Between the introduction of Ms. Marvel, the gender swapping of Thor, and Captain Marvel getting her own movie, it’s a good time to be a woman in Marvel Comics. But it’s also a good time to be a fan of those ladies and pinball thanks to Zen Studios, whose newest tables for Zen Pinball 2 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4, Vita), Pinball FX 2 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), and Zen Pinball (iOS, Android, Amazon) are the Marvel’s Women Of Power Two Pack, which feature the ladies of A-Force, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Gwen, as well as a host of bad gals.
Tag: Xbox 360
With the strategy game Halo Wars 2 (Xbox One, PC) not coming out until February 21st of 2017, fans of the Halo games are undoubtedly going through withdrawal. Thankfully, Gallery Book has a fix in the form of Halo Fractures (paperback, digital), a collection of short stories from such sci-fi writers as John Jackson Miller (Star Wars: A New Dawn), such Halo novelists as Tobias Buckell (Halo: The Cole Protocol), and even such Halo game writers as Brian Reed, who co-wrote Halo 4 and was the lead writer on Halo 5: Guardians, and also penned the comic books Halo: Initiation, Halo: Escalation, and Halo: Fall Of Reach, the graphic novel adaptation of Eric Nyland’s prequel novel, Halo: The Fall Of Reach.
To find out more about the stories in Halo Fractures, I posed (mostly) the same questions to three of the books contributors: Matt Forbeck, who wrote the novel Halo: New Blood; Halo: Last Light writer Troy Denning; and Christie Golden, who’s new to the Halo cannon, but has written novels based on the StarCraft games as well as the worlds of Star Wars and Star Trek.
Funko have announced that they’ll release POP! toys of characters from the Call Of Duty games this November.
Inspired by the recent Nickelodeon cartoon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutants In Manhattan (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC) is a fun third-person hack & slash action game that will engage fans of that kid-friendly animated series. But for older gamers who instead grew up on the ’80s cartoon or the original comic books — in which they were as big on Metallica as they were pizza — this game probably won’t hold your attention.
Last year I put together a story about all the pinball tables I really wanted to see for Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball 2 — including Indiana Jones, Robot Chicken, Resident Evil, Game Of Thrones, and the BioShock games — and why none of them will ever be made…probably. And wouldn’t you know it, I was right. So far, none of these have been made into pinball tables. So I thought it would be fun to think about what other tables I’d like to play…and why I’ll probably never have the chance to play them, either.
Though it was clearly delayed to avoid spoiling the film — what, Han Solo has turned into a silver metal ball!?! — Zen Studios have finally released their Star Wars The Force Awakens Pack for Zen Pinball 2 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Vita), Pinball FX 2 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), Zen Pinball (iOS), and Zen Pinball HD (Android, Amazon), which includes two tables inspired by the titular film. Though it may be a spoiler for the next movie that the better table is the one that embraces the Dark Side.
While there were some great games in 2015, there were also a bunch that weren’t so great.
And then there was the following bunch of crap that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, even if they stepped on my foot and didn’t say “Sorry.”
Here now, in no particular order, are the worst games of 2015.
The Order: 1886
Developers: Ready At Dawn
Publisher: Sony
Systems: PlayStation 4
While much was made about this game’s length, or lack there of, the real issue was how it wasted that time with dated mechanics and way too many cutscenes. But my biggest problem with The Order: 1886 was that it took a cool idea — a Gears Of War-style shooter set in a proto-steampunk London — and squandered it.
SCORE: 4.0/10 (read my full review here)
Helldivers
Developers: Arrowhead Game Studios
Publisher: Sony
Systems: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Vita
What should’ve been a fun and frantic arcadey, top-down, sci-fi shooter was instead a frustrating slog thanks to a lot of little problems that included, but were not limited to, pointless mechanics (I mean, seriously, what kind of a trained soldier doesn’t know to reload their weapon), bad graphical choices, and a wildly inconsistent difficulty.
SCORE: 3.5/10 (read my full review here)
Godzilla
Developers: Natsume
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Systems: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3
Caught somewhere between low-budget and low-rent, this game is not only overly simplistic and repetitive, but it also has counter-intuitive movement that makes this more frustrating than fun.
SCORE: 6.5/10 (read my full review here)
Resident Evil (HD remake)
Developers: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Systems: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
This game isn’t so much bad as it is a waste of your money. I would’ve loved a new version of this classic 1996 game with upgraded graphics and better controls. I can even understand why someone would want a faithful recreation of the original game with the original controls and the original graphics. But what we got instead was the 2002 remake of the game that Capcom put out on the GameCube, but with that game’s awkward controls and the original graphics in HD. And why would I want that? Oh, right, I don’t.
SCORE: 3.0/10 (read my full review here)
Onechanbara Z2 Chaos
Developers: Tamsoft
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Systems: PlayStation 4
While it would be easy to condemn this game for being overtly sexual but not all that sexy, it actually has bigger problems than just being potentially offensive. It’s terribly redundant, which makes it rather tiresome after a while, and I say that as someone who really likes hack & slash games you can just button mash to victory.
SCORE: 6.5/10 (read my full review here)
Afro Samurai 2: Revenge Of Kuma: Volume 1
Developers: Redacted Software
Publisher: Versus Evil
Systems: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
As someone who liked, but still saw the flaws in, the original Afro Samurai game, I was encouraged when the people behind this sequel said they weren’t happy with the original either, and we’re striving to make something better. Which makes it even more sad that they failed. Miserably. Not only was it a bad game, but it was so flawed and buggy that the publisher gave everyone refunds and cancelled the other two volumes.
SCORE: 2.0/10 (read my full review here)
So, what were your least favorite games of 2015. Let me know in the comments below.
While 2015 wasn’t the best year for video games, there were a bunch that I had a lot of fun playing.
Here now, in no particular order, are the best games I played in 2015.
When it came out in 2013, Tomb Raider rebooted this third-person action series in such grand style that it was easily one of that year’s best games. So it should come as no surprise that its sequel, Rise Of The Tomb Raider (Xbox One, Xbox 360…for now), largely follows the same template, and is thus not only as invigorating and addictive, but is also easily one of this year’s best games.