Category Archives: Kunimitsu Battles

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Review

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As someone who does not like tomatoes I can confirm that one of my greatest fears would definitely be having to go toe to toe with one of them. If these guys bite as strongly as they taste then it would be all over for me. The film does a good job of poking fun at the concept while also getting in some terrifying moments. I would definitely recommend this one.

The film starts off with a lady getting murdered by a tomato. When the cops show up to check out the damage, one of them immediately notices that the “blood” is actually tomato juice. After this point the tomatoes launch an all out assault against humanity. Their numbers are considerable and for the most part the humans are powerless against them. They even have cherry tomatoes on their side. Will the humans be able to mount a proper counter offensive or is it game over for them?

This movie effectively takes shots at a whole lot of different story beats and groups. For starters the government doesn’t look very good here as their so called experts are completely out of their depth the whole time. They have absolutely no idea what they are doing and this only gets more and more evident as the film goes on. Their meeting rooms simply aren’t big enough for them and even their best agents trip up when the going gets the tough. The master of disguise actually made it pretty far but ultimately even he faltered when it counted. Trust me it was not a proud moment for that guy.

You may even end up rooting for the tomatoes here because of their fun sound effect. It’s really hype whenever they show up. The sound in and of itself isn’t creepy or anything but it’s with the context of knowing that the tomatoes are back. They even toy with the humans like at one point where they surround someone’s car and then calmly roll away. He really got off easy that time and they were effectively giving him a warning. The Tomatoes just took it a little too easily that time. If they had been serious then the film would be over.

Naturally the special effects for the film aren’t particularly good. There are a lot of cutaways so we don’t really get to see much of anything. The tomatoes themselves are just ordinary tomatoes for 90% of the screentime. I would have liked to have seen them grinning and running around more but the film didn’t really have the budget for that. The overt cheapness of the film is part of what makes it all fun though. This film is a parody that is really being as silly as possible.

Now of course in any film with a ton of jokes, there will be a bunch that absolutely don’t land. This film is no exception to that. For example you have Lois who is trying to make a name for herself but her skills aren’t all that great. So she gets desperate enough to consider her boss’ advice which was not good from the start. We also get a last second romance and so those scenes were pretty rough the whole time.

Fortunately the good ones easily overshadowed those. For example we also had Clark Kent show up as well as a good Superman gag at one point which was really good. We got the classic “up up and away” moment which was really inspired. There was also a kid and his dog although they didn’t do so well in the fight. The film had plenty of good references and little moments here and there that enhanced the movie.

There was also the whole plot regarding the white house’s chief of communications. The guy gets embarrassed early on during the Q&A and then we actually get some repercussions from that later on. His plan had been unfolding for a while but I’m sure this helped speed it up. The betrayal was really good. The scene had a lot of tension to it and good development. I was almost more invested in this plot than the tomatoes for a minute there.

The movie is fairly short but even then you enjoyment here will be based on how much you enjoy the main gag of the Tomatoes. Will you find it to be too silly or just the right amount of fun and exciting? Everything hinges on that because at the end of the day this is not a serious thriller or anything like that. Technically the body count is rather high and by the end a ton of people are dead but it’s not like the tone is going to reflect that. This is meant to be a really happy film all the way around and it succeeds on that angle.

I tend to enjoy some quality silly humor so this is up my alley. There was even a quick song by the corporate guy helping on PR which was out of nowhere but pretty intense. The singing voice wasn’t half bad and the lyrics are of course the main highlight. This guy showed that you can be great at business and still find time to sing a quick tune. So the quality song helps to make up for a lack of a big soundtrack, although it’s not like I would have expected a grand soundtrack for this film anyway.

Now lets imagine that the film was played seriously for a moment. I think the way you would do it is that the tomatoes move at high speeds. They would keep slamming into people and the sheer concussive force would knock them out. Maybe the main character is a cook so he is able to slice them apart when they show up. You could still have an end of the world plot with ease but the question is how many audiences would take it seriously anyway. And if you know that they wouldn’t, well that’s why you do the parody instead.

Overall, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a film that I’ve looked forward to for a long while now and I can definitely say that it lived up to the hype. This is a fun film with an original story. It has a large variety of gags so you are bound to like some of them. From there is just depends on how many you did not like. If it’s a small number then we have a winner. I’ll be curious to see how good the sequels are but it will be hard to beat the original. It’s one of those premises that you probably don’t want to overdo. It’s why I really liked the stinger at the end which showed off the new villains coming up. That has a ton of potential right there.

Overall 7/10

DC Heroes United Review

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Having fun yet? That’s what you’re always supposed to think about when playing a mobile game. A console game can get away with being boring for a few hours but a mobile game needs to click immediately or you’re just gonna uninstall it. There are too many alternatives to find yourself settling for anything. At least if you ask me that would not be worth it. Fortunately this one is really good and easily one of the best mobile games that I’ve played.

DC Heroes United uses the same gameplay style as Vampire Survivor. You have to try and survive for 10 minutes while the field is completely overrun by monsters. Mini bosses show up every 3 minutes while one big boss shows up at the halfway point and at 10 minutes. You have to defeat them in order to clear the stage. Each stage has 3 difficulty levels and 3 missions per level. In order to unlock the next stage you need to beat all 3 missions on the first difficulty level and then just survive 10 minutes on the second level. It’s definitely nothing too crazy in terms of requirements. I would recommend completing as many missions as possible though because the rewards are worth it.

The game feels like a bit of a mystery though because it feels like nobody is playing it. I’ve tried checking online to see any activity and people mainly just talk about the episodes. One guy started writing a guide but then his phone stopped being supported and he vanished. The company itself doesn’t really try to help either in terms of getting the word out. I’m sure they’re busy but showing the game off would help with improving the playerbase. The whole thing just feels like a black box the whole time. There isn’t even any kind of leaderboard system to know how many people are keeping up with you. It just becomes a large scale mystery or if the other players are robots or not. There are technically a lot of people voting on the episode choices since I spend a few hundred picks and still get beaten badly but how legit are those votes? With 0 transparency it’s hard to say.

The ability to watch all of the episodes on the app is pretty cool. I’ve seen all the episodes so far but I’ll go into that on a TV show review once it’s done. For the game, I naturally like the gameplay since I love this style. That said, it does have a bit of a balancing issue. I’ve completed all of the previous levels and almost all of the missions but I die almost instantly on the latest level. This doesn’t make sense because I’m level 90 out of a possible 100. That just seems like a crazy amount of power creep to me. I’ve been wondering how the game will deal with that and it’s finally reached this point. It will be interesting to see what the devs do because they have put themselves into a bit of a hole here.

I think maybe they need more customization and methods of attack to spice things up. Give us more to use our resources on and more stages or modes to play in. The game is seriously lacking in content right now. The fact that I’m already in “Endgame” definitely says a whole lot. I know the show is the main priority which is why the mobile game doesn’t have any kind of a story mode but in theory the money would be made through the game so you need to make it worth your while. The game has some absolutely insane prices for the item packs and gems in the game. I would never even consider it but even the whales will need some reason to buy it.

At the time of writing this review I have already cleared well over half of the game’s entire accomplishments. So not only am I done with all of the stages except the last one, unlocked all the characters, own legendary armor for all types, but even the career accomplishments are nearly done. The game needs to add some things in quick or I might literally 100% the game at some point the way I did with Miraculous Ladybug. It’s fun to complete a game but for mobile titles the point is to usually not have an ending. You’re not supposed to give the player a reason to ever put the game down.

The soundtrack is pretty nonexistent. Definitely not a strength for the title. The graphics are pretty decent. The game isn’t trying to do anything fancy though so the character models are small but I’ll take what I can get. This is really a game about having fun surviving and so you don’t need a whole lot of processing power for that. This title still doesn’t match Vampire Survivor on pretty much anything but I am glad that the genre is getting more games because it really has a whole lot of potential.

Overall, This game is still relatively new. You can bet that they will be adding more characters and stages but I’m hoping they add them sooner than later. A mobile game needs to avoid having large droughts and the fact that this game has already done the same event 3 times is concerning. I don’t think they thought things through here. The two biggest things the game could do would be to start adding content fast and to add some kind of leaderboard system. We need an interactive part to the game to get everyone’s competitive spirits going. Once we all can see who is ahead of us, it’ll be a whole lot more exciting.

Overall 8/10

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review

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After all these years I finally got to play through the legendary Lightning Returns game. I remember this one being pretty controversial when it came out and after playing it through I can see why that is the case. In a lot of ways it does invalidate parts of the first two games as well as putting the characters through a ton of grief for a very long time. Even with a reasonably happy ending….although a very mixed one, it’s not going to erase those memories. It is an epic story though and one that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

We start off in the future where the world is coming to an end. In 7 days it shall be no more. So the god of the multiverse awakens Lightning to be reborn as his herald. She is to save as many worthy souls as possible by achieving their heart’s desires. Then those survivors will make up the citizens of the new world and Lightning will rule alongside him as a goddess. She only agrees to help in exchange for bringing her sister back to life. This god agrees but is he really being straight forward with her? That remains to be seen.

The whole 7 days thing may make you a bit nervous and I’m afraid that your fears would be well founded. This game uses a day system similar to Pikmin. The minutes go by in real time as one second is roughly equivalent to one minute. As a result the days go by quickly. You have to complete 5 main quests within the 7 day period. This is a true open world game so you can do the quests in any order except for the 5th quest which requires you to complete half of quest 4 first. You can use your time abilities to freeze time temporarily but at the cost of your EP. This is a big deal because the EP is how you use your most powerful abilities within the game and you can’t actively gain any items to recover it. (You can get a 1-2 ethers in the game but that’s it. You can only recover it by defeating enemies or going forward to the next day. Of course with the enemies you typically recover EP very slowly and often times you will lose more time than it is worth.

If you are not able to beat the quests within the 7 days then you go back to the beginning of the game and get to start over. You do keep your stats and equipment (minus key items) though which is handy. Still, you lose all story and mission progress. I was not able to beat the game on my first try so I did have to go back and beat the game again. This time the final boss was not too bad, the Ultima weapon is an absolute must though. I was able to beat him with just 2 EP since I was rushing but with the full 9 set it would have been really easy without a doubt. Of course if you tell anybody that they have to play the game twice they’re going to give you a look.

It’s the one thing keeping this game from being an easy 9. I just can’t support the day system because it forces you to rush a lot. This is a pretty big game with a lot of content and it’s annoying having to skip so many quests and things to do. It doesn’t feel like good game design even if that is the purpose of the overall plot. Completing a lot of side quests can increase the 7 days to 13 but even then it’s ultimately not going to be enough to do everything unless you plan it perfectly with a guide or something. That’s really your only bet.

So that was unfortunate. The story is really interesting like I said before though. I feel bad for the characters as some had to live for centuries in the worst timeline imaginable but at least the ending itself finally brings back some hope. It’s a very depressing game in a lot of ways as we see how futile the first two games were. That is still a little hard to come to terms with but I give this game a lot of credit for really going there. It did not pull any punches at all as the heroes really had to contend with what happened. We also got a ton of homages and references to the first two games which was nice. It helped to tie this all together as a full trilogy.

Meanwhile the graphics are really good as you would expect. All of the characters look solid and I definitely enjoyed the special effects. The full cinematics are all really good and of course the soundtrack is on point too. I wouldn’t say it beats the original 13 but you’re bound to find some tunes that you enjoy here. There is a wide variety of tunes after all so the numbers are really in your favor.

The main game took me around 40 hours counting both playthroughs so there’s a lot of content here. Technically speaking it would be one of the quickest Final Fantasy titles if you were to speed run through this but I feel like most people are going to need 2 playthroughs to actually save the world. Having those extra stats from two runs is just so important since the final boss has 4 different phases and hits like a tank. You also have a hard cap of 12 recovery items so it’s not like you can just store a bunch of potions either. The game is made so that you have to make a whole lot of difficult choices.

Finally I’ll also give the game some credit for having multiple paths for several quests. For example on your first playthrough you tend to have to follow the rules. There are some stealth missions and you have to be careful not to get caught or you’re quickly murdered by the cult followers. On the second playthrough I just went ahead and attacked them all and it worked out since my stats were so high. I was breezing through everybody and you really feel like a goddess in that second playthrough.

Overall, Lightning Returns is controversial and rightfully so. The game played around with some mechanics that weren’t quite winners like the day system. The fact that Lightning is by herself for the whole game is also quite rare for an RPG. Usually you would definitely be expecting to have had a full crew of fighters with you. instead you have tons of costumes you can access which all have different powers. It’s fun and unique but I do ultimately prefer having a full squad. Ultimately this is a great game even with the limitations though and I would recommend checking it out.

Overall 8/10

Ransom (1996) Review

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

All right it’s thriller time! Whenever someone is taken for ransom you have to decide if you will pay it or not. This is a pretty big dilemma and everyone will have different answers here. I tend to agree with this film’s position on not paying the ransom. If you pay once then they will just do it again or in the worst case they don’t intend on returning the person anyway. You’re taking some considerable risks here. No matter what you pick, the important thing is to never look back.

The film starts with Tom and Kate enjoying a nice day in the park. They are both pretty busy with events and lose sight of the kid. Sean is kidnapped by a bunch of villains and then they send a ransom call. They want millions of dollars from Tom or the kid will die. Tom is a super mega millionaire so he’s fine with paying the money at first but then gets the idea that paying the money will effectively be a death sentence for Sean. So he decides not to pay but now everybody has turned against him and thinks that this is the wrong decision. Has he just made a grave error or is he doing the right thing?

As with all kidnapping films, there is more than a little suspense for disbelief here. In a place as super crowded as what we saw in the opening, I find it hard to believe that there would be no witnesses. I do think the parents should have been more careful and I feel the same way in real life when I see kids running around by themselves but I don’t see it being this smooth. Either way that’s how the film gets the story going so lets not get bogged down too much there.

Naturally from the intro you can tell that I agree with Tom here. You can’t pay the ransom and I thought that the movie did a good job of explaining the logic. Tom stays strong no matter how many critics he gets so that was impressive. The film even gives him a fight scene in this version which was cool. I would argue that he mishandled the timing though and got pretty lucky. He should have tackled the villain once he had spotted the guy and in the end he should have finished him because the guy nearly got another shot off. All in all, he did a lot more right than wrong though and was a good lead.

Unfortunately his wife Kate looks pretty bad the whole time. She crashes out on multiple occasions here as she just wants to pay the money. Then when she gets a suspicious letter she ends up going outside by herself and beaten up. She really needed to think things through more. Yes of course she is also doing everything she can for her son and I appreciate that but you can’t succeed on your own. Once Tom made his decision, she needed to stand by him instead of just making the situation worse. Throughout the film she is one of his biggest challenges because she actively eats away at his confidence.

Meanwhile for the villains, they’re all irredeemable and you don’t feel any pity for them. When you get into the business of kidnapping then you deserve everything that comes to you. Jimmy may have been the mastermind but they were all in on it so when they were getting shot you don’t really care about them. As for Jimmy, he was definitely holding his own for quite a while there and ultimately just got greedy. He did make for a fun contrast as we would see him panicking when Tom would get on TV and start with the threats. We got to see just how shaken up he was the whole time.

The police don’t look great here though. Jumping in unprepared ends up leading them to shooting the only witness. It was incredibly sloppy as they couldn’t have handled that worse. Meanwhile the lead officer leaking secrets to try and shake up the marriage was a low blow. He wants the characters to pay the ransom but taking it into his own hands like that was a bit much. Likewise we also see him talking on the phone about how he’s glad that he isn’t rich which feels incredibly inappropriate. Even aside from the fact that someone might hear him, it’s the worst possible time to say that. He really needs to work on his mindset.

Well nobody’s perfect but it does underscore that Tom is really on his own here. If he even thinks to rely on the police then he will be in trouble and naturally that is exactly what you don’t want to hear. It’s already a stressful situation and being on your own makes it even tougher. That’s why it was impressive that Tom stuck to his guns and never looked back. If he had been shaken up and changed courses then things would not have gone well at all.

Overall, Random is a pretty good movie. It should have you on the edge of your seat the whole time. The writing is pretty good and I really enjoy the premise. It makes for a fun game of cat and mouse. It also allows Tom to actually tough talk to the villains for once rather than the usual setup where the villain just smack talks and gloats for 2 hours. This time the hero gets to take the offensive which is really refreshing. It makes the film a little more fun without sacrificing the atmosphere. At the end of the day the story itself is simple enough but the film is able to craft a really interesting movie out of it by executing well on every aspect. The film has no real weaknesses to speak of here which is impressive and not so easily done. You can trip up in a lot of ways for a thriller like this. So I would definitely recommend checking the movie out.

Overall 7/10

Scarface (1983) Review

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

It’s time for one of those iconic gangster films. In a lot of ways it tackles the classic rise to infamy type of story but takes its time with it. The film boasts a very impressive runtime of nearly 3 hours but as a result it can move rather slowly at times. I would also argue that Tony himself looks far less impressive in this version as he falls to the vices faster. Perhaps it is good in terms of not letting people accidentally look up to him but in the film’s context it does mean that he is considerably weaker than the original.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Tony and Manny who slip into the USA. They’re going to be starting out as bottom barrel thugs but Tony has dreams of rising up to the very top. He continues taking more and more risky jobs as he moves up the ranks. His ambition knows no bounds, the guy wants to own everything. He also falls for the wife of his boss. If he’s told no about anything then Tony wants it, that’s the way he lives and how he plans to move until his death.

Obviously this does mean that this is one of those films where you are rooting for the cops to take him down. Tony is a villain through and through. He has some moral scruples compared to other gang members but the guy is still a mass murderer who does whatever he feels like. He gets addicted to drugs to the point where he can barely focus on anything. So he becomes someone whose personality flips on a dime. He’ll blow up out of nowhere and this makes him a very dangerous leader.

It’s a bad mix when you’re in a sudden death career like being a mobster while also being completely addicted to drugs. He’s basically taken in by all of the bad vices and is too far gone to ever go back. Meanwhile there is a subplot where he doesn’t want his siter to go down this path so he gets very demanding in terms of what she can or cannot do. He seems to want her to be alone for her whole life and to just stay indoors. It’s not a particularly reasonable position and so she makes things go pretty badly for him as well although I would have liked her to have finished him off. Instead she just completely cracks in this version which isn’t satisfying in the slightest.

Tony goes around betraying everyone all the time so he doesn’t have many loyal allies by the end. There’s his best friend but then Tony gets upset because of his sister being involved so that’s it for that. Again Tony is really burying himself at this point. Even his obsession with Elvira shows how bad Tony is at making the right decisions. Why would you ever want to get together with a girl who flat out does not like you? She only likes the money and status which isn’t a good idea for a relationship.

This even happens in real life as there are a few people who keep getting passed around in an endless cycle because I guess everyone wants to prove themselves but it seems like a terrible idea. With his influence Tony could have had a whole lot of options but no he wanted the lady who was already married. Elvira may not be a good person in the slightest but I still put most of the burden on Tony here for trying to break up the marriage from the start.

The film has some violent moments to be sure. It doesn’t mind having some blood spray during the gunfights and there is the axe moment. In this case you can count on people being shot in non combat situations as well like the scene where Tony shoots one of the passengers in his car. You probably shouldn’t double cross the leader of a mafia boss like that. Tony said he doesn’t murder kids and so he took steps to enforce this position. It was a good scene for Tony amidst a mountain of bad moments but we’ll take what we can get here.

I feel like the police had a smaller role here than in the original film despite the longer screentime. Yes we’ve got the corrupt cop but we don’t get the perspective of the main police force hunting this guy the whole time. That could have helped this film by giving us some tangible characters to root for. It’s why films based around the villains are always fighting an uphill battle. Unless the villain is super charismatic or has a goal that you can empathize with then you run the risk of the film just being too dreary. This one never really gets past that to make the case on why you should really be invested in the title. Just give me one really likable character and that could change things at least a little but the movie never really does that.

Overall, Scarface may be an iconic film but I wouldn’t say it’s all that good. It does show off the rough life of a gangster and it’s not like you have any real sympathy here because they are all bad apples anyway. This is a life that they completely chose for themselves after all. Now they have to contend with the dark side of their own career. The more that Tony loses, the happier you get as the audience. At the same time, this is just not a happy film. It’s a very serious one that just keeps on going and so when the film isn’t fun that takes a lot of the pop out of it. It’s hard to succeed under such circumstances. I’d recommend just watching the original one instead which handled the material a lot better.

Overall 4/10

Bullet Train Review

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

Bullet Train definitely got a whole lot of marketing and advertising when it was first coming out. It was going to be a totally crazy film filled with lots of assassins and action the whole time. I’m always up for an ensemble film and so this was pretty fun although I do think it could have utilized the ensemble part a little more.

Ladybug is one of those bounty hunter/special agents who takes on different requests for money. I hesitate to call him a straight up assassin like the rest of the people on the train because he’s rarely going after any lives and people just die on accident. Ladybug’s filling in for a sick colleague here. This should be easy, he just has to get on the train, steal a suitcase, and then head back out. Easy peasy. What he doesn’t know is that he has a whole lot of company. One guy is here to murder the person who put his son in the hospital, a pair of assassins was hired by a top mafia boss for another mission, a little girl is here for murder, etc. Everybody has their own motivations but they are all fighting for the kill. Can Ladybug handle them all? On one hand he clearly has more experience than most of these guys but on the other hand he’s not nearly as bloodthirsty. He will have to think carefully here.

So before I mentioned how I didn’t think the ensemble part was handled perfectly and that’s because some of these characters get almost nothing to do. In particularly the poison girl and the knife guy are dispatched rather quickly. We still get backstories for both characters but as a result they just didn’t get to feel important. An easy fix to this I’d say would have been to have had their origins earlier. That way you are waiting for them to appear for most of the film. Even without increasing the sheer amount of screentime, their presence would be felt more.

I would even say to go one step further, it might have been a good idea to have shown everyone’s origins at the start of the film. Then as they all step foot on the train it becomes a true battle royale. You can make an exception for one or two characters who rely on twists but this would have definitely helped. Even so, the film does a good job of juggling quite a few characters and even giving them full personalities. You end up remembering them even well past the film’s runtime which is impressive.

At times the film’s tonal shifts can be a bit much. Sometimes you start to look forward to a big fight and then it doesn’t quite play out. On the other hand, the light tone and humor is part of what makes the film fun. On the whole I would have liked to play the fights more straight but the ones that we do get tend to be pretty good. The film’s light tone also helps to prevent things from getting too dreary which could have easily occurred otherwise.

The movie can be fairly violent but at least most of the scenes are combat related so it doesn’t feel too bad. Enough to be noticeable but not enough where I would dock serious points for it or anything like that. The visuals for the film were really nice though and it made good use of the mascots and colorful backgrounds. The train looked like it would be very comfortable to ride on.

As the main character Ladybug was decent. He definitely messed up by not getting off the train earlier though. It’s a good thing he’s lucky because otherwise the mission made no sense. He was only able to get the suitcase at the start because the two assassins left it alone and totally forgot about it. Usually I’d call that plot hax but the film specifically shows how Ladybug is always super lucky (Although he sees it as bad luck since he doesn’t like to see people getting murdered) so I can overlook that. He gets lucky throughout the film but that’s the point. He does a good job of not letting it get to him though and has a lot of the most enjoyable bits of dialogue here. He does a good job of leading the film.

Lemon was a really fun guy who was a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. This was a fun and original gimmick. I know an online account that is always talking about that train so it’s nice to see the franchise being referenced. Lemon may not be the biggest genius in the room but he can read people and that trait continues throughout the film. He gets a bit sloppy at one point but always did a good job of lightening up the atmosphere. His confrontation with Ladybug was really good.

Then we have Tangerine who is the serious member of the duo. He may argue with Lemon a lot but does trust the guy’s judgment when it counts. If he was just a hair trigger faster he could have ended the movie sooner. Ultimately he just wasn’t able to connect with his shot before it was too late. The film did a good job of developing both characters.

Then we have our first miss in The Father. Different characters insult him and it makes sense because he’s just super out of his depth here. The instant the Prince revealed herself as responsible for pushing his son off a building, he should have taken her out. Instead he hesitates and this leads him down a long trail of danger. The guy is a really passive fighter the whole time compared to the other characters and that’s what holds him back. He isn’t even close to the others in terms of skill.

The same can be true of Prince but to make up for this she has a lot of plans and contingencies. I give her a whole lot of credit for always remaining on top of the situation. She manipulates a whole lot of characters before the film is over which is more than I can say for some of the others. The Wolf and the Hornet don’t get to do much and are mainly here to fill out the numbers. This is definitely the part where I said the film could have developed them more. That would have made them way more likable and memorable.

The Elder also doesn’t do a lot but his scenes are very memorable. For starters one of his twists makes a lot of sense and I was wondering why The Father didn’t think of this. The Elder was a really good character and dominated in his short screen time. The White Death is a little more forgettable. A decent villain who perhaps got a little too much hype. Less hype may have gone a long way here since his actions could have spoken for themselves instead.

Overall, Bullet Train is a good film. It does deliver on having a lot of action and the ending is also pretty satisfying. I think the movie could have had a little more confidence in its own fight scenes though. Letting the characters go at it a bit longer would have been nice. I also wouldn’t have minded some more verbal confrontations because those were always a lot of fun with how the characters would try to be normal on the surface. It had a very Sakamoto Days kind of vibe there. If you haven’t watched this film yet then I’d recommend it. It makes for a good watch.

Overall 6/10

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 Review

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It’s time for the next adventure in the Gunvolt series and this game definitely changes things up quite a bit. A new cast of characters, new plot direction, change in gameplay, etc. You name it and this game has got it. I appreciate their trying to reinvent the series and while I prefer the first two games, it is pretty close. This one absolutely still holds its own and I’m ready for a 4th game.

The title starts off many decades into the future with a new main character called Kirin. She works for a group that works with the main villain group from the first game. Turns out that while corporate is mainly evil, they are humanity’s only protector in the future. She ends up freeing Gunvolt from his seal and now he must help her take down all of the awakened dragons. The powers have been going on a rampage at this point and have to be stopped. Do they really have the abilities to handle this?

The story involves seeing a lot of familiar faces and also gives Gunvolt a chance to see the results of his actions. It’s not all good and the characters remind him of this a whole lot but he did his best. The guy can’t see the future so for the record I blame him for exactly 0% of this. He stopped the villains and saved the day. Characters particularly blame him for risking the whole world to save his friend but that was the correct decision then and it still is now. That’s the way I see it. I do think that having the evil company from the first game return was a good idea though. From the start it was one of those cases where the guy at the top was evil but it’s not like every employee was. So seeing them bounce back was pretty cool.

Gunvolt is a living legend in this game and one thing I really appreciate is that he’s treated with this respect the whole time. There is never any doubt as to his true abilities. He was the strongest Adept of all time and he is also the strongest dragon. The game even adds a mechanic for this. For the most part you play as Kirin and throw tarot cards to lead yourself to victory. It’s an interesting gimmick as the cards soften up your opponent and then you use your sword as a finishing move. It’s creative and yet at the same time you do miss Gunvolt’s classic Mega Man styled gameplay.

Well that’s where he comes in. Whenever you have your meter at 100 or higher, you can switch places with him and light the stages up using the old gameplay style. Even better, the old style is locked into the super saiyan mode so you have unlimited flight and energy attacks. You can only keep attacking until the meter goes to 0 and then you repeat the process. The meter goes up very quickly though so you will be able to transform again pretty quickly and it’s unlikely that any boss will survive one round anyway.

I didn’t die in any of the levels in this game while I definitely did in the first two so that’s something to consider. The game is definitely easier than the first two but you can always choose to challenge yourself by not playing as Gunvolt. I would argue you should instead enjoy it though and spend your time focusing on getting all of the collectibles. This game has a considerable amount of them and some you will have to get more than once in order to complete your image collection. You will need to get this for the true ending so the more of them you get on your first playthrough the better.

You can also unlock some that you can equip afterwards to make the game even easier. I didn’t really touch the loadout much at all but there is a lot of customization there. So we’ve got the replay value covered. Then you have the graphics which look even more polished than the first two games. They show off by having a snow level to start the game off with and the snow effects occur in the background the whole time as you are playing. That was definitely neat and really visually appealing. I also liked the idea of having a Christmas level since those are very rare. The soundtrack is also really good as always. We have solid lyrical songs and boss music going on here.

I’d like to bring the classic gameplay back for the next game but you definitely can’t call these developers lazy. This is probably the most straight forward game of the trio but when you factor in having to set up and balance a whole new gameplay style, it makes sense that they couldn’t go as crazy on the stages themselves. All of the bosses still have really cool designs and this was the first game to get a full English dub which was awesome. It really gets you even more immersed into the game.

Overall, Gunvolt 3 is definitely a great game and I would recommend checking it out. You’ll definitely feel bad for the main character since things seem to get worse and worse for him in each installment. He has to go through a whole lot of mindgames from the villain side on this one but he never gives up and that’s the important thing. It feels like there is still a whole lot they can do with the series so I hope they keep going with it. We need more futuristic sci-fi type games like this one. It’s always such a terrific atmosphere to be playing in.

Overall 8/10

Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack Review

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It’s time to finally take a look at the Gunvolt series. I remember always seeing this one around but I never got to try it back in the day. Well now was my chance and I can definitely say that the games hold up. They are great adventures with a solid story and really good gameplay. You’ll feel bad for Gunvolt himself as the poor guy always gets a rough ending but you will be on the edge of your seat each time.

In the first game, Gunvolt decides to quit the resistance group he was a part of because they wanted to murder a little girl. Yes the girl has dangerous abilities that could doom the planet but she’s just a kid. So he goes rogue with her and becomes a mercenary for hire. This quickly becomes a job where he will have to save the world though. Will his abilities be enough to defeat all of the other metahumans running around? In this world just about everybody has some kind of ability after all, but Gunvolt’s is one of the strongest.

It’s a good setup here and I like the futuristic environment. I would say it does feel like there wasn’t much point in Gunvolt leaving the group since they end up hiring him for every level anyway but I was glad he stuck to his principles. The gameplay is a classic 2D Mega Man style but moving at a faster pace. You’re pretty much always dashing around the map and blasting away at the enemies. The main difference here compared to a classic Mega Man title is your energy barrier. While it is up, no attack can harm you. You can also shoot while having the barrier up but your attacks will be much weaker. If you take the barrier down to strengthen your attacks then you take a risk.

It’s a pretty cool system and also a way to naturally modify difficulty. If you aren’t too sure of yourself then you can keep the barrier up at all times and just beat the level with a terrible time score. If you feel like you know the enemy then you can dash through and win with record times to really show off what you can do. I died a few times here and there myself. I wouldn’t say that this is a very hard game but the climax really doesn’t hold back. I don’t expect very many people will beat the final boss on their first shot.

The game also has clever ways around the barrier aspect without cheating like having an attack just break it. Yes, there are a small handful of attacks that can pierce the barrier but the final boss also has a wind attack to try and make you fall. If you fall, you die rather than respawning. So then you go all the way back to before the boss battle. Likewise the final phase of the boss is about speed so you have to defeat it before the walls close in on you. That means you have to remove the barrier and take your chances.

Just very clever gameplay all around here and each stage had its own gimmick. It made for a lot of great variety and made the game stick out. Sometimes you are messing with gravity, slipping with ice, going through walls, etc. So you’ve got to adjust and the variety also just shows a nice level of development time here. Many games have much lazier levels than that. As for the bosses, they are all different and unique so you have to tackle them in different ways. I was really impressed with it.

Then the graphics are solid as you would expect. It’s a very flashy game and the sprites look good. The art illustrations that we get are all on point and I also enjoyed the soundtrack. The lyrical songs were really good and the gimmick of your partner saving you with a song is pretty good. I also liked the general boss battles. The game even has a good amount of replay value as you have to go back and get all of the gems in order to unlock the true ending. There aren’t a ton of stages with gems so that won’t take super long but every bit helps. It’s also not a crazy requirement so you don’t feel like the game is really stalling you too hard.

After that we have the second game where they add even more content. After the tragic events of the first game, Gunvolt is doing his best to move on. He’s made some new friends and has gone back to taking on requests and helping out. Unfortunately a new group of villains show up and they steal most of the life force from his best friend. Gunvolt must now take them all down. Meanwhile there is a second story mode for the rival whose sister is abducted by these villains. He always knew that the Adepts (Metahumans) were evil and this proves it. He will destroy them all, including Gunvolt.

I gotta say this guy is really hype. His name’s Cogen in the Dub but in the subbed dialogue they always call him Akira or at least it sounds like that. Either way I liked him a lot in both games because he is a normal human going up against these crazy fighters. That takes a lot of guts and skills. It’s hard not to root for an underdog like that right? His style of gameplay is also way different. You have to use a little bot as additional lasers as you zip around. You can auto parry up to 3 attacks but then you have to recharge.

It’s the same meter as your super attacks though so you have to choose between attacking and dodging at all times. As a result I would say his gameplay is noticeably harder than Gunvolt’s. Meanwhile Gunvolt’s gameplay is mainly unchanged but the game finds more clever ways around his barrier. The final secret boss is also fun because you have to go up against a foe who has your barrier while yours is completely powered down by the super attacks. Now that was a really tough boss and it took me a whole lot of tries.

I think it’s safe to say that they amped the difficulty up on this one. Doubling the story content was also awesome. It may be a bit of a stretch having to beat the game 4 times in order to see all endings though. I think they could have added the final story as an extra level rather than having to replay the long boss rush level each time. The graphics look as good as always with it being very shiny and clear the whole time. I would say it probably looks a bit better than the first although they are very close. There may be more illustrations this time around.

The soundtrack is also great as always and this time we have more songs. The battle by the end is really hype and the game also does a good job of being very cinematic. For example at one point you are forced to lose so that you can get up with a super form in a very Shonen Jump type of moment. The game is an all around great package as you would expect.

Overall, Azure Striker Gunvolt is an excellent series and I highly recommend picking these two games up. You’ve got a good value when you have both games here and you don’t want to miss out on this sage. It would be something that you would absolutely regret the whole time. I’ll be reviewing the third game shortly so you can definitely expect to see that soon. Hopefully the franchise keeps on going because I could play games like this all day.

Overall 8/10

Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Review

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It’s time for an anthology that definitely goes by really quickly. There are only 5 episodes after all and they tend to be pretty short. Still, it’s a pretty nice way to get to see the characters a bit more. The idea for each of the episodes is to get to know a different character a bit more. The animation is solid and this definitely got a reasonable budget. It’s a fun tag along to the game although on its own I’m guessing it won’t be turning a whole lot of heads.

The first episode starts off with a bang as we see into Noctis’ childhood and his run in with a powerful monster. After that we have him and the team fighting with some of the enemy empire’s soldiers. It was a good idea to start and end the series with some solid action scenes. Like I said before, most of the story is really about character development but action really helps for the whole thing to feel real. We also will get to see later on in the final special how the King uses his powers compared to how Noctis uses them. I can’t say he was super impressive but I know the guy is old and all. It just means that the kingdom was always going to be doomed. Either way this was a pretty intense opener and the animation got to show off a bit here. I also like how Noctis avoids eating any vegetables in his burger, that’s how I do it too.

The second episode is about Noctis’ friend Prompto. He used to be really timid and overweight but the guy always had a kind heart. He would look after animals and he did so in the present as well which triggers the flashback. Well, he wants to be Noctis’ friend but is a little ashamed at just how big he is. So he begins to work on losing weight. He runs every day and continues his exercises even in really tough conditions. It really speaks to just how dedicated he is and it’s really nice to see. I’d say it shows how he secretly tries hard even when he always gives off the impression of being a comedic slacker. I appreciate the depth although I would like him to act a bit more serious and driven like that in the present too. No reason he has to always keep this a secret right?

In the third episode we see how Gladiolus was training Noctis but the main character was always being a total slacker. Gladiolus didn’t really have much respect for the guy but kept on with his duty. One day his little sister visits the kingdom and gets lost but Noctis protects her and gets the two of them back home. It at least showed that Noctis would rise to the occasion as needed even if he could stand to train a bit more seriously. It was another fun episode although I do have to suspend some disbelief on Noctis and the little sister escaping the castle so easily. I know it was a secret passage of sorts that leads outside but nobody noticed the hole earlier or had guards around that area? I’d also expect there to be some kind of magical surveillance system because this seems like a security nightmare no matter how you slice it! Luckily things had a good ending for the heroes.

After that we wrap up the character intros with showing us what a tough time Ignis had in getting Noctis ready for the real world. Noctis would not study much at all for the exams and also couldn’t cook for himself. We get to see the real spoiled version of Noctis here. With everyone else he tends to put on the facade that he has his life all together but here we see all the cracks. In a way you can say that Ignis gets to see a side of Noctis that he hides from everyone else so in a way that is pretty big props for Ignis. At the same time it just makes Noctis look really bad. By the end Noctis tries his best to make a meal. While he ends up failing quite badly, I will give him some slight credit for the attempt. I’m glad that he is a lot more mature in the game though.

Finally we go full circle as Noctis meets up with the demon and gets to avenge his family. The demon honestly puts up a super good fight considering this is Noctis with his summoned weapons and the rest of the party. I would expect Noctis to be a bit stronger but this is a fairly early version of the character. Also maybe I am underestimating the monster a bit. Regardless it is a pretty solid action scene all around. A bit of a bloody one as well I could mention. I was a little surprised even at just how intense it got. I suppose with limited time for action, the animators really wanted to go all out here.

It’s a climactic end to the saga and so it made sense to end that way. I enjoyed both the action and slice of life moments here. These episodes could have easily fit into the main game as bonus cutscenes or side quests so they did a good job of making these intro episodes feel real. I’d definitely like to see more Final Fantasy titles get the full media treatment like this one did. A movie, show, and the main game is really a whole lot of content. Any title that isn’t VII or XIII would have to be quite jealous.


Overall, There’s not a ton to discuss here due to the show’s short runtime. All in all it was a fun experience. Short titles like this are a fun way to see your favorite characters for just a little while longer and so there’s no real downside to it. While it won’t have the same punch to people unfamiliar with Final Fantasy, you can probably still appreciate the fun vibes. Some of the stories like Prompto wanting to lose weight so he won’t bring his friend down can be applicable to any story so it makes for an easy watch. Likewise for taking down a monster to avenge your family.

Overall 6/10

Sand Land Review

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Sand Land is one of the first manga titles that I read back in the day. It’s a fun enough adventure although it ends really quickly. I never watched the new movie/show that came out though so checking out the game was a good way to see what was going on with the new story content. It’s a pretty fun game and while I think it could have used a little more time in the oven to polish some areas, I had a good time.

The story follows the prince of demons Beelzebub as he tries to prove to the world that he is a scary fiend. An army general named Rao shows up asking for his help one day though. The world is ruled by a corrupt government who has taken control of all resources. Now water is a tough commodity to come by and people are dying of thirst. Rao needs Beelzebub’s help in getting access to the water. Beelzebub agrees to help since it sounds fun but he insists on being called a villain. Then the second half of the game involves a new land with another corrupt government who has to be stopped.

The second half is more exciting since it’s all brand new content but the story in general is pretty fun. I like the universe and the characters are likable. Beelzebub makes for a solid lead even if he can be a bit desperate in trying to get people to recognize him as a villain. The guy just acts way too heroic for anybody to buy that. This is another one of those stories where for the most part the humans tend to be the worst people anyway. Demons got nothing on them!

The graphics are pretty solid. There are quite a few fully animated scenes here along with good effects for the battle. It’s a very clear looking game where you don’t have to be squinting. You also have a good soundtrack here. I won’t say that it’s top tier or anything like that but it gets the job done. There is even a lyrical song near the end which helps for that cinematic experience. That’s when you know that you’re truly in the climax.

The game’s overall length is pretty good. It’s around 15 hours or so and there is plenty of replay value. Naturally you can go for the Platinum and in the meantime you’ll be doing a bunch of side quests and beating more opponents. It’s a pretty expansive world and so even though the platinum itself is fairly easy, you can expect to be here for a long while. There is definitely a good amount of value here.

As for the gameplay, I would say the game controls well when playing as Beelzebub. The only complaint you can really have is that it’s just way too easy. You absolutely decimate all of the opponents as your damage is maxed out to start the game. It’s a pretty fun approach compared to the vehicles where you have to be constantly upgrading them the whole time. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do like that you don’t have to worry about that when playing as Beelzebub. It’s just a really welcome change of pace.

Now with the vehicles, I enjoyed them but I also thought there was clear room for improvement. For starters when you’re setting up the loadout, the game doesn’t make it clear what you can equip. You have to actually go into the piece you want to equip and then it’ll slam you in the face with the level requirement. When the required level is higher than you current level, it cannot be equipped. So if you ask me it should be grayed out or something as an easy visual indicator. That would save a lot of time there.

In terms of actually leveling up the materials, at least it is pretty quick. You usually need to buy a few things and then head out to beat enemies for other resources. If you spend a few minutes each batch doing this then you can stay on top. You’ll want to be very well leveled or the final bosses will take a long while. The final boss is easy to dodge but my attacks were so weak that defeating him took quite a long while. In any game it’s better to die fast and try again than to have a super long game that you barely win. It just takes too much time.

By the end of the game I was mainly using the Hovercraft on everybody although the mechsuit definitely had some good moments as well. I don’t want to count that guy out. His cannon and punches did a good amount of damage but the lack of speed meant he was not very reliable in other battles. The tank was also pretty good one although the damage output stayed pretty low by the end. Ultimately because of the level up system I don’t think you will ever be locked for very long but some quality of life updates here would have gone a long way.

I liked the occasional stealth missions that were in the game. Those were fun tests to see how quickly you could get around the guards. It let you be very creative with several different ways to approach those levels. It’s definitely the right way to handle a level like that and the quick loading times also meant that dying was not too painful. I’d have definitely been down with more stealth levels here. Maybe some of the side missions go more into that.

The hub world isn’t always very easy to navigate so I wonder if in the post game you would get a plane. That would be awesome, even if perhaps a bit game breaking. It would certainly be worth it though so I don’t mind losing the balance a little bit. After beating the main game I had already purchased almost every power up on the leveling screen so I imagine you’ll have that done pretty early on when working on the postgame.

Overall, Sand Land is pretty fun. It’s clear that a lot of work went into it so even though I say it could use some more polish, I don’t want it to sound like I think this is an incomplete game. There’s a good amount of bang for your buck and the story even lasts a bit longer than I would have expected. It’s pretty impressive in general that this title got a video game like this so I definitely recommend it to all Sand Land fans or to anyone looking for a fun platformer. You just can’t go wrong here.

Overall 7/10