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Interstellar Review

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Interstellar is a movie that feels a whole lot like the 2001 Space Odyssey. It’s going for that super drawn out feel where you have a lot of nice visuals to look at but you can go a while without actually having any plot developments. I thought it had an interesting start but really started fading from there. Chop off about an hour or so and I think you’re looking at a better movie but either way I would say to give this one a skip. It’s just not going to be the winning sci-fi film for you.

The movie takes place in the future where things are rather dire now. There isn’t a whole lot of food left and so farmers are super important. Cooper works as a farmer but he was hoping for something better for his kids. Unfortunately the school seems to be rigging it so the family will all have to be farmers. Cooper isn’t thrilled about that and then one day he and his daughter Murph end up wandering onto a super secret government base. The officials explain that they are looking into two plans to save humanity since the plants are eventually going to die and the planet is nearly done for.

One plan is to find a suitable planet and have some people land there and repopulate the planet. The other one is to make use of mysterious wormholes that have appeared recently which can be used to get most of humanity across. Both options will be difficult but Cooper agrees to help since it is the only way that his family will be okay. He gets on the ship and prepares for a voyage the likes of which he has never seen before. Unfortunately for him it’ll be a much more difficult voyage than he ever could have guessed.

Now here are the good parts of the film. For starters I like space and the whole sci-fi angle of taking place in the future is fun. I enjoyed the first act as we see what the planet is like and how the heroes bust into the base and start thinking about the future. At this point it felt like this was still going to be a very solid, traditional sci-fi film. I can tell you that I was fairly excited at all of this.

I would say the cracks first began to show once they made it to the first planet. So it turns out that time is different here so one hour is a whole day and it only gets more drastic the further you get. So one of the dilemmas here is that Cooper could end up throwing his life away pretty much by going to these planets. There won’t be much to save if he ends up taking too long. It’s a high intensity situation so you don’t want to blame anyone per say but one character hesitates quite a bit and she ends up putting the others in danger. If you miss your evacuation point then you’re really sunk since that puts you off by a few days in real time and that’s much longer with how the time portal is working. So that was definitely tragic.

The film definitely goes for a very emotional vibe here as the years tick by and Cooper starts listening to recordings from the kids. The recordings are still able to go through but in a way he sacrificed anything including the chance to be with his children. They just had to go on without him and that fuels some resentment on their side. It’s rare to see a plan just completely fail on the hero’s side like this but sure enough, Connor just had to live with the regret of al this. I think if he could have changed it so he never left then he absolutely would have. In a way he tried to do just that by warning Murph in the past but that didn’t really work so well.

Time basically works in a loop of sorts here so you can sort of see the past and interact a bit but you can’t do much more than be a ghost. I thought there were a lot of very interesting ideas to see here and it does nail the sci-fi elements. Again, the only reason this film didn’t do better is because it’s so incredibly drawn out. The movie’s biggest failing is simply that it’s boring. There is 0 replay value here. You won’t be laughing or smiling as the film goes on and while the ideas are interesting, they’re not going to hold the film up for very long. You need good ideas and solid execution.

When Interstellar remembers that it’s an active movie then it gets more interesting again. For example I did enjoy one of the characters who shows up to add a little danger to the mix. It makes sense that being on your own could turn you a little batty and I thought that whole part was pretty interesting. That character may not have looked very good with how he cracked and all but it actually gave the film a sense of danger.

Then you also have a twist involving the old man’s plans which I thought was really solid. It definitely hits hard and makes the whole thing even more tragic. While the effects can be drawn out, I did think that the planets looked good. So there really is a lot to like here. The writing is good and the visuals are nice. I can’t say that I remember any of the tunes in particular but I feel like they were pretty decent tooo.

Cooper is a decent main character too. He’s taking all of these risks and going on this journey to protect his kids. It’s a great motivation and it’s clearly not something that he wanted to do otherwise. He does his best in every scene and so you do like the guy. He was a solid pick as the main character. The rest of the crew ranged from choking under pressure to being decent. The android was the best character though. I liked how he could talk very tough and at the end of the day he would come in handy. His strategy of being mostly honest also ended up being effective at several times in the film.

There’s not a whole lot more to say without talking myself into circles. I do think if you cut out about an hour of reaction shots and just looking off into the stars that this would be a pretty good movie. I dare say you could see a jump of 3 full stars otherwise. Because the story really isn’t bad and the characters are good. I liked the writing and there is a lot going on here. The twists land well so everything is in place except for it just being too drawn out and boring. You never want to get bored while watching a movie and so that’s a huge blemish against the experience. For example, I would never be tempted to watch this again and would actively avoid it. That’s why I can safely say this is not a good title.

Overall, Interstellar is one of the more tragic films because you can really see how it could have been good. In that respect it is still leagues ahead of 2001: A Space Odyssey because that film never had the same level of potential. That one was doomed from the start while this one was actually fairly close. Maybe a sequel would win but I get the feeling that the odds of this film even getting a sequel are slim to none. It just doesn’t feel like that kind of movie, but you never know I suppose.

Overall 4/10

Red Lights Review

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

Red Lights is a bit of a trippy film that has a lot of good ideas but the execution isn’t as good as it should have been. It gives you a lot to think about though and I like the concept. You’d probably never guess the actual story of the film just based on the title though, it’s not one of those titles that makes it obvious or anything. There aren’t a ton of magic films like this one out there either so that adds a little more reason to check this one out.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Margaret and her assistant Tom. Their job is to discredit people who call themselves magicians by uncovering their tips and tricks. They’re quite good at this and Margaret really commands the field. In her day she was only defeated once by the magician known as Simon who was the best of the best. He retired rather suddenly when one of his critics died during a performance. Well, now he’s back but for some reason Margaret refuses to go after him. She even tells Tom not to try because they are hopelessly outmatched and outgunned. Tom doesn’t listen though and wants to take this guy down as the ultimate triumph.

Red Lights shifts gears rather quickly so don’t expect this plot to remain static but right off the bat I like the premise here. The idea of a movie about people busting magicians is really interesting. Particularly if you don’t believe in magic then you’re rooting for them to claim the win. Margaret is also a very solid character with how confident and prepared she is. Of course she isn’t unbeatable and we get a flashback showing how she lost to Simon. It’s not easy to prove the others are a phony, particularly on the spot. Part of her regret though is that it should have been easy for her in that moment.

He claimed that her son’s ghost was around as if he was dead, but only Margaret knew that he was still alive. If she had called him out there then her career would have been perfect but ultimately she hesitated and just didn’t think of it in time. That’s her only loss in the film though. While Tom gives her a hard time during an interview later on, I wouldn’t say that she was actually losing that one. Personally I thought she did fine and I suppose it’s how you look at the interview but what did he really want her to say? I thought he was unreasonable the whole time.

That’s one of the weaker parts of the film since Tom is really the main character here and he’s just annoying all the time. He constantly loses his cool and falls into every trap imaginable. There’s a scene where he keeps on threatening the head researcher so that he can get in and the whole time I’m just thinking that they really shouldn’t let him in now. It’s clear that the guy isn’t stable at all and the film really goes out of its way to show this. He’s just way too obsessed with Silver.

Tom also just isn’t as talented as Margaret is. Intensity and youth can only get you so far, ultimately you also need the technique to go along with that. He’s also rather mean to one of the assistants. He doesn’t even let the guy talk and just keeps on brushing off the guy’s ideas. Tom’s girlfriend acts the same way towards the guy so you start to feel bad for him. He’s the one trying to help out and staying up late trying to crack the case too. He deserves a little more respect there.

During the film you’re also supposed to ask yourself the whole time if Simon’s powers are real as well. It’s a nice angle to the film since it gives you a reason to really think about each scene a lot. Fantastical things do seem to happen a lot when he’s on stage like lights breaking or people dying for seemingly no reason. Of course part of you will think that may be a little too easy in that case. Either way it should give you a lot to think about and Simon makes for a solid villain. He’s definitely not someone that the characters can really afford to take too lightly.

There is a big twist near the end of the film which answers all of the questions and should make or break the experience for you. The twist itself I’m fairly cool with although I wouldn’t say it’s handled super well. One scene is dragged out a bit too much which lowers the impact of the moment. I also feel like this raises some extra questions throughout the movie which don’t do it any favors. It also leads to a rather bad ending so in the end the film starts off a lot better than it ended. It had some good humor and a fun cast but it just made some really big mistakes in the second half that erase a lot of the good that the first half pulled in. I’ll jump into that now so skip the next two paragraphs if you haven’t seen the film yet.

All right so here we go into spoiler land. First off, Margaret gets bumped off early on which is a shame since she was the best character here. Tom isn’t able to fill in for her effectively at all. Then the other big twist is that Simon was a phony but Tom is a real psychic. Yes, all the crazy stuff that happened during the movie was his doing. It seems like he didn’t actually know he was doing this to himself. Towards the end of the film he says he regrets how he didn’t tell Margaret sooner so she could have some closure though.

So that means he knew he had powers but just didn’t know he was using it at those moments? It’s rather sloppy. His whole motivation seemed to be to find some other people like him with psychic powers and he had started giving up on this dream. It’s too bad he couldn’t have confided in her though or at least been less desperate about things. At least the movie didn’t cop out with powers not existing but it just should have been so much better. Also, at the end Tom takes Margaret’s son off of life support so he can die now but that was a very iffy way of ending things. He snuck in there without any consent and just turned it off? Even if it’s meant to be a helpful/hopeful kind of thing, it didn’t turn out that way.

Well that’s it for the spoilers. There’s also an action scene we get in the bathroom that really doesn’t go very well for Tom. The scene is super random and shows up out of nowhere though. On a plot level you get to piece it together real quick on how this happened but the ending of the fight felt really convenient. If you’re going to start a fight and take a huge risk on someone seeing you, then shouldn’t you make sure that the fight is won? Stopping at the end just doesn’t work and makes the whole thing futile.

Overall, Red Lights is a film with a lot of ups and downs for me. The concept is sound and there are some interesting visuals here. On the other hand the ending is no good and it felt like the movie should have trusted its own premise more. The more interesting scenes in the film where about the heroes trying to prove that the magicians are a fraud as opposed to Tom’s obsession. If we focused on that then this would have been pretty good.

Overall 5/10

The Bone Collector Review

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

The Bone Collector is a film where you have a gut feeling that it won’t be very good from the jump. Films about solving mass murders can be interesting when they focus on the detective work of course but usually when it’s about one still in progress it can be shaky since the guy is still out there bumping everyone off in every other scene. This movie stays rather gritty throughout the film and never ultimately gets past that.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Lincoln who is in a rather tough state. He suffers from seizures and can no longer walk or move around. He is permanently trapped to his bed and so he has decided to end it all. Lincoln fears that another stroke could send him to a vegetative state and so he wants to end on his own terms but right before it’s time for that operation, a mass murderer appears and Lincoln may be the only one who can stop this guy. It’s hard to say what his motive is, but he’s going around murdering people in disturbing ways. Lincoln will have to solve this case quick and so he requests that the new agent Amelia be brought onto the case.

Naturally it’s a little irregular to be bringing someone new onto the front lines for a big case like this but Lincoln liked the way that she handled the crime scene. Throughout the movie there is a little tension with the other cops as the main boss in particular resents this. Ultimately Lincoln and Amelia are the two people best equipped to handle this though. Amelia will have to tackle darker parts of the job than she ever intended to though and may need to rethink her career path after this. Either way this will not be easy.

Making Lincoln unable to move is something that from the jump seemed to be added so you could be worried for when the villain finds him. I think that’s the entire point of the plot since it’s inevitable that they would come face to face but of course there would be no way for Lincoln to fight him. We do actually get a struggle at one point but it’s hard to buy into any of it playing out the way that it did. Remember that Lincoln can barely move at all so the villain really has to drop his guard for this to be an even fight.

It ends up being a rather gritty battle for sure and not a climax fight that ends the film on a great note. You definitely do feel bad for Lincoln the whole time though because that’s a really rough situation to be in. Apparently there is no cure for him and also no way to predict when the seizures will occur so in a way he’s always forced to live in fear. It’s hard to imagine going through the day like that and he did well to still stay focused and help out in the mission.

As for Amelia, she’s a solid main heroine. Naturally there are times when this gets to be a bit much for her since she has never had to deal with a big murder case like this before but it’s always understandable. Lincoln asks a whole lot out of her and while it’s because he believes in her potential, you don’t blame her for walking out several times. This is really not what she signed up for in the slightest.

The cast is fairly small though because there aren’t many other big characters here. You have the police chief who shows up to try and get in everybody’s way but there’s not much to him beyond that. You have Lincoln’s nurse Thelma who does a good job of watching over him. She does her best to keep the atmosphere light and prevent Lincoln from making any big mistakes. Then you’ve got the villain but he is hidden for almost the whole film. He’s just your average murderer though and there’s not a whole lot to his character when he does pop up.

Ultimately what holds this film back is that it just goes out of its way to be really dark the whole time. I wouldn’t even call it super violent although it certainly has its moments but the film makes sure that everything happens in the most disturbing ways possible. Nobody actually gets an ordinary death here, there’s always got to be a whole production around it. Sometimes keeping it simple is just the better way to go about it.

There also isn’t time for almost any happy scenes throughout the film either. It’s always very dreary and depressing in part because even when the heroes are not talking about the case they’re thinking about Lincoln and the fate he has chosen. There’s definitely a lot to digest there for the characters and at the same time it’s hard for them to tell him not to go through with the operation because they don’t really know what it’s like to live like that. The film at least has a happy ending though. For a while there you’re really not sure how that’s all going to play out. These films don’t always end on a nice note like that.

Overall, The Bone Collector is a film that you definitely want to stay far away from. There aren’t a lot of good things to say about it and I would struggle to find some serious reasons to actually recommend it to someone. You can definitely find better thrillers and mystery films if you really try. Titles that would absolutely destroy this one and so there’s no reason to check this title out. I could see a film about archaeologists collecting bones to have some potential though. Maybe it could have some Indiana Jones type traps or something.

Overall 3/10

Musa vs Fiora

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Suggested by iKnowledge It’s time for a battle of versatile fighters here. Musa can use her magic in a lot of different ways like with her energy blasts and sonic attacks but ultimately that won’t be enough to stop Fiora. Fiora’s armor can block most attacks and her overall combat abilities like strength and speed will just be too much for Musa. Musa’s firepower just can’t keep up and ultimately she will go down. Fiora wins.

Top Gun: Maverick Review

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Now it is time to talk about the Top Gun sequel. Maverick got a lot of hype when it was coming out and it is certainly deserved. I would say it even beats the original. In a lot of ways it is a very similar film to the original with a similar plot and constant homages but it executes on a higher level. My two main issues with the first film are void for the most part in this one and there is even a little more action.

The movie starts off decades after the original film and Maverick is helping his team test out a plane that will move at incredible speeds. It can travel the world and is almost like having a rocket ship. He does this against orders though and gets in trouble yet again. This is a bit of a pattern for Maverick but Iceman bails him out each time. Well, things are different in this instance as Maverick is sent back to Top Gun as an instructor on Iceman’s invitation. The enemies have constructed some very dangerous weapons and equipment which have to be destroyed but the route is nearly impossible. Maverick figures he will pull through somehow but that’s when the other bosses let him know that he’ll be working as an instructor this time. Maverick will be training others to go on the mission instead of going it personally this time. He’s not a fan of this but there’s no other option. Can Maverick pull this off?

Making things difficult for Maverick is the fact that Goose’s son Rooster isn’t really a fan of Maverick. He blames Maverick for what happened to his father way back in the day. Additionally one of Maverick’s old flames is back here which will prove to be a distraction for him. Can Maverick focus this time and lead the team to success or will he flame out as a teacher and prove all of his skeptics to be right?

Right off the bat I can tell you that Maverick is a much better character here than in the original. He’s still got his confidence but this time it is even more earned as he spends his screen time absolutely devastating every character that makes the mistake of getting in his way. None of them are even close to his abilities and he beats them consistently in the dogfights. I was glad when he won those and didn’t lose to any of these upstarts. That would have been a little disappointing.

Additionally Maverick is ready to jump into any mission no matter how dangerous. It’s also clear that he understands how to be a leader really well here and plays to everyone’s strengths. He isn’t always a very popular guy there since he can’t always make the fun decisions but he makes the team around him better at every moment. He also has some fun moments as well like being thrown at the bar and a lot of witty dialogue throughout. The movie’s writing certainly hasn’t fallen off after the first film.

Additionally all of its nostalgic moments work really well. The sequel pretty much recreates the entire opening scene from the first film complete with the music and everything. You’ll also notice a lot of other scenes that are either recreated from the first film with a slightly different context or that borrow from the first. It’s all done really well though so the scenes make sense if you haven’t watched the first film and then for those who have, you get the additional reference there. In that way you will have a good time here whether you saw the first film or not.

This time the plot is also a bit tighter right from the jump as you know all of the simulations are leading up to a big mission. It’s nice to see how the simulations are directly used to map out the real mission and how everyone fares there. The whole thing is really focused and while there is downtime for the main characters to connect, they never lose sight of the bigger picture. As a result we get more scenes with real stakes here and those are all handled really well.

Naturally the soundtrack is also really solid here as they grabbed the Danger Zone song again. I wouldn’t say the new song for this movie is as memorable but either way the movie walks away with a very memorable song so it’s in a good place there. The effects are also as good as ever so you don’t need to worry about that. As for Maverick’s cadets, I’d say they were solid. There are quite a few of them so you probably won’t remember all of their names right off the bat but they’re written well. They each have their distinctive personalities and strong points. This is Top Gun after all so you’d expect them to all be reasonably skilled and they don’t disappoint in that arena. It’s a solid cast overall and that’s another area where it beats the original for me. Although in a sense the sequel beats the original in all areas.

The films are close and quite comparable so it’s not like there is a massive gap here, but I would say Maverick just excels in every point a little more than the first. It’s a testament to how much effort was put into the sequel. Even the romance while still weak is an improvement over the first. It was a big missed opportunity for the film to have Maverick and Penny as just friends though. That would have made a lot of sense and I thought they had a good dynamic for it. Not everything needs to turn into the classic romance after all.

So I didn’t really have any big issues with the film. It has a lot of replay value so I could definitely watch it again. The story is good and it never gets boring. The film is long but that gives them more time to really introduce you to the characters and all. It would have been cool to have seen Iceman get to fight a bit as a pilot but ultimately that wouldn’t have worked with how the plot went. At least it’s clear that Maverick is still ready to fly for a long while yet although he should watch out since the bosses (Or rather his boss in particular) doesn’t seem very reasonable and will turn on him at the first opening.

Overall, Top Gun: Maverick is a very good film. It picks up right where the first one left off and Maverick himself is in a good place. He’s kept all of his confidence this time around without any of the shortcomings he had in the first film. This film is definitely very much a feel good movie where it’s all quite upbeat and it works well. Not to say there are no sad scenes here but the vibe is definitely light and works really well for this one. I’d like to see them complete the trilogy on this and I think you could even turn it fully into an action film. I know not everyone would be thrilled about that but it really could work quite well if you ask me.

Overall 7/10

Top Gun Review

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Top Gun is a film that came out a long while ago and by this point just about everyone’s heard of it. With the new film out it was the perfect time to give it a re-watch. It’s a solid film that has aged well. I remember I expected a little more action when I saw it originally but it’s probably best to go in expecting more of a drama that contains action rather than the other way around. It has its weak points to be sure but ultimately it’s a solid film that you could check out at any time.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Maverick and Goose who are one of the top airplane pilot teams around. However, as skilled as they are they also tend to be rather unpredictable as Maverick in particular loves to be a rebel. He’ll prioritize thrills over doing things by the book. As luck would have it, the guy ahead of him ends up cracking so now Maverick and Goose have been selected to go to Top Gun, a school where only the best of the best qualify. Can they prove that they are the best duo in the sky once and for all?

Of course the purpose of Top Gun isn’t merely to see who is the best but to keep America strong and ready for any kind of dogfight. Towards the beginning of the movie they mention how America’s aerial supremacy has been weakening as of late as people have gotten used to just using tech and auto aiming so this should help them stay in peak condition. Maverick isn’t particularly concerned but he will find that Iceman is a tough rival when it comes to claiming the top spot in the school. Will he be able to get the win here?

Right off the bat one of the film’s strengths is that it has a very memorable soundtrack. The Danger Zone song that plays really is quite good so you never get tired of it when that track plays. The opening scene with the planes is certainly iconic with that song in the background. It really gives the film a lot of personality and also makes the scene feel that much bolder. If you take the song away then the scene wouldn’t hold up as well and it’s a perfect example of why the songs are so important.

The effects throughout the film are also really good. They spared no expense on this one and as a result it holds up well. The movie is a bit long but it doesn’t feel that way as it’s always interesting. When we finally do get to the action scenes near the end it is worth the wait. The battles are solid and while of course I would like to have had more action, it works well as the climax regardless.

Now as for the weak points of the film, there are 2 in particular. The first is that the romance is very weak here. Maverick needs to try and be the best so you’d think there would be no time for romance right away. Particularly once he finds out that she is the teacher you’d expect that he would pump the brakes a bit. Instead he really lets this get to him and can’t even take constructive criticism after that. If you cut out the romance entirely then I think the film would be a lot stronger.

On Charlie’s side as well you feel like she wouldn’t have fallen for him so easily after she has seen the usual pick up lines a million times before. She’s here on a very serious job to train these pilots so there’s no time for distractions like that. It also wouldn’t really change the film much at all if you cut out the romance so it always begs the question of why include it in the first place right?

The other weak point is surprisingly Maverick. I actually wasn’t a big fan of him at times. He does have his good qualities of course like his confidence and the fact that he always has a comeback. That’s good and something I want my lead to have. Where he falters aside from the romance is how he loses his nerve towards the end. Now there is an important story reason as to why that happens which really shakes Maverick up, but it’s a little too much. So I’d have been fine with it if Maverick quit or something right off the jump. My issue was later on in the climax when Maverick is able to get into the air but then loses his nerve again and ditches Iceman when it was 5-1.

It was for a short time and Maverick ultimately turns back to help out but he easily could have died in that time. 5 against 1 is absolutely crazy odds in a dogfight after all. So Maverick has all of the potential to be a great character and on paper I would expect to like this character but he didn’t actually work out for me. Instead it was Iceman who stole the show. He has great confidence as well but never loses his cool. The nickname is very deserved and while he may do things by the book, it doesn’t make him any less skilled than Maverick. If anything he is more dependable.

Is Maverick probably a little more skilled as a pilot? It’s very debatable but sure I would give him the slight edge. Iceman is still the guy I’d want as my wingman the whole time though because I know where he would be at every moment. He had a really good handle on things and he was always willing to be the bigger man too. He’s the one who approached Maverick to pay his respects and if you notice he never tended to instigate any of the issues without a valid reason. He was certainly legitimized in trying to explain to Maverick why you can’t abandon your partner even in a training exercise.

In general the writing is really solid though so you’ll get a lot of fun exchanges there. Goose is another big character in the film and he’s a good character too. He’s definitely got a good friendship with Maverick going here and he has skills of his own as well. Then you have Viper who shows off his skills during the simulations as the instructor too. He runs a tight ship and has the skills to back it up.

As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t a lot of real action until the end of the film but there is a lot of airplane battles throughout. The simulations are handled really well so you’ll have a fun time with that too. Writing is what ultimately puts a film like this over the top and so I had a good time with it. It’s a solid all around movie that has a good amount of replay value because of how fast paced it is.

Overall, Top Gun is a pretty good movie. It has some areas where it can be better but the positives certainly outweigh the negatives and it’s a fairly safe recommendation to anyone that wants to watch a solid film about teamwork. I’ll have a review up for the sequel shortly and I can confirm that it makes the most out of this one as a base. A good sequel should use the tools that it has from the first film after all and this one makes the most of it.

Overall 7/10

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom Review

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Kemco has delivered quite a lot of amazing hits over the years and this one is no different. It’s definitely very different from their other titles in a few ways which I’ll get into, but it nails it. This is really trying to cross the classic RPG style with more of a gathering game you’d think of for mobile or online gaming. It works really well in doing so.

So the game follows a kid named Volker. His father died in an accident a while back and so he had to start running the blacksmithing operation on his own. At the same time he always wanted to be an adventurer though and is at a cross roads. Fortunately his best friend says she will man the shop while he is away and a fairy also shows up to help out. Now Volker can focus on being the best in both fields and along the way he may uncover some conspiracies. At the end of the day he wants to keep his kingdom safe, whether it is through creating equipment for them or by clearing quests. Will he be able to do this?

The game’s hub world has several areas including the shop, mission area, infirmary, food store, the arena, the dungeons, and the workplace. Each area has tasks that you can do once a day. For example you can enter a dungeon once a day and you can eat once a day. When you are ready to go to the next day you can head home and build a lot of equipment to sell which triggers the end of the day. The typical flowchart here is that you will complete a bunch of ordinary missions which involve building things for people until you get a story mission. The first story mission is always to investigate a dungeon which means getting to the final floor. The second story mission will be to fight a boss at the end of it.

The story missions are unlocked by completing a lot of normal missions. There are 296 missions in the game and you need to complete almost all of them in order to unlock the final story mission so prepare yourself. While combat is important, just as important is having a lot of materials at the ready so that you can build things as needed. Each time you complete a dungeon you unlock new materials. Also be sure to stop at every store each day in order to trigger cutscenes that move the story forward.

As you can probably guess, this means you will be moving around a lot. You will also have to spend a lot of time crafting weapons and shifting materials from one form to the next. There isn’t a lot of downtime here, you’re always just pressing on to the next thing. You gotta be ready for that without a doubt. It’s more fun than it sounds though so you’ll like it. At the very least I get a kick out of it. You usually have to do this kind of thing in mobile games and it can take hours sometimes as you have to allocate resources and then just wait it out. If you’re not used to that kind of thing then it may seem tedious. I would go as far as to say that this is the tipping point of the game. Whether you love it or not will depend on how much you enjoy crafting objects.

Trust me, you’ll be crafting a lot too. I nearly completed the 100% secret gallery (Made it to 97%) by the time I beat the game because I had to cook so much. Also, the game is difficult. I had all my guys maxed out at level 99 and I still barely beat the final boss. In a sense this is because I didn’t fully master the different concepts in the game. There are just so many from the prayers you use before battle to the orbs you equip to each piece of your equipment. Each character can choose 2 classes out of 12 in order to build a solid formation and each formation can be altered. There are also active and passive skills that you have to choose.

That sounded like a lot? Well it’s even more imposing while playing. So I did my best and crafted a team strategy that I thought sounded good but if there had been any more bosses then I may have had to rethink that a bit. They really were quite difficult and the final boss took over 30 minutes. It doesn’t help that a lot of the bosses like to heal themselves or summon an infinite amount of minions. You often have to decide whether to go for them or the minion first. Each strategy has its ups and downs in that respect.

Also, they love going for the paralyze option and if that happens then your character can’t attack for 3 turns. Definitely watch out for that since it gets really tricky. The challenge never feels unfair or broken though. You’re always left with the thought that you could have assembled your team better in order to win. So as you can tell I liked this game quite a lot. It’s just a very great all around experience and there’s so much to have fun with. I very nearly got all the trophies along the way.

Now if the game has a weakness it’s that there isn’t much of a story for about 90% of the game. There are hintings at one for a while of course but it never really happens until you’re at about the climax. Then we get a cosmic being and some nice action but it’s all at the very end. It’s clear that the story wasn’t really the focus here. The focus was definitely on the whole harvesting/gathering aspect of the game. It’s a fun aspect of course so I’m glad that they handled it well but a nice story would have been fun to have too. As it is the cast is incredibly small since the rest of your party is made up. Because of that there are just a few characters around the hub world and a villain or two.

Finally, the way the equipment works is a bit too time consuming if you ask me. So here’s how it goes, when you want to change equipment you go to the screen as normal except you can’t see your current weapon’s stats compared to the one you are equipping. As a result you have to switch screens a lot to make sure you’re getting the right one. Upgrading a weapon or transferring effects also takes you to a screen with tons of weapons so you have to make sure that you’re grabbing the right one. The equipment part could be a bit of a pain so in the end I just ended up going for the ones that had the highest stats and called it a day instead of always looking to optimize. It just was not very user friendly.

Naturally the graphics are solid here. I like the illustrations and the levels look good. I wouldn’t say it feels as dynamic or polished as the Asdivine Hero titles but it still looks good enough. Meanwhile the soundtrack is good. There are some solid tunes here although a lot of the battles are so fast that you won’t get to hear it much. I tend to have the team set to auto battle in most fights because manually battling takes forever in this game. If they can’t handle the battle then I take the wheel as needed. Another small thing I like about the game is that there are keyboard shortcuts for everything and you move faster than the villains. So if you don’t want to fight some minions then you don’t have to. It’s the quality of life features like this that always put Kemco at the top.

Overall, Blacksmith of the Sand Village is definitely a great game. The way the very game is developed does mean that it won’t be for everyone though. I just get the feeling that not everyone is going to want to be spending some hours crafting equipment over and over which is understandable. It’s just so smooth and enjoyable though that you don’t even notice. I ended up having a very good time with the game without a doubt and would love to see a sequel. Just give us more of a story next time.

Overall 8/10

Rayman 2: Revolution Review

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It’s time for some Rayman hype! The series is always guaranteed to give you a fun platforming adventure but there has yet to be a definitive title in the series for me. I’ve played some good ones of course but none that made me think it had to be the king of the series. Well, this one changes that as I would say Revolution is the best yet. There are no mandatory collectibles or anything like that. No, this is all about just getting through the levels and having a good time. I can definitely respect that.

So the game starts off with the villains taking everyone out including Rayman but fortunately he is able to get out in one piece. He is depowered now and the pirates are taking more and more people as slaves. At one point in the game the ticker shows that they have over 30,000 people captured which is insane. Rayman will have to save them one by one and to do that he will need to get his powers back and also hit some of the installations so he can weaken their forces. He will have some friends to help him along the way but at the same time they can also be liabilities with how they can’t really fight all that well.

With the gameplay you’ve got your classic 3D platformer. You can run and jump to get to the end of a level. Rayman can also punch and his fist goes far which is really handy. He can even glide for a bit so there’s a whole lot that you can do in the levels. Rayman definitely has variety in his move set which is always important. It also means that the levels are able to do a whole lot because more movement options means there are more ways for developers to set up their obstacles.

It works well and the gameplay is always fun. There is a decent amount of difficulty thrown in but I wouldn’t say it’s comparable to Crash or anything like that. It’s more classic in that sense but you still shouldn’t underestimate it. Some segments took me many tries like some of the rocket runs. Those are levels where you have to ride a rocket and zoom around all over the place. That level is really set up so it can be as difficult as possible. Good luck getting the rocket to go where you want it to go! It just seems to have a mind of its own the whole time.

The game has a lot of constant check points though so that’s really appreciated. If you get a game over then you go a little further back but it’s never all that crazy. Odds are that you’ll never feel discouraged as a result and that’s why the game handled this in a very smart way. The only area where the gameplay wasn’t amazing was with the camera angles. Those could definitely be rather brutal but you’ll get the hang of it after a while. It can make some moments a little harder than it should be but ultimately you will be able to press on past that.

As for the graphics, I’d say it’s pretty solid. It’s got that very retro look which still has a good amount of detail and personality to it. You really can’t go wrong with Rayman on this. The soundtrack isn’t very memorable though so it looks like I’m in a bit of a streak on that lately. I need another all star soundtrack soon! After all great tunes are really what gets a game to the next level.

As for the story, well I’d say it’s fun enough. The game’s got a nice sense of humor and so while the game never feels very high stakes, you get to enjoy Rayman as a hero and root for him to save the day. The characters around him are solid and the villain certainly works hard. Technically with that many prisoners you could say the pirates did well. They were one Rayman away from total global conquest.

There is a bit of replay value here in terms of grabbing all collectibles but I’m not sure what you actually unlock with that. It better be something really good because there are a ton of collectibles to grab here. If they had been mandatory that definitely would have been really discouraging but I assume the developers knew that and that’s why they went all out since this would only be for the players serious about 100% completing the game.

Because of this the game can be a bit overwhelming at the start since you feel like maybe you should try grabbing these things. The hub world is also huge with many different areas to it so you can easily get lost or enter a level by mistake. Doing so triggers an unskippable animation and of course it just slows you down so try to learn the place little by little. Once you do then you’ll be all good. The game does have a good amount of quality of life features in it like being able to sense when an orb is nearby after beating the game. You just have to get there so this is very much a game where the more you play it, the easier it gets. It’s not as much of a plug and play title though so you have to be prepared for it.

Overall, Rayman 2: Revolution is a very fun game. It really knows how to get the best out of being a platformer and keeping you wanting more. The game’s fairly straight forward even if it can be a little overwhelming at first. Once you get the hang of it then you’ll be blasting all the way through the end. The dialogue can be fun and so you’ll remember Rayman quite well and even some of his friends. Their names escape me most of the time though so they’re not quite at that tier yet. Soon I’ll get another Rayman game so we can see how he’s doing in more of a modern era. In the meantime I would definitely recommend checking this one out.

Overall 7/10

Breath of Fire Review

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It’s time for an old school RPG. This one has definitely been around for a while but I just hadn’t had time to give it a shot before. Well, after playing it I can confirm that the game has aged well. The gameplay style is nice and retro with the story being rather solid. You don’t really see a lot of games like this one nowadays, at least not among the AAA companies.

The game starts with everyone in the village being murdered as per usual with just a few survivors making it out. Ryu’s sister decides she will go out to stop the Dark Dragon Clan in their wild quest to destroy the world. A long time passes and she does not return so Ryu is forced to take up the challenge next. He will need to team up with a lot of skilled fighters in order to make a difference but is he really just setting off on an impossible mission?

As you complete each area you get more and more allies to fight by your side until you’ve got a rather solid roster. It’s all done very methodically which works rather well. While the game may not be very original in some ways like the story and all, the fundamentals are just really strong which is what makes this game a lot of fun. For example the gameplay is just really smooth and in some ways it beats out some of the more modern versions. When you don’t want to fight enemies you can actually use up an item that prevents any random encounters for a little while. I thought that was a really handy item and there were no strings attached. Sure, you do have to spend money to get the item but it’s rather cheap and you’ll be swimming in money later on.

You get a map along the way and the ability to fly so going through the map isn’t super crazy. I will say that on occasion the game isn’t very clear on what you need to do next though. Because of how the game lets you mess around with the order of things a bit, sometimes you’ll miss out on an item or event that you need in order to go forward. When that happens it can be a bit annoying. It doesn’t happen often but in those moments it would be nice if there was a way to ship the item to a newer location so you didn’t have to run all the way back. Now that would have been ideal.

So it’s not like it’s all perfect here but at the end of the day it’s a very peaceful game. It’s one that you can just sit down and have a good time with at any point. IN general I feel that way about the retro RPG titles because I like the turn based system quite a bit. Beating up on enemies over and over again is a great way to build up your XP but it can also be very soothing at the same time.

For the graphics, I’d say they’ve aged well. The level designs are on point and I like how the characters look. The soundtrack is also decent although I wouldn’t say that any of the themes are very memorable. It could have used a little more energy to the tracks but either way it’s not something where I would give it a thumbs down for that. There isn’t much replay value after beating the game but the campaign’s fairly long so that won’t be much of an issue here.

As to the story, I thought it really took off once Goda and the group of villains showed up. It starts off a little slow as you beat up a bunch of forgettable villains for a while but then once the big villains show up, the game really raises its level. It also made you feel like the game had a good chunk of content left since for a little while there it felt like you were going to end it before a whole lot happened.

Your allies are a bit forgettable though. None of them really stood out for me. They weren’t bad but if you asked me to tell you their personalities I wouldn’t be able to say much more than the one sentence premise of their characters. It felt like they didn’t get to do a whole lot despite being around. The main character was the most interesting and even then he is fairly standard. The villains are definitely the more interesting characters here and the game has some twists and turns at the end of it.

As with just about any RPG you can expect that the final boss here is rather difficult. Make sure you’ve trained a lot and have the best attacks and equipment ready or you will be in for a rough time. If you lose you can always just go back to train of course but it’s always ideal to train first so you don’t have to backtrack for a long while. Particularly for the final boss where you would have to go trough the dungeon all over again.

Overall, I’m definitely ready to check out Breath of Fire 2. If you like a good RPG then you’ll definitely be a fan of this one. You’ve got all of the classic RPG elements here and they’re executed well. While some areas could have been better, I’d say it shines as a bright example of why the genre is so good. It would absolutely be worthy of being someone’s first RPG too as it would get them used to the mechanics. There really aren’t any downsides to this one so just go in and have fun.

Overall 7/10

Jim Shannon vs Rick Grimes

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Suggested by Destroyer This fight really follows the same logic as the last one. They’ve both got guns and aren’t afraid to use them. The difference is that Rick has been trying to survive in a tough world where you have to stay in shape and be alert 24/7 while Jim only managed to make it for 1 season and hasn’t had to be in that situation. Either fighter could die to a bullet but I’d give Rick the edge to win more times than not. Rick Grimes wins.