Whether on purpose or not, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man celebrates Independence Day with an explosive issue that shows the tension between Miles Morales and his Uncle Aaron finally come to a head. Brian Michael Bendis has been brewing this conflict ever since Aaron figured out his nephew was the new Spider-Man and saw it as an opportunity to escalate his criminal career. Like the best fights, this one carries great personal weight that makes each blow as impactful as the dialog spoken throughout. Miles has been unsure of a lot of things since becoming Spider-Man, but here he fully understands what what kind of man his uncle is and what it will take to stand up to him.
David Marquez continues to deliver more superb imagery for this series. Many panels highlight subtle moments in lieu of dialog: Aaron’s lip curling in anger and Miles’s eyes expressing inner turmoil while embracing his mother, not to mention the phenomenal closing page that brings the entire issue home in a big way. Marquez not only makes this the best looking Ultimate Comics title, but one of the best looking titles being put out at Marvel.
With such excellent character moments throughout this issue, it is a shame Bendis again does not come through with action that matches their high quality. Like Miles’s encounter with Scorpion, this battle suffers from repetition and lack of creativity. Aaron has proven to be a Jack of All Trades with his plethora of stolen super villain gear, so when he uses such straightforward tactics to combat Miles it makes him lose all the cred he built up. That said, the emotional beats in the issue were so strong that it doesn’t hurt the issue too much. If anything, it puts the stakes of the fight above the fisticuffs, and isn’t that what we’re always asking for in comics these days?
Joshua is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter or IGN, where he is hell-bent on making sure you know his opinion about comic books.
EA has announced what it is calling the "most extensive global pre-order incentive in the history of the FIFA franchise".
FIFA 13 Ultimate Edition will be available for one day only on 28 September 2012, the day on which FIFA 13 is released.
So what do you get if you conscientiously pre-order or run out to the shops in late September with wild abandon? Well, you get one FIFA Ultimate Team pack per week for 24 weeks, which equates to over £15 in extra content. Each pack contains 12 items, from players to stadiums, balls and kits. All players bundled will have a rating of 75 and over, and each pack will also contain one "rare item", such as enhanced player attributes and the "most coveted players".
But that's not all folks. There are two more pre-order incentives in the shape of EA Sports Football Club pre-order and adidas All-Star Team pre-order. Football Club is available to those who order through Amazon, and will let players claim in-game items such as special celebrations, Virtual Pro attribute boosts, and extra matches in Head-to-Head Seasons mode. Meanwhile, the adidas All-Star Team pre-order is available to those who order through GAME. The eponymous All-Star team will be unlocked, consisting of the world's 23 best players, including new cover-star Lionel Messi (he's quite good).
When the PlayStation Store updates on Tuesday, it'll bring with it a brand new kind of digital game. "Ultimate Editions" will be digital versions of PlayStation 3 games with all of that game's downloadable content for a reduced price. Nine Ultimate Editions will debut tomorrow and be available at the following prices (including discounts for PlayStation Plus members) until June 4th. So far on the PlayStation Blog, it appears that this event is only for North America.
L.A. Noire - $27.99 ($19.59 PlayStation Plus) Mafia II - $20.99 ($14.69 PlayStation Plus) Just Cause 2 - $20.99 ($14.69 PlayStation Plus) Mortal Kombat - $34.99 ($24.49 PlayStation Plus)
As Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 proved at the system's launch, the Vita can be a very capable home for fighting games. The system's gorgeous screen and impressive hardware make for a handheld that can stand up next to what the consoles have to offer. NetherRealm's Mortal Kombat reboot is the latest fighting game to get the Vita treatment, and luckily stands as a great port of last year's viciously violent fighter.
In terms of sheer content, Mortal Kombat on Vita offers a ton of features both new and old. The entire original game that released on consoles last year is here, complete with the full challenge tower and story mode. Additionally, all four DLC characters are now available from the get-go, along with God of War's Kratos, who was a special character in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. If that wasn't enough, the Vita version also adds in another bonus challenge tower accessible from the menu, with challenges that capitalize both on the DLC characters as well as the Vita's touchscreen and motion controls.
Mortal Kombat on Vita brings all of the brutal combat, huge character roster, and bloody fatalities from last year's game to the system. The fast and frantic pace and combo-based mechanics are a blast to play, and the brutal X-ray moves return from the console version. While the AI can be exceptionally cheap at times leading to some real moments of frustration, the game still plays very well. Last year's story mode also returns with no changes made, following Raiden and his band of Earthrealm warriors as they attempt to change the past by fighting through the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games. The story is pretty cheesy and is filled with some over the top voice work and writing, but is a pretty fun take that MK fans will dig.
Mortal Kombat's vicious X-Ray moves return in fine form.
Control is an area where previous fighters have faltered on handhelds, and where Mortal Kombat on Vita shines. The game controls extremely well, and once unwieldy fatalities have been given the touchscreen treatment and are much easier to pull off. Simple directional swipes replace d-pad presses and face buttons aren't required when using the touchscreen. If you'd like to still use the more traditional button-based control scheme for fatalities, you absolutely can.
Another great element added to the mix is a brand new challenge tower. The new tower is a completely separate group of original challenges, quite a few of which take advantage of what the Vita has to offer from a hardware perspective. Using the accelerometer and touchscreen, you'll be doing everything from juggling fighters in the air with missile fire and wiping away view obstructing blood from the screen to shaking the Vita to defuse bombs and stagger enemies.
The bonus challenge tower includes two new modes, as well – Test Your Slice and Test Your Balance. Test Your Slice is a Fruit Ninja-style mini-game that has you slashing across the touchscreen, dismembering body parts to rack up high scores, while the more difficult Test Your Balance mode requires you to tilt your Vita to balance your character and keep them from falling in a deadly pit, all while severed body parts are being thrown at you. Of the two, Test Your Slice was a lot more fun, but neither of them really seemed to add much outside of self-contained, gimmicky experiences.
The bonus challenge tower offers a ton of great new missions.
However, there are still plenty of challenges that play out more traditionally, featuring the game's four previously DLC-only characters for the first time in the challenge tower. The new tower will require you to use Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger quite often, on top of the aforementioned Vita hardware abilities.
Playing through the challenge tower is definitely addictive and extremely tough, but feels rewarding as you burn your way through it. As you complete the tower and you're your way through the game's other modes, you'll earn Koins that can be spent in the Krypt on new costumes, art, and other unlockables. You'll even get some new art and costumes from the DLC characters, which were previously unavailable in the original release. Overall, the new challenge tower is a blast, offering varied gameplay and some really fun, albeit very difficult moments littered throughout.
Some of the challenge tower missions can get pretty weird.
Graphically, Mortal Kombat on Vita runs at an impressively smooth 60 frames per second with very few bouts of slowdown. The original console experience ran at a similar clip, so being able to bring that and the smooth animations to a handheld format is a notable feat by the developers. However, there were a few consolations that happened in order to ensure the fast framerate, namely in the image quality of the character models. While the game looks great in motion, a closer look reveals that the characters look jagged, blocky, and not as detailed as their console counterparts. However, the grievance is a small one, and watching the game in motion is fantastic, as it successfully captures the fast pace and action of the original game.
The game supports both Wi-Fi and Ad-Hoc play. While there were a couple of performance hiccups in play sessions over Wi-Fi, Ad-Hoc worked swimmingly and both managed to maintain fluid framerates throughout.
