Alphas: "Alphaville" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

"Alphaville" might have had its fair share of exciting moments (I'm looking directly at you "Cameron shoots that stealth Alpha right in his stupid toe shoe!"), but it didn't quite leave me feeling all-together satisfied. By the end, with regards to Stanton Parish's mysterious hospital tech, we only discovered what we already knew. That the light oscillations cause an amplification of Alpha abilities. And then Dr. Rosen inadvertently burned down a bunch of peaceful Alphas homes and we were done.

Still, it was great to see Summer Glau back on the show as Skylar Adams, the super-genius Forge-style mutant who knows her tech. This time around, Skylar's struggling as a mom to a hyper-active Alpha kid. And while that storyline might have fallen a bit flat - as well as Nina tagging along and doing nothing - the most interesting thing to come out of it was Parish's proposition to Skylar at the end. And seeing as how Skylar's doing everything in her life for Zoe right now, no matter how miserable it makes her, she might actually join up with Parish's camp.

I liked watching Dr. Rosen come face to face with a bunch of Alphas who weren't too crazy about him blabbing their secret out to the world - but all he got was scolded. Right before he made all their lives even worse. Claude, the bee-whisperer, could have been more (and had a better power), but instead he was just too much of a peace-loving nature-protector to do anything more than lecture Rosen. Which, I suppose, was a good thing for Rosen. But nothing ever came of their mini-confrontations, and in the end all Claude could do was say "Haven't you done enough?" as Rosen tried to help the residents of the tucked-away summer camp evacuate their land due to a Scipio-caused forest fire. And at no time (and perhaps this might even be one of the best things about Rosen) did Rosen ever retro-doubt his decision to go public. No, with him it's ever-forward, with hardly ever a chink in his ideological armor.

There were some fun character moments here, namely from Gary, who went from forest-hater to a guy who could spend his time "listening to the sun." Gary's at his best when he's semi-cranky, but at his worst when the stubbornness brought upon by his mental condition causes him to make dumb decisions that put him and team in danger. But, for the most part, Gary's venture into his first ever signal "dead zone" was a hoot. Rachel, who became an unwitting test subject for Parish's device, found herself overwhelmed when all of her senses went haywire. But in the end, it helped "cure" her of the over-reactions she was having when she was set on "normal." It felt like a teensy bit of a cheat, but I'll allow it. Season 2 seems to be about figuring out solutions to the character-specific hurdles from Season 1.

It's also fun to watch how certain Alphas can have the same, or similar, powers to others. The stealth Alpha reminded me a bit of Rebecca Mader's "Griffin" character in "Blind Spot." And Cameron found himself battling Trisha - a chick with crazy-ass agility like his own. As for the rest of the episode? Well, the inevitable reveal (to the team) that Dani is the mole could be good. But we've known her for such a short while, and we were just hit with the fact that she and Cameron were a couple. I just don't think it will wind up having the impact something like that should. I'm wondering if this all should have been kept a secret from us too, instead of playing out in a dramatically ironic fashion. Too late for that though. No sense in retrofitting.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and IGN. WARNING: No Nudity!

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Resident Evil's Weirdest Enemies

Through the years, the Resident Evil franchise has offered its fair share of epic, zombie-fueled adventures. From the exceptional first entries that focused on survival horror to the more action-oriented modern releases like Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 - the franchise stands as a shining example of how to do zombie-gore right.

The funny thing is, the more memorable Resident Evil enemies usually aren't traditional zombies. In fact, some of them are downright weird. Elephants, giant snakes, plants, dudes in armor - when you really think about it, some of the creatures we've taken down in the name of survival have been pretty damn freaky.

In honor of the forthcoming release of Resident Evil 6, we've compiled the absolute weirdest enemies the RE franchise has to offer. These are in no particular order - although I think we can all agree the zombie elephant would have been number one. Take a look, then let us know your own favorites in the comments afterward.

On to the weirdness!

Neptune

As if Great White sharks weren't frightening enough, the bastards at Umbrella had to go and make B.O.W.s out of them. Bop it on the nose! I hear they hate that...

Hunter

Good ole hunters - giant, reptilian B.O.W.s with giant claws and mean tempers. He looks like he's yelling, "WHY ARE MY HANDS SO BIG!?"

Eliminator

ZOMBIE MONKEY! How can you not like that? Still - it's freaking weird.

Plague Crawler

Ew. Freaking... EW! Giant bugs are not only nasty, and unsanitary, they're also just not normal. Bugs should stay bug-sized.

Stalker

You only thought Aslan was on your side.

Web Spinner

This one's kind of just a spider. But it's HUGE! That's weird.

G

Not surprisingly, G is a product of the G-Virus. It's born from a human host - which is not only strange, but also endlessly unsettling. Also, if you looked at that and didn't think "zombie E.T." - shame on you.

Duvalia

This dude makes those Plagas that burst from your neck seem downright friendly. Disgusting.

Titan

It's a zombie elephant. What more do you need to know?

Alligator

A zombie alligator is different from a regular alligator because... it... well... it's bigger. That's about it.

Queen Leech

A former pet of Dr. Marcus, the Queen Leech is a product of Progenitor virus experimentation. That's what you get for keeping a leech as a pet. Freak. It also looks strangely like Bongo Bongo from The Legends of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Except without the bongo...

Ivy

A lot of the other enemies on this list are funny, but still frightening. This one is a plant with legs - which is just dumb.

Cephalo

It's like some sick game of jack-in-the-box, but where Jack is a disgusting Plaga that pops out of a zombie's severed neck rather than a box. Thanks for stomping all over our innocence, RE. At least he's wearing sandals, though. You can't be afraid of a man in sandals.

William Birkin

Man, and you thought your family was messed up. Worst. Father. EVER.

Armadura

A suit of armor infected by a Plaga. WTF?! So many questions... so few answers.

Big Man Majini

This one is basically just a big dude. The fact that he doesn't look at all like a zombie is the weird part. Um, ya. Moving on.

Licker

Its body is rotting, but its brain is perfectly intact? Its tongue is longer than its neck? This classic villain makes no sense. Watch out though! It'll lick you to death! Nooooo!

Giant Moth

Look at his mouth - this guy was clearly infected by the Zoidberg virus. Seriously though, what were they hoping to accomplish with this one? When is Umbrella going to learn that no one benefits from giant, infected bugs?

Bitores Mendez

That... has got to hurt.

Ghiozzo

That ginormous fish-monster could never fit in that tiny pool. Weird!

Lurker

Okay, this guy is just awesome. Expect to trip the **** out if you lick this frog's back. And maybe die. And maybe turn into a zombie. Proceed with caution.

Ndesu

He was actually only unshaven before the mutation happened and now look - a full beard! Also, he wears a dead dude for a belt buckle.

Executioner

At what point did he decide it was a good idea to stick nails in his head and torso? Dumbass.

Cerberus

The RE developers sure do love their zombie dogs. He looks more like a "Spot" to me though. I mean, come on. Silly RE developers. Cerberous has three heads.

Yawn

The most badass of badass snakes, Yawn is an awesome - though admittedly weird - B.O.W. that likes to hang around creepy mansions. That expression though - not frightening. He's either yawning, as his name implies, or the happiest puppy ever. I wish I felt half that good right now.

Were those weird enough for you? Did we miss any? Sound off in the comments below, and be sure to let us know your picks for the weirdest Resident Evil enemies.

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!

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The iPhone 5 Rumor Roundup Continues

While the media's patience wears thin and the Android platform continues to grow its market share, the 'net is bursting with iPhone 5 rumors ranging from the plausible to the laughable and everything in between.

Source: T3

The most believable (and corroborated) set of Apple hints now surrounds the unannounced device's release date. iMore reported today that, coinciding with an iPhone 5 event, pre-orders for the next-gen smartphone would begin on September 12, or nine days before the alleged release day.

All of this information comes to iMore by way of "sources who have proven accurate in the past," a character we've seen a few times before, and since.

Source: BGR

His distant cousin, BGR's "trusted source" and apparent AT&T insider, also outed a late September release window for the iPhone 5, citing a rescheduled employee training event and an "all hands on deck" policy as the reasons for suspecting that timing.

The Apple press conference on September 12 is almost certainly the platform for Apple's iPhone 5 announcement, but the question is whether or not release will follow so quickly. For comparison, the iPhone 4, which released over two years ago (a longer development timeline that most), was announced on June 7 at WWDC 2010, then introduced to store shelves June 24 internationally. Apple is no stranger to surprises, or to swift turn-around times, so the September and October rumors sound like reasonable guesses.

Over the past week, images and even video have "leaked" from Japanese manufacturers, French journalists, and American speculators. The footage swam over the Pacific from Japanese site Macotakara to deliver a purported first full look at the casing that will be holding the new iPhone. While this seems to be in line with other ideas about the wraparound middle-back cover, there's no way to know if the video is a good-looking farce or the real deal.

Source: iPhone 5 Guides

Other rumors about the casing and display have circled around a 4-inch screen and a thinner, higher-resolution LCD panel.

Blogs all across the tech-interest sphere have been claiming for months that the days of the 30-pin iPhone dock connector won't continue with the iPhone 5. Although a consensus on the smaller connector has yet to be reached, it's not unthinkable to imagine that Apple may be going to the micro-USB standard, if changing at all.

Leaked images of what may be the iPhone 5's motherboard have also given rise to some spurious speculation. While some contend that the SIM card slot from the pictures looks to support micro-SIM cards, those infamous sources are claiming some insider knowledge about nano-SIM cards for the iPhone 5.

IGN will be on-hand at the September 12 event and keeping tabs on all the rumors (and eventually facts) about the iPhone 5 and Apple's next generation of mobile devices.

Sources: 9to5 Mac, The Verge, Macotakara, BGR, iMore

Dan Crabtree is an I.T. guy and freelance writer with words on IGN, and a league of other gaming news outlets. His dog is considered handsome and well-read. You can find him (the human) on Twitter and IGN.

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