Arrow: Sharp and on point

Apparently I've not written about Arrow on here yet. Which I find amazing because it's probably the best moving picture* content DC is putting out right now. Over the last two years Arrow has become one of the my favourite programmes currently running. So I'm gonna spew random thoughts on the series to date, so I can look more closely in the future.

Ever since Kevin Smith rebooted him, and more explicitly Brad Meltzer did a run straight after, Green Arrow has been a one of the DC heroes I really enjoy. I've always liked the characters that have no powers, but hang with the big names. Batman sort of exemplifies that, but he's The God Damn Batman. He almost doesn't count. But Oliver Queen most certainly does**. Partly because of his social politics, and that they moved him so far away from just a Batman clone who uses a bow and arrow. So it's a little odd then that I love a show that puts him right back under the shadow of the Bat.

For The Greater Good, Spooks was rather bloody brilliant

As I said on Saturday, after three years I finally finished watching Spooks. Which I feel took me far too long for silly OCD collecting reasons (it involves the sizes of DVD cases). Ignoring that, Spooks might just be one of the best espionage programmes that has ever existed. At the very least, it was topped off by an absolute genius final season.

I'll admit I was kind of worried it wasn't going to be. While the first only had six episodes, proceeding series quickly jumped to ten. After five of them, it slipped back to eight because of ratings, and the final series was back down to six. I remember thinking at the time series 10 was announced as the final – I was probably into second or third season at that point – that less episodes and the lead female spy being swapped between seasons sounded like it was being given a slow death, despite all the claims it “was going out on top.” It would be a sad death for a show that had been amazing.

It's Been A Long Time

Wow it's been a long time since I wrote anything here. Sorry about that. Life's been pretty busy and the blog slipped through the cracks. Mainly because at the end of January I moved back to Dundee. Which is awesome. And my renewed social life is one of the factors.

Unfortunately, my mostly hermit lifestyle in Scunthorpe resulted in my return to hanging out with people giving me one all mighty cold that knocked me on my arse for most of a week. There's also the flat has needed a fair bit of DIY and various other things have needed sorting now I live here. The little time I have found for writing has gone on stories or a part time gig I've got. Also, it's pretty great having easy access to a comic shop again.

Apart from the Hawkeye - which I never stopped picking up and is still immensely brilliant - I'm also getting the new X-Factor because PAD. Black Widow as the art is gorgeous and Nathan Edmondson knows how to do super-spies, but I've only managed to get the first issue so far because I arrived too late and having to pick up second printings. Also New Warriors for more standard superheroics, and it basically being a continuation of Scarlet Spider. As I get into more of them I'll probably have a post about them individually.

TV wise, especially during my cold, has carried on as normal, except I finally finished Spooks. But that definitely gets it's own post. I started King & Maxwell, a series cancelled after ten episodes. But so was Firefly and that was amazing, and I love David Baldacci's King & Maxwell series so I at least needed to try. So far, after the first episode, I can see why it was cancelled. And that one was an adaptation of The Sixth Man, which was great.

Gameswise I've been mostly grabbing the odd half hour in Forza Horizon, which is a fantastic racing game and makes up for Need For Speed: Most Wanted. The one time I have sat down properly with a game was Resonance, a Wadjet Eye published point and click which was bloody genius. While a slow start I hit the halfway point and couldn't stop playing. Easily one of the best point and clicks I've ever played. I feel a bit guilty that has sat in my Steam library for so long untouched.

I also have various plans in the fire for new projects, or returns to old ones. But more news as and when they happen.

Strategy Informer: Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD review

There's not a lot I can say about Assassin's Creed: Liberation here that I didn't say in the review, other than reiterate I am no ready to play Black Flag as soon as possible. Which will make more sense when you go read the review.

Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD review

Agents of SHIELD and Disney's fear of big heroes

We're now into the back half of the first season of Agents of SHIELD, and everyone is still complaining that the show just isn't matching up to expectations or the movies that gave the series a chance to exist. The cast and crew are going all over the place for interviews to assure fans and viewers that they've listened, and that they have plans to address a lot of the worries. Though part of the problem is the producers are seeing "It doesn't live up to the movies" as that the audience expects movie style special effects or Captain America to join Coulson's team. That's not the problem at all. Just go look at Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. They're gripping drama on TV. Meanwhile Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. feels like a program that is stuck to the old approach to television.

I'll give the producers some credit. The mythology is starting to firm up a lot more now. Remember that first throwaway episode where Skye goes undercover with an arms dealer to rescue a scientist. That seemed to have no connection to ongoing plot, didn't it? Well now that arms dealer has been tied to the season's big bad, and that mad scientist is obviously going to return. Not to mention the episode with the exploding eyes also tying to Centipede. Though I still say you could make Centipede just a division of A.I.M. and not lose a single thing. In fact you'd be making the villainous organisation of Iron Man 3 look that little more badass and all encompassing. But that's not the problem I feel Agents of SHIELD really has. The main problem is that the producers are scared of wasting Marvel's catalogue.

How BeefJack changed my gaming

FTL was my last article for BeefJack as an regular writer. No doubt the odd article will still appear there. I already had a conversation with an editor about pitch or two. But as a regular contributor I'm done. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and would like to thank those I worked alongside, and I've made some pretty good friends along the way. As well as really improve my writing style, my time at BeefJack has also effected the way I appreciate games.

I've already covered how I switched from Console back to PC. I honestly thought I was straddling the fence, because writing about games means playing everything, but as the new generation launched, I look at what's available, and what's coming up and there's barely anything that really gets me excited on either platform. My inner Halo Fan-boy seems to have died, and my reaction to Xbox One was pretty much “:( now I'll miss out on Halo 5.”

Spider-Man: Does What Ever a Parker Can!

If you ask my friends who my favourite superhero is, I think you'd get a lot of different answers. Nightwing was prominent for a long time. One has told me his theory of Cyclops or Captain America because of my whole 'leadership' thing. However, there's one, and only one, who I consider to be my ultimate Superhero. He has been my favourite for as long as I can remember. His was the first comic I ever bought, as well as the first American comic I bought. If I got offered super powers tomorrow, I'd pick his without a seconds thought. It is, of course, Spider-Man.

Pizza and Camping

Since I'm in the middle of a review and don't have time for a blog, I figured I'd share a quick short story I wrote. This one was done for writing class with “story dice”. Three dice have various objects on them and you have to write a story about whatever comes up for you. Two of mine were pizza and camping. The third sealed the rest of the story...

Nobody was quite sure why Sullivan had brought pizzas on a camping trip. Actually, nobody was quite sure who had invited him along in the first place. He was considered to be a bit of an odd sort by most of his classmates. Which is putting it politely.

Either way, everyone figured they'd at least get a decent laugh when he insisted on cooking them on the campfire. A small crowd appeared to watch the spectacle, and join in the subsequent laughing.

Assassin's Creed - The problem with Desmond

As I prepare myself to once again dive into the Animus, I'm reminded of all the problems I've had with this series. Assassin's Creed is probably the one game I can find a different subject every day of the week to rant about. Mainly because I loved the series so much, and Ubisoft just screwed it right up. So today it's Desmond's turn.

I actually started out as a fan of Desmond. I loved the puzzle aspect and sneaking around the Abstergo office in AC1. But then I'm an adventure gamer at heart, and I love a good conspiracy. Huge spoilers from this point forward.

Game of the Year 2013

I seem to have lost a week there. Sorry about that. Things may be changing a bit here, and I lost sight of the blog in the middle of all that.

So before it get way past too late, My game of 2013. Now those who paid attention will have noticed that there was one big game of last year I failed to mention in my run up, so the winner is obvious. Grand Theft Auto 5.

Game of the Year contenders 2013

As is always the case we hit the end of a year and people start proclaiming what was the best those twelve months had to offer. When I started this post I was in a bit of pickle, I was convinced I'd not played that many games this year. The latter half of the year I've not touched that many of this years' releases from a personal standpoint and most of my recent purchases has gone on the great games from the last few years that I missed. I'm got Dishonored for Christmas, which says a lot.

BeefJack: FTL: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

My interview with with Subset Games, the developers of FTL: Advanced edition, as well as guest writer Chris Avellone, is now up at BeefJack. I bloody loved FTL and can't wait for this free expansion.

I'm sort of surprised at the title. Originally the Editor had Faster, Better, Harder, Stronger. An obvious play on the Daft Punk song with the F going first for FTL, which I promptly ribbed him about getting it wrong because I'm like that and suggested Faster, Tougher, Longer. But this was all in the run up to Christmas so obviously things got lost/forgotten.

Also right in the middle of writing they announced The Lanius, a new robotic alien life form, which caused a bit of a rewrite the exorcision of them "No Comment"ing my speculation that more was coming.

FTL: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Time of the Doctor: Goodbye Matt Smith

The Clock has struck Twelve. Matt Smith has handed in his bowtie and sonic screwdriver. Peter Capaldi is now in the driving seat of the TARDIS. Unfortunately, the handover episode, Time of the Doctor was not all that great. After the epic that was Day of the Doctor, this was a bit of a let down.

After the extremely successful, and awesome to watch, 50th Anniversary, this always had a lot to live up to, made even harder for being at Christmas, where it's not just new fans that are watching but all their sozzled and stuffed relatives. But I thinking Time may have been a bit too dense and over reaching for its own good.

Doctor Who is 50: The Return

Because it's Christmas, and I don't have anything actually ready, I'm going back to the well of the Doctor Who 50th marathon I did. Below you'll find the original Matt Smith entry I wrote, on the The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon and The Wedding of River Song. It got dropped early on because after watching Asylum of the Daleks and Name of the Doctor I just had to go with them because Matt Smith is outstanding there. Oh, and Clara. So I apologise as it is a little rough.

Besides, lets not pretend that the end of the week's entry isn't going to my thoughts on Matt Smith's swansong.

Broken Sword 5: The Double Fine Curse

I backed it. Of course I backed it. After Monkey Island, Broken Sword is my most favourite point and click series. I was probably more excited that Charles Cecil had set the Kickstarter for The Serpent's Curse going than I was with Double Fine Adventure (Which was a more a 'holy fuck' than 'YES YES YES!').

I'm no idiot though. I understand that Tim Schafer's success is what spurred other creators of long out of fashion game mechanics to head to crowd funding and Cecil is certainly one of them. Yet despite the timing, we have Broken Sword before we have Broken Age. Unfortunately, Cecil and Revolution took one more lesson from Schafer that I really wish they hadn't.

Karl Urban is Almost Human

Near-future Sci-fi, cops and robots. It's one of those concepts that's just about a perfect fit for me. Throw in Karl Urban as the main protagonist and J. J. Abram's latest TV series definitely seems like we're onto a winner.

It's no secret I hold Fringe in very high regard. I bloody loved that show. So if some of the people from that had a new idea I was always going to be on-board. The fact the premise is so suited to my interests is an extra bonus.

Strategy Informer: Contrast Review

Sorry it's been a while since I updated here. Lot of videogame work recently, the first of which I can share with you now with a review of Contrast at Strategy Informer. Mostly known for being a free game on PSN for PlayStation 4 users, I played it on PC because I've yet to jump into next-gen consoles. Mainly because there isn't a single game that has convinced I should yet. Anyway, Contrast is pretty fun, if short.

Contrast Review

Doctor Who turns 50: The After Party

Not that terrible BBC 3 show they did. That was a bloody shambles. This is my look back at my own celebration.

Now I've watched one serial for every Doctor, and every meet-up of multiple Doctors. I was a bit of a fan before this started. Nothing too drastic. Genesis of the Daleks was something I watched because a friend owned it. Now, I think I'm full blown Whovian.

Looking to Asgard for more help: Second look at Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Since Agents of SHIELD tied into Thor: The Dark World last week it felt like the perfect time to go back and have a look how the small screen part of Marvel's Cinematic Universe is going on. However, since the Thor tie-in was not so much a Thor tie-in but a passing mention to London and then onto Asgardian stuff totally unrelated to The Dark World, plus I was in the depths of Doctor Who last week, I put it off for one more episode.

Now I clearly liked the pilot, but after that things went a little south. Then we got F.Z.Z.T. which was just amazing. Fitz contracting an alien disease was easily the best episode S.H.I.E.L.D. had ever produced, and no matter how long it runs for will always be up there. It was just good tele. It hadn't popped up out of nowhere either , as the two previous episodes had shown a bit of an improvement. But what about what followed?

Doctor Who turns 50: The Day of the Doctor

Well that was just Fantastic!

I'll admit that as we watched the Battle of Gallifrey become just another – admittedly epic looking – sci-fi battle I started to worry. That isn't what Doctor Who is. Then John Hurt was in a desert, talking to Bad Wolf Rose, being given the choice to destroy his people and the Daleks or not, and the only way to make that decision was to meet his future selves. Finally we were on the right track.

The Man Who Regrets and The Man Who Forgets. A brilliant way of describing Tennant and Smith's Doctors. But it didn't stop there. Hurt's old man Doctor just kept picking apart the differences between Old and New Whos. Calling them companions due to their age, wondering why they wave their screwdrivers at everything. The banter between the three was fantastic, especially between Smith and Tennant which immediately brought to mind the same repartee that Pertwee and Troughton had, which is the perfect Doctor relationship to model it after. Both Doctors were on the top of their game.