Category Archives: Reviews

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Review

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Whenever Nintendo releases a big Mario game you better believe that the whole planet is put on notice. It really feels like ages since the last big Mario game too, particularly the last 2D one. Fortunately Wonder is a great game that adds a lot of new mechanics and really feels like a fresh experience. It takes a few chances and not every gamble pays off but ultimately it’s just great to have more Mario content. I just wish Nintendo wouldn’t put their mascot on break for so many years at a time.

The basic plot here is that Bowser has merged with a giant ship and now he intends to take over the entire planet! Mario must team up with Daisy and co. to stop him. They’re in the Flower Kingdom this time which is a nice way to incorporate new supporting characters and whole new environments. I don’t think these guys will ever be as iconic as the Toads but they’re fun enough. We even have talking plants for full voice acting although I doubt most people will be big fans of them. I kept the voices on for the whole game but I did change the language to Japanese near the end for kicks.

The gameplay has a lot of the classic Mario elements you will recognize like running and jumping to the goal. You have some big power ups like the fire flower which are classic but also new ones like a bubble flower and elephant mode. I can’t say that Elephant mode is my favorite but the bubble form is really helpful. It can one shot almost any enemy and also gives you extra jumps by using the bubbles you shoot out. It is incredibly handy in a pinch! You’ve also got a drill hat to plunge into the ceiling. Most of the time you don’t really need to use the power ups so you can have fun in normal form but it’s nice to experiment a bit.

A new gimmick for this game are the badges which you can equip for all kinds of special abilities like an extra jump, being notified when you’re near a secret, etc. I held onto the glide from the tutorial but mainly stayed away from the badges so they wouldn’t make the game too easy. It’s easy to see how they would make this a bit of a cakewalk in the end. In terms of difficulty I would say this is easier than the last few 2D titles like New Super Mario Bros and Mario World but it has some reasonably tough levels so it’s not going to be on easy mode or anything.

One odd choice is that the worlds don’t get progressively harder the way they normally would. Every world has some easy levels and some hard ones and you get to see the difficulty counter before entering a level. This is because you don’t have to beat every level in order to move on. It’s all about the collectible like stars in this game. So for example you may need to get 15 collectibles in order to move onto the next world out of 25. So then you can skip like 3-4 levels. I actually 100% completed world 1 initially because I figured the stars would carry over but they don’t so just a heads up on that. When you have enough to fight the boss, just go ahead and fight him. There is no real benefit to waiting longer than that.

In addition to the normal levels there are mini ones that are like break levels. You get to master a badge in each level and some will just have a fun theme like trying to solve a puzzle or unravel a song. They are a nice break from the standard levels and are good additions to have here. I’m not always thrilled about the open world nature of the areas as you can sometimes waste some time trying to find the place you want to go but that’s mainly just an issue in the desert world which is the worst one by far. The rest are still pretty clearly labeled the whole time. When you lose a level you are also thrown right back in with incredible speed which is really a good thing.

The graphics are really top tier and this is some of the best visuals we’ve seen for a classic Nintendo type title. The environments are all very colorful and there are a lot of different enemies to take on. Each world feels different as well. The soundtrack is filled with a lot of fun themes and also some nice remixes. My favorite new theme has to be the final boss battle but in general I liked the villain themes here. They weren’t afraid to go all out and even seem a little towards the rock genre.

The actual campaign likely won’t take you too long, maybe around 6 hours or so. That said there is a good amount of replay value if you aim to 100% the game. I don’t actually know what you unlock for doing so yet. Hopefully a bonus ending or something cool like that. I don’t tend to 100% these since there are no trophies involved but if the reward is good enough then I’ll consider it. I also played the whole game as Daisy so it’ll be fun to play around as some of the other characters. I could even have fun using a bunch of badges now that I’ve beaten the game. So I can just relax and hang out while playing the levels.

Bowser not kidnapping Peach for a change is a nice twist but I would still like the series to take the story a bit farther at some point. It’s Mario so I’m not asking for something dark or super serious. Even happy type games can have a good story ongoing and that’s all I want. Give us some fun cutscenes, a cool journey to follow and I’m set. That would be completely ideal and I don’t think it would be all that hard. It’s hard to picture it ever happening but mix in the great gameplay with an awesome story and then we could be looking at one of the all time all stars.

Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is definitely a great game. It is a lot of fun to play through and as you’d expect from Nintendo’s flagship character every detail has been given a lot of polish and attention. The only things keeping it from going a bit higher is the lack of a true story and the game also feeling a little short. In general platformers aren’t very long of course and that makes sense but I do feel you tend to need a certain amount of length in order to be one of those elite 9 star titles. I would definitely recommend picking this game up though. It’s not a title that you want to miss out on!

Overall 8/10

Sonic Superstars Review

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It’s time we had a talk about the latest Sonic game. I’ve always been more of a 3D Sonic fan to be honest and tend to mention that at every opportunity but the 2D games are fun enough. It just feels like they go against the nature of Sonic which is to run really fast. Ironically you are allowed to blast through stages at full speed much more often in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, another example of Mario just dominating in the 2D space. Sonic needs to stick to 3D and this game has all the issues the 2D titles tend to have. That said, it is still a pretty good game but I don’t think it will remain in most peoples’ memories for very long.

The general plot is that Fang and Trip are working for a mad genius known as Dr. Eggman. Eggman wants to destroy a blue speedster known as Sonic The Hedgehog and by utilizing the powers of the chaos emerald and time reversal technology, he may actually have a chance this time. Fortunately Sonic has his friends at the ready. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles are around to do their part and back Sonic up. Together there is no foe that can overcome this force for good!

There is barely a plot in the game though so you are really playing for the gameplay. I don’t really get why Sega refuses to let the 2D games have their own big stories. Sure you want to keep it distinct from the 3D titles but you could absolutely have fun plots with voice acting and everything in the 2D days. Just look at how top tier titles like Shantae handle this. You can interpret the general story from the animations we get of course but it won’t end up feeling quite as grand that way.

For the gameplay I don’t really have any issues. It’s very classic with how you can jump, run really fast, and spin dash. You maneuver through the levels by activating different devices and defeating enemies. At the end of the level naturally you will end up going against a giant boss as well. There is a lot of variety with the bosses and they’re all solid except for the final boss where I had issues with the sheer length. Difficulty isn’t a problem, it’s good when a final boss is tough but having to replay long segments can always be annoying. That final battle took me quite a few tries.

One thing I would recommend is using your chaos emerald powers as much as possible. They make a massive difference in combat. Fortunately the chaos emeralds are all in spots that are easy to find. I managed to gather them all during a normal playthrough which was nice since it meant I wouldn’t have to try and search them out later on. Now that’s really nice since usually they can be super hard to find. It can just be tough to get in the habit of using the powers since you’re so used to just using the normal platforming tricks but trust me when I say that it’s highly worth it. In particular summoning an army of mini Sonics does a lot of damage during boss battles.

The graphics are really great. The game feels like its in true HD the whole time and the character models are on point. It’s one of the clearest games I’ve played in some time. I would say the retro art style actually does a lot to support the game’s graphics there since there is less to load up and it can all be processed really quickly. The soundtrack is less memorable though as there are no real standout tracks here. You’ll forget them as soon as they have ended which is definitely not ideal. I suppose it’s better than having a bad soundtrack though.

The actual story is fairly short so you should beat it in 4-5 hours or so. There is some replay value though as you can play through the game again as Trip. Then there is also the journey of trying to get the Platinum trophy for this game which should also be a fairly long task at least. It doesn’t look particularly difficult but I’m betting it will add another 6-8 hours of playtime which is always cool. There is also a multiplayer mode here and while I didn’t get to try it yet, it looks like they really did put a good amount of effort into i.

If you’ve enjoyed the previous Sonic 2D games then you will enjoy this one. It’s really as simple as that. That said, it just feels like the devs could have pushed this a lot harder. Give us more true cutscenes during the story, incorporate more characters, and also just make the game longer. I wouldn’t blame someone for waiting until there is a price drop to pick this one up because it really is over in the blink of an eye. It doesn’t feel like the $60 experience even if it is polished. Also for all the marketing about Fang returning he pretty much played 0 role in this game. There wasn’t much point to his inclusion particularly as he doesn’t get a 1 on 1 boss fight where you have to deal with his gun. He’s always in a mech for some reason but I suppose Sonic The Fighters spoiled me on that one.

Overall, Sonic Superstars is definitely a fun game. The experience doesn’t last as long as you’d like but the technical elements are really up to par. The game looks really great and while the soundtrack isn’t the best, you’ll still enjoy the tunes while you play through the game. It’s why I would say this embodies what it means to be a very good game. It’s not great or anything but there’s never a moment where you’re wishing that it would be over already.

Overall 7/10

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom Review

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That title is definitely a mouth full eh? Well it’s always nostalgic to see more Tsubasa content. This movie is super short and reminds me of the old school OVAs like Naruto’s hidden waterfall village where its all over in an instant. We still get some fun fights and visuals here though so all in all I was pretty satisfied. It’s probably a bit of an odd film if you watch this without having seen the show but the movie did go out of its way to include a full recap of what’s going on in the intro so maybe they were trying to get some new fans here.

The basic plot is Syaoran and Sakura land on another planet where a feather containing a key memory is being stored. This planet is ruled by an evil dictator who wants to plunge the world into endless darkness and to do this he intends to kidnap the princess and use her ring. Syaoran has to stop this but the guy is protected by legendary bird warriors who are pretty fast. He needs the help of Fai and Kurogane but they are busy being kidnapped somewhere and he doesn’t have the time to save them. What can he do?

Okay I should give those characters some credit. Kurogane and Fai do take out some enemies before they are captured but even so, they are the power hitters so it certainly doesn’t make Syaoran’s job any easier when they go down like that. They are captured off screen which is not the best move but I do get it since it’s hard to picture them losing otherwise. The writers probably had a hard time justifying it so that’s why this had to be cut out. We do get to see them dismantle the human guards early on though which was a lot of fun. The movie is more plot than action but the fights that we do get are well animated.

In terms of visuals the most impressive shots were probably when Syaoran was using the ring of blue flames at the end. The flames look really bright and the contrast works really well next to the other colors. Syaoran trying to fight off the bird people was also animated well even if it feels weird to see him being overwhelmed so easily. I guess he wasn’t always a super strong fighter but late stage Syaoran probably would have fared a whole lot better with his sword and other abilities.

The film’s original characters are okay but due in part to the length you never care about them all that much. You have the princess who seems like a good character and all but she’s a little outmatched since she can’t really fight. Her chief guard loses all of the fights he’s in which isn’t the best first impression. There’s also a kid here who tries his best to be helpful but tends to fail. I did like the main villain though. Yes he’s a bit on the generic side but it works well for this kind of “Take over the world!!” villain. There’s no time to make a complex villain so why even try right? A stock evil villain can actually work well under the right conditions and I would say that these were the right conditions.

The soundtrack is solid as always. It uses a lot of the tracks from the show but the instrumental versions with no opera music for some reason. Not sure why the change, but they sounded good anyway which is what counts. Throwing in a lyrical song for the climax would have been cool but it was epic enough anyway. The production values were pretty good here and I didn’t have any issues with the pacing.

In general I wouldn’t even say I had any issues with the film. At best you could say it just doesn’t feel like a movie. The stakes aren’t particularly high and there’s nothing really separating it from just being another episode. So this isn’t some grand experience and paying money to see it in theaters may have been rough (Although it was a double feature so you can cut it some slack) but watching it like this just helps to amp up the nostalgia. It doesn’t have to be super memorable, just enjoyable and it succeeds on that front.

Overall, Tsubasa churns out another solid product here. The special gives you a lot to have fun with and doesn’t make any kind of mistakes. It could probably have stretched the limits a bit and gone for higher stakes but rather than focusing on what it’s missing I’d say to focus on what is here. Tsubasa’s plot lends itself really well to random movies and specials because of how many planets they had to go to in order to find the feathers. So just treat this as a fun episode and you can’t go wrong. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking to see Syaoran and the gang again.

Overall 7/10

Sonic The Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper Review

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It’s time to check out one of the Sonic spinoffs. It’s about Tangle & Whisper as you could guess from the title and this is a good idea since they are some of the new characters created during this era of comics. So now they can get some extra character development and it works out well for them. I already liked Tangle so this was a good chance to bump Whisper up. I will say that she looks a lot better here than in the main series which works out well.

First up before we get into the actual mini series there is an annual issue which is basically a compilation of a bunch of small stories before we get to the heart of the matter. In one of them we actually get to see Jet and the Babylon Rogues which was a lot of fun. They always make for a really fun trio even if they were a little outmatched here. The group just can’t focus long enough to get the job done! We also get to see a museum owner who is nice enough but she can’t really fight and being a living diamond makes her an easy target. The Egg Golem from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle returns which was a nice tribute. In short all of the mini comics here are a nice tribute to the Sonic continuity as long time fans will really appreciate all of the guest stars and cameos. I wouldn’t mind if they toned down Silver’s pacifist personality and made him edgy like the Sonic 2006 game but we can’t have everything I suppose. He just always feels out of his depth and well….pretty sad tbh.

Now as for the actual mini series, it starts off with Tangle being bored at how there’s nothing to do. No enemies are attacking and yet she can’t leave the village to find adventure because she figures they will all be doomed without her. To be honest I don’t think she’s wrong about that. So for now she just waits and waits for things to change and that’s when an adventure does reach her! So Whisper is on the offensive against a villain known as Mimic. Mimic betrayed Whisper and her old group a while back and so Whisper has vowed revenge.

Mimic has the ability to shapeshift into anyone and has pretty solid combat techniques so Whisper doesn’t want Tangle to get involved but since when has something like that stopped the heroine from getting in on the action right? The two of them will have to work hard to take down Mimic and along the way we find out all of the details about Whisper’s backstory and how her personality changed from being fairly upbeat to as quiet as can be.

First off Mimic is definitely a fun villain even if not one of the more intimidating or cool ones. I always like the ole shapeshifter plot because there’s a whole lot you can do with that. Additionally there are few characters in Sonic who can actually see through a disguise. I’m betting Tails, Omega, and Eggman would have countermeasures against that but Tangle and Whisper? They have to figure things out the old fashioned way. Mimic also has some basic hand to hand skills and a whole lot of battle experience on his side. So there’s a lot to like there but his stocks do fall rather hard once we see how scared he is of Eggman and Metal Sonic.

Sure Metal Sonic would crush him in an instant but you have to have some kind of plan to deal with that. There’s been a lot of time since he was first threatened by Eggman and yet he’s still working as a lackey? The guy is definitely not seeing the bigger picture right now and needs to fix that as soon as possible. Hype design though and so I am looking forward to seeing this guy return someday. The comics have done a good job of creating new threats. The Metal Sonic mention does make me wonder why Eggman didn’t just send Metal Sonic to take out Whisper since that would be real easy…but we’ll sidestep that for now.

As mentioned, I liked Whisper quite a bit here. Her origin story is definitely a real tragic one next to the others and is a bit darker than you’d expect. I mean they basically stated that all of the members were viciously murdered which I was not expecting. Now granted they always could show up with a twist that they escaped or something but for now taking it at face value they are down for the count. So it’s a very valid reason for why Whisper is a lot broodier and more quiet than she used to be. All of that absolutely checks out.

I would like her to explode with rage a little more when going after Mimic but she does land a lot of damage either way. Her armaments are on point and she never ends up taking any of this out on Tangle. Whisper is patient when necessary and does always have a practical plan in place. So this comic did a lot to make her a more well developed character and I look forward to seeing her appear more. I hope she does still say very solemn but I don’t mind her dropping the guard a bit when around Tangle. Sort of the best friend exception you could say but with everyone else she’ll still be down to business.

Tangle also looks good here although far weaker. The comic does point out that she has no formal combat experience and so even though she is able to fight to a decent extent, she won’t be holding her own against the big shots. That makes a lot of sense. It was a good moment because sometimes it can feel like anyone can start fighting when you need some actual experience and techniques to really press the advantage like that. Tangle always means well even if she can be a little gullible and so I tend to like that kind of outgoing character.

As always the artwork is really solid here. The colors are all very striking and the pages really stick out at you. It makes for a very quick read too since you can just dive in. The art really matches the games and so I hope it can keep this style going for a very long time. The writing is on point as well and so far all of the comics have been very consistent. If this keeps up it very well could overtake the Archie saga.

Overall, This is a pretty fun spinoff that expands the world of Sonic. It may not have the end of the world stakes that the main series has but it’s a very good stand alone adventure with stakes that are really personal to the main characters. You’re invested all the way through and you feel like these are all plot points that could continue further in the future. I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of Mimic after all and it certainly isn’t the end for Tangle & Whisper. Now they will really be ready to dominate the opponents as a strong tag team.

Overall 7/10

Homicidal Review

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It’s time for a film with a very intense title. I mean just seeing a film that is called Homicidal you are expecting something real intense right? Well the film definitely delivers on the intensity in terms of a crazy twist but is surprisingly not nearly as violent as I expected. That’s a very good thing of course but the film still has its own share of issues and I wouldn’t call it one of the top contenders.

The movie starts with Emily showing up to a rich hotel and asking the bellhop to come to her room. He does and she says she will pay him a ton of money to marry her for a few minutes. He agrees and drives with her to a late marriage shop but suddenly she whips out the knife and no diffs the marriage ceremony leader. She then escapes into the night and heads home where she takes care of an old lady who can unfortunately no longer walk or talk. So Emily basically just gloats and subtlety threatens her the whole time.

This sets the tone for what kind of character Emily is and then we’re introduced to the rest of the cast. First up is Miriam who is looking forward to her future as she has a boyfriend now and her flowers are doing well. She finds Miriam to be a bit standoffish but that’s fine. Miriam does get annoyed when Emily just randomly leaves the house for a day so Miriam has to watch over the old lady and then Emily even threatens to murder Miriam. So Miriam tells her guy and they confront Emily’s brother Warren who seems like he couldn’t care less. With diplomatic options not doing much good, what can the main characters do about this?

The problem in a sense is that the heroes can’t just leave so easily. For starters there is the old lady to consider and even if Emily is evil, Warren may just be getting suckered as the brother. So they need to try and convince him before it is too late but the longer this goes on, the more likely it is that somebody will end up dying. So is it time to call the police or something? Well that would be the smart thing to do…but the film has a really bad reason for why they don’t.

One guy runs for the phone but Miriam stops him and explains that Emily said she is married to Warren. The guy basically goes “Shoot, guess we can’t call the cops” and they completely change gears. The obvious question is…why? That shouldn’t matter at all. If they want to spare Warren’s feelings then I’m afraid their priorities are all out of whack. If Emily is someone who is dangerous and insane enough to threaten someone’s life then you need to get rid of her as soon as possible. Half measures and dancing around the issue won’t help at all. Miriam definitely fumbled the ball here.

If anything she looks pretty bad throughout and the ending doesn’t help her much either. Of course all of this is easier from the viewer’s chair where you see everything and understand the stakes but it felt like she never properly registered how crazy Emily was. At least by the time she threw out the threat you gotta leave town or arm yourself properly. It’s just a shame that nobody in the town could see how deranged she was considering just how she was barely even trying to hide it. She just kept on acting crazy.

Where the film goes a bit far is with including the old lady. I think this was really unnecessary as the whole thing is overly tragic. She literally can’t talk or yell out for help and is trapped with Emily for basically the whole film? It’s a little too edgy and is the only place where the film didn’t restrain itself enough. Cutting her out of the movie entirely would have been a lot better and you can easily write around that. Then you have the fact that the old lady tries to signal to the others and do other things to call out for help and none of it works.

Nahhh that’s just tragic. Ultimately the film may not be as disturbing and intense as it was trying to be but that was definitely something that was real intense just not in the best way. There are some scenes that I thought were a bit surreal/didn’t make a lot of sense but the final twist did address those. Nothing could address the moment about not calling the cops though, that’s just something you have to do.

Also with the opening scene it was weird how nobody tried to help the guy getting stabbed. Surely the bellhop could have grabbed the knife and restrained Emily after the first hit or two right? They just stood around while she kept on stabbing over and over again. That was way too much to be frozen with fear like that. He’s real lucky that she didn’t finish him off. I was completely expecting that but somehow he actually survived along with all of the money but definitely some degree of trauma. So he’s not 100% but that’s still way better than most of the characters’ fates here.

Overall, While I applaud the film in having some good restraint, it’s still not a particularly pleasant film. Any scene with the old lady is just not fun to watch. The characters make a lot of very illogical decisions and the whole thing should not have played out the way that it did. You could easily improve the quality with just a few changes but this is how it had to be. Hey, it does completely destroy Psycho though so I will give the film that. It actually beats the original film that this one was supposed to top. The twist is also really good. It’s a twist that makes a lot of sense in hindsight but doesn’t really occur to you as you’re watching. That’s the best kind of twist since it should absolutely make sense afterwards and the fact that you get to see in real time how most of the visual parts of the twist work is impressive.

Overall 3/10

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Review

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It’s time for a very old school romance with a little bit of a supernatural twist. It’s a very low key kind of film that works rather well but I will admit that the whole time you’re not really on board with the romance. To an extent it depends on what length of time you would consider to be a rebound but either way the heroine feels like she’s moving a bit too fast. The ending also makes things extra awkward when you really think about it.

The movie starts off with Lucy becoming a widow after her husband dies. Lucy has decided that she wants her life back as she didn’t particularly care for his family and dashes off. She finds a nice little haunted house where the rent is dirt cheap and settles there. She eventually meets the ghost who quickly debunks the rumors of his own suicide. His name is Daniel and he was actually quite the captain back in the day. He’s ready for a little romance but she isn’t and points out that he’s dead and gone. They both reluctantly put their feelings aside to live in the same house for now. Can she really deal with such an annoying ghost or is he going to drive her crazy?

A haunted house is definitely an inconvenience when you are just trying to have a good time but at least the ghost isn’t particularly sinister. Sure Daniel is a mean guy and he isn’t afraid to prove it but at the end of the day he isn’t trying to murder her or anything like that. In fact he ends up liking her which puts Lucy in a rough spot. Lucy is also approached by a flirty guy named Fairley who really doesn’t stop with his constant attempts from the very first time he appears. The guy ends up being supremely annoying. Sure he did help her to get the book deal with the publishing company but ultimately that was only to further his own ends.

I was annoyed that he lasted as long as he did. He completely got through to Lucy even with his rather aggressive way of handling things and she was completely under his spell. If not for a certain twist he would have won and so that ended up hurting her character a lot. Fairley was bad the whole time but Lucy is the one you would have figured would have really been ready and not fallen for this. Definitely a pretty sad moment.

It’s another reason why you can’t get behind the romance. So she liked her husband first. Then after he died she started to like Daniel. Then after that she jumped over to Fairley and once he was off the market, ultimately it ended up being Daniel again. Keep in mind that Daniel claimed she didn’t even love her husband when they first met and Lucy takes mild offense to that but doesn’t stop him. You’d think that would have taken him out of the running right from the jump.

The worst part is the film implies that maybe he was right after all and that’s why the ending works but its just pretty awful all around. For a good romance you need a lot of factors in play but one of them is definitely to have likable characters and that didn’t happen here. She is also very slow on the uptake with how only she can hear Daniel. You’d think she would be subtle then but instead she keeps talking out loud which doesn’t help matters at all. it should be easy to adapt to that.

The supporting characters are pretty weak here too. You have the guy selling the houses who seems to like Lucy. Fortunately she doesn’t like him back because the guy seemed desperate and wasn’t exactly the most honest soul either. He kept trying to make her spend a lot of money. You have her husband’s side of the family who were mainly here to poke fun and cause a lot of trouble. They were all super stuck up and selfish in their old ways. Lucy could be a little too polite at times but in other moments she did get some good burns in there.

While I know this would be unlikely right out of the gate, the film would have done well to have just had her and Daniel be good friends. They just bond over the house or something. Lucy gets a supportive friend who could be like a father since her new family was so rough and he gets someone to pass on his tales to. It could have been the reason he couldn’t pass on, that nobody was around to hear about his exploits. The entire vibe and tone of the film would have changed but it would have worked really well.

Alternately just make it a little more comedic as she gets into a lot of trouble with this guy always floating around and stirring things up. The fact that people can actually hear his voice at convenient times already adds a lot of potential to this. It is a bit of a stretch for the characters to think that it was Lucy’s voice each time though. The only time someone didn’t think this was Daniel’s big laugh at the start of the film. Admittedly it was a great laugh too, reminded me of Vincent Price I’d say. It had that very theatrical feel to it.

Overall, This is an okay film I’d say. It’s right on the middle, there is just little reason to watch it again. At times it can be a bit dull and the pacing is slow. The characters are very unlikable too which does take its toll. I liked the scenes that took place outside of the house like heading to the book publishing company or the awkward bus ride. So ironically the film could have stood to have taken place far less in the haunted house.

Overall 5/10

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War The First Kiss That Never Ends Review

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All right it’s time for an anime film to show us how to really make a quality romance. Kaguya-sama is an elite franchise for a bunch of reasons and one of those is that it actually has a quality romance without being rushed or making things about rebounds. Kaguya and Shirogane work because they were always each other’s first pick and nothing else was going on there. The movie really expands on that and gives the two characters a lot of closure. All in all this is a great title.

The movie picks up where the show left off with Kaguya and Shirogane finally getting together…or did they? See they may have had their first kiss but they haven’t been able to talk with each other since then so the situation is getting tense. Making matters worse is the fact that Kaguya appears to have fallen back into her icy persona from the old days so Shirogane gets the feeling that she is trying to put some distance between them. He needs to win her over one last time but can he really pull this off? Meanwhile Kaguya is fighting her inner demons and has to decide if she should finally remove all of the masks and risk it all by being with Shirogane. It’s a tough call.

So if you’re a fan of Ino, Chika, or Ishigami then there’s not going to be much here for you. This film is really about Kaguya and Shirogane all the way through. Those 3 characters barely get more than a few lines and while you know they’re off having their own adventures, the movie isn’t worrying about them. It’s nice to see them of course and I think more screen time would have been nice if the film extended its run time but the main duo always have the best plot anyway so it works out.

As always the animation is really solid here. Everything really pops out at you and the show has a lot of fun flexing for random scenes. A great moment with the animation was when Kaguya was trying to run away from Shirogane. She was suddenly leaping across the walls like a cat and zooming around. That was definitely real impressive. We may not have as many visual gags since the film is fairly serious next to the standard episode but they are still around at some points. I would also still consider the film part comedy since a lot of it is super fun. The movie just knows when to slow down and have an emotional scene.

The soundtrack is also excellent as always. The show had a great variety of themes and the movie continues this really well. While the opening song is not quite as strong as any of the openings that appeared prior, it’s still good. I’ve listened to it a good amount of times to prep for the review in case it jumped up but in the end I think it just isn’t quite as high speed and energetic as prior ones. I suppose that may have been the idea.

Now for the movie, it’s interesting in that it’s a decently long movie but it can be a bit hard to go into the plot much because the story itself is quick. It’s ultimately just about the two finally having time to have a candid talk about the situation. Things just keep happening that prevents the two from doing this like Shirogane fainting or Kaguya turning chibi and then having a complete mental breakdown. The movie definitely did a great job of adapting chibi Kaguya too. That was a really fun part in the manga and the show really captured how crazy the whole thing was. The doctor who showed up for Shirogane is a lot of fun as always too.

Now for the romance itself, which character handled it better? Well that would probably be Shirogane since if Kaguya hadn’t panicked you can make the case that the film would have effectively ended during the first scenes. They would have made it official that they were going out and that would have been the end of it. Then once the icy persona was back Shirogane did a good job of trying hard the whole time. I don’t blame him for missing the hint about her hands being cold because that was out of character for Kaguya so he just didn’t pick up on it.

Throughout the movie he is a perfect gentleman. He may not always be able to read her mind but for the most part he does a good job of adapting to the situation and never giving up. In terms of not wanting to let his own mask fall off, that also makes sense. He worked hard to become the best at the school and thrive despite not being from a rich family. To an extent I think that would never go away. There’s a saying about how everyone has around 6 faces, the one they show family, friends, work colleagues, online, with strangers, and the one they have when alone. Some people are better than others at basically keeping them all more or less the same and others do this more as you get older but to an extent I’d say you will always be a little different based on the setting.

In a relationship though, the biggest factor is trust so you do need to be able to trust your partner with your true self. In this case if Shirogane isn’t ultimately able to trust Kaguya that far then their relationship would be doomed eventually. He would never be able to relax and the stress/nerves would ultimately get to him. You could make the case that even by the end of the film he hasn’t truly let go yet so that could be a plot to continue on even if he is in a much better place than where he started.

Then for Kaguya the problem is similar but she comes to terms with it quite a bit quicker than Shirogane. It helps that she has always been a very introspective person so she literally creates alternate hers from each of her age periods to talk about this. Once they come to an understanding she is able to just be herself and be with Shirogane. Perhaps as Shirogane says it is a little easier for her since it’s a side he used to know since that’s how she was at the beginning Of course part of that is just him making excuses but I would also say it is true to an extent. Her true self is still mega rich and had other suiters in the past while Shirogane is worried everything would immediately come crashing down. It’s the dark side of overthinking everything and it’s nice to see the series acknowledging this since that’s the entire premise really. Both characters just overthinking everything all the time.

Seeing Kaguya overcome her fears and finally come into her own was a great plot point. While I would say Shirogane slightly edged her out as the main character of the movie, the series is hers and you could say the whole series was building up to this point. Just losing the mask and being analytical all the time to just have a heartfelt moment and stop playing the chasing game. So yeah this is a winning romance and it worked well for the movie. You could probably even jump in to this film without watching the show since you have enough context and it still ends up being a really solid title.

Overall, This was a lot of fun. The romance is written really well and is one of the few ships I can get behind. If I ever write an editorial on how to write a good romance, this will absolutely be one of the examples I use. The whole thing is satisfying and the ending is solid. I still do want future seasons to adapt the rest of the series though. It may not have had the best final saga in the manga but it’s still important to get to the end of the series. The anime can probably end up buffing it as well since it has done such a great job of adapting the content so far. I’m confident that they can do something really good here.

Overall 8/10

Sword of Elpisia Review

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It’s time for another fantastic RPG and this one gets exciting right out of the gate with the top tier gameplay and soundtrack. There’s a lot to love here and the positives just keep on rolling the whole time. The story is very strong with an emotional message about slowing forming bonds of friendship with others. The game even sidesteps the potential romance angle to actually have a wholesome friendship plot with no strings attached. Definitely great stuff all around.

The plot starts out by introducing us to a magic tool repairer. He’s a very serious kind of guy who is virtually emotionless and has no friends. He just does his duty and keeps it moving. Well, one day a bunch of monsters attack while he is working on repairs and he tries to stop it but nothing works. This ends up resulting in his blowing up a house which at best slows the creature down. What he didn’t realize is this was the home of a little girl who had been living by herself. To make it up to her he agrees to find a new place where she can live an uneventful life. It won’t be easy but now the two of them can be a team. Along the way they get wrapped up in a battle of utterly cosmic proportions with beings that transcend the very world itself. Aliens exist and there are a bunch of kingdoms fighting for global supremacy. All the hero wants to do is find a quiet place for this girl to live but he won’t let any of this stop him from making that a reality!

The gameplay here is your classic turn based adventure but with all of the extra bells and whistles that you always see in a Kemco game. You can speed up gameplay, turn off animation, etc. The new gimmick this time is you can summon little animals to help you out in combat. Personally I never really saw the point since they seemed weaker than the actual characters so I ended up putting them to the side. Still you could send them on missions to get items so that was cool. You don’t get the guaranteed currency for winning 3 battles in a row here the way you could in some older Kemco games but I can also see how that might make things a little too easy so I get why it wouldn’t be here now.

The level cap is very high since I managed to get all the way to level 500. I’m guessing 999 would be the max but it’s not like you really need to worry about that since you can get the Platinum a lot sooner. The trophies are all pretty reasonable and none of them should take you a whole lot of time. They are a great way to add a little replay value to the experience without feeling tedious or like you are wasting your time. So in that sense the game is once again landing a big W here because that’s how trophies should be. They should lengthen and enhance the experience but not make you regret going for 100%.

The story itself was also good with a lot of twists and turns. I already talked about how the game made some good decisions with the dynamics before. The character designs are on point and there are always a lot of moving pieces on the board which I appreciate. There is a good amount of world building here and the game stays epic the whole way through while having some emotional moments in there as well. So it’s super well balanced which again is not particularly surprising.

The soundtrack is pretty excellent. A lot of real fast paced tunes and intense boss fight themes. Unfortunately most of the tracks are not on Youtube yet but at least the main battle theme is which is the important part. I recommend giving it a good listen. The graphics look good with all of the illustrations really being on point. On the technical aspects the game is absolutely excellent and that’s why this is possibly the best company at making turn based RPGs. There really isn’t much more you can ask for. It hits every note on how to make the experience as fun as possible.

Surprisingly there is only one ending this time instead of having a bunch. Maybe they figured the ending was just that good so they didn’t need other versions this time. Who knows maybe it’ll get a sequel some day. Most of these RPGs don’t get sequels but sometimes they end up appearing and it’s hard to predict which title will continue. I’d still love some kind of big crossover game with all of their properties at some point but it would definitely be really ambitious and take a lot of time. Hopefully at some point in the future though!

Overall, This was a great game all around. You have a pretty solid main character cast with a lot of good character dynamics between them. The game is a decent length and it should take you some time to beat the game because of all the level ups you need. I ended up beating the game at around Level 500 which was absolutely overkill but it was also fun to just walk in and stomp the villains. It’s not every day you get to destroy the final boss like that after all. I’d definitely recommend this game if you’re looking for a solid RPG. It really doesn’t get much better than this after all.

Overall 8/10

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Review

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I knew that this game was going to be a winner the instant it was announced. It still took me a little while to buy it but hey…better late than never right? It does feel a little barebones though which is why you wanted to wait for a discount because at full price this would really not be worth it at all. There is no story mode so you will just be playing arcade mode over and over again for the single player content. The multiplayer is the main hook of the game of course but I wouldn’t say that it is a very strong hook to be honest compared to the competitors. If you look at the game on its own though then it does well enough.

So you’ve got a decent amount of characters here. I’m pretty sure it’s over 20. All the classics like Spongebob and Danny Phantom. Admittedly I did not watch a lot of Nick as a kid so the character roster is definitely not as nostalgic as it would be to someone who grew up with the characters. That being said, I still know most of the characters through reputation so that’s something. I feel like the Ninja Turtles have the best movesets here. The weapons really help them have a solid range.

That said, I played way too casually to really be giving any serious tier list advice here. Try all of the characters and see what you think. There is definitely a lot to absorb here. The gameplay is the same as the Super Smash Bros experience. You have normal moves, specials, a third jump, and power attacks. Use these to knock the opponent off of the platform so they can lose a life. Repeat the process until time is up or all stocks have been removed. Then at that point you will have won the match.

There aren’t many unlockables to be had here but you can alter the rules so that the matches are all different. You can also jump online and fight other players. As mentioned that is a pretty big draw since you can fully test just how good you are. It’s easy to style on the computers of course but the real test is going up against other people who have put in a lot of time. The online servers will probably be pretty dead once the sequel comes out so you should keep that in mind. Of course there is still local multiplayer mode as well and some trophies will require you to be on there for quite a while.

There is a lot of replay value here thanks to the multiplayer options. So while the single player is rather limited, that is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the total experience. So keep that in mind, particularly since the price for this game is relatively cheap right now. It’s really not bad value for your dollar and in general I just love fighting games. So getting to play one is always a real treat even if there isn’t much to it. A fighting game is a great genre in that you don’t need much. As long as the gameplay is smooth and implemented carefully then you should really be all set.

The graphics are pretty good here. Perhaps not top of the line or anything like that but they are modern with no obvious issues. The soundtrack is more on the really underwhelming side. There weren’t any tunes that really stood out to me. There also aren’t a lot of stages so you will really be hearing all of the tunes over and over again as you try to beat arcade mode with everyone. Yes for the review as well as to get some more trophies I went ahead and completed the game with every character. Let me tell you, that was not easy! Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that it was easy but a little tedious.

Overall, Nick has a solid fighting game on their hands. It isn’t ruined by any random mechanic like the PS All Stars game either. So this one gets to really stand the test of time. It’s just a shame that there couldn’t have been a few more modes, features, and other stuff to make it stand out. Would have been so much fun! Instead it just fades away compared to the competition. It stands up to the test of time on its own but will always be seen as the B product instead of the A one. As long as Super Smash Bros exists that will be true for pretty much 99% of platform fighters but I still like to think that some day someone will come up with a rival so high budget and stuffed with features that even Smash can’t scare it away.

Overall 7/10

The Empty Man 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

Okay so straight up this is a pretty bad movie however I do give it a point for actually having an ending that makes you really think long and hard about the movie. Way I see it there are 3 ways you can interpret the ending. I’ll explain my interpretation at the end and I think it makes the most sense. Is there a “canon” ending? Well maybe the writer will say but out of film stuff doesn’t count so the way I see it you have to come to your conclusion and just roll with it. Each of the 3 paths appear to have some holes but I could pretty much do an editorial just on the ending. Of course that does mean you have to make it that far.

The film starts off with a group of climbers scaling up a really snowy mountain. It isn’t easy but they have been making consistent work up there. Unfortunately as they’re getting ready to go back down, one of them starts hearing things in the distance. Then he really starts to loose it and now the others could be in danger. Is it just a lack of oxygen right now or is there something more sinister at play? One thing’s for sure, they can’t let their guard down!

Being stranded on a mountain like this with no real way out is a pretty tough situation to be in already so then when you throw a crazy guy it really goes through the roof. Maybe spending 2 hours on here could drag a bit but it’s rare to have a horror movie on a mountain. Crazy stuff for sure….but this isn’t actually the movie. It’s a pretty effective fake out though since this intro portion goes on for quite a while. It ultimately does tie in with the rest of the film though and honestly it’s really effective. I thought the opening part was handled extremely well so it was time to start falling after that.

In the present we have an ex cop named James who is still traumatized over some tragedy that happened to his family. It’s told to us through quick seizure moments so you get most of the details but the exact scenario is something we don’t find out about until later on. I can say that it makes him look awful though so his character basically can’t be recovered by the end. There are just some things that you don’t really come back from and this is definitely one of those. Unfortunately that’s just how it goes.

Well his friend’s daughter went missing one day so James decides to find her. He runs into a whole conspiracy involving a death cult that believes in the Empty Man. A being made up of pure maliciousness and negative desires over the course of human history. Summoning him appears to be rather easy, you just think about him and blow on a bottle. Well James isn’t afraid of any ghosts and does this just to spite the creature. The rest of the legend says that you now have 3 days to live so James has to find the girl and quickly before this is all over.

In some ways this film is 50% mystery and 50% horror. A whole lot of the movie is about James trying to find leads so he talks to all of her friends, infiltrates the cult, etc. There are some scenes that are actually pretty scary though like when he finds himself in an empty field late at night with hundreds of zombies. Mobs are very scary and if you’re not scared of one then you should rethink that. There is virtually no way to survive one because you’re getting hit by hundreds of people at once which means they are virtually bullet proof. James wisely tries running as fast as he can.

Because this is part mystery there are a whole lot of twists and turns. I’ll be avoiding those until the spoiler part of the review of course because if you know things beforehand then it’ll definitely alter your experience. It will cause you to look at scenes differently but your first time in you probably want to go in without as much knowledge as possible. The actual mystery is pretty compelling but also very ominous since the victims are also kids so you figure this is going to be dark no matter how it plays out.

The Empty Man’s actual design is not really that scary. I would have handled it differently because it’s basically a normal dude in a cloak. You never really see much of him but he’s just not that scary and is basically only going after really defenseless people. When a gun is pointed his way he immediately jams it just in case so I wonder how strong he really is. He is probably a cosmic reality warper if I’m not kidding myself though. I don’t think the humans have much of a shot against him but like in the Grudge nobody even tries to fight back which is annoying.

We have the cops around but they don’t really do much here. They basically figure they can’t help out much and only really get involved once the body count starts to rise. Even then they don’t do a ton. The random cult leader is probably more important although the film was a little too content to give this guy a long boring speech that wasn’t needed. The intent is probably to spoon feed us just what the Empty Man is exactly and what he symbolizes but it’s not that hard to comprehend. We didn’t need a log speech about life itself from this guy except to remind us that cults are crazy and we knew that.

Okay now it’s spoiler time to talk about the ending. Skip the next 7 paragraphs if you haven’t seen the film yet.

Okay so basically James confronts the girl who went missing in the beginning and she explains that the cult actually generated him from their thoughts. They created him as the next vessel for the Empty Man since the guy from the intro’s body was finally giving out. The whole bottles thing was nonsense and everything is completely controlled by willpower itself. As best you can say that the bottle was merely the conduit but the power was in their minds all along. James tries to call his friend and she doesn’t remember him anymore. He was summoned 3 days ago which were the only days of his existence and so in the end he runs but the monster goes inside of him so he murders the old man and embraces his fate as the Empty Man. That’s basically the events of the ending so there are 4 ways to interpret this.

Explanation 1: James literally did not exist before the scene in the restaurant where he ordered something for his birthday. His memories are all fabrications from the cult. This includes his cheating affair, the family dying, etc. All of these are false memories and they basically brainwashed everyone in the area in order to pull this off. That’s why cops think they now him, the cult guy saw him before, etc. They have no real limit to their powers after all so why not right?

This is possible sure, but I don’t think it’s likely. It causes a whole lot of suspension of disbelief mainly because we’ve seen so many people who knew James from back in the day. Either they were in on it or their memories were being altered. But then why bother with all the theatrics? The girl at the end mentioned that they needed fear to truly activate James in the end and so they had to slowly break him but if they could manipulate the entire city and then some to keep altering the memories, that doesn’t really make sense. It’s way too convoluted a plan considering their abilities.

Explanation 2: It was all a dream. None of it actually happened and James himself does not exist. The entire film is taking place entirely in his psyche as he was created in the visualization and the whole film is basically just a metaphor for his struggle to fight against the Empty Man. In the real world he actually was the Empty Man murdering all of the teenagers and committing all of the crimes during the movie. It’s why when we flashback to the cult summoning the Empty Man we see that it was James in the shadows. Booo this explanation is pretty awful tbh and doesn’t make sense. Any “it was all a dream” scenarios are pretty boring if you think about it because then the whole thing was pointless. So not really discussing this one much because personally I just don’t like it. Not saying it isn’t a valid theory or anything but it would be supremely underwhelming.

Explanation 3: James was basically a normal guy until 3 days before the events of the film, the girl and her cult friends drugged him and stashed him in their basement. They then ran the trial experiments on him and turned him into a future Empty Man vessel. It would explain why he was seen by the Cult before and also why the cops recognized him. It would also explain why we kept seeing the empty chair every time he thought about his past. He was actually trapped for a while and then they released him into the wild with their memory alterations and of course removing his memories of being there. Mainly the part that doesn’t make sense here is the girl saying she created everything if the events actually did happen prior to being kidnapped. So that does help theory 1 more than theory 3.

Explanation 4: Okay so this is the one that I’m on board with and in some ways it’s very close to theory 3. Everything James knew prior to the film did happen. He lived a normal life and everything. When the crew “conjured him up” 3 days ago, it was simply activating him in order to be a host. She telepathically created a backstory for him to break down his psyche like causing him to cheat on his wife with the friend and then causing the accident. The accident actually happened but the affair was a fake memory and she had the friend under the spell the whole time. That’s why she didn’t remember him in the final scene because the villains let the mind control go. Both things would be pretty easy to maneuver without anything being much of a stretch. He eventually got broken due to the mindgames here and of course in the end he succumbed.

The main points against this one of course is that the cult leader had seen James before he said which doesn’t tie in with what James knows. You could say he was kidnapped at some point and indoctrinated as a sleeper agent but it doesn’t really match up. Additionally this doesn’t really address the girl’s speech about creating him with the exact backstory he had. Her just manipulating things from the shadows wouldn’t really explain that at all.

That’s it for the spoilers! So yeah a lot to dive into there. Regardless the ending is very memorable which is good. Would have been nice to have had more of a struggle or something but it is what it is. I do think the film’s dialogue scenes tend to be rather solid. While I did not like James by the end, at least I like how he always has an attitude with everyone. He has no time for all the nonsense and there’s a good amount of back and forth dialogue here. The mystery angle keeps you engaged all the way through with the horror angle and violence just holding the film back. Why did we need to see more dead animals? I feel like horror films just can’t help themselves and keep shooting themselves in the foot.

Honestly if the film had just leaned on the mystery angle and cut out a bunch of the horror stuff it would have been way better. Keep the atmospheric horror of course and the mind controlled cult but you can cut out all the stabby scenes and the more disturbing flashbacks. You’ll still feel a lot of tension and the imposing doom coming to the characters without being overindulgent and just wrecking the whole thing. Toning down the violence a bit would go a long way here.

Overall, The Empty Man is the kind of film that will keep you talking and theorizing for a long while. I have to give the film credit for that because it’s not really easy to pull that off. Still, in the end it’s a pretty bad film that falls into most of the horror tropes. You have the random animal violence that has no business being here. The dark shock twist to make sure you don’t like the main character too much. Virtually every character is massively unlikable with all of the kids falling to peer pressure immediately. Once we get into the human torture trials you know the film is just trying to hit you with everything. I think you could actually pivot this into an interesting action thriller for a sequel based on the ending but if you keep this as horror I don’t think it’s going anywhere because it’s another case of the humans not being able to do much. I’d say maybe they should have kept the whole film on the mountain but honestly that probably wouldn’t have worked very well. It would have dragged.

Overall 2/10