Category Archives: Reviews

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Review

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Xenoblade Chronicles is often thought of as one of the all time great RPGs and I would say it lives up to that. The story is dynamite, the gameplay is a lot of fun, and there is just so much to do within the game. It’s the kind of game that you can play for a very long time and not get bored. The content just keeps on going and the Switch version even has a whole epilogue to it. So now you’ve got extra content on top of a game that was already very long. This game is definitely a bargain at any price.

The game starts off by showing us a war between Mechonis and Bionis. After a large scale war, Bionis won and the world was finally at peace. Unfortunately it would not last forever. Several years later, Mechonis has returned and now the fighting is intensifying. Local researcher genius Shulk will now have to wield the legendary Monado Blade to fight back. The blade is so powerful that it cannot be controlled by most people and then injures the people who do wield it for too long. Shulk seems impervious to the effects but for how long? Also while he uses it, he appears to be able to see bits of the future. Maybe he can save the whole universe now!

There are a lot of positives to get into here but the first one has to be just how fast the story gets going. You start the game off with a massive war, and then another invasion a few cutscenes later. The game isn’t trying to bog you down with a long intro, you’re just thrown into the mix. The pacing stays pretty fast throughout the game and well the main tory is around 50 hours to get through so that’s a whole lot of content. There are hundreds and hundreds of side quests to play through as well, and optional bond moments too.

The game is also reasonably difficult so you are really encourages to go around completing a lot of side quests to get stronger. Doing this is the best way to really make sure you are ready for action. I spent many hours just fighting minions to get stronger and let me yell you, it was absolutely needed. The amount of times I was destroyed by a boss was very high. The villains are given a lot of respect in the power levels department so as Shulk you do feel like the underdog. This works well with the story.

The game also handled the future sight really well. It’s generally hard for any character to land a hit on Shulk. He’s much too fast, skilled, and powerful with that ability. Then to counter it, we have enemies who can read minds who turn that against him or other times when Shulk is not doing well and temporarily loses his abilities. It helps to keep things balanced. The story changes a lot throughout the adventure as we meet many different factions and fighters. They’re all well thought out and as always RPGs do have a huge advantage here because of how long you’re with the characters. How could you not grow to like them after being on the journey for so long right?

As for the gameplay, it’s a turn based system with a little auto attacking. Think of it like .Hack. So every second hat you run around and don’t click on anything, you will do an auto attack. This builds up your Monado gauge for powerful attacks. Additionally you can cycle through your signature moves and use any of those at any time. These deal a whole lot of damage and are really good to have in the pocket. They all have a cooldown though so you want to be careful about when you use them.

Meanwhile you can switch characters and use their abilities as well. Then there are combo hits and a lot of other mechanics to go through. This is a very involved game and then you can also level up the attacks when you find the book that activates the upgrade. Most of these are found in shops for lower levels and then at the highest levels you have to find specific enemies to drop them. As a result it can take a while to get the exact item that you want. Quick saving and reloading is probably the easiest way to get around the low percentage drops.

Throughout the game you will be asked to complete tasks which gets you money and exp as well as some good items. I was extremely impressed at the hundreds of missions in the game. That’s pretty much unheard of for virtually any game. It’s a staggering amount and I had to complete nearly all of them in order to become strong enough to beat the game. That’s how I knew that this game meant business. It’s also nice that for all of the fetch quests, the map does show you where to find them. Doing this blind would have been absolutely brutal.

The worlds are absolutely huge after all so these quality of life features were greatly appreciated. Yet another thing that shows why Xenoblade Chronicles is such an elite title. A lesser game would have still had you searching blind the whole time which would have been rough. There are also a few mechanics I didn’t get to try out much like trading materials with different passerbys. I also didn’t do most of the bond missions and just leveled them up naturally by fighting enemies.

There are so many different ways to equip and form your party that the possibilities are nearly endless as well. If hypothetically the levels ups were not enough, then I would have done a lot of tweaking in my party until I found the right balance. It’s another area where trial and error is a good idea. Meanwhile the technical aspects are top tier as you’d expect. The soundtrack is excellent with a whole lot of great rock tunes. The main battle theme is a true all star and all of the other tunes hold their own as well. Meanwhile the graphics are great. I really enjoyed the battles within the cutscenes and of course the effects during gameplay as well. The game never lacked for detail.

Overall, This was a top tier game. It’s just really hard to beat a good RPG! It was also nice to finally see Shulk in action. His personality here is definitely quite a bit different than in Super Smash Bros but you still get the general idea. It always gives me a lot of high respect for how Sakurai really adapted the moves and lines from the game. It really makes his moveset in Smash a true celebration of his character. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is still the best one but this holds its own. I’ll be eager to see how X ends up faring.

Overall 9/10

NFL Rivals Review

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It was finally time to check out another sports mobile title. NFL Rivals looked pretty fun and I gotta say that my hunch was spot on this time. The gameplay is really smooth and it’s a lot like playing Madden itself. The game has an impressive amount of modes to play through as well so it is definitely not lacking in content. It can take a while to get to the challenging parts though as the whole intro is about giving you more and more stuff every minute. It feels like you will have to play for many hours before you get out of the new player phase and really get to have a blast out there.

You first have to set up your team with the free cards that you get. Then you go through a bit of a tutorial as you play through a lot of game moments and eventually you start with the online battles and season mode. You will get tons of rewards as you play and you use those to supercharge your team all the way through. Keep that going and you’ll have a superstar team in no time. You fully play offense in this game as defense is totally simulated. I’m definitely cool with that, I think defense is a lot harder to code and generally speaking it’s not as fun anyway. Why play defense when you can play offense right?

It’s all touchpad controlled of course so the main plays you can call will be passing ones. When you hike the ball, you watch where the players are going and then hold down on the screen. This will slow down time for a few moments while you make a decision. Hold the screen for too long and time will resume though so keep that in mind. You also can run the ball but often times it just doesn’t seem to be as worth it. It will work sometimes and not other times. You just have less control over what is going on when running vs passing. When you pass, 9/10 times if it doesn’t go right it’s because you made a mistake.

You can also punt although I didn’t do that at all during the game. There is also the field goals and those are fun while also being reasonably difficult. The meter can really speed up on you and then you’re absolutely left in a rough spot. In most cases you should go for it unless you’re really close to the goal and are confident in your field goal skills. I’d recommend practicing on them during blowout wins where it doesn’t matter if you make the shot or not. That’s how I would practice at least.

Each game is pretty fun as you receive your rewards and the matches are also pretty fast since you’re only playing offense. You can easily fit in a bunch during a small play session and that’s the right approach for any mobile game. Ideally these are games you will be playing when you have little chunks of available time so you definitely don’t have the freedom for long battles. After all at that point you would probably just be playing the console version of Madden right?

This game gives you near infinite replay value and a lot of fun along the way. I don’t see what more they could really add to a Football game to make it even better so this one definitely stands near the top. Additionally there is even a way to make a little money on it but I stress the “Little” in this so don’t download the game in hopes of making money. It’s more like you might make a few dollars after playing through the game a whole lot. So it’s a fun bonus but not something that you should have as an actual incentive.

The graphics are pretty good here. I’m not particularly surprised though, mobile games often look really good. The amount of polish that goes into them is always really impressive. They definitely make an investment on games like this and the big ones really pay off. This would definitely be an example of a winning title. They even have guilds and such to support your teammates. I could see myself sticking with this game long term if I had found out about it much sooner. At this point my main mobile spot is really taken up by Pokemon Go but otherwise this one would be a contender. It’s just that Pokemon Go is simply too good. Maybe Madden will one day find a way to catch up to Pokemon but I’m not sure if that would even be possible.

Overall, NFL Rivals is a game that I would highly recommend. The gameplay is well thought out and while the sheer amount of content can be a little overwhelming at times, I would say that game’s menus are handled in a very logical manner. It helps to mitigate how vast the game feels and let you take it one mode at a time. Yes, definitely no issues there. If you don’t play this game then you will really be missing out. Don’t let that happen to you and download the game asap!

Overall 8/10

Donkey Kong ’94 Review

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It’s time for the return of Donkey Kong. This is one of Mario’s first ever antagonists and I can tell you that nobody ever expected he would end up becoming the great hero that he is today. Well, that wasn’t the case here as he’s up to his old tricks in kidnapping Pauline so now Mario has to stop him. This time DK is well prepared though and has hidden behind dozens and dozens of levels. Can Mario get through them all in time to save her? One thing’s for sure, it’s unlikely that Pauline would be friends with DK again after all of this.

The gameplay initially starts off with the classic Donkey Kong style as you jump through the different floors and try to dodge all the barrels. The level then ends once you reach the top. Well after a few levels of this the game transforms into a more standard platformer and this is when things get real. Each world has levels in multiples of 4 where you fight DK every 4. So some worlds have 8 levels while others have up to 16. It’s definitely a lot of levels to get through. The objective in the platforming levels is to get the key and bring it over to the chest in order to open it. This may sound easy but as the levels go, there are more and more obstacles in your path.

I was pretty impressed at different points with how creative the game would get. It was also rather difficult, certainly a lot more difficult than you would expect a game to be nowadays. Nintendo was not holding back so you can expect to die a number of times here. All it takes is to mistime one of your jumps and it is curtains. You can throw your key around to get past some but if you don’t pick it up within a few seconds, it will respawn back to where you first grabbed it. So you often have to move really fast or you will have just lost a bunch of ground for no reason.

The levels tend to be on the smaller side so it doesn’t feel bad if you lose too much though. Ultimately it comes down to having a plan. As long as you know what you are going to do then time will rarely if ever be a problem for you. Sometimes you just can’t execute your plan quick enough so there will be a degree of trial and error here. Just don’t give up, keep on swinging and eventually you will make it. If you’re super stuck, try looking for an alternate path because sometimes you’re just looking at the puzzle all wrong.

The toughest parts are definitely when a level has different arrow orbs. These create blocks that can be climbed or walked on depending on where you pout them. They often end up being the toughest because there are tons of ways to use them since you choose where they go. In most puzzles, you’re figuring out how to use equipment that has been put in specific places so that is way easier. Well, just keep your composure and you’ll be fine.

The graphics are pretty good. The game looks nice throughout from the backgrounds to the character designs and items. It has that Nintendo charm to it at all times. The soundtrack is more forgettable but DK games rarely keep pace with the classic Mario titles anyway. As long as they’re close, I suppose that’s the important thing. The story mode will take you a decent time to get through thanks to all of the levels. Probably 3-4 hours if I had to guess and potentially a bit more depending on how many times you need to try again. You’re getting a pretty decent bang for your buck even if it’s not crazy long or anything like that.

I guess my biggest piece of advice when playing the game is to try not stopping much. It’s better to take the wrong approach and lose a life than to be left wondering what to do and lose when the time runs out. The timer isn’t especially high so it will run out rather quickly and in the worst case you will be just as lost when you respawn. At least when you die from the first method you can rule that out as an option. It’s not like the levels are crazy complex so just knowing one way that isn’t correct will really help you narrow things down.

As for the boss fights, those are pretty self explanatory. You have to hit Dk with the barrels that he drops down. Keep the pressure on him and you’ve got this. Unlike the levels, I would say the bosses always tend to be pretty easy. Not crazy easy like you can close your eyes during them or anything like that but easy enough where I don’t expect you will die much at all. It’s just not that game.

Overall, Donkey Kong is definitely a fun game. It takes you back to a simpler time of gaming and it holds up really nicely. I’d be up for more titles like this one. The whole transporting the key around thing was definitely really creative. The Mario vs DK series is still kicking so there is always a chance to keep on making new games like this one. Until then, you should definitely check this out on the Nintendo Switch Online. There is no downside to doing it after all so why not right?

Overall 7/10

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Lord of Darkness Review

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Uh oh, it’s another strategy type game! Lord of Darkness takes thing further than the first game in regards to how realistic they are going with the simulation. You now have to worry about supplies and 7 different kinds of locations in addition to the battles. As a result there is far less gameplay than in the first one. The difficulty of the battles themselves appears to have been lessened but the game itself is just as difficult as always because of all the other factors you have to worry about. The more you have to keep track of everything, the more you will quickly find yourself being absolutely shut down. Ultimately, you’re doomed here.

The game has only 2 scenarios instead of 3 this time but maybe you unlock the third later on. The main goal of the game is really to go in and conquer all of the world. Along the way you will have to fight or ally with other team leaders. Of course the whole quest feels virtually endless with how the other armies keep popping up like whack a moles. Defeat one of them and another 3 come in to take their place. Trust me, it’s not ideal when you like to see your progress going up. I felt the same way for De Blob 2 and Paper Mario: Color Splash. I never like the idea of enemies recapturing different locations that I already got.

The only exception I can think of is Dynasty Warriors since it’s all happening in real time and it’s on the same level. So it doesn’t feel as bad when I lose a piece of land compared to other games where it means a whole lot of back tracking. I would argue that it is a completely different circumstance to be honest. Then this game is also just very complex with how the supplies are handled. You can give orders once a month so you have to be very complete with them. Try addressing as many areas as possible because the wait to the next month will be absolutely brutal. Of course on the other hand this also means that each month will be really time consuming.

The enemies seem to be a lot more relaxed this time around though so I made it through many seasons without being attacked. That also means that the game gets downright boring though. You’ve also got a lot of RNG elements here like floods that come washing in and illnesses that take chunks out of the general populace. Why add RNG to a heavy strategy game like this? The answer might be that it tests your strategic skills in an ever changing environment but it just makes you less invested since your well thought out plans can be done in an instant.

The graphics are okay at best but it’s clear that they were not a big priority here. There’s also not much of a soundtrack at all. I can say that they did put a lot of effort into the gameplay so I’ll give them some props there. It just wasn’t any fun and ultimately that is the most important part of any game. Who is going to play a video game that they don’t think is an absolute blast? It just wouldn’t make sense and so this one just forgot to be super fun. I’m sure strategy fans may get a kick out of this one but it definitely does not have the kind of widespread appeal that you would like to see here.

In terms of quality of life features, the game could definitely stand to label the units. They’re all very easy to mix up. The difference comes down to their weapons and flags. If you really pay attention then you will know what they all represent but having a basic map on screen would be nice. In a more modern adventure you wouldn’t need that since the game would have way more details but in this case it is an absolute necessity. It’s certainly an instance where the game’s technical limitations really came back to bite it.

There’s not a whole lot more to get into with this game. You can activate multiplayer which can make things a little more fun but the sheer chunk of time that it would take up would probably end up hurting quite a bit. With two players that is basically double the amount of time that it would take to clear each game and that’s assuming that one of the other 25 computers doesn’t win. So if you’re going to do a multiplayer battle this is probably not the title to use.

Overall, I would say to avoid this game. Even though it’s free, there just isn’t much fun to be had here. The menus are way too extensive and the gameplay is too limited. I would probably rather read a book about the warring states than play through this one. I can’t say that I find the period too engaging even on a good day but there are ways to make it interesting. Perhaps a modern PS5 remake would prove to be different but in the meantime this is definitely a full on skip.

Overall 2/10

Uncharted Waters: New Horizons Review

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Okay this one is actually a bit more brutal than the Nobunaga’s Ambition title. For starters there is still combat but it’s even slower and the bartering is even more detailed. Well, I’m jumping into this a little out of order so let me slow down here. Lets just say this isn’t like the Uncharted games that you’re used to. No sir, this is a very different experience and unfortunately I can’t exactly say that in a good way. I suppose there is a whole lot of water though.

So the game starts off by letting you choose from a bunch of characters. It probably makes a difference on how the game starts off so I picked the guy who seemed the most well rounded. You start off by talking to a bunch of people to get your starting equipment. Some food, water, men, items, and of course a boat. Now what you gotta do is travel the world and buy/sell items of commerce in order to get things rolling.

This is of course where the game starts to really lose a whole lot of steam. It’s just not a fun kind of gameplay. For starters you have to monitor the going prices on each island. Say Island A sells corn for $5, but island B sells it for $3. You want to go to Island B and buy a lot of it, then go sell to Island A where they really need it. Multiply this by over 20 different items and of course factor in that you need to have enough money to invest in buying more food for your men as well as to buy more material to buy. Amp up the confusion even higher when you have to deal with pirates that are running around.

These fights are hard to win and take a lot of men. If too many die, then you’re going to have to find more at another island which will of course take even more fuel out of your tanks. That’s not good. Did I mention that you can also run into random storms that eat up materials? Bet you didn’t think of that one….and if you die at sea it’s a full game over. There is no save point to go back to. You have to start from scratch. In a way it’s sort of like Digimon World Next Order where the intro is the toughest part as you will lose a few generations on getting the basics going but by the mid game you are really well prepared for what’s next.

Difference is that I don’t have a really enjoyable story and fun graphics to incentivize me to do all of that. No, instead I’m supposed to just enjoy the process and that’s not good enough for me. There is a story here of course as you’re taking someone back to his kingdom, helping a stowaway, etc. There’s also a war going on but none of it is particularly captivating. It doesn’t move you the way that a more interesting story could have. I know there were some technical limitations back in the day but it didn’t stop a lot of other big SNES titles that I’ve played back in the day. No sir, those just kept on trucking through.

The most I can say for the game is that it looks pretty nice. It reminds me of the old Final Fantasy titles. It’s peaceful to be moving around without any wild encounters running around. It feels like a long time since I could just explore the hub world like that so it was really a good change of pace. It even made me think that the game could have been good if it was limited to just the island. Maybe you’re the mayor and you have to take care of folks with a lot of trading. I think that could have actually worked out well but this one was just too ambitious for what it was trying to do. It ultimately was doomed to not be able to succeed this time.

Now just to leave the series some hope, the other way it could work out is if they made this into a big MMORPG. Imagine this scale but all of the people running around are actually real people. It’s why that genre always had a lot of potential. I don’t see myself really getting involved in any of those because honestly that would be extremely time consuming but I do get the appeal. If you are ever going to make a trading game that is actually fun, I don’t see any other way around it. You need to add that social element to the game, it would make you heavily invested. Particularly if there are social guilds and everything since then you don’t want to let your party down.

Overall, Uncharted Waters is not a good video game, I would even go as far as to call it a pretty bad one. I actually think it could be a good educational tool for kids but in that case the gameplay is a bit too difficult. They would need to find some kind of a solid middle ground but ultimately this just isn’t it. This is not the game that will really change things for folks and that may be unfortunate but it’s just the way that it goes. I can see why this game never got all that huge. I like to say that I am a fan of strategy titles but perhaps I’ve been overrating myself in that department. These definitely show that I’m still out of my depths past a certain point. I need some kind of excitement to get me going. Unlike fighting games or platformers, the gameplay alone cannot carry the game.

Overall 2/10

Nobunaga’s Ambition Review

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It’s time to get into the old time strategy games on the SNES. Nobunaga’s Ambition is definitely a game that everybody has heard of but I’m sorry to say that it has not aged well in practice. The gameplay takes too long to get to and there is too much RNG. Hardcore strategy fans will have a kick with this but it is lacking the quality of life features that would make this a winner. You end up watching more than actually participating which is not a good idea. Maybe one of the sequels will do the trick but I have my doubts.

The game starts off very ambitiously as you decide how many players will be participating between 0 and 8. Yes, 0 is an option as you can then watch the war going on. I tried that mode once and watched for about 10 years of in game time but the war just never ends. The world is too large so when one faction gets a lot of land, the others end up capturing some eventually. It’s an eternal war you can say. When you are actually playing the game with 8 people you can prevent that but of course it will still take a while. Playing as one person? Well you’re going to get crushed.

I do appreciate the game allowing you to choose if you want to watch the computer’s turns or not though. I made sure to say no because the game would absolutely take forever if you did that. Each match is a very long experience because of the amount of details put into it and watching all of the 28 countries duke it out would really take forever. When it’s your turn, you can choose to attack a neighboring country, make a deal with them, or flat out bribe their citizens to join your country. I suspect these options don’t really begin working until you have a lot of money and prestige though because I tried on several accounts and it just didn’t work. Even with rewind so I know the chance was 0% there.

As for fighting, well that’s something you can win but without rewind I imagine you would be dying a lot. When the match starts, you position where you will put your men. The kicker? You don’t actually know where the opponent will put their men until the match has actually started. So worst case your king will be immediately surrounded. If that happens then you are really cooked because it’s not just a loss if your king is defeated, it’s an instant game over! It’s quite the harsh punishment.

You also keep all injuries and deaths from the previous rounds. So lets say you start with 100 men and lose about 30 in the first fight. Well, now you will have 70 fighters left for round 2 and that number will only continue to be reduced in each ensuing battle. That’s I guess where the bartering would come in. You can try to buy and sell rice and even order more men but it’ll cost you gold. So in addition to the fights you have to really take all of that into account as well. You’re also surrounded by 2-4 enemies no matter who you pick to play as so you have to hope that they don’t all attack you back to back. If they do then you’re really in trouble.

Sites list the game as 50+ hours and I can definitely see why. I imagine that eventually you will beat enough opponents to really make a name for yourself and improve your reputation but it’s definitely not going to be easy and is going to be a long time. You will have to suffer some losses to give your other forces time to marshal their defenses. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Where some modern quality of life features could have helped would be with the speed of combat and the little cutscenes here and there. If you remove those then everything probably gets to be a whole lot easier.

As far as the graphics go, the game looks quite old. None of the character models are all that descriptive and the game also just throws you right into the fire. If you want a tutorial then you’d best look for that online because you won’t be seeing anything here. No as far as this game goes, you just need to try your best. There’s not much of a soundtrack but I wasn’t really expecting that anyway. This is an old time war game so it’s meant to be very somber.

To me there just isn’t a lot of incentive to playing this. If you want to try and take over the world, I imagine it would be much more fun irl in a dungeons and dragons kind of setup. One of those real rpg games where you play with everyone and just enjoy the game itself. That’s the way to do this kind of game rather than in a video game. Still, this game got enough sequels where it makes sense that a lot of people do have a good time with it. I will also say, it is still better than Harvest Moon for what it’s worth although I can’t see myself playing either game for very long.

Overall, Nobunaga’s Ambition just makes you want to play some Dynasty Warriors. I think that series spoiled me a bit because uniting the world through combat just makes way more sense than this strategy title. If you’re gong to do strategy, then do it in a straight forward way like in Fire Emblem. You keep the strategy fights while also not having to worry about the smaller stuff like supplies, grain, etc. Just focus all the way on the combat. Hey it’s free on the Switch if you have the online though so maybe you ought to give it a shot.

Overall 3/10

Plane Review

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

It’s time for a thriller and I remember seeing this trailer several times when the film was coming out. Sometimes you just like to see a fairly basic action title and this one definitely fits the bill on that level. There is quite a bit of action here and the characters have to surpass some real difficult odds. The film is fun the whole way through and the weakest aspect is really just that there aren’t any really great members of the crew outside of the main cast.

The film starts with Brodie getting ready for a fairly routine flight. He’s a solid pilot and has seen his share of action over the years. He’s flown through all kinds of weather so when the company forces him to chart a path right through a storm, he isn’t overly worried. He is less than pleased at also being surprised to find out that he will be transporting a criminal as well but doesn’t really get an option about that. Well, naturally the storm does impact the plane and they are forced to have an emergency landing in the middle of enemy territory. They are now being attacked by legions of powerful tribesmen. Can Brodie and Louis (The convict) team up to save everybody or will they ultimately fall to this attack?

I would say the film does a pretty good job at building some tension early during the flight although it was pushing it a bit to have Brodie leave the controls to check on everyone during a massive storm. I’m thinking it was to get him banged up and show how serious this was but there had to be a better way to do that. Still, once they land the film moves pretty fast. Brodie and Louis exploring the island is pretty fun and Brodie even gets to use his expert skills to get the phone working.

The first fight is definitely on the weaker side though. It was really just a long grapple and I was expecting a lot more hand to hand there. I’m thinking that’s because this was made to be a really down to Earth film so this is supposed to be what fighting is really like but I’ll take a cinematic battle any day. The gun fights we get later on are definitely a lot more solid and I would argue that’s usually rare. Typically I would expect the hand to hand battles to really be the highlight in a film like this.

Ah well, I suppose the film couldn’t do it all. On the gun fighting, I was glad they showed just how useful a good sniper can be. He took out most of the enemies on his own. If anything, I think they could have potentially won that fight outright since he just needed a few more shots. By the very end we do get into some Storm Trooper status as everyone keeps on missing but the film made clear the difference between a master operative who does this for a living and the random terrorists.

I also really enjoyed the subplot with corporate talking tough from home base. You had the sleazy CEO type guy who refuses to help no matter what since he is worried about his reputation. He would absolutely just let everybody back to die if it would help his image. Then you have the consultant who is good at situations like this. He comes in insulting everybody and gets right to business. This guy is definitely the standout character of the film because without him calling in backup and getting things ready, the heroes would have been absolutely cooked.

I’d even say it’s almost like a twist because for a while there you are basically expecting Brodie to do everything himself. Instead in this case he actually has a whole lot of backup who come in clutch to help out. It makes this into a bit of a team up film which initially you thought it would just be with the main two. They still do a good chunk of the work but they get a good amount of help against the waves of enemies. In the end it also helps with the whole realism angle.

So Brodie works well as the main character. He’s a tough fighter and never gives up as he fights on. I do think he had a pretty bad plan at the end though when he’s ready to give himself up. I get the noble sacrifice play and all but giving yourself up is never the right move. All it does it open yourself up to a whole lot of trouble. There’s rarely if ever any real benefit to doing this and you have better odds trying to fight your way out. Yeah your odds are lousy there too, but at least they aren’t 0.

Then Louis also does well with his combat experience. The guy has been around for a long time and he takes out some of the enemies right away. I was surprised if anything how shocked and hesitant Brodie was. In this situation you have to take the out as quickly as possible since jail is not an option and using lethal measures is a must. Without Louis, Brodie was definitely not going to last long here. At the end of the day Louis definitely proved himself when it counted.

As for the rest of the crew, they’re just generally awful. They panic and yell the whole time and then when they’re obviously in strange territory they still run up to the cars approaching. It’s not like it would have changed things much if they had stayed back but everyone knows not to run up to those. Then later on when it’s time to escape, they grumble about the method. None of them seemed to have any common sense or even a sense of urgency about them. It’s always rough to see the NPC type characters acting like this because you just expect better. I’ll give some kudos to Brodie’s co-pilot and one of the stewardesses but aside from them the others were just making too many bad decisions.

As you can expect given the circumstances, there is definitely a bit of a body count here. The characters are getting bumped off left and right and the film can definitely get rather violent. It’s definitely a case where I think it could have been more extreme but it’s enough to probably caution you about either way. Know that you’re getting into an intense film with this one but you could probably guess that. The film has solid writing and pacing throughout so it all goes pretty quickly. The film never lingers on any one moment for too long.

Overall, Plane is a fun film. It can definitely get rather intense and the villains are always annoying to see but you’ll enjoy it more than you don’t. While the passengers panicking and generally getting in the way may be realistic, it doesn’t make their scenes any less annoying. You absolutely do not want to get stuck with them on your side. They won’t be able to back you up at all or come in handy and will only put you in more danger. If you’re in a plane crash, you’re definitely going to want to put some distance between you and the others as soon as possible.

Overall 6/10

McQ Review

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It’s time for one of those thrillers that doesn’t always make a ton of sense and people act out of character for no real reason but at the end of the day we accept this for the plot. I wouldn’t put it in the same conversation as any of the truly great thrillers but at the end of the day it’s not bad. It will keep you entertained on just how over the top it can be the whole time. McQ definitely does whatever he feels like.

The movie starts off with a cop looking corrupt and there are some shootings and handling of mysterious packages. Shortly afterwards the final cop is murdered and then we’re introduced to McQ. McQ is one of the most intense detectives out there but as a result he doesn’t play well with others. He’s an absolute solo act and I can tell you this right off the bat, you don’t want to get in his way. His partner was one of the guys who got bumped off so he wants to quickly find out what happened. He will have to get through a whole conspiracy though.

Whether you like the film or not will probably depend in large part on how much you like McQ. The guy always has a bit of an odd look on his face although I would describe it as he looks like he’s going to cry as opposed to it being a tough guy look. It’s pretty true to form with how often he gets rocked in the movie though. He walks into every possible trap and is on the back foot almost the whole time. I think he’s meant to be portrayed as an absolute powerhouse but it just didn’t come across that way for me. He had me shaking his head when he walked in on the villains and they made him drop the gun. Which time? Oh that’s tough since it happens more than once…

I do appreciate that he just beats up the villains whenever he wants but of course that makes it easy for him to be demoted as well. Then once he’s off the cops it is even harder to gather evidence…or is it? He basically has free reign to all of the police facilities and equipment anyway since nobody seems to care that he quit. He’s pals with everybody so they just laugh and give him experimental new guns. In some ways I might even say that this is super realistic but still I think it was maybe played up just a litttttttle bit more than I would think it should.

It’s at the point where they may as well have had him working for the cops the whole time because it didn’t actually impact the plot pretty much at all. He’s basically still a cop the whole time although where things get crazy is near the end as the cops are hunting him with the dog and are definitely going to injure him badly before he escapes. Makes the ending a little more interesting hehe. Again this is not a film that you are really watching for the logic so you don’t want to pay too much attention to any of that. Just remind yourself that this is just how things go when McQ is on the case.

I think the real low point for him is when he goes to get intel from one of the girls who has been on the scene for a while. You might be expecting a James Bond type moment where he woos her into revealing the info and that would be a bad enough scene but it actually gets worse for him. She basically says that she won’t say anything unless he has a one night stand with her and the guy has no rebuttal so he just goes ahead and does it. The guy has absolutely no main character energy to be letting himself get pulled into something like that. It’s such a sad scene for him and he needed to find another way. I mean it’s not like he has too many morals since he brought her some drugs to bribe her but I was still expecting a little better.

Yeah McQ is pretty shady. At least he is a good shot like when he takes someone down at the beginning of the film from a long distance. The film just can’t decide if he’s this ultra powerful vigilante or someone who is completely out of his depth. I’m inclined to pick the latter. Meanwhile his supervisor is absolutely unhinged the whole time. He tries to say that he is McQ’s friend but the actions would have you believing otherwise. He is constantly yelling and doing his best to destroy McQ while also yelling “I told you so”s throughout the movie.

In the climax we have a pretty interesting shootout but McQ forgets that he has the mega cluster gun for part of this battle. He should have used that as the cars were driving in and it would have easily murdered the driver both times. Instead he plays it safe so the climax takes a bit longer. In true thriller style we get a whole bunch of twists near the end. One of them feels like it was spoiled during the intro scene tbh but the characters don’t act like it’s a big shock anyway so maybe that’s the point.

All in all, the story itself is interesting but I dare say that the film’s leaps in logic are even more interesting. Yes, you want to see what’s going to happen but you’re more curious about what McQ is going to do next. Is he going to buy a gun while he is forbidden from owning one by the cops? Will he try playing vigilante as he chases a laundry truck down the street only to pick the wrong one? Will he even go as far as to beat someone up in the bathroom? McQ is always one step ahead of the movie audience and in a way that’s admirable. I feel like the film is 2 degrees short of going into comedy mode at times with how seriously the film portrays itself as.

Overall, I had a good amount of fun with the film. I feel like it’s not always in the way that the film had planned but hey it works for me. The film balances the seriousness of the case with a good amount of light hearted moments as well. The over the top cheesy ending is really the cherry on top here. I would recommend checking this movie out. It’s not great but as a random stand alone film it actually manages to be rather memorable. Whether you keep up with the film or not, you will certainly be entertained. Just try to make it past the unbearable romance scenes which do drag quite a bit.

Overall 7/10

Red River Review

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It’s time for a big Western. You’ve definitely got a lot going on in this title. You’ve got your gunfights, the slow descent into madness, and even a touch of romance. Yes this film has it all but ultimately it still didn’t end up being an all star for me. I would say the main thing that ends up holding it back when it counts is that the cast isn’t all that great. They can all be a little tough to root for at times.

The movie starts off with Dunson and his friend Groot splitting up from their platoon to go and take some land. They want to eventually grow rich and have cattle everywhere. It was always tough to really grow in these days because there was always a rich person somewhere trying to hog up all the land. In this case it’s a guy named Diego, but Dunson shoots the messenger and dares the guy to attack. This is just the start of the madness that will follow. Will Dunson be able to take over the land while keeping his moral compass or will he eventually become one of the corrupt overlords that he was challenging? The kid named Matt that Dunson picked up will be able to see what happens first-hand.

The benefit of being such a long film is that you can really show how Dunson gradually changes as the years get by. He starts off on a rather heroic note, then starts to get a bit edgy, until he gradually becomes a full fledged villain. He really changes a whole lot from the start to the end and the movie did a good job of keeping it from being rushed. I would argue that the only part which was a bit rushed was the very ending but otherwise it was all handled pretty well. You definitely get to root against Dunson as you see him go off the deep end.

It’s also tough for the rest of the men because they simply don’t have the skill that Dunson has. This was still in the days where being the best with a gun gave you a lot of power. Yes, people could stop him if they ganged up on him but it’s hard to attack knowing that somebody on your side is going to die. Also for a while there he did have protection from Matt who was the next best shooter around. I would give credit to some of the guy who opposed Dunson but for the most part they would always do so with trickery and trying to slip away so it wasn’t quite as impressive.

I was glad that Matt ultimately knew when it was time to take a stand. It took him a while but he did act before anything that couldn’t be reversed could happen. It was intense to see the whole cast be constantly afraid of their own shadows with Dunson on the loose though. It showed just what an effect he had and how great his skills were. Even by the end you could argue that he was still the single best shooter in the land. In a one on one serious fight I’m not sure that Matt could actually take him.

Matt does look a bit unserious during the climax though. We get yet another one of those romances that goes by way too quickly without much real development. Matt also looks extra petty here because he was acting such a big game about not being driven into romance and then he still cracked immediately. In fact the heroine Tess was upset because she thought that he got the wrong impression of her but it seemed to be correct given how quickly things progressed in a single night. So the whole thing just makes you wince because it was a poor look for both characters. I suppose that’s just how it goes sometimes.

I enjoyed Matt’s rival Valance. That guy was a real good shot and gave us some good banter. He gets written out quite a bit in the second half though until a quick moment at the end. The moment is super intense when it starts because we see him making the hard call and showing why he was a loyal friend. The problem is that the outcome just doesn’t make him look particularly good and he’s completely forgotten about. It’s a really dark end for him and the tonal whiplash with the ending is crazy. It’s all treated as being really light hearted and everything despite what just happened. It doesn’t actually make any sense.

In general I thought the ending was extremely weak and did not feel deserved. The last 180 didn’t really make any sense and too much damage had already been done. The concept of the ending is fine and all but you really need a proper path to get there and I would argue that this film veered away from it a long time ago. So for me it was all just too fast and I would have ended with a proper duel. It would be a sad ending but I think it also would have made a whole lot of sense.

Finally I should also mention that Dunson’s friend Groot wasn’t bad. He was also loyal but perhaps to a fault. he would let the guy know when he made a mistake but wouldn’t do anything about it. I would have preferred if Groot had put more distance between himself and Dunson as the film went on. I suppose it’s not like there was much of a place for him to go but even just officially terminating the friendship would have been a good start there. Really letting him know that he has gone too far.

Also while it was a normal thing back then, it’s still rough to see them burning brands directly onto the horses and other livestock. It should have been obvious even back then that it would hurt the animal so the fact that this was going on throughout the film made it even harder to root for the main characters. It’s just not a humane way to treat these creatures who are just doing their best. It’s why you don’t feel so bad when they start to run over the humans during the stampede.

Overall, This is a movie that really shows how people can change under stressful times. If the main characters had not undergone such a huge journey then they would have all been very different people. A lot of them would still be friends and we wouldn’t have seen just how drastic some characters could be. Dangerous life or death moments really bring out a person’s true self and often times it is something that you might not have expected otherwise. You don’t really know someone until that moment strikes and so it makes for a pretty interesting watch. At the same time, it does mean that we are without a great main character for most of the film and Matt is never really able to fill Dunson’s role. It’s not my favorite western but it was still good enough and I would recommend checking it out if you like the genre.

Overall 6/10

Titan A.E. Review

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It’s time for an old sci-fi adventure! After all the year is pretty old by this point. It’s been almost 30 years and so now this could even be called retro. Fortunately I can say that it is retro in a good way. The animation holds up quite nicely and the battle scenes are on point. It’s a strong film all around with solid execution across each field. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is one film that you don’t want to miss.

The film starts off with an alien race called the Drej showing up and exterminating the humans. They blow up Earth and so now there are very few Earthlings left alive. One of these is a guy named Cale, whose father died tragically during the big attack. Cale is now going through a rebellious phase where he’s just rude to everybody and doesn’t care much about his species. Well, this all changes when he is targeted for elimination by the Drej and is saved by another human named Joseph. Joseph has some kind of plan to flip everything around but is Cale really ready to risk his life against tremendous odds? It’s not exactly a safe option here.

Well, to be fair Cale also isn’t given much of a choice. If he didn’t go with Joseph then he would die on the spot and once he’s on the ship it’s not like he can ask them to turn around. Fortunately for Cale, he is a tough guy so he takes this in stride. The film has a whole lot of banter going on the whole time as Cale is constantly taking shots. The thing is, he isn’t really able to back up all the tough talk as humans appear to be far weaker than virtually all of the other species. Defeating Cale appears to be an easy feat for pretty much everybody. I still like his spunk though. Cale plays a good role in why the film is solid.

His character type is one that you’ve seen before. He starts off as a total punk but gradually starts to believe in the mission and even gets heroic. It’s a journey that works pretty well here and that is always crucial for a film like this since a lot of it is built around the main hero. Additionally this means we get quite a bit of nice banter between several characters. One of whom is the main heroine Akima. She’s also rather tough and so she doesn’t back down. This means we get quite a bit of intense dialogue between the two of them. Yeah you can assume this will turn into a cliche romance later on but initially the banter is still fun.

The animation also really pops out at you. I really enjoyed the designs for the Drej. They look like really cool cybernetic fighters which adds to the horror factor. Since they are made out of energy, you also can’t hope to defeat them through normal means. In fact, there are very few ways to stop them at all so it’s clear why humanity lost. While the average Drej fighter feels fairly character-less, they still make for good obstacles.

Meanwhile the music is also really good. The soundtrack definitely has a solid 80s feel to it and a lot of times animated films tend to sound rather standard. This one decided to be different and absolutely succeeded. Each song works really well and they also helped you feel the grand scale of the movie. The universe is at stake after all so it should sound like that. It’s things like this that can really help a film succeed.

Of course the same is true for characters so lets get back to those. Akima is definitely a fun heroine and I appreciated that she was a tough fighter as well. Definitely someone who doesn’t give up easily and was quick on the uptake. I also appreciated Joseph. At times it feels like his character was rushed a little bit when things could have moved slower but he definitely had a massive role in the story. His scenes were all really solid and definitely served as a good contrast to Cale. This guy is a lot more driven for his ambitions, but to a rather dangerous degree.

There were also a few more passengers in the crew but these guys were way slower on the draw. You had the science creature who was a little too annoying at times. He never picked up on any hints and also could take too long to get to the point of where they had to go. He was busy messing around and being mean to Cale the whole time. Then you had the weapons expert and she talked tough but let her guar down when it counted and never looked as impressive as you would have expected. The right hand man was solid though. Now there is a character who was always alert and ready.

Throughout the film you also have a sense of danger that can be rare in these animated films. We’ve really got huge stakes with the universe in the balance and Earth itself was blown up early. It’s not like the villains are threatening to destroy Earth throughout the movie, in this case they already did it. It adds a little more credibility to the villains right away. They also have good aim and actually land hits on the characters early on so you can’t hit them with the Storm Trooper allegations. Yes, this film really did a lot of things that was ight and helped to make the film more fun. It even does have time for humor on occasion which worked well thanks to the film’s solid writing.

Overall, Titan A.E. is a pretty good film. I would definitely recommend it. I always enjoy a good sci-fi so this was always going to be trending in the right direction but then throw in the solid execution across the board and this was a winner. I’d definitely be up for a sequel some day. There is more you can tell with this story and the characters. It’s a charming title all the way through with good pacing and a fun atmosphere. So if you haven’t seen the film yet, you need to fix that as soon as possible.

Overall 7/10