Category Archives: Reviews

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 5: Crisis City Review

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The Sonic comics have been consistently great and this one is no exception. As someone who was sad when Archie stopped their Sonic comics, the new line has been so good that they’ve really caught the ball and kept on running with it. I hope to see this one continue to go on for a very long time and become a Sonic ongoing with hundreds of issues. However long it may take, seeing Sonic get all of these stories will be a blast!

This one takes place right where the last volume left off with Sonic dealing with the mecha virus that is poisoning everyone. Sonic can resist this with his speed but for how long? He has to protect his friends while trying to find some kind of cure to this but it won’t be easy. His friends are all slowly weakening and if the virus takes on any of his more powerful friends then it can be all over. Even Eggman isn’t able to control the robots at this point so his right hand man is starting to look into some backup options.

In prior volumes there were different plots going on with Sonic helping someone else in each issue but this time it’s a true ongoing plot. You could say we’re in the end in terms of there not being a whole lot of heroes left. Team Chaotix takes some hits as well as Team Dark. It’s definitely a pretty high stakes arc and so I’m up for it being as long as it needs to be. I’m guessing we’re approaching the end but I’d be cool with another volume or two.

This one’s starting to bring in more of the wider cast like Gmerl and Omega which were fun to see. Naturally a virus will not be able to take them over since they are machines which is helpful for letting them stay in the fight. Omega can be a little unreasonable the whole time with how he keeps firing on the civilians but this leads to the most embarrassing part for him where he is actually unable to damage them anyway. His firepower just isn’t up to snuff compared to the metal virus and I was pretty surprised about that.

Gmerl starts off by fighting Sonic but at least he is able to see reason. Once Sonic explains that he can turn back to normal with his speed and Cream also tells Gmerl to stand down, he does. The guy wants to protect her at any moment but he doesn’t close the channels for debate. So that’s what makes him a good protector here. Each character has their own idea of what to do in this situation and some have better idea than other. I think Charmy for example looked pretty bad here because he really had no plan. The guy let his emotions get to the best of him.

Sometimes I am on board with a character defying everyone to save one person. In fact most of the time this is the right option but the problem is there was no way to actually save her without dooming a lot of other people and then of course that isn’t worth it. If you have a plan to actually save someone then you gotta do it of course but if your plan is really just trying to make some kind of move with no thought behind it then that’s not good. So these are the kinds of things that you want to think about.

There is an infamous Shadow moment here though and so lets talk about that. The main problem with the moment is that Shadow is nerfed pretty hard and also acts out of character here. He would rather get completely absorbed by the enemy than run away to prove a point. They also swarm him rather quickly. The big problem with this of course is reaction times. Even if he thought that he couldn’t be turned, he was seeing this happen in real time. So he had many opportunities to start running rather than just letting himself be taken like that. There’s no way to have him lose here and you get the feeling the writer just needed to find a way to write him out.

It’s got to be tough working with a character like Shadow who is basically as fast as Sonic but a lot more powerful. So maybe this was all they could think of but all I’m saying is that it’s still very, very noticeable. They could have done better here without a doubt. At least it does lead to our next Sonic vs Shadow battle which is always fun. Since Shadow is being controlled Sonic does get to dominate a little more this time around.

As always Sonic is an excellent main character and that hasn’t changed. He does his best to save everyone and always has a plan at the ready. He feels like a true leader and is so much more than just his speed. I definitely love the portrayal and he continues to really shine with all of the screen time. Eggman’s going to need to come up with something big to really keep up. Losing control as always isn’t a perfect look for him and he needs to watch out since it looks like he may get betrayed again. It’s definitely not easy being an evil genius.

The artwork here is really solid as you would expect. The comics have always been great in this area just like they’re great in all of the others. The characters really pop out and the colors are sharp. Everything is always on model and that makes for a winning formula. The battles are also really sharp as a result even if there aren’t any super long ones in this volume. It’s more about moving around and trying to survive rather than a big 1 on 1. The series always still manages to sprinkle in some nice comedic moments while keeping the stakes high so the writing is also on point.

Overall, Sonic is continuing to blast through this comics run with a ton of great moments and a really solid story. There just haven’t been any down sides to the comics at all yet and each arc delivers just as well as the last. I dare say this arc may even beat the Metal Sonic one at this point but it does depend on the climax of course and how this all shakes out. Hopefully I get to check out the next volume soon and we’ll see how that goes. The amount of Sonic stories that you can tell is really endless.

Overall 8/10

Ghost Sync Review

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Kemco is back with another great RPG. The company really never lets you down and its impressive just how many titles they have churned out. As always you have a ton of great gameplay mechanics here and they also try a few new techniques as well. In this case I don’t see the new gimmicks catching on but none of them were bad which is the important thing. It’s a bit on the shorter side compared to some of their other RPGs but ultimately it’s a solid experience through and through.

The plot starts with a whole lot of amnesia. The main heroine has lost her memories and then she bumps into a spirit who says he has also lost all of his memories. Ah well, they both like helping people which is the important part and so they travel the world fighting against monsters. This leads them to joining up with the national guild where they meet a travelling priest of sorts who is looking for someone. The three agree to form a team since you need 3 in order to be registered and they will help each other out along the way. Eventually they are joined by a hungry fairy who eats other creatures for power.

There are a ton of mysteries throughout the game as each team member is holding something back. I like just how many are ongoing at once too. There’s even one cutscene where each character has to face off with their dark self and so we see how everyone’s keeping a secret even up until the end of the game. I guess they just really don’t trust each other and of course that is part of the character development. By the end it’s all good and the ending may not be the most satisfying, but that’s one of 3. I’ll work on beating the other two endings shortly and getting the Platinum trophy because we’re already so close to getting that one as it is.

The story is fun here and the characters are all pretty reasonable. At most you can say that sometimes the weakness of a Kemco game is that some characters can be a bit overly weird with a gimmick that gets played out early. Fortunately that’s not the case here. Every character has a clearly defined personality and everything but they are never one note. They all have serious plots going on and we get a good amount of banter out of everyone. It helps make this a more complete experience.

Additionally for the gameplay it’s as streamlined and smooth as ever. You can speed up attack animations when grinding, turn off minion encounters for levels that you’ve already beaten, quick travel, etc. If there’s a nice quality of life feature that you can think of, this game almost certainly has it. That’s something I’ve always loved about these games. It makes it fun to level up and explore without having to be fighting minions every second.

The level cap is really high and I beat the game close to level 300 but getting those level ups is really quick. Just keep on fighting and you will secure the levels before long. For one of the new mechanics in this game you can absorb/take over monsters once they are weakened. It’s interesting but the main problem is that it’s never worth it. You do more damage normally so taking them over is only good for the novelty and since there’s no trophy for that…there’s no real point to doing so.

Then you have the skill leveling which is interesting enough. You can buy a ton of skills using blue points and then level them up with red points. It’s interesting but I’d say the reason it doesn’t work is due to just how many of them there are. Even by the end of the game I probably had at least half of the skills still locked and you don’t really need most of them. So buying them all is just fun for being a completionist but you’ll be okay with beating the game either way. I’s definitely not a make it or break it deal.

So I think you could leave that out of the next one. The equipment was solid though with ranking it up to work for you with better stats. That is pretty streamlined and easy to use which I appreciate. You can alter your team’s tactics, formation, etc. There is really a ton to do and you have complete control which is awesome. You can buy tons of great permanent upgrades from the shop and you can farm the currency through the triple fights in the cave. That is definitely the best part of the grinding because it basically turns itself into an extra boost.

Overall, Ghost Sync is definitely a great game. The gameplay is on point and the story is a lot of fun. The soundtrack is really fast paced and intense like you’d expect from this company. Really this is an RPG developed by a very experienced company and it shows. It shines on basically every level. While the replay value may be lower than some of the other games since you can platinum it fairly quick, you’ve still got a lot of good value for your buck which is what counts. Definitely a game that I will not be forgetting anytime soon.

Overall 8/10

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Review

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It’s time for a fairly retro film and a pretty fun one at that. It’s sort of part western to an extent while also being pretty original in its own way. It really deals with the power of the pen vs the gun and lets just say that back then the latter always had a tendency to win. The film has good writing and a likable cast of characters which ultimately makes this a big winner in my book.

The movie unfortunately does start in the future which removes a ton of tension. I still think this is an awful movie technique but yeah we start with Senator Ransom and his wife Hallie heading over to a small town to pay their respects to someone who died. The local newspapers figure they have a right to know what’s going on here and pester the guy until he finally tells the story. So the rest of the film is a flashback but hey we now know that the main two characters get out of this alive. Why would you do this? Seriously whyyyyyyy.

Yeah so in the past Ransom is attacked by a group of thugs led by Liberty and that’s when he realizes that it’s time to clean this town up. The problem is that he’s effectively a stranger in this town and while he wants to begin practicing law, it’s difficult when the villains don’t respect him. He doesn’t lose hope though and wants to hold an election and make this a safe town. It will take a lot of guts though and some planning because Liberty makes it clear that he will shoot Ransom. There is one guy who isn’t afraid of this villain, a guy named Tom.

Tom is an excellent shot himself and has taken many opponents down in the past but he’s really not going to go after Liberty. If Liberty gets in his way then Tom will shoot him dead but Liberty is mainly gunning after Ransom so Tom holds his peace. The villain is making allies though so soon the whole village may be doomed. In the meantime Tom is in love with Hallie but she is in love with Ransom making things a little tricky. Gee I wonder who she picks….after all we already saw the flash forward from the first scene….

So for the good parts, as I mentioned earlier I did really like the writing here. The characters are very reasonable and the dialogue is strong. I thought the movie did a good job of also showing why Ransom’s ideals were not going to be enough here. At the end of the day you do need some power in order to push through with your convictions. That’s the way that it’s always been as otherwise you will just be destroyed and nobody will remember you. Ransom starts working on his shooting later on but it’s just a little too late.

You’re not going to beat a lifelong gunman when you just started training. I mean you can possibly win because in a shootout all you need is one good shot but the odds aren’t in your favor. At times I do think Ransom was a little overly naive though like when he yelled at Tom for saving his life in the diner. Liberty would have kept escalating and Ransom just didn’t want to admit that having a gun was real useful at that point. Ultimately while he would likely never admit it to Tom, he does see the value here. The ending works really well with this as Ransom has a really good life but will always have some memories about the past that he would rather forget.

Tom is absolutely the standout character here though. I like how tough he is and that he was the only character who would actually stand up to Liberty the whole time. You always got the feeling that he would have crushed Liberty in a straight fight and the villain knew it which is why he always backed down. Tom wasn’t the hero type so he wasn’t going to save the town but I just liked the idea of him being a wild card. The guy was having his own cinematic adventure off screen as we hear about him winning fights and shooting opponents down.

He also gets the best directed scene in the movie involving a flashback to a scene we saw earlier in the film but with a different camera angle. Not only does it fix a potential power levels issue but it just enhances the film quite a lot. At the end of the day Tom’s a fairly complex character but someone you can count on. He definitely starts to slip a lot in the end and things don’t always go great for him, but he was definitely a lot of fun.

His partner Pompey was also great. You can’t forget that he saved Tom’s life on several occasions and you can assume the same has been true for a while. There are many situations where being on your own would be fatal in these fights. Having a strong ally makes for a world of difference. Then you have the heroine Hallie who is nice enough. She probably could have been a little more direct in who she wanted to be with between Tom and Ransom but I would put the least amount of pressure on her because Tom was the one trying to pull moves the whole time. Even if you don’t get a direct rejection you can often tell where the wind is blowing and he was being intentionally oblivious I’d say hoping that he would win.

As a villain Liberty isn’t bad. I think the film did a good job of showing how he would act really tough and cocky around people who can’t fight back but would shrink to the actually powerful opponents. I’d say that’s probably true for many villains. This guy could look rather whiny and weak at times but it made for a fairly realistic villain. Then we have the comic relief Link who was mainly here to show how this town got so weak in the first place. He was definitely not ready to fight off anybody and naturally that empowers the villains.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film and I really don’t have many complaints. Of course I would have cut out the first scene so it doesn’t spoil almost the entire movie’s stakes but the actual movie is still high quality. Also the reporters are completely unlikable with how they forced Ransom to tell them the story. He honestly should have told them to get lost instead of answering their questions with the kind of attitude they were having but I guess that’s just how it goes. In the end Ransom was always a nice guy even if it was to a fault at times.

Overall 7/10

My Hero Ultra Rumble Review

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It’s always cool to see another free to play game on the market. You’ve really got a lot of potential with those to make a super long running game with a huge cast. Of course because it is such a tempting option, it means that there is a ton of competition and the average game will be forgotten about almost immediately. Such is the battle that these games have to go through. That being said, My Hero is a solid one among the pack. I may not be keeping it around for long as I go back to other games but it does certainly have a good amount of potential.

As with most online games there isn’t really a story so you will be jumping right into the action from the jump. You can do team battles with computers, other players, unranked and ranked. There is one main issue that you may have already guessed here though and that is that there is no single player mode. Cmon that doesn’t quite seem right shouldn’t single player mode be a guarantee? I want to test my luck in surviving the map. Hopefully this is a mode that is added soon.

Regardless the general gameplay is that of a 3D fighter. You can run, jump, and use your standard attacks as well as projectiles and supers to try and take the other opponents down. I believe the match starts with 25 teams of 3 and you will see the numbers dwindling down as the fight goes on. Interestingly they hide the number of fighters left once you’ve reached a certain amount of teams. I’d prefer to see the number at all times but I guess it’s to add some tension.

I wasn’t able to get a win yet but I did come in 3rd once which was pretty neat. As with Fortnite a good strategy can be to avoid the fighting and hide in the buildings or bushes gathering weapons and armor until the end. The only tricky thing is that in a team battle your teammates often won’t want to do this so at the end it’s you against 3 fighters and you’re really not winning that. At that point even a pro would have trouble since the game is made to reinforce teamwork. 3 on 1 is an incredible disadvantage for you.

During the match there are item cards which will appear and you can use them to level up your super attacks. Naturally there are health and armor potions as well. Additionally there are civilians all over the map and if you heal one they will drop a bunch of power ups too. The level ups are really handy so I recommend grabbing a bunch. From there it’s really just about taking your opponent down.

One thing the game does well to differentiate itself from other survival games is how this one has so many buildings. In some stages you are really spending your time jumping around and doing all kinds of acrobatics rather than running through the forest. The downside is it can make it much easier to dodge attacks and prolong a battle for a while but the shrinking field will take care of that eventually.

The graphics are pretty solid too. Naturally this won’t look quite as solid as a AAA game targeted for single player campaigns and things like that but the game is very colorful and I’d say it works really well. There isn’t much of a soundtrack but in a game like this I can see how that would be distracting. You really want to be able to see the other characters after all and hear their approach. Optional music would still be cool though.

It can be a little hard to see the opponents closing in on you with how busy the maps are but i think that’s likely intentional. It means that you always have to keep your guard up or it’s all over and I’m definitely cool with that tension. While it can feel like a button masher when the opponent gets near, you can quickly tell the difference in skill when two characters are going at it. Personally I’d like the game to let teammates play the same character though. I always wanted to play as Deku because he has the best moveset but a teammate would grab him and so you aren’t able to proceed with the match until one player changes characters. In the end I would change just so I didn’t hold up the match for too long.

Overall, This is a pretty fun game with a lot of replay value due to the online system. I do think it’s a game that will be many times more fun if you have some friends to play with rather than the randoms for the online matches. You can activate voice chat which helps but for the most part you’ll feel like you are on your own otherwise. The gameplay is fun but can probably feel a bit repetitive after a while so I would recommend playing in lots of short bursts as opposed to long marathon styled play.

Overall 7/10

The Shootist Review

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It’s time for a fairly somber wild west film. There isn’t a whole lot of action here but the film definitely delivers with a pretty solid climax. The build up for that was definitely a lot of fun and ultimately ties everything in well. It’s a pretty good film that takes itself seriously and has a lot of solid writing. It’s not perfect but I had a consistently good time all the way through.

The movie starts by introducing us to Books. He is a very notorious killer. The guy has never lost a fight and is one of the only survivors of the true wild west. What people don’t realize is that he’s dying. The guy is old but it’s not that, he has developed cancer and his doctor confirmed the diagnosis. There is no way out for him now and so he has only a few weeks to live. He decides to rent out a room in a quiet town and just wait for his death. That was the plan at least but he isn’t ready to just die like this and so he prepares to see the world a bit and get into one last fight. The stakes are pretty high for him but what’s the worst that can happen in the fight right? He’ll be dead soon anyway.

It’s got to be tough knowing that the end of your life is approaching but at the same time I always rather liked the idea of having a rough time table. If I know I’m going to die in 4 weeks for example then I would go crazy enjoying every kind of food and activity I wanted in the meantime. Of course the reason you wouldn’t want to do that is because no diagnosis is 100% accurate. If they made a mistake and you just spent your life savings…that won’t go over very well. So it’s always important that no matter what you don’t do anything that would be irreversible. Trust me it’s not a good idea. Of course back in the wild west days there were far less resources so the diagnosis could be said with more confidence since it’s not like he could have an operation.

A big portion of the film is Brooks getting to know Bond, the owner of the house, and her son. The weakest part of the film is definitely the mild romance with Bond and Books though. It doesn’t really make sense, he’ll be dead soon anyway and they got off to a really rocky start as it is. Granted the film doesn’t really go anywhere with this but that’s part of why it’s just filler and could have been removed. Having this connection didn’t actually add anything to the film and you could have replaced it with something a whole lot more useful. At least if you ask me that definitely could have been changed quite a bit. At most have her see him with some respect for leading a tough life but you don’t need anything more than that.

I’d also say it’s selfish of Books to be driving around with her and asking her to accompany him. There’s not much use in building bonds when you’re about to die because you’re just going to leave the other person in a rather rough spot. Of course it provides him some comfort but hey you don’t always get to win out. I’d have preferred he just hang out with everyone a little like his scenes with Doc, Gillom, and the others. Books is still a solid character and the film goes out of its way to show that he was no common criminal. He didn’t start fights, he just ended them.

I do think it was pretty unreasonable when Bond was giving him a hard time over murdering the home intruders. Clearly they were going to finish him off so he had to defend himself. For the most part Bond is reasonable in the film though and I definitely didn’t blame her at all for wanting Books out after he lied to her about his identity. I think most people would feel the same way because right out of the gate you can’t trust your tenant. That’s not a good way to start things off.

Gillom manages to be really annoying throughout the film though. The guy ends up being a thief by the end and while he apologized, I didn’t buy it. It also wasn’t the best of apologies either. He gets a good moment at the end of the film at least so I’ll give him that but for the most part he was definitely really weak. I much preferred the guy at the stables who was good at bartering. He had a decent sense of humor too and was able to hold his own without being insecure or over the top like Gillom.

Finally I liked the doctor, he was a good friend to Books throughout the adventure. He also didn’t sugar coat how things would end up if Books died naturally which I appreciated. At the end of the day that’s probably the worst thing you can do. You need to give your patient the right tools and knowledge to make the best informed decision possible. That’s just not going to work if you don’t explain the situation 100% accurately and clearly.

The highlight of the film is definitely the big climax. I liked how each of the 3 big gunmen just walked into the saloon waiting for Books to show up. Each one was super smug and confident in their abilities. You were wondering if they would turn on each other, team up, or just watch in the end. It made for a good setting and I liked how Books just walked in with a ton of confidence. He was maybe too confident as he was wide open during the first shot and is just lucky that the guy missed.

It’s a full action climax that you may not have expected for this film and it ended up working out really well. While most of the film is more dialogue heavy and just about life in general, you always want to have some kind of explosive climax and this film definitely delivered on that. The fight scene was handled really well and you got to clearly see Books’ accuracy all the way through. An ending is supremely important for any film so it was really good that this one stuck the landing.

Overall, This is a film that I could easily recommend whether you enjoy wild west type films or not. It’s really more about deciding how you die and making a final stand. The classic hero having to enter one last fight is certainly a popular kind of plot and it makes sense because there’s a lot to enjoy with that. The writing is really solid which is naturally important and I also really liked the cast of characters. These films can sometimes make the lead a little too unlikable so you’re rooting for him to lose or at least to go for a draw but in this case Books was actually likable so that worked out well. He had a lot of fun banter with the local Marshall which made for a little injection of humor into the film. That guy was definitely as mean as he could be but that never broke Books.

Overall 7/10

Justice Chronicles Review

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Justice Chronicles is one of those great games that really has everything you could want. A top tier soundtrack, a solid plot, good characters, great gameplay, etc. It’s really the whole package and you love to see it. The game can be difficult and will absolutely require some grinding but that’s how you know that it’s legit. It never feels annoying to grind either because the game is well developed. Yes sir this is the way to go without a doubt.

The plot starts off with the main character being a part of a legendary group of hunters who have to travel to the human world to check on things. There is a war brewing between both sides or at least that’s what the rumors say and so they have to check into this. Ultimately the group gets split up and the hero finds himself stranded in the human world. He ends up saving a girl who nearly died by making a pact with a demon in exchange for his soul. A nearby witch is able to halt the pact for a while but now the hero has to make sure to get back to his people and stop this war or a lot of good people are going to die.

There’s a ton more to this story as this is a proper RPG through and through. You have betrayals and conspiracy going on. There’s a fairly large cast here as well and you have time to get used to all of the characters. The game even has a bit of a double ending going for it so the experience lasts even longer than you would expect. I wouldn’t say the cast is quite ready to take down the Asdivine Hearts folks but it’s a pretty strong cast either way. They’re easy to root for and we get a lot of good banter the whole time.

For the gameplay, you have your classic attacks, special moves, and such. It’s turn based combat so you want to plan your attacks carefully. There are so many different things to level up with limited resources so choose carefully or you’ll end up regretting it later on. Of course at that point you could always do more grinding if necessary. One thing I didn’t focus on until the end was ranking up my weapons because the whole harvesting system looked a bit complicated. It probably is a little more complicated than it needs to be but in the end I wouldn’t say that it’s bad.

Basically you have to complete side quests in order to unlock different materials for purchase at the shop. For that reason I would say not to use any materials until you have unlocked them because you will need those eventually. The money will come naturally the more that you defeat the enemies so you really don’t have to worry about that. It does mean that like Harvestella you will often have to choose between focusing on your level or focusing on getting materials. For the most part I would say focus on levels first until you can easily one shot any minion from a weaker zone and then get the materials. Ranking up your weapon increases your attack power by about as much as 10 normal level ups which is why you want great weapons and armor. That said, you don’t want to forego either one of those for too long or you’ll really be in trouble.

I died several times during the game and had to spend hours grinding. So this isn’t a walk in the park but the grinding is always enjoyable. The EXP you get per battle is fair so you don’t feel like things are going too slowly. Throw in the resource grinding and that keeps you especially busy the whole time. I’d say what helps also keep things from getting stale is the soundtrack’s really good the whole time. Don’t underestimate the power of a great soundtrack to keep anything from being too tedious. The fast paced nature of the themes really work well.

Of course the visuals are also great here and I would expect no less. It’s all very streamlined and full of color. Yes the game succeeds on a technical level very well. Then there is a good amount of replay value here to get the trophies. The platinum will definitely take some time but I also wouldn’t say that it’s super difficult. It’s a pretty fair one where if you put in the effort then you will get it. By the time you beat the game you will be well on your way so I would definitely recommend going for it. I’ll probably work on this soon once I’ve worked on some other titles.

Overall, Justice Chronicles is definitely a great game and one that I highly recommend checking out. The story is really good and as always there are a ton of great quality of life features here. It may be lacking some of the functionality that Asdivine Hearts had and other gimmicks don’t play quite as strongly as the classic games yet I still had a lot of fun here. It’s still heads and shoulders above some of the other RPGs of the past. Additionally I really like how they went the extra mile for the opening cinematic. This is a game that was clearly giving its all right from the start and I can definitely respect that. I highly recommend checking this game out whenever possible.

Overall 8/10

Skelattack Review

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It’s time for a classic kind of platformer. Skelattack is a fun little game that plays a bit like Celeste with the endless lives and constant checkpoints but also takes queues from Shantae with the close quarters sword action. It’s a solid game all the way around but one that is a little limited by the short length. If it was just a little longer that would be perfect but ultimately that’s how it was meant to be.

The game starts you off as a skeleton in the underworld. He has amnesia but that’s actually normal. The way things work down here is after you die in the human world, you are taken to the underworld to lead a whole new life. After you have been dead for a while and conquered some trials, you are then able to learn about your past. It’s just about time for that here but then the underworld is attacked by the pesky humans. The humans tend to come down here every now and again to steal the Blue Flame of Life. This is what allows the underworld to function and gives all of the dead people complete immortality. If it is taken then everyone will die..for good this time. Of course the humans want it so they can enjoy these perks. What can one skeleton and a bat do against these armies though?

So yeah that’s a fun plot to work around. Naturally you can bet on some twists for once the skeleton gets his memories back. I wouldn’t say that there is anything particularly shocking in the game but it’s not really going for that vibe anyway. This is more about the adventure and just enjoying the gameplay the whole time. The game’s a bit weak on the banter side with the main characters but it tries pretty hard and does get serious when needed. The cast is fairly memorable as well which is always a good thing.

In terms of the length that I mentioned earlier, you can probably beat the game in around 3-4 hours. It’s not particularly hard for the most part so that length shouldn’t change much but there is an asterisk to that. So when you die you can quickly respawn and you just lose more and more gems each time. Not a big deal since you respawn when you have 0 gems anyway. However, the one big thing to watch out for is that you won’t have enough money to buy any health upgrades.

The one part of the game that can actually be really tough is the bosses and I finally figured out why. Basically since I was always out of gems I never had enough money to buy upgrades. Those upgrades extend your health bar which makes things easier but I ended up having to beat the game with the default amount. It’s a good incentive for you to play a bit more carefully. Honestly once I knew that we had unlimited lives I did not play carefully at all so I died over and over and over again. I probably racked up well over 100 deaths but that’s what happens when you get lax. It’s why I don’t really hold it against immortal villains in shows and such when they get sloppy because it does make sense to an extent.

For the bosses just memorize the attack patterns and ultimately you will be okay. In a lot of ways it’s like fighting a classic Mega Man Zero type of boss. They’re fast, hit like a tank, and have a lot of health. It feels really satisfying to defeat them though because the bosses are well made. This is also why it’s nice to have so many checkpoints and of course no big cutscenes to have to skip through. After you die the first time, the boss just starts right when you enter the room and I appreciate that. It’s a good quality of life feature.

Meanwhile the graphics here are pretty good. It’s definitely going for that classic sprite kind of look and it works well for the game. The levels are vibrant with lots of colors and I definitely have no issues there. The soundtrack is also pretty good. Perhaps not the most memorable or anything like that but I definitely enjoyed listening to all of the tunes. Maybe throw in an extra rock or metal song for next time and then we’d really be cooking.

There are trophies in the game but none of them are missable so for once it doesn’t really affect the replay value. In general I would say the game doesn’t really have any. Once you complete it, that’s it so there’s nothing to extend the length. That’s why you have to play for the fun gameplay/story and just not worry about it ending so quickly. I can’t imagine the price would be very high already so this is your chance to jump in and grab it.

Overall, Skelattack is definitely a fun game. It may not last very long but I didn’t really have any negatives to speak of. So it ends up being a positive experience all around with no buts or caveats. That’s what you want to see from any title in the end. I’d like to see a sequel someday and then they can make things a little longer to make this a true sequel. They can also probably experiment a bit since this one was content to just be a basic platformer but it’s risky since you also don’t want to bring in a gimmick that hurts the title. Don’t fix what isn’t broken after all. I’d recommend checking this game out but definitely make sure that you get it at a good price. Then you will really have no regrets or anything here.

Overall 7/10

Harvest Moon Review

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I know what you’re thinking…skill issue?? Well Harvest Moon may be one of the most difficult games that I have ever played but it does so in a very artificial way that doesn’t make you feel fulfilled or satisfied at all. Seriously this is a game that will have you shaking your head the whole time because it just wasn’t meant to be this way. I was looking forward to taking names and raising a great village but in the end it wasn’t to be. Harvestella destroys this one and I can’t say I’m hyped for the next Harvest Moon titles. This one has to take the very dubious honor of being my least favorite game of all time. Granted, something had to take that spot right?

The plot involves you moving to a nearby town and now it’s time for you to start up your own farm. There’s a bit more to the story than that but that’s the general premise and you have to get to work The only problem? I never made it to my actual farm. Yeah that may sound crazy but I spent a few hours on this one and couldn’t get past the tutorial. That was brutal. It seems like you need to talk to a bunch of folks to get through but I talked to everyone and it didn’t work. I was just stuck and couldn’t press on forward. How could this happen to meeeee?

Seriously I tried pretty hard on this one. I talked to everyone many times over and I ran around the whole map so many times. Ultimately I realized there was just no getting out of this. I had a theory that maybe I needed to talk to everyone multiple times in a row because sometimes they would say something different but it still didn’t work. Unless I missed someone since I thought about that a little later in the playthrough. Then you also have the issue of the guys telling me to find my tools but I couldn’t find them anywhere. Maybe that’s what I needed?

The point though is that the game was not very clear at all. I can’t picture most people being able to solve this case at least. It really stumped me at least. You could say that I was on the back foot the whole time. Because of that it definitely does impact the score because it meant that the game ended up being very boring. Seriously I could barely last a few hours in this one because it was just so repetitive. Imagine being stuck in the tutorial in any game. It’s exactly as brutal as you’re thinking.

Now I’m not giving this game a 0 or even a 1 because it does have some redeeming qualities about it. For example I think the graphics are actually rather solid. It may not be top grade stuff but it has aged very well from the SNES era. Additionally the music is quite an peaceful enough to work out well. I like the overall town atmosphere and I can see someone having a little bit of fun here. Ultimately it will be tough to get to that fun which is the problem.

If you can’t leave the tutorial then what can you really do right? At least in a game like Casper’s Scare School you jump right into the events. The game may be over in 12 minutes but you actually got to do something. That’s not the case here…that’s not the case at all. Oh noooo!!! I’m even struggling to get this review any longer because there’s not much more to say when I ended so early into the campaign. I guess that’s a knock in itself though. This has never happened to me before. Now perhaps there was some kind of glitch at play here. I would be surprised given the positive rep for the game everywhere but I do tend to be unlucky with glitches sometimes so it does happen.

I’ll definitely play more life simulations in the future though so we’ll see if another one can do better. Animal Crossing for example will probably be added at some point and I’m interested in trying that one out. Lets face it, it should definitely beat this one for me. Ultimately Harvest Moon didn’t really do it for me but at least I will never forget it. It has a lot of fans and I know a lot of effort was put into the game so I’ll still give it that level of props at least. Throw in some action gameplay and I may make it back for one of the sequels.

Overall, Harvest Moon is really not as good as I was expecting it to be. Trust me I wasn’t expecting it to be great either way but this was really going to be a game that I could play for a long while with a big smile on my face and that just didn’t happen which was disappointing. I like the concept behind the game so I think nowadays you could pull it off a little better. That said, it’s still not really my genre of game. They can be fun on the side but I tend to prefer the more action packed titles. If you have the Switch Online you should check it out though since it’s free at that point. No real downside to checking it out.

Overall 2/10

Who Was That Lady? Review

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All right so imagine you walk into a room and you see your husband with another lady in the position of the poster. Now…..unless you’re a grade A sucker this is where the film ends because you’re pulling in the papers and axing the whole thing off right? Well this movie’s all about the main guy trying to gaslight his wife into thinking that this isn’t actually happening. Will he succeed or will justice prevail?? Time to find out!

So I have to say whenever the main character gets off too easy I tend to be annoyed and that happens here. I was waiting for things to really turn on him but they never really do. Basically the film starts off with a student staying after class and pulls the moves on him. His reaction times were dead in the water but for the sake of argument we can say he was putting up a struggle but lacked the power. David’s wife Ann walks in and sees this so she dashes off and says they will be getting divorced. David knows his only hope is to get the help of his best friend Michael to lie on his behalf. Lying is like breathing for Michael so you could even say that he was born for this task and boy is he eager to pull it off!

The story they go with is that David is part of the FBI and part of his job is going on dates and having affairs with various women who are actually operatives from enemy establishments. The whole thing sounds so bogus but Ann believes it because a part of her wants to believe in her husband which is actually just tragic when you think about it. Now David’s web of lies continues to grow and grow but he’s having a blast. What can possibly go wrong with this?? Well when the real FBI step in things start to get a little shaky.

Yeah so I have no sympathy for the main character here. David makes all of the usual excuses and one liners here but I don’t buy any of them. It was a mistake…it happened too fast, etc. Nahhh that’s not going to work. What’s even worse is when he goes with Michael on the group date. He absolutely needed to say no and just deal with the consequences. Even if nothing ended up happening, just going on the group date was a really bad idea. Sure he got to experience some danger near the end but for the most part there were no real downsides to the adventure. He just got to mess around a lot and in the end things are actually better off for him than when he started the film. Life and death situations can change a person but there was no real reason for Ann to forgive him.

Meanwhile Ann may be a lot more sympathetic than David but I was still not a fan. She gets fooled way too easily especially considering how weak the story is. She should have stuck to her guns. I actually think a more interesting premise would have been that she was doubting him the whole film so he keeps on making the stories more and more fantastic in a bid to get her to believe him. By the end she finally starts to believe him when something goes wrong and he has to come clean. Boom that’s so many times better than what we got and it would have also made her look a whole lot better.

Then you have his friend Michael who is the king of being a bad influence. You can always count on him to make sure that things don’t go well. He always starts off with fairly clever ideas but ends up doubling down on them so many times that they go all the way around into being bad ideas. He really instigates a lot of the problems. So make no mistake he’s definitely a true antagonist here and someone you can’t root for. At the same time he is easily the most entertaining character. It’s always a lot of fun to see him with the fast talk and trying to outsmart everyone.

In the climax when the two are attacked by villains he’s the only one who actually tries to put up a fight. He still gets folded real fast but I appreciated the attempt. I feel like the really confident fast talkers like this guy can usually at least know the basics of combat so that made sense. Ultimately that’s no substitute for having actual abilities though. His confidence at least makes other characters think twice and he was really able to dominate for most of the film because of this.

There’s also the main FBI agent who gets a decent role here. He ultimately pays a bit of a price for being too passive in the film though. If he had jumped in from the jump then he could have really changed a ton of events in the film. Instead he wanted to be nice and in the end actually dragged things out a lot more. Poor guy just wanted to relax and wasn’t ready for all of this.

The film definitely has a lot of funny moments and has a decent script so it’s not a really bad movie or anything like that. You should grin now and again but the basic premise does hold it back quite a lot. You definitely can’t get behind the romance and the main character ends up crossing a little too far into unlikable territory. You can deal with a main character who’s not super likable or anything like that but when he’s this bad it does end up taking a toll on the film. Ultimately it also feels a bit more stretched out than it needs to be as well.

Overall, This is one film where the main character should have lost at the end. At least maybe have Ann get some kind of quick revenge on him for a little while to try and even the score. It was all just a little too easy considering that she actually saw him cheating. It’s not like it was word of mouth or a rumor where you could debate it. I get the feeling a modern remake would have things play out a little differently for David and for once I think that would actually make sense here. That kind of moment is typically game over after all even if the film tries to brush it aside a bit. I enjoy a fun/light tone as much as the next guy of course and the events are cool but the premise just puts a bit of a damper on it.

Overall 4/10

Blade Runner Black Out 2022 Review

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Wait a minute, Blade Runner content that’s actually good?? Yes, Black Out actually pulled it off! It’s pretty fun overall despite the short length and delivers some solid action scenes. Definitely surpassing anything you would have seen in the live action movies. It does a good job of showing just how twisted things are without dwelling on it too much. You can see why the replicants are making their big stand here. They are tired of being kicked around and yeah this is probably the most direct way to stop things.

The short starts with a replicant named Trixie being attacked by a bunch of guys but she’s saved by Iggy. Iggy has decided that the corporation behind the replicants needs to be stopped. Basically the older models are going to all be wiped out by the newer ones so one by one they are all being targeted. The only way to stop this and stay alive is to destroy the primary database but like most things in the world it’s already in the cloud by now. So the move is to destroy the satellite and every database installation at the same time. Fortunately the replicants have a fairly solid information network across the globe and are all in on this. If they can harness the powers of teamwork and friendship then they can pull this off and he wants Trixie’s help. She agrees to go in on this.

Keep in mind that the short’s only around 15 minutes and I think that’s counting credits and such so more like 13. That’s really just enough time for that intro, a quick origin for Iggy and then the fight. As a result there isn’t the usual fluff associated with Blade Runner and I was glad about that. It meant we could get right to the good stuff and that was most excellent. Blade Runner is a series that is usually a bit afraid to get right to the action and wants to stick to either high concepts or people talking in a room the whole time. Sometimes a bit of both to be honest here. Well that wasn’t the case this time.

It was also good to see the robots actually be able to look good here. They were able to run around at high speeds and take out tons of opponents. In the main movies they may be reasonably tough but for the most part nothing too superhuman which is a bit boring. What’s the point of being some kind of super robot when you can’t do the big feats like that right? Ultimately it doesn’t mean that the two steamroll everyone. The short is fairly realistic about how athletics can only take you so far when you jump into a whole stream of bullets. Still, it made for a good action scene.

The animation is pretty solid here. The combat is on point and the visuals work well. There are a lot of fun things done with the lighting that help to make the short very memorable all the way through. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side but again this is a very short special so there’s not a lot of time for a bunch of themes or anything. You take what you can get and ultimately it works well enough.

The ending of the film is basically there to remind you that corporate can be delayed but they can never be stopped. It may not be the happiest ending out there but it was still enough of a win for the main characters that I’d say you can at least count it as part of a happy moment. The alternative would have meant that they’d all be hunted down immediately while this way there is time to hide and try to make a new identity. As we see in the newest film that doesn’t work for most but you like to think some have completely managed to stay off the grid.

Overall, They should focus on more Blade Runner spinoffs like this and just ditch the mainline movies. Trust me this is way better and I can only imagine that a full length anime would be really solid. I don’t trust the franchise enough yet to say that it would be amazing or anything like that but the potential would be there. The humans will probably be the most annoying characters based on how they looked here. After all almost all of the humans are evil in these films since they were bought out by the main company or just don’t want to make them mad. Either way it means that there aren’t a lot of humans that you can trust. Even if you haven’t seen the Blade Runner films you should be able to appreciate this special.

Overall 7/10