Rage of the Red Lanterns, Fallout, Bender's Game

Okay, here's an update on some things that I've been really excited about the last couple of weeks.

1) Rage of the Red Lanterns
For anyone currently reading Green Lantern, 'Rage' is just the latest chapter in the GL epic that writer Geoff Johns has been crafting for over three years. It's amazing how much thought he must have put into this story. The idea of each color in the rainbow (green = willpower, yellow = fear) having a different ability associated with it may seem hokey, but each different 'corps' introduced so far is distinct enough that we can't really confuse one for the other (except for the inevitable problem when the blue and indigo lanterns start appearing side by side).

Green Lantern is the kind of big space saga that's only been mildly used in past Green lantern stories. Geoff Johns takes advantage of the diverse population of the universe and (with the help of others) crafts different and unique aliens to populate the different corps that are coming out the woodwork. I really like the different alien designs that appeared in the previous 'Sinestro Corps War', and if the little cat Red Lantern is any indication, there should be plenty of new and interesting aliens showing up in future issues.

If anyone wants to give Green lantern a try, I am more than willing to loan one of my collections out, so long as I can trust you to return it.

2) Fallout 3
For the last week and a half, I have spent FAR too much time playing Fallout 3. It is a very exhaustive game with a huge world to explore and hundreds (if not thousands) of things to do. Like in the first falout game (for the PC), you play a survivor of a 200-year old nuclear holocaust who has spent all of his (or her) life living in a 'vault', underground fallout shelters the size of a small town. You venture forth to find your father who mysteriously disappeared for some unknown reason.

Fortunately, this is just one possible story you can follow. Don't want to find the dad that left you back at the Vault without so much as a good-bye? Then take out your aggression on over-sized mole rats that populate the immediate area as soon as emerge from the Vault. After that, maybe you could pop into the nearest trader haven called Megaton and chat up some of the locals. Several offer you odd jobs that you can do for them, including defusing an undetonated nuclear warhead lying in the center of town. What's better, is that you could choose to detonate the warhead (from a safe distance) providing you find the recent visitor that would like to see Megaton wiped off the map.

After you've run a few errands for the Megaton citizenry (or celebrated the destruction of the small town with the wicked folk of Tenpenny Tower), feel free to explore the abandoned metro tunnels that run through most of the Capitol Wasteland (the ruins of Washington D.C. are the setting for the game). Of course, the tunnels aren't necessarilly abandoned. Many are populated by Ghouls (fast zombies), Raiders, Mole Rats, and Radroaches to name a few, and they all have gear that you can pick off their corpses and keep for yourself (or sell to a merchant for other goods).

After the subways get a little boring (or you run out of ammo or things to kill), pop on over to Rivet City, an abandoned aircraft carrier that's been converted into a bustling township for a clue to your father's whereabouts.

Almost everyone you encounter has some kind of background that makes the world a little bit more interesting. The entire wasteland is filled with interesting folk to talk, trade with, or help. Several people have a job or two you could do for them to make your way in the world, whether their intentions are good or bad. Don't like running errands for people you just met? Whip out a shotgun and put a load of buckshot between their eyes, but be prepared for any 'witnesses' in the immediate area.

Suffice it to say, there is a ton to do in this game. I can get enough of it and I'm worried I might have a bit of a problem. This game is too good. Don't buy it unless you are prepared to be entranced by this masterpiece of post-apocalyptic storytelling. You control everything you do, so have fun

3) Bender's Game
Bender's Game is the latest direct-to-dvd movie for the hilarious sci-fi animated comedy Futurama. Futurama was much better than the Simpsons because it went with a different setting and actually allowed it's characters to grow with each year. Bender's Game brings the classic game Dungeons and Dragons into the Futurama world by having the drunk robot Bender Bending Rodrigeuz learn the game. I don't want to say any more than that because it might ruin some of the surprises in store for you.


I'll try to update this again soon.

I'm going to write a blog about some of the books (real books, not comics) that I've been reading recently.