck, even Linkara’s favourite superhero of all time, Danny Chase, is in here. And that’s just the heroes! You can summon villains too (although why you would ever want or need to, I have yet to discover), and yes, there are a crap ton of them too, with their own bios! This isn’t just a game, it’s a freaking encyclopaedia! I think there was only one or two moments where I searched a character and couldn’t find them, and even then, the number that are in with their own unique assets kinda makes me forgive that pretty easily.
Now, I do have one complaint about the game, and it centres around the version I got. This game is also available for the PC and Wii U, and one of the features of the game that was promoted pretty heavily was the Hero Creator, where you can create your own heroes by mixing and matching parts of other heroes, colouring them to your liking, giving them their own unique powers, etc. And as you’ve probably guessed by now…yeah, it’s not in the 3DS version. That was a MAJOR let-down for me, as I was planning to create versions of my own superheroes, The Hexagon, in the game.
I do understand what is the likely reason it wasn’t put in the 3DS version, though: Putting in as many characters and variations of characters with their own unique powers that can be used for battles or puzzle solving, on top of a lot of the different stuff already in a standard Scribblenauts game, and even making copies of their weapons, gadgets, and costumes that Maxwell can create for himself, was pushing on the game’s memory too much. Plus, you can make adjustments to heroes by summoning them and adding adjectives to them, like Fast, Flying, a different colour, stuff like that. And, the 3DS DOES have something unique to it, in that it has Streetpass support, here you can unlock hero costumes for your Mii. HOWEVER, all of that said, if it wasn’t going to be in the 3DS version, they should have made that explicitly clear from the beginning. And I checked, I checked the crap outta news sites, and other than speculation, there was NOTHING solid either way.
Overall, though, while I feel disappointed in missing out on the Hero Creator, I am still enjoying the heck out of this game. If you’re a fan of the Scribblenauts series, I think you’ll really like this installment. Also, if you’re like me and are a comic book fan that was curious about getting into Scribblenauts, I think this is the way to go. But hey, feel free to let me know what you think of the game in the comments section below.
Anyway, next week is October, which means my regularly scheduled comics can start coming out again! So, be sure to check in as we venture to Earth 2 to see how the future JSA is getting along, and we check in on The Movement. Ja né!
So, another new Pokémon has been revealed…That didn’t take long. lol Also, plenty of info is available right from the get-go, so let’s go ahead and check it out! Here’s Pyroar!
…Yeah, I know, not much to see from the trailer, but nonetheless…
Awesome. Second, LOVE the name. Something about it just sounds awesome. Anyway, from what we know, Pyroar is the evolved form of another of the Kalos Region Pokémon, Litleo, and shares its typing of Fire/Normal. Not sure how it evolves yet. The aptly named ‘Royal Pokémon’ can have either the Abilities Unnerve or Rivalry. Thus far, its only known moves are Flamethrower, Take Down, Work Up, Headbutt, Echoed Voice, and the new move Litleo demonstrated, Noble Roar, which decreases the opponent’s Attack and Special Attack. Still, it looks awesome and has some cool tricks, so I suspect to see plenty of Trainers with it on their teams…Though now, I’m stuck as to which is the most awesometastic: Talonflame or Pyroar. lol
Lemme know what you think of Pyroar, and we’ll see what other kinds of new Pokémon are revealed as we are now at exactly one month until the release date of Pokémon X & Y. Ja né!
So, today there was a ton of new info for Pokémon X & Y in CoroCoro Comics magazine, including a ton of new Pokémon…that I’m not going to talk about. lol Okay, to be fair, I’m mainly choosing to wait until later on, when more info (like their English names) is revealed. In the meantime, however, I will mention that Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie’s evolved forms have been shown off, and all three remain pure Grass-type, pure Fire-type, and pure Water-type. Not quite what I was expecting for Fennekin, but hey, at least it ain’t Fire/Fighting, and the only other Fire-type Starter to remain pure Fire-type upon evolving was Cyndaquil, so there’s plenty they can do to make Fennekin different and unique. Also, there are four other new Pokémon revealed, two of which are Fossil Pokémon with some unique abilities (one increases the damage of biting moves like Crunch, and the other turns the user’s Normal-type moves to Ice-type). When more info is available, I’ll talk about ’em in full detail. For now, let’s look at the two new Mega Evolutions.
Garchomp Mega Shinka!…Mega Garchomp!
Dangit, I was hoping they’d stick to Generation III Pokémon and lower, with Lucario being the only exception since it was revealed way before Diamond and Pearl came out. Oh well, Generation IV is alright, as long as they don’t go higher than that. Anyway, Mega Garchomp apparently gains Sand Force as its Ability upon Mega Evolving, thus increasing the power of its Rock, Ground, and Steel-type moves while in the middle of a Sandstorm. Plus, good grief, LOOK AT THOSE ARMS! You thought Kabutops or Scyther had some gigantic scythes from arms, this thing blows them outta the water with ease.
…Wait, what?! Yep, the rumours were true, folks: Mewtwo has TWO Mega Evolutions, Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y, one for each version of the game. The first one we saw is Mega Mewtwo Y, which is the special attacker of the two, and gains the Ability Insomnia. The new one is Mega Mewtwo X, who is the physical attacker, becomes Psychic/Fighting-type, and gains the Ability Steadfast, which increases its Speed when it flinches.
Now then, as for the Fairy-type, we now have confirmation on how it handles against other types offensively and defensively. Offensively, Fairy type is super effective against Fighting, Dark and Dragon-types, but is not very effective against Steel, Poison and Fire-types. Defensively, Fairy takes double damage from Poison-type attacks (called it, ^_^ ) and Steel-type attacks, resists Bug, Fighting and Dark-type attacks, and is immune to Dragon-type attacks. I should also note that Steel-types are no longer resistant to Ghost or Dark-type attacks, likely due to its new-found type advantage to Fairy-types would make it overpowered otherwise. Also, this confirms that, as of Generation VI, Spiritomb and Sableye are no longer without any vulnerabilities.
Anyway, post your thoughts, and with any luck, we’ll have that additional info on the other Pokémon soon. Or, if yer feeling impatient, you can click one of the links below, or visit http://www.serebii.net for all the Pokémon-related information you could ask for. Ja né!
Jyger's Rant 