Review: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon! (PS3)

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is what happens when you plan your first major piece of downloadable content while drunk at the office party. The original Far Cry 3 was an open-world romp in which a dude-bro called Jason sliced up mercenaries and murdered wildlife in order to save his hideously unlikable friends from an inhospitable island. This standalone expansion, Blood Dragon, ups the ante considerably, by completely throwing everything about Far Cry away, and turning the island into a neon, futuristic (by way of the eighties) wasteland, plagued by blue-blooded cyber soldiers and laser firing mutant dinosaurs. Oh, and now you play gruff and profane Rex Colt, a cyborg commando with a robot arm and red-white-and-blue blood, voiced by Terminator and Aliens' snarling Michael Biehn. And did I mention that it's fucking awesome? And it looks like this...

But can Blood Dragon possibly sustain this amount of awesome throughout its 4 - 6 hour running time? You'll find out exactly what I made of all this madness... after the jump!

Gallery: Free Comic Book Day 2013 at Quality Comics!

Holy crap, you guys, it's Free Comic Book Day 2013 and, as promised, a lot of things are going on. Perth, Western Australia may be the most isolated capital city in the world, but that doesn't mean that Batman won't show up if he gets the call. Yes. We are now friends with Batman.

(You may also recognise Black Widow as our friend Courtney who joined me recently on The Book Was Better podcast). And there were plenty of other characters out in force to celebrate with our other friends at Quality Comics. Short version: Everyone is our friend.

If you'd like to see a lot more pictures of the awesomeness celebrating sequential art today then please join me... after the jump!

Free Comic Book Day 2013 Reviews and Recommendations: Part 2!

Free Comic Book Day is just getting closer and closer, so it's time to have a look at another selection of the comics that are going to be available. We got early copies of some of the books thanks to our good friends at Quality Comics, and there are some real gems among them. I trust you've already read Luke's post from yesterday going over Infinity, Star Wars, Mass Effect, The Tick, Atomic Robo, Judge Dredd and 2000AD? Good.

My picks from this year's crop were ones mainly aimed at kids, with a couple of zombie-fied adult books on top. I grabbed The Walking Dead, FUBAR, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H, Action Time Buddies, NFL Rush Zone and The Mouse Guard. We'll head below the cut in a sec to check them out, but first, a word from our sponsor.


Yes, Hugh Jackman is our sponsor. We're Australian, he sponsors all of us in everything we do. He's just that kind of guy.

Onwards to the comics, starting with the gory grown-up ones first!

Thank GIF it's Friday!!

I hope this enriches you as it has enriched me.

Thursday Threesome - Three awesome CD ROM games I played as a six-year-old

We didn't have consoles, in our household. Purely because as a family with three girls and a young boy (at this point, quite literally a baby) there wasn’t a gamer’s push to bring one into the fold. No one had yet identified as a gamer, and the only reason a CD ROM drive was installed in dad’s computer was because he had a fondness for new technologies and tinkering with his hardware components. He himself had no interest in gaming, but a quasi-professional interest in how the CD-ROM drive worked with games.

Our first unit was one of the ones with a cartridge you pulled out of the slot, inserted the disc into, then loaded back into the machine. It whirred and clicked like there was an engine and not a harddrive in there, and the slightest fleck of dust brought the whole thing to a halt. Dad furnished us with some (probably randomly) purchased PC games and we set forth on a voyage of pixels and discovery.
From what I remember, the games unlisted here but played were Recess in Greece (I remember most of the dialogue to this), Jungle Jill, Captain Comic, Commander Keen, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Total Annihilation, Duke Nukem (the one where he wears pink and talks about Oprah. That’s all I know), and Encarta’s Mindmaze.

That aside, there were three that I spent more time on than any others. Come investigate after the jump!

Free Comic Book Day 2013 Reviews and Recommendations: Part 1!

Saturday May 4th is not just Star Wars Day, but also happens to be this year’s Free Comic Book Day, and thanks to our dear friends at Perth’s Quality Comics, we have a slew of the books in hand and have been covetously rubbing our eyeballs all over them. Yes, we’ve read them, and we’re going to tell you what you can expect and what we heartily recommend. And this year there’s some really great ones!

If you’re local, be sure to check out Quality’s event page. There’s always discounts and extra fun to be had, and I know there’s going to be a lot of customers showing up in costume. And if you want a preview of Marvel’s Infinity, Star Wars, Mass Effect, The Tick, Atomic Robo, Judge Dredd and 2000 AD, be sure to join me for part one... after the jump!

Review: Sci-fi Revoltech Iron Man Mark VII!

What do I know about Japanese company Kaiyodo and their line of super-articulated Revoltech figures? Not a whole hell of a lot, but I do know that they've made a lot of super-articulated Iron Mans (Iron Men?) and my Iron Man hype is at an ungainly high right now. I've oft admired these from afar but their relative high price has dissuaded me from purchasing one. Until now! On the weekend I finally caved and chose this Iron Man Mark VII (his "bracelet" armour from The Avengers, soon to be released as a Hot Toy). Is Japan Iron Man worth all the fuss?

I am going to slam you with all the excruciating details... after the jump!

Micro Muggs Review (Iron Man)

Mighty Muggs were the coolest thing a few years ago. Chunky, urban vinyl inspired figures done by Hasbro…. and done really well. Most of the art was non-conventional, and the character choices were great too (Lando was very early on in the Star Wars line, prompting me to buy all of them from that point forward). But if there was one major issue with Mighty Muggs it's that they were pretty big. At about 8 inches tall and about 6 inches wide, it only took a few to dominate your shelf space.

Back then I begged for Dunny sized Mighty Muggs. They eventually came out, but it was too late and they weren't perfect. They came 3-4 to a pack in those long, really ugly window boxes that you see Star Wars multi packed figures packaged in. They don't display that well and look more like a gift than a collectible.

And now many years later, I see that there are Micro Muggs. These are WAY smaller, more along the size of a Lego Minifigure or a vending machine toy. Even though they were Iron Man (I've never seen a movie or read an Iron Man comic), I bought a few just to satisfy my curiosity. 

Click through the jump for more Micro Muggs.

Stryder's Favourite Comics - 4/24/2013

Another week, another pile of comics!  Let's jump right in!!

Before Watchmen: Comedian #6 (of 6) - "After what you did here, it's better for everyone--you included--if we sent you home."

 The final issue of Before Watchmen has finally hit the stands, as Eddie "The Comedian" Blake is relieved of his duties in Vietnam and finally sent home to the good ol' U.S.A...there to face his final demons and perhaps his destiny as well...

It's been an interesting and controversial run...all of these Before Watchmen titles were bound to get people disagreeing before even a single page was printed.  Having read every issue of every title, I have to say...all the bother wasn't worth it.  Take away the hype, and all you really have are a handful of PG-13 super-hero titles, all very beautiful, with some more satisfying than others.  They complement the original Watchmen novel without stepping all over it and were for the most part pretty entertaining.  Silk Spectre in particular was even insightful!  I'm personally happy to have collected this series, but as time goes by I suspect they'll largely be forgotten while their inspiration, the original Watchmen, lives on forever.  Still, it's been fun!  At the end of the day, that's what I want from my comic books most of all!

Superman, The Flash, Batman, Incorporated and more after the JUMP!

The Book Was Better Podcast Episode 41: Hotel For Dogs (with guest host Sabrina!)

The Book Was Better is the podcast where we inexplicably read and mercilessly make fun of the novelizations of your loved and loathed films!

This week my openly reluctant guest host is my awesome pal, Sabrina, as we go doggy style for the completely infeasible Hotel for Dogs! How far will your suspension of disbelief stretch? You’re about to find out. And vegetarians beware - because this could be our meatiest episode yet!

You can download it right now from the official site, or why not be the alpha dog and subscribe to us on iTunes? Woof!

F**k Yeah Game of Thrones Recaps! Episode Five: Kissed by Fire!

We’ve only just hit the halfway point and already Game of Thrones season three is packing plenty of punches. And those epic punches are covered in fire! And laced with nipples! I just got punched square in the face by episode five, Kissed by Fire, and I may not have read those big fancy books, but boy do I have an awful lot of knee-jerk, immature, and ill-educated things to say about it!

Let’s recap the crap out of Game of Thrones! If your Throner Boner remains strong then join me... after the jump!

Review: Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen (PS3)!

If you’re not familiar with Capcom’s fantasy epic Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen then it’s probably because its title makes about as much sense as Dragon’s Walrus Saucepan Watermelon. But if you can overcome the initial confusion, this game is actually a re-jigged and expanded upon version of the original Dragon’s Dogma (which was released last year) now with extra quests, new enemies, and a significant expansion which takes place in a tangled, monster-infested labyrinth. Capcom has also addressed and fixed certain criticisms levelled at the first version (such as the limited fast travel system) making this re-release the definitive version of the game. It’s also half the price of a regular new release which makes it definitely worth a try. Think Dragon Age meets Dark Souls and you’re on the right track.

I’m a sucker for fantasy RPG adventure so I did not hesitate to gather my party, string my bow, and shoot a harpy in the tit. Find out what I thought... after the jump!

Kickstart the Week: Dark Dungeons: The Movie

Americans of a certain age/persuasion/belief system may remember seeing those Chick Tracts come through, which were religious comics that decried different supposedly godless activities and ideas and such. One of those comics in particular, Dark Dungeons, was a hyperbolic fairly over the top tract about how Dungeons and Dragons is a gateway to the will of Satan.

And now someone wants to make it a movie.

I have no idea how JR Ralls convinced the Chick people that this should be a movie or that he should do it, and he insists that the low-budget film will be true to the actual comic (as the jokes largely write themselves), but was a truly unexpected film and Kickstarter.

Might be worth a few bucks...

Doctor Who: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

We are now approaching the end of the long drawn out seventh season of new Doctor Who. I say long drawn out because this season was divided so many times and has been airing over such a long time that it feels like it’s been going forever. The season has suffered from a strange pace as a result. I have to say, the front end of the season featuring Amy and Rory has been stronger, and this is coming from someone who never really liked Amy as a companion. I like Clara but I feel like the stories are not getting the best out of her and are not completely hanging together. This episode is again strangely paced, though I have to say I liked the concept. Follow me under the cut where I talk about its execution!

El Professore Movie Reviews: Cherry, Harry & Raquel

1970
Director: Russ Meyer
Starring: Larissa Ely, Linda Ashton, Charles Napier
* * * 1/2

For me, Russ Meyer films can be broken down into two categories; pre and post 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'. I enjoyed nearly every one of Meyers early low budget, independent features and found them in their brief running times to be filled with colorful characters, wild action, clever humor, brilliantly filmed rapid fire editing... and of course sexy women with huge breasts who are filmed at every conceivable angle. The pinnacle of these was 1966's 'Faster, Pussycat Kill! Kill! (ironically or perhaps not, Meyer's lone entry that was devoid of nudity). After a good many of these glorified home movies, Meyer was offered a deal at the prestigious 20th Century Fox and lensed '... Dolls' (co-scripted by non other than the late Roger Ebert) and for me, this was the start of Meyer's decline. The film played like a big budget parody of his earlier work and it's large budget seemed to not jibe with his cinematic sensibilities. The fact that the film was also his first to feature some true mean spiritedness in it's violence added to the whole forced feeling of the production. Meyer appeared to have lost his touch and his career took a nosedive after that (my opinion of course as there are those who loved '... Dolls' as well as his subsequent features). 'Cherry, Harry and Raquel' is one of Meyers' last independents and one of his best... just not for the usual reasons.

Full review after the break.

Let's Open Some Domo DC Mystery Minis!

You know who Domo is, right? He's that brown, loaf-like Japanese monster with the perpetual expression of extreme shock! And now ultra prolific collectibles company, Funko, purveyors of Pop Vinyl and Wacky Wobblers has come to the epic conclusion that, "You know what, we should combine that weird Domo thing with DC's iconic line of superheroes and watch the profits roll in. I'll start clearing some space in the vault." And hence the blind-packaged Domo DC Mystery Minis 2.5" vinyl figures are born...

As is the case with all blind-boxed collectibles you just never know what you're going to get. I have THREE of them in hand, so let's open up these unfeasible hybrid monstrosities... after the jump!