Pokemon X and Y

Pokemon X and Y

Pokemon X and Y are the first versions released for the 3DS. They are a huge improvement over Black/White and their second installments. The gameplay is engaging and pays homage to the first installments red/blue. The 3D technology is great but as was the downside when the 3DS first came out, it affects your eyes after about ten minutes or so. Best played with the 3D off. The two new features that make the game really worth it is the addition of EXP Share after the first gym and the addition of the Wonder Trade system. Both help you advance easily through the game. Now we just need to wait for the Pokebank to transfer all those hard earned Pokemon from Black/White/2 despite the terrible gameplay those games provided.

Two for one

First up for this post is Captain America Man Out of Time. This was a short 5 comic series giving a variation on how Cap became a member of the Avengers. Personally, I don't read too much Captain American unless it is an Avengers story so the first few books were a little uninteresting for me. It really picked up when Cap was sent back in time by Kang and wrote a letter pulling a literal page from the lake house. Reed Richards ends up getting the letter in present day and travels back in time to get Cap who rallies the troops to defeat Kang. The one criticism I have is that I am not a fan of the story line where Nick Fury and SHIELD are from 1942 and the Avengers where formed by Tony Stark as a separate entity in the present day.

The second part of this post is Screwball by David Ferrell. I read this book surprisingly quick, only a few hours. It is far different from any other book I have ever read (a bold statement). Unless you like baseball, especially the Boston Red Sox then this is not a book you will easily get through. I have read books where there are lulls in the action that slow the pace of the book to a crawl, and this book does that but by describing baseball scenes which kept me interested but might not hold a candle to others attentions. Even thought the murderer is alluded to in the first chapter the author does a decent job posing plausible alternatives, one of which changed my guess prior to the ending. 

This book relies heavily on its character development using the crimes to string them along. The setting is not important as it is never described in length no matter where the characters are. The author also throws details and revelations about the crimes at the reader completely out of left field (pun intended). It is a unique approach and probably would not work with too many other books. 

Although I enjoyed this book enough to read it in one sitting, I don't think I would add this to a list of books to re-read and I would only recommend it to fellow Red Sox fans or mystery fans who think they can get through the baseball scenes.

Batman: Cacophany and Widening Gyre - The Kevin Smith and Walt Flanagan Collection

This was my first foray into the comic works of Kevin Smith and it did not disappoint. I love the movies he has directed (Clerks, Clerks 2, Chasing Amy, Red State) but these comics are a 180 in tone from those movies. For those who follow Kevin Smith, he is one of the biggest batfans ever and it shows with the depth he brings to the characters. Not many people can carry dialogue between the Joker and Batman when the Joker is medically sane. The ending to Widening Gyre is frustratingly good and I cannot wait for the third and final installment to see the conclusion. 

Call of Duty Ghosts

For the first review of the Review Board, we take a look at Call of Duty: Ghosts. The latest chapter in the on-going, high grossing, top of the line FPS videogame franchise has some great improvements to the gameplay. Yet to be experience on next gen console, the 360 version was a stellar play. Multiplayer gave an added dimension with new map layouts and a revamped gun class making it impossible to play in the same playstyle of MW3 or black ops 2. The maps no longer have a three lane layout system which adds a new unpredictability aspect to each game (although there are those areas that unexperienced players flock to and you can gain easy kills).
Following suit with Treyarchs Zombies mode, one of the best modes ever in a videogame franchise, Infinity Ward introduces Extinction. An alien based play off zombies, it is a fun mode to play with three other friends as you fight off hordes of alien creature, one called a scorpion that shoots toxic ooze at you to slow you down, while trying to destroy their hives and escape the city in dramatic fashion. Overall it is a fun new addition to the franchise and I cannot wait to see what the DLC brings.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Review Board,

This is a blog where everything will be reviewed from books to movies to videogames. Every now and again there will be a classics post where I will be posting a review of a book or movie or videogame that I have experience in the past and either recalled that experience or went back for a revisit. More to come, enjoy.