Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Review

Posted on by
Reply


After the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen it was time for a whole new adventure. It’s still not all that common for a big title to get a sequel so quickly so this was really exciting. It was announced as a mini series so you knew it wouldn’t be going on for too long but that was still cool. The title delivers with cool fights and some solid new characters. It does go by quickly though so every time there would be a lore chapter it would feel like precious time was being lost. In the end there are quite a few plot lines that should have kept on going but ultimately this was a good title so I don’t really have any big regrets.

The series picks up many decades after the original Kaisen ending. Most of the old characters are dead or super old. The new generation of Jujutsu sorcerers are far weaker than their predecessors and that is not good because aliens have arrived among us. For now they appear to be friendly but is that really the case? A cold war of sorts is starting and in the meantime a lot of kids are vanishing all over Japan. Yuka and Tsurugi are tasked with finding out what is happening to them. They must take the alien known as Maru with them so that he can learn about humanity. Perhaps aliens and humans can live in harmony?

Kaisen has never been the type of series for easy answers and this one is no exception. We see there are immediately bad actors on both sides who are trying to stoke the flames of war. They aren’t being subtle about this either. They want full on war and as many casualties as possible. Both sides think that this will be necessary in the long run so why not do it now right? One issue that will be hard to get around is that cursed spirits emit the same energy wave as the aliens. So every time the humans exorcise one, it feels like they are attacking the aliens.

Even once the aliens are told that this is the case, they are unconvinced. I don’t really blame them, that seems a little hard to buy even if you were to ask me. This ultimately does lead to a big fight and fortunately the humans do have one secret weapon in their corner through Yuka. She is able to summon the mythical Mahoraga, a being which continues to grow stronger and stronger through combat. The aliens have Dabura though who is a true prodigy and continues to get stronger as well. Makes for a great fight.

The artwork here is really impressive. It does absolutely look better than the original Jujutsu Kaisen and for a sequel that is always a good honor. The fights look incredible and there really is a whole lot of detail in each of the pages. This looks like a monthly manga through and through. You will be impressed from start to finish here without a doubt.

Now lets talk about the characters. First we have Yuka who is very confident and proactive as a sorcerer. She wants to help everyone out and most importantly, she wants to defeat her older brother Tsurugi. Unfortunately she is quite sick and that has made things difficult on her. She doesn’t want to be a burden but the deck has been stacked against her. It makes her optimism all the more inspiring and so she ends up being the standout character here. None of the others come close and you’ll be rooting for her the entire time.

She may not be the strongest fighter but she means well and keeps on training. Her summoning ability also allows her to fight at levels far beyond what she is capable of even if it does come at the expense of her life. Then we have Tsurugi who has to put on a brave face for his sister but the guy has had it rough as well. His cursed energy output isn’t very great and so he has to rely on cursed tools. He doesn’t really know how to reduce the burden on Yuka and so their dynamic isn’t exactly where he would want it to be.

The two of them care for each other a ton but just don’t really know how to show it. He tends to be less forgiving than she is though and so he was the perfect member to really go up against the aliens. He has to make a difficult decision by the end. While you can argue that he makes the right one, it will still come off as a bit annoying considering the price that had to be paid here.

To go more into details on the dilemma, the aliens need a planet to live on. They have been travelling for a very long time and their people are really going to star dying out if they have to search for another planet. Meanwhile the humans don’t really want to give up this planet. If they each decide to take up half of the planet, well that’s going to be extremely difficult and you have to go through all of the countries. So what this ultimately means is that the aliens are going to invade. They may have a sad story but it’s still going to be hard to root against the humans here.

So Maru ends up not being as likable as the series may have meant for him to be. Now the length hurts this part but Maru is initially introduced as a very innocent alien who wants to learn about the human world. As the title goes on, while he does want to help the humans he does pick his own people. This leads to all of the battles of course and it’s an emotional betrayal of sorts. Thing is, he only knew the characters for a very brief amount of time so this doesn’t hit as hard as it would have otherwise.

His power set is fairly confusing with how it can do almost anything but Kaisen likes to be confusing so that’s not necessarily a time crunch thing. It was still cool to see him and Tsurugi going at it. I ultimately thought that Maru made for a good villain but I couldn’t see him as the hero type. The end of the series tries to show that nobody had any hard feelings and it’s all good but I thought that was a bit much. The message is that they were all cogs in the system and so they didn’t take anything personal but when someone is trying to murder you…well that feels personal.

Maru’s brother Cross even gets to be with the group at the end when he was an antagonist the entire time. It’s hard to see why anyone would be all that cool with him. Well, I guess that just shows how open minded everyone was which is a good thing in a sense. Dabura also makes for a really impressive villain even if he’s mostly here for the power levels. He doesn’t get a ton to do beyond that but he is able to leverage his abilities in a way where he could defy the system. I appreciate the fact that he wasn’t just some foot soldier.

His fight with Mahoraga is also the highlight of the series. After all the chapters about concepts and such, it was nice to see a truly long battle like that. It was really impressive. Finally we have Yuji who shows up. The long years have taken their toll on him as he’s a very different character here. Not bad or anything but he’s become more emotionless and doesn’t even fight to save humanity unless it’s dire. He’s been off doing his own thing and doesn’t even jump into the Dabura battle. He helps Maru with a plan to change the situation which is good but the guy feels too passive to me. It sounds like he will continue to act that way now that he will live for hundreds of years so he doesn’t stagnate humanity’s growth or something like that.

I tend to always disagree with this logic. If you have the abilities to save someone then you really ought to use them. Doesn’t matter if it’s for a week or 100 years. You keep fighting until you can’t fight anymore. That’s the only way to really live as a main character here. The ending does offer a lot of hope though. In theory humanity will be in a healthier spot now and just has to worry about infighting among themselves.

Of course that’ll probably happen. The series does go out of its way to show how corrupt both sides are. For the aliens there was a lot of infighting and murdering from the start. Two of the clans had differing systems on how to handle everything and so the stronger one subjugated the weaker ones. For the humans, some were complicit with the whole kidnaping humans thing and it shows that they will always sell out for a good price. You just can’t trust either species and that’s a real shame. They’re obviously still better than the cursed spirits who are definitionally evil but it’s not like either race is going to be selfless. This isn’t really that kind of title even if the ending was certainly an upbeat one.

So while the ending is controversial, I tend to like it. I like happy endings after all. I would still agree with the fact that it was rushed though as one big fight didn’t conclude and others that could have happened afterwards never got a chance. I suppose I just have to be happy for the fights since the series could have easily gone through without any. Now that would have been a real shame. With this high level art quality throughout, it would just feel like a missed opportunity.

In a way I’d compare this series to Pluto. It’s a really interesting mystery of sorts with the kidnapped kids in a grounded setting despite how crazy the world is. We know about demons and all kinds of users with powers but the plot is focused around a few kids in a local context. Then you have the whole alien race plot so the big shots like Yuji have to be looked for. It all leads up to the big, grand battles that were shaped from the opening chapters and how the humans/aliens fundamentally saw things differently. The problem is that you can only do so much in 3 volumes. We spend quite a few in the first volume to set things up but things are still being set up in volume 2 which is where things start to move kind of fast. The Mahoraga fight will always be an absolutely spectacular moment but I wish we could have seen the end to that as well as gotten a proper conclusion to the rest of the plots. Yuji’s whole character feels like a missed opportunity for a lot of good scenes for example.

Overall, A few more volumes would have been nice for the fights and all but we still got new content here which was fun. Yuji has really gotten powerful to the point where nobody can stand up to him anymore. Other outliers like Dabura and Mahoraga show that the rest of the fighters can stay calm because they will never be able to reach that level. There won’t be much point in trying either now that cursed energy itself has changed thanks to the ending. A certain villain even gets a little cameo here. If you haven’t read the original Jujutsu Kaisen then this series will probably feel weird but a recap of sorts is included. So that might get you up to speed enough for this. Maybe a movie will adapt this sequel at some point.

Overall 7/10

For Your Eyes Only Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for more James Bond. Now you all may remember 007 as the agent who is constantly on the back foot and getting crushed by all of his adversaries right? Well, that doesn’t change much here as he still gets crushed a lot but I will say he fares slightly better than in other films. It doesn’t take longer than the first 10 minutes or so for him to have to rely on plot armor though. This is a classic Bond film all the way through so if you have liked the prior films then you should enjoy this one as well.

The movie starts off with Blofeld returning to bump Bond off once and for all. He actually comes close but Bond is able to turn over the situation and literally make the guy beg for his life. The real mission starts when some kind of targeting system goes missing so Bond must now grab it before the soviets. He isn’t the only one after the villains though as a lady named Melina wants in on the action as well. Her parents were murdered by the culprits and so she seeks to take them all down. She may not have an all powerful spy network at her disposal but she has a car as well as a gun.

This makes her journey even more impressive with how she gets to one of the villain compounds and murders the leader. Bond isn’t ultra grateful but he was about to be murdered so he should actually be quite happy with her. His license to kill was about to be expired. Melina looks less impressive as she is manipulated into her next destination by the villains but I can’t blame her much because again she is doing all of this on her own. That is considerably different from what Bond has to go through so a trap or two makes sense.

Unfortunately she peeked with the opening fight scene. After that she’s basically just one of the Bond girls. Meanwhile Bond is his same old self. He can’t help but be a flirt in every situation and doesn’t let the gravity of the situation stick. The entire world is at stake and yet he’s still messing around with everybody. I really need Bond to lock in and focus here. The film reminds us about his wife who died and yet he is still having affairs? Not a very good look for him I gotta say.

Now the film doesn’t care much about the plot just like Bond. For the most part Bond just has to follow the dots and eventually get to the right answer so it’s not really a traditional mystery. Bond’s usually just walking when the villains show up to shoot him and then he gets some intel. I feel like they may have gotten away with this if they had just stayed quiet and not made a move. Sure, Bond was getting closer but I don’t think he would have made it in time.

The fight scenes are pretty good though. The series has always done well in this arena and I would say that this movie is no exception to that. The movie generally has a fun tone and even has a sense of humor. The film doesn’t get quite as silly as the last one but still has its moments. So if you’re looking for a fun action thriller then the film succeeds in that arena. You do have to still get around the usual issues though.

Aside from the endless fanservice and meaningless affairs, we also have an ice skating student who really wants Bond. While Bond for once had some class and said no, he is still unable to avoid her entirely. This whole subplot should have been cut because it was just annoying and didn’t need to be here. Additionally, it would have made the villain look a little better by default because one of his goals is basically to get the student which isn’t a great look.

We do get some fakeouts on who the actual villain is though so I appreciate that. Bond even ends up teaming up with one of these guys who is apparently able to keep up. It’s either a good look for that guy or a bad look for Bond. I’ll let you decide which one is more likely here. The Bond films always have the potential to be good here since the action works well. It’s a shame that such potential cannot be realized.

One more silver lining I will throw the film is that the pacing is pretty good. The Bond films all tend to be fairly long but this one doesn’t drag out or anything like that. It actually runs by pretty smoothly and I think in some ways that is because of all the action. It’s hard to drag out when the next combat scene is right around the corner. Bond even takes on an entire hockey team. While the first action scene of the film is played for laughs by the end, it was also still pretty exciting in that way.

As for the soundtrack, well the classic Bond theme is fun as always. That is something that the series really got right. Then we have the new intro song for the film which is supposed to be top tier although I wasn’t a big fan. Generally speaking I suppose I haven’t been a big fan of most of the Bond songs though. They just tend to be a bit too slow and out of energy for me. We need a full rock theme already.

Overall, The film fittingly ends on a note where a parrot is able to successfully outsmart M16 and troll for a bit. They eventually catch up and cut the feed but it’s too late by then. As bad as Bond can be at focusing, I dare say that the agency is worse with how they constantly panic at every opportunity. Every little thing seems to shake them up which is not good for such a large spy organization. I would expect better from them. The last film is definitely more exciting with the space climax though, we’ll see how the next film fares.

Overall 4/10

The First Slam Dunk Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to check out the big Slam Dunk film that came out. This one jumps a bit from where the TV show left off but does let us see the climax of this basketball journey. There’s an interesting set of decisions here where Sakuragi isn’t the main character this time. One of the side characters is chosen instead. Generally speaking I would prefer to have the classic lead but all of the main cast tend to be likable. It still works well and while you can tell that the movie is tailored a bit more to the general audience, fans should still enjoy this one a lot.

The movie starts out by introducing us to Miyagi. He had an older brother who was really good at Basketball but unfortunately he passed away during an accident at sea. Miyagi wanted to continue playing basketball but it wasn’t easy on his mother. Eventually he made it to the starting lineup of his team and is now playing in the semi finals of the high school league. He is up against the greatest team in high school history so this won’t be easy but he has powerful allies at his side. Can they pull this off?

So I’ve got some pros and cons with the film but lets start out with the positives first. I really enjoyed the scene where each character is scribbled in and then begins walking towards the screen. The presentation here was excellent as well as the song that played during the scene. It was a good way to introduce each of the characters and show off their personalities like Sakuragi grinning while Rukawa was scowling. I would have sprinkled in some quick highlights here but it was still cool. This is an example of a scene that’s probably going to be stronger for the fans because you’re just hyped to see the team get to playing their best.

By this point in the series, all 5 of them are very formidable Basketball players. They are some of the best at their positions within the entire region and yet now they have to go up against a team with even more juggernauts on their side. We then get right into the action which is hype. Whenever we are in the present with the Basketball game, you can bet that things are going to be exciting.

While the movie doesn’t quite have the same intensity as the show, the Basketball game still looks good. I’m not the biggest CG guy, but they did a good job here. It’s no hand drawn but they worked hard with what they had so I have no real complaints here. The main characters are often on the back foot so you can feel their desperation as the gam continues to get out of their hands. At the end of the day, Miyagi is not going to be the one to get them out of this. They will need to rely on some of the other players.

The soundtrack may not be my favorite but we had some good tracks here. The theme during the intro like I mentioned and there is also the main theme/credits theme that plays at different portions of the film. It has a really good rock theme which suits the match. Unfortunately the full version of the song isn’t as solid but it works in the moment. The music as a whole is not as overpowering as you would expect in a classic anime though so I think they were going for a more cinematic feel this time. There’s even a lengthy silent scene during the climax of the match instead of a really cool insert song to end things off with. Not my favorite choice but it’s hardly the only movie to do this.

All of the characters are really good here. There aren’t any unlikable ones after all. Miyagi works well as the lead. He’s a short guy and of course that is difficult when playing Basketball so this is addressed. He has to work twice as hard and really put a ton of time in training in order to keep up with the others. That’s something you can really admire and he has a lot of contributions during the movie.

Then you have Sakuragi who really takes over in the second half. He brings the whole team to life and they were absolutely doomed without him. He can rebound, he can score, he can press the opponent in the paint, etc. Sakuragi is really tall and powerful so his natural talents really go to work here. He’s also just a really charismatic guy so you look forward to seeing him succeed.

Rukawa doesn’t look quite as impressive here. He is typically known as the ace of the team but he effectively gets shut down in this match. For long time viewers that’s the shocking part since he is always able to adapt. This time he simply couldn’t and finally had to accept his defeat and pass the ball more in order to go forward. It was a good decision but it would have been nice to have had more scenes of him. If you are only watching the movie then this guy seems like he was really all talk.

Akagi is the center of the team but he’s also not looking his best here. He gets shut down by his opponent and also loses complete confidence in himself. Until the end of the film, he really doesn’t get to do much of anything. He is simply being outplayed and Sakuragi has to try and get some fight back into him. You can see why the red haired rookie is their best player when the chips are down.

Finally there is Mitsui who has his best game of the series here. He nails a ton of 3 point shots even once he can no longer play. He has had stamina issues for a long time because of the long break he took from Basketball but he plays through the pain here. This series is all about playing past your limits and so he didn’t let anything get to him. The film briefly shows what happened during his delinquent days but doesn’t dwell on it. Needless to say I was not really a fan of him back during that time.

Then you have the coach but I can’t say that he looks very good. He has no answers for the opponent team’s strategies and ultimately can’t stop his own players from playing through injuries. I get that he wants to respect their feeling and it’s hype as a viewer but it does make him look bad as a coach. The opposing team definitely had a significant edge there.

The other team themselves don’t have much to do though. The ace was still impressive with how much he was shutting everyone down though. I also liked the big guy who was even able to hold his own with Sakuragi for a while there. These guys are clearly skilled to make it onto this level so that helps to make up for the lack of character.

This does tie into my main issue which is that the game itself doesn’t have nearly as much dialogue and mental planning as it normally would. Usually there is a ton of internal monologue and that is almost all ditched. There is still some trash talking as well but not as much of it. These are things that all seemed like they were sacrificed in order to make Miyagi the main character. He’s the only one really allowed to have these long conversations.

I give the film credit for not trying to force Miyagi in as the hero because I wouldn’t say this was his best game at all but that’s why you want more focus on the other characters. Miyagi falls for the same 2 v 1 trap so many times in the film that you have to shake your head. He’s probably the single player who comes the closest to losing them the game when you think about how many bad passes he made. Everyone is at fault to an extent but Sakuragi should have really been the main character.

By making Miyagi the lead, we also have to sprinkle in his origin which does hurt the flow of the actual game. I think it should have been done all in one shot. Maybe you start out by showing both teams squaring up, then you do all of the Miyagi scenes. Then you do the game straight through. The film is long enough where the game doesn’t feel rushed or anything like that but you really want to just go through it. Miyagi’s story isn’t nearly as interesting. It’s not bad or anything but you just don’t want to leave the high stakes game. Not when it was really getting good like that.

Overall, This was definitely a pretty good film. I had fun with it and the Basketball is really given its share of screentime. The game is very long which is as it should be and there are plenty of matches in the flashbacks as well. To an extent you can feel the areas where they dialed down the intensity for the general audience but it still holds up well on both sides. I’d like to see more Slam Dunk films in the future. Even if it ends up being CG, I know the story and the match itself will be a lot of fun. Maybe they can allow the rest of the team more things to do though. I also still need a proper match with Sakuragi fighting off against Rukawa.

Overall 7/10

inFAMOUS: Second Son Review

Posted on by
Reply


Unlike most fans who had to wait quite a while to play a new Infamous title, the gap was only a few weeks for me. It’s cool to see what the experience would be like on the PS4 and I can safely say that the game holds up incredibly well. In fact….I dare say this is the best Infamous title. While the story isn’t quite as good as the first two, it wins in terms of gameplay which is ultra important and the characters as well. They really grabbed what made the first two games work so well and focused everything into those attributes.

You play as a rebel who wants to defy society. See, there are people with powers running around who are called bio terrorists but the lead believes that the government is spreading division where it isn’t warranted. One day Augustine, the leader of the government faction shows up and stabs all of his friends and family with rock spires. The only way to save them will be to force her to undo this…or to copy her powers. It turns out that he can copy powers by touching someone who has them so now the game is really on. His brother is a police officer who has never liked the powered community though and so he is coming along to basically get in the way for most of the adventure.

Delsin may be a total rebel but he’s just a lot of fun. The guy has a lot of quick wit and is never at a loss for words here. When he sees an opportunity, he takes it. He’s quite aggressive in going after the villains but I really found myself agreeing with him the whole time. This is certainly not a moment for hesitation or holding back. His brother Reggie doesn’t look good in comparison because he isn’t very subtle about how much he dislikes the conduits. Throughout the game the two characters are bickering.

In a way the game deserves some credit for not immediately having Reggie change his mind or anything like that but it can still get real old after a while. You also get two allies as the game goes on. The crazy girl (Which seems to be a staple for the series) and a shy gamer dude. They’re not the greatest supporting characters but they’re okay. The real standout here is the main villain Augustine. She takes charge right away and I like her absolute confidence. Even once Delsin has a bunch of powers, she is still able to square up with him. Conventional wisdom would say that this should be impossible but she always has a trap up her sleeve.

The game has its share of twists and origins for everyone but for the most part this is just a classic action story to have fun with. You have to choose whether you want to be a hero or a villain as you go through the game. I went down the heroic path this time around and didn’t mess with any of the evil choices. I feel like that is a good approach for the first run. If I go back to get the platinum then I’ll do the dark path for the second playthrough.

This is a 3D action game where you can shoot energy blasts and knock people out with hand to hand combat. You start out with one power set and by the end you have 4. Each power set comes with 4-5 abilities. You have to absorb them all manually so you will be seeing the main character gritting his teeth and being stuck in place quite a few times. The graphics definitely get really funny because of how the faces turned out. It looks a whole lot different than the first two games, I can tell you that much.

One thing Infamous does super well is how traversing through the city is super easy. You can move at much higher speeds than in the first two games so no distance feels too great. This makes going after all the collectibles and side missions a lot more fun than it would have been otherwise. They are all very quick so even though there are a ton of them it doesn’t feel too overwhelming. Instead it’s just a lot of fun to try and completely clear each of the districts.

You also have a lot of freedom in choosing how to tackle these challenges. Personally I thought that the neon abilities were easily the best ones. I was using those constantly over all of the other forms. It just felt like the best bet but you may prefer another one while playing. They all have their special perks. You also get to immediately buy a lot of upgrades as you clear the side content so you really feel yourself getting stronger. It all makes a big difference so I recommend doing a few side things as you go around town.

The length of the story isn’t bad although it is a little on the short side. I’d say it’s maybe around 10 hours or so. Throw in the side content and you can probably add around 5-6 more hours. Since the platinum means beating the game twice, now you’re looking at around 20 hours. The game has a good amount of content even if it could have stood to have more. The most important part is absolutely that the game runs very smoothly. The gameplay is top notch. I only encountered two glitches in the game. One where I fell through the ground with no way out and one where the final boss cutscene froze. Otherwise no issues.

Overall, Infamous: Second Son is definitely a great game. You are constantly going to be involved in some really fun, high intensity action battles. You feel yourself growing stronger as you buy the upgrades and so everything about the game was developed well. It’s all the small quality of life stuff like this which adds up. If you haven’t picked this game up yet, then I would recommend changing that. It is the definition of AAA with how fun it is. I just wish they wouldn’t take so long to make new games.

Overall 8/10

PAC & Roll Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a classic Pac-Man adventure. I completely forget that this game even exists 90% of the time. I give it some props for having a real story mode but that’s about all that I can say in its defense. At the end of the day it still has some pretty major flaws. The game is fun to play through but only because I got it for a great price. If you paid top dollar for this back in the day then you would really be in trouble. There would just be no coming back from that so it would probably affect the score.

The general plot is that the ghosts of Pac Land conspire together to bring back the ultimate evil. A powerful ghost that had to be sealed away before he would destroy everything. He wastes no time in declaring battle against Pac-Man. Fortunately a fairy shows up and she knows how to handle this guy. All of Pac’s friends are taken down so Pac-Man is the last fighter on the planet. If he loses, then the world will truly be doomed.

You shouldn’t think too hard on the story though because it is absolutely true that it makes no sense. The fairy seems so powerful that she could defeat the main villain on her own so why is she even asking Pac-Man for help? It’s a little hard to gauge what is actually happening here when you take away the gameplay mechanics as well. I suppose none of that matters too much at the end of the day. Pac has a job to do and he’s gonna do it! Unfortunately in this tile which appears to be a full on reboot, Pac is more of a rookie and is super scared/startled the whole time. He’s really not sure what to do and is always on the back foot here.

The sound effects don’t do him any favors here as he sounds really whiny. The soundtrack in general is only okay. There are no tunes that you will be looking up later on. As for the graphics, at least those are okay. I like the various character illustrations and the effects within the actual gameplay are good too. The technical efforts aren’t as underwhelming as you may have guessed initially.

As for the gameplay, well it is a clear inspiration from Monkey Ball. You have to guide the ball that Pac is in through a variety of courses. It’s a cool concept but unfortunately this is controlled by the Stylus which does take some of the fun out of it. I’m sure it was hard to resist using this gimmick since the game was on the DS but man would it have been more fun without the stylus. You have to move really quickly through some areas so you are swiping at your screen a whole lot.

The game starts out real easy but I gotta admit that the fire world actually gets rather difficult near the end. Nothing that will stop you for long but at least the game isn’t a total walk in the park. There still isn’t a whole lot of replay value here but the game does have a few bonus levels and collectibles to grab. So if you want to 100% the game then you do have some bonus content here at least. The main campaign won’t take you longer than 3-4 hours so maybe this can buff the whole thing to around 6 hours.

Aside from the normal rolling around gameplay, you also unlock two power ups later on. One of them makes you heavy so you sink into the water for ocean levels and the other one makes you light so you can actually glide around a bit. They don’t change things up too much but at least it’s something. The game also does have boss fights. You fight the same ghost the whole time but the battles themselves are different each time. You have to grab 3 power pellets and then tag the ghost.

The fact that you need 3 of them at once to deal any damage to him does give the villain some extra hype. He squanders it all by the end naturally but up until that point at least the reputation is deserved. This is also one of the only games I can think of where the villain has a game over theme. Every time you defeat him it plays and this isn’t just one note or anything like that. It’s an entire jingle so that was absolutely funny no matter how you slice it.

The game is a complete comedy so you shouldn’t expect any of the characters to look particularly cool. Gone are the days of the classic World series which had its share of humor but also balanced things out with a real plot. Maybe that’ll come back at some point and in that case I would be there day 1. There are a lot of things you can do with Pac-Man and yet the company is basically content to just make a bunch of remakes right now. Digging up ancient spinoffs is all that I can really do in the meantime.

Overall, This isn’t the kind of game I can really recommend but if you see it around for $5-$10 then you may as well pick it up. There’s no real downside to it at least and the gameplay itself is fun. The stylus may hurt but the core concept is still solid. The title is just so short though, you should make sure that you really understand this before you pick up the title. Then you know the risks and are all set to make the purchase. I really hope we get a real new Pac-Man game one of these days though.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard SkyRide Review

Posted on by
Reply


This is one of those manga spinoffs that feels extremely random and that’s part of the fun. It’s nice to see a series be able to just jump in and throw all the characters into a whole new scenario. Aichi even gets to show up which is the first time we’ve seen him in a new combat situation in a super long time. So that was cool and the main story involves a lot of nonstop action. The series does come to a rather abrupt ending though which is a shame because it felt like there was a lot of meat left on the bone. Hopefully Cardfight continues to churn out a bunch of other titles though.

The series starts by introducing us to a new kind of Cardfight, Sky Battles! These battles are super exciting but also incredibly dangerous. If you fall off of your hoverboard during a fight then you will potentially fall to your doom. There are no real guard rails here. Additionally there is a terrorist organization known as Blast! who specialize in stealing cards and challenging duelists to these sky battles. They are bad news and with the real impacts of card effects, anyone trying to fight them is risking his life.

Zero’s not scared though and so he aims to get out there and take them down. This leads him to enter a big tournament where all of their fighters will be attending. What he doesn’t anticipate is that the tournament will end up being on the planet Cray. It’s unknown how the fighters will be able to get back home or what will happen if someone is defeated. For now Zero just has to focus on defeating every fighter in his way but this will definitely not be easy.

As the main character Zero is definitely a really fun lead. He is always ready for a fight and doesn’t back down to any challenge. The guy was just a normal fighter but doesn’t bat an eye or hesitate for a moment when he suddenly has to go up against the organization. Some may say that he even adapts to this whole thing too quickly but honestly that’s part of the charm. I like when a character isn’t worried about the small stuff and is just getting ready to fight right away. Zero starts out the series at a high level already but as it goes on he gets even better.

Zero also has a hidden origin story which is hinted at right away even if it doesn’t get explored until near the end. I may have more nostalgia for someone like Aichi but I dare say that Zero starts out at a higher level and his consistent confidence might even make him a better main character. He’s not perfect or anything like that but is someone that you can always count on to defend his friends.

The only other character who comes close to his level is Shiki. Shiki is the shop manager and initially he just seems like a comic relief character but then it turns out that he has a whole backstory related to Blast. That helps to make him more of an intriguing character and his skills are also top rate. That was really important because being strong without the skills to back it up would not go anywhere. This way he was someone who could stay relevant to the end and he even got my favorite duel in the series. I would have liked him to have fought more but the series is fairly short so there’s only so much that you can do here.

The guest stars in Akina and Aichi both look good in the series. Akina may not have been a match against Zero but he put up a really good fight and nearly claimed victory. Aichi has a significantly larger role although I feel like his deck isn’t quite as impressive here. He makes up for that with his sheer experience but in a way Akina just ends up looking more powerful. It’s also cool to see both main characters in the same adventure, raises the odds that perhaps someday we can get a full crossover across both character casts.

The main heroine in the series is Suina and she’s definitely a fun one. I was a bit worried that she wouldn’t get any wins for a while there but she was able to clutch one out in the end. She did a good job fighting on behalf of the shop owner and making sure that none of the main characters lost themselves to rage. A more difficult task than you might expect in this series. She was also able to keep on fighting even when roped into a shadow duel where the damage dealt was all real. There wasn’t too much time for Suina to appear but she made the most out of every appearance.

Then we have our villains. The first member from blast is Kira and he took Zero down rather easily near the beginning of the series. After that you have to wait until the climax for the rematch. Kira sort of sees this all as a big game. He is definitely evil because it’s not like the guy is brainless but doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of what he’s doing. I thought that he was a good villain but did get overshadowed by most of the others.

Reiryu is the first member of Blast’s elite four to fight and now this was a really powerful figure. Zero had to pull out all the stops here and unfortunately this is one fight where Suina was crushed. The battles were a good way to show how the Elite Four were a complete step above the normal fighters though. These were not opponents that most fighters could handle and none of the other Elite Four were quite able to match this initial appearance.

Hibana is one of the other members and she was strong. She probably could have defeated Zero if it was one on one but she had the misfortune of having to take on Aichi as well. There are very few fighters who could defeat two MCs like that. She lasted quite a while either way so the Elite Four tag continued to get its due respect. Then we had Amon who gets a lot of screentime. He started out as a nice kid who just wanted to learn Vanguard but unfortunately Zero was too focused on winning at the time. He prevented the fights from being fun and this broke Amon down to the point where he ended up with a whole lot of split personalities.

Amon broke down in a very literal way and ultimately had to have the personalities literally knocked out of him. He should be okay now but that was definitely a tough process to go through. I can’t say that I loved the character but I thought his backstory was done very well. Finally we have the main villain Yuyu. (No relation to the anime main character Yu-Yu) This guy is cool and a super strong duelist. We sort of get cheated out of a climax for him though as an ancient demon god takes over his body all of a sudden for the final battle.

He was still a cool villain though and definitely put the main characters through the ringer. The demon monster was cool too of course but a bit more of your classic destroy the world type. There wasn’t a whole lot to him beyond that. The series wanted to end with super high stakes though and there’s no better way to do that than by adding in a big monster.

Yuuki is technically a more minor character but he served as the first real challenge for Zero in the tournament. He has a really cool design and is known as one of the strongest duelists in Japan so it’s not like the guy is all talk or anything. He was ready to fight from the start. As far as the minions are concerned, he ends up being one of the more memorable characters. If this series had been longer, I suspect he would have done more.

The artwork is definitely solid. There are a lot of good speed lines for the action scenes which really lets the series show off its intensity. The pages are all easy to read and the character designs are good. It can get a little rough during some of the busier turns when a page is trying to do a whole lot at once but that tends to be more of a rare event. So on the whole the art is definitely more on the positive side. The best panels are always when Zero gets in the zone and really locks in against his opponents.

You can definitely see where the series starts to really sped up the pacing but I thought that it all ended out well. Throwing in a tournament near the beginning of the series that goes all the way into the end is always a fun way to go about things. The Sky Ride duels seem a little too risky to ever be practical but the rule of cool is fun. The shadow duels are also a great way to introduce high stakes right away. This is a series that is focused on getting you hyped right away and I’d say that’s the right approach here. You can leave logic behind for a little while.

Overall, Cardfight delivers with another solid title here. It’s one of those manga that makes for an easy read and will keep you entertained the whole way. It may not be the kind of title that you remember a whole lot down the road as a great adventure but serves its purpose. I didn’t really have any issues with it and the series can actually get rather intense and emotional when it wants to. I’d like to see this animated at some point, I feel like you could pull it off in a 12 episode season. Just seeing the old main characters would already be a great selling point. If you’re looking for a good dueling title, this is definitely one that I can recommend.

Overall 7/10

Wuthering Heights Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a really crazy romance. This is one of those titles that is just so out there that you can scarcely believe it. There aren’t really any characters to root for and so the romance is doomed from the start. A tragic romance is actually something that can work well in theory but this was definitely not the way to go about it. Based on how it all went down, I can’t really say that any of the remakes would sound all that promising either.

The film starts off with a guy getting stranded in a desolate area and so he stops by the nearest castle for shelter. He’s treated terribly by the master of the house, Heathcliff but this guy puts up with it because there is nowhere to go. He hears a girl crying out from beyond the fog which causes Heathcliff to run outside and the maid lets the guy know that it is the ghost of his dead lover. This guy has nothing better to do so it asks to hear the whole story.

The trope of the whole film being a flashback from the present is still a super annoying one imo but that’s how it has to be this time. So in the flashback we see how Heathcliff was adopted by a rich man but he died shortly thereafter and so the son Hindley was super resentful towards Heathcliff. He made Heathcliff essentially a slave of the family and ruled with an iron hand. Heathcliff fell in love with Hindley’s sister Catchy and so they would hang out in secret. Unfortunately this was not enough for Cathy. Cathy wanted to be rich and so she would cheat on Heathcliff with a rich man named Edgar.

She plays around with both of them for a while before finally marrying Edgar. In revenge, Heathcliff decided to get insanely rich and then married Cathy’s sister Isabella. He didn’t love her but sought to use Isabella as a bargaining chip against Cathy. This essentially works as Cathy wants Heathcliff again and this whole romantic rollercoaster goes all around with everyone allowing themselves to be humiliated and degraded in this way. Ultimately after a while we get back to the point in the present which tries its best to have some kind of a happy ending but you’ll just be shaking your head.

Now where to start on this one? The reason the romance doesn’t work of curse is because none of the relationships are actually true. Cathy lives up to her villainous potential for wanting Heathcliff for his body and Edgar for his money. She’s the kind of girl that people warn you about and you assume just doesn’t exist because that’s such an exaggerated person. Unfortunately Cathy never does anything to improve as a person and is content to be cheating even on her death bed. A truly terrible character all the way.

It does take two to tango though and that’s why I can’t let Heathcliff or Edgar off the hook here. Edgar really needed to have some self respect here. Cathy made it clear from the start that she also liked Heathcliff and even though she eventually married Edgar, that’s not a very good way to start off a relationship. Edgar needed to take a hard stance and at least move them away but to me he almost seemed a little intimidated by Heathcliff. This guy just let Heathcliff walk all over him the whole time.

As for Heathcliff, well it’s not like he was a morally upstanding character from the start. He was bullied and abused quite a lot growing up which ultimately led him to want to lash out and take complete revenge. Instead of being the better man he was the kind of guy who would go an eye for an eye. It can sure be tempting to go down that route of course but man did it make him absolutely unlikable. At least if he kept his age to Hindley and Cathy that would be one thing, but he was shown to have no morals when he went for Isabella instead as the ultimate form of revenge.

Yeah there was definitely no saving this guy. The characters sure make it easy though. This is going to sound like victim blaming but hey all these characters are adults and should know better. Hindley allows himself to get addicted to alcohol which makes it really easy for Heathcliff to forever torment the guy. It’s all just so easy when it really shouldn’t be. Hindley was in the power position just a few years back and then after the time skip he was all washed up.

Meanwhile Isabella knew that she was the runner up prize and still went with Heathcliff. He barely even pretended to love her. It was the most half hearted performance he could have given and yet she still went with him. Cmon now that’s just crazy. From there it only gets worse for Isabella but this was not a surprise attack by any means. It was all plain as day and she just allowed herself to be used, perhaps as a way to try and one up Cathy but it didn’t work.

The cast of characters isn’t even that large but it feels really expanded because of how long each character is on screen. They just drag out each of the minutes over and over as you can’t help but shake your head. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the writing and the pacing is only okay. The issues really begin to snowball into each other after a while because as a romance film the characters are one of the most important parts. When you don’t have any likable characters, ultimately that means you have virtually nothing to work with here. Certainly not a big soundtrack or exciting action scenes to take the pressure off.

Overall, I would definitely say to give this film a skip. I dare say that Twilight makes for a more believable romance and that is not going to crack anyone’s top 10 romances. The only consolation I can give this film is that the title’s a little funny. The spelling just makes me think of someone saying “Wut?” even though that’s not the intent. I just don’t see how anyone would really find this to be romantic. Obviously a taboo romance like Romeo and Juliet has its share of appeal but at least they really loved each other with no caveats. In this film it feels like everything has an asterisk. Does Heathcliff really love the heroine or does he just want to essentially own her and claim his revenge? Does Cathy love him truly or is she just punishing herself by getting a guy that she feels she deserves? It’s all twisted and certainly not in an entertaining way.

Overall 2/10

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for Nathan Drake to have one last journey. I got to play this one pretty much immediately after the original trilogy so it was fun to see how the gameplay had changed over the years and how it remained consistent. This is a great wrap up to the main series. Naturally I would still like a full Uncharted 5 but the game went out of its way to really wrap everything up nicely so it really does feel like the end.

The game started off by introducing us to Nathan’s brother Sam. Turns out that they were really close as kids but unfortunately a job went sideways one day and Sam seemly died. We fast forward to the present where Nathan has put his adventuring days behind him and married his adventuring buddy Elena. The two of them have agreed to lead quiet lives now but Sam shows up one day and asks Nathan for his help. They need to find a $400 million treasure fast or Sam’s going to get bumped off by the mafia. So Nathan agrees to help and lies to his wife about a quick work trip. Will this come back to bite him and does Nathan still have the physical abilities needed for a mission like this?

Obviously lying to your wife is never a good idea and this game shows you a bunch of great reasons for that. You’re throwing a ton of trust out the window in a single moment and also showing that when the going gets tough you are willing to do your own thing. Elena gives Nathan a hard time about this later and it’s completely justified. Honestly I think she would have ultimately been ready to help Sam even if she wasn’t big on the idea. Sully also stops by so we really have the whole gang together for one last ride.

You could tell that the game wanted to go all out here as we have several gameplay types outside of the main one. You have at least 2 levels where you drive a car around and there are even puzzles bult around the car. You play as Sam in one level which is the first time you’ve played as someone other than Nathan in one of these titles. Then you also have some underwater sections as well as a boat level. The game has much larger levels than the other titles. While the overall game length isn’t much different, you can actually get lost in some of these levels.

As a result I got less collectibles than in the other games as you’re probably supposed to explore these sections. There are also mor kinds of collectibles than in any of the other titles. You’ve got a good amount of replay value built right into the title although it also looks like the hardest platinum since one trophy is about beating the game in 7 hours. I believe it took me at least 4-5 hours over that in my initial run. Knowing the puzzles will help a lot but even then I feel like this would take me a whole lot of practice.

The core gameplay is still built around a lot of parkour and platforming. They actually streamlined this a little bit as you don’t have to worry about jumping into nothing anymore. The game has invisible guard rails that prevent you from taking wrong jumps. Yes, this may make things a bit easier but it’s a nice quality of life approach. Then the shooting gameplay is still around even if it doesn’t feel quite as tight as in the last few games. Shooting is much less of a focus this time around as you are heavily encouraged to use stealth attacks to take down your opponents.

I enjoy hand to hand well enough so it works but part of me did miss going for 1000 headshots for all the trophies. The shooting gameplay is still solid but perhaps it feels a bit more arcade-like. The difficulty is pretty reasonable. I’m sure you’ll die several times during the adventure and usually it’ll be because you just got too aggressive. I’d see two enemies and charge in, only for another 5 to show up out of nowhere and take me out. I did like how the villains would essentially set traps like that.

The game also has an easter egg for another Playstation title which was a lot of fun. It definitely felt nostalgic and I like the idea of being able to play a video game within a video game. More titles should try something like this. You don’t want to overuse the idea but right now it is absolutely underused. The game’s story is also really solid and by the end of the title you will feel like you had a whole lot of different adventures. Sam may only have been around for this one game but the title does a great job of giving him a lot of character. At the end of the day I can’t say that I was a big fan of this guy but I was glad that he was in the game. You need somebody to dislike a bit and there was nothing two dimensional about him. If the series keeps him on as a main character, I’d say that it would make a lot of sense. I would still want Nathan to show up in some capacity though. Maybe he could be the one Sam calls for some of the trickier puzzles?

Overall, Uncharted 4 is definitely a great title. For the record, I’d still say that the second game is the best one but this is a close second. It’s all relative though as all 4 games were really excellent. Uncharted is absolutely a true AAA series and after marathoning all the games, I’m going to miss it. I’ll absolutely be getting the spinoff at some point so that I can say that I really experienced the whole franchise though. That’ll buy Uncharted 5 some more time to get everything in order. If you haven’t played the game after all these years, then you need to change that asap!

Overall 8/10