Arrow Season One: Home Invasion

"47 has got nothing on me!"

The episode begins with Team Arrow planning how to take down Deadshot who is back in Starling City to complete a contract, in a Flashback Slade and Shado are arguing how to use Oliver to rescue Yao Fei. In the present Laurel is representing the Moore family who are suing corrupt businessman Edward Ramus, unfortunately a hitman called Mr Blank (J. August Richards) kills the husband and wife but their child gets away. Laurel then agrees to take care of the boy until his next of kin arrive and in a Flashback Shado teaches Oliver how to use a bow. Roy later steals a police radio when trying to find out more about The Hood and Mr Blank later tries to kill Laurel, Tommy and the boy at Laurel's apartment but the three are saved by The Hood, Tommy then grudgingly suggests Laurel and the boy stay at Oliver's for now. Later Oliver decides not to help Diggle kill Deadshot at a mall and instead goes after Ramus, Diggle tires to kill Deadshot on his own but is almost killed himself. At the Arrowcave an angry Diggle quits the team after Oliver was not there for him and for always putting Laurel first even when he really shouldn't.

Diggle could really use  costume now

In a Flashback Oliver is getting better with a bow and is also getting closer to Shado meanwhile in the present Laurel is thankful to Oliver for what he has done. At the SCPD Mr Blank kills Ramus while posing as his lawyer and Thea convinces Quentin to let Roy go after he was arrested earlier for stealing the radio but then later decides to help Roy to find The Hood. Mr Blank then sneaks into Queen Manor to eliminate all of the witnesses however he is killed by Oliver in a fight and the boy is later given safely to his next of kin. The episode ends with Tommy leaving Laurel, believing he cannot compete with Oliver if she finds out he is The Hood and in a Flashback Yao Fei has brought Fyer's soldiers to the hideout seemingly betraying them.

"Flying punch attack!"

This episode was the final one before the major end - of - series events take place, so you could say this is a mix bag, good but overall not important. You could say this because the plot for it's main story is simple and generic; a hitman going after a witness that needs protecting. I did like Mr Blank because the guy was a cold badass even if he wasn't fleshed out but everything else about the story just wasn't that exciting. This is probably because knowing what is going to happen in the next three episode there was no need to put in any over the top fight, stunts or crazy villain plots. I did like that Tommy is once again distancing himself from everything to do with Oliver and that includes breaking up with Laurel thinking he can't measure up to Oliver. Tommy is just such a likable guy in the series and it is sad seeing how everything just seems to be against him right now.

Yao Fei how could you!?

Now what I found more exciting then the main story was the subplots, especially the one involving Diggle. As I thought Deadshot is going to be Diggle's main enemy throughout the series and will continue to remain thanks to Oliver. I really have to agree with Diggle that Oliver selfishly puts Laurel first before anything else, it is slightly annoying like how he is blind to his mom's involvement in The Undertaking. I don't think Diggle will be gone for long but it is Oliver who defiantly has to do the apologizing here. We also have Roy who is obsessed with finding The Hood and Thea helping him which is good because it gives Thea a better storyline and Roy is supposed to be The Hood's partner one day.

You really know how to scare the crap out of kids Quentin

Overall because of the three episode arc after this, this episode didn't really feel too significant and mostly felt like filler. However it has some good subplots and character development involving Diggle and Tommy.

SCORE: 6/10

Highlights: Mr Blank was cool though not fleshed out
                   Diggle and Deadshot subplot
                   Tommy and Roy where great

Let - Downs: Nothing was really too exciting in this
                      Oliver is getting annoying when it comes to Laurel

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/  

Arrow Season One: Dead to Rights

"I never miss"

The episode begins with a hitman arriving by helicopter however he is quickly killed by The Hood, at the Arrowcave Diggle trains Felicity so she can defend herself more but Oliver soon arrives and asks her to hack the hitman's phone. We then have a Flashback and Oliver has gotten a radio to work but they can't send transmit ions, in the present Felicity discovers a protected hit - list and Oliver warns  Quentin about it however Quentin wants a name. Later Malcolm tries to patch things up with Tommy and Laurel convinces him to go to his award ceremony elsewhere China White hires Deadshot to kill Malcolm. Oliver then tries to find the Chinese Triad are targeting Malcolm and then calls Quentin about it, Laurel then gets a call from her mother but doesn't answer. Everyone attends the ceremony, even China White as a guest and her Triad who are waiters.

"Your just practise hitman"

At the ceremony the Triad have turned off the power but Malcolm rushes up stairs with Tommy who is stunned when he takes out several pursers. Oliver arrives as The Hood and fights China White but ends it when McKenna almost has the drop on him, elsewhere in the building Malcolm is shot several times by Deadshot who is sniping from another building. Though Malcolm was wearing a vest the bullets are coated with poison, The Hood gets there and convinces Tommy to give his father a blood transfusion by revealing his identity to him. After Tommy is questioned by Quentin but says he doesn't know who The Hood is, in a Flashback Slade and Oliver hear Fyers talking about a monster over the radio and they later find out it is a missile launcher. At the hospital Diggle is upset that Deadshot is still alive and Malcolm says to Moira that he suspects there is a traitor, not knowing it is her. Tommy later tells Oliver, after talking with his father, that he will keep is secret however he is not happy about it or that Oliver is The Hood. The episode ends with Laurel's mother Dinah Lance (Alex Kingston) arriving at her apartment and telling her she thinks Sara is still alive.

Shame, this part easily could have had a panty shot

I knew that Deadshot was still alive and now he has his trademark missing right eye and special eye piece that goes over it. Really glad that Deadshot is back because they couldn't have killed him after one episode and the fact that Diggle knows he is back too makes me think that these two are going to have some conflict in future episodes. I really liked the team up of him and China White; that is what we should have in future episodes, several villains who have lost to The Hood team up to try and take him down. China White was also good in this as well and I really liked the whole attack on the ceremony by her Triads and she had a really good fight against The Hood. It is a shame though that Malcolm never got in to his Dark Archer gear to battle Deadshot because that would have been cool however he still kicked some ass and that scene where he almost grabs his costume was great.

"I plan to destroy you all and you award me HAHAHA!"

Tommy is also continuing to be a great character; it looks like he has repaired the relationship with his father but his one with Oliver is now damaged. As I said before I really like the moments between Tommy and Malcolm and this episode I think is an example that the two still care for each other despite recent conflict between them. As for his one with Oliver, Tommy has made it clear before that he doesn't like The Hood and finding out that it is Oliver probably did hurt him. I think for now he will keep the secret but I have no doubt that will be getting to him over time and he may even hate Oliver. Heck he may even become another Dark Archer like he is in the comics if he and Malcolm are getting along now, kind of like the Osborn's with the Green Goblin lol.

"So, keep my identity secret for me?" 

As for everything else in the episode I am interested to know what Moira will now do about The Undertaking; since Malcolm suspects a traitor she is going to have to be extra careful. We also have Oliver and McKenna still going on with their relationship but I don't care much for that because I never for a second thought this would lead anywhere. A big reveal at the end was that Dinah thinks Sara is still alive and I guess will we see what evidence she has to support it next episode. However when I first saw this I thought Dinah was forced too much into the plot; we haven't seen or barely mentioned her for this long and now she introduced with this revelation, they could have built up to it a bit more. As for the Flashbacks things are starting to look bad for Slade and Oliver now that Fyers has a missile launcher, does he plan on bombing the island for them?

The eye piece does look really cool now all he needs is his helmet

Overall this was a good and even though I won't mark it down for this I wish that Malcolm could have been the Dark Archer again.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Deadshot and China White team up
                   The action at the ceremony
                   Tommy was a standout in this

Let - Downs: Dinah and her whole "Sara is alive" reveal feels really forced into the plot

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/       

Game Review: Hitman Absolution

  

Been awhile since my last review but now I am back with a review of a really great game; Hitman Absolution. I wanted to review the Hitman HD trilogy but I have had Absolution a lot longer so it just feels right to review this first.

Hitman Absolution stars Agent 47 who, after the events of Hitman Blood Money, has been assigned to find and assassinate his old handler with the I.C.A; Diana Burnwood, who has went rouge and plans to expose the agency. Upon completing the mission 47decides to go break off from the agency himself and keep a girl named Victoria safe, which was the dying wish of Diana. 47 is now a rouge agent with the I.C.A, the police and even an arms manufacturing company after him and all because of this mysterious girl Victoria.

The story in this game is a real strong suit for it since I feel there is a lot more depth in it than the previous entries, I think the better graphics have contributed to that but there is more to it. For example I think that there is a proper overarching story to the whole game now than just a series of hits to complete. It has a lot of surprises in it and seeing 47 has a rouge agent now and seeing him dealing with it through the cut scenes.

Has for the gameplay it has many features from the previous games that we know and love and many of them have been improved. For example controlling 47 has never felt easier; I don't know about anyone else but for the other games the controls felt a little bit awkward, as if the games did not make the move from PC to console very well. The movement in this game is a lot more fluid, especially when it comes to the shooting which I will go in to detail about now.

The shooting in the game is still similar to the other ones, where the camera angle is behind 47 and it goes to over the shoulder but there was no need to change this anyway. One great aspect that has been added is instinct mode a kind of sonar like vision which allows 47 to predict enemies movements to a certain degree, it however uses a gauge so you have to be careful how long you use it for, this gauge however change be refilled by taking out enemies and completing objectives. Another new mechanic that uses the gauge is a bullet time mode which lets 47 slow down time; while in this state he can mark targets and then quickly take them out and it was a hell of a fun! This slow down of time however uses a lot of the gauge so it cannot be spammed which I think is a good thing; stops players from relying on it too much.

Now one thing that has always been the main attraction of the Hitman games was it's massive level design and the ingenious ways you can use the environment to your advantage and that is still the case here. The levels in this have been broken down in to different areas, kind of like checkpoints, but each area is still expansive and detailed be it either Chinatown or the hotel. My favourite level is the strip club were, like most of the other levels, there are many ways to kill your target which encourages replay a definite plus for any game.

One thing however that is present in every level is the point system which may or may not be a good thing. On the one hand we can keep track of our scores constantly so we can know how well we are doing and this is a good thing if we are trying to get the high score. However it good be rather off putting sometimes when we see are scores reduced for a small mistake made at the last minute. Made me thing more than once of replying the level to get it right even though everything else was going good.

Another thing that might irk some old players, but like the score this is a matter of preference, is that in this game we cannot chose are weapons and prepare ourselves before hand. This is explained in the story because 47 is a rouge agent and now has to procure weapons on site but some may have wanted to chose their weapons first. This does not bother me but it may bother some other die hard fans of the old system. As for the weapons there is plenty of them from 47's trusted Silverballers to sniper rifles and machine guns and a lot of melee weapons from knife to household items. This once again adds to the many ways you can take out your targets.

With online being a big craze nowadays it would have been weird not for Hitman Absolution to include one and I have to say it is one of most favourite online mode I have played. What you have to do is replay levels you have played but now you can chose the targets and the method in how to take them out and these targets can be anyone; from the enemies you already encountered in the story to civilians you passed. After you have completed the mission you can post it online to see if anyone else can pull it off, it is a compelling and interesting mode for online and I spent hours trying to create the hardest level.

Two things however was a bit of a let down however and first is with the many disguises that 47 can use throughout the game. Even if you change in to a disguise to enter a restricted area the enemies can still spot you regardless if you do anything suspicious or not. For example if you dress like a police officer you can still be spotted by other police officers unless you constantly hold the R1 button to hide your face. This was not in the other games and it felt like unnecessary to add that in here. This makes it hard to enjoy infiltrating places in a disguise like before and holding the R1 constantly drains the gauge which is annoying.

One more thing which was disappointing was the bosses that they have in it; they are no different from ordinary foes. For example I was really looking forward to facing the Saints in the games; a group of leather clad, dominatrix nuns who I thought were really cool. However when their level game they just acted like the other patrols around them which was a shame. I don't know how else the could have done it, I just wanted them to be more unique.  

Moving on to the graphics and I have to say that they are stunning! The facial expressions of all the characters are the best they have ever been because for the previous games, like the controls, I found the graphics would have suited a PC more than a console. The same can be said for the levels which look so detailed, I don't think I have a single bad thing to say about the graphic here it suited the game perfectly.

Lastly the characters where all well acting and thought out in this games from David Bateson as the ever awesome 47 to Keith Carradine as the antagonist Blake Dexter, who can be a real ass in some of the cut scenes lol. There are off course many great side characters as well like Powers Boothe as Benjamin Travis the head of ICA, Traci Lords as Layla Stockton, Jon Gries had Sheriff Clive Skurky and many great more.

Overall Absolution is my favourite entry to the series let down only by the disguise and the bosses but despite that this is a most have for anyone's Hitman collection.

SCORE: 8/10