Comic Flicks of 2016: Captain America: Civil War

So back again, non-sports fans and here we are for Day 3 of Comic Films of 2016. With a substantial $250 million to cover practical effects, training, martial arts, FX explosions, CGI and the odds and ends, you figure this film better take off or that was a huge waste of funds. Coming in after the wake of Age of Ultron and the destruction of the country Sokovia, Earth's Mightiest Heroes soldier on and do their level best to be the men and women the planet need to put down any known or unknown threat to the world but does the world agree? With a brainwashed Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan of Red Doors, The Covenant, Hot Tub Time Machine, Black Swan, Captain America: The First Avenger, Gone, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Ant-Man) still on the loose, Cap's attention is divided from the gig of saving lives and re-patching old friendships. This is Captain America: Civil War.

Seriously?  This is Poster one!?! How many more!?!

While the initial concept hails from the Marvel multiple title crossover in 2006, this Civil War having less players on the field has left audiences divided for Team Cap or Team Stark. Guess Twilight was easier to pick sides. Oh yes, I just did that. A quick flashback to Bucky's forced Hydra days that in 1991, he was to off the subjects and acquire the prize of a galvanized briefcase full of the super-soldier serum. Whether it followed Dr. Erskine's original formula or if it was reverse engineered from Rogers' blood...hell I don't know. Watch the flick for details like that.

One year after the very brief Age of Ultron, a team of Avengers in plain clothes led by Cap (Chris Evans of Not Another Teen Movie, The Perfect Score, Fantastic Four, The Losers, Scott Pilgrim vs.the World, The Avengers, The Iceman, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron) are in Lagos, Portugal tailing potential threats with a bio weapon of which of former SHIELD and Hydra agents. Assigned this is Falcon (Anthony Mackie of 8 Mile, The Manchurian Candidate, She Hate Me, Million Dollar Baby, Eagle Eye, The Hurt Locker, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson of North, The Horse Whisperer, Lost in Translation, The Island, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Lucy and Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson of The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley: The Case of the U.S. Space Camp Mission, Silent House, Red Lights, Liberal Arts, Kill Your Darlings, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Drunk History).

Copywrit and all that jazz

So two talented normals, a super-soldier and a mutant (Yeah Marvel, I said Mutant so SUCK IT!) seems like a real lackluster support staff for what could end up a serious fire fight. Was Vision off learning how to make proper scones? War Machine or Iron Man off on a booty call? Hey howzabout Thor for cryin' out loud!?! So the crisis is more or less averted except Witch's hex power accidentally forced an explosive blast at a nearby building killed humanitarian aid workers hailing from Wakanda (A fictional nation in East Africa, North of Tanzania. Thank you goofy memory. Now remember your girlfriend's birthday EVERY YEAR!!!). With nations of the world seeing this on CNN coverage, this seems to be the breaking point for the world as they have endured mutants, gamma radiated green guys and the Asgardians and heck why not throw in the Chitaurai as well.

The U.N. Demands heroes to be held accountable for everything that comes down the pike creating the Sokovia Accords that will reveal the identities of powered beings, their power levels and basically tag them so they are overseen and controlled to the preference of the world...and all that entitles. This is where it gets sticky. Tony is all in favor of the accords given the horrible SNAFU that was Ultron while Cap feels remaining autonomous and not relying on red tape and second guessing means their response time to crises would mean they could get in there quicker and do the job easier. The team feels divided on this issue as they are not a military team to be regulated but they should be held accountable for all outcomes regardless of good intentions.

With the continuous search for Bucky who is still on the lam, Cap and Falcon track him down to bring him to anyone that could help him just try to get his life back together are operating AGAINST these precious accords that have NOT EVEN been ratified yet. Yeah Marvel, you know how slow the UN operates at. Curdled milk beats it every time! A bombing in Vienna occurs during the signing of the Sovokia Accords and Bucky has been conveniently named the bomber. Among the fallen is the King of Wakanda T'Chaka (John Kani of The Wild Geese, An African Dream, A Dry White Season, Othello, Endgame, White Lion and Jail Caesar) causing the crown prince, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman of Lincoln Heights, Persons Unknown, The Kill Hole, 42, Get on Up, Gods of Egypt and Message from the King) to lead his nation and put aside his thoughts of revenge as best as he can but the Black Panther does not have to wait idly by.

Dark Bucky...

With Captain America flagrantly ignoring the rules, the saber rattlers are getting annoyed and may actually send people out to deal with Cap and Falcon so he assembles a team that is in the same mindset as he is. With that, Tony does the same giving the unrealized damaging effects hero vs hero could cause. Will this be all out war? Can Cap and Iron Man ever salvage their friendship?

A few comments to make here. As an avid comic book reader, no this did not have quite the same impact as the comic version did and that is understandable. More characters and more craziness attached to it. This is the first appearance of Tom Holland donning the red and blue webs as he is now the third person to play Spider-Man in film. Still not sure what Andrew Garfield did to lose the role or why Parker is NEVER allowed to age!?! Marvel, there is a slew of stories well past his high school years that would make awesome films. Hell, how about the Secret Wars!?! And can we get Fox's grubby mitts off the X-Men and maybe toss the Fantastic Four to a competent writer and director? Okay off topic there. Sorry about that.

 Comprehensively, the story has good moments, shows a lot of heart and loss typical of the latter Marvel story arc and gives mixed feelings for everyone watching. Most don't want to pick a side because they were friends and comrades dammit but yeah sorry Stark I am still Team Cap.

How cool is the Panther?  Ice!

Knock Off Week: Supaidaman

Welcome back all. The slight detour from this week's theme was a nice option via director Dustin Ferguson and his entertaining The Dummy 2. I thought of an excellent way to finish out the week however. In 1978, a year after CBS Americana Entertainment created The Amazing Spider-Man with Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. TV Tokyo and Toei Video Company put together a series that is "LOOSELY" based on Spider-Man. A reworking of Spider-Man by introducing with the giant mecha craze from the Shogun Warriors, Kamen Rider and Ultraman prior to Transformers, Robotech and Voltron. This is Supaidaman a.k.a. Spider-Man.

Spidey Jazz Hands!!!

Found on Tokyo Channel 12 and lasting 41episodes being a half hour each. Takuya Yamashiro (Shinji Todo of Spider-Man, Megaloman, Electronic Squadron Denziman, Kyotaro Nishimura's Travel Mystery 51, Uniform SurviGirl I and Keishicho Shinri Sosakan Asuka 2) a daredevil cyclist (No, not actual Daredevil or Ghost Rider) transforms into a familiar red and blue Spidey suit with a race car and a giant mecha at the ready available to combat the Iron Cross Army led by the dark emperor Professor Monster (Mitsuo Ando of A Fugitive from the Past, Kikaida: Android of Justice, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger,Goranger: The Movie, Goranger: Movie 2- The Blue Fortress, Inazuman Furashu and Supaidaman). Takuya unlike Peter Parker has been given support by an alien from Planet Spider after landing on this world 400 years prior in hot pursuit of the Iron Cross Army for vengeance after they blew up his home planet, he injected Yamato with the Spider Extract giving him his abilities and Spider Bracelet that is a web shooter but also stored his outfit called the Spider Protector.

Spider Mecha!!!!

Garia feels he cannot expect to combat the Iron Cross Army with just his abilities so offers a spacecraft that turns mecha and a flying car outfitted with machine guns and missile launchers with hides in his ship/mecha. Handy, no? Takuya's girlfriend Hitomi (Rika Miura of Sachiko no sachi, Spider-Man, Hissatsu shigotonin, Kareinaru houmonsha, Soushitsu, Kyotaro Nishimura's Travel Mystery 9, Kyotaro Nishimura's Travel Mystery 15 and Uradeka), a freelance photographer who constantly mocks her daredevil boyfriend for disappearing at random and is nowhere near as brave as Supaidaman. NO WOMAN IS THIS STUPID.

Little 18 year old sister Shinko (Izumi Oyama of Spider-Man) and baby brother Takuji (Yoshiharu Yabuki of Spider-Man) are Takuya's legal concern as he is there only guardian after his father died at the hands of the Iron Cross Army of which only Takuya knows and must carry that burden himself encouraging to continue his crusade against Professor Monster and his brigade of monsters. His insanely hot second-in-command Amazoness (Yukie Kagawa of Snake Woman's Curse, East China Sea, Orgies of Edo, Horrors of Malformed Men, Tokyo Band Girls, Queen Bee Strikes Again, Spider-Man, Solar Squadron Sun Vulcan and Ronin-gai) who seems to have a love/hate relationship with Takuya/Spider-Man and seems like more could happen. Interpol investigator Juzo Mamiya (Noboru Naka of Younger Brother, Whirlpool of Woman, Lady Snowblood, Keiji monogatari, Wangan ni kieta onna, Onihei hankacho, Hikinige Family, If: Moshimo, The Abe Clan and Oishinbo 2) easily figures out with Takuya's secret identity cause that took a lot of work and they decide to work together. Actually I found this entertaining but I like mechas and flying cars. So if you like giant robot and kaiju fights and may have a hankering of Spidey. Give it a view.

Toei managed to snag a couple of addition links with a Japanese counterpart of Captain America as Battle Fever J, a Tomb of Dracula anime as well as Shogun Warriors action figures made to a comic book via Marvel interacting with the Fantastic Four, Godzilla, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.and Red Ronin with an agreement via Mattel. 

Hey kids, I'm...well I'm not Peter Parker but vastly cooler.

Turkish Spider-Man a.k.a. Three Giant Men

Heya folks, Rotten Reelz Reviews making a late appearance...again. Quick question, what do you get when you combine the star spangled avenger Captain America and what appears to be Samson the silvermask doing battle with a merciless, ruthless Spider-Man??? Well you get a confused as hell writer who thought this is such an obscure movie that it deserves a look-see. Yes, hailing from Turkey, imported to Chicken and served up on a bed of rice comes the film that...well maybe a handful of movie critics have debated about. This is 3 dev adam a.k.a. 3 Mighty Men a.k.a. Three Giant Men a.k.a. Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man.

Hmm, Spidey is looking a bit dumpy.

"What in the sam scratch is goin' on??!!" You may be asking yourself and me. Well simmer down and I will endeavor to explain. You see gentle readers, Turkey is known from the 70's and 80's to create knock off movies of popular American titles such as Star Wars, Rambo and even and I kid you not, I Spit on Your Grave. Their governmental censorship is so harsh that movies and TV show depicting nudity, smoking, drug use or even having some booze is always blurred to avoid obscene fines. Hell they can barely use the word gay and have to fall back on marginal. That being said, not all of our movies translate well or again too risque so they have cranked out a few cheapies at the ready for what makes for some interesting viewing if not great MST3K riffing.

Our story takes place in Istanbul where counterfeit dollars are being minted at the behest of Spider-Man (Teyfik Sen of Three Giant Men and Ugly World) and his nefarious Spider's gang...hmm lacks punch doesn't it? Web of Minions? Wall Crawling Weirdies?? Anywho, Spider-Man and his Infamous Friends smuggle artifacts from Turkey to the US of A to dealers and handles payoffs with the phony lettuce, see? J. Jonah Jameson was right, Spider-Man is a menace. Captain America (Aytekin Akkaya of The Dead Don't Talk, Three Giant Men, Yor, the Hunter from the Future and The Ark of the Sun God) is such the hero that his girlfriend infiltrates the Spider's gang and apparently he is completely cool with this. Y'know, it's just one of those things women do... join a den of thieves and murderers.

Hmm, my Tamagotchi died...again.

Moving on, Non-Agent Carter is getting the goods of Spider's gang when she is discovered. Captain America sans shield (the shield would have cost at least 200 bucks) and Santo (Yavuz Selekman of Tarzan the Mighty Man, The Legend of Ararat Mountain and Battal Gazi'nin Oglu) must manuever into Istanbul and break up the gang before any happens to girl whose name NEVER COMES UP. Seriously, they never give her name well enough and I am running on sub-titles here that have probably been poorly translated. And Cap needs a beefy Mexican wrestler to aid him in his time of need? Was Hulk, Thor, Wonder Man, Iron Man and hell even Moon Knight all busy??!!! The Beast was unclogging the drain that day?? The Vision got his with a DNSunlocker virus??!!!

Will Cap and Santo be able to thwart Spider-Man's plans??!!! Will JJ write a scathing editorial??

Folks, this is one of those flicks that you gawk at with your jaw agape and your mind confused. With a lot of the Turkish movies...editing isn't really an issue. Music scores with fade out in films, but in these they just stop dead. Stinger scores or dramatic music can go off and there is nothing dramatic going on. Entire scenes will have dialogue and then poof, piss poor translation to next scene so continuity feels like it went out the frickin window. Our movie is ideal for having a laugh around the living room or a college dorm drinking game. There is a degree of violence in it but nothing so stomach churning you wouldn't see in a TV show in the last 50 years. I think Chuck Connors' Branded or The Virginian is deemed more violent.

Yeesh, they went below budget for Civil War.

Free-to-Play Reappearance: Marvel Heroes 2015

How do all and welcome back for Day 2 of Free-to-Play Reappearance. Yeah that didn't feel extremely long-winded at all. Well I wanted to see more of a dynamic in the sense of teamplay, storyline and maybe even voice work for the characters. My opinion the right voice for some of these games just sets the tone that much better. David Brevik (creator of Diablo and Diablo 2) presents a free-to-play MMO set in the Marvel Universe with our heroes combining not only game-play of a Action style RPG but MMO in using the rather substantial library of heroes in the verse.

Teaming up to defeat Doctor Doom from the horrific side effects of the power of the Cosmic Cube (SHIELD really needs to lock that way) following the story written by Brian Michael Bendis (The New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil and Mighty Avengers), just find a favorite and get in the game. This is Marvel Superheroes 2015.

BEHOLD!!! THE COSMIC MCGUFFIN!!!

After thwarting the Utau the Watcher (Huge ancient bald guy that has proceeded over Earth since its creation) Doom proceeds to remake the Earth in his image...yet this somehow didn't alter all the heroes...PLOT HOLE! That being said, our heroes rally to do battle with Doom and his villainous allies (Ugh, this type of writing is why I am not making a comic book title), repair that which has been done to Mother Earth and kick the crap out of a tin-plated overbearing dictator with delusions of godhood. So I chose Johnny Blaze a.k.a. The Spirit of Vengeance: Ghost Rider. Thought a wee bit of Hellfire, guts and some soul searing was in order...also someone already laid claim to Doctor Strange so can't have the Sorcerer Supreme, go with the Supreme Supernatural Ass-Kicker.

Okay before we go into the standard game-play pros and cons, let's hit my favorite, the voice cast.

You can't pit a decent set of pipes to the character then who wants to play them?

Yeesh, feels like Ghost Runner rather than Rider.

For example: Steve Blum (Wolverine of Wolverine and the X-Men, Hulk Vs Wolverine, Batman: Arkham Origins, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Transformer Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising), Christopher Daniel Barnes (Spider-Man of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Secret Wars, Malcolm & Eddie, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Spider-Man: Edge of Time) one of my personal favorites the gravely and downright sinister Keith David (Nick Fury in Marvel Heroes, Gargoyles, Spawn, The Thing, Platoon, Community, and Sons of Liberty).

Say aren't there superheroines as well? Oh yeah we have: Julianne Buescher (Black Widow in Marvel Heroes, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Naruto: Shippuden, Guild Wars 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown,Sid the Science Kid and The Muppets), Kat Cressida (Elektra of Marvel Heroes, Dragon Age: Origins, Guild Wars 2, Skylanders: SWAP Force, Elder Scrolls Online, Skylanders: Trap Team, Batman: Arkham Knight and Fallout 4) and Kat Higgins (Scarlet Witch/Jocasta/Firestar in Marvel Heroes, Monster High: Freaky Fusion, The Last: Naruto the Movie, Sailor Moon Crystal, and Son of Nor)

Okay, I could name names all day but let's get down to the game mechanics. So we have a lot of mouse control her with left button down to move to your location of choice, cursor on an enemy and click for attack. Right click for a different power and the optional keyboard (A,S,D,F,G,H) for the other powers. This is mostly about teamwork with other players that you can simply end up joining in your collective quests.  MMO community that aids the newbies and gives flack to the noobs. Newbies are polite and confused on the mechanics of the character, environment and game. Noobs claim to know everything and bitch excessively. Bottom line: Don't be a noob.

We got Team-Ups, Patrolling regions, Holographic simulated battles to better train you in your powers, we have characters within each classification or group. Hell form your own group. Make an Avengers of the Supernatural if you feel so inclined. Doctor Strange, Satana, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing and maybe Magik. Maybe an all bruiser squad with Hulk, She-Hulk, Thing, Wonder-Man and Thor. The options are open. Yes X-fans plenty of mutants with tortured souls and nifty powers to partake in the action. Hell I saw a Cable running around gunning creatures down and a nice TK takedown. I however am not a nut for avid gaming for longer than 4 hours so pass on me for raids. 

Rocket Racoon blowing up...ninjas?

The Return of the N64

Howdy folks. Sorry for the no show yesterday. Had a migraine and those are always fun. I am back on the ball and trying to get the blog to the love you have given back so this time around we are headed back to video games and my favorite console to dabble in. Yes, yes I know you are sick of the Nintendo 64 but may I remind you a just a few things. First of all, this is the game system that brought us the top-selling and most beloved games such as: Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye 007, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and Donkey Kong 64.

hehe boobies.

With that in mind there of course are the more obscure and unusual titles that only made way to the N64 and never given another console again. Oh sure I can provide you with the most rare and valuable games still out and about but the titles that collected dust on shelves were also worthy of life. For example a second Castlevania title was released in 1999 as an intended prequel known as Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. Set in 1844, this man-beast known as Cornell is searching for his sister Ada who has been chosen as a sacrifice to resurrect Dracula once more. This prequel offers a different story than the Belmont legacy of hunters and has a monster for the protagonist and more development and press release would have occurred but it was scratched before the game release. A finite number of copies are still out there you just have to look.

So while this week I will be focused on titles that you are already aware of and collectors have sought after, keep in mind there is always another week to tackle those obscure and forgotten titles.

So welcome to the Return of the N64!

Costume is really riding up in the crotch.

PS2 Week: Spider-Man 2

A big greetings and welcome back to Day 2 of PS2 Week. We are slamming into high gear with a fast paced story arc enthused Marvel Comics character that many of us know. After the success of its predecessor Spider-man, a few complaints went out on the game's handling and lack of Spidey like capabilities and the folks of Sony heard their cries. A loosely based adaptation of the film Spider-Man 2 was called into production and the cast of the film voice cast the lot. Activision went to work creating a single-player action adventure to the likes the wall-crawler fans had not seen. This is Spider-Man 2.

Concrete can chafe a butt folks,  just an FYI from Spidey.

Made for PC and platform consoles such as: Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, N-Gage, Mac, Nintendo DS and PSP (Playstation Portable) this game got standing reviews and love as it had the option to continue on the storyline after the tutorial (voiced by that Bruce Campbell fellow of Evil Dead and Burn Notice) or allowing you to do side quests fending off thugs and baddies in true red and blue Spidey fashion. With street scum armed with SMGs, pistols, crowbars and bare knuckles you can easily dispatch them with a few punches and puns. Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire of Deconstructing Harry, Pleasantville, Wonderboys, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Labor Day and Pawn Sacrifice) of has been in the spandex for two years cutting down on NYC's crime rate all the while trying to balance school, work and being with his family and friends when he has to thwart a museum art heist, the muscle bound Rhino starts tearing up downtown Manhattan and you guessed it, a certain superhero has to put the kibosh on that. No, not Superman. Spider-Man. Sheesh, get with it.

Hehe just mooned Trump.

Following the unfortunate creation of Doctor Octopus (Voiced by Alfred Molina of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Species, Chocolat, and An Education) in the film, the blame for all his failures, foibles and the loss of his wife is clearly Spider-Man's fault so why not start some crime? According to the Spider-Man universe, science just equals bad. Unlike its predecessor, this game lets Spidey go all over Manhattan, Roosevelt Island, Ellis Island and even Liberty Island to help and aid folks calling out his name, giving him hero points to put to skill sets and upgrading his performance over all. A bit like steroids without all that abuse. The 3D aspect of web slinging is like nothing else of its time. Given the typical jumping and static swinging, we finally explore Spidey's full range capabilities of swinging and their cause and effect as you are on the move. We are also reintroduced to villains such as: The Shocker and Mysterio distracting our hero with their tomfoolery and general bs but our boy can still put the hurt on them and give them to the cops. Black Cat makes a lengthy appearance voiced by Holly Fields (Brimstone, Wishmaster 2, Fishes, Hip, Edgy, Sexy, Cool, JAG, Shrek 2 Video Game, The Still Life and Superman Returns Video Game)

Interesting little side note here is the console game and the PC game differ quite a bit. In the PC game, Doc Ock is already who he is, the tutorial on managing powers and skills is once again narrated by Bruce Campbell and Rhino busts out of prison after a riot. It's the little things that make the difference from time to time. With the PS2's freestyle web slinging, baddie bopping and in general freedom that is allowed you swear you just stepped into the comic book.

Rhino may not be MENSA material.

Ghosts of N64 Week: Spider-Man 64

Welcome, welcome welcome my console comrades to Day 5 of Ghosts of N64 Week.  As I should have mentioned in my last blog, a family emergency needed met and all is well now.  I was a bit scragged due to crappy sleep prior to do a blog for yesterday.  But enough of that!  We need to observe this N64 game that swept the nation...  to playing it on Playstation instead.  Seriously though, the Playstation version and Game Boy Color got better love than the N64 but what can you do?  So let's catch up with Stan Lee's intro and bring about our favorite wall-crawling, web-spinning, sensational, spectacular Spider-Man.  This is Spider-Man 64.

Hah, take that, Daredevil!

This game brings about the visual representations of the characters as they were portrayed in the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon but with a story-line more closely to the comics.  Using a few voice clips from the cartoon, drawn animations for cut scenes and the voice cast of the cartoon, our game begins with Peter Parker taking pictures for the Daily Bugle as Doctor Octavious (Doctor Octopus) has reformed and is prepping a demonstration of his new scientific wonder under a tarp when Spider-Man swoops down and steals this priceless trinket.  "But Jake, how can Spider-Man do that, if Peter Parker is still in the crowd?  Clone?  Rogue Robot?"   Well, good questions all around as Venom assumes the impostor is the real deal and chases after him when Spidey impostor break his camera...  cause the Bugle just keeps an insane wacko like that on staff.

A city-wide manhunt is conducted by NYPD for Spidey's head and the stolen tech.  I swear this guy never truly gets a break.  Spidey, with the help of a few allies, has to find the device, prove Doc Ock is still a schmuck and clear his name once again.  Heh, Jonah is gonna love that detraction from the papers.  Heck, he should be used to it by now.

Hmm?  Sorry, I was gawking at your breasts. You were saying..?

Just a few points on the game now.   With training modes of time attack (drop the baddies in such a span of time), speed training, item collection (for power ups and power improvements) and of course a cheat menu for different costumes and powers, this single-player beat 'em up action platform is based in time trials, puzzle solving and tough baddies looking to put the hurt on the web-slinger.

With 30 levels of quick thinking, tactical approaches or just leaping in and smacking lackeys around, coupled with boss levels it is easily understood you want the Controller memory card Pak or you may lose your game easily. You may want food, a social life and sleep so saving the game in this fashion is while frowned upon but the hard core gamers, hey I understand the need for all the above.

An unusual pairing of anti-heroes such as: The Punisher and Venom in the game as well as heroes the like of: Captain America, The Human Torch of the Fantastic Four and cat burglar turned adventurer Black Cat throughout the game assist Spidey in one facet or another but never directly fighting side by side with him.  Missed an excellent two-player option there.  Using the same game-engine as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, the easter egg in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, was an option to shred your deck dressed as Spider-Man.  Level restarts are pretty common given the finite amount of web fluid, the failure to save a hostage, health bar running out or my personal favorite, falling to your death.

With power-ups such as Spider-Armor (increased strength and defense) and different webbing creations, Fire Webbing was the coolest and most effective against the symbiotes, the baddie AIs are pretty limited and have no tactical advantages like hiding, using cover or sneaking about.  The gunsels are pretty slow on the trigger and are easily pummeled Spidey style. The details in the graphics give a decent 3D effect of buildings, surroundings and vehicles, heck even the people have decent detail for the day.  Spidey cuts a mean and lean figure as he punches the lights out of his rogue gallery.

Spandex wedgie! Ow, ow ow.

One other amusing concept which PC and Consoles have kinda done to death now because of this game is the alternative costumes.  Each level completed has the chance of a new costume with different abilities with the looks of the black and white symbiote, Spider-Man Unlimited nano-tech suiit, Parker street clothes, Spider-Man 2099, the Scarlet Spider (Parker's clone) the Clone Ben Reilly's Spider-Man costume and the cosmic power Captain Universe costume.  Yeah, the web head has had his share of goofy threads and adventures but all in all the game is still enjoyable to the day and has some great memories attached to it

Spectacular Spider-man

Hey true believers… hehe sorry had to get that out of my system.   From the original release of 1964 Marvel Comics created Spider-man via Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.  In 1967 an animation of same titled character was created and while the artwork was a bit hammy as was some of the storylines it was true to the hero.  From the 1970’s to the 1990’s each incarnation took its own spin on the wall crawler but missed the mark by several inches until 2008’s creation that blew away even the most doubting of fan boys and girls.  So grab your tights and spare web cartridges and brush up on your banter.   This is The Spectacular Spider-man Season 1.

In tradition with the standings of most of the varied releases this version is no different in giving Spidey’s younger years thus we are off to Midtown High where Peter Parker is all of 16 years of age fending off crooks and baddies with puns and punches.   The animation hails from Adelaide Productions.  The team responsible for (Jackie Chan Adventures, Roughnecks: The Starship Trooper Chronicles and Men in Black: The Series) and Culver Entertainment for distribution.  A great take on an old thang.  The stories have consequences, real character development and an expanding storyline.  Villains of yesteryear galore and Spidey is on his own fighting nutballs in costumes, bullies at school and J. Jonah Jameson for libel on his every other movement.  It feels real nice to be wanted huh?  

The crux of this version in my belief is the voice cast that was assembled.   Peter Parker/Spider-man (Josh Keaton of Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions, Marvel Super Hero Squad, Transformers Prime and Green Lantern: The Animated Series), Gwen Stacey (Lacey Chabert of Party of Five, Mean Girls, Transformers: Rescue Bots and Young Justice) Captain Stacey and the Rhino (Clancy Brown of The Highlander, Starship Troopers, The Shawshank Redemption) and Harry Osborn (James Arnold Taylor of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Valkyria Chronicles II, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) to name a few but be honest you want to know about villains and man o man have we got villains.  Dipping into Spider-man’s substantial rogues’ gallery we have a bouquet of voices to match their cartoon likeness.

The Vulture: the high flying vengeful scientist Spidey encounters voiced by none other than Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Mangler, Hatchet, Justice League) Hammerhead: low ranking lieutenant to an unannounced villain in the shadows.  With a steel (or sometimes adamantium) plate in his head and a rough right cross voiced by veteran voice actor John DiMaggio (Bender of Futurama, The Problem Solverz and Batman: The Brave and the Bold) as well as The Sandman: a being turned into living sand that can mold his body into any shape he desires.

  Again as previously mentioned the lingo and dialogue has been updated to suit the younger viewers but does not detract that this metamorphosis of Spider-man can and will mostly be viewed by mature fans of many ages.  Those of us that grew up with the comics will most likely agree that this version of Spider-man was well drawn, well written and properly executed the fullest of its capabilities.   Alas this series was only made for two seasons and had not been picked back up.  What does that mean in the long run of things?  Well maybe a revamp of it is on its way but most likely with the Ultimate Spider-Man creation that it will be shelved leaving potential story lines unfinished.  Who knows what future holds for this web-head franchise.  I, for one will enjoy these episodes with my nephews.