LIKED
– Extract isn’t quite on the level of Mike Judge’s other brilliant comedies, but it’s still damn funny; Jason Bateman, JK Simmons, Kirsten Wiig, and Clifton Collins Jr. are all fantastic (and Beth Grant deserves a shout-out for creating the most hilariously annoying character ever; seriously, you will wish she would get run over by a truck), but you have to give props to Ben Affleck for being just goddamned awesome. I honestly think Ben Affleck doesn’t get enough props in this world.
– Strange Tales #1 is exactly as good as you thought it would be. Not sure why Marvel made us wait so long for it, but it’s fantastic. I thought the much-hyped Peter Bagge “Incorrigible Hulk” story was actually one of the least impressive; it’s still good, but I was a bigger fan of John Leavitt and Molly Crabapple’s She-Hulk story, Jason’s story of Spider-Man wanting to get into a barfight, and of course Dash Shaw’s Dr. Strange.
MEH
– Yes, I get that Spelunky is brilliant programming and revolutionary in its application of roguelike principles to platform gaming and blah blah blah but here’s the thing: a lot of little things that would have made this a truly great game as opposed to a truly great exercise in programming aren’t quite right. Most glaring is that there isn’t enough lifegain to quite counter the numerous ways to lose life in the game; the only way to gain life is to rescue the girl, an exercise that can frequently end up losing you life in the process (since carrying things is such a pain, given the loss of the whip and ability to run). There are other things: the dart-shooters do two points of damage rather than one, and given that it’s really easy to run towards one that’s offscreen and not see it before you’re getting shot with a dart, that feels unbalanced. The skulls sometimes becoming skeletons injects additional required caution that makes the game tedious. And the ghost showing up randomly is just goddamn annoying and makes the game less fun. It’s frustrating because the game is nearly great. But it’s not.
DIDN’T LIKE
– “All right, Supergirl, here you are. And you saved my life – much appreciated, by the way. But I still have to ask – are you here now as a hero… or as a villain?”
(Supergirl sheds single tear)
– “I’m Kryptonian, sure, but I’m not bad. I’m good.”
-“My father’s dead. I want justice. Together we can be justice!”
Somebody actually paid James Robinson to write Cry For Justice #3. Now, in fairness, the bits with Congo Bill and Mikaal Tomas teaming up actually flow quite well and I wish I was just reading Congo Bill and Alien Starman Fight Baddies, and there’s a nice bit with the Shade and Bobo that, one awkward line aside, feels like classic Starman. But everything with the actual star-billed superheroes in this book is total crap, and that’s before you get into the implications of them torturing a baddie who turns out to be a different baddie.
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I…. fuck! You accidentally made me want to pick up CfJ 3! Fuck you!
I had such high hopes for Robinson on Justice League, also. What went wrong?
Yeah, I was hoping this would be a good series…
It still looks nice though.
Spelunky isn’t sheer genius, I’ll admit, but it’s better than you give it credit for, I think. I had a lot of fun playing it, and I’ve actually beaten it several times. I will grant you that the game isn’t very easily accessible, given the difficulty, and it’s hard to feel like you’ve practiced when each level is randomized. But after a while, you get really good at handling the challenges, and stuff like stealing from the shopkeeper becomes awesomely fun and rewarding.
Armed with a shotgun and a jetpack, there’s really nothing in this world that can stop you… Except for those goddamned dart traps.
Who’s with me on chaining JR to a desk and forcing him to solely write Starman?
…no one? C’mon. It’ll be fun.
Why would I want Robinson to write more Starman. He finished that one. If I’m going to chain the dude to write to my demands I’m going to try and get more “Leave it to Chance”…
Spelunky is like any other roguelike: it is virtually impossible to get anywhere in it without tons and tons of practice runs (or a lot of luck in terms of getting rare items, although even those can’t save you from yourself). However, with enough experience, you can succeed quite regularly (in that sense it’s like a typical console or PC RPG in that it requires grinding, however it is the player rather than the character who gains the relevant experience). Of course, whether that fact detracts from or contributes to your experience is an entirely separate matter.
So, is Cry for Justice going to end with Hal becoming Parallax again, or what?
Because all this ‘proactive’ ‘kill the badguys’ ‘torture your enemies’ stuff seems more villainous than anything he’s done since like Final Night.
Cry for Justice is honestly the most amazing thing I’ve read all year. It’s like they hired the Doom: Repercussions of Evil guy to do comics. I would have paid Robinson to write it, and I would have paid him twice whatever they’re paying him now.
I hadn’t actually heard of Spelunky ’til now, but a quick jaunt to their website gave me the description that it’s a cross between La Mulana and Nethack. Arguably two of the hardest games ever. I had trouble with Cave Story when my gamepad broke, so I’ll probably leave it to those hardcore players it’s aimed at.
I second your opinion on Ben Affleck. He may not always pick the best films, but he consistently delivers good performances.