Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) - Senator Purrington's Revenge

From Watchmen to Sucker Punch to Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder manages to rile up internet film goers like no one else short of Michael Bay. The two have a lot in common; a focus on imagery over writing, consistent, unmistakable but often imitated style that will either drive you nuts or completely draw you in, a self-deprecating sense of satire (Sucker Punch for Snyder, Tranformers 4 for Bay), and a tendency to make tons of money while receiving critical and fan derision. They even went to school together at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design!

For both Bay and Snyder, negative criticism doesn't tend to begin with analysis or even dissatisfaction; instead, we get enraged rants that treat a film the writer didn't like as a sick disease that's killing the soul of man. The point is not to critique the movie, but to defeat it, vanquishing it back into the abyss with a blend of endless sarcasm and blood rage. There are, of course, intelligent writers who are able to write perfectly fine critiques; I'm certainly not saying any film's perfect here. It's just baffling and honestly gross to see YouTube comments take flesh in the form of a new, loud generation of angry critics, fed by hideously bad comedy-criticism along the lines of CinemaSins and Honest Trailers. Adam Jahnke covered this well at One Perfect Shot.

Catlateral Damage (2016, PS4) - A Good Time That Leaves You Yarning For More

 
When Keita Takahashi directed Katamari Damacy in 2004, he introduced the world to a game which simultaneously reveled in complete destruction and peaceful innocence. Players rolled up giant balls of junk, demolishing everything in their path in order to build something new while accompanied by a positive soundtrack and adorable graphics. Catlateral Damage, an indie game by Chris Chung, follows a similar path with similarly simple, brightly colored graphics: Taking on the role of an everyday house cat, players must cause as much mischief and knock as many things off of shelves and counters as possible within a time limit.

Kaiju Big Battel Updates

Starting today I'll begin posting Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy reveals on a new blog to make it easy to find and archive all the exciting monster news! All updates will be found here: http://kaijubigbattelgame.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuperWalrusLand/

Announcement: Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy

We're very happy to (re)introduce Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy! With graphics by Soda_piggy and music by Glock & mr8bit, this title is a turn-based RPG that brings the giant monsters of Kaiju Big Battel into a 16-bit role playing world along the lines of the SNES Final Fantasy games.

Designed for Kaiju fans and newcomers alike, Fighto Fantasy takes American Beetle, Silver Potato, and more on a quest through time and space as they work to undo damage caused by the evil Dr. Cube, who has begun rampaging through history. With seven main playable heroes (and a secret one to unlock), players explore six time periods and punch out dozens of deadly monsters.

Keep watching the Super Walrus Land Facebook page for more updates! If all goes well, we're aiming for a late 2016/early 2017 release on PC and Mac, with an Android release to follow. We'll need your help with some votes to get the game on Steam once the time's right!

Batman: Arkham Knight (2015, PS4) - Good Knight Clown Prince

Rocksteady Studios set a new bar with 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum, a title that showed that licensed superhero action games didn't have to feel like cheap cash-ins. With a small but expertly designed game world, bosses that functioned as puzzles, and rhythmic combat that flowed stylishly and felt like a genuine Batman simulator, Arkham Asylum was a great title that nailed what it was going for, up until an incredibly dumb final boss fight that's best ignored.

Two years later, Arkham City was released, giving us a larger, open world (at the expense of some of the first title's atmosphere), more great boss fights, more of the same satisfying combat, some awkward flying puzzles, and abysmally bad (and somehow award-winning) writing. While it improved as a game in many ways, Arkham City's genuinely bad dialogue left a bad taste in my mouth. I skipped the following game, Arkham Origins, a prequel that Rocksteady had no involvement with.
 

Ghost's Diners

With 2015's Arkham Knight, Rocksteady returns and does something genuinely unexpected: This game provides a conclusive, final chapter to the series, taking some narrative risks and separating itself from the worlds of the Batman comics/cartoons/movies. The previous games always struggled to find the right tone, teetering oddly from silly to macabre with little grace, and while this title takes some obvious cues from other Batman stories, it very much feels like its own, confident story.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2015, PS4) - Ghosts 'n Gumshoes

I've enjoyed the recent batch of slow, moody first-person exploration games that have become popular lately. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was a wonderful, quiet horror story with strong Twilight Zone vibes (and a frustratingly slow movement speed), Soma was an incredibly atmospheric aquatic horror (in spite of its sloppy dialogue) and The Witness is a perfect puzzle game that's fun to wander aimlessly through even when you're not solving puzzles. One of the high profile releases in this genre that I missed out on was The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, a title by The Astronauts, a small Polish developer. I recently had a chance to run through it and was simultaneously impressed and a little let down.

Ghost's Towns Update

Ghost's Towns has been updated! Coming up on the game's one year anniversary next month, we now have some new dialogue that hopefully clarifies some questions, a new NPC, some new shortcuts, and a slight rearrangement of two buildings. Best of all, the run button now works in most places.

Download the new version for free on Windows, Mac, and Linux here: http://superwalrusland.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ghost%27s_Towns

The Witch (2016) - Satan Laughing With Delight

With a focus on slow, quiet horror in the 17th century American colonies, New England native Rogert Eggers's directorial debut is an amazingly effective film. Caught between the misery of pilgrim life in a time of exile and blight and the mystery of a dark and threatening forest, a family of seven finds themselves at odds among each other, with nature, and with God.