Technically I started this series ages ago but forgot to put up the post. It’s definitely a pretty interesting concept since you’re grabbing Godzilla type creatures but making it a full romance. It’s off to a good start, the heroine isn’t standing out yet but there’s plenty of time. I’ll have a review up once I’ve finished the series.
Overall 6/10
Mr. and Mrs. Smith is one of those films that has a great premise and is followed by really solid execution. The idea of both characters being special agents and not knowing about the other just makes for a fun dynamic. It’s not one that is really explored all that often either so it’s a really fresh idea. I’d definitely be up for a sequel to this someday.
The movie starts with both characters trying to get their relationship back to normal after things have gone south. Their relationship coach asks a lot of questions but the characters are clearly having a tough time of it. We then cut back to the origin of how the two met each other. Fittingly enough, it’s during a big fire fight and they use each other as alibis. Presumably both of them probably had some role in the festivities. They got married real quick and that should have been their happily ever after but things have soured.
At least one of them is always away from home and their excuses aren’t the greatest. The reason for this of course is that both of them work as hitmen for big organizations. Mr. Smith is sort of like James Bond working for M16 and Mrs. Smith is the highest ranking agent of a Charlie’s Angels task force. Both of them terminate all their targets and have earned solid reputations. If someone is causing you trouble then you call their organizations in.
Well, things take a turn when they are both sent after the same target. Who will be able to complete the mission? Additionally, both Smiths keep growing more and more suspicious of each other so a mission like this is naturally going to have everything bubble to the surface. There’s a lot of quality tension there to be sure and the film is fairly long. This works to its benefit since it means that there is enough time to really work this plot over.
There’s a lot of positives here from the witty dialogue to the special effects and action scenes. A film like this wouldn’t be able to work if the writing was bad. You need to have quality interactions between the characters and we get that here. A lot of bluffs are thrown out and both of them get pretty serious about trying to take the other down at some points as well.
There is an interesting difference to their approaches though. Mr. Smith is constantly holding back and trying to take Mrs. Smith down without seriously hurting her. Mrs. Smith on the other hand has no such qualms and outright tries to murder him several times. It’s very interesting to look at because it does show their different styles. At the end of the day Mrs. Smith was willing to put her job above Mr. Smith while he was unable to do the same against her.
In the end I would say that’s part of why I preferred him as a character. Even if he’s not always great at showing it, he was consistent in putting his wife first. I don’t think there was any point where he really wavered in that. Mrs. Smith had more questionable scenes in that respect. You could say at one point with the guns they came close to taking each other out in a mutual sense although at that point things had already been escalated a whole lot.
Both of them had fun ways of storing their weapons inside the house as well. It’s too bad a lot of the weapons had to be destroyed by the end. A lot of the film deals with the mental game of chess between the two characters but we do get some solid action segments like the gun fight I just mentioned and the climax in general. There’s a lot going on here and while it’s a more light hearted adventure, you can still expect some plot twists as well.
Each character even has their own supporting cast even if they were a lot weaker than the main two. Eddie is Mr. Smith’s friend and the guy has some really fun moments. On the other hand he has some moments that drag on too and it’s clear that he’s not the greatest friend. Now would he put his job over Mr. Smith? Absolutely without a doubt, just in this case the money wasn’t all that high. Then for Mrs. Smith, none of her allies get as much screen time as Eddie but presumably they can fight pretty well too. They just don’t really get the chance to do it.
The best confrontation between the main two is likely the dinner scene as they try to gather data. There’s a lot of suspense since they really don’t know what’s about to happen. We even get a second of complete silence when the wine glass almost hits the floor. All of their confrontations are great but that one certainly stands out.
Of course while I said I prefer Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith is still a solid character as well. She’s clearly prepped pretty well when it comes to fighting. Against anyone other than Mr. Smith you figure that she would probably have the edge. She hasn’t had any trouble before now after all and has vanquished enough targets to be considered the top officer in her field. Her style may be a lot more rigid than Mr. Smith’s play it by ear approach but it gets the job done.
If the film has any weaknesses it’s that of course in Mrs. Smith’s only solo mission at the beginning of the film she is using seductive tricks to take out the villain. I’d rather she just showed up guns blazing since it seems like this always happens to every heroine agent who shows up in the field. The film does have some fanservice here and there although it’s nothing too crazy. I would also say the interviews at the beginning and ending of the film were not quite as interesting as the rest. It’s there to really give the film a beginning and ending of course but I’d say there are other ways the movie could have done that.
I don’t really have any other negatives though because this is just a really solid all around movie. It’s hard to say what would be the primary genre between comedy, action, and thriller because it really tackles all 3 quite well. When the film wants to get serious it gets very serious but then you have the great cutaways where the film suddenly gets light hearted and it works very well. A good example of this is when the two main characters show up at their neighbor’s party right after completing life or death assignments on their end. It’s a great contrast. The movie’s style of humor is definitely very effective.
Overall, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a fun film. The dynamic works really well especially when you consider that neither one of them are exactly heroes. If they were then there wouldn’t really be that sense of danger between them, it’s because they are vigilante hitmen working for shady organizations that you have to ask yourself if the other one is in danger after a point. The film really makes the most out of the premise but a sequel could still be a lot of fun just because it’s one of those ideas that you can absolutely pull off a few more times. As long as the writing stays solid then the rest will follow.
Overall 7/10
Dark Cloud is one of those games I’ve had on the backburner for many years now. It’s just always around but never made it to the top of the pile. Well, with less than 20 games left to get through it makes sense that it would finally step up to the plate. It’s a very intricate RPG that will take some getting used to but it is crafted rather well. The weapons breaking mechanic was also a lot better than I dared hope.
The basic plot of the game is that a Dark Genie has awoken and intends to eradicate humanity. Toan, our brave hero steps up to the plate….but doesn’t make it in time. Humanity has been destroyed and the planet is an empty wasteland. The only survive is a mysterious old man who tells Toan that he will help the lad save the world. See, the people aren’t dead but merely trapped in capsules outside of time. Toan will need to free them all while finding some way to stop the genie. He can’t possibly do it on his own so he’s going to need help.
For the gameplay, this is a 3D hack and slash. Think of it similar to .Hack where you run around in dungeons and take out the monsters. Some characters have projectile type weapons which are fun to use but for the vast majority of the game I used Toan’s classic sword. Part of the reason for this is you can only really work on powering up one weapon at a time. So naturally I focused on his since he’s always around.
That said, it did come back to bite me during the final boss since you can’t use Toan for a whole section of the fight. You have to switch to a projectile user and both of mine were extremely weak. I spent a few hours grinding up the cat girl to a level where she could fight and then the rest of the boss was pretty easy. Still, it was a tense moment so to avoid that you will want to spread your attention between two characters for a while. Make sure you have a strong ranged fighter as well as a close quarters combat user.
The final boss is also intense just because his attacks can’t be dodged. Yes you heard that right. His clap attack releases a sonic wave that is impossible to dodge or block. Your only options are to eat the attack and use a health item right after or use a stamina drink which gives you temporary invincibility. If you do that then you should be just fine.
The rest of the game isn’t nearly as difficult which is why the final boss took me by surprise. Let me get back to the gameplay though, there’s a lot to unpack here. So every time you use your weapon, part of its stamina goes down. If it hits 0 then the weapon breaks and you lose every upgrade you’ve ever put into it. To stop this, always carry an auto repair in your quick item inventory. It’s expensive but if you ever forget to heal a weapon in time this will ensure that it isn’t completely shattered.
There’s also a water mechanic here so you will die of thirst if you don’t drink enough water. It’s a good reminder to go and grab some water irl too of course. At first this will be a little tedious since they get thirsty very quickly so make sure to find as many water upgrades as possible. These are scattered around town and usually pop up after you help out a villager.
The formula for the game is pretty straight forward. You enter a dungeon and complete all of the floors you can. After a while you will be stopped which is when you need to build the village. It’s pretty easy to build but hard to make all of the villagers happy. I wasn’t able to get 100% satisfaction in any area but you don’t really need to do that in order to get the items you need. The only tricky one is the robot on the moon. I was building him upside down which got tricky.
The game explains everything pretty well though so even though it sounds like a lot of mechanics to keep track of, you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. It certainly does take a while so the game is around 30 hours as it promises. It took me a little over 28 so that was right up there next to the estimate. The sequel is apparently over 50 hours which sounds insane to me. I wonder how many dungeons are in that game.
There is some replay value here as well. Apparently there is a bonus world at the end which you can try to beat. I imagine that world must be super tough. You can also go back to all of the old villages to try and make the villagers happy which will get you some good items and equipment. So all in all there is definitely a lot to do here.
If I have any real issues with the game it can be that the game can become almost too formulaic without throwing in any wrinkles. For example, the first world has a cool boss fight as Seda showed up and the story started to get intense. Then there are almost no truly relevant story cutscenes with him or the Dark Genie until we approach the final world. I have to admit that I was expecting them to have more of a focus. It’s almost like the story itself went on break for around 20 hours during the game. You still do get cutscenes, but nothing big for a while.
Also, the dungeon exploring can be a bit repetitive. You will need to cross around 100 floors in order to get to the end of the game and each floor is fundamentally the same. You beat a bunch of enemies and then get to head out. I enjoy the gameplay so it wasn’t that bad but if the sequel is double the length because they doubled the floors…that could get painful.
Overall, Dark Cloud is a pretty good RPG. I’m glad that you at least have the opportunity to keep your weapons from ever breaking. That mechanic could have easily gone sideways otherwise. As it stands, I was pretty cool with it. I definitely would have liked to have had more of a focus on the story though. For smaller items I would remove the water mechanic and special levels where you are forced to play as 1 character too. A lot of thought was put into this title though and it shows. If you like RPGs, particularly dungeon crawlers then you should enjoy this one quite a bit.
Overall 7/10
Stats time!
Play Time 26h 47m
Dungeon Floors Cleared 117
Item Space 90
Character Stats Health, Water, Defense
Toan 170 Max 45
Osmond 140 4 51
Ungaga 160 4 50
Ruby 140 Max 36
Goro 170 6 41
Xiao 60 5 42
I was impressed by this game. Magical Drop 2 really ups the stakes both in quality and in general gameplay enjoyment compared to the first. I do want to say the first game was solid too of course but this one feels like it has more of a story. The graphics have noticeably improved as well and the character roster is impressive. You really can’t go wrong here.
I ended up choosing what appears to be one of the main villains as my character. In fairness I started with a different character but was losing a lot so it was time for a change of pace. As the game goes on you fight every other playable character in the series. After taking them down you go up against the true villain of the game and then get a character ending specific to the character you just beat the game with. Not a bad deal right? After all, this means that each character will have an ending now.
The game’s difficulty level is as high as ever though. Good luck even trying to beat the game on normal difficulty. I made it past a few levels to around 4-5 but then the opponent starts matching the gems quicker than you can even blink. Even using the rewind feature and trying tons of different paths is not enough to overwhelm the opponent. Trust me, you’ll be spinning your wheels in circles at that point.
The only possible way to get around the opponents is to lower the difficulty back a bit. It’s more accessible than the first game with the difficulty level which is nice. Even with this the final levels are crazy but you should be able to pull through if you try it enough times. There is naturally a ton of replay value here since you can try to beat the game with each character.
Additionally the gameplay is just fun. No matter how crazy strong the opponents are, it’s always satisfying to be building the blocks on your end. It’s essentially reverse Tetris as you grab blocks and fling them upwards as opposed to trying to get them to the ground. There are some interesting combos you can pull off like grabbing multiple blocks to pull off larger combos. It comes with a certain level of risk of course but a risk that seems to be worth it in this case. At least it always seemed to turn out for the best.
The graphics are pretty good. In fact, I would say they are considerably ahead of their time. The illustrations are on point and the stages are very vivid. The game does allow for a bit of fanservice though with one character jumping up and down the entire time you’re fighting her but fortunately that’s the only match that’s a bit suspect. The soundtrack is good too and you feel a sense of danger throughout. You know that any second now could be your last.
Overall, Magical Drop 2 is a good way to handle a sequel. Effectively it improved on all of the first game’s strong points while improving any weaknesses. I thought the gameplay was much more effective now and the fact that it has a real story is cool as well. There’s a whole lot you can do with this series so I’d like to see it return some day. The sky’s the limit for this and I would certainly like to be along for the ride. If you have the Switch Online service then definitely give this a download. The difficulty level is crazy but at the same time it just makes you want to keep on going for rematches.
Overall 7/10
No stats this time!
No stats this time!
This is one of those games that is quietly very good. It has a bit of a Donkey Kong feel to it as you run through vertical levels as you take the enemy ninjas down. The main villain has the heroine trapped up at the top so when you reach her it becomes your job to take this guy down. The game loops very quickly so it’s pretty short but still makes for a fun little time. The length would be more of an issue if this was a newer game.
The gameplay essentially has 2 controls. You can throw shurikens up or in front of you and you can jump. That’s pretty much it so from there it’s up to you to use your abilities as quickly as you can. It can be difficult to take on some of the enemies straight up so I recommend retreating often. For example you can only shoot one shuriken at a time while most of the enemies can shoot two. So wait until they are nearly off screen and then shoot since they probably won’t be able to react. Additionally you can also jump on most enemies which makes them unable to use their attacks.
Jumping gets more and more useful as you go through the levels to the point where you probably won’t use many other options after a while. Jumping is just the best course of action. At times the villains move so quickly that you can expect to die a lot before you get used to the speed. Fortunately that’s what the rewinding and access points are for. It must have been quite the challenge when it first came out though. Reacting to those guys is really difficult.
The graphics are pretty good. It’s not super detailed or anything but you do see what they are going for here and you always know what is happening. At the end of the day that is definitely the important part. The soundtrack is fairly limited but the main theme is catchy which is really what matters in the end. Ultimately it’s a good package.
With arcade type games like this the most important factor is always making sure that the game is fun and has a lot of replay value. I would say this is achieved here so it gets a positive score in the end. It would be nice to have a little more depth to it but at the end of the day this is effectively an arcade game after all. It’s not like you could add everything to it.
While the game does loop almost immediately it is worth pointing out that new enemies continue to show up until you get to around the 3rd loop. Not saying that’s enough to keep on playing but it’s at least good to know. The enemies continue getting tougher and tougher by the end. There’s even a loose fireball that starts to show up and naturally letting it hit you is fatal so definitely don’t do that. You want to stay one step ahead at all costs.
Overall, This is a solid game that I would recommend if you have the Switch Online service. It really does feel like an alternate version of Donkey Kong which is pretty interesting. The throwing stars makes for a good weapon while keeping in the Mario jumping mechanics. When you have all of those options at your disposal you really can’t go wrong right? I could see there being some potential in a 3D remake of this someday. In the meantime, playing through this title at least once is a good idea.
Overall 6/10
No stats this time!
I’ve played quite a few Baseball games in my day but the Simulator title looked like it would bring a bit of a different experience. When these games show up for free through the Nintendo Switch Online service I know that I have to try them all. Well, this one certainly lived up to the hype as I expected it to. Baseball titles still really aren’t my thing as it almost feels too luck based with the gameplay. After all, after you hit the ball who knows where it will go? It’s different from Football or Basketball where you really know where it is going to go.
What makes this one a little more interesting is we do have some fun SNES music going on the whole time. It helps give the game a lot of extra energy. To date the best baseball game is Mario Sluggers for Gamecube. That one was fantastic. This one doesn’t get quite that detailed but you do feel like you have a chance when you’re swinging the bat around. I decided I would play this one until I at least managed to score.
In the first game I walked away with 0 runs which was rough. My batters just couldn’t manage to hit the ball and the other team was scoring every few seconds. Well, I eventually adapted and by the third game I hit a Home Run. In fact, I hit 2 more in that game but ultimately I still lost 11-3. Still, it felt like I had made some real progress so that was really cool.
My gameplay tip would definitely be to not try and go for bunts. 99% of the time it will fail and on the other 1% it’s not like you’re getting more than one base. It’s better to swing for the stars. The tough part is that the fast balls are almost impossible to react to. You just need to swing as soon as he pitches but if it’s a change up or a slow pitch then you’re not going to fare so well. It definitely makes for a tough dynamic but that’s how it’s got to be.
When it comes to fielding the ball, it can also be tough to catch without finding yourself in the wrong spot. It took me a bit of getting used to but with the way the other team kept on hitting the ball I certainly had enough opportunities to get good there. Pitching is pretty straight forward but it’s hard to make it so the CPU doesn’t just hit the ball out of there. They don’t bite on any ball that’s too far out and they would hit even if I used a curve ball or a fast one. Far as I’m concerned you need to get great at batting because otherwise you’re just going to get out scored.
The graphics look pretty good here. I wouldn’t say they are completely out of this world or anything crazy but the game looks good while you’re playing it. Between that and the smooth gameplay that’s why I would say this title was fairly decent. It’s the kind of game that is a lot more fun when playing with someone else as opposed to a computer. It’s tempting to boost the score up a bit more but I’d say in the middle is fair.
Overall, I wouldn’t say there is a ton of replay value here but there’s definitely enough content to keep you busy all the way through. If you like Baseball gameplay a lot then you’ll like this game. I’d even say the mechanics are better than some of the big budget ones. Considering that the game is free you definitely can’t go wrong.
Overall 5/10
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