Construed

My probable highlights for the coming month of June.

Prototype is released here in the UK on 12th June.

Out of all the videogame titles released in June, Prototype feels the brightest of the bunch. Gameplay that I have seen looks crisp & fluid but I do hope the storyline will be as entertaining as the action.

There’s no multiplayer gameplay to distract the dev’s from producing a worthy sandbox adventure for the single player. And it’s healthy to see a videogame developer deciding not to include a multiplayer element in the current climate. Let’s just hope there’s enough content in the single player campaign to make Prototype a fully realised game world.

The game diary posts in late June should have some heavy Prototype content & I expect to write a review of the game for Caught in the Crossfire, at a later date.

Terminator Salvation could be a return to form, after a rather disappointing Terminator 3:Rise of the Machines, with a UK release date of the 3rd June. I am unlikely to get to see it on release but it does follow as a close second to the new Star Trek film, as a must see on the big screen.

From what I have read, Christian Bale has had a big part in bringing this movie to life. With hints that there will be far less enthasis on the special effects, this time round, with far more focus on the storyline & characterisation.

The videogame spin-off to the Terminator Salvation movie, is released a few weeks earlier on the 19th May. But I really don’t hold much hope that this title will add anything to the swell of third person shooters.

Terminator Salvation is the fourth movie in the franchise & I am hoping it does a good job of tying the whole Terminator story together. I feel a fifth movie would be overkill.

A new era for the Dectective Comics title comes in June. Not since issue #27 has Batman not been the main character lead, in this long running comic book.

Issue #854 – available on the 24th June – will see the four part “Elegy” story begin. A storyline involving Batwoman as the central character in a Gotham without Batman. The artwork will be penned by JH Williams III whose work I have admired for awhile now. I’m quite excited by the choice of character in Batwoman, as this will be the first storyline, if my memory serves me correctly, that I have read with her as the central character.

Am curious to who will be the future central characters in the Detective Comics title while Batman takes a well earned break – there’s just no way he’ll remain dead for long…surely?

So there you have it – some of my hopes for good entertainment that I’ll be looking to cover in June. I will be highlighting more of my hopes sometime next month, with an eye on the new crop of entertainment that will be due in July.

What are you looking forward to?

DM∞

I’ve had a funny few weeks of late.  Hardly touching a gamepad in that time – being uninspired as I have to play any of the titles in my videogames library. Even looking through a list of future releases has just left me feeling rather tired. Without doubt this is a period of general burnout that I hadn’t expected to affect me but it has. There’s really no point in fighting it – past experience has taught me that it’s best just to roll with it & see it out.

One demo that I did download, on this very day, was the new Wolverine title based on the recent X-Men Origins movie release. It’s a short demo, allowing just enough time to pick up the combat combos & techniques with a small slice of the storyline exposed. I don’t expect to play the full game at release but liking the Wolverine character as I do, there’s a strong chance of me picking it up at a later date.

I did have a more expectant feeling for the June release of Prototype than I did for the Wolverine title. Both have some similarities in their lead characters abilities & am sure the development team at Radical Entertainment looked over the history of Wolverine, at some point in the creation process.

DM∞

No.1 March 2009

- Comic books kindly supplied for reviewing purposes by Comic Domain.

STORY – Rick Sanchez

ART – Kevin Sharpe

with COLOR ART by Milen Parvanov

COVER – Jim Clark & Brandon Badeaux

…you deserve better deaths…

Oh dear…

I had been expecting to read something gritty & involving, to fall in with the Resident Evil 5 videogame release. Instead, Wildstorm have decided to gift the reader a comic book title that’s a pale reflection of the past glories that run through the stories in the Resident Evil videogaming franchise.

The cover(see above image) looks great – it stirs up the right kind of reaction in the Resident Evil fan but sorry, Kevin Sharpe’s artwork just isn’t suited for horror… at least not the horror that is Resident Evil.

Story?

Nah, don’t bother!

Predictable as a wet shower.

Flatly disappointed & am beginning to worry what state the Prototype title will be in over it’s immanent 6 issue run.

DM∞

Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; Art and Cover by Darick Robertson and Matt Jacobs; Variant Cover by Jim Lee

Acclaimed writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (COUNTDOWN, FRIDAY THE 13TH, JONAH HEX) join forces with artistic powerhouse Darick Robertson (The Boys) for a 6-issue WildStorm epic like no other. In anticipation of the upcoming multiplatform Activision video game comes the hyperkinetic world of PROTOTYPE! Follow New York homicide detectives as they track a serial killer unlike any they’ve ever faced, and enter a new era where human extinction and monstrous evolution collide! Featuring a variant cover by superstar artist Jim Lee![1]

I’ve always been a little wary of videogames that get spun into a comic book title run but I do try to keep an open mind. It has been a while since I’ve picked up one such title, let’s hope it adds to the back-story of the forthcoming Prototype videogame, slated for a summer 2009 release.

DM∞