BOSS RUSH - You're Not The Boss of Me Now

• Wheatley - Portal 2
  

Idiots with superiority complexes. You probably know a couple at least. Lording it over you like you couldn't find your arse with both hands. Wheatley is one such individual. He comes across as a bumbling yet endearing sidekick for the start of your adventure. He's just trying to help you escape the technological dungeon you've been trapped in for 999999? years. (And disturb as many birds nests as possible it seems)
After a brush with GLaDOS and subsequent fight, you install him as the new OS for the facility. There he is, waving you off as he sends your elevator up to the surface... Wait... he's just realised something. You'd make the perfect test subject for some of the new experiments his new found "intelligence" has conjured up. (Don't call him a moron, he doesn't like that) So you run like the little lab rat you are through a gauntlet of increasingly moronic, (ahem) sorry, challenging portal puzzles.
Once you finally meet up with him again, face to lightbulb, he welcomes you to HIS LAIR! A little over dramatic by most people's standards. He says he's watched the footage of you beating GLaDOS repeatedly and learned from her mistakes. Turning on the deadly neurotoxin and equipping himself with a bomb shield, Wheatley thinks himself unstoppable. Thankfully you have a plan. With the aid of GLaDOS you portal around the room, stunning him with bombs and attaching corrupted cores to his body. This is to ultimately get the whole system to reject him and get GLaDOS back in command. Up to a point, the plan is a success. The system releases the override button. You portal to it. You get blown up! Oh yeah, Wheatley booby trapped it. It doesn't look good. (Did I mention that the place is falling down around you? No? Probably because my skills at a linear narrative are as top notch as Wheatley's ability to Science) The roof falls in to reveal the Moon. As a last ditch attempt, you fire a portal onto the Moon, creating a vacuum that begins to suck everything into space. (Including you) After a brief struggle, with Wheatley being flung screaming into the void, you are pulled back by GLaDOS.
I haven't laughed so hard during a final boss battle. The humour of the Portal series is brilliant. When the Moon comes into view I had to pause the game because I saw what was coming and there were tears in my eyes. It was a perfect "look behind you/I'm not falling for that" moment that I can honestly not remember being used so well (if at all) in another game. 

• Poseidon - God of War 3
  

God of War games likes to open with a bang. Kratos has fought off krackens, the Colossus of Rhodes, the occasional Titan or two. God of War 3 starts with you climbing up the body of the Titan, Gaia, while she climbs Mt. Olympus. Zeus, being the grumpy curmudgeon that he is, doesn't appreciate you trampling over his nice mountain and sends his brother, Poseidon, to deal with you.

So you're 20 minutes into the game and you already have the God of the Sea on your case. Luckily at this stage, Kratos is an old hand at dispatching deities. Poseidon doesn't just phone it in because he's the first boss either. The Lord of all things Soggy rocks up with a body made of water, stone and seafood parts. He's got tentacles and a trident to boot and he's going to try to send you back down the mountain. (It's a bit like that show Gladiator, except slightly higher stakes. And tentacles)

Rolling around, taking desperate slashes at the King of Splashes, you have an awesome view of other Titans climbing alongside you. The fight itself takes place right on top of Gaia's head. Starting off with a bit of smack talk, Poseidon embeds his crab claw-tipped tentacles into her face while using his trident to throw lightning at you. After slashing the claws free Gaia takes the opportunity to smash Poseidon against the side of Olympus, pinning him in place. Kratos then goes one-on-one with the "head" of the beast, beating on him until the core where the real Poseidon is enclosed is revealed. A repeat assault on Gaia's face ensues. After fending him off the second time, Gaia throws a punch. (Considering she's the size of a mountain you can guess it's no love tap she's dishing out either) After a brief struggle, she lands her hit, knocking you through the "body" and sending Kratos and the real Poseidon onto a nearby cliff edge. As Kratos stands up you see the watery creature Poseidon had created melt away down the mountain side.
Now it's just the two of them. A little more smack talk occurs. ("You're going to die/No, you're going to die" It's all very highbrow stuff) Once the prompt appears Kratos starts to wail on Poseidon, each hit being witnessed from Poseidon's point of view. It's a fantastic display of the brutal force that Kratos has become during his adventure plus an excellent way to start off the closing chapter of his assault on the Greek Gods. After a POV double eye gouge, Poseidon's broken body is cast over the cliff, landing in the ocean and creating a flood that seemingly engulfs the world. (Curious how they explain that In the new God of War)

• Erich Soders - HITMAN
  

You don't really get boss fights in Hitman. In fact, targets are more like puzzles. But in the interest of the topic, I'm  considering 2016s HITMAN a boss rush/puzzle murder spree in which Erich Soders is a shiny example of excellence. He's lying on a super high-tech operation table waiting for some advanced (and slightly shady) medical procedures. He can't run away if alerted (medically induced comas have that side effect) but he does have a freaking legion of suited goons that will mow you down at the slightest sign of barcoded assassin.

Soders is set up as the guy who has betrayed you and the Agency you work for. (Which is dumb. You and the Agency you work for are highly trained assassins) There he lies on his hospital bed, doctors moving in and out, security patrolling the corridors and guarding the doorways. You start off disguised as a patient, awaiting treatment. There are various options you can pursue. For instance, the whole hospital is run by a Hal 9000-esque A.I. called K.A.I. It does everything from page staff to operate the medical equipment. (Did Terminator teach us nothing?)
My favourite way to take Soders out is by manipulating K.A.I. to do the job for me. Breaking into his core and turning off his safety parameters should do the trick. Cool, now rather handily across from his core are the controls for the robotic arms above the operating table. After some liberal use of your fat assassin hands on a Star Trek touchscreen console, the arms will viciously "operate" on Soders until he is the appropriate level of dead. For me, the best contracts in the game are the ones you don't actually have to go near. You can flaunt your assassin skills without even entering the room.
It's no trip to the Moon or god getting their head panned in. No. You're right. I just really like robots.

THE LORE YOU KNOW - Sonic the Hedgehog

Thought it would be cool, relatively speaking, to go into the history and in the game lore of some of my favourite game series. Kind of like a history lesson that's actually interesting. I know that's what Wikipedia and the various fan-made wikis are for but this way I can learn a bit more about the stuff I love while I research for the article. Win: win.

Original Concept: Our story begins back in 1986. SEGA's original mascot Opa-Opa, star of the Fantasy Zone series, was dethroned by Alex Kidd. His game was built into the original SEGA Master System and proved to be popular with gamers. However, Nintendo's success with Mario quickly had SEGA workshopping ideas to create a new mascot they felt could compete with Mario's popularity. During the process, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, lead programmer and artist respectively, put forward a few ideas to be considered. An armadillo and rabbit were both designed, the armadillo would go on to be the basis for the Team Chaotix member, Mighty. (pictured) 

The rabbit was designed to be able to pick things up with his ears. This would later be utilised in SEGA's 1995 Ristar game where the protagonist could stretch his arms to grab enemies and swing from poles. A third idea put forward (and I know I've talked about him before) was a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pyjamas. (Why pyjamas? It was the late 80s. Looking back, that was probably the least questionable fashion choice of the time) They wanted to include an "egg-shaped" character and so combined those two ideas to create the games main antagonist Dr Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. Yuji Naka had also been working on a programme that involved a sphere following a set path at high speed, this leads them on to creatures that curl into balls. Despite armadillos having this defensive tactic, Naka and Oshima went for a hedgehog as this could double as an offence. Colouring him blue (SEGAs signature colour) and giving him that early 90s "I'm here, deal with it" attitude we all remember fondly, the world was introduced to "Mr Needlemouse". Eh... "Sonic the Hedgehog".

Debut: Sonic the Hedgehog was first released for the SEGA Mega Drive (or SEGA Genesis if you're American) on June 23rd, 1991. The game mainly consisted of you dashing right continuously, going through loops, picking up rings and popping little animals out of robots. (Or Badniks as they're called) It was simple and elegant. It had a certain dynamic to it Mario lacked. It was everything SEGA had hoped for. Levels were set up as "Zones". Each having their own theme and obstacles. These were further split into "Stages", two levels and a boss fight. Each boss fight consisted of Dr Robotnik flying in with a device designed to kill Sonic once and for all. The original Sonic game was so successful that it was ported to the Master System (SEGAs previous system) and the Game Gear (SEGAs handheld) later that same year by developers Ancient. Both of these had to be scaled back from 16-bit to 8-bit and levels changed but the results were still just as popular. (And might I say glorious)

The Master System II model even started coming with Sonic the Hedgehog built into it, just like Alex Kidd in previous years. The premise was simple: Stop Dr Robotnik from taking over the world. That's all that was needed to get people from start to finish and enjoy the experience. The Chaos Emeralds (long standing series MacGuffins and collectables before it was cool) were introduced this early on, scattered throughout certain levels to find, unlocking an extended ending to whoever found them all. Music was provided by Masato Nakamura and his J-Pop band Dreams Come True, providing some of the most iconic and recognisable music in games today. (Psst... Up, Down, Left, Right on the title screen to hear a ding, then hold A and press Start for Level Select. Not that I would condone such tactics...)

Sequels and Innovations: On November 21, 1992, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released for SEGA Mega Drive. With this sequel comes a tonne of new features. Corkscrew paths and speed boosting pads are added to levels, adding a new layer of excitement to the fast-paced action. Not only was a second playable character introduced, Miles "Tails" Prower, but a second person could pick up a pad and play as Tails as well. Sonic had a new move as well, the spin dash. Holding down and pressing the B button allowed you to spin on the spot until you let go and shot off at full speed, knocking through enemies and certain walls. "Special Stages" were also presented in 3D, involving Sonic and Tails to run through a half-pipe, collecting rings and avoiding bombs until they collected enough to receive a Chaos Emerald.

Possibly the most iconic change to the series was what happened when you collected all the Chaos Emeralds. In any level, once the Emeralds were yours, once you collected 50 rings you could become Super Sonic. Gold in colour and completely invincible (except for being crushed or bottomless pits) you could essentially fly through the level, destroying every enemy you touched. (Even the camera had a hard time keeping up with you)
Again, Sonic 2 was ported to the Master System and Game Gear but without the two-player function or Sonic's "Spin Dash" attack. (Sonic does get his own paraglider though, so there's that)
Sonic 3 was released on February 2nd, 1994. Sonic and Tails were back and this time players controlling Tails could use his twin tails for limited flight. He even had the ability to swim, unlike Sonic. (Fun Fact: Yuji Naka believed that hedgehogs couldn't swim resulting in Sonic sinking like a stone in any body of water) Each "Zone" this time was split into two "Stages" each. At the end of stage 1 the player would fight a mini-boss and at the end of stage 2, they would fight Dr Robotnik in one of his machines. Each level felt more connected and story driven than in the previous games. Stage and Zone transition screens would correspond with one another to create a set path of events rather than a random series of levels stuck together. (i.e. Green Hill Zone; Labyrinth Zone; Marble Zone) Elemental shields were introduced to provide various protections to the player. There was a bubble that allowed water breathing, a fire shield that let you withstand lava and let you shoot like a fireball and an electric shield that attracted rings to you. The game also introduced another long-standing cast member, Knuckles the Enchiladas Echidna.

(Apparently, it's like a hedgehog with a long nose, who knew?) Knuckles has been tricked by Dr Robotnik into helping him stop Sonic and retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. Basically, a smug chump who doesn't realise he's a dupe until the very end. (See; Anti-Villain, The Brute, Ditzy Genius, Fatal Flaws, Genius Bruiser, Giggling Villain, Horrible Judge of Character and so much more. That's just him in Sonic 3. If you wondered why it took me a while to write this, blame TV Tropes) I had the weirdest fascination with Knuckles when I was wee. He had spikes on his fists and metal plates on his shoes, he was cool. If only you got to play as him...
Que Sonic and Knuckles, released  October 18th, 1994. Originally Sonic 3 and S&K were meant to be one game, but due to limited space on the cartridge and steep costs, this proved to be impossible. (34MB cartridges cost a mint in the early 90s. Yup, 34MB. Never complaining about the cost of a 1TB hard drive again...) As it was essentially the second half of Sonic 3, S&K picks up directly where S3 finished, having crashed Dr Robotnik's space station into the sea. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were playable characters this time around. Sonic and Knuckles even had two separate stories to play through. The game cartridge itself incorporated a "lock-on" adapter that allowed you to plug another cartridge on top of it. Two games benefited from this greatly: Sonic 2 and 3. It allowed you to play as Knuckles in both of these games, making the gameplay slightly different. Knuckles couldn't jump as high (which arguably made some of the boss fights harder) but could glide and climb walls, opening up new areas that Sonic or Tails couldn't reach. Many reviewers at the time stated that the "lock on" feature made the previous Sonic games worth playing through again just for the experience of the new character. Other games could be plugged into the S&K game but generally, a message saying "No Way" would appear and the player would be transported to an infinite loop of "Special Stage".

Right you lovely people. I feel I've talked your ear off (or your eyes... you know what I mean) and that's a brief taste of something I would like to do with other game series I hold close to my heart. Now I know I stopped this story at the end of 1994 but past that are troubling times. I don't want to besmirch the good memories with the less good ones. More on those another time. (If you enjoyed this enough to want another time that is) In the meantime let me leave you with a couple of pictures that help signify my love for the early Sonic years. Kisses.

Me, October 31st, 1993

24 years later, the head survives

  

REVIEW - Injustice 2 - Injustice We Trust, In Superman We Stick the Boot

Title: Injustice 2
Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One 

You've got your Superman and your Wonder Woman, your Flash and your Aquaman. You know these guys, they're pretty cool. Enhanced strength, super speed, talking to fish; these guys have it covered. Why would you bother picking any other combatants? Oh, wait, because the goddamn Batman is why!

Fair warning, I've sunk the majority of my time with this
game as Batman so I may show a slight bias

I have played a bit as each of the characters, some are for me, some just aren't. Black Canary and Bane are both fond of counters and parries. I'm sure people with the skill and concentration can be phenomenal with them but I have a short attention span and can't make effective use of them. Robin works pretty much like Batman with the gadgets and kung-fu. (It's the Damian Wayne Robin so added assassin training and a sword to boot) Making an appearance I didn't expect is Swamp Thing. Big and tough with an emphasis on special grab attacks that are both short and long range. Fighting him with the computer AI cranked up can have you bouncing around the screen without so much as a howdy-do. Finding a character you're comfortable with is a relatively fast process. (For instance, I found I especially like Batman because even when you button mash like an n00b you still pull off awesome combos) If it's one thing I play a fighting game for it's a good roster of characters. (I don't play them for my astounding lack of skill with them surprise surprise) You're presented with an array of DC heroes and villains to hit each other with and the selection is quite tasty.

Nine more players are planned to be added

Practice makes perfect, and the special moves are mostly a short directional input followed by an attack button so it makes the combat easy to learn even if fighting games aren't really your thing. As it's NetherRealm, the good people behind Mortal Kombat, some of you will be familiar with this style of combat. Even getting the timing down for combos can be a lot easier than other fighting series. (Yeah, I'm looking at you Street Fighter. You wanna go?!)

 

There are instances where attacks that connect don't actually hit and ones that don't magically do. This can happen to both you and the computer so it is a real blessing/curse scenario. Not a massive issue, and by no means common, but when you've been fighting a particularly hard fight and you get screwed at the last inch of health it can get a little frustrating.

As you fight you earn gear that you can equip to your fighters. These come in three flavours: common, rare and epic. Gear not only upgrades certain stats for the chosen character (increased health/defence/damage) but also act as the alternate costumes for everyone. Pieces are broken down into head, arms, torso, legs and then a fifth aspect specific to that character. (Superman and Supergirl have their chest emblem, Deadshot has his rifle etc.) I am such a huge fan of this aspect of the game. Saving your configurations and taking them online, you can see other people with the same character in gear you haven't seen before. Maybe I get fascinated too easily, and there is a fair amount of "meh" equipment to be had, but I think it's a really clever way of encouraging a player to play a fighting game even if it's just by themselves.

A great way to earn better gear is to level up your fighters. The Story Mode, which carries on from the previous game, is a great way to not only get some practice in with the majority of the roster also gain a few levels as them. This time round Superman is in jail for being a naughty boy. (Quite right, self-righteous prick) Bruce Wayne/Batman is trying to put the world back together and the Joker is still dead. Brainiac takes this time to show up and help himself to some cities for his collection. Usual comic book chaos ensues. It's a fun wee mode that takes about 3-6 hours to blow through. (I like the trend of fighting games giving us longer, more entertaining story modes than your average FPS nowadays)
"The Multiverse" is where the majority of your time will be spent if you want to unlock lots of gear and level up your fighters. (If you're like me and play mostly by yourself *starts playing tiny violin*) Here you're given various challenges at varying difficulties to test your skills and, most importantly, have fun. Like any game, fulfilling harder goals leads to more prizes. Each of the scenarios is timed in real-time so you can miss out if half way through the clock reaches zero meaning you miss out on epic gear for specific characters. The cycle is regular enough however that this isn't an issue. It can even encourage you to fight as characters you wouldn't normally go, even just to give them a cooler look.
Speaking of looks, the game is pretty polished. Environments are pretty varied and character models are much more detailed than the last game. Occasionally this can lead to ventures into uncanny valley territory. Smiling is not the easiest thing to make a digital face to do, let's just say. Arena transitions are back. (Where you hit a guy so hard he ends up in another place, via damage inducing hazards) There aren't any locations that have more than two of these yet, but hopefully, like the fighters, the selection of stages will expand over time.

Would I recommend Injustice 2 to you? Yeah, it's a solid fighting game. You get to beat various DC heroes and villains with Batman's righteous fists. Everyone should get to do that at the end of a hard day. Especially Batman.