The Pull List: June 26, 2013

I read too many comics.  It's a habit that so far has only benefited my local comic shop.  That changes now as you can learn from the mistakes of my purchases, and perhaps even be intrigued to check out some of the cool picture books of the week.  There's always the option to make fun of my tastes, too.

Marvel

-Captain America #8 (Rick Remender, John Romita Jr.)

Captain America fights his way through Arnim Zola's interdimensional spaceship fortress castle to save the Earth and his son only for a shocking last second twist.  Though can twists really be shocking when you call them before you even open the comic?  That said, I am interested to see where Remender is going with this reveal.  There's an exchange mid-battle where the bad guy gives voice to some detractors of Captain America who have never read a comic of his.  I liked it, because it recognized some of the complaints while also framing them in the context that people who think like that are also brainwashed psycho-Nazi clones.  The art and story complement each other so well it's uncanny as the bizarre plot elements are given a form so fitting that they make perfect sense.

-Avengers Arena #11 (Dennis Hopeless, Riccardo Burchielli)

Some acceptable character work is done this issue.  It's just a shame that the set-up for it is completely asinine.  Thus rendering the entire exercise pointless.  This series isn't irredeemable yet, but each issue brings it that much closer to the event horizon.

-Nova #5 (Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness)

An OK comic book, which is pretty high praise for a recent Jeph Loeb comic.  The plot is weak, but the script lets the art go all out.  It's hard to fault Loeb too much since there are few things I wouldn't do to get an Ed McGuinness-drawn fight scene involving a cyborg tiger with a gun arm.  

-Deadpool #12 (Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, Mike Hawthorne)

I think it's safe to say that Deadpool is once again one of my favorite comics without fear of incurring the wrath and scorn of other comic book readers.  The battle with the middleman from hell making a power play ended in a suitable fashion and allowed for all manner of jokes regarding the Marvel universe.  It really seems like a comic for fans by fans.

Zone of the Enders: A Retrospective and Analysis at the End of the Universe

[Note from Jake: As I expand the stable of A Capital Wasteland writers, I introduce the affable, all-seeing Austin Lucas!]

In 2001, a demo for the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released. Oh, and a game came with the demo… Zone of the Enders, a self-described “mecha anime simulator featuring never-before-seen aerial gameplay.”  After the breakout success of Metal Gear Solid, creator Hideo Kojima’s status as one of gaming’s great icons was solidified. Not to diminish from his earlier  forays into the medium, but things were forever changed after MGS. So when Kojima was set to produce a new non-Metal Gear game, people took notice.  The inclusion of a demo for a new MGS really grabbed attention though and would drive sales for Zone of the Enders.  I was just a Kojima neophyte at the time, so clearly my purchase can be attributed to an infatuation with giant robots. 

High Speed Robot Action

Don't worry you'll get to play as Snake too

Gameplay-wise, Zone of the Enders was on the cutting edge as much as the titular Enders were at the end of inhabited space. Z.O.E. was fast, and it was fast before the party really started getting crazy later that year with Devil May Cry. Altitude control, another unique feature, might have seemed unnecessary when you could simply lock-on to enemies.  However, it is a key part of the aesthetic of the game and one that works in conjunction with Z.O.E.’s high speed to give a true sense of movement and a degree of energy to the combat, which stylistically fits in with the sleek mechanical designs of artist Yoji Shinkawa.

FOXHOUND

Instead of a game and a demo, those who purchased Zone of the Enders really just got two demo discs.  One for the previously mentioned MGS2 and one for the yet to be announced Zone of the Enders 2.  It doesn’t take a thorough examination, a moderately quick glance will suffice, to determine that Z.O.E. is essentially nothing more than a proof of concept for future iterations of the franchise.  That might be overly critical of Z.O.E. but anyone who has managed to make it through the final boss encounter can probably attest to this.  It is not that the game is incredibly unpolished or that there are glaring issues that need to addressed, but instead that Z.O.E. as a standalone game just seems to be a taste of things to come.  Despite playtime being padded by cutscenes, Z.O.E. still manages to be a rather short experience, even with a bit a backtracking.  The anticlimactic manner in which the final fight plays out doesn’t help Z.O.E.’s case either.