A Round of Beta impressions (Doom, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst,Paragon, Battleborn and Overwatch)

In the past two weeks I put a lot of hours into five game’s Beta testings, which gave me a lot of perspective on which one I would like to continue playing, which one to wait on it and which one to avoid, here are my impression of each one of these games :

Battleborn

Battleborn is developed by Gearbox the creators of one of my all time favorite franchises Borderlands while I wish Battleborn never exited and we got a Borderlands 3 game instead I was still interested in this game, generally the game is a hero shooter with single player campaign and a quirky and funny story with a bunch of multiplayer, as someone who doesn’t play much competitive PvP I am not going to be so into the competitive side of this game but the campaign is interesting the bosses has some kind of Raid Boss feel to them the graphics are weird and genuinely not pretty to be honest which is a shame, the gameplay is very fun mixture of Shooter and Melee characters with strange and interesting abilities.
After Beta Test I decided to : Wait on it, I liked the game but I think it needs some time to mature with Updates and Added content.

Doom

Who didn’t grow up playing Doom? well, I guess everyone who wasn’t born in the 80s and didn’t grow up playing mid 90s games, ehm anyway Doom is a Reboot thingy of the classic shooter by id Software it is coming to PC, XBOX ONE and PS4 this month the multiplayer Beta was one and I got to try it, I have to say the Beta was very poorly received by the PC community which makes me believe that this game might be pretty good since PC gamers are all crazy. the gameplay is really fast Unreal-Quake style multiplayer with some interesting weapons and transferring to demon mechanics, the graphics is nice and sharp and runs pretty well on the PS4.
Having said that I think I will just Wait on this one too, if I buy this I am buying it for the single player and until I have some idea how good that is I can’t make up my mind on the multiplayer alone since that is never my main attraction to a game.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst 

Mirror’s Edge is one of those games that will never get done right because of two very basic thing Gameplay and Developer, first of all the gameplay is in first person which basically means you need to walk across walls in first person view then jump to a ledge and then jump to another ledge it is so frustrating you fall all the time, even at the start of the game it tells you some players experienced motion sickness from this game shouldn’t that be a hint? second the developer, DICE is great at making huge maps with hundreds of players shooting each other on it but they suck at making single player games why not hand this game to another one of EA’s studios? any other could have made a better game and I am sure they would have gone with the third person view if they did.
With all said after trying the Beta I am avoiding this game, I might change my mind somewhere down the line if the game was very positively received.

Overwatch

The first new IP from Blizzard since StarCraft, this is huge everyone is talking about and I gotta admit I see the appeal the game is really fun, it is fast and it is simple and great. what it is a multiplayer hero shooter with a fun cast of characters and cool abilities, the game is all the rage right now and if you have the chance to try it I highly suggest that you do just to see what it is about, I might not be the best FPS player but I could be the worst and it is rare to see myself actually contributing to the team and I was doing that with Overwatch so the game has me interested.
After playing the Beta I am buying the game, it is fun and I don’t mind a match or two every night, I don’t know how long I am gonna play it and it might not be long since I don’t do PvP a lot and this game is just PvP but yeah put me down for Overwatch.

Paragon

I am a very Low-key MOBA player, I play LoL, Dota 2 and Heroes of the Storm but all of them very quietly and low key I don’t chat or make friends and I do what I can to help the team to victory, Paragon is the pretties looking MOBA and don’t get it wrong it is not a shooter the mechanics is MOBA like you need to upgrade ur skills and stats and hold lanes and all of that, the game is going to be free to play and I think they do have some work to be done especially with the upgrade system.
With all said, I am excited to play Paragon since it is a free to play game I might even play it regularly, but I will take the same approach as I did with every other MOBA because I am scared to talk to those people.

Captain America : Civil War (Review)

Captain America : Civil War is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo stating Chris Evans and Robert Downy Jr. and an impressive number of amazing recurring and new Marvel heroes and villains, it is the 13th movie in the ever so impressive Marvel Cinematic Universe film series, the film is the first entry into the Marvel’s Phase 3 movies and it introduces two new heroes and a new villain as well.

The plot is influenced by the comic book arc under the same name but it is not a direct adaptation, in this movie the government wants register The Avengers under a law that basically makes them employees and not superheroes who do the right thing, Ironman driven by his guilt after the events of Age of Ultron decides to sign the agreement but Captain America doesn’t which leads to a conflict between the two especially later on when Cap’s best friend needs protection the conflict rises to a war between Captain America and Ironman and their teams. the story is really impressive it shows a different side of both characters especially Ironman you could see him in pain and you understand why he is doing what he is doing and you also understand how Zemo is manipulating them all, that paired with the Russo’s amazing direction and you have one of the best action movies and perhaps Marvel’s best movie to date.

Lets talk about the new comers real quick, Black Panther and Spider-man both appear in this movie. Black Panther portrayed by Chadwick Boseman is exceptional his performance is so good, everything from the suit and the accent and the wisdom of T’Challa is all present here and I am just so blown away by Marvel’s ability to cast the perfect actors for these roles, and then there is Spider-man followed by the last three awful movies (Spider-man 3, The Amazing Spider-man, The Amazing Spider-man 2) Sony perhaps made the best choice in their history by giving Marvel creative control over the web slinger he is in this movie for one fight scene and Oh my god he steals the show he is amazing, he is funny and naive and Tom Holland’s scene with Robert Downy Jr. in his bed room was so good I just can’t say it enough we have an AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Some reviewers I noticed were kinda disappointed with Baron Zemo’s portrayal in this movie but I disagree it is a starting point for the character, this is like his origin story he is a man in pain and he is coming back for more.

Robert Downy Jr’s performance was the best in the movie, in the other MCU entries he took the light hearted role by cracking jokes and being funny throughout the worst scenarios but in Civil War he was serious and he was in pain because he was trying to do the right thing and you could see that right in his face, Chris Evans was also pretty good as Cap same goes for Bettany’s Vision and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man who is becoming a fan favorite.

Verdict : Civil War is a turning point for the MCU, with new comers and turning point for the veterans The MCU right now is a perfect stage for Phase 3’s events to unfold we are heading toward four great years of Marvel greatness and the stepping stone is a perfect one.

Which one of the supporting Marvel Heroes should get their own solo movie

This Friday marks the official beginning of Phase 3 of the Marvel’s Cinematic universe or the MCU as they call it with it Marvel is adding a number of new heroes and villains to the already massive roaster, most notably Black Panther and Spider-man are joining with Civil War and later this year we will get the first taste of the sorcerer supreme Doctor Strange, but not all the big heroes are getting their own solo movie and some people have taken issue with that especially in case of Natasha Romanoff Aka Black Widow thinking that a stand alone solo movie for the character is a good idea and they should be doing it by now, here I will present a case why that might not be the case for every character, so the following is a list of supporting heroes of the MCU with my thoughts on why they should or shouldn’t get their own solo movie :

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

Played by Scarlett Johansson she appeared on Ironman 2 and has been one of the most iconic MCU characters who appeared in four movies with Civil War making it her fifth appearance, she is a super spy with a dark past who works for S.H.E.I.L.D., she became a controversial character for not getting her stand alone movie because she was at that time the only female Marvel hero in the mix.
Do I think she should get her own movie : No, right now the scale of the MCU is a lot larger than a super spy story it is not longer grounded and her lack of super powers will not make her a candidate for a stand alone movie.

Bruce Banner/Hulk

In the first Avengers movie Hulk stole the show, while he did get a stand alone movie in Phase one but the role has since been recast and the character has grown and changed hence why I am mentioning him here now, originally was played by Edward Norton but later Mark Ruffalo was recast as Banner and made the role a lot more successful, he appeared in both Avengers movie and he is expected to star in the upcoming Thor Ragnarok movie coming in 2017.
Should he get his solo movie : let me answer that by one title “Planet Hulk”, Planet Hulk is perhaps one of the best and most iconic Hulk storylines and it is amazing, but it also presents an issue in case you haven’t read the comic most of the story is about Hulk and aliens there is no Bruce in it so it will be an all animations movie like Avatar, pulling that off will be rough on the studio but I would love to see it in Phase 4, so the answer is Yes.

Hawkeye

The Bow and Arrow sniper agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. is one of my favorites in the comics especially the 2012 run, played by Jeremy Renner he appeared in as a cameo in Thor then in both Avengers movie with an upcoming role in Civil War.
Should he get his own movie : No, same reason why black widow shouldn’t.

The Vision

First introduced in Age of Ultron and the movie plays as an origin story to him mostly, played by Paul Bettany who was the voice of JARVIS before The Vision stole the show in the 2nd movie making it easily one of the best new characters and the most exciting ones, he is set to appear in Civil War.
Should he get his own movie : No, at least not now I think he needs more depth for now and maybe couple of more appearances will change my mind about him but for ow he should stick to being a supporting role.

Falcon

First appeared in Captain America : The Winter Soldier, made a cameo in Age of Ultron and set to appear in Civil War falcon is Steve Roger’s friend and he is played by Anthony Mackie.
Should he get his own movie : No, he is great but his role should remain as supporting for the same reason I thought Black Widow and Hawkeye shouldn’t get their own movies.

Scarlet Witch

Appeared first in Age of Ultron and played by Elizabeth Olson she was a bad girl turned good girl by the end of the movie she joins the new Avengers, she is set to be in the new Civil War movie.
Should She get her own movie : Yes, she is the most powerful avenger with some really cool powers and she can discover them in her own movie, I think she might have a standalone movie in Phase 4 with Vision as a supporting hero.

So there you have it, obviously I didn’t mention any of the Guardians because they are only good together even though a Rocket and Groot standalone movie will be awesome, Phase 3 will take four years to conclude by that time we will have a clear idea who will be the main players of Phase four with the likes of Ironman and Captain America might be leaving the party by that time.