Untitled blog of madness

Posting random rants n nerd things. And sometimes when feeling frisky...not nerdy things. It's all good innit?

[kennythecamguy]

Top Ten Worst Featured Game modes in a Wrestling Game

I’m back again for my uhh..two readers? Is two a good number? Are there two of you? Let’s just say there are two of you and move on. Now at the moment my pesky real life is getting in the way of this blog a little bit, but for now let’s get at it and list some moar things!

I’m sure it’s noticeable if someone has read any of this but I spend a little too much time with wrestling and video games and it should be little surprise that wrestling games take up a bit too much of my time, and recently I came to the realization that a good portion of the story/season/showcase modes in the Yukes games of the past...what 15 years have been pretty awful, and hey seems like it’ll be a fun time to recap some of the worst of the worst in not just that series but all wrestling games.

The rules here are simple; the game mode has to be the “main” mode, the one the developers are supposed to hook the player with, and yes a ot of these are more modern, not because I hate the Yukes game; in fact I really enjoy that series, but because prior to the Playstation One/Nintendo 64 era most games either didn’t have a main mode or just used the traditional “beat everyone to win the title” theory, so it’s hard to judge them too harshly.

10.Championship Mode- WWF Wrestlemania Challenge- NES So to directly fly in the face of what I just typed about most of these being more modern games, let’s start with something decidedly retro in Wrestlemania Challenge. This was the second WWF game on the NES and was a fairly big improvement on the first(which is incredibly faint praise). The center of the game was a standard championship mode where you beat the game’s roster and win the title. What makes this worthy of inclusion here? Well to pad the game’s roster a character named Yourself (or You to his friends) was included because uhh...well nobody was ever really sure, and in championship mode you have to play as....you. Even the two player tag team championship is fairly lame as both players have to be you. Such a confusing choice that turned a really basic gamemode into a big waste of time.

9.Season Mode-WWF Smackdown 2-Know Your Role

The WWF Smackdown games were some of the first to really try and make a main mode more than something basic like “beat everyone and win the belts” by actually giving storylines and trying to build the in ring contests through them. I can’t speak for Smackdown 1′s season mode as I was too poor to afford new games very often as a kid but I did eventually end up with its sequel and the season mode was well...well it kind of sucked. For one thing you’d constantly have to watch “cut scenes” of guys saying generic comments like “Rikishi Seems satisfied with the victory” or “Mick Foley is calling The Rock out”. For another title matches are handed out randomly so it could take upwards of two or three in game years to get a title shot. On top of that there’s an actual cutscene where you can lose your title. I can’t imagine anything dumber than losing a title in a cutscene you have no control over.

However the thing that really pushes this season mode into horrid territory; Look at that screen up there.This is what pops up with you skip a match. See how all three guys have meters? Well when you’re skipping a match you have to wait for one(or in an elimination match all) of those to run out. It takes about seven seconds and there are eight matches per card. That’s a lot of time spent staring at those meters and it really drags the season from a highlight into what feels like a never ending adventure in staring at text. What makes it worse is that in order to unlock everything in the game you have to play the season for 6 years. It’ll feel like you’ve spent six years of your actual life just skipping matches by the time you’re done with it.

8.Tag Team Career- WWF Attitude Well if we’re going by chronological order this one should have been before Smackdown, but well...I don’t feel like going back. Attitude featured what was actually a pretty decent career mode. You start at the bottom working house shows then work you way up match by match winning European, Intercontinetal and WWF World titles. It’s pretty basic by today’s standards but when the game launched it was really the first wrestling game mode that basically required a memory card because there was no way you had time to beat that in one sitting. While there were occasionally frustrating things like handi-cap matches and the ever annoying triangle elimination match(made annoying because AI characters break up pinfalls for some reason...but they don’t do it a standard triple threat for...probably that same reason), the mode was all around decent and if you lost you usually could get back on track with a big win. That same level of competence didn’t translate to the tag team option for one reason only; every Raw contest in the tag team career is either a tag team or tornado tag gauntlet that forces you to beat four teams in a row in elimination rule matches. The gauntlet mode in exhibition only makes you beat four wrestlers, which is tedious but doable, but four teams? Yeah I wasn’t going to spend enough time on Attitude’s awful controls to be that good, and I hope no one else did either.

7.Showdown Challenge- Showdown Legends of Wrestling Acclaim’s Legends of Wrestling is a series that’s best left forgotten. Still if you like me are a fan of many different styles and eras of wrestling, or if you’re a fan of mostly old-school legends it’s worth at least looking at it and seeing if you can put up with the controls if you’re playing as or against people like the Von Erichs, Baron Von Raschce, or Eddie Gilbert. My advice though is to skip the first entry and pick up either LoWII or Showdown.  One downfall of Showdown though is the removal of the fantastic season mode from Legends of Wrestling II(and yes I’m being serious there that pretty awful game featured a damned good season mode). Showdown was rushed out as a last ditch effort by Acclaim to stave off bankruptcy, and as such the main game mode was fairly limited. You pick from the massive roster and play four matches in each era(70s,80s,90s) then win the title for that decade. After wining all three titles you go onto face Hogan for some kind of ultimate mega title or something? Maybe he pulled a Headbangers and declared himself the Champion of the Universe? No idea. The mode was way too short and didn’t have any unlockables to speak of so it was entirely pointless and seemingly tacked on just so they could claim they had a season of some kind.

6.Season Mode- Smackdown vs Raw 2007

The season mode in the Yukes games really peaked in Shut Your Mouth or Here Comes the Pain depending on your point of view. SYM expanded on the story  lines beyond basic (and often pointless) cutscenes, in addition players no longer had to watch scenes that didn’t include their wrestler. The season mode was also a much more enjoyable two year length really the only weaknesses were just how long it took to unlock everything by buying cards after PPV wins, and the fact that the game resets all champions at the end of two years. The game also relied on the archaic “turn the difficulty up after a certain number of months” trick, but that could easily be remedied by giving your chosen wrestler the Sharpshooter or Edgecator and locking it on every time you knock an opponent down. Here Comes the Pain did away with these handicaps keeping titles where they were at the end of a season, and the unlockable cards were replaced with a shop which made it much easier to unlock things if you were playing as a created or lower card wrestler who wasn’t regularly booked on early PPVs.

All the fun of storylines that changed and evolved, watching wrestlers move up the card, and at some point or another getting to face the monster you’ve built up as world champion(or even pulling a 1990′s Shawn Michaels and choosing your own successor as champion) was all thrown out the window with the first Smackdown vs Raw and the introduction of voice acting. While this feature hyped beyond belief it crippled the storylines forcing players to matching up against the same guys every time in the same storylines. What’s more because champions were required to have voices so that the stories could work which means that guys like Triple H, John Cena, and Chris Benoit who at that point were far beyond midcard titles would be challenging for and winning the US and IC titles(though title changes were exceedingly rare anyway). The following year even that was done away with and players could only challenge for titles at specific points, that year also saw the introduction of limiting who players could use in the season mode.

The mode finally bottomed out in 2007 though, which featured a storyline where Edge & Candice Michelle turn the players wrestler into a female..which is eventually revealed to have all been a dream, and despite a good 2-3 month chunk being a dream the player wakes up and time has suddenly skipped forward to the royal rumble. The only things that even compare are the Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Road to Wrestlemania that saw The Boogeyman turn Santino & Finlay into zombies and Christian’s time travel adventure in 2011. The next year would see season mode replaced with Road to Wrestlemania which...was kind of the same thing but instead with a handful of wrestlers being focused on for a few months which took even more of the freedom out of the game. Even worse Road to Wrestlemania introduced one of the most annoying unlock systems ever that required players to complete specific tasks mid-match to unlock things. 

5.Career Mode- Smackdown vs Raw 2009

This one might be cheating slightly since Road to Wrestlemania was supposed to be the main mode, but that mode was so uneventful and dull that Yukes decided to add a second kind of main mode. Instead of carrying over the mega popular GM mode Yukes introduced something called Career mode. The goal was to start at the bottom and build your chosen character up by winning the three mid-card titles of the time(IC,US and ECW) the eventually the two world titles. The mode was seen as a completely boring waste of time to the point that a cheat was eventually patched in that enabled users to skip their CAWs rating upto 90, meaning the time to play career mode was limited to unlocking abilities.

Unfortunately even unlocking abilities was botched in this game mode as there was no way to delete an ability. So if you were aiming for say the Table Match Specialist ability and accidently ended up with something like Springboard Dives...you were stuck with the springboards. I don’t know of anybody who finished the game mode and once I had three templates for CAW ratings(Superheavyweight, Heavyweight and Crusierweight) I quit playing it for good.

4.Road to Wrestlemania- WWE 12

THQ and Yukes finally listened to the complaints that the Road to Wrestlemania much like the SvR Season Modes before it were just awful, boring game modes and decided to revamp it for WWE 12, however this retweaking lasted exactly one year so that should tell you how well it went over.

The story was now three intertwined stories focusing on a hero(Triple H) and villain(Sheamus) and a created wrestler. Unfortunately all three stories are incredibly boring and even in a video game there’s an arch where Triple H just buries the hell out of several people at one time because well...you might forget he’s a legendary figure. There isn’t much to write about on this one as it was essentially the same old Road to Wrestlemania that everyone was tired of already. I have to imagine most players spent more time on the game’s Universe mode than caring about this storymode for very long. Previous Road to Wrestlemanias were at least fun to play once, this one however was a drag to get through even just one time. 3.Relive,Rewrite,Redefine- WWE Legends of Wrestlemania

Released a few months after Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Legends of Wrestlemania had potential to bring back the fun season modes of old because the game was set on being retro and featured plenty of characters who had passed on or retired, so keeping the story mode in line with current day WWE’s style wasn’t going to be an issue. Unfortunately the lazies option was chosen and no story or season mode was added with the excuse that “it wouldn’t make sense”. That same excuse was used to justify gutting a good number of match types.

In place of an actual mode Legends had the “Relive, Rewrite, Redefine” mode, which featured a handful of matches under each category. These matches worked similar to Road the Wrestlemania matches in that you were required to complete a certain number of objectives before winning to unlock hidden secrets.

A game with simple controls like this one either needed to be really fun and easy to get into, or needed at least one game mode that added some replay value, Legends of Wrestlemania had none of those features. The controls were simple to the point of being a turn off for most people(seemingly ever impact move revolves around QTEs), there are barely 20 match types, and the relive, rewrite, redefine mode takes all of one afternoon to finish, leaving you with nothing but nostalgia propping this game up.

2.Story Mode- TNA Impact

C’mon it’s a list about wrestling with “Worst of” in the title. You knew TNA was sneaking on this thing somehow, and it does so via  storyline that is somehow not the most ridiculous to take place in a wrestling game because...Candice’s magic wand, Zombie Santino and time traveling Christian, remember?

Anyway Impact’s story has to be mentioned here. The player begins the game as Suicide who is apparently climbing up the ranks in TNA but when he wins the World title is attacked and left for dead in a ditch somewhere in Mexico, and you thought TNA treated Jesse Sorensen unfairly. Anyway Suicide recieves cosmetic surgery that somehow makes him lose his memory, and he eventually decides to just be a wrestler again. 

Really. That’s how it happens. Throughout his adventures the former Suicide beats Jay Lethal, teams with Eric Young and oh yeah because it’s TNA in 2007 the final boss is against Jeff Jarrett.

What makes someone want to put up with this stupid level of insanity? Well to start with of the games patheticly sized 27 wrestler roster, a huge chunk are locked. There are 9(or 10 counting Suicide) actual wrestlers locked, along with Don West, and three generic guys..because who wants James Storm, Bobby Roode or Petey Williams when you can be Don West? Players also have to unlock just about every create a wrestler part or move in the story mode. This pretty much drags Impact from an okay game into an awful one because who the hell wants to sit through that story long enough to unlock everything? 1.2k Showcase- WWE 2k15

In seemingly further proof that Yukes has no clue what their fans want out of a wrestling game(hint...GM Mode and Here Comes the Pain season will work everytime), they launched WWE 13 with an Attitude Era mode, that basically took the Road to Wrestlemania formula and wrapped it in Attitude Era characters, stories and arenas. 2k14 did the same thing with Wrestlemania. Those two modes were not worth replaying but were okay mainly due to nostalgia’s sake; plus if you never lived through them they were decent history lessons(albeit abbreviated ones) however because of the lack of replay value it’s hard to really give too much praise to them.

For 2k15 THQ stripped the one thing that made those modes enjoyable in the first place; the nostalgia. They instead replaced it with a “2k Showcase” mode that focused on a handful of stories. One of them being DLC. Two of these are far too recent to be worth any nostalgia(Punk/Cena from 2011, and Mark Henry’s Hall of Pain from the same year) the other was focused on HHH/Shawn Michaels from 2002-2003 which was considered one of WWE’s most despised time periods. This type of showcase mode was one that needed to be scrapped and replaced with an upgrade(Yukes instead opted to scrap the Universe mode keeping their history of removing the most popular game mode for reasons that don’t make any sense), instead they strip it of nostalgia, the one reason anyone played the Attitude Era and 30 Years of Wrestlemania modes in the first place. 2k15 in general is considered a step down from 13 and 2k14 and this showcase mode is one of the reasons why.

[kennythecamguy]

Ten Characters I can’t help but Hate

A couple weeks ago(before I had to work four straight nights of over-night shifts and forgot about anything but work and sleep) I did a list of characters I can’t help but love(it’s true) and indeed planned to do the logical follow up of characters I can’t help but hate. This is basically a list of people who I never liked, and just can’t bring myself to. Some are actually okay characters over-all but by the time I learned of their redeeming qualities I had long ago stopped caring. Only rule here...no repeats between franchises.

10.Drag Queen- Twisted Metal 4

Let’s start with an easy one. Twisted Metal III & 4 are considered the weakest in the series by far(though by the time I understood this I had too many childhood memories to hate the games entirely) Even in 2000 this wasn’t considered funny or anything close to okay. On the surface Drag Queen was just a lame design and an unfunny attempt at humor. HE’S FAT!!! AND UGLY!!! AND HE DRESSES LIKE A WOMAN!! PLUS HE DRIVES A DRAGSTER! That alone is enough to put this guy on the list of bad characters period. 989 made things even more confusing by having a character named Drag Queen wish to be a Vegas Show Girl. Seems like a misunderstanding about whether the guy is supposed to be transgender or just wear dresses. Whatever he’s supposed to be it’s unfunny and a little offensive. 

9.Madam Vivienne- Dragon Age Inquisition

I’ve gone an entire rant on Vivi before and don’t feel like repeating myself so just go here.  If you don’t want to go there then I’ll summarize here. Being insulted and treated as inferior is not a good thing for a character who is supposed to be an ally and potential friend to do. In the past Bioware managed to balance characters like Bastilla, Silk Fox, Morrigan and Miranda so they manage to avoid being outright horrible characters, but Vivenne does nothing even remotely human and comes off as being bitchy for the sake of having a bitchy character in the roster.

8.Princess Penelope- The Simpsons- “One Apon a Time in Springfield”

Two things about this episode amaze me. One is that it rarely gets listed as one of the worst Simpsons episodes ever(though I doubt anybody would claim it was good) and two somehow Anne Hatheway won an Emmy for voicing this horrendous character. The basic plot of the episode involves using Penelope to drive up the girl viewership on the Krusty the Clown Show, and the Penelop segments are cringe worthy. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be feeling the same thing Bart is while watching where I’m wondering what the hell is wrong with my favorite show, but I do. In the end Krusty and Penelope fall in love or some stupid thing. I blacked out every time I’ve tried to watch this episode because the Penelope segments make me feel like a giant jackass.

7.E. Honda- Street Fighter II

I’m sure everyone has their personal least favorite Street Fighter(and I’m also sure most don’t come from the original SFII Cast) but with Honda I don’t know. For one thing I’m horrible with the guy(even worse than usual), his win pose in Street Fighter IV bugs the hell out of me for some reason, and there’s the fact that as a kid I could never beat the damn guy. For some reason even though he’s far from the worst, I’ve never been able to overcome this guy ruining my childhood by kicking my ass. Not really the fault of the character(and hey I already admitted he doesn’t suck) but doesn’t change the fact that I’m just not a fan of E.Honda.

6.Lars Alexandersson- Tekken

Now with E.Honda I have a personal bias against an okay character because of my own inability as a child, but with Lars...well he’s a legit bad character. Though there’s nothing wrong with his move list, which is the most important part, and hell even his story isn’t all that bad but design wise it’s just...well look at that hair. Looks more like Cloud Strife than Kazuya’s half-brother or whatever he is. The hair combined with the long cape(or scarf? whichever) combine to give Lars a distinct look, but it’s one I’ve always felt was out of place. 

5.Carl “CJ” Johnson- GTA San Andreas

San Andreas is easily my least favorite GTA game(well not including the original PSONE GTAs which I never played). It’s a combination of things that drag the game down A few side activities were just lame and uneeded(dancing and low rider bouncing spring to mind), some things that should have been cool never worked out(car customization was a great idea but my pimped out cars always ended up smashed soon after being built), the difficulty was off the charts even with cheats(still have nightmars about following that train) and the story just wasn’t that interesting to me personally. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t care about the story that I never got a chance to experience CJ in full, but I found him to be an entirely dull protagonist and that’s part of the reason I didn’t bother progressing too far into the game. It would’ve taken an interesting character to get me to care about playing as a street thug and CJ just didn’t have it.

4.Sonya Blade - Mortal Kombat

I already pointed out that E.Honda isn’t a bad character even though I don’t particularly care for him, and some MK fans might be thinking the same thing is about to happen here...well those fans are wrong. Sonya is and always has been an incredibly generic addition to the MK roster. Most MK characters have memorable moves, costumes, fatalities, personalities, and a shit ton of ways to define themselves, Sonya is defined by being....a girl...who was in the first one. All of her famous moves and fatalities revolve around being a female and prior to MKX pretty much everything about her revolved around the fact that she was a female...with huge boobs who wears tight pants. Being a girl is not a personality trait. 

3.Zatanna- DC Comics

When Netherrealm Studios opened up a poll for the final DLC character for Injustice it seemed automatic in my mind that Darkseid was finally going to sneak in, but I was dead wrong as Zatanna dominated that poll and then dominated a poll for the most popular DLC character after that. I was and still am left wondering what the hell the big deal is here. I was willing to give Zatanna a chance even though I’d never cared for her as a comic character but was optimistic that maybe the game appearance could get me to open up to the character, but again it fell flat. Maybe it’s the uber annoying voice of Lacey Chabert(the automatic winner in any hot person weird voice contest ever)? 

2.Miranda Lawson

Miranda’s main appeal is pretty damn obvious. She’s hot, and Bioware was not shy about throwing that in your face(specially in 3 where it seems like her ass is trying to eat her suit).  Beyond that some people respond the her cold bitchiness but it rubbed me the wrong way. I was hyped for the character as before ever playing Mass Effect 2 I knew who this was, she gained some level of prominence but was disappointed that she didn’t do much more than talk down to Shepard, and to Jacob, and to Tali, and to ED-I, and to well...you get the idea. Anyway Miranda does eventually redeem herself; her personal story with her family does a great job of humanizing the character but unfortunately by that point I was kind of turned off the character permanently.

1.Nova (Sam Alexander)

Oy this guy. It’s hard for me to be objective when discussing the “new Nova”. Marvel killed Richard Rider replaced him with a Spider-Man wannabe then made a far bigger deal out of Alexander than they ever did of Rider which basically means that unlike Steve Rogers, Peter Parker and Eddie Brock there’s no guarantee that Rider will return because Marvel has done a lot in so far as making Alexander a big time character when Rider was always relegated to the B-team in Marvel’s pantheon. Is Sam Alexander actually a bad character? I honestly cannot answer it, because it’s hard to be objective when one of my favorite comic characters was not only replaced but replaced and then giving a marketing blitz that the original never got. 

[kennythecamguy]

10 Characters I can't help but Love

I'm feeling positive and random and as such here's a list that conveys both of those feelings. Just a bunch of random characters I like, not a ten favorite characters because this title gives me the option to just repeat this whenever I feel like it. Also yes...there is a ten characters I can't help but Hate coming as well, because why wouldn't I do that?

For this first entry at least I'm attempting to mostly list characters who are either not very popular, typically hated, or just not that important to their respective universes. This also applies to..whatever the hell I can think of. Books, TV, games, movies, comics, anything I tend to pay attention to.

10.Rose- Street Fighter

Let's start things off with the most elegant character to ever grace a fighting game(and no Soul Calibur's Ivy is not more elegant, not with her tits and ass popping all about). Rose has a number of interesting points from both a cahracter and gameplay stand point. First her attacks just look eye catching, with the glowing and orbs, and the fact that she's beating your ass with a scarf, then there's the fact that Rose fights in heels. There's something to be said for that. Aside from the eye catching elegance, heels, and glowing orbs Rose's reflect introduced a great new mechanic to the Street Fighter series. My first Street Fighter game was the original Alpha(stayed in a small town with no arcade thus lacked access to 2 except on a Sega Genesis where it wasn't great), and among that games small roster Rose stood out the most, and she's still one of my most played characters in Street Fighter IV.

9.Ogre- Tekken

Tekken 3 was probably the first fighting game I feel in love with. The combination of simple yet deep controls, cool character designs and off the wall craziness hooked me early on, though the over-reliance on non-fighting modes(Devil Within and Scenario mode specifically) I ended up taking a long break from the series before falling back in love with it with Tekken Tag 2. Anyway the point here is Ogre. I loved both versions of Ogre as much as I loved Devil after playing him Tekken 2. It wasn't until much later that I found the standard version from Tekken 3(later renamed Ancient Ogre in TT2) was resoundingly unpopular. Doesn't matter, I'm still entirely hooked on the character.

8.Nova (Richard Rider)

I live near two used book stores and constantly buy new Marvel trade paperbacks. For those who don't know that's where they stick a bunch of past issues in a book form them charge an insane amount for it. Anyway buying these things used drops the prices from 8-12 dollars(at least that's the only price range I buy them at they can run fairly expensive) and in one of these (The Essential Amazing Spider-Man vol. 8 to be precise) a two parter of Spidey teaming up with a new(in the 70's anyway) hero named Nova. The character instantly clicked with me, and that clicking became borderline worship after discovering the late 2000's Nova series. Nova isn't my favorite comic hero(though he's probably second on that list) but he makes this list because for some reason Marvel seems to think Richard Rider is a finished character and is devoting itself whole heartedly to a "new" Nova, Sam Alexander, who I find it almost impossible to care about even a little bit. Unfortunately the marketing push for Alexander dwarfs anything that was ever given to Rider and the "New" Nova looks to be a permanent fixture. 

7.Moe Szylslak- The Simpsons

Moe began life as a simple bartender on the Simpsons, and was later retooled to be a grossly ugly and unpleasant man. While he was amusing in these broad strokes, Moe is one of the few SImpson's characters who has thrived in the usually mediocre at best "new Simpsons". Moe has been revealed to be someone who is actually a decent person, but because of physical unattractiveness and the occasional rudeness became ostracized and lonely and generally turned into an unpleasant person to be around. Moe really does shine in his more human moments from Seasons 9's "Dumbell Indemnity" and his failed romance to Renee Moe has gradually become one of the most human characters in the Simpsons range. His role as Maggie's Babysitter of choice in "Moe Baby Blues" to his awkward yet unfortunately doomed relationship in "Eeny Teeny Miya Moe", the former generic sleazy bartender has become one of the highlights of the Simpsons post 2000, because despite all his fault it's hard not to root for Moe anytime he attempts to find happiness.

6.Knuckles the Echidna- Sonic

When Sonic & Knuckles launched back in the day I couldn't wait to get my hands on that little red bastard from Sonic 3 because well...I was 5 and new characters always made everything better back then. Well actually this one is still better to this day. Easily the best Sonic character since Sonic and Robotnik(and no fuck no I'm never calling him Eggman) and probably the best over-all. Playing as Knuckles drastically changes the landscape as opposed to playing as Sonic as his gliding and wall climbing gave him huge advantages(that were balanced out by a much lower jump and slightly slower speed).  While Tails in Sonic 3 changed things up as well, Knuckles seemed to truly change the game where-as Tails just added a new ability.

It's a damn shame the series went to shit because for some reason people thing we want to do something more than run fast or fly with tails or climb walls with Knuckles.

5.James Vega- Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 is notable for a few things(aside from the ending), one of them is that the squad size was drastically reduced form the massive ME2 team. While there's nothing overtly wrong with that it was a tad disappointing. Another thing the entry is known for is that aside form Javik people seem to hate the new squad mates. While I'm not going to defend ED-I(as I personally don't see why they couldn't script Legion to survive and have him fill the role of AI becoming human without the whole stupid plot point) I am about to admit that James Vega is damn awesome.

Vega gets a bad rap for "disrespecting" Shepard. Which is odd because Vega never seemed to be disrespecting anyone. He more or less seemed like a soldier who got drafted into a war he initially didn't want, once he got assimilated he strikes an interesting dynamic, and yes he's a meathead, but who cares? Bioware was long criticized because male leads weren't "manly enough" Carth was a whiner, Jacob was boring, Zu was too introspective, Alistair was whiny and boring(for the record if you think that last one I hate you), so it only made sense to throw in a somewhat macho guy at some point. Vega is a likeable enough guy who people hate because of one conversation 30 minutes into a 60 hour long game.

4.Mickey Smith- Doctor Who

Doctor Who has been around for ages. Even with two gaps in new episodes(from 89 to 96 then when the attempted 96 revival didn't take off the series was dormant til 2009) and The Doctor has traveled with many companions among his twelve of his incarnations and Mickey probably ranks near the bottom for many fans. He's whiny, he complains, and HES GETTING IN THE WAY OF ROSES ROMANCE!!!! Well Mickey also had the world's most understandable inferiority complexes, after-all his girlfriend is traveling all over the place(and time) with a guy she keeps making goo goo eyes at and they openly flirt right in front of him. Eventually Mickey accepts the romance and he just goes and takes it like a man. Not in the macho sense as at least two points Mickey does openly cry over it, but Mickey takes it like an adult; he doesn't begrudge Rose, he doesn't hate The Doctor, he manages to remain friends with Rose'smother Jackie and then  he gets on with his life, and fights to make a difference. First in "Pete's World" by wiping out the Cybermen there, then by teaming up with Martha Jones to take out Alien threats independent of whatever corruption and politics go along with UNIT and Torchwood. Simply put Mickey goes from being an understandably upset person into a legit badass doing what he thinks is right. Mickey Smith is an underrated character with an interesting growth arch who can rightfully be considered a legit badass by the end of series 4.

3.The Thing

This is an odd inclusion for a list of characters who typically are hated, go unnoticed or just not very liked as Ben Grimm is a damn iconic comic character, however outside of comic fans The Thing is considered "too cheesey". Seriously...what the hell is wrong with those people? Thing is an incredibly enjoyable grumpy old man, with some of the most humanizing moments. Thing complaining, clobbering and struggling with whether he's better off as The Thing or somehow becoming Ben Grimm again are all enjoyable aspect. If someone honestly thinks Thing is cheesey they just need to pick up a Fantastic 4 comic.

2.Krobelus- Summoner 2

I'm going to be honest. I have no idea who that girl(?) that pops up on most image searches for Krobelus is. This guy right here...this guy is Krobelus circa 2002. That was the year that one of the all time underappreciated games of all time in Summoner 2 was released, and the games most compelling antagonists/followers was a priest named Krobelus.

Krobelus begins the game as a enemy violating a sacred burial tomb, but after defeating him and freeing him from prison Krobelus reveals that he never intended to be a menace, he had been brainwashed by something called The Tempest into doing its bidding, and the Tempest desires only the end of the world. Krobelus agrees to guide the player character Maia in thanks for his rescue from prison, but refuses to go too far afraid of being corrupted again. Eventually however that misfortune does befall Krobelus and this time the possession is permanent and eventually the player party splits up and Krobelus dies at the hand of Prince Neru a priest turned pirate who Krobelus had wronged in the past.

The character goes through some great twists and while going from foe to friend to foe again can be tiresome, Krobelus manages to make it a very intriguing turn, and he's a character well worth knowing.

1.Teryn Loghain Mac Tir

Let's start this one with the obvious. I know why people hate this guy, and yes you are designed to hate this guy. He's bold, he's blunt, he's a bit of an ass, and that's before he betrays you and ends up in bed with assassins, slave traders and vermin like Arl Howe. You were designed to hate Loghain and he pulls that off very well. Throughout Origins he strikes all the right chords as an easily hateable yet almost understandable villain and slicing his head off at the Landsmeet is one of the highlights of the game. Being a great villain is reason enough to love this guy; any character who gets me to legitimately hate them is doing a good job.

It wasn't until sparing Loghain that the character leaped from being a great villain to being one of my favorite characters. Attempting to befriend Loghain reveals that there is more than just a giant ass to the man. Indeed he seems almost humbled, and from here out he begins a quest as a sort of redemption story. By the time he's encountered in Inquisition he's completely humbled dead set on making up for his past wrongs.

If you do read the novels, Loghain suddenly becomes even more compelling as he goes from being unreasonable in Origins to being even more understandable. It's revealed in The Stolen Throne that Loghain's mother was beaten, raped then killed in front of him by Orlesian soldiers. This drives Loghain to become a freedom fighter and soon Marric enters his underground camp and they are all slaughtered by more Orlesian soldiers(including Loghain's own father). His entire family was murdered by the Orlesians and then he joins the fight in earnest. Basically it's entirely understandable that the man distrusts Orlais only twenty years after this. It's not excusable to be as stubborn as he was, but it's understandable. As for distrusting the Grey Wardens, well just a few years later in The Calling, a group of Wardens(including Duncan) takes Marric on a far flung quest that almost ends with Marric's death. Meaning The Wardens almost played a part in undoing everything that Loghain worked and sacrificed for. People hate Loghain for the reason they're supposed to, but he's a fascinating, and compelling character who makes both the perfect villain and the perfect hero. I can't help but love a character that complex.

[kennythecamguy]

Okay let's talk about Roman Reigns

I realize that typically wrestling related rants get me even less attention than most but it's well worth talking about here because there are some serious misconceptions going around on both sides.

First the detractors are not right, not entirely anyway. Roman Reigns is not untalented, he was a core piece of the Shield and he played his role as a the silent badass perfectly. He's also a perfectly serviceable power wrestler, even if in terms of wrestling ability he's closer to Kane or Big Show than The Undertaker or Vader, there's no reason that Reigns as a silent badass couldn't be a main event star for WWE. And no...he wasn't "carried" by Ambrose and Rollins as part of the Shield. That would be like saying Hall and Nash were carried by Syxx in the nWo. Rollins and Ambrose were there to be the workers, Reigns was there to clean house and he did that(and still can do that) very well. Simply put there are a lot of reasons for one to be a fan of Roman Reigns.

The problem is the same problem the WWE had with Goldberg and Vader. WWE doesn't understand that people will cheer or jeer someone just for demolishing the right person or wrong person. Every face at the top needs to be a likable guy, every heel needs to at heart be a coward. The same thing that killed Goldberg (WWE getting their hands on him) is killing Roman Reigns. Despite all of pop culture, and even their own history contradicting it WWE believes that a top good guy needs to be likeable and nice. Quick question....who are the most popular characters from the Marvel and DC lineup? Odds are you'll come up with Wolverine, Deadpool and Batman fairly quickly. Three guys who certainly are not nice. Of course Superman and Spider-Man are the faces of their respective publishers proving that the nice guys have their place, but imagine if every hero was a goody two shoes? If even the Punisher started acting like Superman? Essentially that's what's happened to Roman Reigns he went from busting skulls and shooting up murders and drug dealers to  saving damsels and telling bad jokes.

However the detractors now have one very valid point. Look at this, this is pretty much all the evidence needed to say Reigns isn't a main eventer at this point.

Yup. Enough people complaining does make things turn out badly. Prior to the Rumble you could understandably write off the Reign's criticism as people who just wanted Daniel Bryan in the main event, but after that...well it's kind of hard to say it's just a select group of snarky fans(and I refuse to ever use the term smark...outside of that). 

I get that defenders of Reigns and the WWE think fans should just accept things as they are but that's the difference between wrestling and other forms of art. You might hate the Star Wars prequels, but that doesn't mean they're going to stop being real, you might be tired of companions falling in love with the Doctor, but Moffet's not going to drop it, you might hate that Venom is still Mac Gargan but you aren't getting that changed by complaining...wrestling however, wrestling is live, the audience is an active part of the show, and their reactions in the past have changed the way things were going, hell as recently as last years Wrestlemania. The attitude era conditioned fans to speak their mind and expect things to change around them, and 2013's Yes Movement whether it was planned all along or not reminded fans of that power. Are fans spoiled these days? Perhaps, but if enough of them give an idea power then they have to be listened to, and right now Reigns beating Lesnar is going to result in a massively negative reaction. Of course the end all be all for WWE is money, and whether those fans stop watching or keep watching is going to determine everything, and it appears that Vince McMahon is finally willing to test the theory that he can do anything he wants and get away with it.

[kennythecamguy]

5 Bad Ring Names that nobody seems to think about.

In the world of pro-wrestling having a catchy name is fairly important to put things mildly. After all who wants to sound like they're supporting an idiot? While occasionally talented performers can make up for bad names (Samoa Joe, Dolph Ziggler and Bam Bam Bigelow spring to mind) sometimes a bad name is just too crippling(The Red Rooster). There are plenty of lists for bad ring names out there(WWE.com themselves have even done two) but there are still some that seem to slip through the cracks and rarely(or never) get mentioned.

A few rules here. First the names here are at best rarely mentioned. There might very well be some lists out there with these names but they seem to slip most people's minds for whatever reason. Second to be on this list the guy has to be at least somewhat mainstream, that's WWF/E, NWA/WCW, AWA, World Class, ECW, TNA, or a regular ROH member. I'm also avoiding comedy names of course Hornswoggle, The Blue Meanie and Fandango have stupid names, they're supposed to make you laugh. This list is about people who are supposed to be taken seriously.

5.Woman

Now this isn't meant as any disrespect toward the late Nancy Benoit as she was an attractive woman who played her role as a valet over the years fairly successfully, and perhaps not wanting to speak ill of the dead or just remind people of the Benoit family tragedy is why this name is rarely mentioned on lists like these, but let's be honest anybody who simply names themselves after their gender isn't doing much good.

Most modern divas get a bad rap because even those with last names(AJ Lee, Candice Michelle and Jillian Hall spring to mind) go by nothing but their first on most occasions(even if that first name is something as generic as Paige), but at least those are names.

4.Cheeseburger

Cheeseburger is ROH's current "star jobber" which is a little different than a jobber to the stars. Think Heath Slater; he's featured he's somewhat hyped but you know he's going down for the count when he steps in that ring, and he plays that role very well. It's easy to get behind a guy who's small even by indy standards.

That ring name though...while it undoubtedly has origins from his training time in the ROH dojo and might have been worth a chuckle there as a permanent ring name it's pretty damn lame. It might be less terrible if he were a joke wrestler but he's not. I mean can you imagine this guy catching on with that name? "My favorite wrestler is Cheeseburger!" Can you picture anybody saying that with a straight face?

3.Kelly Kelly

When she debuted she was just "Kelly" an exhibitionist who couldn't quite seem to manage taking her clothes off. Soon however WWE realized that the name Kelly was just too generic(shocking I know) and decided to dubb her "Kelly Kelly." 

The joke(at least I think it was supposed to be a joke) being that her parents decided to name her Kelly even though their last name was Kelly. Surprisingly despite not being charismatic, a good talker, good in the ring, nor really being good at anything other than being attractive she got over with a name that bad, eventually (for some reason) becoming an integral part of WWE's Diva's division. 

2.Big E

His original name of Big E Langston was a fine; a little cheesey sure but it was distinct and Langston was just a touch sounding name. Unless you're Vince McMahon who decided that Langston(as well as Antonio) didn't sound "tough enough" so dropped it from the man's monkier making him "Big E".

The world can only wait for TNA's Robbie E to start a feud with him over the letter E in what is sure to be a money making reprise of the stellar Booker T vs Harlem Heat 2000 WCW feud.

1.Generation Me

New Japan and Indy wrestling senastions The Young Bucks are a polarizing pair. Many Indy fans love the tandem's exciting highspots, athleticism and the odd mixture of arrogance and goofiness they play their characters with, others view them as trying too hard to be an "ironic Indy team" and thus as another part of why they dislike Indy wrestling. One thing is for sure the duo had no chance in TNA.

Aside from the horrid booking TNA decided that Nick and Matt Jackson were not marketable names, okay no problem there. Those names are fairly generic. TNA then decided that the name "The Young Bucks" also wasn't going to work...again no problem it wouldn't matter what they were called as long as it wasn't stupid...and there lies the problem. We're talking about TNA here, of course it was going to be stupid. TNA renamed the brothers to Max and Jeremy Buck, horridly fake sounding and goofy names for the pair then named the team Generation Me. While you could make the argument that the duo's pseudo-hipster vibe is very "Generation Me" as a tag team name it sounded silly and weak. No wonder they accomplished next to nothing before TNA split them up but didn't bother giving either brother a new gimmick.

[kennythecamguy]

A rant on Madame Vivienne

...and why she is the least of the Inquisition.

I have tried and failed to write this piece before because while I disliked Vivienne I was simply having trouble explaining why I found her to be such an abhorrent character, and yes it expands beyond "she's a bitch". Plenty of characters who are bitches are well done from series leads like Morrigan, Bastillia, and Silk Fox to minor foes like Jarvia, no it takes more than a smug sense of superiority to make someone a bad character. Then finally a scene of Vivi's hit home in a way that made it apparent to me why I not only disliked her personality but disliked her entire existence. Vivenne is such a bad person, with such an unlikable personality that she's hardly believable at all. Shallow, vapid, vain, arrogant, self serving, manipulative, and guided by a belief that she is better than everyone around her simply by being nobility as well as her determination that the circle is the best course of action for mages when she hardly has to spend any of her time there, her every move is a political one and she cares for nothing sans power. This sounds like the type of person who would make a sub-boss, hell even Corypheus has more humanity in his motives(you try waking up in a thousand years and learning the beliefs you devoted your life to were all lies and that you were now a monster you'd probably go batshit crazy too). Vivienne is power hungry and little else. I'm sure some are thinking that's an unfair generalization well let's look at why exactly that isn't so.

Starting with the most minor thing. The Nightmare's graveyard displays every companions greatest fears and all of them sans Vivenne's is a meaningful and understandable fear. For example Blackwall fears himself and that no amount of effort on his part can make him a good person, Cole fears despair, which is apparently his opposite as a spirit of compassion and would corrupt him into a full fledged demon, Solas fears dying alone which is entirely understandable once you complete the game and learn just what Solas is. What does Vivienne fear the most? Irrelevance of course. Yes the most frightful thing this unrepentant snob can think of is not being rich and decadent. It's a shallow, petty fear, and really should pave the way for more of what's wrong with Vivienne.

The most jarring example of her snobbery is the way she talks down to nearly every companion. Only Cassandra who as both a Seeker and one of noble birth(no matter how distant) is one Vivi sees as an equal Varric, who despite his actions is actually loaded and Iron Bull who immediately shows Vivienne the respect she (in the eyes of this writer undeservedly) demands. Dorian is a Tevinter unworthy of respect, Cole is a "pet demon" who should be put down, Sera is an absolute blight on existence, and Solas is a dangerous incompetent apostate. This isn't really over-all a negative thing. After-all Morrigan''s banter with Alistair and Silk Fox's constant putdowns of well everyone made them endearing and entertaining. So why is it this is different for Vivienne?

Well to start with every previous bitchy companion Bioware placed on your squad was balanced out in a significant way. Bastilla had one of the most compelling story-arcs in Knights of the Old Republic as well as being able to admit to her mistakes, Silk Fox genuinely  cared about her land and her father, Miranda Lawson's personal story with her sister Oriana showed an incredibly vulnerable and human side to an otherwise stoic character. Morrigan's wit made her bitchy side enjoyable and if you took the time to get to know her she was surprisingly human and vulnerable at heart. Vivienne has none of that.

Of course she probably has fans disputing that her romance with Bastien was a humanizing story and that Vivienne did care deeply for the duke...and I have to say I very much doubt that. Even the story that's intended to show Vivienne as more human do little to make her more likable.

First there's a conversation with Cole that reveals a fellow noble of Batien's insulting Vivienne for being black. Normally this would make one feel deeply sorry for Vivienne, but that image is ruined in Cole's next line in which he reveals Vivienne planted evidence to force this noble to oppose the  Inquisition. Not only did she get someone killed for no other reason than insulting her, she used the resources of a group who was kind of busy trying to save the world to do so. This calls into the question the entire chain of Operations that is done at Vivienne's behest.

And the final nail in the coffin. The moment which has forever cemented Vivienne as not only the worst character in Inquisition but arguably the worst Bioware has ever created. At some point if her approval is high enough Vivienne requests the heart of a snowy wyvern which it is implied after giving it to her was for a potion to save Bastien's life. That motivation is called into question not long after as a cutscene occurs in which Vivienne introduces the Inquisitor to two of Bastien's relatives. One a powerful Chantry figure and the other having a seat on the council of nobles. Vivi's sadness vanishes as these two depart and she thanks the Inquisitor for helping her make connections with the higher up in Orlais. Basically implying that she sent the Inquisition of a fool's errand for a wyvern heart that only needed to be done because it was dangerous and would thus impress people who can advance her social standing. It's utterly baffling the way Bioware took the one likable aspect of her personality and turned it into another power grab.

To summarize all this ranting, Vivienne has an intensely unlikable personality but this alone does not make a bad character. Loghain was a fantastic villain and an even better ally guided by a redemption story despite being a stubborn jackass, Morrigan's wit made her enjoyable and she was deeply human at heart, the problem here isn't that Vivienne isn't nice that's a ridiculous reason to hate a character. The problem here is that Vivienne's every motivation is frivolous and the character feels so artificial and unlikable. There's nothing complex and little entertaining and nothing she says is worth listening to so...go ahead and give her that fake wyvern heart. It's still better than she deserves.

[jerkwillems]

actual sweetheart michael jones

[kennythecamguy]

5 Potential DLC Companions in Dragon Age Inquisition. Minor Spoilers

pBefore I start anything here let me go ahead and say that I'm aware a DLC companion is not as forgone for DA-I as it was in most Bioware games. Zaeed, Kasumi, Javik, Shale and Sebastian were all day one DLC which was done away with for Inquisition and the Inquisition roster is already stacked at 9 companions with 3 of each class, plus with the exception of Kasumi and Zaeed all appeared in games with smaller companion rosters than Inquisition(Shale pushed Origins up to 9, equal with Inquisition). However Mass Effect 2 the total number of squad members was 12, so it wouldn't be unheard of to add one more character to push the Inquisitions numbers to ten. 

While it is very likely that any DLC companion would end up being a brand new character, I've got two here that would count as new companions if not new characters.

The Surviving Hawke sibling.

Unless you're a complete dick who lets Hawke's entire family die, you're going to have at least one of these two alive, and according to Hawke in game the surviving twin is sent out of the way by Aveline. However it seems unlikely that either Bethany driven by her will to do good or Carver driven by pure stubbornness and his inferiority complex would consent to just stay on the sidelines with the fate of the world on the line.

It'd be nice to see either character expanded beyond their mostly supporting role in Dragon Age 2 where they spend the majority of the game tucked away either in the Circle Tower or a Grey Warden fortress.In addition if Bethany survives she could provide a suitable replacement in the postgame for...y'know the one that runs away.

A new Mabari

One of the more enjoyable minor parts of the first two games is naming this dog. While the Mabari is reduced to a minor follower with no stats who's really more of a distraction in Dragon Age 2 in Origins the dog is on full force, and ends up being one the most enjoyable, useful and unique companions in the game.

An appearance in Inquisition would be beyond welcome. The biggest plusside to adding the dog is that a mabari wouldn't throw off the balance of classes. Granted it would technically count as a warrior, but the dog's skill set would be unique enough that it'd be hard to count it as a traditional warrior. At the moment Inquisition lacks an off kilter follower which makes another Origins favorite a good possibility.

Shale

Much like a mabari Shale would add a unique skill set to compliment the various traditional characters in Inquisition. Shale and Dog were two of the highlights of Origins both for their implentation and the sheer uniqueness of the characters gameplay wise. Aside from adding a non-traditional character type to the game Shale's plotline since Asunder is pretty up in the air.

For those who don't read the Dragon Age novels, Shale embarks with Wynne on a quest to regain her humanity, and by some strange series of events Shale, Wynne and Leliana all end up in the drama Cole details involving Rhys. If you remember Cole does allude to a mage dying at some point and that mage was Wynne. This leaves Shale without her companion and that's not mentioned at all Inquisition(which is incredibly odd because Leliana was there when all this happened). While this is all likely just over-sight it would be nice to get closure to Shale's story.

Leliana and/or Cullen

Specifically Cullen here. Despite only having minor roles in both Origins and Dragon Age II, Cullen has a rabid fanbase, who were no doubt pleased to see him both involved and romanceable in Inquisition, but no doubt a little miffed that he wasn't actually a full companion. While this is explained in game that Leliana and Cullen can't properly do their respective jobs as spymaster or army commander if they're out in the field, I really think they should just concede the point and give the fans what they want with Cullen.

Of course if Cullen is playable then there's also Leliana to worry about, and if they throw her in they might as well find a new mage companion as well and bring the total up to twelve.

The Architect

I've mentioned this before but The Architect is a part of the Dragon Age story who desperately needs to be addressed before Bioware is done with Inquisition. While it can be assumed that The Architect is, like Corypheus a Tevinter magister turned Darkspawn like the old tales said, it'd be nice to have confirmation. Having the Architect as a companion also adds a new playable race to the series, and similar to Legion in Mass Effect 2 and 3 finally forces society to acknowledge that even Darkspawn are individuals. Plus y'know mage...having a new mage companion would definitely be a plus.

Whether this is likely or not, I certainly feel the Architect presents the most interesting new companion from a storyline point of view. Plus even if he's killed in Awakening he would likely have the same ability as Corypheus to take over any tainted creature in his range and his follower Utha would likely volunteer wholeheartedly. 

[momentai-034-deactivated2018092]

Rooster Teeth tribute to Monty Oum

[kennythecamguy]

Time to Say Goodbye- a fan's farewell

I wanted to post something on this yesterday, but I found I needed time to actually think about what I was going to write, what I was going to say and how to communicate it clearly.

On February First 2015 the world lost Monty Oum, a supremely talented individual who managed to entertain and touch the lives of thousands if not millions of people he'd never met, including myself.

As a fan you never quite know how you're going to take it when somebody you've been a fan of for a while dies, I don't mean to sound callous but I was certainly surprised by how hard it hit me. Upon hearing the news I needed to take an hour to just reflect and calm myself down a little bit, and I found I just couldn't write about immediately. I didn't want to fail to do justice to the matter, and I didn't want to come off as ranting, and even a day a day after learning of Monty's passing I found myself a little shaken.

For years Monty was a creative and entertaining force. His own work on RWBY and RvB alone was incredibly impressive and a definite highlight. It always seemed like every cameo appearance Monty mounted in anything became a highlight(Team Monty wins by being just Monty). For me at least, it's amazing that someone could touch so many lives without actually meeting any of them. I guess what I'm taking away from it all is that hopefully one day I can manage to have that impact on someone. Farewell and rest in peace Monty Oum, I've never known you, and yet I will still miss you.

[roosterteeth]

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved friend, Monty Oum. 

[kennythecamguy]

Top 12 Weirdest Inclusions in a wrestling games roster.

Throughout the years there have been tons and tons of wrestling games, most of them licensed and while early on the rosters were understandably small and therefore usually made sense however starting with the PSOne/N64 era rosters began to expand and more and more people were included and as a result a few head-scracthers start to show up. Now I'm not saying these are bad characters or bad wrestlers(I'm actually a fan of a few of these guys) just that at the time of release for these specific games there were usually much more important people around.

Now a couple of rules here(well actually one) the guys included have to be REAL wrestlers so no Tony from SvR09 and no WCW Master. Just real wrestlers who somehow snuck into a video game. 

12. Rick Fuller & Mike Enos-WCW Thunder PS1

Fuller and Enos were the kind of guys WCW stuck on Saturday Night in undercard matches and they somehow made it onto the sequel to the awful PS1 Nitro game Thunder. Honestly they're here because they're obscure. I mean super obscure. I don't know how to really get in depth about that.

11.Lizmark Jr. WCW Mayhem PS1/N64

WCW had a killer crusierweight division even during their dying days, and this game(which has falsely been branded terrible when it was actually pretty damn good) does include talented guys like Juventud Guerera, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio as well as guys like La Parka, and Alex Wright who were memorable if not succesful(although La Parka was very accomplished in Mexico), then there's this guy...Lizmark Jr. I mostly remember Lizmark losing on Thunder and Saturday night and occasionally in the opening hour of Nitro...so if he's in why not the Vilanos or El Dandy? Hell why not El Dandy? Who are you to doubt El Dandy?

10.Kurrgan- WWF Attitude PS1/N64

Unfortunately there's no photographic evidence for this one so you're going to have to take my word for it. WWF Attitude wasn't the first wrestling game to feature a larger roster(that would be WCW Revenge) but it was the first WWF game to do so and as a result included a few guys who just didn't make it. A pre-grandmaster Sexay Brian Christopher is included(though without partner Scott Taylor), Dr. Death Steve Williams is included, and retired legends like Shawn Michaels, Sgt. Slaughter and Jerry Lawler also sneak in but the strangest inclusion has to be Kurrgan who sneaks in under his Oddities gimmick. Sadly Earthquake didn't make the cut as Golga because if you have to include something to remind us that The Oddities were a thing it might as well be Earthquake in a weird ass mask and a Cartman shirt.

9.Vito Smackdown vs Raw 2007-PS2/PSP/360

It can be said that by the time Vito made his appearance in Smackdown vs Raw 2007 he actually was in the midst of an undecard push. The reason this is random though is that undecard push came as his "dress wearing man" persona. This appearance of Vito saw him in well I'm not sure what gimmick it was, I guess his role as Nunzio's bodyguard/tag partner? His entrance videos though showed him in the dress. Really they'd have been better served just leaving the character out of date. Also despite tipping the scales at 252 in game Vito was considered a crusierweight...doesn't really apply to this list just really random.

8.Ultimo Dragon-Here Comes the Pain-PS2

Now I'm not complaining very much about this one, after all at the time the most promiment acts left off this game's roster were La Resistance and if you honestly have to think about whether you'd want to play as Renee Dupree or Ultimo Dragon well...just no go away please. Still Ultimo was mostly ignored by WWE competing mostly on Velocity and having only a couple of notable matches, so while I would never complain about his inclusion...it was pretty damn random.

7.Mike Von Erich- Legends of Wrestling 2-PS2/Xbox

For those who haven't played them(and feel fortunate you're among that number if you are) the Legends of Wrestling games were Acclaim's follow up to their awful ECW Games which were the follow up of games like WWF Attitude. They were buggy, clunky, and ugly and generally considered the most disappointing series of games out there.

The roster though was stacked featuring major legends like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and Scott Steiner as well as cult favorites like Eddie Gilbert. One strange inclusion though was that of Mike Von Erich. It could be argued that they wanted to include the entire Von Erich clan but if that was the case why not go all the way and include Chris for the hell of it? Mike would be cut before the 3rd and final Legends of Wrestling game(along with brother David who shouldn't have been cut).

6.Chuck Palumbo-Smackdown vs Raw 2009 PS3/360

Chuck Palumbo was given a short lived comeback by WWE in 2007 under a biker gimmick and was gone toward the end 2008 however he(along with a few others that year) still was kept in the roster of SvR 2009. What made this one odd was the fact that Palumbo hardly got off of HeAt during this comeback and his only feud at all was with Jamie Noble over Michelle McCool, and he lost most of those matches. What makes this inclusion so odd is the fact that despite playing a jobber role most of the year Palumbo somehow earned an 86 rating in the game, placing him as an upper-mid carder.

5.Wrath & Glacier- WCW vs nWo World Tour-N64

WCW vs nWo World Tour was more or less a Japanese game ported to America with the WCW logo slapped on it. While it was more a WCW game that its Playstation counterpart WCW vs the World the roster was still primarily Japanese wrestlers under goofy made-up names. The game did include real WCW wrestlers as unlocks and while DDP and Macho Man Randy Savage were definitely worth the trouble....who on earth thought Wrath & Glacier were worthy of unlock? There had to have been someone in WCW at the time that was more popular than these two left on the cutting room floor. Why not Harlem Heat? Why not Fit Finlay? It was just odd to see these two presented as not only worthy of inclusion but worthy of unlocking.

4.Kid Kash-Smackdown vs Raw 2007-PS2/360

It's kind of understandable how Kash ended up here. After all many fans were upset that he wasn't included in Smackdown vs Raw 2006, so it should have been great to see him in 07. However Kash's inclusion provoked one pretty big problem. By the time SvR07 was being developed Kash had been paired with Jamie Noble who wasn't being included. So did the developers include a dated model or half of a tag team? They chose to keep things current as as a result one half of a tag team made the cut for a game. Honestly it probably would have been better if they just used the dated version here, would have looked bad at the time but in retrospect many would have forgotten it in the long term, instead we're left with a character that's just plain confusing.

3.Kwang- WWF Raw-Sega 32X

Kwang was Savio Vega playing a Ninja at the time. The Sega 32X was some weird add-on designed to get more power out of the Genesis, it didn't gain much momentum and most of the games were just updated ports of other Genesis games. One such game was Raw and to add a bonus LGN included an unlockable hidden boss character. Who would that turn out to be? Kwang...for some reason. While it's true that the early 90's were not a good time for WWF isn't there someone better out there than Kwang?

2.Bobby Blaze- WCW Mayhem PS1/N64

Mayhem's roster as pointed out earlier was absolutely huge, and while I could touch on WCW putting guys like Rick Fuller and Mike Enos in WCW THunder(and I did earlier) at least they were technically at one point signed to WCW...Bobby Blaze wasn't. To the best of my knowledge it's the only time a guy appeared in a game for a company he was never signed to, though Blaze did plenty of jobbing for WCW during 99.

1.Rick & Scott Steiner- WCW Superbrawl SNES

The Steiner brothers are one of the most iconic teams in WCW's history, they were massive players in the pre-Hogan era and they were one of the few acts on the WCW side who were seen as legit nWo rivals after Hulk's arrival. So why is their inclusion in a WCW game considered random? What about the fact that Rick & Scott had both been gone from WCW for about two years when Superbrawl launched? Seriously that's absolutely insane. Imagine picking up WWE 2k16 and finding Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk. Sure they were huge names and important to the company but it makes a game look laughably dated and sticks out like a sore thumb.

[trailerparkboys-photos]

[kennythecamguy]

I am currently thinking this about my new tumblr, and I am the only one thinking this.

[adrianne-mac-art]

jumping skills have finally reached thedas

+ bonus, warden and hawke aka jealous judging bitches club

[kennythecamguy]

Top Ten Throw Away characters

Throughout the years there have been millions of characters thrown at us in literature, TV, film, video games you name it. Characters are pretty damn important, in fact if I remember my elementary school English classes they're kind of needed to tell a story.

Now some characters transcend time and origin, seriously you're more than likely familiar with The Phantom of the Opera whether you've read the book, seen the movie or seen the musical. Others define a generation, I mean really Harry Potter has touched more lives than most real people combined. Some are hideously awful I mean...Jar Jar Binks and Big the Cat awful, other characters are essentially foot notes. They shine for one brief moment or fulfill some minor purpose then they're completely forgotten about forever. It's these characters I aim to glorify in some very, very, very, very, very, very minor way by calling attention to my favorite throw away characters of all time.

Before this gets started I should explain exactly what a throw away character is. Throw away characters exist only briefly, fulfill no real purpose other than maybe one gag or plot point. Their contributions to the storyline of their specific origin is either minimal or non-existent. In short these are characters whose story/show/movie/game of origin would remain completely(or almost completely) unchanged if they didn't exist. These are different from one shot characters(indeed a few here have more than one appearance) so there will be no Frank Grimes or Hank Hill's anger management teacher here. Those guys did have an impact on the plot(in at least their one appearance) these are characters who didn't need to exist but still managed to make their universes better for their existence.

10.Dr. Fred Bobb- Scrubs

Fred Bobb appears in the season 1 episode "My Occurrence" of Scrubs. The episode revolves around a friend of Dr. Cox's named Ben(played by Brendan Fraser of all people) who also happens to be Jordan's brother, during the episode it is revealed that  Ben has leukemia. JD however fears revealing the news to Ben as well everybody likes Ben(which is unusual for Brendan Fraser) . In order to convince himself that it's a mistake JD ventures into the office of Hematopathologist Dr. Fred Bobb. Their entire exchange is as follows.

Dr. Bobb- Call me Doctor Bobb JD- You go by your first name? Dr. Bobb- Of course not! My first name's Fred. JD-Fred Bobb? Dr. Bobb- What can I do ya for?

After that Dr. Bobb runs the test for JD and finds out that Ben actually doesn't have leukemia...at least that's what we're initially led to believe as an entire chunk of the episode is revealed as a fantasy of JDs and that the diagnosis was correct. What makes Fred Bobb interesting in comparison to others on this list is that he may not actually exist. If the entire episode after JD decides that the diagnosis has to be a mistake is just a fantasy wouldn't that make Fred Bobb completely made up? Aside from that I honestly can not figure out why his brief appearance amuses me so much. Sure he's overly perky and Fred Bobb is one of the most ridiculous names ever but is that really enough for a character with only one appearance to make this kind of impact? Apparently it is.

9.Lester Wilde- DC Comics Who the hell is Lester Wilde? Where the hell does Lester Wilde come from? Well if you can be a little less impatient I'll explain(unfortunately without a visual aid which sucks because it's kind of needed here). Lester Wilde appears in one issue of Harley Quinn's first solo comic series. Issue #4 entitled "Wilde Life" to be exact. At this point in her personal story Harley is on the outs with the Joker and has decided to form her own personal group of criminals. Her first recruits include two veteran Joker men, a pair of brothers who've worked for every crime boss in Gotham and one Lester Wilde.

Wilde is an average guy who thinks he looks just like the Joker(and he kinda sorta almost does). Since he looks like a crazed killer Wilde believes that he is destined to be a criminal and since he amuses her Harley allows him a chance to fulfill said destiny. It ends about as you'd expect. The delusional Wilde believes Harley plans to free the Joker from Arkham and decides that he must kill the Joker and take his place. He gets separated from the rest of Quinn's team and discovers a penguin room...and no not Oswald Cobblepot, a room of actual penguins because Harley is just breaking into the zoo. Long after Quinn's actual escape Wilde is gunned down, and dies believing that he actually saved Harley from capture.

The absurdity of this character has to be read to be believed. From the fact that he according to Quinn looks like Al Gore, to the fact that he actually believes Harley when she claims she's really Wonder Woman, to the fact that guy is just so damn dramatic at every chance. Wilde really is a spot on parody of the classic comic villains melodramatic attitude 

8.The Staff Room Gargoyles- Harry Potter

JK Rowling has been called every level of writer from grade school hack to overrated to one of the best of a generation, but regardless of where your opinion falls it's outlandish to try and argue that Harry Potter is anything short of a cultural phenomenon. It didn't get to that point on luck alone, as there's some good story telling and compelling characters and there are also some charming one note characters topped by these two who are simply magical gargoyles who guard the staff room to keep anyone who shouldn't be in there out.

At some point in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry's owl Hedwig comes back with an injured wing and Harry takes off to the staff room to see if interim Care of Magical Creatures Professor Grubbly-Plank can help her. It is there that Harry meets the two least helpful gargoyles ever.

Gargoyle-You should be in class, sonny jim!  Harry-It's urgent! Gargoyle-Oooh it's urgent! That's put us in our place hasn't it.

Harry then spends several minutes shouting at the gargoyles until Professor McGonagall emerges and asks what the fuss is about to which the gargoyle promptly replies "It's urgent apparently". The two then fade from Harry's world with the exception of one quote during the battle at the end of The Deathly Hollows" when one smashed gargoyle quips "Oh don't mind me I'll just stay here being smashed."

A handful of lines in thousands of pages of text, no actual names, and doing nothing that has anything to do with the plot and yet they're still more memorable than dozens of more important characters.

7. Revenant-Soul Calibur

When Soul Calibur III introduced a create a character feature, the developers introduced an interesting way to handle the fighting styles. Several new styles were created and assigned to secondary characters so that if players didn't want to copy from a real fighter they had an alternative. While most of these were fairly generic one that definitely wasn't was Revenant.

Revenant utilized the Wave Sword style, and just looked well creepy. The skull head, the fancy clothing, and the strange movements of the wave sword style gave Revenant his own feel. The character was strangely popular for a throw away guy, and many fans clamored to learn more, instead his only appearance in Soul Calibur IV was in Zasalamel's story mode, and rather than keep old favorites or expand on minor characters fans wanted more of Soul Calibur V introduced a ton of awful characters that nobody liked.

Striking visually, fun to play as(even if all the created character styles are inferior to the main rosters), and unlike most of the bonus characters Revenant has a tie to a Soul Calibur mainstay as Zasalamel's henchmen. A grave injustice will be done if Revenant is never seen again.

6.Uncle Leo- Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is a fantastic if controversial game. Controversial only because despite being set in the same universe it feels radically different to the original Black Isle Fallout games in more ways than simply being a different type of game. The atmosphere and setting feel completely different and one of the main differences is the handling of Super Mutants. The original(or west coast) Super Mutants were a varied bunch, some friendly, some evil, some completely insane, while the new "East Coast" batch of Super Mutants. Fallout 3's Super Mutants originate in Vault 87 as a result of a Vault Tech experiment gone wrong. 

Uncle Leo is one of two known mutants who were exiled for not being evil enough. While Fawkes has a storyline purpose and a large role as a recruitable companion, Uncle Leo is entirely missable. He exist in the game as a random encounter and his entire purpose is just to reveal that Super Mutants aren't all one and the same. Uncle Leo wanders the Capital Wasteland, and that's pretty much it. He's an interesting inclusion(particularly if encountered before Fawkes) and it's genuinely jarring when he doesn't attack you.

5.Pepper Jack- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Pepper Jack is a pimp. Pepper Jack loves Fraggle Rock. This is pretty much his entire existence.

He's a pimp who wants to hire Dee and is bribed into not doing so by taking Dennis's Fraggle Rock thermos

And despite having next to no screen time and next to no lines this guy manages to be one of the most memorable It's Always Sunny characters. 

4.The Very Tall Man- The Simpsons

Maybe it's cheating to include a character who appears in a non-canon episode, but how can I not list this guy? He appears once as an extremely tall man in a Volkswagen and jumps out when Nelson "Haw-Haw"s him then forces Nelson to walk down the street in his underpants blowing kisses to everyone. He then fades from memory and is never seen again.

I honestly debated whether to include The Very Tall Man or Hugh Jass from Flaming Moe's but in the end this guy just wins this award.

3.M'aiq the Liar-Elder Scrolls

When I decided to do this list an interesting problem occurred.  Which Elder Scrolls character should be included? The Elder Scrolls includes hundreds of characters in each game and plenty of memorable characters who exist only for one note. Should it be the talking Mudcrab Merchant from Morrowind? BigHead the singing Argonian who always loses Sheogorath's Fork of Horripulation? Falanu Hlaalu the necrophiliac owner of All things Alchemical? Seriously lots and lots of characters to choose from but the answer should have been obvious all along.

M'aiq the Liar has appeared in each of the past three Elder Scrolls games. In Morrowind M'aiq lives upto his name and spouts long winded rants full of lies about things you supposedly can encounter(but really count) in Oblivion he sprints around the map stopping periodically to dispense comments on the games development and fans and to pick up any nearby calipers, and in Skyrim he exists as a random encounter and dispenses quotes similar to his Oblivion self. Among these is the one that best sums up his existence "Some people say Alduin is Akatosh and  they also say M'aiq is a liar; don't you believe either of those things".

2.Twisty the Clown- American Horror Story:Freakshow

Of all the characters listed Twisty is probably the least throw away and indeed there's enough depth and backstory (as well as a little involvement in the main plot) but I have to get this out there because it bothered me the entire season. Twisty was by far the most interesting and compelling character in Freakshow for the first four episodes. He spawned a mini cultural phenomenon even prompting a Clown Rights Group to protest the show. Then in the fourth episode Twisty is killed by Edward Mordrake and not seen again until a cameo in the season finale.

The backstory was fantastic, and Twisty did have an influence on the stories of two central characters in Jimmy Darling and Dandy Mott, and you can definitely argue that neither of those guys could get where they were without Twisty but here's the thing...why on earth was the most popular character, the most compelling character, and the one who should've been the signature character of the season treated as an after thought? It's hard to complain too much about Freakshow as it was a solid season, but Twisty kind of epitomizes the common criticism of American Horror Story; every season is plagued by missed opportunities and Twisty definitely stands out as Freakshows biggest missed opportunity.

Even though he's probably more minor than throw away the fact remains that Twisty hit a popularity high that was much larger than any character who dies in the first quarter of the story had any right to. 

1.Niftu Cal- Mass Effect 2

Without a doubt this guy is the best pointless character in Mass Effect history and in my book(well crappy blog that nobody reads) he's the best of all time.

Niftu Cal appears briefly in the recruitment mission for Samara in Mass Effect 2 and is a Volus that has been drugged out of his round little mind. This little guy believes himself to be a "Biotic God" whose powers are "a great wind that will sweep all before him like....a great wind".

At this point Shepard has two options, knock the poor guy out and save his life or allow the Biotic God to enter combat at which point he will fire a devastating biotic attack....that turns out to be about the size of Shepard's finger tips before immediately being gunned down.

Sadly my first playthrough the later happened because I was too damn busy laughing to notice the paragon action required to knock the little guy out.

[kennythecamguy]

Top 15 Comic Book Games

If you've had the pleasure(or is it displeasure?) to watch even one episode of The Big Bang Theory you should be well aware that non-nerds believe nerds do little more than play video games and read comic books so it should come as no surprise that plenty of game companies over the years have trotted out comic book games. While there are some horrifying lows(Superman 64 and Aquaman Battle for Atlantis will scar you for life if you're unfortunate enough to play them) but let's not talk about them(not yet anyway). No for this list let's focus on the good in the world, and countdown the top 15 Comic book games. Why 15? Well there are too many good ones for just ten.

Now a few rules and explanations. First this is list is probably about 50/50 in terms of being personal and based on legacy. There are games on here I personally don't like but that can't be ignored without sacrificing credibility(of which I obviously have plenty I mean..TWO whole tumblr posts). That being said the order is largely personal, so I'm so sorry/not sorry that your favorite one is so low here. Second, there is a one game per series rule that I will stretch a couple times but never out right break. I'll try to explain anytime I get iffy on that rule. 

Now with all that boring explaining out of the way, let's get thing started.

15. Marvel Super Heroes (Arcade)

In the 90's Marvel crossovers were  largely handled by Capcom and a few went onto rave reviews(more on one of those a little later) one that ws a huge deal at the time and has largley been forgotten was Marvel Super Heroes, a game that still easily ranks as the best Marvel exclusive fighter ever. While the 12 character roster might be small by today's standards the game does include Capcom's signature fighting mechanics as well as the "Infinity Gem" feature, where players are rewarded the gems for various in game accomplishments and can use them to swing the balance of power in their favor. This game isn't as famous as some on the list as it was quickly over-shadowed by a superior Capcom fighter and was marred by two disappointing home ports for the PSOne and Dreamcast. Still if you want to check out it you can do so; it's bundled with the first Marvel vs Capcom game in Marvel vs Capcom Origins on PSN and Xbox Live.

14. The Adventures of Batman & Robin(SNES)

The 1990's Batman Animated series is considered one of the finest twists on the caped crusader outside of his comic lore and it's not really surprising that it would eventually spawn a video game adaptation, and since it was the mid 90's the SNES and Genesis versions were both drastically different. While the Sega version was an enjoyable enough(but totally out of character for Batman) shoot 'em up the SNES version shines as a sleek platformer with fantastic visuals and some genuinely engaging puzzle solving. The most common complaint about the game is that despite being in the title Robin is hardly involved at all, which is not something the developers could really help as the game was primarily built as the series it was based on transitioned from Batman the Animated Series to the Adventures of Batman & Robin which means that Robin's appearences were almost literally added at the last minute.

13.Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

This is the first appearance that will slightly bend the "one game to a series" rule as another Lego game appears on the list later. It also marks the first appearance on the list of a game I personally didn't care for. The appeal of the Lego game has always been lost on me, but there's no denying the appeal of a game that throws a whole host of DC heroes at you in a fairly lengthy co-op adventure, every character plays differently and it's something you can play with just about anyone as it avoids getting too complex. Not my personal cup of tea but there's a reason this is a popular formula. The second Lego Batman gets the nod for expanding the playable roster beyond Batman's inner circle and rogues gallery.

12.X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse

Another case of bending the one game to a series rule here but one that simply cannot be ignored. The first X-Men Legends was the best game of its kind yet and the second really upped the ante by expanding the varieties of the characters powers and adding more variety to environments. Many considered it the peak of Raven's work with Marvel games, but that's not an opinion I happen to agree with. Still it's hard to ignore just how much of an upgrade over the first Legends this game was. 

11.Lego Marvel Super Heroes

While another Lego game did sneak onto the list earlier, this one gets a pass for inclusion because well...DC vs Marvel, two totally different licenses and thus in name at least two different series. I could almost copy and paste everything from the Lego Batman 2 item here as the Lego games do tend to follow a similar formula, but it is a successful one and it's hard not to argue that Lego Marvel was the most complete Marvel game since 2006.

10.The Wolf Among Us

Wait a minute? Is that a GIF? Did I just include a GIF somehow? Well hot damn. If you played it you were aware that The Wolf Among Us was based on the Fables comic series because you were bomarded with the fact in all the start-up screens. If you play games you should be aware of how the telltale thing works, it's story driven, conversation based and any gameplay boils down to those quick time events that nobody else uses...and to many people, that's beyond enough as the stories Telltale crafts are usually fantastic. Case and point, The Wolf Among Us was so well received it was eventually rectonned into a prequel to the Fables series.

9.Spider-Man(2000)

This game is often a forgotten foot note on these kinds of lists and I continue to question why the hell that is. The game launched in 2000 and is based both on the comics and the 90's Spidey cartoon and did a great job of throwing many of Spider-Man's greatest foes at you through an entertaining storyline. The game also threw a slew of unlockables at you with tons of alternate costumes for Spidey that had various properties, and it was also the birth of Activision's Spider-Man series. The biggest problem with the game was probably the fact that the difficulty was on the incredibly easy side with only two challenging levels which were both only challenging because of a pretty bad camera system(though at the time most 3D Action/platformers did have bad cameras). Still this is a largely forgotten game that really shouldn't be.

8.Marvel vs Capcom 2

I can hear the seething hate building now. How can the greatest 2D Fighter ever be stuck at number 8?!!! Well cool your shit I had it at number 13 originally and the reason is that Marvel vs Capcom 2 falls very short at one very crucial aspect of fighting games. Fighters are built on Balance and variety and while this game with its 56 character roster has plenty of, but fails miserably at balance, an issue that became obviously apparent when the game was launched on Xbox Live and PSN Sentinel, Storm. Mageto. There's your typical team, and pretty much every team contains at least two of them. Without balance variety means jack all unless you're playing against friends locally. Throw in a steep learning curve, unforgiving difficulty and lack of any tutorial mode(though all of those things were standard when the game was released) and it's a game many didn't touch. So why is it here? Well because when you are just fucking around with friends the game is incredibly fun, and that's just as important as any of the boring analytic mumbo-jumbo from the previous paragraph.  Plus the games legacy can't be ignored, even if is the result of some freak circumstances making the game incredibly rare for a long time.

7.The Walking Dead

I could essentially copy and paste The Wolf Among Us entry and explain the Telltale thing but it's much simpler to just point out that this game essentially made Telltale a thing worth paying attention to. Prior to this the studio's effort had been uninspiring entries like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park which did little to endear the studio, however after securing The Walking Dead TellTale became known as a studio capable of telling stories that made it worth checking out.

6.Injustice-Gods Among Us

In 2008 longtime Mortal Kombat developer Midway was going out of business and as an attempt to lure WB as a studio pawned an absolutely bizarre concept of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe on Ed Boon and the MK Team. That game was...well kind of fun? At least I thought it was, but it was flawed and being that we live in the age we do it was promptly treated as a steaming pile of shit because hell who has time to acknowledge that some things are neither good nor bad?

Anyway that did one big thing for the MK team and the studio was picked up by WB after Midway went out of business and rebranded Netherrealm Studios. They turned out a great MK revival n 2009  and in 2011 released Injustice Gods Among us and had a pretty sizable hit on their hands. It was certainly the best DC fighter ever(though that's not very good competition) and arguably the best comic fighter period(an argument I clearly make because well 6 is higher than 8).

5.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

Forget the modern turtles, there was once a time when Ninja turtles actually meant good things when slapped on a video game and Turtles in Time is probably the peak of that. Granted it didn't really push things forward but it did refine everything that was enjoyable about the first Turtles arcade game. And yes I'm aware this was based on the cartoon which didn't have all that much to do with the comics, but c'mon how could you possibly leave this off the list?

4.X-Men the Arcade Game

Okay so this game is fairly repetitive but it's a damn blast. Controlling Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and if you're just damn unlucky Dazzler you do pretty much what you do in every side-scrolling beat 'em up but with X-Men, and against people like Pyro, Emma Frost, Magneto and then Magneto again because the first one was just Mystique.

Sadly if you didn't snap this one up on Xbox Live or PSN already you're out of luck as it's been pulled,

3.Spider-Man 2

And another case of bending the rules here but really it's impossible not to mention this game. While Activision's previous Spider-Man games were enjoyable (even if the 2nd comic game and first movie game were more average than the first crack) this one blows them all out of the water. For the first time ever the entire city was open to Spider-Man and not just the rooftops, for another web swinging was refined. Spidey now needed to actually find something to stick onto, and the player gets to control distance, speed and a host of other things. Just exploring was a blast.

In addition to the normal story missions(which are...okay enough) Spider-Man now has a host of side missions given to him by random NPCs, though unfortunately these are a tad repetitive. Sadly Activision would stop upgrading the series here. This formula perfected might've been the best comic game ever.

2.Batman Arkham City

My general inability to play stealth games without bundling like an idiot has cost me several times in my life. While I can live without Hitman and Splinter Cell in my life, I've sorely disappointed that because of my own impatience I could never fully enjoy rocksteady's crack at the Dark Knight because the Arkham games are really the best Batman games ever made by a wide margin. No game before had ever taken everything Batman can do and rolled it into one package before, intense hand to hand combat, plenty of gadgets, problem solving that test the detectives mettle and of course the stealth sequences that eventually doomed my progress are all included and done in a way so loyal to its origin that it's just about impossible not to love and I really do contemplate burning myself at the stake for not doing so.

1.Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Somehow when this topic is brought up this game is almost always overlooked. I get that the Arkham games are insanely well done and Marvel vs Capcom 2 has that almost mythical aura about it, but no more kidding around here; this is the single best comic game ever made, and it's not even close. A roster much more robust that its spiritual predecessor X-Men Legends 2, dozens of side missions to complete after the main story, plenty of powers per character that open up building each character completely different in repeat playthroughs, hell you can even build your own super hero team and play the whole thing as them...or you can play the whole game and never take a character twice. Plus there's not a useless character in the bunch (sure some complain that Elektra and Blade aren't good  but it's entirely possible to build both into solid contributors).

Despite all the replay value here and the massive playable roster for a party based RPG, this game is somehow routinely forgotten about in the wake of its more famous comic game brethren.  

[kennythecamguy]

6 Wants for Dragon Age Inquisition DLC

     When Dragon Age Inquisition dropped and proved fantastic it managed to restore some faith in the Dragon Age franchise and Bioware as a whole after the underwhelming reception to Dragon Age II and the whole Mass Effect 3 ending thing(which is over, right? Right?) Alas there were several areas that I'd hoped would be touched on that were completely glossed over, but in this day and age a games not done til the publisher and developers can take a larger chunk of your money with their dastardly DLC scams! At least that's what people who've never played a good DLC would have you believe all downloadable content is. In actuality there's still a world that Bioware can touch on for Inquisition and like pretty much everyone who has played a game...uhh look this is the part where I realize I've been trying to transition to the actual list for the last three sentences and just kind of awkwardly do it right here.

The Architect

Once the curtain is lifted and "The Elder One" is revealed to be Corypheus(one of the least surprising surprises ever) my mind immediately flashed to what The Architect's involvement would be and it turned out to be...well nothing. A lot of nothing. Seriously he's not even mentioned once in Inquisition. Granted Awakening seems to be the red headed step child of the DA franchise in the developers minds(as other than Anders and the Nathaniel cameo in DA2 it's not been mentioned since its release) but a talking darkspawn is a pretty big thing to just let dangle.

It could be that The Architect is the same as Corypheus(and that seems to me the most logical conclusion) but that doesn't really seem the type of thing that should be left a head canon and still leaves tons of questions. Why does the Architect remember nothing when Corypheus, even at his most addled in Legacy remembers it all? Why does the Architect seek to do good and mend the gap between humans and darkspawn while Corypheus wants to do nothing but conquer? There's a lot to play with here and it'd be disappointing to see it go to waste.

COMPANION DLC!!!! Okay maybe that shouldn't be so spastic. Companion DLC seems like a given at this point. Mass Effect 2 got Zaeed and Kasumi, Dragon Age Origins got Shale, Dragon Age 2 got Sebastian, and Mass Effect 3 got Javik so it seems damn likely Inquisition will be seeing someone soon as well. Who should it be? While it likely will be someone new there were a couple of ideas I felt would make a nice touch.

The Surviving Hawke twin. This one does have some complications as depending on how you played Dragon Age 2 there might not BE a surviving Hawke twin, but it would be nice to see Bethany(or Carver if you're unlucky) get a full role after being a part-timer in DA2. Plus Bethany would serve as a replacement once Solas inevitably bolts on you at the conclusion.

The Architect I know I ranted on the Architect already but this is an idea that I think has some merit. It adds a new playable race, touches base on Awakening, and provides a new mage follower as a sort of post-game replacement for Solas. Plus it could set up rather easily going to war with a talking Darkspawn magister thing then obviously rumors of another such creature would pique in the interest of the Inquisition. Then much like Legion in Mass Effect 2 The Architect vows to at least attempt to clear its peoples name. Bioware also gave a ready made solution in case you killed the Architect. One would assume that if he is the same as Corypheus he'd simply jump to the nearest blighted host if killed. A darkspawn companion offers some real intrigue in a number of ways.

The World of Thedas Though the Inquisitions fingers occasionally venture outside the borders all of the action in Inquisition takes place in Ferelden and Orlais, and the other countries of Thedas are merely minor plot points. I was initially hyped that Inquisition would take place in more than one continent and hopeful to see more of Thedas than had previously been revealed, and while it's tough to complain about any of DAI's environments it's still an intriguing prospect to visit places like Tevinter, Starkhaven, Par Vollen or even a return visit to Kirkwall. Tevinter at least is a natural set-up for some sort of DLC mission.

The Champion and the Hero One of the best parts of Mass Effect 3 was being able to encounter all of Sheppard's previous companions(whether recruitable or not) and there was hope this would happen in Inquisition as well. Especially when the Inquisition needed to recruit various agents to expand its operations. Unfortunately the various agents turned out to be faceless, interchangeable throw away NPCs who you likely don't remember even after helping recruit them. There was plenty of possibility for running into all of the Champion's and Hero's surviving companions(and at least getting to see Wynne's grave) and it never materialized. While there likely isn't a full scale DLC to be found here, it could potentially work as a series of recruitment missions. There are too many good characters who are either simply text to the Inquisition or just don't appear at all.

Asunder While Cole's inclusion does touch on Asunder there are too many moments in the book that go completely ignored. Why does nobody but Cole even mention Wynne's death? What happened to Shale afterwards? Surely at least Leliana would know these things seeing as she was there. Above all even if they aren't recruitable it would have been nice to actually see Rhys and Evangeline beyond being text in an operation.

Plus the instigator behind everything that broke down at the Orlesian circle of Magi was a little stuck up red haired wench by the name of Adrian who gets off completely free. That's easily someone who the player needs to be able to deal with there, and she'd totally be believable as someone who would actually side with Corypheus.

Awakening Style Expansion

So at the end of Inquisition it's revealed that stodgy mage companion Solas is actually the Dread Wolf of Dalish legend, and he's sorely pissed that the Inquisitor destroyed his nice little orb which he had hoped to get back from Corypheus.

This clearly sets up a major expansion ala Dragon Age Awakening, one with an entirely new story, settings and potentially a new set of companions. I know that (with the possible exception of Vivenne) Inquisition has one of the most fantastic casts imaginable but it's an interesting concept to see what everyone moves onto, and there really is no better opponent for Solas than the Inquisitor, making the confrontation with the Dread Wolf a full sequel is certainly a possibility but a showdown with the one he likely blames for the orb's destruction is a compelling scenario.