Comic Book review: Tokyo Ghost, Volume One: The Atomic Garden

Despite cover art that might evoke thoughts of Akira and Mad Max, Tokyo Ghost falls nearer to the themes explored in Ghost in the Shell, with a presentation that teeters towards Tank Girl and Robocop. It is an extremist vision of a future controlled by one corporation, a world run into the ground with pollution and technological addictions. At the center of this story are Debbie, one of the few citizens of mega-city Los Angeles who has remained clean, and her boyfriend, constable Led Dent, a tech junkie who is known as feared as the most effective of enforcers in L.A.

Led Dent frequently tracks down those who have tried to cheat his employer out of money, or those who seek to upset the twisted dystopian order of the city. And Led carries out many of his jobs with extreme prejudice, destroying mechanical and organic obstacles alike. Debbie, meanwhile, does not think so highly of L.A., nor does she care much for Led’s employer, but she sees the jobs as a necessary evil, a means of escape from this world drowning in its own addictions and misery. While Led’s hulking form and beast of a motorbike play into much of the series visual ‘pop’, Debbie’s bright pink and purple color scheme denotes her livelihood, her hopes for a better tomorrow, and the fact that – even in such a rotten city – her soul is still filled with love for Led.

The series explains that, many years prior, Led Dent was a kid named Teddy. Debbie and Teddy fell in love, but as the world went to hell in a hand basket around them, Teddy felt weak, unable to protect Debbie, or himself, for that matter. Teddy subjected himself to a number of implants in order to become the gargantuan and fearsome Led Dent, but in doing so, sacrificed his soul and much of his free will. Seeing Led constantly jacked in to a series of radio and television feeds as he carries out his missions, Debbie is determined to get him clean, to bring back the boy she fell in love with, by escaping to Japan, rumored to be the last country on the planet devoid of technology.

The environments in Tokyo Ghost display and absurd attention to detail. Many signs and company names can be picked out from any single one of Tokyo Ghost’s cityscape panoramas, while the lush greenery, tranquil waterfalls, and feudal buildings of Japan present a stark contrast. It is a series that rides on the wilder side, with the gore and sex often being gratuitous to further drive home the notion that this future is controlled by selfish individuals whose concerns are not with the common folk. For those who grew up during the boom of cyberpunk anime and films, Tokyo Ghost may be worth a look. This first volume ends on a note that may leave readers a tad puzzled, even caught off guard. With that in mind, I feel it is worth stating that this is but the first act of Tokyo Ghost, and there is plentiful opportunity for the story to be elaborated upon in later volumes.

My rating: 8 (out of 10)

Anime review: Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt

In similar vein to Gundam OVAs 0080: War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt presents a small scaled conflict that is but a sample of a widespread war. It spends ample time detailing the life and struggles facing both Federation and Zeon soldiers, with the former hoping that a prototype Gundam and one hotshot, self-absorbed pilot will grant them victory over a ravaged sector of space marked by the debris of abandoned space colonies. The main Zeon forces, meanwhile, stand out from the pack as being almost exclusively amputees, with their main pilot out to prove his worth in beating back the Federation forces, while also looking out for his friends and comrades-in-arms.

Gundam Thunderbolt is a very short watch. Four episodes clock in at less than twenty-five minutes a piece. But the series does not lack polish – following in the footsteps of Unicorn and The Origin, the digital animation nears movie quality, with a decidedly darker atmosphere to many environments, further playing up the desperate measures taken during the One Year War. This visual style is strikingly appropriate, given that Thunderbolt explores the motivations of the two lead pilots in great detail, as well as explores the horrible atrocities both factions carried out in hopes of securing their victory over what is essentially a mole hill compared to the ‘mountains’ of Zeon strongholds like Solomon and A Baoa Qu. If there was ever any doubt that both the Federation and the Zeons could be responsible for some morally questionable, unsettling tactics, you need look no further than Gundam Thunderbolt.

And that’s a large part of what makes Thunderbolt such a worthwhile watch; it packs a hard punch, with mature themes and few real ‘heroes’ in the mix. It also boasts an incredibly catchy, upbeat soundtrack that samples jazz, funk, and love ballads, all of which presents an eerie, yet wonderful contrast to the narrative themes at play. If nothing else, Thunderbolt is worth giving a shot for its Cowboy Bebop-flavored tunes, and worth sticking around for the escalation of power and subsequent devolution of humanity.

My rating: 8 (out of 10)

Anime review: One Punch Man

An energy-packed twelve-episode run, One Punch Man falls into the action and comedy genres, excelling at its delivery in both.  From the first episode, Saitama – aka, the titular One Punch Man – is shown to have immense, possibly immeasurable strength.  Each and every foe he encounters, from lowly street thugs to world-threatening foes that might as well be ripped right out of a superhero comic or sentai series, can be beaten by a single punch of Saitama’s rocketing fist.  While this might seem like an all-too-convenient trump card that would wipe out all of the series’ threats in no time, it’s Saitama’s outlook on his role as a hero that keeps both him and the larger narrative compelling through the finale.

            Saitama’s incredible strength has left him bored.  Each fight he gets caught up in is a cakewalk, and half the time he doesn’t bother to catch his costumed opponent’s name or really even pay attention to them as they attempt to overwhelm him.  Saitama is a self-proclaimed ‘hero for fun’, and finds it very odd when a young cyborg by the name of Genos wishes to train under him.  Saitama initially dismisses the notion of having a pupil, but is persuaded when Genos promises to help pay for rent and take care of chores around the apartment.  While Saitama’s gains from this partnership initially stem from his being selfish and a tad lazy, the two ultimately grow to trust one another, recognizing the strengths they possess both independently and as a team.  They forge a mutual respect, and Saitama begins to see that maybe there is more to being a hero than simply getting an adrenaline rush, though his quest to find a foe of a comparable strength to his own never ceases.

            Despite first appearing as an inattentive goofball, Saitama has a lot of heart and is willing to make some hard decisions that other heroes might hesitate on.  With regards to the other heroes, there is quite a large community displayed in the series.  Occasionally, other heroes will have a quick cameo, but for the most part, the other heroes return in later episodes.  This helps to make them feel more like rounded characters in a grounded organization, rather than simply being part of the scenery.  The designs of the other heroes do well to appeal to specific genres and eras in anime, without lending their outfits or hairstyles too closely to any particular series.  Though Saitama and Genos are the central duo to One Punch Man, a small collection of high-ranking heroes join in the fray late in the series.  Meanwhile, the C-class bike riding do-gooder known as Mumen Rider brings plenty of laughs to the table with his overconfidence against some of the series’ monstrous villains, though he too has greater character development than one might expect.

            One Punch Man boasts one of the most energetic and rockin’ theme songs from an anime in quite some time, and goes the extra mile in helping to set the tone of the series before Saitama is found staring down a fish man four times his size, an insect woman who spreads thousands of mosquitoes throughout the city to drain the blood from animals and humans alike, and a climactic face-off with an alien invader that gives any one of the major fights in Dragon Ball Z a run for their money.  The animation is great throughout, with the fight sequences proving obvious highlights, while downgrades to cheaper character renderings helps drive the comedic moments home.  The series ends with a satisfying wrap on all the major threats faced thus far, but a few threads are left hanging – a couple of which are introduced within the final couple of episodes, oddly enough.  Still, there is plenty of opportunity to continue exploring these heroes should One Punch Man get picked up for a second season.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)

PC review: Fallout 4

After their release of the fifth major Elder Scrolls title, Bethesda has returned to the post-apocalyptic setting of the Fallout series, with Fallout 4 being set in the Commonwealth, formerly the area surrounding Boston. Fenway Park has been reorganized into the central hub known as Diamond City, and the cityscape is a hodgepodge of old New England brick buildings with towering paneled steel skyscrapers. Following the example set forth by Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 effectively allows players to roam freely once the hour-long run of tutorial quests has been cleared.

Prior to the core game taking place, players bear witness to life before the bombs dropped in the small suburb of Sanctuary. Character creation grants a great degree of customization options, including the gender of the protagonist, and for the first time in the series, the main character speaks to allies and enemies alike. After being visited by a Vault-Tec representative and reserving their space in Vault 111, the happy family life is interrupted as news breaks on the television of the first bombs dropping. Grabbing their infant son Shaun, the protagonist and his/her spouse run for Vault 111, and are sealed inside just as a mushroom cloud paints the horizon.

Inside Vault 111, the couple and their baby are ushered into cryostasis pods, where they are frozen in time to outlast the nuclear radiation above ground. However, the protagonist’s sleep is interrupted early after a small band of scientists and a raider crack the seal on their spouse’s pod, and kill them in a struggle to steal their baby. The protagonist is forced to watch helplessly as their child is taken away, and they are left as the only surviving adult in Vault 111, drifting back off to cryostasis-induced sleep for a bit until their pod is finally cracked open, and they are freed to venture forth into the wastes of the Commonwealth in search of their son and the individuals responsible for his kidnapping.

Fallout 4 suffers from a similar problem as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in that the main story doesn’t offer a particularly compelling narrative, and that side quests relating to the game’s various major factions are consistently more interesting, more widely varied in their offerings, and generally more challenging. Simply playing the main story missions will not last particularly long, and the ultimate goal of finding one’s lost son pales even in the company of bringing clean water to the people of the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3. It is far easier to sink hours into establishing the band of regional do-gooders known as the Minutemen, helping human-like Synths who wish to escape their Institute overlords via a new-age Underground Railroad, and uncovering the twisted goals of Vault-Tec in the other regional Vaults.

While the option to roam largely wherever one’s heart desires early on is very much appreciated, the game world, though large, is still much smaller than other open-world contemporaries like Grand Theft Auto V or Xenoblade Chronicles X. Still, the Commonwealth is littered with many locations to discover, and exploration feels rewarding. Leveling up in Fallout 4 proceeds faster than in Fallout 3 or New Vegas, and Fallout 4 technically lacks a level cap. This is partially due to the much broader offerings of the perk system – classics like Bloody Mess, Lady Killer, and Mysterious Stranger make their returns, but a whole slew of new ones round out the list, and all serve comparably useful ends. The V.A.T.S. system, which slows time for players to hone their attacks to specific body parts on enemies, remains effectively unchanged from the last outing.

A core part of the Fallout series’ identity stems from its 1950’s retro-future aesthetic, while the games are also largely recognized for their dark humor. Bethesda has selected many catchy tunes for Diamond City Radio to broadcast, though a good handful of these songs are reused from Fallout 3. The humor in Fallout 4, meanwhile, is split quite evenly between dry, situational humor and the less effective instances of characters taking a none-too-subtle push of exclaiming just how much violence and death can be entertaining in this decayed world. It’s an unfortunate step backwards, as both Fallout 3 and New Vegas excelled at the much more engaging approach of ‘showing over telling’.

Fallout 4 also utilizes a small selection of dialogue options when interacting with quest-specific characters or companions. Generally, two of these options end up resulting in the same responses, while one is a negative response or decline of engaging in conversation, and the fourth and final option is almost always a sarcastic statement. The sarcastic options rarely add anything valuable to the conversation, while the three other options are often vague descriptors for the full sentences that your protagonist will ultimately dish out. Dialogue options that are colored in yellow, orange, or red are persuasive and threatening approaches, and their respective color is dependent on how far you have leveled up their associated perks. Nine times out of ten, though, it feels like the dialogue options serve more to boost your affinity ratings with companion characters than they do to progress whatever quest you are currently undertaking.

In a similar vein, Fallout 4’s quests and indoor environments are more linear in design than those in Fallout 3, New Vegas, or even The Elder Scrolls titles. While they may not be as expansive overall, these locations are much easier to navigate, reducing the likelihood that you will find yourself lost in some deep and winding labyrinth. The wait times as these areas load is longer than one would expect from a game of this generation, and Fallout 4’s bugs and glitches are plentiful. While I never encountered any hiccups that were game-breaking, I did find three or four glitches each time that I fired the game up – whether it was a stray bullet that ricocheted off a car and caused it to fly forward like a Frisbee, NPCs pushing one another around during dialogue sequences, full sentences being skipped for no discernible reason, or Deathclaws clipping through buildings only to launch sky-high and immediately die upon their return to the ground, Fallout 4 lacks a considerable amount of polish in this department.

Conversely, character models look quite good on the whole. Standouts include companion characters like Piper (whose animations are highly expressive), Nick Valentine (with a network of mechanical pieces visible through his cracked facial structure), and the Mr. Handy models (whose eyes are constantly zooming and retracting, while bobbing up and down, independent of one another). In fact, the companion characters are one of the game’s strongest points. While human-friendly Super Mutant Strong and canine pal Dogmeat operate almost exactly the same as their equivalents in previous games, Piper is a reporter determined uncover a Synth conspiracy in Diamond City, Nick Valentine is a slick trenchcoat-wearing private eye with considerable knowledge of the Commonwealth, Deacon is a ‘far-out’ beatnik master of disguise assisting The Railroad in their aims of freeing runaway Synths from the enigmatic Institute, and Curie is a pre-war Miss Nanny robot who fills the role of questioning ‘where do the lines between man and machine blur’ with her insistence on research and finding a way to be inspired beyond her programming. On the whole, Fallout 4’s characters are a nicely varied bunch, with a few being among the best the series has seen to date. Upon reaching maximum affinity levels with each companion, players earn an additional perk specific to that companion’s behavior, while some companions can even be romanced.

Helping NPCs on various quests can unlock new settlements for you to establish and build structures, defenses, workbenches, food, water, and energy. It’s a welcome addition that not only increases the play time value of Fallout 4, but also finally makes use of the various junk items you discover in your journeys. Cans, toy rocket ships, fallen trees, turret switchboards, old cameras, and many other assorted items can be taken to workbenches and broken down into base resources, which can then be recycled for constructing settlement necessities. While this settlement management system is neither the most fleshed-out, nor the most actively rewarding version of such an addition to an open-world game, it does bring something fresh and coherent into the mix.

Additional workbenches can be used to concoct health items, and customize weapons and armor. Pieces of Power Armor can also be repaired here. The iconic Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor functions differently than in previous games, effectively acting as a limited exoskeleton or vehicle, able to take its own damage before you yourself are physically wounded. Power Armor also runs on energy cores than can be gathered from generators scattered across the Commonwealth. The more of these cores in your possession, the longer you can make use of the Power Armor. Pieces of the many versions of the Power Armor can be swapped out and paired with one another, and there are many Power Armor frames in the Commonwealth to scavenge these pieces from. The Power Armor is especially useful for taking on stronger foes like Deathclaws, which appear more frequently in Fallout 4 than in previous games, and can also make short work of Super Mutants or Ghouls, two enemy types which travel in generally larger numbers than before. It is not uncommon for eight or more Ghouls to attempt to overwhelm players, while Super Mutant ranks often include one suicide runner who will attempt to rush players with a Mini Nuke in hand.

As is tradition for the series, Fallout 4 requires you to keep an even eye on your health bar and your radiation level. The higher your radiation level, the greater portion of your health bar it takes up, temporarily reducing the maximum level you are able to heal to until you are either able to find RadAway or pay a doctor NPC with the Commonwealth’s bottlecap currency. By and large, Fallout 4 feels surprisingly less the part of an RPG than its predecessors. It isn’t uncommon to find high level, specialized weaponry during one of your many quests, even during the game’s earliest hours. This sort of negates the need to hold onto common weapons for customization. The wide selection of perks is truly a high point of Fallout 4’s ‘play-as-you-want’ design, but the game feels more like an open-world adventure/survival title with a mild amount of RPG elements thrown in than a proper RPG.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10)

Comic Book Review: Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z

Penned by Rick Remender, Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z is a two-part storyline that reintroduces Steve Rogers as part of the Marvel NOW! comic run. Dropped into an alien realm ruled by the maniacal Arnim Zola, Captain America must escape a technological fortress and battle horrific alien tribes if he hopes to survive and make an escape home. Neon blues and purples decorate the bizarre backdrop of Cap’s new surroundings, and, in many ways, it feels like the First Avenger has been dropped into Remender’s other dimension-hopping series, Black Science.

Castaway in Dimension Z opens with a bang, and despite Cap’s ability to escape from Zola’s clutches, he ends up furthering the wrath of the Nazi-turned-robot villain by taking Zola’s artificially-created son with him as he escapes from the facility. The two encounter plenty of challenges over the many years they remain in Dimension Z – the monstrous wildlife is plentiful, and the two are nearly killed by a tribe of rock-like beings, only managing to come to peaceful terms with them thanks to a universal communicator that Cap has on him. But Cap did not escape Zola unscathed – he was infected with a technological virus that haunts him more and more as time passes, and Zola attempts to break Rogers’ mind.

Cap’s decision to take the boy (who he names Ian) from Zola, is brought into question as something of a morally grey action. As is later revealed, Ian was not the only child Zola intended to raise, but he did intend to brainwash both of them to do his bidding. Meanwhile, Zola’s virus torments Steve Rogers with questions of the justification of tearing the boy from his home, teaching him his own values and sense of right and wrong. As readers, we certainly know that Cap’s virtues will always trump those of Zola, but in the eyes of a child who has never known anything beyond this tumultuous and bizarre reality, it’s a lot to take in.

Less compelling to this narrative is Steve Rogers’ out-of-nowhere decision to finally attempt an escape plan after many years spent in this hellish domain, and a full beard grown. Certainly, Zola has many scientific monstrosities at his disposal, and storming his technological fortress is no small feat, but there is practically no explanation as to why Cap decides to wait until Zola’s plans for invading Earth are nearly complete before taking any sort of heroic actions. Visually, it’s an interesting setting to have Cap stranded in, and breaks from the familiar Hydra or A.I.M. bases that the First Avenger so frequently storms. Plot-wise, Castaway in Dimension Z is slow-going, and doesn’t offer many satisfying answers.

My rating: 6.25 (out of 10)

Wii U review: Fast Racing Neo

In an era where futuristic arcade racers like F-Zero and Hydro Thunder have largely disappeared, Fast Racing Neo seeks to reignite that spark of wonder and excitement these titles of yesteryear once offered. At first glance, Fast Racing Neo might look like a direct F-Zero successor under a different name and from a different developer. The game boasts a dozen hover racing vehicles, tracks vary from desert domains to space stations, slick ice-capped mountains, mining facilities connected by giant tubes, and jungle vistas with ninety degree inclines.

Each of these vehicles handles a bit different from the next. Some are quick on acceleration, but have lower top speeds, and vice versa. Some handle sharp turns on a dime, while others have longer and heavier frames that force a larger turn radius. But each vehicle is capable of blazing through gorgeous environments at incredible speeds, all without dropping the framerate below a perfect sixty frames per second. It’s a bit of a shame that the vehicles can not be given alternate color schemes, but their names and designs do well to pay homage to the era of gaming that inspired them.

Track layouts similarly feel the part of F-Zero GX’s offerings, and are, in some cases, even more challenging when attempted at the higher speed settings. Not unlike Mario Kart, the Subsonic, Supersonic, and Hypersonic ‘difficulties’ have less of an impact on the capabilities of the opponent racers’ A.I., but rather increase the speed at which everyone zips along the track. Fast Racing Neo avoids a ‘rubber-band’ catch-up system, so there are rarely rival racers that follow closely behind you for the four tracks within any single cup. This of course also means that you as a player still need to shoot for the front of the pack, as the overall rankings are less predictable than in other arcade racers.

Fast Racing Neo controls with buttery-smooth precision, though as mentioned, no two vehicles control in quite the same fashion, so it may take a few runs to get the feel for which vehicle is best suited to your personal play style. Similarly, each course dishes out something new as you progress, and the best way to beat the competition is learning a track’s ins and outs through a trial-by-fire approach. Fast Racing Neo, oddly enough, also gives a nod or two to Ikaruga and other shoot-‘em-up games, with the incorporation of a color-shift system. Certain boost and jump pads are blue, others orange, and you must shift between the two on the fly to make the most of these. Jewels scattered across the track, meanwhile, will fill up your boost gauge, which you can then utilize whenever you so choose.

In the event that you crash while attempting a jump, the game quickly respawns you at the section of the race track closest to where your machine exploded. You are granted a small amount of boost to try and catch back up with the competition. An unlockable Hero Mode ups the difficulty even further, as it demands players manage their boost meter as a shield meter as well (not unlike the F-Zero series), as well as finish in first place to further progress. It’s a bonus mode for the most determined of players, those who haved proved their skill by completing all of the previous difficult settings.

Fast Racing Neo does include online play, wherein players vote from a limited selection of courses. Their vote is then cast into a pool with the votes from each of the other players, and selected roulette-style, not unlike Mario Kart Wii’s online selection process. However, there is currently no way to vote for the difficulty/speed setting, and the game appears to default to the lower end of that. Despite rather bare-bones menus, the game makes up for this with vehicles and courses being covered in gorgeous, shiny visuals, making Fast Racing Neo one of the best looking titles on any console this generation yet. The techno soundtrack is a great, adrenaline-pumping match to the game’s sci-fi setting, and further cements Fast Racing Neo as a worthy successor to a genre that has largely fallen into obscurity.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Age of Apocalypse, Volume One

Considered by some to be one of the best Marvel event series of the 1990s, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse tells the story of an alternate history where Charles Xavier was killed by his psychotic son Legion decades before his school for gifted children could provide a safe haven for troubled youth, and before the legendary X-Men could become a fighting force for good among mutant and humans alike. Instead, Xavier’s death provides Apocalypse and his loyal horsemen a clear path to launch a campaign against humankind, keeping with the all-powerful mutant’s beliefs in ‘survival of the fittest’. Born of Apocalypse’s conquest is a dire future, where humans are corralled into pens like cattle, where mutants are hunted to either be hired into Apocalypse’s ranks or killed for opposing him, and where one Erik Lensherr champions the causes of his old friend Xavier and forms his own team of X-Men.

What is so captivating about the Age of Apocalypse story is the manner in which it takes familiar characters, partnerships, and rivalries, and turns them on their heads. Magneto is now a hero, an icon among those mutants who would dare to stand against Apocalypse and strike back at his dystopian regime. Rogue is Magneto’s wife, and together they have a child whom they name after the late Charles Xavier. Logan is still survivor of the Weapon X program, but is never referred to as Wolverine, and loses one of his hands in a battle with Cyclops, the latter of whom works for Apocalypse under Sinister as one of their most trusted officers. Nate Grey, the X-Man, is a highly powered telekinetic who travels with a band of misfit performers including Toad, Sauron, and Forge, while Sabretooth, Wild Child, Blink, Iceman, and Morph round out Magento’s team of X-Men.

It’s a dark, gritty vision of the X-Men, but rarely feels like it is pushing an ‘edginess’ simply for the sake of selling to older teenage audience. The dialogue is appropriate to the setting, while remaining overall friendly to readers of a broad age range. Character and environment artwork maintain a consistent direction throughout, though each artist does add their own slight spins on these faces and places with which readers will spend many hours.

What is unusual about this first numbered volume in the Age of Apocalypse series is that it gathers a strangely disjointed collection of issues together. Unlike the later volumes, the span of time that is passing across the issues collected in this first trade paperback is hard to pin down. Likewise, it would appear that certain events from issues placed toward the back of this volume actually occur simultaneous or even before issues that are placed near the front. Some of the storylines in this first volume lend a significant amount to establishing the characters and state of the world in Age of Apocalypse. Others, like Blink’s solo romp through the Negative Zone wherein she loses her memories and is caught up in a power struggle between Blastaar and Annihilus’ loyalists, add very little to the core plot, acting as largely uninteresting (sometimes annoying) distractions.

Still, Age of Apocalypse is a wildly engrossing story, and even with its shortcomings, this first collected volume offers some genuinely enjoyable subplots. Its disorganized nature simply falls a bit short of the quality of the later volumes. For those who enjoyed the Prelude or random issues of the later Age of Apocalypse tale, I can assure you that the series only gets better from here.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Thanos Rising

A limited five-issue series, Thanos Rising steps back in time to the formative years of the Mad Titan. The story displays his birth, his youth, his teenage years, and the eventual murderous streak that would leave him obsessed with death – both the act and the mystical character of the same name. The art throughout is superb, highlighting bright, metallic surfaces on Thanos’ home moon of Titan, while damp caverns are displayed through rugged inking and the ruins of annihilated worlds convey a haunting air.

Thanos is born into a society that knows no war, no conflict. They are a people of science, and despite Thanos’ unusual purple skin and dark eyes, his father, Mentor, takes to him just as he would his other son, Eros. Thanos’ mother, on the other hand, is immediately horrified by the sight of her child, believing there is something very wrong within him, and attempts to kill him with a knife. She is stopped, and spends many of her years institutionalized. During this time, Thanos grows into a curious, incredibly intelligent child. He seeks to make friends with other students his age, and grows queasy at the idea of dissecting lizards for his studies – a far cry from the cosmic villain he will eventually become.

One girl in particular catches Thanos’ attention, and continues to over the years. She is, in many ways, his enabler, convincing him even at a young age to carry out acts that will result in bloodshed, beginning with a group of lizards who attacked his friends during their exploration of one of Titan’s otherwise-off-limits caves. Thanos Rising has excellent pacing throughout, as each chapter jumps ahead years at a time to the most pivotal moments of the Mad Titan’s rise to infamy. Each section slows down to highlight Thanos as a character – his motives and personality, as well as his gradual embrace of murder, first justifying it as a means to try and discover that which sets beings of higher intelligence apart from animals. But when Thanos receives no answers from his gruesome handiwork, he comes to admit that he finds murder an enjoyable task.

As an adult, Thanos leaves his legacy on many a planet, fathering children with seemingly countless females of varying races. Thanos also makes his mark by joining a crew of space pirates and daring to challenge their leader. For Thanos is not content with mere pillage and plunder – he would see worlds break before him. Thanos Rising presents compelling and appropriate justifications for how would come to earn his reputation and title as ‘The Mad Titan’. His estrangement from his father does not come to pass until the final chapter, but it bears significant weight on the narrative of Thanos Rising, as well as the many conquests Thanos will ultimately carry out. The only oversight in Thanos Rising is the decision to not incorporate Thanos’ brother Eros into his development – he is mentioned once or twice, but never makes a physical appearance, and given how well the late-story clash between Thanos and his father played out, it could have raised the quality of this story even more.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Guardians of Knowhere

While the majority of the Battleworld series spun out of the thread that is Marvel’s 2015 Secret Wars remain largely self-contained narratives, Guardians of Knowhere ranks among the most limited in scale. Given the far-flung cosmic adventures typical of the Guardians of the Galaxy, it is initially a bit jarring for the story to adopt such a format, though understandably necessary, given the four-issue limit. Guardians of Knowhere is a strikingly appropriate title – while there are cosmically-supercharged showdowns afoot, they occur exclusively on the severed head of a Celestial known as Knowhere, which orbits Battleworld, and where the Guardians have made their base of operations. Nothing exists in the star-sprinkled skies beyond Knowhere – something which greatly disturbs Gamora.

Gamora is seemingly the only member of the Guardians that has any recollection of the world as it once was, before God Emperor Doom forged Battleworld from the remains of dozens of shattered realities. But her memories are similarly fragmented, and though she recalls names like ‘Groot’ and ‘Quill’, she has no faces to place with them, no context. Teaming up with Drax, Rocket, and Mantis, Gamora takes on some of Knowhere’s more ruthless scoundrels, adhering to no rules, only her incredible skills as a warrior. The Nova Corps, meanwhile, are a more by-the-books peacekeeping force, consisting of Nova, Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock, Iron Man, and Agent Venom, and often coming onto the scene to clean up after the guardians and take thieves and murderers into custody.

When Gamora’s questioning of the truths everyone else so easily buys into upsets Knowhere’s appointed Thor, Angela, Gamora is warned that what she speaks of goes against all that Doom has created, and is nothing shy of heresy. Still, Gamora insists that this reality around her is a façade, the memories of a time and place gone by haunting her so intensely. Sandwiching these standoffs between Gamora and Angela are two encounters with Guardians of Knowhere’s major villains – Yotat, and a second unnamed female alien. They are presented in strikingly different airs, with Yotat being some thug who ended up on the wrong side of a transaction now desiring revenge and subsequently bulking up, courtesy of spacey drugs and tech. The second alien foe is almost entirely shrouded in mystery – she is never given a name, and despite her stellar aesthetic and intimidating skill set, her motives are not made clear, either.

Of all the Battleworld storylines I’ve been exposed to, Guardians of Knowhere is the one most strangled by its own limited issue count. The series effectively paints two entirely unrelated encounters the Guardians have with threats to their home, but never really gives an indication of what the other Guardians are fighting for. Is it because their lives on Knowhere are all Drax, Rocket, and Mantis have ever known? Quite possibly, but they take a backseat to Gamora so frequently, it’s easy to completely forget their presence at times. Guardians of Knowhere is easily among the most visually-pleasing of all the Battleworld series. It’s just a shame that the narrative is largely nothing-achieving, with the last chapter feeling as though it were the first half of a two-part arc that was never finished.

My rating: 6.25 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Saga, Volume 5

It’s now been multiple years since Alana and Marko began their life on the run from the many factions that view their hybrid child Hazel as a bargaining chip or threat to galactic stability. As the fourth volume saw Alana, her mother, and Hazel forcibly separated from Marko thanks to the actions of one misguided and extreme janitor, this fifth volume bounces back and forth between the ferocity with which Alana will defend her daughter and the uneasy alliance forged between Marko, the now-exiled Prince Robot IV, coastal rancher Ghus, and thespian/drug addict Yuma. There is a also, a secondary plot concerning The Brand, Sophie, Lying Cat, and Gwendolyn, as they search for a means to revitalize The Will, who is still out of commission.

This fifth volume of Saga does well to focus the spotlight back on Alana and Marko more so than the previous two volumes did, but it does teeter back and forth in uncertainty as to whether or not it wants to redeem these two main protagonists. While they may be worlds apart from each other for the majority of this most recent volume, their thoughts of one another do weigh heavily, as their last interaction before they were torn apart was one of confrontation and hurtful words. And yet, while Alana does appear to bear some degree of regret over her exchange with Marko, her cunning and maternal defensiveness are somewhat undercut by the fact that she doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about anyone other than her own family. Marko, meanwhile, decides to turn to the drugs he so abhorred to escape his feelings of guilt over losing track of his family, and even displays a savage nature from seemingly out of nowhere.

While not nearly as overwhelmed in its attempts to juggle multiple story threads as the previous volume, this latest entry still feels a bit thinly stretch as more characters are introduced to the already burgeoning cast. Many of these newcomers see their stage exits by the end of this fifth volume, but it’s still almost too much on the plate when you consider the number of characters who have held minimal importance on the larger plot for the past two volumes. And at the end of this collection, there’s merely more cliffhangers and open-ended threads, with not but a few subplots being resolved by this trade paperback’s conclusion.

While Saga’s adult language and ‘edgier’ presentation factor were amusing early on, they have since become obnoxious elements of its identity. The series tries too hard to jam vulgarities into every other sentence, and the sexual imagery is largely without purpose – it’s perfectly acceptable to explore the relationship Marko and Alana forged during or even prior to Hazel’s conception, but it’s wholly unnecessary to show the act of a dragon fellating itself for a cheap laugh or ‘shock value’. While not as sour an entry as the fourth trade paperback, this fifth volume of Saga only does so much to return the series to the spark of imagination and intrigue, as well as the focused path that were so prominent in its first two collected volumes. As much as I wanted to continue enjoying Saga, I feel these most recent releases have turned me off to the series enough that I can confidently state that this is the end of my investment in Brian K. Vaughan's space opera.

My rating: 5.5 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies

Among the wilder concepts to come of Marvel’s 2015 Secret Wars event is the four-part Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies. On the far edge of Battleworld, a giant wall has been constructed to keep the more problematic creations from Marvel’s comic history quarantined – those problems, of course, being the undead hordes of Marvel Zombies fame and the ever-evolving rage-filled A.I. known as Ultron. The Zombies wish only to devour those individuals who are tossed into their so-called Deadlands as punishment by the Thors for breaking God Emperor Doom’s laws, while Ultron seeks to eradicate the zombies and their impure nature in his quest to perfect this no-man’s land.

While this is certainly a curious pairing, it would prove a tiring conflict very quickly were a third party not introduced. At the start of this limited series, a version of Hank Pym from the wild west town of Timely is banished to the Deadlands. With little to defend himself and limited knowledge of the Battleworld realms beyond Timely, Hank would most certainly be a goner, were it not for the arrival of Vision, Simon Williams, and Jim Hammond. The trio rescues Hank Pym, bringing him to their makeshift fortress/home in the middle of this desolate region, with the hopes that he might be able to create a counter to Ultron and his devious machinations.

This stranger-in-a-strange-land Hank Pym is, naturally, taken aback, having practically zero knowledge of their modern technology. But he did manage to partially construct a clockwork equivalent of Ultron once upon a time, and, after some convincing, agrees to aid these three synthetic men. Vision, Simon Williams, and Jim Hammond, are not the only three whose lives are factored into Pym’s decision, as there are many other survivors living in their shielded community – most notably, the love interests of these three heroes.

What lends Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies to be a more compelling tale than the cover art might let on is the juxtaposition of this bleak environment and its terrifying armies with a focus on classic Marvel heroes, all of whom have previously struggled with the concept of what it means to be a man versus what it means to be a machine, and where they fall in that spectrum. Hank Pym, meanwhile, is more so the tether that binds the story together.

There are some more frequently vocal members of the undead hordes, which lends the zombies some personality beyond shambling, starving husks. And the situation becomes even more so dire when Ultron proposes a plan that could unleash both armies on the rest of Battleworld. At four issues in length, Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies has nearly-perfect pacing. It incorporates daring science projects, golden age heroism, and a nicely varied but appropriately-contained cast. It has fun with its diverse roots, embracing its oddities and weaving an entertaining and well-rounded narrative.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Black Science, Volume Three: Vanishing Pattern

The final act in the first arc of Rick Remender’s Black Science continues to thrill with wildly inventive hodge-podge realities and a more pinpointed take on the established narrative style than was seen in the previous two volumes. As volume two concluded, we were made privy to the fact that Grant McKay was in fact alive, despite having been led to believe he had perished beneath the crushing weight of clockwork machinery. And smartly, this third volume makes an early objective of explaining just how the scientist, pioneer, and previously deadbeat dad cheated death. The explanation is brief, yet befitting the tale that has been woven through the previous installments, and simultaneously provides some concrete footing for the answers that are revealed before this third volume’s climactic finale.

If there is one theme that rings constant through volume three, dubbed Vanishing Pattern, it is a story of redemption – specifically, the redemption of Grant McKay in the eyes of his children and unlikely comrades. There are still misunderstandings among the exploration team, and selfish actions that lead to physical confrontations. But the emergence of a father who actually cares about his children and the chance to see them reach home safely is a rewarding payoff having understood Grant to have previously been a cheater, a liar, and a workaholic who was absent for the majority of his children’s formative years. It may not a complete hero’s journey, but it is refreshing to see him act the part of a decent human being, not only taking responsibility for his poor judgment in the past, but also taking the role of leader more seriously.

Meanwhile, Grant’s children appear to have a greater stake in the story as a result of their placing faith in their father. While Nate received a healthy amount of time in the spotlight during Black Science’s second volume, his elder sister Pia takes center stage for a couple of chapters in this third volume, standing up to a couple of key characters who would dare to try and tell her to sit back and let the adults make decisions on her behalf. While it is true that the cast has been thinned a decent amount since Black Science’s first chapter, the dynamics played off among the current band of misfits feels the most natural and manageable yet. Grant still does not trust Kadir, and Kadir may not be out to prove himself a hero to anyone, but it is that very uneasiness between the two most action-oriented males of the party that makes their relationship so perfect.

Vanishing Pattern sees the party visit but one lone world, whose situation is worse than ever. In this reality, the counterparts to Grant, Shawn, Rebecca, and the other cast members concocted some form of virus that spread across the planet – a planet where Roman Praetorians make use of jetpacks, wrist-bound flamethrowers, and other space-age tech in their quest to punish those who allied themselves with the scientists who damned their world. As is the case with nearly every encounter made across the various planes of reality the main cast has made, the initial run-in with these royal warriors turns violent quickly, and they slowly but surely begin to unravel the mysteries of what went so horribly wrong in this world, while simultaneously deducing the pattern of events that has led them to this place and time.

As random as the Pillar’s jumps appeared to have been, there is, in fact, a pattern that is revealed, as well as an intended vector. Volume three does not answer all of Black Science’s lingering questions, but it does clear up a few key mysteries prevalent during this first act. The art style is, once again, superb throughout, with terrifyingly gorgeous decayed cityscapes splashed across full pages, and the high-flying action of jetpack chases expressed with incredible intensity. The oranges and reds of blood and fire clash violently against the dull and darkened interior of this world’s facilities, wonderfully symbolic of the death and destruction that has been wrought upon this reality, as well as how starkly out of place the exploration team is as strangers in yet another strange land. The finale is, yet again, a cliffhanger – one that excels in shock and horror, yet feels a very appropriate tail-end to this more intensely-focused portion of Black Science’s grander narrative.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Divinity

Divinity is my first exposure in any capacity to Valiant comics, and while I typically don’t tread too far from Marvel and the occasional Image series, I found its premise of a Soviet cosmonaut returning after a thirty-year mission with godlike powers to be compelling enough to gamble on a purchase. It is clear from the outset that, while we as readers are being fed the background information regarding the Soviet Union’s role in the space race and their advanced engineering methods, narrator and main character Abram Adams no longer perceives these events in a set sequence as his fellow earthlings do. From the first page, Divinity provides a very strong showing of the defining traits of its pivotal character and his impressive powers, as he rescues a man from injury in the Australian outback, and transforms other individuals into their true selves, whether these new forms involve regaining their youth or becoming wild animals.

Abram Adams has the power to create and manipulate – as well as, presumably, destroy – in the blink of an eye, and the events between the beginning of his training for the bold 1960s journey to the stars and his sudden return to modern day Earth are sprinkled in at a gradual but appropriate pace. Even with fringe science designs for both the rocket and space suit, the wonder and terror of what lies unknown far beyond our own blue planet is weaves a compelling plot that is quite convincing within this fictional retelling of history. There are difficult choices to be made, even before the mission begins, and – for better or worse – the ramifications of these will stay with Abram for the rest of his days.

Where Divinity's quality falls short is through its insistence on shoehorning other Valiant heroes into what was otherwise a great standalone origin story. Perhaps if Abram had a brief encounter with one of the heroes, it would have served its purpose in assimilating him into Valiant’s preexisting comic book universe more smoothly. Instead, the entire second half of this graphic novel sees Abrams portrayal shift from main character to primary objective of X-O Manowar, Ninjak, and couple of other previously established heroes who act as anything but in their attempt to contain Abram after no obvious threat was posed from him. These characters invade the narrative in as harsh a manner possible, and from that point on, the story is about their first encounter with Abram, their perceptions of him as an inexplicable danger, which robs the second act of nearly all the aspects that made the previous half such an enjoyable read.

I understand that any comic label that is larger and has more budget to work with than the indie scene wants to bring all of their properties together and coexist within the same space of fiction. But an origin story needs to be just that – the origin of one important character or team. Divinity has a truly commendable first two chapters, but manages to get so steeped in the much during the latter half that it simply loses its fun factor. It’s true that the Marvel Now! properties did feature cameos by Tony Stark and Beta Ray Bill early on in their runs of Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova respectively, but these inclusions never warped the entire presentation or focus of their stories in the way that Divinity’s invasion of heroes does. Despite an open ending with the possibility for many more stories involving Abram and the people he impacted in the Australian outback, the conclusion of his story for this first trade paperback collection is, bluntly put, lazy and unsatisfying.

My rating: 6 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume Four: Original Sin

My review of Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume Four: Original Sin.  Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Illustrated by Ed McGuinness and Valerio Schiti.

My rating: 7 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Captain Marvel, Volume Two: Stay Fly

My review of Captain Marvel, Volume Two: Stay Fly. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Marcio Takara and David Lopez.

My rating: 7 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: Black Science, Volume Two: Welcome, Nowhere

My review of Black Science, Volume Two: Welcome, Nowhere. Written by Rick Remender, illustrated by Matteo Scalera.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)

Top 5 Party Members in the Mass Effect Trilogy

#5 - Legion: Though the Geth served as the primary enemy foot soldiers in the first Mass Effect, they were not of a terribly complicated nature. The Quarians crafted them many years ago, only to have things go horribly awry when the Geth declared themselves independent and war broke out between these mechanical creations and their organic creators. In Mass Effect 2, the hive-mind mentality of the Geth is expanded upon, and a ‘ghost in the machine’ emerges in the form of Legion, a Geth who has modeled his own form after Commander Shepard and would dare to question the behavior of his kin. Legion’s intellect borders that of his organic comrades, and Mass Effect 3 presents a particularly dangerous scenario where Shepard must side with either the Quarians or the Geth in the fight against the Reapers – though, provided his skills are sufficient, he can choose a third option that sees both sides unite in the effort to repel the Reapers’ onslaught of the galaxy.

#4 - Liara T’Soni: I did not get around to actually playing the Mass Effect trilogy until quite a few months after the third entry had been released, despite the series having been frequently recommended to me by friends. One significant benefit to this, I felt, was the ability to immediately jump into the next game, not having to wait years between releases like everyone else had. However, I was strikingly aware of the greater limitations the first title offered in gameplay, dialogue, and moral choices. I played as male Shepard my first time through the Mass Effect trilogy, and seeing as the first game only offered me two options for romantic partners, one of whom I left to die on Virmire on account of her being one of the least likeable characters in the franchise, I defaulted to Liara. Her nerdy, somewhat naïve nature was certainly preferable to the company of Ashley (or Kaidan, in the case of female Shepard), but I never felt like she came into her own until the second game, when she was pushed to a supporting cast member.

Where Liara did truly shine was during the events of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2, where she shows Shepard just how much of a no-holds-barred badass she’s become in the Commander's absence. She’s broken out of her shell and then some, following a trail of digital breadcrumbs, tracing as many of the Shadow Broker’s contacts as she knows exist, helping save Shepard’s life (yet again), before making a seemingly-impossible assault upon the Shadow Broker’s carefully-hidden headquarters. By the time Mass Effect 3 rolls around, Liara has taken over the role of the Shadow Broker, keeping close watch on the web of information and trafficking of resources to aid Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. She also returns as a party member, still one of the most adept Biotics in the series.

#3 - Jack: The other great Biotic in the Mass Effect series is Jack, with her tattoo-decorated body, shaved head, and take-no-prisoners mentality. After being enlisted to help Cerberus per their bringing the Normandy’s famous commander back to life, Shepard is tasked with a number of missions to recruit highly-valuable and equally skillful individuals from across the galaxy. Recruiting Jack is a job that reeks of danger quite some time before it actually goes sour, with the crew of the redesigned Normandy SR-2 visiting a prison facility where the guards seem to be as ruthless as the prisoners they keep locked up. Before Shepard and company can reach their intended target, the warden informs them that he will be adding Shepard to the list of inmates, believing the commander’s notoriety will land him a hefty payout.

A skirmish with the guards later, and Shepard’s team makes it to the holding cell where Jack is being kept on ice. Upon awakening, she immediately enters a destructive rage, blowing holes through walls, and using her Biotic powers to blow away anyone who tries to get in her way. The trail of wreckage she leaves is plenty easy to follow, though it only adds fuel to the already chaotic fire that has erupted within the prison complex. While she is thoroughly reluctant to join a team funded by Cerberus, she proves an invaluable ally in the fight against the Collectors, using her Biotic powers for both offensive and defensive strategies during the Suicide Mission at the end of Mass Effect 2, and then going on to train a new generation of Biotics during the events of Mass Effect 3. She’s foul-mouthed, doesn’t much care what anyone thinks of her, and would much prefer to play by her own rules, but when Shepard is in a tight spot, he/she can always count on Jack to take whatever the enemy is throwing their way and toss it back in their face three-fold.

#2 - Garrus Vakarian: Garrus is one of those rare characters that proves so likeable in nearly every situation he and Shepard find themselves in. Whether scouting the seedy underbelly of Omega for shady characters, treading deep into abandoned mining facilities, or helping repel an invasion of Reaper forces, Garrus proves a trustworthy friend through thick and thin. His intimate knowledge of C-Sec formalities and Turian battle strategies makes him an invaluable asset with a rifle in his hands, but his cool personality and genuine advice led him to be equally valuable for personal support. Garrus is not without his own shortcomings, treading into some dark territory during the second game, and lacking finesse when it comes to charming the ladies. But all of these elements propelled him to become one of the most enjoyable personalities in the Mass Effect trilogy, as well as one of the most memorable characters in recent video game history, and I kept him in my company about as often as the games would allow.

#1 - Tali’Zorah vas Normandy: When Tali first joins Shepard’s crew aboard the Normandy, she is excitable, practically shoving her way past crew members to analyze the ship’s internal engineering. And while her understanding of the galaxy may be somewhat naive at the outset of her pilgrimage, she is not exactly an impressionable youth. She always has a couple of tricks up her sleeve, thanks to her long history of technical expertise. She was an enjoyable sidekick for much of my playthrough of the original Mass Effect, but when I started up the second game, I realized how much she had matured during her time away from Shepard and company. Working with the crew of the Normandy, she had found her own voice, become more cunning, and offered her fellow Quarians a unique view of the galaxy beyond their Flotilla home fleet.

Tali’s role as tech expert led her to prove an invaluable support party member throughout all three games, and alongside Garrus, served as my go-to ally for the vast majority of the story. She embraced her particular skill set while others preferred the spectacle of explosive weaponry or Biotic powers, and always looked up Commander Shepard as ally, mentor, and friend, holding a great deal of respect for him/her. She also was not afraid to voice her opinion in the event that she did not agree with Shepard or any one of the other crew members, with each concern she raised being very much valid. That is not to say that Tali shied away from some free-spirited fun, as she was always down to boogie in one of the Citadel’s many clubs, cracks some crude humor on occasion, and delivers hilarious drunken ramblings during Shepard’s house party in The Citadel DLC. While easily one of the most enjoyable characters in the first title, Tali’Zorah truly bloomed into one of my favorite RPG companion characters of all time in the sequel games, and was, for me, a no-brainer pick as Commander Shepard’s love interest.

Comic Book review: Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett and Lanning: The Complete Collection

My review of Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett and Lanning: The Complete Collection. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, illustrated by Paul Pelletier, Brad Walker, Carlos Magno, and Wes Craig.

My rating: 9.75 (out of 10)

Comic Book review: The Thanos Imperative

My review of The Thanos Imperative. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, illustrated by Brad Walker and Miguel Sepulveda.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)

Top 5 Multiplayer Maps in Halo: Reach

While it may have been Bungie’s swan song to the Halo franchise, Halo: Reach also marked the culmination of all their efforts over the nine years they spent crafting conflict of the Human-Covenant War. Though the narrative of Reach may have opted to go back in time, acting as a precursor to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, the gameplay combined many of the best elements from the other games. Players were limited to one gun at a time, something that had not been a staple of the franchise for nine years, but the faster turnaround on reloads and mobility offered a satisfactory handling in the vein of Halo 2. Meanwhile, Halo 3’s equipment came into its own in the form of more well-balanced and practical loadouts that could be selected at the start of a multiplayer round (with some equipment options more heavily emphasized for certain gametypes). Playlists catered to a variety of fan-favorite game types, while also introducing a few new modes, encouraging community content via the incredibly user-friendly Forge World, and even added in a cleaner take on the Firefight mode first tested in Halo 3: ODST. Halo: Reach’s launch may have been marked by a somewhat smaller offering of multiplayer maps than fans were used to, but this was counteracted in part by the offerings of Forge World as well as the general polish on the maps that were readily available at launch. As was the case with the preceding Halo games, though, some of my personal favorite maps did not see the light of day until months later, when the DLC packs were released.

#5 – Boneyard: Among the multiplayer offerings in Halo: Reach were two new game types, Headhunter and Invasion. Invasion settled halfway between the Team Objective and Big Team Battle playlists, pitting teams of six or more against one another. While one team attempted to capture one of two points designated on the map at a time, the other defended in hopes that they could thwart the invaders’ three-stage assault. Boneyard was a massive map, with multiple structures that provided many high vantage points for the defending Spartans, while the invading team of Elites relied on their more varied loadouts and the long distance from one objective point to the other to try and breach the shipyard’s defenses. Boneyard was also a rare breed, in that, while it ranked among the largest Reach had to offer, the hollowed-out ship situated at the center, the warehouse off to the far side, and the large sections of cover that littered the dirt below encouraged strategic play. No vehicle, nor any particular weapon loadout, guaranteed a longstanding advantage over the competition, given the multiple routes players could use to push on through from one end to the other, and this proved similarly in the more pure and free-form Big Team Battles.

#4 – Anchor 9: While it was amusing to see how Bungie managed to work in most of the multiplayer maps that shipped with the retail release of Reach into the campaign missions in a genuinely cohesive manner, Some of the DLC maps were arguably a better illustration of Bungie’s creativity in design. Anchor 9 took a look inside the UNSC docking station orbiting Reach that was introduced in the mission Long Night of Solace. The map took advantage of the game’s previously-established low-gravity physics, offering a section that ran the far edge of the map for players to land heavy strikes on foes as they attempted quick pushes toward the other base. The more roundabout method of traversing the medium size map required players to duck behind crates and make use of Anchor 9’s power weapons. Defending bases, meanwhile, was a matter of one team making the most of their high ground, and the limited cover from short hallways, narrow staircases, and mounted turrets that came with said territory. While rounds of Capture the Flag on Anchor 9 formed somewhat predictable strategies on part of the attacking team, Slayer matches were anything but, and the kill count could suddenly shift with players capitalizing on the element of surprise.

#3 – Reflection: There are certainly a few patterns in my choices of favorite maps thus far, one of the most noteworthy being the return to my Halo 2 roots. Ivory Tower was a map that I had always enjoyed in its original Halo 2 incarnation, but one that never quite matched up to my previously detailed favorites. It’s almost wholly unchanged remake, Reflection, was a great pick for Bungie to include in Halo: Reach, as the equipment functions add an extra dynamic to the small-scale, multi-level map, improving the balance in the advantages opposing teams have. Reflection is at its best during Slayer matches, but variants for Infection and Headhunter run quite smooth as well. The map looks gorgeous to boot, with a gold glow setting in over nearly every reflective texture on the appropriately titled map.

#2 – Powerhouse: Despite its large, open and round center, most of Powerhouse’s kills were earned within the structures set off to the sides, as well as along the top ring of the water reservoir. Over-confident players might attempt to scope out player’s locations on the map by using the jetpack, but this typically resulted in their being swiftly shot down. Powerhouse’s semi-symmetrical design and medium size offered a great setting for SWAT, Team Slayer, and Rumble Pit matches, with the later two often resulting in kills from less traditional weapons. Lobbing grenades around corners and bouncing them off walls to finish off a foe who crouched in hiding just out of sight at the bottom of one of the staircases was always satisfying, while curiously enough the Needler proved one of the most prized weapons that players would scramble for at the start of a match.

#1 – Condemned: Unfortunately pushed to the wayside after the Anniversary playlist updates, Condemned was a map that I loved for all of the same reasons I enjoyed Halo 3's Orbital – coincidentally, they share a similar aesthetic, both falling into the territory of UNSC space stations. Condemned’s semi-symmetrical layout offered some emphasis on the stage’s more powerful weapons, but not as consistently as maps originating from a similar school of thought. The most frantic scuffles often took place in the low-gravity center, where the rockets spawned. The switch between normal gravity and the slower jumps of outer space played a more consistently impactful role here than they did on Anchor 9, as the low-gravity environment was situated at the center of the map. Every shot counted as much as every lunge across this middle portion did, setting an extra layer of tension over team-based matches, and demanding a greater degree of care in lining up headshots or making sure your weapon loadout could provide an advantage as you floated through the muffled space, sectioned off from the normal conditions of the outer ring.