Sequel ASSEMBLE!

“And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat.” A common threat, Ultron was not. There was only one person that could deal with it…Director Joss Whedon. It’s like cooking some crazy stew. Add five parts of superhero, one microchip, stir with super speed, finally add a dash of hex magic. Place in a pressure cooker on high and wait. There is a challenge when making a sequel to a hit movie. Without changing the dynamic of the movie, how do you top it? 2012’s The Avengers was so crazy that it worked. Age of Ultron worked but not in the way that you see. (More about that later.)

Lets all stand around and look pensive!

Avengers: Age of Ultron story starts out with our heroes cleaning up the mess from the last film. Loki’s scepter is in the hands of Hydra’s chief scientist Baron Von Strucker. His team has figured out a way to manipulate the human body. Their experiments result in the “enhanced”(not mutants) twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen), which they both volunteered for. The Avengers captured the Hydra facility and retrieved Loki’s staff. Jarvis (Paul Bettany) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) find that this large gem in the staff is highly complex and looks like it can think. Both Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Tony were working on an AI program to protect humanity, called Ultron (James Spader). Secretly working on this project, all attempts to create this AI fails. This was supposed to be the last gathering of the Avengers together. After a fun little game of “Who can lift Thor’s hammer?”, Ultron becomes self aware. Tony’s Iron Legion attacks our groovy gang of heroes, with Ultron leading the charge. Ultron’s reason for attacking is peace. Peace by wiping humans off the face of the planet. The same idea as Tony but without all the bloodshed. The twins join Ultron and the Avengers are there to stop them.

What surprised me with this film was that each character had a definite arc. Wanda’s manipulative hex power manifested each character fear into their head. Tony could not save people. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) feared for his homeworld Asgard. Captain America (Chris Evans) wants a “normal life”. Finally, Black Widow(Scarlet Johansson) was a loner. Speaking of Black Widow, she has a romantic interest in the Hulk. For this film, it makes sense. Trust me. Both of these characters are loners. Each could potentially fill a void for the other.
There was a standout character in Avengers: Age of Ultron: Hawkeye. After Ultron attacks, the Avengers go “off the grid” to regroup. I believe this is where the film shifts its focus to Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). If you remember, in the first film he was mind controlled. Now he’s stronger and more focused on the main goal of saving the world. Hawkeye feels that he’s the least important Avenger. In actuality, he is the most important member and this shows what he has to lose if the Avengers fail. I didn’t even talk about how cool Paul Bettany was and how he was laying a Vision for the future of the Avengers(Hint Hint). Or the tantalizing tease at the end of the film.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is a movie that had a whole lot to live up to. This was never going to live up to the first film and nor should it. What this movie was, is to lay a further foundation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers had to bring these characters together. This film had to humanize them. Each one these heroes had to be broken down in order to build them back into the heroes they need to be.

8.2/10

An Infinite Gamble

“To infinity and beyond!” That is the catchphrase of the well-known space explorer Buzz Lightyear. Disney Infinity grew from that sentiment. To create anything you want and play anyway you want. Characters from different Disney films interacting with each other. Play how you want. In this latest edition of the Disney Infinity series, Marvel Comics joined to bring some superhero in to the mix.

Let me disclose that I have not played Disney Infinity 1.0 or any other swappable character type games. This is completely new to me. This review is going to be broken up into two parts. First, the Avengers play set and finally, the Toy Box mode.

Avengers Play Set – Story/Gameplay/Graphics

My first thought was “the Avengers are fighting Loki again?” The story is simply this. Loki escapes from Asgard and attempts to freeze New York with the help of M.O.D.O.K of AIM and a frost giant army. The story is lacking in development. SHIELD and the Avengers are called in to clean this mess up. For a game of Disney Infinity size you would think it would have a longer story line. For me this was about 6 hours to complete. The side quests are intermixed when picking a level. That is one complaint I have. You don’t know what level is the story line or a side quest. By asking Fury, Wasp, or the others, all you do is pick a level. There is no indication of what is the story line and what’s not.

Since this I bought the PS4 Disney Infinity 2.0 starter pack, the characters you received are Thor, Iron Man, and Black Widow. I also received Captain America too for pre-ordering. Mainly I chose Thor. He can fly and call down some thunder justice. You can upgrade him and all other characters with their own skill tree. (By the way Level 30 Thor is a god!) The gameplay is simple. I guess this is because it is a “kids” game. You have a targeting system but the lock-on moves too much or doesn’t even work in if you are too far away from the target. For instance, if a frost giant is in front of you can lock on to him but if he moves in front of a car the lock on will move to the car. The targeting system is not worth it in most cases. This system was better in the Toy Story 3 Toy Box and that is where they got all this Disney Infinity inspiration from. I did like that some SHIELD agents did help you out if they were by the action.

Most of the levels are going simple. “Go here and destroy this” or “Go here and stop the frost giants”. Fighting Loki was a bit overdone and the fight with the final boss was too easy if your character could fly. In the first part of the level “Pier Pressure”, the frame rate dropped severely and did this several times. I have no idea if this was me or the game causing this. This should have been a standalone Hulk game. Really! It would have worked.

For a second incarnation of a game to warrant a next-gen console version, you expect it to have some great graphics. This version is decent but bare. Where are all the trees? New York City has trees the last time I checked. NYC looks bare. Just building after building and a small gathering of trees. I was surprised by the detail of smashing in to a building. You could actually see inside the building. The frame rate did suffer on one level, like I said earlier. The one thing I did dislike are the cut scenes. They look like they are not rendered properly. The character models look great zoom to third person but zoomed in not so much. Some of the sound clipped out on the final battle.

Teen Titans G….wait wrong universe.

Toy Box

This is where Disney Infinity shines. After unlocking items from playing the main story, you can place them in your Toy Box. In that land you can do whatever you want. You also have now an INterior(HQ/clubhouse) to build and add-on to. I did have some problems with building area. Naming my area Jump City, I started building. The tutorial only does so much. The toy box expects you to know how to do everything. Yes, they do have builders who will build everything for you like a city or tree house but there is a limit. The more items that are in your city, the higher the “thermometer” is. Once you reach the limit, you can’t add anything else. To create your toy box, it takes time. I only had one mishap when buying an item. I wanted the Tron Identity Disk. When buying an item, looks like a skill tree. You have to buy the items before it to buy that one. I bought the identity disk but I can’t find it. No where does it tell me where it is. It is aggravating to know you bought something but can’t use it. Disney Infinity 2.0 expects you to know how to use the toy box. Yes, it does give you a tutorial after that you are on your own.  I really wish they would tell you the location of purchased items after you unlock them.
I chose not to review any of the Marvel power disks because at the time I did not have any. All in all, I wanted Disney Infinity 2.0 to achieve high marks. I wanted it to succeed! I was pulling for it. I really believe this was a great game. It was just okay. There are a lot of things to be fixed before 3.0 comes out here’s hoping the development team will fix it.

6.9