It's going to be legen- wait for it- dary!

I've been a fan of How I Met Your Mother since 2011 when I would watch random episodes on the tv. I just finished the 4th series on dvd and I'm glad I am getting the box sets. The series is really funny watched in any order but I'm a devout chronologist wherever I can be.

The basic premise of the programme is this bloke Ted telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. It is commonly described as a love story in reverse. It centers around Ted and his four friends Barney, Lily, Marshall and Robin and their various relationships, lives and particularly in Barney's case, sexual conquests.

The series goes through a vast number of funny anecdotes and stories, too many to list. So this blog entry is going to focus on the main cast, the 5 main characters, in order from right to left of the above photo (a wink to the the reversed nature of the programme).

First is Marshall Eriksen. He is a lovable and very intelligent lawyer. He is engaged to Lily and they operate as a couple with all the advantages and disadvantages that entails. He has worked for a big corporate law firm although he has strong aspirations to become an environmental lawyer. He is a very endearing character although there are occasions where he has crowning moments of badass, where he reminds people who intend to hurt his friends he can go from a big cuddly teddy bear to a fierce bear of Viking descent.

Next we have Lily Aldren. She is a cute and kindhearted kindergarten teacher and artist. Engaged to Marshall they function as a couple. She hasn't made her main career as an artist but has the qualities needed to do well in her career as a teacher: kind, considerate and patient. She is quite adorable and funny, but also has a fabulous dark side (a sexual ferocity) which makes her character even more interesting.

Right in the middle, since it is ultimately his story is Ted Mosby. He is an undying romantic and at the same time delightfully cynical and pedantic in other regards. Even if his relationship with one woman is failing, it doesn't stop him from believing that there is one woman out there for him. He is quite a nice contrast to himself comically, since one one hand his wit can be dry and sophisticated with a hint of snark, but on the other hand he has a tendency to tell corny yet uplifting "dad" jokes. He is both an architect and a meta-architect. An architect by profession, and a meta-architect by way of being omnipresent within the story and externally as the narrator, putting together the building materials of his and his friends' stories  into a grand, amazing structure.

Now we have Robin Scherbatsky. She is a sexy and passionate news reader. She is single but she has tried her best at relationships many times and continues with a sense of determination but also fun. She may be independent but she is dependable and loyal to her friends, even if she has had complicated relationships with 2 of the other 5 core characters of HIMYM. Some of her relationships can get complex due to her devotion to her job but I find her energy to her goals deeply admirable.

She doesn't usually dress like this but I'm sorry I had to!

While I am in the mood here is something else I found funny:

Finally, but not ignored (I deliberately added him last), is Barney Stinson. He is an executive whose exact job role is still mysterious. He is the lovable womanizer of the group, reveling in a bachelor life of women, drink, adventures and challenges. Although he is very much a one night stand man (with one notable exception) his loyalty to his friends is intense, particularly how ferociously he claims to be Ted's best friend. His charisma is pretty incredible, and his overall trope in my opinion would be jerk with a heart of gold, he can be selfish and cruel but ultimately he's a good and entertaining fellow.

Before I give this blog entry over to my regular guest Norman Osborn, I have a Ted style joke to tell. The joke was the second thing I thought of when creating this blog after the title, and was the reason why I put Barney as my last character of this post.

If Barney owned a farm of cows would it be legen- wait for it- dairy?

Haha I enjoyed that joke! Today I approve of: suiting up!

Your eyes on the city

It's been a long time coming and I have wanted to write this blog entry since I completed my last one. I'm not usually a a fan of driving games, but Ubisoft Reflections provided a game which may change all that, and at the very least a game I will play over and over and enjoy every minute.

 Interestingly the Reflections studio of Ubisoft is a local studio to me, being based in my home city of Newcastle in North East England. It holds a special connection with the name Geordie Green Lantern!

This Driver San Francisco blog entry will be focusing on 4 elements: The Plot, The Gameplay, The Music and Replay Value. I decided to not write about the graphics because I don't have much to say. They are very good and the cars are just beautiful. I am not very good at describing graphics and my car knowledge is very minimal!

The Plot

You get to play as undercover cop John Tanner. Partnered with his buddy and fellow cop Tobias Jones, you drive through the streets and roads of San Francisco in a mission to find and take down the cop killer and smuggling kingpin Charles Jericho.

Jericho- one bad motherflipper. 

The Gameplay

IF the game was just about the thrill of the chase and the excitement of a busy city of streets and roads, this game would still be a joy to play. However it is more than that. For a start I remember giving up on the first Driver because it was just too hard from the start, I don't like getting frustrated near the start of a game. Driver San Francisco however has a beautifully balanced and gradual learning curve, something that other driving games should learn from.

The variety of cars is another thing. One minute you can be driving the sexy Dodge Challenger with speed and grace down long straight roads, the next you might choose to carefully maneuver an oil tanker or wind a fire engine carefully through hilly streets and dirtroads.

There is a boost option available, a meter that increases after you gain more willpower which is available early in the game. While fun and very useful it is not the element that makes the game so unique. That comes with the shift ability. In previous Driver games you could use different vehicles, but in a standard "get out of your car and get in the new one" way.

In Driver San Francisco however, you don't need to get out of the car. The shifting ability is something that can be used across vast distances of the city, although relatively limited at first (like maybe a few blocks or streets away) you can eventually shift into a car from where you are driving or parked to the ends of the map. This is not only very useful but essential in some parts of the game.

This is how you first see shifting. 

So far in terms of gameplay I have mentioned the boost option, the core gaming mechanic of the shifting ability, the thrill of the chase and the variety of vehicles. The number and quality of main missions are a good amount. You have to finish some side missions in order to proceed to further main story missions but these are fun and varied.

The cut scenes are wonderfully cinematic and tell a rollicking fun, funny and action packed story. Dialogue is just superb, especially between Tanner and unknowing passengers. It isn't just one offs though. Some missions require you to return to a certain vehicle.  As a bonus an interesting narrative develops about the lives of the passengers including a police officer having an affair. And then there's the final level which is so brilliant if I were in the company of friends, I would ask them all if they had played the game and if they hadn't then I would just say nothing at all, with a big grin of course!

"I don't care if that's your serious face Tanner, I refuse to even hint  why the last level is awesome."

The Music

This was simply a delight, there was a decent variety which made the game even more fun!

Here is a song I discovered because of the game which not only captures the essence of the game but is also my personal favorite and the one I would hope for most on the in game radio.

Replay Value: There are only 4 X-box 360 games I own that I would gladly play over and over again and Driver San Francisco is most definitely one of them. It is worth it for the replay of the story, the feel of the missions and of course the game is loaded with very enjoyable extra missions, stunts and jam packed with extras like extra races and the ability to purchase all the vehicles in the game by spending willpower points.

With all that in mind, I have described why I think it is a must have game. Now for something a little more personal: what the game gave to me.

• Being able to buy a Corvette in game was a beautiful wondrous thing, it brought back memories of when my Granda used to take me for rides in it and we would go to car shows in it. He's still alive, but the Corvette is long gone. The memories of it were brought back in Driver: SF. 
• I get bored of games where you are shagging hos and killing random bystanders in the street, so a car game where someone does good is a refreshing change. Yes you can have chases with the police but they aren't exactly innocent bystanders lol. Well the ones in the cars might be, but they don't come to harm so it's ok.
• Speaking of justice, let my inner vigilante say it is an absolute pleasure to destroy the cars and other vehicles of villains.
• And on a lighter, final note: I love this game so much that I even bought myself a John Tanner outfit for my Xbox avatar, and this is what it looks like:

Super Meat Boy- it's Meatylicious!

Welcome readers to Geordie Green Lantern's blog. Forgive my tardiness in updating I have had a busy few months.

This is part 2 (the final part) of my series on the Xbox 360 version of Super Meat Boy. The last part focused on the challenges of the game so it was more like a review of the difficulties than the overall reasons for why I love the game.

This blog entry will be split into 5 parts: the plot, the gameplay, the graphics, the music and the replay value.

The Plot

Much like the Super Mario series, Super Meat Boy doesn't have much going for it in terms of its plot. It essentially comes down to Super Meat Boy rescuing his girlfriend Bandage Girl from the evil villain Dr. Fetus. I enjoy this simplicity though. Like Mario, SMB is beautifully simple to the point where you can get on with the game rather than worry about plot holes or other contradictions.

The Gameplay

Quite simple really, one button to run and another to jump/ perform a special. The knack of the game is to time jumps correctly so you do not go plunging to your death time and time again or fall into some sort of death trap. It's challenging indeed but I covered that in my last post. It is very addictive but its brilliance lies in the fact that you will want to keep playing until you finish a level, so odds are you will probably base complete the game whatever your ability if you have a little dedication! You can ignore 3 missions out of every 20 if there are three you do not think you can complete.

The Graphics

Similar to traditional platformers so it has nostalgia value, particularly with 8 bit Meatboy as an unlockable character. Charming and retro!

The Music

There is a good variety, something different for each level set. The Forest level has quite pleasant music, The Hospital is quite creepy yet funky, The Salt Factory is quite serene and trance like, Hell is intense, fast and has darker, chant like beats, The Rapture has very fitting music given its final battle between good and evil kind of sound, The End can be quite simply described as epic in the classical sense and Cotton Alley has a really pretty and light sound about it even in the Dark World version which says something considering how hard Cotton Alley is!

Replay Value

This is where Super Meat Boy shines even brighter than all the other aspects. The other aspects shine brightly in my opinion but it is like the difference between a regular star and a supernova. The game is great because you can focus on one level at a time and to some extent you can pick the order you finish levels. You can base complete a level, then go for the bandage in the level then go for the A plus ranking. On top of that when you gain an A plus rank on a Light World you will open up the Dark World equivalent mission. This isn't even counting the extra Teh Internets levels which you can play if you are online. The fun goes on and on, it's tasty and meatylicious!

Now over to you Norman Osborn!

 

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Super Meat Boy and its meatyliciousness!

Super Meat Boy! Hard As Nails platformer!

This is the first post I intend to write about Super Meat Boy. It is not a review of the game, that will be part 2 of this series. This is an look at its challenges. A review for hard core C to S class gamers if you will.

There was a time long ago, long before I was a blogger, poet, student or novella writer, a time when I was purely a gamer. In that time I thought Sonic and Mario were the hardest platformers I had ever played. The Master System Sonics and the Gameboy Super Mario Land were the hardest I had played. I was never able to finish Sonic at the time and I have to this day only completed Super Mario Land twice.

Fast forward to a few months ago. I discovered a new Monarch for the crown of hardest platformer I have ever played, it's name? Super Meat Boy. I still haven't completely finished the game. Oh I have beaten the final boss in both the Light World and Dark World, so I have actually in a sense achieved base completion of the game.

However, there is a lot to the game, and this is partly what adds to it truly being a Hard As Nails platformer. Super Mario Land for the Game Boy was hard because of the rolling screen, tiny sprite characters and no save points. Sonic was hard because it had plenty of death traps, enemies etc but mainly because you couldn't save.

Remove those factors and suddenly Sonic and Mario aren't that hard. Super Meat Boy on the other hand, well let's break it down.

1. SMB has a fair few short levels, but they require a certain intensity and high level of concentration. It looks deceptively easy and that is the point, deceptively! If you look at the first level of the first world, it looks pretty easy. Move onto later levels and the challenge becomes easy to see.



Compare this, the third level...



To this, one of 3 sequential levels required to unlock The Kid



2. Certain types of levels are particularly hard. Personally I think the hardest standard SMB levels are Hell and The Rapture, both have notorious death traps and quite tricky jumps even by SMB standards. Together Hell and The Rapture have the hardest enemies in the whole game: brown ghosts, laser eyes (a bit like miniature tech versions of the Eye of Mordor)  and arguably worst of all portal dragon bat things.

3. Different levels of difficulty for varied levels of gamer. I would say the levels range from a medium level of platforming gaming experience to super hard core or C class to S class gamer. If you are the kind of gamer who doesn't rage quit or slowly but steadily finishes a game with patience, then you can probably minimum base complete the game, i.e. defeat Dr. Fetus in the Light World.

4. Continuing with the previous point, Your Mileage May Vary, to use the trope name. The game is difficult for different levels of gamers. C class gamers might struggle to beat the minimum of 17 Light World missions per level (no A plus ranks needed) required to get TO the Light World final boss, but an S class gamer might struggle to get all the A plus ranks for every level in the game including 'Teh Internets' and Cotton Alley.

5. Xbox achivements: although easier and considerably fewer than all the Steam requirements, the 12 Xbox achievements on SMB are still very hard. I consider myself a B class SMB gamer, maybe borderline A class on a good day but I still find the achievements are challenging indeed. Unlocking The Kid as a playable character is said to be the most difficult achievement to achieve.

Now over to you Norman Osborn!

 Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Hard As Nails platformers.

Sugar Glider: the X-men may be uncanny, but this is proper canny!

Two of my fellow PaperJam Comics Collective members Gary Bainbridge and Daniel Clifford created a comic series called Sugar Glider, 2 issues and an extra comic of short stories from the Sugar Glider world.

So why did I choose to make a blog entry about Sugar Glider?

1. It's a very good comic.

2. Seldom do I have the chance as GEORDIE Green Lantern to share my enthusiasm for a comic set in NEWCASTLE, so it is an honour for me to do so.

Now I'm going to list what makes Sugar Glider a very comic.

1. The setting of Newcastle gives the story a good sense of realism. The bonus for Geordies is that they will have walked through various locations in the comic.

2. The idiosyncratic nature of the art.

3. The clarity of the writing and use of the Geordie accent/dialect.

4. A balanced mixture of daily life concerns and extraordinary situations.

5. A strong and engaging female protagonist.

6. The facial expressions of the characters convey a wide variety of emotions.

7. A great concept: a Geordie superhero.

8. A story filled with suspense, comedy, intrigue, family life, variety, detail and secret identities!

9. Issue 1 contains a newspaper article from the Sugar Glider universe!

10. Issue 2 comes with bonus fan art!

It's an impressive comic like. Divn't you agree man?

Aye it's proper mint leek. Alreet here's me approval. The day am ganna approve of Sugar Glider comics.

2000 AD Prog 1751 (Wednesday 14th September 2011)

I haven't blogged for a while but I was finishing my third novella. I still have about 16,000 words to type (the writing is completely finished) but that's boring technical stuff.


Anyway I'm going to say what I thought about issue (prog) 1751 of the 2000 AD comic (or as they say, magazine).


In the order they were printed:


1. Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos Part 2: I hate not starting a story arc at the first chapter, episode etc but the last line of the "In this prog" inner cover page the last line sums it up well: "Now, East-Meg agents are plotting a strike against the city..."

"You're nicked sonny Jim"

As for the installment itself, I enjoyed it and plotwise the arc as a whole has potential. It's pretty much a Judge Dredd cold war analogy with intrigue, terrorism and possibly espionage along the line. Good stuff.

2. Ampney Crucis Investigates: The English Assassin Part 2: I really liked this story, it really appealed to me. It was very sci-fi in my opinion i.e. verging on a threat from the cosmos and the colour was striking in the right places.

"What do you mean I have to have a permit to do some sleuthing on a tentacled monstrosity?"

3. Indigo Prime: Everything and More Part 2: This one reminded me of my friend Paul's comic work as found here http://talesofthehollowearth.blogspot.com/ which has wonderful art but also lots of interesting descriptions of things.

"I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident!"

In Indigo Prime, I particularly liked the following usages of language.

• "He has the delusion we're all fictional characters in a penny dreadful written by some mad demiurge from a higher dimension."

• "Entropy reefs", "timelocked in stasis gel", "global sporewar", and "dreamfever decontamination".

• "The summer of love gatecrashes the Winter Palace."

This week's Indigo Prime deserved the sole double paged spread in the issue of 2000 AD. Not only was it vivid but it really was a depiction of the cosmos, it had what I call beautiful chaos.



4. Angel Zero Part 1: To my relief, this is the first installment of Angel Zero. Watch out pardners there's a new backwater planet heroine who has entered the comic world, backstory dangerously approaching her.



"My good lady, do you know any decent local hunting spots?"


5. Low Life: The Deal Part 2: One of the things I like about the Judges of Megacity is their near omniprescence. Equally from this story I enjoyed the "trying to blend in with society" (and possibly the dregs/ underdogs of the Judges) as I shall describe it, of the so called "Wally Squad".




"Arrr! Thar be fish fingers! Or I may have found the One Piece"







And now over to Norman Osborn for his approval!

"Cheers Geordie Green Lantern. Whey today am ganna' approve of summat, but before that, the bloke above looks a bit shifty like. Before I continue I need to ensure our protection by summoning a special force. Whey aye it's the Uncanny X-men! There said it."

Hang on a minute Norms, have you been absorbing some of me geet mint Geordie accent like?

"Aye Geordie Green Lantern, an it might carry on if I am to make an approval for Sugar Glider Issues 1 and 2 soon, ye knaa."

Areet, but for now get on with your approvals will you?

"Aye. Theday I approve of two things, the proper class 2000 AD comic and the reet canny Tales of the Hollow Earth comic."

My ideal White Lantern Team

This post is the final post in my Colour Colour/ Serious Lantern Corps series of blogs. I am glad to finally reach the end of it since it meant having to finding a lot of pictures but it was a fun experience (even if I am the only person who has read it if any have not :p). This final post in the series is about the White Lantern Corps Team I would build, based on characters who essentually represent life, in it's colourful glory!

Where Venom (right of image) represents death and decay, Anti-Venom (left of image) represents life and healing. He is not about the celebratory aspects of life but survival. He would make a good White Lantern for this trait.

Discworld's Nanny Ogg has more life and vitality to her than any other character I have ever encountered in anything, she is a marvellous character indeed. She is the spirit of the party, filled with kindness and energy.

Jiraiya- Naruto's sensei, what can I say? He writes, he fights, he drinks, he lusts, he lives! Jiraiyaseems to get the most out of life and is a character with more personality than most in the series. He's a hero too, but most remember him as a loveable goofball, filled with eccentric life!

A man of many lives The Doctor has therefore lived a lot. He must have experienced so much in his 900 odd years it's hard to comprehend how much memory capacity he must have. He goes through all the emotions humans go through, has suffered far more than we could possibly have because he has lived so much longer, yet the important part he has lived and enjoyed life for a long time so he would make a superb White Lantern. Also he has a scientific enthusiam and loveable eccentricity rarely held by many other characters.

I now pass this recording of life to you Norman Osborn!

My thanks to you Geordie Green Lantern! Today I approve of: life!