Ibuki definitely looks pretty fun to play as this time around. While I'm not too crazy about the hybrid of her school girl costume from Street Fighter IV with her traditional kunoichi garb (that somehow looks a LOT like Taki's attire from the Soul Calibur series), I do appreciate the subtle obvious nods to Naruto with the background music and the handsigns before her Rasengan (I know it's called Raida in the SF series...).
Feel free to correct me but it seems like she's going to be the first character in this game with Marvel vs. Capcom 3-style OTG (off the ground) pop-up launcher combos from her ninja bombs. So much of this screams Taki from Soul Calibur III and forward.
Extreme Rules (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE. It took place on May 22, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It was the eighth event under the Extreme Rules chronology.
** Preshow ** No DQ Match - Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler
Not even Ziggler can make me give a damn about Baron Corbin. I've said it at least every week since he was called up to the main roster that he's not ready for this position. Corbin is boring on every aspect that you can look at him. To say that this was a no disqualification match you wouldn't even noticed from how the match was worked.
I cracked up laughing at Ziggler selling a LOW BLOW from Corbin like he got shot before he took the End of Days for that L. Someone explain to me why big guys like Corbin and Undertaker have to use a low blow to gain an upper hand when they are already supposed to be dominant and over-powering against their opponents?
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def. The Usos - Extreme Rules Match
In a bizarre twist of irony, Jey Uso fell on top of the ring bell (obvious throwback to Gallows' previous WWE run as Festus), allowing Anderson and Gallows to hit the Magic Killer for the win.
This is one situation where WWE's 50/50 booking is really hurting guys. How in the world are Anderson/Gallows supposed to stand out from the rest of the boring teams of the tag division if they couldn't beat the Usos of all people in dominating fashion. I don't hate the Usos unlike most fans, but damn, this one dragged out longer than I thought it would have.
I still have a feeling they are going to be heavily involved in the main event. I guess we'll see but I'm writing this as I'm watching AND live-tweeting the show.
Rusev def. Kalisto (c) to become the NEW United States Championship
Kalisto showing that he can look like a million bucks against bigger opponents left and right. First with Ryback and now with Rusev. Sadly, there wasn't much else to write home about his US title reign other than a few decent matches here and there. Nothing against Kalisto but he was a complete afterthought in terms of booking lately. I'm anxious to see Rusev continue where he left off before him and Lana were split up roughly a year ago. With Big Match John coming back in another week, I'm sure they are going to book Rusev/Cena IV for Summerslam this year.
As for Kalisto, the tag team division needs the Lucha Dragons desperately to freshen things up on a competitive level. I can't even remember if they've even held the tag titles since coming up from NXT.
One thing I have to notice about Lana's managerial performance at ringside is that she was a lot less animated as she was in the past. I don't know if someone told her to do less or something but it was throwing me off a bit to see her do less when she's normally a much more "lively" character at ringside. She's still got the facials and stuff down but she's not doing much else.
The New Day (c) def. The Vaudevillains to retain the Tag Team Championships
Pretty average match save for the finish and the near-fall spot where the Vaudevillains took out Big E and Kofi at ringside and hit their finish on Woods only for him to surprise the WWE Universe by kicking out. I was more shocked at reactions on Twitter that people weren't aware that Woods is actually a good wrestler. Hello, he's been on the WWE roster prior to this retarded gimmick. Then he was one hell of an X-Division champion in TNA too.
I really wish Big E would quit doing that suicide dive/spear spot out of the ring during every other match. He's landing on his head and/or arms and just bound to break something within this slew of injuries WWE has not bounced back from on the main roster.
A title win for the Vaudevillains could have helped them get over. Let's be serious here. Exactly how long do you think this gimmick is going to work on the main roster until WWE forces them to be repackaged? At least it wasn't a failure at launch like the Ascension or Emma's dancing gimmick...
As popular as the New Day are, people seem to forget that titles are for getting people over who can't get over on their own. When you're more over than the title you're carrying it's time to move to something else and propel someone else for that spot.
Fatal 4-Way Match - The Miz (c) def. Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn to retain the Intercontinental Championship
Definitely a match of the night candidate with everyone shouting "Fight Forever" - echoing the chants from NXT Takeover: Dallas between Zayn and Nakamura from WrestleMania weekend. This is going to be a hard match to top on this card. Great work from all four men involved.
I'm not a Miz fan but he's definitely one of WWE's best pure heels (who doesn't need cheap pops or cheap heat nor flip flops to get over with the fans) and it's going to mean a lot more for whoever the babyface is that's going to beat him. Owens and Zayn can easily bounce back from this loss while Cesaro is going to have to do something to get his momentum back, but that shouldn't be too hard given his skillset.
Compared to Lana, Maryse is the complete opposite tonight when it came to being animated and supporting her man at ringside. Maybe one of the agents told Lana to scale it back a bit for she wouldn't step on Maryse's shoes a bit here? I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too much into that.
First Ever Asylum Match - Dean Ambrose def. Chris Jericho
I didn't care when they fought earlier this month and I honestly don't care in this glorified rip-off of TNA's Lethal Lockdown match mixed with Monster's Ball. Ambrose won by busting out the thumb tacks and hitting the Dirty Deeds on that for the win. Really surprised that the E would bring that weapon back out since like forever, but this event needed something truly "hardcore" to stand out.
Until that spot, this match ultimately boils down to being a huge cock tease for pending violence that almost never happens. It's still pretty awkward to see these hardcore matches without an ounce of blood in them at all too. At least the ending of this match remedied that situation slightly after the two moves onto the thumb tacks.
I guess Ambrose really is crazy if he dropped himself onto the tacks just to beat Jericho...
I hope this feud is over at this point. It's dragged on long enough. Ambrose needs to move onto someone else and get his eyes back on a bigger prize... preferably the WWE Championship.
The most whored out weapon in the PG-era landscape of WWE has to be the kendo stick. I would love to see a lot less of that weapon in the future if possible.
Submission Match - Charlotte (c) def. Natayla to retain the Women's Championship
Goddamn this fucking match. I don't have a problem with Dana Brooke as a person but I absolutely hated this finish. It was already bad enough that this match was below-average for what both of these women are capable of, but they just had to end it with Dana dressed up as Ric Flair to distract Nattie long enough for Charlotte to get the win?
Anyone who watches NXT should be able to tell you how moronic it is to align Charlotte and Dana Brooke together when they both wanted nothing to do with each other when they were feuding on that brand. Just typical WWE Creative booking this shit to fill in the gaps since Emma is injured and to leave Becky high and dry without a feud. This isn't a promotion in the least; Dana just went from being Emma's partner/sidekick to being Charlotte's goon/lackey. It's not like Charlotte needed anyone else in her corner when Ric Flair is already muddling that up in that aspect and holding her down in her career, but damn. Just when I thought WWE can't find more ways to devalue women's wrestling during this whole Divas Revolution, they find a way to make it even more stupid.
I'm honestly getting fed up of this settling for less when it comes for women's wrestling in WWE, no rather in WWE's booking and storylines as a whole. Fans complain and they cave in a sense to throw fans a bone to make them shut up for the time being. For example, when fans complained about the WWE Divas not getting much air time on the main roster like the NXT Divas, they called up Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch all in fell swoop to kickstart a "revolution". The Divas Revolution didn't go as how fans hoped as every woman was just as generic and cookie cutter as before, just stuck into stereotypical factions/tag teams. So what did WWE do to stop fans shitting on it? They stripped away the term "Diva", made Charlotte the first "Women's Champion" with a rebranded title. At the end of the day, they are still doing the same shit as before. Women are booked slightly better than a year ago, but the match quality is roughly the same since the veteran women are getting used more among the string of injuries thanks to everyone else. This still hasn't stopped Creative from booking some absolutely moronic finishes to these last few title defenses.
People keep calling it that Natalya's being "protected" but I fail to see how this is a legitimate argument. It's more akin to that Charlotte is being protected for whatever reason (more so than Nikki Bella in her record-breaking Divas title reign). She was protected at WrestleMania when it was clear her opponents were much more over than her and the crowds were ready for them to win the title for the first time. She was protected two weeks ago at Payback when WWE rehashed the Montreal Screwjob for the finish of a women's wrestling match. It's not making Charlotte look like a "strong" champion at all when she can't get the job done herself, even when her father was banned from ringside.
Boy, and people said that Samoa Joe's first and only title run in TNA was portrayed as weak with the bullshit finishes...
Seriously though, how is anyone supposed to take women's wrestling in WWE seriously when the competitive aspect goes out of the window at every opportunity in favor of something that doesn't show the champion as a credible athlete and deserving of said title?
Extreme Rules Match - Roman Reigns (c) def. AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship
While I wasn't too crazy about the brawling in the crowd at the beginning of this match, I appreciated that someone finally used the preshow panel set for something for once. I was a little bummed out that the glass table didn't shatter from Styles being dropped onto it though.
For the rest of this match, Styles and Reigns killed each other to the point I was wondering if Styles must have insulted Reigns' mother to generate so much aggression from Roman during this match. Even the run-ins from the Usos and Anderson/Gallows made much more sense here and added to the drama of the match as they handily helped each Superstar attempt to get pins over the opposition and broke pin attempts. It all made SENSE - something that's rare in the current landscape of WWE storylines. AJ Styles and Roman Reigns kept upping the scales with the damage back and forth, even though it seemed like Reigns was thrashing Styles handily in a convincing manner at one point. If I had any issues with this match it's the fact that Styles telegraphed the counters for Reigns a bit TOO much and the fact that Reigns really didn't sell anything until Anderson and Gallows came out to even the odds.
Another thing older fans seem to forget that title matches used to be anything goes but damn, this match and the bulk of this entire PPV wasn't really "extreme" at all. They could have knocked out or blindsided the referee and still did all of these spots anyway. I'm not really trying to knock AJ Styles nor Roman Reigns as I thought they did phenomenal - no pun intended - for what they were given to work with in this spot.
From a storyline perspective, I got a feeling that AJ Styles flipping out with the steel chair towards the end of the match could be figuratively the point where Styles has accepted Gallows and Anderson's way of thinking. That could lead into the Authority being brought back into the fold backing Rollins once again. With Rollins already back as a heel (obvious by him attacking Reigns post-match), I'm guessing they are going to pick up where they left off on his run before his unfortunate injury last year.
Speaking of Rollins, I kinda wish that WWE played his music first before he came out as the crowd's reactions ruined his return before they showed him on camera - that is if you didn't see the news leaked out on almost every other website before the event even started.
What didn't sit well with me with this match was the reactions by fans on social media after the end result. C'mon you have to be fucking stupid to think that a decorated high profile champion and former TNA/Impact Wrestling wrestler - no matter who they are - will win WWE's top title within their first few months of being employed there. AJ Styles is lucky to even be in this position PERIOD. Tonight's match and the one at Payback were both great matches, but Styles didn't do it on his own - it was a team effort along with Reigns. That being said I wish fans would quit giving that guy such a hard time as he's actually pulling his weight in the ring. It's not like he's being thrown around like a ragdoll with next to no offense (AJ Lee) or being carried through the bulk of his matches (Ultimate Warrior, Batista, Charlotte, etc. - take your pick). The guy can actually work.
Roman Reigns may be The Guy, but Seth Rollins is THE MAN.
Welcome back, Architect. WWE's main event scene is in need of some restructuring.
Closing Words
Like mentioned above, Extreme Rules was a mediocre event, with only the Intercontinental, United States, and WWE Championship matches sticking out as the best of what this event had to offer. Sadly, this event is starting to stray far away from the extreme aspect completely. Outside of the Asylum Match, this entire event was your average run of the mill PPV.
Seth Rollins is back in the mix, aiming for the title that he never lost thanks to his injury last year and we're a week away from the return of John Cena. Looks like Money in the Bank is going to shape up to be "money" with it's major players back on the table.
In 1991, the brainwashed
super-soldier Bucky
Barnes is dispatched from a Hydra
base in Siberia to intercept an automobile carrying a case of super-soldier
serum and assassinate its occupants. Approximately one year after Ultron's defeat in
Sokovia at the hands of the Avengers, Steve
Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam
Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon
from a lab in Lagos.
Rumlow blows himself up to avoid capture. Maximoff tries to displace the blast
into the sky with telekinesis, but it destroys a nearby building, killing a
number of Wakandan humanitarian workers. At the team's headquarters, U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus
Ross informs the team that the United
Nations (UN) are preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish a
UN panel to oversee and control the Avengers. The team is divided: Tony Stark
supports oversight because he feels responsible for Ultron's creation and
Sokovia's destruction, while Rogers has more faith in his own judgment than
that of the government. At the conference in Vienna where the
Accords are to be ratified, a bomb kills King T'Chaka of
Wakanda. Security footage indicates the bomber is Barnes, who T'Chaka's son, T'Challa, vows to kill. After being informed
by Sharon
Carter of Barnes' whereabouts and the government's orders to kill him on
sight, Rogers decides to apprehend his old friend himself. Rogers and Wilson
track Barnes to his hideout in Bucharest just before it is raided. As Barnes and Rogers
escape, they are chased by T'Challa but are all eventually cornered and
arrested.
Helmut Zemo
tracks down and kills Barnes' old Hydra handler and steals a book containing
the trigger words that activate Barnes' brainwashing. Infiltrating the facility
where Barnes is held, Zemo recites the words to make Barnes obey him. He
questions Barnes, then sends him on a rampage to cover his own escape. Rogers
stops Barnes and sneaks him away. When Barnes regains his senses, he explains
that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber and that he is heading for the Siberian
Hydra base, where other brainwashed super-soldiers are kept in cryogenic
stasis. Unable to wait for authorization
to apprehend Zemo, Rogers and Wilson go rogue, and recruit Maximoff, Clint
Barton, and Scott Lang to their cause. With Ross'
permission, Stark assembles a team composed of Romanoff, T'Challa, James Rhodes, and Vision, as well as Peter Parker,
to capture the renegades. Stark's team intercepts Rogers' team at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where they fight.
Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape. The rest of Rogers' team is
captured and detained at the
Raft prison, while Rhodes is partially paralyzed after being inadvertently
shot down by Vision, and Romanoff is forced to disappear. Stark discovers evidence that
Barnes was framed by Zemo and shows this evidence to Wilson, who gives him
Rogers' destination. Without informing Ross, Stark goes to the Siberian Hydra
facility and strikes a truce with Rogers and Barnes, unaware he was secretly
followed by T'Challa. They discover that the other super-soldiers have been
killed by Zemo, whose real goal was to turn the Avengers against each other in
revenge for his family's death in Sokovia. He shows them footage he found in
Hydra's archives which reveals that it was Stark's parents whom Barnes killed
in 1991. Enraged to learn that Rogers was aware of this, Stark turns on Barnes.
In the fight, Stark blasts off Barnes' robotic arm and Rogers disables Stark's armor. Rogers departs with
Barnes and leaves his shield behind. Satisfied that he has
irreparably fractured the Avengers, Zemo attempts suicide, but T'Challa
apprehends him. In the aftermath, Stark provides Rhodes with exoskeletal leg
braces to let him walk again, while Rogers breaks his comrades out of the Raft. In a mid-credits scene, Barnes
and Rogers flee to Wakanda, where T'Challa grants them asylum. Barnes chooses
to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found. In a post-credits scene, Parker tests a new gadget he
received from Stark.
The Verdict:
When Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out, I was positive that Marvel Studios have outdone themselves and that was going to be their apex of their cinematic storytelling - all thanks to the Russo brothers' direction. After Avengers: Age of Ultron was underwhelming in a lot of ways in terms of the follow-up to the original Avengers film, I was under the impression that I could be right that the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn't going to hit those heights again. After seeing Captain America: Civil War, I'm relieved to say that I was wrong. For those of you wondering what was the hold up on this review, I was honestly waiting on the tie-in episode of Agents of SHIELD to wrap up how I feel about the scope of things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after this film.
Casting and Costumes
I'm fine with Spider-Man's costume after seeing it in action (despite some the extra funky minor details to it like the black holsters on his hips and the web-shooters visible on his wrists), but goddamn I have to get used to Tom Holland as Peter Parker. I'm guessing they want him to grow up into the role as Spider-Man but geez this kid is young. It bothers me even more that Aunt May is so young in this iteration, yet somehow James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) is sporting gray hair in this film. You guys can dye Robert Downey Jr.'s hair but not the black guy's? C'mon now, Marvel. I would've at least tried to touch that up in the editing/cutting room.
I have no problem with Black Panther's costume after seeing it up close, even though I miss the cape with it, but I'm sure that they will add that in his solo film. Chadwick Boseman did a stellar job in his MCU debut and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him going forward. I'm sure Florence Kasumba (the woman who stood between T'Challa and Black Widow with the "Move... or you WILL be moved" line) will be back in his solo film as well as someone has to be Okoye and the rest of T'Challa's personal Wakandan bodyguards, the dora milaje. For the record, I'm sure she would've whooped Black Widow's ass.
C'mon, T'Challa wasn't boasting when he said, "Let them come..." in the post-credits teaser. Wakanda's got better technology than Stark's cooked up and I'm sure that their best warriors would give just about any country's military force a run for their money. Just sayin'...
Elizabeth Olsen's accent as Scarlet Witch doesn't sound as silly or as forced as it did in Age of Ultron. I guess she's getting more comfortable at playing the character here. Paul Rudd as Ant-Man is still as charming and funny as it was in his own solo title and he was a welcome addition. I was thrown off that Emily VanCamp is in all of the promotion posters for this film, but she's in literally ONE action sequence in this film and she gets her ass handed to her handily by the brainwashed Winter Soldier. I guess we won't see her in all of her white suited glory until a third solo Captain America film. Paul Bettany seems to be coming into his own as Vision, but I'm still not entirely sold on his costume. I don't know what it is, but there's just something off about it. (Shrugs) Maybe the cape? Sebastian Stan still has that menacing presence in his moments when he refers back to a villain in this, but by the time it's all said and done he shines like a hero.
As for the rest of the returning Avengers, we know what to expect from them 13th films in now, so I don't have any complaints from them in the least. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans are the stars of the show here, but the other Avengers don't allow themselves to be easily forgotten despite so much going on in this film. My only complaint was how obvious that they edited Scarlett Johansson's scenes because of her pregnancy during filming. Every shot is either from chest up or digitally altered that you can tell that streamlined her figure to hide it. I was glad to see William Hurt back as Thunderbolt Ross. My only complaint with him was the lack of his obsession about the absence of Banner/Hulk. You would think that the Sokovian Accords would have had it's own sections on Thor and Hulk specifically, not like they would sign that thing anyway after the events of Age of Ultron. Daniel Brühl brought a lot to the table as the cold and calculating Helmut Zemo, but I can't wait to see him suit up to take on the Avengers in the near-future, notably Captain America, personally in a future film. I'm glad that they didn't force all of that into one film and kept the core plot focused on pitting Cap and Ironman against each other.
I would love to know what's Hayley Atwell's situation with Marvel now that she's been quietly killed off in this film and it looks like that she's not getting another season to her spin-off television series, Agent Carter. It felt rather strange that this was the only Captain America movie to date without a Peggy/Steve flashback. I guess she could still appear in films in flashbacks like the one in Ant-Man or in cameo flashbacks in Agents of SHIELD, but I really hope this isn't the last we've seen of Peggy Carter.
Narrative
The #1 thing that I was worried about going into this film was that it was going to be a confusing mess with so many Marvel heroes involved, especially after they announced that BOTH Spider-Man and Black Panther would be making their MCU debuts in this film. On top of that, information got out that both Brock Rumlow/Crossbones and Helmutt Zemo were confirmed in the casting news.
I thought that Marvel Studios would be too preoccupied with appeasing Sony with their acquisition of Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that the importance of Black Panther's impact in his cinematic debut would be completely diluted here. Instead, I was pleased to see that both heroes managed to carry their own weight here. Well, T'Challa carried more weight than Spider-Man, who just happened to be thrown into the mix out of pure coincidence.
I'm going to surprise some people in this review and say that Civil War is essentially Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. They are literally the same movie. The themes and premise are almost identical with heroes having to answer for the destruction that they cause and having to go toe-to-toe with their own after a disagreement. The only difference is that Civil War a MUCH more concise and coherent narrative. It's ironic too as there's a point about halfway into the film where the film almost goes into similar territory where the heroes are portrayed as idiots or uncharacteristic to how we have come to know them (i.e. Tony Stark acting uncharacteristically moronic to NOT look at the bigger picture of Bucky being framed just to keep the Avengers united and/or to atone for his sins from Age of Ultron), but pulls a complete 180 (Tony does his own detective work to deduce that what Cap and Widow were saying about Bucky being set up being actually true; something Batman should have done before he even jumped to the conclusion that killing Superman was the only “logical” answer to resolve anything) almost to mock DC's attempt to jump the gun on playing catch-up with them.
That’s not the only occasion where Marvel seems to make DC’s previously released film look like a bumbling buffoon. T’Challa/Black Panther was written into the film, to play the part as a peace keeper on both sides but was drawn into battle after the murder of his father, T’Chaka. Essentially, Diana/Wonder Woman’s part was relatively the same there, but got construed as a quest only to obtain a mere photograph – yet somehow she’s shoehorned into the film’s climax and major battle during the finale. Black Panther didn’t hog the spotlight here, instead he shared it and the writers here knew enough to pull back on the reins enough for just one character to look good when it was all said and done.
This isn't essential to the narrative, but I loved how this film went out of it's way to establish Falcon as a bad ass. His tech upgrades and the introduction of Redwing as his robotic pet instead of an actual bird of prey was much appreciated. In the comics, Falcon was essentially just as lame as Superfriends-era Aquaman. It wasn't until his modern iteration where Falcon was established as a stand-out hero and even earned enough respect from Steve Rogers to pass on the mantle of Captain America. Let's go over what he can do now in this version. Falcon can fly, but his wings double as bulletproof shielding and riot shields. He's packing semi-automatic pistols as well as rocket launchers in that flight pack. With Redwing, he has scouting and recon abilities, along with remote assistance capabilities. It may not seem much, but this puts him on equal footing as War Machine in aerial warfare. Plus, he has more mobility than Rhodes from what was proven in the airport battle. I thought it was strange that Redwing managed to catch Spider-Man off-guard without even triggering his Spider Sense, but I guess that's a discussion for another day...
Speaking of the airport battle, how freakin' awesome was that? Majority of the battle was almost entirety computer generated, but the same thing can be said about the finale of Batman vs. Superman. At least this didn't look straight up fake from start to finish. There's so much about that sequence that they did so well. From Spider-Man's antics to Scarlet Witch "schooling" Hawkeye about holding back to Ant-Man making his debut as Giant-Man, there was so much to enjoy in this battle.
Unlike most fans, I didn't walk away from the film wanting more as I felt the narrative served it's purpose. The Avengers have been operating on a false and shaky foundation since the first time they banded together and Captain America and Ironman have had differences of opinion since that point as well. This is situation that ends up being the straw that breaks the camel's back and puts them head to head. I'm sure more cynical comic book fans than myself will nit-pick about things in this film whereas it's not entirely true to the source material, but much like Age of Ultron, Civil War is based on that story mostly in name only. By this point, we're thirteen movies into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and beyond to point to whine and complain that this isn't true enough to the comics whereas Marvel Studios have their feet firmly planted in the direction they want to go with this interpretation of the Marvel Universe.
To be honest, I felt that the Russo brothers gave us more than enough to digest. After watching the film about three times now over the past week, I'm still running across things that I didn't catch during the first screening. I'm going to try to touch base on as many themes that I have personally made notes about over the last few days.
Two major relationships were established or teased in this film. First of all, we have Vision and Scarlet Witch. As gross and bizarre as it sounds to casual fans, it's not a stretch at all as Wanda has even gone as far as having children with Vision in the comics. Yeah, let that one sink in for a moment... I don't know how old they are portraying Wanda to be in this film with how Cap and Hawkeye referring to her as a "kid", but that doesn't seem to be too much of an issue for a synthetic humanoid android in the infancy of his own creation to get his mack on. I thought it was a nice touch to explore the discovery of his own humanity be the thing that causes him to make his first mistake during the climax of the airport battle where he shot down War Machine on accident. Marvel was wish to establish this relationship now as these are two characters that will be major players in the MCU for the Infinity War and just about anything going forward after that.
Marvel even managed to plant the seeds of fear and lack of trust of mutantsenhancedhumans like the Scarlet Witch, which makes me wonder if they have come to a similar deal with FOX like they have with Sony to acquire Spider-Man for their universe. If so, they have set the stage perfectly for the X-Men, or better yet, mutantkind period, can come back home, like Spider-Man, where they belong. What was even more interesting that Scarlet Witch even actually says that she cannot control others' fear of her, but she can control her own fear of herself, which is something that one of Professor Xavier's students would say - without a shadow of a doubt.
The second relationship that was explored in this film was between Sharon Carter (Agent 13) and Steve Rogers. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, they glossed over this situation to make the espionage plot the priority, but I have to say that no way that you slice it, it's pretty fucked up that they hook up mainly after the fact that Sharon reveals that she was Peggy Carter's niece. In the comics, she was originally Peggy's younger sister in the canon until she was retconned to be her niece. I'm still scratching my head on how that makes sense as Peggy mentions in season two of Agent Carter that her brother was killed before she decided to enlist in the military. The Agents of SHIELD tie-in reveals that Peggy was 95 when she died, so good grief that age difference between her and Cap has to be insane, even more so for Sharon and Cap. At first, I thought the film could have done without Sharon's involvement but I eventually warmed up to her character helping Cap out from within the CIA, whereas the rest of the Avengers allied with Ironman were working with the government.
That look when yo' boys know you just got your mack on...
I don't understand where all of the hate for her character as Steve's love interest is coming from. It's not like they went the full blown Superman/Lois Lane route with their relationship like in Man of Steel so keep your shirts on people... It was just ONE kiss, people. That's it. It's not like they had sex while Bucky and Falcon were waiting in the car. Sharon's role was more than a mere love interest. She was Cap's support on the side of the law while they were working as vigilantes. She helped them a slap on the wrist after being arrested the first time, hid their intentions when Cap was clearly going after Bucky when the hunt for him began, and even got their gear and equipment back after they escaped from confinement. Sharon may not had more than one action sequence, but definitely proved her worth than just a mere love interest. I'm sure there's people that are butt hurt that Cap is moving on from Peggy Carter, but for crying out loud, Cap was the LAST guy on her mind in the second last season of Agent Carter with all of those competing for Peggy's affections. Cap is allowed to move on.
There's a sort of a third relationship between Ironman and his new AI companion, Friday, but I'm leaning towards the reasoning behind that as a sick joke as Stark made her rebellious to simulate a troubled relationship, akin to what is going on between him and Pepper Potts. The lack of Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts in this film and Age of Ultron makes me wonder if Marvel Studios are considering of recasting her character like how they recast Don Cheadle as War Machine/James Rhodes. If not, I'm guessing Tony's distancing himself from Pepper to keep her safe from whatever trouble comes in the way of the Avengers on a regular basis.
I have to admit that this film had one major missed opportunity and it was the introduction of the Raft, that served as the maximum security prison specialized to house super-criminals and enhanced personnel. In this film, it was used to house the members of Captain America's team of Avengers that were captured after violating the Sokovian Accords. Instead of showing just the Avengers captured in this facility, I wished Marvel took the opportunity to show that not all of the super-villains introduced to this point of the MCU weren't completely disposable. HYDRA agents, Justin Hammer, the "fake" Mandarin, Klaw, and even more villains could have been shown in the cells if they actually took the opportunity to spend a few extra moments in this setting.
I had to forgive the Russo brothers for that oversight when T'Challa acted as the voice of the fans and prevented Zemo from killing himself during the films' climax, saving him from the fate of almost every noteworthy villain in this continuity to date. Zemo played the part of puppetmaster flawlessly here, while staying true to his namesake as a master strategist and tactican. The only "mistake" he made was leaving the clues and corpse in his hotel room but that was more than enough breadcumbs to lure Ironman to follow his trail while getting Cap and Bucky in the same place as well.
During my first screening of the film, I honestly didn't get why Ironman was so upset that the Winter Soldier was the one that killed his parents during his brainwashed phase (especially when Stark was the one to jokingly refer to him as the Manchurian Candidate mere minutes prior to that revelation), but during repeat screenings, it dawned upon me on why. Tony clearly didn't have much respect for his father until after his demise (Ironman 2 goes out of its way to hit this home for those who may have forgotten), but his heart was with his mother. I'm no psychiatrist, but that would explain his womanizing to make up for the void of his mother in his life. Then given the situation, anyone would be hysterical after that revelation. It really was rather confusing on how Cap knew about that fact without telling Tony, but it worked to served as a catalyst to drive Ironman over the edge as the final boss of sorts for this film.
That made a lot more sense than making Ironman, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier join forces like nothing really happened between them prior as a group of Superfriends against some cheap looking Lord of the Rings knock-off... Oh wait, wrong movie. Here, it could have been Zemo possibly leading a team of Winter Soldiers and that was another missed opportunity too. Imagine if there was more Winter Soldiers at Zemo or even HYDRA's disposal. To introduce them here and have nothing come from it was quite the bummer. I honestly can't help but think that there's more in store from this situation. Much like with Bucky frozen away in Wakanda, I can't help but think that Marvel Studios are going to return to this subject at a later date. For now, it was just a huge bummer to see nothing come out of that subplot other than the revelation of how Stark's parents were murdered. At least that was a vast improvement from the "random plane crash" from the comics...
References to Civil War Graphic Novel
The first one that comes to mind is the climatic finale to
the fight between Ironman and Captain America where Tony instructed Friday to
analyze Cap’s fighting style. This was a direct parallel to the comics where
Ironman informed Cap during their battle as Cap was fighting an losing effort
against him that his armor has been recording every punch that he ever made. To
the same effect, Tony was able to gain the upper hand here.
The Sokovian Accords was clever re-branding of the Superhero
Registration Act, but it served the same purpose, forcing powered individuals
to answer to the world’s governments. The MCU iteration just lacked the part
about exposing their identities even though the whole secret identity thing
doesn’t seem that much of an issue in this version of the Marvel Universe
outside of Spider-Man and Daredevil.
The Agents of SHIELD tie-in episode dwells upon the secret identity aspect more than this film has, but it seems to be focused more on Inhumans than all powered individuals as established in this film.
Spider-Man doesn’t change sides here nor we don’t have a
rampaging berserk clone of Thor killing fellow Avengers either. Regardless, Jim
Rhodes’ near-fatal fall from the skies was enough to somber the mood enough to
allow Cap and Bucky to get away after the airport battle. If anything, Black
Widow plays the part that Spider-Man did in the comics where he initially sides
with Tony 100% but has a change of heart after the events began to play out. Speaking of which, isn't it pretty damn awkward that we don't see anyone arrest her after clearly supporting Cap and Bucky's criminal acts?
Afterthoughts - Where Does Marvel Studios Go From Here?
Well, the next film in the timeline is Dr. Strange and I have to say after seeing this film, I honestly feel like we really don't need Dr. Strange at this point. I understand that Marvel are trying to stack the deck with heavy hitters for Infinity War Part 1 and 2, but think they could hold off introducing the good doctor until after this ordeal with Thanos is already dealt with. I welcome Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel getting solo films prior to that point, along with more Guardians of the Galaxy, but I personally don't see the point of doing Dr. Strange right now. Maybe he could be mentor to help train Scarlet Witch properly control her powers and tap into more of her potential.
The sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy is going to have to focus on the Cosmic Realm in that corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it's still rather unknown territory. A part of me wishes that Marvel Studios had the rights to the Silver Surfer for we could see things from his perspective as he journeyed throughout the endless ends of the universe. No offense to the Guardians, but this is one situation where it's hurting Marvel Studios not having their full deck to reference in setting up the Avengers' first encounter with the Mad Titan. Before anyone mentions it in the comments, I know the Surfer didn't meet Thanos until Thanos' second coming, but who cares? Marvel already changed up a lot of things already.
Since they obviously can't go that route, I have my fingers crossed that the Black Order are introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and we get to see Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Supergiant, and Ebony Maw make their live-action debuts. The Guardians don't have to beat them. Nah, save that for the Avengers meeting their match in Infinity War Part I and II.
I'm curious on how the Avengers are going to come together for the Infinity War as the next few movies have them on a path to splinter them off individually before dropping the bomb known as Thanos on them. I suppose it would make the writers' jobs easier to divide the Avengers up into small teams/groups/factions for that large scale narrative with so many characters to get some better interactivity going on between everyone. I rather Part I of the Infinity War focus on the B team of Avengers and Part II focus on the A team (no pun intended) of heavy hitters to get the job done when the B team gets in over their heads, then end with a strong note of everyone coming together to beat the big bad Thanos.
On a side note, I'm REALLY surprised no one hasn't made a "Make Mine Marvel" reference in these films by now...
Watch it or Don't Bother?
Definitely watch it. After the colossal flop that was Batman v. Superman, comic book fans deserve a superhero grudge match with things laid out on the table in a coherent manner. Marvel Studios manage to deliver here on levels where Age of Ultron ultimately fell short, but at the end of the day, the Avengers are left in the same state that they found themselves at the end of that movie.
Well put by Max Landis himself...
I can't really hold that against Marvel Studios as a negative as we all knew going in that the Avengers weren't going to hug it out and go back to normal like nothing happened. If you don't see anything else, you should at least watch the 14+ minute airport battle in it's entirety. That entire sequence is nothing short of marvelous - no pun intended. I haven't geeked out so much as a comic book fan since the Avengers team-up sequence in the original Avengers film,.
Whether you're a Marvel or DC fan, you can't deny that it's a great time to be a fan of superheroes, PERIOD.
The Legend of Korra is a 2014 third-person beat 'em up video game developed by Platinum Games and published by Activision, based on the animated television series The Legend of Korra. It was released in October 2014 for Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and received mixed reviews.
The game is one of two video games based on the same plot from the series. The other, The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins, is a turn-based strategy game for the Nintendo 3DS.
Premise:
The events of the game occur in the three weeks between what happened in the second and third seasons of the series, which aired in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Korra is opposed by a "chi-blocker" who, at the start of the game, strips Korra of her bending abilities, which she has to regain in the course of the game. The game's main villain, Hundun, is named after a chaotic entity in Chinese mythology. An ancient, evil being previously trapped in the spirit world, he was released into the physical world by Korra's opening of the spirit portals at the end of the second season. The game sees him sow chaos in the world and pursue his grudge against the Avatar.
Overview:
The Legend of Korra is a third-person action game, supporting single-player play only. Players control Korra, the series' heroine, as she fights villains from the first two seasons of the series with the bending arts, a spiritual and physical practice similar in appearance to Eastern martial arts by which practitioners move and alter the elements of water, earth, fire and air. Korra can switch between four different elements on the fly, each with its own combat styles and special moves.
Waterbending is acquired first and specializes in ranged attacks. Earthbending, acquired next, features slow attacks that are very powerful and cannot be blocked. Firebending is a balanced style that once upgraded, features all three forms of attacks: Fast combos, slow but powerful, and ranged. Airbending, acquired late in the game, features fast and powerful attacks that can affect all surrounding targets. Korra also acquires a so-called "avatar state" near the end of the game; this state lasts a shorts period, but grants Korra powerful attacks that combine all four elements.
The game tries to persuade the player into using counterattacks. The player can initiate a counterattack by blocking an enemy attack just before it connects. Counterattacks are orders of magnitude more powerful than direct attacks. Counterattacking is the only way of defeating bosses in a reasonable amount of time, as defeating them with direct attacks can take hours. Electrical and earth-based attacks cannot be countered.
The game takes about four to six hours to play through, but contains "a New Game+ of sorts". These include an endless runner with Naga, and pro-bending matches, where teams of three try to bend each other out of an arena. This mode, which implements the pro-bending rules depicted in the series, is available after completing the game, with the player controlling the "Fire Ferrets" team made up of Korra and her friends Mako and Bolin.
The Verdict:
I remember when this game came out at launch, people were whining and complaining about how bad it was. At first, I was inclined to agree to the skeptics but then I understood why most people, namely the hardcore Platinum Games enthusiasts, were underwhelmed. The game doesn't really reward you for flashy combos in this game like most of Platinum Games other titles, such as Bayonetta, Anarchy Reigns, or Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Instead, this is game HEAVILY reliant on precise timing and counters to do massive amounts of damage in a short time. You could chip away at a boss' health guage for hours on end with normal attacks, even with the specific bending type that enemy type is weak against, but it won't mean shit in this game where you can do one counter and INSTANTLY kill a group of enemies if timed correctly. The best way to defeat the bosses of this game is to study their attacks, then evade and counter when the button prompt appears onscreen to deal the maximum amount of damage.
When you start the game in the tutorial, you have all four elements of bending, but after the tutorial, you lose the ability to use all of the elements and Korra has to relearn how to tap into each element throughout the course of the story campaign. Waterbending is mainly for distance and long-range attacks, earthbending is slow, but packs a punch - delivering massive, unblockable damage for successful strikes, firebending is fast, but not quite as powerful as earthbending, and last but not least, airbending is the jack of all trades, offering massive damage with each successful strike and offers tons of maneuverability to boot. Truth be told, after you acquire airbending, you're not going to be using the other elements much other than waterbending and even that's going to be rare as airbending does it all. I personally felt that Platinum Games should have spent a bit more time balancing out each of the elements properly. Firebending comes off almost extremely useless for the bulk of the game outside of it's mobility options and a lot of the high damaging combos tend to whiff on opponents.
The narrative here isn't anything to write home about, but it's decent, yet simplistic for what it's worth in this rather short adventure. My biggest complaint was the lack of Team Avatar (Mako, Bolin, and Asami) in this. Sure, you get to team up with your fellow Fire Ferrets in the Probending Mode, but that's the only real dialogue or interactions with them throughout the entire game. Asami doesn't even pop up in the game at all, despite the fact that her father's MechaTanks and Shock Gauntlets are used by the Chi-Blockers throughout the campaign. Tenzin and his family are absent as well, with the exception of Jinora who acts as spirit guide for Korra throughout the story. The game assumes a lot from gamers to know everything about Korra up to this point and it's lazy storytelling to just throw players in the thick of things in this game's narrative and not even explain anything leading up to this point. I did appreciate that the game does sport some animated cutscenes created specifically for this game by the series' creators, but it seemed a little half-assed that they didn't go farther than that to enlighten newcomers to Korra's world.
Overall, the game isn't bad. The story mode tends to get redundant pretty quick after Korra regains all four elements and unlock the Avatar state. The game then turns into a contest of building meter fast enough to lay waste to everything around you with the Avatar State. That's essentially what the final boss fight comes down to - countering his attacks to wear down his health and build up enough meter by killing his underlings to activate the Avatar State to finish him off. If anything I would have to frown upon about the game is some of the bad camera angles in a few sections of the game and the Naga Riding sections are a bit of chore outside of the one where you fight three MechaTanks as a boss fight.
There's a little replayability with the game as players can collect items found in chests hidden throughout the levels in the story campaign. You can do a New Game+ of sorts, where your skills and items carry over for higher difficulty levels, but the game isn't much more different on higher difficulties other than different enemy layouts and the massive amount of damage enemies inflict. Your chances of survival on that mode are extremely low if you haven't mastered counters, evasion tactics, and have purchased the proper offensive and defense accessories from the in-game shop.
Buy It, Rent It, or Don't Bother?
For a downloadable title, this game is still rather pricey. The last time I checked it still goes for $14.99 on PSN and XBLA, but a little less than that on Steam. I honestly didn't pay more than $5-10 for this and I don't expect you to either.
The story campaign is over a little too quickly for my taste and by the time you get all of your bending back and acquire the Avatar state, airbending comes across as the most overpowered set of attacks in the game and normal combat just comes down to precision timing with counters to do massive damage to your foes to defeat them as quickly as possible. After completing the story mode, you are able to play through the game again with all of your items and skills intact on higher difficulties, but that gets rather redundant as the game only changes around the enemy types so that the enemies from the last few levels appear more regularly.
Probending is a nice escape from the redundancy from the story mode, but if you hope to defeat the last tier of opponents, I suggest you max out Korra's bending as your teammates' skills are a reflection of those skill levels. Even then, it's still quite the challenge to overcome with extremely unforgiving enemy AI at that tier.
For action-enthusiasts and fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, this is worth a purchase if you can catch it on sale. Everyone else though? I suggest skipping this game as the Avatar license as a whole deserves a MUCH better game than this.
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is a historical action-adventure open world stealth video game developed and published by Ubisoft, initially as an exclusive title for PlayStation Vita. Sony announced the game at its press conference during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, few days after first leaks about the game presented in Game Informer. It was released on October 30, 2012 alongside Assassin's Creed III, with which it can be linked. The game was re-released as Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows via the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam, respectively. It was later packed as part of "Assassin's Creed The Americas Collection" for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, along with Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
The game is set between 1765 and 1777, and primarily features the series' first female protagonist, Aveline de Grandpré, an African-French Assassin around the end of the French and Indian War, in 18th century New Orleans.
The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)
In the modern day, Abstergo Entertainment, a subsidiary of Abstergo which is in charge of producing multimedia goods, releases their first major product, Liberation, a video game about the life of the Assassin Aveline de Grandpré. The game, however, is heavily censored, with any details regarding the Assassins - Templar war being omitted, in an attempt to portray the Assassins as the villainous force. As the player progresses through the game, they are greeted by messages from a group of hackers known as Erudito, giving them access to the full story hidden behind Abstergo's censoring attempts.
The main portion of the game takes place in Louisiana near the end of the French and Indian War, where France's defeat caused the city of New Orleans to be taken over by the Spanish government. The citizens were upset over the transition from French to Spanish control and Spain's new occupation within the city. However, in 1765, the French governor Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie made a negotiation with Templar Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer to stay as governor of New Orleans. This plot was later uncovered by Aveline, who infiltrated the governor's mansion and assassinated him.
Following this, de Ferrer made another deal with a man named Baptiste, who was hoping to defect from the Assassins to the Templar Order. Baptiste took on the identity of the recently deceased François Mackandal, as a ruse to attract followers to his cause. His plan was to poison New Orleans' nobles and take control of smuggling operations within the Louisiana Bayou, although his sole purpose was actually to force Agaté, Assassin and mentor to Aveline, out of hiding in the bayou. His plot failed however, as Aveline tracked Baptiste down, killed his followers and assassinated the false Mackandal.
In 1766, the Templar Antonio de Ulloa arrived in New Orleans, to serve as the Spanish governor. However, he left control of the area to French officials and allowed the French flag to remain over the city. Two years afterwards, he made strict trade restrictions and set up a covert slave-trading operation to transport slaves to a Templar worksite in Mexico, creating a rebellion among French officials and the citizens of New Orleans.
Agaté ordered Aveline to assassinate de Ulloa to eradicate Templar presence in New Orleans. Aveline ambushed de Ulloa's carriage and confronted the governor, who told her that slaves had been taken to Chichén Itzá. However, Aveline spared his life and let Ulloa leave the city, in return for a lens used to decode Templar documents and a map leading her to the Templar worksite in Chichén Itzá. Aveline's act of mercy destroyed any trust Agaté had in his student, as she had disobeyed his explicit orders.
Aveline disguised herself as a slave bound for Mexico and made her way to the Templar worksite at Chichén Itzá. Whilst there, she came across a defiant slave who mentioned that Jeanne, Aveline's mother, was stationed in Chichén Itzá. Aveline investigated thoroughly and uncovered a page from Jeanne's diary and a map that lead to an artifact located inside a cenote. Upon exploring this cave system, she came across an ancient chamber filled with ruins from the First Civilization, along with a fragment of the artifact she was searching for, known as the Prophecy Disk. Aveline then encountered de Ferrer, and killed him and his men. She was reunited with her mother, who warned her not to let the disk fall into Agaté's hands.
Two years later, Aveline returned to New Orleans to find that a man by the name of Vázquez was using Spanish soldiers to seize control of the bayou. She suspected him to be the head Templar of Louisiana, a.k.a. the Company Man, who de Ferrer had mentioned in Chichén Itzá. After retrieving the final piece of the Prophecy Disk in Chichén Itzá, Aveline went back to New Orleans once more to begin her quest in freeing slaves in the city. Her stepmother, Madeleine de L'Isle, became aware of her work and asked her to help a slave named George escape north. Whilst escorting him through the swamp, she met with her smuggler allies Élise Lafleur and Roussillon, helping them to deliver supplies to American Patriots who were fighting in the American Revolutionary War. Vázquez attempted to stop Aveline and her allies by sending Spanish soldiers their way, but Aveline defeated them and ensured George and the supplies reached their destination. After returning to the city, Aveline attended a governor's ball under disguise and managed to get close to Vázquez and assassinate him. However, to her surprise, Vázquez revealed that he was not the Company Man. Following this, Aveline learned that her father, who had been ill for some time, had died.
Sadly, Aveline and Connor only team up for a brief portion of the game and it's
over as quickly as it began. I can see why she doesn't pop up in his game at all.
In 1777, Aveline headed to the New York Frontier, and teamed up with the Assassin Connor to find a Templar officer who was working for the Company Man. She discovered the officer to be George, the same slave she had freed years before, and the Company Man was none other than Madeleine. After confronting her stepmother at her mansion, Aveline traveled to the bayou and met with Agaté to inform him of her discovery. Agaté was unable to accept his failure and believing that Aveline had sided with the Templars, attacked her. Aveline overpowered him and attempted to convince him to leave Louisiana for his own safety, but Agaté could not live with the humiliation and instead chose to dive to his death. On realizing this, Aveline quickly attempted to save him, but only managed to grasp his necklace which tore away from his neck.
Following her mentor's death, Aveline saw her situation as an opportunity to infiltrate the Templars and eradicate it from within. Upon returning to New Orleans, she made her way to the Saint Louis Cathedral and gave Madeleine Agaté's necklace to show her allegiance. Following this, she was inducted into the Templar Order by her stepmother. Aveline then gave her the two halves of the Prophecy Disk, which Madeleine placed on an altar and added another piece to hold the two fragments together. However, she could not make sense of the scrambled messages within. Aveline saw this as her moment to strike and reclaim the Prophecy Disk. She eliminated all the Templars inside the cathedral and assassinated Madeleine.
Now alone inside the cathedral, Aveline stepped up to the altar where the Prophecy Disk had been placed. She connected the locket she wore around her neck, which once belonged to her mother, to the artifact, causing it to display a holographic recording detailing a message from the time of the First Civilization. This message recounted the election of Eve as the leader of the rebellion during the Human-First Civilization War.
The Verdict:
I have been sitting on this review long enough and don't worry, I'm not going to make this longer than it needs to be. Keep in mind that this review is on the HD port of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation NOT the PlayStation Vita original.
To make a long story short, this game is literally Assassin's Creed III but with a few extra bells and whistles in terms of combat and how Aveline approaches each mission as she has the means to adopt 3 different identities throughout any point of the game, as long as you have the means of finding a "Changing Booth" to change clothes in. Aveline has the ability use what I'm dubbing the "Dress System" in this game, which allows her to adopt the guises of a assassin, slave, or a maiden.
Aveline's three personas for the game: (left to right) assassin, slave, and maiden.
This is a VERY unique concept, which offers Aveline multiple options to tackle assassinations and various objectives. Sadly, most story missions are bound to the player using just one of Aveline's identities for the duration of that mission. It would have been cool if you could swap identities on the fly but that was asking for a bit too much as this game is a mere HD port of the PlayStation Vita original.
At least they made an effort to make the graphics stand out with the console port.
With this port there's a few graphical hiccups with the visuals and a minor glitch here and there, but it's nowhere as bad as the original Assassin's Creed III's glitches and bugs were. If you want see and how how I felt about that game, I suggest going back to my Assassin's Creed III review here.
In terms of narrative, it's a rather condensed affair as it's still the same handheld adventure from the PlayStation Vita that it was originally designed for. You won't get all of the finer details unless you hunt down the six memory glitches (known as Citizen E) throughout the course of the game's chapters in Eagle Vision to unlock hidden cutscenes that Abstergo Entertainment has hidden from you.
Buy it, Rent it, or Don't Bother?
If you already own the PS Vita original, I wouldn't even bother, but if you're a fan of the franchise, it wouldn't hurt to give this downloadable title a fair shot when it's on sale on PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. Otherwise, I wouldn't pay that full price of $14.99 that normally goes for. If you can get it as part of the Americas Collection for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, then definitely give this a shot.
At this point, you should know what to expect from the Assassin's Creed franchise. It's one of the most unique experiences in the franchise up to this point in the timeline (or order of games if you're playing them in chronological order of their release). If I may add, playing as a female protagonist is a welcome breath of fresh air in what is normally a male-oriented affair. I personally found it entertaining to see how a woman would handle the emotional hardships, burden, and responsibility of the life of being a part of the Assassins' order. And to say that this took place during Connor's time period was even more gratifying as I expressed in my Assassin's Creed III review that I felt that game's world was extremely lacking in terms of content to keep you engaged and willing to give a damn about that world outside the main campaign's constraints.
That being said, this game is a port of the PlayStation Vita original that was a mediocre port of the already glitch-filled Assassin's Creed III. The game is playable for the most part but not without a few hiccups here and there, but the improved visuals and better control layout make up for setting for the PS Vita version.
This is my first article on this merged edition of Method to Madness after importing all of my former blog content from Let's Talk Wrestling to this page in a single entity, so I'm looking forward to exposing my readers to another layer of my blogging.
Payback Kick-Off - Dolph Ziggler def. Baron Corbin via roll-up
For me, this was the biggest shocker of the night. It was pretty much the same match that they have been having for the past month on weekly WWE programming, so I can't complain that much in that aspect. Besides, you know if anyone can pull out a good match out of Corbin it's going to be Ziggler. From the way how this ended, it seems like they aren't done after this one.
Payback Kick-Off - Kaliso def. Ryback to retain the United States Championship
I think Kalisto and Ryback surprised everyone with this one. It was definitely the match of the evening, seconded only by the main event. It's a damn shame that they had to rush the finish since it was getting too close to the official start time of the main show, but I'm sure they could have stretched this out for a few more minutes. This was the match that I was hoping that these two would have put on at WrestleMania, but hey, it's better late than never, right? Kalisto's pulling out some great matches with the Big Guy, who isn't no slouch either.
By the way, I LOVED how Ryback trolled the Chicago crowd with the CM Punk taunt. It would have been even more hilarious if he pulled off the Go To Sleep as well for even more heel heat.
Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Vaudevillains ended in no contest
This match had the ingredients for an amazing tag team match, despite the fact that the New Day were making a mockery of the tag team division (as always) by sitting at ringside eating snacks. Unfortunately, this match was ended by referee stoppage after Enzo took a nasty spill by hitting his head onto the ropes then bouncing it again onto the mat before falling out to the ring. That blank stare in his eyes had me fearing the worst during the live broadcast as we lost El Hijo del Perro Aguayo roughly a year ago in a similar incident.
Fortunately, Enzo Amore only suffered a concussion and is doing fine as of this posting.
Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn
I have seen these guys fight each other in several promotions over the last decade, so I knew what to expect going into this match. To be honest, I felt that this conflict was rather tame to say it's been building up this long since well over a year ago. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying they had a bad match, just was expecting a little more in this conflict, even though it was a solid match tonight. I was even more shocked that Owens picked up the win AND Owens laid out Zayn again after the next match. I understand that WWE is doing the whole underdog thing with Zayn but to the casual fan they are painting the picture of Zayn looking like a loser thus far. I'm sure this is going to lead to some huge win later down the line but if I were in charge of booking and creative for WWE, I would be a little more careful of how they are treating Zayn. They could easily make him the new Daniel Bryan for this generation of fans, but at the same time, if he loses too much, he will become another Dolph Ziggler.
The Miz (w/ Maryse Ouellet) def. Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Championship
I like Cesaro but for as much as he was dominating over Miz here, I wasn't feeling their chemistry in this match. The only thing that was really making this match stand out was Kevin Owens sticking around to belittle Michael Cole and Byron Saxton on commentary. The match itself wasn't bad; it just dragged on too long for my taste. Cesaro was made to look like an idiot during the finish, where he released the hold to shove Owens and Zayn off the ring apron, only for Miz to roll him up for the win. Another thing that was annoying me was how Maryse was doing little to show her purpose and value as Miz's valet. Maryse is hot as hell and I absolutely adore her, but goddamn this chick knows nothing about being a valet. I hope someone tells her to watch Lana or go back and study some of Sherri Martel's stuff or even watch what Maria Kanellis is doing on Impact Wrestling.
Being a pretty face at ringside only goes so far before WWE goes, "Why do we need you here?" Just saying.,,
Dean Ambrose def. Chris Jericho
Maybe it's just me but these two guys just don't click well with me. AJ Styles and Jericho worked well throughout WrestleMania season, but this match-up just seemed a little off. Call me a little cynical but I just can't get behind Jericho in 2016, especially when he can't decide if he's still in 2000s or trying to be Bon Jovi's dad.
Charlotte (w/ Ric Flair) def. Natalya (w/ Bret Hart) with a mock Montreal Chicago Screwjob finish
This definitely wasn't as good as their Roadblock match and it was a far cry from their match back during the finals of the Women's Championship Tournament on NXT. About time that Charlotte learned to work an opponent's limbs before applying the Figure Eight.
Vince McMahon puts BOTH Shane and Stephanie in charge of Monday Night RAW
Complete waste of time here. All of that hype and pandering to the crowd - which could have been the opening segment to Monday Night RAW the next night - only to drop this weak ass solution to the "who's in charge?" dilemma.
I will admit that I was entertained that both Vince and Stephanie were trolling the Chicago with egging the crowd on with the CM Punk chants and even throwing in a few of CM Punk's lines into their mic work. Clever stuff there, that went over most people's heads on social media from what I noticed last night.
Roman Reigns def. AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship
This was a rather exciting main event. Where was this Reigns at WrestleMania? Styles definitely brought out the best in that guy tonight. Finally, the Usos backed up Reigns and it made fucking sense against Gallows and Karl Anderson. I'm still holding my breath for the swerve that they are not affiliated with Styles, but are working for the Authority or Finn Balor in the near future.
I don't have a problem with Reigns retaining the title (despite the fact that they already confirmed the rematch at Extreme Rules later this month). I just wish that WWE would stop making AJ Styles' "big" moves (Styles Clash, Springboard Flip-DDT, etc.) seem ineffective against just about anyone and can't end matches.
