Suggested by iKnowledge Mindee Cuckoo is a strong fighter but she won’t be able to take out Danzo. Danzo may not look very fast but he was moving rather well in his fight against Sasuke and has a lot of good Sharingan techniques. The ability to effectively nullify his death a number of times is a huge deal. It means that he will be able to fight in a riskier way than most and he will completely overwhelm Mindee in close quarters combat. Danzo wins.
No stats this time!
Ruff Trigger is one of those games where you can tell that there wasn’t a lot of playtesting for balance. The controls are fine enough but everything can be cheesed really easily and the difficulty level ends up being very low. The plot will have you scratching your head at times with how random it is. So all in all this doesn’t have that AAA feel but the gameplay itself is pretty fun and the game gets some points for having so many cutscenes.
The game starts with Ruff being put on another mission. He has to round up the Piglots that have been scattered across various planets. These look like little gerbils that will follow you around. Ruff isn’t thrilled at having a mission and complains about it, but the guy complains about everything in this game so the boss wisely ignores him. Can Ruff manage to track these guys down? Meanwhile there’s a mysterious Hulk-like creature who keeps showing up to get absolutely destroyed by Ruff before retreating. What’s his deal?
Wait, what about the Vanocore Conspiracy?? Well, that doesn’t come into play until the final 2 levels and it pretty much meaningless to the plot. There’s no time to process what the two villainesses even want to do so I don’t know why this was included in the game’s title. I guess it sounds cool though and maybe some parts just didn’t end up making it into the final product. There’s enough lore and characters here where this could have been a cool series. Alas, that was just not to be this time.
So the gameplay is your classic 3D shooter but with a little twist. Rather than running to the end of the level, you will periodically be stopped to go and grab some Piglots. You have to transport them to a teleporter which will get them out of the area. Sometimes this will be mandatory and other times it will be optional. It’s usually a good idea to warp all of the ones that you see though because they get you a lot of money which you can use to buy more guns and armor. Money is a resource you will have a whole lot of by the end so don’t be cheap and just buy the maximum armor every time. It’s like having a permanent second health bar.
Your guns are also incredibly powerful to the point where you can beat most bosses in under a minute. The only exceptions are the bosses that you have to beat with Piglots rather than firepower. Those bosses usually have you pick up the piglot and drop them into a teleporter in the middle of the field. As long as you run and jump the whole time then you’ll be one step ahead of the boss so don’t worry about being taken down for the count. The game is really not that hard as I mentioned. Just stick to your guns and you’re good.
Just lock on so you can move from side to side and that will dodge all enemy attacks as all they can do it fire in a straight line. When there are more than pone opponent, just knock them off one at a time. Now, there is a Werewolf mode in the game but you never have to use it. Seriously, I didn’t see any reason to do so. The attacks are very slow and none of them are as efficient as the guns so why bother? This is what I’m thinking of when I’m talking about game balance. The werewolf form is seemingly supposed to be very strong considering that it has a short time limit and you have to look for bottles to replenish this. Then why is it better to be in human form? It doesn’t make any sense.
Also, don’t bother using hand to hand combat. If a bunch of enemies attack you then just jump and do a ground pound. I guarantee that this is the much better way to handle those enemies and the best part is that you will hit them all at once. This way you’re never in any real danger. None of the enemies can hit you when you’re above them like that so I found this to be a good way to get some space. It’s extremely handy in the final level of the game. There are also a handful of racing levels. They aren’t super polished but it was a nice change of pace, I definitely had fun with those.
As for the graphics, I thought those were surprisingly good. Not saying the game looks amazing or anything but it does have quite a few cutscenes and the character models are on point. There are 1-2 levels which are intentionally dark which can be cheesy but the rest of the game looks good. The sound isn’t as good though as there is no decent sound mixing. Some cutscenes are super quiet while others suddenly get loud. That part felt really unpolished. Likewise, the dialogue could use some work. Ruff comes across as a really annoying kind of guy who is constantly complaining without having any good reasons for doing so. It’s hard to even see what the dynamic is between him and the main heroine. I guess they’re kind of together but still like to talk tough the whole time? Naturally she gets kidnapped right away which hurts her hype.
There isn’t really any replay value here. Continuing the game takes you right back to the final level and there’s no stage select. So this is one game where you’ll be putting it down for good after playing through the end. It’s not exactly out of the ordinary but replay value is always a good thing to have. You can get the game for fairly cheap right now though so there’s enough value here to still have a good time.
Overall, Ruff Trigger is a fun game. It’s got solid gameplay and graphics going for it. While the game isn’t super polished and the story isn’t very well thought out, the gameplay is the key thing here. You’ll feel very nostalgic playing through this PS2 experience and I do think that a sequel could have really helped to iron out the rough patches. It’s a shame that this one didn’t do better but I can’t blame people for not buying it. Look at how many years it took me to buy this game right? It serves its purpose as a fun little platformer and you’ll get some humor out of the story cutscenes. At the end of the day it’ll end up being rather memorable thanks to all of this.
Overall 7/10
Suggested by X Man Fan Rogue is very powerful and one of the most impressive X-Men out there. That being said, she isn’t quite ready to take on someone like Superman just yet. He’s still one of the absolute strongest fighters in all of comic books. He would be fast enough to evade her touch and can also win this from long-range with his heat vision. Rogue has a lot of good feats of her own but they’re just a step below his. Superman wins.
Suggested by Friday Esdeath has very powerful ice abilities and can really make things difficult for Sasuke here. That being said, he has the Sharingan and speed that can match hers. His ultimate defenses can block her strongest attacks and while her reaction times can buy her some time in the match, it will not be nearly enough to actually turn the tides of battle. Sasuke wins.
Gloria is a movie with a solid premise that manages to execute it really well. As a result this is a movie that’s memorable and has a solid cast at the ready. It’s a film that taps into the gangster angle with a different vibe than other similar kind of installments so I would say that Gloria is unique in the end. She also ends up being a very solid main character.
The movie starts off with Gloria’s neighbor dashing home with a lot of groceries. She is in a rush because the mob is now after her. Unfortunately her husband forgot to let her know just how dire things were and they should have run off instead of buying groceries. Now it’s too late to leave the building although making an attempt probably would have been worth it. Gloria shows up right in time though and they get their youngest child Phil to go with her to her apartment. This way he is able to escape the wrath of the gangsters and Phil’s father even gives him the ledger holding all of the information that the gangsters want. The parents are promptly blown to smithereens and now Gloria is on the run. Can she protect Phil from this group and why does she seem to know the gangsters?
This movie really opens up with a whole lot of things happening at once. Everything about the situation feels off as the mother heads off of the bus with the groceries and then you have this random guy banging on the elevators. Throw in the gangsters and how the father is panicking so much and you quickly start to piece everything together. When Gloria shows up you almost think that this is going to change genres and she is going to be some kind of super lawyer to help them out but that’s clearly not quite enough to stop these gangsters and bring everything back to normal.
At least this way she got to save one person though. The rest of the family should have still done a little more though. The daughter and mother basically just gave up and the father didn’t seem to do very well at all. If you’re pretty confident that you’re going to die anyway then I don’t see the harm in making a break for it. Maybe you could somehow make it to the front of the building at least and hope a cop is around. From what we know though, the father really got them all into this mess. Giving out secrets to the government is fine and all but making jokes about it at the bar? That’s a real easy way to put a mark on yourself and the rest of the family by extension. I also agreed with the mother that wasting time and buying groceries was not a good tactical move.
While the rest of the film quickly ramps up the tension as Gloria is always on the run, there is only one thing which holds the film back. That’s Phil. Yes, Phil was in a traumatic situation and all but he’s supremely annoying for the entirety of the movie. When he’s not yelling at Gloria he’s running off to make himself a bigger target. He’s not supportive even when she saves him multiple times and doesn’t even try to act reasonable until the very end. All of his dialogue tends to be downright terrible and if he was written out of the film entirely that would have been for the best. Maybe have Gloria drop him off at an orphanage while she takes out the mobsters and then bring him back at the end.
It would have been tough though since this isn’t that kind of film. It’s not Salt or Taken where the main character grabs an AK-47 and just blows everyone away. Here Gloria is strong and not afraid to go up against any gangster but it’s handles in a much more down to Earth way. She has a gun but she’s not going to mow down 20+ people. She uses it tactically and her knowledge of the city and how the mob works allows her to get far. She is put into a lot of sticky situations where the villains come out on top but then she also gets a lot of wins like in the subway and in the restaurant.
The movie has an ominous vibe in the way you would mainly see in an 80s kind of film like this. Even when there are a lot of people around you don’t feel that Gloria is safe because the mob has so many people working for them. They have enough confidence where they aren’t afraid to kidnap or shoot people in broad daylight after all so the implication is quite clear that they have a whole lot of power behind them. That’s not the kind of power that can be taken lightly at all.
That’s why it’s only more impressive how Gloria is able to stand up to them. She’s easily the best character here. It would be hard to blame her if she ditched Phil after a while with how he kept getting her in trouble and he’s someone she didn’t even really know before the start of the day. How well do you know your neighbor’s kid right? Ultimately her herosim always wins out though and she steps in to help. The film also keeps it vague why she left the gang and how all of that played out. It would make for a fun prequel but in the meantime I definitely don’t mind that her past is kept secretive. It adds an extra layer to her character as the mysterious lead.
I really had no issues with her and she was a lot of fun. If the film was more well known I could definitely see her being placed in the same conversations as Ripley and Sarah Connor as really tough main heroines from back in the day. Most of the gangsters are just your average crooks but the leader Tanzinni was reasonable. Clearly he had a lot of history with Gloria back in the day. While they disagree on how to handle this and Tanzinni makes it clear that he won’t protect her, he doesn’t go out of his way to stop her. For a villain that’s about the best you could ask for since if he wanted her dead then she would have been in short order.
The two sides are able to find a compromise and while the rest of the gang may not agree with it, this puts a little less of a full force against Gloria. Some opportunistic gang members may still go after her but you know Gloria can hold her own at this point so you aren’t worried. The film has a good ending and so ultimately this film just makes for a good experience from start to finish. The pacing and writing are good and you are definitely engaged due to how the film keeps the danger level high at all times.
Again, the only weak point here is Phil. The opening scene could have gone differently but it’s not the kind of thing that impacts your enjoyment. Phil does though and really keeps the film from going to the next level. Every scene with him drags and drags because of how grating he could be. It’s not even that he’s crushed from the experience but it’s just the way he processes even the new information. He makes all the worst decisions at all times and comes across as extremely unlikable.
Overall, Gloria is a very good film. I tend to like the sub genre where the ex-member of a dangerous organization has to help someone when the organization makes a move. Usually the main character is someone who was highly skilled and an upper member so it makes sense that they know how to protect themselves. Jason Bourne and Mission Impossible are good examples of this happening to a degree and there have been quite a few spy and assassin movies like this. Gloria may be more low key as it isn’t a full action thriller but with the constant chase scenes and always being on the run, there is no shortage of exciting moments to be found.
Overall 7/10
The art is definitely odd for this one. It seems to be trying for a webtoon look but the character designs don’t work so well with everyone having huge eyes and the details getting a little messy. Still, the action is good and the story’s off to a fun start so we’ll see where it goes from here. I’ll have a review up for the series when I finish it.
Overall 7/10
At long last I have obtained the Platinum trophy for Beast Quest!! While this is a great accomplishment, the somber part is that means I’ll probably never pick this game back up again. There’s just no reason to play it since everything has been done. Time to work on getting some trophies from other games.
Next up on the Seven Deadly Sins spinoff list is more of a romance title. Yes, Seven Days is a title that I would consider to be a romance first and foremost which is a first for this series. The main manga certainly had its share of romance plots but it was always an action/adventure as the main genre. Well, this title is exclusively about the romance between Ban and Elaine which is a change of pace right away. I’m not a big fan of the romance myself but the story is told well. We get some action and the characters are nice enough so that ends up being a win.
The story starts off by explaining that Elaine is one of the fairies tasked with protecting the fountain of eternal youth from any who should go into the forest. Fortunately she is not alone, her brother is the fairy king and he is incredibly strong. There are many powerful fairies within the forest and even the trees automatically protect against intruders. Unfortunately a bunch of the fairies were suckered by a corrupt human who kidnapped them and the King went off to save them. The rest of the fairies quickly ran away back to the Fairy Realm so Elaine is tasked as the only fairy left who must protect the whole kingdom on her own. The King said he would return shortly but now 700 years have passed. One day a mysterious traveler named Ban appears and he is in search of the fountain of Eternal Youth. Elaine must stop him but he seems different from the rest.
Elaine has good reasons to be really jaded at humanity. She has the ability to read minds and so far everyone who has come to the fountain to gain eternal youth has been a complete criminal. They all end up being liars and try to attack her right away. Fortunately she has been strong enough to defeat them all with ease but between that and a lot of the fairies being kidnapped, the humans do not look very trustworthy at all. Ban’s really shown to be the only good human here.
It is unfortunate that the rest of the fairies look so weak though. Losing to random humans like this isn’t a good look for them. If these were higher ranked villains then that would be different but the way they lost was sad. Even Elaine who looks impressive against the humans ends up faltering when an actual monster shows up. The Fairies definitely need some good power ups so they can alter the balance of power because this is really not working out for them.
Yes, a monster does show up in the second volume to add a little danger to the equation. Of course if you’ve read the main series then you know how this adventure has to end. In case you haven’t, I can say that this definitely changes the dynamic of the series and ties into Ban’s role in the main title. The ending is definitely an emotional one but with enough hope left where you know the characters can still have a chance.
The battle scene was also solid. It’s cool to see Ban fighting back in the day before he got his powers. He was still a strong fighter but of course not on the same level that he is currently. He fights more carefully than in the main series since he really can’t afford to be getting hit like normal but in the end he still can’t quite go up against the really strong opponents without his abilities.
Ban’s a likable character here. He’s quick to give up on his journey when he learns that it will hurt the forest and from then on just tries to help Elaine get through her boredom. I’m still not a fan of the romance angle here but at least through the series we take 7 days before they start to be together instead of right away. Still not a whole lot of time but since they’re both bored with absolutely nothing to do, it’s 7 days where they’re hanging out 24/7 instead of some hours at a time.
I also think the artist did a better job of drawing Elaine to look a little older at least. We know she’s 1000+ years old and all but when she looks too young it just doesn’t feel right. Still not a perfect scenario but better than it could have been. As for Elaine, she’s a good lead. She did well to protect the forest for 700 years without any real backup. (She has a demon dog but he vanishes whenever villains appear) If I was her I would be sore at how everyone just vanished though. The fairies completely ditched her so maybe she should have ditched the forest and left as well. The task just feels completely unreasonable.
It’s also a shame that she doesn’t have more ways to fight off this monster. I feel like she should have some kind of special abilities that would aid her here but she wasn’t really able to do much against this beast. If Ban were not here then she would have gone down in an instant. Ultimately she stayed heroic through to the end though and did not complain as she looked through the forest. It was certainly a relief for her to read Ban’s mind and finally find an honest human for the first time. Having the ability to read someone’s mind has got to be a very comforting feeling since you know for a fact that you aren’t being tricked.
This series (2 volumes, but that’s enough to be called a series I suppose) has a very small cast but I think that’s intentional to show how alone Elaine is. The other fairies appear briefly in volume 1 but after that it’s really just her and Ban the whole time. It’s hard to imagine how she didn’t go crazy just wandering around the forest for 700 years with nothing to do aside from murdering the occasional trespasser. There is some dialogue about how the passage of time feels different for immortals because of just how long it is but that’s still just a really long amount of time.
Also from just reading this series, you have to be mad at the King. He told her he’d be right back and then vanishes for 700 years? Aside from his death or complete memory erasure there is really no excuse for that. I also think there’s no excuse for other Fairies not arriving to work in shifts or to try and get her some intel. They sure show up very quickly in the epilogue when Ban’s around so where were they until then? These are the kinds of allies that you absolutely do not want.
Overall, Seven Days was a fun spinoff. It does show that you can have a quality romance adventure even if you’re not on board with the actual romance. The story’s very low key with lots of scenes of Ban just reading a book about beer labels to Elaine as he wows her with his adventures. The fact that this book is so low key is the point as she’s desperate for any activity that will erase her boredom and it’s a good way to connect the two characters. Elaine was always a fun enough character in the main series while Ban could be hit or miss. He was at his best in this story though and the author understood his character well. The ending is also solid and ties into the main series smoothly. As the story is stand alone you can read this without context of the main series and maybe it’ll even help you to give it a read. Either way, you’ll have a good time reading these two volumes.
Overall 7/10
As you probably know, I was not the biggest fan of the Seven Deadly Sins main series. Much like Fairy Tail, it could have been one of the all time elites but was held back by fanservice issues and a really poor main character in Meliodas. Still, with the concept being good, that always means that the spinoffs have a lot of potential since you can possibly get all of the highs without the lows if the stories end quickly enough. I would say this spinoff does a good job of that. It’s not amazing or anything like that but it’s a pretty good collection of stories where the Sins get to do their thing and take out the enemies.
The main story in this book sees Meliodas and the crew take on the vampires. This story is from before they disbanded so it’s fun to see the team together from back in the day. Even at this point they were all incredibly powerful and I think you could do a whole prequel that would be a lot of fun about this era. There isn’t a lot of danger as the heroes completely outrank the villains in every possible way but at least we get to see them all use their signature techniques.
From the vampires the only real notable one is Gelda as she would later go on to have a big role in the climax of the series. She’s certainly smarter than the average vampire and quickly knew the score and exactly how everything would play out right from the beginning. Her request to be destroyed by Meliodas still isn’t the right move here though even if winning would have been impossible. At this point she had no true allies or reasons to keep on going but she could have found some if she stuck around. It all ultimately ended up working out for her but if you read this story before reading the main series then she will come off as being someone who gives up way too quickly.
The strongest vampire was probably the leader who fought Escanor but even then you knew that he was doomed from the start. The art is great as always though so you can really appreciate the villain designs here. They just emit power in every panel. Likewise the heroes all look powerful here and you can see why they are known as the ultimate fighting force in the kingdom. It’s rare to have a hero group who completely outshine the villains like this but that’s just how good they are. It would be difficult for any group of villains to match them. The fights are solid so that’s why the vampire story is very good.
Then there’s a very short story where a few bandits decide to break into the cafe Meliodas owns to harass Elizabeth. Fortunately the rest of the Sins show up and beat up/intimidate those bandits for a while. The group’s always ready to watch out for her that’s for sure. While the story may make it seem like they arrived by accident, you get the feeling they’re all always on the lookout so as soon as the bandits showed up they knew what to do. This was before the popularity poll results in the volume so it was a good way to give everyone a moment to shine first.
Finally we have the pilot to the Seven Deadly Sins series. It’s always interesting to read the pilot to see how things changed from the original oneshot. For starters, Meliodas actually seems like a decent person here. He has a huge sword as well instead of the hilt that’s missing a blade. The plot itself is the same as Elizabeth shows up to try and locate the Seven Deadly Sins to help her retake the kingdom but they are all scattered to the winds. Her personality is very different though as she doesn’t really have any manners here and is super oblivious to all social rules.
In this case, her being a princess means that she doesn’t have much common sense and doesn’t know basic tasks. Unfortunately this is an excuse for some fanservice. The villain here is a little more deranged and one of those pervy type villains who is extremely annoying so the main series definitely had a better introduction when it comes to the villain. Both the original first chapter and pilot have different positives and negatives so in a way the series just changed up what held it back. It’s a decent pilot but it’s easy to see how this could have taken us down the wrong path.
The artwork has certainly improved from then though. You can’t really compare the character designs from the pilot to the main series, it’s just a world of difference and that makes sense since the artist is a lot more experienced now. With these 3 stories in here, this makes for a fun one shot. It’s always good to see the gang again and I’m glad these stories were put into a manga volume instead of staying in limbo for all eternity. This is certainly the better deal.
The Seven Deadly Sins may not be the best group of heroes out there as I’m not a huge fan of most of their members but it is a nice dynamic with how they’re barely a team. They don’t work very well together to the point where it’s extremely rare to see them all teaming up at the same time. They’re all just too strong so naturally they all have big egos and rivalries of their own. Merlin and Gowther always seem super suspicious so it’s hard to know what they’re thinking. King and Ban are always fighting, same with Ban and Meliodas. Escanor’s personality does a 180 based on whether it’s night or day and Diane is nice enough. Their chemistry makes for a lot of fun banter but usually won’t turn into teamwork. They’re so strong that it’s rarely needed though.
From the 3 stories my favorite one was the vampire story for the reasons listed above. It’s just a very classic action story and seems like the kind of plot you could expect to see in a movie. Second would be the short story about the Sins beating up the random bandits. It was really short but it was nice to see everyone defending Elizabeth there. Finally the pilot would be in last. Still a decent story but between the villain being pretty bad and Elizabeth not being at the top of her game it just couldn’t compete with the others.
Overall, Original Sins is a clever title for having the original story in here but at the same time it makes you think that this might be more of a full prequel instead. I still say that a story about their original adventures in full would be a lot of fun. If you’re a fan of the main series then you’ll definitely want to check this one out. If anything you may enjoy checking this one out if you haven’t read the original as well as it’s a decent jumping on point. The vampire story at the beginning tells you all of the character personalities and abilities while the pilot gives you a good idea of the story. So that way you’ll have a good idea on if you will like the series or not.
Overall 7/10
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