XBLA Review: Double Dragon Neon

I was excited to finally get my hands on Double Dragon Neon, a game that I thought would bring back great memories from the old days of my youth. However, after playing Neon for only a few minutes, I realized that those memories may not have been as great as I thought. Double Dragon Neon isn’t a bad brawler game. But, I will suggest the brawler genre as a whole that needs some serious reimagining.

A couple months ago a friend and I sat down to play Streets of Rage 2 on the Sega Genesis Collection. I remembered really enjoying the game as a kid, but this time I wasn’t having any fun while playing. For me, Streets of Rage simply didn’t withstand the test of time.

Brawler videogames come out of an era when you would do much of your gaming in arcades, feeding quarters into a machine with some friends. The ability to play on the same screen with a buddy, working together to conquer mutual enemies, was much of the appeal of the brawler genre. Fast forward to present day, and none of that is really all that appealing -- we’re used to it.

So, what else does the Neon offer besides multiplayer functionality? Well, not much. You roam around a small game area, punching enemies in the face, and occasionally there will be a terrain hazard or new foe to change up the action.

Movie Review: Dredd 3D (2012)

Judge Dredd is a badass who obeys the law -- perfectly. When he’s sent out to train his new psychic rookie, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), the two find themselves locked down in a gang infested city block, where the only justice crime knows is pain. Dredd 3D is an immensely-fun action thriller that gets right what the 1995 Judge Dredd got so very wrong.

From the opening scene, it’s obvious that Dredd isn’t the type of film that takes itself seriously. This is a bloody satire that, if it wasn’t done right, could have been a colossal failure. The costumes are silly, the setting is hilariously bleak, and the characters aren’t exactly original -- and that’s exactly why it works so well.

Dredd is based on the long running comic strip Judge Dredd which is famous for its tongue-in-cheek approach to tackling important themes, like anarchism and the growing police state. The cyberpunk strip shocked readers with its dystopian visuals and gritty storylines, many of which were very influential in shaping the future of comics.

This latest film adaptation is a successful update that is sure to please fans and newcomers alike. Much like the comic strip that came before it, Dredd is a smart movie, though on its face it may seem like nothing more than a “B” production with a big budget.