Monthly Archives: May 2021

Godzilla Destruction Review

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Clearly making these mobile games is tougher than I thought because this is another one that just wasn’t very good. If all 3 of the Godzilla games that were announced at the same time are by the same developers then it makes a lot of sense. This one seems to be using a lot of the same assets from Run Godzilla. While the gameplay is slightly better there are still a lot of really weird game design choices. Ultimately it just feels pointless to play a lot of the game.

The game has no story this time so you can forget about that part. You’re thrown in without much of a real introduction or anything. The gameplay is simple. You move Godzilla around with the touchscreen and if he is near an enemy he will attack automatically. Pretty handy right? That’s the extent of the game, there is literally no other gameplay. Each level has 15 mini levels in it which have around 5 waves each. I wouldn’t say the levels are incredibly long but they’re longer than you may think.

Any level ups and power you get in the levels are lost afterwards as it is all temporary. If you’re lucky you will get enough flames and G Profile Pics to help level up your Kaiju and try the whole thing again. Of course if you die during the experience you won’t get almost any rewards which is unfortunate. The game is set up so you should be playing for a very long time if you want to get anywhere. Of course you can pay the big bucks to get the content up front. That’s really your only other option.

For a video game just about anything can be forgiven if the gameplay is good. The problem is that it’s not very fun though. It’s just not all that satisfying to watch Godzilla attack all of the enemies for you. You’d like to be the one blasting away at them. Instead it’s almost like you’re the driver and the computer is the actual player. You can see how that would make for a rather hollow gaming experience right?

The levels all blend together really quickly so it gets rather dull. It’s not as automatic as the Run version but it’s still almost all done by the computer. You don’t feel like you’re really doing all that much. The game also just feels very limited in what you can do. This is literally the only game mode. Everything else is looking at items or your Kaiju and things of that nature. In 2021 I don’t think you can survive on a single game mode unless it’s a Story Mode or something like that.

Additionally the menu layouts don’t make much sense. Good luck equipping any of the gems you unlocked in the game. I could not figure out who to do this since every time you try to put one on it just falls right off. Perhaps that feature just isn’t set up in the game yet? It wouldn’t surprise me a great deal if this game is just severely incomplete. If anything it may even add up quite a bit.

The graphics are not good. It’s using the same character model as mentioned earlier which was already not that good. The level designs are uninspired. I suppose the enemy tanks look okay but there’s nothing too special about them either. The soundtrack is basically nonexistent as well.

What this game needed is really a complete overhaul. Throw in some real gameplay, a bunch of extra monsters, and even a quick story mode. Do those things and you could have a real winner on your hands. I don’t think there’s a big target audience for just walking around as your player does everything on his own. Where’s the excitement and the danger? I’m sure a game could pull this style off with enough development time and unique ideas but this was definitely not going to happen here. This mobile game seems like it was finished awfully quick.

In terms of content I suppose I should say that this can last for hours I guess. You can try completing all 4 worlds which each have several levels in them. Additionally you can keep on replaying the levels over and over again to farm materials and get level ups. That at least gives you a reason to go on back right? Keep this up and you should be in a good spot. Of course the replay value will depend on if you like the gameplay enough to do those things but if you do, the content is certainly here at least.

Overall, Godzilla Destruction is another disappointing mobile game. It’s a shame because most mobile games end up being quite amazing but this one was clearly not at that level. It does beat the first one so if the third in the trilogy can win then we might be in a good spot. Otherwise I’m afraid they will forever be known as a very weak trilogy of games. Better luck next time and all that.

Overall 4/10

Attack on Titan Review

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It’s finally time to take a look at Attack on Titan. It’s certainly a series that made it into the record books and shall never be forgotten. At this point you can make the case for it being in the top 10 most recognizable anime/manga of all time with how big it got. The series ended recently and while there is an 8 page extra coming to the volume format, we more or less know how things went. Unfortunately the original manga ending is the worst manga ending of all time. It’s unbelievably bad but for obvious spoiler reasons I can’t talk much about that just yet.

I would say we can divide the series into two main parts. Part 1 introduces us to a world where 80% of humanity has been wiped out by Titans. The few survivors live behind 3 walls where they have learned to live as a smaller part of the food chain. Among these people are the Survey Corps, a group of fighters who still resist the Titans. They scout the outside world and slay Titans when possible. After many years they have made almost no headway so most people don’t even want to join the team.

Fortunately the main character Eren Yeager is not afraid. He wants to be a Survey Corp member without a doubt. He doesn’t have a lot of physical skill but fortunately has the ability to turn into a Titan. Perhaps now humanity finally has a chance to survive? His best friends Armin and Mikasa are also here to help as needed. Armin’s the main strategist while Mikasa is the best fighter of the 3.

That’s a rather simplified version of Part 1 of course as a whole lot more happens. It does serve to at least cover the Pre Arc though. This is where we are introduced to all of the main characters or at least the ones for Part 1. There are a lot of characters running around so it takes time to get to all of their names.

Attack on Titan is a very serious manga so don’t expect everyone to survive. Part of what helped make it big is the sense of danger that the manga has. You always feel like someone could die at any moment. There may be some characters who feel really safe but a lot of the others certainly seem to be in danger when the Titans show up.

The art was quite rough when it first started but by the end it’s improved a great deal. Initially I would say the art was slightly below average compared to most other titles. It still had a lot of intense moments but felt rather rough around the edged. The artist clearly continued to improve his craft the whole time. If you see a comparison picture between the beginning of the series and the ending it is a world of difference. By Part 2 this was looking very clear and quite solid.

While the dark/grim tone of the manga may be part of what helped it get big, it’s also what limits the series. Even before the ending it’s not like this series was going to get a high score. It’s way over the top with the violence. Characters are eaten alive, dismembered, and even tortured. One of the worst scenes in the series was definitely when Levi and Hange tortured this one guy who wouldn’t talk. A big theme in the series is “relative morality” where you have to become a monster to defeat other monsters.

By the end of the series there aren’t any real heroes because everyone has compromised on their integrity at one point or another. It’s certainly a cynical view on the world but more on that later on in the review. The series is always going for as dark a vibe as possible though. Before dying the characters will beg for their lives or yell about how they don’t wanna die. All for that maximum emotional punch of course.

A lot of horses die in the battles as well since this takes place in a more old fashioned world. Whenever the titans show up you can expect that the horses aren’t going to make it which is unfortunate. All of these factors just kept on beating the series into the ground. I would also say with confidence that this has to be the most violent series I’ve read. It never really lets up.

As for Part 2 of the series. We finally see what lies beyond the walls. It turns out that the whole “80% of humanity being wiped out” was all a lie. The rest of the world is just fine and are having wars against each other as normal. Eren infiltrates these places and realizes that the whole world wants to destroy Paradis. He decides to destroy them first and gathers up his own faction. Back on the island Armin and the others can’t accept this outcome so they mobilize to stop him. Can they defeat Eren and ensure that Paradis is obliterated once and for all or will they be stopped, resulting in their island being saved?

Part 2 is definitely very ambitious to the point where it almost feels like a different series entirely. The idea of expanding the world like this is certainly good. It allows us to see the action from a different point of view to really see if you’re still rooting for Paradis or not. Eren’s big personality change is also intense since he is really acting like a different character. Whether you agree with him or not will definitely be a big deal.

So lets talk about Eren as a whole. I liked him a lot in both Part 1 and 2. In Part 1 he is your classic main character who is really determined, yells a lot, and wants to accomplish his goal. He wants to destroy all of the Titans since they destroyed his Mother and that will allow him to finally be free. The villains try for sympathy points a lot of the time but Eren never buys into it. The guy’s just a stellar main character through and through. If he doesn’t have a skill he makes sure to quickly develop it.

Then we have Part 2 Eren. For context, he finally gained the power of the Founding Titan and after making contact with Historia at the end of Part 1, he now has access to Paths, the Future, and the Past. Effectively he’s mind melded with every possible Titan owner from all timelines so like Dr. Strange he can see every eventuality. Eren decides that the only way to save his friends and to be free is to wipe out the rest of the world with the Rumbling.

That’s basically an ability where he will have Titans flatten the rest of the planet. This is directly going to murder every living being on the planet aside from his island. Right from the start you may think he has to be stopped but keep in mind that the rest of the planet aims to nuke Paradis off the face of the planet. This is due to a long tragic past history where the world believes they are all demons.

Attack on Titan shows many times that peace is quite impossible. I’d say the reason why you would likely go with Eren is because the heroes have no other plan. More than once characters explain to the heroes why this can’t work any other way. For starters, Eren gave them around 6 months and the heroes did nothing with that time. Later on when someone asks what alternative there is if they stop Eren, Hange says she has no clue.

So it’s a bit of a contrived situation you could say but it’s written in a way where Eren’s Rumbling really is the only option. Okay, here are the other two options presented in the story. You have Zeke’s idea which is to force every Eldian to not be able to have kids. This means their race will die out so Paradis will die eventually but perhaps peacefully since the other countries won’t have to murder them anymore. I think that’s an easy alternative to explain why it’s a horrible idea. The other countries will blow up Paradis anyway and they would be going down in a really awful way.

Alternative 2 is to just blow up a small part of humanity and call for a truce. I doubt humanity would really listen to that. Another idea brought up by Hange is to just ask for peace from the get go. Considering that the other countries have been attacking Paradis for years and destroying innocent people the whole time…that wouldn’t work either. If the heroes had an actual idea about how this would go down then it’d be easier to root against Eren but every time he would ask them for a plan they would just dodge the question or run off like Hange.

All right, time to talk about the ending so skip these next two paragraphs until you have finished the series. Spoilers start. In the final chapter I think the author realized too many people were on Eren’s side so it was time to assassinate his character. For starters, we find out that Eren murdered his mother. Yes that’s right….he controlled the Titan to eat her. This would start the cycle of him hating the titans and becoming the current him. The logic is that there was no other way for him to start on this path so using his mastery over time he made the events happen. You can see how awful that is right? If you can see and control events across the past, present, and future then you could surely do something else right? Ah man that was bad.

Next, at least we all knew Eren had a concrete plan for destroying all of humanity right? He wanted to be free and to save his friends. He had a ton of dialogue to support this including inner monologue. Well, no he admits to Armin he has no idea why he did this and only destroyed 80% of humanity. Armin’s happy about this at least since not everyone was wiped out. The chapter ends with Mikasa hinting that they’re all going to get slaughtered anyway but it depends on your interpretation. The final 8 pages haven’t come out officially yet but based on those it looks like it was confirmed that Paradis was obliterated so I like that my head canon was validated there at least. It also underscores why Eren’s plan was the only one that could work. I could talk about the ending for a very long time but let me quickly wrap this up. Eren gets reincarnated as a bird so he is now free but can’t enjoy it. Historia ended up marrying a random farmer which really came out of nowhere. Reiner looks pathetic and is trying to go after a woman who’s already married. Mikasa may have married Jean out of pity but still clearly loves Eren so Jean knows he was just the rebound. Oh yes and Eren cries because he doesn’t want Mikasa to like anybody else. Yes…this ending was baaaad.

Spoilers end Attack on Titan was certainly a grand journey. While it had a ton of faults I can at least say this for the series, it did have a lot of good world building. The fact that there is so much to discuss definitely speaks to that. It lasted for quite a while as well and had a lot of high moments. When it wasn’t focusing on being as gritty as possible we got some really iconic scenes and panels. Eren fighting the Armored Titan/Female Titan or when he got ambushed by the Jaw Titan were all great moments.

The series delivered on having a lot of action as well. It could transition pretty well between high action arcs and other stories which were more about mind games and taking things slow. I did get invested in seeing how things would go at least. The series had a long slump during the political arc but the final arc got pretty intense. If we really are getting a sequel series I’ll be interested in how that goes. Just massively tone down the violence and it could be quite good.

Now lets look at the characters. I’ve already spoken at length about the best character in the series known as Eren so we can skip him. Armin’s another big character. He certainly has a lot of moments to shine with his plans but he isn’t nearly as likable. Armin’s the kind of character you could see going over the edge way sooner than Eren and causing a lot of trouble. Armin always tries to claim the moral high ground as well even though I would say he’s never earned it. The guy annoys me the more I think about it actually.

Mikasa was a great character though. She’s an expert fighter who is quite loyal to protecting Eren. Aside from Levi she is likely the most talented human fighter in the series. By the end of Titan she can fight one on one against shifters thanks to the electro spears. Outside of the main 3 I suppose Levi would probably be the biggest character. The guy definitely gets a lot of hype and has the skills to back it up. The way he fights you would think the guy is not human at all. Technically as an Ackerman he is superhuman so that does explain a lot of things. I’ll never agree with him beating up Eren or assisting in torture though which does hurt the guy quite a bit.

Then we have Zeke. I just never liked the guy and there are a lot of reasons for it. I couldn’t sympathize with his backstory. He’s meant to be a rather aloof guy who says crazy stuff for kicks but it was never all that amusing. His plan was also complete nonsense so all of these things added up and I could never like the guy. It doesn’t help that he is absolutely traumatized by Levi and gets nervous whenever he appears.

I didn’t care for Reiner with how he keeps trying to guilt trip everyone and not take responsibility for what he did. The whole dual personalities thing wasn’t going to save him. He tends to beg and whine a lot and Eren shut down all of his arguments real quick. He was a very intimidating villain initially but by the end of the series he’s really a pushover.

Annie was a fun villain though. As the Female Titan she was able to use her hand to hand skills rather well to even give Eren a run for his money. Annie was also quite a sadistic villain so stopping her wasn’t easy. She didn’t really get to have a true character arc by the end but since she had her own arc I think fans should be satisfied.

Bertolt doesn’t get to do a whole lot next to the other shifters but I wouldn’t say there’s much to know about him anyway. He’s always acting rather nervous and definitely doesn’t have the confidence of the other members. Without them he would be absolutely and completely lost the whole time. So much for having the Colossal Titan right? It definitely would not be enough to help him.

Gabi is one of the new characters introduced in Part 2. I actually liked her from the start. She reminded me of Part 1 Eren although she was without powers so she could never be as useful in a fight. Gabi doesn’t have any honor in a fight so she’ll try any kind of cheap shot to win but that’s just the way the characters were brought up on her side. Meanwhile Falco also gets a big role in Part 2 although he isn’t nearly as good since he isn’t decisive the way she is.

Back to the main group we also had Connie although he never really stood out. The guy complains quite a bit and doesn’t do a ton in the action scenes so he is always doomed to be a side character. Then there’s Sasha who is the main comic relief character. The series is usually quite serious but she tries to add in a bit of levity here and there.

Commander Erwin was a big character for a while. As one of the acting captains in charge he would come up with a lot of plans. He kept the Survey Corps going for as long as they did. It would not have been possible without his plans. In fact, Armin never quite caught up to the guy.

Hange is easily the worst character in the series. She acts completely evil with her titan experiments and just about every scene with her is nutty. It’s wild that she tries to act like a hero with absolute morals by the end of it. Cmon, you just can’t buy it at that point because of how much she had done. She refused to even think of a plan which is why Eren had to go.

As for Historia, I liked her in Part 1. She’s an example of a character who did get ruined in part 2 though. She doesn’t really do anything throughout the whole series and really just gets manipulated. Not a great way to go considering her whole character arc of becoming brave and defying fate in Part 1. Her friend Ymir also got wiped from the story rather quickly. I liked that she would talk tough even if she was on the wrong side of the debate with Eren and Reiner.

Then we have a second character called Ymir and to this day I wonder why we got two characters with the same exact name. They could have changed it up a little bit right? Well, this Ymir’s pretty awful. She has a lot to do in the Paths dimension but the more you learn about her the worse it gets. Just wait until you read that final chapter.

So I wouldn’t call the character cast great but at least there are some very memorable characters. Eren really helps to carry the series a lot all by himself. Throughout Part 2 you are always waiting for him to appear so we can see more from his perspective. That’s where all of the hype comes from after all. If anything it would have been nice to have seen him talk/think a bit more in the final arc.

As a final note I’ll say the best scene in Part 2 was definitely the betrayal on the rooftop when the opposing army decided to try and capture Eren. Using the Jaw Titan teaming up with a bunch of others was a smart play. In Part 1 the best scene had to be Eren going up against the Armored Titan in what would be their decisive battle. Seeing Eren finally put his martial arts into play for the first time was a moment worth remembering.

Overall, Attack on Titan is definitely a pretty bad series which wrapped up with a terrible ending so I suppose that was fitting. The final 8 pages if the leaks are true still sound bad but in an extremely minor way do help the ending a bit since it would confirm one of my theories. At least we got a lot of great memes out of it though and even a fan character. The violence is too extreme and it consistently tries to be as gritty as possible. Get out of here with the heroes literally torturing people. It does force you to think about some rather high concept arguments though like a character resorting to committing genocide on 99% of the planet to save his friends. Is it worth it or is he just insane? You can have a lot of discussions on that which is good. If you like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones for their elaborate universes and constant sense of danger then you will like this series. If you want something with a really expansive story but toning down the violence then I would recommend checking out Tower of God.

Overall 2/10

Greta Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Greta is one of those films where the whole plot is effectively about punishing someone for doing a good deed. It’s certainly a unique premise there although it also serves as a cautionary tale of why you should always do things through anonymous mail or something rather than going to the home of someone you’ve never met before.

The movie starts with introducing us to Frances who finds a handbag on the Subway one day. She decides to take it home and finds an ID in it for a lady named Greta along with a lot of money. Her roommate Erica says they should just spend the money but Frances wants to return it. The lost and found is closed so she goes in person. Greta is really happy to have had this returned and they end up swapping numbers. Before you know it, Frances and Greta are the best of friends. Erica tells Frances to watch out but the lead isn’t worried. Things take a turn when she sees that Greta has many other copies of the same purse with names on them. Could it be that this was a trap?

Not, it’s a horror film so of course Greta is as evil as possible but even if she wasn’t it’s true that Frances didn’t take a great many precautions. For starters, if you’re returning something from the Subway, you definitely should mail it or hand it to the local authorities to sort out. Bringing the purse on her own to a stranger in a house she’s never been to is absolutely not the right way to go about this. Even more I wouldn’t have given my phone number, that’s all you need to find someone’s address although as soon as Greta had the name that was game over as well.

For the record, returning the bag was naturally the right thing to do even if in the film that’s what got Frances. That said, you just need to give it to a third party or mail it anonymously. As Greta begins stalking Frances everywhere there was also one more scene that stood out to me because it didn’t make sense. So Frances knows that Greta is right outside waiting to tail her. She should leave with some of the other employees when it’s closing time right? Instead she is somehow all by herself when she leaves that night. I doubt they would only have one person closing for such a huge restaurant so how did she end up leaving all by herself after everyone else? It just seemed a little iffy to me considering that she knew how much danger she was in the whole time.

Greta the film also makes another misstep when the main villain adopts a dog. I think everyone knows exactly how this will end the instant that it happens and I was wincing over here. The film handles the end as painlessly as possible which is good but it’s absolutely an element that did not need to be in the film. Why throw in animal violence so randomly like this?

Greta also doesn’t make for the most imposing villain since she is quite old after all. It’s hard to see how she is moving so quickly when chasing Erica. Either Erica also has very poor eyesight or Greta is just that agile. At times there is no place to hide when looking around so that’s one of those scenes where it’s there for the scares but doesn’t make sense.

The other scene that’s particularly iffy is when a private agent goes to scout out Greta’s place and she naturally takes him on with ease. She’s literally dancing around the bullets as if she’s a superhuman fighter while he is getting completely embarrassed. Yeah he got drugged but the whole thing was definitely not a good look for him. It’s not surprising though since you know exactly how his character arc will end the instant he appears.

So you can’t really take Greta seriously and since she is really just insane and barely has a motivation there isn’t much to her. Her goal may be to have another daughter on the outside but really from how she’s acting you can tell that’s a hollow goal and she just wants chaos. I wasn’t a big fan of Frances either though. She really should have at least listened to Erica a bit. I also thought she should have done way better against Greta. We see a montage suggesting she was captured for quite a while and played the role of dutiful daughter until she finally made a move. I’d argue she should have attacked sooner.

Still, at least she attacked and got in a rather solid blow. Frances needed to finish the job there or at least put Greta in a state where she would be unable to fight back. Instead Frances gives Greta her back as she wanders around and gets taken out. In a way this is a horror film that harkens back to the old days where the main characters always made a lot of questionable decisions leading to it being known as a trope in the first place.

Erica is easily the best character in the film. She may be a bit harsh at times but she does look out for Frances. She was also ready to square up against Greta if not for a speeding car that arrived at the last minute. She took a lot of risks in the climax of the film as well. Ultimately she was the only character who could actually give Greta a run for her money. Her bravery alone is enough to make her a solid character and I think the film probably would have gone a lot differently if she had been the lead.

Overall, Greta is one of those horror films where you can see all the story beats coming a mile away. Predictability isn’t a bad thing when they’re good story beats but this film is far from it. Greta’s certainly a very deranged villain who has been in the game for quite a while so the whole situation is rather tragic the more you think about it. She doesn’t seem all that strong physically though so I would have liked to have seen Frances make more of an attempt to escape or fight back more throughout the movie. Her friend Erica was definitely great though and we do get one of those classic horror twist endings to set up the sequel. It makes Frances look pretty bad again though. I definitely would not recommend this one and you should keep looking if you want a solid horror thriller.

Overall 2/10

Game Night Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative.

Game Night is one of those films doing its best to have a nice balance of being a parody while also having serious thriller moments. On the whole it’s definitely quite a bit of fun. Sub par writing does keep this film from being fantastic though and lowers it to just being a good movie. It has enough solid moments where I would say they overpower the bad ones but you can’t help thinking that it left a lot on the table.

The movie starts with showing us how competitive both Max and Annie are when playing games. Sabotaging the other team is just one of the many ways to win and they study for ages so that they are prepared for anything that comes their way. Eventually they end up getting married and continue the tradition of having their friends over for Game Night. They stopped inviting Gary over once he had a divorce though so they try to be low key now. Things all change when Max’s brother Brooks arrives.

Brooks basically exists to antagonize Max and try to shame him in front of everyone whenever they meet. He intentionally causes a disturbance and even shows up in Max’s favorite car. Brooks takes over Game Night and announces that the stakes are higher. Someone is going to be kidnapped and whoever finds that person before the others will get the car for free. This is Max’s turn to prove himself, can he find the car first?

The film definitely plays up the parody elements in right from the start where you can see how exaggerated everything is. Game Night goes all in on making the situation as crazy as possible like the scene where Brooks is attacked and nobody can tell that it’s for real. Then you have Annie running around with a live gun throughout the film but since she thinks it’s a toy she keeps pointing it at people and even puts it in her mouth at one point. One character gets shot and has to have the bullet torn out only for the whole thing to go in a different direction.

These moments are all pretty fun. When the film is embracing the wacky nature of the premise and all the twists it is at its absolute best. The film throws you a whole lot of curve balls throughout. There’s even a moment sort of like the Dark Knight where you think the film has ended only for it to keep on going. There are even two scenes after the credits as if this was a serious film. The actual ending to the movie is excellent though. Whether we get a sequel or not that’s definitely a great way to end it.

As mentioned though, the only thing holding this film back is the writing. Brooks is just way too over the top in how he messes with Max. The guy throws his board games away, steals his friends/car, tells an embarrassing story, etc. The film half heartedly tries to help redeem him by the end but he’s so far gone that it’s just hard to buy into. It also gets so extreme that I wouldn’t even say that these moments are funny. The board game throw? Sure that’s funny although Max should have absolutely retaliated or just left at that point. The embarrassing story? Not even remotely funny and the gag drags on.

Game Night is also fairly confident in its jokes so it tends to keep on calling back to them. For the better gags this works like Gary ominously appearing in the background many times. It’s hard…or meant to be hard to tell if he’s a red herring or not. This backfires for the more annoying moments though like Kevin’s plot where he is jealous about his wife Michelle having an affair at some point which gets brought up over and over again.

As for the characters, Max is a good lead. He has a lot of funny lines and gives the film a solid atmosphere throughout. I would argue again he lefts Brooks get away with way too much though. Then you have Annie who I would say is the standout character of the film. She was able to match Max blow for blow when it came to coming up with plans. She was very proactive and even participated in the fights quite a bit. Annie was quick to take every situation in stride and I can’t really think of any bad scenes she had. She may speak her mind rather quickly even if it means putting Max in a bad spot but at the end of the day they made a great team.

I’ve already talked about Brooks so nothing much more to be said there. He’s the kind of character who is supremely confident which can be entertaining but you can’t let it distract you from the fact that he’s practically the main villain in this film. At least I will say he put up a good fight against the two intruders in the opening scene.

Then you have Ryan who has to be the weakest character in the film. His gimmick is that he’s really not smart at all so he’s always saying things at the worst possible times. He serves as the comic relief character but you don’t need one of those in a parody/comedy film since everyone ideally will have a lot of humorous lines of their own. As a result he feels rather forced the whole time.

The date he brought to the main game night is Sarah who’s meant to contrast his character with how intelligent she is. She has some fun moments as well but in general their subplot wasn’t very strong. Next up is Kevin and Michelle who probably had the weakest plot. As mentioned, Michelle had an affair while they were on a break from each other and he also did but still says she should have not done it or at least come clean about it years ago. Super sloppy of her to mess up during the game though I have to say.

The problem with this gag is it just keeps being brought up over and over so Kevin comes off as super insecure the whole time. I’d also say they did the worst in the game and really could not keep up with the other teams. As for supporting characters, well we have Gary who has a rather tragic plot for the most part since nobody wants to hang out with him anymore. He does come across as rather odd but lying to his face and excluding him from everything is absolutely not the way to go. The film doesn’t give you enough reason to see why the main characters would treat him so poorly so you feel bad for him. It gets worse when something happens to his house. The film never addresses the aftermath of this but it’s definitely not something you would forgive very easily.

Overall, Game Night is a very high energy film. It really embraces the nature of being a sort of “Clue” type adventure but focused heavily on being a parody. It takes many shots at classic action movie tropes as the heroes try a lot of plans but they never work. The conveyer plan for example was really clever as well as the homages to the Die Hard series. The movie is certainly at its best during these moments and I also liked the actual game scenes. There’s a certain music track that plays during these moments which is really good. That said, considering the title you will find there are less scenes of the heroes playing the games than expected. It may have enough of a weak script where I wouldn’t call it a great movie or anything but if you’re looking for a fun film to check out this one’s a good way to spend an evening.

Overall 6/10

Dragon Ball GT: Transformation Review

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A long time ago I got to play the classic Legacy of Goku games but I wasn’t quite able to get the GT title. Well, I’ve finally gotten to play it and it’s certainly a very different take on the series. It’s a retro styled game that I haven’t played in quite a while but my main issue here would have to be the length. Clocking in at around 2 hours or even a bit less, you’ll have this game completed in the blink of an eye.

The game adapts the first arc of Dragon Ball GT. Goku and Uub were training when Emperor Pilaf shows up and uses the dragon balls to turn Goku into a kid again. The hero really isn’t all that concerned about this but the main issue is that the heroes have to find the dragon balls quickly or the Earth will blow up. They’ve been sent across the galaxy so the team will have to find them within a year. The team consists of Goku, Trunks, and Pan. Hopefully they are up to the task!

As for the gameplay, if you’ve played the old TMNT arcade games or Reign of Apocalypse for the GBA then you’ll recognize this one. It’s an auto scrolling 2D beat em up game where you use your hand to hand moves, ki blasts, and throws to take opponents down. You also have your super attack which comes at the expense of all your energy so it’s a risky move but one that is pretty useful. In a rather unique twist compared to the others though this game lets you have all 3 fighters in each level.

This adds a little strategy since you can quickly switch out to one of the other members if you’re low on health. While the fighter is on the bench they will start to regain their health although they won’t regain their energy meter. Still, if you play your cards right you should never lose a member since swapping in and out is pretty seamless. I like this addition for sure.

There are around 13 levels or so. I forget the exact amount but it’s nothing too large. I completed all the levels including a few that were off the main path so if those weren’t required you could probably shave a little more time off of the game. The bosses are fun and we do get little text cutscenes to further the plot. At the same time, with the short run time you can see how there isn’t a whole lot of time for a plot. The final level in particular blasts through a lot of story elements really quickly.

I suppose the hook of the game should be its replay value. After beating the game you unlock single player mode which allows you to play through the levels at will while using more characters. Using your Zennys which you earn from completing levels you can buy more characters. I bought Super Saiyan Goku for example and I see there are around 5-6 more characters after that. There are a lot of other hidden unlockables in the secrets screen like other modes and such so the game did throw in a decent amount of content here.

It’s not exactly the most tempting bonus content but it’s something I suppose. My issue is that the money seems hard to earn. Completing the game only got me enough money to buy 1 character so you’re going to have to beat the same levels over and over again to get everyone. That’s a little too tedious for me but I guess it’s worth noting that this will extend the replay value without a doubt.

As for the soundtrack, the game only has maybe 2-3 different tunes. The main rock one is very catchy though so it’s always fun to see. The graphics are fairly solid. The sprites are on point and all of the characters are easily recognizable. You can tell that it’s a bit lazy with how each character only has a single character portrait though. Everyone’s always glaring even if it’s a fairly happy scene. I don’t imagine it’s too hard to come up with the portraits so giving everyone at least 2 would have been nice.

At its core I’d say the main issue with the game is just that it feels a little lazy. Sort of low budget next to the other games which had proper hub worlds and felt like RPGs that could match other titles. This one transitioned to an action title which is by no means a bad thing but when it seems like this was done exclusively so they could cut corners then there was no way this could match the others.

Overall, I wouldn’t call this a bad game though. The gameplay will give you some fun as you power through the game. The story holds up and the rock theme is nice. I’m mainly deducting a point for how short the game is. The replay value is almost nonexistent to me because even if you unlock more characters, you’re just having them around to fight the same levels and bosses again. It would have been nice if the game could have been just a little bit longer. At the end there’s a stinger that leaves room for a sequel but clearly that never happened. Maybe if the Kakarot series gets far enough they will adapt GT one day. With all the planet hopping and everything it would certainly make for a fun exploration title.

Overall 6/10

Richter Belmont vs Boba Fett

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Suggested by Sonic Boba Fett has his guns, boosters, and a lot of good tech so you don’t want to underestimate him. The question really is, would Richter be able to get past this? If he gets close then he absolutely wins this with no issue but closing the distance is the tricky part. I think he’ll be able to do this due to his energy based holy attacks though. It’ll be very hard for Boba to even try and dodge those. Richter Belmont wins.

Sceptile vs Tad

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Suggested by Sonic Tad has his powerful Poliwrath at the ready but that won’t help against Sceptile. Sceptile has the type advantage here and is also a lot faster than Poliwrath. This will make it easy to pepper the guy with razor leaf or even getting up close and using the Leaf blade. Tad won’t be able to offer much support here either so he would go down quick. Sceptile wins.

Zabuza vs Sasori

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Suggested by Sonic Zabuza has had some pretty good fights over the years but he won’t be able to keep up with Sasori. Sasori’s most powerful puppets are certainly on the level of a Jounin warrior and he has many that he can use at once. As powerful as Zabuza is, he would still get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers here and would also be unable to dodge Sasori’s poison attacks. Sasori wins.