Justice League #1-12 “New 52” Review – Justice for One and For All

               I have been a DC fan ever since the days of the DCAU cartoons series. These cartoon series were so great that it encouraged me to read the comic books. When I started reading it really came with ease because most the characters were just like their cartoon counterparts. So, making the transition from cartoons to comic books felt really easy. I think that’s why people thought that DCAU series was so great. To be more specific, I started reading comic books right after Justice League Unlimited got cancelled. Yeah it was very sad time but I started to feel joy again reading these books. I read many series like Batman Hush, Infinite Crisis, 52, etc. But sadly I had to stop at One Year Later because time was really troubling me since I started college. I had no time to read so I stop reading comic books completely. Yeah another sad time had came but I got used to it. Fast forwarded to my 3^rd year when I heard the news of DC rebooting their entire DC universe I was sort of furious and mostly pissed off. Because I didn’t really like most of the costume designs and I was thinking all the characters I knew and loved were all gone. So as time went by after finishing college I began to reading comic books all over again. Boy, I was happy when I started reading the New 52. It really changed my mind and hoped for the better. Most the characters keep personalities, stories were good and I got pretty much use to the designs. Now that I read many reviews of New 52, I am motivated to write my own.

Justice League #1-6 takes place five years ago, when the team meets each other for the first time. There’s an evil threat of aliens invading the city.  Six great heroes decided to put their differences aside and fight off this new threat. Meanwhile the threat causes an accident to Victor Stone, a high school football kid. Now it’s up to his father to repair him and become a new hero, Cyborg. He eventually meets the others heroes and helps fight off Darkseid. The Justice League together as a team push Darkseid back to his portal while Darkseid marks that he will return.

Justice League #7-12 fast forwards the team to five years after the team has been assemble and gathered the publicity of being “the greatest super hero team ever”. Now there’s a new villain going by the name Graves. Graves was known as the author of the Justice League book called Justice League: Gods among Us.  The book was made after the man and his family was saved during the time of Darkseid’s fight. But since the tragedy his wife and daughter had obtained a disease and died. So, he now has this new found power and is trying to get his revenge on the Justice League. There also a few other things in these issues like Green Arrow failure to join the team, a sneak peak to Martian Manhunter’s secret behind the team, Steve Trevor’s past relationship with Wonder Woman, and the current Superman and Wonder Woman relationship. They also a Shazam feature included in each issue. Billy Baston is an orphan met by foster parents taking him home to meet the siblings. He struggles to get along with his family and the environment in school.

The Bad

               Justice League #1-9 was sort of really bad in my opinion. I really love Geoff Johns writing in Green Lantern because Hal Jordan seems like a real brave charmer. I also love his romantics with Carol Ferris. But in Justice League he acts like a real jerk which is out of character for me. I honestly don’t know what happened here. It feels so strange that Hal is a totally different person in Justice League than in Green Lantern and it’s also by the same writer. So it feels really out of place. Another thing I don’t understand is if Hal is acting like a jerk, why would Batman just reveal his identity to him? I mean really, Batman doesn’t know who he is. It’s been known that Batman has problem trusting people with his secrets and I really don’t see why he would tell someone he met in one day about his parents’ death and his identity. It’s too early for him to do that. Batman hasn’t revealed anything to Commission Gordon and has known him a lot long. This wouldn’t make sense for him to do that. After I read a few more issues I noticed everyone started acting like a jerk especially in the Shazam features. Seriously, Billy Baston yelling at the little girl just because she was annoying him was a little too much. I felt it was not needed. Green Arrow’s feature was okay. But I’m unsure if it was needed because Martian Manhunter’s secret wasn’t revealed. I guess we have to wait until JLA #1. I also think the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship should have went a little more slowly. Because I don’t normally see people pouring their feelings with a kiss unless they really know each other or have feelings they have been hiding from each other for a while. I also noticed the lines in Justice League were too cheesy as well. Words like “We got this” or “We got this, we’re the Justice League” felt too forced or corny in my opinion.

The Good

               I think Justice League got really good during the last three issues, 10-12. It seems like Johns eventually listened to his fans and changed the writing. He finally got rid of the all the jerkiness and cheesy words and made them the characters we all know and loved. The David Graves storyline was really interesting and I feel he’s a great villain. He really had a great purpose to fight the Justice League. The way to see his family die from a disease really made me feel bad for him. It was also cool to see all the great emotions affected each Justice League character when they see their dead loved ones. Jim Lee’s art was really amazing for me to see. I loved how the battles were really organized and each character had a chance to shine. There were beautiful colors in every issue as well.

  Verdict

               I’m giving these issues a 7.8 as a whole. I really dig the last three issues and I’m really hoping to read more. The writing has really gotten better and just had a bad start. I really loved Graves as a villain and I’m hoping see more of him in the future. I wonder what they are planning with Graves and Amanda Waller.

Note: I know this is a surprising score. But you got to understand when I don’t like something I’m going to point it out. I’m really not like other reviewers that just give it 5 stars just because it’s Justice League. I seen it a lot in comic vine which I think isn’t a good review. Every franchise has their faults and you have to really point that out. I’m just letting people know you’re not going to see that here.  

Jet Set Radio Review – I am Grinding Flawlessly

            When I was surfing through the net I read the news of Jet Set Radio being re-released in HD for Xbox 360, PS3 and Vita I was ecstatic. I was really happy to see Sega had decided to release one their best games ever made. When this game released I went to read the reviews mainly on IGN and Gamespot. I could not believe what I saw, IGN gave it a 7.5 while Gamespot’s was terrible by giving it a 4.5. It honestly showed that these reviewers didn't like the game and felt that the game was too challenging for them and didn't take the time to learn how to actually play the game. It’s seems they gave the game a bad review because they completely sucked in that game. This I feel you shouldn't do as a professional because it’s mostly your fault not the game. I also didn't remember the controls ever being bad as they described. Fast forwarded to a few months I decided to buy the game when it went on sale for $5. When I finally played I started to feel angered that the reviews butchered on how bad the controls were, when they weren't really bad at all. The controls were still the same but with a slight improvement of the second analog. Yeah I had little moments of getting frustrated with moving the character or camera a few times. But after I got the hang of it I was able to grind through the game flawlessly. Now that I finally let the air out of bashing this game I think it’s time for my in-depth review.

               Jet Set Radio was released on the Dreamcast in the year 2000. When it was released it was considered the most beautiful and unique (as it is still is today) of all time. This cell shaded game had many vibrant colors and a beautiful shade of art on the graffiti and characters as well. It was also acclaimed for many awards of its uniqueness.

   

               In this game, you played as the GG’s rollerblading through the streets of Tokyo-to and spraying graffiti on the walls. During the game you go against three rival gangs (Poison Jams, Noise Tanks, and Love Shockers) and getting stop by the cops and later on the Rhinos. You also meet Professor K who gives you snoops as he’s going on. He always seems to make you laugh and enjoy the story or feel of the game quite well. Also in the game you challenge new characters to play as by copying their moves or racing them to unlock them. By the end of the game, you meet Combo and Cube from Grind City who are looking for their friend that got kidnapped by The Rhinos. I don’t know why but he’s somehow never found (I remember him just betraying his friends and running away) and is completely forgotten about at the end of the game. It’s kind bad for story direction and I was kind of hoping to play as him.

               The graphics in this HD version are very clean and crisp. It really makes me think that this is the best looking HD game as of right now. Sega really cleaned out any of dirty sprites or blocks that these characters and stages had. It still has the characters’ blocky edges which I don’t think can be rid of unless they start from scratch.

               The controls are pretty much the same as the Dreamcast version except the 2^nd analog that helps you moved your character or camera at a good spot to help you grind or reach the rails better. This right analog control really helped me out. For example, when I challenged Garam I was able to jump to the other rail by moving the right analog without going too far and missing it. I was playing the Xbox 360 version so it had, A to jump, LT to spray and RT to speed up. You also had to move the left analog in different directions when it came to spraying big graffiti. It can be a little jarring at times. But I just simply use my right hand over the left analog. I use to do this in the Dreamcast days and it always made spraying more easily for me.  The most thing people tend to complain about is the camera and the character movement. Because the camera sometimes moves into an angle you can’t see and the character moves too far to the left and right when he jumps, making you missed the rails. Also, the camera doesn’t allow you to look around of the stage. It just fixes even when moving the right analog, which can be a pain when it doesn’t work. The thing about this game is you have to get skilled or get the hang of the controls. Once you do, you will forget or get over with the errors. Besides the game is fairly easy even with the big O’ tanks and helicopters are attacking you. I think the only time I got really got frustrated was at the last stage. Because it has a record player spinning on floor as you skate, which it can get you really dizzy. The game is very easy to get through and I managed to beat it in 12 hours. My favorite characters were Garam, Slate, Cube, Beat and Gum because they were very fast, smooth and carried a lot of cans. The other characters were okay. I didn’t get the chance to unlock the rival gangs and Pots. But I remember back in the Dreamcast days, he was the worst character ever! There is also  creating a graffiti mode. But it doesn’t really work out so well. So I prefer to just choose the big selection of graffiti once you get the graffiti souls.

               The level design is still looking pretty good with the HD graphics and I still feel they were very big compared to some newer games today. It wasn’t open world status, but it was big enough to run around freely. I really don’t understand what the reviewers were complaining when it came to level design. The only complaint I had was that I wish Grind City was much bigger like the others.

               The best thing about this game was the music because it really fits well with the game. I even sometimes sing out loud the songs as I’m playing (laughs). The music gives out a mixture of 90’s rap/hip hop, rock and techno. My favorite songs were Dracula, Rock it on, and Sweet Soul Brother. Sega managed to only miss two songs in this version which were only in the PAL version. So, I really didn’t care for it. 

               When I finish the game, I immediately started to play Jet Set Radio Future on my 360. I wish Sega managed to make an HD version of this game. So, they can fix all the massive slow down on some of the stages. I noticed some the quite differences I miss between the two games like being able to speed up because the boost really doesn’t help you out. I also missed using the analog and fighting the bad guys while spraying  because it made it more challenging. I also didn’t like the soundtrack as much of the first once. It was a better and much easier game. But it just made me miss a few things and the only great improvement was adding rollerblading tricks, better graphics and bigger stages. The characters also controlled better too.

               So, I really enjoyed playing this game and it really gave me flashbacks of playing back in the old days. But now I’m once again gushing for a sequel and now an HD version of Jet Set Radio Future. I am going to give this game a 9.0. I really hope you liked my first review and continue to read many more. Also, give me some comments below!