Photo Recapping 2013 Comic-Con: Vehicles

"Vehicles" may sound like a strange category for a photo recap, but, trust me and the 130,000 people who were at Comic-Con, it's not. In fact, the variety of vehicles is rather extreme, from pedicabs to sports cars to ships. Below is a smattering of the different modes of transportation that we spotted this year! make sure to scroll down toward the bottom to see all of the superhero cars!

Once Upon a Time's third season, set in Neverland, decked out some pedicabs! Amy K. Bredemeyer

a front shot of the Once Upon a Time pedicab, complete with costumed bicyclists! Jonathan Bredemeyer

Hell on Wheels customized the light rail that goes right by the Convention Center! Jonathan Bredemeyer

Revolution decided to dress-up a shuttle bus! Jonathan Bredemeyer

another post-apocalyptic drama, Falling Skies had a bus of its own at an off-site activity rally! Jonathan Bredemeyer

Scooby-Doo is the passenger in this van! Amy Bredemeyer

inside Nerd HQ, they had their own promotion vehicle! Jonathan Bredemeyer

Superman had his car in blue, of course. Jonathan Bredemeyer

I loved the Justice League SUV, especially the individual headrests! Jonathan Bredemeyer

another group car shot! Jonathan Bredemeyer

a new-age Batmobile. Jonathan Bredemeyer

Green Lantern's color scheme caught me by surprise! Jonathan Bredemeyer

who could forget Aquaman? Jonathan Bredemeyer

last but not least, Flash! Jonathan Bredemeyer

the Jackdaw from Assassin's Creed IV. even video games got into the action! Jonathan Bredemeyer

a different kind of ship... this one was for a relay race of sorts that began at Skywalker
Ranch and went all the way to Comic-Con! Jonathan Bredemeyer

last but not least, and it may be the largest stretch of the definition of "vehicle,"
but here's the Despicable Me 2 blimp! Jonathan Bredemeyer

It is difficult to select a favorite, but I have to say that I really liked the pedicabs in comparison to years past, and the train really looked neat in the old-timey facade. We had also seen the Despicable Me blimp before (in San Francisco), but my sister asked for a picture so we snapped a few when it appeared. I think the ships were the most surprising, as there were a couple of others, too. In fact, it was surprising how often "nautical" came up this Con! More pictures coming soon!

Comic-Con 2013: Friday Wrap-Up

Friday was a very interesting day for me because I participated in several Comic-Con events that I usually don't have time to do. I started off the day pretty leisurely, showing up at a Star Trek Catan tournament at 9:30am to play at 10 o'clock. Now, I was rather nervous going in, worried that all of my opponents would be very familiar with that adaptation of Settlers of Catan, while I had only watched the TableTop video and read a few reviews. I was happy to have a sheet detailing the role cards, a special addition to the game (which I love, surprisingly!), as I referred to it often. Game play itself was very slow for my table, due to a resource shortage. We finished easily half an hour after one table, though probably ten minutes quicker than another. For a long time, I had no idea if I'd be able to win, and when things finally started to work in my favor, they started to work in everyone's favor. I was probably two turns from winning when the player to my left earned his tenth victory point. I was a little sad, of course, as the final game would be played against Wil Wheaton, and the prize package for the winner was quite extensive. However, I was also glad that I'd be able to head over to the convention before 4pm, so it worked out. One last note about the game: it was the first time I had ever seen every single development card be purchased!

Jonathan came to watch the end of my game, and so after I grabbed my swag for competing, we grabbed some lunch and headed to the events at Petco Park. We walked around Nerd HQ for about fifteen minutes, then hit the parking lot events, with the hope to see the Falling Skies area. The line for that one ended up being pretty long, especially for what it allegedly featured, but we were able to see a few other attractions, including a bunch of cars painted to have strong superhero themes.

We then split up so we could hit some individual interests, and I headed to the room that would host the 4:30pm panel for Falling Skies, even though it was only a little after 2. I was shocked that I was able to walk right into the room, and wound up sitting through a discussion of Assassin's Creed IV. Although I wasn't able to follow everything, I did find the preview video to be quite spectacular. I do have some notes on this panel (and all of the panels), but that'll have to be for another day.

The next panel in that room before Falling Skies was Marvel's Cup o' Joe, which is more or less a recap of what's coming up for Marvel, then a lengthy Q&A where the panel answered dozens of fan questions. I was shocked at how detailed some of the inquiries were, and then how well the panelists were able to respond! When it was over, Falling Skies began, with Wil Wheaton moderating. It's always amusing when Noah Wyle is brought out first, as the crowd then feels required to cheer as loudly for the rest of the talent. I took copious notes for this one, but let me just get out a few basics now: first, we didn't see anything super-special, as although my jaw dropped at a scene presented, it will be shown on Sunday night, so we have no super-insider information about the series. Second, there was a twitter raffle going on during the panel, but I guess I didn't win, given that I received no replies. But, all attendees did get tickets for the fulfillment room, which allowed us to get a Falling Skies poster tube with two show posters. Better than last year's bracelet, but not as cool as the 2011 hoodie.

The room then switched to movies for the 25th anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which was absolutely packed with tidbits that I ate alive. As I was pretty young when it came out (and I wasn't allowed to watch it when we first got the VHS because of the language), I had never really researched that particular film, so I was elated to learn so much about the challenges and successes it had. Once again, more later.

I ducked into a panel on body image in entertainment, but it was pretty boring (not a scholarly approach or anything), so I left after fifteen minutes to meet up with Jonathan and head over to the Marriott. We stopped in the Hospitality Suite for a few minutes, as we had never done that and I was curious as to what complimentary snacks would be on-hand. Turns out, it's chips, dip, salsa, and M&Ms. From there, we stopped by the fulfillment room before heading over to the Geek and Sundry party, as I had gotten a wristband during the morning competition. The party was nothing spectacular, the DJ was average, the bartenders weren't the nicest, and the roped-off area didn't contain anyone we recognized. So, after an hour, we left, opting to take the shuttle bus back to the hotel and spare 15 minutes or so on out feet.

Now, it's off to bed because it's late and you only ever have to get up earlier at Comic-Con!

Assassin’s Creed III

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

by J. Adams

I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise. My favorite of the series is probably Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, which takes place in Rome during Ezio Auditore’s 3-game story arc. AC: Revelations was also great fun, and I loved Constantinople (which became Istanbul, oddly enough), but it felt like there was a little bit missing. I have been looking forward to AC:III since it was originally announced and, while I am enjoying it, I don’t think it has the same feel as the previous games – and this is rather disappointing.

AC:III continues the present-day story of Desmond Miles, joining his Assassin cell at a cave containing a temple of the First Civilization in the American northeast. Having re-lived the entire life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the Assassin mentor in Europe during the Renaissance, Desmond needs to find a “key” to the device that has been hidden in the temple so that he can (hopefully) protect the Earth from the coming solar maximum. To do this, he’ll be living the memory of yet another ancestor, Connor Kenway, who was an Assassin during the American War for Independence. Like the rest of the series, the game is split into “memory sequences” that are explored and unlocked as the plot unfolds.

The Good:

The gameplay itself is fantastic – motions are fluid, combat is a blast, and the addition of the wilderness and the ability to free-run in the trees or climb large rock faces is more than welcome. There is plenty to do aside from the main story, including building up the Davenport Homestead through “recruiting” settlers that then allow you to harvest materials and craft goods. There are “Mountaineer” challenges that take place in the game’s “frontier” area (the less settled areas of the northeast during the period of the Revolution, containing towns like Lexington and Concord) that consist of hunting animals or debunking wilderness myths from the colonial period.

You can also sail your own ship, the Aquila, along colonial-era trade routes up and down the eastern seaboard and into the Caribbean. The naval gameplay is simplified, so it’s easy to pick up and take part in naval battles, fort attacks, and route patrols. The naval gameplay is so good, in fact, that if Ubisoft were to make a spin-off title based only on running a ship, I’d be among the first in line for a chance to play.

The core of the Assassin’s Creed gameplay is, more than anything, evolved. It’s more fluid, more fun, and more engrossing than ever before.

The Not-So-Good:

I’m not going to go so far as to say that there’s anything “bad” about the game – there really isn’t. I find a few things concerning the plot and the presentation to be a little disappointing, however.

1. A HUGE plot point is dropped onto the player and, if you’re like me and didn’t purchase the “Lost Archive” downloadable content for AC: Revelations, you’ll pause your game for about an hour while you research what the heck happened. In the interest of preventing spoilers, I’m not going to go into any detail.
2. The game actually begins with a player character other than Connor – a man named Haytham Kenway. While he does turn out to be fairly critical to the story, the entirety of the first three Sequences concerns Haytham with the end containing one heck of a twist (which, again, I won’t reveal) and a rather amusing achievement. The problem I had with this is, while Haytham is a critical character, I feel that his story being told in this way – by being a player-character - isn’t really all that crucial and actually detracts from Connor’s own story.
3. Connor himself isn’t really all that likable. One of the reasons that Brotherhood is my favorite is that I really enjoyed the character of Ezio Auditore. I thought it was great fun to play through, essentially, his entire life from birth. To me, the decision to choose the time period in which the game takes place may have been a slight mistake – the game tries to put Connor into a fairly central role in this conflict, but because there is so much going on around it, it’s very easy for both Connor and his story to be lost. I feel like Connor hasn’t been developed as much as could be.

Despite those few negatives, Assassin’s Creed III is a solid game that I’m more than happy to be playing at last. I do hope that Ubisoft becomes aware of these few missteps and works to rectify them in future installments – if they do, it might result in the first perfectly executed game I’ve ever played.