Bound in Paper Quickie #3: Kick-Ass

 It really is kick ass.

 Writer: Mark Millar

 Artist: John Romita Jr.

 Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave, a Highschool nobody who dreams of becoming a Super Hero, but soon he'll find out that it's not all glory. Kick-Ass is a very interesting read, with engaging characters and a ingenious set-up. Be warned, however, that it's also very vulgar, with cussing thrown left and right among other not to nice thingies, to be fair however, it does feel like a highschool student is narrating.
 As for the art itself, it's simply fantastic. Drawn by John Romita Jr, of Spider-man fame, he has a very distinct style, it's very cartoony, but I like it. Plus, there's loads of little details, like the scar that Dace aquires on his first outing that follows him to the last page of the comic.
 I award it with 10 Hit-Girls out of 10.

Bound in Paper Quickie #2: Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe

 The tagline is a lie.

 Writer: Cullen Bunn

 Artist: Dalibor Talajic

 For starters, I've the Spanish version, and the tagline was translated to "The World's bloodiest magazine". Prior to reading this, I had read Kick-Ass in it's entirety, so I was quiet offended by the tagline, it's barely bloodier than your usual Marvel magazine.
 In this One-Shot, for some reason, Professor X decides to have a certain doctor treat Deadpool. Right here I take issue, I find it a bit out of character for Charles to do this. Next, said doctor turns out to be Psycho-man, who tries to make Deadpool his slave using his Control box, but it goes awry and causes Deadpool to "open his eyes". Honestly? The set-up is a bit dull, but the ending is better. What I found disappointing was how many of the killings are mere foot-notes or overly simplified. Sure, they didn't have enough time or pages to make him fight everyone, but Spiderman gets about 3-4 pages yet Iron-Man dies in an explosion, alongside the avengers. Luckily, the dialogue itself, specially what Deadpool gets to say, is pretty funny.
 As for the art, I'm not a fan. The art is very simple, at times it looks a bit on the ugly side, specially the faces. Also, some panels look funny and not in a nice way, poor Wolverine got the short end of the stick on the latter parts of the comic.
 I grant it 5 Deadpools out of 10.

Bound in Paper Quickie: Joker

 Bound in Paper Quickie: Joker

 Writter: Bryan Azzarello

 Artist: Lee Bermejo

 Joker is a one-shot centered upon the eponymous villain and Jonny Frost, an aspiring criminal that serves as the narrator. After Joker gets released from the Asylum, Jonny volunteers to pick him up, he soon becomes fascinated with the Joker and begins serving him faithfully as the Joker gets his territories back.

 The comic presents a more realistic portrayal of characters, this is probably the most human Croc has ever looked, and it has some very interesting redesigns, notably the Ledger inspired Joker. Interestingly, there are two different ink styles throught the comic, most of the time, it uses solid colors, but occasionally, mosly on close ups or important scenes, it uses a softer style, it's an interesting mix.

 As for the story, it's a very interesting read, witty dialogues and book ends. It provides a closer look to Joker's attitude and mentality via Jonny, our willing narrator. The more down-to-earth universe the comic takes place also makes for an interesting setting.

 I give it 9 Nightwings out of 10.

"First" Archimpressions: Way of the Samurau

 Oh... Umm, right. Blog, update I should, I guess?

 So, I used to like this game quite a bit. Getting reaquinted with it? Umm, it's good but slow and boring?
Yeah, sorry, new computer, busy playing games. And League of Legends. I'ma try to still update this thing. I hope.

Archview #46: Kengo: Master of Bushido

 'tis pretty decent, but not much more.

 There's no genre that completely adapts to what Kengo is, the closest you can get is, probably, a fighting game, but it's so much more than that. You have life bars, you have combos, you have an energy bar(Ki) and you even have a super move that requires said bar! However, it's far from it, I'd like to call it a "Sword Fighting Simulator", now stay with me, since while the fighting is a big focus of the game, it's not it's biggest.
 For starters, the first mode that's highlighted when you start the game is "Story Mode". Instead of being an arcade ladder of sorts, you are to choose from one of three different characters, and while their initial stats favor different actions, you eventually get to build them up however you like. After choosing a character, you choose an initial style, and then you are to take on the 7 different Sword fighting dojos. For each Dojo you have to use a wooden sword to defeat 10 opponents in a row, with little healing in between and then challenge their master, who you may kill(And earn the ire of his students, having to face them in combat with real swords) or make them surrender and earn their swords. Eventually you are to go into official tournaments and finally earn the mastership of your Dojo.

 Fighting students also reward you, sometimes, with moves from their style. You can use these moves to customize up to four different three hit combos, which you can alternate by hitting the four shoulder buttons. In Story mode you also raise your stats by defeating opponents, up to a certain maximum. Said maximum can actually be increased by performing various minigames. These get old and boring after a while, and you will need to increase your stats if you plan on tackling the harder fights.
 As for the gameplay itself, you have a attack button, pressing it alone executes your three-hit combo, while combining it with directions produce different single slashes. There's also a block/dodge button, a parry button and the triangle that executes your special move, after a very long wind up. There's also a Ki bar, it raises when you shout from afar, successfully hit your oponent or dodge his slashes, and it decreases by blocking or missing. If your Ki decreases to the minimum, you'll get slower and deal less damage. The most interesting feature of the game, is that you fight with either wooden swords or real swords, fighting with real swords can actually produce wounds that make the opponent bleed to his death!.

 The presentation is very minimalist and ugly. The character models look really bad and haven't aged all that well, and some animations look weird. Heck, characters don't even move their mouths when they talk. On the flip side, characters actually get bloodied up when they recieve damage. The enviroments are very simple, some walls actually look textureless, but they are interesting, to say the least. There's barely any music in the game, altough the ending theme is pretty neat. To be fair, the lack of music actually lends itself to the game, so in a way, it's a plus. The sound effects are actually very satisfying, so there's that.
 Besides Story Mode, you have Tournament(Survival) and VS. You can unlock a dozen or so characters by playing Story Mode, and they do have different movesets and stats, you can also import your Story Mode character if you feel like overpowering your opposition.
 Is Kengo a hidden gem? Nope, not at all, but if you are looking for a very japanese swordplay game, you can do no wrong with Kengo, specially if you want more after playing the superior, in my opinion, Bushido Blade.
 5 out of 10

"First" Archimpressions: Kengo: Master of Bushido

 These are some ugly Samurai.

 So I didn't even read the manual, nor anything and rushed towards tournament mode, so that I could give my very first impressions. Well, "First", since I have played it before. For starters, this was an early PS2 game and it shows, characters are SO ugly, animation is pretty smooth thankfully.
 As for the gameplay? I kinda like-ish? There's a guard and an attack button, also an special attack but it takes ages to go off. L1 and R1 seem to change the posture? I will find out later. My only gripe is with the movement, once you close in, the analog stick behaves oddly.... I will have to play more and discover the why and hows I guess.
So first impressions? It's... decent? Feels a bit clunky, but it's serviceable. Now I'ma read the instruction booklet and play a bit more, cheers.

Archview #45: Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition

 Can I have the port of Real Bout 3 for PS1 please? You can keep this one in Japan.

 Lo and behold, one of SNK's earlier 3D fighters! The victim to the 3D treatment this time is Fatal Fury, and while it's not great, it could've been much, much worse.
 The game retains the Punch, Kick, Strong and Evade buttons from the 2D installments, however, the evade button instead of throwing you to the back plane, produces a side step of sorts, more like a roll really. The game has 2D roots so, naturally, it has an energy gauge that allows for special attacks. At the beginning of each match, the gauge starts at 50%, taking damage reduces it and dealing it increases it, however, the gauge will always try to stay at 50%, which means that if it falls below, it will raise slowly, and if it's above, it will decrease slowly, untill you max it out that is. Reaching 0% leaves you dizzy, while having it at "MAX" allows for Super and Overdrive moves. Overdrive moves consume much more gauge, but in turn deal massive damage. By using a bit of gauge, you can also use a counterattack, executed while blocking, and a "Fierce" attack that leaves the opponent dizzy.

 As for modes, there's only: Arcade, VS, Team Battle and Training, not a whole lot to do. For what it's worth, there's a couple of cutscenes during Arcade Mode, reminicent of the original Fatal Fury, plus, each character has an ending... that lasts 5-10 seconds and makes absolutely no sense, most of them anyways. As for the roster, there are 12 default characters and two unlockable ones, of these 14, 2 are new comers to the Fatal Fury Universe(3 if you include Mr.Karate(Ryo)). It's a bit disappointing, since Fatal Fury has a nice cast of characters that skipped this installment, where the hell is Blue Mary or Cheng?
 The game looks very decent, stages are the usual, for the PS1, endless 3D stages with 2D backdrops, at least they look quite nice, albeit a bit boring. Characters look really good, if a bit simple, but some animations feel a bit awkward. Then there's the official art for the game that actuall looks quite cool and unique, specially the loading screens. The music is very dull, and sound effects lack oomph, to top it off, voice samples are really low quality. All in all, the game itself feels as if it lacks... something.

 All in all, it's not a terrible game, and on the flipside, considering other 3D fighters from SNK and the 90s, the game could've been much, much worse.
 5 outta 10.