Bright Lights, Dark City - 'Gotham' (A Polite 'N Prefatory Review)

Riddlers, Penguins and maybe-Jokers (oh my!), but not a Two-Face to been seen. Odd, really, considering the schizophrenic nature of Gotham's premiere episode; ex-D.A. Harvey Dent would definitely be of two minds on the subject. On the one hand there's a passable cop story of corruption and betrayal (soft-boiled but pushing the 8 p.m. envelope for sure), focusing on young Jim Gordon, a newbie do-gooder, and his partner Harvey Bullock, a nihilist drunk, chasing the man who killed the Waynes. On the other you've got a Batman story that does not actually feature Batman, nor will it even should the show run many seasons. On the surface Gotham is a transparent try by DC Comics to milk more cash from their one sure-fire property and to win a timeslot with a wider draw than Arrow can offer. Underneath, however, I detect a genuinely good-hearted attempt to put old wine in new bottles by repackaging the Dark Knight's sacred canon, melding comic mythos and serial sensibilities into a show that wasn't awful and may very well get better.

So, back to the past we go. Just like Smallville, just like Star Trek, just like Terminator, just like the hated Prequels, to scratch the surface. Comedian Patton Oswalt lambasted Hollywood's baffling obsession with backstories with a theory called Jon Voight's Ballsack, i.e. if you like looking at something (Angelina Jolie), it follows that you will equally love the forbearer of that thing (the pink, glistening ball sack of actor Jon Voight from which Ms. Jolie emerged). Ergo, seeing where the things you love came from is just as good as seeing the things you love. Obviously Mr. Oswalt is a detractor, as am I, though I am willing to acknowledge those few exceptions that have proven the rule such as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and, yes, Batman Begins. But if Begins was a retelling of Batman's origins, what is Gotham?

In as much as it can be judged from a single episode, it is less of a strict retelling of a pre-Bats Gotham and more of a selective re-imagining of the events and people that birthed him, a sort of 'what if...?' scenario fueled by the grimmest kind of whimsy. If you're a member of the Orthodox Church of the Batman and pillory any departures from immutable Dark Knight lore, this series may be more trouble for you than it's worth. I admit over 48 minutes to eliciting many a harumph myself and rolling my eyes more than a little. There are too many liberties both big and small for this to be considered an adaptation of existing work and the show rips it's britches more than once reconciling the ages, roles, backgrounds and personalities of the characters. Neophytes won't complain, but traditionalists will likely balk at the fuzzy math and blunt characterizations. 

Rather than expound for paragraphs on each detail I thought I'd share a sampling of my notepad from the debut episode - truly, first impressions are the most telling:

• “Rich city detail, furbelows and visual flare of Gotham – grit, lights, color, sound, steam, skyways(!)...how many composites, how much CG?”
• “Interesting: Wayne murder off-canon - deliberate handing of pearl necklace, shooting is COLD, INTENTIONAL, not panicked but calm and calculated...”
• “Gordon's cocky, has a backstory (ugh!), shouldn't have made him a soldier – PTSD bordering on trite...tells B. Wayne 'I know how you feel right now'...NO! NO, HE DOESN'T – HE NEVER HAS – THAT'S WHY JIM GORDON NEVER BECAME BATMAN HIMSELF.” [original caps and underlines from notes]
• “B. Wayne child actor seems very good.”
• “Alfred as a Guy Ritchie caricature-slash-soccer hooligan ('Mate' and 'oy!' with a RAISED VOICE!?!?) Not the lessons B-Man needs to learn from him..."
• “Dire need to hook audience ASAP...abandons subtlety, straight for the carrot – Riddler especially...slow down boy, we've got more episodes...
• “Jada P. Smith terrible as usual, chewing – gnashing – every goddamn scene...overdone...overdone...3 accents in 3 lines, or just awful at her job?"
• "Fish Mooney: understand need for non-white faces but Falcone employing non-family turf bosses is way outta character...”
• “Why is Cobblepot tall? Funny nose/milky complexion not half as important as small stature, dammit!!!”
• “Good job putting various cops at loggerheads...this is the most believable part...not overbearing, smart...”
• “They use old cellphones...BECAUSE IT'S THE PAST, GET IT???”
• “Supermodel wife, free r&b in a high-rise apartment w/a Hell of a view...how much of a sympathetic everyman is JG really??”
• “End: Don't think Gordon would've played Bullock's 'game', but can see the need to stretch conflict, tension, shows, and was that shot of TOXIC WASTE barrels at the docks supposed to be a hint???"

There's little I despise more than armchair quarterbacking – except maybe premature armchair quarterbacking – so I'll leave it at that. One episode is hardly enough to render a final judgment much less come down on the series for anything worse than quibbles. I will say I am a huge fan of showrunner Bruno Heller's series Rome, and it shouldn't be lost on anyone who followed that series how Heller vaulted the narrative ahead ten years from one episode to another almost without a wrinkle. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something similar with Gotham should the show survive the ratings crucible; audiences will want to see the seeds sown in these early episodes bear fruit in less time than it will actually take for Wayne to don the cape and cowl. How long do you let a super-villain simmer before he's ready to pop?  We'll see.

And I'll be watching.    

'Destiny' Fulfilled? Slick Action, Jaw-Dropping Visuals Redeem a Surprisingly Shallow Shooter

Views like this make it all worth it...

Abraham Lincoln said 'You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time'.  Replace the word 'fool' with the word 'please' and you have an accurate summation of Destiny.  Not that folks who brought you Halo and its wildly successful sequels didn't try to be all things to all people, but it's easier to mention what Bungie Studio's new nine-figure opus isn't instead of what it is.  It ISN'T a role-playing game, it ISN'T an MMO, nor is it a plain vanilla 'shoot-the-bad-guy-bad-guy-falls-down' splatterfest.  It's like your first plate off the buffet line: a heaping mix of all those elements pureed with starchy post-apocalyptic flotsam and a heavy squeeze of arena combat slathered on top.  It fails to master any one of these elements but compensates for it by offering carpal tunnel-caliber quantities of everything on the menu.  It looks incredible and it's a lot of fun but, like even the best buffet in town, I wouldn't want to eat there every night.

Gameplay can be parsed into four categories.  Story Mode takes you through Destiny's narrative such as it is and presents you with a series of gradually more challenging scenarios, mini-bosses and end-level foes.  Progress here opens the map to new areas of the solar system for you to explore, from your starting point on Earth to Earth's moon, Venus, the asteroid belt and Mars.  Each of these settings is essentially a giant, highly detailed arena to which you will return again (and again) many times as you complete story-driven tasks.  Patrol is free play, a chance to romp over hill and dale killing as you go from the endlessly respawning supply of enemies. Here you can complete side missions for additional XP, cash and bonus loot.  Strike missions are three-man jobs that pit a fireteam of real dudes (that's you, and maybe your buddies) against high-level enemies and obstacles crafted specifically for this mode of play.  The XP and bonuses are big, but you have to play as a team (ugh).  Finally there is the Crucible, Destiny's all-purpose fight club where players engage in that timeless measuring of dicks known as PvP.  This is for people who enjoy the human aspect of a shared world game but won't get their money's worth until they've cornered an 10 year-old from Saskatchewan and shot him in the face with a space revolver.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a humbug when it comes to the more social aspects of the Destiny experience.  I dabbled in Massive Multiplayers, found I didn't care for them, and generally subscribe to the tenet that video games are best for escaping real people, not for bumping into still more of them.  I know many would argue that human players offer a different sort of challenge from computer foes, of which even the smartest remain pretty predictable.  No argument there, and at least as concerns the Strike missions I know I should be more of a participant.  But dueling random dudes and dudettes has never interested me; I fight enough such specimens when they merge into my lane during morning commute.  On the battlefield you're likely to stumble into a fracas-in-progress between a squad of goons and fellow Real Person.  Whether you join in is up to you, but as a lone wolf I know I wouldn't want anyone doing my fighting for me, so I tend to give my fellow Real People plenty of space.  I'm not much of a sharer, and if you're reading this for greater insight on Destiny's interactive elements, you might want to look elsewhere.

[ADDENDUM: Before posting this review I did participate in one of Destiny's 'Public Events', sort of communal free-for-all missions with big enemies and high-risk, high-reward combat.  The job here was to take down one stubborn foe with a lot of HP. Initially only myself and one other chap participated and we were badly outclassed, but Public Events are announced to all players in the area and in moments backup had arrived in the form of five other players.  We dog-piled on the guy and killed his ass, winning a 'Gold Tier' commendation and some fancy loot.  This constitutes only my second online interaction of my Destiny experience, the first being when I waved to a guy.]

So what's an antisocial scoundrel like myself to do?  There's grinding off course, hosing bad guys left and right purely for the purposes of leveling up and scouring better swag. Here at least Bungie provides ample incentive to put in the hours.  Your Guardian – either Titan (bruiser), Hunter (rogue), or Warlock (wizard) can equip a generous compliment of weapons that fall into broad categories – Main, Special, and Heavy – but there are no restrictions on which class of character can use which weapons; you are free to use what you like and pawn what you don't.  Weapons you do favor often attain special modifications and performance bonuses you can activate for a modest one-time fee, ensuring your tried-and-true armaments won't be overshadowed by the every shiny new thing.  The same goes for armor, which in a shared social game like Destiny is as much a badge of honor as the number over your name – players with the most tricked out threads are generally the most badass, and for myself (a Hunter) I confess a certain pride in achieving Level 10, ditching my beginner's scarf and donning a full-fledged cloak. I mean, c'mon...people are looking, after all.  Your character's skill trees are large and require patience to unlock all the way, but the upgrades are (mostly) worth the wait and you're even allowed to swap between certain skills depending on your style of play.  It's a thoughtful system that keeps you hungry, humble, and on your toes.

Bungie further pads the grind aspect by integrating other forms of currency with correspondingly awesome rewards.  Vanguard Points are awarded for completing Patrol bounties and Motes of Light – awarded for dispensing enemies with your special attack – can be redeemed for special gear.  The problem with ALL these currencies is that they are hard to come by, slow to accumulate, and a bitch to remember which goes where.  The developers clearly recognized the need to give the player a reason to keep picking up the controller once the story was done.  The varied coinage – and the glacial rate at which bonuses accrue – dangle just enough carrot over the average gamer to keep him coming back, bleary-eyed and stiff-backed, chanting the ceaseless mantra “one more mission, one more mission”.  I know because I'm guilty of this myself, which is a testament at least to how well the Halo makers know their audience and how to keep them hooked.

'Okay, now I KNOW this isn't the line for Comic Con...'

So what is Destiny about, anyway? Good question. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

I jest, but only kinda.  If there's a weak link in this title's presentation it is definitely the thin and utterly baffling plot, a hazy soup of disjointed backstory, foggy technobabble, and muddled sci-fi tropes. What I do know is you (good guy) must discover the mysteries behind the benevolent Traveler (big floating sphere guy) and it's arch-nemesis the Darkness (bad guy) by exploring the ruins of humanity's once great civilization before it was destroyed by evil jerkwads. Sounds like a lot of stuff you've heard before, only Destiny attempts this without a single fleshed-out character or passable line of dialogue.  Your hero begins a blank slate and remains so throughout, barely uttering three full sentences during the (rare) cutscenes as he/she (passably) interacts with a supporting cast of monotone dullards.  Considering the caliber of the script, however, reticence is probably a good thing.  Here's my favorite doozy: “They're so evil they even despise all other evil.” Well shit, I'm no expert but that sounds really evil to me.  Add to that a disembodied central villain with no face or voice and a horde of terra cotta enemies that never feel threatening and it becomes damned difficult to stay engaged. This is the Star Wars prequels with shaken baby syndrome.

Story missions are light on red meat and heavy on the breadcrumbs, as in the trail of breadcrumbs you follow mission after mission, killing hordes of underlings then waiting for your floating eyeball AI named Ghost (Game of Throne's Peter Dinklage) to tell you why you're here, at which point Ghost spouts some flummery about decoding signals and ancient evils. Shoot some stuff, get some loot, mission ends, good show, ripping job...now do it again. It is repetitive, it is predictable, and though it provides more variety than Patrol mode, like Kathy Griffin, it can't avoid getting old forever. Dinklage gets a decent selection of lines, though we hear them through a tinny filter and can glean only a flutter of emotion.  Much was made of the 'woodenness' of his performance during Destiny's alpha and beta testing, but considering what Mr. Dinklage is made to work with I think he does just fine; he's also the closest thing you're going to get to a real performance in this game, making it akin to a damp sponge in the midst of a barren desert that feels like a gushing oasis.

But at least your eyes will be entertained.  Come what may, Destiny is a joy to look at. On a PS4 the light, shading, textures and colors are all sublime, with a degree of fine detail probably not seen on the next-gen systems thus far.  Action, in particular gunfights, are varied and seamless with no noticeable lag or chop even when the screen is afire with warriors and ordinance.  I wish there was more time to just gawk at the scenery but a shared world waits for no man, especially when the bad guys can shoot you even when you hit 'Pause'.

Around hour five or so the thought will likely hit you (as it did me): what's missing? Were we swindled by Bungie, who promised us the world and failed to deliver? Why does this review join a chorus of others expressing a similar sentiment – that we signed up for filet mignon and ended up with ground chuck?  If we were promised a vast and expansive world, why do the various settings eventually feel like cages?  Why the repetition? Why the emotional disconnect?

Well, Bungie surely did what any game developer would do, which was market their game as aggressively as possible – a $500 million price tag doesn't leave a company many other options for securing a RoI. Looking back on the trailers and demos, the E3 showcase and the beta feedback, it was easy to be hornswaggled into thinking the finished version would be an epic of never-before-seen proportions, a Lord of the Rings meets Firefly with a liberal dash of Elder Scrolls.  Alas, if anyone can be accused of having head-in-clouds syndrome it's us, the players.  I believed the hype, too, and I was prepared to surrender a considerable amount of free time to mastering the world of Destiny in much the same way I did Skyrim: with a measured, methodical approach that allowed me to explore the whole of the virtual world, wander at a Gandalf-ian pace and see the sights. Alas, you can't do that.  The virtual world is a coliseum of carnage dressed in pretty gems and the stark plains and rolling hillsides are drenched in alien goo.  We'll have to wait another day for a truly immersive space story in the next-gen. Until then all we can do is shoot.

Bungie promises added replay value in the future. This isn't just a shared world, after all, it's an online one, constantly growing, updating, and refining itself.  Scheduled events called 'raids' offer Woodstock-like gatherings of Guardian faithful for the chance to participate in epic showdowns, and the currency system ensures there's reason to grind even after hitting the 'soft' level cap of 20. Is Bungie covering it's butt, stung, perhaps, by the lukewarm feedback?  Or have we really come in on the ground floor of a new paradigm in gaming, that of a collective universe where developer and player(s) interact continuously and the best is yet to come?  It's possible that a year or two from now the initial Destiny experience may be just growing pains on the way to a game-making revolution that may, among other things, leave curmudgeons like myself in the dust.  In the meantime I plan to enjoy Destiny for what it is and not dwell on what it isn't. I may not like sharing my world, but I am an eternal optimist.