Category Archives: Reviews

Driver: San Francisco Review

Posted on by
3


This game I’ve had in the closet for so many years. Earlier this year I finally bought the two previous installments so it was time at last to play this one. I greatly enjoyed the first game which is still one of the definitive driving games of all time but the last two were more standard. This one brings things back to a high point and is a great game. It certainly wins in plot but the original still has the best gameplay and at this point I think that will be tough to surpass.

The game starts with John Tanner putting a villain behind bars but unfortunately he breaks out almost immediately and gets revenge by putting John in a coma. Now here’s where things start to get tricky. So John wakes up back in the car but now he has super powers. He can possess anybody at will which is cool and then his real body becomes a quiet zombie on autopilot in the meantime. With these powers maybe he can stop the villain and save the city. There is a big bomb being created so there’s a race against time. But how come he keeps getting visions where he is still in the hospital and seeing weird signs? Well no time to worry about that now!

The Driver games are usually as realistic as they get so it’s a bit odd to see the game take more of a supernatural approach but it leads to one of the best driving game mechanics that I’ve seen in a while. The story is also fun with this. It plays out like a very interactive movie. In each level there is a lot of dialogue and of course there are a whole lot of cutscenes scattered throughout the game. That helps to make the whole thing feel really high budget. Another nice thing is they recorded a good amount of dialogue for each mission so when you die and try again, you’ll usually near some new lines as well. It’s a clever way to keep things from feeling too stale if you were to hear the same lines every time.

Now for the gameplay, mainly you’ve got the driving as normal. Unfortunately this part isn’t as polished as the average driving game. Turns are really difficult to make here as the cars have a very tough time turning while moving forward. You’re going to be bumping a whole lot and the car also tends to go unbalanced really quickly if you hit anything. Definitely something to keep in mind the whole time you are playing. You will really want to slow down for those turns, but fortunately there aren’t too many races. Mainly this just gets tricky when you are trying to evade the cops so instead of looking for the hidden paths, try driving into traffic and dodging the cars. That will help you lose them quick.

Now for the new mechanic. As a ghost you can fly out of your car and possess somebody. You can move around the field from a bird’s eye view and have 3 different zooms on this. It’s really fun to take over the cars and they come in real handy when attacking your enemies. You can take control of a car and just have him ram into the villain. You can do this at any point to any car so it makes it really hard for the opponent to even try to dodge. It also makes for some interesting boss fights later on in the game. You know a lot of times I’m not a big fan of new mechanics and gimmicks if they don’t work just right but this is one that actually was a success.

It enhances the game which is exactly what a gimmick should do and it was fun to use the whole time. I never got bored of it that’s for sure. There’s a trophy for doing that 1000 times and I made it through about 400 so I better get to work on grinding the rest out. The game’s length is fairly decent. I want to say the game is about 5-6 hours long. Maybe a little above that but roughly in that range. For most genres that probably sounds small but the previous 2 Driver games were about 90 minutes so this is still a big improvement. There is also replay value to get more trophies although unfortunately the servers are down so the Platinum is impossible to obtain now. It’s too bad that couldn’t have stayed up longer. Still there is some replay value here as a result.

The graphics are really solid here. This feels like more of a high end PS3 game in that area. The game loves showing off the big zoom ins as a result. While you’re in the gameplay everything is clear and you can always tell what is happening. The stages will sometimes have a fun visual effect like turning blue or yellow depending on what is going on with John’s psyche and that’s always a nice touch. The soundtrack has a ton of lyrical songs. For the most part they seemed pretty solid. I didn’t get any that were really obnoxious and it never takes over the sound of the dialogue coming through. Whoever did the sound mixing did a good job for this game that’s for sure.

Overall, Driver was a lot of fun to play through. If the driving was just a little smoother it would make the game even better. After all I love pushing through tight corners and really styling on the opponents but with the controls like this I couldn’t quite do that. Still the story is a lot of fun and I give the game tons of credit for having full voice acting for every single cutscene. Whether it was a story mission or one of the side ones, everything had the voices on point and I think that’s great. It’s not something that you see everywhere even if you would expect that to be the standard at this point. So the game has to get a lot of credit for that all around. If you haven’t gotten this game yet then you definitely should. The story alone is worth the purchase as this would make for a great movie. You can also get a good price for it nowadays.

Overall 8/10

Greenland Review

Posted on by
Reply


Greenland is one of those films where the end of the world is approaching so people take that opportunity to be as vicious and mean as possible. It feels like everywhere the heroes went they would be attacked by some crazy person. The film could have benefited from having more destruction scenes with big visuals but in the end I’d still say it was a solid film. It certainly shows how chaotic things would be no matter how many plans there were.

The movie starts off with John and Allison trying to have a normal party when John receives an alert that his family has been chosen to survive the comet that is going to destroy most of the planet. He has to grab his wife and kid and head to the evacuation shelter immediately. It’s a bit of an awkward situation though because the neighbors were not selected and the general mindset there is that they sort of just have to deal with it and accept their incoming destruction. Some of them try to be good sports about it but of course others aren’t so accepting. Still there isn’t really much that they can do but unfortunately the main family gets split up when getting ready to board the plane. There is also a rule that you can’t go on if you’re sick and as their son Nathan is diabetic, he is not allowed to fly. This leads to none of the family making it out and it’ll be very difficult to find each other again with the wifi out. Is this the end of their journey?

You can imagine how hard it is to find one person in a huge city when there is general chaos everywhere and no way to make electronic contact. The movie does a good job of showing the big contrast here compared to before the cellular towers went out. It also doesn’t help that just about everyone is going crazy. So to get into the shelter you have to have the wristband/QR code with your name on it. That’s the only way to get through so of course the people who aren’t chosen eagerly want this even if it means resorting to murder. Both John and Allison face different threats due to this.

Of course it’s all easier in hindsight but the instant they weren’t let on board they probably should have tossed out the wristbands. It only served to make them a target and nobody would ever know that they were selected if they had just gotten rid of them right away. It would have immediately put them in a really good spot at least compared to the rest of the people around. Still with how corrupt everyone is here, maybe they’d be attacked anyway. It’s a consistent theme that in times of distress people will always go crazy and turn into the villains. It’s unfortunate but at this point that’s just how things tend to play out.

John does a good job in the present of not panicking and always having a plan. He made a rather massive mistake in the past prior to the film starting though which is why things are so tense between him and his wife. I can’t say that he ever gets past this even if he does as well as he can in the present. He has to fight someone who wants to steal his ID and keeps moving forward in the film even as more and more challenges keep accumulating. It’s important to stay strong and just keep fighting in a situation like because once you lose hope then it’s all over.

Meanwhile Allison is fighting hard on her part as well. She had a really tough start with the guards not letting her son through and having to try and walk back home on her own. Additionally she needed to find insulin for Nathan or he wouldn’t be able to make it for the whole journey. Adding Nathan was basically a way to keep things from being a little on the easier side for Allison and John. Without him they would have had a lot of other options but when you have a sick kid at the ready then that’s something you have to account for.

Being attacked during the car ride was certainly something Allison couldn’t have predicted. I think her best bet would have been to run to the front and try to drive while the guy was outside though. Even if you just make it a few minutes at top speed it would be hard for him to catch up. You could also try backing into him but otherwise once he gets into the car you know you’re doomed so you need to do something really drastic.

While the film may hold back on the big explosions and all at times, we still get some fun visuals when they do strike. The sky certainly looks cool and the big chunks of meteor are definitely very imposing. You absolutely do not want to be in the way when they strike. The film has a good sense of danger about it as well and there is a high body count. You actually feel bad for the people inside the first plane because John slowing them down and trying to get out directly caused a bunch of them to die because the plane caught fire before it could go. I’m sure they wished they were in a different plane very quickly.

John’s step father appears later on in the film and he’s a fairly chill guy. I don’t agree with his idea to just stay at home and be destroyed though. Sure it’s probably easier than going on a big chase with only a small percentage chance at survival but at least you’re doing something. I feel like dying without a fight just sounds so much worse. Sure he could still live of course but worst case you could get trapped or it may take a while. In some cases the trip may not be worth it but in this case it seemed well worth the risks.

Overall, Greenland is a good film. It could have used a bit of a stronger cast and more destruction scenes in place of the humans being the villains all the time but it could still make for a good recommendation. If you want to see more of a low key disaster film then this is the one for you. The kid may annoy you at times with some of the trouble that he causes but it’s not like it’s intentional so I suppose we can cut him a little slack. There is apparently a sequel coming out soon and I hope they embrace a more supernatural angle like zombies appearing. I’m not even the biggest fan of zombies but otherwise focusing on the cleanup just doesn’t seem exciting enough. Maybe you could have another disaster happen right away, that would be intense.

Overall 6/10

Soylent Green Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a depressing run through the dystopian future that is Soylent Green. It’s pretty cool that it takes place in 2022 though. The world ended up getting quite ugly with too many people everywhere and the planet finally running out of resources. I like the concept and all but this is the kind of film that gets rather gritty quickly and is more focused on shocking you than delivering a great story half the time. I’d like to see another writer take a shot at this idea but of course you probably need to push the year up for any remake to 2040 or something like that.

So that’s the setting of the movie. There are just so many people nowadays that there aren’t enough houses and most live on the streets. There are hundreds of squatters in every building just trying to find a place to rest and even climbing up the stairs is a hassle with everyone sleeping there. Only if you’re super rich will you have a place to stay and actual food. Otherwise everyone just has Soylent Green to live off of which doesn’t even have much of a taste. No food has taste except for the ultra rich. The houses come with “Furniture” which is unfortunately what the women are called now and you can probably tell all that you need to from the term itself.

The world is as bad as it can be and the film focuses on Robert who is doing his best to live through it. He is a detective investigating a recent assassination. While it may have seemed routine at first, Robert feels like there is more to it than that. The guy who got bumped off was a top executive for Soylent and he seemingly went down without a fight which was odd. The bosses also don’t want him focusing on this case for too long which is another red flag. These are starting to add up which is another thing to watch out for. Can he survive long enough to find out what is going on?

Robert may be the main character but calling him a hero would be a stretch. The film makes clear that all of the heroes are gone at this point since there really isn’t room for heroics when everyone is just trying to survive. Robert steals whatever he can when doing routine inspections and is quite shameless about it. He abuses his power to do so and of course nobody can really talk back to him. It’s probably the biggest perk of the job since he gets to have real food and use actual water to take a shower. Those are luxuries people don’t get otherwise at this point.

He’s also quick to have an affair with one of the ladies and in general comes across as a flirt a lot of the time. It seems to be more a way of passing the time than something he is usually serious about though. He is well accustomed to the world at this point and can talk tough to anyone, even the villains so Robert is never run over. He fits in with the setting and atmosphere quite smoothly. I just never found him all that likable. He’s much preferable to a more timid main character who wouldn’t be able to hold his own here but that’s about it. I wouldn’t give him too many consolation prizes beyond that.

He has a friend named Sol who is even older and vividly remembers the world as it used to be. Adapting has been really tough for him although he tries his best. Unfortunately as the film goes on it becomes way too much for him. It would have been better if he could have stayed strong even if you understand the temptation. As a result of conditions being so tough, there is now an assisted suicide facility where you get one real meal and they play you sounds/music/videos of your choosing as the drugs go in and you quickly die. It’s a painless death that is made to be as comfortable as possible.

Assisted suicide is always a super controversial topic without any doubt. Some will be against it on the premise alone while others would support it on the basis that it can be useful in some circumstances. In a situation like this movie where people literally can’t eat and everyone is dying of overpopulation, you can easily see how it would pass. It’s always just a slippery slope because where do you draw the line? Well, I don’t think that’s something the world will have to worry about for a long time unless we do enter a dystopia like this. It’s definitely a very eerie scene precisely because of how clean and shiny the place looks. It appears so out of place in this dark world that the whole thing feels ominous and almost like a trap. It works effectively as a way to show you how dangerous the place is.

There is a pretty big twist at the end of the film that is also quite disturbing. I thought this twist was very effective and it also makes a whole lot of sense in universe. The world is suffering from a ton of problems but almost all of them stem from the fact that there are too many people on Earth. Their numbers exceeded the resources so you would need to find a way to take care of that. Unfortunately I can absolutely see the ending being something considered in the real world but at the same time I could also see war being a way to take care of the issue much sooner. Regardless it does gives you a lot to think about.

So on a story perspective I thought the film was very interesting the whole time. There was just so much going on. That said, it really could have dropped some elements. First off, the whole “furniture” element needs to be tossed out immediately. Not only is it just an awful concept from the start but it also sours the romance entirely. When Robert is having a fling with one of the ladies who seems to be really attracted to him, there is always the undertone that she is doing this for protection. She basically has no rights at this point so getting close to a detective with his amount of power would be tactically smart. She even says that she is frightened at several points and ultimately it’s difficult because there isn’t a lot that he can do in the long term. Then you see how this is an issue for lots of people and the film gets way too dark there.

The movie is clearly trying to do a lot of worldbuilding which is effectively does as Robert digs into the case but some elements just weren’t good. No matter how bad the world got in 2022, it just doesn’t seem like that would have happened. In general it’s hard to see how the rich haven’t all been taken out by this point either with how the system is set up but I can maybe believe that a bit more. The movie just should have focused more on the murder case and the twist at the end instead of the romance angle and how disturbing life at the top is.

Overall, Soylent Green is a film that does work really well in visualizing a terrifying dystopia. You would not want to live in that world and it is a really scary prospect. It just should have stuck more to that terrifying atmosphere and mystery elements instead of going more for shock value and throwing in some grit. if you remove the furniture concept the film immediately jumps up a bit. I’m not saying it would be great as the doom and gloom backdrop doesn’t make for a lot of fun visuals but it would still capture your attention all the way through. So while I enjoy the concept I wouldn’t be recommending this one.

Overall 3/10

Klaus Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a Santa Claus origin story. You’ve probably seen some of these around and Santa always makes for a fun character to watch. Well, this one takes a bit of a different look at the classic tale and switches some things up. It’s a fun way to readapt the legend and you should have a good time with this movie. It’s a classic feel good film.

The movie starts with Jesper failing at being a mail man. He just can’t seem to do anything right but his father is wise to this and realizes that Jesper is failing on purpose so he can go back home to slack off. His family is rich after all so being at home just sounds more fun. Well now his father has sent him off to the coldest, smallest village out in the middle of nowhere. Jesper needs to have sent out 6000 letters if he ever wants to leave and that will be difficult. For starts the village is in the middle of a civil war and a lot of the kids don’t know how to write a letter anyway. It may take some Christmas magic to get this mission completed.

Jesper goes through a fairly classic character arc here where at first he’s spoiled and mean but gradually learns how to be a better person. He stays in the mean phase for quite a long time though so if anything holds you back from liking him it would be that you may feel the arc took him a little too long. Even by the end he is being mean to one girl because she doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t want to take the time to understand her. For a while he is only focused on the letters so since she wasn’t going to help him get closer to his goal, he had no time for her. It was rather a cruel moment on his part.

He also makes some big mistakes near the end. Inevitably you know there will be a moment where he has to decide to stay in the village or leave with his father and it plays out pretty much the same way in every film but for once you’d like him to just say straight up that he’s not leaving. There are a whole lot of ways that he could have gotten himself out of the sticky situation but he didn’t go with them.

So he definitely has his share of issues. That said, Jesper does give us a lot of the fun comedic moments in the film so you wouldn’t want to miss out on that. He may not be my favorite character but the character arc is still a big staple of the film. The village absolutely needed someone to help out and even if his motives weren’t the best, he did get the job done. It’s like when you see someone doing a good deed online for clout. Yeah they may not have the best reason for helping out but if they actually are helping someone then I can overlook the motive.

Alva is one character who ended up being helped out a lot thanks to Jesper’s selfish actions. She had grown quite disillusioned with the world but when the kids started being eager to learn then she was finally able to find her purpose. Likewise Klaus wasn’t in a great spot in his life and this whole adventure helped to snap him out of it. Jesper definitely did help a lot of people even without meaning too. There was a really solid scene in the movie where we see exactly how much the village has changed. It was worlds different from back when they were always fighting.

The village really couldn’t get much worse from how it was when Jesper first got there. It’s hard to imagine just how sad the place would have been to live in for all of those years but at least now there is no need to worry about any of that. The film has a lot of good musical themes to help back the scenes up as well. Some fun modern titles and then more classic Christmas songs. It all helps to keep a lot of energy within the film and the fast pacing is one of its strengths.

The humor style here is usually about quick wit. Characters talk really quickly as they get the jokes in and usually they’ll already be telling another one while the first is ending. That’s the kind of humor style I like because nothing is dragged out. You either get the joke or you don’t. There are also a good amount of visual gags as well. The animation style here is fairly unique. The characters are all off model but in a stylistic way which is usually used to amp up the humor as the designs are actually referenced once or twice like when Jesper meets Klaus. It may not be a style that you would want to overuse but it’s always tough to look unique in this day and age so props for pulling that off.

I dare say the film almost didn’t need any antagonists. We do have two villain groups here (The ones always fighting) and they continue to get involved all the way to the end but I don’t think they added much. Yes they create a little drama at the end but it’s fairly brief. You could cut that part out and get the same effect by having Klaus or the main heroine walk into his officer and see his notes about getting the letters and leaving. It would have the same effect and I dare say that it would work a bit smoother. The villains were okay but just a bit forced.

Klaus has a good ending so things really work out quite nicely. The ending is important for all movies of course but it’s massively important for a feel good film like this one. You need to feel good or it’s just not going to go over well and would spoil the whole thing. So the ending here is very satisfying and caps off a very nice experience. This is a high quality film that is a lot of fun. I don’t expect you would have any significant issues with the film. It’s got a nice amount of polish and it’s the perfect time to watch this one.

Overall, Klaus is a fresh take on a classic tale. It’s a good amount of fun from start to finish with good character arcs and a fun cast. Jesper may take a little long to get with the program but the important thing is that he does by the end. The movie has a lot of humor throughout and it’s all executed really well. Seeing how the film incorporates each bit of the Santa mythos by the end is always fun. It tackles the Reindeers, the cookies, the naughty list, etc. It was really quite clever at smoothly incorporating them in. You would understand the references each time but it never felt forced.

Overall 7/10

One Piece – Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to jump far into the past with this one for a retro One Piece adventure. It’s a full original story with just the first 3 Strawhats so that’s pretty fun. The team has grown a lot over the years but there’s still something special about seeing the first crewmates team up to take a villain down. The special goes by very quickly but makes the most of its roughly 30 minutes. We get some good action here and Luffy gets one step closer to being the King of the Pirates!

The story starts with Luffy and the crew chilling on a boat when they are attacked by a giant monster. Unfortunately they are at sea so Luffy isn’t able to fight once he hits the water and this prevents Zoro from claiming the easy victory because he has to save Luffy. So Nami is kidnapped and eventually Luffy finds himself on a mysterious island. He saves a girl named Medaka from two pirates and finds out from her that the pirate known as Ganzack has taken down the whole village. They no longer have enough food to survive and need someone to save them. Luffy may not be a traditional hero but he likes his food so he is ready to help.

Ganzack actually does rather well as the villain here. For starters he actually takes down Luffy twice which is likely way more than anyone was expecting here. He just takes him down like it’s nothing and you may expect that once, but twice? Granted Luffy was much weaker back then but it’s still fairly unheard of to be taken out like that. Ganzack also talks about being the King of the Pirates several times which helps to really establish him as a big threat. He’s not someone who’s just playing around here but trying to accomplish his dreams.

There isn’t much more to his character beyond this but it’s enough to still make him a solid villain. I liked his fighting style with the little crab arms. It wasn’t something that you’d quickly forget. I dare say Zoro would have had a tougher time beating him though. This was early enough in the series where you could make the case that Zoro was stronger than Luffy. Some would say Luffy didn’t truly pass Zoro until he obtained Gear 2 but it would be a fun debate either way.

Regardless Zoro definitely looks great here though. He commands a lot of attention as the pirate hunter and pretty much takes down the whole army on his own. He didn’t need any help and he didn’t take any Ls. He was just around dominating the whole time with his 3 sword style. Meanwhile Nami is surviving as bet she can with a little trickery and it makes sense as a strategy. When you can fool the villain really easy then you may as well do that right? Luffy and Zoro should still have enough confidence in her not to think that she has actually turned evil or anything like that. I’m cool with the plan because it didn’t seem super risky and it’s not like she had to do anything villainous in order to gain Ganzack’s trust. So it worked out pretty well.

Meanwhile this is probably not Luffy’s best appearance since he was getting wrecked so often but I guess we can chalk it up to him being overconfident. By the end he was ready to make his comeback and start winning. It just took him some time to really get settled. Luffy gets credit for not backing down from a fight although that’s the bare minimum for any good lead.

It’s definitely interesting seeing One Piece with such a different animation style. It feels extra retro and not having the same sound effects when Luffy does his attacks will take a little getting used to. Still, I think this group could have done a fine job with the series. I liked the speed showings they gave to the characters and the action scenes are on point. I wouldn’t call this high budget but it has aged well enough so it works on that level. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side for the most part. There are a few scenes where it feels like the music is about to pick up but then the scene ends real quick before that can happen.

The special is really short as I mentioned but it does work well. You’ll be engaged from start to finish and it’s really just a chance to see the characters get to fight some villains. It would have been nice if Ganzack had a right hand man or something so Zoro could fight him instead of the normal minions though. That would have helped make the film even cooler but this way at least they had Zoro taking on the whole army.

The original character here was also not bad. Medaka may just be a kid who wants to help her town but she doesn’t get in the way and actually saves Luffy twice. Once directly and the other indirectly by triggering his rage mode. So she really did a good job here and was likable which isn’t always easy for the heroes made up for the movies and specials. In general the writing here was on point which really goes a long way to making this a solid special.

Overall, If you’re looking for more One Piece content then this is a special you will want to check out. Ganzack makes for a memorable villain and there is a lot of action here so that’s all you really need. There is never a dull moment here and everyone gets something to do. It’s too bad they don’t make short specials like this quite as much nowadays. Personally with how One Piece sells I’d be trying to generate one of these every year. I’m sure the profits would be enough to cover the expenses each time. Maybe have a dedicated company that would handle these so it doesn’t impact the show.

Overall 7/10

Sonic the Hedgehog, Vol. 1: Fallout! Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to finally jump into the world of Sonic in the more recent comic series. Sonic has had a ton of epic comics over the years and you’d expect no less from the greatest video game series of all time. After playing Sonic Frontiers it was pretty good timing to be reading this comic. It really is a great way of starting off the saga. I had a blast and look forward to seeing how things go from here.

The story kicks off fairly quick as Sonic takes down a bunch of Eggman’s robots. After the events of Sonic Forces Eggman vanished but his army remained. They now randomly attack across the planet and so the heroes must all join forces and do their best to stop these bots. The problem is the sheer numbers of them and more are built by the day. So while they may not be a threat to Sonic and friends, the world is quite large and people will continue to be at danger until they’re all taken down. This volume brings 4 issues and right now they’re all fairly stand alone as we start to learn more about the overall threat.

The first story involves Tails as Sonic teams up with him to stop the robots. Then we have one for Amy, Knuckles, and finally Tangle. In each comic Sonic shows up to save the day but it becomes clear that the robots do have some kind of a master now. The attacks have grown coordinated and more powerful robots are also showing up. Sonic is as confident as ever but the rest of the heroes are getting a bit nervous at this point. Can they really hold out against such an onslaught forever?

My first big praise for the series will be the action series. Perhaps it’ll feel like a given that the series has great fights but there is a lot of detail to the action in each issue. There will be whole pages of no text, just action as the heroes use combo attacks and take the enemies down. I like that there is a lot of choreography here and actual back and forth. These aren’t one hit KOs or anything like that. Instead you’re getting actual battles through and through which is a great thing. Sure the robots aren’t a real threat to Sonic but that’s not really the point anyway. You’re here to see what he can do with his speed and I like the combos are are used all the time.

The writing here is also great as you would expect. Sonic is as confident as ever and takes all the villains down easily but he has the skills to back it up. He’s never overconfident and he’s also still very mature. When the other heroes want to get deep or talk about something important he doesn’t brush them off and still has a reasonable answer. His conversation with Amy about joining the resistance was a very good conversation. Nobody jumped to conclusions or anything, just a solid talk where they each explained their points of view and that was the end of it.

As a result I’m happy to report that all of the characters were solid here. Tails also looks good and while he may still be a little on the nervous side, he can still fight and defend himself. This is Tails closer to his best like in Adventure 2 Battle and I like that because he absolutely has proven himself many times at this point. It’s fine to be a little nervous especially with Sonic being taken down by Infinite and pals in the past but he’s not whining about it or anything like that.

Meanwhile Amy looks really good here as well. She’s keeping her feelings in check and doing a great job as the leader of the resistance. (She’s basically the leader at this point) She can still fight a lot and of course she would love to go with Sonic but she chooses her responsibilities first. Amy has come a long way and this really makes her a much more endearing character. You can also sympathize with her one sided romance towards Sonic more now that it’s not portrayed as this crazy gag that’s always around. Holding herself back and just trying to go about things normally is a great move. Even if Sonic were to vanish again, I think she’d be able to keep the resistance in good shape.

Then we have Knuckles who is on point here. He always has a great dynamic with Sonic and you know that the two of them can take on any threat that gets in their way. They have a good fight against two new fighters who showed up and I would take these two against just about any villain combination. I can also see why Knuckles is eager to go back to Angel Island since actively running around and getting results is really his thing. He’s not the kind of guy who usually just sits behind the desk and it fits in with his character.

Finally we have Tangle who is new for the comics and she’s been a fun character so far. I know apparently there is a reference for her within Sonic Frontiers as well so she may even get to the games soon. Her tail makes for a very handy weapon in combat and she can take care of herself. I’m not sure I totally have a read on her personality yet but she’s strong and is a quick thinker as she helped Sonic and Blaze take out the enemies. I look forward to seeing more of her later on.

Meanwhile Blaze did get to appear as well which was fun. She shows up rather suddenly but that’s the fun part of time travel. The comics are already hinting that something major is about to happen and I’m absolutely ready for it. Imagine if Infinite returns soon? We already have a mysterious villain talking tough in the background and planning things out so I’m looking forward to seeing who that is. Shadow hasn’t appeared yet either but there will be time for that. The comics are slowly re-introducing all of the characters which is a good way to start things off. I also like how they show that the Egg robots can be a decent threat when there are enough of them.

I was always skeptical about the world being taken over without Sonic and I still am to be honest since the game never gave a good reason for why Shadow wasn’t around taking everyone out. I consider that to be a bit of a plot hole but the comics are doing good damage control here. I also just like the continuity being present here because it just adds a little extra immersion to the whole experience.

It almost goes without saying but the art is really solid. All of the characters stand out and the colors are bright and vibrant in general. This all looks fantastic all the way around and it makes reading the comics a breeze. I hope they keep this artist for the full run if possible because it would be difficult to top this.

Overall, Sonic is off to the races once more. I always thought the Archie comics were fantastic as well so I was sad to see them go but hopefully this new ongoing will continue for a very long time as well. I think Archie had something like 700 issues so for me I first want to see 100 total issues and then after that I’d like the series to reach 1000. Of course that will take years to do but it would be a really fun goal. If you haven’t read the comics yet then you definitely should. It’s got everything that a Sonic fan could possibly want!

Overall 8/10

Dick Review

Posted on by
Reply


The concept here isn’t bad since you could think of it like an alternate version of Bill and Ted. The real problem is really just that the movie isn’t too clever. It goes for the obvious jokes right away but after that there isn’t much left. Even the obvious joke doesn’t work since I know a Richard who still goes by the short version so the name isn’t dead yet. There was a good amount of potential here but right from the jump you get the feeling that it won’t live up to that.

The movie starts with a flashforward as a news guy tries to trick Woodward and Bernstein into revealing their source for the whole Watergate scandal but they don’t fall for it and then we find out what happened. The movie revolves around two teen girls, Betsy and Arlene. They aren’t very smart at all and can’t keep a secret for more than 5 minutes. One day they happen to be near a heist which ends up becoming a big deal and the White House staff has reason to believe that they know more than they should about Watergate. So President Nixon decides that the best way to keep them quiet is to keep them close and hires the two to be his official dog walkers. They have fun with that since who wouldn’t want to walk a dog in such a prestigious place right? Arlene even falls for Nixon but little do they realize that he is as corrupt as they come.

The film has fun making Nixon as big a bad guy as you can imagine. He is practically making evil plans in every scene that he is in. The guy is always planning something negative at the very least but the girls just never notice. It would take a whole lot to get them to realize that he is the villain so of course he keeps pushing the envelope further and further until they have to notice. If he would just pretend a little harder and not make obvious mistakes like leaving the tape recorder active then he would probably have gotten away really easily. Ultimately he wasn’t the smartest character either.

It’s always intense to see how the White House used to look though. It’s hard to imagine people just walking in and going upstairs like you see in this movie. It’s just all very lax and Betsy/Arlene really have the run of the place by the end. One unfortunate subplot for the whole staff is that they start making spiked cookies unintentionally and of course everyone loves them. This even helps with global peace so it shows what a strong meal can do.

From the main two I would say Arlene is the main weak link. She just gets crushes on people way too quickly as she already had another crush at the start of the movie. Just jumping from crush to crush like that in an instant is definitely a bad move. Then for Betsy she is a lot more outgoing and aggressive but that can be a detriment as well like when she has an affair with a random guy just to buy time for the tape to be stolen. It’s a really desperate plan that’s for sure and one that’s not worth it. Better to even try knocking him out but otherwise he seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind if the two just ran in and stole the tape. He probably wouldn’t even realize that was happening at that point.

The main focus of the film is how the two girls manage to have a massive effect on the president’s office and how every big decision actually went through them but it’s not a premise that can stand on its own without any backup. I don’t even think you need to make the two girls smarter necessarily because you can absolutely have a fun film with the characters not knowing anything. You just need a really clever script though and this film doesn’t have that.

Then you have the two reporters. I actually thought Woodward was solid and he did a good job of getting intel and always trying to be on top. I liked that guy but his partner was on the annoying side. Bernstein never really helped on his own and would only show up to steal the credit. Seems like an annoying guy to have around and I can see why Woodward was always upset. Here he is putting in a lot of work to grab the biggest story of the century and he’s only going to get 50% of the credit. That’s rough.

In a way it worked out that Nixon was the villain because if the president was a good guy then he may have been in trouble with how the main two immediately started spilling all of their secrets out to everyone. They did not hold the secret at all and that’s a shame. It’s another moment where they look really bad even if that is part of their characters. This is exactly why you need more than just the two off them wandering around and having stuff just happen. Maybe throw in a paranoid White House worker who starts following them or have the girls live at the White House instead of going there part time. They could keep hearing new confidential topics over and over which would cause more issues to keep occurring.

You need something to keep the film fresh for longer than it was. Without the writing improving it’s possible that this would just drag the film out instead of saving it but that’s really the best way to try and start working on making this one better. There is barely a plot here beyond the original premise so there isn’t really a whole lot to discuss here either. Either you will like the main dynamic the girls have or you won’t. That will make or break the film for you and it’s really that simple. There just aren’t a lot of other things going on here and the film can largely be aimless.

Overall, This movie isn’t all that good. It may give you a smile once in a while but there was just so many more things they could have done with the film. It wasn’t nearly as funny as it should have been and that’s really fatal for a comedy movie. There really isn’t much replay value to be found at all here. This movie could absolutely use a remake to see if they can do the premise a little more justice. I definitely think they would do better this time but we’ll see. It’s always a fun line of making things funny without making it too forced.

Overall 4/10

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Review

Posted on by
Reply


Jack Ryan returns for another intense adventure and this time he is a fighter. In the other films he was usually an analyst without much combat experience but here he was a full marine who was an expert at survival and getting the job done. So you can bet that he was taking a lot of wins and could handle himself in the field. It’s an interesting change and hey I do like my action scenes so that works out. It’s not quite as solid as the last one but still makes for a fun adventure.

The movie starts off with Jack getting a big injury and he has to do some tough rehab for a very long time just to walk again. Fortunately he meets up with Cathy and the two of them get engaged. Jack is then recruited by Thomas into the CIA so it’s all fun and games but then he notices a big move by Russia. They’re messing around with the stocks and currency. It looks like this could be a major play to take down America once and for all so Jack will have to go there in person but this last second trip is going to be putting a lot of tension in his relationship with Cathy since she doesn’t know about his true job. Can he save the world and salvage his relationship or will he have to choose one or the other?

One positive out of the gate is that the series still keeps a lot of political intrigue into the mix even while it is focusing on the fights more. The plan to take down the U.S. through a stock crash is quite inventive and while I may have some issues with seeing that go so smoothly, it’s a fun plot. It’s different and we get to have a lot of discussions from the characters on how this would work and how to stop it. The short answer is that you don’t just stop it, you have to foil the terrorist part of the plan actively and rest will fall like domino’s. I feel like as a last resort they could take the stock market down but that would cost billions on its own and would probably just delay the inevitable.

As for the action, that’s fun. We get a high speed chase scene and Jack has to take one guy down early on. He seemed quite outmatched so he was smart to use the terrain to his advantage. It was a nice way to start off the Russia adventure since the danger hit close to home almost immediately. Although it also made you think of a fun alternate premise for the film. When Jack escapes the room his contact tells him he just has to survive until he can meet with the next agent. Imagine if the rest of the film was him trying to survive in a foreign country with plenty of assassins after him? I think that would be very interesting but ultimately it would be a different movie.

The writing is on point here as well. The movie goes by in a flash and it always feels like a lot is going on. The characters are good too. I liked Thomas as the senior agent here and he actually made himself useful. A lot of the times it feels like these agents are only around to hand out the moral of the day but then they get bumped off or written out. Here he actually acts like a senior member should and is always watching out for Jack. He makes sure to step in if things are getting too dicey and pops quite a few of the villains with his sniper rifle. That’s absolutely how this should go.

As for the villain, he is definitely a downgrade from the last few. He has a lot to prove and really wants to get a win for Russia but he has some pretty well known weaknesses. He loves money and he can’t resist women. These weaknesses are so well know that the heroes and his own minions know this so they use it against him. That part’s a bit annoying because of course the instant Cathy wants to help, her role is to distract the villain while Jack infiltrates. That just seems to always happen and I’d rather for once her role would be to take him down while Jack breaks in or something like that. At least the movie uses it as a weak weakness for Viktor which costs him a lot but it’s still very overdone in the movies.

His minion wasn’t very smart though. Why would you tell your own boss about how he’s failed and how Russia will be disappointed? That’s like asking for your boss to take you down. There was no way that he was going to survive after that. No shot at all. Catchy was a good heroine at least. She was able to handle the dangerous situations really well without panicking or making mistakes. While she had some issues with Jack initially due to the secrets, you can actually blame Jack there because Cathy gave him multiple opportunities to come clean. He was just way too slow on the uptake and handled it all really badly.

If you see that your girlfriend is asking if you’ve seen a specific movie that you just saw yesterday, wouldn’t you think that something is up? He should have just said that he saw it. If he had to lie about the reason then just say he needed a break and saw it by himself but anything is better than just avoiding the question or saying he didn’t see the movie. He was also sloppy to leave the ticket there.

Beyond his romantic slip ups, Jack is a good main character though. He’s always ready for action and does well on the tech side as well. It’s definitely handy when you’re a computer whiz and you can fight. That makes him the ultimate dual threat here. With a solid cast and story the movie was certainly set up for good things. The only weaknesses here would really be the main villain and the romance. It didn’t really add onto the story and having a better main villain is always a great way to instantly elevate the film. We get some decent banter though so with the writing still being on point the villain doesn’t really hurt the film.

Overall, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a good film and a solid way to try and kick some new energy into the series. If you like classic action thriller films then you would like this one and throw on an extra point if you also like the political intrigue and drama there. This one has a bit of everything even if it’s a bit of a step down from the last one. I’d recommend checking this one out, it’s a quality all around movie.

Overall 7/10

The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Review

Posted on by
Reply


The Spyro trilogy continues with The Eternal Night. It’s been fun going through the Spyro journey and now I am one step closer to finishing up the whole series. This game gets surprisingly difficult to complete near the end as well. The bosses really pack a punch and most can take you out in a few blows. Fight with a lot of tactics and you’ll be okay though.

The game starts with Cynder being upset with herself for being the big villain in the first game so she runs off and then the kingdom is attacked by a bunch of apes. Even the dragon elders are no match for them so it’s time for Spyro to claim victory. He will need more power though and so that leads to him falling into the world of dreams to get all the elemental powers. Once he is at full strength then he will be able to save the world unless it is already too late. With some vague prophecies at work as well, Will Spyro be able to come out on top or is he in for a rough surprise?

In terms of gameplay this one is very similar to the last game. You still have your combo attacks and projectiles at the ready but this time the enemies won’t just watch as you get ready to fight. No these guys are going in hard now and I died many times during the game. They don’t have a lot of hit stun so when you attack you have to watch out for the immediate counter attack. If you play it wrong then you’re really going to be in a bad spot. What I would recommend is really putting your time slow to use. Yes, in this game you can manipulate time, causing it to slow down to a crawl. It’s really quite handy.

It’s not unlimited though and will take up your energy gauge really quick. Almost like a blink and you’ll miss it kind of speed. So you do have to keep that in mind but it’s still extremely handy. Try a lot of run and gun techniques. Slow down time so you land a combo and then just run out of there. Rinse and repeat until the enemy goes down. The game will walk you through all of the specific element attacks as well and you’ll get the hang of things the more you play the game. Just know that even once you are used to the gameplay style it will not be a walk in the park. This is the kind of game where you really need to work for your victories.

I’m not even sure I would have been able to beat the final boss if not for a glitch showing up at the perfect time to save me. The last boss was really fast and his attacks dished out a bunch of damage but then all of a sudden we were both trapped in a circle where I could hit him but he couldn’t hit me back. I was able to exploit this until he went down and let me tell you it was no easy feat! I had to press the attack button so many times that my thumb was exhausted but I can tell you that it was definitely worth it.

The game’s length is not too long but still ends up being decent. I want to say we had it beat in around 8 hours. That’s considering that I died a whole lot so if you end up being a whiz at this game then you could beat it sooner but I wouldn’t expect to get out of those levels without a scratch. There isn’t any replay value as beating the game takes you back to level 1 so this will all be about your story experience. Most of your deaths will be legit but there were a few times where I died due to some gameplay issues. There is like a 1 in 3 chance that your second jump won’t register in which case you will fall to your doom. It seemed to happen to me quite a bit. If you’re not perfect with the timing then you will sink like a rock so watch out for that.

In terms of the story I suppose this makes sense as the middle of the trilogy because not a lot happens compared to the first game. There are prophecies and a big cliffhanger to set up the third game but if the apes don’t come back then they were more like filler villains to buy time. It’s impressive how strong they were but I’d like the dragons to get some hype back. It seems like they lose to every invader and you’d expect these guys to be made of sterner stuff. Dragons are still supposed to be the strongest animal out there right?

We do get some more lore building on the purple dragons and Spyro himself gets a super form so that was pretty cool. I hope it ends up returning for the third game, that would be great since you don’t get to play as him a whole lot here. In theory he will really hit hard though and every platforming main character needs a super form at some point.

A nice quality of life feature here are the constant checkpoints. When you make a game that’s really hard then it is imperative that you have a lot of checkpoints so you are never thrown too far back into the past. It can be very tragic to have to play the same parts over and over again when these aren’t present. You can also skip cutscenes which is great. You do usually have to watch a few seconds so the skip can load but I’ll take it.

For the most part the soundtrack is more on the forgettable side but the end credits theme was great. It was super emotional and I can’t say that I was really expecting that. It’s a song that has aged really well and it’ll be tough for any Spyro track to top that one. Still if any could do it, it would be the third game as we get the big climax to the saga. Little did people realize that the Spyro series would basically end there.

Overall, Spyro: The Eternal Night is a very solid platformer. Perhaps the devs grew tired of everyone talking about Crash was so much harder so they decided that this time they would get the last laugh. Even if you don’t normally play Spyro, I’d recommend this game to anyone who wants to really test their platforming chops. It’s not easy to make a 3D platformer difficult, particularly one where you can slow down time. Your reaction times will be tested extensively and you feel a great sense of accomplishment when you beat this game. It’s all executed well so you won’t be frustrated even when you lose. No matter how many times it may take, you will be ready!

Overall 7/10

The Sum of All Fears Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a really fun espionage movie with a lot of tensions between Russia and the USA. That always makes for a really fun premise right off the gate but of course the key would be if the writers could capitalize on this. Fortunately they do and this movie makes for a very interesting watch. You should be at the front of your seat the whole time. When you’ve got quality characters and a good story then the pieces are all set for a fun time.

The movie kicks off with the Russian leader dying so now there is a new guy in charge. His name is Nemerov and in general this should be a good thing because he’s less of a hardliner so maybe things can start to deescalate. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case as their activities only seem to worsen as they even use a chemical weapon in a nearby battlefield. The U.S. has to carefully navigate their response to this so they don’t look too weak or too forceful. A big thing both countries are well aware of is the nuclear options they each have that would end all life on Earth. This is where Jack Ryan is called in. He needs to find out exactly what is going on here and additionally, must stop the impending World War III. Right now both countries are on a collision course but perhaps this is all due to someone’s master plan.

One of the reasons why this film stands out is they decided to play it straight with Jack not being a combat officer. He’s an analyst and so that’s what he does in this film. He plans things out, finds out info and tries to always help the country out in that kind of way. He will fight when he absolutely has to which does happen once or twice but he’s not running around guns loaded the whole time. I like my action heroes so I wouldn’t want that all of the time but it works well here. It’s a fun change of pace idea is the best way to put it.

Jack is also a fairly bold character. I like how he has some good back and forth dialogue with Nemerov. Most characters would have backed off but Jack didn’t. Jack was also willing to give his two cents even while the President of the U.S. was in the room. Jack is not lacking in confidence that’s for sure. The deck was really stacked against him most of the time with how much all the characters would get in his way but he didn’t let up.

If anything the only part of the plot that’s really more on the weak side is the romance. Right now he’s dating Catherine but there is a little tension with how his true job causes him to have to go on a short notice from time to time. This whole plot could have just been sidelined to be honest. All the romance moments just feel squeezed in here just to have them when they don’t really enhance the plot at all. Cut them out and the film would be all the stronger for it. Either way 99% of the movie is completely unrelated.

Meanwhile on the Russian side I thought Nemerov made for an interesting antagonist. Basically there is only so much that he can do on his end because there are a lot of Russian dissidents who are against him. So they are causing trouble and framing him for things but he knows that if he goes public with this that it’ll be a sign of weakness and he will be taken out. So he has to play the role of the villain even if it means destroying everything and it’s difficult to claw his way out of that. He’s a fairly strategic character but one without any great options.

On the US side Cabot gets a big role and I thought he was really good. He may not be quite as savvy as Jack on exactly what is going on in Russia but he makes up for this with experience. Cabot plays things by the book and doesn’t take anything personal even if it means that he won’t be very popular in the office. He just does whatever he can to make the country safer in his eyes and it’s not an easy task. Then there is Clark who is more of a field operative compared to Jack. It’s rare to get a big subplot like this in these films but that was fun. I liked the way that he carried himself and Clark could easily be the main character in a different series.

Then you have the President who gets a little emotional but carries himself well. While he is one of the characters who doesn’t buy into Jack’s story about Nemerov you can’t really blame him. It does feel like a longshot to say that he’s not actually responsible. One guy calls Jack an apologist and that is how it would sound to everyone hearing his story. Jack doesn’t have anything close to real evidence that he could use to support his side of the story which puts him in a really rough position. I wouldn’t have believed Jack if I was in that room because he didn’t make any kind of strong case at all. It was an appeal to your emotions which is not the best way to make a case.

A good chunk of the movie has the heroes debating on what to do and how to proceed. It’s nice to see this because you expect that there would be a whole lot of discussion before making any decision once it looks like things are leading up to a war. There are pros and cons to each decision as well so it’s not like this is an easy one. Whatever decision is made, the characters will end up having to live with it for better or worse. I tend to prefer an aggressive approach myself. The characters discuss the whole mutual destruction thing but that will always be a concern so you can’t let the enemy get away with things while using that as an excuse. Ultimately you have to plunge forward and stop them. If the world blows up then so be it but at least everyone will die together as opposed to you just watching as things get worse.

Overall, The Sum of All Fears is a great movie. I could easily recommend it to anyone because it’s just super balanced. Whether you want action, or interesting plot developments then you will be satisfied here. A lot is happening at all times and the characters are really pushed to the breaking point. This is not an easy adventure for anyone but I appreciated actually seeing the Russian side for a while and how the film was really taking the time to discuss tactics and repercussions on both sides. The film went as realistically as it could while keeping the pacing in-tact and that’s not easy. Honestly if you take the romance away this could even be a 9 star movie as it was almost perfect. Give me more political scenes instead and keep the focus on that. It’s just really engaging and the writing is on point. You definitely want to watch this movie.

Overall 8/10