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About Me
I am a Lurker for Rapture. My lord Cthulhu will see you all conquered. JOIN THE CULT OF CTHULHU TODAY!!!
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About Me
<img src=http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb424/astro407/Baraka407---Baraka-Sig---GIF1.gif?t=1302751589
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About Me
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About Me
big thanks to flameshang for the sig.
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About Me
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About Me
Never shake hands with a man who wears his heart on his sleeve.
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Group 1: Rik'Ki
Group 2: Dead Soul
Group 3: Kwah Dah
Group 4: Kira
Grab a Popsicle, it's time for another chilling Full-Kontact Character Beatdown!
BLIZZARD
Name: "From the studio that brought you Sub-Zero, another Sub-Zero, Frost, and Cyber Sub-Zero comes a new and original breed of cryomancer. This winter, strap on your parkas and break out the tire chains -- it's time to prepare yourself for... BLIZZARD."
Appearance: It's a pretty basic ninja uniform. In an age of MK development when the classic ninja uniform has gotten so much fan hate that none of the characters actually wear it anymore except as a joke Retro Alternate... Blizzard strives to bring the ninja back. Snowflake motifs alone are not enough to mask his ninjatude, any more than the clouds on MK2 Smoke covered up the fact that he was obviously a palette swap. Fortunately Blizzard's primary costume does look pretty slick (ice pun!) and does a better job of adding some characteristic twists to the old theme, hinting slightly at Sub-Zero's "Dragon King Armor" phase in MKD.
The snowflake blades do give Blizzard a different style than the other three cryomancers. But as the character write-up already knows, they do look an awful lot like Kitana's steel fans. And you know who usually uses Kitana's steel fans? A woman. A princess, no less. Combine the delicate and gentle snow motif with the elegant whirling motions of the Steel Fan/Sun-Moon fighting style, and Blizzard starts to seem a little bit effeminate. Now there's nothing wrong with that if the character is trying not to be super-masculine like every other male character. But here it seems like an accident, and for the sake of ice puns it's not the best way to break the ice. As we've seen with the rampant fan jabbing at MK9 Smoke, with his emotional nature and hair straight out of a L'oreal commercial and the hand in his versus screen pose, an unintentionally effeminate character makes an easy target for ridicule. Now we don't mean to give Blizzard the cold shoulder here, but that particular ice pun has to go in this review somewhere so there it is.
Story: At first, Blizzard appears to be nothing more than an uninspired Sub-Zero clone. But a closer look at his bio reveals that he's really a... clone... of the original Sub-Zero... like, for really. Huh. We almost wonder if this is some kind of in-joke like the whole Purple Rain thing. But all joking aside, if we're going to have an obvious knockoff of Sub-Zero in the roster, this is probably one of the few good ways to do it.
In this story, the Lin Kuei Grandmaster foresees that his top assassin, Bi-Han, is about to be iced by a vengeful rival. The ice pun is bad enough, but the Grandmaster's handling of this problem is even worse. Instead of training Kuai Liang to take up the job (or maybe warning Bi-Han of his impending fate) he has a backup copy of Sub-Zero cloned in advance and prepares that one to take his place. It's kind of a weird plan, and we're not sure how exactly this plan fits together with the Cyber Initiative, considering no effort is ever made to automate Blizzard. But really, this kind of spaghetti logic is pretty believable for the Grandmaster. His decisions throughout the series are so idiotic that even Raiden, Earthrealm's patron god of bad decision making, totally calls him out on it.
When Blizzard emerges from secrecy to fight the Lin Kuei's enemies, the real impact that he has on the game is twofold. First and foremost, it takes the Bi-Han/Kuai Liang Sub-Zero dual identity plot and turns it into a full-on identity crisis. Bi-Han now competes for his legacy with both his brother and his clone, which is more than any one man should have to deal with. Even though Sub-Zero is just built for ice puns, it's hard to believe he'd be quite so chill about his secret clone coming out of nowhere and stealing his life.
But on the plus side -- and this is Blizzard's second effect on the game -- he actually does fill in a vacant spot in the MK lineup. Bi-Han is now a shadow wraith, and Kuai Liang has been cyborged, so somebody new has to show up so you can actually play some good old-fashioned classic Sub-Zero. And in Blizzard's ending, the three of them banding together to organize the new Lin Kuei actually sounds like a kick-ice team. Ice. Pun.
Gameplay: So Blizzard is the Sub-Zero that you can play now that both of the previous ones are forever changed. Sure, we can go with that. The thing about that is, he doesn't play anything like our old familiar cold-hearted assassin, to use another ice pun. Sub-Zero's tactics haven't changed much in the span of nine fighting games and two adventure spinoffs, but despite being Bi-Han's exact genetic double created for the express purpose of replacing Sub-Zero, Blizzard is truly a whole new person with a unique set of freezing skills.
His snow-based specials look pretty cool, ice pun. They're different than what we're used to seeing with Sub-Zero, which could be good or bad. We remember when Jarek first stepped into the arena in MK4, he was just a Kano Transformation with a new name and absolutely zero (ice pun intended) explanation for how he had eye lasers, and fans hated him because why not just bring Kano back?
Well with Blizzard, Sub-Zero is actually back, and he makes the equal and opposite mistake as Jarek. Sub's trademark long-range freeze ball, ice clone, and slide kick are all gone; instead he has Kitana's fan toss and fan stabs for some reason, and these huge Avalanche attacks that seem exceedingly difficult to avoid. We can see that Blizzard is trying to reinvent Sub-Zero by having his clone learn different moves, which makes sense based on his story and is good for his standing in this contest. But bringing this character into an actual game is kind of walking on thin ice with the fans, because this review really needs some more ice puns.
Personality: Blizzard demonstrates dedication to the clan and his Grandmaster that absolutely no other Lin Kuei member has shown since Bi-Han's death. This may be because the Grandmaster gave him special treatment and spared him the cyborgs' fate. But aside from that we don't get much of a personal feel from him like we do from everyone else. Besides fighting for the clan he doesn't seem to have any real motivations, goals, or feelings of his own. Even when he freeze his brothers from their enslavement with another ice pun, we get no brotherly vibe between them -- it just sort of happened while he was doing his job.
Conclusion: As far as fan-made cryomancers go, Blizzard is certainly above average. As it is with the Zaterrans, every time a new one pops up it makes the existing ones seem less rare and special in the MK universe, but Blizzard neatly skirts around this problem and gives us something reasonably compelling and unique. It's great for a fan character, but unfortunately from a real-life game standpoint the idea has many weaknesses. If NRS decided to clone Sub-Zero, they'd be accused of pulling an excuse out of their asses to bring him back, and they'd be buried in an avalanche of fan hate.
Yeah, you saw what happened there.
Beatdown Lineup: Eastwind, Ekimaru, Gragtek
Group 2: Dead Soul
Group 3: Kwah Dah
Group 4: Kira
malKilroy Wrote:
I'm ready for a Kharacter Beatdown on Blizzard.
I'm ready for a Kharacter Beatdown on Blizzard.
Grab a Popsicle, it's time for another chilling Full-Kontact Character Beatdown!
BLIZZARD
Name: "From the studio that brought you Sub-Zero, another Sub-Zero, Frost, and Cyber Sub-Zero comes a new and original breed of cryomancer. This winter, strap on your parkas and break out the tire chains -- it's time to prepare yourself for... BLIZZARD."
Appearance: It's a pretty basic ninja uniform. In an age of MK development when the classic ninja uniform has gotten so much fan hate that none of the characters actually wear it anymore except as a joke Retro Alternate... Blizzard strives to bring the ninja back. Snowflake motifs alone are not enough to mask his ninjatude, any more than the clouds on MK2 Smoke covered up the fact that he was obviously a palette swap. Fortunately Blizzard's primary costume does look pretty slick (ice pun!) and does a better job of adding some characteristic twists to the old theme, hinting slightly at Sub-Zero's "Dragon King Armor" phase in MKD.
The snowflake blades do give Blizzard a different style than the other three cryomancers. But as the character write-up already knows, they do look an awful lot like Kitana's steel fans. And you know who usually uses Kitana's steel fans? A woman. A princess, no less. Combine the delicate and gentle snow motif with the elegant whirling motions of the Steel Fan/Sun-Moon fighting style, and Blizzard starts to seem a little bit effeminate. Now there's nothing wrong with that if the character is trying not to be super-masculine like every other male character. But here it seems like an accident, and for the sake of ice puns it's not the best way to break the ice. As we've seen with the rampant fan jabbing at MK9 Smoke, with his emotional nature and hair straight out of a L'oreal commercial and the hand in his versus screen pose, an unintentionally effeminate character makes an easy target for ridicule. Now we don't mean to give Blizzard the cold shoulder here, but that particular ice pun has to go in this review somewhere so there it is.
Story: At first, Blizzard appears to be nothing more than an uninspired Sub-Zero clone. But a closer look at his bio reveals that he's really a... clone... of the original Sub-Zero... like, for really. Huh. We almost wonder if this is some kind of in-joke like the whole Purple Rain thing. But all joking aside, if we're going to have an obvious knockoff of Sub-Zero in the roster, this is probably one of the few good ways to do it.
In this story, the Lin Kuei Grandmaster foresees that his top assassin, Bi-Han, is about to be iced by a vengeful rival. The ice pun is bad enough, but the Grandmaster's handling of this problem is even worse. Instead of training Kuai Liang to take up the job (or maybe warning Bi-Han of his impending fate) he has a backup copy of Sub-Zero cloned in advance and prepares that one to take his place. It's kind of a weird plan, and we're not sure how exactly this plan fits together with the Cyber Initiative, considering no effort is ever made to automate Blizzard. But really, this kind of spaghetti logic is pretty believable for the Grandmaster. His decisions throughout the series are so idiotic that even Raiden, Earthrealm's patron god of bad decision making, totally calls him out on it.
When Blizzard emerges from secrecy to fight the Lin Kuei's enemies, the real impact that he has on the game is twofold. First and foremost, it takes the Bi-Han/Kuai Liang Sub-Zero dual identity plot and turns it into a full-on identity crisis. Bi-Han now competes for his legacy with both his brother and his clone, which is more than any one man should have to deal with. Even though Sub-Zero is just built for ice puns, it's hard to believe he'd be quite so chill about his secret clone coming out of nowhere and stealing his life.
But on the plus side -- and this is Blizzard's second effect on the game -- he actually does fill in a vacant spot in the MK lineup. Bi-Han is now a shadow wraith, and Kuai Liang has been cyborged, so somebody new has to show up so you can actually play some good old-fashioned classic Sub-Zero. And in Blizzard's ending, the three of them banding together to organize the new Lin Kuei actually sounds like a kick-ice team. Ice. Pun.
Gameplay: So Blizzard is the Sub-Zero that you can play now that both of the previous ones are forever changed. Sure, we can go with that. The thing about that is, he doesn't play anything like our old familiar cold-hearted assassin, to use another ice pun. Sub-Zero's tactics haven't changed much in the span of nine fighting games and two adventure spinoffs, but despite being Bi-Han's exact genetic double created for the express purpose of replacing Sub-Zero, Blizzard is truly a whole new person with a unique set of freezing skills.
His snow-based specials look pretty cool, ice pun. They're different than what we're used to seeing with Sub-Zero, which could be good or bad. We remember when Jarek first stepped into the arena in MK4, he was just a Kano Transformation with a new name and absolutely zero (ice pun intended) explanation for how he had eye lasers, and fans hated him because why not just bring Kano back?
Well with Blizzard, Sub-Zero is actually back, and he makes the equal and opposite mistake as Jarek. Sub's trademark long-range freeze ball, ice clone, and slide kick are all gone; instead he has Kitana's fan toss and fan stabs for some reason, and these huge Avalanche attacks that seem exceedingly difficult to avoid. We can see that Blizzard is trying to reinvent Sub-Zero by having his clone learn different moves, which makes sense based on his story and is good for his standing in this contest. But bringing this character into an actual game is kind of walking on thin ice with the fans, because this review really needs some more ice puns.
Personality: Blizzard demonstrates dedication to the clan and his Grandmaster that absolutely no other Lin Kuei member has shown since Bi-Han's death. This may be because the Grandmaster gave him special treatment and spared him the cyborgs' fate. But aside from that we don't get much of a personal feel from him like we do from everyone else. Besides fighting for the clan he doesn't seem to have any real motivations, goals, or feelings of his own. Even when he freeze his brothers from their enslavement with another ice pun, we get no brotherly vibe between them -- it just sort of happened while he was doing his job.
Conclusion: As far as fan-made cryomancers go, Blizzard is certainly above average. As it is with the Zaterrans, every time a new one pops up it makes the existing ones seem less rare and special in the MK universe, but Blizzard neatly skirts around this problem and gives us something reasonably compelling and unique. It's great for a fan character, but unfortunately from a real-life game standpoint the idea has many weaknesses. If NRS decided to clone Sub-Zero, they'd be accused of pulling an excuse out of their asses to bring him back, and they'd be buried in an avalanche of fan hate.
Yeah, you saw what happened there.
Beatdown Lineup: Eastwind, Ekimaru, Gragtek
About Me
art by fear-sAs0
About Me
Never shake hands with a man who wears his heart on his sleeve.
0
About Me
Right here is where the end gon' start at... Konflict, kontact 'n' kombat
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About Me
0
About Me
Right here is where the end gon' start at... Konflict, kontact 'n' kombat
0
About Me
0
About Me
Right here is where the end gon' start at... Konflict, kontact 'n' kombat
0
About Me
0
About Me
Right here is where the end gon' start at... Konflict, kontact 'n' kombat
0
About Me
0
About Me
What do you like? Hit the Toasty thumbs up on articles and forum posts for a quick response!
0
About Me
What do you like? Hit the Toasty thumbs up on articles and forum posts for a quick response!
0
About Me
Right here is where the end gon' start at... Konflict, kontact 'n' kombat
0
About Me
I am a Lurker for Rapture. My lord Cthulhu will see you all conquered. JOIN THE CULT OF CTHULHU TODAY!!!
0
About Me
0
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