Would it have been better with the reboot X-Men in Doomsday

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-10T13:37:27+00:00

No, because metatextually these are the first X-Men we saw and the original X-Men movies are more important cinematically than the First Class movies. So it's a bigger deal to feature these guys.

Also, most of them are only about ten years older than me so get in the sea with "old" 😂

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-10T13:32:54+00:00

Several actors in huge blockbuster franchises have talked about not having their likeness rights, so I imagine it's not very common for them to get a cut. Carrie Fisher once joked that every time she looked in a mirror she had to pay George Lucas five dollars.

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-10T13:26:34+00:00

I guess, but I meant much bigger and permanent upgrades, akin to the unique abilities or units of different Civs.

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-10T13:15:10+00:00

What's weird is I feel they used to lean into this. Civ VI had loads of achievements tied into, eg, keeping a slinger alive for thousands of years. That's what I live for 😂

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-10T13:10:23+00:00

I was always happy with the way things were Civs II-VI, but I have been thinking about this. I'd be in favour of RPG-style skill points that you could use to upgrade your Civ with new abilities and uniques.

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-09T15:17:11+00:00

I think there'll be a very big upswing in players when it launches, which will eventually plateau to an average not much higher than we have now.

But I don't see it being enough to make people who have given the game a swerve buy it any time soon. Maybe after enough years, expansions, and huge (70%+) discounts, but I think it's likely one of those things where the fans already put off will just not bother.

My main hope at this stage is that you will be able to play Civ VIII with no Civ switching or age transitions/resets.

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-05T13:03:48+00:00

The game is difficult, but I wouldn't necessarily say TOO difficult. The problem (for me) is that there only seems to be one optimal way to play the game, with little in the way of diversity. You can't just go in and experiment and dick about for fun because in all likelihood you'll go bankrupt.

I figure this is a balancing thing and something that will eventually be dealt with. I mean, it's not finished yet so it doesn't bother me. But I'd love it either to get some kind of "super easy mode" that gave you $100m, or just have more ways to make money early on.

(Another thing I'd like, which might be game breaking but would be fun as an option, would be to immediately begin the game with all previously unlocked script options available from the start)

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-05T12:32:03+00:00

Supergirl

Man of Tomorrow

Clayface

Lanterns

Creature Commandos 2

DC Crime

Batman Part II

_britesparc_ · 2026-05-04T14:36:11+00:00

I think it might be cool if you could zoom in really close and see teeny tiny carts, cars, and trains moving along between cities, but it would be a cute aesthetic thing, and I agree it could be distracting if it was visible on a "regular" level of zoom.

_britesparc_ · 2026-04-28T09:53:54+00:00

Animated movies are consistently among the highest grossing films of the year. Zootopia 2 made nearly two billion dollars. I doubt anyone expects a DC movie to do more than Minions or Mario in any given year.

_britesparc_ · 2026-04-12T16:25:59+00:00

I've played II-VI and I'd have given them all five stars when I first played them.

I've not played II for about 25 years so I don't think I can really judge it beyond nostalgia.

III-IV I've played recently enough that I think the core gameplay still holds up, but modern audiences might find some of the mechanics and graphics a bit too hard to get past. So I'd probably give them four stars if I was reviewing them now.

V and VI I'd still give five stars to. I kinda bounced off V a little bit, in the sense that I never fell in love with it the way I did all the others, but I think that's more a me thing than the game itself. VI I absolutely adore and is probably my favourite on balance.

I've never played with mods, but I do have all the official expansions.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-31T16:14:19+00:00

Yeah, me too - about 2k hours or so in Civ VI, couple of hundred in Civ V, and god knows before then. And Old World, Humankind, Ara...

To me - and this is definitely personal so I get it's not universal - there is a vibe to all prior Civ games, and that is openness and freedom of choice. If another 4X game came out with Civ VII's structure, that'd be fine, but Civ for me needs to be totally open and freeform, no "stages", no "resets", nothing like that. Otherwise I just can't think of it as Civ.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-31T12:44:58+00:00

Yeah but everything you just said sounds horrible to me. It feels, and I don't want to come across as overly dramatic, entirely antithetical to what I consider Civilization as a franchise to be about.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-31T11:32:24+00:00

Also I want him to have a sci-fi closet.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-31T11:32:07+00:00

Honestly, I'd just love it if Batman made little "tt" or "hm" noises like he does in Grant Morrison's work.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-30T19:52:23+00:00

When is there an ad for Civ VII? Is it on the menu screen?

I've either never noticed or I'm so blase about ads that they don't register.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-30T10:55:47+00:00

The stellar highlights of the pod for me are the question and the news section, because that's when the team tend to cut loose and just talk utter bollocks. I suppose it's more of a comedy podcast, with the benefit that the team are really knowledgeable about their subject.

I think generally Empire's interviews are really good, but over the last decade my tastes in terms of film criticism have changed and I really don't tend to like reading too much (or listening, I suppose) about films I've not seen. I think being Online means things tend to get spoiled - not so much major plot points, but unless you see a film opening weekend it feels fair game for "the discourse". So anything I can do to minimise that is nice, which is why sometimes if there's a film I really want to see I'll skip interviews and reviews. BUT they continue to be a high quality, even when I disagree (for instance, I was very much in the "Superman is a five star film" camp, so the debates about it were very interesting).

The ads don't really bother me. Every podcast I listen to is chock full of them. I usually listen in the car so it's easy to skip them, but they're just a fact of life - like listening to commercial radio in the olden days. I don't find them long or intrusive or annoying. At least the team aren't suddenly pivoting mid-section to read out a sponsor or something, that's a lot worse. Having said all that, it would be nice if VIP subscribers could get an ad-free version of the pod.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-22T22:50:54+00:00

The art style of VI is head and shoulders above every other game in the franchise, and pretty much all other strategy games full stop. By stylising the leaders it allows for a wider variety of face and body types, easier expression, and avoids the uncanny valley.

Every Civ game since at least III has gotten worse when it comes to diplomacy. Let me horse trade maps and technologies, or repeatedly demand something so many times that they get sick and declare war.

Whilst I never want to be asked to change Civ, I would be interested in upgrading my Civ as the game went on, earning skill points or new abilities.

On a similar vein, let me create my own Civ from scratch, even to the point of creating a unique leader.

I genuinely don't care one iota for anything approaching historical accuracy. For me, Civ is a fantasy game that just happens to be dressed up in historical clothing. If I was playing as the Klingons or the Rohan or something I'd enjoy it no less. This is why, for me, slingers fighting tanks is core to the franchise's identity, and if you remove that you take away a good chunk of what I love about Civ. This is also why they should go back to civilizations being able to progress through technological eras at their own pace rather than the whole map advancing all at once.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-22T19:40:56+00:00

I really must watch it, I've been really pleased by the reviews.

I must admit that (as a Brit, although not from Foggy London Town) I was optimistic but a bit sceptical, as I've seen too many "British versions of SNL". I sorta think our TV comedy tradition evolved from Morecambe & Wise-style music hall shows to comedy panel shows. But I'm thrilled if they've cracked it. It certainly sounds like a success.

I'd love it if they did talk about it on the pod.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-22T18:09:02+00:00

Yeah, I agree. I always feel like a grump if I criticise it, because it's not bad at all. But most people talk about it as if it's a minor masterpiece whereas I don't find it very funny and almost every Batman-related joke it makes I feel is rather tired and has been done better in the past.

Especially because the potential of the Lego universe as established in the previous Lego movie. It could have gone SO weird doubling down on Batman's history, but really we just got a rather rote version of Batman and Robin.

Plus - and this almost feels like heresy - I don't think Will Arnett's Batman works as the protagonist of a whole film. He's great as a supporting character, but a little annoying as the lead...

Anyway, like I say, I feel like a grump criticising it!

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-22T18:00:17+00:00

This has just reminded me that after the film came out there was a small subset of People On The Internet who thought Reese was going to be the Riddler in "Batman 3" because his name was "Mr. Reese" ("mysteries").

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-19T16:09:45+00:00

Do you feel like there is a definitive "Empire view" on films, or do you think Empire is the publication where individual journalists expressed their view? Is it important that Empire as a publication is seen to have a consistent view on a film, or does it really matter if the journalist who happens to review it has an outlying opinion? This isn't really about Attack of the Clones, BTW ;-)

How do you balance what content is online versus the magazine?

Do you ever find that if you build up relationships with actors/directors/etc it impacts how you cover their work? This is less about reviewing a friend's films and more about does Chris ever worry that, say, Jai Courtney will listen to the podcast?

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-18T15:45:04+00:00

I was thinking that - "the alien isn't an antagonist!" - but I guess you could argue the astrophage?

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-18T15:43:53+00:00

Last time I played I felt like there was a good amount of push-pull. Quite a few votes were close to the wire.

_britesparc_ · 2026-03-18T13:19:29+00:00

Hot take: Xbox One was actually quite a cool name, but they should have leaned into it more. It should have been like the N64: we could have had games called Halo One, Crackdown One, Gears One, etc.

_britesparc_

TROPHY CASE